My mom is going to be a nurse again!

Yep that's right I am! I have taken an on call position at the hospital just 3 miles from our house and am very excited! I will be working 1 day a week in addition to any extra hours I would like. This has been a pretty tough decision, but John and I know that it is the right one. As Hannah grows older and I am often pushed out of the house by her so that she can have fun with her Dad I know that the timing is right since she will spend my days away with him. Here is a link to the hospital I will be working: http://www.mercynampa.org/services/pediatrics.html Pediatrics will be my primary home, but I will be assisting with deliveries and taking care of Mom's and babies after they are born when the census in Peds is low.

It has been almost 1 1/2 yrs since I have practiced any type of nursing besides the kind that every Mom does and the occasional phone call from a family member hoping to get some advice. I absolutely love nursing and although it was easy to walk away from it to stay home with Hannah, I knew eventually I'd go back. Eventually just came sooner than expected. I have no intentions on working fulltime until we are done having kids and they are in full day school, but it is a relief to know I will be able to keep my skills up in the meantime.

And as our family begins to follow the plans for our lives we know one day it will be to the mission fields where I will be able to carry my skills there in addition to John's building skills. It has always been in my heart. Every since I was a little girl. I used to dream about going on an African safari and would even register to win trips to Africa under my parents names without them knowing. And although that dream has changed a little (I would love to go on a Safari, but I'm willing to just check out the elephants and such from a distance while on a medical mission!) it is still there coming closer and closer to the surface. It would be a little difficult to go on a medical mission when I haven't practiced nursing for 6 years! So I am in Love with the opportunities this job is providing both now and in the future.

Mudfest 2008

This morning I woke up and Mom told me we were going to a mudfest and I was going to get as dirty as I wanted to in the ooey...gooey...mud!

I wasn't sure if I could trust her.... Let me get as dirty as I want to? But sure enough... we arrived to a gigantic mud pit with three volleyball nets and plenty of mud for anyone and everyone!

This was defintely the best idea ever! Thanks Trina for making so much mud for me to play in!

Some of my friends were there and things got pretty crazy with everyone diving in the mud and balls flying everywhere. Sometimes we would even see someone sneak up behind their friend and tackle them in the mud! To be saft Hannah Joy and I pinky swore (don't worry we didn't really swear, we don't even know what that is!), but we pinky swore that we wouldn't push each other in.... and just to be safe we held hands most of the time in case one of us fell in so we could help pull each other out!

When David got bored climbing the dirt hills we let him in on the pact and he decided to join hands as well... he got bored pretty quick though and left us to go climb hills again.

Hannah Joy's Dad Randy was the megaphone guy so he would let her and I take turns yelling "Go!" into the megaphone... we absolutely loved it! Hannah Joy is such a great friend, you can even tell in this picture that she was rooting for me to yell a great go just at the right time!

Mom and Dad counted as one person and took turns playing games.... They had a blast! Mom defintely wasn't as dirty as Dad though!

Just when we thought we were safe because everyone had left the mudpits, Hannah Joy and I let go of each others hands to explore on our own... I told you it wasn't safe though! Just as we let go our friend Lorelei showed up and started a mudfight with us! We think we won though cause it was 2 against 1 and we were left standing at the end! =)

Whenever I played in the mud Mom and Dad stayed close by because it was so slippery and messy! They were afraid if I fell in they might loose me!

After volleyball there were tug-o-war matches! Dad is the 2nd guy from the left pulling! (In case he's too muddy for you to tell!)

I had a blast and was a little upset when we had to leave! Mom said not to worry, there will be another one next year!

And by the way... Going on 3weeks potty trained now. Today was my first experience with a port-a-potty. I kept asking Dad what was down there and he would just tell me to go pee pee and not look down there because it was yucky. I was ok with that and did my thing! Yea me!

And here is a short relatively boring video, but I thought it shows just how cool the day really was! Everyone should have a mudfest!

Lovely warm weather

Whenever there is a hint of warm weather Hannah requests to play in the water. Well yesterday it was warm enough to let her play away! I must admit I'm not necessarily looking forward to the couple of weeks when it will be over 100 degrees, but being able to allow the suns warm rays to warm you from head to toe without a freezing cold gusts of wind is just plain lovely.

and where there is water... there is Hannah... where there is water and Hannah... there is Sadie...

...and lots and lots of giggles!

I was in and out of the house cooking dinner. In the short amount of time it took to stir noodles and come back out, I returned to the picture above. When I asked Hannah what she was doing, she said "Taking bath Mom." That is our Hannah!

And by the way we are coming up on 2weeks diaper free! I didn't realize how excited I would be about this, but I am!!! Even yesterday when Hannah was playing in the water she stopped playing and ran into the house to go potty on her own! Later on in the evening John even caught her going on her own without telling anyone! Yea Hannah!

Fun times and updates!

This is my friend Eva. I know I've introduced you before, but a reminder just in case. We get to spend a few Wednesdays together until her Grandma starts summer break... then I will have to go visit her there. Mom says it's been the greatest idea ever because I have a friend who I love to play with almost all day, and I am now officially daytime pottytrained. (This isn't even a false alarm or wishful thinking! It's true!) Eva has been working on the whole potty thing and finally had been accident free for a while before coming to my house on Wednesday April 23, 2008.

So Mom decided it was the perfect motivation for me to see my friends new accomplishment! And would you believe it... it worked! I have been in big girl underwear for a little over a week with only 2 accidents! Mom and Dad stay right on top of things, but I am even starting to tell them when I have to go sometimes! This morning I woke up at 7am and cried so Mom knew I had to go potty. I got up and went, and then even went back to bed until 9am! (Mom says I sleep so late now because I never slept as a baby!) But I can officially say it.... I'm a Big Kid Now! Mom also says it's perfect timing because I only had 4 diapers left when I started wearing big girl underwear! Woo Hoo underwear! Woo Hoo no diapers!

I've taught Eva how to make the funny face and we wanted Mom to take a picture so we could look at it. Since we knew we were going to see ourselves making the funny face, we made it with extra intensity! Looks like it hurts doesn't it! (Mom says don't try this at home, because it does hurt!)

There was sand everywhere when we got finished! I kept explaining to Eva that when you play in the sand it gets between your toes and it will keep going in between your toes, so there is no sense in cleaning them till we were done. But... she doesn't like sand in between her toes so she would play a little... clean in between her toes... play a little... clean in between her toes... a vicious cycle really!

Then our Mom's got us together to frost the cookies for Baby Ellie's welcoming/dedication party. As you can see above, very little frosting made it onto the cookies. Our Mom's had to finish without us.

Then all of my friends came over to play and brought their parents too! Everyone contributed something and Boom! It turned into a party!

You have to make the funny face at a party!

It was complete with cake and conversation...

Fun in the jump house...
Multiple games of chase... (With David in the lead of course! It's his favorite game)

and more jumping! Needless to say, I was exhausted at the end of the night and requesting to go to bed. It was a great day though and a super successful great week! I'm potty trained! Yea me! Yea potties! Yea big girl underwear! Yea freedom!