Children's Book Sale - Time to Stock Up!

Email me with a children's book order by midnight May 15 and you get it at cost - truly at cost, minus commission, taking advantage of hostess benefits, everything. This is at least 40 percent,* perhaps much, much more depending on how big of an order we can pull together.

As many of you know, I signed up last year with a children's book distributor because I love their children's books. I haven't done much with it because I'm really not much of a salesperson. So I've decided to do it wholesale style. I used to know someone who did this with cosmetics and I thought it was a fantastic deal. She got her discount for putting in a large order, we all got our stuff at a killer deal. I'm not sure my wholesale idea would be appreciated by the company, so I'm not printing their name. Email me at megan@buhlerfamily.org if you don't know it or need the web site.

*Before tax and shipping

Happy Birthday, Richard!

It's Bill's brother Richard's birthday today. I don't know if he reads my blog, but I thought I'd post these picture cards we sent him. I only mailed them yesterday, so I guess they'll be late. Anyway, Happy Birthday, Richard!

Family Picture

At the Bishop's request, one of the guys in our ward took photos of all the families to post on the bulletin board. I was happy with how our family picture turned out, and even happier to receive the electronic file.

This photo was taken March 15, only four months after our last family picture. It's amazing how much Sandy has changed. Here is our last family picture so you can compare.

Crawling, Great Deals, and Pilsbury Bake-off Contest

Here is a video I took last week of Sandy crawling.



She is headed for one of her favorite things: Sage's food and water dishes. She likes to splash in the water dish, throw handfuls of dog food, and put the dog food in the water dish. She has finally decided she doesn't like the taste of the dog food (hooray!), but she's not above lapping up water from Sage's dish. She's also discovered lapping water like a dog works in the bathtub (my cue that bathtime is over). When Sandy heads toward Sage's dishes, I try to put them up on the table out of her reach. So now when Sage sees Sandy heading over there, she runs over and starts eating as fast as she can. What to do?

On another subject, I found some great deals at a consignment sale Jennie told me about. Here is a picture of what I bought:


It's kind of hard to see, but for under $20 I got a shirt & capri set, a dress, a shirt and shorts set, a sweater, and two pairs of shorts. I also picked up a pair of brand new, never opened shoes (Robeez brand).

It's over now, but the sale is twice a year. The next sale is September 18-19. I signed up for their email list, so I'll try to post about it on my blog before the September sale. The sale is held in the Hilltop United Methodist Church in Sandy and it was packed full of great baby and kid clothes, toys, etc.

Finally, I've spent the last month or so perfecting three recipes to enter into the Pilsbury Bake-off. I meant to enter them last week but didn't get to it. Yesterday I thought it wasn't the most appropriate thing to do on the Sabbath and I thought I still had all day today. Today was crazy and I just tried to enter and found the contest closed at noon today. Darn it! Oh, well, I guess there is always next year.

Marathon Day!

We met up with some neighbors to watch the marathoners run past our house this morning. We were at Mile 18. It was lots of fun! These are neighbors we met through the Villa project. Sandy (in the stroller) and I are on the left.

Strep

Sandy has a topical strep infection that is causing diaper rash. She's had really bad diaper rash for the last week or so, which is unusual because we have a great diaper rash cream* that usually prevents diaper rash and clears anything up quickly. Last night she also had blood in her diaper so I decided it was time to take her to the doctor. Of course, on a Friday night the only thing that was open was the instacare. We saw Dr. Andersen and he said he had just been to a lunch training where they talked about topical strep infections. He decided to do a strep culture and it came back positive. So, I'm feeling very blessed that the doctor we saw had just that day learned about a test for diaper rash that helped us. Sandy's on antibiotics and I'm hopeful her rash will clear up soon.

I asked if I needed to start calling parents of kids Sandy has played with about the strep infection, but he didn't think it was likely that it would be passed to them since it is covered by her diaper. I did call my sister, Molly, since Sandy and Lexie bathed together last week.

*We use Corona ointment. It is a fantastic lanolin ointment that is intended for horses, cows, etc. I buy mine at IFA, 1147 West 2100 South. My in-laws learned about this from a pharmacist when they were struggling to clear up diaper rash with one of their children.

Our Little Cookie Monster

Today at playgroup someone brought snickerdoodles for snack. I gave Sandy a piece of one and a few minutes later saw her with a whole cookie. She stole it from a boy that is a few months older than her. He was upset that his cookie was gone so I gave him another one. I'm not exactly sure how she stole it from him when he walks and runs and she's still just crawling!

I didn't have my camera with me - and I probably wouldn't have taken a picture anyway because stealing cookies isn't something I want to reinforce - but here is a picture of Sandy from today.

