If someone had told me 20 years ago that there would come a day when I would be rooting for the Celtics over the Lakers in a NBA finals, I would have thought they were absolutely crazy! Well, that day has arrived. Sorry, Dad, but I just have to say,"Go Boston!!!!"
A few years ago David and I saw previews for a new show called "Lost" about survivors of a plane crash stranded on some island. We both said, "Lame!". Come on...how do you keep a series like that going for very long? Well, obviously David and I are not too imaginative. After 2 years of everyone telling us how great this show was, David and I finally decided to rent the Season DVDs and see what all the hoopla was about. We were not disappointed. We watched the first few episodes on our plane flight from LA to Hawaii, probably not the smartest time to watch a TV show where we get to see a plane crash replayed over and over and over. We spent every night of our vacation watching episodes so we could be caught up for the start of Season 3. The season finale the other night did not disappoint though of course we are all left with new questions and theories. Warning: Spoiler ahead...stop reading if you're not caught up. I hated watching the whole Jin thing but loved seeing a moment I've been waiting for: Penny and Desmond finally together. It will definitely be hard waiting until the new season starts and finding out if the Oceanic 6 actually try to find the island. Now that "Lost", "American Idol", and the Jazz basketball season are all over, I don't know what I'm going to do. Guess I'll catch up on some reading.
We started off our Memorial Day at the Memorial Day Breakfast for our ward. The high council cooked up some pancakes, eggs, and bacon for the ward members and then everyone socialized and played games. There were two playgrounds for the kids, games for the families to participate in, and a basketball tournament for the men.
Savannah and her friend in the 3-legged race.
Noah wanted to join in the fun but couldn't find a partner.
After the breakfast the kids and I came home and the rest of the day was pretty uneventful. The kids played with their friends for most of the afternoon. Here is a picture of all them with their new tattoos.
When Xander was taking a bath Saturday night I noticed a huge goose egg on his shin. Not only did he have the large lump but there were several scratches and his leg was turning black and blue. Being a mom I naturally was very concerned but David brushed it off as no big deal. Apparently Xander and Savannah had been messing around earlier that day and Savannah had accidentally hit him with the wooden part of a hammock. I stressed to David the importance of looking at it again which he did, thank goodness, because Xander had several good-sized splinters lodged in his leg. So, it was time to perform surgery and Xander was a very good patient. Savannah was there by Xander's side for dramatic affect..."Xander, this is really going to hurt."; "Xander, Daddy is going to stick that big huge needle in your leg and it's going to bleed all over."; "Mommy, Xander is really going to cry because that needle is really going to hurt." Despite Savannah's words, Xander made it through just fine and didn't shed a single tear. The only thing he said was, "Daddy, that really hurts." Xander is definitely a little tough guy! All splinters were removed successfully.
Xander's look of pain.
Saturday morning I bought the kids some water guns never realizing what a hit they were going to be. As soon as we got home from the store, Savannah and Xander wanted those guns loaded with water and then they headed out to the back. Since it was still somewhat early in the morning and I didn't want to disturb the neighbors, I restricted their playing area to just the back deck. I quickly realized that they were shooting water at a lot of things I didn't want getting wet so we imposed a lot of rules as to what they could target. 
Unfortunately for Noah, he was not one of the restrictions and Savannah and Xander turned their full water power onto him.
Noah's little green water gun was no match for the other guns. He was a goner.
Help...let me in!!!!
Saturday afternoon I went to lunch with some friends of mine to celebrate Jeanne's birthday. Jeanne is one of my dearest friends and she had already had a few celebrations for this particular birthday; however, I had been unable to attend any of them. Thank goodness I made it to this one. We went to lunch at The Olive Garden and it was delicious! I hadn't eaten there in over 3 years so it was good to go back. We then headed over to the mall and did some shopping. Overall, it was a really great way to spend some time with my friends.
Of course we had to get the waiters to sing for Jeanne even though it embarrassed her...but look at the cake she got!
Okay, so he is over 60 but Harrison Ford is still awesome as Indiana Jones! Yet, I must admit that the 4th Indy movie wasn't the greatest...in fact, it's my least favorite of the Indiana Jones series. However, I do not fault the actors; they were all wonderful. It was the script that ruined the movie. There were some great moments packed with adventure as well as humor (I loved the snake "rope") and the premise of the crystal skulls was great...there were just too many cheesy moments, bad dialogue, and too many scenes that looked like they were being filmed on a Hollywood movie set. Disappointed? A little. But I did enjoy seeing Indiana Jones in action one more time.
I have been in love with Indiana Jones since I was a small girl...I can remember talking to one of my friends in the 5th grade about "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" and worrying that my parents wouldn't let me see it because of the whole pulling-the-heart out scene. These movies are some of my favorites so I am very excited to go see the new installment in the series. Reviews of the movie are mixed but frankly, I don't even care. It's Indy back for another adventure and I'm ready for it. The Indy fever has spread to my kids as well. It's amazing how they can get so excited about a character they've never even watched! Every time we go to Target Xander has to look at all the Indiana Jones figurines and of course, there's the toy whip that he has his eye on. I can just picture my little Xander right now, wearing a hat like Indy's, whipping his little whip around. (Wish I could cue the theme song now but you'll just have to hum it in your head.)
Good news! None of Savannah's limbs will be falling off any time soon. I took her to the doctor yesterday morning to get her spider bite checked out. Despite the identical reaction from both the nurse and doctor - "Whoa!" - everything seems to be okay. The doctor prescribed an antibiotic just to be on the safe side which also made me feel a whole lot better knowing Savannah has some medicine in her fighting this thing.
