My Early Valentines Present

I am SO excited. Kris surprised me with tickets to see Ladysmith Black Mambazo in Omaha the weekend after next. I saw them at a WOMAD festival~which was a hippy type world music festival that I went to in high school and LOVED~ and they were amazing! Ladysmith is a group of South African men that sing Acapella and have the most incredible harmonies that you have ever heard. I spent a summer in South Africa and Madagascar and I have to say that the music (and people!) in South Africa is something I will never forget and I wish I could go back and just experience it all over again. So this will be my little piece of South Africa...thanks to my wonderful hubby. :)

I found one of my favorite songs on YouTube if you would like to hear them. This is one that was actually on a Paul Simon CD a long time ago...so some of you may already know it. Can't wait! :)

American Idol In Omaha

Did you see Omaha on American Idol tonight? I'm sad they made us look mostly like a bunch of corn loving freaks...but every once in awhile there was a tiny glimmer of what Omaha and the people who live there truly are. It was great to see the Qwest Center and some of the city we miss and love so much.

I WAS excited to hear the song that Bowling For Soup wrote about Omaha in the background through a lot of the show. I found a video that some young little punks made that has some great Omaha stuff in it. It's probably not for kids because they're being a little "inappropriate" in a few parts...but it's still fun to see the city. I LOVE those slides downtown! :)

Some Oldies but Goodies

I've been going through pictures from the last 8 years and trying to decide which ones I want to frame. Thought I would share a few of my favorites. I'm sure there will be more to come! ;)

Somebody Stop Me!

Some of you are fellow "Gymbucks" people...so you understand. It was Gymbucks time at Gymboree and I found myself looking online for the first set of matching outfits I could get for all 5 kids. I just couldn't help myself. I don't always dress the girls alike, but for Christmas and pictures and whatnot, it's pretty fun. SO, when I saw the tulip outfits for the girls online~I couldn't help myself. Darn that Gymboree!!!

I also found these cupcake shirts for Mia and the baby. They didn't have bigger sizes so this was all I could do (probably a GOOD thing!)...but Mia is SOOO excited about having her "own" baby to love on that I couldn't pass up these shirts for the two littlest girls. ;)

This is a terrible picture, but here are the tulip dresses and little overalls for all the girls. Four little dutch girls in matching tulip outfits...I mean, come ON! How cute is that!!! :)
I didn't get Bazzy any tulip clothes (LOL)...but I am planning on finding Navy pants and a white shirt so we can get a picture of all of them. I can't even imagine what it will be like to have 4 girls and a boy...but I must admit that I'm awfully excited!

Sweet Sofia

I just had to share something Sofia did today at school. Kris and I both said "that is SO Sofia" when we found out. I was so very proud of her! She is truly a person who thinks of others before herself and I'm thankful she has that quality as such a young little lady. Here's the note I got from her teacher:

Dear Mr. & Mrs. V**** Z****

I wanted to share with you what a thoughtful daughter you have! Sofia
discovered that some students in her class did not bring money for the Snack
Attack and she chose to share her money with them. She only left herself a
quarter. Many other students chose to purchase many items for themselves,
but Sofia chose to share. What a special young lady!

Sue W*****



I found out that she had brought 5 quarters to buy snacks today for a fundraiser the older students were having, and she gave away 4 of those quarters to kids that forgot their money and only left a quarter for herself. She came out of school smiling with a big shiny apple in her hand and now I understand why she only bought an apple. Sweet girl! Brings tears to my eyes! ;)

Happy Dance

This is my happy dance that I am at home tonight and the dentist stuff is OVER!!! YIP-PEE!!!! Now I can focus on going to Omaha and just having FUN. :) YAY!!!

Thanks a TON for the prayers. One part was really bad when they were still "deadening" (is that a word?) the nerves, but the rest wasn't near as bad as I thought it was going to be. It was just extremely long. Over two hours in the dentist chair. Again, SO glad to be home! Yay!

