March 21, 2009 - Williamsburg Girls Day Out

A much needed mini class reunion began on the morning of Saturday, March 21st! Mindy, Andrea, Lindsay, Meghan and myself all made plans via FACEBOOK to head out and spend the day together since some of us haven't seen each other since high school! Almost 12 years ago! We picked up Mindy in Jesup and headed to Cedar Rapids for a quick breakfast at Burger King, which we were all laughing so hard we were almost in tears! :O) We then went to the mall and walked around a bit and did some shopping. Then, off to Tanger Outlet mall in Williamsburg, located a little ways from Iowa City. We had a BALL!!!

THE LADIES

Mindy (MacKenzie) Dolan and one of the twins, Andrea (Cornish) Gibbs, Me,

Lindsay (DeHoff) Rogers and Meghan (Frost) Horan at Mindy's house in Jesup.

Breakfast at BK. Andrea and I. Yeah, I know... too cool for words!!!

We ALL wore the crowns, because... we can. :O)

Lindsay and Mindy sampling my new lotion.

Me and Meg

Rockin' some sweet shades at Spencer's at the mall in C.R.

Andrea and her "South of the Border" shades!!!

Meg... very catlike! "ME-OW!"

"Welcome to the MAIN EVENT!!!"

Mindy, myself, and Andrea resting in between stores. Mindy, Lindsay and I all got some new sunglasses at a hut in the mall in C.R. Mine said "DG" on the side... I think it stands for "Damn Gorgeous" if I'm not mistaken. ;o)

Dree and Lindsay

"Look, Ma! NO HANDS!"

Andrea driving home through the Amanas rockin' out to some sweet car tunes on the I-Pod.

We need to do this again BEFORE another 12 YEARS go by!!! We had sooooooo much fun catching up, chatting and laughing! People probably thought we were crazy! :O)

March Madness

Me and Jaren visiting the Gillespies and their new little girlie!

"CHEESY!!!" I LOVE it when he smiles like this! It's sooooo hilarious!

Briea Jossi Maureen Gillespie

Look at her cute little mouth and those sweet cheeks!!!

Happy Birthday, Grandpa Palmer!!! Celebrating at La Chapala on March 6, 2009.

Jaren and Grandpa Palmer

The handoff to Grandma!

"Toyota!!!"

Perfect form! :O)

Cousins, Evan and Dexter at Grandma and Grandpa Boardsen's house.


Owen, my nephew (step-nephew if you want to get technical).

"What happens if I do... THIS?!?"

Evan, brother of Owen.

March 25, 2009 - Oliver having a headstand contest at Capoeira class.

Oliver learning some moves in class.

March 25, 2009 - Oliver and I on a Mother/Son Date.

I took him to his very first hockey game! Go Blackhawks!

February 28, 2009 - Happy 81st Birthday, Gram!!!

This weekend the kids and I went to Clinton with my mom to celebrate Gram's 81st birthday! Bry came in from Chicago and Chad was there as well. Katie and her boyfriend, Andy, Sue and Mike came up for it as well! I hope Gram had a fun weekend, I know that we did!

February 24, 2009 - Iowa City

Today I ventured down to Iowa City to see my Endocrinologist for some more blood work as well as a Bone Density Scan (DEXA). I have yet to find out what the results are (2 months later).



I also stopped by my friend Heidi's house and visited with her for several hours. I had not seen her in over 3 years, since she was married! She has a little boy, Alex, who is about 2 1/2 and a little girl, Rebekah, who was a few months old at the time! It was WONDERFUL to see her again and catch up! I had a ball making Alex laugh!



Alex saying, "CHEESE".

Alex wanted to wear my necklace and finally had enough!


Me and Alex, my new little friend! I love kids!



Rebekah, under wraps, Heidi and me. It was so much fun spending half of the day with her and her two cutie pies!





Alex is HILARIOUS! I think he was about 26 months here. Heidi says that he ONLY lets his mom or dad help him go potty, but he wanted me to help him this time. (I must have made quite the impression!) Anyways... Heidi always asks him what he made or something similar to that and he'll look at his poop and say, a dolphin, or a worm or something! I was dying laughing!!! What a funny kiddo!!!

Valentine's Family Dinner - February 19, 2009

We had our annual Valentine's Day Family Dinner a week late due to Ed and I having the flu on Valentine's weekend. We enjoyed the traditional fettucine alfredo, salad, breadsticks and chocolate covered strawberries. We can't forget the sparkling cider as well! The kids LOVE this and Jaren got to use a fancy glass for the first time this year! It broke not to long after he took a few sips! We love this tradition we started when Eden was Jaren's age!!!

