Family Weekend!

It's been an eventful day!

Alegria, Odette, and I got up and walked from 8-9.

 

 

Alegria not wanting her picture taken:

 

 

Odette and me:

 

 

Then I showered and we had breakfast.

 

After breakfast, we played. Then I nursed Odette. Abilehi showed up, I gave the girls kisses, and I left.

 

I got to the salon right at 12:30 and Crystal started working on my hair right away:

 

 

She got the color wrong the first time, though, and had to redo it. Finally she cut it (I had her put layers in) and styled it and I loved it!!!

 

 

Back home, both girls were up (Odette had been napping while I was at the salon).

 

Odette: "What movie should we watch?"

 

 

Abilehi left and we played in Alegria's room a little. I tried to doze. That didn't happen.

 

So we went to Hobby Lobby to get some Wilton frosting that they hadn't had at Walmart when we were there yesterday.

 

There is no such thing as TOO BIG of a flower for my girls' hair!  ;)

 

 

Lorelehi met us there and we went home.

 

Alegria still did not want her picture taken!

 

 

Once home, Abilehi was already there and she'd made delicious low-fat turkey hot dogs for dinner. YUM!  Odette ate almost a whole hot dog all by herself! I cut it into tiny pieces for her. :) Then I nursed her, but she must have ate really well because she didn't nurse very long. Then I put her to bed.

 

After I got Odette in bed, Abilehi and Lorelehi made the guest beds while I cleaned the guest bathroom. Abilehi also cleaned up in the kitchen. 

 

Then we hung out in the master bedroom while we waited for the family to arrive.

 

Aunt Abilehi:

 

 

Alegria finally wanted to pose for pictures!

 

 

At about 9, my family showed up...and surprise, surprise, Helaman had come! So it was my parents, Helaman, Almalia, and my aunt, Tia Marina, and cousin, Monica.

 

Before even getting in the house, Monica asked if I had a dog and I told her that there was no dog in the house (she's deathly afraid of dogs).

 

My aunt had brought a ton of gifts for everyone. Jewelry for all of the girls, perfume for my mom, bed sheets for my dad, and a ton of clothes for both Alegria and Odette, as well as a doll for Alegria and name bracelets for each girl. :) My dad brought a lot of little stuffed animals for the girls, too. It was like Christmas all over again!!!

 

Alegria wearing my new jewelry:

 

 

After that we just talked, and talked, and talked!

 

Alegria was having trouble going to sleep with all of the commotion...not that the noise bothered her...but more that she wanted to be a part of it all!  She kept coming out of the master bedroom (my aunt and cousin are sleeping in Alegria's room and Alegria and Lorelehi are staying in the master bedroom with me) to ask for water or any other little thing.

 

Finally it was quiet in there and I found her crashed out on one of the pillows I use to keep her from falling off the bed...and her new doll was in Alegria's spot on her pillow and under her blanket!  Funny!

 

 

Now I'm going to get a couple of hours' sleep and then get up and work on the cakes.   Yeah.   Bad planning on my part.   They should have been done before my family got here, but oh well!  It will be fine!

 

Ready for bed...can't get enough of my hair!  I love it!  :)

 

Good night y'all!  :)

I Wear My Daddy's Boots!

As opposed to  yesterday, our day was not just busy...it was VERY VERY busy!

I had a nail appointment at 10 and had to get the girls dropped off before then, and since I went to bed so late last night, I was unable to wake up early enough for us to go on our walk, so I just showered and got ready, and then we had breakfast.

We left the house by 9:35 and went to Julie Superti's house. I dropped the girls off and then headed over to the nail salon. The girl who did my nails worked very fast...I was done in 40 minutes! She stabbed me, though, and I almost died! Lol! J/K. She did poke me, though. She used a new tool on my nails that I'd never had anyone use on me before and totally pierced the skin beneath my thumb nail! It hurt!

I paid and left and went to go get Alegria and Odette. They had had a lot of fun playing with all of Hayley and Dylan's toys and had also done really well, Julie said.  No one cried or anything!  She and I chatted a little bit and then we left.

We got to Allie's house for playgroup and there was NO place to park right in front of her house! We had a full house today!!!

The kids played, we all ate, we visited.  It was fun, as always!

Dessert: red velvet cupcakes...YUMMY!

Sweet baby Jace!  Odette kept wanting to touch him, but she still doesn't understand being gentle, so I played goalie and kept her away from him as much as possible!

And of course, darling little Madden!  He's still sooo tiny!!!

Skyler and Lee had some sort of "Boys Only" club going on and wouldn't let Alegria in the toybox with them.  Alegria was a little offended and I had to hug her and tell her that it was okay...that she could just go and play with something else.  Oh well.  Boys will be boys! 

We left at about 2. Both girls fell asleep on the way home.

When we got home, I put Alegria in her room and she got upset. I told her that if she didn't want to sleep, she didn't have to, but that I was going to go nurse Odette and put her down for a nap and that she could read books if she wanted to or just rest.

Well, I fell asleep nursing Odette...I was sooo exhausted!  I woke up when Sister Davis called. I answered and spoke quietly and put Odette in her crib and left the room.

When I came out, I checked in on Allie and she was asleep.  Good.  She needed some rest!

