Happy Easter!!!

The holiday re-cap

Hazel made sure that all of the ornaments stayed on the tree...
The making of the ginormous candy train...do you see any train under there?
Poppy hiking in her newly acquired dress (made by grandma Edge) she wore it for four days straight!
The annual Christmas day 5k (we missed it last year due to the pinata accident). Hazel won the youngest participant award...Oscar ran the whole thing! I belive this is his first semi-official 5k. It was fun.
Aunt Rosie and her new boots!
O man working with his new Dremel tool...right up this boys alley. I laugh every time I see him in his safety glasses. He has now begun to wear a face mask too. He dosen't like the styrofoam going up his nose.
Poppy and the beutiful dress. The heaband was made by Aunt Emily.
This my friends was my gift from Rick and the kids...a dinner bell. I think this will be a present talked about for many years!

I'm sad to see the holidays go but grateful for the routines that the new year brings. Last year was really good to us. I'm looking forward to another. I think this was a landmark year for me as a mom. I am learning new ways of prioritizing our life and am finding comfort in simplicity. I'm learning that (as a neighbor recently told me) when raising kids "the days are long, but the years are short." I like being a mom. I really love it. I'm grateful that Rick works so hard so that I can be home with the kids. Because more than ever, I'm realizing that once they hit school years, things start moving much too quickly! Life is good!!!

Has it been a month already???

Let's see...where do we begin?
I turned 30.
Hazel turned 9 months.
We had our 1st Thanksgiving that we actually hosted (thank you Ricky for smokin' the turkey).
Hazel learned to crawl (or fish dive across the floor) and pull herself up on to things.
Oscar lost two more teeth, he is beginning to resemble a really old man or a jack O' lantern. One of his lost teeth he thinks he swallowed during snack time at school.
Poppy started dance classes again and is treating the world like it is one big stage.
Ricky is busy with with work and training for another marathon with a couple of his teenage rivals, I'm constantly in awe at those boys speed and determination!
I have completed two R.S. activities with a very small committee.
Auntie Rosa is finishing up her senior year here with us, and we get to have a built in helper around the house...very handy especially when running Oscar to school for early morning Spanish and reading buddies.
What more can I say? Things have been a bit busy and although I have been checking my email, I just hadn't downloaded any of our pictures from the month until today...The memory card was full. Therefore, I had to empty it to make room for more pictures today.
Maybe I'll get back into the blog world...I now have candy train decorating pictures to download. Supposing my children don't go into a sugar induced coma, I may attempt to post those tomorrow. We shall see.
Life is good...we are gearing up for the holidays and I am seriously amazed that my kids are suddenly so big!!! How is it possible that we have lived here for almost 4 years??? Crazy!

Off to bed I go to start the last week before winter break...bracing myself for the overload...ah, but then we get two full weeks off of school. This may be a blessing or a curse...we may be spending a lot of time at the pool, science center or the library.

Christmas...

Cowboy Oscar!
Oscar is loving his new walkie/talkie watches...if only he could get the ear piece to stay in his ear, he has started wearing the big head phones over the top of the little ones in a effort to keep the little one in. The Grandma's and grandpa's once again spoiled our little ones.
He is also very much loving the new spider man attire and the socks o' plenty that came his direction.
Princess Poppy, as I'm sure you are not surprised, is decked out in princess/pinkolicious attire all of the time. Notice her new favorite book, which I am certain we have read at least a hundred times in the last three days...She has even now requested, when getting her hair done in the morning, to have her hair look like pinkolicious. It usually is that she wants Cinderella or Sleeping Booty hair. But no, not any more, I now have another hairdo to add to the daily routine.

Tonight while Poppy was saying her prayers she said "thank you for sleeping booty (four times), thank you for Belle, thank you for Cinderella, thank you for Snow White and finally thank you for Jesus..." (who knows how she learned about all of these princesses since she has only seen cinderella???)
Oscar has even discovered that he too, loves the dress up box. After pulling out his daddies old boots from his childhood, he put on the cowboy/girl hat that was in the box and told me he was going out to get some wood for the fire. I said "make sure and put your coat on so that your clothes don't get all woody". His response was (with a grin on his face) "why are you calling me "woody" mom??". Yeah, he now is loving his cowboy alter ego to go along with spiderman.
Our house was pretty much a disaster for the entire day and the day following.
Ricky and Oscar participated in the HBJ run, that I would have loved to do, if my cold hadn't been sucking the life out of me.
Rick said it was a lot of fun and Oscar even ran some of it. They were one of the first to finish and were too cold to wait around for the awards, Oscar was hoping to win one, but was happy to keep moving.
Ricky has now broken in his newest running tool, the Garmin. I love finding something that makes him track his workouts better! Seriously, I don't know anyone who exercises as much as him, and we all know that the engineer in him loves to track all of his progress!
Overall, it was a very fun Christmas season with so much love and happiness around us. I feel great with having so many great opportunities to share our life with others this season. We really have been overly blessed!

