Going to Prom?

Nope, just church. I had so much fun getting the kids ready this morning. Ehre wanted her hair up, and we had just taken the curlers out. By the time we were done, her hair was so cute. She wanted a ribbon so then we added a ribbon, plus a dress and a cute smile...she should have gone to Prom! Ben was so cute in his Sunday vest and tie, he was all smiles. Some Sunday mornings are crazy, and some are like this. Personally I'll take these peacefully, relaxing, smooth days.

Season's First Sunburn

We decided to go and play in the Park. This specific one is especially fun because its next to Julie's house. Tamri and I had a blast with the kids, and it was even more fun when Julie joined us with her boys. I put sunblock on the kids, especially Ben's head, but didn't think that I would need it. Well it was 78' that day and after 1 hour I had a sunburn on my neck, taught me a lesson. Some of us are slow learners. The weather has been really nice and after all the rain, we really do appreciate it, especially since humidity hasn't kicked in ....yet.

Mary Kay Night

Well, it all started with my mom, and a horrible case of teenage acne...now 10 years later I still love the products. I hosted a Mary Kay party with some friends, it was a real treat. We relaxed and had so much fun. I am so amazed with moms that are able to have their own home businesses, and do what they love. Maybe one day I'll become a consultant too, having parties like this all the time with incredible women would be a fabulous "job".

These are two of my good friends, I was having lighting problems the night of the party, and a lot of the pictures didn't turn out well. But good light or bad light these women look sooo beautiful!

What a guy!

Ok, so I am studying, preparing for a project in my German class when I realize that Jeff is up to something in the kitchen. He's make me a treat! Jeff made Apfel Kuchen.... Apple Cake. It was SOOOO yummy. So good that I ended up making a batch and taking it to my German Class...no left overs it was a BIG hit! What a sweet guy, to all of you out there, I'm sorry that I selfishly took him before anyone else had a chance to even date him, he really is the best!

What a BEAUTIFUL Day!

It was such a nice evening, we decided to take the kids on a walk. Federated Church (This is where Ehre will go to preschool in the fall) had a cute playground, thats fenced in, as well as well maintained. The was was nice, we even met a cute dog.

Daily Goal

Well, so with school and all, I'm afraid that I've been more faithful to my blog than my journal...and thats not saying much. A friend of mine, is amazing though and had a cool idea. Why not write every day and then 1/year she has a book made of her blog! Its sooo cool becuase then its a journal WITH pics! Sooooo, I think that for now I am going to try and write more often...sorry no personal stuff... and see if I can meet my journal goals, and keep everyone posted!
Happy Reading!

COOL BLOGS

So for a while I've ho-hummed about what to do with my blog. As some of you have noticed, its changed several times but I finally think I found the one that I'll stick with. Shelly, a friend from HS makes beautiful backgrounds. You can get the for FREE Too! Here is her link, she also makes really cute Headers for $10 and a custom "scrapbook" look header AND background for $15. This is a talent that I don't have but she includes easy instructions on how to use so me of her free backgrounds. Check it out, there is a style for everyone!

Shelly's Email:snh42001@yahoo.com
Shelly's Blog:http://shelsscraps.blogspot.com/2008/04/sample-headers.html

Plus all of you know how much I support stay at home moms, especially those that use their talents to generate a little $! So even if you don't want to change your blog check her site out its cute!

This Week

Ok I am going to start posting our weekly updates on the blog, to update anyone that may not me on the mailing list!

ITS FINALLY SPRING!
We experienced the first sunburns of the year, though they were mild...it only proves that the sun does shine in IN!
What a beautiful week we have had. We had wonderful weather at the beginning of the week which made the rain on Friday tolerable. Thursday morning we woke up to an earthquake, that was an experience, it was a 5.4! I haven't been in an earthquake since I was 4, and our family lived in CA. Its incredible how everyone viewed it as the "Lords Wake up Call"...there were lots of different conversations about how this related to the end of the world... Jeff and I don't have the guts to tell others, that its really not that bad...compared to what it will be like before the 2nd coming!

I had a wonderful conversation with a neighbor, it lasted for 2 hours. Another wonderful missionary experience. She had asked me how I had become such a wonderful mother ( what a complement!) I told her that 90% of who I am was learned from my mother, and the mothers that I grew up around...aunts, grandma etc... but the other 10% was learned through my religious beliefs and the support network with in the LDS church. I don't feel pressured to work out side of the home, I am encouraged to have neat and orderly home, a place peace can reside. (Even though my home isn't perfect its nice to think that I am on the right track) She then asked questions about what we believed it. She is a devout Bible reader, and says her prayers 2x a day...she's doing better than me. ...anyways it was another wonderful experience. I offered her an extra Book of Mormon, to read she said she'd think about hit. She really didn't get the reasoning for a second book...if the bible is true (even if as far as it is translated) why do we need another book? The whole "missing truths" explanation didn't sink in at all. So I'm learning how to be a missionary, its an experience but I am enjoying it. After all I want to be a life long seeker.