Rough Day

Toward the end of last week I felt more and more tired and just figured it was due to our busy week. It's gotten worse, though, and today I finally realized why I feel so tired, emotional, and generally unable to cope. I haven't taken my synthroid for a few days - maybe as much as a week. So, I took it today. I really hope it kicks back in soon because I haven't felt this crummy in a long time. I'm just kicking myself for forgetting. I used to be so good to get up when the alarm went off and take it. But that's been harder and harder because it seems like I am usually feeding Sandy when the alarm goes off. We finally turned the alarm off since we weren't using it to wake up anymore. So I dug out a pill container with compartments for each day of the week and Bill is going to help me set an alarm on my palm pilot (which I don't really use, but maybe now is a good time to start) to make sure I take it. Right now I'm headed to bed!

Watch out, here she comes!

Sandy has started moving and nothing is safe! She's been scooting for a while, but she didn't go very fast. Last week she learned to crawl. All these months I've been trying to motivate her to crawl by pushing toys just out of reach. She'd just look at the toy and find something else to look at or play with rather than go toward it. Well, last week, I learned what she is motivated by. My daughter will crawl across the room to get a half of a jelly bean.

And she's not just crawling. This morning I walked into the bathroom to find this:

So now she has learned to pull herself up, too. She's been walking around things, but she hasn't been able to get up herself until today.

Her cousin Lexie can do these things, I guess she helped Sandy learn while she was here.

So now I'm quickly trying to adjust to a mobile baby. So far it has been pretty safe to leave her for a few minutes playing with toys and trust that she wouldn't go far. No longer. This afternoon I left Sandy playing with toys and ran downstairs to get a package ready to mail. It was almost ready, I really wasn't downstairs for more than a couple of minutes, when I heard a low growl. I called Sage's name and went running upstairs to see what was going on and found Sandy eating the dog food.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter! I hope everyone had a great day! This was our Easter....

First, Sandy and Lexie opened their Easter bags. In this picture it looks like Sandy is trying to open both of them.


The girls played with balloons that came in their baskets.


Then we got them dressed in matching pink Easter dresses. I realize that we didn't get a single picture of them in the dresses. My dad took several of them on Saturday, though. We loaded them into a double bike stroller and headed to church.


We had spaghetti for dinner.


The girls loved the spaghetti, and required a bath immediately after eating.


After napping, they were ready to put on a second set of matching dresses and get their pictures taken.



And then it was time to wind down and get ready for bed.


Molly and Lexie leave tomorrow morning. We'll be sad to see them go, and we hope they come back soon!

Anniversary Update

Saturday night we left the babies with Molly (thank you, Molly!!) and Bill and I went out to celebrate our anniversary. It's been a long time since we've had a date without Sandy and it was very nice.

Bill took me to a restaurant in Bountiful called the Sego Lily. It was fantastic!! The restaurant is in a beautiful historic home and I would give the ambiance and food both five stars. Bill had fettuccine alfredo with asparagus, wild mushrooms, and chicken. I had chicken pesto: a chicken breast with fresh tomato, fresh mozzarella, and a balsamic vinegar reduction. The prices weren't bad, either, for as nice as everything was. The service wasn't very fast, though, so if you go plan extra time.

After dinner, we stopped by Game Night Games, a store near our house. Every Friday and Saturday night from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. they open up their game tables for $3 per person. You can play their games or bring your own. When we stopped by all the tables were full and the games were in full swing. We decided not to wait until a game opened up, but I definitely want to go back. I think it would be fun to go with friends and stake out our own table sometime. Anyone interested?

Graduation

Friday my sister, Rosie, and her husband, Brandon, graduated from Brigham Young University - Idaho. Bill, Sandy & I drove to Rexburg Friday morning, went to the graduation and lunch, and then drove back Friday evening. It was fun to see Rosie and Brandon as well as my other sister, Kelsie who also lives in Rexburg.

Here is a picture of Rosie and Brandon with their diplomas.


Rosie and Brandon with my parents.

The group of us, minus my dad and Bill who were taking pictures.

Bill always gets plenty of shots of Sandy and I when he has his camera out. Here is one at the graduation.


I hope the next graduation I attend is Bill's! I'm already planning the party for when that happens.

Saturday morning everyone (mom, dad, Molly, Lexie) came back to my house. My parents just stopped long enough to load the car and then headed back to South Dakota. The picture below shows Sandy (left) and Lexie (right) playing while everyone else helps load the car.

Family in Town

My parents, sister, and niece are in town for the week. It's so much fun to see them and, since they live in South Dakota and Ohio, it doesn't happen nearly often enough.

Here is a picture of my dad with both the babies, Sandy is on the left and Lexie is on the right.


