That was fast...

When Aaron got home from work this evening Nicole asked if he could take off the training wheels on her bike and teach her how to ride unassisted. I barely had time to warm the bread for the ward youth auction, when the kids came running in that she could already ride a two-wheeler. I stepped out and sure enough she was riding all by herself. Wow! I think she learned so quickly cuz Aaron is always taking the kids on bike rides, Aaron is a really good teacher, and I think there may be some Nadauld gene that makes them good at riding just about anything. I wish I had grabbed a closer picture..her face was priceless.

Bike Mania and Joy School

The kids are loving this hot weather (it's 90 degrees out there--my allergies are starting to kick in...although it's been very mild this year---Hallelujah). Today they spent most of the day riding bikes. Cameron likes to ride down the driveway with his feet up on his bike handles. Mary is loving her new birthday bike and the kids spend every minute riding together. I taught joy school today. It's my final rotation. I decided to do a friendship theme since artists were already covered in the previous art theme. It's nice to be checking things off my forever to do list. Sometimes I have to remember to enjoy the ride.

Mary also won her battle of the books today. She tied with another group for first place. Boy was she excited!

Happy Birthday Beautiful Mary

I can't believe Mary is EIGHT! I can remember her birth day so clearly. I was going in for my regular 37 week check-up. I was excited because Aaron was coming with me. He had just finished his last finals at BYU the day before. It was a Friday morning. Everything was looking good. As we got ready to leave the doctor paused for a moment. She said, "Let's do an ultra sound". Of course, I was so very eager to see another picture of her...as I'm sure any anxious soon-to-be new mother would be. I don't think I realized right away unusual it was do do an ultrasound without anything seeming wrong and how inspired the doctor was to do one.

We went into the next room. The doctor turned on the monitors, checked around a bit, and paused. Then I understood that something was wrong. She showed us that there was no more fluid surrounding the baby..only two small pockets around her neck. It was as if my water broke. She informed us that this was dangerous to the baby and could cause death; we would need to go next door to the hospital and get induced right away. I was shocked. I wasn't ready...I  had no baby bag, no toiletries, I had work things I needed to finish. I was nervous for the pain and the uncertainty of labor. And my doctor, my inspired doctor, was leaving out of town for a conference, and my mom was all the way in Oregon.

The induction was slow. Justen came and he and Aaron gave me a blessing. That made me feel better. Little did I realize that the blessings were already pouring out around me. I started to get excited. It was the morning of April 28th. Later that evening the doctor told me that she wouldn't come until the next day, but that she'd talked to her colleague who would take her place. He was amazing too. I had only dilated to a 5 (after the balloon was placed inside to speed up the process). I called Tiffany and asked if she'd wash my garments so I'd have a pair to wear when I left...and buy me a nursing bra. She knew just what to get. I was so happy they lived close. Looking back I giggle at the urgency of my birthing check-list. I was hoping my mom could make it out in time. To this day, I still try and remember what a contraction felt like. I wish now that I hadn't gotten the epidural later that evening, but I was nervous to not if I still had another day to go.

At about 11 pm they took my temperature again. My high temperature and Mary's high heart rate were signs of an infection. In a matter of minutes they pulled out the epidural and whisked me into the operating room. They put in another larger needle, a spinal. The  anesthesiologist sat by my head. He explained everything to me...the sensation that I couldn't breathe, the nausea and itch from the medicine. Sometime in there my mom came and I was so relieved. Everything was all happening so fast. And while it seemed like I was almost out of my body as they worked around me, everyone with a job and a skill,  I remember feeling so grateful that they cared for my well-being and our little Mary's.

Then in a matter of minutes she was here. I remember being so anxious to see her. She was beautiful. Aaron said she looked good. I could rest. I was busy getting the spinal out and getting stitched up as well as vomiting from the medicine (the first time my whole pregnancy) to realize that another skilled and amazing doctor, our pediatrician, was needing to care for our little angel with under developed lungs. He gave her a CPAP. They brought me in another room as I was recouping. I had no idea she was not well. I had nothing to compare it to. And I felt a little out of it. Aaron came and told me once things settled down with my recovery and Mary's care. Mary would stay in the hospital for several days. My mom remembers seeing her huge alert eyes as she headed in the elevator to the NICU. She was aware the second she came into this world.

Mary's soul is so beautiful. She has a tender and caring spirit. Her eyes are so bright and capable. It's hard to express the gratitude I feel for being chosen to be her mother. But when I recount the miracle of her birth, it's pretty easy to see from where it all came.

Happy eighth birthday Mary my angel girl!
xo
Mom

Mary's Almost 8!

After a long and very busy Sunday we got to gather together and celebrate Mary's birthday at a family dinner. On her menu was Hawaiian haystacks, salad, rolls, and brownies with ice cream...her favorites. I just love love this girl...

Little Ashton

Cameron spends most of his day reminding me that his name is not Cameron, but Little Ashton, his character for playing house with Nikki, a.k.a. Lily or Cassie. Today at the soccer games he followed Big Ashton around. He is a favorite around here.

That's My Jam!!

Aaron took Mary to the school's annual Daddy Daughter Dance. These pictures say it all...

