Saturday April 25th

This is a day that I will always remember. First of all it was my birthday. And for those of you who called to wish me a Happy Day---thank you. For those of you that did NOT---SHAME ON YOU. But there is always next year, or the next, or the next....

My sister-in-law Alicia had called earlier in the week and asked if we could get all of our girls' ears pierced. Maybe not the best way to celebrate my birthday, but it is something we have needed to do, and Alicia really wanted to get her little 3 month old Kennidi in, so off we went to Claire's at SanTan Mall. And be forewarned all you mother's who are feint of heart!

Here are the three lovely ladies before the TERROR began!


Delainee was up first, and she was soooo nervous.



"Find a happy place, find a happy place!"


Oh yeah, she knew it was coming!

Even after it was over she couldn't stop crying. The lady is trying to show Delainee her cute new ears in the mirrror, and Delainee does not even want to look. I think she thought there would be blood everywhere or something.

FOR THE REST OF THE DAY and evening this is what we saw at our house! My apologies to the poor babysitter that watched my kids while we went out for my birthday celebration. A crying 1 year old---totally understandable. A non-stop crying 7 year old---not so much!

Waverly was last. And she was completely a deer in the headlights!

But first came one ear....

and then the other.....

POOR THING!

Aaaah, look at that face!

Luckily Uncle Mike was there to give some fatherly love.

I love that it looks like Wavee and Kennidi are holding each other's hands for support. My own DEAR husband, refused to come becuz he didn't want his little Waverly to associate HIM with the trauma she went thru. YOU STINK, COURT!

Fischbeck Family Hike

As mentioned in the prior post. Court and his dad and brother's did a little overnight campout on Friday night. No complaints here--'Happy pre-lated Birthday to me!' Unfortunately Laetner knew about the trip WAY too much in advance, as every single day he would ask if today was the day he was going camping. We was slightly confused, however. He thought it would be like Father's and Sons that he went to with Court and my brother Scott and their two boys. So the whole week Laetner kept telling Delainee that she was not invited because there would be no room for her to sleep if her cousins and Uncle were there. This would of course send Lainee into tears that is was just a 'boys' trip until I explained AGAIN that she WAS indeed invited and that Laetner had NO idea talking about! (This happened EVERYDAY since Sunday leading up to the trip!)

Here is the 'group' before heading out! 4 men and 6 kiddies.


I told Court that he needed to get some pictures for me for the blog. And what a good job he did. The kids had a blast! But the next day (which was my birthday) they were not only exhausted, but their little muscles were ACHING. Saturday night was spent in tears and exclamations of "My leg hurts!" Aaaah the price of fun!

Thanks grandpa for putting this together!

The trip was not without ANY mishaps. The men had parked their trucks at the bottom of the mountain before hiking in. Well the next morning when they were heading home, Court goes to start his truck to no avail! During the middle of the night someone had cut the lines to his gas tank and DRAINED IT! What jerks. Luckily they did not touch my father in laws truck---not sure why. So luckily Court's dad was able to tow Court's truck in. The car shop said this has been happening ALOT lately---people will go shopping at the mall and come out to a cut line or a gas tank completely gone. Court and I were talking about how mean his situation really was. The people officially left him with no gas in the middle of the desert. Luckily he was with someone else---but those JERKIES didn't know that. What is this world coming too?????

The Beginnings of a Beautiful Weekend

Friday night the Fischbeck's had a little daddy hike/outing. It was a beautiful thing. Court headed out with his dad and brothers along with Delainee and Laetner for a little overnight campout. That left just me and Waverly. Mama Maurio called to see if she could take me out for my birthday. A day too early, but it worked out sooo perfect. Every year on or around my birthday, Mama Maurio and I usually head to Crackers because I love, love, love their bread pudding. Cracker's isn't open in the evening so we headed to Charleston's--who also provides a bread pudding option on their menu! Waverly has now disspelled all myths of her being an angel child, but it was still a very enjoyable evening with my MIL and my SIL (sister in law) Marissa!

Nice alfalfa hair, Wavee!

( Many people have assumed that due to my grievances about 'originals' photos, that Mama Maurio and I do not get along. Hopefully this will help alleviate any of those misunderstandings----although on my birthday card she did sign it with, "Love, Maurio---and the 11 of us!)

Gilbert Public Schools Art Show

Every year Gilbert Public Schools has an art show. The art teacher at the school chooses one child from each class and their art work then gets displayed throughout Norwood furniture in downtown Gilbert. Well Delainee was the pick for Mrs. Turley's 1st grade class. We are so proud of her. Her piece is the one next to her shoulder.

And this is her art teacher, Mrs. Carrie.

Great job Delainee!

The latest hot spot!

Who could that be hiding in the little cupboard under the sink?

I've said it before and I will say it again. The child is weird--

But man alive she is cute!

She Wants To Be, She Has To Be a MovieStar!

Thursday was Delainee's 1st Grade Musical. We took video footage of both the day and evening performance, and lots of photos as well, cuz Court was out of town. The theme was When I Grow Up and her class was responsible for wearing cowboy/cowgirl clothes. Delainee was very upset when I said she was dressed like a cowboy---"No, I am a cowgirl, MOM!" She was such a cute cowgirl, and I was so proud of her! For all you new parents out there, learn from my mistakes. As we were leaving, Lainee saw that some of the other performers had flowers. "Where are my flowers?" she asked. I am such a bad mommy it did not even cross my mind. But I tried to make up for it and we headed over to golden spoon where she actually got to choose a topping---woohoo!




