dear mr. president,

vivian, for some reason, has always been fascinated with our 44th president. recently, she began asking me if she could visit him. after explaining how very far he lived from our house, and how extremely busy he would be....she decided it might be better if we wrote him a letter. i smiled, and agreed, thinking this was just a typical three (almost four) year old...and most certainly a conversation that would be quickly forgotten. i was wrong! for almost a week, she has consistently asked me if today was the day we would write a letter to president obama. finally, i said, "sure, let's do it!" so she sat down, and dictated the following letter:

Dear Mr. President,
My name is Vivian. I am three, but I will be four soon. I am sending you a picture. I hope you like it. And I hope you will say thank you, and send a letter back to me, because I worked very hard. I love you.
Vivian Caroline Day
P.S. The picture is from my baby brother, Bauer, too, but he doesn't draw as good as me, yet.

i, of course, typed dutifully and giggled quietly. i helped her spell his name, but she wrote and drew it completely by herself. please take note of his strong muscles, her booboo, and the american flag. quite nice composition, if you ask me. ;) definitely worth a reply!!

"sprinkles, please!"

today's post is brought to you by a very special guest blogger: daddy.

Can an almost 4 year old read? Well sort of....I bought Vivian a little snack earlier today, thinking that would keep her entertained as we drove around doing errands. I was right, she was perfectly content even commenting how much she was enjoying her "sprinkles" (which I did think was a little odd since I bought her chips, but whatever). Later, when I got her out of the car, she said, "Here Daddy, here are my sprinkles." and handed me the chips. I said, "Honey, why do you think these are sprinkles?" To which she replied, "Look Daddy, right here on the can. It says SPRINKLES." I smiled, "Pringles sweetie, not sprinkles, but close!" :)

the boys

"and they're couuuuuuuusins....identical cousins...lalalala". or should i say identical batboys?! ;)

divide and conquer

sometimes to get the job done you gotta divide the troops. this morning was such a day. i was suffering from a severe case of pool deprivation, while clif was wanting to hit the links. it wasn't long before we had a great game plan in place....

miss vivian was all too happy to grab her custom clubs, lovingly hand made for her by daddy himself!

and mr. b wasn't too difficult to coerce to swim with his mother! ;) by ten we were all headed out the door, but not before i got one last shot of my cute little golfers...

look cathy, they even match!! :)

bridal me

yep, i did it. i posted pics of me...bridal style. i can hardly believe it myself. not that i am ashamed, i still think my dress is lovely, and my hair and veil quite timeless...but let's be honest folks....this somer, for all practical purposes, doesn't really exist anymore. and you know what? that is ok with me.

in the last eight years since these photos were taken, i have experienced a lot of...well, life! and i have realized this was but just one day. a special one, don't get me wrong...but it has been all the days that followed that really have made my marriage, and life in general, pretty darn amazing. when i was single i thought of me, when i was a newlywed i thought of we, and now....now i can't imagine thinking of anyone but them: clif, vivian and bauer. and i wouldn't have it any other way.

blessed.

i have always known i am a very blessed girl, some days more than others (can you say $410 door repair bill?). but on tuesday night i got a little photographic evidence of just how blessed i am. because i have the....shall we call it..."talent" ;) of having never met a stranger, i find myself carrying on random conversations with people all over town. it was during an ic paper sale, i found another stranger with the same affliction: miss james. who knew a blog stalker could turn into such a sweet friend?!

and at around the same time, i cornered a kind, quiet mother in vivian's class, and started gabbing away...then *poof*, another dear friend emerged. two years later (and seven kids in total, baby d was taking a nap), here we are. sharing dinners of pbj and grilled cheese while the husbands are out of town on business. thanks gals, you make tuesdays and everyday blessed!

(oh, yeah...and did i mention the added blessing of miss loibner's photography, she took these AWESOME shots! check her out!)

a new old adventure & a WARNING!

for some strange reason, we arkansans have been given a reprieve. the last few days have been SO beautiful (read: bearable temps in 80's and humidity at only 80%), that we dared to venture to a faraway land....the zoo!

we were joined by our friends the whitehead's, but ran into the reeves' too! and look at what a GREAT photo! luckily, it was after mr. b had a few issues. here he is explaining to me...

