Lists

Christmas is a season of lists. Lists to send to Santa, lists of gifts for family, lists of gifts for friends and neighbors, lists of things to do to get ready for the great day. They seem to go on and on. My lists have many things on them. My to do list gets added to while the getting gifts goes down. I am nearly ready for the special day. Just a bit more shopping and some cleaning left. I don't like making lists and now I remember why. They make me feel overwhelmed.

Two weeks

Here come the most hectic two weeks out of the year. Lila has just decided she wants Santa to bring her a Barbie. That is doable. That way Santa brings the kids the same size of gift. Grant has been asking for a Bumblebee transformer for the last three months. David and I need to take an inventory on what gifts we have for the kids. We still have money from the Ashby Grandparents that needs to be used and we are running out of ideas. Gifts for most of the family are finished. Neighbor gifts still need to be put together. I keep forgetting to buy holiday ziploc bags.
I caught the kids wearing the Christmas stockings yesterday so I brought in the Santa pole to hang them up. I can't blame the kids for playing with the stockings. I did the same thing. I think everyone has done it at least once. We have a Church Christmas party tonight, the Teamster party on Saturday, Grant's school holiday program on the 16th, and his class party on the 17th. Things are going to be busy this coming week. Then Grant is out of school for two weeks. How will I keep him busy? The second week he will have all his new stuff from Christmas which should help him pass the time. Then two weeks after Christmas is Grant's 6th birthday. My child is turning 6? He is such a smart kid. He is learning to read at an amazing rate. He can sound out words without trouble. I am trying to teach him some of the crazy vowel rules for English. However those rules are always broken. How we ever learn this crazy language is anyone's guess.
Must get to work on the house and Christmas preparations. We are having lots of family to our house this year. David has been wanting to have his family up for Christmas ever since we bought this house. Now that the basement is finished we have the space to put everyone.
Time to put on the Christmas tunes. Music is a good motivator.

Christmas projects

I always seem to do this to myself. I don't feel like working on Christmas gifts until the season hits and then I do too many projects and eventually run out of time and some things get left undone. I have neighbor gifts to finish, family gifts to make, and other gifts still in the planning stage. I don't think cards will be sent this year. I would have to have family pictures taken and that is too much work. David is busy with work already. Being the Brown Santa is a time consuming job this time of year. I might as well get started. Here come the holidays!

Spring Cleaning

Okay, I know we are months away from spring, but I feel the need to organize some things in my house. I managed to get Lila's room done yesterday. I put away her clothes she has grown out of and had some teary moments. We put her mattress on a bed frame yesterday. She slept in her bed all night long for a change. Maybe this will be a good thing. I need to work on my closet and my craft room. When walking into both places you are uncertain if you will be able to find your way out. Sometimes you just have to dive in. So here I go, into the pool.

Begin the countdown.

Here come the holidays. Am I ready? In no way at all. Do I have ideas for gifts? Some. Will I get everything finished in time? Probably not. All I can do is try. But I am finding motivation just as difficult to obtain as a Black Friday limited quantity doorbuster. I may have to get up early to get some. Not looking forward to the work Christmas entails. Christmas cards? Probably not. Homemade gifts for close friends? Looking dicey. Something special for my man? I'm plum out of ideas. I have a feeling I might be changing how we do Christmas.

Ready to drop!

We have been a very busy family. Every weekend since the first of August we have had something going on. Here is a list of our activities:

This is the Place
Kearns hometown parade, then a bridal shower
Primary activity
Teresa's baby shower
Family reunion and 12th anniversary
Lagoon
Peach Days
State Fair
Crystal in Vegas with Teresa, Dave and kids at Toys R Us birthday party
General Conference
Boo at the Zoo in Willow Park (Logan)
Early morning hike for my birthday with the girls, then craft day, then Treehouse in Ogden
Kids Halloween party
Halloween
Going to the U of U football game
Pow Wow for Cub Scouts
Crystal back to Vegas to see Baby Sam

My first weekend without any plans happens to be Thanksgiving weekend.

