The Dad

Noelle pretty much thinks that Boo is the cat's meow. And I'm pretty much chopped liver. Lately she's been very proudly telling everyone that her dad uses a lawn motor. I can't bring myself to correct her. Its too funny.

Boo has also introduced her to the idea of the Slip n' Slide. He told her all about it over dinner last night and she now is trying to "earn" a Slip n' Slide of her own. Once again Boo will be her hero. I just can't wait to watch him on the Slip n' Slide.

Stinkin' Easter Bunny

That's me. The stinkin' Easter bunny. I thought I had it all done and then remembered that I said I'd get the candy later. By later I didn't think it would be at 9pm the Saturday before Easter. Wal-Mart was abuzz with all the other loser parents wandering aimlessly through the aisles. Seriously it was like watching apes. We were all scratching our heads wondering where all the jelly beans had gone and why there wasn't a decent piece of chocolate to be had. Such a sorry sight. Lesson learned: get the candy early.

Side note: I told Noelle we'd be going to a neighbor's house for an Easter egg hunt. She asked me if the Easter bunny would hide eggs around our house. I said he might. Then her eyes lit up and she said "There will be candy in them and toys!" Ugghhhhh why did I do that last year? Then there was the candy shortage and well I'm going to have to make up a lie and tell her that the Easter bunny must have hid them all at her friend's house.

Good Riddance to March

I'm glad March is over. I breathe a big sigh of relief. During March we had seven doctor's visits. Three doses of antibiotics, two doses of steroids, breathing treatments, three blood tests, chest x-ray, lots of runny noses and coughing, coughing, coughing. Coughing to the point of throwing up on more than one occasion. We all had something awful.

So here's to hoping that April will continue to be as lovely as it has been the last two days.

Birthday Week Re-cap

She doesn't want me to stick a Barbie in the cake next time. Her words not mine.

The presents from Mom & Dad... or Auntie.
BTW, those bubbles are truly that large, and she filled it about a quarter full of pea gravel. I can't bring myself to throw them away. Seriously.

She has wanted paints for a very long time.

The Ariel costume that is "just like Madelyn's."

This giant bubble wand is one of those things that she saw on television and Ooo'd and Awww'd over. Thanks to her little friends who joined us for a birthday lunch and brought this coveted wand with them. She uses it also to whack at some of my plants. Does not make Mama happy.

Typical outfit - the crown was from her VIP day at school.

I had to add in this picture from the night we went to dinner with Auntie, JW and "Uncle Bictor."
We waited forever and all the kids were so good. Sydney, well she's my little ray of sunshine.

One of the other rockstars who was so good to wait forever for some dinner. Notice the sun has now gone down. Oh how I just love to snuggle him. He loves him some Auntie time too.

Happy Birthday Noelle

We've been celebrating since Saturday. She has loved almost every gift, even if she thinks everything we gave her was from her Auntie. She informed me that next year she does not want me to put a Barbie in her cake. (picture to come) Despite my efforts, Boo is the big winner for buying her a hula hoop.

The Pretty Poppy

If any of my blog readers out there need a personalized gift check out the Pretty Poppy at their Etsy Shop.

Also, check out this great letterpress shop, out of Idaho, The Dingbat's Agenda. I love letterpress - mostly because I'm a tactile person and well with letterpress I can actually feel the words. Mmmmm.... makes me so happy. When I'm rich I will have monogrammed letterpress stationary.

Go take a look at both of these little shops.

Utah

We don't usually travel to Utah this time of year, ie. winter. But it was nice to see the mountains all covered in snow and to play in it for a day or two. Sure glad we were able to see all of our families and a few friends while we were at it.Uncle Riley's farewell

Noelle with Frank the cat

Playing dress-ups with some cousins

Sydney and Cassie being cuties together

Noelle enjoying snow! Good thing I bought her some snow pants two years ago and they finally fit and we found a use for them.

The Grand Finale

Man o' man are we going to sleep good tonight. We worked all day long so that we could get all of our grass finished. But we're excited to have our own miniature soccer field and play ground in our back yard. It feels great to be finished with this massive project. Not sure I'd tackle it again in the same fashion (would probably hire more day laborers.) Here's to no more shoveling and no more mud baths.

The play set was assembled by Boo while the girls and I were in Utah. I've already hit my quota on time standing there pushing the swingers. Not my favorite thing. Also the gravel came on Thursday afternoon and since I couldn't find any young men to help shovel it out of the driveway I paid some young women. They were great workers and better sports about it all.

Back to the Future

Grandpa Randy was in Arizona for an old-time shoot out event. We were lucky enough to see him a couple of times while he was in the neighborhood. It was like Back to the Future III. The old west meets fifth wheels and custom motor homes. Noelle even got to meet a real life cowgirl.