See you in Omaha!

I just wanted to let the people from the big O know that we will be at Westwood this Sunday. We can't wait to see people and we'd LOVE to grab some lunch with anyone who is available. If you think it might work to go out after second service...leave a comment, email, or call me. I don't even know where we'll go~ but obviously somewhere that is kid friendly. ;)

Hope to see you soon!

I'm off to the dentist. Thanks for the prayers~ I can feel them and at this point I just want to get this OVER WITH!!!

The dreaded 2nd appointment

I have seriously been dreading this day for a few weeks. Actually since my first dental appointment. :( I have the second part of my root canal scheduled for tomorrow at 2:30. I am sad, scared, and freaking out because of it. Maybe Mia's question should have been..."What do you think is worser? Going in for a root canal or being eaten by a shark?" I would actually debate this question tonight. BLAH!!! Would you please say a quick prayer that it's not going to be as bad as I'm imagining it's going to be in my head. I've been so stressed out about the contractions and I'm sure being extra stressed out tonight and tomorrow is not going to help. Thank you and I hope you all have a FABULOUS day tomorrow NOT being at the dentist. Lucky people! ;)

Weird Craving #1

I cannot get enough of cinnamon applesauce right now. I could easy finish a container (the BIG plastic kind) in a day. Isn't that weird? I wonder if apples have some sort of crazy vitamin my body is in need of. Who knows? I've also realized that I'm pretty anemic. Not a terrible surprise since I am not a big fan of red meat. It was pretty funny to have Kris fixing ME a big piece of beef on Sunday. It was like an alternate universe. I can't seem to consume enough spinach salad to make a difference in my iron level...so I will force feed myself some meat for the sake of the munchkin. The things you do for your children!

What do you think is worser?

Mia just asked me an extremely deep and thought provoking question~ which came after a discussion we were having about why she should stop throwing herself off of her toy horse so close to the edge of the coffee table. Brace yourself. It's a tough one!

"What do you think would be worser? Splitting your head open or being eaten by a shark?"

Yep. That's a tough one. What do you think? ;)

How do you keep Bazzy busy?

Kris taught our son a new skill. Bazzy now knows how to shred paper for Daddy~and he LOVES it. I think this is a good thing...but I must admit that I'm a BIT nervous that he's going to start shredding things we actually need to keep. I'll definitely be unplugging the shredder from now on! ;)

It took him a few tries to figure out what the best way to stick the paper in is. Sideways is definitely NOT the best option.

THAT way works much better.

I just have to push it in far enough to hear that wonderful shredding sound.

And there it goes! TOO fun!

"Hmmmmm, I'm done. What else can I shred? "

Yes Bazzy, that's what worries me. Time to unplug the shredder!

Cabin Fever

I think we've been stuck inside TOO much! We've had to resort to drastic measures for entertainment and I think it's starting to get to the children. Take Mia for example...she disassembled her MOPS craft project so she could look like this! Interesting.

At least she's being creative, right? Better than sitting in front of the TV or playing on the computer. I'm just a bit worried she's getting a little TOO bored. If this was the excitement for today, what comes tomorrow!?! Yikes! I guess we shall see...

Our little Girl Scout

After Fruit Pizza Time last night, Katryna had to go and carry a flag for the opening ceremony at the Regional Girl Scout meeting. After spending over 1/2 an hour trying to iron on her "iron on" patches...I gave up and hand sewed the little buggers onto the back of her vest so she could show off her acommplishments for the year so far. Girl Scouts is big around here and the girls really wanted to do it, so we thought "why not?" Something productive to do, right? They seem to enjoy it and even though it's a lot more work than I had anticipated (remember I'm supposed to be taking it easy! :) ), I think it's been beneficial for them to meet new friends and do good things for the community. I'll be thankful when Cookie Time is over though! Thankfully, Kris brought the order form to work and the techs there must LOVE Girl Scout cookies cuz they bought a LOT. Thank you techs! You made my life MUCH easier. No going door to door! If your in the mood for cookies, let me know...I know where I can get some for ya. ;)

