Start of the School until NOW!

Okay, Okay!! I know that I am so behind in this blog that many of you maybe don't even check it anymore. Today is the birthday of my 1st born, 8 on the 8th!! I can't believe I know have an 8 year old. I told her this morning to stop growing up!!! Well, since school started, here are some pictures of what we have been up to. Madison on the first day of school. A 2nd grader!

Laci on the first day of school. A kindergartener!!

Can't believe that I have two of my three girls in school everyday all day now! I am excited and sad all at the same time.

So at the start of the school year, when it was warmer in the mornings, Olivia wore some interesting outfits to daycare a couple of different days. Here is one: diaper underneath it all, then a Dora swimsuit, and underwear over top.

This is another cute one. Diaper underneath a tutu (the diaper is a little bit noticeable), ballet slippers, and her Tinker Bell pajama top. I think I remember that she wore this at daycare all day. Then when Terry picked her up, she wouldn't put any pants on, so her diaper hung out for all to see when he picked up Madison and Laci from school. Oh OLIVIA!!

We have celebrated 3 birthdays also since school started. On September 15, Lily Marie turned 1. If you don't remember, she is our English Bulldog. Then on September 27, Olivia turned 2 years old. Here is a picture of her enjoying cake from her party. She is so big - currently almost potty trained. Neither of her older sisters were potty trained this soon. I am so glad to be having no diapers to change. She still wears pull-ups to bed and naps, but doing really well and even tells us most of the time when she has to go. She talks so well and I was so worried about her when she was one. She loves Dora and Olivia. She also loves books and can talk me into reading "one more time" before bed.

Her Dora cake for her birthday. Dora, Diego, and Boots are on it. She also got a lot of Dora items for her birthday.

We recently spent a Sunday afternoon at my mom's carving pumpkins. Madison and Laci carved the Iowa Hawkeye logo on theirs. Olivia's was Mickey Mouse's face. They didn't really last the week until Halloween because it was pretty warm, but the girls had fun carving with everyone at Grandma Cheryll's. Here is Lily outside near the pumpkins, she wouldn't leave them alone!!! Something new, I guess.

3 princesses - Madison was Tiana from "The Princess and The Frog", Olivia was Sleeping Beauty and Laci was Cinderella. Guess they all have the pose down.

Yesterday we celebrated Madison's birthday, with Terry's family and my family. Her birthday is today, Nov. 8. Terry was trying to take a picture of Madison before she opened presents, but guess who got in the way.

Madison got a Teacup Piggy from Uncle Mark and Aunt Cyndi. What a hit! THANKS!!

She got another one from Uncle Tracy and soon-to-be Aunt Kim. Another hit! THANKS!! Laci and Olivia want one now too. They are supposed to be the hot item for Christmas, so let's hope we can find some.

What birthday would be complete without an iCarly cake?? Madison and Laci love this show. Terry and I watch it with them too and it is pretty funny. One of the items Terry and I got for Madison was iCarly Season 2 on DVD. Now she has Season 1 and 2.

So grown up and ready for all of the family to sing "Happy Birthday" to me!

The Wedding - FINALLY!!

My brother, Mark, and his fiance, Cyndi, are finally married! Friday, August 13th, 2010, they got married at The Little Brown Church in Nashua at a 3 p.m. ceremony. It was small, but great!My sister and I took our girls to get their hair done. This is my niece, Kendall, getting beautified!

Madison's hair after it was finished! Very elegant! Her hair is so thick, but it ended up staying the best over the entire day.

Laci sitting very still for the girl doing her hair. Her hair is fine, but when it got all curled, it seemed like she had so much hair!

I even took Olivia. The gal who does my hair, did Olivia's in a ponytail, with some curl! It didn't look at all like this by the time the wedding started. Thank goodness she didn't charge me for the little she did to it! It was a bit of a challenge to do the little she did also, but when she was done, Olivia told her "thank you" and she was very grateful!

Laci (5), Madison (7), and Kendall (3) - princesses!

After the ceremony! From L-R: my sister, Cathy; my mom, Cheryll; my new sister-in-law, Cyndi; my brother, Mark; me!

