little school girl

Brinley's first day of kindergarten was today. She couldn't wait to get to school.Are you excited?...
"YES!!!!"

We went to a little "meet and greet" yesterday at the school. She got to pick out her own seat and found her cubby. Since Matt was able to go with us this morning, she showed him all around the room.

As soon as she dropped her bag by her name tag, she was out the door with a new friend, racing to the playground and didn't say a word to either of us. Matt was a little sad, I think he expected that she would hang out with her parents for a few minutes. Nope, not miss social butterfly. When the bell rang to get in line, she blew us a kiss, like "see ya later, you can go now". The little stinker.

I waited at the bus stop, a little early...okay, a lot early. She came off the bus with a HUGE smile, but was really disappointed that the bus trip was short. We live like 2 blocks from the school. It's nice to be able to have your kid dropped off practically at your door step.Me: "What was your favorite part of school?"

Brinley: "The playground."

root canal

yesterday afternoon, I got to sit in a comfy chair and have a not-so-comfy procedure...a root canal. I have had one before, but I never had the pain that this one produced. It didn't hurt too much before i had it done, but last night...holy crap. I was in some serious pain. Mainly at the injection sites from the shots. I could harldy open my mouth without pain and Tylenol was just not cutting it. I slept on a heating pad for the night and it helped.
This morning, it was more pain, but Tylenol seemed to have made a difference. However, it is still sore, but I can handle it.
I don't recommend having a root canal. They aren't fun...i would rather have a pap smear.

prickly

The other night while reading Brinley books in bed, this is what I hear:

"Mom, your legs have thorns on them."

Thank you Brinley for telling me in an oh-so-sublte 5 year old manner, that it's time to shave my legs.

sunday

After church today, we decided to go visit Olivia. The cememtery really isn't that pretty this time of year, but they did mow the weeds down.

We are coming up on Olivia' s 1 year anniversary/birthday. I'm not quite sure what to call it yet. I hate to call it her death date, being that she was also born the same day. We are planning on getting her headstone done before then. I can't believe it's take this long to get it done, but I have just had too much other things on my mind.

It's wierd to think that we will have another little girl with us before Olivia's 1 year mark. It still doesn't seem real, although I FEEL it everyday. I don't like this picture of me, but I realize that I haven't posted any pregnant pictures. I'm huge and I feel it. Evethough I may have 11 weeks left, I'm pretty sure that I only 8...thank goodness.
After every visit, Brinley takes rocks home to paint. She says they are to bring back for Olivia, but then changes her mind when she finishes them. We have about 10 rocks now, I think I will have her pick out a few for Olivia. I can't handle too many more rocks around the house.

The week ahead is going to be busy with a root canal Tuesday, school starts Thursday, a niece's baptism Saturday on the west side of the state and helping Matt at the store in between it all. Hopefully I can keep up on posts with all the craziness.
************

a quick shout out to my bro, Jarardo (Jared), whose 32nd birthday was yesterday. I hope you enjoyed your gift and you had a good birthday!

28 week appointment

We had another doctor appointment today. Everything is going well. Sarah is a wiggle worm...she just doesn't stop moving! It even wakes me up at night. She is still transverse, but they aren't too worried that she won't move into the right position before too long. After my next appointment, I will be having non stress tests twice a week. I really wish that the hospital wouldn't make us pay for parking.

I, on the other hand, have had the WORST heartburn and indigestion of all of my pregnancies. I can't hardly eat anything without feeling it. I am also at the throwing up stage of the pregnancy. It's been real enjoyable. Graham crackers and ginger ale have become my friends.

Wasn't I supposed to deal with this in the beginning, not now?

a tooth ache and new specs

I woke up at 6 am this morning so that I could get to a dentist appointment by 7. I was hoping that they could just fix a filling that had fallen out, but no...I get to have a root canal next week. I am just so thrilled about it...NOT... at least my tooth will stop hurting.

Good news though, my new glasses FINALLY came in. I have been waiting for over a month. i look like crap today. I didn't do anything to my hair, no makeup...nothing. I went shopping at Target like this. Brinley asked me why I was wearing pj bottoms, which they aren't, but isn't it nice to have your 5 year old tell you how crappy you look? Gotta love her honesty.

