Bridget's First Lost Tooth

On December 19, 2008, Bridget lost her first tooth. Rachel, helped her to pull it out. She had been wiggling it for a few days. She was so excited to make out her first envelope for the tooth fairy. Rachel helped her to make out the envelope. She has had lots of experience making out envelopes for the tooth fairy. She even remembered to put the date in the lower corner on the back of the envelope. What a helper she is!

The tooth fairy wasn't able to make it the first night that her tooth was under her pillow because she was busy helping Santa get ready for Christmas. As you all know, he is very busy this time of year and needs all of the extra help that he can get. She is such a good fairy to help Santa out! Bridget was so excited when she woke up the second morning to find 5 one-dollar bills under her pillow. Do you think that I could get rich if I pulled all of my teeth out? LOL

I can't believe that my "baby" is old enough to lose teeth already.

Happy Birthday Katelyn

Katelyn celebrated her 9th birthday on November 25th. It's hard to believe that she is 9 years old. I can still remember when they laid her on my stomach after she was born. We were so happy to have our baby girl join our family! Katelyn was born on Thanksgiving day. With my pregnancy with Katelyn, I had gestational diabetes and had to be monitored at the end of my pregnancy. I remember being at the hospital for a stress test on the Tuesday before she was born. A nurse came into the room and told me that I was having contractions during the stress test. I told her that she didn't need to check me because I had a doctor's appointment that afternoon. When I went to the doctor's appointment, Dr. Prochnicki checked me and told me that I was dialated to a 3+. I was excited to finally meet my baby girl! He also told me not to have the baby on Thanksgiving Day. Katelyn must have heard him and thought that it would be great to be born on that day, just because he had said not to. When Dr. Prochnicki came in around 12:00 noon (we had been there since around 4:00 a.m.) to break my water, I remember telling him that it was his fault that we were there.

We had a great nurse for most of my labor. Her name was Seanna. She stayed a little after her shift so that she could be there when Katelyn was born. She attended the singles ward in our Stake and knew my sister April. Some time around 5:00 p.m. Seanna came in and said that we could try "practicing" pushing. She had only counted to about 4 when she said to stop because she could already see her head. She immediately called Dr. Prochnicki who came right down to the hospital for the delivery. My labor with Katelyn was pretty easy and the pushing was a cinch. Heavenly Father must have known that after my experience with Hunter, he had better bless me with an easy delivery. I only had to push two pushes before Katelyn was out.

When she was born, she weighed 7 lbs. 6 ozs. I thought she was tiny. She is not so tiny anymore. Some times when I am waking her up for school in the morning, I will "lay" her in my lap. She hangs way over now my lap now. It's hard to believe that she was ever my smallest baby. I am pretty sure that she will be taller than me. Thank goodness for that!

It's hard to believe that it has already been a year since she was baptized. Katelyn chose to go to Amazing Jake's for her birthday. I told her that she could invite one friend to go with us. She chose to invite a young girl in her class at school, Madison Klein. She has been such a good friend to Katelyn. She has been in Katelyn's class for a few years now.

Katelyn had asked to have cookies brought to her class to celebrate her birthday. She really loves the chocolate chunk cookies from Costco and that was what she chose. It was kind of funny when I took the cookies to her class, several of the students in her class came up to me and asked me if they could go with us to Amazing Jake's. I felt kind of bad when I had to say that she could only invite one friend. Can you imagine taking any more kids to Amazing Jake's? I can't, that would have been crazy.

We had been to Amazing Jake's one time previously with our Smith cousins. The girls knew what to expect and could hardly wait to go again. We enjoyed eating the buffet after when we first got there that afternoon and then we had a little snack later on in the evening. Their buffet is really good with lots of choices to enjoy.

After a few hours at Amazing Jakes, we headed home so that Katelyn could open the rest of her presents. She had previously opened her gift from Madison and her guitar from Rachel and Bridget. She opened a new Barbie, Alexa, from the Diamond Castle, a High School Musical Dance Mat, and a Dora "Adventure Globe" toy to play on the TV. Katelyn had also wanted to make chocolate milkshakes. About one week before her birthday, she had made chocolate milkshakes in Speech with her Speech teacher. She had been talking about how much fun that was and wanted to do it for her birthday.

