"Wii Night"

So I remembered that I forgot to mention a BIG change in my life... I think I mentioned something about it in a previous post but I forgot to say what it actually was... ANYWHO...
I was called about a month ago to be the Young Women's President at my church. Most of the people who read this blog know what that is, but for those of you visiting...
I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Often we are referred to as "Mormons" We attend church on a weekly basis on Sunday, and all the people in our ward have callings in the church. My calling as the Young Women's President is working with the young girls in our ward ages 12-18. I have Counselors and Advisors for the different age groups. The youngest girls are Beehives, they are 12-13. Once they turn 14 they become Mia Maids (14-15) and when they turn 16 they become Laurels (16-18). I just LOVE these girls. In addition to the Sunday Church Meetings, we meet together on Tuesday Nights with just the Young Women for fun activities. Our Activities are centered around the Young Women and we do ALL kinds of fun stuff. Being the President I am responsible for all the girls, but I am mainly responsible for the Laurels. (my two counselors are responsible for the Beehives and Mia Maids) I have two Laurels currently, so we have been having our Tuesday activities with the Mia Maids.

Was that alot to take in??

WELL... last night we had an activity. It was a "Building Friendships" Activity.

 We went to one of the girls house and had a "Wii Night". 

I had a BLAST getting to know all the girls a little better... 

 We all brought our favorite snack... it was an AMAZING array of sweets...

 And the girls played games on the Wii. We started and ended with Just Dance...

 These girls are the most adorable, sweet, fun girls EVER!!

 And a few of them MAY have been given camera rights... to which they took advantage...

 FUN times with my new favorite girls!! 

And they talked me and the other Leader into dancing too...

 it did not take much forcing on their part of course!!

And I am sure I am mid sentence telling these girls how to be WONDERFUL Young Women in this picture; getting a little love from one of the girls!

Thanks for the Fantastic Night Girls! It is great to see the Friendships you have Blossom!!

This is me... Looking Forward to leading these girls!

This Thursday...

This Thursday...

May, 24th 2012

my BABY Brother 

Preston Bryan Andersen

is graduating from High School...

Isn't he a STUD??

CONGRATS PRESTON!!

The Bird Family is SO proud of you!!

Which means I will be taking a TRIP to Sacramento... and when I take a trip there I neglect my blog... and when I neglect my blog we are all sad... don't be sad... I will have FUN pictures when I get back for sure!

as a side note... I will be neglecting my blog additionally because I am flying to Salt Lake to visit my Uncle who is a dentist to get some MUCH NEEDED stuff done; it is all a work in progress... this trip will be without the kids or husband so a little break perhaps??? If anyone considers dental work a break... :)

So if you don't hear from me for a week...

YOU KNOW WHY!!

McDonald's Birthday Review...

OK... so my friends that were invited to the wonderful McDonald's Birthday Party for my daughter KNOW that I was not at all thrilled about having a party there...
Let's just be honest, it was my daughters wish and I went along with it because then I would not have a house to clean after the party...

Can I just tell you I WAS SOOOOOOO wrong!

McDonald's Birthday Parties are THE BEST!!

YES, you read it right. . .

I, Melissa Andersen Bird am admitting of my own free will that I LOVED my daughters Birthday party at our local McDonald's...

Let me tell you WHY...

FIRST, we were given postcard invitations to give out to all the guests. I did have to make a little envelope like thing, but I did not have to buy cards.

NEXT, it was AT McDonald's... not my house. While we were waiting for guests to arrive the kids were playing in the play area having a GRAND ol' time. I had no toys to clean, floors to sweep or mop... we left the mess...They reserved two tables for the party, and we were able to decorate however we wanted. We put up a Happy Birthday Sign and got balloons... nothing big...

ALSO, we were given one McDonald's employee to help with the party. They let us run it however we wished, and got all the food and stuff for us. I was up helping the kids open apple slices and stuff but it was SO much better than doing all the work.

The kids got a regular happy meal, toy and all. Then they got cake and ice cream. YES they provided a cake for the kids!! (I did purchase a Costco Cake because I wanted to make sure we had enough, but it was not needed) AND when they left they all got a goodies bag. It had crayons, mini coloring books, stickers, a puzzle... no joke... AND the price for each kid came out to 5$. I KID YOU NOT!! FIVE DOLLAZ... WHAT? And we let the kids each take a balloon that we had purchased from the DOLLA STORE so what... 6$ per kid... I could not really do that AT HOME...

