Busy Week

Well, lookey here, it is Friday already and I have been a blogging SLACKER this week! The "creative sewing bug" has hit me this week and I have been sewing like crazy. It has been fun, but I do have to admit that my house is suffering. Tomorrow I have to clean. I HAVE to. In between my hair appointment, making a birthday cake, going to a school assembly and a hosting a birthday party. That could be interesting.

Here are some of this weeks highlights:

• My new chair was delivered. Last Saturday we decided to help stimulate the economy by buying a new chair. Actually, I was really sick of sitting on an old, squeaky, very uncomfy glider rocker to feed Adele. I decided that since I have NEVER had a nice chair for feeding and rocking my babies, it was time. So, here's the chair.

• Elise had a dance performance. She likes to go to dance, but mainly because she is all geared up for the trophy she will earn when she fills up 2 more sheets with stickers. She plans to quit dance when she gets her trophy.

I am not sure WHO picked the freaky clowny dance outfits. Oh, and while I am complaining, aren't the teachers and parent helpers supposed to notice when the kids have their costumes tucked into their underwear before they go onstage? Yeah. Her shirt was not like that when we got there.
AND, my other complaint is this: Do we really have to have ALL the songs of all 4 dancing groups be Sesame Street and Chipmunk Songs? Really, there is much finer music out there to dance to than all of our favorite songs sung buy muppets and chipmunks. ("Girls just wanna have fun", Chipette style was great...)

• I am getting my hair done tomorrow, but I already talked about that. The highlights have grown out so much that if I don't get it done soon I am going to have to move to a trailer park.
  
  
• The last exciting thing is that I traded this bag for 2 pedicures. I have never had a pedicure in my LIFE and I am so excited to get one (2). My friend DD wanted a bag so we worked out a little swap. YAHOO! I love trading. I am still a bit hesitant because of the whole "foot factor" involved in pedicures but DD assures me that she loves doing them.
  
  

Emilia's Scripture Bag

Healthy Again!

Last Saturday after Emilia's baptism Ian got sick. Then Elise got it. She missed school on Monday. I do have to admit that it IS kind of nice having lethargic kids who want to watch lots of movies and sleep. Elise's and Ian's episodes lasted about 2 days. We thought we were in the clear. Then Emilia came home from Activity Days on Wednesday feeling cold. We knew she was next. I think she got it the worst. Her fever was 104 on Thursday. She was going to have a birthday party on Friday but we had to postpone it. She was disappointed about that. All the kids are better now, and back to their previous health and antics. When the kids wake up at 7:00 a.m. on a Saturday (30 min earlier than I have to wake them up on school days) I know that they are definitely "back to normal".

Crazy Mom Days

Today was one of those crazy mom days; kids to chauffer around, errands to run. I realized today that I am absolutely, and officially a "soccer mom" (even though none of my kids play soccer). I was sitting at Elise's "dance class portriats" with all the kiddos in tow and my Inner Blogging Voice started talking about the soccer mom thing. The question I was asking myself was this: Are there moms out there who truly relish driving their kids to and fro, and trying out every sport and art available? I have to admit that I really don't love it. Or even like it. My kids aren't even involved in tons of activities either. I have met other "soccer moms" who have talked about the dozen activities their kids are in. I am thinking to myself: ARE YOU CRAZY??? Don't get me wrong, I love to see my kids learn and experience new things but days like this make me dread the day when I have 4 kids in activities instead of just 2. And then of course there is the whole aspect of having an infant who needs to sleep right at the time when I am supposed to be dropping off my kid at dance. Adele still takes 3-4 naps a day, so when I have to drive kids around it is sure to mess with her schedule. Today she took 2 naps in her car seat en route somewhere, and a nap at playgroup.

