Picture Updates

I think we have some major silliness headed our way.  6 wks old and already pulling faces for the camera. ;)

 Ahhh...six weeks with a baby.  Chloe is:
recognizing mom and dad's voices
eating  4 oz bottles
not really loving her baths
loves her changing table
that's where we do tummy time
is super snuggle
has those gorgeous dark blue baby eyes
sports the sweetest little cheeks you've ever kissed
can pull a pouty face like no one else has here
is super snugly
has her big brother wrapped around her little finger (and grandpa and dad and....)
is a complete joy to have in our family

 Sophie loves:
dressing herself
decorating Christmas trees (or doing anything else that requires attention to detail)
having friends come play at her new house in her new, big bedroom
her baby sister
Dale Twinkle (our Christmas elf)
Grampy (my dad)

 McKay is into:
1st grade (loves it)
making up games with "levels" in our new house (which also has many levels)
Polar Express
Singing
doing projects (like this fun sand art from cousin Kaylee)
his baby sister (I knew he'd fall in love when he met her)
Harry Potter

Lyndsi is:
nearly 9!  Impossible!!
a bit camera shy (unless it's her idea)
enjoying her bedroom on the same floor as everyone else
learning to do some simple gifts and sewing (and doing well at it!)
always dancing around the house
a leader, especially with her brother and sisters
starting to enjoy reading a bit more and doing it on her own without being asked.

I'm Still Alive

A week and a few days after moving in, I"m still alive.  Moving weekend was a bit stressful.  First-not knowing if everything would be closed and funded for 3 different families to simultaneously move.  Second-we ended up moving in on top of the former owners of this home.  The poor people had no extra help and were having to unload boxes at their new house before they could come back and get more.  We were blessed with lots of help, great people who not only helped us (thank you! thank you! thank you!) but also just jumped in and helped the other family too.  It was well after midnight that we went to bed here.  But, nearly everything was out of the old house and thanks to Lyndsi's help and my sister-in-law, Lisa's, help my kitchen was pretty well put away. 

How are things a week and half later? Well......the kids are still on mattresses on the floor.  There are still lots of boxes to unpack.  We haven't set foot inside any home improvement store to even start the process of choosing paint colors.  However, we do have both Christmas trees up, have hosted a small family party, set up the craft room, loaded the food storage shelves back up and moved the dog back home.  (Poor thing is a little confused about it all still.) 

With Christmas this weekend we've had a big slow down in setting up the house, but are really looking forward to being able to get it all done soon.  We've had lots of amazing help from good friends and family.  I feel so loved and blessed.  I have literally been moved to tears several times by the small random acts of kindness people have done for me and my family.  I was thinking it was all just coming from our family and old neighborhood, but we have received neighbor gifts from people in our new circle and from another family we don't know (but know aren't in the circle).  It makes me feel so good to know people here are aware of what's going on in the 'hood and are stepping up to help us feel welcome.  It's all been very humbling and I've realized just how far I still have to go to be who I want to be.

Moving Day!

I didn't know if it would happen this weekend.  We've had a crazy week trying to get closed and packed, etc.  But, everything came through fine in the end and we are moving today!  I'll be offline for a while til we get everything hooked up at our new place.  Call or text me instead of email/facebook if you need me.  See ya in the new house! (And yes, Em, there will be pictures of it soon.)

Packing is Messy

It feels like we've been boxing up our house since June.  Oh..lol..I have!  We had to box up loads of stuff to get our home ready to show.  That stuff we got to take to storage.  Out of sight out of mind.  Then we took a little break and spent 2-3 months keeping the house in tip-top shape.  A lot of work with 3 kids and life in general, but really nice.  A little time to do prep for the new baby.  Then we sold the house and all semblance of order fell apart.  There are boxes stacked everywhere.  Even if, between packing, Christmas-ing, and the baby, I wanted to vacuum I couldn't.  I can't find enough floor space to justify the effort. Jeff and I were talking about it.  He blamed the messiness on the kids.  With good reason.  They had left school stuff out and toys and coloring stuff, etc.  But, as I pointed out to him, take away the boxes and there wasn't much mess left to complain about. 

