We've been having so much fun outside. I love this time of year when I haven't killed my flowers yet, and my trees aren't suffering from extreme heat and drought. The girls have had so much fun in their swimming pool. I tried to get in with them for a little bit yesterday, but I just think the water is so gross. Bugs, leaves, grass. I just spend all of my time with a strainer getting stuff out. They were happy that I tried, though. Nikki was the last one to use my camera which is why my pictures now have a nice fuzzy glow on them. Hopefully I can get rid of that.
We found a home for Pearl. The lady I got her from said she would be happy to have her back, so this weekend we'll be saying good-bye. This is a picture for Hannah's scrapbook. She really is a sweet kitty.

A Funny Conversation

Yesterday, as I was about to sit down at the table with the girls for a snack, Hannah looks over my chair with these huge eyes and sucks in her breath really quickly. I looked and saw a spider hanging from a web directly above where I was about to sit. Nate would have been so proud of how calmly I got a paper towel and squished it -- no drama at all. :) So then Hannah asked what would have happened if it had landed on my head. I told her it probably would have made a web and caught a fly and had a snack along with us. Hannah was thinking pretty hard about that when Nikki said, "Ha! Mom, that was a joke!" So then Hannah asked if it really could have made a web in my hair. I said probably not because I move around too much, and he wouldn't want to stay on my head. Hannah said, "No, because you like to sleep a lot and eat a lot, and you stay still when you do that." I couldn't help but laugh. She is only too right.

Baby Name

We are having the hardest time thinking of names even though we have a huge book of thousands of names. Hannah and Nikki are really pulling for Alex. I like that, but I don't think it's my favorite. What names do you like?

Our tooth fairy

Hannah has been on a tooth-losing kick lately. I wanted to get a picture of her toothless mouth, and she decided she would rather have her picture taken dressed up like the tooth fairy.

She lost two teeth last week, and the tooth fairy forgot to come on the first night she had the first one under her pillow. It was heartbreaking to see how disappointed she and Nikki both were. The next night she remembered to come and even sent Hannah an email apologizing and explaining how busy she was, which satisfied her. It's so wonderful that they don't hold a grudge.

Oh, come on!

Hannah had an eye appointment today, and afterwards we came home and took Pearl to the vet. I spent twice the amount of money on Pearl as I did on Hannah. I think there is something wrong with that picture. Animals are so not worth this. Ever since we got her home yesterday she has been very agitated and it looks to me like blood is draining out of her nose. That can't be a normal post-operative symptom. So the vet said it's either a regular respiratory infection that will clear up with the antibiotic they gave me (no, that I paid for -- they didn't give it to me), or it is this new mutation of a virus that is going around that they can't treat. This virus has a very quick onset, just like Pearl has had, and they don't last more than 72 hours. So, should I have paid for medicine that may or may not help her? I know what my dad would have done living out in the country, and his way of handling it is sounding pretty good to me right now. The laundry room stinks, Pearl is scratching the new paint in there, she woke us up last night and this morning with her meowing, and I can't believe I paid for medicine I'm supposed to give her 3 times a day for 14 days. I guess I should be feeling sorry for her because she is sick, but she isn't one of my kids. I would be hoping that she has this new virus except that means the girls would get to see her deteriorate and die. And I thought my heart was softening. I've had enough of this.

Poor Pearl

We took Pearl to get fixed today. More interesting questions from the girls, especially since Hannah understood when the nurse told me they found that Pearl had been in the early stages of pregnancy. Thankfully, I satisfied her questions without getting into any kind of abortion topics. But I just can't believe she was pregnant again!! Stinkin' cats. It must be hard to be the prettiest girl in the neighborhood. She can't be with her kittens for the next 10 days because they could open her incision. That means she gets to live in the laundry room for the next week and a half. Why not just let her in the house for a little while? Because Hannah is allergic to her. Yes, Hannah sneezes and wipes her nose on the back of her hand and coughs this really gross phlegmy cough all the time. We are all so grossed out by her lately. I think it's gotten worse this past month because it's been warm and they've been outside a lot playing with the cats and bringing their hair back inside with them. So Pearl and Jack and Daisy really won't belong to our family much longer. I'm a little surprised at how much I like them right now. We really couldn't have gotten a better cat than Pearl (besides the fact that she likes to run around with the boys). She loves people and is so friendly even to our neighborhood kids who try to pick her up by her throat. We might miss her, but I can't wait to get rid of Hannah's snot.

Happy Birthday, Nikki!

On Saturday we had Nikki's 5th birthday party. She has grown into such a cute girl. We love her so much. She wanted a castle cake, and she's lucky it had been 3 years since I had made it or I might have remembered how much work it took. It started to fall over to the side, so Nate propped it up with a spoon and the dictionary. Whew! We decided that made it like the cake the green fairy made on Sleeping Beauty that she had to prop up with the broom. =) At least Nikki was pleased. She also wanted to go swimming, and the girls found red and pink balloons, so I don't know what kind of theme that made her party, but it was fun.
Lydia, Emma, Nikki, Lexi, Hannah, and Jennifer (our neighbor). Brenna, Jay, & Eliza skipped out on the picture. We sure have great cousins!

