Spring Bucket List

We are only 3 days away from March which has me so very anxious for Spring.  Today I decided to write up our Spring Bucket List.  I hope to do much more than what I have listed, but I figure it will give us a pretty good start.

Disney on Ice
Carosel Museum
Movies
Picnic
Rollerskating
Plant a Garden
Color Easter Eggs
Play at the Park
Family Movie Night
Make a Bird Feeder
Fruit Loop Necklace
Do a show with friends & dress ups
Tea Party
Science Project
Make garden stones
Spring Cleaning
Ella's baptism
Photo shoot for all the kids & family
Library

Count on Me

Ella has been learning this song at school and her class sang it for a fundraiser this past week which we missed because it conflicted with my sisters bridal shower.  I convinced her to sing it to the computer and use the webcam to record it so that when she is 9 we can look back and see how small she once was.  It makes me cry to watch it and see how BIG she is!  Sure do love this girl and her cute little singing voice. :)

Sunday Morning

I was thinking this morning as my girls were getting ready for church - I think they love Sunday.  I know they love getting all dressed up with their pretty dresses and bows.  They love their Primary teachers and seem to love the routine of getting ready for church.

 

I was feeling so much love for them this morning I made them stop and have a picture.

It's one of those moments where I just want to freeze time.  I want to remember what it was like to watch them twirl in their pretty dresses and dance to the opening hymn.   I wanted to remember having them stick their hair in my face and ask me if they smell pretty from their bath.  I want to remember the magnetic pull to the drinking fountain.  The big smiles because they just felt the love of the Savior through good Primary Teachers who taught them.    

 

I had to laugh this morning as Ella was walking into the church in her high heels.  Dustin looked at her and looked away and I realized he is getting used to the growing up girly things.  It's all been so foreign to him and so often he gives me a confused look and I have to give him back a reassuring - "It is normal" look.  We are so blessed to have these three beautiful babies.  They make life so much fun and so meaningful.

A Month of Birthdays

I feel so blessed this month to live close to my family and get to celebrate birthdays with them. Not only did we celebrate my birthday but we got to celebrate Grandma Bateman's 70th Birthday and Isabella's 1st Birthday. There are a total of 11 birthdays in the month of February between our two families.

I'm glad one of the kids took a picture of this cute birthday clown.  Maybe I've already blogged about it before, but it is sentimental to me and goes out on every birthday.  My mom painted it and used to stick a balloon in his hand for our birthdays.  I love it!

 

We went to Chuck A Rama and had dinner with my family for grandma's birthday.  Here are my good mom and dad - so blessed to have such amazing parents.

 

Grandma & Grandpa Bateman.   Happy Birthday Grandma!

 

The newly weds who just donated plasma and are holding our cousin Judd's baby.  Kenny wants Heidi to have one.. right now. :)

 

I let the kids walk around taking pictures with my camera.. here are a few they came up with. 

 

 

 

I just love these kids!  It makes me so happy to look over these pictures of them being with their cousins.  A lot of my childhood memories are with my cousins.

 

Happy Birthday Isabella! 



Valentines

Sunday evening after feeding the missionaries the girls and I decided to make their Valentines for the upcoming week.  We printed them pink for girls and blue for boys and then each of the girls got to write the names of the kids.

 

Ella's tiny handwriting. 

 

Alissa's handwriting.  It says Macee - sideways. 

 

We even got dad involved for a few minutes. 

 

The finished butterfly Valentines.  Super cute. 

 

I got to go help with Ella's class party.  This is her group from her class called the Firework Ninjas. :) 

Pierce, Hunter, Ella and Ally

 

30!

I had my 30th birthday last week.  I still remember when I would tell people that MY mom was 30.  I'm not sad about it.  I still feel like I am young.

A few days before my birthday my good friend Farrah treated me and the younger girls to lunch at Red Robin and we brought mom with us.  I just love these 2 ladies!  They take good care of me.

On my birthday, Mom volunteered to watch the girls for me while I went and cashed in the gift certificate she gave me back in December for a 1 hour massage.  It was AWESOME!  It was a super way to start off the day.

My younger brother wanted to make lunch plans and since Dustin was off and I was hanging out with mom we made a group of it and went with mom, Dustin, Cody, Kylie and my 3 girls.  We went to Chilis so I could have chips and salsa and lava cake.

Dustin had a campout that evening with the scouts so mom and dad took me and the girls to see Rise of the Guardians at the Paramount.  It was a great day to turn 30!

Sunbeams

Better late than never.  I wrote this in January and am finally putting a picture with it.

Alissa started Sunbeams on Sunday!!  She has been talking about it for at least a month.  When I took her to class another one of her friends was sitting there crying so we talked to her and had her come sit by Alissa.  I noticed Alissa starting to do really big blinks trying to hold her tears and be brave.  The two girls held hands and waited for their teacher and being brave in the big kid class.  Wish I had a picture.  So sweet!

Oh, the time flies.  As I was doing a grandma's hair this week she reminded me that my house work will ALWAYS wait for me.  It will be there when I get back, however the days to play with my kids will not.  Love this girl to pieces!

The Accident that Dustin was NOT involved in...

