A day to remember!

Sesame Street came to Rio Rancho! We bought the tickets 2 weeks ago and the kids didn't stop asking when they were coming, until opening night! The kids were enthralled and shane and I really, really enjoyed the show. During intermission the kids each got an Elmo balloon. They were 8 bucks a piece but we just had to buy them anyway! 10 minutes after the show, we're at Walmart and Kyle starts bawling his eyes out. We made sure the strings were tied around their little wrists so they wouldn't fly away but whadya know, one got away! There went 8 bucks for nothing!!

swimming

Swimming and suntanning was fun and the weather here in NM is perfect. Not too hot, just right.

Dad is home!

Shane had to fly out of town to Phoenix for a meeting. He was gone for a few days and we missed him. We celebrated his arrival by going out to Olive Garden for dinner last night.

A Special Mothers Day Treat

My mother and sister flew out for a quick Mother's Day visit. It was so much fun to have them here. They planned a special day-date for Shane and I. They offered to take the kids all day and night so that we could get away and do whatever we wanted! We left in the morning and didn't come back until it was dark. I called to check in several times and every time I called my sister would tell me they were "talking and not to come back!" So I guess they had some special mother-daughter time as well. We went out to eat and then drove all over the city looking at homes for sale. On Mothers day we made a special mothers day dinner. The kids love gramma K sooo much. Braden really builds some neat things with his blocks and gramma gets so excited. She get's excited about everything the kids do!

Videos and Pictures of Aleah

We sing a little song to Aleah and if you listen closely on the second video, you can hear Braden singing it in the background. "It's Aleah, it's Aleah, it's you, it's you!"

Kyle's Conversation with Mom

Kyle and I read his animal book last night before bed and this is the conversation that followed(will get a recent picture of him up when I get my camera back):

Kyle: Ma, what do turtles do?
Michelle: They walk really slow
Kyle: Do they have backs?
Michelle: Yes they do! Their backs are hard shells which they use as a source of protection from other animals.
Kyle: What do Poo bees do?
Michelle: Polar Bears?
Kyle: No Poopies
Michelle: Oh! I don't know?
Kyle: They live in the toilet.

Kyle: What do Chipmunks do?
Michelle: I don't know?
Kyle: They talk.
Kyle: What do dinosaurs do?
Michelle: What?
Kyle: Dinosaurs do bite!
Kyle: They live in the trees...
Kyle: Shhhhhhh! (whispering) there's a dinosaur at our house
Michelle: No there isn't!
Kyle: (loud whisper) MA! shh! shh! I hear them...
Kyle: Shh...shhhhh....(looking all around) do you hear that? It's the dinosaurs
Three minutes of silence goes by
Kyle: Now I don't hear it.
Kyle: Can we talk?

Three of My Favorite Things

I LOVE these shoes! They are weightless and easy to slide on. They gently massage your feet as you walk. It's made by Curves and you can buy them off of Avon.com. They are perfect to wear around the house but you can also wear them outside. Perfect shoe for a stay at home mom!

Digital Photo Frame. We presented this to my mom on Mothers Day(she and my sis came down for the weekend!) and she had never seen it before. It plays the pictures off your memory card digitally. One of our favorite things to do when we're together is sing and dance to music! (I know, it sounds wild, but if the last time you danced you were still single, I would recommend you let loose and try this! It's revitalizing!) We shot pictures of our weekend and gave her the memory card and digital photo frame as a gift. She was really excited about it! It's a great gift idea and simple to use. It also gives your home a modern decorative touch!

I love this foundation, 'air touch by Jerome Alexander'. It's very light and easy to apply. It does a great job evening out your skin. It lasts a nice long time. I do not recommend it for those with really fair skin because the color is for darker skin tones. It moisturizes my dry skin in the winter and wears especially well in the summer. I've tried so many different foundations and this one is my favorite. Also has spf 15.

Happy Mothers Day!

