"I Feel Good (na na na na na na na!"

The upstairs is cleaned out and up!! All corners cleaned out, all furniture pulled out and hidden treasures cleaned up, all clothing sorted and boxed, and it feels good! I've been working for the last week to clean out every box, clothes drawer, closet, etc. This is not easy when there are cute little helpers to mix your piles up!! I've been anxious to clean things out so that eventually when we move we just have to throw it into boxes and not have to sort through stuff. We delivered 6 boxes worth of stuff to DI this morning and countless bags of trash have made it out of the house throughout the week (it is AMAZING HOW many papers come home from school and end up in a sort pile!). It is SO much easier to clean out when you think "do I want to move this" and it's even easier when you think "do I want to store this" since most of our stuff will (hopefully!) go into storage for the summer. Really, I don't need most of my college notes (no matter HOW good the class was) and I'm sorry but I will never be a size 5 or even 8 again..hips don't shrink. Sigh. And those clothes that have made it through 4 kids and LOOK like it really shouldn't even be donated and those clothes that we have but the kids just didn't wear for whatever can be loved by someone else. Tonight Daddy helped me finish condensing boxes (I only wanted one box for 2T clothes instead of 2) and got them all nicely packed away into the closet and then I vacummed and surveyed my work and man do I feel GOOD!!!! (Okay, I'm sore from playing soccer today, but happy with my work). Now, onto the downstairs!! :)

Preschool!!

We had preschool at our house last week...we're doing a water unit so we were "water scientists" and did lots of water experiments...we had lots of fun!!!

Which will float/sink, how can we move water, all sorts of good stuff! (and yes, money CAN float, although only 3 quarters survived the paper muffin holder!!)
They had SO much fun...and amazingly we didn't have any major spills!I think their favorite was moving water with medicine droppers...we almost ran out of time to do the other fun preschool tasks of the day!!

Okay, so we got a little wet :) Everyone went home dry!!!

And yes, Ashley, we still miss you! I'm VERY proud of my water scientists!!!

More randomness

January randomness

Daddy and I were listening to a CES talk by President Monson given to college aged youth. He started by saying (I'm really badly paraphrasing but you get the idea) how wonderful it was to be with the young people and how fresh and energetic they looked. I realized he is no longer talking to me since I just felt tired and old! Sigh. I'm not seeing anything wonderful about being in my 30's yet.

Anyways, here are a bunch of very random pictures taken this month...enjoy!

I realized we didn't have any pictures of M in her new baptism dress Grandma made her so here you go!

NOTE: This is for my mommy...I told you...it's really random, and this is another "I'm mad at gmail for not letting me embed pictures into my emails to my mommy so you can all suffer" Anyways...don't my mini blue berry muffins look super cute in my new basket Mom! FYI That's the smaller one
Okay, you may all read the rest of this post...A few Sundays ago I decided to take pictures since everyone was so cute!!! Here's E reading to Mg while Mg holds her favorite bunnies (yes, that is plural. She won't sleep without one so we kept buying more so we could wash them...I swear they multiply when I'm not looking, at times she has 6 and at other times we can't find 1)

While they read M helped Daddy cook her favorite meal...chicken broccolli pasta

And as always there was a little helper (or scrounge...this kid LOVES food!!!)

M's Baptism

I still can't believe she is 8 years old!!! She has been SO excited about this day for a long time. The bishop who conducted the meeting commented on how white the fresh snow was outside and how it sparkled in the sunlight just like M did after she was baptised. It was a beautiful day and we were SO grateful that we had so much family join us on her special day and we love and missed those that couldn't be there.

4 Generations of Ahlstroms....how wonderful is that!!
After she was baptised she wore the dress that I was baptised in so she could wear a pretty white dress to be confirmed in! Later she got a new pretty pink dress to wear to church the next day. She sure felt loved and was so happy and clean!!M is such a happy girl who loves life and friends and we're SO grateful that she is in our family. We're proud of all that she can do and for the wonderful girl she is growing up to be.

Hooray for the Holidays!!!