That accounts for my entire fall season. I have been slacking about putting pictures up anywhere. I am currently getting them off the camera and onto a computer. I feel like I am busy all the time. Every Thursday Lila and I go to Grant's school and help out for the day. Grant likes having Mom come I think. Lila likes to be with the big kids and is very well behaved. I like going because I get to see what Grant is doing in school and I feel more connected with what is going on. Last Thursday we had a Halloween party for the entire class time. We has 6 stations of activities and I got to read the same story 6 times. It was a long story so the other stations were always waiting for me to finish.
I've also been going nuts getting the house cleaned and decorated for the 2 Halloween parties we had, one for kids, one for adults. Now my house is looking better, but still gets messy if I turn around.
Lila is talking up a storm. Her new favorite sentence is "I do it myself." I was carrying her down some stairs and halfway she said this sentence. I put her down and she proceeded to go up to the top of the stairs so she could come down all of them by herself.
Grant is learning how to read and picking up on it quickly. As long as he doesn't let himself get frustrated too quickly we can get him to read simple books now. He knows a good number of sight words and is picking up more by the day. School is a good thing for him. He has never been much of an artist, but he has started to draw pictures. He even entered a picture he drew into the Reflections contest for school. I was so proud of him. The theme is 'Beauty is..." and he drew himself standing in front of his house with green grass and a blue sky with a very colorful bird flying by. He titled his piece " Home". I forgot to take a picture of it and am sad because he probably won't get it back. Maybe they will have it displayed at the Reflections awards assembly and I can get a picture then.
David is going into the Christmas season at work. He knows long days are on their way. I am trying to plan accordingly. This means I have to find sitters if I am going to do things on a weeknight. That's just they way things work when your husband works for UPS.
Maybe things will slow down for us soon. What am I thinking! Bring on the Holidays!

Update on School

Grant enjoys getting on the bus. He doesn't like to talk about school. I decided to volunteer in his class so I would have some idea of what was going on and how he was doing. I like helping out in class. Lila comes with me and there are times she causes a disturbance and has to be dealt with. Grant does pretty well with listening to the teacher and his does great on his school work. He gets homework every day. Not what you would expect from kindergarten but he is picking things up quickly and is getting faster at reading words. I didn't push him to learn to read before school and he is still doing well in his class.

My house on the other hand has been steadily getting worse. I am so overwhelmed that I mowed the lawn instead of cleaning the kitchen today. I still need to fold laundry and make some headway on cleaning my bedroom. My craft room is also a disaster and needs some attention. We'll see what gets accomplished today.

School

Grant is very ready for kindergarten. He starts on Monday the 31st of August. Grant gets to ride the bus. He has watched it drive by for the last few years and was so excited for the day when he would get to ride. The school is 1.4 miles away from our house and he has to cross two busy streets in order to get there. He isn't going to walk to school unless he misses the bus and the car isn't working. He gets to go to the new school that just was finished. He will be going to Diamond Ridge. The mascot is a rocket. Grant couldn't be any happier. The school is wonderful and the kindergartners have their own entrance and playground. We saw the school st the open house and it looks like a great school. The kindergarten kids have two rooms they get to learn in. One for learning the core stuff and one is an activity and play room. There are only 19 kids in his class right now. Not bad for a kindergarten. He had his evaluation and I think he did okay. He doesn't like to answer questions when I ask him about it. Silly boy.

The next few days will seem like an eternity. He is already bored with the activities we have been doing all summer. He is bickering with his sister all the time. He is just ornery. We are going to be able to go to someone's house today to play. I have special prizes for him if he can be good, but they are still sitting on the shelf, waiting to be earned. School should help with the bored part of his day. I know Lila is going to miss him. Last year when he went to preschool, Lila took a nap because he was gone in the afternoon. Now he has morning kindergarten. We will have to see how things work out.

Goal Accomplished

I always have an unspoken goal for every day. I have two small children who have envious amounts of energy. My goal is to tire them out enough that they both fall asleep at the same time. I took them to see Monsters v Aliens today. Then we went to the park for free lunch. They played with friends and ran around in the sun. We came home and they had a creamie. Now they are both sleeping peacefully downstairs where it is cool. Yea, I love it when I reach my goals.

Busy already?

