look mom! no hands!

He has been doing a lot of this:

for a long time now. A few days ago he took one or two steps. Then today, Dave was with him in the nursery and he really started walking.

One week before his birthday. Crawling is still definitely easier and faster for him but I'm sure it won't be long before he's running with the rest of the crazies around here.

falling into autumn

We drove the Alpine Loop on Monday for FHE. Unfortunately we got a late start and the light was pretty much gone when we started. We stopped one time but it was so cold no one wanted to stay out of the car for long.

It was totally dark as we came down by Sundance and out Provo Canyon. Sawyer and Nathan slept almost the entire time. Slade snoozed at the end. We tried to stop by Dave's parent's house to get them out and awake but they weren't home. Instead we came home and they stayed up until 11:00.

On Tuesday morning, I woke up to the thermostat reading 63 degrees and I had to turn on the heater for the first time. We also did the great clothes change-over. Summer clothes all got packed away and the fall clothes are out. Nathan and Sawyer are totally set. Emma needs a few long-sleeved shirts, a pair of jeans and black pants. Slade had practically nothing.

We went to a Harvest Party with a homeschool support group. There were lots of crafts and activities which the boys ignored. Instead the ran around all loud and crazy throwing a ball at each other and sliding along the wood floor on their socks. It was a proud parenting moment!

Thursday was no fun. I felt like all I did was go from one mess to another. We started out going downstairs to clean up the basement so it would be ready for Kids Company that afternoon. This should have been a small task. Instead it took the rest of the morning to finish. The biggest problem was trying to unplug the toilet. Apparently Slade tried to send a makeup brush to the ocean (ala Finding Nemo) and no amount of plunging is working. At lunch, Dave used the plastic "snake" thing and an auger (which we had from when Nathan put a ball in there) to try and fix it but had no luck. He says we will have to take off the toilet or something. Do your kids put things in the toilet or am I the only lucky one?

I took the boys to Target while Emma was at her cooking class. Nathan fell asleep in the car. I was sure he would wake up when I got him out but he remained soundly asleep in my arms. I finally put him in the back of the cart with his head on my purse and he continued to sleep for another half hour. I outfitted Slade for fall, bought a birthday present, diapers, a few food items, and spent almost $200. How does this happen? The rest of the day did finish okay. I taught Kids Company, made Hashbrown Casserole for dinner, got off the computer early and read a bit. Dave also was wonderful to me and mopped the floor since I mentioned earlier in the day that I had to do it. I LOVE HIM!

Today has been a lovely fall day. The windows are open. There is a cool breeze blowing. My house smells of the best chocolate chip cookies. The kids are playing outside with friends. I folded AND put away three loads of laundry. And I get to go on a date tonight with my husband to see my brother perform in World of Dance. I love good days like this.

a good Sabbath indeed

I discovered a few things. The trick to Slade and Nathan sitting quietly through Sacrament meeting is to put them on opposite ends of the bench. The trick to a few calm, controlled moments in my Primary class is playing 20 Questions and sitting boy/girl in Sharing Time. I came home from church feeling more uplifted than I have felt in a long time.

Colin, Keri and family all came over for dinner. While Colin and Dave ate with my kids, I went and did a quick "just for fun" photo shoot with Keri's family. We didn't have great light and the rain cut it short but I got a few good ones. And of course, I learned a lot.

We came home to delish tacos and pumpkin roll. We entertained ourselves with lots of technological toys--two computers, Game Cube, Nintendo DS, and a portable CD player. Just as we were going to sit down to some good old-fashioned fun with card games, we noticed the time was late and had to break up the party.

On the schedule for this week: Girl Scouts, violin, Irish, soccer practices, soccer games, teaching piano lessons, cooking class, a birthday party and World of Dance.

I love fall

Fall is in full swing--soccer, football, rain, mountains bright with color. We started the day with Slade's soccer game. He still isn't very excited about playing but his time on the field is increasing. Unless he gets kicked. Then, he just walks off the field and pouts. It was frustrating. I missed the Homecoming parade for this?

We came home and blitzed the house for fifteen minutes. Actually, we got finished in less than ten. The power of fifteen minutes. That is a whole blog post in itself. We ate a quick lunch and headed off to Emma's game which was at noon. My sweet husband, devoted father that he is, chose to watch Emma's game instead of getting to the BYU football game on time. That is true love.

We headed off shortly after 1:00. It was nice to have missed the traffic. We also missed almost the entire first half so there is a definite trade-off. As we were walking in to the stadium, a woman told us to hop in her car and she gave us a ride the rest of the way. She told us we were her 14th shuttle of the day. She had dropped her family off and just kept shuttling others. Now that was an awesome random act of kindness. I stopped to fill our water jug and turned around to see Lucy standing across the way. So fun to see her and recognize her and be able to carry on a conversation with someone I don't really know. I love blogging. How about lunch next time, Lucy?