"no mommy, bauer no cheese. no cheese mommy, no cheese!" but you know what? i've got that kid's number....give him a few pretzels...and presto...

the kid we all know and love! after a long day at the zoo, we invited popa and dotdot over to have dinner. while mommy did dishes, and popa listened to the president, dotdot helped put on our after dinner show. ummmm, yeah.....

i know dotdot's from denmark, but come ON! bauer looks a little too much like, well....helga! ;) soon after, popa and dotdot left and because everyone had been pretty nice today i turned on a special wubzy dvd, and started to blog. A VERY SERIOUS WARNING!! notice to all blogging mothers:

this is what happens when you forget to comb your child's hair after a bath, because you can't wait to post your cute zoo pics!! aaaack! ;)

the vivians & a raja report

today was our return appointment for neurosurgery and another ct. can you believe this big girl is SUCH a pro that again (yep, this is our third ct in a month) she didn't need to be strapped down!! she just held perfectly still and sang abc's, victor viggo, and (of course) hannah montana with her silly mommy!! the radiology tech (ironically also named vivian) was SO proud. she couldn't help but brag on her!!

next it was on to see dr. raja. let me just say, i have known ALOT of surgeons...ALOT!!! and this one, he is just amazing! i cannot believe how his mannerisms remind me of my dear friend, dr. srini. he is just so kind and gentle with vivian....and concerned with not just the big picture (correcting the fracture), but the small one as well (how he took the time to perform ALL subcutaneous sutures for minimal scarring). i have NO doubt, he was working with guidance from god. what a blessing. and speaking of BIG blessings: we are ALL CLEAR! ct, as read by raja, looks great, incision looks great, no more anti seizure meds, no more antibiotics, and no more swimming. ok, so i could have done without that last one...but i'll live! ;) unless there are complication, we are free to resume normal life after an additional 6 weeks. praise god!!!

the good, bad, and hilarious.

normally this is where i give a little weekend review about all the fun and exciting things we did....well....yeah....here's how it went:

the bad: friday afternoon i was letting the cableman (yep, broke again) out the front door, when it accidentally got stuck...and then proceeded to shatter into a million shards of glass. no biggie i thought, we can get a new one at lowe's. nope. custom order has to be sent out. sigh....at least no one was hurt.

the good: while clif and i cleaned up glass, all the neighborhood kids discovered our "hill". one side of our front yard is perfect for rolling...or rather, sliding, rolling, scooting, and all other kinds of goodness! and the big kids were so sweet and gentle to both vivian and bauer. it reminded me so much of the great times we had as kids on cornflower.

more good: that night after thorough baths, we tried out b's new pjs. yep, that's batboy. is he trying to fly into his crib? i think so...

but wait, someone else has a super power. i think it might be the "super pose"! ;)

the bad: saturday clif had to work a little so the kids and i were going to take it easy. as most of you know i have a super power of my own. super sniffer. when i opened the fridge that morning, i KNEW we had trouble. the light was on, but it wasn't. (sigh #2.) trying to get a repairman on saturday is a challenge but i managed, AND i put all the food in the fridge downstairs. crisis diverted (or so i thought).

the hilariously insane: as we are getting ready to go out, i grab something out of the second fridge and realize it is WET, and i am standing in a puddle! fridge #2 is down, too!!!! AAAAGH!!! luckily the repair man made a quick temporary fix, and ordered the correct part for it, too!!

the good: that night, which incidentally was an AMAZING 80 degrees, we had free tickets to see the travs with the adams. let's face it...we HAD to get out of the house, it was falling down around us! ;) bauer enjoyed some daddy time.

vivian enjoyed some more posing time. :)

and even monkey see monkey do, joined in...

we had fun seats on the berm, so the kids could watch the pitchers warm up. (don't they look like twins in this picture, scary.)

they even gave him a ball (maybe so he would stop screaming "bball, bball, BBALL!!!"), obviously he loved it!

and speaking of loved, we ran into sweet little emily clark (who was in our wedding), and is now a travelers halo. isn't she gorgeous, and all grown up?!

even more, good: and speaking of gorgeous, on sunday (in between church meetings), i headed to a great baby shower for meagan harvey (pictured with her mother, juju). she is having twins in september and looks AMAZING!

everything was too cute...su was one of the hostesses, and did a great job!

so in the final count, good won...and like i said at least no one got hurt, well....except our poor pocketbook. ;)

supergirl

my supergirl, holding her new supergirl barbie. sent with four lovely letters, all now tucked safely away in her baby book. thanks benderlings....you made the day SUPER!!!! we love you, too!!!! :)

what to do...