We are so glad to have Katelyn as a part of our family. She is a great "big" sister to both of her sisters. We love you Katelyn!!

Sacrament Primary Program

On October 26, 2008, we had our yearly Primary Sacrament Program. Each of the girls was given a speaking part for the program. They each did a pretty good job of memorizing their parts.
Katelyn's part was "Heavenly Father has given us temples to bless our lives. Families can be together forever because of temples."
Rachel's part was "Because I am His child, I will serve Him with all my heart, might, mind and strength."
Bridget's part was "I know that Jesus lives and that He loves me."
The girls were all decked out in their finest Sunday best. I had bought them fabulous dresses at Costco (gotta love Costco dresses). Too bad Katelyn will be too big for them after this year. Why do they have to grow up? The night before the program, I spent time making fabulous hair bows to match their dresses. The morning of the program, my friend, Gini J., had come over to help me make their bracelets and necklaces (thanks Gini). They looked fabulous, if I say so myself.
We had some really great family members who came to watch the program. Grandpa Rudd, Grandma Gaddie and Auntie April, Brycen and Brielle all came to watch. We are so grateful for our fmaily and the support that they are to us.

Another Lost Tooth

Rachel has recently lost another tooth. It is a much anticipated event in our family because the tooth fairy brings $5.00 for each lost tooth. Rachel was so excited to save her money to buy something on her field trip. She chose to buy a harmonica. When will I ever learn? LOL

Tolmachoff Farms in Glendale

On Wednesday, November 19, 2008 I had the opportunity to accompany Bridget on her field trip to Tolmachoff Farm in Glendale. What an adventure that was. The drive over was really long but the ride home didn't seem to be so long. This was the best "farm" field trip that I have ever been on. We got to pick vegetables from the "huge" garden, go through a corn maze, and the kids got to ride on a "train." I told Bridget's teacher that next time we went there we needed to leave a little earlier because we didn't have time to see and do everything that the farm offered.

Here is a picture of Bridget on the bus waiting to leave. Does she look excited or what?

This is a picture of our "group." Left to right, Bridget, Ben, Mom (Staci), Victor, and Alexandra.

Bridget and Alexandra waiting for the "train ride."

American Heritage Festival

On Friday, November 14, I had the pleasure of accompanying both Katelyn and Rachel on their first field trip of the year. Both the 2nd and the 3rd graders had the opportunity to attend the American Heritage Festival out at Schnepf Farms in Queen Creek. Katelyn's teacher had asked me earlier in the week if I wanted to have both of my girls in the same group and I said yes. It was nice. I've always tried to go with my kids on all of their field trips. I think that there have only been two that I've missed over the past 4 years. I've always figured that if someone was going to lose my kids, I should be the one to do it. Luckily that has never happened.

It was a good day. The weather was warm but not too hot and the girls enjoyed themselves. Katelyn's class had gone to the festival last year but this was Rachel's first time. They enjoyed seeing the "mock" battle with the cannons and rifles. It was really pretty neat.

A funny, a few nights before the field trip Rachel noticed that Katelyn had a pair of her panties on (they are her favorite pair with "pet shop" puppies on them). She got mad at Katelyn and told her to take them off right away because she wanted to wear them to the field trip. It was really funny, I told her that I would have time to wash them before the field trip but she was pretty adamant that I wouldn't have time. It was really pretty funny. On a side note, I was able to get them washed and clean before the field trip so that Rachel could wear them.

This is a picture of "our group" with "Abraham Lincoln" (left to right) Katelyn, Jasmine, Dakota, Rachel, Bethel, Jennifer and Jacqueline.

This is a picture of Rachel with a "coyote" skin hat.

This is a picture of Katelyn with the same "coyote" skin hat.

Rachel holding a pretty heavy rifle. Can you imagine having to carry that for miles and miles?

Katelyn "trying" to hold the same heavy rifle.

Here is a picture of all three of us at the end of a "long" day. The girls are holding their prizes, Rachel got a harmonica and a sling shot, Katelyn got a sling shot and we got Bridget a fan and a sling shot.