All of a sudden I seem to be very busy again. I have something planned for every weekend until the 2nd week of October. That is crazy. I am not completely booked. I just have something going on every Saturday. School hasn't even started yet. I need to go school shopping with Grant. Maybe I can take time to do that this Saturday after the parade. I am bogged down in the project department, too. I finished all the stuff for trek and thought I won't have much to do after that. I now am busy making invitations, doilies, Christmas gifts, a shower gift. I must be crazy. But I think this is what keeps me looking forward. I love doing projects. Maybe I should try to space them out. Naw.

Apricots

I was able to can 14 pints of apricot halves and 19 half pints of jam. Since I got the apricots for free I would say that isn't bad at all. I have already given away some of my jam. Teresa is going to benefit from all my labors also. The things I do for my sister.

Cleaning

We have family coming this weekend and I need to have the house clean. I have been trying to work on the house everyday. But it seems like whatever I clean up must be done again the next day. I am tired of cleaning and so I sit here at the computer wasting time. Some would call it Procrastination, I just call it Avoidance.

A full week of fun

I had the wonderful opportunity to go on Pioneer Trek with my Stake this year. We walked nearly 30 miles, but the weather was beautiful. I slept better than I do at home because no children woke me in the night. I wore pretty dresses and fun aprons. My feet hurt by the time I got back home. I would do it again in a heartbeat. I was able to be in a family which made the experience all the better.



Now that I am home I am doing all sorts of activities with the kids. On Tuesday we went to the store and bought the kids a Spiderman scooter to share and Lila got her first trike. It was fun watching her try to pedal then give up when it got to be too much work so she just used her feet on the ground.







Yesterday we went to the theater and watched The Lion King, then came home and had some friends over for a water balloon fight in the front yard.




Today it was the dentist for Mommy and immunization shots for the kids. Grandma Sue came down to help make Grant brave. He wouldn't get out of the car without some major coaxing. Lila only had one shot, but Grant needed 3 in order to be ready for kindergarten. We then bought lunch and brought it home. The kids ate like kids do. Off and on again. We then painted sun catchers. Grant has been waiting to do those for few weeks. They both had a great time. Amber helped Lila while Grant was able to do his pretty much on his own. Now it is quiet and cool time with a movie in the downstairs family room. This is a very good way to spend the afternoon on a hot day. I am in the mood for making some cookies. If only my mouth would get feeling back.

I Just Can't Win

I thought it would be fun to take the kids to the park and have free lunch today. The Granite School district gives out lunch to all ages of kids every day during the summer for free. I thought it would be nice to get a good meal that I didn't have to make or buy and the kids would get to play at the park. We had a great time. I put them in the wagon and waked to the park. It's a pretty long walk, over a mile. The kids did okay with eating their lunches before playing and the temperature wasn't overwhelming. We found a tree to sit under for shade and met friends and enjoyed this first day of July. As we were walking home after just leaving the park, I hear this from Grant in the back of the wagon. "I'm bored".

I just can't win.

Projects

My son keeps telling me how bored he is. So I went to Wal-mart and bought over $100 woth of activities for the kids this summer. I bough sun catchers, pony beads, fun fuse beads, pom pom animals, chenille animals, hand puppets, 3D chalk, and paint brushes (already have the paint), foam visors, foam sunglasses, and masks. Quite a list of things to do. Now if only they will be okay with doing just one a day. There are always lots of other things we can do. Lets hope I can keep them occupied for the rest of summer. Ha Ha.

Pictures of YW Camp 2009

We made it to camp and start with a story. The Lorax and Warm Fuzzies!




Marie almost gets hit by flying logs. The girls like to use the ax.



Aren't they pretty in their tutus.




Ready for the hike. We have sunshine!



Those are some big beavers. Good thing we didn't run into any on the hike.




Star Charts. The sky cleared just for us.



The Amazing Leaders, Crystal, Jenae, Anjela, and Marie




Anjela imparting her wisdom and Marie showing us the source of her strength. Her Wonder Woman belt buckle.


Kristi nearly gets nailed with flying debris.


See where the flying debris came from? Our supportive Priesthood leaders.


Jenae testing the cheesy potatoes. A favorite for many of the girls.


We enlisted the Bishop to help us cook the bagged omelets. He did it with a smile.