when everyday of your summer vacation has been spent at the pool, and now you aren't allowed to get wet....what are you do to? well.....

sometimes, you watch movies, and read books from the library.

sometimes you go to the museum and put on performances with your friends. (vivian even announced: "ladies and gentleman, the show will now begin.")
and sometimes, just sometimes, you dress your little brother up like john travolta and sing hannah montana songs while standing on the couch.

oh yeah....

and there is even choreography (apparently)...

seriously...we NEED to get out of the house more!! ;)

the post "a.a."

this past weekend we attempted to return to our normal life...or as normal as possible after a traumatic brain injury! ;) i must say a very witty woman said to me, "i KNOW you are hugging your kids a little tighter nowadays!" honey, you have NO idea. someday (because this blog is my documentation on my children's lives) i will have an entire post about what happened, but for now, it is just too fresh. i will say this: i consider myself a woman of science AND faith. often the two are hard to mesh....but last sunday night, without a doubt, we witnessed a miracle. the statistics of science\medicine were against us, but god was with us, and what an amazing, generous, and good god he is. thanks again for all of your prayers....we couldn't have made it without them!! and now, back to your regularly scheduled daily dose of day children... :)

saturday was vivian's bff ruby's birthday, and we helped celebrate with a barbie brunch.

it was really cute and very girly, but the brothers didn't seem to mind, they just sported their matching pink polos, and hung with each other. ;)

also on saturday, was sweet caroline's 1st bday, unfortunately for us it was a water-themed party (yep, THE booboo can't get wet) so we had to skip it. we did stop by beforehand and give the bday girl her gift, and amy sweetly had cookies, cupcakes and goody bags ready for the kids. bauer loved his glasses, but was so worn out from partying with his buddy, trip, that when we got home this is what we found. :)

and speaking of booboos not getting wet, here is my latest "mommy trick"....how do you get a 3 1/2 year old to hold still while you wash her hair in the kitchen sink? BRIBERY!!! (yep, i'm not above it!) happy kiddo+washed hair=happy mommy.

a post "b.a."

a quick recap for the last part of june and first part of july. (aka before accident.)

every SINGLE day this was our mo. we got up, were at the pool for private swim lessons by 9:30. swam until around 11, ate picnic lunch, played until one, came home ate popcorn (while watching scooby doo), and napped. what a SPECTACULAR life!!!!

don't ya think?!

occasionally we would mix it up....with playdates with friends, museum visits, or...

an old school nintendo tournament. i am talking rc proam, original mario, and tetris folks.

such intensity!!!! ;)

daddy day recap

actually, it was more like a weekend, than just a day ('cause that's how long it takes to celebrate our fantastic dad!! hehee)!!! we started on saturday, and went to this place called playtime pizza. basically it is a huge arcade with an INDOOR race track, mini golf, bumper cars, etc. we stuck to the simple stuff, but won over 400 tickets (which turns out to be worth about four peices of candy...but about two and a half hours of fun...not a bad trade.)

clif and vivian had a VERY serious water gun race, and then he bestowed upon his daughter the infinite wisdom that has been passed down for generations....
the secrets of being an air hockey god (or goddess)!

on sunday daddy picked our lunch spot (believe it or not, it wasn't the q), outback. it was a wonderful weekend, filled with the greatest gift....time with our favorite guy. happy father's day, #17....we love you!!!!

nebraska or bust....vacation 2009

finally....after a MONTH i was able to find a little extra time to organize the vacation pictures. i know it might seem odd we spent our summer vaca in nebraska....BUT, my dear sweet yankee cousin cathy lives there with her family...and well, we have been dreaming about getting our kids together, since, well.....we were kids!! ;) it was a wonderful trip!!! we stopped overnight in kansas city....

i guess you could say somebody loves free pancake breakfast...huh?!

maybe even more than one somebody?

please don't ask me why, but miss vivian MUST have her picture taken by any and every fountain. i am always happy to oblige! :)

and of COURSE, we swam in the pool....

have we ever passed up an opportunity to wear our swimsuits? (the day's would disown us, for sure!)

next it was on to fritz's. this little restaurant delivers food to your table via train. it is a child's DREAM!

they also have complimentary conductor hats for all the little ones...

and big ones...i do believe he is even making choochoo noises. ;)

and the food wasn't bad either! we also visited the crayola store and stocked up on lots of cool stuff, however we were on a mission....nebraska here we come!!!