So, here's our day. I am sure you other "soccer moms" can relate.
9:15- Running an errand for a friend who got stuck out of state while she was helping her mom recover from surgery. (Searched forever to find a parking place at the University, got to the classroom, only to find it locked.)
10:00-Frantically trying to finish reading the book for this months book club so I could lend it to someone else while lying on my stomach with Ian sitting on my back (plus some intermittent jumping mixed in there for variety).
11:00- Off to playgroup.
12:30- Home from plagroup, feed the kids lunch.
1:00- Adele has an extreme blow-out (oh yes, I see she DID actually eat some of the banana/cereal mush I was trying to get her to eat yesterday.) A bath is the only solution.
2:00- Drive Emilia to art lessons
2:15- Go to the health food store to pick up my bag of steel cut oats that came in.
3:00- Pick up Emilia from art
3:30- Get Elise ready in her dance outfit
4:00- Dance class photos (with 3 other kids, remember. F.U.N!)
4:30- Drive Emilia to the church for Activity Days
5:00- feed Adele while blogging (that is where we are right now.)
5:15- Pick up Emilia from Activity Days
5:45- Get dinner on the table for fam (hope Kent is home by then)
After dinner-homework, baths and bed! (yay!)


I AM glad that most of our days aren't like this. Just Wednesdays. Whew.

"Cars Can't Jump."

I was out driving the kids around when Elise tells me: "When I grow up I am not going to have a car."
Me: "Oh really? You're not going to have a car?"
Elise: " I am going to have a horse."
Me: "Why do you want to have a horse instead of a car?"
Elise: "Because cars can't jump. And you can't ride on top of a car and feel the windy breeze."

Of course. The windy breeze.

Emilia

Here are some pictures of the birthday girl!

Isn't she pretty?

Happy Birthday Emilia!

Emilia turned 8 this weekend! I can't believe I have a kid this old! She was so excited all week that her birthday was coming up. She checked the mail every day to see if anyone had sent her a card. It was special for her to be able to celebrate her birthday with Grandpa Anderson this year since they share a birthday.

(Remember melty baby? The camera was doing the same thing here but just pink and not so melty. Maybe it's time for a new camera??)

She was lucky enough to get baptized on her birthday. There is a lady in our ward who has a special white dress that she lends out to girls in the ward who are getting baptized if they want to borrow it, but Emilia decided that she preferred to wear the white jumpsuit. She was afraid that the dress would stick out of the water. She was a little nervous at first, but after it was all said and done she thought it was fun.

We had a fun weekend with both sets of parents/grandparents. I wish we would have gotten more pictures at the baptism, but there were tons of people everywhere and I just wanted to get out of there. We did take more pics at home with the fam and grandparents though.

Helping Others

My brother Drew told me about an organization that he supports called Kiva (http://www.kiva.org/).

This is what he said about it on his blog:
"Last year I learned about Kiva, a website that lets an everyday Joe like me help people all over the world start and build a business to help them make a better life for themselves. Here are the businesses I support."

And then he listed a handful of business that the has made micro-loans to.

This is such a cool program. On the Kiva website you can read about entrepreneurs around the world and their businesses. These micro loans allow people in 3rd world countries to purchase capital and make small investments in their businesses so they can be successful and support their families. 25 bucks isn't much but when you add it to the loans of other supporters these entrepreneurs can get the funding they need to make their businesses succeed. Once the money is paid back, you can use it again and again to help more people. Check it out.

More sewing projects

I told a friend of mine I'd make a bag for her so I was working on it today (with plenty of helpers holding my scissors and pins etc. ) Here it is: (I know, I know it is just a repeat of the OTHER bag I posted... but the fabric is different you see? That means I can post it again!) Oh, and I have to confess that this recent sewing increase has resulted in a decrease of cooking and meal planning. Sorry to the fam!

Crazy Skirts, Crazy Girls

Yesterday I had some time to play with my new serger. I got out some old fabric scraps and went crazy. The result: Crazy skirts. I wanted to take some pictures of the girls in the crazy skirts, and of course they wanted to be cRaZy.

