Chop Chop Chop

So Briea decided to give her self a hair cut. Bangs and Layers. 

Who knew she went to beauty school at the ripe old age of 4.

So we went to a friend to get it fixed.

This picture makes me feel old because I used to baby sit the girl doing B's hair when she was 3 or 4.

YIKES!

 Ayla was completely out.

She was so tired, she was sleeping with her eyes half open. 

CREEPY!

New Do!

After a few hours of playing. 

Guess I will have to get used to the bangs. 

Oh i hope this doesn't happen again.

Thanks Alex for fixing my girl!

S-U-R-P-R-I-S-E

Ed and Stacy stopped by for a quick visit as they were passing through on their way to the airport. So we got to have dinner and visit for a little while. It was so fun getting to see them and visit with them. We always enjoy their company. It was the last chance we had to get to see them before we moved so I was so grateful they took the time to stop by and say hi. 

I am sure we will see each other again...It will just be a little bit longer drive. But well worth it!

Proud Momma!!

today we took the kids to the y to go swimming. they are getting better with each time that we go. 

Briea wowed us all today when she just hopped right up on the big diving board and jumped off. 

she was just following Kael's example i guess. 

Cullan was not found of the board at first. He likes to swim under water with his goggles and see what he can discover. 

finally at the end, right before we left he decided to go off the board and go down the slide, but I did not get a video. 

I am so proud of my kiddos. 

It always makes me happy to see them try new things and not be afraid to do something they have not done before!!

SURPRISE!!

while we were in des moines for my grandmothers funeral, our friends the palmers also happened to be in des moines. since we do not get to see them as much as we would like, we got together so the kids could play and so we could visit!

the kids were so excited when they saw the palmers walking up the drive way. 

i told them they had a surprise coming, but i don't think they ever dreamed it would be them!

 Cullan helping Finny go for a ride.

 Ayla desperatly trying to get Ollies attention. He is quite the ladies man! ;0)

 Eden and Cullan playing Taxi!

 Best Buds- Kael and Jaren

Ollie wiggling it!!

these ride things are so much fun. a couple people have asked where you find them. my parents said their neighbor found them at the iowa state fair, however you can find them only as well. i would just google wiggle rider or something similar. 

I was so glad the Palmers came to visit. 

i am hoping it wont be so long until we see them again!

the beginnings.

so just a little while ago, i was laying on the bed watching a movie on the computer when the sirens went off. i did not think much of it because it was so nice here. sunny and bright. no bad weather all day. i honestly thought that they must be testing them or something. after a few minutes i decided to get up and see what was going on. i looked out our bedroom window and this is what i saw. 

a tornado starting to form right outside our neighborhood. i could not believe it. 

i yelled down to garran to get the kids in the pantry. 

he asked why and i said "oh there is just a tornado outside". 

we watched it for a bit and then it slowly went back up into the sky. 

it was the craziest thing. 

i know it is not a massive tornado but it was still wild. 

i always thought you needed storms for torndos. i guess not.

hmmm. what is that taste?

( this is a gross post. don't keep reading if you don't feel up to it)

let me start off by saying that since i have been couponing, we have a wide variety of different brands of the same products. we have started going with what we can get the best deal on. so for example, we have a ton of different deodorants, but hey they all do the job, so no one complains.

well last night i went into the bathroom and got my toothbrush out of the cabinet. everything seemed normal with it. it definitely looked the same as it did when i put it away that morning. so i put some toothpaste on and start to brush. i am not exactly sure when i began to notice. i would say maybe somewhere in the three to five area of brushes that I noticed the toothpaste had an unusual flavor to it. I took my toothbrush out and looked at it and thought, what in the world is wrong with this. then out of the corner of my eye i see it. garrans deodorant sitting on the ledge of the back of the toilet. LID OFF! i pick it up for closer inspection and see that there are these lovely little fine grove marks going across the top. that's right. my daughter had picked my lucky toothbrush to be the winner to rub all over daddy's old spice deodorant!!! i have to admit i gagged a little when putting it all together. it was one of those slow motion moments where i could see it in my head happening and then a light bulb went off and i realized that i had just put that in my mouth.. SIGH.

so i instantly throw that toothbrush away and go and get a new one from the closet. i scrub my mouth for probably about 5 minutes. you would not think that old spice deodorant would have such a lingering taste. however i can tell you from experience that it does.

after brushing, my mouth still tasted like i had had an old spice popsicle for dessert so i decided to try some mouth wash. let me just say that Listerine and old spice mixed together could seriously be used as some form of torture for bad guys!