May Movie Reviews by STASIA...

May 2009 - Ed and Garran went to see "X-Men Origins: Wolverine". Ed really liked it, but Garran wasn't as much of a fan.

May 5, 2009 - Ed and I went to dinner and a movie for our 9 year anniversary. We went to see "State of Play" starring Russell Crowe, Rachel McAdams, Ben Affleck and Helen Mirren. Ed had seen the Jolley's at the theater a few nights earlier when he was on a "Man Date" to see Wolverine with Garran and when he saw them later they said this movie was really good! We both enjoyed it!

May 8th or 9th, 2009 - Girls Night Out. Reggie was nice enough to invite me to a GNO with lots of ladies from the CF Ward at church and we all went to see "17 Again" starring Zac Efron. It was a pretty cute movie. I'm sure Eden would love to see it with me! She loved High School Musical (which I have yet to see) and Hairspray!

May 2009 - Ed went to see "Star Trek" with one of his consumers at work and he was surprised at how good it was! He said that you should really see it in the theater.

May 22nd, 2009 - Ed and I had a "Date Night" and went to see "Terminator: Salvation" (#4). I must say it wasn't anywhere near what I had expected it to be! I love Christian Bale as an actor and I've seen the first two Terminator movies as a kid so I was really looking forward to it. The special effects were really good, but the plot line was very juvenile... like something a teenager would come up with. There were also some very cheesy scenes and lines throughout. Neither Ed or I really liked it much. Kind of a disappointment to say the least.

May 23rd, 2009 - Oliver went to see "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" with a friend so I'll have to post his review went he gets back! I'm sure he'll like it since he loved the first one! "It's a tiny bit better than the first one!" - Oliver

10 Weeks Today

Though he's barely the size of a kumquat — a little over an inch or so long, crown to bottom — and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, your baby has now completed the most critical portion of his development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in his body rapidly grow and mature.He's swallowing fluid and kicking up a storm. Vital organs — including his kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver (now making red blood cells in place of the disappearing yolk sac) — are in place and starting to function, though they'll continue to develop throughout your pregnancy.If you could take a peek inside your womb, you'd spot minute details, like tiny nails forming on fingers and toes (no more webbing) and peach-fuzz hair beginning to grow on tender skin.In other developments: Your baby's limbs can bend now. His hands are flexed at the wrist and meet over his heart, and his feet may be long enough to meet in front of his body. The outline of his spine is clearly visible through translucent skin, and spinal nerves are beginning to stretch out from his spinal cord. Your baby's forehead temporarily bulges with his developing brain and sits very high on his head, which measures half the length of his body. From crown to rump, he's about 1 1/4 inches long. In the coming weeks, your baby will again double in size — to nearly 3 inches.

9 Weeks Today

Your new resident is nearly an inch long — about the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. She's starting to look more and more human. Her essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: Your baby's heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do her tiny teeth. The embryonic "tail" is completely gone. Your baby's organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. The external sex organs are there but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks. Her eyes are fully formed, but her eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. She has tiny earlobes, and her mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones. Now that your baby's basic physiology is in place, she's poised for rapid weight gain.

(Picture and information curtesy of Babycenter.com)

Palmer Family Update

Since it's been what seems like AGES since I last posted anything... I thought I'd catch everyone up with everything that we've been up to!

OLIVER - We've been focusing our weekly Family Home Evening Lessons on The Fourth Article of Faith which is:

"We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, FAITH in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, REPENTANCE; third, BAPTISM by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST."

We have been focusing on this because Oliver will be getting baptized this summer as he will be turning 8, the age of accountability. We want him to understand what it means to be a member of the church so he can truly make this decision for himself. We are very excited for him! I still can't believe that I have a child who will be getting baptized already!!!

Ollie officially started Capoeira classes in mid March and loves it! He teaches Eden and even Jaren loves to move to the music! He's very good at it and I can tell that he's very serious about it! Not only does he learn a martial art, but also about the culture, language and music of Brazil. In August, he will be receiving his first cords!

He will also be starting his summer baseball league this year with practice starting this upcoming Thursday! He's also VERY excited about that! He's doing well in school and just got a Math Award for getting the second fastest time in his timed math test! He loves to read and will take any chance to read to us or his siblings!

