How my day would go so well if everything just went as I scheduled them!

But that is not how being a wife, mother, sister, daughter, active church member goes. I have to re-arrange me schedule multiple times during the day, heck what am I really talking about? There end of being no schedule at all. (Which is very hard for this need to check-off in the little box, kind of person.) When my kids fall asleep in the car on the ride to the grocery story so I can get dinner we end up getting cans of chili and corn for dinner that night instead of warm French bread, fresh fruit and a side of salad to go with that gourmet chili dinner.
But life isn’t about me. It’s about everyone. It’s about who I can help, how I raise my family out of love and not schedule exactness. It’s not about getting all the time in the world to myself to write the novel I’ve been daydreaming about getting to all week, it’s about writing down my ideas on mini scrap pieces of paper, the back of envelopes, and running to the computer saying, “Just a minute. Mommy will be right back to play tea set. I just have to get a real drink.” And go write down my thoughts.
It’s running, jumping, slipping, sliding, crying, laughing, and finding time to sit back and be an active part of your own life and not just watch it pass you by in a whirl wind of activities that you didn’t really want to do in the first place.
Life is about bettering oneself and helping others. I never would have consciously thought, “I’ll go be a part of a Dental Association! What a wonderful idea. I’ll go better the world one person at a time with only my desire to serve and supreme lack of dental knowledge.”
No, that is not how it started. How did I become a member? Well I’ll tell you and why I will be one for life… More to come!

The Sweet Faces of Innocence

Duke

Duke is one of our new residents. Cam moved in last month and is staying with us until the 15th of May. Once cowering and shaky Duke is now use to us and even loves Addy and Arya who follow him around screaming Dadog!

SURPRIZE

I don't think any other husband could top the Birthday surprise this year! After Blake picked us up from the airport after being a week in Utah, he explained to me in the car how there were no minivans left in Arizona like the one we wanted. And that Toyota takes a 3 month hiatus until they start making 2010's. Feeling a little disappointed and sad that Blake would have to endure more 2 hour commutes in the car without a/c I arrived home to this beauty in the driveway. No more needs to be said...me and the girls were elated!

Sprinklers...already!

Blake turned on the sprinklers the other day and let the girls run around in them. They had a great time, you can tell by how excited Addy is anyways:)!

Zoo Day

Last Saturday the girls and I headed out for the Phoenix Zoo. We had a great time in the bright 85 degree weather. We even got a tan! The girls loved the ray fish, the huge tree house, and the Little People Farm.

Of course they looked everywhere but at the camera!

Grooming the goats.

St. Patrick's Day

On St. Patrick's Day we had a little Leprechaun who came in and stole our freshly baked cookies leaving only a footprint!!! So Addy thought it would be a good idea to make a lunch for him since he must have been hungry and then hopefully he would bring our cookies back. She gathered everything you see on the paper towel including the avocado pit. She thought the little Leprechaun would love it. "Mommy when he gets off the plane from Utah he will smell the seed and say, "Mmm" that smell good!" and then come here and eat his lunch." So after we went outside and the Leprechaun had "snuck-in" ate his lunch and had brought back our cookies back! Oh, and he also left Addy a green candy too.

A Piratee Adventure

On Friday Blake and I wanted to do something fun with the family, so I put together a pirate adventure for us.
Everyone knows that the first thing every good pirate needs is a treasure map, so we created our own out of pudding!

The second thing Pirates do is go after the 'Mother' treasure (follow Mom's map), out the door, around the palm tree, find the giant rock, and "X" marks the spot!

We played a fun game of Uno Spin.

The last thing Pirates love is pirate booty! So we made Valentine rice crispy treats. Love you all!

It was a miracle day. We finger painted outside, I got the house cleaned, and I even had time for a blog entry!

Let's get PAINTING!

Arya wasn't so sure about the whole thing. I imagine the face below saying, "Are you really going to make me do this?"