I quickly tidied up a few things that we'd left in the living room when we got home.

Sister Davis arrived and we planned out the final details of the stake primary activity. I got the girls up from their naps at about 4:45 and they hung out and had some snacks while Sister Davis and I kept planning.

Finally, Sister Davis left. I have some stuff to get done between now and next Saturday.  It's going to be fun, but I must admit, it will be nice when it's over!!!  :)

After Sister Davis left, we played in Odette's room a little and read some books and since Alegria was in a good mood, I was honored to have her allow me to get not one, but two pictures with her!  Lol!

Then we had dinner.  As always, Alegria and I had a yummy banana-chocolate smoothie.  I've started adding milled flax seed in for added nutrional content...it "contains 100% whole grain milled flax seed that's high in heart-healthy omega-3 oils and it's grain is ground between two stones to ensure that germ, bran, and natural oils are fully preserved."  (I copied that from the box it comes in!  Lol!)  Yummy!

After dinner, the girls played while I vacuumed the whole house.  As Odette was just crawling around and pulling herself up to furniture, as usual, I noticed that her outfit was all puffed up and she looked HUGE!  In actuality, though, the outfit she wore today is still a little big on her!  Therefore, this picture was hilarious to me!

Alegria wanted her picture taken, too!

I bathed Odette, nursed her, and put her to bed.

Alegria and I watched some Classical Baby while I looked for a picture of a hairdo I had back when Cameron and I first met to see if I can get it reproduced when I go get my hair done tomorrow (yeah...Cameron's soon to be home and I'm getting all dolled up for his return!!!).  I even looked in Cameron's closet to see if he'd kept that picture in there...and Alegria came with me and found his boots!  As she was putting them on, she told me, "I wear my Daddy's boots!"

I found the picture I was looking for in the office closet and then I had Alegria watch "Daddy movie" while I bleached and changed the AC filter.

Then I bathed Allie and we got her ready for bed. She then picked up her toys without me even asking!

We brushed her teeth, said prayer, sang songs, and then I kissed her goodnight and left.

Now I'm here. I just needed a little down time before having to go do the other stuff that's waiting for me tonight...mainly frost a couple of cakes. I'll do what I can tonight...maybe even take a nap first. I'm exhausted. And then I'll finish tomorrow once my sisters are here...

I didn't get to talk to or chat online with Cameron today.  He did send me an email, though, and said he'd try to call tomorrow.  Boy, I sure do love him and can't wait to have him home!  :)

Good night everybody!!!

Alegria Is SOOO Helpful!

Our day was busy. 

Alegria, wonderful daughter that she is, as soon as we got Odette out of her crib this morning and I told Alegria that I needed to change Odette's diaper, well, she went and set everything up for me!  What a sweetheart!

We then all got dressed and took an hour-long walk.

While I showered, Odette got into the laundry and, as Alegria says, "She made a mess!"  Alegria was so sweet yet again and, without being asked, put the laundry back in the basket for me to fold at a later date...

When I was done getting ready, we had some breakfast.  The girls "helped" me partially unload the dishwasher:

Then Alegria decided the dishwasher rack was cool enough to be a bed for Big Bear!

Finally we headed out and went to the Dollar Tree to look for a couple of things for the girls' birthday parties.  As I was rummaging through some shelves, Alegria followed my lead and rummaged through a shelf, too...and even arranged the stuffed elephants ever so nicely!  (By the way, if you notice, her shorts are on backwards.  Up to know, we've not put any zippered pants or shorts on her to facilitate potty breaks, so she's not familiar with the fact that a zipper should go in the front!  Don't worry, I explained it to her eventually today!)

Alegria had been such a sweet child all morning long, I didn't see why she couldn't have a $1 stuffed elephant:

We came home and Odette napped. While she napped, I worked on two worksheets that I needed to make for the stake primary activity next weekend and then I printed them off.

Cameron called and we talked for a short while, but the girls had started being a little loud and difficult, so we hung up and he said he'd call tomorrow.  :)  It's always great to hear his voice, no matter for how long!  :)

The girls and I played...

Here's Alegria playing "Catch Odette:"

But Odette REALLY did not like that game!

At about 6, we went to Walmart so I could get a sugar-free cake mix for my cousin's birthday cake that I'm making this weekend, as well as some more printer ink and a few other things.

What's a trip to Walmart without a trip to the potty?  :)

After that, we went to the church building in Killeen, where we were for a little over an hour, printing off the song books and worksheets that I had typed up. :)

The girls found many ways to entertain themselves:

On the way home, Alegria almost fell asleep:

Once home, I realized that Alegria had left Odette's giraffe on a shelf in the copy room. I'll have to call Sister Hefner to see if she can get it for me...

I got Odette ready for bed while Allie got in her PJs. Then I nursed Odie and put her to bed by 9:35.

While I was putting Odette to bed, Alegria did a great job cleaning up her room and then we did the whole bedtime routine and she went to bed pretty fast.

I was tempted to nap after leaving Alegria's room, but instead I got started on stuff that I needed to do. I baked the cakes, fed the dog and fish, did a load of laundry, cleaned up in the kitchen and living room, and loaded and ran the dishwasher.

And that's been our day!

G'night!