Fruit Pizza

I'm supposed to be "taking it easy", according to my OB. She kinda laughed when she said it, cuz well, she realizes we have FOUR active young kids at home...but I've still been doing my best to follow her instructions. We had our MOPS meeting on Thursday and the day before I got an email that it was our turn to bring breakfast and it was a "Hawaiian" theme. Since taking it easy probably doesn't include dragging 4 kids through Walmart while trying to find something tropical to create...my dear husband came to the rescue and went to the store after work and while talking to his friend Josh on the phone, decided to make a fruit pizza. Wow. I was a bit nervous, since this was an experimental fruit pizza and I was going to have to serve it to a bunch of girls the next morning, but Kris always seems to pull off these little experiments so I let him go at it.

So did the ladies like it? It was gone SO fast, that I didn't even get to try it and tell Kris if it was good. Everyone gobbled it up, so I figured it must have been pretty good. Kris needed proof~ so he stopped at the store AGAIN and we made our own fruit pizza with the girls last night.

The girls helped decorate it with all the yummy fruit and couldn't wait to dig in.

Mmmmmmm...doesn't that look scrumptious! :) I've had other fruit pizzas before, but this one is REALLY good. Probably because the crust is sugar cookie dough...but that may be just me and my sweet tooth talking.

Mia gave it a big thumbs up and was very impressed with Daddy's pizza.

Bazzy was a little more systematic with his consumption of the pizza. He ate ALL the fruit off half of his piece first...and then dug into the yummy crust and "frosting".

So Baz, what do you think? Is it good?

I think that smile says it all. Yep, it's GOOD! :)

Broken Phone

In case you've tried to call and you haven't heard back from me...I've been having some MAJOR phone issues. We had to switch carriers because the city people didn't like the fact that we live in the country now. I think the issues are all fixed now (thanks to my wonderful husband!), but I'm sure I missed many calls and messages thanks to these issues. SO...if you tried to call~ please try again or email me or whatever. I should have a voice mail that works too now (I think the other messages may be out in cyber space somewhere). Just so you all know that I haven't been ignoring you. Call me! :)

The Never Ending Bucket

Katryna must have been born "lucky". For real. I swear, if there's a contest or a raffle, there's a REALLY good chance she's going to win. I say this from experience, because I've witnessed her win MANY things. It's a bit crazy, cuz, well, I never win anything. I must have been born "unlucky"? Anyways, the last day at school before Christmas vacation~ Katryna's class had a contest to guess how many chocolate candies were inside this giant plastic bucket. Katryna guessed 345. Guess how many there were? 345!!! Cr-azy!!! What are the chances? We have been eating from this bucket since before Christmas and there is still a TON of chocolate left. Granted the girls get to have one a day...but STILL! I must admit I'm a big fan of the bucket of chocolate now that I'm pregnant and craving sweets like crazy. So thank you, lucky daughter, for the neverending bucket of Hershey's goodness.

By the way, if you feel like playing the lottery anytime soon...you might want to call Katryna first for numbers. ;)

The Bamboo Dance

I really wish I was in a better location to tape the bamboo dance, but I didn't want to be annoying and block other people's view so that I could tape...but now I kinda wish I would have been a little annoying so I could get a better view. ANYWAYS, this dance amazes me because the younger Karen teenagers do it and you can actually get HURT doing this dance. Big bamboo poles are criss crossed and someone sits on the end and creates the rhythm to the dance with two of the poles by taking them apart and then snapping them together. If the dancers have their feet between the wrong poles when they are snapped together...well, then, OUCH! I asked Tee She Moo if they ever got their feet "snapped" when they learned this dance and she passionately said "YES!!!". Ouch! The dance is very rhythmic and beautiful and the last time we watched it it was outside in this beautiful courtyard and I could imagine what it looked like in the jungles of Burma and Thailand. The stage setting in this video isn't quite as nice (not even close actually), but at least you can get the basic idea. All three of the teen girls from our sponsored family are doing the dance in the video. I wish I could find a link to the meaning of the dance, but no such luck tonight. It's a bit long, but if you even watch a little you will get the idea. ;)

A Few More Pictures...

