Girls night

Steve is out camping/fishing this weekend. So I told V. we could have a girls night and she was so excited!
We started with one of her favorite meals for dinner, Pasta a'la Nona. Named for Steve's sister who first made this for us. I'm sure I don't make it exactly the same as her, but I add what I remember!
Then V. had a bath while I cleaned up dinner.
Then we pulled out the sofa sleeper. V. was super excited to sleep on the sofa sleeper. I love how easily she is pleased!
I brought the t.v. into the living room and we stayed up late watching Gummi Bears episodes and eating popcorn.
Nothing fancy. But V. loved it and it was a nice evening for me as well! :)

I meant to post this a couple weeks ago when it happened. But better late than never, huh?
A couple weeks ago V. and I were heading into town and V. exclaimed excitedly," Look Mom! They are putting Christmas lights on the Christmas trees!"
As you head into town there are huge pine trees along both sides of the road. And yes, they were putting Christmas lights up on them! They just haven't lit them yet. I can't wait for when they do. It's always so pretty!
And I LOVED V.'s excitement over seeing that!

I forgot to share that back in September our Ward {congregation} had their Primary Program. V. and I were asked to sing at it. We sang 'A Child's Prayer'. V. sang the first verse, I sang the second then when we were singing together the Primary joined in on V.'s part. She was nervous but did such a good job! I was so proud of her! I've always dreamed about singing with my child. They asked us to sing a couple years ago, but V. was too nervous. So it was a wonderful thing to do this together this Fall.  I love my little girl so much! 

Childhood

Here I mentioned that V. had never had a REAL milkshake. Well, a few weeks before that happened, I was imitating Miss Piggy. V. said, " Who are you supposed to be?" I told her Miss Piggy. She looked at me confused. I said," You know, Kermit's girl friend?" I then imitated Kermit. V. just sat there looking at me. Then she said," I have no idea what you're talking about."
I thought, "What?! My child doesn't know Kermit and Miss Piggy?!" Come to find out, she didn't know any of the Muppets. So that weekend we watched the Muppet Movie {the old one} on Netflix and she loved it!
So...Now that I corrected the milkshake thing and the Muppets thing, I'm wondering,"What else does my child need to experience whilst still a child? What did I experience in my childhood that I want her to experience?"
So what do YOU think a child needs to experience while still a child? Please comment! I'd love to hear what you did as a child that you think/want your child to do!
{ One thing I HAVE taught her is to get a spoonful of peanut butter and stick m&m's on it and eat it! Sadly, she wasn't a huge fan of that. Although she does love peanut butter m&m's. }

Confession

I may or may not have started listening to a little bit of Christmas music this weekend.
It happens every Summer!
{ While Steve was gone, V. and I may have watched Mickey's Christmas Carol last night as well. }

witches, springtime, lawn mowing, ramblings!

