How it all began

Poeple often wonder how Reed and I met, since we were worlds appart! Well, here are a few pictures of our first days together, back when he was only allowed to shake my hand, and I called him Elder Niman! This is taken in Liege, Grivegnee in Januray 1991. I had been a member of the LDS church for just a month or so, Soeur Grenier and Soeur Rogers were the ones who taught me the gospel. I had met the church in Utah that summer, after staying 2 1/1 months with a family there (the Corrys) to perfect my English. I had just finished High School and was 17. I had the discussions and knew I wanted to be baptized, but I just wanted to wait and go home first. When I did, I went to church in Liege once, but it was weird and no one talked to us (Vanessa came with me as support, merci ma grande!) Then I even saw some Elders at the fair and my friend Yaya pushed me to go talk to them, but they were too busy looking at the bumper cars to pay attention to me (hello Elders, there is a chick there asking to be baptized, get your eyes OFF the bumper cars and LISTEN...anywayyyy). So one day, I was waiting for the bus (le 31) when two sisters saw me reading "Une oeuvre merveilleuse et un prodige" by LeGrand Charles, totally mormon book! They were totally surprised but barelly got time to get my first name. The had to run for their bus! I figured I'd never hear from them again. I was still studying the book of mormon and praying, just not attending chuch since it was a little strange to me and uncomfortable. One of the missionary sister, Soeur Rogers, really wanted to find me again though. She prayed and fasted, for 3 weeks, asking where I was. And then one day, an Elder called them and told them they had recieved a referral for them. She immediatly said :" I know, her name is Murielle". They had found me! They called me, I had the discussions, and I was baptized on November 25th, 1990. Reed was there, he took a picture of me and my parents, never guessing that this would be his family some day too. He was a witness at my baptizm. The day that I had seen those Elders at the fair, Reed's future companion was there and maybe if he had paid attention to me, I would have gotten to know Reed before my baptizm and have him baptize me. It's not a big deal, but it was the extra perk that we were supposed to get, I think. I don't hold any grudges against that Elder (Reed's comp) that ignored me, but it taught me a huge lesson. Heavenly Father will place special people in your path, don't ignore them. And also, if you won't do His work, He'll find someone else to do it. I'm glad He did!

I was just reflecting on my life today. Nicky likes to take my Spanish/French High School dictionnary and say they are his scriptures. He takes them out for family scripture reading at night and reads out of them "..fathzer...book'o mommon....yezus...amn". When I got that dictionnary, 20 years ago, if someone would have told me how my 4th child would use it and why and where, I would have never ever believed them. Gosh, I didn't even know what "scriptures" were (did I mention I was atheist?). My life sure didn't turn out the way I would have pictured it, not even close. I know everyone says that, but I think I beat the odds even more!

Pour les vrais liegeois seulement!

Weight Watchers, hugh

<---- from that

<--to that

I don't wannooo, but I'm gonnnnooo try anyway. I did my BMI and that horrible ratio shows that I'm .9 overweight, crap! So after 35, breastfeeding alone is not helping me shedding those extra &*%%&&!! pounds. I haven't gained all of it back from last year, only about half, after a baby, not too bad, but bad still because it was hard work losing it. So I figured that if I try now, and not wait until I'm done breastfeeding and gain 20lbs on top, it'd be better. I don't know if I'll even lose a little, because with WWatchers, they give you a llllottt of points extra for nursing, but it'll force me to eat right. Because Cheetos and Big Macs are apparently NOT a healthy diet!!!! I don't understand why not? I mean, Cheetos have cheese, that's calcium for ya. Big Macs have lettuce and tomatoes on it, that's veggetables right there. If you add fries, you get your veggies again. The diet soda is a no brainer: no suggar, no calories, that's as good as water. And after that healthy meal, you could splurge for an apple pie (all thoses vegetables have to be accompanied by fruits, duh) or a milk shake, which will top you up to the recommended amount of calcium per day. But, for some unexplicable reasons, that healthy diet of mine is not recognized by society as healthy and by my butt and stomach either! So, since I like to blend in and follow the trend, I'll stop considering fried veggies as a true veggie...but I might still eat them just the same...how many points are french fries again?