"Do you trust my aim?" Poor Aaron was doused with used cooking oil. Oops.



We had sunshine the last two days and it was wonderful. We have the best girls!!!!!


We got home and the rain came pouring down. But we managed to dry out.

YW Camp

I managed to get to camp and back home this week. We have had rain unlike any other June in history. OK, maybe not that bad but rain was coming down in buckets. The roads were so muddy we didn't think we would be able to make it to the camp. The girls were real troopers though. I made them do activities in the rain. Most of them managed to keep a good attitude about it. We had so many crafts for the girls we should have called it craft camp. But it worked out well because of the rain. We tried to keep warm and dry. We witnessed many miracles and the girls came away thankful for the experience. I get to work with some of the best girls ever. They all care about each other and get along so well. I am grateful that I work with them.

Contacts

I really am beginning to appreciate my contacts. I have to go with them and wear glasses for the next three weeks due to a growth on the back of my left eyelid. I've been wearing my glasses for 5 days already so it will be a month of glasses, hopefully. I was given a medication for my eye and must use it 4 times a day for 2-2 1/2 weeks. Then I can try the contacts again and see if there is any trouble. At least he didn't say the bump would have to cut out. Yet. Let's hope meds take care of it.

Kids Are Messy

It seems I am endlessly cleaning up after my children. They do help out sometimes in the cleanup but they are so much better at making the messes. I am so tempted to sit down with a book and read all day. Then the house will really be in need of a cleaning. It's like trying to keep a tornado tidy. At least with the basement finished I can contain some of the mess to a single room. Oh well, this kind of thing won't last forever. But I don't think I'll miss cleaning up spilled juice everyday.

Late (Take 2)

Let's try this again.

We have been very busy so I haven't been posting anything.

Lila had her 2nd birthday. She has grown so much and is talking up a storm. She is even putting the end sounds on her words now. Yea!!! We had a small party at Grandpa Charlie's house. She has clothes, a stroller and a new baby doll. Plus lots more.

We had friends/family some for a visit this last week. I met Missy when I was three living in Wisconsin. She was an only child, and still would be except for the fact that her parents 'adopted' me as their own. I became her sister and we have been friends ever since. Missy came out on a Saturday and her parents came on Tuesday. My kids are the only grandkids Diane and Tom have. Missy doesn't have any kids yet. So they had fun getting to know the kids. We went to the park, the zoo, the aquarium, Thanksgiving Point, Big Cottonwood Canyon, and Grant's favorite, Bowling. We did just enough to wear the kids out but not the adults. We had a wonderful time. We hope to be able to go to Wisconsin and visit them next summer.

Grandma Sue and Grandpa Charlie were visitn Teresa in Vegas over the Memorial Day weekend. We decided to go up and visit Amber and Heather anyway. We went to the train park and Dave got to throw some discs. We then went to Night at the Museum 2. Very funny movie. Grant loved it. We then had hamburgers and jello back at the house. It was fun getting to spend time with my sisters.

Grant and Lila went to the Dentist for the first time on Tuesday. Grant was amazing. No Fear!!
Lila was terrified and wanted nothing to do with the dentist.

Lila has a double ear infection. I didn't even know until I saw some dried blood in her ear. And then I thought she might have stuck something in it, or her brother did it. But I went to the pediatricians office and the N. P. said it was pretty bad. Lila had been grouchy, but what two year old isn't grouchy when her schedule is all wonky. Now we just have to get her to take the medicine, which is proving to be a little challenging.

My sister is having a boy. She is trying to even up the odds in our family of all girls. Girls are still ahead by one. I can hardly wait to go buy clothes for little Samuel Charles Mika. Carter's is having a sale and I plan on getting to that one.

I know people want pictures. It all depends on when I find time to do it. Just keep coming back.

Have a great day everyone.

Grant just lost my post.

