Moran Family Fun

I love having flowers in the house, and Jared is nice enough to bring me flowers pretty often. Every year I look forward to the first time I see tulips at the flower shop. They are my favorite spring time flower, and maybe my favorite all the time flower as well. The last time I stopped in our local flower shop I was thinking, "Please have tulips, please have tulips" but they didn't have any quite yet. Especially this time of year they are a beautiful reminder that winter will be ending sometime soon. I was so happy when Jared brought home these the other day, and in a nice sunny yellow too!

So if the kitchen is the heart of the home, then I have a hole in my heart. About two weeks ago I heard this weird grinding noise. At first I thought it was something outside, like a neighbor doing yard work or cutting down a tree. But when it kept getting louder I got off my bum and went to investigate. As I came down the stairs the noise kept growing and that's when I realized that it was coming from the kitchen. Our poor dishwasher was trying to run through the cycle but no water was getting into it and it kept getting stuck between the number 3 and 4 on the dial. Since then we have been hand washing dishes and using our dishwasher as a very fancy dish drying rack. Our landlord has been helpful, but he's slower about things than I would like. Wednesday some repair guys finally got out to the house and took a look at things. I was thinking, "Hooray, tonight I won't have to wash all those dishes after dinner! It's finally going to be fixed!" I was so wrong. I...

First, I want to say grrr! I had pictures of my birthday, I was looking at them today on my camera. When I inserted the card into my computers input thingy it somehow took them and deleted them all instead of transferring them to my computer! Update: I mean, hooray, I found the pictures! Anyway, my birthday was wonderful and it's nice to be 32. I decided that I wouldn't do anything that I didn't feel like doing because, after all, I was the birthday girl. So I read and sewed and napped and basically did whatever I felt like and nothing that needed to be done. My neighbor make me a beautiful and delicious (chocolate and peanut butter, yum!) cake. That meant I didn't have to make one or eat one from a bakery, instead I got a homemade cake for my birthday! Jared and the girls took me out to dinner at a great restaurant that we've eaten at once before and really liked. It's in a renovated barn so it's an interesting place to eat, plus the food is really g...

Madison has always had big feet. I can remember when she was little, just two or three, and her feet were much too big for the rest of her body. Because of her large, large, feet she outgrew the kids shoe section about 18 months ago. Sometimes that's not such a bad thing, but other times it can be hard to find shoes that are well, appropriate for a twelve year old. Today at the store there were a bunch of clearance shoe racks and we decided to browse a little and see what there was to see. In Madison's size there were a bunch of granny shoes and one pair of sequined platform heels. She didn't want to, but I convinced her to try them on, just for fun. I am so glad that Jared got me a new little camera for Valentine's Day, now I can take pictures whenever I want to and today when Madison put on those shoes I really wanted to take a picture. I have to say though, those heels make Madison's long legs look even longer!

Oh Emily. Our sweet, sweet, Emily. What happened to you? Where did the nice you go and when will she be coming back? This week I took Emily in to get her haircut. It was LONG overdue, I think it has been a year since she had a haircut. Since her hair is a little curly, it didn't look too bad but she really did need a trim at the very least. The stylist brought out the booster for Emily to sit on. Emily heaved a big sigh (sorry Emily, but you're short!) and climbed up in the chair. She crossed her arms across her chest and looked angry. The nice stylist asked Emily what she wanted to have done. Emily talked to her about long swoopy bangs and hair just below her chin. I left them to it and went to sit and read a two-year-old magazine while I waited. A while later I saw Emily walking towards me crying, her coat on and the hood up, with the stylist close behind. Emily wouldn't even talk to me and the poor lady who cut her hair was trying to reassure me that Emily would like it ...

So every year my kids have Valentine's parties in their school classrooms, and this year was no exception. And every year I go to the store and buy whatever character Valentines my kids are currently into. But this year when I went to the store there were no Valentines, and I don't just mean no Valentines that my kids would like, but really no Valentines at all. There was not even a empty space on the shelves to make me think I had waited too long to do my shopping and they were sold out. I remember buying Valentines here at the BX last year so I'm not sure why I couldn't find any this year. That meant we had to make our Valentines this year and that's something I've never done before. Each year our kids will come home with a few homemade Valentines in addition to the store bought ones. I usually think they're cute and I also feel a little bit outdone by some overachieving mom out there. Sorry, but I am a bit competitive. Well, this year I get to be the over...

Happy 12th to our wonderful Madison! We are so blessed to have Madison in our family. Jared and I sometimes joke about Madison being somewhat dorky, and she really is, but we that's part of what makes her so awesome. She doesn't worry about what other people think of her, she doesn't try to be cool, and what you get is this wonderful, smart, fun kid. Madison is a great big sister and a really good example to her younger sisters. She's always willing to help around the house and never needs a reminder to do her chores. Madison is excited to be in Young Women and we are excited for her. Her birthday was on Tuesday so she was able to go to Young Women the very next evening. It is so sweet to watch Madison's understanding and testimony of the gospel grow. She works hard to do the right thing and isn't afraid to share her testimony with her friends. This year we had our regular family celebration and she's also having a party with some of her friends. Unfortunate...

Sorry to be writing about snow again, but I think we might be finally done with the snow for a little while and I wanted to write about it before I forgot the experience this has been. This morning after we had finished shoveling Jared took some pictures to show just how much snow we've gotten. There was no school today for the German schools, but they did have school for our kids. I decided to keep our kids home anyway; two school busses slid off the road on their way to pick up the kids this morning and I knew that I could not make it out of town and drive them in myself. Jared stayed home from work and we had another snowed in day. We've started to run out of places to pile up the snow that we have been shoveling, and shoveling, and shoveling. It's kind of hard to tell, but this is a picture from an upstairs window of an amazing snowdrift that formed on our garage roof. You can just make out the roof tiles under the snow in the background and all the snow in the front of...

Natalie loves markers. If you ask her she will tell you that markers are for paper. What she must also think is that markers are for coloring all over yourself. This is what happens when I don't pay enough attention to my little one.

It takes me a while to really feel ready for the day. Today it took me four hours and I've realized that it's because there are a lot of things I like to get done before I officially start my day. The typical morning around here is wake up the kiddos and get them moving. While everyone eats breakfast I try to read scriptures in between squabbles over who, in fact, picked up the box of Cheerios first and can I please help pour the milk because the carton is heavy today. Once everyone is out the door, around 7:45, Natalie and I head downstairs so I can run/walk on the treadmill while she makes a mess in the toy room. By the time I'm done it's usually about 9 and we start our "morning work". This is when I make a quick trip around the house making sure each room is picked up and straightened and that all those cereal bowls and the heavy milk carton have been put away. Then it's time for a shower, get dressed, dry my hair, put on some makeup, and most da...