Yesterday I had a goal to get as much of the kitchen done as was reasonable.  With the help of Cami-a big check!  The other goal I had was to get my craft room all packed up.  I made decent progress, but ended up finishing this morning.  Of all the packed up spaces, right now this is my favorite.  It's stacked neatly, and the floor is vacuumed.  There is order. (Excuse the laundry.  That's the next batch in line.)

Now imagine the exact opposite of this room and you have the rest of the house.  ;)

Christmas Advent

I wasn't planning on doing an advent calendar this year.  I haven't really done one before, especially a really cute one with activities or even little treats for the kids.  They are ALL over blogland right now.  Something about having the house in boxes and no Christmas tree up (yet) is squelching the Christmas spirit 'round here.  It wouldn't be such a big deal, but my kids are at such a fun age.  After feeling a little sorry for myself, I thought, "Why can't I still do one?  So what if I start it on Dec. 6 instead of Dec. 1?!"  And so I got to work.

This is the finished result:

I did it all with the (very limited) supplies I had on hand and it took maybe 20 minutes.  It's not much to look at, but the kids were so excited when we hung it up. I also borrowed an idea from this post (thank Marlene!) and added a scripture for each day to help all of us learn a little more about Christ.

After dinner tonight we got to pull out the first slip.  We learned about how much Jesus loves the little children.  For our activity we made ourselves into festive little elves. We love doing crafts together, so it was a great way to kick of our little advent!

Lyndsi had her annual Christmas dance recital last night.  For the last 2 or 3 years their school has focused this performance on the Nutcracker.  Which in theory was a good idea.  But.  Her school also does a lot of jazz and hip hop besides ballet.  It was just too much.  This year the director opted to go back to just a plain ol' Christmas theme.  It was nice.  Really nice.  The show ran smooth and was pleasant to watch. 

Lyndsi did a great job!  Her class danced to "The First Noel" and she was so graceful.  I love watching her dance.  She just has this angelic expression on her face while she is dancing.  You can just tell she loves it.  She really enjoys her class and her teacher. 

(Sorry for the slightly goofy picture.  My flash wasn't working and I didn't want to hold up the rest of the family from leaving.  We'll try for a better one in the spring!)  

A Note About GoodReads

It's no secret.  I love to read.  Good Reads has been a great place to log what I've read and to keep track of what I'd like to read.  Not to mention see what all my real life and cyber "friends" are reading. But, I hate trying to write up a review on books.  It always feels like some lame statement or a 6th grade book report. (I'm speaking specifically of my own reviews.  I do enjoy reading others.)  I have a hard time with the rating system too.  So much how I feel about a book is based on my present mood, my life experiences and beliefs, standards, etc, my current stress levels, etc.  And I tend to be somewhat enthusiastic about things I like therefore tend to rate things a little higher than maybe I would if I waited a week to review/rate a book.  Same with books I don't like.  The other thing that's hard (for me) to account for in a rating system is how even if I don't like the book overall, I can appreciate it for something-a lesson, the writing, literary devices used...  Sometimes I leave my ratings blank.  If we're friends on GoodReads, assume that this is because I found the book very interesting in one way or another and want time to mull it over.  However, the whole rate and review process does make me think a little bit harder.  What I liked about the book, what I didn't, things that made some sort of an impression on me, things that changed me.  All great things to go into a review.  Too bad a lot of those things contain spoilers.  I hate spoilers.  (I don't even watch the movie trailers for the Twilight series, despite having read the books an embarrassing number of times. :)  Now the world has some insight to my mind when reading my GoodReads page.

Life Update

Because I know you all wait with baited breath to find out what's going on in my life. ;)

We're closing on our house next week.  Yippee!!  But-we're still waiting for a date on both signings. Boo!  But-it's next week sometime.  The house looks like a big disaster thanks to all the boxes.  An even bigger (and much less sarcastic) thanks to my man for packing them.  He noted the other night that he would be single-handedly moving us because his wife can't manage to put down that sweet little monkey long enough to help pack a box.  Secretly, I think he's proud of the fact that he's done it all. Shhh...don't tell...

See why I can't put her down?  She's so squishy and cute and snugly!

I, unlike lots of other people, am loving all the snow.  Of course it helps that my kids are off track and I have a new baby and therefore am home bound.  I can snuggle my babe and look out my big windows from my couch at all that beautiful white stuff.  No bundling the kids up for school (which is good because most our winter wear is packed up and buried in storage). 

