Gratituesday

* I'm grateful we can get into the doctor quickly when we are sick
* I'm grateful for my vacuum
* I'm grateful the Jazz play tonight
* I'm grateful for allergy meds
* I'm grateful my husband has a job
* I'm grateful for my food storage
* I'm grateful that I live close to family
* I'm grateful when I get up earlier than the kids to get my own reading done
* I'm grateful for having all my needs met
* I'm grateful to survive on one income in a two income world

Quilt Giveaway

Beautiful quilt at Simplify! Enter here.

Just like me

After being quoted in church yesterday (thanks, DW!) I got to thinking about how much our kids listen to what we say. Oh, they don't want us to believe they listen, but they surely do. Not only that, but they watch and copy us, too.


Last week after Princess said something, she turned to me and said "Mom! I sound just like YOU"


Yes, Princess, you do sound like me. Probably plenty of the less desireable sounds I make. Hopefully some of the good as well.


When I am pregnant I never know the sex of the baby - we enjoy the surprise. After having three boys I got asked constantly if we were 'trying for a girl now'. NO. Plain and simple. I wasn't trying for anything but a baby.


As a matter of fact, I remember crying to my mom while pregnant with #4. It seems as if one day it dawned on me that I had figured this boy thing out pretty well. I was comfortable with little guys. I knew what to expect. I was cool with that. And oh-my-heck-what-will-I-do-if-this-is-a-girl!


With the boys I was there to feed them and soothe tears. Comfort and teach. Encourage and mold. But their dad was the true example. I wanted them to be just like HIM when they were daddies. Big and strong and brave and not me.


If this was a girl, *I* had to be the one she would watch and emulate. YIKES! I did not want to be that person. I wasn't confident enough to be the role model.


Well, I think I've gotten over that shock, and I have no idea what I would do without her. But while I do feel comfortable being her mom, I need to constantly ask myself if I am being the mom I want HER to be when she is a mommy. What am I teaching when I react with frustration rather than understanding. What cues does she pick up about my love for home and family when she watches me serve them?


So yes, like most mothers and daughters we sound alike. And most people think we look alike. With this on my mind I also pulled out my baby book today and I suppose I could share some. I'm not cool enough for a scanner, so these are hi-tech photos of photos. 70's photos.


Any resemblance to my daughter? Yeah, the one with the party hat is my third birthday. I see a likeness.

Monday: Hot dogs/smores bbq with sis
Tuesday: Sesame Chicken (never got around to it last week)
Wednesday: Pork chops, mashed potatoes, green veggie
Thursday: Pancakes, eggs and bacon
Friday: Popcorn chicken and mac 'n cheese
Saturday: Neighborhood potluck bbq
Sunday: Dinner at mom's

GO Jazz GO

Jazz vs Rockets, Game 4
Oh, baby! What a game! I thought the roof of the Energy Solutions Arena was gonna BLOW OFF!! The fans, the fireworks, the whole playoff atmosphere was i-n-t-e-n-s-e.

Thank you, DC, for a great night and great company!

I loved every minute of it.

I just can't!

My inner perfectionist is rearing its ugly head.

I cannot bring myself to start my daughter's baby album. (Yes, I know she is three and I do not need your criticism, thankyouverymuch).

I have beaucoup supplies. I bought the monogrammed album when she was two weeks old. I have opened it probably 15 times in the last two weeks, just staring at the smooth, cold, pristine page protectors. I have gathered the perfect embellishments. My mom has a Cricut and I'm poised and ready to use it. I have a huge scrap stack of coordinating floral and pastel totally girly paper.

I can't do it.

I have downloaded all the layouts that interest me. I checked out a Becky Higgins Sketches book from the library for ideas. I have perused the Creating Keepsakes website till my eyes were numb. I pulled out all my Simple Scrapbooks mags that I have been keeping for such a time as this.

So why is it so hard?

I'm afraid it won't be perfect. I waited nearly nine years to get my girl and I dream of beautiful handcrafted memory books. As long as I don't have the pressure of doing them.

I know, I know. She will love it no matter what. I KNOW! It's me I'm trying to impress. I am struggling so hard with this. I am well aware that it is insanity, but it's the darn truth and I'm admitting it.

Yep, hail on the tulips.

Dontcha love spring?

5 minute sink

So simple and makes so much sense. Read this.

In my quest for a cleaner, emptier sink, I am definitely adopting this method.