*V. lately has been very complimentary towards my cooking. We'll be eating something store bought and she'll say something like,"Your food is way better than this, Mom." Or," I just want your cooking, Mom."
Anyway, it's very sweet of her. And makes me feel good! She also has been eating food she used to not to eat. Well, food she would eat as a baby/toddler then quit eating as a pre-schooler but is now eating again! Yay!
{But she still won't eat potatoes or red meat. She hasn't liked those since she could start eating solid foods.}
*Steve and his brother went to the Super Cross in Salt Lake this last Saturday. They had a lot of fun and had perfect weather! While they were gone V. and I had a fun day! V.'s teacher has been reading her class 'the Twits' by Roald Dahle and she really wanted to buy it. So we went to the bookstore and she used some of her allowance to buy it. Then we went to Winger's for lunch. When the waitress asked if we wanted dessert I was about to say no when V. piped up "yes!" So we had an Asphalt Pie. V. LOVED it! She was like," This is so good  Mom! Why haven't we had this before?" I was like," ummm....Dad and I eat this fairly often. But I guess we've always had it just us." Oops!
Anyway, then V. ran through the sprinkler a little bit. But she got cold within 15 minutes {because come on, it IS Idaho and only April }, so then she got in the tub and had a nice warm bath!
So all in all, a fun day!
*My back has been feeling better so I asked the chiropractor about when he thought I could start running again. He said that honestly he wouldn't recommend running until NEXT summer. What?! I'm pretty upset and disappointed. He said even though my back may feel better and I might feel okay running now, my disks won't be fully healed. And with my vertebrae pounding on each other there would be a good chance of hurting myself again. Possibly even worse than now. So to be safe I need to wait a year to make sure everything is healed fully. Then I can run all I want. Makes sense. But still.... I was contemplating doing a half-marathon this Fall. And I had other goals I wanted to reach this year. And now all those goals are out the window. When I DO start running next year I'll have to start all over with my training. *sigh* And plus, running was such a stress reliever for me. I always felt so much better and happier after a run. Oh well. I guess I need to find other ways to relieve stress and just focus on other goals and staying healthy and getting stronger.
I also asked about mowing the lawn. I usually do that while Steve is at work. I feel bad that Steve and V. have been having to do so much because I can't. Well, Dr. Ellis said sure I can mow the lawn! But I can't start the mower. The whole pull-start thing would not be good for my back. Great! So yes, I can mow the lawn but I still have to wait for Steve to get home to start it for me! Too bad V. isn't big enough to start it for me....
* Today marks my 13th anniversary of being brain tumor free! YAY! You can read more about that here. One of these years maybe I'll talk more about that week and how I felt and all. But not today.
I have MRI's and a doctor check up every 2 years. That is not this year, but next year. Last year though, the doc said everything looked good. So I guess we'll wait and see what he says next year!
* I went to the Temple this morning. I always love going to the Temple. I really love going with Steve, but no where does it say I can't just go by myself once in awhile. I feel uplifted, re-energized, re-focused and peaceful. That's the key word here, peaceful!
* Today is the first of May. And we had snow. It's funny that just a few days ago V. was running through the sprinkler and now we have snow! But what can I say, that's springtime in southeast Idaho for ya!
I also realized today, that being May means school ends this month! When I told V., she got all sad and said she didn't want to school to end because she loves her teacher so much. So cute! You know, I think I would be totally fine with year-round school. And I think V. would be fine as well! Just have 2ish weeks off in the Fall, Christmas, Easter and Summer time. I think it'd be fun!
I also think it'd be cool to go to boarding school! Now, I don't think I could part with V. and send HER to boarding school. But I would LOVE to go to boarding school in England, Switzerland, oh alright I'll say it, " HOGWARTS!" {V. would love to go there as well!}
* Speaking of magic, V. has really been into Harry Potter. However, she watched the 3rd one for the first time the other day and had nightmares and ended up crawling into our bed that night. I warned her it was one of the scarier ones, but she wanted to watch it so I let her.
She has been waving "wands" around and shouting magic spells at everything. Even while we are playing chess{which she is pretty darn good at, I might add} she points her wand at the chess pieces and shouts spells. Interestingly, she likes Ginny more than Hermione. She pretends she is Ginny, wants to be Ginny for Halloween and wants to buy a Ginny Weasly wand. I asked her why she likes her over H. and she said it was because Ginny has brothers. And she wants brothers. Awww!
And I think Ginny is a good role model. {So is Hermione.} So I love that she wants to be like Ginny!
Anyhoo, this has turned into a bunch of rambling. So I'll quit. For today. {this thought jumping around I do has me questioning if they put my brain back in correctly after that surgery 13 years ago...}

Last day of Easter Break

Being a Monday, Steve had work. :( V. and I tried to talk him into calling in sick but he was already taking this next Friday off because family will be in town. So he got up early and went to work while V. and I slept in!
When V. woke up she asked if she could play the Wii. Sure, why not? So she did that while I got myself ready for the day and cleaned up a little.
Then we went to my chiropractor for my appointment. My back has been feeling much better. More like an achiness at times and not so much a pain. Good sign! Or so I thought.  Dr. Ellis has this table that I lay face down on, he straps my legs down, then stretches the table out a bit then lowers the table where my legs are. It's supposed to stretch my back. Or something. Anyway, we had gotten to the point that he could lower my legs a good amount without me feeling any pain in my back. But when he did it today he just barely started to lower my legs and I already felt pain! Which isn't good. He asked if I've been lifting heavy things or stuff like that. I told him no. I still have Steve help with the laundry and V. vacuums and all that. So he said maybe we started backing off too soon with treatments? Anyway, I see him again on Friday and we'll see how my back is doing then. I'm kinda bummed. I honestly felt like things were getting better...
After that V. and I went for a walk around Jensen's Grove. It's about a 1.75 mile walk. Then she played on the playground while I laid out in the sun and read. I love how easily kids make friends! We were there not 2 minutes and she already was running around with another girl and playing with her!
After that we got some groceries. I asked V. if we should pick up Subways while in town for lunch. She said," No. I like your cooking. I just want you to make me something. " Well, okay then! You compliment my cooking and I'll make anything for you! So we went home and had homemade mac & cheese.
 Then we did some reading and she did her piano practice. Then I got out my paints and she painted a little wooden bird house we had picked up last week at the store. Then she played outside with a neighbor girl until it was time to go to cheer. After cheer we ran to the library to sign her up for softball then home to dinner, bath and bed. It is a school night after all!
 This has been a very fun Easter break! Beautiful weather and lots of family time!
 

Spring day

The last 2 days have been sooo nice! V. has enjoyed running around outside while I l have laid on a quilt, soaking up the warmth and sunshine and reading. I'm currently reading "the Language of Bees", a Mary Russell novel. I'm at the part where it's starting to get hard to put the book down. It's starting to get real good!
Today was the first day of V.'s Easter break. She crawled into bed with me this morning and we both slept in. So nice! Then I helped V. dye some eggs. She had fun and made some very pretty eggs!
We then had grilled chicken and green salad for lunch.
Then we spent a couple hours getting groceries followed by enjoying the sun until Steve got home.
Speaking of Steve, his movie came in the mail today! The Hobbit! We just started it and are only 7 minutes in but already are loving it immensely!
So with that, I'll bid you adieu while I snuggle with my love and enjoy this movie!

