What makes a great dad?

When he comes home at night after a long day of work and finds some pictures that have been colored scattered in the entrance to the family room along with the colored pencils used to color these pictures... he looks down and says, "Are those Cadi's? Wow - she did AWESOME!" No comment about how she left them out right in the walkway, just how great of a job she did with the detailed coloring in the picture.

THAT, my friends, is what makes a great dad!

Frustration!

I am so discouraged! And I just feel the need to vent... so get ready.

This is a "girl" post... boys beware and read at your own risk.


I have had this problem half of my life but it is worse now than ever! I tried to go shopping today. I wanted to find a couple cute maternity tops. (Especially one for David and Teresa's wedding.) This should not be hard. But, it was. Nothing fit. My ever growing belly wasn't an issue at all... it was what sits above my belly that is just unbearable!

I have always been "greatly blessed" up top. A bit too blessed, if you ask me. And with each of my pregnancies (even the miscarriages), I've received more and more "blessings" that have remained even when the pregnancy is gone. Prior to this pregnancy I had just about had it. I had decided to greatly reduce them. And then I found out I was pregnant. At first I thought that it was good that I hadn't done anything drastic yet because if this one is anything like the others, I will be left with more than I began with. Now... I'm not so sure it was a good idea to wait.

You would THINK that being pregnant would make it easier to find clothes that fit my "greatly blessed" body. Because, let's face it... now my belly would be just as "blessed" and finally my proportions will at least appear more normal. Uh, no... not so much. It is even harder now than ever! The top is bigger than ever before and they just don't make clothes that fit this size. At least nothing cute anyway. Not even in maternity.

So... I came home with one stretchy, long-sleeved, maternity T-shirt. (A size larger than I would have gotten a few months ago.) And that's it. Nothing special, nothing cute, nothing for the wedding... just a t-shirt (a comfy one though *thumbs*).

Because I like to kick myself when I'm down, I plan on going shopping again tomorrow. This time to an outlet store. My mission: find a maternity swimsuit (it will have to be a tank-ini ... how do you spell that?) that will actually fit my top and my bottom. I was told if I go to the outlet store, I can mix and match sizes (and for cheaper too!). Here's hoping... I'm also hoping that I can find a purple blouse (not that it would fit if I found it) for the wedding (apparently we've moved on to spring and summer colors and winter colors are "so yesterday").

Belated... Sorry

Happy Birthday (yesterday) to you!
Happy Birthday (yesterday) to you!
Happy Birthday (yesterday) dear David,
Happy Birthday (yesterday) to you!

I'm sorry I didn't post it yesterday... by the end of the day I was so tired, I just completely forgot! I hope it was great!

I did what I set out to do.

I woke up this morning with an awful headache! Ugh. It has been awhile since I've had a headache this bad... not fun. But today just wasn't a day I could stay in bed. Acadia has been waiting for us to be able to invite her friends over for a long time! And that playroom was as big of a mess as I've ever seen before!

So, I cleaned it. Slowly, lol... but it got cleaned. I also went out to pick up a couple take-n-bake pizzas for dinner. Those were the only things I needed done today - and they are the only things that have been done today. lol

Now I'm trying to tolerate 3 overly active, talkative, loud girls. At least they are having fun. And at least I'm going to make the pizzas in one hour and after dinner I'm taking them home. I am supposed to go to an ASL class tonight, but with this headache bordering on migraine status, I think I'll just come home and crash instead.

What DIDN'T I do today?!?

Wow.


I am rather pleased with myself (and I probably shouldn't be as pleased as I am... I guess I should work on being more humble)... I did ALOT today! I don't think I really sat down much at all - there was way too much to do!

As soon as Acadia was on the bus, I was in the car and went to the gym... YAY for me!!! My first day "back" was nice and easy. I just walked on the treadmill. I didn't try to push it or overdo it at all. I just walked. And it felt SO GOOD! I only had time to walk 1 1/2 miles. Then I went straight to my Dr. appointment. The person before me took longer than expected so I ended up waiting for a bit longer than normal, but that's okay. Dr. Bunten got a heartbeat on my little "swimmer" as she called it, said it was "all over the place" but she caught what she needed and said everything was fine.

(One week until the ultra sound!!!)

