Instead of a Sunday nap...

Bella and I made these cute little guys! Not only was it fun to make them together, but afterward, we took them outside and she had a billion different ideas on where to put them to take a picture. She is an obsessed picture taker like her mom! She decided to call them crazy legs. I think the crazy legs will be a favorite seasonal project for her and I.

Thanks BHG for the idea!

Random Wednesday thoughts

1. Whoopie was really rude to Elizabeth on the View this morning. I think its great that everyone has their own thoughts and opinions and can express them freely, but you dont have to be rude about it. I dont know that I will watch the view much anymore, its getting annoying.

2. On the way home from walking Bella to school, the PTA pres stopped me and asked if I would be willing to help with vision screening. I was elated to have been asked to help. I love volunteering and being active at the school.

3. I decided I didnt want to work today, So I'm not. And I need to. But that doesnt phase me.

4. Moses took all the batteries out of the TV remote and who knows where they are. So now we arent watching TV because no-one wants to get up and change the channel.

5. Isabella wanted to make Buddy lunch. On the counter were the following items:
1 can of Tuna fish, mustard, ketchup, pickles, mayonaise, cheese and a tortilla. Oh yes, he tasted it, and added it wasnt half bad. I dont know why she just doesnt like my grilled cheese option, she always comes up with crazy concoctions.

6. I've talked to one person 3 times today on the phone

7. Moses only took a 1 hr nap. 1 HOUR! Thank goodness I didnt work, I would be in a real pickle right now.

8. I really like this quote "Its better to put on slippers than to carpet the whole world" Its by Stuart Smalley, whom I think is SO funny, and I may or may know know exactly what the quote means.

9. I love the Hills and am downloading most of the songs that I hear every week when I tune in. My new current favorite is a song by White Tie Affair. Please Hills people, extend the show to an hour, I cant get enough.

10. Our grass was just cut, dont you LOVE the smell of freshly cut grass? I may go outside now and breathe it in for a while.

11. Some randomly awesome anonymous donor has decided he/she wants to fix our broken down car! Battery and alternator. When I heard the news this morning, I bawled. I am never surprised, but always amazed and humbled by the way God uses people to bless the lives of others. Its our major goal that someday, hopefully soon, we can start doing the same for others.

And I think thats about it. And to go with the thoughts, a random picture of the kids riding to school,

blogworthy...probley not

I am sure you are all loving the play by play on my sons tooth situation, so the update is this. The second dentist confirmed that medically, he really should have his babies capped because of decay and all sorts of nasty visuals that she gave me. So his little surgery is scheduled for October 8th at Primary. I am little nervous, but I guess its routine, so I'm just being a nervous nelly.

Show and Tell

Its M week this week for Bella at school. She has Show and Tell every Monday and decided she just had to bring her brother for her show today. It was also Grey day, so she decided what he had to wear. The teacher asked her to introduce her "special guest" ( just look at the way he is watching her, I love it!)

" This is Moses. He's my Brother and I love him.

He likes it when I tickle his tummy like this and he is 2. Any questions?"

After a good few questions, she gave the mic. to him to say goodbye. The kids loved it and Bella was beaming. I am so proud of her big sister love, she really adores this little guy, its a joy to watch them interact.

superman, sticks and the like...

First off, a clarification, his entire tooth is not missing, just half of it. After reading my last post again , I may have exaggerated ... a weeee bit.
Moses is better. We went to see the dentist today who recommended caps for his 2 front teeth. Apparently he not only busted half of one, but shaved the back off of the other up to his gum. What a weird bif. I'm conflicted on this capping business. It seems like capping the babies would be more of a cosmetic procedure than it is required for his oral well being. But what do I know really, I think I may need a second opinion. We are considering going through with the caps, but its a little procedure where they have to put him under a general Anest. I'm not sure that I am loving that idea. Any advice on the matter would be loved!

In the meantime, he is back to his towel cape, superman loving self. I liked both photos for different reasons, so I just had to post both. He cant get enough of throwing his arms behind him and exploring new heights like superman ... except its better, its superman with stick swords. Or as he would say "Thtick thorth" That missing tooth fragment is not helping his lithp.