Arya lasted longer than I thought she would, but when Addy painted her shoes (on accident) I thought it a good idea to take Arya's off too. If you know my Arya she is a shoe LOVER, and wasn't too fond of the idea. So she decided she was done painting and tried to be all sneaky and go the long way around the yard to get to her shoes. She about cried when I said, no shoes. (She has two pair of inside shoes, and six outside pair which she puts on and off all day. She says chewchew all day long begging to help her change a pair to a new one. When I have to take her shoes off to change her diaper she freaks out if she is not holding them and they don't go back on right away. It's crazy hilarious! She is going to grow up a shoe designer I just know it!

So Happy I cried

I just wanted the world to know that my daughter Adelyn made me cry from joy this morning. This is the second time in her life I've cried tears of joy because of her, first the day she was born and second this morning. After months after month of trying and giving up and then one straight month of failure (or should I say good practice), of pooping in her underwear she finally pooped on the potty this morning without any help.
She came up to me with her pants up and everything and announced she'd gone poop, usually this means at least ten minutes of cleaning and personally blowing off steam (inside). I was reluctant to ask, "Where did you go poop?" AND then my "Joy was full" or should I say the potty was full of... well you get the rest of the picture!
The following moments were full of shouts, screams, jumping, singing, and crying for Mom. I will have to say and I'm sure some of you moms would agree, that potty training has probably been one of the most stressful and straining things that I've ever had to do. We've been trying on and off with Addy since she was 20months so this is a welcome achievement.
Well if you are still reading, thank you for celebrating this success with me and sticking around to read the whole post, just imagine how it was sticking around for the whole 16+ months of training.

Merry Christmas Everyone

I just wanted to send everyone a Merry Christmas Hello, and tell you why I've been so absent from Blogging.

Things have been crazy fun and busy. I haven't taken pictures like I use to and really have nothing fun to show. The girls are ever the same, yet kicked their little personality traits up about 10 notches. Addy whine and boob, Arya scream, tackle, and army grab on Mommy's leg. Blake is ever working 6 days a week with stuff he's either got to do for church or is down right tired at night when he comes home. Blah, blah, blah...

The fun stuff, well I got to go to Chicago for three days!!! I was invited to be on a new Strategic Planning Committee for the Alliance of the American Dental Association (AADA). I got to reacquaint myself with some former acquaintances and meet some new ladies from all over the country. We met to discuss the needs of our association and wanted my opinion as a new Dentist Spouse and former student spouse. We had a wonderful conference and some fun going out to dinner and wandering around Michigan Avenue.

The next big thing, which is the main reason I haven't been blogging is that I'm writing a book!!! I started in early October when I got the inspiration from going on one of my morning walks. I thought of a story one morning and came home and told Blake, he liked it and I couldn't stop thinking about it so I started to write my ideas down and the rest is history. I've got 25 chapters written and ideas for sequels. The book is titled, The Other World and is a fantasy romance novel. I write every spare moment I can get (which lately hasn't been many) and started drawing some of the characters and buildings, etc. I have a playlist for my book which I listen to everyday to keep it fresh in my mind and the creative juices flowing. Blake can vouch for this and is SICK if the songs, sorry Honey!

I just got the Christmas Decorations up last week, so we are feeling a little more Chirstmasy here, and we are still searching for our stockings, the only thing we can't find since the move. Hopefully will be able to make some goodies tonight as planned. We unfortunately weren't able to send our cards this year, the first, so sorry, but thanks to all those who sent us cards we truly do appreciate it and love to see your beautiful families grow.

Hope you all have a Very Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!
LOVE, Blake, Kaleena, Adelyn, Arya

My favorite new pic

Halloween

I know I promised to put these up days ago, sorry! This is a quick recap of our Halloween. We had a trunk or treat at teh church. Addy is with her friend Trey a.k.a. Black Spider Man. We carved a pumpkin, went to a fun FHE Monday night at a friends house, and of course trick or treating on Halloween. Addy had a blast and was stoked that she got candy, of course. (Which of course is death to the 'Mommy weight loss plan'!)

Addy of course was Cinderella and even had glass slippers which fell off at the end of Halloween night. Blake said when she lost her slipper walking she was overjoyed and said, "Ding, ding, ding. Daddy, I'm just like Cinderella!" (Ding, for the clock striking midnight.)

Arya was a fairy and Addy liked to call her Tinker Bell. She loved her wings too!