Oliver - Student of the Week (May 2009)

EDEN - Eden was Student of the Week last week at her school and so Ed and I got to eat lunch with her on her special day! She is in Kindergarten and just LOVES it! She loves to learn more vocabulary words and is doing great in her class! She's even been pestering me about learning cursive and can spell several words already! Books are something she loves to read and is always eager to try to read them to me. She LOVES having playdates with her friends and is learning new things everyday!

She's been saying that her eyes have been hurting her lately and so we'll see if she will be the latest Palmer to get glasses! She really had no chance since Ed had eye surgery and I'm about as blind as a bat! She doesn't really seem too put off by it!

Eden will start T-Ball this July, right after Oliver's baseball wraps up, thank goodness! I really don't know how parents can run all of their kids to eighteen thousand different activities ALL THE TIME! It would drive me absolutely INSANE! She's very excited as I've already gotten her a pink mitt and everything! I'll have to post some pictures of her in action!

She loves to play outside on the trampoline, ride her bike and draw. I love seeing her pictures get better and better as the months pass.

Stacy and Eden - Student of the Week (May 2009)

JAREN - Where do I even begin with this little pistol!?! He has been changing SOOOO much lately and WHAT A PERSONALITY!!! He is constantly making me laugh throughout the day, from the faces he makes to his mannerisms, I'm always smiling! He is saying more words each day and the funniest thing he says is "okay"... only he pronounces it in a whisper "kay...". I definitely need to get it on camera before he stops saying it! I also LOVES how he says, "thank you"... "dent do"... too stinkin' cute!

He LOVES waiting at the door for his big brother and sister to get off the bus so he finally has someone cooler to play with than Mom! He loves watching Barney and Thomas on T.V., bowling with a new set of pins I got for him, shooting hoops and playing with his cars. He's been my little helper, accompanying me to many doctors visits and for the most part he's pretty patient! He loves having books read to him and HATES getting his breathing treatments!!!

He was recently admitted to the hospital due to his asthma. They thought it was pneumonia at first, but our doctor said he thought it had to due with his asthma. He's got many of the same allegies as Oliver as well as the asthma and eczema... UGH! He also isn't much of an eater. He simply refuses to eat many things, but has always had an aversion to specific textures. When he was younger, he would eat food, gag on it and vomit it back up. Now, he simply refuses to eat most things. Hopefully he'll grow out of it... he's coming up on 2 years old next month!!! Cross your fingers for us!

Jaren in brother's baseball hat and sister's baseball mitt! He loves playing catch.

ED - Work, work and more work! It seems like that is all that he ever does... poor guy! At least he went to a movie with a friend a few days ago... so he gets a break now and again! He's still working at Deere in Supply Management and his boss is always very understanding whenever he needs to leave early to pick up a sick kid if I'm not here or stay with Jaren in the hospital. Unfortunately with the poor economy there will be no bonus at the end of the year as well as no promotions or raises. It kind of stinks, but at least people will be able to keep jobs by curtailing these things.

He is also still the Elders Quorum teacher at church which he loves. He's reading several church books at the moment and LOVES filling his head with the knowledge of the gospel! We celebrated our 9 year anniversary on May 5th and are hoping to go somewhere fun for our 10 year anniversary!




STACY - I am doing well for the most part. I'm very tired because we found out several weeks ago that we are expecting our 4th child on December 14th of this year. It came as a shock, but we are very happy to welcome a new little one into our family!

I'm still taking quite a few medications from my health "situation" (hyperparathyroidism) in January, but my endocrinologist doesn't seem to be too worried about me! That is a good sign! I'll still be seeing her every few weeks to have some lab work done, but all in all I'm more at ease since I met with her last week.

I just finished reading the Twilight Saga (4 very long books) in under a week and a half and now I'm back to reading Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I'm about halfway through it! I just LOVE Jane Austen! Her stories make me happy!

I am a Family History Consultant for our ward at church and so I'm learning about the new FamilySearch program that has recently come out. It is pretty awesome, I must say! I'm still learning new things, but I'm very excited about it!

I've been trying to deep clean and declutter the house. Trying is the operative word here! A few friends and I are going to have a garage sale at the end of June so I will be purging alot of things! I wish I knew what I was having so I could sell Jaren's clothes that he's outgrown or Eden's clothes if it happens to be another boy. She said, "It better be a girl this time." I honestly don't think she was kidding either! hehehe




Anyways... that's about all that's been happening with us lately! I'll try to be better at blogging. I've just been SOOOOOO TIRED this trimester. Maybe in a few weeks I'll get my much needed energy boost!!!