Jeff is still busy with work and school, a major piece of equipment that he uses ALL THE TIME broke... don't worry it only cost 7k to fix it... so who knows when it will be up and running again! He has finals next week, and is preparing for them, in 2 weeks we will be all done. I have a German presentation on Thursday and then my final will be next week. Wish us luck!

Ehre and I are continuing to have daily school time. Our goal is to have her "simple reading" by the end of the summer when she starts preschool. We just finished making another batch of File Folders. Several friends have used my patterns to make some for their kids...its fun to see them through out the ward...stake!

Benjamin is a grump lately, go figure? I think its because he realized how much fun it is to be outside...and then with the rain, and a Sunday, he's a little upset to be indoors. I was giving him his routine hair cut this week...and he jumped....oops now his hair is a lot shorter...in fact he let me BIC it while he was in the tub. Now we won't have to cut his hair again till the end of the summer..... don't worry he still looks really cute!

Well that's our family's week in a nutshell! Future plans include: Finals week, Going to WI for Nicholas' blessing, Stacie and Grant coming to visit sometime this summer, camping, Frisbee golf and swimming lessons for Ehre!

We love and miss you all, have a wonderful week!
Jeff, Ann, Ehre and Benjamin Maas

Well we were woken up by an earthquake this morning. Ann was in the kids room, Ben had a rough night. When the bed started shaking, she told Ehere it was too early to play and to go back to bed...until she realized that it wasn't Ehre! ....now both kids were awake. It was at 5:30 am and measured at a 5.4. The epicenter was in southern Illinois. Its the biggest one they've had in 40 years, but at that time it measured 5.5...so pretty big for this area. So now that we've had tornado warnings, an earthquake, whats next....I think our chances of a hurricane are pretty slim, so I am betting on a flood, fire and hail, or one of the plagues. :)

Who all felt it? They said that it could be felt in 22 states!

Maas Family!

Latest happenings with the kids

Ehre loves craft time, so this week she was a Tiger (no picture taken sorry), a cat, and then she invited a friend over to become an Indian with her! Ben joined in too but only lasted long enough for a picture.

...all before church...

Well, its fast Sunday. We forgot that we don't have ward choir practice on these Sundays so we got up early. We had the kids fed and almost ready for church by 9. Then Jeff and I worked on getting ourselves ready so that we could leave at 10:15.
Jeff was dressing Ben and I was finishing makeup when we heard a crash in the downstairs bathroom. Ehre came out crying, she and fallen while washing her hands... Jeff held her and got her to stop crying but when he pulled her away, he realized that her back was covered in blood....well that's what happens when you hit your head hard. Apparently she was using the towel rack to climb up to the counter. The bar broke in half and sent her falling, the back of her head hit the corner of the counter and her forehead hit the toilet. :( Poor girl. We took her into the doctor, and they took a look at the cut. Yes it could use a couple of stitches but because of the location, we could choose whether or not we would actually have them placed. I asked the Doctor if Ehre was his daughter what he would do...he said that because it was in the hair, he would let it heal on its own. This would make things easier on us as parents as well since, she wouldn't be traumatized from stitches, and have the extra care of keeping them protected. So we opted to not have stitches put in. We came home and though we still had enough time to get to church, Ben was ready for a nap and Ehre was an official grump so we stayed home. Go figure, the Sunday that we actually would have made it to Choir on time, something like this happened. Oh well that's life.

Sick Day # 185

OK Benjamin hasn't been sick that many days this year, but sometimes it feels like it. A few days ago I was surprised when Ben slept 14 hours one night, and then took a 2 hour morning nap and then a 2 1/2 hour afternoon nap...boy must be a growth spurt. I left the kids with Jeff while I went to class and Jeff surprised me when I came back, with a little boy who had just woken up from a 1/2 hour nap.... what??? Jeff had to stay at school, so I came home with the kiddos. We had dinner, and I was feeding Ben when I realized that his head was HOT. 103.4' to be exact...hmmm this is why he's been sleeping. We gave him some Tylenol... and then put him to bed.

The next morning he still had a high fever. The only way I could keep it down was with medication. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with this little guys. We just had our 2 week check up from the last ear infection, and the Dr. said that his ears were still a little pink but almost all better....was the ear infection not really gone?

My amazing friend Tamri, came over to watch Ehre while I ran Ben to the clinic. Nope no ear infection, but his throat was RED. Strep? Fast culture said no, but they wanted to grow a culture just to be safe... in the mean time he is on another antibiotic. Poor Guy. He's just fussy during the day, and loves to be held. I have to say that today has been better than the last two days, but I sure wish he was better.

