I was a little nervous about Winni seeing my grandmother in her casket. She was afraid of her in the hospital because of the oxygen mask, and I wanted her to have happy memories of her great-grandma. She was so cute! We went to the casket and Winni looked at grandma, then looked at me and said, "shhhhh....Grandma's sleeping!"



Ryann and Winni



Me & Winni and Julie

I spent the last 2 evenings at the hospital with my family. My mom was able to come home and arrived on Saturday night. That night my uncle Parley gave Grandma a blessing, then we all sang songs and said goodbye. It was bitter-sweet. I'm going to miss my grandma, but I'm so happy for her to lay down this body and to lift her spirit up to heaven. She is such a sweet lady. She told me to choose the right and to stay close to the Lord. She told me I'm beautiful and that she loves me. I asked her to pick me out some more great kids and to watch over us. Then we shared funny grandma stories, because she was very funny! I was overcome with a feeling of gratitude as my Aunt Karen told my grandma, "I've taken care of you for the last 6 years, and I've got your Temple clothes all ready. I'm going to take care of you one last time and you're going to be beautiful!" Well, Grandma passed away this morning around 8 AM with her children surrounding her. They were able to hold her hand and say good-bye as she took her last breath. They said it was beautiful and natural and she was without pain. It was as Grandma would have it, at the dawning of a new day.

Right now I've got a house full of people, so to allow for more people to sleep in beds, I've moved Winni to her floor and I am sleeping in her bed. Last night after I moved her from her bed to the mattress on the floor I went to climb in her bed. Of course the first thing I hit is a "sleeping doll". I guess I woke the baby doll up because it started crying!! I quickly found the on/off switch and took care of that crying child!! As I slowly inched my way further into bed I found a play plate, some pretend gardening sheers and, of course, dirt! hahahaha This sweet child would take the Zoo to bed with her if I'd allow it! Everybody has got to be tucked in to bed!

Characteristics of a loving mother:

Ahhhh Mommy help me

Oh WOW Winni, you tip over?

MOMMMMMYYYY!!!

Just sec baby, hold that pose! I gotta get the camera!

Today we found out that my grandma Giles will be passing away within the next few days. We went to visit with her at the hospital. Winni was a little scared of her since grandma didn't have her teeth in or her wig on. She also had an oxygen mask on. Winni told her she loved her. It was sad to see her like that, in pain, but it was nice to know that soon she will be with my grandpa! They were married for 34 years when he passed away, and it has been 35 years since then.



Abe, Jaxynn, Winni, Elijah, Julie and Grandma



Trae, Me and Grandma

Winni singing, to the tune of twinkle twinkle, while dancing with a picture of Jesus...

"Jesus Jesus Jesus Je, Jesus Jesus Jesus Je"

Those barbaric turtles!?! We had 2 turtles, Fabio and Six, which was plenty, and my dear husband decided we needed more, so now we have 9! Scabby, Blah Blah, Crush, Squirt, and their friends...we haven't quite gotten to naming all of them! They all look exactly alike, except Scabby! haha We also had 2 shrimp, now we have 0. We had 5 other random fish, now we have 0. We also had 2 sucker fish, no we, ok we still have 2 sucker fish...for the time being! I've chosen not to name any other water creatures in our home for fear of getting too attached and them becoming turtle treat! These turtles are eating us out of house and home... er fish!

Today I realized why I lose things so much, its so I can ask Winni where those things are, like my keys, wallet, shoes, anything, and she comes up with either the right answer, or something a little more fun and creative. Today, our routine went something like this:

"Winni, where is Trae's binky?"

"I frowed it in the street!"

"Winni, where are Trae's shoes?"

"I frowed them in the street!"

"Winni, where are mommy's keys?"

"I frowed them in the street! See?"

I'm not sure who has lost their mind more, me for asking her or her for "frowing" everything in the street!!?

Walter left again today....house is clean! I miss him!!