Arches

We made a quick trip to Arches National Park on Monday. We picked up Grant right after school on Monday and drove right to the park. Had to find a hotel room because we didn't reserve a campsite. Not smart of us I know. Grant was okay with the hotel, but it was boring. We managed to get the last campsite for Tuesday night. We walked to Landscape Arch in the Devil's Garden area first. The kids whined some and Grant couldn't keep his hands out of the sand. It was his favorite part of the park though. We made stops at the Windows section and the Delicate Arch viewpoint. We did the small stops along the road. We made three trips into Moab because we kept forgetting things.
The day was sunny and warm, reaching the low 90's. It became windy in the afternoon and we were not able to set up the tent until we were going to get into it. We did no cooking because the stove would have blown out. We got a movie for the kids and let them watch it in the tent right before bed. I took a few mintues around 10:30 pm to look at the stars. There were so many. The moon had yet to rise and there was no other light pollution. I love looking at the night sky. The wind died down in the night and the morning was still as could be. We took the time to see a few more arches the next morning before we had to leave. The temperature was a wonderful 68 to 70 degrees. Lila walked when there were stairs. Grant always wanted to be in the lead. We managed to get a few family shots. Dave and I took turns with the camera so we are both in lots of pictures. The kids had fun running around the visitor's center. Grant wanted to bring home a lizard. Lila was just in awe of them when she saw them.
So many people would stop and look at our license plate, and I couldn't figure out why. Dave looked and said it was we were one of the only cars with the Utah centennial plate. It has Delicate Arch on it. Pretty funny when you think about it. Here we are in the place where our license plate picture can be found.
All in all, we had a wonderful trip. The kids did really well, and they were in the minority of people in the park. Lots of adults and fewer teenagers. Very few children. Lots of international people.
We can't wait to go again. Or maybe we just want another vacation.

So much to do

I have so many projects going right now that I am having a hard time picking which one to work on. There is the yard, 3 sewing projects, the scrapbooking, a doily, not to mention the cleaning of the house, some painting, caulking, redecorating. So I pick and choose each day. I still make time to do fun things with the kids, like going for walk or to the park.

What shall I do today?

Randomness

A friend told me I don't put enough random things on my blog. I guess I get the random stuff out when I'm on Facebook. So, something random. I give up.

My lilacs are blooming and that makes me blissful. Lilacs are my favorite flower and they only bloom for about two weeks out of the year. I go out every morning to smell them and soon I will cut them to bring into the house. Then, once mine are gone, I will go to church buildings that have them and take some of these beautiful flowers. I don't take too many. The smell of lilacs just rejuvenate my spirit. If only scent companies could get it right. I long for these weeks all year. And now they are finally here. Does life get any better?

My yard

I am really looking forward to the day I can send the kids out into the backyard and I know that they will be safe. We have the money to put in fences along the front of the yard. Then we are on to sprinklers and sod. I am also looking forward to putting in my garden. Here's hoping for some nice weather.

My bike

I enjoyed a bike ride on my new road bike yesterday. Yes, this bike was expensive. Yes, I want to ride for long distances. Yes, I am crazy. I can hardly wait to get on the road with it again. Riding a bike always makes me happy. I love the feeling of the wind in your face as you ride. I love the smell of Spring that reminds me of life renewing itself. I, in turn, feel renewed after a bike ride. I feel tired, too. I have to ride more to get my endurance up.

Spring

I went on a walk with my family today. It was sunny and I didn't wear a jacket.

Easter Pictures

Our little family on Easter
Lila chasing Rainbow
Grant has it right. Take time to smell the flowers.
Lila is telling Daddy how pretty the flowers are.
The kids managed to stay looking nice during church, so we could take pictures outside afterwords.

Grant Goes to Grandma Sue's House

My boy loves going to grandma's house. He gets special treats when he stays there. He gets to go to the park every day, unless it's raining. He gets to play with the special toys that grandma keeps only at her house, like Voltron and Legos. He goes fishing with Grandpa Charlie, a highlight of every trip. And if he is lucky, they will go shoot off grandpa's rockets. He loves having so much attention devoted to him. I'm just mom and have other responsibilities at home. I'm not able to do all the fun things that he gets to do at grandma's house. Grant was on spring break for school so he had a few days that he could go spend with Grandma Sue. She is his favorite person in the world. She loves him "even more than Mommy does." He gets to play in the backyard and pet the nice kitties, "ours is mean and we need to take her back to the pet store." It was his turn to have a sleep over with his favorite person. I think he gets spoiled when he stays there. But then that is what Grandmas are for.