So I've included a grumpy/sad picture, and then one of us last night. He just wanted to be held, and he couldn't sleep long, he kept on tossing and turning. During dinner he started shivering really bad, so we gave him a warm bath, and he still shivered. I bundled him up and held him for a for a few hours, this is us watching a movie with Jeff.... good thing its been cold outside, I can't get too frustrated with having sick kids when I can't go outside and play.

Can we go swimming?

Grandma D. sent two pairs of goggles for the kids, while we were in NY. Ehre and Benjamin love to play with them. At least once every day Ehre asks if we can go swimming. Apparently my kids have noticed the incredibly long winter and are getting sick of it as much as I am. I guess the goggles will have to be used in the tub, until its warm enough to set up the pool.

Mommy can we go swimming?

Well, Grandma sent two pairs of goggles for the kids...and now they won't take them off. Ehre asks me every day if we can go swimming, it doesn't help that I just got some awesome brand new swimsuits for them in the summer at Good Will. :) ...maybe if she keeps on asking, the man up stairs will heat things up and summer will come faster! This winter is lasting for ever and apparently my children are aware of that, as much as I am. I guess the goggles will have to be used in the bath tub!

"I'd recognize that pout anywhere!"

"Three year old Ehre Maas pouts after loosing her soccer ball in the mud while playing around the Engineering Fountian Thursday Afternoon."

Susanne Jeff's co worker left the newspaper out on his computer, on Friday, then he brought it home to show us. Isn't it cute. My friend who usually watches Ehre and Ben had a sick daughter, so I asked Jeff to play soccer with the kids at Purdue while I was in class...and in trade he could stay later to catch up on homework. Before I left the kids, I explained to Ehre, that while it was a beautiful day, there were muddy places. I asked her to stay out of the mud, so that she would stay clean....apparently when her ball rolled into the mud, she had quite the pout, because mommy said that she couldn't go and get it out of the mud. :) She followed my instructions!!! The funniest part is that the ball was only a few inches away, she could have reached it but because it was in the mud, she wouldn't!

Anyways, I'll go to the newspaper today and pick up the extra copies I want to mail an original to grandparents!



In primary yesterday, one of my teachers asked if I had seen the newspaper. She is a good friend, and as she was reading the paper she realised that she knew that pout! Ehre is such a happy girl but if you get her playing and want her to stop often it isn't easy...making her quite the normal child.




I'm not going to buy the photos but if you want to see a clearer picture check it out here......hmmm apparently there were some pictures of Ben that were taken but they didn't print them..so hopefully tomorrow the editor will have emailed me the pictures! :)

One of our favorite things to do.... Play the Piano with mom.

Easter Fun

Here is a bunch of pictures from our Easter Weekend. It started with an annual Easter egg hunt (That was HUGE) with a stake family...it doubled in size from last year 1600 eggs for everyone. When we got home my VT called she invited us to their family's Easter egg hunt, so we went to that one too! Then we still had the small family basket that Ehre and Benjamin used clues to find this morning...but those aren't on the computer yet so there will be another post soon!

Happy Easter

Ehre is sooo cute! Today we attended two Easter Egg hunts, and she had a blast! We've tried to make today the commercial day and tomorrow the Spiritual day... I guess its working allright...this was her prayer this evening. She said the first few things and then I helped her out...and this was the result. I think she got confused, but Jeff and I had a good laugh!

Dear Heavenly Father…thank you for this day, thank you for my blessings and that I can sleep, thank you that the Easter Bunny is going to come… (Mommy helping her) “thank you for Jesus and the atonement so that we can return to thee.” … “in”….in …. “the”…. ….. house “name”….name…. “of”…. of …. “Jesus Christ” and the Easter Bunny…. “Amen”…Amen.

Apparently Ehre has gotten a full dose of Easter!

Happy Easter Everyone...pictures will come shortly!

Knock on Wood....

Our kids are well again. :) And today is Sunny so we walked to Purdue....all in all this makes us a very very happy family!

NYC

There is a slideshow of all our pictures....all ~250..... We had so much fun, and it seems like my dad enjoyed the time with the kids as well. There were so many different things to see and every night when we got home, my legs ached from walking all day. We only rode the subway 5 times and that was mostly when we had to meet a time commitment, other than that, we walked and walked and walked. It was fun, we saw, Newark Airport, Penn Station, Museum of Natural History, Chicago Uno (good pizza), NYC Temple (where we had church), Central Park (90% of it), Wall Street, Trinity Church, Ground Zero, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Battery Park, The Bull on Wall street, Mariners monument, Brooklyn Bridge, a professional photo shoot on Pier 17, China Town, City Library where they filmed "Day after tomorrow", Grand Central Station, Empire States Building, Soho, had Gellatto in Little Italy, a MONSER burger at Jackson Hole, .... and I'm still missing things here, but I can't remember them all. We stayed really busy and had a great time! Everyone should see NYC atleast once in their life time.

NYC

New York City Trip