It was very emotional - my brother didn't get to see Cyndi until she walked down the aisle and he was in tears. Also, we all were thinking of someone who was missing in person, but there in spirit, my dad!

My family - Terry, me, Madison, Laci, and Olivia. Yes, we are all standing on the same level, and yes, Madison is almost as tall as me already. My girls definitely get their height from their daddy!

My sister's family - Cathy, her husband Doug, her stepdaughter Amanda, and her daughter Kendall

Madison at the dance - full of energy!

This is at the dance - Kendall is on the left and Olivia is on the right. Olivia is going to be 2 in September and Kendall will be 3 1/2 then. Olivia is almost as tall as Kendall now and they wear the same shoe size. So much for sharing clothes and shoes, Kendall is just very petite!

Laci dancing with her dad!

What does the ______ say??, Olivia???

This video is from awhile ago, but so cute. She doesn't stay put too long, so you hear the horse as she is getting up to leave the room. (Dad also enters the room at the end - he does exist!) Olivia makes many other animal noises and talks a lot.

I love to hear many of the things she says. She says "Auntie", but many times tries to say Cathy, which comes out sounding like "Faffy". Cathy tries to get her to only say "Auntie" and to which Olivia responds with "Faffy". She likes to challenge constantly - a little spitfire!!

Some other things she says - "Madi", "Laci" which sounds like "sissy", "please", "pretty please", and "thank you". Sometimes after you say "you're welcome" to her, she keeps repeating "thank you" over and over!!!

Where has the summer gone??

Our summer has been full of pictures and I have tried to include several.
We haven't done much this summer, but it sure has gone fast. Short trip to Des Moines, Farmer's Days, and several weddings (some of which are coming up yet). Lily Marie Flower Even, our English Bulldog! She is well over 50 lbs. now. She really is a good dog. This is about the best picture I have gotten of her lately. She slobbers all over my kitchen floor (thank goodness it is tile), but most of the time she really is good and listens well for a puppy.

We went to Des Moines the end of June. It was one day at Adventureland and another day at the zoo. This is the first day of the trip - the girls on the ladybugs, which was one of their mommy's favorite rides when she was little too.

The girls on a truck at Adventureland. Madison went on the Tornado with me one time. She said she liked it, but didn't want to go again. Her eyes were bigger than her head after the first big hill, I think. Laci and Madison went on the Log Ride with me also. They liked it and we didn't even get very wet. I know that is the point for some people, but I really hate being soaking wet for the rest of the day.

At the zoo, Madison and Laci got their faces painted. Madison has a pegasus with green wings.

Laci got a pegasus also, but with pink wings.

Look at this pose! It was great going to the zoo. We had been there before when Madison and Laci were younger, but for Olivia, it was her first zoo trip. She really enjoyed it. The other cool thing about the zoo in Des Moines is that our daycare provider's daughter is a zookeeper there. We got to see her and watch her feed the monkeys. We also learned a bit more about the monkeys because she answered our questions and just told us some cool things about them that you don't get from the signs posted around the zoo.

Our annual trip to the Farmer's Day carnival. I think this is the last year for the boats for Madison, her knees are almost up to her chin! Kendall, my niece, is in the back seat with Laci. Olivia and Madison in front. Growing up so fast - last year, Olivia was an innocent bystander!

Olivia got french braids one night at Terry's parents from her Aunt Dawn. So cute, but it didn't last through the night like Madison and Laci's did.

Finally, some pictures from the shower/bachelorette party my sister and I threw for our soon to be sister-in-law, Cyndi. My brother is finally getting married.

Here is my brother, Cyndi, and a gal, Nikki, from the shower. Mark came after we were done with the shower to take all of the gifts home.

Cyndi and my sister starting off the night at Bucketz for the bachelorette portion of the evening.

On the home front, our house is still on the market. We have dropped the price some. Currently, we are hoping that if we get an offer on our current house, we can build a new one. It needs to happen soon!!

Other exciting news is that Terry has moved to 1st shift - YEAH!!! Much easier to be at home during the summer without having to keep everyone quiet while he is trying to sleep!