Halloween

I can't believe that I haven't posted any pictures from Halloween before now. The girls decided that they wanted to be Super Heroes this year. Katelyn chose to be Wonder Woman, Rachel chose to be Super Girl, Bridget originally wanted to be Cat Woman but I told her that the costume wasn't very cute and convinced her to be Bat Girl. I ordered the costumes from an online store and was pleased with the costumes when they arrived. The girls were ecstatic and couldn't wait to wear them.

Our neighborhood becomes very inundated with trick-or-treaters on Halloween. We have only passed out candy a couple of years in all of the years that we have lived in this house. Since the girls were born, we have always tried to leave before it gets dark. We started the night out early by going to Grandpa and Grandma Gaddie's house. Then we went to our ward trunk-or-treat for lots of fun. The ward members parked their vehicles and passed out candy from the back. I had go a little bit overboard and bought way to much candy. Luckily, Reed was able to hand it all out. I am pretty sure that he was handing the candy out by the handful. I'm sure that the kids that came to our van, left happy with lots of candy. After the ward trunk-or-treat, we went to Grandpa and Grandma Rudd's house.

The girls gathered more candy than they could ever eat. I think that most of the candy is still on top of the fridge, minus all of the Twix and Snickers bars (they are Mom's favorite). All in all, we had a wonderful Halloween. The girls are already planning what they can dress up as next year.

Katelyn (Wonder Woman), Rachel (Super Girl), and Bridget (Bat Girl)

Katelyn, Rachel and Bridget with Bishop Terek at the Ward truck-or-treat.

Katelyn, Rachel and Bridget with Grandpa Rudd

1st Quarter Awards

On October 17, 2008, both Bridget and Rachel were given awards for their accomplishments for the 1st quarter of the 2008-2009 school year.

Rachel received awards for being a Super Attender, and a PAWS award for "Positive Words and Actions." Each quarter each teacher picks a student out of their class that exemplifies an attribute outlined in the PAWS statement. "P" stands for Positive Words and Actions, "A" stands for Academic Excellence, "W" stands for Winning Attitude, and "S" stands for Selfless Service. Way to go Rachel!!

Here is a picture of Rachel with one of her teachers Ms. Baker.

Bridget received awards for being a Super Attender, First Honor Roll and a PAWS award for Selfless Service. I am sure proud of my little Bridget. Way to go Bridget!

Here is a picture of Bridget with her afternoon teacher Mrs. Vaughan.

Here is a picture of Bridget with her morning teacher, Mrs. Fisher.

We are sure proud of our daughters and their accomplishments. Keep up the good work!!

The Museum with our Cousins

On Friday, October 10, 2008 we invited our cousins, The Smith's, to go with us to the Natural History Museum in Mesa. My daughters call the museum, The Dinosaur Museum. We had lots of fun as we wandered around the museum checking out all of the fun exhibits. We also purchased a membership for the next year so that we can go back and enjoy the museum any time and as many times as we want.

Here is a picture of all of the cousins in "jail."

Here is a picture of the cousins showing off their "gold."

Here is a picture of my little "angels" standing in front of the stage coach.

Thanks, Smith Family, for coming with us to the museum. We really love having so much family so close to do things with often.

Giving Thanks

The time of year for giving thanks is here once again.

Thanks for all the little things that we all hold so dear.

The smile from a child, a simple kiss good night,“I love you mom”

as they leave for school and quickly run out of sight.

A goodbye kiss, from the one that we hold most dear.

The phone call from them later to see how our day has

been and if we are all right.

Or their warm embracing hug when they return

home to us at night.

A quick note from a friend or mother can change an entire day.

Or better still the hour chat that could go on for

another hour or two still.

When asked “What did you talk about?”

That is the easiest of replies.

We talked about the little things that we love about our lives!

The things that drive us crazy!

The things that make us cry!

The things that we worry about!

All the little things that add up in our lives!

And what would our day truly be without those simple things.

The phone calls, kisses, hugs, and such that we all hold so dear.

The things that keep us sane!

So even on the days when you think

“I’m going to lose your mind!”

Just remember all the little things

that make it all worth your time.

We don’t remember our blessings as often as

we should and in the time of year

when we are reminded to give thanks

for all the things we have.

These should be the first and not the last

we thank the Lord for in our prayers.

One more thought before I go……….

shouldn’t we give thanks all year for these

“little” things and life that we have?

The things and the life we are so blessed to have?

Why do we wait till we are reminded to “Give Thanks”?

