each week it looks a little bit better

So I've finally been getting to some of the things I've wanted to since we moved last February.

Adam hung the shelf I painted for Megan's room on Saturday. I framed one of my favorite pictures of her and have more in the works...I'm still waiting for pictures to get printed. I'm also going to be making her an accordion album (4x4) that I am excited about displaying. I love them and although I have made a few for others I have yet to make one for myself. Hopefully by next week it will be finished.

I finally found red drapes for a great price for our sliding doors in the kitchen & living room. I had been toying with making some, but when I found these at $12 each I had to get them. I would not be able to make anything for that price. Perhaps one day I will find fabric I love and make drapes, but for now I am just glad we have complete privacy at night.
I also finally recovered our dining room chairs. I have been wanting to do this for a long time. They look so much better and are much softer. I added new padding so they are so desirable. I must say it took way more time than I thought it would plus a smashed finger, but I'm glad I took on the project. It makes the room that much nicer.
so there is just a few of the things I have been up to for the last couple of weeks. I really want a project a week...Even if it's cleaning our a drawer or closet. Something to make me feel like I'm making constant improvements.

what are you working on this week?

First day

It was the infamous first day of the 1st grade. Bella woke up earlier than usual so excited for her big day. She was totally in control this morning and told me what we were going to do to get ready and when. So great to see her take charge. She decided to get her hair done, get dressed, eat breakfast, brush teeth/wash face, and finally take pictures. This time it was her idea. Of course I would have taken picture no matter what, but before I could suggest she said "get your camera mom". Does that mean I take way to many pictures or what?

When we got to school we (tess, megan, and me) all went inside to drop her off. She was very excited and saw several friends from her kindergarten class and also 2 girls from our ward. I saw several of my friends there as well and old faces from the year before that I was able to talk to. A few of them had tears in their eyes as they walked away from their child (mostly because it was their baby leaving all day). I am sorry but it's true, I had a smile on my face. I had this sense of how much I'm going to miss being with Bella during the day, but when I looked at her I saw this confident little girl who was so ready for this and I couldn't help smile.

I just love these moments in motherhood.

my week.

this week has sort of been a mellow week for us. we really have done much. a few errands here and there, but no real activity. it is nice to slow down a bit as school is starting on monday and then there's no stopping.

actually there has been a lot going on during the evening.
tuesday night we had dinner with my friends and their families at a park.
wednesday night the girls had the hair cut.
thursday night we meet bella's teacher, or was suppose to, but didn't because she was so behind. we also had dinner for a stake elders quorm party. very sad turn out, but the kids had a blast since they had two big blow up castles.

we invited whitney to come play this weekend. i have to say the girls love it when she's here. i didn't even seen them until 10:30 this morning and not because they were sleeping...they were downstairs all four of them playing so nicely. jill your crazy not to think i would want her to stay until saturday, she is very helpful. although megan doesn't want to take a nap when she's here, but other than that its been so great.

so after they ate lunch around 11am they ask me to get in the hot tub. i said "i didn't think it was a good idea" (plus i didn't think there was water in it since adam just cleaned it out - whitney proved me wrong), so i told them they could call adam and ask. so Bella got on the phone and asked him. instead of saying "no" like i was sure he was going to, he said "as long as mom says it's ok." now i had no reason to not let them so the running around getting swimsuits on began. it was so funny to watch them get in. megan hated it at first, "too hot". of course she went back in and got use to it. bella decided to sit at the edge for a while. whitney tried to fight the urge of getting on the side, "so steamy" she kept saying. tess who wasn't going to get in decided to after all. they actually weren't in for very long. quickly their faces turned red and i figured it was time to get out.

so that's were i'm at right now, listening to the kids play having the best time, and finishing up the chocolate cake jill gave us last night while dropping whitney off. thank you jill that was some of the best chocolate cake i've had. delicious and very very sinful. it was hard to stop.

my new year

i woke up Monday morning and realized i have one week left. my life is changing and i will be implementing my new schedule. you see, september is my new year. it is the time in my life for resolutions and reevaluation. for fall cleaning and organization. as i look at my life the last few months i realize i haven't been good to myself. my body is suffering due to the lack of sleep, no exercise, and not eating good. this obviously affects what i have energy for so the one thing i am focusing on first.

my goals

1. i want to be up, some days showered, dressed, exercised and ready to go; other days up and at least ready to go to the gym all before my kids wake up.
2. i want to be in bed no later than 10:30-11pm.
3. i want to eat better. healthier. consistently throughout the day.
4. go to bed with a clean house so i wake up with a clean house. this makes a huge difference to my day.

these four things will do wonders for my life. exercise alone will make a huge difference, but it obviously can't be done unless i have rested.

one of the things i am looking forward to this school year is 3 afternoons a week alone. i am really hoping i can dedicate one to two of those afternoons to being creative so i won't feel the need to do it late at night.

i am looking forward to this fall. it's got all the makings of a really good year.

random thoughts

1. It's been nice having my girls around again. We went to dinner last night and pretty much just hung out at home all day. It's nice having some time to remember what it is about motherhood that I love (I'll save that list for another post). The photo is from this evening when we were out picking some weeds.
2. I've been working on some project and finishing up some. I sanded and painted a shelve for megan's room. I am very excited about this because I was going to do this in our last house but it never did happen. I suppose I'm looking forward to her room finally looking cute/done.
3. I also cleaned out a couple of closets and hauled a bunch of stuff, I probably should have just thrown out, to the attic. I have such a hard time with that. Now my 72 kits have a nice home and are very accessible.
4. I love looking in my laundry room and seeing almost empty bins. Funny thing I didn't even do laundry today or at all for the last few days. What a treat.
5. I do not feel well and to tell you the truth I don't think Tess does either. I don't know what's up, but my left ear hurts whenever I yawn. I am hoping it will pass since I have a lesson to give tomorrow and Bella is giving a talk in Primary. I suppose I should go to bed.
6. I love the TV show the office. I'm telling you if you're not watching this show you should be. In fact if this was the only TV show I would be fine with that. At night while alone I was watching the reruns. (I had to watch something to keep my mind off being completely alone). Anyway, I was laughing until it hurt. Yep that good. I can't wait for the season to start.
7. Adam comes home tomorrow early evening. I am excited to see him and so are the girls. I am looking forward to hearing how things went. He never would tell me on the phone.