Other than being a little tired, my post baby self is feeling pretty darn good.  I'm happy.  I have energy.  I can button up my jeans.   Actually-I could button up my jeans 2 days after being home from the hospital.  And guess what?  I'm not one bit sorry and am quite pleased with it.  This is my 4th baby.  I would've thought my recovery would've been longer and a little harder than it's been especially with the added stress of selling our home, buying a new one, getting 6 people ready to move (oh wait-we've already established that as the man's job) and the holidays-Thanksgiving, Black Friday (what?  you don't consider that a holiday?) and Christmas.  By the time the new year rolls around, you may be finding me lying on a couch weeping to a therapist, though ;)

And speaking of the great holiday (at least in my opinion) called Black Friday-I definitely had a successful one!  I went with Cami and her mom and cousin.  Cami was a rookie.  She wanted to go to Toys 'r Us.  Me, being the more experienced Black Friday-er should've warned her of the horror that store can be, but I had only heard the stories.  I guess I wanted to see that particular brand of madness first hand.  Never. Again. The finding what you want part was just fine.  It was the line that would put Splash mtn's on the busiest hottest day at Disneyland to shame. Thankfully Cami decided it wasn't worth it and we left.  She was rewarded by finding the same item for the same price at walmart without having to ad-match.  We had lots of good fun at both the Payson and Springville WalMarts.  I was thrilled to come home with everything on my must-get list, everything on my it'd-be-nice-but-I-don't-stand-a-chance list and a few other fun things as well.  I think we put in a solid 12 hours of shopping.  Still not quite ready for Christmas, but I'm getting there.  Fortunately I can do almost everything else online.

Just in case...

Just in case you were wondering...

Showbiz is my current favorite album by Muse.

Christmas Songs by Jars of Clay is my absolute, all time favorite Christmas album.

And, though I love the group Travis, and though listening to the lead singer Fran speak may or may not make me swoon, I do not love his new hair.  Don't worry Franny.  I still {heart} you.

 What random things are you thinking of today?

My Little Seamstress

Lyndsi has recently taken an interest in learning to sew.  In August I finally got around to helping her get started.  She made her first little project-a purse for Sophie. (Which Sophie happens to really love.)  My mom took a day off earlier this week to come hang out with me and the kids (aka the new baby).  McKay ended up playing with a friend and Sophie wandered off to do her own thing. The baby was sleeping as all good week old babies do, so mom and I decided to teach Lyndsi some more sewing.  I actually had a simple tote project all ready to go, and seeing as it was something I was doing for a Christmas name-gift for her cousin (Marchants-no spoiling our name gift!!) I thought it'd be perfect for her to do.  And bonus I figure we can use it for an activity day goal.  (Assuming we ever find/replace her book.)

Lyndsi started out using this book and tracing the pattern piece and cutting it out.  I believe she may have even helped G'ma cut the pattern pieces from fabric, too.

These things seem to be much easier if Grandma is here to tag team with me.

This is me trying to be creative and catch a candid shot of Lyndsi.  Not easy to do.  She always looks up right before I take the picture. 

Lyndsi did almost all of the sewing herself including sewing on the webbing handles and the velcro closures.  I only sewed the bottom of the bag and put the lining and outer bag together. She worked really hard on this and did an amazing job.  You should see her seams!  The girl is a natural.

Here's the finished project:

She's already got 2 or 3 more planned out for other gifts and possibly one for herself.  She's pretty darn proud of herself and her work.  I must say that I am too. You go girl!!

(This one is a little less "mom's caught in the act")

The Last Week or So

Wow.  The last week and a half have been a whirlwind of activity.  Any time there's a new baby in the house that's bound to happen, but there's more.  Here's the list view of life at the Maynes' since Chloe was born.

Mon Nov. 8-Chloe was born; realtor called to show our house the next morning
Tues-Potential buyer from Monday makes offer; we counter.
Wed-Come home from hospital; Buyer accepts counter-we're officially under contract
Thurs-We start looking at homes
Friday-Chloe's first Dr. visit to double check bilirubin levels (just fine); Find home; make offer.
Saturday-New sellers counter
Monday-We accept.

