Konrad Gains an Experience That No One Can Take Away

This is Konrad. Don't be alarmed - nothing has happened to Ashlee (that I know of, we'll see if she makes it back from Costco). I thought I would share my great morning with you, not that many of you who read this will think that its all that great but I'm going to post it anyway.

This morning I become one of ten people who can lay claim to being the first people to ever play basketball at the new ShoWare Center in downtown Kent. And THAT is an experience that no one can take away from me.

A Great Friend

So this morning I had one of those I-wish-I-was-just-a-stay-at-home-mom-not-a-teacher moments. Sam woke up throwing up. Yuck. That was the first bad thing. Second, Konrad actually had to go into the office this morning, so he couldn't be upstairs to help Sam if needed, while I was teaching.

But, I can't just cancel preschool. I figure unless I'm the one throwing up, I've got a job to do. So I get her all set upstairs with the DVD player going and just prayed like crazy that she wouldn't need to throw up during school, but that if she did I'd be able to leave the preschool for a moment to help her.

I called Darcy to see if she could bring me a can of Sprite when she brought Bryer to school, hoping it would help Sam's stomach. Darcy says sure I have some, but I'll just bring Sam back to my house. Seriously? What kind of friend does that? She took my throwing up daughter to her house, even with the threat of it spreading to her house and with the threat of having to clean up anything that didn't make the bowl. Sam didn't even want to come home, she must have enjoyed laying on Darcy's couch more than our couch.

Thanks Darcy!

Oh What Lies Ahead (and a couple other things)

I walked upstairs and saw this the other day....

I can't even count how many hours I spent with my BFF in the bathroom...doing hair and putting on makeup (or at least attempting to put on makeup...I still don't know how to do that! Anyone want to teach me? :)). I once managed to get a round-brush-type-curling-iron stuck in my friend Andrea's hair...it took us hours, and I mean almost 3 stinking hours, to get it out. What a nightmare! It was way to close the scalp and right on top of her head, so we couldn't just chop it out. I wonder if she still remembers/has nightmares about that as well?

And just for fun, here is a picture of me and the girls from my birthday.

The girls have been saying some really cute things lately, but I just can't remember it. I'm typing this in hopes that something will come back to me. Didn't work. I guess I have to start writing them down right away so that we can record all the funny things they say.

Ooh I remembered one. A few weeks back we were driving in the car and Sam asked where Eygpt was (she obviously doesn't know that I am really lacking in the geography area). I sort of explained. She then asked why it was called Egypt. I gave a typical mom answer...b/c that's one someone named it. She told Alli that it was really because all the birds lived there. I said "What???" She reminded me that there is a song about walking like an Egyptian, which are birds. Still not understanding I looked in the rear view mirror and saw her doing the "walk like an Egyptian dance"...I finally understood. I love 5 year olds!

Birthday Continued

My wonderful friends had one more surprise in store on my birthday. I thought I was on my way to dinner with my in-laws, but we just HAD to stop by the Baumgartners for Konrad to pick up the men's basketball roster. Konrad comes back to the car and tells me that Tami has something to give me so I went up to the door and found Tami and 6 other friends waiting inside. They sang to me, fed us cupcakes,

and then made me get dressed for a night on the town....

Yes, Tami tricked me into giving her my old uniform and then forced me wear it that night. Beautiful, huh? Tami is good, REALLY good. I completely believed that her daughter needed to borrow it for a costume party. She even acted surprised that I still had MY cheer uniform for Hallie to borrow. What a fool I am. :)

We went to play BINGO ... no one won this time, but we had a great time. We just need to find somewhere to play where we don't get glared out for being too noisy. What do you expect when celebrating a birthday, finding out the gender of Jamie's baby, and finding out that Wendy was pregnant. That's a lot of fun stuff, impossible to whisper about! So, sorry serious BINGO players, we'll try harder next time.

Thanks for planning this Tami and Darcy!

(pictures courtesy of Tami)

Preschool

I am now enrolling new students for next year. Please let me know if you, or a friend, is interested!

Mon.-Thurs.
12:30-3:00
$120 per month
$35 non-refundable registration fee

Do Unto Others

And They'll Do Unto You....

