Liv

Here are some of the recent adventures of my Liv:

This is her personal flag. Her class has been learning about different country's flags and what they represent. They were also assigned to make their own flag. The colors on her flag are her favorite (with pink in the middle as her very favorite). Mint chocolate chip is her favorite flavor of ice cream, the DANCE represents her love of clogging, the bone and paw represent her love of animals (dogs especially), the heart represents all the people she loves, and the seahorse is her favorite sea animal (I didn't know she had a favorite sea animal).

Here she is with her hot dog and fries cake for the school carnival's cake walk:

Here she is sporting the latest hole in her mouth:

This tooth was stubborn. She asked me to pull it out for her, and it seemed like it was loose enough. I tried to wrap floss around it, but it kept slipping off. I tried to pull it out with the aid of toilet paper, but it stayed put. I told her we should wait it out, but she said it felt weird, and she wanted it out. So, knowing she wouldn't rest peacefully until it was out, I tried the floss trick one more time, and VOILA! It didn't quite pop out, rather, it rested in her mouth and she spit it out. (Sorry for anyone who has an aversion to teeth pulling. It gives Darin the heebie-jeebies.) I have to include the note she wrote to the tooth fairy:

Dear Tooth Fairy,

I know you don't have a lot of money, but could I have 3 dollars or at most five?

Answer here _____________________

Love, Olivia

(I don't even have a penny.) p.s. leave me my tooth and note and bag please. (You can leave it under the pillow.)

When she woke up the next morning I asked her what the tooth fairy said. She replied, "He said 'I regretfully decline' and gave me ONE dollar." (How observant of her to realize that the tooth fairy must have been a "he". In his defense, giving $3 or $5 now would only cause inflation to go up faster in our house). I think she has recovered, and I told her that I'm sure the only reason he (the tooth fairy) only gave her one dollar is because he knew that her loving parents would always provide extra chores for her to earn extra money.

I love my sweet girl. I know that I am much too hard on her most of the time, and it's good to take a step back and realize what a blessing it is to have her in my life. She cracks me up! I think frequently about the time she had me, Jodi, Rylee, and Kamryn crying because we were laughing so hard. It was one of those "you had to be there" moments, but my child (who was 7 at the time) was relaying the story of Dee-Wayne, who showed up at one of Olivia's friend's dad's cousin's wedding (phew!) drunk and holding a garbage sack with a snake in it. The highlight of the story is when she says, in a drunk southern accent, "Dee-Wayne, you get dem snakes outta here right now." (Ok, I know I just said you had to be there, and then went ahead describing it anyway, but it's something I haven't yet written down for posterity, and I want to remember it.)

Spinning

I can describe my first experience with spinning in 4 words...It kicked my trash. I have been hearing so much about spinning, and I've been looking for different exercises, so today I gave it a try. Holy cow! My muscles didn't see that coming! Brother Hawkes is the first person that told me about spinning since we both have the same ailment, and it has been beneficial for him. When I told him Sunday that I would be coming today, he saved me a bike, helped me adjust it, gave me some pointers, and even brought me a water bottle! It made my day! Kari and Julie also accompanied me, but they were on the other side of the room (it was packed). I think I've discovered muscles that didn't exist before, and I'm fairly confident I pushed it as hard as I could. It hurt so good!!! As I was hobbling down the stairs, clutching on to the railing so my jello legs wouldn't give out, my good friend Julie says to me, "Ya, I think I'm going running later." Serves her right for being in shape. (I'm not bitter.) I am so happy that I have found TWO things that I love, and that I am able to do without my joints hurting. (I have also been going to water aerobics) Yay!!! I am so grateful to have a physical body, even if it doesn't always work the way I want it to. I love exerting myself, and feeling proud when I choose to make good decisions about my health. I am visualizing how my body will look and how I will feel as I continue these exercises, and it's a good thing, because I'm pretty sure that's going to be the only thing that will get my sore body out of bed tomorrow morning!

Nighty Night!

Yesterday afternoon the neighborhood troops were headed my way, sporting their swimming gear. I asked what they were doing, and they informed me that they were coming swimming in our pool. (For those of you who don't know me well, I should explain that the pool that we own is inflatable.) I quickly nixed that idea, knowing that their desire to swim would be short lived, and my effort in filling the pool would be in vain, but graciously offered to turn on the sprinklers to let them enjoy what is sure to be one of the last heatwaves of the year. They had a great time, and apparently it was exhausting, because about 10 minutes after the neighborhood kids went home, we found Warren like this...

Looks comfy!

Injured, injured bad

As I was looking through our files to find some videos, I stumbled across a few of our favorites. Here's one of them. Enjoy!

Deadline

I know you've all been on pins and needles wondering if I have accomplished my goal. I am pleased to report that I have completed my task! Here are the pictures of the new and improved packages:

Package #1: MTC bound


Package #2: Montana bound

Package #3: Japan bound
And of course, I couldn't have done it without him...