Elise's Hair Adventure

It seems that every kid has to have at least one "self-haircut" in their lives. Emilia did it when she was 3. Elise did it today. In an unsupervised moment she decided her hair was getting in her eyes and bothering her, so cutting it off seemed the logical solution.

The good news: She could have cut a much bigger chunk and she could have done what my friend Amy and I call "lobotomy bangs".
Just a side note: This girl is much, much freakier than my melty baby. (S)He? has a shocking resemblance to Barry Manilow...

Easter Eggs

Random Miscellany

My inner blogging voice did talk to me last week, but it was very early in the morning while feeding the baby. By the time it was really morning I had, of course, forgotton what I was going to blog about. It is probably better that way since I was probably thinking about blogging about something silly like Jell-o or 80's exercise videos...Oh, wait...

Since I can't really think of something exciting enough to warrant its own entry, today is the day for some "random miscellany".

• Happy St. Patrick's Day! In honor of the day we had green milk and green eggs for breakfast. I decided not to take pictures of the eggs because eggs look bad in pictures even under the best of circumstances. I decided to add a little embellishment to my poor quality green-milk photo so you wouldn't notice how bad the photo is. I am a bit self-conscious of my photos since I have a quite a few excellent photographers for friends.

• Kids. Why is it that people are so surprised when you tell them that having 4 kids is indeed as hard (or harder) than having 3. There are people out there who are spreading the myth around that the transition from 2 to 3 kids is harder than 3 to 4. Ask around. Everyone will tell you this. (They are telling you this so you will keep having kids.) I am setting that myth straight once and for all. I mean really. Are you REALLY supposed to belive that having FEWER kids is harder than having MORE kids? Think about it and decide for yourself.
  
  
• Snow. What is the big idea? Isn't it supposed to be spring? I have been telling Kent it snowed because this is the last storm of the year and winter wanted to go out with a bang. It had to get it all out of its system since the Vernal equinox is on Wednesday (or Thursday, depending on who you ask. I prefer to think it is on Wednesday, myself.) I could have taken some more exciting pictures, but that would have required me to go outside. No thanks, not today. Maybe if the sun comes out.

• My new serger. Isn't it exciting? I have been wanting one forever. It can do all sorts of fun things like: Blind hem stitches, rolled hems, 3 and 4 thread overlock stitches. Don't worry, I don't really know what that means either, but hey, at least I can thread it now. I am excited to play with it and do some really cool things.

• I even bought the cool coney thread things. Only 3 though. Because really, Who needs to do the 4 thread overlock stitch when you can do the 3 t.o.s. on "most fabrics" The 4 thread is only for "knits and wovens" you see. ("Ah yes, of course," you say.) And really... you can do the 3 t.o.s. on knits and wovens too. Never you fear though, If I ever need to do the 4 t.o.s. I can just use normal thread. Some of the stitches use less thread per stitch than others so I'd just put the regular thread in one of those. (Yeah, I know you don't care. But hey. I wanted to tell you this and it is MY random miscellany, remember?)

• Cute baby.

• Melty baby. I didn't photoshop these. My camera was doing really weird things and this is what happened. I thought it was pretty freaky and I had to share.

I'm melting, melting...

What a world, what a world...

A Moment For Poetry

I'm not a poet, and really, I don't try to be. But I do have to say that I can appreciate a good poem. The blogging has been slow this week, mostly because life has been moving fast. (And the kids haven't been sleeping well, so *I* haven't been sleeping well. This makes it hard for me to connect enough brain cells to do anything creative at all. Heck, I can barely cook a meal or clean my house under these circumstances.)

Anyhoo, I discovered my brother Drew's blog (how come you never told me you had a blog???) and I was reading some poetry that he wrote as well as some that he was quoting. It reminded me of a poem that I discovered a couple of years ago. This poem has actually been made into a hymn arranged by the very talented Mack Wilberg. It is the last piece on this cd. (This is a really great cd by the way). I was listening to this cd the Sunday after Pres. Hinckley died and the message of the words really reminded me of what his life had been all about. (And really what all of our lives are about.)

