snippets of my life

I had this conversation with Emma today as we were working out of her grammar book:

E: Is that book ours? Like to keep forever?
me: Yes.
E: So I could use it someday when I homeschool my kids?
me: Yes, you could. You want to homeschool your kids? I thought you didn't like homeschool?
E: Well, I don't. But I want to homeschool my kids.

I thought it was sweet. Gave me hope that perhaps she won't resent me for homeschooling her after all. And I really loved it when she came and showed me "emma loves her mom" spelled with magnets on a cookie sheet.

Emma had her second violin lesson today. The teacher keeps commenting about how quickly she is picking everything up. She got to hold the violin tonight with her chin. Her teacher said, "I have never seen a child hold it so long on the first time." I am sure it is largely because she is older but it must also be because she is brilliant, right?! It is so fun for me to watch her. I am so very grateful for the part music has played in my life. I am thrilled to see Emma beginning to experience the same thing. And I am getting one step closer to the Daniel Family Band!

Emma and Slade both had soccer practice today. The way they react to the reminder that they have soccer practice is a perfect example of their differing personalities. Emma begins asking if its time to get ready and time to go, over and over again. Slade immediately says he is NOT going. At his game on Saturday, he played for about three minutes, walked off the field and said, "I'm done." So I'm thinking sports aren't really his thing. The moment he gets hot he shuts down. Sadly, he gets that from me. This picture is very misleading because he spent most of the game half-heartedly running behind all the other players or on the sideline. This was his one breakaway moment where the ball just happened to end up in front of him. He nearly scored but it bounced off the corner of the goal.

Perhaps, swimming will be his sport. Speaking of swimming, I am very sad that our swim season is over. Not because our pass expired but because of cryptosporidium. Darn parasite. My children are banned! I think Sawyer may actually have this little bug in his system. We've had lots of yucky diapers around here.

We are slowly getting back into our normal school routine. There are still mornings when we get sidetracked. And I have only been able to enjoy "quiet time" in the afternoon once. We'll get there. Most of my time is spent cleaning up. Cereal all over the floor, a huge bottle of bubbles dumped out in the garage, pudding/dirt/rocks all over the front porch, and on and on and on. My mantra is: they won't be little forever, they won't be little forever....

In the meantime I am trying to choose happiness, find joy in the journey, blah blah blah.

tales from the grocery store

My friend sent me this ebay listing for Pokemon cards. The item description is totally hysterical and all too familiar. And those ordinary Pokemon cards sold for $142.51. Check it out here and enjoy!

tying the knot

Dave's brother, Mark, now has a beautiful wife at his side. It was a truly lovely day.
















picture by Dave

Oh, and I lied. I didn't wear pink after all.

together

Dave and I got to go on a date tonight. I wanted to use my gift certificates that were so sweetly given to me by the Linders for taking their pictures. However, Dave is not feeling very well. Instead we went to the library. I had such an awful experience with one local library last year so I chose a library in a different city. I hope it will be better. I love the library. And bookstores. I just feel happy the moment I walk in. And if I can leisurely peruse the shelves with my husband rather than chasing kids, it is truly bliss. I didn't have a list with me of things to get so I got the few that I could remember wanting to read. Yes, I think I am going to like this library.

Next, we headed to Target so I could get a pink sweater. I don't wear pink. Except for tomorrow. Because tomorrow is the first day of forever for Mark and Angie. For them, I wear pink.

photos taken in June

in search of routine

What I want my day to look like:
6:00 wake, exercise, shower, scriptures, check email
8:30 kids wake up, make bed, get dressed, tidy room, chores, breakfast, piano/violin practice
10-12 schoolwork
12 lunch
1 quiet time
2 free time
6 dinner prep, blitz the house
6:30 dinner
8 snack, PJs, brush teeth, read books, SSP (scriptures, song, prayer)
9 bedtime for kids
10:30 bedtime for me

I have had that schedule posted on the fridge for weeks now. We are slowly working our way into it but I need to get in gear and make better choices. Lately, I wake up whenever Sawyer wakes up. Today it was 7:00. I eat breakfast, read my scriptures though sadly its in a rather half-hearted way, check e-mail, waste time on the computer. The kids wake up anywhere between 7 and 9 most days. Sometime in the morning I manage to get a shower. The kids get dressed by 10 most days. We have been getting schoolwork done about every third day lately. We did do it today. Yay! Friends were over before lunch today since a few still aren't in school. They play. I seem to spend the rest of the afternoon finding something to eat for hungry kids, cleaning up messes, and wasting a lot more time on the computer. I am pretty good at getting dinner ready on time because of my menu planning. In the evening, we run errands, watch a movie, read books, waste more time on the computer. We have been doing great with getting the kids to bed on time. Then, its back to the computer usually until way too late.

