2 posts in one day????

Just needed to share.....my girls each have a myspace account, it is set to private and they are allowed to have one if I can have access to it at anytime, so I can make sure they are safe. To tell you the truth it has really been a great window into their lives. You know teens....if you ask them how their day was they say "fine" and that is about it. I am not spying because they know I look...I really love it actually. I can also check out their friends (boys too;)) and make sure they are all behaving;) Well this afternoon I was checking on their accounts and look what Hailey posted on one of her sister's pictures.

"ohmygoodness....little kyla sue is all grown up!man... the little sister with blond curly hair and all of her funny faces is all grown up...and beautiful!gosh... the younger sister is always the pretty one...:)i love you so much kyla!i know we fight but you are always there for me... even if it is only because you have to be. i know i can always tell you anything and it will be safe.you know exactly how to cheer me up when ever i am down and have always been able to help me through anything!i love you as a friend and as a sister.:)i can't wait to watch you grow up to the amazing woman god intended you to be.-hayhey:)"

How sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They really do love each other! Sometimes I wonder. They were so close as little girls. They are only 20 months apart and they would just play and play and play. They had other friends too but they just loved being with each other. The last couple years they have been fighting a lot. I guess this is normal since they are teens but I just loved reading that precious post Hailey made to her little sister. They are upstairs right now giggling and hanging out with other friends...but they are all together. They have even shared a room for more than a week now....and no drama yet! I will just enjoy it while it lasts:)

ThE cRaZy WeEkEnD

This past weekend was our church's annual "Women's Tea" and this year I didn't decorate and I didn't host a table but I was able to enjoy the day as a guest with my two daughters and my good friends and their daughters. It was such a refreshing day among my busy life right now! I even won a gift basket that was themed in the same colors, birds and bird houses that I decorated the tea from last year. A coinkie dink? I think not;) What a blessing!


This is the beautiful box with some of the decorations I used for the tea last year....cool, huh?

Then on Sunday night (rather Monday morning) it was the annual cheerleading kidnapping. The senior cheerleaders do this each year with the new girls for next year's squad. I knew about it...Hailey had some idea about it....but she was sound asleep when they came charging into her room at 12:15am...yes....AM. Thank goodness I was up doing homework but the rest of the family was awakened by screaming, clappers and silly string. They whisked her away in the night to have an all nighter playing games, eating junk, and bonding. We were a little unsure about the whole thing until I found out they were staying with a family who we used to teach Sunday school with at our old church. I knew there wouldn't be any shenanigans going on and they would all be safe. She had a great time but she was soooooooo tired when she got home from school yesterday and a little grumpy, I am sure it will take a few days to catch up with her sleep. I took some pictures as they entered her bedroom. Last weekend, Kyla moved her bed into Hailey's room so they could try out sharing a room together (probably won't last too long) and Kyla got to experience the screaming cheerleader alarm clock also.

The girls took a picture with Kyla while Hailey packed up her things....the least they could do for waking her up;)

In one of the cars off to celebrate........

Teenagers....

Sometimes they crack me up....

these were all pictures I found in their folders on my computer;)

...somethings change and somethings stay the same;)

63 days until summer??????????

What crazy weather we are having.........

It has been snowing, hailing, and raining on and off all day. But it has just been snowing for the last couple of hours. Isn't it the middle of April????? I don't think I have ever seen cold weather here this late in the spring. Sometimes we only got a light dusting once or twice in the winter....so this is really weird!

To make things even weirder last Saturday it was almost 80 degrees. On Sunday morning half the congregation at our church was sun burned!

Here is proof of that...Hailey and her friends last Saturday night were out playing at the park in the early evening, it was dark but they were all wearing shorts! They were so excited to get in the mood for the summer season...

...sorry girls, it looks like we all will have to wait a little longer to put away the scarves and gloves.

My poor spring plants might not survive either. They were doing so well....especially with the heat of last week but now they are shivering to death! The tulips just popped out and now they don't know what to do!The only flowers that I think will survive are those hiding under the protection of our porch....so sad:(
My "friday friends" were with me today though and it was so cute how they went running into the closet to get out the scarves when it started snowing....they said they wanted to be snuggly:)
Since today was definately an "indoor day"....we weren't going to let the weather get us down. Since the flowers were dying outside we figured we could make some pots of flowers that could survive any kind of weather.

Emma made one for daddy and Ellie made one for mommy. Nothing better than lollipop flowers!

I got the idea here at LillyBean's Paperie.

We had so much fun with that we thought we would do more crafts. I didn't get much else done but hey....we had fun!

Pretty Princess hats

They each made a sparkly, jeweled cross. Perfect for princess' of the "Most High King"

Go Hailey Go!!!!

***warning...proud mom moment....some mommy boasting ahead:)***

This past week (in the middle of Hailey being sick from her trip to Nicaragua) she tried out for her school's cheerleading team. I was just so proud of her efforts since the tryout was on Wednesday and that was her worst day of stomach cramping. You wouldn't have known that from her tryout.