Phew...I'm tired just thinking of it all!  It has been crazy, a little overwhelming and at times emotional.  However, we're very happy and feel that the timing is not just coincidence.  We've also been very blessed with a great ward, friends and family who have helped ease burdens this last week.  I'm looking forward to the new house, but will miss a lot of things about this one.  I am excited that we'll be in before Christmas.  I guess I better go pack a box or two now. 

Baby Chloe

I love this kid.  She is an absolute angel.  Chloe is just a sweet and content little girl.  Mom and dad can't get enough of her. Neither can her sisters (especially Sophie who is completely fascinated by her).  Even McKay loves her to pieces.  In fact, I think he's the one who asks to hold her the most. :)  She's a good little eater and a fabulous little sleeper.  Mom and Dad are really enjoying that part!   I'm sure it's with a huge thanks to being bottle fed, but she's only getting up once a night to eat.  Definitely manageable.  We've been so busy cuddling and oohing and ahhing over her we haven't stopped to take many pictures.  But, last night was her first at-home bath, so we did get a few after when she was all sparkly, baby-fresh clean.  (They're a little dark, but I'm too tired too mess with them in photoshop right now.  Maybe later. )

This is the cute little lip I was first greeted with when I held her right after delivery.  I was happy to see it reappear for me again.  Too cute.



She really didn't love her bath.  Especially the part where we actually had to wash her.  Little did she know that she still had to have ...gasp!...lotion put on.  (Really didn't like that, even though we made sure it wasn't cold)



Thankfully the girl will take a binky!



All better.  Clean, moisturized and the bottle is on it's way!



Keep on going for a few pix from the hospital.  Just saw that I had some I hadn't published yet. Enjoy!

Baby Pictures

Just a few pictures of my cute little baby. :)





The siblings.



My baby holding my baby.  She is so excited to be a big sister!

Getting ready to go home.



Time to go home!!



She's Here!

Welcome 

Chloe Carol Maynes

Monday November 8, 2010

11:48 a.m.

7 lb 8 oz and 19.5 inches 

Halloween

What?!  A non-baby, non-house post?  I'm as shocked as you. ;)

Really, though, Halloween weekend was great.  Friday the kids had their costume parade and parties at school.

Saturday was trick-or-treating.




(a witch, a skeleton, and Silvermist-minus her wings)



Around 8 or so i got a text from Jeff relaying a cute little conversation he and Soph had. 

J: Are you about ready to go home?

S: Not until my bucket is full to the top!

And guess what?  When they came home a little later, all three buckets were "full to the top."   Jeff and I tried to show her that she had set a goal and reached it and congratulated her.  She didn't get it. :) 

Sunday we had a family party at my Aunt Michele's house.  There was tons of food, games and some indoor trick-or-treating. 

Now it's Nov. 1. On to Christmas shopping and baby-having!



Hit Me Baby One More Time

(This is a trial run-if the vid's are missing I'll fix it soon)

I'm starting to feel like I should change my blog name.  I'm thinking "The Baby Channel: All baby, all the time."  :)  In honor of being down to the last month, I'm sharing one of my favorite songs.  Too bad, Britney fans, it's not her singing. But-it is her song.



I'm thinking Fran and co. will be going to the hospital with me.  They relax me.  And I have lots of good memories with Travis (the bands name) as the soundtrack. 

I think Jars of Clay will be with me as well.  And since it will be in November, their set will include their Christmas album, quite possibly my favorite album of all time. 



Keane will be there too.  They have a different flavor to their music and suits me. Plus, that's what I was mostly listening to when I went to Hawaii earlier in the year.  (And "The Frog Prince" will remind of me of my other cutie pies at home who love the movie The Princess Frog.)




The delivery room is getting quite crowded I think. :) I've never brought music with me before. I have no idea why. Right now it seems extremely useful.

What did you take with you to the hospital to keep yourself comfortable and entertained (either while in labor or for whatever reason)?? Obviously I'll be bringing my pillow and those essentials. Oh-and any others I should be inviting to the labor party?

P.S. If you liked that Keane song, go ahead and plug your headphones in, sit back, close your eyes and enjoy this one. It was my first known Keane song I fell in love with.

Remember this Teaser?

Click over to Twiddle Thumbs for the reveal!

