no.go

claire + dentist chair + different hygienist than last time = another appointment next month with the same hygienist we had last time

father's.day.2008

Let me start by saying that Josh is a great husband! I was going to do a post about him for his birthday, but I ran out of time. I decided I would just do one big post about him for Father's Day instead. As you can see, I'm still a day late, but it's been a busy weekend, and I know he'll forgive me :)

Josh is such a great dad. He truly loves spending time with our girls, and they love to use him as their personal jungle-gym. He wrestles with them, swims with them, lets them "help" him in the garden and with the house, and loves them to pieces.

Josh is also a super-hard worker. He has spent countless hours working on our new house to make it perfect for our family. While he's not always the fastest worker, his quality is unmatched. Once a job is complete, it truly looks fantastic and is nothing but a job well done. Thank you for all of your hard work so far and for all of the hard work that is yet to come!

Happy Father's Day, Josh! I love you and our girls absolutely adore you. I asked each of them what they loved about you, and this is how they responded....

Claire: I love that Daddy wrestles with me and takes me for rides on his shoulders.

Meredith: I love that Daddy loves me.

Amelia: Obviously, she didn't really respond, but I know her answer: I love that Daddy can put me to sleep unlike any other.

Here are some pictures of Josh's "Daddyhood" over the years:

This is Josh giving Claire her very first manicure.

Josh and Claire while we vacationed in the UP.

Josh introducing Claire to Meredith.

Josh and Meredith snoozing after a crazy Thanksgiving Day 2007.

Josh and the girls in front of our 2007 Christmas tree just before Josh cut it down.

Josh and Meredith during Christmas '07 at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Josh and Claire working on the house.

Josh holding Amelia for the first time. (On a side note, whenever Meredith sees pictures like this, she always exclaims, "Daddy is a doctor!")

Josh pushing Meredith on the swing out front.

Josh and the girls "pretending" to sleep. Obviously, Amelia needs to work on her pretending skills.

soccer.mom

I'm officially a "soccer mom". We signed Claire up for soccer through our local parks and rec. It meets twice a week for most of the summer. They practice all summer to play one game at the end of the season. Last night they learned how to kick the ball, pass the pall, stop the ball, and dribble. She's a little timid, but I think that will change once she gets the hang of it. She's in a 5-7 year old class, and I'm pretty sure she's the youngest. She made a new friend on her team last night, and she can't wait to see her again on Thursday! So cute. The whole fam made it to the practice (fun for Daddy!), and we even took a picture of Meredith trying to keep the sun out of her eyes!

Run-in with the Law...Twice

That's right, I was pulled over TWICE tonight...within the same hour to boot. Here's how it all went down:

1. I took the girls to the lake to spend the night with my parents.

2. I told my mom that I would stay until Claire and Meredith fell asleep.

3. Meredith was being extremely difficult at bedtime and would not go to sleep...seriously.

4. I decided to take Meredith for a little drive to put her to sleep. (On a side note, I think I've done this maybe once with one of the kids....something I NEVER do.)

5. We're on our way to the little grocery store when I see a police car.

6. As soon as I turn, I see the police car pull over to WAIT for me to pass him!

7. I know what's coming now. Bright lights, license, registration, handcuffs...ok no handcuffs.

8. "Ma'am, do you know why I pulled you over?" Of course, I know why. I have a headlight out, and I'm normally not even out at this time, but my 3 year old won't go to sleep. I thought I might drive her around to put her to sleep. Your bright lights are NOT helping. (I didn't put that part in.) And I NEVER drive around to put my kids to sleep. (He's thinking: yeah right!) Oh, and my address isn't correct on my license because we just moved. Sorry.

8 1/2. "Mommy, what are all the bright lights? Who was that man? Why am I in my pajamas? Where is Amelia? Why am I not wearing shoes? What if Amelia gets hungry?" And probably a few more I'm not remembering.

