my3grits

Okay, so last time I posted I was only hours away from getting my hands on the final Harry Potter book. So I know that was almost a month ago, so what has been going on since then you ask? Well.......... a bunch of friends and I celebrated Nicole's 35th birthday at Busch Gardens, went to the temple with the kids for a primary/ward activity, I bought the kids their school supplies and a few clothes, cleaned the house like it was springtime (it has been sooooooo much messier since the kids have been home for summer vacation), waited and watched Savannah's cat Snowflake give birth to 4 kittens, and last but not least I think that I am finally back on a normal sleep schedule after reading my HP book straight through from the moment I got home until I finished. It obviously didn't happen in that order , so I'll start with the HP party and go from there.

Before the party (4pm) you had to go and get a wristband that would decide where you fell in line to purchase your book(First come First serve kind of thing). The girls and I waited an hour with Deborah, Heidi and her kids for that. Then we went home to get ready for the party, and after getting the kids all dressed in their costumes and hair done (Savannah's required two bottles of pink hair stuff from party city and Shelby's were extensions) we stopped at McDonald's for a late dinner and headed back to the book store/mall. Unfortunately my babysitting arrangements didn't work out for Emily, so she ended up coming with us. Once we got to the store we had our pictures taken with a HP look alike, got sorted into our houses, made wands, entered the kids in the costume contest (Shelby won 1st place), did a scavenger hunt with prizes, Emily got a scar painted on her forehead just like HP, and a few other things. About an hour before midnight we got into the line to buy our books and by then we had met up with our friends that had come to the store as well. While we waited we did a HP trivia game that they gave to us when we got sorted. Then it was the moment that we had all been waiting for.............FINALLY, we could buy our copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!! We bought our book, said good-bye and then got back into the car to race home and start reading. Shelby insisted on looking through it all the way home, so I had to give her instructions to not read any of it out loud. She could not wait to find out what happened so she read (silently) the epilogue. As soon as we got home i put Emily in bed (she fell asleep in the car), told Shelby and Savannah to go and do something quite, and then i started to read. I thought that I would get tired at some point and go to sleep, but I didn't I read straight through and finished in just under 12 hours. Was it worth it? YES! YES! YES! I loved the book. I couldn't be happier. I did cry when Dobby died and when Harry walked into the forest to sacrifice himself, but other than that it was just so exciting and full of suspense. And just in case you're wondering, yes I have already reread it.

On to the next item, Nicole's 35th birthday. We had decided a few weeks ago that we would have a girls night at BG(Busch Gardens) and then when we started talking about what day we would go it seemed to fit perfectly with the week of Nicole's birthday. So with the idea of celebrating her birthday in mind Deborah and I started to talk about what we should get her. We talked about making her a shirt that said something about her turning 35 and needing help to celebrate. That idea evolved from people wishing her a Happy Birthday, to whistling at her, to signing her shirt , to what we finally gave her. The front of her shirt said I'm turning 35 help me celebrate *see back for details*. Then on her back we put a Birthday Girl Checklist with 35 things to do. Nicole had to find people to sing Happy Birthday to her in another language, ask someone how old they were in 1972 (her birth year), pay for her to get a fake tattoo. etc. Anyway, after the task was done the person whose help she had asked for had to sign her shirt. It was a BLAST! Nicole kept on saying how embarrassing it was but knowing her, deep down, she loved every minute of the attention. We also made her wear a Birthday Girl crown and feathered boa. I also got to ride the new roller coaster BG has, but have not had a chance to ride yet. After we left BG we went out to dinner and came home. Tons of fun!

In other news, we welcomed 4 new kittens into our home last week. Let me start by saying I don't know much about cats. When Santa brought Savannah Snowflake for Christmas we were told that IT was a boy........Ha! Ha! Because of that we saw no need to rush and get the cat fixed and couldn't see why we shouldn't let IT outside. Well.................when IT started to look a little fat I started to think that we probably had a SHE and that SHE was pregnant. I guessed it right. So after doing some research online we were ready for the cat to have her babies. Then came the waiting, more guessing on when Snowflake would give birth, then more waiting, the girls made her a box and lined it with an old towel, and then a week ago Savannah came to me and said that Snowflake was meowing like she was hurt. We went and found the cat and sure enough, even though I don't know anything about cats having babies, she looked unhappy and she was panting like a dog. Sure signs of labor from what the Internet said , so we all gathered around and watched the cat give birth. The girls named them Oreo, Stripey, Licorice, and Squeaky. Luckily we already have enough people interested in taking them that we hopefully wont have to keep any of them. We made it very clear that we were only keeping Snowflake. We did take pictures, but I haven't put them on my computer yet, so maybe next time I'll post pictures.

The day after the kittens birth we went to the temple for a Primary/ward temple day. Shelby and Savannah got to tour the visitors center, watch a movie, talk to the temple president and his wife and then went and had a picnic at the stake center next to the temple. I think that they had a good time, and even though Emily had to stay with the nursery kids she has been talking about it all week. David was with the youth doing baptisms so Nicole and I drove up together and had a good time talking. I'm glad that I got a chance to take the kids to the temple and let them experience that. I miss being so close that you can go anytime you want.

Last but not least, I have been busy trying to get the kids ready for school again. They only have a few more weeks . So far we have gotten backpacks, lunch boxes, school supplies and clothes. When the weather gets a little cooler we will have to buy coats and boots, pants, etc. We have also been cleaning the hose so that when they do go back to school things will be organized for them.

So there you have it, my life in a nut shell for the last few weeks. Sorry that it took forever to post again. Keep checking back, and I'll try and put up some more pictures soon and stuff. I hope that all this rambling makes sense. Hope that everything is going well for you all. Miss you.