i went and got a bottle of water to flush it out of my mouth and because well old spice does its job and my mouth felt like cotton.

i finally decided to give up and go to bed. before i did i went to check on the kids in their rooms. the boys were fine and then on to briea. as i looked at that sweet little girl laying there, i thought, it is a good thing you are cute. especially right now. as i bent down to give her a kiss, i was overpowered by the smell of old spice again (you can go ahead and insert another gag from me at this point). apparently briea had rubbed it all over her arms.

i think it is time to lock the upstairs bathroom again.

the haircut.

today, Garran, Kael and Briea were outside playing. Cullan had come in because he was cold. He went upstairs to change clothes and I thought he was just using the rest room. When he came down stairs he said, "Mom I decided to cut my hair. This is the worst hair cut I have ever given myself!". 

I about feel over laughing. 

Oh well, buzz cut here we come!

Good thing that face of his is so cute.

missing treasure.

that is how i felt today, while organizing things on a new shelf that we got, i found an old memory card for my camera. there were all sorts of pictures on it, but this was one of my favorites. 

look at all that sweet chubby baby. i just loved squeezing her then...and i still do. she may not be that little anymore but she is still just as sweet. 

steak and shake.

the boys got some surprise birthday money in the mail today from their great grandmother. we did not really have an idea what to do with it since Kael had already opened presents and Cullans birthday was not for a while, so we asked the boys what they would like to do. We had thought about taking them to go and see a movie but then the boys said they wanted to go out to eat. This is something that they RARELY get to do, so it was a real treat. We let them pick the place and everything. They had never been to steak and shake before, but that is where they wanted to go. They ended up loving it. I had not been there in years and so I was impressed with all the fun things they had for the kids. They got hats and these cars, plus coloring pages. The kids loved the cars!! They are still playing with them today.

 Here is Cullan sporting his cool hat!

 Briea enjoying some apple juice!

 Kael did not want to wear his hat at first, but then decided he want to put it on before we left. I had to snap a quick picture of him. 

they all behaved really well, which i was happy about. since we don't go out much, i worried about how things would go, but they did really well. the boys both ordered chicken, BIG SURPRISE. some days, i think these boys will turn into chicken. they LOVE IT!!

it was a fun night. we even surprised garran by picking him up from school to go! we had a lot of fun. Thanks Nanny for thinking of the boys and letting them have a fun evening out!

on the way home

on the way home from church today we saw off in the distance all of these kites flying. so we decided to do some investigating and drive by. our town has an annual kite festival. so garran and i thought it would be fun to snap a few pictures real quick on our way home. I wish it would have been at a different time. I am sure the kids would have loved to get out and run and see all the kites. However they liked what they saw from the car. 

this was what we could see from the road.

these were so cool. the kids really liked the octopus and penguin.

so we got a close up of them.

it was a beautiful day. nice and windy.

Kael was most excited about NEMO.

Cullans favorite was the penguin.

I liked all of them. Garran really thought the salamander was cool!

relief!

a huge thank you to my mom!!! today she called and said that she wanted to do something fun for the kids. so we talked and we decided to go with a pool. the kids LOVE IT!! they have not gotten out of it since we filled it up. i am pretty sure this is what we are going to be doing the rest of the summer.

 b in her swim suit not liking the heat!

 the boys could not wait for it to fill. the water was freezing but it did not matter to them.

 see so much fun.

 even daddy got in. (for those of you who follow my blog, "master" is in the blue shirt!)

diva lou!! all she needs is some shades.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

WE LOVE GRANDMA!!

love this!!

i hope i can be like my grandmother at her age. this is my 90 year old grandmother and my cousin on mother's day. she asked David to take her for a ride on his new Harley. I love that she is so adventurous. she always has been. I am sad we were not there to see it in person!!

surprise charity!!

the other day we attended a surprise birthday party for a friend of mine Charity. her family decided to have a surprise party for her. it was a lot of fun and the kids had a great time!

here is charity getting ready to cut the cake!

after everyone ate the kids just played at the park while the parents got a chance to hang out and chat. it was a nice afternoon. we will miss all of our friends here and having the opportunity to do fun things like this with them.briea trying to get daddy.cutie cullan on the slide.spider man kael, running wild at the park.
ps. my boys are obsessed with spider man right now!!

easter surprise!

yesterday the kids got an Easter treat in the mail from my mom. i thought i would post the before and after. they were very excited about each of their little chocolate bunnies.
briea could not wait, it just went straight in her mouth.thanks for the treats mom!! they love getting fun mail and yummy surprises!

winner!

the other night at Oliver's benefit, kael walked a way a winner!

i had put a few tickets in with each of the kids name on it as well as some my parents had one.
Lucky Kael won this bear!! he was over the moon when I brought it home. I asked him what he the bears name was...he replied with a sigh "mom his name is TEDDY BEAR!"
I just added this picture of the boys because they both have such strange looks on their faces. It is kind of funny.