Olivia's Cloud

Brinley: "Mom, guess what? I just saw Olivia's cloud."

Me: "Really? Was she on it?"

Brinley: "Yes, she said to me, 'I love you, Brinley.'

Me: "Oh, yeah?"

Brinley: "Yeah, she said that she can't wait to see me, but I have to get lots older."

Me: "Do you think she is telling Sarah Mae all about earth?"

Brinley: "Yeah. Do you know what she told me?"

Me: "What did she say?"

Brinley: "She said that it's important to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus. She knows everything about it."

Me: "Your right, she is really smart. She knows a lot more than we know, huh?"

Brinley: "She knows about heaven. I know about making juice. You know about...what do you know mommy?"

Me: " I know about being a mommy."

Brinley: "Yeah, you know about being a mommy and Daddy knows all about CricKet and cell phones."

beautiful gift

Yesterday was our very first day at OUR store and we did AWESOME! Nothing like starting out a business and having a great first day. I am in charge of the finaicial part of it and it isn't going to be easy. I love numbers, but Cricket does things so weird and it's hard to figure out. I will eventually though.

As I was cleaning the bathroom at the store, that hadn't been cleaned in FOREVER, I got a phone call from my Mother in law, Barbara. She had asked if we had bought a crib yet...well, no. She said she couldn't pass up the deal and had bought us one. It came with a mattress, bumper and bed skirt and I LOVE IT! It's not white, but I love it. It's simple and beautiful and it just fits. I realized as I was putting it together that I have no bedding for a crib. I realize I don't have a lot of things and more than likely, I will have Sarah Mae at 37 weeks so that only gives me 10 weeks to get my act together and do some shopping. My wonderful friend, Lori, bought a bunch of outfits for her and they are SO CUTE! I believe I have an outfit for every size up to 2T now. Slowly but surely, I will get the shopping done. I just need the motivation and you think that having a baby would do that to you. I am so not into shopping.

August GNO

It was Olive Garden this month, in honor of Lori Barney who came into town for the weekend. I was sure, Lori, that you would order fetticini alfredo, but no, a suprise to us ALL!

Anyway, here I am in all my nerdy-ness... I decided not to embarrass my friends with all the other wonderful pictures, at bad angles, I got of them.
I realized that there were two ladies missing from this picture, so you only get to see 14 of us. (Lori, where did your SIL's go?)
And here are all the preggo friends in order of due date(right to left). Jill ( 2 weeks), Jandre ( 4 weeks), Christy (9 weeks), Me (13 weeks), Cindy (January) and Julie (February).

I am sure as each of us have our babies, there will be some one new to take our place.

It's Official!!!

Matt and I are now official owners of this...

CricKet Wireless

And here is what the store front looks like... It has been a long few months getting the kinks worked out, but it was all worth it. We are really excited and look forward having a few extra dollars again, well we didn't ever really have any to begin with, so it will be nice to just have some.

This has been a dream of Matt's. Since the store is extablished and he has been working here for the past 6 months, we have been able to get a feel for store, how well it does, and the clients, which can be a little scary, if you know downtown Spokane. Let's just say that there is some fantastic people watching done there and Matt always has a story to tell me.

gooey

Last night I got the hankerin' for something sweet. I decided that since it was already 80 degrees in our house and we don't have an air conditioner, why not add to the heat by baking some cinnamon rolls. Of course, the recipe doesn't make just a few for the three people that live here...and well, Brinley doesn't really count, she's only half a person...I had to make a HuGe batch.

I used my Aunt Nora's recipe, minus the frosting. Instead, I used a friends recipe for a gooey carmelly topping.

However....
this happened while flipping the pan. I knew it was going to "leak" some when we flipped it, just didn't expect this much. It was worth the mess. They are DELICIOUS!

Thank you Aunt Nora for the breadyness part of the rolls and thank you Becki Stevens for the gooeyness!

Grace

I have a friend (two actually) who would have a child in Kindergarten, but instead, they mourn the loss of their would be 5 year old and watch as their friends prepare their Kindergartener's for their first year of school.