On a side note....we think we are finally ready for the big hair cut..I think it may be happening this weekend...maybe.

poor little Moses is having a tough time.

As the "S" on his shirt shows, he really is our Super (little) man, but boy is he having a rough patch. Not only are his 2 year old molars comming in..all at once...but he has a little cold as well. His eyes have been half mast, and he is leaking out of every facial opening, he has bags under his eyes, he is a mess! Amidst all of this, he has been in good spirits, until last night, we were at some fun friends' house for dinner when he biffed it while running and knocked out his front tooth! At first we thought it was a piece of rice from dinner, oh not so. His face went void of all color and his head started swaying. If Buddy werent there, I would have been seriously freaked. But he pulled through. He has had a fever all morning and is just a wreck. I'll be out of the blogging world for a few days until he feels better, all he wants to do is cuddle...and its my pleasure to cuddle him! (even though it hurts to see him so sad)

the epitome of sweet and everything kind

Buddy and I had plans. We had plans to go somewhere super fun and *alone* to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. Preferably cross country and luxurious. Today has come and now going and the only place we went was out for dessert......10 miles away.....with the kids. We both agree we wouldnt have it any other way! Due to the fact we are students and extreme tight wads with money, we decided we would celebrate next year with the big graduation and anniversary trip combined. But now that I am thinking about our big 1-0 today, I just am in love with Buddy all over again and today was perfect. I woke up looking at the clock saying "Oh no! Whats your schedule today, its already 7:00!" to which he replied "Nothing but you, Happy Anniversary!" We walked Bella to school together and I stayed to volunteer in the room. When I was done, I walked out the door to Buddy and Moses waiting to take me to breakfast! We never go out to breakfast, its a great meal to go out for! All day I have been finding love notes. In my pocket (how did he do that?!) under my pillow, under my keyboard at my desk, under the folded towels in the bathroom I was going to put away. The most beautiful poems, love letters and words of affection I have ever read from him. I found myself getting caught up in extreme feelings of guilt that I hadnt as much as gotten him a card, but then I realized that to feel guilty and bad would ruin all of his wonderful attempts at making me feel loved and special for the day, which worked splendidly, I feel like the luckiest girl alive! I had to work for a few hours this afternoon and we were emailing each other off and on. When I thanked him for such an awesome day, he wrote back saying"

"This was not planned it just came out when I thought of you.

The greatest artists always have a beautiful muse to get inspiration from"
Love you

Really? How lucky did I get. Thank you for a beautiful day B man! I am so excited about the next 10 years! ( I have major awesome old photos, but I cant figure out the scanner, they'll have to make their appearance later :)

it hasnt even been a month ...

**post update** today after school, I asked her how her challenge was of meeting a new friend. "It was GREAT! I was accepted in her club at recess so I didnt have to meet a new friend!"

Yeah, really great. When I tried to ask more questions as far as including other kids and being nice, all the good stuff, she had her hand raised the whole time and when I was done she sweetly said " Are we done with this conversation yet?" I am making it known now, I want boys from here on out! Not that I wouldnt want a billion Bella's in my life, I just dont know how to deal with this already.

**************************************************************************

"How was your day sweetie"

"Not good. she isnt my friend anymore"

The following situation is bothering me big time! Since we moved here in January, Isabella has really missed her life in Portland. We kept telling her when school starts, as she gets to meeting new friends, she will see that its not so bad afterall. There is one particular little girl that Bella adores and really...REALLY wants to be friends with and everyday, I hear about another problem with her. "She wont sit next to me, she moves everytime I sit by her" " she doesnt want to talk to me" "She wont hold my hand but she holds other girls hands" This realllllly bugs me, on several levels. First, I think that the tender age of 5 is much to young to be concerned over such details, but I'm not 5, so clearly, I cant understand entirely. Secondly, I am having a hard time determining if this really hurts her, or if she is just simply talking to me about the days happenings. I think it definatly does bother her, but what do I do? Lastly, as any other parent, I never want my child to feel sad, or rejected, or hurt by someone else. This is part of my cry fest on the first day of school. I am terrified about what others might say to her that could be hurtful. My approach, up until this morning, has been to keep it light with her. I didnt want to give it to much reaction, in case she was feeling me out. I have just been reassuring her that she is fine, this girl might be having a bad day, nothing is wrong with Bella. But this morning Isabella told me on the way home "Nobody wants to be friends with me" That is tough to swallow, and I had enough. Oh My gosh, I feel so annoyed because we are talking kindergarten here! Why should any 5 year old need to feel this way? I just think its totally unessesary. I asked her why, it all came back to this one person. I challenged her to meet a new friend everyday and learn something about them. I told her that many other people will have things in common with her, and its fun to have different friends to play with. Then I made the mistake of letting my inner mother bear voice come out "Besides, you dont need to be friends with someone who is mean to you, its funner to be around girls that want to play and be nice" She thought about this for a few moments and said "But I only want to be friends with her because everyone wants to be friends with her"

