It's like bud-duh...

The color is called "melted butter", do you like it? Anyway, painting over the yucky paneling in the family room is finally done, and I'm really pleased with it. At first glance, it's kind of bright, but after a minute I appreciate the pop of color it brings to the room and the fact that we are breaking out of our tan bubble.

Thanks to Mark for his painting skills. (We all know how much Mark loves painting.) It was a tricky project and I'm thankful it's done.

Next painting project will be the sun-room and stairway down into the basement...I hope. Mark only consents to paint when the sun and moon align in the seventh house. Cross your fingers for me.

Memory Monday (a day late)

Computer drama again...this time Hughesnet sent us a new modem so hopefully that tides us over until the next fallout. In this day and age when appliances and vehicles are built to last a lifetime, why is the average lifespan of a computer only 5-7 years and sometimes not even that?!? Sheesh!! Anyway, that's why my memory post is tardy. I did write it yesterday though, if that counts for anything.

MarynAvery

Last night we watched a DVD that the girls made at the Compuware Child Development Center in 2006. It was called, “A Day at the Zoo”. Each of the rooms in the center represented some kind of animal, and the Director went on a tour of each room. Some of the infant rooms were butterflies, peacocks, and elephants. Some of the toddler rooms were monkeys, bumblebees, and zebras. The preschool rooms included seals, snakes, and the girls’ room (Preschool 1) were gorillas. The girls dressed up all in black and they had painted masks on paper plates of a gorilla face. We couldn’t believe how little they were!! Avery was around 3 ½, and Maryn was around 5. This was back in the day when Maryn was actually taller than Ave, and looked like the bigger sister. She was much more animated, hopping around like a gorilla; while Avery stood back, covering her face with her mask the whole time. All you could see was her white blonde hair poking out from the side a little bit. Avery was wearing black overalls…it reminded me how much I love overalls on little kids. I think they are so cute on toddlers for some reason.

Anyway, it brought back a flood of memories for me last night. I remembered the days at the CDC like they were yesterday. The days of waking up at the crack of dawn, getting myself ready, getting the girls ready, commuting into the city, riding the glass elevators up to the 2nd floor, dropping them off in Preschool 1, each of them with their little backpacks filled with their princess blankey and pillow for naptime. They would cling to me, and cry and cry for me not to leave. It was an issue every morning. Eventually they got over it. But it was soooo hard. They were so little, they didn’t understand. But by the end of the day, they were beat; after having played with their friends all day long inside, and outside on the playdeck, the gross motor rooms, and the occasional field trip. They always fell asleep on the car ride home, which meant they were never tired at bedtime. They got sick all the time back then…because of all the buggy germs that a daycare brings…remember when Maryn got lice?!? Those were some seriously trying times for me.

They don’t remember all of that, but I do. While we were watching the DVD, they had happy memories. They recognized many of their best friends, their favorite teachers, the play deck where they would splash and play in the summer time!! I was so happy to see that. It was reassuring knowing that this period of their lives isn’t something they look back on with sadness, when Mom had to work all the time, and life was hurried, confusing, and chaotic. Avery actually asked me why there wasn’t something like this around here they could go to after school. Ha!! It reminds me of the old saying that kids are more resilient than we give them credit for. I am believing that more and more these days.

Parker

She is cracking me up lately with her little toddler speak. I know she is my baby after 7 years, and I treat and see her differently than I probably did with the big girls, but the way Parker says “no” is so adorable!! Am I a total pushover or what?!? LOL!! It’s so cute to see her assert herself in certain situations. I can’t help it, it just makes me smile. The other cute thing is how she has classified her foods, there are 4 food groups:
1. Crackers (ca-ca; pretty much all she ever wants to eat anymore.)
2. Cookies/Candy (cook/canee; also pretty much all she wants to eat anymore.)
3. Ba-ba (which is both her bottle and her sippy cup; she has discovered that she can get a full tummy via this route instead of eating actual food now. Aye, yi, yi...I think I just saw our diaper bill go up.)
4. Soup! (Anything that is eaten with a spoon or a fork is now called Soup! And she doesn’t just say soup, she says “ss—ewe-p”. It is the funniest thing we have ever heard. This is a nifty little trick we use to get her to eat food now...we call everything soup and give her a fork to eat with...it's been working so far!)

What would we do without this constant comedic relief? She continues to call Maryn and Avery “ya-ya”. And she continues to say that doggies say “moo”. I think she is messing with all of us.

Life is a SHOW!!

The girls just completed another year of singing in our local youth choir. They had their Spring concert last weekend. Because of low enrollment, they only had 1 choir, instead of two. The concert was only 40 minutes. Sweet! I would post a number they sang, but Blogger and I don't see eye to eye on posting videos right now...as in I don't have a month to sit and wait for it to load.