Kathy(mom), Bobbi(grandma), Fred(Stepfather) & Suzi (step-sister)

My own mother wrote this poem about her mother. My Grandma is a wonderful person. Always been very hardworking, gracious, beautiful and kind. But busy. Very busy. She and grandpa owned a very successful store (pharmacy/cosmetics) with a little restaurant or "Fountain" they called it, inside the building. The Fountain was always hopping! She "had the capacity to do the work of 6 women" and was often told how amazing she was. But this wasn't the best way for a little child to grow up-- with nannies and maids. The poem is special to me because it's a little family history moment written in poetic form. Both my Grandma and Mother agree that this moment was special, a pivitol moment in their relationship. My mom was about 15 or 16 years old. I want to wish my mom a happy mothers day and thank her for smothering us with love, never working a day in her life while we were growing up, listening to us talk about our day after school for sometimes hours on end, for being at EVERY ONE of our basketball games from 6th grade to 12th as well as all the other activities we were involved in, for being such a great cheerleader, creating a loving homey environment, and loving us the way we are. Want you to know that whenever I listen to this song (wind beneath my wings) it makes me cry because it's how I feel when I think of us! Happy Mothers day to my best friend, my mother!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My Mother, My friend

by Kathy Zvetkoff

(dedicated to Grandma Bobbi)

I don't know how I got so lucky

to have the mother that I do

and finally after all these years

she has become my best friend too

It wasn't always so great with the two of us

at times we had little or nothing to say

so when, one special day I was walking up the hill

she was driving down it that day

It was as though time had stopped for us

and nothing else existed

and when abruptly a car behind her kept honking

she had to keep driving, he insisted

I felt so sad and alone at that moment

my feelings could be cut with a knife

so when she finally came home that night

I ran over to her and hung on for DEAR LIFE

Be Prepared

I saw this post on another blog and decided that I am going to try this.I've already been through all the pricing on Walton Feed and everything is cheaper then buying food at the grocery store. Well buy fresh vegetables and diary product at the grocery store but hopefully I can learn to cut costs by buying grains in bulk, etc. If anyone else has done this, please let me know. I would love to get some ideas from you! I am not sure how this will work or how much money it will save us but it's worth a try.

How Do I Cook From My Pantry?
Step 1: Put together a 2 week menu plan (You choose the meals YOUR family likes and will eat!)Step 2: Collect the recipes and convert to use food storage as needed.Step 3: List items in each recipe and multiply by how many times you want to serve it.Step 4: Purchase FoodStep 5: Develop a working rotation system that works for you.
Posted by RMMs at 3:24 AM

Pres Gordon B. Hinckley
Dear Brothers and Sisters: Our Heavenly Father created this beautiful earth, with all its abundance, for our benefit and use. His purpose is to provide for our needs as we walk in faith and obedience. He has lovingly commanded us to “prepare every needful thing” (see D&C 109:8) so that, should adversity come, we may care for ourselves and our neighbors and support bishops as they care for others. We encourage Church members worldwide to prepare for adversity in life by having a basic supply of food and water and some money in savings. We ask that you be wise as you store food and water and build your savings. Do not go to extremes; it is not prudent, for example to go into debt to establish food storage all at once. With careful planning, you can, over time, establish a home storage supply and a financial reserve. We realize that some of you may not have financial resources or space for such storage. Some of you may be prohibited by law from storing large amounts of food. We encourage you to store as much as circumstances allow. May the Lord bless you in your home storage efforts. The First Presidency

Tete-a-tete's to Remember

Driving home from Monticello last weekend

Shane: I couldn't live without you.
Michelle: I couldn't live without you either.
Shane: I think you could. But if you died I would be a broken man.
Michelle: If you died I wouldn't make it, I would need anti-depressents and/or sleeping medications for at least a year.
Shane: No, you would eventually pick up the pieces and be ok. Women are emotionally stronger then men in that way. They are use to being broken down and are capable of moving forward to a full recovery. They are made this way for a reason--they are the ones that have to perpetuate the race. This is no easy task. Once a man is broken, he is broken for good because he's not use to being broken down. I'd just be better off dead if I had to live without you!
Michelle: Thanks honey, I love you!!


BRADEN/KYLE COMMENT OF THE DAY
Our blow-up mattres blew out last night. Braden walked into our room and said:

Braden: "Oh no! Dad! your bed did melt! Come look, come look!"
Dad: Yeah I know, mommy's getting a new one right now!
Braden: (big smile) "Ohhhhhhhh goood!!!"

Kyle Got Croup

Aleah has been very sick the last few days. I had a feeling the teething started it. I almost took her in to the pediatrician, but she started feeling better yesterday and I cancelled her appointment. The boys however, have been just fine. Until last night!