Did I mention that I did not have to clean up after the kids. OK... I will admit my O.C.D. did kick in and I made sure to clean up our mess but I was not on my hands and feet cleaning the floor or under the tables. Just made it presentable and was ON MY WAY!! 

We were there about 2 hours and I think all the kids had a great time! Hailey STILL talks about her Birthday Party... Oh and she got a special Ronald McDonald Stuffed Toy... (kinda freaky if you ask me) but she loves it!!

We were able to talk with the parents that stayed for the party and that was nice! When I have a party at home I am usually running around making sure to entertain and get everything right... not this time!!

I HIGHLY recommend it!~

 set up and PARTY TIME!!

 ALL the kids at the party...

Gift Bags and TREATS!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAILEY!!

5 years old!!

FIVE YEARS!!

My BIG GIRL is officially BIG...

Today is Hailey's 5th Birthday!

She is just a joy to have around . . . 

(When she is not fighting with her brother or rolling her eyes at me)

Hailey is a BIG helper, in anything I am doing she loved to help me. She cleans her room and arranges all her pillows and animals on her bed. If she makes a mess in a room she will vacuum it all on her own... ( as long as I get the vacuum out and plug it in for her) She can dress herself all by herself, she has been able to do this for a while, but it sure is nice! She likes to brush her teeth, and wash her face. (we help her of course) AND she can go potty alone, at home AND when we are out and about. She loves to color and can write her name. She loves to make "cheer up" cards to send to friends and family. She helps me make dinner often, and can stir all by herself. She loves to watch Octonauts, Angelina Ballerina, Max & Ruby, and Princess Shows. She loves everything Hello Kitty and Disney Princess. She loves to wear my high heals around the house and gets better in walking in them everyday. She loves jewelry and makeup too.
She is a happy HEALTHY girl. She tells me often "Mommy I love you THIS much" and puts her arms out and gives me a hug. She loves when Matt comes home for work and will give him hugs and kisses all the time. She loves animals and it not afraid of holding frogs, hamsters, bunnies, cats or dogs. She was very excited to go to pre-school today because they are visiting the zoo! She is a FREE spirit and does as she likes. We love her SO Much and look forward to all the new things she gets to do!!

This morning for her birthday we decorated the front room and let her open the presents from family.

 She got a Princess Phone from the Ray Family. A cute khaki dress, lipstick and a Pinkalicious Book from the Richardson Family. A Princess Puzzle from Landon. A card with Tinkerbell Stickers from G&G Great Bird. And a card with Barbie Tattoo's from G&G Bird; she will get the rest of her present when we visit them at the end of the month.

 G&G Andersen got her a Black and Pink Sparkle Dress, a Ducky Towel that she loves already, If you give a Cat a Cupcake Book and A Finding Nemo Leapster game. She told Matt he needs to get her new batteries for her Leapster so she can play her new game. THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR THE GIFTS!!

 She was showing me all the letters on the Happy Birthday sign that are in her name . . .

 H. Bird Baby!!

 And as a special treat we got her DONUTS for breakfast!! 

She always gets the Pink one with sprinkles when we go to JUDY'S DONUTS, so I knew just want to get for her!!

We are celebrating her Birthday with Friends at McDonald's later this week.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sweet girl!

WE LOVE YOU HAILEY!!

MY mothers day...

I have been (or I guess WE have) been SPOILED ROTTEN by ourselves lately, so I told Matt not to go crazy for Mother's Day. Just a little gift would be perfect...

 So I got an adorable card from the kids and a candle. It was PERFECT!

 Coastal Shores is the scent and it will be on my heater VERY soon!!
I also received cards from my in-laws and my SIL and BIL Melissa & Nate. It was nice to know others were thinking of me this Mother's Day!!

 THEN I got breakfast in Bed and Lunch made and brought to me, and then DINNER... I did not have to clean or prep a thing! (there were a few questions on how to make mashed potatoes but I did not mind)

 Landon made me a door hanger at church and was so excited to give it to me! He put it on my door and said "See Mom, just for you!" the hug he gave me after was priceless.

Hailey made me a card and treats at Pre-School. The card said "These Berries were hand dipped just for you! I'm "berry" glad you are my mom! Love, Hailey" and when she showed me the chocolate covered strawberries I was SO excited! Then she told me the berries were hers and she might share. I read the card to her and told her "I think they are mine." to which she replied "OK Mommy, then you have to share!"
SO we shared them... no problem!

