What would you do for five bucks?

Austin is constantly daring me to eat repulsive things for five bucks. The conversation usually goes something like this "I'll give you five bucks if you eat that" (usually it's bacon grease or some sort of leftover cooking refuse). To which I reply "You don't have five bucks, I have all of your money." That usually ends the conversation.


Last night Austin helped me make creamy turkey soup using congealed turkey stock I made the day before.


Apparently Austin has given up on me because he called Autumn into the kitchen and told her, what else? "I'll give you five bucks if you eat this" "What is it?" "Turkey Jell-O" "O.K." And I'm not kidding, she ate it, no reservations. She didn't gag or flinch. She didn't think it was too bad. Then to top it off Aspen came in demanding a bite of "Turkey Jell-O." Austin initially told her no, but that just made her want it more. Crying ensued and she got her bite. Again, no gaging, nothing. She just said "I no like it." I can't believe it! I can't get these kids to try anything new, maybe jell-o is the key. Perhaps that's how green jell-o with carrots came about--mom's discovered kids will eat anything in jell-o. When it was all said and done Autumn promptly demanded her five bucks. Guess who had to pay her.

Familee Vacation - Sweet Home Alabama

Princess Tea

Autumn's 5th birthday was Wednesday. I can't believe she's five, please someone tell me where the time's going. We had a princess tea party for her, her first party since she was one. (That party was nuts, so I decided not to do one again for a long, long time). The girls all came in their princess attire and they were too cute for words. I think everything turned out well, we had pb&j tea sandwiches and fruit and "tea" (apple juice with ginger ale) from a real teapot with real teacups. They were all such little ladies with their best manners at the table.

We painted fingernails, had a princess relay, played musical hearts and had princess trivia during cake. The party went by so fast, I still had more to do, but I think at some point, they'd just like to play. I'm inexperienced at children's parties, so I learned alot of lessons from this one. My biggest regret is that my "teacup" cupcakes didn't turn out. I just couldn't figure out how to frost all sides of the cupcake without making a huge mess (I should have used different frosting). So the cupcakes left something to be desired--but the girls didn't seem to mind. Autumn loved her party and keeps asking if we can have another princess tea party when she's 16. I hope all the girls had fun too. Thanks to everyone who helped! I just have a few pics, because my aunt and Janel took most of the pictures on their own cameras. I'll add more later.

School Glorious School!

Autumn had her first day of pre-school on Friday. Her class is all girls except for one poor little boy. I was hoping she would have some more "boy exposure" since she gets enough girls at home, but that's life. Today was their first "show and tell" and she took her "Holly Hobby" doll. When I picked her up I asked her how it went. "Good" she replied. Well, did you show your Holly Hobby doll? "Yeah, and my panties" she replied matter-of-factly. I gasped in horror. I so did not want to be those people. Your panties?! "Oh, it's OK, I didn't show the ones on my bum, just the ones in my backpack" (from the extra clothes in her backpack, her teacher asked us to pack for emergencies). So, we had to have a talk about how we probably shouldn't show those panties either during show and tell. But I couldn't be too upset, I was just glad they weren't the ones she was wearing. So let me just apologize to all the moms whose kids came home today and told them that Autumn showed her panties for show and tell. I just hope it didn't start everyone getting their respective "emergency" undies from their backpacks and comparing notes. I'm so sorry Miss Amy.

I want a new camera

We're terrible about taking pictures. I admit it. I always look back at my kid's baby pictures and think "That's it?!" So I'm trying. But I have the worst camera! The baby looks like a ghost. Or maybe it's the operator. Probably it's me. So Keli, here are the pictures you've been asking for, as good as I can get. Do you have any tips? Too much white, I think.

She's still cute as can be, and I cannot believe two months old! She' such a good baby and smiles and coos all the time. Nothing melts my heart like when she "talks" to me. Ahhh, babies.

Bigg Fun

Austin's work picnic this year was at Mr. Bigg's. The girls had a great time running around and trying everything out. They were so eager to get to the next thing, we barely stayed anywhere long enough to get a picture. They did however, love the pirate ship that shot nerf balls--Autumn has pretty good aim. Aspen was fascinated by the "alligator."

In the afternoon, we went outside to play on the water inflatables. The girls took some coercing, but Autumn eventually couldn't get enough. Aspen however, was a different story. Austin climbed up with her and because it was wet, promptly fell off. I almost had a heart attack. Then back up they went and Austin gently "nudged" her down. She came down crying and kept saying "Daddy pushed me!" Despite the emotional scars, we had a great time.

Is it your anniversary yet?

Austin and I celebrated our 8th anniversary on July 29th. I can't believe it's been eight years. Although in the grand scheme of thing, eight years is not that long, so much has happened. Two college degrees, three kids, four cars, moving more times than I care to admit (although I wouldn't mind one more!) It's been a wonderful eight years and I couldn't ask for a better husband or family. We planned on going to the Craftwood Inn in Manitou for dinner, but we had a couples baby shower that day and got back too late to make our dinner reservation. We instead went to Manitou, walked around, enjoyed the evening and talked without having to yell over screaming/giggling/crying. Then we had dinner at the Adam's Mountain Cafe on the patio by the river. It was the most relaxing evening I've had in forever. We closed the restaurant, not wanting to return to normal life. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, poor Nana had a long night with the girls. No one wanted the night to end there either, so the girls were up late, late. We promised the girls a "sleepover" for our anniversary, so for three weeks Autumn asked every day, is it your anniversary yet? Don't you want to go on your big date? We got out their big princess tent from Grandma and Grandpa Lee and they finally got their sleepover. It's nice to know we were missed.