I couldnt contain my annoyance..not with Bella, I said "Bella, I know it seems hard when you see everyone around her and there is not a place for you to sit, but sometimes there are just people who dont feel like being nice. Just think how fun it will be to make new friends that you can sit with everyday? You wont even have to worry about feeling bad anymore because you will have lots of new friends, and I know they will want to be your friends to" A part of me feels like, even though she's young, it will be good for her to learn how to work out these feelings. Hopefully, this will all blow over soon and she wont be feeling bad. The worst part is, we had this little girl over to play last week and they were inseperable, now that they are back in class though, Bella has all but dissapeared. I just felt like rolling my eyes and preparing myself for years of this kind of thing. Maybe its a girl thing, maybe its just part of being in school. Afterall, Kindergarten is as much about learning social skills as it is learning to read. I just wasnt prepared for this sort of situation so early on. I feel like a horrible mom for not preparing her for something like this..but at the same time, how do you really do that without damaging their confidence? I am sending her out into the big world and I havnt had enough time to prepare her. I wonder if I'll always feel like that. But I have a feeling, she will turn out just fine! (Its me that I worry about!)

"Things turn out best for those who make the best of the way things turn out."

-Art Linkletter

Decorating

I love the fall, the cooler air, the smell of fireplaces burning at night, the hot cocoa, warm covers and a good book, rainy days, sweaters and jeans. Its all just awesome to me. Another thing I love is the onset of the holiday season..starting with Halloween. Its one of the funnest holidays, I LOVE dressing the kids up in their costumes, I love their excitement about being out at night asking for candy and coming home with bags of it. I love seeing all the other little ones in their cute costumes, its just all such fun. I also love, although Im not at all into this year, decorating for each holiday. Buddy brought home a Good housekeeping magazine for me today and I loved their ideas..their simple, easy peasy decorating tips for halloween. So I just had to share their ideas, maybe someone out their besides me also has a love for halloween decorating and can give these a try..arent they all SOO fun? Just a reminder, all of these pictures and ideas are courtesy of Good Housekeeping..I take absolutly no credit for any of the ideas here...just sayin.



One of my favorite gifts to give on halloween are these mini pumpkins made into candles. I usually make 3, stack them on top of each other and wrap them in some white toole and tie a fun ribbon around the top with a little card. I never considered how spooky cool they would be if I just added some pipe cleaners..arent these little critters cool?!

In case you cant read the small directions on the bottom, GH's idea is to cut off the top, clean out the innards and spray paint the pumpkin black, once dry scratch away any design you would like with a spoon handle and fill with blooms. Genious.

Oh what a little spray paint and masking can do.

Okay, this one is my favorite. GH says to create this do the following:
"Snap off each candle stem and position a candle in its depression. Cover with a clear glass hurricane shade. Insert floral U pins the hold the shade into place"

In a dark bowl, wouldnt these look stunning?