Despite everyone (except me) taking at least one turn being sick while on vacation we still had a wonderful time. Here are the girls and their cousins with their new Christmas Eve pj's...thanks Grandma (and GREAT job as always!)The girls got new dolls from my parents and new dresses from Daddy's parents and dresses for their dolls that matched from us...Merry Christmas!!

We had to say goodbye to one of my parents cats while we were there but had SO much fun when they adopted 2 new tiny and very playful kitties!!

Despite the cold the girls enjoyed party hats and horns while watching fireworks on New Year's Eve

And little A especially enjoyed the treats we made...and figured out who to go to to get some!!

And HOORAY!!!! E lost her very first tooth!!! It had been wiggly for WEEKS and finally one night she went to brush her teeth and realized the tooth was gone!!!

YEA!!

Here's Grandpa with his new kitties...we're pretty sure they're brother and sister and they're about 3 months and they love each other...sleep together, meow when they can't find the other, etc. Horray for kitties!

Snow fun in Utah!!

The girls had SO much fun being in the snow!!! Uncle Steve built a snow hill in the backyard...you can see that Daddy has to stand on a chair to reach the top of it!!! Yea Uncle Steve!After you went down the hill aways they built a great 90 degree turn (it was fun to watch engineers at work...and even more fun to watch the big boys go down the hill to "carve out the path")

And the best was wiping out at the end...and seeing how far you could get!

Then the fun continued when Daddy thought he should race the kids going down the hill so he put a kid on a sled and counted down and then Daddy would take off while Uncle Steve pushed a kid down the hill. I think everyone took turns winning. Then Daddy decided for even MORE fun he should add a little hill so the sled could catch some air! There were an awful lot of wipe-outs!!!

But there was always a warm fire and slipperes afterwards :)

And there was another great hill in their other grandparents backyard!! Lots of snow time!!! They have a tunnel slide as well so there was lots of fun...and some good snow ball fights!!

And great hot chocolate afterwards!

New picture

I Was tired of looking at my last post, and not knowing when I'll finish getting caught up on Christmas pictures here is a favorite from the trip...I can't believe my baby was baptised!!! Can she (and I) really be that old! She is such a joy though and we're so proud of her! I promise more to come soon!

Benefits of the 24 hour flu...

• Finally got started on that diet

• Empathy for the sick little ones

• Increased love for the dear husband who was a fabulous mommy today

• Increased love for friends - thanks for your help!!

• Increased appreciation for ALL that I do - it's quite entertaining to lay in your bed all day and listen to life go on downstairs without you

• Gratitude for an incredibly comfortable bed (wedding present from my parents - LOVE it!!)

• Realization that I NEVER want to be pregnant again :) (Daddy commented this morning that he hasn't ever seen me this sick except for during labor and a lot of suppressed memories came back!)

• Gratitude for a normally healthy body

• Realization that things don't matter - I truly did not care AT ALL if the phone rang, the doorbell rang or if anyone emailed me...and life went on (but if you DID call or ring the doorbell would you let me know since I am curious who it was!!)
  

And the downsides....
Up all night and morning
An entire day off and I was too tired to even read or work on a project

Guess you won't be getting an update on pictures like I hoped today :) I'm grateful that I'm starting to feel better and look for that update soon :)

Already???

M and E wore my socks to school yesterday. And it didn't really look bad - the only reason I noticed was because E came to me very excited that she was wearing brown shoes, brown socks and brown pants. Except she doesn't HAVE brown socks...only I do. And they weren't that big on her. Sigh. They're ALL going to pass me before their 12th birthday :)

And why do they have to be so much like us? I was minding my business almost 45 minutes after they were put to bed and I heard a small crash upstairs. E and Mg were definately asleep. So I ask M "Are you awake?" She hesitates and then shakes her head. How many times did my Daddy carry me from the car to my bed even though I was wide awake and just "pretending" I was asleep (as if he didn't know...I love you Daddy!). I noticed the bathroom light was on (in the room right next to the girls). I open up the door and look around and there is some paper that M was writing a note to us on...something about how we're so sweet. Now I'm (internally) laughing since I was notorious for staying up late and I can't get mad since she's writing about how sweet I am. And it is just occuring to me that I usually stayed up late READING by my night light or the street lamp post outside and I BET THAT CHILD WAS UP THERE READING AND I DIDN'T EVEN CHECK!!!!!!! Hello...if she's so much like me then maybe I should have checked that.