This Pregnancy

is almost over!  But some things will definitely stand out to me about this pregnancy:

1.  For months, I was completely disgusted at the idea of running-other people or myself.

2.  Cheddar cheese sticks and pretzels- both from Costco.  These were staple foods for me April and May.

3.  Lime.  Anything lime flavored.  Not sure what it is, but if it was lime, I had to have it.  Even lime ice cream.  Yes, ice cream-not sherbet.  And it was really good.

4.  Surprise.  I had nearly given up getting pregnant and had started looking into other options and getting excited about it. 

5.  Surprise again.  It's a girl!  Honestly, I would've been surprised if it were a boy, too, but I had at least
picked a boy name out that I loved and McKay had been praying for a little brother.  Even the girls were on board with the idea of boy.  McKay was convinced that the Dr. had made a mistake until the sweet nurses took a 2nd peak and the nurse and PA both gave the same outcome.

6.  Great music.  Early on I got to go see two great (though very different) concerts-Michael Buble and Muse.  Fantastic.  And very glad I was barely pregnant for both.  Not too sick.  Not even close to showing.  (Very handy at the Muse concert as we were only 10 feet or so from the stage.)

7.  Wiggles.  Not The Wiggles.  This wiggly little spaz inside.  It's been four years since I was last pregnant, but I do not think any of my kids moved as much as she does.

8.  Love.  I have been smitten with this little nudger for months now.  Absolutely in love.  And so have her brother and sisters. 

9.  Fear.  I've never been an anxious pregnant woman.  (Well-except worrying that I wouldn't be capable of loving baby #2 as much as baby #1-how silly of me. :)  This one though has thrown me for a loop.  I still feel completely unready despite the fact this baby could come as soon as 2 or 3 weeks from now. I think I've mentioned before (either here or facebook-perhaps both?) that it felt wrong to buy diapers and wipes.  I've been nervous about her health, her life and even nervous about my nights.  The last week or so I have started making more effort to be physically prepared for her arrival.  Finished up some baby-related sewing, washed both baby bottles and baby clothes, have done some more baby crafts and put the changing table in the baby's room.  It's helped a lot.

10.  How people have reacted to my belly.  Even up through my whole 6th month I had people look at me like I was crazy when I told them i was pregnant and how far along.  They didn't believe me.  Then blessed September hit.  I had a few complete strangers congratulate me on the baby and then they both asked (completely different situations) if this was my 1st.  I just giggled and held up 4 fingers.  Can I just say they are my 2 most favorite strangers I ever met?  Now-5 weeks from the big D-day, people are telling me I finally look pregnant. Love it.  I also have loved how the kids have loved feeling the baby move.  It's so fun to see their faces when they recognize her movements.

Hunting Witches

Sophie's sneak peak revealed.  I took this pile:

and turned it into this:

And even had a little extra for this:

(Which may or may not have been a great idea.  On the one hand-Sophie loved it.  On the other-I woke up this morning to two more costume orders for Lyndsi's AG dolls. Oops.)

Now you may notice that some materials in the pile don't show up in the costume, like the yarn.  Well....We made this really fun wig, but as soon as I put it on Soph I knew she wouldn't like wearing it.  And, the costume didn't really need it.  Into the costume box it will go. Someone will wear it one day.

My friend Cami and I decided to take our little preschoolers out for a little witch hunt all dressed up.

The two littles had a great time running crazy around Gardner Village hunting for different witches while we moms tried to either keep up or keep them moving.  :) 

And of course we enjoyed a little treat afterwards from the bakery there.  Sophie is looking forward to another witch hunting trip with her brother and sister and Grandma. 

Sneak Peak

I have a few projects for baby Chloe that I'm really excited about.  Only 7 more weeks til due day!!

Sneak peak #1:

Sneak peak #2:

Oh-and one for Sophie:

As you can see, I have lots to keep me busy this rainy week. 