Then I headed to the store to grab some essentials for tonight's dinner and came home. And that's when I started to really work. I had to clean the whole house (kitchen, dining room, family room, bathroom, fold and put away clothes, put away dishes, wash more, and then put those away too) and make two dinners (and deliver one of them) and I had just over 5 hours to have it all done. Ryan had invited a co-worker and his family over for dinner. Also, this weekend, the mother of one of my YW had surgery so another leader and I decided to make the family dinner tonight. Since we had already arranged to BBQ with the co-worker, I couldn't really do the same dinner for both families. I cheated and pulled out some frozen enchiladas that I had made earlier, defrosted them and baked them up in time to run them over to the other leader's home. She ran my enchiladas plus her spanish rice and dessert over to the family. I ran back home to change and finish my own dinner.

My back is aching and my feet hurt but the house looks great and dinner was delicious. Tomorrow I have alot of work to do too. But I think I can handle it. I need to clean Cadi's playroom. It's a disaster. But it wasn't her fault and Ryan told her she wouldn't have to clean up the mess - in fact he told her that HE would. But that was two weeks ago and he hasn't had the time. So... I get to. : / He owes me! lol

It can't wait another day though... tomorrow Cadi has a playdate with her two best friends. They are all very excited and I'm sure the house will be filled with little girl laughter and probably some high pitched shrieks from time to time... fun stuff. lol
I need to go to bed! Good night.... zzzzzzz....

Betrothal

It's a good thing that we don't really betroth our kids these days. At least it's a good thing for Acadia. Because IF we did, she would totally be betrothed by now!!!

I am in love with a little boy in our ward!!! I have been for several months now, probably about a year. It all started when our ward had an activity that included square dancing. I did not see how it started, but eventually someone got my attention and pointed out my daughter, square dancing on the arm of this Cutie PaTootie of a boy. Picture two 5 year olds, arm in arm, square dancing - I wish I had a picture! They were SO CUTE!!! (And he was such a gentleman! lol)

Since then, I've fallen more and more in love. This little boy loves to sing the Primary songs even more than Cadi (if that's possible!). At one point, the Primary Chorister told me that they were the two best singers in Jr. Primary (that was also when they were 5). I also learned that after hearing a lesson on missionary work, he went home, collected some Book of Mormons (or Books of Mormon, for those of you who have seen The Best Two Years, lol) and went knocking on his neighbors' doors... again, when he was FIVE YEARS OLD! Tell me that isn't cute... You can't!

Awhile ago I told you about Cadi singing a duet for the YW. Well, it was a duet with this young man. They have since been requested to sing it for the a Youth Fireside next month and also as a special musical number in Sacrament Meeting (in front of our entire congregation). They are just so dang cute together! And it makes it even more darling that they have the same color hair... well, his is a little lighter. But it is just too cute!

If this little boy grows up to be a young man anything like what he is now, I would LOVE for my daughter to marry him! I am not kidding, either. I love him to death! (Incidentally, this boy's big sisters are in YW and they think he should marry Cadi too! lol)

I realize that the "m" word isn't one that should be considered for another 14 or 15 years... and alot can happen in that time. And I do want Acadia to choose the man she will be most happiest with... But I really would LOVE it if that man turned out to be this little boy!!! (And in case it is, I'm keeping all the pictures I have of the two of them now to show at their wedding! lol)

The Lost has been Found

YAY!!! It is amazing what you can find when you clean/sort your "junk" area! In my case, that junk area is more a junk room right now. I've actually started phase two and began cleaning out the craft room. And in all that junk was a prized possession that I have been missing alot!

It's a recipe book that I got while living in Massachusetts. The women in our Relief Society collected recipes from some of the ladies - they were especially looking for family recipes that had been handed down from parents or grandparents. Some of my favorite family recipes are in there (Which I have in other places too, so I wasn't worried about losing them.) and I also had tried and liked several of the others. Well, this recipe book disappeared months ago and I had looked everywhere! Well, almost everywhere. No matter, I found it today!!! And to celebrate, I will share one of the recipes that I really like in it...


Napa Valley Chicken

6-8 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 cups catsup
2/3 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 Tbs dried minced onions
4 Tbs butter
2 Tbs brown sugar

Brown chicken breasts and place in 4 qt. baking dish. In saucepan, combine other ingredients and bring to a boil. Pour over chicken. Bake 30 - 35 minutes at 375 degrees.