-I've realized there is one phrase that makes me a little nervous "Mom, you have to come see this! I think Tami's been here." Now that will get you out of bed! :)

-Okay, so I was expecting it, but they really caught me off guard by decorating the INSIDE of my house. What's funny is I could hear them walking around, but it sounded like they were on the roof...I should have went to investigate. I didn't really think they'd be on the roof, but I could hear tapping/walking randomly. I thought maybe they were attempting to TP over the house and we were hearing the TP hit the roof...I was really dreading cleaning up outside. I didn't even think they'd be INside. I didn't want to ruin their fun, so I made myself fall asleep.

-One of my first thoughts this morning, other than how did they open that noisy door without me hearing, was "Man, my house is a mess"...Konrad should have warned me!

-Thanks for making me smile girls! We'll have to see what happens in June....

30 Years of Memories

A memory for each year of my life...(the numbers represent how old I was)

1. Supposedly I could tell time and knew not to get out of bed until 8:00...don't really remember it, but that's how the story goes.
2. I can't remember/recall any stories of anything from when I was two....
3. My sister Michelle was born. My dad stepped on my foot with his spiky golf shoes, I was wearing sandals
4. I think I took a dance class this year. We did a dance to Zippity Doo Da, Zippity A. We actually performed at the mall.
5. Kindergarten - Western Hills Elem. with Mrs. Trainer. Had my tonsils removed. Woke up in an room where there was a great big stuffed toy of Grover???
6. In first grade I used to get chased by the boys at recess, I HATED it. I remember my mom literally dragging me into school, kicking and crying the whole way, b/c I did not want to be there. I remember running from said boys and turning the corner too quickly and running smack dab into the side of a portable. I ended up with a bloody nose and had to lay down in the hallway outside the office until it stopped. It was winter and I was completely bundled up and it was soooo hot in the hallway. I also got the "Most Loved" award at the end of the year, I was soooooo MAD!
7. Second grade - Silver Hills Elem. I had a crush on Shawn Glade. I chased him that year. I guess I missed the boys over the summer????
8. Third grade - I had perfect attendance this year. I was also baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I remember getting to go to Pic-N-Save and buy a few things with some money given to me as a gift. I seem to recall Cabbage Patch bouncy balls.
9. 4th grade - Morningside Elem - We moved to a new house in Utah. My best friend was named Ashlee N. (she actually spelled her name like me).
10. 2nd 1/2 of 4th grade - Had the chicken pox. Had a surgery on my arm to remove a Ganglion Cyst, which prevented me from attending the end of the year swim party. Moved to Washington.
11. 5th Grade - Briarwood Elem. - Attempted to play the violin...not so great. Had a second surgery on my arm to remove another cyst (exact same place), this time got a cast on my arm. Met my BFF Andrea.
12. 6th Grade - started middle school. Got in way to many "fights" with my friends. Flushed BFF necklaces down toilets and all that jazz. Boy am I excited to have 3 girls go through that stage!
13. 7th grade - started my period (I'm sure all my male readers (especially my dad and dad-in-law) appreciate that one) What a bad year! :)
14. 8th grade - my first "boyfriend" meaning we liked each other and sometimes talked at school. He actually did pick me up for the 8th grade dance though (with is dad of course). He also tried to kiss me, at the dance, but I looked at the clock to see what time it was, and he missed :) 9th Grade - first kiss...I really don't like to think about it though...YUCK, why did I have to choose him to kiss first?????
15. 2nd 1/2 of 9th grade - tried out for the cheer squad. Tried out for basketball first but didn't make it...I was pretty lazy at the tryouts, I now wish I had tried harder. Cheering was fun, but not the same as it would have been playing basketball (or volleyball for that matter....then I could have some mad skills!) Went on Trek--it was amazing! Went to EFY - loved it! Also Girls camp and Cheer camp, it was a busy summer...I was gone all week, came home for the weekends and attended Stake Dances (my life back then), then left again on Monday's.
16. 2nd 1/2 of 10th grade - Obviously got my license, but not until the 2nd try. My stupid blinker was REALLY sensitive and it turned off, I turned it back on, but not quick enough I guess, b/c they docked me 6 points and I didn't pass. Talk about embarrassing! Nothing like showing up to your boyfriends basketball game, everyone there waiting to see your license and having to tell them all that you failed. I drove my mom's van the 2nd time and passed! 1st 1/2 of 11th grade - Was nominated for Homecoming Royalty, my boyfriend was as well, he won, I didn't. I put on a good face, but was TICKED! You can see it in my fake hug to the girl who won. Worked at Chuck's Donuts (best maple bars EVER), my first job, on Saturday's from 4 a.m. - 12 noon.