Tuesday my grandparents came up for the day and my aunt, uncle, and cousins joined us for dinner. We had a great time and we even got an official four generation photo. We have pictures of Sandy with everyone in the picture, but this is the first time we were all together.


My dad's hobby is photography and so one of the side benefits of his visit is we always get great pictures afterward. I downloaded this picture (and the one above) from my mom's blog. I'm excited to get the rest of the pictures he took. Look at this cute one he took of Sandy.
The main reason for the visit was that my grandpa got married on Wednesday, April 8 (yup, now we share a wedding anniversary). Here is a picture of Grandpa and Gayla on their wedding day.


Here's my mom holding Sandy at the wedding.

And one of me and Sandy at the wedding.

Anniversary

Today is our 3rd wedding anniversary. I thought I'd mark the occasion by posting this survey that's been going around facebook.


HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW YOUR HUSBAND?

Here's a chance to see how well you really know your husband. Cut, paste and fill in the answers, then forward . . . shoot, you know what to do. The real challenge is to send it to your husband to see how right you really are.

1. He's sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen?
If we're together, we watch one of the sitcoms we tivo: Chuck, Big Bang Theory, NUMB3Rs, and The Office. If he's by himself, he catches up on podcasts (GeekBrief, Tekzilla, 1-minute chef) and watches woodworking shows.

2. You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad?
Blue cheese.

3. What's one food he doesn't like?
Pork roasts because they bother his stomach. Which is too bad because my sister Molly makes a great bbq pork roast (just like Cafe Rios) that I'd make all the time if he liked it.

4. You go out to eat and have a drink. What does he order?
Raspberry lemonade. Or, if we are at The Old Spaghetti Factory, an italian cream soda.

5. Where did he go to high school?
Taylorsville High School.

6. What size shoe does he wear?
10 1/2, but one foot is actually a size 10 and the other is a 10 1/2.

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be?
He collects computers and ham radios and all the associated wires, cables, etc. He's still trying to convince me his collection of 1980s computer magazines is worth keeping.

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich?
I'm not really sure. I like turkey so that is what I usually buy and he eats it.

9. What would this person eat every day if he could?
Why so many questions on food? Bill is very unmotivated by food. He doesn't understand why I'm always interrupting him to feed him.

10. What is his favorite cereal?
Once again, I just buy what I like and he eats it.

11. What would he never wear?
Um, a dress? He would wear a skirt, though.


12. What is his favorite sports team?
Do the couples on Dancing with the Stars count as a sports team?

13. Who did he vote for?
Romney in the Primary, McCain in the Election

14. Who is his best friend?
Bill has some great friends, I'm not sure who I'd pick, but it would be one of these: James Hooper, Kelly Dalton, Jared & Justin Elliss. I'm very lucky because I really like all of their wives, which makes hanging out with them fun for both of us.

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do?
Refer to Sandy as "YOUR" daughter when I'm telling him about the latest trouble she caused. As in, "I left her in her room just long enough to wash my hands and YOUR daughter tipped over the diaper pail and pulled out all the diapers."

16. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind of cake?
chocolate cake, chocolate frosting, fresh raspberries as a garnish


17. Did he play sports in high school?
nope... wait, I think he might have run track.

18. What could he spend hours doing?
researching the latest tech developments on the internet

19. What is one unique talent he has?
Hmm... in my last survey (on his birthday, November 6) I mentioned his ability to instantly rewrite song lyrics. So this time I'll comment on his ability to fall asleep anywhere, even sitting up. I'm amazed, that's something I've never been able to do.


He can also get Sandy to fall asleep in his arms, another thing I have trouble doing.


20. What is his dream car?
blue or yellow T-bird. (Okay, I cheated and asked him on this one. My guess was a red Ferrari)

Happy Anniversary, Bill! I love you!

This is April?!

I was not pleased to find it snowing again this morning. I hope the snow storms blow over before my parents drive across the country this weekend to come visit us.

Here are a couple of pictures of Sandy taken this morning. You can see her bottom teeth in this one.

Here she has crawled over to my plant and is pulling off the leaves. I need to remember to take a leaf in to the local garden center to find out if my plant is poisonous.

Sunday Dinner

Last night we went to Provo to have dinner with my grandparents at my Uncle Duane's house. Here is a picture of Sandy with Grandpa Pete.


Here is a video of her playing with Grandma Gingie.



Here are a few more pictures of Sandy. She loved Grandma's roast and mashed potatoes. She ate and ate and ate.






Some more pictures with Grandma Gingie. Duane videoed Sandy and Grandma Gingie playing together, including playing pat-a-cake, but I'll have to ask Bill where the video is.





Sandy loved Uncle Duane! She smiled every time she saw him.