And why do I suspect she was reading a book...because Daddy was given my parents old but fabulous surround sound speakers and so as a graduation gift from his parents he was going to buy a receiver for them. After MUCH study and online shopping he finally figured out which ones he wanted so we took a family trip to one of my husbands very favoritest places on earth...Fry's electronics. He wanted to actually see and hear it. Turns out people don't demo receivers, just speakers and he thought he had seen a better price for the receiver online and was going to get it at home. It just so happened that there is a book store down the street that we had a gift card for and wanted to use so we went to the book store and they each got a new book, which is why I suspect she is up there reading. And I missed it. You'd think I of ALL people would have figured that out.

To finish the Daddy story we came home, put the kids to bed and went online to order the receiver...and the price had jumped from a few hours before (on amazon...grr) and it turns out Fry's has the best deal, so he is now on his way BACK to the store before it closes to pick it up :) And I'm realizing this is a REALLY long and BORING post...this is what happens when I stay up way to late scrapbooking and then play soccer (which I haven't done in several weeks). The legs hurt, the brain doesn't function and my incredible ability to RAMBLE takes over the fingers and you have to suffer (if any of you are still reading at this point).

Now, on to check that book...let's see how quietly I can sneak up the stairs :) Good night everyone!

UPDATE!!! :)
Hee Hee :) Despite VERY sore legs I sneaked up the stairs and was dismayed to find that I had LEFT THE STAIR LIGHT ON!!! Talk about helping the kid out!! :) I was able to quietly peek through the door and yup, there's the kid reading. I loudly whispered "PUT THE BOOK AWAY" and boy did she jump! That was fun :) I now have book and hopefully MY child will go to sleep ") And if you're curious this is the new book we found at the book store...There are a bunch of us that routinely discuss book series so here's my review (before reading the book)...The kids really enjoyed the Breyer Stablemates horses series and this is the Breyer Wind Dancers series that we discovered tonight...it's a 78 page book, 8 chapters and nice 1/2 page color picture every few pages and a little color on each page. Haven't read it yet but it looks good. There are 4-5 books in the series. For those of you looking for an easier horse book we really recommend the Breyer stablemates series (Lucky, Patch...) nice color pictures and short chapters. E can read those easily by herself now, this new Wind Dancer book is great for M but the others will enjoy hearing it and looking at the pictures. Now I'm serious....good night :)

Cute girls

M had a birthday!! My little girl is 8!!! I can't believe how quickly time flies! She was VERY excited to get an 18 inch doll from one Grandma and a new dress from the other Grandma which came with a matching dress for her new doll. Life is good! I'm so grateful for a beautiful girl who is so happy and helpful.


This little monkey is not exactly helpful but she sure is adorable!!! She loves to be with us and is such a joy...although lately she seems to be in EVERYTHING!!!! This is her new favorite place - on the kitchen table (now that she figured out she can climb up there!)
One of the girls was clapping her hands at the dinner table and little A realized she could do it too...which meant during every meal for the next few days she would start clapping and of course everyone would cheer her on and clap with her and she would get the biggest smile and was so happy being a big girl like everyone else :) It was adorable!

REALLY late catch up

I wondered if I should bother going back this far to catch up but decided that since my birthday present from my parents is to get my blog published into a book (THANK YOU!!) it is worth the time and effort to have a completed blog :) So I take you back to Thanksgiving weekend when my in-laws came to visit for your viewing enjoyment...

On their last day in CA we sent the boys to the electronics store and us girls had a royal tea party...first Grandma did everyone's hair and nails...
The girls did their own makeup while waiting their turn and then I served up some wonderful lemonade and some little muffins and rice krispy treats while they discussed the goings on in the castle (the number of kitties, how nice the dragon is, etc)

The tea party was followed up with an impromptu dance concert (does this remind you of anyone mom??)
When the boys returned they managed to pick up a little something extra - remote controlled helicopters :) The boys tried it out and had a good time
Thanks for the great visit!!! We all had a great time!