17. Went to Maui - wonderful vacation with my family. I lost my swimsuit though, when I was talking to some guys. No, not like that! As I was talking to them, I put my stuff on the roof of our rental car, we drove off and there went my suit...oops! Worked as a hostess at Denny's - actually got followed home by some crazy guys, I have never been so scared in my life - this was back before cell phones!!!! My only joy from the situation is that I know that I got them so lost in my neighborhood that it probably took forever to get out. I was pulled from the evening shift and worked days instead.
18. 2nd 1/2 of Senior year - found out I was accepted to BYU, the best thing that ever happened to me. I might have headed in a different direction with my life had my good friend Clare not convinced me that I had to be her roommate at BYU. I applied to both UW and BYU, but was not really planning on going to BYU. I got two envelopes on day, one from UW the other from BYU. I held them both in my hands and right then knew that if BYU accepted me I was heading to Utah, regardless of what UW said. Go Cougars! Was nominated Prom Queen (I did prepare myself for the same thing happening that had before)...not that I really cared if I was Prom Queen, I just didn't want my boyfriend nominated with someone else again) :) 1st semester at BYU - got my butt kicked with hard classes. High school was pretty easy for me, not so much college, I actually had to work to get good grades.
19. 2nd semester Freshman at BYU - met some great guys that made me realize the kind of guy I wanted to marry. Summer - worked at a daycare and realized I wanted to be a teacher. Changed my major to El Ed (eventually changed to ECE, so I could focus on preschool). 1st semester sophomore year - met Konrad, dated him a little bit.
20. Realized I really liked Konrad and that I shouldn't have broken up with him. Begged him to take me back (okay, I really didn't have to beg, but I did apologize a thousand times). He did and we were engaged a few weeks later. Got married in October.
21. Had Miss Kimberlynn
22. Went back to school, after taking 1 semester off. Got really sick at the end of the year, making me have to drop all my classes (4 weeks away from being COMPLETELY done).
23. Had a radioactive iodine treatment to kill off part of my thyroid. Finally got back to my normal self 6 months later. The Salt Lake City Olympics were also that year. It was great to be living in Utah and be somewhat immersed in all the excitement. Finished up my classes and graduated from BYU in April. Moved back home in May and lived with my parents for a year. Starting teaching preschool at my old high school.
24. Had Samantha. Bought and moved into our 4 plex - luckily only had to live there for 5 months, b/c we bought our first home in Renton.
25. Went on our first cruise. The crazy part with that was that Samantha got really sick the Sunday before we were leaving (we were leaving on a Friday), she even ended up in the hospital. They finally released her on Thursday and we were able to go on our cruise. She had a really high fever (stayed right around 103-105 for 3 days) but they never could figure out what was wrong. Their diagnosis was that she had a "fever virus". Nice, huh?
26. Finished my last year teaching at Liberty b/c I was going to have Allison.
27. Moved to our current home.
28. Went to the Price Is Right and on a cruise with Kimber and Sam (we left Alli at home b/c she was still so young)
29. Went on a cruise with friends from our ward. Went to Hawaii. Went to a New Kids concert. Opened my own preschool.
30. Who knows what this year will bring...I'm sure it will be great though!

Wow, I'm old!

Random Stuff

Let's see, what's been going on with us...

-I got my hair cut and soon Sam will get hers cut. Then we'll all have the same short hair....is that too cheesy?

-I get to go to my favorite restaurant tonight (well one of my favorite restaurants), Thai Chef! I can not wait. So yummy!

-Since we're making the drive to Bellevue (where Thai Chef is located) I'm also stopping by my favorite teacher store, Lakeshore. I'm going to go and buy a ridiculously expensive alphabet train, but it is so cute, I have to have it. I also need to stock up on paper, it's amazing how quick we go through it. I need to go through the catalog I got and see what else I NEED to have. I'll also do some laminating as well (where it is cheap AND I can do it myself, so I don't end up paying for a bunch of laminated air).