I knew this day would come. I warned Winni that this day was coming! And tonight it was obvious...Trae has had enough of this being pushed around crap! I told Winni that one day Trae would be bigger than her, well, he is almost bigger than her, and he would pay her back for past damages, i.e. pushing, squishing, smothering, all of the above. At the dinner table Winni was getting in the way of my feeding Trae, so he just reached out and grabbed on to as much hair as possible, and he pulled!!! She didn't get the picture so he did it again, and again!! I did make him let go each time, but I think she got the point!

Tonight as I bathed my children, Winni portrayed her bossy side! She wanted the toy Trae had, which was a cup, so she told him, "no, no Trae, that's dangerous!" I wonder where she learned that tactic!

Tonight I had a Modbe party. Its a swimsuit/clothing party where they bring the stuff to your house for everyone to try on, kind of like and avon or mary kay party, but much more fun! We had fun. They had this really cute swimsuit cover-up skirt that Winni just loved playing with. She put it on, sorta, and went around telling everyone there was a baby in her belly! I guess she wanted to be like the 2 pregnant ladies who were there!

Today, on our way to my friend Brooke's to get my face waxed, Winni surprised me with her memory! My friend has a little girl named Preslee. As we got to the light before their house, Winni recognized where we were. She said, "Let's go to Preslee's house! Get my hair done!" hahahaha We have never had her hair cut! She remembers the one time we went there and I let her sit in "the hair chair" and pretended to play with her hair. She is such a smart little bucket! I love her!

My best friend is getting married on saturday! I'm so excited for her. Tonight she went through the temple for the first time and I was able to be there with her. Walter stayed home with the kids because Trae isn't feeling too good. I'm not writing to complain that when I got home at 10:00 BOTH kids were still awake..no no no, the reason for my blog today is because I've now got my own little spy in the house. Not only did she let me know her daddy got paint on the toilet seat (btw, she told him that I got that paint spot on the toilet seat the other day) as we were getting ready for bed she let me know that tonight daddy farted and he was stinky!! hahaha He cant get away with anything!! :)

Last night I got the best phone call EVER!! OK, not really, but it was one I was praying for...OK, well, it was a message on my answering machine from friday night! You see, saturday morning I was getting ready to go buy some paint so Walter could finish painting the bathroom, and I couldn't find my wallet ANYWHERE! I searched and prayed and searched and prayed and for the life of me I could not remember where I left it. I had a feeling it was safe, so I didn't worry about it, I just went on spending money with Walter's debit card instead! Just a little bump in the road! Turns out, I wasn't the only one feeling a bump in the road. Tonight I decided to check our answering machine for messages and low and behold a kind man named Mark had called. He said that as he was driving on the freeway he ran over something...he then realized it was a wallet so he got off the freeway and went back to get it!! I'm not sure how he found my phone number, but he did and I am so thankful!! I have my stuff back and I still get a new wallet, since mine was run over by a truck!! At least my credit cards still work! hahaha Thank goodness for kind, honest people!

HAPPY EASTER!!! What a beautiful day! We woke up and started the day as usual. While eating eggs for breakfast Winni noticed something and she took off running! It was her Easter basket!! yeah! She was so excited to get a mini magna doodle and an Easter Mr Potato Head!




Then we headed off to church. Everybody was shocked at Trae's new do! Some people questioned if I was holding my sisters baby! The couldn't believe his hair was so light, and everybody commented on how handsome he is! That's my boy! The only way I could get Walter to accept his haircut was by telling him he looks even more like him now. So Walter is taking those compliments of Trae's and assuming they are his too! hahaha And, of course, during the passing of the sacrament Winni put on a show, singing her ABC's. Then we came home to take the traditional Easter photos...





