Battling the Beast

Tonight Scott went to the movies leaving me and Amber with some girl time. Amber has been raving about her sewing machine and how EASY it is to use. I too have a sewing machine, which until tonight has been boxed up as it has been since I received it four years ago. At last it has made it's way out......

It took about an HOUR to thread the BOBBIN. I am no good at reading the directions, I'm pretty sure they didn't include, "Lay your sewing machine on it's side, use four hands and yell at it"....but I found that too be helpful. Needless to say Amber finished more, since she got right to
work.





These are her fancy toile (SP??) fall pillow cases that I LOVE. I am gonna steal her idea.

And a table runner....She loves fall

And my finished project:

Drum roll please......

I love this apron, you can't really tell but there are pleats in the skirt that make it look feminine and I love the material. Thank you so much Amber for your inspiration, you make everything look so easy.

Undies

Monday night Landon and I went to Target and while there we happened to pass these.....


To be honest it was the Spiderman or "Piderman" that we passed first that caught Landon's eye. They unfortuntely did not have his size and Thomas was the runner up. I'm not quite sure that the big guy fully gets it although he loves going on the toliet....what's not to love he has a serious cheering section that breaks out in song every time he is successful. We are going to give it a try, tonight he finally got to try them on.


Yep, that's Thoma alright!


He was SUPER excited. Maybe too much for me though. He looks so BIG and it makes me pretty sad to see him growing up so fast. Luckily he still likes to be snuggled and rocked in the rocker. Here's to happy potty training and the thought of carpet cleaning when it's OVER...wooohoo!

The Dilema

Here's the dilemma. What do you do when your kindergartner is SO proud that she got dresses for school without even being asked, HOWEVER she looks like she came from an orphanage where there was no supervision. Do you ask her to go change and risk WW3, plummeting her self esteem OR do you let her go to school like this, hopeful that the good adults will know that in fact we are loving parents who are letting our child be independent? As HARD as it is, I SMILE and say WOW, and let her go.... I have many other BATTLES to fight.

Happy Birthday Hannah

Today is Hannah's birthday...she is SIX years old. I can NOT believe it. She was so excited for this day to came. She kept talking about having breakfast in bed. She came into our room at 615 and completely dressed and said," I layed there for a long time waiting for someone to bring me breakfast, nobody came so I just got up." How sad is that? We went before school and got yummy donuts, a treat for all. I got to spend the morning in her class and we are getting ready to head out to "Special Birthday Lunch", just her and mom. I love this girl so much! You're my favorite SIX year old Nanny!!

Her teacher makes sure to make their bday special, hat, vest and all. She even got to make a birthday cake at school to share with the class.




Lastly they sang two songs, this is her getting ready for it. Notice the fancy outfit, apparently birthday girls have to dress the part.

Dancing Girls

Friday and Saturday nights the girls had their recital.....as I have already posted. Here are the pics from before and after. I no realize I don't have any of Hannah because she stayed in the back the entire time and Grace had to come out because she's a "baby". Friday we had Uncle Jerm, Aunt Kim, the Aunties, Michele (our daycare lady), Adriana (Grace's bff from daycare) and Adriana's mom Amy come. The girls were excited to have everyone's support. On Saturday Grandma and Papa U came, and Tam Tam. Thanks everyone for the support...


Who put make up on my 4 yr old? I send her in with a little mascara she comes out covered in make up. She was pretty happy though.


The aunties dropping off the dancers

Grace and the two little girls she danced with.

After the finale in their British invasion t shirts

This picture alarms me....my 5 yr old looks way too grown up, I fear for the teen year!

This is what little G looks like after a week of LONG rehearsals, LATE nights, and TOO much fun. I love these girls....they never cease amaze me. To see them on stage so happy and confident brings me great joy and hope for the women they will become. I love you sisters!

The Hippy Hippy Shake

I finally got Hannah's dance uploaded. She is the third in on right side. This was her first year in tap, last year she did ballet. We were so excited to watch her. A side note...Enjoy the fine quality of this video.

Do wa ditty

The girls have been practicing all year for their recital. Here is Grace's dance. She was amazing. She is the second from the left...really the only one dancing.

Park Days

Again these are old pictures from APRIL. Is there a theme to my posts....LATE.
I loved them though and wanted to include them. We didn't get to see the Smith's for Easter so the next weekend we met up at the park for a picnic. It was pretty hot, evidenced by all the kids cheeks. And in true Underwood fashion we had to leave early to go to the doctor. Landon was wheezing and sounded junkie. He has had this cough for like....well a YEAR. Poor kid. No worries the TB test came back CLEAR. Kim and Cameron kept the girls so they could play for longer and we picked them up on the way home.

Little Lilly loved her lollipop.

I swear he didn't feel good...you couldn't tell by all the running though.

These girls are BFF!! They are so close and love to play together. I don't think they have ever got in a fight.

Look at their cheeks!!!

All our big kids. I can't believe how fast they are growing! It is so much fun to have cousins close by! We LOVE you!!

Ward Campout

Two weeks ago we went on a camp out with our ward. It was behind UC Merced at Scout Island. We had a lot of fun ( well the kids and Scott did) playing in the lake and running around with friends. There were a lot of people there and the kids had a great time running all over the place.

Landon and I at the campfire.

This was the second weekend in a row that we got to slumber with the Garietys. We slept in the same tent because we don't have one. The U woods woke up refreshed apparently they did not. Something about Scott snoring and Landon sleeping ON Amber's head. That's just a regular night for us. We look at it as preparing the Gariety's for their future endeavors!


Campfire, all the teen girls and HANNAH who thinks she is one of them.

Grace and her friend Emily making smores.

Papa U sugaring up Landon...probably why he didn't crash until 11:30.

Enjoying a little tickle time

More smores....

Amber and I were pretty excited to pack it up in the morning, the boys did not share our eagerness.

We spent the day sailing and canoing which I don't have many pics of, probably because I was docked on the beach. The kids LOVED it but I think Papa might have LOVED it MORE.

My Happy camper girls

Landon could have stayed on the lake all day.

Fun times camping. I will say that I don't sleep on the ground as well as I used to....does this mean I'm getting old? There is nothing like being outside though and letting the kids just run. I love camping because we can just play and don't worry about any of the distractions from home and our busy life. Plus when we do get home the kids are excited and exhausted and that feels good to see. I love these guys!! Happy Summer...more camping in store!

Open House

Thursday night we had Hannah's open house at school. Our family went as well as Grandma U, we were able to see all of the great things that Hannah has been working so hard on all year.

So it's true SpEcIaL BaBy has managed to smuggle her way into kindergarten MANY times. This is one of the class books that they had out. Special Baby went to school on Teddy Bear day for the Teddy Bear Picnic. She even had her picture taken....she was the only baby, everyone else stuck to the teddy bear theme. Let's see she also went to school on "B day", because she's a Baby, "S Day" because her name is Special Baby, there were a few more times before we had to cut her off. I'm not sure that the 1st grade will be so accommodating for her.

This is Landon almost taking out the whole tadpole family with his enthusiasm. Hannah made sure to come and show Landon the sign that says we look at the tadpoles with our EYES.

Big Bear Hugs from Lando.

Silly Grace, she loves going to Hannah's school and can't wait to start preschool in the fall.

Hannah showing us the life cycle of the caterpillar

This is Hannah's teacher Ms. Nelson. We LOVE her! She is absolutely amazing, has more energy than anyone and loves our banana. She has been so great to work with this year and has created an enthusiasm for learning in Hannah. We will be sad to leave her behind but look forward to working with her again in just a few years!