Ollie's All Star Bash

February 20th 2009

Well we did it. We pulled it off. Last night was Oliver's All Star Bash! It was AMAZING!! Everything went pretty much according to plan. There are always hiccups here and there but for the most part the night went very smoothly. I got there around four so that we could finish up some last minute details. We had over a hundred volunteers that needed to be organized and told what needed to be done. We had the most amazing volunteers. They were all UNI students and had been coordinated through a lady named Jen Beck. I will forever be grateful to them. Without them the night would not have been such a great success. They were super helpful and great with the kids! So here are pictures of the night!Oliver and his family were picked up in a limo and brought to the location.Here they are pulling up.Oliver being greeted by the limo driver as he exited the limo.The Palmer Family.
Oliver, Stacy, Jaren, Eden, Ed (minus their two month old, who was to sick to attend)
As they entered the building their were Camp Adventure (UNI students) lining the stair way waiting and cheering with confetti.Here they are getting ready....Here is his big entrance. I think he was a little shocked. A lot of people were cheering. I think he got a little nervous. ;0)Here he is. The big man of the night! He looks so sweet and handsome in his tux.
Once the Palmer's arrived, it was time for the party to begin.
Downstairs we had food and games for the kids.There were so many fun tables and activities set up. Camp adventure kids had tables set up to make fun hats and other crafts, Jiva a local salon set up a table and were giving all the little girls manicures. There was a balloon guy who was making just about anything you could think of out of balloons for the kids. There was a flat screen set up with a wii in the corner for kids to play different wii games. It was really amazing and I think all of the kids had such a good time.
While everyone was eating we had some guests arrive. The local fire department decided to drop in. They asked Oliver if he would come outside for a minute. Then they surprised us all and scooped him up, set him in the truck and starting fastening him in.After they got him all buckled in, they put a head set on him so that he could hear the other guys in the truck. Then....they let him pull the horn! How fun. Stacy, Amy and I were joking about how most grown men we know would probably like to do the same thing!The surprises just kept coming. After checking with Ed and Stacy, they turned on the sirens and took Oliver for a ride around downtown. We were all standing outside and could hear the siren as the toured the downtown area. I know Oliver thought this was pretty cool!
After they got back, there was one more surprise.The Fire Marshall made Oliver an honorary Fire Fighter. It was very sweet. I believe he got a badge and a tee-shirt that said fire fighter.
The night did not end there.We had another special guest. The Bucks, a local baseball team's mascot came to enjoy the evening and greet people that were there.
Once dinner was over, people started moving upstairs to the dance floor. We had a DJ set up as well as a silent auction and raffle. Here is Uncle Bryan, Grandma Young, and Oliver!Cullan rocking his balloon gear. The balloon guy was amazing! He was so great with the kids. People were waiting almost thirty minutes in line at some points just so their kids could chat with him and get a balloon.Here is Jaren, Oliver's younger brother playing with his balloon sword.The dance was great. The DJ played fun music and everyone had a great time. These are some friends of ours from church that I snapped a quick picture of dancing. Eric and his daughter Addy.One last special guest for the night. TC the Panther mascot from UNI came to dance the night away. Oliver was so funny. When he got to meet TC he put his hand up on his head to cover up his Hawkeye logo. He said he did not want TC to be upset with him. What a sweet kid.The party was AMAZING. People were so generous and I think that everyone had a fun time. I think that the dancing started to tapper of around 10:00 or 10:30. Again the UNI and Camp Adventure kids were great. They helped clean up and tear everything down. All the work was done in no time at all. So after everyone had left and everything was said and done, we decided to get one more picture.So here we are. The Committee Gals!
Starting on the left side, bottom.
Bridget B, Andrea G, Stacy P
Right side back to front
Jen B, Myself, Amy B, Meghan H.

I can not say enough good things about Jen B. and her volunteers from UNI and Camp Adventure. I am also so grateful for everyone who came out to support our event and to enjoy the evening. My heart has been filled to the brim with love for complete strangers. Multiple people who stopped me that night and told me stories about how they knew the Palmer Family or how they did not and just came. I have been humbled by the kindness of others and hope that I do not soon forget the feelings I have had through the experience of these last two fundraisers.

If you would like to know more about Oliver and his condition you can go to his website below.
Oliver Palmer