Before the Chaos...

Aren't my little girls so cute?? I love how their eyes are so different. (Sorry it's sideways). Here are all the girls in their matching dresses from grandma!

Here's what our house used to look like....

The weather is finally getting warm, so the kids decided to have their afternoon snack as a picnic.

Destruction begins! (Hopefully followed by CONstruction)!

The destruction began on Tuesday. They took off our porch cover and removed the side gate so that the heavy equipment could roll through the side yard into the back. They also disconnected our air conditioner that was over there. The next day was fun for us all. While the constuction workers were removing the windows from the office and the boy's bedroom that faced into the backyard, the excavator began digging the new foundation.

Lindsey is looking out at the destruction. The ground was so muddy and soft! We have huge ruts everywhere now.

The foundation guys came by for a bit this week, but they will set up the forms for the concrete tomorrow.

After everything was dug up in the back, it was transported to the front and into a dump truck. He took away 6 loads, I think. There is still a huge pile in the back to fill in around the new foundation.

This week, they will finish moving the windows in the office and boy's room and repair the walls, set the forms for the foundation, fill them with concrete, and backfill the dirt. They may even get around to putting the new floor down! We'll see...

Miranda's Getting Baptized

For any of you who are interested, Miranda will be getting baptized on May 2, 5 pm at the Hillsboro Stake Center. We would love anyone who would like to to come and be part of her big day. Afterwards, we will have some yummy food at our house.

My Grossest Moment of Motherhood

I think I experienced my grossest moment as a mother yesterday. Lindsey had laid down for her nap, but kept getting up. Finally, she asked to go potty- and peed a tiny bit- then laid back down. About 45 minutes later, I hear Lindsey open her door and say, "Yucky!" I go to her and find her looking at her hands- they were covered in poo! She also had pulled down her pants and pullup to her ankles. She had obviously rubbed her hands together because there was a layer of poo all over her hands. I quickly grabbed her and cleaned her hands while repeatedly saying , "Don't EVER touch poo-poo!" Then when that nasty job was done, I sat her on the potty to clean the rest of her. That's when I noticed that there was NOTHING in her pullup. I also saw that poo was on the bottom of her shoe! (Yes, the girl likes to wear shoes even during naps). A horrible realization came to me- it's in her room somewhere!! I was so scared to go in there. Lindsey kept saying, "I'm so sorry, mommy!" Then she said, "On the door!" I opened her door to find poo smeared around the door and doorknob and the lightswitch. Then I noticed some poo mashed into the carpet by the vent. I quickly cleaned up the mess the best I could. I saw that the heating vent cover was off, so I peeked inside. I had to laugh when I discovered a couple of "surprises" in there. I think she was trying to hide the evidence! Needless to say, after the carpet cleaner did it's job, we were all feeling better. I have never had a child play with or touch their poo. I'm really hoping this is the last incident I ever have to experience!

St. Patrick's Parade and exhaustion

Here is where I found Larry- in his sleep cocoon. It was a Sunday afternoon and the kids were all being loud around him, but he was resting peacefully inside. (Good thing it has air holes). Here's another cute one of Larry and Kara. I found them like this when I first got up in the morning. If Kara ever doesn't go right back to sleep after nursing her during the night, then I call in Larry to take over.

Here's me and Kara at the St. Patrick's day parade in Hillsboro. It was raining so hard and it was windy and cold, so there weren't many people around. The kids got TONS of hard candy- about half of it was wet and inedible, but they had fun collecting it in their Halloween pumpkins. They didn't even have time to pick up all the candy during the parade.

We are all staked out and waiting. Lindsey was very friendly and cute, so tons of candy got thrown her way. (By the way, 2 of the kids here are friends, and Spencer is standing behind Derek).

In other news, Miranda just finished a basketball class. She enjoyed it- kind of. Derek is plotting with Spencer to earn $500 for the Star Wars Legos Millenium Falcon. They have both been doing lots of extra chores to earn money for it. (We keep reminding Derek that Spencer might change his mind and decide to buy something else before they get all the money. We'll see what happens with that). I have started teaching Spencer to read, like I did with Derek. He likes to say the wrong sounds for the letters. He thinks it's a great joke on me. Lindsey is the puzzle maniac lately. She's really getting good at them. She also likes to name the colors of things, play baby dolls, and she can actually draw a face with a circle head, eyes with a dot in them, and a half-circle mouth. Pretty good for a two year old. Kara is now 6 months old. She got her first taste of solid food and loves everything she has tried so far- rice cereal, bananas, carrots, and applesauce. She has her two bottom teeth as well.

We are in the process of getting permits for our house addition- so hopefully that will begin in a couple weeks.

Winter Randomness

Here is a funny picture with commentary that Derek came home with one day. On the top is a picture of the school. If you follow the arrows carefully, you will read, "I am the smartest kid in my class I bet that I know some things that my teacher dosent know". Lindsey decided to dress up her baby sister with Lucy's headband. I think this will be something that Kara is just going to have to get used to.

Here's our preliminary design for our home addition. Things will be changed a little (br#4 will have a walk-in-closet, and a large storage closet will be accessable from the family room). We aren't adding the bathroom yet- probably a few years down the road.

"Hello...My name is Inigo Montoyo, you killed my father... prepare to die!"

Actually he's suppose to be prince, but whatever.

Larry took the kids to OMSI while I went to our Stake Women's Conference.

Spencer and Lindsey in one of the few peaceful moments they spend together.

Miranda taped these apology letters to our front window after Larry got the brunt of one of her "freaking out" episodes the night before.

Hide and Seek...

Renovated bathroom

This will give you an idea about our "new" masterbath. I don't have a before picture because it was just too ugly- all white with a really bad wall texture and holes where all of the towel bars had fallen out. We replaced the shower, towel bars, faucet fixtures, lighting fixture, and added the new cabinet over the toilet. The wall color and flooring are also new. Basically all we kept were the toilet and pedestal sink. Of course, this was all done in order to get it ready to sell-but it is nice to enjoy it just for us. Everytime I open the door, I feel calmed and relaxed because it is beautiful and actually turned out how I envisioned (instead of most of my home projects).