Still Alive

So it has been quite some time since I have touched this blog. I need to get back into a routine. Maybe next week, when Terry goes back to work. He is still working 3rd shift, but the past two weeks, he has been on shutdown. This is nice because Madison and Laci have had swimming lessons the past two weeks, so he has been able to go along. It has been a busy summer already. Laci and Madison have been playing ball, taking swimming lessons, and going to the summer reading program at the library. I am certainly "Mom's Taxi Service" currently. Laci graduated from preschool the end of May. Hard to believe she will be starting kindergarten next year. Two kids in school full-time!! She is getting to be such a sweet little girl and much changed from all the naughty-ness we used to deal with. She still needs quiet time or a nap daily because if she doesn't get them, she has a "meltdown" at some point later in the day. I love my "Punky" to pieces though! She just loves to keep me on my toes.

The Children's Place store opened recently at the mall. The girls are sporting their matching outfits, in different colors, of course. Madison's favorite color is green and Laci's favorite color is pink, so theirs are perfect. I picked blue for Olivia because she has such blue eyes, but now thinking back on it, I should have gotten her purple because she is always saying "purple". Her hair is also now long enough for one ponytail, if she sits still long enough to let me put one in.

The three girls. Terry brought up a clothes basket from the basement for me the other day and he carried Olivia up in it. Then the girls had to take her picture and it turned out cute!

Father's Day was fun for the girls. They got Daddy a card and just let him do what he wanted for the day, which was really not much of anything, but spending time with us. Madison is so grown up at 7 1/2, she helps with so many things. Olivia is talking more and more all the time. We are heading to Adventureland and the zoo this coming Friday and Saturday. Will be interesting to see how it goes because we haven't taken the girls to Adventureland yet.

On the housing front, our house is still on the market. We hope to get it sold soon. We are also looking into building a new home, still in town here! Exciting, but stressful too!

Not into Blogging Lately

So many of you may wonder where I have been. I am really not into blogging lately. I truely love Facebook and I have a new iPod touch also. That means I don't actually make it down to the computer much anymore.

So what is new in the Even household? Many things are happening.

Lily, our bulldog, is well over 40 lbs now. She has had eye surgery on both eyes for cherry eye. Basically, dogs have a third eyelid and hers pops out (common in bulldogs). They tack it in place. The first eye surgery was in February and the second was just done Monday this week. The one that was just done looks awful, but the other one looks great, so I know the healing will happen. She is full of energy yet and it is great that it is nicer out, so she can go for walks and play outside with the girls.

The girls are great also. Madison is reading a lot more on her own. Amazing to me, where did my baby go? She is also playing soccer now. She just had her second game yesterday. They don't keep score and she has a great time playing. Finally, she is busy with Girl Scouts every other week.

Laci just turned 5 at the end of March. I will have to post some pictures later. She had a great birthday and now can't wait to go to kindergarten. Monday I went with her preschool to the UNI Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center to see "The Little Engine that Could". It was fun. She knows her letters and numbers and is able to tell me what most words start with. She is a bright and funny girl.

Olivia is now 18 months old. She is a tall girl. I was worried about her shortly after she turned one because she wasn't saying very many words. Not even "Ma" or "Da" once in awhile. My mom kept telling me that she had two sisters to talk for her, so that is why she wasn't saying much. Now she repeats most words that you say to her. Last night my sister and her family came up to watch Madi play soccer and after they left, Olivia said "Auntie". I will have to tape it because Olivia doesn't say as much when others are around and wanting her to say things.

Mornings are still busy for me, getting everyone to the right place. Terry is still working third, but hopefully that will change at some point. They are also working a lot of overtime. Hard for him, but we love the extra money. Finally, our house is on the market. We love living in Denver and our neighborhood, but really would like a little bigger space. We have been actively looking, but haven't found the right place yet. Hope to soon. Also, not many houses are available in Denver right now, so that could be good news for us trying to sell ours. I just hope we can find something then also!!