It was a nice relaxing day.
I got to talk to my mother in law about her day, and my mother. It sure is nice to have such wonderful women to look up to when I try to be the kind of mother I want to be...

It sure is nice to get a day of recognition for all my work.

Matt let me go shopping on Saturday and took the kids for the day... BEST present ever... ( I might have gotten myself a few mothers day shoes on that trip and maybe a dress or two...)

Happy Mother's Day!

Mothers Day History...

Mother's Day History Contrary to popular belief, Mother's Day was not conceived and fine-tuned in the boardroom of Hallmark. The earliest tributes to mothers date back to the annual spring festival the Greeks dedicated to Rhea, the mother of many deities, and to the offerings ancient Romans made to their Great Mother of Gods, Cybele. Christians celebrated this festival on the fourth Sunday in Lent in honor of Mary, mother of Christ. In England this holiday was expanded to include all mothers and was called Mothering Sunday.  In the United States, Mother's Day started nearly 150 years ago, when Anna Jarvis, an Appalachian homemaker, organized a day to raise awareness of poor health conditions in her community, a cause she believed would be best advocated by mothers. She called it "Mother's Work Day."  Fifteen years later, Julia Ward Howe, a Boston poet, pacifist, suffragist, and author of the lyrics to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic," organized a day encouraging mothers to rally for peace, since she believed they bore the loss of human life more harshly than anyone else.  In 1905 when Anna Jarvis died, her daughter, also named Anna, began a campaign to memorialize the life work of her mother. Legend has it that young Anna remembered a Sunday school lesson that her mother gave in which she said, "I hope and pray that someone, sometime, will found a memorial mother's day. There are many days for men, but none for mothers."  Anna began to lobby prominent businessmen like John Wannamaker, and politicians including Presidents Taft and Roosevelt to support her campaign to create a special day to honor mothers. At one of the first services organized to celebrate Anna's mother in 1908, at her church in West Virginia, Anna handed out her mother's favorite flower, the white carnation. Five years later, the House of Representatives adopted a resolution calling for officials of the federal government to wear white carnations on Mother's Day. In 1914 Anna's hard work paid off when Woodrow Wilson signed a bill recognizing Mother's Day as a national holiday.  At first, people observed Mother's Day by attending church, writing letters to their mothers, and eventually, by sending cards, presents, and flowers. With the increasing gift-giving activity associated with Mother's Day, Anna Jarvis became enraged. She believed that the day's sentiment was being sacrificed at the expense of greed and profit. In 1923 she filed a lawsuit to stop a Mother's Day festival, and was even arrested for disturbing the peace at a convention selling carnations for a war mother's group. Before her death in 1948, Jarvis is said to have confessed that she regretted ever starting the mother's day tradition.  Despite Jarvis's misgivings, Mother's Day has flourished in the United States. In fact, the second Sunday of May has become the most popular day of the year to dine out, and telephone lines record their highest traffic, as sons and daughters everywhere take advantage of this day to honor and to express appreciation of their mothers... Interesting HUH? I have a few thoughts about Mothers on this Special Day... ~ FIRST I am thankful for having a mother. So often more now then when I was a child there is only one parent in the picture. I am thankful that my parents (who are still together) knew the importance of their roles. ~ I am thankful that my mother was home. I know not all families are able to afford having the mother work only at home. When I was dating my husband I expressed how important this was to me, and he agreed that it would be best for the kids to have mother at home. And as long as we can afford it, we will do it. Having my mother at home helped me always feel safe and loved. I remember a few times after school going to other friends houses where there were not parents at home. I was confused because I just thought everyone had their mother at home. I never really knew the sacrifice my parents made to have my mother at home. I always had help with my homework, and was guided to do the right things. ~ I am thankful for my mother teaching me about having a routine. We knew as kids that if our homework was not done, we would not be going outside to play. We also knew that if we played with our toys and did not pick them up we were not allowed to get our other toys until they were picked up. My mother said it was her O.C.D. that taught us this... so I guess I appreciate my mother and her O.C.D. because I definitely got that from her! ~ I am thankful for my mother teaching me how to cook. I was texting my brother (who is going away for school soon AND going on his mission within the year... tears) about how he is going to learn how to cook. I told him to ask mom to help him. I remember right before I got married my mom made sure i knew the basics of cooking. I had been prepared my whole life helping in the kitchen, but she sat down with me and helped me understand how she did it! We always had home made dinners at the table as a family. This was yet another thing I thought all families did. Now I have learned it is few and far between that still have this tradition... When I am making dinners for my family I marvel at how many dinners my mom put together for us. MAN I have only been doing this family dinner for five years... and my mom is STILL doing it... ~ I am thankful that my mother was an example for me. Just a good overall example. I remember we would exercise with her as kids. She would have on those 80's workout clothes and I was excited for the day I would get to wear a hot pink and black workout suit... ha ha! She made school a big deal. She would wake us up in the morning and have breakfast ready for us. And as annoying as I thought it was then... she read the scriptures to us as we ate. I remember seeing her in bed late at night reading her scriptures. I knew because my mom thought scripture reading was important that I needed to do it as well. She (and my father) held very regular Family Home Evening and we learned how important our family unit was. She always went to church meetings, and did her callings 110%. Seeing that growing up shaped me to be the person I am today. I have always accepted new callings and given them my all. Being a good example is not the easiest thing to do, but it sure is a good way to teach children. ~ I am thankful that my mother loved and respected my father. This may not be a big deal to some, but it helped me know that my father was important. He was not around often because of work and church callings, but my mom always made a big deal when he was around. She greeted him at the door with a kiss and a "Hello how was your day?" almost everyday. I knew my parents loved each other, and that alone was was great security for me. ~ I am thankful that my mother was a mom first and a friend second. We are close to best friends now that I am grown and she no longer needs to be "a mom" at all times. When we were young she was more interested in helping us choose the right thing, then being the fun friend we would have liked. Sure she took us TP'ing and we played but she knew her role was to mold us into great people. ~ I am thankful for SO much that my mother has given me. I could go on FOREVER... being a great mother in law (ask Matt, he agrees), a great grandmother, a great friend... a great person. THANK YOU MOM FOR EVERYTHING!!~~  One day is not enough Thanks for everything!! Happy Mother's Day!!