And, in my defense, if any pictures of Trae have boogers, well, he just cut his 2nd tooth and that nose doesn't stop running!! But he's cute enough, he can pull off the booger look! :)

Korean Night: Take II

We survived Korean night. Only a small fire, for a second. It was fun, but a little overwhelming. John invited his friends from school, so we had a house full! I guess its just the Chinese way, to be blunt and honest, but his friends made sure we knew that our house was a mess. OOPS!! I guess my kids are more important than vacuuming! :) Before dinner we decided to paint Easter Eggs. As you can see, some of us painted more than eggs...



btw, that's not a bruise on her forehead!

Then, after dinner we had our Easter Egg hunt with Mark's kids; Cora, Garret, and AJ!



Garret & Cora



Trae found a treasure!

Walter came home today!! Why is it that I can keep the house spotless while he's gone, but the day he comes home it is a disaster!?! I can't win!!

Trae got his hair cut, I know I keep saying this, but I finally have a picture! tada!!

Little children are so innocent, and their prayers prove it! We went to my brothers house for dinner last night and Garret wanted to say the blessing on the food. Now that I think about it, I don't know if he ever blessed the food, but he sure had a lot to say!! He prayed for everyone in the house. He even blessed Trae's dinner....breastmilk! He said please bless Amber's baby that came from her tummy that he'll eat from her tummy! And please bless our new baby that she'll come out of mommy's tummmy. Please help daddy to jump on the tramp with us, and please help mommy's baby to come out of her tummy when we jump on the tramp. Please bless the baby that came from Amber's tummy to be quiet! It was so cute! I think he went on for like 3 minutes, at least! We were all trying to contain our laughter! Luckily, for now, Winni just repeats what we say, but I'm sure we are in for it!!

Today I got notice that I can view Trae's long hair pictures from Target, so here they are...










And, on a final note, today I got a new nephew...Tyler Max Lightning McQueen Peterson was born on 4/4 at 4:44 AM! woo hoo!

Renee and I decided to take our kids to Discovery Gateway today! We had lots of fun, just getting there! We decided to take Trax, and we were quite the sight. 2 moms, 4 kids, and 2 double strollers! whew!! I'm sure we were the reason the trains were late all day! After running a few people over on the train and making others mad, we looked up and saw the sign on the train..."please fold up all strollers before boarding." We continued to pretend to not see it as we got on the train again to go home. We thought we were golden, until we realized we had gotten on the wrong train! oops!! I think Renee and I were more exhausted than the kids! What a day! But we had fun with Renee, Dylan, and Kyler.



Winni, helping construct a new building. The most precious construction worker you'll ever find!!



Winni and Dylan driving to the market with some random kid in the back! Probably a hitch-hiker! They are such kind kids! :)



Trae climbing the fence at the farm! Isn't he so handsome!! Enjoy those long locks, cause they are coming off!! Farmers can't have long hair, it's tooo hot!!



Winni & Trae playing in the water!

Today started out on a great note...The DENTIST!! Winni's first visit, and it was quite the experience. She hated it! Our dentist is Harold Brockbank, who is our neighbor, so she sees him all the time. I thought this might help, but she was afraid of everything. She kept saying, "I don't want it!" We made it through and afterwards she got to pick a new toothbrush, that was the highlight of the day! We took with us Gwen Brockbank. She is Winni's best friend! She is Harold's 8 year old daughter and she comes to play and help me out all the time. It was great having her. By the time we got home from the dentist, both kids were asleep, so Gwen decided to stay and clean my house! It was awesome!!! I need to get me a full-time 8 year old!!! :) Winni absolutely loves Gwen! They had lots of fun today!



Gwen and Winni being silly!!

They decided to have a picnic outside. It was all fun and games until Trae got his hands on his 1st chocolate cookie! He used it as a teething toy, as you can see!



As a final farewell to Trae's lovely locks, we soaped up that mane and took tubby pictures! Aint he cute!



And finally, as I was putting Winni to bed tonight her final request for the evening was, "Let's go see the dentist!!" hahahahaha