We're Off!!!

The cuties and I are off to Myrtle Beach to spend a week with my sister; I'll have plenty of pictures to post and stories to share when I get back. Pray that we have a safe trip and my sanity stays intact.

Cry Me A River

Cry me a river, these days I could probably do just that; I am not typically a weepy or over emotional person, but this pregnancy is just different. Even when I feel the spirit usually, I get overjoyed, want to dance, shout for joy (heaven no, I don't do any of the aforementioned actions, at least not in church, I just feel like doing them), but my first response is never shedding tears. In fact, I remember asking my mama when I was younger if crying on the stand at church meant your testimony was stronger; I was beginning to wonder if something was wrong with me. I knew that I felt the spirit, but it didn't make me want to cry, it just filled me with so much joy sometimes I felt like my body couldn't contain it. Mama luckily reassured me that a testimony and the spirit effects everyone differently and for some people that means shedding tears. Well, these days the spirit (well the spirit and the cute little stinker growing inside of me) makes me cry, A LOT! It also makes almost everything turn into something spiritual. Several days ago, Braden and I were watching the following video (LOVE the country music videos on youtube), and I start to just ball. I then go off on a,

"You know, Braden, this life is very hard. There are going to be many times that things happen, many times you are going to fall down. We all fall down sometimes. When I lost your big brother Spencer, that was a really hard time for me. It was like I had fallen down, but I knew I had to get back up. I cried, I mourned, and then I got back up to run my race again. Braden we are in a race, and if we get up every time we fall, we as a family will return to Heavenly Father and Jesus' open arms. Being with them again as a family will be the sweetest joy you will ever feel, and it will make everything you and I experience in this life worth it."

You would think Braden would be looking at me like I was a little loopy about now, but he understood everything I had said. He had felt the spirit too (of course he is my tender hearted one). Braden looked at me and said, "When it gets hard, and I fall down, I will get up, dust myself off, and keep going." Then he said, "Can we watch it again?" So here it is for you; I hope you also are touched by the spirit of its message while you watch it. I know many of you have seen and heard it before.

(you'll need to scroll down first and turn the music off for full viewing enjoyment)

My Little Mermaid

Today Brooke had her third swim lesson, two more to go. I am sooooooo proud of the progress she is making. Initially I had offered the lessons to Braden, but he wanted no part of swim lessons. He in fact informed us that Rich would be teaching him, thank you very much! Brooke however was ecstatic when we told her she could take them. Christy, Braden's preschool teacher, is a certified red cross instructor, so she is teaching Brooke. I have to admit though, after the first lesson Brooke informed us that she was done; she decided one lesson was all she needed. I wrestled with whether I should let her quit or not, being that she is only 3, but then I decided it would just set up a pattern for life (and its not like I had signed her up for fire breathing lessons). Christy and I did talk about adjusting the lessons a little, so now Brooke is allowed little breaks throughout the lesson and a little time was shaved off; one hour was a long time. Since then, Brooke has made progress, and she enjoys it. In fact, when Rich got home this afternoon, all she could do was brag about her newly acquired swimming skills. Here are some pictures of our little mermaid.

Pure Heaven

Today, I had to go to the dentist, and it was pure heaven; not the actual visit, just the ride to and from the dentist. LaNae was watching the cuties for me, so I got to go solo. It was FANTASTIC!!!!! I got to listen to whatever music I wanted, however loud I wanted, and the best part, without any interruptions! Now that is what you call heaven, at least that is heaven to a mother of 3 young children whose husband has been away all week; Calgon take me away!

Just as a little added extra, here are pictures of the cuties' dentist visits yesterday; yes, I did schedule my own on a different day intentionally, and my sanity is glad that I did!

And what did Emma do the whole time, look cute and get into everything she could get her hands on; you know, typical and adorable Emma.

Tie Dye T-shirts

Here are some pictures of the cuties sporting their homemade tie dye t-shirts; I took the pictures a while back, but I am just now posting them. I hope you like them; they are very proud of their t-shirts.

Mama's Birthday Invites

Well, my Mama is turning the big 60 next month, so of course we are throwing a little shin dig to celebrate complete with family, music, food, and a DVD slideshow. We have decided on a beach theme, because she LOVES the beach!!!!!!!!! I decided not to attempt a surprise party again, after my unsuccessful attempt for my daddy.; he did enjoy himself, but it was definitely not a surprise. Anyway, tonight I decided to play around with some digital scrapbooking and make my own invites; I don't know if anyone would ever actually pay me for my work, but it was fun. We recently got an adorable just moved card from some of our friends, and it inspired to try my hand at it. So now, I present to you my almost finished invite (I have to add the info. to the tag), but what do you think so far? Remember to be kind; I like warm fuzzies, but I am not as fond of cold pricklies. :)

Our Little Ham

Emma does whatever it takes to look cute and get the attention she wants, and if you aren't looking at her, don't worry, she will scream at you until you do. Once she has your full attention, she will repeat whatever cute thing she has cooked up and wait for your response. If your response is what she hoped for, she will repeat said performance for more oohing, aahing, clapping, or laughter. Some of her latest antics are twirling until she gets dizzy, walking around carrying a purse, sporting only one shoe, and a necklace draped around her neck, putting her finger up her nose when you ask her to touch her nose, and the adorable lip face. Here are pictures I took as evidence of her ability to look cute, get everyone's attention, and therefore getting everyone eating out of the palm of her hand; she sure is good at what she does, and we love her for it!