Thou Gracious God Whose Mercy Lends

Thou gracious God, whose mercy lends
The light of home, the smile of friends,
Our gathered flock thine arms enfold
As in the peacful days of old.

Wilt thou not hear us while we raise
In sweet accord of solemn praise
The voices that have mingled long
In joyous flow of mirth and song?

For all the blessings life has brought,
For all its sorrowing hours have taught,
For all we mourn, for all we keep,
The hands we clasp, the loved that sleep.

The noon-tide sunshine of the past,
These brief, bright moments fading fast,
The stars that gild our darkening years,
The twilight ray from holier spheres.

We thank thee, Father; let thy grace
Our loving circle still embrace,
Thy mercy shed its heavenly store,
Thy peace be with us evermore.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

This Week

Here are some of this week's highlights:

• I have had a few shopping adventures this week. At Albertson's as I got done checking out I realized I didn't have my wallet. Yeah. It was at home on my computer desk because I was paying bills. Soo, I had to run home and get it etc... well... I know everyone does this at some point or another. My confession: This is the SECOND time in one WEEK I have done this. I did it last Friday at Wal-mart too. (In my defense I haven't done this in years and years. I can't remember the last time I did this...but still. 2 x in 1 week?) I swear... If my brain wasn't attached.......

• We got a new light fixture for our kitchen. Kent had some problems getting it installed, but it's in now and we love it.

• Here's the old one. Isn't it cute???!!! We have another matching one in our stairway. Tomorrow it is OUTTA there! (Riiiiight Kent???)

• Yesterday I went to the Dr. and had my stitches taken out. Here's how my eye looks.

• It is red, but it looks like it is healing well. The Dr. got the pathology report on the mole biopsies that were done. Turns out that 2 of the 3 that were sent were "precancerous" (not the eye one though, it was fine). They were able to get enough of a margin on them when they removed them that all the suspicious cells are now completely gone. It is so scary to think that they could have developed into Melanoma. I am glad they are gone!

• Today I learned that soy sauce and Worchestershire sauce are not interchangable. (oops. I should have noticed that it smelled WRONG). If you do this you get Yaki Worchestershire Soba. Kind of weird, but acutally kind of good in a strange sort of way. Only NEXT time, I'd use only a splash of W sauce... :)

My "Inner Blogging Voice"

I discovered my "inner blogging voice" this morning at 3 am. I have heard my i.b.v. talking to me before, especially when I first started my blog, but I never really realized what it was. Last night though I finally made the distinction between my own random thinking and my actual i.b.v. All you bloggers know what I am talking about. Suddenly you go from the thought of "I should blog about this" to composing an entire blogging narrative in your head. I am not sure why I (we) do this. It isn't as if someone is automatically recording our every thought down on the blog. Yet I will sit there and think and edit, "No, I should say it like this... blah blah blah..., or it would be funny to say this, blah... blah... blah... " and I keep going over and over it in my mind until I can write it down. So, there I was this morning at 3 am listening to my inner blogging voice composing this narrative about my inner blogging voice. I am sure if it would have been recorded as I was thinking it it would have been much more interesting. I know I have very interesting (read: bizarre) thoughts in the middle of the night.

Thanks Buddy...

Wanna know what Ian just said to me:

"I have a big bum mom........ just like you!"

Thanks Bud!

"Oooh, Aaah, Dance in Smarty Pants, Ooh Ahh."

Those of you who watch Between the Lions will recognize Arty Smartypants and the little dance that he does. This post really has nothing to do with Arty. Or his smarty pants. It is about MY smarty pants girls.

I went to SEP (parent teacher) conferences yesterday at the girls' school. They are both doing great in school. In fact, both their teachers said they were academically at the very top of of their classes. (Awww, it makes a parent so happy to see their kids succeed!) So, to my girls: "Oooooh, Ahhhh, dance in smarty pants, Ooh Ahh!"