Mr. Robin Red Breast

I have to thank our little songbird friend. He lets me know that even though the weather is terrible and it seems as if Spring has forgotten our part of the woods, the season is changing. I wake up to his song in the morning, and he lifts my spirits.

Lila

Lila thinks every color is yellow. What's funny is that she says it so often. I tell her the right color and she tries to repeat it, but she always goes back to yellow. She is starting to talk more. If only she would lose the binky while she talks.

Funny fact: Grant said lellow, Lila says yeyyow. If only I could put the two together we would have the right sounds.

Snow in April

Here we are on April 4th. Two inches of snow covered the ground as the sun tried vainly to shine. Outside is not a place to play for us. It is too cold and wet. At least my basement is finished (with the exception of some painting of trim). My house is now twice the size that it was only 2 months ago. My children can run around and get out wiggles. I can go somewhere and find a little peace in a chaotic day. I am very grateful for this miracle in my life. After 5 1/2 years in this house that I call home, I see what this house was meant to be. A Sanctuary from the world for my family. There is enough space for all of us now. It may seem silly for me to call it a miracle, but that is truly what it feels like to me.

Down to the wire

Things are coming to a head. I want the basement to be finished in the next 36 hours. I have people coming over Wednesday night and would like the basement to be complete. Due to things beyond my control this deadline might not be met. The basement is livable and warm. The bathroom should be done. But the kitchenette might be the one thing that doesn't allow us to cross the finish line. We shall see if a miracle will happen and mistakes can be rectified quickly. It will be done soon. I just am not sure of the 36 hour time limit.

Crafting

I moved into my craft room yesterday. I have a desk for scrapbooking. Getting the desk into the room was an adventure. We had to remove the desktop in order for it to fit through the door. But it has the largest worktop, and that is just what a scrapper needs. Dave also put up another table for my sewing machine. This is a very big room so I can have projects out in both areas at the same time. I also put a TV in that room and a phone. I could spend most of my day in that space and be a happy girl. Grant knows he has to ask to come in. We'll see how long that will last. But for now, I have a sanctuary in my home.

House Arrest

I guess working on the basement has felt a little like house arrest, at least that is what my friends say. A friend told me just yesterday, she can't wait for my basement to be finished because then I can come do things again. I guess I haven't really noticed, but I am really tied to the house. I have to wait for people to get here early in the morning and I have to stay while they work. I do get out to run some errands and take Grant to school. But as for getting together with people during the day, it hasn't happened in 7 weeks. I would say I need to get out more. When the basement is done I won't want to go anywhere because I'll have all this space to play in downstairs. I'll just have to have people come to my house.

Snow + Carpet

I was going to have the carpet installed in my basement on Friday. Due to things beyond my control the carpet wasn't going to be available until Friday afternoon, too late for them to install it. Friday was a beautiful, clear, warm day. Now the carpet guys are coming today, Monday. It is snowing as I type. It is cold and wet. I hope nothing bad happens to my carpet, or the tile for that matter. I will have to clean the tile when everything is finished. I just hope I don't have to clean off mud. Nothing I can do about the situation now. By the way, I hate snow.

Stuff

I have a large portion of my scrapbooking stuff sitting in my kitchen and living room area. I haven't had a place to put it away since the basement isn't finished yet. I was so looking forward to moving it today. The carpet guys thought they would be able to install the carpet today, but the carpet itself is coming in on the truck in the afternoon. So I have to wait until Monday for the carpet to be put in. I am sad. Teresa won't get to see the basement nearly finished now. I can't set up the guest room for her either. Oh well, just one more thing that I cannot control. The electrical is finished, though. We have wonderful light and power all over the basement. I still have a few paint touch ups to do. We should be done by the end of next week, barring any unforseen wrinkles in the schedule.
Grant is registering for Kindergarten today. I have to take him out of preschool in order to do this. I am not happy. The school is having the registration at 2 in the afternoon. Younger siblings should not attend so I have to find a sitter for Lila. What is the school thinking? What about parents that have to work? Grant is going to meet the teachers so he is supposed to be there. It still seems asinine. Will Grant even remember the teacher 4 months from now? Grant gets to go to the new school that is still under construction. Here's hoping the building is completed on time.

