A Bad Week

This last week was a bit traumatic for Noelle.  First of all, Steve coerced her into going to the ward campout.  She did not want to go because she is a highly logical creature.  Bugs+No Indoor Plumbing=Bad Idea.  It's a no brainer, really.  But Steve promised she would have fun.  Around 3 AM she woke up feeling yucky.  At 4:00 AM, she knew she was sick.  By 5:00 AM she was throwing up, screaming in between at the top of her lungs sentiments like, "I am puking!!!" and "I HATE CAMPING!!"  Yes, the entire ward heard her.  And yes--the damage has officially been done.  She will forever associate camping with sickness and agony.

A few days after that she took a spill on the cement at the school play ground and landed on her chin.  I think she was more upset at the notion of being seen with a bandaid on her face than anything else.  It was nearly as traumatic as the camping trip.

Happily, if you poke her in the tummy, she still will do this:

Three feet personal space, please.

If Isaac gets too close to the dog when I am holding him, Chewie pushes Isaac away like: 

8th Grade, Fare thee well.

Lots of end of year stuff for Laura Lu from Kalamazoo.  Stress a-plenty.  I managed to capture a few events.

 Laura's flute solo at her recital.

Laura's choir concert with a lot of other girls. 

Afterward, I tried to take a picture of her and she wasn't thrilled.  She had a bad headache.   

When we got in the car afterward, I don't know why I kept taking pictures.  I think I kept trying to get her to smile, but she just wasn't as enthusiastic about getting an awesome photo as I was.  Check out Noelle in the back of all of these: 

This was taken right before the 8th grade party where--apparently--it is customary for the girls to dress up.  When I dropped her off at the school, I was thinking that the rest of the girls didn't get the memo.  Either that, or it's fashionable now to wear a swimsuit with a bit of tulle in public.  Luckily for me, Laura has a grandmotherly sensibility when it comes to fashion:  Comfort and modesty matter most.

Smart gal.  

"Hugga!"

Here are some of the Mother's Day cards I received today:

From Noelle:

From Lincoln:

The card below is the one Isaac made me...my favorite card of all time.  Isaac loves to talk like the minions in "Despicable Me," which means he calls apples "bapples" and says things like "bocoboco?" instead of "huh?"  Isaac explains that minion-speak is a mixture of gibberish, French and German.  I'm not so sure about  those last two, but anyway, when he wants a hug, he uses his minion voice and says, "Hugga!" with his arms outstretched.  He loves hugs and says "Hugga!" to me and Steve every single day.

Here is his card.  At first it looks like this (that's a drawing of me), but when you pull the tab on the side...

 ...out pops an Isaac cartoon ready for a "Hugga!"

I love me a good "Hugga!"

Dane's Dairy...Iowa City soft serve at its finest.

 Our family was selected to be a part of a television commercial advertising this ice cream.

 But they fired the kids because they kept eating it, and apparently no one looks attractive enough to be on TV when they are actually eating the ice cream.  Proof as seen above.  The director admitted Noelle looked okay, but then, she had a slushy instead of an ice cream, and the ad was specifically promoting soft serve.  Cue the hook.

 Steve was hired instead.  They explained that there is a growing adult demographic in favor of soft serve, specifically the chocolate variety.

Hoho, just jerking your chain.  There was no commercial.  I was just trying to entertain myself whilst typing captions underneath boring photos of us eating ice cream.  

We do so love Dane's dairy, though, for their ultra-cheap, ultra-creamy treats.  We love them even more for providing these awesome plastic farm animal props for truly precious photo ops.

 Laura only likes real animals, I guess.  Weird.  

Pardon our appearance.

It's difficult to blog when nothing exciting ever happens.  It's also difficult to blog when there are no good pictures.  I really want to update this blog, but there is no material to work with, currently.  Very frustrating.  So today after church I took pictures of us.  The pictures are--unfortunately--an accurate portrayal of our lives, which are not photogenic.  My sister, who is an excellent photographer, has a blog full of aesthetically pleasing photos.  Her daughters have amazing hairdos and their clothes are adorable.  My kids wear non-matching pajamas as soon they feasibly can during the day.  I don't know how to make anything look good--not hair, nor home.  I'm of two minds about this.  You see, I was raised in the same home as my sister:  Making things/people look nice is a virtue among the women in my family.  Thus, part of me is frustrated.  But I am also lazy and sarcastic.  So the other part of me frequently looks amusedly at my sloven children over the novel I am currently enjoying.  Today my dual nature is at battle, but here are the pictures I took anyway:

 Noelle's room...unmade bed, stuff every where.

 Pajamas at 2:00 PM.

 Our dog wearing--that's right--a diaper.  How fitting that of all the dogs in the universe, we got stuck with the one who pees 15 times a day (half where he is supposed to go, and half on the carpet, right in front of our eyes).  After purchasing a professional carpet cleaner and reading every dog-training book on the market, this is our happy compromise.  My youngest child is in kindergarten, but I'll be changing diapers daily for the next decade anyway.

 A Fletcher-edition Pillow Pet.

 She tries to be photogenic, but alas, there are brothers and bunny ears.

When he's not in a pillow, he's perching.  

That was our Sunday afternoon.  How was yours?

Kindergarten Noelle...

 ...loves to sing (she's in the pink Hello Kitty t-shirt on the front row center left),

 go to school,

 see her friends (she doesn't like weekends),

 cuddle with her dog,

 likes anything "princess",

 likes to smile,

and likes candy.

(REALLY likes candy.  This is actually her first time eating cotton candy, and she thought it was heavenly.)

The End.