Today is Monday, I hope to last till the end of the week, but no guaranties there! Huhggg, I hate giving up good crappy food! Yeah, I know, who does huh!

My son the drummer boy!!!!

Holllly crap, for anyone complaining that their kids make too much noise, just think of what it must be like in our home lately!!!! Alex just purchased an electric guitar a few weeks ago: that can get loud but there is a cord that I can confiscate any time. He's wanted a

drum set for a while, since he had a band last year at school. I had to admit that he was pretty talented, but I really pushed him to get the guitar (for the reason stated above). Well, a friend of his had this smaller version of a drum set for sale, for cheap. So we said yes. (dummie us) It's loud, no cord to take away. He is talented and it's not just banging around, it's got beat and we're jamming...but I did take away his sticks today because he was playing during nap time, niiiice going Alex! I'm happy he's into something though, it's a good thing to have music in your life, even if it's Nirvana or Metallica crap! We don't share the same musical interest him and I, and I have to put my foot down in the car: MY car -> MY radio buddy and consider yourself lucky I'm not Grandpa and make you listen to Karen Carpenter! So when the girls come home from school, Alex has done his homework already and he's all ready to practice, while I have Nicky cranky from his nap, Elly looking for a snack, Maddy fighting her math problems and Tommy fighting his sleep. And that's why we end up at Burgerking: I can't find time to make dinner, my head is about to explode. It's a crazy life, but that's mine!

What's not to love

I don't even think I need to write comments on these, he's just way too cute, that's all! Actually, yes, one comment. I sometimes hear people or society think that you cannot love all your children as much, that the last one cannot be loved the same. Well, I don't love Tommy, I'm IN love with him (yep, Reed can be jealous): he is one cutie, chunky, laughy taffy, squishy, bubbly, lovy, drooly, cooey, booby-hungry and even poopy I love him!


And with a face like that, he makes you melt PS: Nicky kept asking if Tommy was going "shimming" because of his shirt.

New do

MMmmmm'not sure of the new do, but I had to post it for my maman to see it: qu'en penses-tu maman? I flipped it up today, it's better. I know Mel or Jen could do better for me, but I'm a spurr of the moment kinda gal when it comes to hair: I think about getting it done, I tell hubby I'm off for a bit, drive until I find a place that has no one waiting and get'er done! All that within an hour or so! And, it's only hair, it'll grow back....dang, looks like I need my color done too, time to run to Wal-mart for a cheap fix! I like my shirt though: it was in the Junior section at JC Penny, I'm sooo hip and young...sha-right, look at the gray peacking on top of my head, as I said, really time to go get a "gray coverage" box! Okay, this was a stupid post, but we'll say it was just for my mom (and why is it in English then, huh!)

The younger toes in the home

I just love those toes and their owners!

Splish Splash

Et ben, vive l'Arizona, quand il fait trop chaud pour etre "habille" dehors, y'a toujours la piscine au moins!

Tommy fait pipi dans l'eau...et Nicky aussi, enfin, on ne fait que supposer hein :)