We should remember them all year, every day, every hour!

I borrowed this from a friend's blog. This poem was written by my friend, Rana Mortensen. I thought that you would all enjoy!! I am going to try to be more grateful for all the blessings in my life.

Just Call me Betty Crocker or Susie Homemaker

I am turning into a regular homemaker. During the week of "Fall Break" (October 6-10) I made homemade strawberry freezer jam.

Here is a picture of my second (2nd) batch of strawberry jam for this year. Pretty impressive, isn't it? I think so. I made 12 pints of jam and 12 half-pints of jam to give away with a loaf of bread at Christmas time.

Three days later, on October 11th, my sister, April, and I got together to can pears. What an adventure that was, with eight kids (her 5 and my 3) running around my little house. Can you imagine the fun? Luckily, April has kids the same age as my girls and they play well together.

About one-third of the way through the canning process, I heard Bridget start crying while the kids had been playing out in the backyard. Evidentally, the kids had been sliding down the "waterslide" that Reed had built for the girls this summer. The only problem is that they were doing it without water and Katelyn had pushed Bridget down the slide. Well on her way down the slide, she cut open her left knee. She started walking toward the back door screaming and blood dripping down her leg. It looked to me like there was a big gash of skin missing from her knee. It wasn't really missing skin, but the knee had been split open. I called Sister Jensen from down the street (she is a school nurse and Allison Jensen's mother-in-law) to come down and look at it and tell me if she thought that it needed stitches. She said that she definitely thought that it needed stitches especially because of where the laceration was. I left April with all of the kids (minus Bridget of course), with the pears only 1/3 of the way canned and took Bridget to urgent care where she received 5 stitches. She is my only child who has ever had stitches and she has had them TWICE now. Is this kid accident prone or what?

After our two hour adventure at urgent care, I came home to help April finish canning the pears. She had done a good job keeping track of the kids and still getting some more of the canning done. We were able to finish up the rest of the pears and get them all sealed. We ended up with 31 quarts, which we split between the two families (luckily we were able to keep the extra quart since you can't split them in half).

Here is a picture of my pears, aren't they pretty? I think so. It feels so good to be adding to the food storage for my family.

I have learned so much over the years about food storage. I know that there is a lot more that I would like to learn. My next canning adventure is to learn to can chicken. I use chicken so much for dinners that I would love to have some ready to use. Watch for my next "Susie Homemaker/Betty Crocker" post. LOL

Bridget's 5th Birthday!!

My baby is 5 years old!! Bridget turned 5 on September 22nd. Can you believe it? It makes me so sad to say that. I can hardly believe that it has been 5 years since her birth. I would love to be able to put a picture of Bridget when she was a baby. But when our computer crashed, I'm still not sure how to access the pictures from the old computer. Maybe some day I'll be able to figure that out and post old pictures.

Bridget actually got to have "two" small parties. On her birthday, her Daddy bought her a cake, we sang "Happy Birthday" and we had pizza for dinner. After dinner, I took the girls to "Jungle Jim's/Jeepers" to have fun. All of the girls really enjoy going there. I'm not sure why they think that place is so much fun, but they do.

Here is a picture of Bridget blowing out the candles on her cake that her Daddy bought for her.

Sunday night (September 28th) we had a family birthday party with the Smith family (Auntie April's family) and Grandpa and Grandma Gaddie. We had "Hawaiian Haystacks" for dinner (one of our family favorites and always a good Sunday dinner). The Shope family (Aunt Becky's family) was unable to come because of their church schedule and the need for their kids to get into bed on time. We really missed them and hope to be able to see them soon. After dinner, we had cake and ice cream.

Here is a picture of Bridget's birthday cake made by a friend of mine. Isn't it adorable? My friend, Rana Mortensen, made the cake. She offered to let me borrow her cake pan and "teach" me to decorate the cake myself. I opted just to pay her to make it. Wasn't that a good deal on my part?

Here is a picture of Bridget blowing out the candles on her cake.