Taken by Katryna! (I'm SO excited she's starting to love photography!) She caught the true personality of her Burmese friends. They are such happy, silly kids most of the time and I love to see them having so much fun. Enjoy! :)

Happy 2747!

The Karen New Year Celebration was a giant success. They put SO much work into this celebration and it was amazing!

I got very choked up when Tee Shee Moo (on the left~one of our sponsored girls) sang the Karen National Anthem and then Rocky's daughter (some of you know Rocky) sang OUR national anthem. I got completely overcome again by how they are now free to worship and just be themselves because they are Americans. Wow!

The three older girls from "our" family sang some traditional Karen songs and several speakers talked about the history of the Karen New Year (which I'm embarrassed to say that I still don't completely understand. The translation wasn't very clear.) and also about how thankful they are to be in a place where they are safe and free and they have endless opportunities. Again, I got choked up! I'm a bit more emotional these days though. ;)

The girls had a blast with their friends as usual. I was always amazed by how quickly they became friends even though they didn't speak the same language. I think they are even closer now that they can communicate. I love seeing them actually talk to each other and joke around. Mia and Ser Eh Moo are quite the little buddies! :)

Dah Leh Moo and Katryna and Sofia are also very close. Dah Leh Moo is the entertainer of the family. Loves to sing and dance and tell stories. Her English is probably the best out of the entire family and she cracks me up now with the things she tells me. Her favorite thing to talk about right now are all the American foods she's grown to love. She was SO scrawny when she got here and now she actually has chubby cheeks. Too cute! :) She told me yesterday her favorite food is now Spaghetti!

We all wore our Karen Traditional Clothing (except Bazzy, who I don't think they've ever had small boy clothes in their family since they only had daughters), and they even gave Kris a shirt the last time we saw them. Eh La Na, or "the Mom" as Mia loves to call her, is so stinkin' sweet and I really wish I could talk to her. Mom and Dad have not learned English yet, but I know dad is working on it and I think he's much better than he thinks he is. He just needs to find some confidence in his English skills and he'll be telling jokes with the rest of the family.

My favorite part was the bamboo dance. I taped it and I'm hoping to get it on You Tube so I can share it on here. I'm a BIG fan of the bamboo dance! :)

Happy 2747 all!

Karen New Year Celebration

We are driving to Omaha for the day tomorrow to celebrate the Karen (kar-REN) New Year with our Burmese friends. It is the Karen New Year 2747! I don't completely understand why...but I hope to after tomorrow. ;) It will be a quick trip, but I look forward to spending the day with our friends and we have a good reason to wear our traditional Karen clothes for the day too. I am hoping to get their traditional Bamboo Dance on video so I can post it on the blog. It's amazing! I've never seen anything like it.

Happy Karen New Year! Party like it's 2747!!! :)

PEACE~ Baby!

I had my "official" ultrasound today. I was really excited about it because my OB just got a 4D ultrasound that takes real time pictures of the baby. I've never had that before and it was AMAZING!!! She was moving and totally looked like an actual baby. Not just a fuzzy moving "something" in my belly. My favorite picture was the first one the OB took...

I think the little munchkin was trying to tell me everything is A-OK on the inside and she flashed us a PEACE sign for reassurance. Too cute! :)

Hopefully it's easy to tell what you're looking at, but for the "ultrasound-reading-challenged" (like myself!), this is a profile of her little face (upper left corner) and her cute little arm.