Nickelodeon-Stupidhead

I'm pretty new at this blog thing, but I also noticed that this is THE perfect place to vent. Knowing that no one will listen and if they do, they're your friends and will A) agree with B) Ignore you, or C) strongly dissagree but not mention it on your blog because, come on, it's YOUR blog after all! Anyway, I was reading my friend Heather (great house btw) 's blog and saw that she called the Oh-so-famous cartoon that we parent all love :"Sponge Bob Stupidhead". That couldn't have been more appropriate. As school is finally in session (how I love teachers), I can finally relax in the afternoons without hearing the constant annoying cartoon voices of Nickelodeon. OMGsh, that channel does not have anything good on, except for Geroge Lopez who is the funniest Latino on this side of the border (I was gonna say this side of the wall, but I forgot this isn't Berlin...yet). My favorite worse has to be I-Carly. She's got the face of a Bratz doll (and I should know, I trip over them every night when I say good night to my girls), and the body of an underfed lizzard. She's always so unnatural, her arms stangely hanging like she doesn't know why she was given them in the first place (maybe you're suppose to use you arms to feed your face?). But she can't help being weird looking, but she can help the fact that she can't act and she's annoying. Then next hated show is "Drake and Josh". Mister supposely hottie that makes out with all the girls (yuck, he's Uuuugly) and chunky Josh that can lose 150lbs from one episode to the next and gain it back by 3:00 (how does he do it?). And then we move onto Zoe 101, with the proud mama Spear. I didn't mention Sponge Bob (named Bob l'eponge in French, oui oui)...ahhahhahahahah (to be read like bob stupidhead would do) Unfortunately, my kids love those shows and they really don't have anything bad in them. I wish they still liked PBS, or at least Boomerang. It was my fault for wanting Satelite, I just wanted to have foodnetwork and DIY channels, that's all :( So I have to pay for the consequences and put up with the Bratz-face, The Ugly and the Fat-not-so-fat, the Proud Mama and the Yellow Scrubber, hugh!

Boyz in the Hood

I know I'm their mom and therefore am not objective, but I do think these are the cutest boys in the hood! Nicky now really loves his little bro. He always did, it's just that he didn't really want to touch him too much and would always give him a kiss from ten feet away, just in case. He wanted to hold him, but once we had Tommy facing him, he got a little too close and Nicky said "oh, skawy" (scary). Now, as one can clearly see it on the picture, Tommy is not as skawy and he's starting to be quite fun, with the smiles and all. I just love those boyz!

I love this, stole it from Christy

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Blessings of the prieshood

Tomorrow, the kids start school. Every year before the first day of school, Reed gives each kid a father's blessing. So tonight, we had a little family home evening on the "blessings of the priesthood" and then each child came forward to receive their blessing. Nicky kept saying "my turwn" after each child. This year wasn't any different from previous years, it was just as special, maybe even cuter with little Nicky waiting patiently for his turn to get a blessing to go back to school (which he's not, of course, I don't want him to start pre-school that young, I'm keeping him as my baby for a bit longer). I just wanted to write this down on this blog, because I'll forget to write it in my dusty journal, if I can find a pen that works too! I'm just so gratefull to have a worthy husband that holds the priesthood, what a blessing in itself that is. We could really feel the power of the holy ghost in our home tonight. It was neat. For those of you who are not part of our faith (LDS), this is mumbo jumbo and probably pretty churchy and weird. So either you skip this post or I'm starting missionary work on you right now and can email you with more explanations :)

Here comes number 17

Comme dirait ma moman: "y'a k'le bien qu'on s'donne hein"

So, a little bil of bragging here: we bought our 17th car, to celeberate our 17th year of marriage!

It's a 2007 Mercedes C-class.

Yep, it's a nice little one this time, we are show-offs, braggers, richie, snobs, lucky, worldly, vain, let's see, what else, nope, that's it ...feel free to come up with more ...WE DON"T CARE!! We are loving it and Reed is happy to finally have something very nice to drive to work. He works his butt off and deserves it. We actually got a great deal out of it, of course, those of you who know me well will have guessed that Muche doesn't buy anything unless it's a bargain. So our plans to have Alex learning how to drive a little affordable stick shift are long gone: he'll learn how to drive a big fat Expedition, cause he ain't learning on Dad's car!

Oui, elle est belle, nous sommes de gros snobs, mais on s'en fiche, nous, on est bien heureux donc! Reed a enfin une aussi belle voiture que moi pour aller au boulot, il la merite bien avec tout ce qu'il travaille! Mais faut pas croire hein, on l'a eue moins chere aussi: je ne serai pas Muche si je l'avais payee prix plein! Quand on parle de sous, je sais m'y retrouver!