New Introductions PART FIVE

MAN... lots of new things at the birds...
This is something that is a WORK IN PROGRESS...
My hubby has spent TONS of time on our grass in the front and backyard.
When we first moved in it was a HOT MESS. Not Horrible just Not Nice...
SO this year he decided to attack it FULL FORCE...

 He laid weed n' feed. Waited for the weeds to die off. Then took out the bad patches. (this took hours) and then got them ready for new grass patch stuff. (i am using the technical wording for all of this can't you tell)

 Landon LOVES to help. SO as you can see he was helping daddy a TON! We have to water the patches twice a day (which meant he also had to fix a few sprinklers the kids had broken) and we can't mow it for a month! I'll have to take pictures right before he mows because I am SURE that will be a HOT MESS of GRASS!!
But the REALLY new thing is this...

OUR side fence... If you look at some of the pictures above you can see the fence before. It was in need of repair... we had support beams pushing from our side of the fence because our neighbors have BIG DOGS (who are as sweet as pie; but would scare the crap out of ANYONE who did not know so) that jump up on the fence whenever our kids go out to play.

I LOVE the new wood look. I still have the older rustic look on the back fence so the new look is amazing to me! And yes those are grape vines coming up over from our neighbors AND the grapes are AMAZING!
The workers came on Monday around 9am to install the new fence and they were done by 3pm. They did a GREAT job and it was the best estimate we could find!
If you need assistance in the Fence arena I can HOOK YOU UP! ~ YEAH FOR NEW THINGS!!~~

Celebrate Good Times...

This is what 9 years of being married looks like...

For our Anniversary my husband treated me to P.F. Chang's. 

 I LOVE this place. It is on of my mother's favorite Restaurants! 

(to honor her we got Lettuce Wraps; her favorite food at P.F. Chang's.)

 Matt got Spicy Chicken, and I got Sweet n' Sour Chicken. 

AND I have to say... the food was amazing!

We got similar fortunes; and had a great time talking and laughing without kids... :)

After dinner; we went to the movies. I am sure Matt wanted to see the new Avengers Movie; however being the good husband he is we saw the movie The Lucky One.

 The movie was GREAT. I cried, I laughed, I smiled,  then I cried some more... It was the epitome of a  romantic movie! I recommend this movie for sure; however there are alot of "sex scenes" that seamed forced and did not add to the movie in my opinion. I have not read the book, but I think I need to now!~ Zac Efron did a great job in his role, and Taylor Schilling was just beautiful!

Isn't he Adorable?? Love him!

We had a wonderful night, and we are so happy to be celebrating special days like these...

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!!

New Introduction PART FOUR...

Ugh... we really NEEDED a new bed.