One woman's heaven is another man's hell

For those that don't know, my husband has a quick wit, which was evident Saturday night on our date. After going out to eat, we had to make a few stops while we were in Savannah, one of them being Michael's craft store. I of course LOVE Michael's, especially the scrapbook section! Anyway, as I was looking at embellishment after embellishment, fantasizing about all of the incredible scrapbook pages I could make, I exclaimed, "This is heaven!" Rich quickly retorted, "If this is heaven, I would hate to see hell." Gotta love that quick wit?!?

Live Each Day to the Fullest and Hold Tight to Your Precious Children

I think we should live each day like it may be our last or the last of someone we love; we need to savor each moment we have, hold tight to the time we do have, and laugh a little more! Live life to not have any regrets. This video reminds me that I need to: hug my children a little longer, worry about the house and the laundry a little less, listen to their ramblings a little more, spend more time being silly, and realize that every moment I have with them is both a blessing and a gift. There was a time in my life when I wandered if I was ever going to be able to have children, and now I have a house full of hoodlums; I would be ungrateful if I didn't remember everyday how much Heavenly Father has blessed me and if I didn't spend my waking moments letting my sweet miracles know how dearly they were wanted and how much they are loved!

(please scroll down to the bottom of the page and turn off the music before watching the video)

Our Fourth of July Weekend

Well, our 4th of July weekend was a busy and crazy one. We started off Friday morning just spending time together at home, where Emma, the little priss that she is, tried on Brooke's heels for us,...

... and I finished Brooke's pajama bottoms I had been sewing.

Next, we headed to the neighborhood pool for a little swimming and socializing, and quite a bit of chasing Emma around. She is fearless around the pool and even decided to take a little dip without assistance, luckily Rich was watching her (and he had covered her with floaties).

After the pool, we came home, showered, made a solar oven, cooked some smores in our new trusty oven, ate the goodies, and then I took a nap.

After my nap, I made a pasta salad, Rich ran to the store for last minute supplies, and then we headed to the Prices' for hamburgers and hot dogs. Then after dinner we all loaded up in our vehicles and headed to Savannah for the fireworks. Every year they have fireworks on River Street in Savannah, but I have never wanted to attempt it because of the crowds. The Prices however shared their little secret; they watch them across the river at the convention center, so that is exactly what we all did. We set up camp, socialized, the kids played, and we waited for the fireworks to begin. Braden and Brooke loved sitting up on the vans watching the fireworks, but I can't say the same for Emma; she HATED them, and that would be putting it mildly! Braden even sacrificed the earplugs he had brought for himself, but she still screamed. Finally, she fell asleep as I cupped by hand over her ear and held her close to me.

Saturday was a busy day of cleaning and catching up, but Braden did get to have some father son time with Rich Saturday night; he and Rich packed a picnic and headed to the church. It had started to rain, so Braden and Rich decided to have their picnic inside and play a little kickball in the gym; Braden LOVED having Rich all to himself! Braden asked me after they got home whose turn it is to have a date with Rich next, and I said, "Mine, Mine, Mine!"

Today of course was Sunday, which in our house means church, and it means adorable children; there was one Maseda child in particular that was looking especially lovely today, so I made sure to snap a few pictures.

After church, we did the typical: lunch, books, and naps; oh, and the crazy show that Brooke and Braden put on for us where they danced, and Brooke pretended she had a baby in her tummy and was sick and asked Braden (who was pretending to be the daddy) to go to Wal-mart and to please take the children with him (have no idea where she would get that from, LOL).

Though for many that may not be typical, in our house impromptu shows are typical and a common occurence. What happened tonight though was anything but typical! For those who don't know, I recently borrowed a set of knitting looms from my friend Cindy; you know the kind, the Kniffty Knitters, they make it easy for anyone to knit. Anyway, Emma somehow gets a hold of one (I really don't know how she gets half of the things she gets) and manages to get the loom over her head, but she can't get it off. All of a sudden I hear screaming; I discover the source and plead with Rich to help her, but it is no use. It's not coming off; attempting to pull it off only makes it worse, so we start running through our options. Our first option: take all of the pegs out of the loom and see if we can slip it off then. Nope, no go, still stuck. I frantically think of solutions, maybe we can grease her head and get it off; as I am saying this, I understand that it would be futile, but I am desperate to save my daughter and save the loom. Finally, we know what must be done; it has to be cut off, so Rich goes to the garage to retrieve his coping saw. I attempt to calm Emma down and resign myself to the fact that I will be going to Wal-mart tomorrow to buy Cindy a replacement set of looms. Once Rich is back inside, the cutting commences, while I cradle Emma and protect her head. Rich gets one half of the loom cut only to realize he is going to have to cut the other side as well, to prevent possible injury to Emma if he tries to simply pull it apart, so begins the cutting and the screaming. After what seemed like eternity, she was released from her loom prison and collapses exhausted in my arms. Yes, I know many, if not all, of you are laughing right now. I know I will too, one day, but in the meantime I share the painful event only for your amusement. I of course documented our drama with pictures (Braden our other resident photographer was only too happy to oblige); I present them to you as evidence that: 1) Maseda Mayhem is the perfect name for our blog and 2) that we ended our 4th of July weekend with a bang.