Friday was an extremely dreary day but we had a blast hangin' out with our friends. We went over to Sommer's house and played the Wii, a first for me and Xander. Check out Xander playing with Aunt Jeanne.
The two little chunksters, Nathan and Noah.
Sommer made us some homemade pizza for lunch...quite impressive and very yummy!
All the boys love Aunt Jeanne!
Well, Friday night the Jazz lost to the Lakers, ending their playoff run. I was so tired that night that I couldn't even stay up to watch the game...I fell asleep within the first 5 minutes but that's what happens when the game starts at 10:30. But it was probably a good thing that I didn't watch the game because I would have gone to bed mad. Oh, well...there's always next season. The late-night Jazz games haven't been the only thing keeping me up at night recently. I just read "The Host" by Stephenie Meyer, a page-turner that I just could not put down. It's her first book for adults and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I can't wait for her next book coming out in August. This woman is a writing machine...if only I could write 4 novels in 4 years.
I know it's hard to see from the picture but what seem to be two nasty bruises are actually spider bites. Both David and Savannah were bitten by some nasty little spider and his bite left a hefty mark! About two days ago I noticed a bruise on Savannah's leg and then I noticed the same kind of bruise on David's arm. After comparing them, we quickly realized what they were. On Savannah's you can actually see the puncture wound. There is a small, pasty white, swollen circle surrounded by this circular bruise that continues to grow and grow. I lay in bed last night imagining all sorts of horrible things that could happen...the bruises just get bigger and bigger as the poison continues to spread through their bodies, destroying tissues and organs...yeah, along those lines. Anyway, if anyone has ever seen this kind of spider bite, would you please assure me that nothing bad is going to happen? I could sure use some reassurance right now. I just want to know what kind of spider this was...I have never seen anything like this before!
It's hard to believe but Xander has completed his first year of preschool. To celebrate, his class had an end-of-year picnic at a nearby park. The kids spent most of their time running around and the parents just followed along. We had some food, socialized, and made plans for some play dates for the summer...I just hope we can actually get together. To top it off, each of the kids received a bucket filled with little treats and goodies as well as their progress reports and some summer homework. I took a picture of Xander with his fabulous teachers, Miss Valerie and Miss Lisa. I can not say enough good things about these two women. They made Xander's first year of preschool an absolutely wonderful experience.
Xander with his best little bud, Lucas.
In the past two weeks Noah has progressed from being able to take just a couple of steps to walking all the way across a room. Yea! Now my neck and back will be able to mend. And you can easily tell how excited he is about his accomplishment!
I received the royal treatment yesterday morning to start off my Mother's Day - breakfast in bed! And the rest of Mother's Day was just as wonderful. I got to hear two of my beautiful children sing a Mother's Day song to me at church, Savannah prepared a Mother's Day hunt for me for Family Home Evening as well as directed David and Xander to sit at the table and make Mother's Day cards for me, and the Jazz won. What could be better than that?
Look at these great homemade cards I received! 
I am so grateful for this cute family of mine.
But being a mother on this day and receiving such wonderful treatment from my family did not stop me thinking about my own mother and the wonderful example she continues to be for me. She has taught me so much and I know how much she loves each and every one of her children and grandchildren. I just wish that we lived closer so that we could spend more time together. Thank you, Mom, for all the wonderful things you have done for me and for being the best mom around.
Okay, so you all know that I can not resist just mentioning the fact that the Jazz beat the Lakers yesterday to tie up the series 2-2. Go Jazz!
My favorite restaurant is a place called Tepanyaki, a Japanese steak house in Utah. For many years David and I made the long drive down to Provo from Salt Lake just to eat there because it was so dang yummy. They finally opened several others closer to our home in Salt Lake and then, of course, we moved. Thank goodness I quickly found a similar type of restaurant, Sakura, about 10 minutes from our home here in Baltimore. Tepanyaki is still better but this will do when I'm craving Japanese. Last night the Young Women of our ward were having a camp fundraiser; they were babysitting kids for 5 hours so the parents could go out! So of course a bunch of us jumped on that great opportunity and, after dropping our kids off for the evening, headed to Sakura for some dinner. What fun we had! After dinner David and I went shopping to get me some new clothes...it really was a great evening.
My Internet has been down for a few days so, now that it's working again, it's time to catch up with my blogging. Wednesday morning the boys and I headed to the beach with my good friends Jeanne and Sommer and Sommer's two boys. We had an absolute blast! The weather was absolutely perfect and the kids really enjoyed the water. I can't say the same for me; when I put my feet in I thought I was touching water from the Arctic! Brrrrr! Those trips to the Caribbean have spoiled me. But the boys and Jeanne got right in with no problem. Xander was in heaven, running and jumping everywhere and Noah didn't even hesitate...he headed straight to the water and then just spent his time crawling along the shoreline.
Noah's first time at the beach was a success. Knowing that he enjoyed himself so much here makes me look forward to St. John even more.
Xander is definitely a beach boy. I wonder if it's hereditary?
Crawling along the shoreline. It's almost like Noah knew that he couldn't go any deeper by himself. There were a few times he got a mouthful of water but it didn't seem to bother him too much. I have tried not to think about what was in the water. Yuck!
With Auntie Jeanne. Oh, how my kids love her! And no wonder...she is one of the best women I know.
Hanging out with Sommer's little boy Nathan. He's 8 months and one of the chunkiest, cutest little babies around.
I still don't know how Jeanne did it, getting out there in the frigid water. She kept telling me that it wasn't so bad once you got used to it...yeah, right. I love this look of sheer joy on her face. The boys had such a great time going out in the water with her.
The look on Xander's face says it all...gross, dead fish!
After spending some time in the water, we of course had to spend a little time on the playground.