After cake and ice cream, Bridget opened her birthday presents. She had previously been given a super "Jasmine" sleeping bag from the Smith family, she got a card in the mail from the Strong family (Aunt Kicky's family), some fun outdoor sidewalk chalk toys, a brown pony in a purse and the new "Barbie Diamond Castle" movie. The Satuday before her birthday, Bridget got to go shopping and out to lunch with Grandma Rudd and Aunt Chelsey. She picked out some really cool new Dora and Barbie toys from Grandpa and Grandma Rudd, the Tisdale family (Aunt Whitney's family), and Aunt Chelsey. She had a real blast. Thanks so much for a really fun time and the great presents.

Here is a picture of Bridget with her birthday presents that she opened on Sunday night. Doesn't she look happy?

Bridget had a really awesome 5th birthday. Thanks to all of those who were able to celebrate it with us.

Would you Please Quit Bugging Me?

My sister, April, has been bugging me lately to update my blog and post pictures. I don't know why she thinks that I have soooo much time on my hands. LOL Well, I am updating tonight but am not posting any pictures. I don't know how to download any pictures from the camera. Ever since our computer "crashed" we haven't downloaded any new pictures so there are no new pictures to post. I'll get to that sooner or later.

I don't have a whole lot to talk about. The kids are doing well in school.

Katelyn is doing well in Miss Jazwin's class. She doesn't enjoy doing her homework with me and always wants to do it with her dad. I'm not sure why that would be? LOL Anyone who knows Reed knows that he is wrapped around his daughters' little fingers. Katelyn really enjoys going to Achievement Days. I started calling it "Activity Days" when she first started going and now when I try to call it "Achievement Days" she always corrects me and tells me that it is "Activity Day." She always remembers which Wednesday they will be having an activity and will warn me in advance. I remember her first activity, they went to the cemetery to "clean up." Every now and then she will tell me that the "cemetery is getting dirty." She showed her group where her brother, Hunter, was buried. She wasn't able to take them to his headstone right away but she knew that he was buried on 5th street. In the area where he is buried, there are lots of babies and little children, a lot of the headstones are the same kind as his. So to her, they all look the same. They wandered around a little before they were able to find his headstone. I was impressed that she was able to direct them that much. I didn't think that she paid that much attention to where he was buried when we've been there before. Boy, was I wrong.

Rachel has changed classes to the "gifted" 2nd/3rd grade class. Her teachers now are Mrs. Baker and Miss Cronk (I'm not sure if I spelled that correctly). She seems to be really enjoying it. A lot of the kids in her class were in her class last year. After we were approached by the principal about changing her to this class, I talked with her that night and she didn't even hesitate to say "yes." She was so excited and told the principal the next day that she wanted to move to Mrs. Baker's class. In this class, they are going to be doing more "out of the box" kind of assignments. I think that she will do well, she really seems to thrive on the "challenge."

Bridget has also changed her classes, she now goes to Mrs. Fisher's class in the morning and then goes to Mrs. Vaughan's class after lunch. She seems to be doing well with the change. One day she came home and told me that she didn't go to Mrs. D's class anymore. I was kind of surprised but then I realized that the students that were a little farther ahead went to Mrs. Vaughan's class in the afternoon. I guess we have another little "smarty pants" in our family. I like to say that Bridget is 4 going on 15. I've always said that Rachel was whatever age she was, going on 30. How true that is. One day I asked Bridget's teacher, Mrs. Vaughan how she was doing. She replied, "Awesome, she has a personality and a half." How true that is. Anyone who knows Rachel knows that she is full of personality. Bridget isn't far behind Rachel in the personality department.

Bridget had to get her "kindergarten" shots this last Friday. She didn't like it one bit!! I didn't tell her that she was going to have to get shots until after the doctor left. She started to cry right away. Poor girl. She had to get 4 shots. Three shots in one arm and one in the other. She got the MMR shot in her left arm. A day or so later, her left arm was really red, swollen, hard and was warm to the touch. I was worried and asked a couple of people (one a school nurse and the other a music therapist at Banner Desert) at church what they thought. They both told me to watch it and let the pediatrician's office know about it on Monday. By Monday morning, her arm looked lots better. She never did complain about her arm hurting.

I guess that I had more to talk about than I thought. I am still going to the gym 5 days a week while the girls are in school. In a couple of weeks, I will be starting my "annual" testing that I do every fall with the ELL (English Language Learners) at both Burke Basic School and Happy Valley School. I'm actually going to Happy Valley tomorrow morning. I hope to be finished with the students at Happy Valley tomorrow. They have only given me 6 students to test. Burke on the other hand has around 100 students. Luckily, I have someone to help me with the Burke testing.