Thanks to Papa and Grandma for coming to cheer our performer on.



Delainee and her 1st grade teacher Mrs. Turley.



CUTE COWGIRL!

I have to hold Waverly back! She just wants to touch the essence of ShowBiz Delainee!

You Should Be Jealous!

Do you see that little 'hold the onions' tab on my side bar under 'sites I visit daily'? Have you ever clicked on it? You should. There are some yuh-uh-mee recipes going on over there. She recently posted a recipe for Cracker's Bread Pudding---my all time favortie dessert EV-AH!

Anyhoo, Candice over at Please Hold The Onions had a give-away and guess who won THIS:

That would be ME----be jealous! Ü

Flattered or Shattered

Okay. Today was my second consecutive trip to Wal-Mart where I was hit on by an old man. And no I don't count the greeter who says 'Welcome to Wal-Mart' as actually flirting with me. Last time I was wandering up and down the aisles with my nerd notebook (coupon notebook) when out of nowhere I hear, "My wife would be so jealous of the way you have all your coupons organized!" I just smiled politely and kept on down the aisle with Waverly in the cart, but he kept on following me and talking about how you gotta do what you gotta do to save money these days. I was getting a little nervous that he was gonna try and steal THE NOTEBOOK---wouldn't be the first time someone has tried. Ü But somehow I managed my way out of the conversation (and off of his aisles) Maybe that incident wasn't too creepy, but today was. I am walking into aforementioned store with Waverly on my hip and Laetner holding my hand. As we are crossing the cross walk, there is an old man with a cane standing on the other side of it right in the middle. As we get closer he pipes up, "I have been watching you," (okay that alone is creepy enough). He continues, "I have been watching you, and I am impressed that with your baby on your hip you are not leaning over at all. You must have very strong arms."

Ummmm, how exactly was I supposed to respond to that. Again I gave a polite smile and nodded my head. But what was I even nodding to????? Was I giving encouragement to his eye-balling my rather impressive biceps?

Thank You, Easter Bunny!

This is what our hip-hoppin-ing friend left us Easter morning. The kids were very excited to show off their spoils.

And little Miss Waverly wasn't sure if it was a bomb or not!


But per protocol, the Easter Bunny brought us some new summertime suits.

After the basket browsing, we made breakfast. As we were sitting down together I asked the kids what the real meaning of Easter was all about. They didn't know, so I began to tell them the story of our Savior and his resurrection. As soon as I finished relating all the details, Laetner looks thoughtful for a moment and then exclaims, "That is a good story mom, will you tell it again?"

At church when I went to pick him up from his primary class, he was so excited that his teachers knew the same story about Jesus that we had talked about at breakfast. After church we headed over to Fischbeck's for an Easter dinner and egg hunt. Before the egg hunt, we had a little FHE to talk about the real meaning of Easter. Well all the kids were experts on the matter (after sitting thru all their classes in primary) but Laetner again thought it was the most amazing thing that everybody was talking about that same story again. And even more excited that he could actually help fill in the details. I was so happy that we had managed to actually get through him what the real meaning of Easter was about.

5K

I have been loving my boot camp. Last weekend our trainer Marianne put together a little 5K for us to run. 5k only ends up being 3.2 miles, but it was fun to feel like we were competing in something. Here is the 'group' before we began---minus a husband that showed up to run it with us. Marianne (our trainer) is the 5 month pregnant cutie in the blue hat.





As usual, Shelby and I started out the event very amicably,



But, just like London's Run, once that finish line was in site, it was a fist fight all the way to the end.




We came in at 32:10. About a 10 minute mile---not too shabby!
(Thanks Scott for coming to be our paparazzi)

Mama Maurio

I have a pet peeve. And my Mother In Law KNOWS about this 'peeve' so I don't think she will be offended for my blogging about it. My MIL is very particular when it comes to photos of her own children---otherwise known as the 'ORIGINALS'. Whenever we take photos, there is always the obligatory, "Okay, just the original children ONLY" photo. It chaps my hide! Ü

Don't get me wrong, however. Mama Maurio and I get along GREAT! Who can forget that time with the moose! Aaaah those WERE good times....

(Me, the Moose, and Mama Maurio )

Well yesterday my MIL decides to create her own blog---good for her! I even help her create her address, and as soon as she posts, I leave her a comment welcoming her to the world of blogging---cuz who doesn't love the validation that comments bring, right? As soon as I post my comment, my eye wanders to her side bar and I see THIS photo with the title of

'JUST THE 11 OF US'

Grrrrrrr!

(and yes I was part of the family when this photo was taken--in fact there were 3 in laws and one grandchild sitting on the sidelines, getting a glimpse of what eternity looks like---APPARENTLY WE WON'T BE THERE)

I immediately left another comment and rescinded my welcome to the blogging community due to the fact that she had an 'originals' photo on her side bar. This was about 3:00 p.m. and I then left the sanctity of my computer screen to go teach two classes of Let's Play Music.

After Let's Play Music (at @ 5:50) I returned to my MIL's blog to find this:

Can you see it there on her side bar? I had to take a picture of it cuz I knew she wouldn't let it stay there, but here is a closer look....

That's right! I am the favorite! I've always known it, just didn't want to rub it in to the other SEVEN in laws!