Who What When Where

Where is your cell phone? In the front pocket of my purse. Drives my sisters crazy, cause a lot of times it's not on me.
Your significant other? Teaching a bunch of 14 yr olds.
Your hair? Not bad. Need to get a straightener, though.
Your mother? Vegas on a trip.
Your father? Vegas, same trip.
Your favorite thing? a clean house
Your dream last night? I was making imprinted wax letters for my daughter's scrapbook. No, I'm not kidding.
Your favorite drink? Caffeine Free Mountain Dew
Your dream/goal? Raise children who do the right thing for the right reasons.
The room you’re in? The loft/computer nook.
Your ex? Na-da.
Your fear? Something happening to my husband.
Where do you want to be in 6 years? In a bigger house.
Where were you last night? Home. American Idol, baby.
What you’re not? Patient.
Muffins? Love them and make them all the time.
One of your wish list items? A craft room.
Where you grew up? State College, PA. Humid, green and gorgeous.
The last thing you did? Asked Jedi to get moving on getting his bedroom done.
What are you wearing? Pj's.
Your TV? Getting old. Really only used for movies till evening where we might watch a show or a ball game.
Your pets? 1 cat. Don't like him, but at least I have no mice.
Your computer? Dell, bought last year. Great so far and the FLAT SCREEN 21 IN MONITOR is to die for.
Your life? Incredibly blessed. Ten times more than what I deserve.
Your mood? Optimistic. It's the start of a new day.
Missing someone? My oldest. Potter is on the Vegas trip.
Your car? Ha ha, old Plymouth Voyager minivan. Works great for us and I love no car payment!
Something you’re not wearing? socks.
Favorite store? Target, Tai Pan Trading, Roberts Crafts, Amazon.
Your summer? Way too long and way too hot.
Like someone? I like people who read this blog and pretend they enjoy it.
Your favorite color? Navy Blue.
When is the last time you laughed? about an hour ago.
Last time you cried? Last night getting ready for bed (doesn't take much, but I was missing Potter)
Who will repost this? Maybe my sisters. Maybe Sonja or Rachael. Doesn't matter; I enjoyed it.

Talk about purses

Let's talk about purses. Over at the Lazy Organizer, Talk about Tuesday is showing off your purse. And its organization. But I'm not that brave.

I will never show you the insides, but I will show you my favorites, though. I'm a bit obsessive about my purses. I am picky about them, but never spend a lot either. They are stylish but practical unorganized bargains, I suppose.

Here are several that I love. I switch out every couple weeks. The cream colored one is very roomy, like a tote. The chocolate brown one was a birthday gift from my sister. I use it more than the others and is the perfect everyday purse. The dark denim one is from my kids a few years ago for Mother's Day. I will always love it.
But this is my baby. Totally my favorite. I love the color & all the storage. It is very roomy inside; enough for a library book, water bottle, and even lunch if I want. I really really love it.
The best part is the large pouches on each side. Can throw my phone, keys, whatever in there.

This is my everything wallet. I just transfer this from bag to bag when I switch. The other pens tissues, tic tacs and reciepts just remain in each one. :)

What does your purse look like? Why do you love it?

Monday: BBQ spare ribs, sour cream cheesy potatoes, corn

Tuesday: Meatball mini subs, chips, jello w/ fruit

Wednesday: Ham and Cheese Bowties, peas

Thursday: Sloppy joes, baked fries, peaches

Friday: Sesame Chicken, rice, broccoli

Saturday: Enchiladas with salad

Sunday: Ham Pot Pie (Pennsylvania Dutch Stew)

Randomness

First-

Princess: I want some more cereal
Potter: No, you've had enough
Princess: But I have a busy day!

Second-

And, surprise! I pulled out an old purse to start using again....

Five bucks!

And lastly-
Touching story. Read here.

Are we there yet?

Oh boy.

My Potter gets to have a fun little vacation this week. He gets to go to Vegas with the grandparents.

Only they leave tomorrow. And he's been ready for a week. And gives me hourly countdowns. Why didn't my mom just wait till today to invite him?

Five minutes ago: "My cheeks hurt from smiling so much!"

Five hours ago: "Why are you guys sleeping so long? I've been up since 3 am! Oh, and I made a list of activities I can do on the trip."

Five days ago: "Mom! I'm packed already! I emptied out my Spy Case put all my clothes in there!"

This is going to be a long day....

Around the world

I did it! In the last week I finally had my first blog visit from someone in Bulgaria. Why does that matter? Strider served a 2 year mission for our church there 14 years ago and I have always considered it so cool, but so obscure. So I keep checking my blog stats to see if anyone there ever stops by, and they DID! :)

Time to take stock again

Now that the snow is melted and the birds are making their nests, January seems like a LONG time ago. Remember those goals?

How are your resolutions?

Here are the goals I have kept going or started so far this year:


2008

drink more water

eat breakfast

exercise three times a week

read the Book of Mormon every day

read Bible daily (as much as possible)

pray morning and night on my knees

read BOM one time before Stake Conference

finish at least one book every month (averaging about three)

back into scrapbooking (LOVING it!)

established daily duties expected from the kids - going quite well

teach children responsibility through consistency and natural consequences

trying to love and enjoy my children conciously every day

being a better visiting teacher and more timely with appointments

NEXT on tap...

Read Ensign and Relief Society lessons more

Get back into daily and weekly homemaking schedules that work

Keeping the sink clean

Use new-found hobbies as more of a reward for tasks completed (A.K.A willpower)

Tell me what you've accomplished so far this year. Or what you're working toward!



Visit Lara to make some Smart Habits!

I've done 5 scrapbook pages in the last day! I'm on a roll. That brings my total for the last year to...um, five.

WooHoo

Thankful Thursdays

My sister's friend does special

Thursday posts about gratitude,

and I thought it was a good day

for me to try it.