So, in memory of my friend, Sarah's, sweet daughter, Grace, who never took in a breath, she is asking that as you go school shopping this year, that you might buy a backpack full of supplies for a child who can't afford it.

You can read more about Grace's backpack project here.

I think this is fantastic. In 5 years, when Olivia would be starting school, you just might see that I will be asking the same of you.

Sarah Mae's quilt

Everytime I pick this up, I think "It's too hot out to be working on a quilt!" But, it gives me something to do at night(other than watch the Olympics) because I am, yet again, not sleeping.

Front: The pictures don't do it justice, it really did turn out nice. I love it and since I have been hand quilting it, I have notice all of the mistakes I made. However, Sarah won't know and I hope that she adores it.

Back:
I haven't decided what to do with the edges. I had lots of ideas in mind when I started, but decided that simple was better. I may start on another one once I get quilt done.

cleaning projects

My daughter is such a slob!...No, it was me. Two weeks ago I started a project to clean Brinley's room, get rid of toys, move everything toy out of her bedroom to make room for a crib. Yeah, two weeks ago this was how far I got before getting burned out. I have made her bed and such but not done anything with the pile of toys and garbage sitting in the way. She thinks it's been great not having to put her toys away, not a good habit to get into. Okay, so Summer is here and who wants to be inside cleaning right? Well, I kicked myself in the butt today and got it done. Now there is room for a crib and a small shelf for diapers and such...I just have to actually BUY the crib. I am such a slacker. I have been looking though, so that is good. I have bought a few pieces of clothing and I'm working on a quilt but not much else...so sad. Anyway, her room now looks like this:
this will be where the crib goes, the toy box won't be there. I didn't have the energy to move it downstairs.we will see how long it lasts. I am only letting Brinley keep that little pink tote for toys in her bedroom.

And just because it's cute:

I found this at goodwill yesterday. Brinley "hates" it because I took down a picture she painted and put this plate in it's place. It will grow on her...i think she secretly likes it.

another busy weekend

Friday was busier than expected. I met with the Heathers from Forget Me Not at 10:30am. Our meeting lasted 2 hours. Since we all have girls the same age, they played while we talked. Heather Roberts had to leave and Heather Evans and I had other things to work on so we went to her house and let the girls play some more...5pm rolled around and I HAD to leave. We got a lot accomplished, but have so much more to work on. If the Forget Me Not program wants to move forward and grow, we had to get some things worked out, especially now that there are more photographers.

That night we went to Matts 20 year reunion with friends from church, which consisted of 3 high schools. He had his 20 year high school reunion last month, but we didn't go. Why do to something if you already keep in touch with the people you want to anyway? Since the other 2 high schools had their reunions this weekend, it was planned around that. It was fun to hear all the stories, most of them centered around driving Matt's VW bug, getting pulled over by the cops numerous times for different reasons and lots of pranks. Lots of laughs that night.

Saturday we went to Skyfest at Fairchild Airforce Base. We had so much fun, and though it was hot, the wind helped keep us somewhat cool.

Brinley forgot her sunglasses, so she wore Matt's around. We walked through a few planes, but there were so many things to see. We only saw about 1/3 of the tarmack. We ran into our friends, the Conrads, and Julie and Merv, then waited for the Blue Angels...
what are dad's shoulders for? to hang out and chat with each other. and then the kids were like this while we watched the planes.It got pretty loud. Brinley covered her ears, but forgot that she had a cup in her hand. We found out there was 100,000 people on base, so you can imagine what it was like trying to get out of there. It took is an hour just to get off base, Julie and Merv...2 hours.

We got home and I crashed for a few hours. All that walking wore me out.

Sunday we went to church and then hung out at my parents house, ate dinner and did nothing. It was nice. I needed a break. My mom makes the BEST mashed potatoes...I have been craving them all week...and roast, well, she just makes good food. YUM!

need weekend plans?

This Saturday at Riverfront Park is Kids Day from 11am-5pm.

Stage shows

Bounce Area

Dance Teams

Karate Demos

Meet Ronald McDonald, Gordon from Seasame Street, Cookie Monster, Elmo and Clifford

Games and Prizes

Sounds like FUN!