She did an amazing job considering what she had been going through with her illness, having a whole week without practice while in Nicaragua and having to tryout alone in front of about 25 judges and around 80 parents in a huge high school gym. It was scary just to watch....I don't think I could have ever done that! I kept telling her how proud I was of what she accomplished regardless of the outcome and I knew it was going to be a close one because there were a lot of talented girls trying out. Plus there were 18 positions but 9 girls were returning from last year.

Well on Friday evening we found out she made the squad....Yeah!!!!!!!!!

She was so excited that several of her friends made the squad too!!!

Five of the girls are in Hailey's youth group at church. They are such a nice group of girls so I know Hailey is going to have a great year!

Britnee and Hailey

Jodi and Carly

Erin and Kendra

Alecia and Hailey taking their cheer boxes and goodies after the celebration dinner tonight.

Jenny the coach


Celebration cake

She has been dreaming of becoming a high school cheerleader since elementary school when the cheerleaders would come to her school and teach the younger kids dances and cheers to perform during the high school basketball team's half time....it was called "spirit night".

Hailey in January 2002 (look how little she was)

I always thought it was such a nice way to get the younger kids involved and to have role models from the high school. It made the kids in our community feel like they were a part of something bigger and exciting. Now, she gets to teach the kids around our town at the different elementary schools the same thing and be a role model for those girls to look up to! I was looking back on scrapbooks of the pages I made of the "spirit night" outings we made with the girls a few years ago and it was fun to see my little girl come full circle.



Hailey getting her t-shirt signed by the high school cheerleaders after the game....

2002

2001


It has been and exciting but emotional weekend for me since I am realizing my "baby" is turning into young lady and doing the same fun things that I did back in high school! I am just thrilled for her and all the fun this is going to be as well as all the wonderful memories she will have of high school!

More of Nicaragua...

Hailey and Kyla are better now but earlier in the week they came down with stomach bug, probably from the trip....but they are trying to get back into "normal life" again!

Home Safe and Sound....

It is 1:30am but I just wanted to post that the girls made it back from Nicaragua safe with lots of wonderful stories to share....they are pretty tired but tomorrow I will hopefully get a total recap of the week. Here are three of my favorite pictures that Kyla took with her camera! So glad they went but soooooooooooooo glad to have them home!

20 months LID...and sick!

Today marks our 20 month LID anniversary....hmmmm we are celebrating here...not! Actually Mike and I are both sick. He didn't go to work today....which means he really isn't feeling well. I am not as sick as he is but I can tell my body is fighting something...achy, a little congested but hopefully I won't get the full fledged flu like he did because this is my first week of spring quarter and I can't be really sick right now! I don't have class today so Mike and I have been hanging out on the couch...trying not to cough or sneeze on each other.

Since I don't have too much homework the first week of school I have been browsing the net and I found some fun new blogs, here, hereand here...that spark the creativity part of my soul that has been a little dormant lately...hopefully I can get some inspiration to do something fun this spring. Some of my other favorites are also... Shabby Miss Jenn, Love, Elsie, Artsy Mama and Simple Things.

How cute is that????


I am taking a Modern China class this quarter and I was so excited to see that one of my books on the wish list at Amazon was a required read for my class!!!! I have read through half it already and it is sooooo good! It is a great representation of China from a woman's point of view in the last century and it is all a true account but it reads like a novel. I highly recommend it!

Also, I have to write a final paper in the class and my professor is excited for me to research and write about China's one child policy. So if anyone knows of current reports about how China may change this....I would love any links you come across:)

Finally, we have only heard one report from Nicaragua that they all made it down there safely....but I can't help but just wish for one little phone call from my girls to hear how they are doing. I know the schedule for the last few days has been for them to work on painting the school and playing with the kids who live in the dump....so they are busy doing the work they went there for. Tomorrow is about the half way point of the trip so maybe we will get a call.....they said they could call at least once, so I am hoping.

****Update***** The girls just called....they each had three minutes to talk so we only got some of the details. They are having a great time, it is very hot, Kyla said there are a lot of big spiders and scorpions (yikes) and the family that they are staying with have a pet monkey that they love. They have been painting the school but mostly loving on the kids and each of them have a child who has become attached to them....so cool! Hailey was already talking about how she is going back as soon as she can save up enough of her babysitting money (she is going to be the missionary in the family I have a feeling). So far they have stayed pretty healthy only Miriah (Kyla and Hailey's friend) has gotten sick and Mac (their youth leader sprained his ankle). Hailey said she didn't bring enough clothes but she was able to do some laundry today. Wow, that was perfect timing for their call.....I have been missing them so much but I am so relieved that everything is going well!

Here is a picture of Kyla and Mariah back in August....please pray that Mariah gets better and that the others don't get sick and of course Mac's ankle heals quickly!