Teacher Appreciation Week

I've been slow at getting these to the teachers for this week's teacher appreciation. I made the Oreo balls last night (and enough for the baby shower Tiffany threw for Mary's primary teacher this evening). Those things are so delicious. There aren't a ton of ingredients, but they take a while to make. I'm sure grateful for my kids amazing teachers. The PTO has been putting together beautiful meals all week long. Tomorrow Aaron's bringing the grill and we're barbecuing for lunch. That should be nice way to celebrate all they do.

Mary's Invitations

Mary and I (and my mom, of course) had fun making and delivering these party invitations. Fortunately, we are doing the party at Super 8's swimming pool. This makes it so simple and easy. UNfortunately, there is a strict cap of 15 people, including adults. This means we had to keep the list small. I decided the only way to do this was to invite family her age and friends from her school class. I don't know how else to narrow down the church friends, soccer friends, etc.. Luckily, she'll have her baptism coming up and we won't have to limit invitations to that!

JBOB Begins

Mary had her first junior battle of the books battle and they won! They were so excited and darling. Ashton led the battle and we were so impressed with the way he led the competition and handled the children.

Sweet Little Buttercup

Noah's taking a liking to holding Buttercup. He's so sweet with her and he helps take care of her. This I am learning about bunnies, they poop a lot!!!!

Happy Easter All!

My heart is filled with gratitude for and testimony of the Jesus Christ and His role as Savior and Redeemer. Because of Him there is hope, hope for me and hope for my family. I'm feeling very blessed today.

Kinder Soccer Star

Noah is loving this season of soccer. He is pretty confident and fun to watch. He's on the top end of the age bracket, as evident by his small shirt. So, this will be his last season in kinder soccer. This is definitely my favorite age to cheer on.

Easter Picnic and Egg Hunt

The park was filled with sweet families from the community. Genevieve hosted her annual Easter Egg Hunt and we had so much fun with all our friends.

Stake Primary Training

I am so relieved that tonight is over! Our presidency has been preparing a LDS.org training for the primary presidencies and primary workers throughout the stake. It went well and it was a lot hours inputting information from each of the wards into the online stake newsletter. The decorations were lovely. My mom helped me with my assignments every step of the way. I'm so grateful for her support and for this calling that pushes me and teaches me so much about myself...both my weaknesses and my strengths.

Support

I've been trying to get ready for our stake primary training tomorrow. I am feeling very excited to get it all done. I am also feeling very grateful for my wonderful mother, sister-in-laws, and husband who have supported me so much in watching children, running errands, tying millions of bows, cleaning poopie underwear from an almost potty trained three-year old, and listening to my ideas and always offering a helping hand. It's so nice to live near so much family that I can call on in an instant for help. Plus, the kids are so happy playing with their cousins they don't miss me one bit!!!

This week the kids have flopped back and forth from Christine's and Tiffany's. Cameron is having a hard time keeping track on which one is Christine and which one is Tiffany. After some corrections from Nikki and Luci he asked Tiffany, "You just be Christine, okay?" He'd have no problem remembering if they shared the same name!

While at Christine's the other day he and Estelle were playing together on the floor talking and pretending to be little people animals. Christine stopped and watched as they laid on their tummies just looking at the animals. A short while later Christine found them in Marcus' room. Christine sat on the bed to listen in when Cameron said, "Christine, you go in the other room please cuz we are going to bed like cats".

Most days Cameron wakes up and asks to go straight to Grandma's house. At least once a day I have to text my mom to see if Cameron is there since I can't find him. The other day he woke up late and slipped right past me headed to Grandma's. I found him snuggled in her bed, watching a show, and drinking his juice with a straw. When I told him we needed to go he grabbed his boots from the basket at the bottom of her stairs and told Grandma, "you just leave you door open all the days okay?" He doesn't like it when it's locked.

Joy School Bunnies

Nikki is studying Easter this week at joy school. She's been wearing her tail and ears all day. Here's a picture from her rabbit hole at joy school today.

Planting

The frost this winter killed a lot of our plants. Aaron grabbed some new ones today and the kids helped him plant them in the yard. Lucky for me my allergies haven't kicked in yet. I am hoping that maybe some of those plants and weeds that make me want to scratch out my eyeballs and rip off my nose have died too. That would be nice.

Training Prep

I've been working like crazy on centerpieces, wall decor, bookmarks, programs, and updating our stake primary website on LDS.org. Little by little we're getting things done. I'll be excited on Thursday to have it all done. This image is one that I chose to put on the walls with dollar store mirrors hung on ribbons. I knew when I saw it that I needed to write the evening's theme on it...reflect the light of his love. It's such a beautiful series.

Feeding Horses

This morning as Aaron and the kids pulled out the bushes that died from this winter's freeze (sad face) they noticed the cries of a our neighbor"s horse caught in the back fence. Aaron called them and they rushed over to help their horse. They told us that we are always welcome to come and feed their rescued horse Ladybug. So this evening they gathered up some apples and walked over to her with complete excitement. She loved the apples.