And these little ghosts light up my world. You can buy the lanterns at Ikea for a great price, and with a little and I mean little work, imagine how cool a party table would look? Read the photo for their ideas about making a green monster too, I love Good Housekeeping :)

Disclaimer..I have thought long and hard if I am violating some sort of copyright infringement by posting these here...I figure since I am giving Good Housekeeping all their credit then it is fine..if I am wrong, please someone let me know and I will take this down. I would hate to have anyone think I am ripping them off by posting these.

details

After Moses' bath tonight, I noticed the details of his wet eyelashes. It sounds a little odd, but I had sort of epiphany. Tonight, when I looked at my sons face, and noticed every detail of it, I realized, I am focusing on the wrong details in my life! I've been so stressed over things and it doesnt matter how much money we have, or lack. It doesnt matter if nothing seems to be going the way we would love it to go at this moment, thats just life. What matters is the details that lie in the faces of my family, Buddy, Bella, Moses. It just made me so genuinely happy tonight to remember that life is all about change, life details are always going to change but my family is constant. If I focus more on the daily joy I feel in them, I know I can conquer anything. I am so happy that a simple picture of Moses' wet eyelashes will make me remember how happy life can be!

Bapcack

There are still some words she cant say right. I never want that to change.

I'm obsessed with all things kindergarten..Its almost out of my system, thanks for playing along :)

be your own star

An interesting little tidbit of info..apparantly Bella's adjustment period into school was surprisingly fast. She said to me this morning:

"Mom, you know when the 1st bell rings and I line up outside the door?

(yes) well, could you then just leave?"

Really? I think I'll try to blend in more with the pavement before I just drop her off and leave! Not ready for that yet.

I am working on a kindergarten scrapbook for Isabella. I figure if I can keep up with it through the year, it might stand a chance against the inevitable pile of half completed books now home to dust bunnies in the garage. I thought it would be fun to compile a list of questions and do a sort of interview with my silly little girl, it was so fun! I tried to pick questions that were out of the ordinary so I could really get a peak into that little brain..she surprised me on some, but mostly, this mommy knows what makes her tick! I think we'll make this a yearly event, it was so insightful and a fun way to "get to know her" if that makes sense.....Here we go.

1. What is your favorite thing to do?
Play with my stuffed animal pink dog and little white kitty cat

2. What is your favorite thing about school? Least favorite?
Favorite: recess where we get to play in the playground
Least: not going to recess to play in the playground

3. What embarrasses you the most?
This is kind of funny, but being a mystery tooter and having someone find out it was me.

4. What is your favorite song?
The cheetah girls One world

5. What is your biggest complaint about the family? What is your favorite thing?
worst: I don’t like that they don’t play with me
Best: that my mom plays with me

6. If you could buy anything in the world what would you choose?
A Piggy bank and a pet horse

7. What really makes your mad?
When my brother hits me and pushes me away

8. What do you want to be when you grow up?
I want to be a photographer like you, mom. And a dibbie maker and a tree climber upper

9. What gift do you cherish most?.
When Santa give me presents at christmas, like my bike and my scooter

10.What is your favorite book?
Arthur

11. What is your favorite food?
Chips and Salsa and Bagles with creamy cheese.

12. What nicknames are you called?
Bells
Bella Doozer
Mystery Tooter
Bella Girl


13. What is your favorite thing to do?
Play with my brother


14. What three things do you think you are good at?
Soccer, Doing Ballarina, spinning around with my brother

15. What is your best memory? Worst memory?
BEST: When I stayed at a hotel with my Grandma Coleman and she gave me a
playhouse
Worst: Today at school when they did magic tricks in the assembly, that was scary

16. What is your favorite movie?
Barbie princess and the pauper, Barbie Fairytopia magic of the rainbow, 12
dancing princesses and Curious George

17. What are you most afraid of?
Well, I'm scared of fireworks.

18. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
To Portland to see everyone

19. What is the best thing about being 5? What is the worst thing?
BEST: I get to go to kindergarten
WORST: that I didnt get to go to recess today because of the magic tricks

20. What makes a person good? What makes a person bad?
GOOD: Being Kind
BAD: When they dont say Hello after I say Hello

21. What makes you the most happy?
That my mom and brother play with me

22. What worries you the most?
That fireworks will get me

23. If you could have three wishes, what would you wish for?
A new bike
A thousand and thousand books
My very own computer to write emails to my