9. The older cop who was in the car comes out and tells me that they are pulling EVERYONE over that is breaking any part of the law because they are doing training and are trying to cut down on drunk drivers. AND there are 13 cop cars out patrolling this area. They like to call it "saturation".

10. He also informs me that I'll probably get pulled over again.

11. Yep.

12. I take Meredith back to the cottage (still not sleeping), and lay her down. Thankfully, she falls right to sleep.

13. I pack Amelia up, and we head back home.

14. 1 mile later, we're sitting in front of another police car's flashing lights.

15. I flash my I've-already-been-pulled-over warning ticket.

16. You get to drive away much quicker the second time.

17. We pass another police car in town. We get the cold shoulder this time.

18. I'm pretty sure they put a call out to avoid the white Honda Odyssey.

Lot 'o Stuff

So much fun stuff to post about today! Claire's birthday was a big hit last week. We had already celebrated with Josh's family on Memorial Day. So, my parents came over for dinner on Claire's birthday, and Dave, Deanna, Mae, Kennedy, and Hayden also came over for cake and ice cream. The cake was a big winner with my birthday girl. She wanted a castle cake, and she absolutely loved it. After her raving comments, I thought about going into business :) However, I remembered that they were coming from my 5 year old, and I decided to stick with being a mom! So here is the fun story about the cake:

Claire had been telling me that she wanted a "castle cake" for a few weeks. I wasn't sure how I was going to pull this one off. I don't know how to draw a castle or make one for that matter. That's where Google comes in! I typed in "easy castle cake". Well, castle cakes sure came up, but they certainly didn't appear to be "easy". So, I took a little of this one and a little of that one, and I created my own design that seemed "easy enough" for me! It ended up being pretty easy, and all day long, Claire kept saying, "Mom, that is my most favorite, favorite cake ever!" So, I figured, even if it wasn't the perfect castle cake, my birthday girl loved it and that's all that mattered. Here are some pics of the cake and from the party:

Saturday, Josh was working outside planting our garden (more pics of that to come soon), and he found this massive snapping turtle. He said it wasn't so massive, but I thought it looked huge! He would hold a little stick up in front of its face, and it would totally "snap" at it with its mouth. I wouldn't have wanted my finger close to its mouth...I'm sure I would only have 9 digits instead of 10! Yikes!

Houston....we have a thumb-sucker! I'm guessing it's going to be a thumb, but right now it's the whole hand! I did catch a picture of the thumb actually in there. So cute! I have a video that I tried to post of it, but I'm slightly technically challenged, so you might not get the privilege of seeing it...sorry. I'll work on it. But here are some good pictures of the event as well as an adorable smile from my baby girl:

Happy Birthday Claire!

What an exciting day! Claire is a whole handful of years old! Can you believe she is 5 today? I'm not old enough to have a 5 year old, and surely we haven't had her that long! She is such a blessing to our family and such a great help to me! She loves her little sisters so much (even though she can push Meredith's buttons like no other!). She's a little cheerleader to everyone. Let me give you a quick example: At lunch on Tuesday, I was making grilled cheese sandwiches. I seriously burned the first two sandwiches that I made (there are certain tasks that you shouldn't multi-task...laundry and grilled cheese is one of them). Anyway, so I began my 3rd grilled cheese and I decided to stand there while it cooked. I flipped the grilled cheese at the perfect moment, and Claire starts clapping and cheering! "Mom, you didn't burn it this time! That is so great!" :) That truly brightened my day and encouraged me in my cooking quest.

Claire is extremely athletic and picks up quickly on anything that requires coordination. Playing golf and wrestling with Daddy are two of her favorite things. She is full of "great ideas" and will gladly share them with anyone who will listen! She loves to write and is really looking forward to reading. She has been such a joy to all of us, and we can't wait to see her grow up even more over the next year...especially since she is starting kindergarten in the fall! We love you so much, Claire; you are such a special little girl!

Here are some pictures of Claire throughout the last 5 years!

