so not good

i was boiling potatoes & eggs for potatoe salad-had tri-tip in crock pot-and started mixing batter for blueberry sour cream poundcake, when i realized it was past time to pick-up mese & sila from school...shoot! i grabbed the girls who had been napping(yeah, not fun) and rushed into garage, into van. unfortunately in my haste, i thought i had cleared the garage door...but i didn't. yes-i hit the garage door...with my van! i got out to see the damage and it looked pretty bad. i called mason at work who, at that moment, was experiencing a mild crisis that he needed to handle just then. well, i convinced him that mine was worse-and i couldn't get the van out to pick up the kids! so, i called carrie to get kids from school while i waited for mason to get home and assess the damage. meanwhile, i texted shawn and he came to my rescue-thankfully. he managed to fix the garage door! it closes and he even put the rail thing at the bottom back on. oh my it could've been so so bad. thanks to shawn for helping!!!

p.s. i will not back out of garage til the garage door is completely open. i will not back out of garage til the garage door is completely open. i will not back out of garage til the garage door is completely open. i will not back out of garage...

50 min. time-out

yep. that's right...50 mins. that's how long i sat,last night in my van, parked in my garage(engine off, of course) while i sent my daughters in for bed. they got themselves ready with pj's on and reluctantly got into their beds while i waited(only a few mins.)for mason to get home with mese from basketball practice to make sure girls were not getting out of their room.oh-you'd think the world was coming to an end!
sila:what? we're not reading scriptures?
nani: what about prayers?
sila: we didn't even get a drink of water dad!
nani: i need some water dad!
poor mason. i'd had it at that point and told him i wasn't coming out of the van until the girls were done crying and whining. so it took them 50 mins. but they did it. they stopped-thank everything!
and yes, we did read scriptures and say prayers. and i was so merciful, i even gave them a drink of water. today's going to be better...i know it.

#7

that's mese's jersey number on his basketball team. t-shirts are baby blue and they call themselves "lightening". they had their first game last saturday and it was AWESOME!they're a good team and they had lots of fun. final score was 32-4 and mese scored 12 pts. mason was sooooooooooooo elated:) the cute thing was, every time after mese made a shot, he'd start running down to the other basket trying ever so hard not to smile(but he couldn't help it)so he'd wipe his face with his hands-i guess trying to wipe the smile off:) it was too cute and mason & i couldn't help but laugh. so, looks like we may have a basketball player in this family after all.
GO LIGHTENING!!!

not letting up

today marlowe came over for a long awaited playdate with nani. these girls are so fun and they're even funner together! i love listening to their take on life and what's happening in their families.

nani: marlowe! we're going to have 5 babies in our family.
marlowe: 5!?
nani: yes, tau is coming, but he's up in heaven with jesus.
marlowe: what?
nani: he's going to come and then there's gonna be 5!

good to know...again.

dixie

today is my mother in law's birthday. there are just way too many good and wonderful things i can say about this woman, but i'll just mention a few.
soon after i had my son mese, my mom left for samoa(so much more drama that goes with that, but it's a whole other story). i had no idea what to do and how to be a good mother.i didn't know what to expect. but dixie was right there, helping me, guiding me, and helped me to see that yes, i was going to make it.
i've never seen our kids so anxious(you'd think they were going to disneyland) as they are when grandma's coming to visit or when we're going to grandma's. my kids LOVE their grandma dixie. in fact, mese wrote a story about how his most favorite place is grandma's:)
and of course, i am married to the most wonderful man i know. although i love my father in law and think he's pretty neat, i can't help but think that my husband is the man he is,largely because of his mother.
so,today i'm especially grateful for dixie. thanks for taking such good care of us and always making me feel loved and welcomed. happy happy birthday, we love you lots!!!

a lot

me: nani, i love you!
nani: i love you too mom.
me: how much?
nani: fourteen eight!

that means a lot in nani's language...she usually says 2 or 4.

Sila Patterson, new Jordans, future Lady Bronco

34

wednesday started out great! mason was the first to wish me happy birthday, then the children all piled in my room to wish me happy birthday(and remind dad that they didn't wrap my presents yet:) so off they all went to wrap them in the kitchen while i waited. they showered me with all of my favorite things: mud mask, lemonhead chapstick, chocolate bar w/hazelnuts, foot scrub and michael buble's latest cd. carrie surprised me with flowers and balloons & she treated me to lunch. erica dropped off treats-and yes, i did share:) i received several texts, phone calls, & messages via facebook with birthday wishes. then nia & daniel watched our kids while mason treated me to sushi...mmmmm. i had a fabulous birthday! thank you to all my wonderful friends & family for making me feel so very special on my birthday-i love you all!

i couldn't resist

anyone who knows nani, knows her infatuation/obsession with flying...yes, flying. one of her favorite songs is "i believe i can fly". anyway, imagine her delight when her cousins gave her some fairy wings along with a headband, for christmas. she was pretty stoked. she wears the wings quite often. anyway, we're getting ready to leave for the park yesterday and nani rushes into the living room with wings attached.

me:nani! you can't wear your wings to the park.
nani:but mom! how am i going to fly?!

could YOU say no?