Lessons in Selling a Home

First off, thanks for all the diaper bag thoughts.  I've been looking through pages and pages of different materials (so many cute choices!) and thinking about how to best incorporate pockets and maybe a few other things.  I'm planning on doing a mock-up for practice and then if that works I'll buy the fabric and get going on it. :)

Now.  Selling a house is not fun.  I'm sure lots of you know this. We've done it twice before and twice before we sold within a week. (We can attribute that to impeccable timing as the St. George market was really heating up then.)  It's been about 6 weeks.  We've had some people come.  One came twice.  One submitted an offer.  Wish we could have taken it, but it was too low.  I feel like I'm on pins and needles all day everyday waiting for our agent to call with an offer, appointments, feedback or just some random bit of business that needs dealing with.  It is an all consuming venture.  It's starting to wear on both Jeff and I some.  It's boring around our house.  At least half of our stuff is packed away in storage.  If we don't faithfully attend the library at least every week/week and a half, we're in trouble.  Thankfully the fall line-up is starting.  Sadly one of our favorites has ended, leaving us only 1 network show.  USA's season is over till November which is happily only one more month.  Anyway.  Despite this report of the doom and gloom of selling a house (and we haven't even touched the market issue), there have been lots of positive things I've seen.  And here they are in no particular order:

1.  The house is always clean.  I am just now realizing how small our house is for the stuff we have.  And how we are lacking sufficient storage (or maybe just organizational skills) to manage.

2.  If the house isn't clean, it can be sparkling in about an hour.  Without extra help.  INCLUDING: mopping and vacuuming all 1924 sq ft.

3.  The kids play with their toys more.  They only have a few things left out.

4.  Lyndsi reads more.  See explanation of #3.

5.  The kids play board games together.  See #3 again.  This one has been particularly fun.  I enjoy watching them play together.

6.  I hate to harp on the cleaning thing, but MY CRAFT ROOM IS CLEAN!  It's so much more pleasant to work in there on crafts now.  Glad I thought this room through when packing up.  I was sure to leave out a few things of the different crafts I enjoy doing the most.  There are lots of things I wish I had access to, but overall, the room is delightful to work in and easy to pick up.  It makes me really look forward to having a bigger and more fully dedicated space for my hobbies.

7.  I attend the temple more regularly.  Part of this has to do with all three kids being at school at the same time for at least a few hours a week.  But, I have enjoyed going while I have this brief opportunity before the baby comes.

8.  I pray more frequently.  Honestly, I have been surprised at what a spiritual journey this has been.  I need someone to talk to that can help me not get to anxious and to plead for help and guidance.  This is something I've been working on for a long time, but am finally now getting consistent with.

9.  I am learning to follow the spirit with more exactness.  I started noticing if I had a feeling to get the house clean and vacuumed in the morning and I followed through, usually by early afternoon our agent was on the phone scheduling appointments with me.  This lesson has started overflowing into other areas and I try to work harder on following through with thoughts that come to me.

10.  I have learned to appreciate my current house more fully.  It really is a great little house.  Especially with the new carpet.  So many great things and so many hard things have happened here.  It will be hard to leave, but it's time.  I really hope a special family/couple/person gets this house.  It has been our home, our haven and our safe harbor for 5 years.  We have struggled, laughed, rejoiced and grown while here.  It will always be a very special place for us.

Diaper bags: HELP!!!

I feel SO out of this whole baby thing.  I went to pick up a few sundries (I like that word) at Target yesterday and swung by the baby aisle to see about stocking up on a few essentials.  It felt wrong.  I don't have a baby.  Why am I buying teeny tiny diapers and other diapering items?  It was weird.  (Don't get me wrong-I am SO excited for this baby.  It's just been a long time!)  So diapers led me to think about diaper bags.  I'd like a new one, but really can't stomach the store prices.  Ugh.  That's what I get for being a
DIY-fer.  I saw this cute bag on Make It and Love It.  I'm thinking of making it for our new diaper bag.   From the instructions, it looks like there are no pockets/pouches. 

Here's where I need help. What things have you LOVED about your diaper bags (past or present) and what things did you find unnecessary or useless?  Also, if you have any other diaper bag recommendations/suggestions, please send them this way. 

While you think and post, I'll go work on Halloween costumes. 

Misery Loves Company

Lyndsi is not a reader (yet).  But, she dutifully puts in her 30 minutes a day for school and so she can earn a prize from Mom and Dad.  (Hey-I am not above such tactics to get her reading.)  School doesn't start til about 9, so she had some time to kill this morning.  I suggested she get her reading done which she did without too much complaint.  I didn't think too much about it until I went to straighten up her room a few hours later and found this:

Misery loves company? Maybe.  I prefer to think of it as a little early morning reading party.  It was so cute and so precious to me.  My little non-reader-encouraging all her little "friends" to read. I loved it so much in fact that when I made her bed I set up the thing again almost like she had it before.