Nearly finished

The painting of the basement is nearly finished. I am nearly finished, also. I let the house go all week because I was spending so much time painting. The kids had free reign over the upstairs. Now I am dealing with the fallout. My basement will be a wonderful place for the kids to play. I love how much light I have down there. It doesn't feel like a basement since all but one of the windows are completely above ground. I love the walkout in the back. I can't wait for it to be done.

Coming Back

My weekend away was wonderful. The weather was warmer, the sun was shining, the trees were blooming. I did 46 pages. I enjoyed spending time with my sisters in-law. I spent lots of money. I got to eat hot meals without interruptions. I ate junk food. I didn't have to clean my mess up every day.

I am ready to go again. Being a mom is a very hard job. I'm sure there will be days that aren't as difficult. The kids will get older and will become better behaved. They will still fight with each other but Lila's main form of communication won't be 'crying'. She was very happy to see me after being away from me for 3 days. Grant had a lot to tell me when I walked in the door. Well, at least they missed me.

We primed the basement last night using a sprayer. I love how fast a sprayer goes, but I was covered from head to toe in fine paint dots when we were finished. Next time I will wear goggles. I wore a breath mask and covered most of my hair, but it still isn't enough. Now I am on to the next step, rolling the walls. I hope to be able to get started on that today. We shall see what the day brings.

Going Away

Here I go. I am nearly ready to leave for the weekend. I plan on going out of my mind doing scrapbooking. Maybe in losing my mind I will find some sanity to be able to cope with my life when I come back. We all need a break once in a while. I'm taking mine.

Pictures

I print my digital photos at home. My printer has been on the fritz for a few days. In a panic to get my photos done for this coming weekend, I went to my parents house on Friday. My dad is wonderful and let me print around 250 photos there. He then gave me ink cartridges for my printer so I could continue at home. I was able to do about 100 before those cartridges gave out. Again, in a panic, I called my dad and he came down on Monday and fixed the printer up for me. I now have a continuous ink system for the printer so I don't worry about cartridges getting empty or wasting ink on cleaning the heads. I can see how much ink I have. The ink is very reasonably priced. (Dad has given me a supply to last me for may a print job.) I buy the 4 x 6 photo paper and edit the photos here on my computer. I don't have to sit in a store and choose which shots I want. I can reprint anything I want at any time. I love this system. Sadly, I still need to print around 8 months worth of pictures. Good news is, I have been able to print all the photos from my vacation to California and North Dakota from last year. I must be crazy for printing so many pictures. My mom was looking at them and noticed that most of these pictures aren't meant for going on the wall. They are memory pictures. I will remember where we were, what we were doing, and how much fun we had simply by looking at these photos. What a wonderful invention. Now I just have to go buy more paper. Oh well, it's worth it.

One Week

In one week I will be on my way to St. George, UT for a scrapbooking weekend with my sisters in-law. I am more excited than I can believe. A few years ago we decided to do this and make it an annual thing. We couldn't have picked a better time than this to do it. The first week of March is a perfect time to get away from the world and motherly responsibilities for awhile. I for one have Spring Fever. The weather will be nice in St. George. Even if it was raining down there, it would mean I wouldn't be in the snowstorms that would be happening back home. I look forward to this with gratitude in my heart for my sisters who do this with me, and a family that makes sure it can all work out.

Grant is very excited about this trip for different reasons. It means he gets to have Uncle Randy and cousin Jaden come for a visit. He has been asking about it for days now. He is a little sad that he doesn't get to go stay with Grandma Sue and Lila does, but once he realizes it is a boy's weekend he will be so overloaded with excitement that he won't care in the least. This is also Lila's first time away by herself. She is getting to be such a big girl. Usually she has Grant with her when she is at Grandma's house. It should be interesting for all involved. They do get to take her to church with them on Sunday. This time Grandpa Charlie can take Lila into the nursery instead of roaming the halls with her.

So all in all, this next week will seem like a year. If only I could make the four days after seems as long.

Lila's Hair

My daughter's hair is getting so long. It's always in her eyes and gets sticky from things she eats. I try and pull it away from her face, but barrettes don't last long.