And its All FREE!

Also this weekend...

The Blue Angels will be at Fairchild Airforce Base.

And again, it's all FREE!

Spokane Indians Baseball Game

I have two FREE tickets to the Spokane Indians baseball game Thursday night, against the Vancouver Canandians.
If you would like them, leave a comment.

an honor

I had plans yesterday to go on a walk with Brinley, catch up on more laundry, clean my house, blah...blah...blah... I got a call from Heather about taking photos at the hospital, so I spent most of afternoon and evening at Sacred Heart with a sweet family. I also was able to get a hold of another photographer from NILMDTS and she was able to come and shadow me.
I felt so honored to be a part of the time this family got to spend with their baby.Late yesterday afternoon, she was taken off of life support and past away this morning, free of all of her tubes and snuggled in between her parents.
This family took the time to pray for Sarah Mae... it made quite an impression on me. I always pray for the families that I photograph, but for them to say a prayer, in the hospital, while spending there last few hours with their baby, that was just sweet. To see this family snuggled up together, making their baby as comfortable as they could, and we got to experience their first few hours alone with them, capturing their time in pictures...what an honor.
Last night was also a MISS Meeting. I literally made it for the last 5 minutes. I really enjoy going to these meetings. I walked in and got a hug from everyone in the room. It jsut feels good to have that kind of support, expecially having been at the hospital for 5 hours. I will become a facilitator in November, after Olivia's 1st birthday. I really wish I could go to the confrence at the end of September, but no, that just ain't gonna happen. Not when I would be that close to having a baby. I don't think they would let me fly anyway.
So today I look forward to not doing much and maybe get that walk in with Brinley...to 7-11 for a slurpee.

another sweet baby

After taking photos at Sacred Heart last week, I was sure that I was going to be called again this weekend and I did, just before we hopped in the car and headed off to camp with family. I felt so bad saying that I couldn't be there, but you can only do what you can.
Today, I had a feeling I should call Heather Roberts down at Sacred Heart Hospital just to see how the weekend went and if anybody else was available to take photos for the family on Thursday. Instead, I got a call from her, tonight, to see if I could get down to Sacred Heart as soon as I could to take photos for another family. (I tell ya, they come in bunches. I hadn't done pictures in quite some time, and then it just hits. I am pretty sure I have another one in the next few days too.)
This family was so sweet. Like us, they had found out early on that their baby wasn't going to live. She was a beautiful little girl, with full lips and lots of hair. The family was doing really well. The parents of the mother lost a child to PKD about 20 years ago, so they had experience to help their daughter through this. I haven't physically ran into anyone else who has lost a child with PKD. It was interesting to talk to them about how things have changed and what doctors know now compared to then...but back to the family. They have a lot of support, which is great to see, and really had a perspective on how things are...things happen in your life and you do the best you can. There was nothing they could do to prevent it. The mother had a good attitude overall and just felt like things happen for a reason and that we grow and learn and are able to share our experiences and teach others. AMEN to that!
As for Heather Roberts, what an AMAZING woman! She was on shift at 7pm Saturday night, got off at 3pm this afternoon and came back to "work" after her sons baseball game so that she could be with this family. She was still there at 11pm and wasn't even close to finishing up things. She works so hard and does so much for the Forget Me Not Program on her own time. She didn't get paid to be there tonight. I always want to do more, but since I am not an employee of the hospital, I can only get word out there about the program...they are looking for a grant so that they can expand and help more families...anyone? anyone?
I love being able to help these families in some way. It's a privilege to be let into their lives, for a few hours, at such a difficult and painful time. And when I say that we grow and learn and are able to share our experiences and teach others, never did I think that I would be doing it in the way that I am, nor did I think I would have this opportunity had it not been for my sweet little baby Olivia.

camping

We went camping at Heyburn State Park in Idaho this weekend. Highlights included:

dirt mustaches and no makeup
lots of hikes with cousins
dirty children hangin around the campfire reading books and telling stories
fishing off the dock
playing card games and looking trashy
more hikes with cousins and getting to walk on railroad tracks
making our own tin foil dinnersand getting to be with family. oh, and beautiful sunsets....see header.