I love these little treasures of mommyhood.

It's Time!

I have some bright yellow spots peaking out through the green leaves on one of my trees. 

I took it as Mother Nature's cue to pull out the fall stuff.  Bath and Body Works has their wallflowers (and refills) on sale right now.  Sophie and I grabbed a couple of Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin ones for the upstairs and a Leaves one for downstairs.  We had a hard time choosing from all the delicious fall scents in the store.  I'm anxious to pull out some generic fall decor, but am a tad hesitant with the house up for sale. My blog got "redecorated" though.  I've been scouring my little Walmart's baking aisle for canned pumpkin.  I think I'll have to try Smith's.  Pumpkin rolls are sounding very yummy.  Also, soup has been on the menu twice in a week. The only thing missing is the sweaters.  However, being 7 months prego, I'm ok to forgo sweaters til after the baby comes.  (Mostly because I have no sweaters that fit and don't want to buy any for a month of use.)

So-are you eagerly anticipating the first jump in pile of raked leaves or parading around in your swimsuit and beach towel, refusing to recognize summer is almost gone?

Another 1st Day of School

The last of the three started school this week. Soph is doing Joy School with some friends we met through my book club.  She had her very first day on Tuesday and to say she loved it is understating things.

I was a little worried about her not knowing people very well, but she did great.  Apparently she even sang the songs out loud, something I'm not sure she even does in primary yet.  When I picker her up she talked my ear off for a solid 20 minutes about all that they did and learned that day.  (For you non-joy-schoolers out there, each month has a "joy" and Sept. is the Joy of our bodies.)  The rest of the afternoon was spent listening to her sing all the songs they learned.  My personal favorite was "Hinges" which I have loved since my early days of being a kid in primary.

I'd say all in all it was a success.  I am now more confident to try her in dance or soccer again (which was a miserable failure last year).

In other new:
the house is still for sale
McK and L are back on track
baby is 29 weeks along and doing great
cooler weather has brought on motivation and inspiration
headed to Time Out for Women this weekend with a bunch of wonderful gals I know (and missing the ones who couldn't make it)
still haven't started the freezer paper stencil, but it is happening soon!

Zippety-A and heidi-ho

It's birthday time!!

With all the stress of the house, I decided I would forgo my vow to not have friend parties this year and plan something special for Sophie's 4th birthday.  It seemed like good timing as she's a little older now and has lots of little friends that she loves to play with.  So, she and I planned and shopped and invited.  Sophie picked out a My Little Pony theme and mom took it from there.

We ended up with 9 kids total (including my 3).  A few friends couldn't make it (and we missed you!).  The party started with a coloring activity while everyone arrived.  The kids sat and quietly colored their Pony pictures.  When everyone had arrived, we started with our first game-musical ponies.  The kids each found a pony and quietly went around the circle until the last person got out.  Then quietly we played "pin the tail on the pony," had a pony relay, and a ball toss.  After the last game was quietly played and cleaned up, Grandpa held up the castle pinata.  I handed a few streamers to each kid and the candy flew.  Then was quietly picked up and put in their little individual bags.  Are you catching the quietness here?  It was seriously the quietest party I've ever been to or hosted, especially for 3 and 4 yr olds!  Cute little buggars.  I hoped cake and ice cream would drum up some excitement.  Which it did.  Sort of.  I asked, "Who wants cake and ice cream?!" Seven little bodies were jumping up and down with 7 little arms wiggling in the air and 7 little mouths completely mute. Good thing I can read body language. ;)  Finally they got loud and giggly when Jeff started showing off his "moves" to the My Little Party CD we had going. 

It was a cute little party and all the kids seemed to have a really great time.  It just so happens that they are all super quiet in everyday life, too. 

Sunday was Sophie's actual birthday. To celebrate we had my parents and grandparents over for hot dogs (her favorite)

and then some more family and friends for cake and ice cream and presents.

(My niece Kaylee loved the cupcakes!)

Sophie loved all the attention and presents.  She was a gracious little hostess, always remembering to say thank you.  She loved all the gifts she received over the 2 day celebration (which surprisingly didn't overwhelm mom) and has played nonstop with them.