Also this past week was the 1st Annual Tonica Grade School Talent Show. I don't know if I mentioned this already. They both really wanted to be involved, but couldn't think of anything to do. They finally came up with a comedic skit with another one of their friends. It was cute, and something different. The audience laughed, and I think they felt good about themselves when all was said and done. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures. For some insane reason we took Parker with us, and you can imagine what resulted. It was like tag-teaming an octopus.

Anyway, I'm impressed that they both feel confident being in front of an audience. Maryn loved being in Choir again this year, but I don't know that Avery will want to do it again. One thing is for certain, they definitely have enough "ham" to go with their "cheese"...they are two very dramatic, funny girls and we love them!!

Memory Monday

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day!! Mine was great!! As a matter of fact, I got so wrapped up in celebrating, I forgot to call my own sweet Mother!! I made it up to her by talking for almost 2 hours this morning on the phone...for those of you who know how much I love talking on the phone, I think that was a pretty sweet gesture. ;-)

First off, my sweet girls treated me to the royal treatment yesterday. After a hike in the canyon with the family; they massaged my feet with lotion, gave me a head and shoulder rub, brought me snacks, propped my feet on pillows, and turned on my favorite show. Avery actually had a pen and notebook to take any requests I might have at any moment. At the end of the day, after we said prayers she actually said, "I don't want to go to bed, I want to stay up with Mom all night long." She is such a sweetheart. I appreciate everything the girls and Mark did for me yesterday. They definitely made sure that my day/weekend was special and filled with things that I love. I appreciate all of them.

Maryn
This past week I made a dish for dinner that involved tortellini, peas, and bacon. Maryn was so excited about this dinner for some reason, and just went on and on about how great it smelled and tasted, and that next to cheeseburgers and mac-n-cheese, this was definitely one of her favorite dinners of ALL TIME!!

Avery
About an hour after I put the girls to bed one night, I figured they were asleep, so I popped a bag of popcorn and sat down to watch a show. As if the smell of the popcorn woke her into a sleep-induced mission, she stumbled into the tv room, eyes half-closed, grabbed a handful of popcorn, and turned and walked back to her bedroom. I sat there stunned...did that really just happen? I got up and went into her room, she was back in her bed, and when I asked her what just happened she said she was hungry, and fell back asleep. I seriously don't think she had any recollection of it the next morning at all. It cracked me up. But it also made me think that she's been cursed with the Day family proclivity for sleep walking/talking/and all manner of night-time antics. AGH!!

Parker
Our darling little 20-month old baby has finally developed a sweet tooth. It's probably always been there, but I've been super careful about not starting her too early. I really haven't given her a lot of processed sugar yet, and quite frankly she hasn't asked and why push the issue?!? ANY-HOO, Easter time has provided her with a new, tantalizing opportunity of expanding her palette. She has finally taken quite an interest in the chocolate eggs and jelly beans laying around the house. On one particular day I went down into the basement to switch the laundry. When I came back upstairs she had 3 chocolate eggs in her mouth, foil and all. When she saw me, I told her no! no! no!. She dropped the plastic egg and ran full speed to her room. It was the cutest/naughtiest thing I have ever seen. By the time I got to her she looked like the hyper-hypo; chocolate drool oozing out the sides of her mouth. I fished them out of her mouth, to which she was extremely upset by. After that, she has insisted on having "can-ee"!! "Can-ee, pees, Mommy, can-ee!!" AGH! What have we started here? One night this past week, we gave her a cookie and a chocolate egg after dinner. You should have seen her about 30 minutes later. She had stripped her clothes off, and was biting into a plastic ball, and growling. I'm not even kidding. We were all cracking up. She is seriously the cutest, funniest baby I know...although I know I'm biased. :-)

Easter Highlights 2011--Part 2

You know what I think is hilarious? That my last post (Easter Highlights 2011--Part 1) sounded like Grandma Mary wrote it. Everything was just so wonderful and delicious. Makes me miss her...she always had such a way of making everything seem extra special...especially people. She would have gone on and on for days about what a great cook Amy and Linda are, and how beautiful the table was decorated. It's interesting how even 2 generations past we can still feel her love and influence. Hopefully she and Grandpa Fred were able to enjoy it with us in some way.

So Easter morning dawned bright and beautiful (there I go again) at Grandma and Grandpa Day's house. The Easter bunny managed to find the girls sleeping on the pull-out couch, and delivered their baskets of Spring time goodness right at their feet.