I asked this guy if he was a good sport, and he said, "yes". I think he wished he knew why I wanted to know before he answered. I told him I wanted to take a picture of him. He replied, "That's a little bit weird, but o.k." When I explained that it was for my blog he said, "Sweet. I'll be on the internet as the curly-haired postal boy!"
I felt so good to have my goal accomplished that I thought that it would be a good idea to declare every Friday "Take Action Friday" or "Get 'er dun" Friday. Then I remembered my title as the Queen of Good Intentions. If I carelessly jump into declaring Friday as the day to get things done, undoubtedly there will be a blog post in September of 2008 that is titled "Good Intentions", and it will begin something like this...About a year ago I decided that Friday would be the day to get things done...(you get the picture). For now, I will just be proud that I followed through, and hope that it inspires me to "Do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, with a cheerful heart." (One of my favorite quotes from Marjorie Pay Hinckley)

Above average, indeed

My friend has a photo on her fridge. The photo is of a doormat. It says,

The MOORES

Where the women are strong, the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.

In my family...Strong women? Debatable. Good looking men? Perhaps. Above average children? DEFINITELY. Here's the proof...





I'm one proud mama!

Good Intentions

As I was wandering up and down the booths of Swiss Days a week or so ago, I saw a vinyl sign that I loved. It said, "The smallest act of kindness is better than the greatest intention." This, of course, caught my eye because I am the QUEEN of good intentions. Over a year ago Darin and I had 5 nephews serving missions (one in Fiji, one in Brazil, one in Switzerland, one in Montana, and one in Japan). We had the great idea to send each of these nephews a care package. We filled the care packages, addressed them, and put them in our front hall closet...and there they sat. We have delivered two of them (in PERSON when they returned HOME). The other three packages are less full than they once were. The kids (and I) have eaten the candy out of them, Darin took the dress socks out of one when he got a new suit and needed matching socks, and I'm pretty sure the gum has been added to gifts for the kids' friends. I believe that our once decent packages have been reduced to a letter and a small package of Pop Rocks. I still have two nephews who have not yet returned, and one who has since left, so there is still hope that I can fulfill my good intentions. (If you are doing the math, I said there were three packages left. We have not yet delivered John's care package to him, even though he returned 3 months ago.) I share this story with you not to get down on myself, but to give us all a little chuckle (it's healthy to laugh at yourself, right?), and to give myself some accountability. My goal is that this great intention will turn into a small act of kindness by no later than FRIDAY (of this week). I will post about my success when the task is complete, and I encourage all of my faithful readers (all 10 of you) to find a great intention that you have, and turn it into a small act of kindness. Wish me luck!!!


Here is a picture of the remaining packages and their contents (or lack therof):
#1: Letter, pop rocks, and gum
#2: Empty
#3: Letter & pop rocks

Warren's turn

Warren has been talking about starting preschool since before the kids went back to school, and Tuesday was finally the day!!! I had a little shopping spree with him a few weeks ago since he was feeling left out of the back to school shopping. We had to buy a backpack, new undies, a pencil box, and a new school outfit. As we were walking around WalMart, he spotted this treasure of an outfit...it came with the shorts, the shoes, the orange soccer shirt, AND another white t-shirt all for $7. His eyes lit up, and he had the hugest smile on his face when he pulled it off the rack that I just couldn't say no. He has basically lived in it since we bought it (I do try to wash it occasionally). The cool thing about this outfit, Warren informed me, is that it is clothes AND pajamas! This little outfit can be school clothes, play clothes and pajamas, and it brings him more joy than one could imagine. Who knew that $7 could buy so much happiness! There was absolutely no question in his mind that he would wear this outfit to the first day of preschool. Here he is all ready to go:

He was in charge of the alphabet box for the first day. He was so excited to fill the box with all the "D" things we could find in our house. He ended up putting a duck, a dog, a dime, a dollar, Diego undies, a diaper, a dinosaur, a diamond, and a picture he drew of Dad, David, and Dan-o (his friend).

I love that the fake smile starts so early!


Watching for cars (what a good boy)

With his buddy, Joe


I received a phone call from Kellie about half way through preschool. She said that Warren was complaining of a headache. She felt his head and said he felt hot. While I was still on the phone with her she said, "Uh-oh Warren, are you going to throw up?" Warren nodded 'yes', our phone call ended, Kellie rubbed his back while he puked in her garbage can (what a sweet friend), and I headed down to her house with my stroller to pick him up. I felt so bad! He had no signs of being sick before he left, so it hit him pretty quickly. He spent the last half of preschool at home, on the couch with his favorite blankies. Luckily the flu bug (or whatever it was) passed really quickly for him. He took it easy all that day, napping on and off, had one more fever/vomit episode, and he felt fine the next morning. So far the only other person the bug has hit is me. Hopefully it will stop there. I've decided I'm not such a fan of being sick, but I do feel fortunate that we made it this long without getting sick. It seems like this particular bug has made it through our neighborhood a few times, so I will count my blessings that this is our first experience with it! Anyway, after all was said and done, the first day of preschool was still a thumbs up experience, and he was so excited to go today! Now if I could just figure out what to do with two hours all to myself while David takes a nap...