Fun with the Girls (and Emmett)

Ok, so over the weekend we had a lot of fun. At the hotel that we stayed in, we were able to swim in the pool on the 19th floor. Let's just say, I'm glad I wasn't staying on the 18th floor (we were on the 3rd). I mean, seriously, that would be a huge bummer if the pool fell through the ceiling of your room. Who ever thought it was a fantastic idea to put the pool on the top floor? I guess it works and all, I just wouldn't think of it as a genius idea. Uncle Andrew and Aunt Jill took the kids swimming on Saturday night, and Josh and I took the kids out to dinner and then swimming on Sunday night. It was a whole lot of fun! Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the trip...Josh had the camera packed up in his truck :(



Our dinners out were fantastic! Josh went out to dinner on Thursday, and the place they went prints new menus every night for dinner. In honor of Amelia's birth, the gentleman that was taking Josh out had the menus printed especially for us. Every menu that was delivered to every guest that evening had "It's a Girl!" printed on the top of the menu. How cool is that? We have a few copies, and they also gave us a card. So nice. Anyway, so one of my favorites was getting macaroni and cheese at the nice steakhouse on Saturday night. Who knew? Mac 'n Cheese at a steakhouse. It was mmmm...tasty! So unique too. And a HUGE thank you to Jill and Drewski for watching the kiddos while we had a couple of nights out! So nice.



The good news is that Julie had her camera when we visited there, so we have a few pictures of our trip to Julie and Emmett's. Emmett was lucky enough to sleep in a house with 6 girls! Wow, that is a ton of estrogen in the house. He survived pretty well, I think. Julie cooked us some awesome lasagna on Tuesday night. She claims it came off of the back of the Barilla box, but I'm skeptical. It was really good...so check it out if you need a new lasagna recipe. BONUS: You don't even have to boil the noodles. Anyway, so we hung out with a fun Moms' group, played in a fun play-area at the mall, shopped at 2 stores (you can't shop for long periods of time with 4 little girls), rescued Harper after she ran out of one store...she's kind of a shopaholic, played at a super-great park, and had lunch at a Panera-type restaurant. I had a grilled brie cheese and apple sandwich. It was great, and I'm ready to go back and have another one.



The kids got along pretty well. Claire, of course, was trying to "help" Harper do everything. This proved a bit troublesome for Harper at times as she didn't like Claire in her face all of the time. On a related note, Harper (16 months) really liked Amelia. She thought Amelia could be her own little baby doll. As most 16 month-olds do, Harper thought she could pull Amelia's hair and drag her around by her legs. Thankfully, Julie was always nearby and Amelia wasn't scarred for life :)



Julie also just became a Creative Memories consultant (scrapbooking supplies), and I know she is going to be great at it! I can't wait to hear of all of her successes. She already has some events planned, and I'm ready to buy a few products (and I don't even scrap!). They have this fantastic picture frame that I'm going to have to put on my birthday wish-list. For any of you planning to get me something great, I am turning 30 on Thanksgiving Day this year! Ok, back to Julie and Creative Memories...anyway, so she has this software from CM that can create scrapbook pages and lots of cool stuff. So, we put our heads together and created Amelia's birth announcements! So cute. I'm pretty sure most of you will be getting one. If not, I will be posting the announcement here for all to see once I get them mailed out. Thank you Julie for helping me!



I've included a few pictures from the trip. Getting all of the kids to look at us in any one picture was impossible (as you all know!). And Julie and I are trying to figure out how we didn't get any pictures of the two of us...oh I can probably figure it out. I think it has something to do with 4 little adorable girls in our lives!

Harper and Amelia (who doesn't look like she's having much fun)

Emmett, Harper, and Claire swinging in the hammock.
Julie and Emmett have a beautiful backyard.

Claire, Meredith, and Harper in the cool airplane at the park.

Harper, Julie, and Amelia: Amelia really did love Julie!