A few weeks back I was doing hair and as I was finishing up I noticed my phone ringing.  I saw it was my grandma so I thought to myself, "I will call her back."  Dustin's phone was sitting next to mine and soon his was ringing and again it was grandma.  Within only a few minutes my mom came busting through the door and it was obvious to me that something was wrong. 

Within just a minute the lady had left and my mom said, "Sit down."  She proceeds to ask me if Dustin had driven to work that day.  I didn't know the answer to that because he drives to the bus stop every day and occasionally misses the bus and drives to work.  I don't keep tabs on if he drove or not.  She encouraged me to quickly call him and find out.  So I called him, he answered and as my mom hears me talking to him she gives and obvious sign of relief.  He tells us he didn't drive out and he is fine at work.  So after hanging up the phone my mom tells me part of this crazy story and my grandma and grandpa show up within minutes to finish the story.

That morning a man had called my grandma crying saying he had been upset and was looking down while he was driving to work and hit a lady and was unsure if she was going to make it.  Aparently he incenuated that he was being held in custody and needed help because he didn't know waht to do.  My grandpa got on the line and said, "This is Dennis Bateman a retired police officer, how can I help?"  The call dropped.  My grandma paniced and they notified EVERYBODY - the jail, police department, my uncle is a detective there and he was working on it, my dad had been over to the police station, my mom was frantic and grandma and grandpa had been at the police station.  Nobody knew anything that was going on or where Dustin was.. but they didn't call me.  As soon as they found out Dustin was at work they realized it had been a scam and that person had played a horrible trick on grandma.  The guy on the phone asked, "You don't know who this is do you?"  and grandma replied, "Dustin".  At that point on his name was Dustin.  Grandpa said they play this scam to try to get bond money sent to them but they called the wrong person.

It was so crazy that I didn't know anything was even going on and they were sitting in my living room making all these calls saying, "I'm calling regarding the accident Dustin Braithwaite was involved in this morning.  It was a scam."  ???  Crazy.

Made me happy that should anything happen my family would be all over it but a little worried that they wouldn't call me if something happened to Dustin. :)  Pretty sad joke they played but pretty funny for us to laugh at now.

Lava Hot Springs

Because we were feeling so much better and could use a little outing we headed to Lava Hot Springs Saturday morning with our good friends the Hansens.  It was such a good day to go share some fun soaking in hot pools, eating some pizza and enjoying good company.

 

Heidi got married!

My sister got engaged back in November and had plans to get married March 2nd.  Last Tuesday we all got a text saying she changed the plan and is getting married Friday. 

 

Mom treated Lisa, Heidi and I to pedicures on Thursday night and Grandma and mom got manicures at the beauty college Heidi works at.  (Austin Kade Academy)

 

Then we went to Perkins to give her a few gifts and eat some pie.  It was a lot of fun.  I love these girls! 

 

 

Friday afternoon at 4:30 she had an excellent turnout full of family and friends and she and Kenny were sealed in the Idaho Falls Temple.  Pretty awesome day!

 

The little girls have been excited about it for WEEKS!   

 

After the wedding and some pictures we went to my moms house where we had a little dinner for the two of them before they headed out.  Jeremy, Cody & I decorated their car in the garage. 

 

Super fun.  They headed to Utah for a little honeymoon so we are excited for them to come home so we can all chat with them about the day.  I'm excited to have a new brother in law and that my sister is married!  Love these 2.

Moms are not meant to be sick...

Friday the 25th of January the kids and I were hanging out with my siblings at my parents house since Dustin was playing some games with friends.  After dinner Alissa said she didn't feel well and ran to the bathroom to throw up.  That night the two of us got only a few hours of sleep because she was up all night uncomfortable and sick.  This continued and she ate nothing for 2 full days.  I finally took her to Community Care where they tested her for influenza, RSV, said she had an ear infection and wanted to run blood to check for appendicitis as well as give her a shot of antibiotic for the ear infection.  I didn't feel good about any of them and decided I would call our family doctor and give her another 24 hours.

 

He told me it sounded like Rotavirus and give her 3-5 days.  On day 4 I had enough and with tears took her into Dr. Baker to make sure it truly was Rotavirus and we weren't missing something.  She was getting so thin, was so weak that she couldn't even stand up and didn't even make any efforts to stand up or move.  She wouldn't even play the Ipod which is pretty bad.  Dustin and my dad gave her a blessing on Monday night and when I took her into Dr. Baker the next day he examined her well and said it really was a stomach flu virus and she was ok.  Just give her time.

 

Sure enough, the next day she was feeling better.  Throughout this week Molly had been sick for a night so I had 2 of the kids on the couch sleeping between my legs or wherever we could find room.  Ella had also got sick and the day I took her in I got sick for 2 days.  Finally Thursday I thought everybody was feeling better and Ella called from school because she had thrown up.  Friday I kept everybody home to recover.

 

It was a long, long week of sickness.  Thankfully Dustin had a lot of commitments that week so he didn't have to come home much and was able to avoid our sickness.  After laying around for 2 days I was reminded how aweful it would be to be a sick mommy all of the time or even often.  I rarely ever get sick and I am so grateful and realize good health is such a blessing.  I am so grateful I can care for my family and for others and that we have healthy kids too.

 

When it was all said and done I was so grateful for this new vinyl I got on my laundry room wall.  "I am thankful for the piles of laundry because it means my loved ones are near."  Because I had a LOT of laundry!