A Budding Musician

My little Marley is giving me a run for my money She's so spunky. I don't know if I'm going to be able to handle it. I am really not looking forward to teenage years with her, and I thought Rory was going to be the one to give me a run for my money. Kaelyn was laid back growing up, and she's still giving me a time of it too. I told Kevin that Marley is really stubborn. He seems to think she gets this from me. Has anyone ever tried to tell Kevin he's wrong about something? Then you know where she gets it from. I asked Kevin for an example of me being stubborn, and he says that I decide to do this and that and that's how it is. I told him it sounds like I'm decisive, not stubborn. :)

Anyway, here is Miss Mar discovering her inner musician. Maybe she'll take after Kaelyn and Rory whom seem to have a knack for music.
Is it just me or does this look nothing like her?






One more video. This shows the chops...Also, the kids know the next verse in it's edited form. :)



Maybe I could make a band?

I'm Back and Tired!

I was going to do an elaborate "I'm Back" blog, but I'm tired. So I just wish you all a Happy Easter from our family to yours!

My Birthday...Kinda

All I can say is that I got a spiffy NEW RED camera for my birthday. Unfortunately, my birthday falls right before National Unplugged Week...or TV Free Week. My family and I are participating in this, so I shouldn't even be blogging this! I just wanted to let you all know that I'll be back next Monday morning with all new great pictures and blogs. Other than that, my birthday was great! Got some great things, and gift cards, and stuff that's going to "wash that gray right out of my hair." :) Take care!

Happy Birthday Maria!!!!!

In keeping with the new tradition, here is a birthday wish to my sister, Maria. Her birthday is today, April 12th. We were born 3 years and 4 days apart. We celebrated our birthdays together for many, many years growing up. Here are my wishes for her.

I wish Maria gratitude for all she does for the boys and 1 girl in her life. Her thankless hours upon hours of taking care of everyone. I want her to know that I think she does an awesome job!

I wish her peace like my other sister. Peace in her life to rest and slow down and enjoy when needed.

I wish her confidence. She double and triple thinks things (we have that in common). I wish she knew that she is a wonderful mother.

I wish her trust in herself. Same as the confidence one.

I wish her happiness. Everyone deserves this, but I have a special wish for my sisters and this. It comes from knowing them so well.

I wish her a geographical move. :) This one is a bit selfish because I always thought we would buy homes next door to one another and raise our kids together. If she could move at least to the same country or vice versa, that would be nice.

I wish her faith. I think my sister hears the call to her faith, but just can't get there in this phase in her life. I hope it happens soon and believe with all my heart that it will. Until then and even after, she's always in my prayers.

Happy Birthday, Maria. Those things that you hear about younger siblings looking up to older ones and wanting nothing more than to be like them...well, that's always been how I felt. I love you!

Kaelyn

Here are some happenings in Kaelyn's life this past week.

On Friday she finally got her learner's permit. This was the third time we tried to get it. First, I forgot me and Kevin's marriage certificate, so they told her to come back with Kevin because there's proof he's her dad and not that I'm her mom. Weird. Second time her name on her social still had my maiden name, so Kevin took her to the SS office to get it changed. This third time everything was fine. Besides the fact that she almost didn't pass the vision test (she had put new contacts in and "her eyes weren't adjusted to them yet"), she passed the computer test.

On Saturday she went to Jared's house. She's been looking for a prom dress and I joked that there was no invite yet. Jared took her out on his front porch in the pitch black on Saturday night. He covered her eyes, flicked a switch, and there on his front lawn was PROM written in red Christmas lights. Say it with me, "AAAwwwwwww!" She said yes and Kaelyn tried to get pictures of it.

On Sunday we had a bit of a problem with the van, so we missed Church. We came home and tried to fix the van and watched "Tangled." It was pretty good for what I saw of it. I only missed a couple of parts. I hadn't gotten much sleep last night, so at nap time, I put Logan on the Wii and Kevin took Kaelyn and Rory out driving. Yes, you read that right, driving. Kaelyn is learning on the stick shift first at my insistence. I think everyone should start on manuals but that's just me. I tried to nap a little while they were gone, but that didn't happen. I was changing Marley when I looked out front and pulling up was Kaelyn in the Mazda....driving. I can't describe to you what I felt. It was fear, awe, pride, fear, love, fear...you get the point.

Kevin says she's doing pretty well for just learning. He let her drive home from Safeway. I let her take me over to Walmart tonight because I needed a nightlight bulb. It was an experience, but she's getting there. She says she likes driving with Kevin more. That's fine with me! I think I like it better too. :) I can't believe it. Tomorrow we get to add her to the car insurance. That should be fun. (sarcasm) I just can't believe it's been sixteen years already.

Two In A Row!

Well, this is truly hard to believe...two blogs in a row. Shocking!

So the latest thing that I'm in to is couponing. Thanks to Crazy Cousin Cartwheel Karla! I'm learning slowly, but it's a little addicting seeing what deals I can get. It's work too, but there's a great website called Southern Savers that pretty much spells everything out for you. Some great deals I got today were...

Pampers pack of 27 priced at $9.99 after coupons $4.99
Best Life Butter on sale for $1.00 with a .50 coupon so .50 butter
A four pack of bic razors on sale for $3.99 with a $2.00 coupon for total $1.99 razors

The deals could have been better but I wasn't on the ball. When Southern Savers tells you to go get this stuff, you go get it because the prices apparently change daily. Looking forward to see what I can get next.

By the way...if you're missing pictures on this blog, my birthday is soon. Hopefully I'll be posting some after that. :)

Surprise!

I know. It's hard to believe. I'm blogging. Sorry I've been absent, but it's been a busy time. Here are some happenings.

Kaelyn is in full swing of prom dress shopping. We've started the process, since the one she wants has to be ordered and shipped. The prom is in May, but if the dress doesn't fit, it'll be shipping back and forth and exchanging and so on and so forth. She's going with green, since her eyes pop whenever she wears that color.

Rory is preparing for her First Communion also in May. We found her dress and need the shoes and veil...and it looks like panty hose since hers ripped at Church this morning. We're planning her Communion and birthday on the same day, so everyone just has one trip here. I don't know if that will work though, since another girl has her birthday that same week, and I haven't asked if they want they weekend yet. It's the polite thing to do.

Logan is not sick anymore, so that's a good report. It was pretty bad there for a while, and I'm just glad we're done with it. He's really learning his letters and numbers and seems to be practicing them a lot without being lead there...if you know what I mean. He read the word "cat" the other day all on his own, and while that might not mean anything to some of you, he's four and Rory is just now getting the swing of reading. I fully believe older siblings teach you a lot more than you learn on your own. I think Kaelyn was maybe a bit too old for Rory to learn from at that point, but then we have Marley.

Marley counted from 1-13 yesterday all on her own. When she got to 13, she kept saying it over and over again until she got to twenty and then she said, "twenty." It's crazy what they pick up. She doesn't have Spanish numbers down yet, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

Kevin's getting over his sinus infection with meds. That's good. I've decided to get the surgery you should all know about. I'm going to call and schedule it tomorrow. I'm hoping to hit a lull between parties. I should've done it last week when I was wrapping up all the other parties, but I didn't think about it.

That's it. All updated. As you can see, I don't have a camera yet, but I hear Kevin got some good video today. I'll see if he can send it to me. Take care!