Hot Pants

I just read a great post on The Apron Stage about conforming and matching and some other things that rang true to my spirit. Then just after I finished reading that entry Noelle walked in the office wearing this.
She loves to wear anything that she deems beautiful or fun. The night we picked up Reggie she was wearing a different swimsuit that looked like a ballerina get up with tutu and all, same boots. Boo and I agreed she looked like Ladybug Girl. I sometimes have to roll my eyes and remember she's only three and not for very much longer, which is why I don't mind if Cinderella is my shopping partner.

Sixteen Tons and What Do You Get?

You get to drive one of these things and load another twelve tons. This is what's left of the second load of rocks for our yard. 28 tons total.Boo's shoulders barely fit in the cage. It was a small little machine, just 36" wide so that it would fit through our gate. But as you can see Boo can manage anything with those huge muscles.
He's so tough. Here's a sneak peak at the progress of the back yard. Thanks to the rain on Saturday it hasn't changed much except that its a muddy mess still and my flip flops got stuck in the mud.

Weekend with JW

This little guy wasn't sure what planet he'd landed on after meeting these crazies.

For Better or For Worse

Hopefully for the better, we'd like to introduce you to Reggie. He's the newest member of Team Albertsen.Prince Reginald

Also, here is a sneak peak at the progress of the back yard. Its coming right along. Noelle does a really good job of wearing this poor guy out. Now only if we can teach him that Sydney's fingers are not sausages.

Two Feet

The other day while helping Noelle put on some pants, she kept telling me that she was four inches tall. I tried to correct her by saying four feet*. She looked at me confused and said, "I only have two feet."

*Clearly she isn't actually four feet tall, but its closer to accuracy than four inches.

Team Albertsen Relief Fund

Help desperate children like these get a backyard soon!

Sydney in the exersaucer watching Noelle make mud pies in the backyard.

I was talking to a sprinkler guy and it was beyond control by the time I got to her.

Giant Brains

Today while at Costco waiting to have new tires put on our car, Noelle and I shared some pizza, mexican french toast (aka churro) and a sprite. While eating her cut up pieces of pizza she was examining each one and telling me what shape they were. One was a diamond, a new shape she just learned about at school, and the other a triangle. I looked at her and asked her how she got to be so smart and she told me, "I'm a genius. That means I'm smart and I have a big brain."

New Year Blogging

I am addicted to my GoogleReader and as much as I hate to admit how sad I am when there isn't anything new to read I am then reminded how guilty I am at not updating those who might still care what I post on here. I had a Christmas update post going and its still in the draft collection of my blog.

Believe it or not my brain still works after having a baby nearly seven months ago. As much as I think it might have shriveled up and died it's still in there, thinking away about what to post on my blog. Sometimes it even tells me that I should just give up on this darn thing and commit blog suicide. However, I keep telling my brain that there are still some funny things that happen around our house and I make a little mental note to share them with my blog community and by the time I sit down to tell you all about it, I've forgotten the good details.

With all that said, I have been thinking about things I'm going to do this year. Resolutions I guess, but really I'm not resolving to do anything all that much better. Realistically I'm not going to get any better at making dinner. The recipes might change, but I'd say that for the six or so days a week that I actually make dinner I've got the national odds beat. And I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be any better at house keeping this year. Maybe I'll find a better groove though. Having visitors come usually kicks me into gear. What I have decided however is that I'm going to do more things for me and my family. Things to make us happier. We're pretty happy people, I think. Boo might not be, but if that's the case he's doing a pretty good job of covering it up. (If he even reads this far down it will be a miracle.)

We have a lot to be happy about. 2009 (not to be said 20-0-9 like on CBS Sunday Morning - drives me crazy) was a year to remember. We had a busy year. We celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary and bought a house on the same day. We beat the national average of eight years! Then a month later we had a baby. We enjoyed our first full length family vacation. Hosted a Thanksgiving feast for family. Celebrated Christmas at our house without family. And we didn't have any bar exams!
So my plan for 2010 is to do a few things for myself, that will make me happy for years to come I'm sure. I am going to quilt for me this year. In the past couple of years I've given away a lot of quilts for some pretty darn cute babies, but this is the year I get to finish one for myself/ family. I might even do two. This is also the year to get our house in order. Work on food storage, which scares me immensely. Get our back yard put in so we have a place to hang out and play together as a family and with friends. Just the thought of 10 tons of rock is exciting and frightening.
This is a good list of lofty expectations. But very realistic too.
Here's to 2010 and doing good things. Come and visit, or come shovel rock. I'll do my best to keep you updated on the progress over the year and throw in a few pictures and a bit of humor along the way.
Happy New Year!

Redeeming Qualities

Phoenix was listed as one of 16 places to find sunshine this time of year. (Popped up on my MSN when I logged in, I promise.)

Come visit the valley of the sun during its best time of year.

Tis the Season

This was the basic message of the lesson I taught today. I showed this at the end of the lesson. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I have. I also love this song.

To watch the video click here

Shadow Dancing