I made homemade bread this last Saturday. My friend, Gini, gave me her recipe for whole wheat bread. It was absolutely delicious and so easy. This was the first time that I have ever made bread in the Bosch and then put it into loaves and baked it. This recipe was so easy. If I can do it, anyone can make this bread. I took a loaf over to our neighbors with a jar of strawberry jam (what's homemade bread without strawberry jam?). It was quite a compliment, when our neighbor, Becky, said that it was the best homemade wheat bread that she had every tasted and wanted to know if it was really my first time. What a compliment! I really have to compliment Gini for this recipe. If you would like the recipe, I would be glad to share it.

I made this recipe again last night for fry bread. The dough turned out just as good as the first time. The Smith family has been joining us for dinner on Tuesday nights while Shawn is at school at MCC just up the street from our house. Brynlee and Braeden take piano lessons from our Bishop's wife, Kathrine Terek. After their piano lessons, they come over for dinner and then hang out until Shawn is done with class. Next week, April is in charge of the main dish, I wonder what she'll come up with? We've had spaghetti, lasagna and now fry bread. We're planning on making meals for the freezer next week, so I think she is planning on just making extra of one of the meals so that we can have that for dinner.

Reed has been keeping busy with work. Between the two schools, he stays pretty busy. Work for him usually slows down after summer, but not this year. He has been plagued with A/C unit repair calls and roof leaks from all of the rain that we have been blessed with. At least it keeps him busy and "out of my hair" most of the time. That's a good thing.

Well, I think that's enough for tonight. Hopefully this will appease my sisters who have been pestering me for an update.

Missing in Action for A Few Weeks

Well, where to start. Our computer crashed and died a little over three weeks ago. What did I ever do without a computer? I'm not sure. So much has happened since I posted the last time. All of my babies are in school ALL DAY this year. I can hardly believe that my little Bridget is old enough to go to school. She started kindergarten this year at Burke Basic School. So far I think she is adapting pretty well. I wasn't sure how she was going to do because she is my only child who still likes to nap most days. She has needed a nap almost every afternoon this week. Her teacher this year is Mrs. Vaughan in the morning and then she changes classrooms after lunch and her teacher is Mrs. D.

Rachel is in the second grade and her teacher is Mrs. Dial. So far she seems to be enjoying the class. Hooray for no homework on Fridays. Her teacher last year gave her homework even on Fridays and we are really going to enjoy having no homework on Fridays. Most of her classmates from last year are in her class this year.

Katelyn is in the third grade and her teacher is Miss Jazwin. Miss Jazwin was her teacher last year and she and Katelyn seemed to work well together. Miss Jazwin asked to be moved up to the third grade and are we ever grateful that she did. So far this year is going pretty well (even though it's only been one week.)

As for me, I've really been enjoying myself while the girls have been in school. I've been to the gym every morning, read two books and have had a lot of quiet time. Hooray!! It's been almost 10 years since I had any time like this to myself. Can you tell that I have been enjoying myself? I really thought that I would be so bored and wouldn't know what to do with myself. Boy was I wrong.

I'll post some pictures of our activities the last few weeks soon.

Funeral and then Lunch with Cousins

This morning I went to the funeral for an 19 year old young man who grew up in the ward where I also grew up, Bryan Andrew Hall. He didn't go by his first name but went by his middle name of Andrew. He was diagnosed at three months old with cystic fibrosis and he fought with this illness all of his life. In February 2007 he received a double-lung transplant that prolonged his life and allowed him to do things that he had never been able to do. What an inspiration their family is to the rest of us.

After the funeral was over I picked up the girls who were staying with Grandpa and Grandma Gaddie while I attended the funeral and while Reed was at work. We met (Auntie) April and her kids at McDonald's for lunch. It doesn't sound like much fun if you're the parent but must be fun for the kids because they always want to go back.

We're Finally Getting a Blog

Wow!! Can you believe that we finally have a blog? We can't. Reed has been telling me for months that I should start one for our family. I've finally done it. I hope that I will be able to keep some sort of a journal of the happenings of our family through this blog.

Well, here we go!!