-The girls are all doing well.
*Sam is learning to read...she doesn't LOVE it yet, but we'll get her trained! She will only read if we remind her she gets to mark of 5's on her reading log, once we say that she'll read for at least 30 minutes if not longer (she isn't satisfied unless she can mark off at least 6 fives). She is still awaiting her first dance class. She was supposed to start last week, but b/c the teacher's house was in danger of flooding the class was canceled. Imagine explaining that to a 5 year old 1 hour before she is supposed to be donning her tap shoes and dancing her toes off! Let's just say there were tears. Luckily she understood what happens when an house floods (my sister's house flooded last year) so she could see why her teacher had to stay home and save her stuff.

*Alli is still enjoying preschool. She still wants to be held way to much for being 3 (not at school by the way...just everywhere else), but I guess I shouldn't complain, there may come a time she doesn't want anything to do with her dumb old mom. She is becoming a little more social at school but still prefers to hang out with mom or wander around. She is now a Sunbeam at church, along with 9 other's in her class...talk about a bouncy class. Half of the class has a mom serving in Primary, which makes for some whinier than normal kids who just need to give mom "one more hug". Their teachers are hanging in there, hopefully with in the next few weeks it will get better. Alli is still obsessed with watching TV (which she feels she doesn't get enough of) and wearing lip gloss. She has also decided she is afraid of the dark and I can't decide what to do about it. Is she just kidding or not? I don't want to give in and leave a light on (the other two girls have always slept in a completely dark room) unless she's really serious you know...but part of me just thinks a ploy to get mom and dad back in her room.

*Kimber is growing up. She seems to be getting taller but still isn't close to catching up with all the other kids her age. I guess they are all growing, huh? She still loves to read and play with her friends. She LOVES her dance theater class. It's fun to hear them all singing and hear about their "auditions". They will perform something from Grease at their recital, their costumes are really cute, but I'm afraid Kimber might grow out of her's before than. She is so small that she must have had to have a smaller costume than everyone else, everyone elses comes to their knees...her's is already much shorter than theirs, if she's grows at all I think it will be too short. We'll see. She is also loving Activity Days and really looks forward to going. She thinks both her leaders are amazing and that they can do EVERYTHING. :)

Konrad and I are starting a new lose a few pounds/healthy/better life plan. We are doing the point system where we get points for eating the right things, drinking water, not eating baked goods/candy/icecream, not eating after 8, exercising (which is what I should be doing right now....oops), and a few other things. After we each reach the goal number of points we'll get to go on a little vacation or something. We'll see, what ends up happening. All I can say is I really want some cookies and it stinks that I can't make any. We do get one free dessert a week...but I'm saving that for this weekend when my girls stay at my parents for a night and we get to go out!

Okay, I guess I should get to working out (I hate dong videos...I just want to go to step again!!! or even just some rainless weather would be nice for a walk/run, I could endure the rain, but I can't make Sam ride her bike in the rain, that wouldn't be very nice), cleaning up the playroom (which has become the preschool toy holding room...what a disaster, I need to hit IKEA this week and buy a couple more shelving units), and finishing up the laundry.

Have a great day everyone!

A Quiz....

Who knows what these are...... (I put the pen in the picture just to give you a reference on the size)

Any guesses????

Reflections

Kimber entered a drawing into the Reflections. She took 3rd place and has moved onto the next round of judging.

Here she is waiting for the results with her friends K.H., A.D., and A.S.

The Masterpiece: Her with her awards.

Yeah for Normal

We finally had a "normal" day...everyone had school!!!

Although, I did realize over these last few weeks that I honestly love having my girls home all day. I can't really think of one time all break when I wished they were at school. I know that they wished they were there...friends and all that, but we had a fun 2 1/2 - 3 weeks hanging out together.

So I guess I'm not really cheering for them being back in school, more just for normal-everyday-life-that-I-can-PLAN-for!

White Christmas

Yes, I'm a little slow. But I'll blame it on two things: 1) I almost died this week...okay, not really but I have had a NASTY cold, so has Kimber, and Konrad. It really wiped us all out. We've been really boring and had to lay around for the last 2/3 days. 2) everytime I sit down to "work" on the computer (email/blog reading/craigslist/ebay....that's "work" right?) I end up playing Scramble on Facebook (basically Boggle...which is one of my favorite games)...therefore no blog updates until now.



