Cute Birthday Girl!

We had a great birthday party for Camilly this last Sunday night. Grandma really pulled through, she did all the work because I was in Winter Park with friends until Sunday afternoon. Thanks Mom! She made a darling butterfly cake, as requested by Camille, put together a hot dog (and hamburger) dinner also by request, did most of the gift shopping and all of the wrapping, and she decorated. Camille was just beside herself with excitement!

She got a "just like me" American Girl Doll, and it really does look just like her. We made her start with the smallest gift and work her way up to the biggest, and you should have seen her nervous excited wiggling when she finally got to the doll. The box shape and size are familiar, so I think she knew what was coming!


Grandma also made cupcakes and let the girls decorate them. I don't know how she does it, cooking with the kids is not my favorite--little fingers in everything, little feet under you every time you turn around. I'm all about speed, hurry up and make the food so we can eat! Grandma lets the girls help her in the kitchen all the time, and they love it! They also love to eat their creations, or at least the good parts of them.

And this picture I just like. A little rest from the rough play they had with the balloons that were strung from the chandlier.

Happy 6th Birthday Camille!

You are an eager student, a sensitive girl, a little moody, but just precious when you get it into your head that you want to help out at home. You keep your room neat as a pin, and your little treasures organized. You have a fun laugh and love to play rough with Dad, and you are growing up way too fast for my taste!

SOLD!!!

Phew! We sold our house. The offer came Friday, and is being finalized today. We did pretty well, it is only a little less than we hoped and I think there might be enough to redo my new kitchen counters and tile the backsplash--but we'll get to that later. The close date for this house will be April 28th, that is only three weeks! I can't believe this is all coming together, and our time here is running out fast. A few more things I'm going to miss:

*People who love my kids calling me and asking to watch them.

*"Scrap" Weekend with my girlfriends. We managed to get one more in this last weekend, and I'm really going to miss Winter Park and my friends! I hope I'll still get to go to the next one.

*Purple Mountains Majesty--What on earth will I look at? The view of the mountains gives me such a sense of home and peace, I'll really miss them!

UNDER CONTRACT!!!

We bought a house, or at least we have it under contract and are closing May 15th. It is beautiful, and I can't wait to get my hands on it! Our home here has had tons of showings, but no offers yet, so we are hoping that works out as smoothly as the house hunting did. Check it out! That red dining room where they painted right over the pretty faux paneling is my first project.

Emma's Notes

Emma is such a grown up responsible girl, sometimes I forget she is still fairly small and I'm too hard on her. She is very bright, and a great writer. She leaves notes for everyone, everywhere. Recently she put a post it on my mom's door documenting how many cows she saw in my mom's open space. It was broken down into a mother cow and baby cow count. She wrote me a hate note once because I wouldn't let her use my special "Primary" markers. This one was to her teacher while we were house hunting in Dallas. It's about getting her money in for a cow's eye dissection their class is doing.

Backlog of life happenings

Passing the time at Grandma's house with a game of cards.

Crashed out at Grandma's house. The kids were incredibly well behaved last weekend when we stayed at my mom's because of all the showings we had for our house. It was just easier to not even try to live at home and keep it impeccably clean at the same time. They went to bed when they were told and even went right to sleep--highly unusual!

My Dad always used to take pictures of us sleeping, there is something charming and loveable about a high energy kid so peaceful in sleep--I understand now.

Ashley and Camille LOVE "baby oranges" and they have a fettish with making designs with them on the table. After this picture Ashley said, "where is Grandma?" and ate an orange. Then, "where is Grandpa?" and ate another, then "where is Jamesie?" etc. Apparently it was a little family of oranges!

This is Emma with her good friend Tory who lives across the street. I went on a field trip with her a couple weeks ago, and we had a great time. We saw a children's production of Sleeping Beauty. I love to see Emma interact with her classmates, she is a different person than she is at home. Emma saved me a seat on the bus on the way home, it had been a while since I rode the bus.

I have lots more, but it is after eleven and I'm exhausted! Ashley and Nate tag team me at night, so I haven't gotten much sleep lately. A couple nights ago Ashley told me to leave the ladder up for her (she sleeps on the top bunk) because she was going to be scared in five minutes. Nice.

It begins

Yesterday my mom brought over some boxes and we started packing away clutter so that my house might actually sell. I spent most of the day packing up and cleaning out the office. It is looking better! Tonight Justin's job is to make a storage unit out of his parking space in the garage (I'm sorry Justin, I wish we had a better alternative) so that we don't move the clutter from one corner to another.
Justin's start date is April 15th. We are planning to have him go out ahead, and we will follow at the end of April. That way he isn't swamped in a brand new job and moving in at the same time.

Things I will miss:
*Crazy weather changes. In Denver we say if you don't like the weather wait 5 minutes and it will change. Saturday it was the most beautiful day, around 70 degrees and we went four wheeling up in the mountains. Sunday it snowed all day, and I considered ditching stake conference.
*Trading off making dinner with my mom, and eating with her two or three times a week.
To be continued...

News, news, and more news:

So Justin got the job in Dallas! He got a call this morning, and when he called me I knew before he said anything because his excitement was vibrating over the phone. We don't know anything yet about his start date, so that will be news for another post.



Emma Kay, who has been having digestive problems since I started potty training her, got diagnosed with celiac disease this week. The pediatrician called me during our pancake dinner to give me the news, and then Emma had cereal for the rest of her meal. Luckily she has two aunts with the same thing, so they have already been giving me tips and good info. Looks like we have some big adjustments coming our way.



Nate Dawg, who has not slept well the last two nights straight, has a double ear infection. Whew, this has been a big week for me! I'm still reeling from all the events.