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.

Time to Update

Okay, so once again, it has been FAR too long since I have updated. Needless to say, I am very busy with the three girls, the dog, the cat, and Christmas just around the corner. My pants are getting looser though, so I needed to put another hole in a belt to keep them up. At this rate, I will have to convince Terry that I need a new wardrobe!! A real cheeseball lately for the camera!! This is on Thanksgiving day on the way to Terry's parents. Love that smile, although the last few days she has been rather crabby. She has all four molars and one eyetooth is through. I think the other three eyeteeth are causing the crab to come out in her!

Lily traveled with us on Thanksgiving day also. She was in her kennel in the basement at Terry's parents and many of the family had to sneak a peak at her. At my sister's house, where we ended up later in the day, she got to be out most of the time and she liked my brother's lap!

My last post was of Olivia's shiner and now I have to include her last war battle scar! Shortly after the black eye was gone, she fell and hit the corner of a small shelf that is by the door for shoes. She bled a lot and I almost took her to the emergency room that night. In the morning after, this is what it looked like and since it was still open a little, I took her to Urgent Care. By the time we got there, it had scabbed over and the doctor said they might have glued it the night before when it happened, but she also said Olivia is so little it won't scar really. Mom was just worried!!

A preview of what some of the pictures may be like for this year's Christmas card from the Even family!

So last Tuesday night it started snowing. Not sure what the total amount of snow was in Denver, but 12-15 inches probably for sure!! Our trampoline is full and Terry and the two older girls used sand buckets to get some of it out. Not much accomplished, so I may have the girls try to get more out when it is a warmer day. Maybe I just worry too much or maybe we should have taken it down. Where to store it was the question though??

One attempt at an individual picture of Olivia to use with this year's Christmas card. She does not sit still or stay put for as long as my digital camera needs to take the picture. What a challenge. I did get one that I am using today, but in a different outfit. Oh, well. You take what you can get sometimes!!

A Shiner

So Terry picked Laci and Olivia up from daycare today. When the babysitter was out of the toy room for a second helping another little one, Olivia must have tried to do something she shouldn't have. Marlene thinks maybe she was trying to climb on one of the toy boxes. Silly girl! Anyway, she got a bummed up eye. The babysitter was able to put a bag of frozen peas on it for a bit, so she said it looks a bit better. She also said she heard two little whines from Olivia and that was all! What a cheese-head! This is the first picture I tried to take and she was hamming it up for the camera. I heard all of the story from Terry over the phone when I was on my way to Jesup to get my van back from the car dealer. I was really worried about what I would see when I got home. It isn't that bad though. I am just glad the babysitter didn't call me or e-mail me at work. I probably would have worried the whole day for nothing!

An upclose view. It is a bit puffy and red and certainly is bruised. She didn't seem like it bothered her though.

Closing her eyes, so you can see both. Another silly shot!! Will be curious to see how the bruise changes over the next few days. Won't be getting any Christmas card photos done anytime soon!

Also, this reminds me of Madison. When she was about this age, maybe a bit older, she tripped over my foot in her room and bumped her eyebrow area on a wooden doll cradle. She ended up having stitches. There is a slight scar there still, but it isn't noticeable since it is right along the top edge of her right eyebrow.

Lily Marie

So we finally did it! We got a dog - this is the newest member of our family - Lily Marie. She is an 8 1/2 week old English Bulldog. She is so sweet too. She is snuggly and loves to be close all the time. This is from Saturday after we got home from getting her. We drove 4 hours one way to get her. We left home around 1 p.m. because we had something going on in the morning and got to the location around 4:30-5:00 p.m. We met her and her two brothers. Boy, were those boys rambunctious!! Lily was much more calm and still seems to be.

We had gone to the pet store before leaving to go get her, so she had a bone to play with and was just relaxing by Terry. It was almost 10 p.m. when we got home.

This picture is dark because the camera battery was almost dead and my flash wouldn't go again. It is Lily sitting by Laci, almost falling asleep. She is a snuggle bug.

Lily had a fun day playing outside. She bites at the leaves and runs around and plays. She looks funny running. I will have to tape and post a quick video. Olivia was even outside while she was playing and Lily had fun trying to get Olivia too!

Happy 7th Birthday, Madison!

So today was pretty uneventful for it being Madison's 7th birthday. She had the girls over Thursday night and family was over Friday night, so all the presents were already open. She kept wanting to go shopping today because she has four gift cards and money to spend. Not sure what else she could need, but I told her this next weekend would be a perfect time to go. She wasn't really in agreement, but she had to wait. Auntie called to talk to her and so did Grandma Cheryll. I could slightly hear Grandma ask Madi what she got to do for her birthday, to which Madison responds "NOTHING!!". Oh boy, was she sassy today - sassy seven!! I can't imagine how fast the next 7 years will go, but I do love Madison so much. She usually is so easy to deal with, although the attitude does come out at times. I have loved every minute I have had with her the past 7 years - what a joy in my life! Here's to many more years of joy with her and her sisters! Happy Birthday to a 7 year old princess, my Madison Leigh!!