I think I am addicted to the computer. I read my email. I blog. I read blogs. I search for things on Google. I check my bank statements. I edit pictures. I waste a lot of time. This is something I need to work on. I know I feel a lot better about myself and my day when I do other things. Lately, I just have felt a little lost as to what other thing I should be doing. I think the kids see far too much of my back while I'm sitting at the computer. Yes, this is definitely something I need to work on. I think the computer is awesome. Most of the things I do on the computer are good and worthwhile. I just need to limit my time. Focus my time. Then get off and do something else!

today I....

...had my carpets cleaned. I love what a difference it made in the feel of my family room. I love clean!

...changed 7 stinky diapers. What!? Of course there were no stinky diapers to be found when Daddy was around to change them.

...cut the hair of three of my darling boys. Sawyer's curls remain in tact though.

...took Emma to her very first violin lesson. She was so excited. She learned how to place her feet, the "Mississippi hot dog" rhythm for Twinkle, how to bow and say "Thank you for teaching me." I learned how to help her position her bow. Of course since I am, well was a cellist it was no big deal. We're flying through this violin stuff. She'll be playing concertos in no time. Hah!

...mopped my very, very dirty kitchen floor

...folded six loads of laundry. I failed to get them put away though. That is my downfall every time.

....took way too many short snoozes on the couch because I was so tired after staying up too late last night.

...didn't get any schoolwork done with Slade and Emma. I was planning to get back into our regular schedule since school started for the rest of the neighborhood today. However, I didn't factor in the noise of the carpet cleaner. By the time he was finished it was lunchtime. And then all the kindergartners and younger siblings who weren't in school were over to play. Better luck tomorrow.

What did you do today?

time flies....

It's amazing how time can sometimes get away from you. I haven't been doing anything too crazy or exciting but I looked and suddenly its been ten days since I updated the blog. Man. Lots of catching up to do. Since I can't come up with a cohesive way to recap, here are random tidbits.

I was able to enroll the three older kids in swimming lessons all at the same time. They loved their lessons and they loved the fact that it got us to the pool nearly everyday for two weeks. Sawyer doesn't like the water all that much. He gets in for about five minutes and then spends the rest of the time crawling around the pavement. My favorite kind of swimming is when Dave comes to join us for Family Home Evening and he swims with all the kids while I read a magazine by the side of the pool.


There has been a lot of playing with friends and cousins. We enjoyed a visit from some of our Boise friends. How lucky to have friendships that continue over time and distance. All the kids got along really well. They covered the porch in mud, played a lot of house and Three Bears imagination games. Sara and Tessa got Emma to pull her other front tooth out (and when the Tooth Fairy forgot to come AGAIN, they told her that sometime the Tooth Fairy does that). The bigger accomplishment is that they got Emma to wear her hair in a French braid one day and pigtails the next. My Emma, who will never ever let me do her hair, wore a braid all day. And looked totally cute too.

I went up to Park City last Monday to take pictures for the Linder family reunion (my sister's husband's family). It was a great opportunity for me to work with a crowd in a not so ideal location. I learned a lot and it was fun. I took more on Friday by the temple. Again not an ideal location but it worked. I think they were happy for the most part and I am grateful for the experience. To see some of the pictures go here.

I got to sing with my sisters in my ward yesterday. We missed you though, Merrit. I like Keri's recap. We totally didn't think to take a picture. Sad.

After church we had what I called Experimental Chicken, cooked in the crockpot, which turned out okay. The boys entertained themselves with the computer and video games. Emma and Josh went rock hunting. Keri and I laid around and talked about how to rearrange her whole house. I came up with a brilliant plan. Dave snoozed. And Michael did his best to gain favorite uncle status.

Emma and I drove up to Salt Lake later that night to watch High School Musical 2 at Keri's. We were all really annoyed with the sing-along subtitles. The first half was rather ho-hum but the whole thing was redeemed in the second half. I loved the baseball number. And I admit my heart did a little pitter-patter watching Zac Efron. Except for his eyebrows.

Today I face about six loads of laundry, a kitchen floor that is crying out to be mopped, and one last day of summer frolic. Tomorrow is the beginning of our crazy fall--two kids in soccer, Irish dance, violin, Kids Company, football season (Go Cougars!), and two kids officially to homeschool. Bring it on.

circle redo

I originally just stuck the circles on the wall with double-sided tape. I didn't really think it would hold long but I wanted to get a feel for how it would look. So last night, Dave and I used wallpaper glue to make them really stuck. Now you know how I did it. Go do some yourself! You know you want to.

the little guy

Sawyer is ten months old now. He is a speed crawler. Emma and Slade were walking by now. He doesn't look too close to that though he does pull himself up and he likes to walk while we hold his hands. He is starting to shun baby food. He wants things he can feed to himself--cut up fruit, crackers, pieces of cheese. He has been a bit sick this week though. He threw up on me three days in a row. That was fun. Today he isn't sick just grumpy. I took these yesterday just for fun and practice.