Once a Month

So I am lucky if I get a post to my blog once per month, but maybe that is my new goal. I wish it was more often, but I just can't seem to find the time. Plus, I like to spend time on Facebook when I am on the computer a lot of the time. Hopefully the summer will give me more time to take pictures and blog away. I have had a lot of pain with a tooth lately also, so many nights, I just want to be doing nothing because of the pain.

Okay, moving on, these are some pictures of Madison. She was recently involved with parks and rec basketball. 1st and 2nd graders had one night per week for the month of January and they learned some basketball skills. It was fun for her! Madison shooting a basket! She is pretty tall already which should hopefully help her well into high school if she decides to keep playing basketball.

They scrimmaged a little the last week of basketball. She had to wear green and it was quite a sight to watch their little game. Some didn't remember to dribble, they didn't pass unless it was to a friend, and on and on!! FUNNY!

This is also the last night. They got a little medal to wear and then we took a picture of the girls. Madison is in the bottom row, 4th from the left. Her face is always about as red as her shirt when she is done playing.

A final picture of me with my three girlies!! Terry took this picture of us on his cell phone. I didn't realize he had it until yesterday and seeing it made me decide that I am definitely going back to this hairstyle ASAP!!! I want it back NOW!!

A note about the other two girls - Laci is almost 5. She continues to go to preschool 3 mornings per week and loves it, but is still asking when she gets to go to kindergarten. She amazes me how funny she can be and silly all the time.

Olivia is saying a few more words all the time and sometimes you can really tell that she is trying to repeat a lot of what we say. She signs for "milk", "more", and "thank you". I taught her a few sign language things because then she doesn't have to get so frustrated. She can "sign" to me what she wants more easily now. I remember that the other two signed a little too, but not as much because they were talking more. My mom keeps telling me Olivia doesn't have to talk because Madi and Laci talk for her!! TRUE!

Starting off a New Year

Christmas and New Year's are done and I have yet to post for the new year. I am constantly busy it seems. Madison with Santa. She told Santa that she wanted an iPod Touch for Christmas. Santa didn't bring that, but she was happy with the game she got - Pop the Pig. It is quite fun. I told Madi that her mom doesn't even have an iPod. =0)

Laci with Santa. She talked to him, but didn't tell him what she wanted for Christmas. I told her to tell him in her head like she prays to Jesus. Santa could hear her. She got what she wanted, it is something from Conair that puts gems in her hair. It worked once to put one gem in her hair - Santa is sending a new one.

I don't have a picture of Olivia with Santa because she started crying when he got close. I thought she might like him because she isn't afraid to go to anyone, but she must not have liked his beard. She doesn't like it when Terry shaves and he has shaving cream all over his face. Madison wrote a list of things she wanted for Christmas at school and then was supposed to leave it by the tree for Santa. One of the items on the list was a poster of Michael Jackson. Grandma Cheryll got her a poster of Michael and now we have to get it hung up.

We spent Christmas morning at home, then went to Terry's grandparents' Christmas and to his parents' after that. The day after Christmas, we went to my mom's and celebrated with my family. This is Laci at my mom's opening presents. The final Christmas celebration was Saturday, January 2, with my mom's husband's family.

My new do! I keep going shorter - I like this one okay, but I might go back to the style I was wearing before - will see??

This is Olivia today. She put on Laci's sunglasses yesterday, so today I got the camera ready and took a picture of her. She loves being silly for the camera all the time now.

And I couldn't forget the dog - Lily. She is getting so big and is doing really well with the house training. She loves to try to get the cat though and the cat can sometimes tease the dog too. She starts a puppy training class tomorrow, so I hope they can help us a little with some of things that annoy me about a puppy. She is pretty good most of the time though. She is an alarm clock too, yesterday and today were our 3rd and 4th snow days, and she was awake at 7 a.m. to get up and eat.

Final note, I have been a constant visitor to the dentist lately. About 1 time per week lately. This past Wednesday I went again, and he figured out I had a tooth that was cracked. It must have cracked from the inside and the crack was working its way out. It was very painful to get fixed, probably the worst tooth repair I have ever had, but hopefully I don't have to be a weekly visitor anymore.