24. If you were mom and dad for a day, which rule would you get rid of?
I would never take away playing in my room

25. What is your favorite TV show?
Hannah Montana!!!

26. If you could have a magical power, what would you choose?
It would be to fly in the sky like birds and airplanes

27. What would you do if you had the magical power you chose?
I would follow airplanes and birds and say Hello


28. Describe yourself using five words.
Nice, Pretty, Love my family, funny and silly


29. Would you rather be the richest, prettiest, smartest, or happiest person in
your school?
Happiest


30. If you could spend one day doing anything you wanted, what would you do?
I would eat the catfood, I would do everything and cook for my Great Grandma

31. How would you act if there were NO laws for the day?
I would act like there were laws

32. Do you think it would be hard to be a parent?
Yes cuz you have to control all of your kids and you have to feed all of your
kids and you have to do the laundry and you cant lay down, you have to help your
kids.

33. What is your biggest problem at school?
I have no problems

34. What is your biggest problem at home?
I have no problems at home either, actually there is one problem, when my
brother hits me.

35. What stresses you out?
nothing, whats stress?

36. What is the best thing about being YOU?
I am a good twirler

And that is our own little star!

The sun is setting on our summer..

This summer has been awesome. I will admit that we have been lonely for Oregon many times, but all in all, I have loved this wonderful Utah warmth and all of the new places this state has to offer us. We are really thankful to be here and to be able to be in school. We have spent most of the summer....okay, all of the summer riding our bike, going to the park, the zoo, childrens museums and swimming in the frog pool and to me, I couldnt think of a better way to spend our days. Isnt that what most people do anyway with the summer..just lounge and enjoy being together as a family? I am sad to have another summer gone.

Its been the most fabulous time.

These are just a few of our favorite summer pics that never made it to this little old blog...farewell summer and hellllllooooo fall ( I LOVE fall!)

the wonderfully strange sad happy 1st first day

And she's off.........

Its been a day filled with strange emotions. I held it together walking her to school for the 1st time this morning. She held my hand so tight, asking all sorts of questions. "will my teacher like me? Will you pick me up? Will you hold my jacket for me? Will Kenna be there?" I made sure she had an extra pair of shoes incase her new shoes hurt her feet and she couldnt play, and socks in case she wanted to wear said shoes anyway even though they may hurt, and just in case some hello kitty bandaids in case she falls and chapstick in case her lips get chapped.. and a cell phone in case she missed me (kidding) and on and on and on. Afterall, she wasnt home to just be able to ask me...gosh. As she was lining up after the 1st bell, I felt the tears welling up...but darn it, I was not about to make her sad or nervous by crying, plus, there were so many moms there that I was trying to impress in hopes of a new friend, that I just couldnt lose it yet. (and for some reason, they werent crying either, I'm sure they were trying to be brave like me! After she walked inside, the tears started comming. I really missed her this morning, in fact, I cried for a majority of it. I really just longed for her to be a baby in my arms again, yet I am so proud and delighted in the little lady she is becoming. Its just a strange, happy, sad, emotional growing day. My feelings aside though, afterall, it is HER big day! Afterschool, she came barelling out of the door and ran into my arms ready to tell me all about what had happened. I couldnt soak it in enough, we were surrounded by kids ,yet no one else even existed to me but her and her sweet little voice, the moment was so cool. I think I am ready for tommorow...and I know she definatly is. What a day.

After school we played at the park, Moses really missed his "see-soh". He followed her everyhwere.

Rain welcomed here!

This has been a scorcher of a summer compared to what we are used to..and its been positivly wonderful!!! Although I am sure we have several more weeks of nice warm weather to enjoy, today we had a little break and welcomed in the rain! Moses wanted nothing to do with the umbrella until after it stopped raining..and Bells wanted everything to do with it, so it worked out well for me, no arguing over the umbrella. Moses has a pretty awesome pair of rain boots, but the car shoes stole his attention...big surprise. It was a nice way to spend an hour this morning. Bella told me: "The rain smells heavenly" I must agree, I love it to. And who knew (I did) that the rain brings on so many worms, it was a worm fest for a little while, boy do my kids like the little critters! There is a darling book we checked out at the library called "Diary of a worm" its so cute..hence the fascination. Tommorow is the big day! Bells went to sleep feeling like a girl on Christmas Eve. I cant wait to hear how her 1st day goes!