Onward and Upward, eh?

 1. Nicolas is adorable.  Seriously, I love this kid.  He can now say: doggie, candy, yeah, no, daddy, mommy, sorry, uh oh, outside, and of course, ball.  He also folds his arms to pray--well really it's more of clasping his hands and scrunching up his eyes.  It melts my heart every time.

 2. Swimming lessons weren't bad.  Nicolas was good even though it was during his nap time.  Isabel and Sebastian both passed their levels and were excited to start swim team because of it.  However, Elena is no longer enthused about swim team because the water is cold and she comes out shaking like a leaf.  She had no body fat to begin with but after only drinking water and juice for several days while she was sick, she has wasted away to nothingness. Poor girl.

 3.  I am excited for soccer to end.  We went to watch Elena play on Saturday.  Yes, this is the only game I've watched.  It was pretty entertaining though just because of how scatterbrained little kids are playing any sport.  Elena wasn't happy at all.  The other team scored a goal on them about every 3 minutes.  Rough.  It was hot too.

 4. I took Ana to a prom/wedding dress store that's going out of business which is owned by an LDS lady, so it had a lot of modest dresses. Anyone looking for a wedding dress?  They're 75% off.  I want to buy some dresses just for the fabric, but I won't. I bought Ana a $188 prom dress for $47, and a Mikarose dress for church that was originally $65 for $16.  I bought myself two Mikarose dresses for $12 each (originally $50) and a $10 skirt.  Here's one of them below (pictures of me just for you Kayli--so you can see how enormous I am):

 5. We finally bought another couch off of Craigslist.  YEAH!!!  I love the color, but it's not exactly what I wanted otherwise--mostly the back cushions.  I didn't want one with back cushions like that.  But oh well, I don't have $9,000 to spend on the one I do want so I guess this will do.  Leo really likes it, so that's good.  It's camel colored leather and it's in fabulous condition.

 6.  Here's that gallery shelves we put up, and the 15 frames I bought for $25 off of Craigslist.  What would I do without Craigslist?  Now I need to decide on general conference quotes and family pictures to go in them, paint the few that aren't black, black, and it will all be finished!!!

7. Sebastian wanted his picture taken on the couch.
8.  We put our old couch to the curb which resulted in 3 HOURS--yes, 3!--of Isabel wailing, clutching the old couch, telling us that she was going to run away and that she hated the new couch, etc. etc. all because she liked our old one because she could make forts from the cushions. It wasn't pleasant.

9.  I made turkey for Sunday dinner today.  I bought it back in November for Thanksgiving, but was too sick with morning sickness to even think about cooking it.  And since we have swim team practice for 2 hours every night, right when I usually cook dinner, I thought the turkey would be perfect to give us lots of leftovers for the rest of the week.  It turned out so delicious!  Okay, I know that my picture is not the greatest or prettiest presentation, and ignore the little bits of burnt stuffing, but the turkey itself was perfect!  The seasonings on it were fabulous (fresh rosemary from my backyard, orange peel and salt and butter) and the turkey itself was juicy and not dry.  Yum.  Plus, I think I should cook turkeys more often, just for the stuffing!  I love the stuffing.  

10. 

Ha. Ha.  Yeah, I might do that sort of, but obviously I'm missing the artsy part.  My pictures of food always look awful.  Oh, well.  

11.  This week is the last week of sewing classes.  I'm actually quite glad they're done.  I don't even teach this last week.  And I did redeem myself by sewing a perfect lapped zipper my last class too, to hopefully relieve the confusion from before.  

12.  Isabel and Elena bore their testimonies today in sacrament meeting.  It was so sweet.  And they did a very good job.  My kids are definitely not that shy. I kind of forced Leo to take them and share his, because I knew the girls would if one of us went with them.  I'm a good wife like that.  Hee. Hee.

13.  I am so grateful that everyone is healthy in my house now! So, so grateful for that.  Today was the first time after 3 weeks that we've all went to church together and there wasn't someone home sick.  :)