Her birthday was actually yesterday, on Mother's Day. She was born on Mother's Day as well. The first baby born in the hospital that morning. It was fun for her and I to share a special day together yesterday. Usually she is so hard to wake up in the mornings, but Nate whispered in her ear that he had a present for her and she got right up. He had gotten her a Tinkerbell nightgown because he wanted her to have something to open on her actual birthday. She loved it. For supper she wanted omelettos, which are like crepes with syrup, but Nate knows I don't really care for those for supper. So he made me supper first and then made omelettos for the girls. (He had asked me what I wanted him to do for me for the day, but I feel bad asking him to do more than he already does. He really is wonderful to us all.) Nikki gave me tons of hugs, and I thought it was really sweet that she didn't mind sharing the day with me. Hannah made us both lots of notes and cards. It was a really great day.

Going Green

A few weeks ago, JW suggested we watch Al Gore's movie An Inconvenient Truth. I don't think I would have watched it if anyone besides my brother had recommended it. I was rather skeptical going into it, but I have to say it was pretty convincing. I think I have become jaded with the whole global warming issue because it has become so political, and I mostly have only heard about supporters who belong to whack-o extreme environmentalist groups. I am in no way extreme -- too lazy for that. But I think Gore has a good and important message in the movie. I didn't come away from it feeling the need to completely change our lifestyle, but I do think about my choices a little more. And honestly, I am more motivated to save energy for saving the money than to save the environment. Probably not what Al Gore wanted me to get from his movie. Which means that I'm not going to buy all organic, but if organic prices got to a point where they were pretty comparable to regular prices then, yes, I would choose the organic instead. Same goes for hybrids. I would like to have a hybrid, but Nate has been looking into it because of his commute and read that you really don't start seeing savings until you've had the hybrid for about three years because of the extra cost you pay up front for it. However, that timeframe might change a little with the way gas prices are skyrocketing.

But there are a few things that we are doing. We already recycle because the recycling center is just down the street from us, making it silly to pay for the trash pick-up which doesn't even offer the recycling containers in our area. And I read somewhere that about 5% of our annual electric bill comes from appliances that are left plugged in when not in use. So I have unplugged our toaster and can opener and fans. That was actually a pain to get used to when I put my toast in and came back a few minutes later and found it hadn't started toasting because it was unplugged. We shut down our computer every night now when we would have left it on before. Nate has always said that it takes more energy to turn the computer on than to leave it idle, but I'm not sure about that when you leave it on all night. We haven't changed any light bulbs for energy-saver ones, but none of them have burnt out yet. And we are trying to sell our house to cut out miles and miles and miles of driving every day!! That would be so nice, for our carbon emissions as well as our checkbook.

Animal drama

This ugly, sickly stray cat in the left side of the picture has been hanging around the neighborhood for the past couple of days. When we first saw it come into the yard, Pearl attacked it and scared Nikki so badly she started crying. But it keeps coming back, probably for the cat food in the garage, so we've had to keep the garage closed with Pearl and Jack and Daisy inside. I've been so frustrated with it for hanging around, but then I noticed this bird (on the right side of the picture) teasing it. This is the meanest bird ever. It's not like he's protecting his nest because he will follow the cat all over the neighborhood, squawking and pecking at it, and then landing just far enough away to be out of reach. I don't know what kind of bird it is, but if there ever was a reason to give the name mockingbird, this bird just earned it. He is totally mocking this cat, and I am starting to feel sorry for the cat! Maybe there is a soft place in my heart after all. I called animal control and they are supposed to come pick up the cat today. I wonder if they'll take the bird, too.

Family night prep

As I was preparing our lesson for family night tonight from the book Preach My Gospel, I came across this paragraph. "As we rely on the Atonement of Jesus Christ, He can help us endure our trials, sicknesses, and pain. We can be filled with joy, peace, and consolation. All that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ." I love that because it is so true. Hasn't everyone had something happen to them in their life that is unfair, that just stinks? That's part of living in this world, and Heavenly Father knew it would be that way before we ever came here. How wonderful that Jesus Christ took care of that for us. Even when hard things come along we can still have joy and peace. I don't agree with the saying that time heals all wounds. Time can dull some of the pain just because if you endure something long enough you get used to it. But it's the gospel of Jesus Christ that will take the pain away.

Strawberries

We went to the strawberry patch Saturday and got LOTS of strawberries. Hannah was a great picker. She filled her bucket up first. Nikki was done after about 10 minutes, so I gave her the camera to get a few pictures. I thought she did a really good job. She took all of these except for the one I got of her. We made jam, and shortcake, and fresh bread, and we had crepes topped with whipped cream & strawberries for supper. I love strawberries!!

Nikki did get a couple of pictures of me, but who wants to see a blueberry in the strawberry patch? =)

Early Bird

Nikki woke me up at the crack of dawn this morning (okay, it was 7 am, but it's Saturday) and asked, "Mom, is it my birthday?" No sweetheart, you're party is next Saturday. Why does she have to wake me up? Her father is sleeping, too. He could answer her question just as well.

Short tag

My friend Kristen gave me this tag, and it's actually really hard for me to try to describe myself.

The rules state that I must use the letters of my middle name and describe myself with words using the corresponding first letter...(the pressure's on!)

Married
AGHHH
Respectful
Intelligent (if I do say so myself =})
Easy-going

Is AGHHH a word? That's my state of mind quite often. Maybe I'm not as intelligent as I thought. Now I tag Kellee and Karoline. You have a forever long middle name Kellee, so good luck! =)