Though rain is something I love in fall, I really could have done without it during the football game. Note to self, buy a poncho. I wasn't miserable though. Once we got through all the traffic from the game, Dave and I finished off our date at the Purple Turtle with a burger, fries and a milkshake. Good stuff. We came home to find happy kids and all my laundry folded. I love this babysitter. Finally, after several others like this, a babysitter to love.

To end the day, we went to Dave's sisters and played Apples to Apples. Having family close is so wonderful sometimes. Keri and family are coming over tomorrow. Hopefully, I can get through Primary without disaster so I can count it as a blessed Sabbath.

busy baby boy

fish tale

We met Dave's family in Provo Canyon tonight for Family Home Evening. My nephew, Austin wanted to fish. Dave is not a fisherman or hunter. He just can't stand the thought of killing the animal once its caught. Yet, nice Uncle Dave got everything set up and got him started, thinking there was no way he would actually catch one.

Little did he know that Austin was fishing in a stocked lake where the sign says "Fishing Only for Children Under 12 or Handicapped". Within minutes Austin was reeling in his catch.

The idea was to release the fish back into the water. However, Dave had never de-hooked a fish before and I guess there is some skill to that task. It was not a quick release and the fish went belly up though still lightly breathing. Poor Dave. He felt terrible. Dave was getting ready to pull it back out of the water so we could at least kill it humanely and dispose of it. Just then it started to swim again and moved itself far enough away that it was out of reach. Everyone watched the poor fish dying a slow death. It was still wiggling as we left but I don't think there was much hope for it.

Dave siezed the teaching moment and taught our FHE lesson on being kind to animals. The kids were convinced that Dave had killed the fish by squishing it too hard, so it was tricky. The kids enjoyed yelling out "NO!" to "Do we kick dogs?"and other such questions. Nathan chimed in with, "When you hit a dog with a bat, they don't like that." He also informed us that he likes to eat little bears and horse too. I'm pretty sure I've never served horse or bear....

thirty-three

There are thirty-three billion reasons why we love you. Happy Birthday, Davey Boy!

SPT-childhood memories

For this week's assignment go here.

While I did go through all the emotional schtuff that most experience at school (making friends, fitting in), I look back rather fondly at my school years. I am a geek. I love learning. I love books, writing, tests even. I succeeded in school academically. Even now I miss learning in a classroom and think it would be the best thing to go back to college. Indeed, a geek.

I skipped kindergarten.
In first grade, I can remember wiping glue off my hands underneath my desk and being reprimanded by the teacher. And the most beautiful girl in my class had long, blonde hair and really cute clothes. Her name was Jody.
We moved to CO in second grade. My only memory of second grade is peeing my pants because I was scared to ask the teacher if I could go when I obviously needed to because she had said there would be no bathroom breaks.
I got the part of Dorothy in our school's production of the Wizard of Oz in third grade. I was teased endlessly about being the teacher's pet because I had already sung a solo in the Christmas production. When I sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow the pianist forgot that he was supposed to play a lower note on ".....just beyond the rain". He instead played the high note and so I vocally slid my way up the scale to follow. I was so embarrassed.
I had Mrs. White in fourth grade. I loved her. She hated snow. She came to see me perform with Our Gang Singers at the Safari Club.
I watched the Challenger Explosion on TV in Mr. Kaslau's class in fifth grade.
I got my first C in sixth grade because I chose not to complete a major assignment, just because I didn't want to. I also read Gone with the Wind for the first time.
I was bored out of my mind in the beginning orchestra in seventh grade since I had been playing cello for two years already. I really loved Mr. McNeal though. He made everything fun.
I took Humanities in eighth grade and it is still one of my favorite classes ever. We mocked Mrs. Guest behind her back but she was a truly fabulous teacher. Our final test for the English portion was to complete a sentence diagram of the preamble of the Constitution.

In ninth grade, I felt like I finally fit in (mostly) with the popular kids. I had the biggest crush on Jeff Woodmansee. I even asked him to a dance. Brave of me. My best friend was Jenny Rejeske who believed she was a reincarnated brontosaurus.
So many memories of high school. Most of them good. I got my braces off in tenth grade. I had my first experience with a really gorgeous boy thinking I was cute. Ben Mishnik. He was so fine!
During my junior year, I dated Jaime Hancock (smoker, jerk and all around bad boy). What was I thinking!? Made some really great friends through choir/orchestra/theater who stuck with me through that relationship. Dated Chris Carlson the rest of the year. Vast improvement.

Senior year, I played the role of Little Red in Into the Woods. Such a fantastic experience. My mom made me go to senior prom with someone else (because he asked first and he was an answer to her prayer that some nice boy would ask me), only to find out Craig Michoski(!!!) was going to ask me the next day. Ended up dating Craig until I left for college. Craig's dad was my very favorite teacher of all. He called me short little Mormon person.