Binky Baby

My sweet Autumn and Aspen have never taken binkies. Try as I might, they didn't want anything to do with them. As soon as we brought Eden home, they couldn't get enough binkies. I initially let them play with the ones Eden wouldn't take (she's a bit of a binky snob). But soon I realized we needed to nix that before we had problems. It's a little late girls.

She's a blessing

We blessed Eden on July 6th. We were blessed to have lots of family join us. Austin's brother, Spencer came with his wife, Rachel came from El Paso to spend the holiday weekend with us and attend the blessing. My mom, sister, Janel and brother, Rex attended as well as Austin's grandparents and his Uncle Mike, Aunt Khris, cousin Ryan and cousin Scott with his wife Becca and two daughters. The blessing was beautiful. With each child I am amazed at who they are and their potential, and as such I feel the weight of my calling very heavily when I hear them blessed. The one thing that stuck out to me in her blessing was that she would share/bring many people the gospel. She's a wonderful baby and a true blessing to our family. After sacrament we went back to my mom's house for brunch. We had a great time visiting, but no one had more fun than the little girls. They played all over the house and ended the day in complete princess attire.

Happy 4th

We had a busy Fourth of July! Austin started the morning with a round of golf and later met us in Monument for the parade. The girls were so excited to go to the parade. Autumn remembered all the candy from last year and Aspen was just excited because Autumn was. Autumn was so serious about the candy that she didn't even want the free popsicles they were handing out for fear that she would miss the candy--she has an addiction. It was hot and the best part was the elephants from the Renaissance fair. I loved the elephants and thought the girls would too, but Aspen's only comment when retelling the events of the day was that "the elephants pooped." Oh the things that make an impression. After the parade we headed up to Denver to great-grandma and grandpa Lee's house for a barbecue with the extended family. We had a great time catching up with everyone and the girls ran wild with their second cousins. Autumn couldn't remember Austin's cousin's name, Mariah, so she lovingly referred to her as "the big girl." I didn't see Eden for most of the afternoon as everyone took turns holding and loving her. It was great to be able to enjoy a meal! The girls were beat from the day, so by the time we returned home they were asleep and woke up briefly to enjoy a couple of fireworks before they crashed.

Condo for Sale--I'll make you a great deal.

If you don't know by now, we are trying to sell our condo. (Three little girls to one walk-in closet, need I say more?) We recently lowered our price and Austin (and Eden) were featured on the local Fox station. It's a beautiful condo and everytime I go over there, I wish we still fit in it, because it's so cute, but alas, it's time to move on. So, if you know anyone looking for a great place to live, with no maintenance, send them our way. Check out the article and video clip at the following links: http://www.kxrm.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=152182

http://www.kxrm.com/news/video.aspx?id=152182

Or take a look at our condo:

http://www.homesbya2s.com/bin/web/real_estate/AR58260/HOME_SEARCH/Fountain/1153856912.html?ZKEY=&acnt=AR58260&action=HOME_SEARCH&inwindow=&hs_action=VIEW_DETAIL&listing_id=REASIL43349770&start=0&grp=ALL

Happy Birthday, Aspen!

Aspen turned two on June 14th. I can hardly believe it. Aspen is tough (and strong) as only a second child can be, but oh so sweet ("Mommy, gimme a hug!"). She is also quite the talker. Since I was just one week post-partum, we decided to keep things simple and have a family party. Aspen's big present was a sand and water table, so we chose a water-theme and included sprinklers, water balloons and everyone's favorite, water guns. Nanna, Uncle Rex and Aunt Janel joined us in the fun (although Nanna took some convincing, soon she became a water-gun afficianado). The girls had a great time and have asked everyday since to turn on the sprinklers.

Welcome Baby Eden

All week I wondered whether the baby would ever come. I was bigger and more uncomfortable than either of my two previous pregnancies. Not only that, but the baby was so low I thought she would fall out at any moment. So toward the end of the week, I began making calls to my doctor's office to schedule an inducement, but I never got any callback. I figured it would be another week, at least, before I'd have the baby.
Saturday, my sister and I took Autumn and Aspen to the pool for a nice, relaxing morning of swimming. The weather was perfect and I was in need of some R&R. While Austin was out running errands and I was relaxing at the pool, my doctor finally called back and said that he had been trying to get a hold of us. In fact, he said he had the hospital already to admit us to have the baby the night before but he couldn't get a hold of us. He told us we could head to the hospital at anytime and have the baby. I think Austin was more anxious to have the baby than I was. He couldn't get me out the door and to the hospital fast enough and I wasn't even in labor!
At about 2:00pm, Austin and I arrived at the hospital and had began the process of inducing labor. I hadn't had any mentionable labor pains for the whole week, but within a short time, I began feeling the pressure of more frequent and substantial contractions. It was nice that I had an epidural early on and could barely feel a thing.
However, at about 5:30pm I asked Austin to look at my chart and tell me how often and strong my contractions were. They were about a minute apart and I could really start feeling them. We called the doctor and nurse in and 20 minutes later, we had a baby. Even though the baby started out posterior, she quickly turned and made it the easiest delivery I've had.
Eden Lynn Lee was born at 6:17pm, 06/07/08, at 21" long and 8lbs. 1 oz. (later weighed at 8lbs. 4oz., just for the record, not that this is a fishing story). We finally brought her home Monday afternoon. Recovery is going well and we couldn't ask for a more perfect experience and baby.