Yesterday, she was sitting on her little couch with Grant, when Grant stands up and says, "Look Mom." He has in one hand a small curl of Lila's hair, the other (as you have already guessed) is a pair of scissors. When I asked him why he cut her hair, he said he wanted to show Lila her hair.

Yes, saved that small curl.

Interesting

I have this wonderful blog where I post stories and pictures of what is going on in my life. It allows me to stay in touch with people far away. My husband never reads it.

Drywall

The basement is getting done so quickly. The drywall came today. Grant went outside and took 20 pictures of the men taking it off the truck. He has his own camera. He had so much fun. I get to paint in less than 2 weeks. I am beyond excited.

Looking for Paint

The work in the basement is to the point where I need to get the paint color I want. who knew that this could be such a difficult decision. I know the basic color I am looking for. But do I paint the ceiling a different color? And what about the trim? So I am off to the home improvement store for color chips. We shall see what turns up. Some of the things we need to do for the basement are lots of fun. Others seem a little overwhelming. Like finding a sink I like.

Valentine's day

We had a happy day all around. Grant was able to attend a Dinosaur Safari Birthday Party. He had a lot of fun. Lila went with us to pick out tile and thought running through the aisles of tile was the best thing to do. Dave surprised me and took me out to lunch without the kids. I truly enjoy getting to eat a hot meal, especially one I did not prepare. I wish I had taken some pictures, but we didn't do anything picture worthy. I just don't have any pictures to scrapbook of Valentine's day. Not that big a deal.
The funny stuff happened the day before. Grant woke up and was so excited to go to school. He wanted to get dressed in Sunday best for the "dance" at school. He wanted to dance and hold hands and kiss girls. Remember, he is 5. He had a blast at the party. They watched a movie, danced and passed out valentines. He could hardly wait to get home to see all the candy that he got in his box. They made the cutest boxes for their cards. (I remember doing the same thing with a tissue box.)
The next day I ran into one of his teachers at a store. I found out he has at least 2 girlfriends. I knew about Aspen, because that was who he told me he wanted to dance with. I didn't know about Anastasia. Apparently, they held hands during the entire movie. He also kissed Aspen on the cheek, and Ana might have kissed him on the lips.
I think I might be in trouble. Dave tells me not to worry, girls will get gross any time now. We shall see.

Stupid Company

I am in the middle of trying to figure out why I have an outstanding balance with a certain "music company". I paid the bill on time, yet I now have outstanding late fees. I looked back and found they had refunded my payment, and then show me as having an outstanding payment and the late fees begin piling up. I did nothing wrong. Yet, due to the ineffectiveness of their system, I am "responsible" for late fees. I am willing to re-pay the original amount for that is what I owe. But I do not consider the late fees to be my responsibility because they occurred due to an error on their part. How I wish i could get this taken care of so I can close the account. I will not use this company again. The customer service is terrible and it is difficult to get this problem even addressed with how they have the department set up. I don't even have a phone number to call and work with a live person. So I wait for emails to go back and forth. It takes days for them to respond. This is annoying. Stupid Company!

Snow

I am very sad that today has proven that winter is still around. Snow is falling as I type. How I long for the warmer climates and wait until spring finds its way to where I live. Maybe I should think about a short getaway to Vegas. Teresa, What do you think?

An Open Saturday

This could be a very dangerous Saturday for my family. We have no real plans. We could end up spending a fortune because we have nothing to do. We are thinking about taking the kids to a dollar movie. That shouldn't break the bank. But we do need to go looking for home stuff for the basement. Framing is nearly finished and electrical and whatnot will start soon. I am more than excited, I am elated! But I do have to stay within a budget. So I must watch the amount of money I spend today. Sure wish I had some plans.

Cinnamon rolls

I have a friend that has been making cinnamon rolls quite a bit lately. This made me crave them. I took the time to make them yesterday. I should have left them in the oven for tow or three more minutes. They are a bit doughy, but still taste good. I even made cream cheese frosting for them. I now have a 9 Huge rolls left, (they rose big time). I only did a half batch, but I think I will have them for the week to come. This is what happens when your friends influence your choices. Oh well, it's just my waist line.

New spot

I wanted to move my blog to a place where people could comment more. This change will take some time to complete so bear with me.