Here are some things that make me happy:

tulips
homemade bread
freshly cut grass
sunsets
scrapbooking
parades
pink toenails
babies
taking a great photo
fun crafts
new shoes
date night
surprises
Sunday afternoons
earrings
decluttering
my kids laughing
heavy snowfall
clearance bins
hearing "I love you"
games with family
holding hands
to-do lists
tweezed eyebrows
fireworks
buying ribbon
home movies
an empty sink
cute purses
reading a page turner
caller ID
crunchy fall leaves
kleenex
choc & pb
payday
reading blogs
football
shaved legs
singing in a choir
Crystal Light
the library
favorite shows on DVD
browsing magazines
Relief Society
little arm hugs
breath mints
no waiting in line
wrapping gifts
cooking for my family




I am thankful for so many things in my life. I am richly blessed! I appreciate the little things that come my way and I pray I may notice and be grateful even more often.

Caterpillars and swings

81 degrees. That was our temp yesterday afternoon. Today, not so much. More like 50. But for one day the shorts were out. For one day we went to the park and swung and swung and swung. I brought along some magazines to read while the kids played. But I never opened even one of them.

I'm not a very hands-on mom. I'm more of the go-ahead!-mommy-will-watch-you kind of mom. But yesterday my kids were having their first trip to the park of the year and I wanted to experience it with them. I couldn't tear myself away from watching Potter give up his swing to Princess AND push her, and Bugs be sneaky and start a game of tag. I was enthralled when Jedi pull out some saved candy from his pocket to share it with everyone else, and when Princess climbed way higher than I thought she could or wanted her to. I loved seeing them catch the squirmy green caterpillar and vow to keep it till it formed its chrysallis.

It was glorious and I soaked it in.

These moments are fleeting and I'm glad I paused long enough to notice.

Go JAZZ Go

It's nearly playoff time, and things are getting exciting if you are a Jazz fan. My generous little brother took me to the final home game last night and it was so great. Here are a few pics of the fun night. Thanks, Dave!

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 85 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Bees Vs. Portland

Before the game, Strider walked the boys down to get gloves and a bat signed.
Potter showing his autograph.
Bugs with the bat.
Patriotic Princess during the national anthem.
Jedi with a high five to the Bees mascot.

It was pretty chilly, plus we were in the shade. Great if it was July. Not so much in April.
A foul ball hit this portal sign and would have smacked me in the face otherwise. Wow!

Oh yeah...we won :)

Tonight is Stake Temple night for our stake. I was asked last night to lead the music in the chapel session. In the temple! I'm terrified petrified a bit nervous. But I figure I will just wing it the best I can.

Tomorrow we are headed to the ballpark for an opening weekend Bees game. We went to two last year and had a pretty good time. I'm excited!

And after that is the adult session of Stake Conference (always the best) and I am in the choir for the general session on Sunday. We are doing two fairly simple but beautiful songs. I feel bad for making Strider do the kiddos by himself. Only a little bad, though.

Thursday ramblings

This has been a good week so far. The boys are home, being off track till the end of the month. That presents more chaos around here, but it's fun at the same time.





I've been enjoying my new haircut and I'm slowly figuring out how to do it.


I registered my baby for preschool this morning!! Yes, my baby! I can seriously not believe it. With the boys all in school full time next year it will be great to have her get the social aspect of kids her age and the structure school provides. It's only a few hours a week, so I won't miss her too badly. I will be able to help a ton in the class, too! It has been ages since I could really be an involved mom in the classroom because I always had another baby right behind.


Of course yesterday I had no idea where Princess' birth certificate was, so I had to go to the county office and get another one. But PHEW. Thanks to a flexible sister and fifteen bucks, we're good now.


I have Activity Days today and I'm not prepared, which is unlike me. I have a theme, and I think I know what craft to do, but I haven't pulled it together yet and I'm running out of time. It shoud be fun, though! We have another 8 yr old, so our group is getting quite big. About 7 months ago they combined the older and younger age groups, so sometimes it's hard to corral them all, and to teach an 8 yr old the same as an 11 yr old. We'll see how it goes.

I baked Apple Brown Betty with the kids yesterday.

Here they are helping layer the bits of bread and apple slices.

It was fun. Even though I may have gotten just a bit frustrated with the chunks that were too big. Or the tiny fingers snatching chunks of brown sugar off the table. I know, I need to relax.

It felt really good to get my room clean this week. Think it needed it?



So peaceful now. And it's been three days. I wonder how long it will last...




I figured out the problem. My room was the everything room. The laundry room, the family room, the playroom, the TV room. Since I usually had a three year old between Strider and I, it was even a kids bedroom. But I have made some changes, other than just cleaning it. I am making a better effort to get Princess in her bed ALL the time. I have moved fun videos to the downstairs TV, with very few exceptions. No kids unless invited in, and NO toys.

I think we have earned the right to have our own room! And I know it will be good for the marriage, too. More than anything, I want the kids to respect our space as our own, and it starts with me setting boundaries. I'll let you know how it goes. :)