On a side note, and only to be posted for the note of noticing, was the absence of some yummy Cumming's thin mints and mint M&M's...(no guilt intended) just the fact that the Ghirardelli dark chocolate mint squares that Santa left in my stocking, are not as delicious.

Christmas Eve Party

After a delicious Mexican Fiesta of a dinner(too bad I didn't get a picture of the food)...Jen's Blog even cooked up some REAL traditional Mexican food, as opposed to my americanized 7 layer dip. We then painted ornaments and had a fun white elephant exchange.
We had so many wonderful friends who came to celebrate the birth of our savior! Our friends came from many different places and although some did not know each other, they all seemed to get along great and had a good time.
I was really feeling lucky to have so many wonderful people under our roof. And although they weren't family, it felt like we were all one big family celebrating.
Oscar was fortunate enough to get some fortune Cookies (we all know how much he LOVES them). Poppy was the lucky recipient of the lovely silicone body bits (yes they are as disturbing as they sound!). I got a pretty Christmas chips and dip tray, and Ricky (after having his chocolate stolen) ended up with....a bottle of laundry soap???
To end the night in a super celebratory way, Rachel and Rob were kind enough to serenade us with some piano music.
Seriously, we had such a great time and it was a picture perfect evening (aside form my cold that kept me from singing some of the beautiful Christmas songs).

Christmas Morning!

Christmas was wonderful and there is so much to post about that I have neglected posting at all. Even at this very moment I am going to leave you with a very short blog entry, because I want to get all of it together to post.
I will just say this...Poppy is a perma-princess these days and Oscar is busy at every moment playing with his new swords(yes i gave him swords for the first time ever) and his walkie-talkie watches. My kids have been in this constant state of over-stimulation imagination play. I love it! We are having a good Christmas break.

Wonderful christmasy week...

The week before Christmas and all though our house, our children are mischievous and exploring like louse (lice?).
Oscar discovered as you have now too, that razors are sharp and are not for hairdo's.
Poppy is now short a few strands of hair, but believe it or not she doesn't seem to care.
Sharing heads together they seem to find, that one is better and a lot less confined.
School craft day was fun, with lots to do. Poppy ate her marshmallow draidle before we were through.
My sweet Visiting Teachees were able to meet, as Helen and I served them a soup lunch and a treat. Together we had a wonderful time, sharing the Christmas spirit and some treats divine!

Today was a wonderful Sunday all day through. We each had a special church assignment to do. My talk went well, I made it through, Oscar gave a great primary talk too.

This evening was dinner fun friends with us to eat, then yummy home-made ice cream as a yummy treat!
One and a half days till Christmas,we are not quite through. A Mexican Christmas party tomorrow, with a bit of work left to do.

Why all of the crazy fun and excitement about? It must be the season for reaching out...
Outside of ourselves, to all of our friends, Christmas is about the great love we can send!

Blogger Hiatus!

Turkey day presentation at the school...Oscar shook his cute little tail feathers and made me some tasty stone soup instead of turkey. Poppy and Oscar had our pumpkin pie eaten before the program and the soup was served. His teacher then filled his pie plate with whip cream!
We journeyed to Utah for the Edge family Thanksgiving week. We had a great time with tons of great food and family. Our kids are STILL going through grandparent withdrawal...Poppy at 3am the last 3 nights wakes up crying for Grandma!
Grandma made sure to have plenty of activities for us. WE took a little walk up the canyon on some slippery, icy trails. Oscar had a great time "ice boarding".
This pretty much wraps up the kids week in a picture...stories, toys, cousins, dress-up, treats, and anything their hearts desired...grandma was certain to cater to their every whim...(grandpa did his share too...Poppy still keeps asking about grandpa!)
Thanksgiving day, uncle Carvel brought over a slackline for all of us to play on. It was a lot of fun and Oscar really liked it! I may have to get one for Ricky's Christmas...he has really good balance! Uncle Carvel was impressive with his slacklining abilities!

There is so much I have thought about posting and yet, I really have had no gumption to put it all down. So, here were the foot notes, and I will post some more later....

One year ago...

(Here's a picture from last year's Thanksgiving)

One year ago today we arrived here in Utah and surprised Rick's family for an earlier-than expected Thanksgiving visit.

Yesterday, we arrived just in time to see auntie Natalie swim in her UOU swim meet. It was really fun to watch, and she is so fast!

This past week was so full of many different things...Every day was so full that I didn't have any time to blog. It was a week that made me start to think of all the things I'm going to eliminate from the following week when we return.

Some of the highlights were really fun! Oscar performed a fun Thanksgiving feast and program for us parents. Poppy and Oscar ate their pumpkin pie first before eating our "stone soup". He made a great Turkey with his very cute turkey mask on.