After I had Hailey I remember the bed just not "working for me" So we bought a memory foam topper and called it good...

THEN after I had Landon I remember the bed was "horrible and useless" So we bought new sheets and a cute Bedspread and called it good...

THEN a few weeks ago Matt started complaining about the bed...
 so... we did some research.

We did more research and came to find that we loved the Icomfort Revolution Bed set. I think we hit up like 5 different stores! We were originally going to just buy the mattress, the add the adjustable frame later. (it was quite out of my $3000.00 price range to get the whole thing now) THEN we found a Tempurpedic bed WITH the adjustable frame on craigslist for a STEAL... SO we altered our plans and picked up the Tempur Bed so we could get the adjustable frame and then buy whatever mattress we wanted later.. we put new Tempurpedic bed covers on the bed to TRY IT OUT and called it good...

We slept in the bed for a week... (because that is what they tell us we need to do in order to see if we like it or not) and I decided it was too hard for me and so we went back out shopping for the best deal on new mattresses for the bed!

Introducing my NEW BED...

New Bed skirt, New Sheets, New Bedspread, New Pillows... NEW ME!!

The next purchase will be a Headboard...

I LOVE it! My only problem (which is a self made problem) is that because we wanted the bed to be a dual adjustable... that means we have TWO Twin XL Mattresses... so Matt and I can adjust our side however we would like. And have YOU ever gone shopping for Twin XL Sheets?? The only place that has them is Anna's Linens and they are CRAPPY 200 thread count cotton/polyester sheets... no thank you...

So we ordered some from online after TONS of research. We got them the DAY before our anniversary and put them on to complete our official 9th Anniversary Present for each other. 

And I have to say MY LIFE IS COMPLETE!! 

Notice all the buttons on the Tempur-Pedic Remote. Yeah, the head and foot goes up and down, it vibrates and different speeds and there is a wave that vibrates up and down the body... I am in HEAVEN! 

Come on over and try it out! 

Fresno State Baseball...

Yeah I know I just did a post about a baseball game...

It is Baseball Season, and my husband is a sports nut so...

DEAL WITH IT!~

I had been staring at the computer ALL DAY Wednesday (working on stuff for my new calling... I'll post about that LATER) so when Matt came home and said "Let's go to the Fresno State Baseball Game" I kinda wanted to get out of the house... then he said the magic words " I can get free tickets..." and I was SOLD! Hello Cheap Girl over here! OH YEAH FREEEEEEE! (minus a trip across town in gas, but still pretty much free) He grabbed a few extra and started calling friends that might want to go... I would like to introduce you to our friends the Krauycks... "Daddy James and Mommy Kresta" as Hailey puts it. They are in our ward at church. And we enjoy them very much... We got to the game and went to find our seats... Hailey decided she did not want to sit with us...

 DO you see her... 

Yeah. I took this picture from my seat showing how far she decided she wanted to sit from us... ha ha

(She sat there enjoying her peanuts for a while!!)

The kids had a great time. We stopped off at the Grocery Store and got Peanuts and Candy so they were occupied for most of the game...

This is Landon enjoying the leftovers of Kresta's Hot Dog. 

She was so sweet to share with him. 

I think he enjoyed it... Don't you?

 This is Landon enjoying one of my Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

I was nice enough to share with him too...

If you could have seen his chocolate covered face you would know he enjoyed that too...

And he enjoyed dancing a little after we got him ALL sugared up... This kid is NUTS!

The Bulldogs played U.C. Davis and won 11-4. After we left the game (a little early no judging...) we were invited to the Kraucyks house for some SHAVED ICE...

All I can say about that is this...

I am SOOOOO going to visit their house again to enjoy the goodness of the Shaved Ice!

"Daddy James" has the making of the shaved ice down to a science! Pray you become friends with these two and they invite you over on a hot day! 

It was a GREAT time had by all!!~~

GO BULLDOGS!!

TODAY

TODAY...

Nine

Years

Ago 

I 

Married 

My 

Best 

Friend...

We have been through SO much together...

dating drama

engagement drama

family drama

work drama

moving drama

buying a house drama

having a child drama

more moving drama

more family drama

loosing a job drama

having a child without a job drama

more moving drama

loosing another job drama

more moving drama 

buying our second house drama

having kids drama

really...

I could go on forever!

The one thing I have realized the last 9 years we have been married is this...

He is the ONE I want to be making and having DRAMA with.

I LOVE YOU MATT!!~~

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!~