We put the kids to bed as usual. Shane rented a couple movies so he stayed up watching one and I went to bed. Around 1:30am he came in with Kyle in his arms asking where the cough medicine was. I could hear Kyle BARKING. I said cough medicine probably won't help. It sounds to me like he has croup. So I got out my medical books and we tried everything. We wrapped him in a blanket and walked him outside in the cool air. That didn't help much. He had what's called stridor or difficulty breathing and that was our real concern. While Shane was walking him outside I started a steam shower so he could sit in the humidified air. He then sat in the steamed filled bathroom but that really didn't help either. I told Shane we should just take him to the emergency room. Shane wanted to wait for a bit. Kyle was getting scared because it was so difficult to breathe. He is such a trusting little guy so even though it was difficult to breathe he remained fairly calm. But, he wouldn't talk to us when we asked him questions because it was too hard for him. He just wanted to be held so we all sat on the couch trying to figure out what to do next. We gave him lots of water. I couldn't stop hugging and kissing him because he is so darn cute. I hate to see my little guy sick. It melts my heart to hear him struggle to speak. His little high pitched voice always melts my heart (even when he's well!) I wanted to see him smile so badly. I decided we should just take him in to the emergency but then I had a thought. Maybe there was a homeopathic remedy for Croup? So I got out my homepathic book and found a remedy for "croup and fear" which is exactly what he had. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. Homeopathy can be a little tricky because you have to find the exact remedy or it simply doesn't work. If it does work you will start to feel better within 5 minutes. By 15 minutes you start feeling pretty good. Within a half hour you start feeling like you were never sick. It was worth a try. We gave him 2 little pellets under his tongue. Within 5 minutes he started talking. He said "mom, I want to watch Cat in the Hat. I said oh well I'm not sure about that. He said, "mom, I can't watch Cat in the Hat now because it's too dark!" We were so excited to see him talking! After 15 minutes he was running around the house. We knew the remedy worked. He was still coughing but no longer had stridor or fear. 20 minutes later I put him down to sleep which he was very happy to do all by himself. We are always so surprised when a remedy works. The great thing about homeopathic is that it is safe for everyone and has no side effects. This morning he still has a cough but he's running around being KYLE!! When he got up this morning, he said, "mom I am feeling better. I am not sick anymore!"

Daughters of God

One of my friends called and we got talking about the challenges of motherhood. Both of us have three children around the same ages. She asked me if I had read the talk by Elder Ballard about motherhood. I hadn't because I haven't got my ensign yet. She encouraged me to read it so I got on lds.org and printed it out. I thought I'd share my favorite parts of the message:

"First, recognize that the joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction.
Author Anna Quindlen reminds us not to rush past the fleeting moments. She said: “The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. . . . I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less”(Loud and Clear [2004], 10–11).

Second, don’t overschedule yourselves or your children. We live in a world that is filled with options. If we are not careful, we will find every minute jammed with social events, classes, exercise time, book clubs, scrapbooking, Church callings, music, sports, the Internet, and our favorite TV shows. One mother told me of a time that her children had 29 scheduled commitments every week: music lessons, Scouts, dance, Little League, day camps, soccer, art, and so forth. She felt like a taxi driver. Finally, she called a family meeting and announced, “Something has to go; we have no time to ourselves and no time for each other.” Families need unstructured time when relationships can deepen and real parenting can take place. Take time to listen, to laugh, and to play together."

Aleah Standing

Aleah is standing up. She likes to walk alongside the couch. She has been doing this since we got back from our trip. Every once in awhile she falls back. Yesterday she was standing around watching Braden and Kyle play on the couch and one of them accidently knocked her over. She landed back on her head. She didn't get hurt but it sure scared her! She did not breathe for about 6 LONG seconds so I turned her quickly on her belly because I didn't know what else to do. That didn't help, she still wouldn't breathe and another 3 to 4 seconds passed. I started to panic because it was long enough that I thought she was going to pass out. I started talking to her calmly and in soft tones to get her to relax and she finally took in a small breathe. Whew! If she would have waited another second I think it would have been too long but thankfully she was ok. She was as white as a ghost for about 20 minutes. None of the boys ever did that when they cried. But, she is getting so fun and her personality is really starting to come out. She's really playful and loves to look at herself in the mirror. She loves to go exploring with her brothers and they love to hold her and play with her. Her first tooth is coming in so she is starting to bite me when she nurses and it hurts! She sticks her little tongue out because she's starting to feel that tooth come in. She says the words "dadda," "mamma" and "hi".

Braden is learning to write his name well. He did a pretty good job except for he wrote the d upside down. He did it all by himself! He loves to color and is getting better and better at every day. So is Kyle!