ok so not too exciting, but hey at least I won't forget. Right?

another straggler...blogger drives me crazy

today's bounty

sorry for the horrible scans. my scanner is slowly dying. i think i need a new lamp. does anyone know if there's a way to replace it?

i worked for about 6 hours today. that's great progress for me. actually the family layout took a very long time and i even lifted it from tara whitney. it seems like a few of these layout are inspired from others. i suppose it's sort of always like that isn't. whenever i see something i love it just sticks in my head and comes out. i don't always know where to give credit.

"my deni" & "my ipod" are inspired by jaime waters.
"uniquely you" inspired by tara whitney

14 years ago

After each layout I complete I write the date on the back. With ever layout I did last night I was more and more aware of what the next day was. The 17th. I stopped what I was working on. I couldn't stop thinking about how I felt about this or what it meant to me. So I just started writing...crying...feeling. Remembering every detail as if it happened yesterday. This is what came out. I created it for me. For my brother. It was about time I wrote down some of my thoughts. It was difficult, but so good. the photos of my brother (left) and his friend Jeff who died with him in the accident.

the other 1

i put this one together in like 20 minutes. The key...i just didn't think about it. I just picked out papers and embellishments without second guessing. First instinct. It was very liberating. I actually like the way it turned out. I need to stop over thinking.

all alone

So Jill is graciously watching my girls wednesday-night-thursday. Then they head to their Nana's so they can see her and the new kittens. Adam is out of town so I am home all by myself. I must admit. I am a bit freaked out and feel like I keep hearing things despite the fact that I have music on very loud. Of course it is really nice to have uninterrupted time. I mean it's 2:30am and though I am feeling it I don't want to go to bed because there is so much I could do, but I know if I don't tomorrow will be a waste. But then again I will get to sleep in. Imagine that!

It is such a weird feeling to not have my kids around. I keep thinking I am going to wake them up due to the music. Or have one of them come in and talk to me. Dare I say I miss them. I am so so so grateful to have some time to myself, but they are so apart of me I do miss them. So here is a little bit of what i did tonight. I even went to RS for a couple of hours. I've been able to get a ton done. I just love it when creativity flows. For some reason blogger only let my post four pics so I will try to post the others tomorrow.

the last two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity

I think I threw an entire summer into two weeks or at least it feels that way. Like I said my sisters in town and each year we just pack it all in since we only see her once a year. Each day there has been some activity or at least a reason for the kids to get together and play.

here are some of the things we've done:
parks
swimming
shopping
eating
children's museum
movie
lagoon
library
butterfly release
dairy tour
zoo
walks
games games games
bowling
celebrated birthdays










Honestly I feel completely worn out. I feel like I really haven't seen my kids/husband that much eventhough we've been together. I feel like I'm ready for life to get back to normal, but I'm sad to see it come to an end. Really sad to see the cousins leave and my family split apart again. It has really been a good couple of weeks. I'm grateful to be able to spend so much time with my sister and brother. Both of which I don't see nearly enough. I'm grateful I was able to get to know Amy better and love that we have similar interests. I'm grateful the kids get along so well and love playing together. I'm grateful my parents make it all possible and put up with the craziness of all of us being around. I love it when my sister visits. Always look forward to this mini vacation. I will miss it when Monday comes.

It’s so weird to look at your child and see how far they come. As I was watching Bella yesterday at the swimming pool I realized she’s not the timid little girl she use to be.

As a toddler she was terrified (I use this word in the strongest sense) of the water. It took her a long time before she would go in and feel comfortable. Finally when she was ready it was all about tears when she started her first swimming lesson. I eventually just took her out of the class and got what money back I could...so not worth the fight I dealt with every morning. A couple years went by and finally swimming lessons became something she looked forward to everyday. Still she was not a good swimmer and didn’t feel comfortable without her floaties (sp?). And that’s where we started this summer off. She wanted her floaties, but I didn’t have enough since I needed them for Megan and Tess so she would have to go without. She was ok with that, but a bit worried. I knew she could do it she just needed to trust herself. So here we are today. Almost the end of the summer. She is swimming in the deep end with confidence. She is jumping in the water without fear. She is playing games in the water like I did having the time of her life. She still has a long way to go as far as learning to swim, but I am so proud of her. So proud of her for facing her fears. For challenging herself. For pushing beyond her comfort zone and trying. I hope and pray this determination will follow her throughout her life and that she will continue to be as confident as she is right now.

Library on a rainy day

It was a rainy Tuesday. I guess I should say a crazy rainy Tuesday. Lucky for us it brought in cool weather. I loved loved loved the break from the 100 degrees we've been having lately.

We were actually going to go to the pool today, but since the rain killed our plans we decided to spend a rainy day at the Library. We went to the one downtown since no one had been and they have a really nice & big kids area. It was great being able to see how much they enjoyed themselves. It was a bit stressful trying to keep track of everyone. It's hard having to watch three small children going three different directions. I never understand why I put myself in these situations. I must be crazy.

Anyway, it was the perfect way to spend our day. Don't you just love going to the Library? So quiet. The smell. The rows of books. I had a great time and I think they did too.