A close up of her face and arm again. She likes to have that arm tucked up by her little face. Probably so she can give the peace sign when need be. ;)

And one more of basically the same thing. She printed the black and white ones right from the machine, and the brownish ones she printed off bigger for me from a printer in her office. I have a very sweet OB! She's great with the anxious Mamas!

I start my projesterone tonight. I'm starting with the pill form and hoping that it won't make my stomach to icky. I guess that's a possibility and then I'll be forced to try other avenues. ;)

I have unfortunately started contracting already...so I will probably be a frequent visitor to my OB, but for now all is well and I guess the only thing to do is to continue to pray that she stays PUT!!! We've had a lot of "talks" about that already. Hopefully she's a good listener.

Thanks for letting me share my fuzzy baby pictures with you. I must say that now that I've seen her and I know she's a HER...I am even more excited! This was such a shock, but now I can't imagine it any other way. God works in some very funny ways sometimes! :)

Why God Made Moms

A friend sent this to me and it definitely made me smile! :)

Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:

Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of ?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the
world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use
string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.

What kind of little girl was your mom?
1. My Mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on
beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to
chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that Mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof
ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What's the difference between moms & dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller & stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause
that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of
plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of
that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it
and not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of
her head.

I'd Rather Be Skiing

No, I didn't ski in Breckenridge. I REALLY considered it. I'm a good skier and I thought I might go out and do some "easy" slopes...but I know I couldn't have lived with myself if I would have fallen, so I was a good mommy-to-be and I spent the days relaxing, shopping, and I even did a little hiking. Our beautiful friends Jason and Jill have a condo that is ski in/ski out and when you walked out of the building, the ski lifts were RIGHT there. Amazing!

This was my excitement for the weekend while everyone else what hitting the slopes. I was taking a leisurely walk through the trees next to the ski lift. It was COLD, but very peaceful and pretty.

This was my favorite part though. They had these AMAZING hot tubs that were outside in the snow. Again, I couldn't really hang out and "bake" in them like I would have liked to, but I spent a bit of time soaking with our friends in the freezing Colorado weather. It was too fun to be out in a pool while the snow is whipping around your head! :)

This is the view of the mountains from our friend's deck. SO pretty!

I haven't seen mountains in many years, but it was so great to be near them again. They truly are beautiful and the town of Breckenridge was such a friendly, unique little place. Thank you Jason and Jill (and mom and dad for babysitting!!!) for such a wonderful New Years! We miss you!

Need...More...Bottle caps!

Many of you know, but I've been working on a Mosaic for awhile for our condo...made completely out of bottle caps. It's a BIG mosaic and I've started to realize that I'm lacking in a few key colors. SO....not that I want to encourage you all to drink more~ BUT, if you are going to drink and you just happen to drink something with a bottle cap in the following colors, will you PLEASE save them for me??? I am in desperate need of yellow (Pacifico is great! Any yellow or even gold would be wonderful), green (Heineken, Woodchuck, and Sierra Nevada, etc...), and possibly Black Boulevard Caps.

What I REALLY need is tons and TONS of Corona Caps. Poor Kris's liver is slowly deteriorating because I keep encouraging his consumption of Corona. The entire outside of the Mosaic is Corona and I really thought I had so many until I laid it out and realized I need a LOT more. ;) I really don't want to buy bottle caps, because all the ones I have so far have been from parties we've been to or given to us by friends and family. It's actually fun to look at the beginnings of this creation and go "oh, remember when we hung out that night with so-and-so and they gave us these?" SO...if you want to be a part of an original, somewhat wacky piece of artwork....SAVE THOSE BOTTLECAPS!!! We promise to take you for an evening of fun and excitement at the condo to show you the finished result. Thanks people! :)

Guess What !?!

Can you believe it? Another Girl. :)

Bazzy will remain the KING of the castle! We are very excited!

Sorry I made you wait so long! ;)

We had a great time in Colorado. What a beautiful state. I miss the mountains already.

I'll post pictures very soon.