Bracelets

Mary has been feverishly working each day this week to make bracelets for each person in her class. She finished the last one after soccer practice yesterday and she passed them out today. I love that she thought to give these to her classmates and teachers. It's so like Mary.

Duck the Pig

It's 6pm. The house is silent. Aaron dropped Mary off at soccer practice and took the rest of the kids to the park. It is so sweet to get a break like this every once in a while, especially since I've been feeling a little under the weather the last few days. My mind immediately starts thinking about all the things I want to do in the next hour....sleep, read, relax, blog; and all the things I need to do...church calling stuff, laundry, cleaning (my seriously messy house that I cannot seem to get clean this week at all), pay bills..the list goes on..FOREVER!

But in the end, the blog wins out. It's therapeutic to review my day. It's been a pretty normal day--school, homework, carpool, refereeing, cooking, laundry, cleaning. I did spent a good amount of time after I picked up Noah working on his project that is due tomorrow. Ya, that's me. The ultimate procrastinator.

When Mary was in kindergarten we turned her April sharing project into a movie. The assignment was to decorate a paper pig and create some facts to share. We made a Super Piggie movie that was really cute. Of course, we spent some of Spring Break making it.

This year I thought it would be fun to do the same thing only change the pig story to something Noah finds interesting. We got the assignment about a month ago. We discussed it and decided to make a music video of a pig who doesn't know how to say oink. While living on a farm he learns to say the sounds of all the other animals except his own. This story idea was inspired by the book How to Speak Moo and the song "What Does a Fox Say?"

Here were the beginnings of some of our lyrics...
The pig says oink

The pig says grunt

And French pigs say groin groin

But there's other sounds

My pig only knows...

What does my pig say?

Moo, moo, moo moo (pig standing by the cows)

Quack, quack, quack, quack...(stands by ducks)

Baa, baa, baa, baa...(by sheep)

What does my pig say?

You get the picture...it may have been cute, but oh well. At least it's done. And hopefully it's not too confusing.

Noah the Artist

I got to volunteer in the classroom this morning and hit the book fair while Christine watched my kids. Cameron continued to go potty while he was there, which is a huge success! Noah's teacher sent me this picture of him painting in class.

After I picked them up we headed to Jaime for some fix-it-up haircuts. Yes, there is a good reason why I am not a hair dresser. Then, following piano lessons and dinner Mary and I spent several hours trying to bake a cake from a story that Mary read in school today (I got to read it too, since i was volunteering).

It's another sweet Patricia Polacco story. In it a frightened young girl becomes distracted from the scary storm with help of her Grandmother and her special recipe for Thundercake. She picks the tomatoes (there are tomatoes in the recipe), steals an egg from mean old Nellie Hen, and busily gathers up all the ingredients for the cake.

It came out very tasty. We will send it to Mary's class in the morning so they can give it a try. The only bad part of the day is that the kitchen is a real disaster.  I'll put that off until tomorrow.

Cousins Make the Best of Friends

We had Elise and Estelle over after school today. Cameron and Estelle spent a good portion of the time moving rocks from one spot to the next. They built a forts, played house, enjoyed the beautiful sun....etc.

Welcome Spring

It's another gorgeous day. Spring is a beautiful time of year, despite my seasonal allergies which will undoubtedly be here shortly. Emma laid out trying to catch a tan after school. Of course, Nicole sat right next to her the second she stepped into the sun. Hopefully she didn't disturb her studying too much.

On another unrelated note, Cameron didn't have one accident today. He's getting tired of the constant questioning, so I backed off a bit and decided to let him tell me when he has to go potty. Things are definitely going well in the potty training department.

P-Lucks

At our BYU singles ward our group of friends would often pass around a note or two during church. This was before Aaron and I began dating and were just hanging out as friends. Most of the time they said the following: "P-Luck, 5pm, K12" (Aaron's apartment), and spaces to include what you could contribute to the impromptu potluck. (This was only if dinner groups weren't already scheduled for the evening).

Tonight we had a potluck with the family at the park nearby. We also celebrated Ben's 10th birthday. I just love that boy's calm nature and cool smile. The potluck was much tastier than those college gatherings, but equally as fun. The weather was gorgeous and I feel so overwhelmed with gratitude for the beautiful conference messages, my testimony of the Savior and knowledge of His gospel, and the love and people that surrounds my life daily. It's a beautiful life.

Fort of the Year

Today is one of my favorite days of the years. We prepared for General Conference by making a massive reverence tent filled with conference packets and BINGO games to keep the kids busy. We made waffles this morning and snuggled in together for some amazing music and messages. To help us get the most of the conference we asked the kids at family night last Monday to see if there was something we can improve upon as a family. We'll recap on Monday with some of our favorites. But each talk today is bringing to my mind something I need to hear. I love that conference always bring to my heart the sweet feelings of hope and peace.

A few other comments:
Cameron made it to the potty about 50 percent of the time today...we'll get there. You'll also notice that he doesn't know how to play BINGO. Nicole, upon seeing Elder Hales said, "He is really old." Cameron, in the middle of the slightly lengthy afternoon session opening prayer said, "in the name of Christ, Amen!" suggesting that it was time for the prayer to end.