March 26th

* Today as I was helping in V.'s classroom the school had a fire drill. So I got to walk outside with her class, holding her hand.

* It has been raining this afternoon and I LOVE it!

* V. has had no cheer, ballet or piano this week. Due to Spring breaks. But our Easter break starts on Thursday. So only 3 days of school this week as well. So, so far it's been a nice week and she is excited for the rest of the week! I think we'll dye Easter eggs on Friday. And she bought a little wooden birdhouse that I told her she could paint over the break. Steve wants to take us to lunch or dinner sometime this weekend. Other than that, it will be a slow, nice weekend.

* Speaking of Steve, I am wildly in love with him.....Just had to say that....

* My back has been feeling really good. Yay!! I'm hoping it just continues to get better from here on!

* I pre-ordered the Hobbit. We have been anxiously awaiting for it to arrive. Steve asks everyday if it has arrived. I got it for a good price by pre-ordering it but waiting for it is driving us nuts!Any day now....

* Next week Steve's family will be in town. We can't wait to see them. Especially our new nephew!!

Sweet smelling girl!

One more thing I have to add to my day that I forgot to in my last post.
This morning as V. was getting ready to go to school I thought I would give her a little spritz of my body spray. She's always asking if she can wear some and so I thought that would make her happy. I just finished her hair, and reached out to where it was sitting on the bathroom counter, grabbed it and then gave her a quick spray only to realize at the same time she did what it was I was spraying on her. She opened her mouth in an "Oh no!" look and I immediately starting apologizing to her.
I had grabbed the room spray, NOT the body spray and sprayed it on her!
I quickly grabbed a wet cloth and tried to wipe it off her neck and collar. It smelled pretty strong! I asked her if she wanted to change shirts but she didn't as it's School Pride day and she was wearing her school shirt. So needless to say she went to school smelling like 'Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin'.
It's just been one of those days!!

Pleasant day...

*The weather has been so lovely the last few days!!! The sun is shining, birds are singing...it's just so lovely!! {Maybe a little on the windy side, but when you live in Idaho you get used to that!}
Today I turned off all the heat and have the front door open. It's so nice to let the fresh air come into the house! Tonight I will probably need to turn the heat on a little bit, but that's okay. I'll just turn it off again in the morning when it warms up! Spring is right around the corner!!
I have been wearing flips flops only the last couple of days!

*I also got to help in V.'s class room today. That's always fun!

*After that I stopped in to her school's gym to vote on the new school levy. I always feel good, and proud after voting. I'm grateful we live in a country where we have the freedom to vote!

*In a little bit I'll be picking the little one up from school and heading down to ballet class. Then home to make brinner and enjoy the evening as a family.

A very pleasant day today.
{I also washed our bedding today. Which means a nice, clean, good smelling, comfy bed awaits me for bedtime tonight!}

It stings a little when they're right and you're wrong.

This morning I was getting a little frustrated with V.  I swear, she does not understand the english sentence,"Hurry. Hurry! Or you'll be late for school!"
It seems like I have to say hurry a dozen times!
Anyway, so I grabbed her backpack for her to take out to the truck as she was taking forever....doing something. She came into the living room, looked at me{in that reprimanding way} and stopped and said," Mom. Should you be carrying my backpack? Is it under 10 pounds?"
I responded with a frustrated," I don't know and I don't care. You are being too slow so I had to grab it for you. Now let's get going!"
She then takes her backpack from me, walks past me while saying," Okay. But if you end up having back surgery, it'll be your fault...."
Man! I hate being reprimanded by my child. Especially when she's right!
However, she is such a good daughter to take care of me and make sure I'm following the restrictions the doc gave me!

Like Mother like Daughter

While V. was in the tub the other day I overheard her singing "Deck the Halls".
Definitely my daughter!
{P.S. The other week I was listening to a teeny, tiny bit of Christmas music. But compared to most years, I'm not listening to it near as much!}

This day in History 2010 on facebook~

A conversation I had with V. in the car one day~

V.~ " Mom, I'm super V! Who are you?"
 Me~"I'm.....Super mom!"
V.~"Oh! What are your powers?"
Me~"I can make dirty laundry disappear and turn into clean laundry. I can make the grass turn green. I can kiss a boo-boo and it gets all better. I can make all the dirt in the house disappear. I can make yummy treats!".
V.~ ".....oh.....But can you kill the bad guys and fly and be really strong?"
Me~"uh.....sure! I can do all that too!



V. and I about this time,2010

Gee. Thanks sweetie!

A conversation I just had with my daughter~
"Do you know what Mom?"
 "What?"
"You have some white hairs."
" I know. I'm getting older."
*gasp!*
 "But I don't want an old mom!"