Fun Run 2008

The girls ran the Fun Run this year, and did a great job!!! These are my future running partners in training!!! They run a whole mile! Great job girls!!!
Cass, before the race
Bell, before the race
And little Elsie waiting so patiently!!!
We didn't sign up in time to get the green shirts, but the girls didn't care, as long as they got a medal in the end!!! They got to run with their friends Kara and Aubree...along with Drew who did a great job keeping track of everyone! The stretch to the finish line!
I think this is so sweet, Madi turning around when she realized that Cassi wasn't at her side.
Cass, proud with her medal!
Madi and her medal. She is now a very proud owner of two medals, (this and last years fun run) a trophy from Soccer and a big blue ribbon from her art in reflections. She will be sure to let you know all about them!
Great job girls!!! Can't wait for you to start running races with me!!!

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mothers Day to the two best Mom's in the world!!!

I will start with my Mom. Does anyone else know a woman who has raised 9 children, 8 of them GIRLS, and still sain???? That is my Mom for you. What an amazing woman. Supermom I would say. This woman can do anything, and I do mean anything, including catching bad guys, Turn a yucky old chicken coop into a cozy family get together spot, and work full-over full time! Mom I think you are the greatest. I love you Mom!!! Happy Mothers Day, and here's to many more Mothers Days to come!!! And my other Mother. What can I say about his lady. I tried to find a picture of just her, but since she ALWAYS has a little one with her, I thought it was appropriate to use one with her doing what she loves! Loving her grand kids! This is the most unselfish woman in the world. She would give you the shirt off her back, literally. I have learned so much from her. Since I have married into the family it has never been 'daughter-in-law' It has always been 'daughter'. Happy Mothers Day! We love you so much!

I am so lucky to have such wonderful women in my life to be such great examples of Motherhood. Thanks for all you do!

Brent was finally blessed with a 'clean freak' child! Poor Dad likes things neat and clean, oh, I do too, just I can't seem to do it. Give each of us the same room, same mess, and I PROMISE you no matter how clean mine gets, somehow his is always better. And with Madi and Cassi, they are like me...poor kids. We like it clean, like I said, we just for some reason can't pull it off.

Well, then along came Elsie to join Dads team against our world of messes! She will grab a wipe and be kept busy for over an hour just wiping stuff. She has always been just as excited about putting stuff away as she is about pulling stuff out, something the other two did not inherit! So yay, clean team, you are catching up!

Fun with friends

We were so lucky when we moved here and were so welcomed by what is now our adoptive Idaho family. Our great friends the Youngs and Drew's awesome Mom and Dad just took us under their wing. They really are amazing people. So we had the opportunity to go and hang out with them last night...and as always the kids had an awesome time and came home exhausted!!!

Elsie is getting along really good with her walker!

Cassi and her buddy Aubree

Madi and Kara

'All smiles' Elsie with Daddy

Elsie has been really starting to pick up the sign language that she has been learning...she is signing 'mom' here...her own way of signing 'mom' anyway, sometimes she remembers to use her thumb...but we know what she means anyway!

So thanks to the Youngs for a much needed night out on such a beautiful night!

A little help for Elsie

Elsie's Physical Therapist brought this to us today to try out. Elsie knows what she needs to do to walk. She just has trouble with her balance and her legs tend to buckle under her. So we have been thinking about getting a pediatric walker for her, but we weren't sure if doing that would hinder her from walking on her own some day. We didn't want her to become dependant on it. But we decided to give it a try. She loves it. This one is an old model, and we are going to go next week to a open house thing where there will be many vendors and we can figure out what would work best for Elsie and her needs, but for now this is our loner, and you can already see how much she is loving it.
Madi had to help her out on the grass, it was a little harder to push around there.

Finally!

Well today we had a lot nicer day than the last few. So the girls went outside to soak in some sun!!! Swinging, Jumping, and of course POPSICLES!!! (we got through literally a TON of these, no matter what season it is!)

Elsie loves her Popsicles!

Laundry Day

Oh, don't we all love laundry day!!!

I say that very sarcastically because if there is one thing that I dislike the most, it is laundry. But every once in a while I get some kiddos to help...

They love to help me sort, and it is dubbed Cassi's job to push the start button on the washer.

Elsie's new favorite thing is to sit and watch the laundry roll by.

And then I found some random pictures on our little camera that I thought were funny.This one cracks me up. Elsie's face is so funny! And her hair is a winner too! Goofy kids.

One night a few days ago I left my cripple one armed husband home with our three little girls... Well, or course this is when Elsie thought she would try out our stairs. So to try to block her, the girls pushed chairs in front of the stairs thinking that would make it hard for her to get by...Well...it didn't discourage her. She snuck by anyway...little stinker!

Elsie's new tricks

So Elsie has been making great progress.

In the last few weeks she has learned to do a lot of fun stuff and I wanted to document it.

Last week she started to pull herself up standing. She does it all the time and she is perfecting it now. She also will cruise a little bit along the couch, and she laughs the whole time, both the excited and scared laugh mixed into one.

She still can't stand alone without support, but that is what we are working on now.

She has also managed to learn to climb a few steps...perfect timing now that our stairs are hardwood!!!

And she has finally learned to use a straw. This has been very hard for her to figure out. The muscles in her mouth are so weak, and her tongue tends to push everything forward, and it still does, she just learns to cope with it and get it to work for her anyway.

It started with Capri Suns..the straws are thinner, so takes less suction to get the drink up...after a little bit she caught onto that, and then we tried the big straws. She gets very excited when she gets a drink up the straw, and chokes up a little bit some of the time. But she loves it.

I love that with every little thing Elsie learns she is SO excited! She makes me appreciate all the little things we can do ourselves with no problem!

I have a video of her pulling up to the couch, but can't get it to work...so I will try to get that posted too!

Madi's Luna Moth Report

Madi did a report on Luna Moths

She was very excited to learn everything she could about them.

She is a good little student who loves to learn!!!

Grounded

So what do you get when Cassi gets all her dress-ups taken away because she DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO CLEAN UP???

Oh, she is just fine...doesn't bother her a bit...she just digs up old Halloween costumes...4 sizes too small and all! She makes do!

Crazy Cass!