I don't know about any of you but at this house sometimes we have a crappy "tooth fairy"!! She seems to put money in different spots - never the same so the kids can't find it. And have you ever heard of this one - sometimes she forgets!! How terrible is that? Now it has only happened a time or two and she manages to find that money somehow and point it out to the kids. They say I already looked there but somehow it magically reappears. But not tonight! This tooth fairy is gettin' it!

So here it is....my long awaited piano. It may be 100 years old and not the prettiest (but I think it is) but it is MINE! Finally! Most of you have heard the story but I want to record it for later years. A woman had a piano but couldn't quite part with it because it was sentimental to her. She had received it for her 12th birthday. It wasn't getting used anymore. So my piano teacher told her about me. She was a little leary at first but when she was told our name she began to cry. Come to find out she knows my husband's family pretty well and had taught many of the boys in grade school and remembered what a nice family they were. Then she knew she could part with it. Gee, hopefully we are as great as she hopes. I know I will use it all the time.

I have been practicing a song for Jay's baptism. Hopefully I can get it. I likened my practicing to Jay getting baptized. As many times as I practice, mess up, and restart - it is the same as life. We can always do better, try harder, and start over. She sees me practice every day and knows how much work I put into it. I told here this is how we have to live our lives every day with our families and the gospel. Not many times is she truly quiet but during that lesson she was. I don't think she will ever forget that one.

Christian's "ballball" game

16 months

Fun with my new camera

New addition to the family

Meet the newest addition to our family. In addition to our 3 hermit crabs we now have a new frog. Jared bought this frog and when I asked him on the way home what he was going to name it he said "Bubbie" without hesitation. I asked why and he said just look at him mom. So there I sit looking at this little skinny frog jumping all over the bag trying to get out any way he can. Hmmm, does this remind us at all of our Bubbie? Very funny Jared! I love your sense of humor kid. Thanks for all the laughs you give me.

Another fun (and busy) weekend

Mississippi River Boat Museum

We needed something fun to do for Spring Break and it always seems to go way too fast. Thank goodness to nice weather this year at least. It ended up being a Jolley affair (minus C & L who were doing their own family vacation) as we all went to Dubuque for a fun day at the museum. 12 kids and 4 adults. Whew! At nap time we drove past Galena to the look out tower which ended up being closed. Bummer but good enough to get the younger ones asleep and a little nap. A quick stop at the fudge factory and then home for the day.

And the funny of the day I will never forget...

everyone who knows me knows I can be a little forgetful at times but this time I wasn't. We stopped at a gas station and Jared was out of the van for a moment and I decided to take off. I knew I wasn't forgetting him but he didn't realize that at first. The look on his face in the rearview mirror was priceless as his arms were flailing and he was running and shouting with his mouth wide open. We had such a good laugh that he fell out of the van trying to get back in and I couldn't even drive for a while it was so funny.

Ahhh memories.

Dates with Mom

Friday night was date night with the boys and Saturday was date day with the girls. I try to give each of my kids so much of my time instead of money or things so this weekend was fun stuff. Friday night I took my boys to the Sports Show at the UNI dome. It has been our yearly family tradition since Jared was a baby. In fact I remember having to nurse him inside one of the display tents one year. It was fun watching Jared do archery, go-karting, and fishing. No bites this year though. He also got his first air shot gun. Sort of like a BB gun but safer I guess. I have put this off for many years. I know he will be careful and knows gun safety thanks to his dad taking him to the shooting range at a young age. I found my dream camper. It has a loft with a sectional. Never seen anything like it before. Jared says he will buy it for me. And Christian was ever so happy in the backback where he could see everything. Sat started early with hairdo's for the tumbling meet. Jayden was very disappointed with her 6th and 3rd place finishes (last both times). As mean as this sounds Jer and I had hoped this would happen soon. She usually wins and needs to learn that it isn't how it always will be. She was a good sport to the others but shed a few tears of her own. As hard as that is to see it was also good to see. Kate on the other hand had her first meet and her tears were because her routine couldn't come soon enough. She had to wait for 3 hours for goodness sakes. First meet, first trophy - ah life couldn't be better - just ask her. I tried to upload my videos but couldn't. Will try later. Enjoy the pics.

The stairs won!!!

On Thurs I had a fight with the stairs and as you can see the stairs won. I don't think the pics do it justice but it hurt too much to move it any other way for the pic. So the story was that I was trying to vaccuum the van. I headed down the stairs inside with heavy vaccuum in hand. Thought there were no more steps but there was really one more. Woops! Down I go - hit head on door - head first down 2nd flight of stairs - vaccuum on top of me and really sore foot/ankle. Ok sorta funny now but still in pain so not as funny as it may be some day. I couldn't feel my toes and I had heard some crunching when I fell. I was shaking with pain and the pain was shooting up the back of my leg. As I laid there and tried to talk Kate and Jake into finding my phone which 10 min later they did I realized I had hairy legs. I knew I had to go to the ER for x-rays but wasn't gonna be caught dead with my coworkers with hairy legs. Soo, then I talked Kate into grabbing a razor and Jake into finding the spray bottle. They were great and did just what I said. I tried to stay calm but realized not only was my foot broken but every muscle was sore. So I called Susie and bless her heart she rushed over with her mom. She watched the kids and her mom took me to the ER and kept me company. Nothing was broken to my surprise thank goodness but it does still make crunching sounds. Maybe I will have to check my own x-ray out next time I go to work because I still can't believe it isn't broken. So today all is still very sore from my head to my feet and the bruising is getting worse. What a long way down for a not so little person. The bruising is worse today. THANK YOU THANK YOU to Julie for the crutches and Susie for all your help. Family and friends are great. What would I do without all of you?

Here is the normal ankle