2011 Already!!

So it is February of 2011 already! Oh my goodness, how time flies. I feel so horrible that I am not blogging near as much as I used to. I love facebook and keep up with family and friends that way. Quick and easy! I am going to try to post some new pictures of the girls on here soon!

So what is new with us?? Not much! Olivia was sick over Thanksgiving so Terry took the two oldest girls and went to his parents for awhile and then later I went with the two oldest and went to my mom's. Christmas was fun and Olivia was really into opening presents. We spent time with family!!

In January, Madison and Laci started gymnastics and they LOVE it!! They are both in Girl Scouts as well, so January was very busy!!

We had two snow days this week on Tuesday and Wednesday. I was glad we were able to get to school Thursday, even though we had a 2 hour delay. The girls were fighting at home a lot!! Oh, and on the first snow day, Olivia managed to get up on the bathroom counter and paint her toenails. What a mess!! I should have taken a quick picture, but I wanted to hurry and clean up to avoid more mess. She is a stinker!

Terry and I are still debating putting the house back on the market in the spring or adding on??? It is all stressful to think about and so much money too!! Who knows what will happen??

Well, keep checking in from time to time. I will eventually get back into a routine with this blog!!

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!!