We attended the Mormon equivalent of Easter mass at the good ole Livonia Ward chapel. Afterwords we said our goodbyes (or see ya laters) to the Griswold's and Grandparents and got on the road back to home sweet home.







It was such a fun visit...just what we needed. Thank you one and all! And God Bless us...every one! Or whatever.

Easter Highlights 2011--Part 1

We went over to Michigan for Easter weekend and had a blast with our family!! The Day's hosted an Easter eggstravaganza including artisan cheeses from around the world!! As well as some smokin' good kielbasa from the Milford butcher!!





After our culinary travels, we were treated to an easter egg hunt!! Guess who found the golden egg?!?



Not Parker...although it looks pretty golden, doesn't it?!?



Not these guys either.



Nope, not yet.



The peanut gallery...aka homeowners.



Braeden found the Golden Egg!! It was too perfect...he was so pleased!!





After the Easter egg hunt, the kids and the Dads went geo-caching, while the girls went shopping in downtown Milford. Grandma and Grandpa stayed home with the sleeping tots. When we all arrived home, we enjoyed a wonderful Easter feast of ham, rotisserie chicken, cheesy potato casserole, grilled asparagus and green beans, deviled eggs, croissants, and a rainbow jello salad. Thank you Jeff and Amy (and Riley and Hannah) for making an awesome Easter egg hunt and feast!!

Memory Monday

AGH! It's 10:30 on Monday night...I almost forgot my new tradition! So here goes...a few random memories of my kids and what not from the weekend...

Maryn
When Maryn was a baby (about Parker's age now), she used to love scrounging up rocks from our driveway in our little white house in Boise. She'd find as many as she could and then find the nearest puddle of muddy water formed in the divets of our dirt driveway...she would then proceed to toss every little rock into the water and squeal with delight at every splash. As she was learning to talk around this time, she would say "rocks in the water" or something that sounded like that every time the rock splashed into the puddle. She never tired of it, and I never stopped thinking it was the cutest, most magical thing ever. When I think of her "rocks in the water", it makes me smile every time.

This past Saturday, Maryn and I were able to attend a "Dragonfly Discovery" Girl Scout event at Camp Peairs in Hudson, IL. (Avery stayed home with a sick stomach.) The drive down was windy and foreboding. The weather there was Spring in all it's glory. The girls were able to actually wade in the water of Lake Bloomington as they discovered different bug species with nets and buckets. They took water samples and tested the cleanliness of the lake water, and later gave reports on their findings. They learned a lot and it was a great experience. I am so grateful that Girl Scouts offers these memorable and educational opportunities that other wise these girls might not have. Mostly, it was fun to hang out with my eldest and have some fun together. Afterwords we went into Bloomington to do some shopping and get a bite to eat. It was a great day!

Avery
This past Friday night (approximately 1 hour past my birthday), Avery gave me another bday surprise! I awoke to her shaky voice telling me that she threw up in the bathroom. UGH!! Is this not one of the worst parts of being a parent?!? I got up, and found much to my dismay that instead of throwing up IN the toilet, she threw up AT the toilet...no tile or surface was left unscathed. Needless to say, it was not the greatest ending to my otherwise enjoyable birthday. I must say, Avery has been blessed (okay, cursed) with her Dad's stomach. She gets sick a lot. And it grosses me out. But, her stomach isn't the only thing she gets from her Dad. She has always been such a Daddy's girl. All of my girls are really, but especially Avery. She loves everything Mark loves, she wants to do everything he does, she isn't too cool to crawl up onto lap still, and when she is upset he is the one that she turns to. Sometimes it makes me a little sad, but mostly I love to see their bond. She finally got to see Tron with him after he bought it for them on DVD, after she had been asking for it for months. She was so excited. When he went to Idaho over his Spring Break, he brought her back a Star Trek gun and a bottle of Fry Sauce. She was the happiest girl in the world. Their relationship is something special and I'm glad for that.


Parker
Yesterday the girls had a choir concert, and Mark and I knew that taking our little tornado baby probably wouldn't be the best idea. We asked our friends to watch her for the time we'd be gone. And from the minute we got to their house, Parker was charming their socks off with her friendly greetings and waves. She did great and had a lot of fun exploring their house. After we got home, we were making dinner when we heard the door bell ring. It was a couple from our Ward out for a Sunday drive. We invited them in for dinner, and once again Parker didn't waste any time greeting our friends properly and charming their socks off too. She giggled on queue, pointed to all of the appropriate body parts when asked, and even made the correct noises to all the animals in her repertoire. She is such a cutie and really brings happiness and smiles to all she comes in contact with. I love how babies make you feel closer to Heavenly Father. They are so pure and innocent and just radiate love.