This picture is of Sam before we left for Rexburg, playing in our backyard. It think she spends most of her time in the snow doing this:






We left for Rexburg on the 20th, a day earlier than planned b/c it looked like the best traveling day. It was perfect, well at least close to perfect. We really only hit one area with snow (between Spokane and Cordelaine) other than that we had dry roads the whole way. We made it in just under 12 hours, not too bad!



It snowed for the first 2 days we were there. Our kids were so excited. At breakfast the first morning we were there, Kimber asked Quinton if he wanted to play in the snow after church, Quinton's reply was "I think we'll get too dirty!". I think my kids thought he was crazy. He doesn't realize they'll play in 1/2 inch of snow (which really turns into mud), they had to have 6 or so inches already that morning. As I said, it just kept snowing and snowing and snowing. The snow is different there though, very dry...which means no snowballs or snowmen. Alli was a little disappointed by that.



Alli only got to play out the first couple of days b/c the snow got too deep. We would have lost her in it. She could barely walk through this much snow...it eventually would have been up to her armpits. For reference, the swings were completely covered and the snow was touching the seats of the "glider/teeter totter" thing on the swingset by the time we left. Konrad at one point stepped in a snow drift and the snow was up to his waist. CRAZY! Tiff tells me it will be around until atleast April...can you imagine? They have to dig out their mailbox and garbage can almost daily...





The guys spent a lot of time shoveling the driveway. I figure you have to do it about 3 times a day or you end up stuck in your garage. Then at night the plows come and pile 2 feet of icy-packed snow at the end of the driveway and you have to shovel your way out again. The snow is gorgeous, but a lot of work! I attempted to shovel once, while I was out making sure I didn't lose Alli in a snow drift, it's hard work. It must take practice to get the technique down!

Samantha, Quinton, Kimber, Ellie, Alli, and Weiland

We had family pictures taken while we were there. Watching the other parents trying to convince their kids to sit still and smile made me glad that my "baby" is 3!!!! :) Aren't they all cute?
The Rexburg Temple. So pretty!

Doug, Konrad, and Todd

I had to throw in a picture of Brian as well, since he wasn't with his brothers in the first photo above.

Christmas Morning:

Santa was super sneaky and put all the presents downstairs in the same room that our family was sleeping in. Boy did we have a surprise when we woke up! Talk about excitement. Who knew and old guy could be so quiet and sneaky! I knew he was good, but I didn't realize he was THAT good! :)

Presents for 23 people sure add up. it was a crazy morning filled with boxes, paper, and toys. We did really well at managing it though, I don't think anyone opened up a gift that was meant for someone else. Tiff's family always does stockings first, followed by breakfast, followed by the rest of the presents. I loved doing it that way. I think that will be the start of a new tradition for us. It was a great way to sperad it out, a little longer, plus squeeze in breakfast so we can eat all the candy we want! :)

Alli got this new baby from Santa. She made us all babysit her...sometimes we thought we were holding a real baby (Todd and Tiff have a 2 month old little girl that is about the same size) and would find ourselves rocking/patting/bouncing the doll.

Alli holding up some "lip glass" that Gma and Gpa gave her. Probably the #1 present she recieved! This picture also shows the chaos that was occuring that morning...keep in mind this is only the mess from my family and Todd's...Brian and Doug and their families are to my left!

Kimber and Sam sporting their new dance outfits. Both girls start dance next week. Kimber is taking a Musical Theater class (singing/dancing/acting) and Sam is taking tap. Both are doing a count down to their first days.

Alli cleaning up after all the presents were opened.

Decorating "Christmas Trees". This is my favorite craft to do with little kids. Use a sugar cone as the tree, frost it green and decorate it with candy. It's a lot easier than graham cracker houses b/c the you don't have to worry about the sides falling down.
Why is Sam always so messy? :)

Konrad was holding Jax and the next thing we know, Konrad is asleep and Jax was just hanging out.

Samantha performing a puppet show...

We had a wonderful Christmas. It was so much fun to be with Konrad's entire family. Thanks Todd and Tiff for housing/feeding/playing and putting up with us all!