Friday after Rick was home from work, we made our way to Boise. We had a hotel and stayed the night which made it really great to get a few hours of sleep before finishing out the journey.

Poppy decided she would rather sleep in the bed with us however, so even though we had a place to sleep...sleep was not as great as it usually is.

After driving in the car for a long time it is always so nice to go for a nice long run...(that is typically). Earlier this week I was advised to not do any running for a while...(let the whimpering and whining begin). The PT said I could ride but not run for a while. Therefore Ricky took a very fast 4.something run while I tootled along on the mountain bike. I never really got my heart rate up until he asked me to race him around the park.

I would say my quality of exercises has been quite lacking! I find myself more impatient and grumpy! I suppose I need my daily dose of endorphins to make me into a better mommy.

Spinning was nice on Friday, and I'm looking forward to utilizing my Father in laws spin bike while we are here in Utah.

Meanwhile, Oscar and daddy are out in the back yard chasing the chickens, Poppy is napping and we are here in sunny Utah enjoying the warmer weather.

Fourth...

Shiniest Bike award...(everyone was a winner at this bike parade)
Poppy being the sweet little angel that we all know she can be...
Oscar and pop's being cute! (Note to Grandma Edge) The brown wrapped material attached to the front of Oscar's shirt is the blue bird you gave him...he had it attached to him the entire day.

Tribute to Our Daddies!

Today we Share with the blog world some of the hard earned wisdom taught by our great Dad's!

Grandpa Edge: -NBD (no big deal) Truly you have mastered the art of knowing when something is worth worrying over...
-Pentagon: reminding us that we must always keep a even balance between: Familial, Social, Spiritual, Intellectual, Physical.
-Importance of enjoying the great outdoors...bike, hike, garden, etc...
-Makes it a point to keep all of his kids on speed dial for his weekly/daily check-ups.
-Books are improtant...Food for the brain...Thanks for the yearly supply of Christmas books.

Grandpa Dilworth: -You can fix anything with a pocket knife and epoxy. If it is skin; butterfly stitches.

-No matter how busy life gets, you always have time to give the shirt off your back to someone in need.

-Has made a living (or lack there of) raising 11 kids and currently 23 grand kids! Known to say that his children are his Investment portfolio! Also maintains that each child is his "Favorite"!

-Dutch oven king...even backpacking! His solution is to bring a horse to pack the oven! Also, reminds us that "Nature in the rough is seldom mild."

-Scout motto "Be Prepared" comes as second nature to him. Dosen't even mind running a 5k in cowboy boots and wranglers!

-There is nothing we can't do as long as we love the lord, keep the commandments, and withstand the trials. (Truly he has had more than his share in his life time!)

To the Papa! -Brevity is the soul of whit...(notice how I'm already failing)

-If you say run 18 miles...he runs 20...and at a quicker pace, Meanwhile pushing a stroller with TWO kids...(maybe not 18 mi but has been know to push them for 14mi).

-No job is worth not being able to spend time with his family.

-Reminds me daily that less is more when it comes to worldly possessions!

-Continually shares his determination and drive for life with those around him.

-Doesn't mind pitching in to clean up and de-clutter things.

-Faithfully makes sour dough pancakes, waffles, bread every weekend and cooks Sunday dinner!!! Typically he is the best cook in the house!

-Randomly calculates various items (afterall he is a engineer!)...mileage, budet, calories in a tank of gas vs. calories in food...which is more efficient. How long it would take for the airplane we are traveling in to hit the ground, etc...

-Always keeps me on my toes and is a champion tease. Our children are developing similar characteristics and avidly enjoys testing them on eachother!

To all our Daddies and Granddaddies...Happy Fathers day we love you!
P.S. Your packages are on the way...actually they are drying on the table at this very moment so you can look for a Post-fathers day present later this week!

Mother's Delights

Nothing quite says "Happy Mother's Day!" quite like: A Yodeling concert, sour dough waffle breakfast, fresh lilacs on the table, fresh trout dinner, strawberry layer cake, with a little road rash on the top!
Ah, Yes...all the typical family variety spice, that keeps us Mommies coming back for more. I have definitely had a perfectly great weekend.
Saturday: Sour dough pancakes, 13mi run, yard work, pizza, Oscar's bike ride with his new bike garb (courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa Edge), Rick and I leaving the kids with the babysitter for a Wiley Gustafson concert (one of my little known secrets is that I adore yodeling! It makes my hart sing! Seriously, it was probably the best concert I've ever been to!).


Sunday: Sour dough waffles, Dancing around the house to my new yodeling CD with my kiddies, our regular Sunday walk, Church, a tasty dinner, then a bike/walk with little O' that tragically ended with his first good dash of Road rash. After my special mother touch of band-aids, hugs and kisses, my kiddies are now tucked sweetly in bed.

The happy days of motherhood...sweet, spice and everything nice. Happy Mother's day to all of our sweet moms in blog world!