this is the place

Judging by the last three years, we like to move in August. In 2004 we moved from Boise, ID, to Manassas, VA. Dave took a position at Micron's VA location. It was a two-year temporary assignment so we rented our house in Boise, put a bunch of stuff in storage and moved across the country. Our first home in Virginia was a three-bedroom apartment on the third floor. With three kids. Not fun. Because we were being housed in corporate housing, we thought we were going to be stuck in that apartment for two years. Fortunately we were able to make arrangements to move into a house. It was lovely. In Virginia you can rent a lot more house than you can afford to buy. Sadly we had crazy, awful landlords (LONG story) and ended up moving August 2005 into another house on the other side of the neighborhood. We enjoyed that house (after we got rid of all the cockroaches! EEEWWW!!!) and were lucky to have Dave's sister live with us for the year.

When Dave's assignment ended in Virginia, we didn't feel the desire to return to Boise. Instead he took a position with IM Flash, Micron and Intel's joint venture, in Lehi. We spent a fantastic week driving across country, seeing the sights and visiting family. We arrived in Utah in time to celebrate the International Folk Dancers 50th year. Then we had a Daniel Family reunion the last week of July. We were officially moved into the new house the first week of August 2006. Now here we are a year later. Thankfully, were are not moving this year. Three Augusts in a row (with a January thrown in too) was quite enough.

We were sad to leave Virginia. I miss all the trees. I miss being able to go see places like this:


I definitely DO NOT miss the humidity, the traffic or having to take cross-country plane rides with 3 small children to see family.

I never thought I would return to live in Utah after graduating from BYU. I confess, it's still hard to admit that we might end up here for a very long time. Here are some of the things I am not enjoying about Utah:
--the lack of trees (especially in my backyard)
--the local library
--that there are so many people here for family and friends to visit that they don't come just to see me
--my calling

On a positive note, Utah has been great in a lot of ways. Things I am enjoying about Utah:
--my neighborhood and house (though it is still largely undecorated a year later there is so much potential and I have big plans!)
--walking to church around the corner and driving five minutes to the temple
--BYU (we got our season football tickets right away when we decided to move, and we have also enjoyed going to World of Dance, Christmas Around the World, etc.)
--cool summer nights
--good friends in the neighborhood for my kids
--mountains
--LOTS of time spent with family
I know that there is much more to explore and enjoy here in Utah. I look forward to the many adventures ahead of us. I also know that so much of what has shaped my life this last year (photography, Kids Company, blogging) has been because I live here. Perhaps, this is the place after all. Well at least for now....

organizational bliss

I love organization. I love to read about it, figure out ways to do it, and thoroughly enjoy my house being organized. This weekend I felt that inner twitch that says its time to organize something.

I emptied most of the upstairs linen closet and moved the towels, air beds and such into an empty closet in the downstairs bathroom. Then I moved all the games which were in a closet in the playroom into the linen closet and put all our homeschooling stuff into that closet.

I added a bit of sunshine to finish it all. Remember this picture?

Well, I took that as my inspiration and cut lots of circles out of patterned paper and cardstock and put them on the wall. I think it turned out really cute and it makes me happy.

The best part of the day was when Slade came down and exclaimed, "Mom, you made it beautiful! You are so good at making things beautiful!" Aaaww.

look to the rainbow

We had a lovely down pouring of rain early this evening. My kids got to go out and play in it with the neighbors but I was making dinner so I missed the fun (and the pictures). After dinner though I walked down to get the mail. When I turned around to head home I saw this:


It was beautiful. I love how things look right after rain. It lifted my heart to take that little walk down the block, breathe in the fresh air and enjoy the beauty of my neighborhood.

Not much exciting happening around here. We went up to the Discovery Museum on Wednesday. We got free tickets through a homeschooling thing. And every other homeschooler in the state got free tickets too so it was packed. Crazy. We couldn't really enjoy it so we left and got ice cream. I turned around to let the poor gentleman stuck behind me with all my kids (plus an extra) as we were trying to figure out what to get. That gentleman turned out to be Peter Thunell, someone I knew way back in the day in Ft. Collins. His sister Kirsten was also there waiting outside. We got to chat for a bit while the kids ate and dripped there ice cream everywhere. In the end, the day did not turn out like I planned but I guess, since I only paid for ice cream and parking, it is okay. I think I will have to come back though and really check out the museum and perhaps even the fountains another time.

Emma and I went up to my sister's last night to watch So You Think You Can Dance. This was my second time watching it (we don't have TV) so I admit it wasn't all that exciting to me. Afterwards, we watched High School Musical on the Disney Channel. I love musicals. I grew up watching the classics--Singin' in the Rain, Funny Girl, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Oklahoma, On the Town...I think I am going to have to get some of these from Netflix and introduce them to Emma. I think she would really enjoy them. And for those of you who have seen it, should I or should I not take a 7 year old to see Hairspray?