After doing this assignment, I now know that most of my childhood pictures have not been scanned. Need to work on that. Thanks for taking this trip down memory lane with me.

to the birthday girl

thanks for forgiving me for stealing all your clothes and hiding them in such great places

thanks for getting together with my family so often

thanks for letting me take your picture

thanks for encouraging me in everything I do

thanks for teasing Slade about being your nephew forever

thanks for loving my other kids too

thanks for having such a fun sense of style

thanks for teaching my Primary class that Sunday

thanks for having a blog and making me laugh so often

thanks for loving me and for being my friend

thanks for being you

and for so much more...

Happy Birthday!

flashback

I have been working all weekend on editing our pictures for this year so I can get them printed. It is always fun to look back and see how much your kids have grown. Emma still had teeth. Nathan still had a pacifier (oh wait, he STILL has his pacifier). Sawyer had no hair. Slade looks like Slade. As my sister likes to say, Slade has looked the same since he was two. He just gets taller. Pictures from Jan-March 2007.

a day at the zoo

Yesterday was a free day at the zoo with our Tracy Aviary pass. We met Dave's sister, Katie, up there. It was the perfect day to go. The weather was divine with just a hint of chill in the air. Emma wrote down some of the animals we saw.

A favorite spot, especially for Slade, is the giant elephant that sprays water as it sneezes.

Emma got soaked. I love these pictures as she goes from being timid to bold about it.

We left about two so I could get back in time to teach Kids Company. We enjoyed the day. Emma thinks anything out and about is fun. Slade got lost only once (when he went back to the spraying elephant). Sawyer was an angel. Nathan didn't have a meltdown until we were on our way out and he promptly fell asleep in the car. It is always so nice when little outings like this leaving me feeling "good mother"ish instead of frazzled.

friends in the park

We met another homeschooling family in our ward at the park on Wednesday. Just a quick picnic. Talking. Kids running around. They couldn't stay long but I stayed for awhile to let the kids play. There was another family there and the mother looked somewhat familiar to me but I couldn't place it. Finally she said, "Are you a folkdancer?" I was still trying to place her because all I could think of was that she sounded just like my daughter's Irish dance teacher. So I said that name and she laughed and said that is her sister. Then it all came together.


It was Johanna Edlinger who had moved to Utah just three days ago. It was really fun to see her and catch up a bit. Turns out she is a homeschooler too with four kids who are all about a year younger than mine. We exchanged contact info so hopefully we'll meet up again sometime. What a nice day at the park.

football, family, food, furniture, and fun

Friday night was our ward campout. We camped in the way I love the best. We went up in the late afternoon. The kids and Dave went on several "explorations". Sawyer crawled around in the dirt. I visited with friends. We sang fun camp songs when we gathered together as a ward, including the Cougar fight song. Then, I left Dave up there with the three older kids to sleep in a tent (sadly, on an air mattress that leaked) and I came home with the baby and slept in my own bed.My mom came into town late Friday night. We sat and talked for a while Saturday morning until Dave and kids got home. Then she left to go do a marathon shopping trip with big sister at IKEA. Seriously, they were there for five hours. That would have been torture to me.

Dave and I joined the throngs of fans cheering on the team at Lavell Edwards Stadium. GO COUGARS! We parked WAY too far away and the walk in to the stadium about did me in. I was so tired the rest of the game I could hardly focus. In the third quarter I probably spent more time watching the hawkers (Hey Colin) than the game. I simply cannot handle heat.

BYU photo, Mark Philbrick

Dave did enough cheering and analyzing the game for the both of us. He is definitely not a silent observer.

On Sunday, we were all gussied up so Mom took some pictures. Aren't we cute?

I survived another week of Primary. It was another week when inactivity seems really tempting. Later that evening, Dashing Darrell and the Lovely One hosted a family get together.

There was lots of good food, including lots and lots of cookies. Mmmmmm. We talked. We laughed. We took a lot of pictures.We modeled Aunt Laurie's cute aprons.

There was more good food to be had on Monday. Mom, Keri and I went to Bajio. It was my first time there. I much prefer Cafe Rio, except for the noticeable lack of a line at Bajio. Then we came home and talked while we waited and waited and waited for Mom's friend to pick her up. Too much time waiting gave Mom too much time to think so she suggested we rearrange some furniture in my family room. First it was the couches, then the TV stand, then the bookshelves. Although Dave thought it was great because it was different, I did not like it and everything went back in its original spot. We also moved the computer armoire into the corner. Heave. Pull. Shove. Groan. Much work to get it there, only for me to say I did not like it. Heave. Pull. Shove, Groan. Much work to put it back where it started. Dave loves me. He. So. Totally. Loves. Me! Sorry to report though, Mom, that the family room is exactly as it was before.

We finished our long weekend over at the Daniels' to celebrate Tyler's first birthday.

Well, I guess long weekends make for long posts. The rest of this week is busy. Fall activities are in full swing.