Childhood

Yesterday, I hate to admit this, I was just getting around to taking a photo of my pink Christmas gift when I turned around and saw this....Tess and Megan dancing in front of the mirror. They were twirling, giggling, jumping, and having the best time together. Lately Megan has shown an interest in dressing up and Tess has loved having a devoted playmate. They were so cute together I just sat and watched until they noticed I was looking. I couldn't have been happier in that moment seeing how happy they were together.

Can I just say we laughed til it hurt.

Last night we attempted a new Christmas tradition...gingerbread houses. We've never made them before, but thought it would be something fun for us to do since the kids are a bit older. We had this great idea, thanks to Martha Stewart, to make them out of graham crackers. I figured we would copy her model and do a small house, one for each kid, but Adam apparently had something else in mind. He attempted to build a large house. In our defense we decided to do it so early in the season as a trial run. We figured we would do it again. Well I sure hope we do because our first attempt was less than stellar. Not that the house was bad by any means, but we learned gram crackers are not the medium for making these houses. Too crumbly, too soft, and too delicate. Every time I looked over at his creation I laughed. He was even laughing. We decided it wasn't structurally sound for candy and left it bare for now. The girls and I started to make the small houses from the magazine. Not quite what the original looked like, but good enough for us. Megan enjoyed putting candy on the roof so much she just ate it. Tess finished hers and was so proud of it. Bella's fell apart so she sat on the couch and started to read. I suppose even though the end result was not what we thought, we sure had a lot of fun trying to make them.

For all of you with this tradition do you have any advice for us? We want to try it again.

unexpected

It was late Friday when we decided to go out for a home depot run. I had been organizing my closet (i found $300 in the process :O) that day and wanted to get more shelves. While we were out we ended up getting a tree. This was not on my list of things to do, i didn't even have my camera, but Home Depot prices were amazing and they had beautiful trees. When we were loading it in the car I figured we wouldn't start decorating until Saturday because it was so late, but I had to go get the tree stand from the attic anyway so I brought down all the Christmas decorations and we went for it. This was always my favorite part of Christmas...trimming the tree. It makes me so happy to know that I can now share that with my children. The girls love doing it and it's obvious by the mass of ornaments on the bottom. We still have more to decorate in the house, but I have loved having the magical glow of the Christmas tree lighting up our home each night. Why not enjoy every moment while you can.

So have you decorated yet? If not when do you plan to?

Lately...

I haven't had much to say, well that's not entirely true. I've had a ton on my mind, but really nothing you would want to read about and truly nothing I want to share right now. So that's where I've been.

Anyway....

Yesterday I was looking on an old CF card and found this photo of Tess sleeping on our glass table (it was taken way back in May). Finding photos I forgot about is like reaching into a pair of pants and finding $20. It such a thrill. I just thought it was the most interesting and uncomfortable place to fall asleep. Thank goodness for beds.I also wanted to thank Crystalyn for the chocolate package I received in the mail. It certainly did the trick at lifting my spirits.
I know tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I'm sure everyone will have a "what I'm grateful for post", but I've especially been thinking about it non stop since yesterday when I participated in a "fast and feast" with the YW/YM. Plus doing one of my G lists always makes me happy.

So here's my short list in no particular order.
1. my family
2. life
3. Savior
4. knowledge of the gospel
5. freedom
6. free agency/opportunity
7. prayer
8. companionship of the Holy Ghost
9. health
10. temple promises/blessings
11. support
12. creativity

I'm sure I'll share more tomorrow because literally this list is endless. What is something you're grateful for today?

creative few days

I've been trying the last few days to finish up layouts I started while scrapbooking with my friends a few weeks ago. Adam's going out of town tomorrow for the weekend and I want to be in the scrapbook mode so I can more easily play while the girls sleep.



Here's also a few photos I took of the girls this morning that made me extremely happy.






What made you happy today?

It went something like this...

Bella: "Tess will you show kindness to me and later I'll show kindness to you. You can show me kindness by giving me a bite of your ice-cream."
Tess: Just looked at her and kept eating.
Bella: (spelling out) P L E A S E
Tess: (spelling out) N O

I took this photo with my first digital back in july 2002. I can totally remember this day. Bella had just read a book to Tess. She loved her just as much then as she does now.

It was quite the conversation to witness. I really had to hold in the laughter. These two are so close, but also big time rivals. When Lori was staying with the girls she thought Tess was really jealous of Bella because so much of the day is centered around her. I don't know that I would call it jealousy. I've noticed Tess from an early age always doing things to bother Bella because you learn quickly that you can easily torment her. For instance Bella will want to have a sleep over and Tess will deny her. Or deliberately not want to watch the movie Bella wants. She knows how to push her buttons and she will from time to time. She does not do this with Megan. I think she knows Megan won't put up with her antics because she doesn't give her any kind of reaction. This frightens me a bit. I try not to stress about it too much and just chalk it up to kids being kids. It's so interesting how you can have 3 girls and them be so different. They really do come preprogrammed.

update

I've had a lot of response about blog help. Way more than I thought. Not that I care it's just been interesting to see who lurks. I wanted to let you know I will get to you all asap. A lot of the questions are time consuming so just be patient.

thanks.

Ok I'm just going to throw this out there.

Lately I've been reading a lot about css and html code. I know not very exciting stuff right? Well actually I really enjoy it. Anyway, my point is this...if you need/want any help with your blog just ask. I've had several inquiries for help so I thought I'd let everyone know in case there is something on your blog you're dying to change. I'm more than happy to help get your blog looking the way you want. Want to get rid of bullets on your links or add/change things or help with banner just let me know. Can't say that I know it all, but I know enough...I think.

Oh and one more thing. If you are using firefox what does my blog look like to you? I've realized on that particular browser my blog is not publishing properly. I suppose if it's still not working you won't see this post to answer it. Oh well. I'll keep trying to figure it out.

So if your interested email me

The charlie brown in our house.

Yes, we have two Charlie Browns living in our home. First one was Bella and now Megan has developed these same "uhh" sounds while drooping her head and shoulders down toward the ground. Every time I see it I laugh and the "CB song", we all know so well, always plays in my head. Of course Megan, like with all things, has taken it a step further and started to fake cry. It's really hard not to laugh at this because it's so obvious. Anyway, on this particular night Megan, who had only picked the craisins out of her salad, declared she was ready for a cookie. When I gave her the "I'll be happy to get you one as soon as you're done with dinner" routine, she turned to Adam and asked the same question. To her surprise she got the same response. Apparently it was too much for her because the next thing she did was throw herself down on the counter in pure frustration. Adam and I seriously had to hold it in. So glad my camera was an arms length away. Too funny.

Has anyone ever heard of children mellowing before they become teenagers? I fear this one.

what I'm up to...

I have so enjoyed the weather the last few days. This morning was so warm the girls and I worked outside for several hours putting away lawn furniture and racking leaves. I just love it when I feel like I've accomplished so much while involving the kids.

Another fun task I've done with Tess today is scan her art. Since school started she has really shown improvement in the art department. There have been pictures she's brought home that I've actually questioned whether or not she drew them. I know she did though. She's more creative these days. In fact yesterday dinner was taking more time than planned so the family sat down and watched "Everyday Italian" together (now Megan asks for it), but Tess chose to draw instead. I've been meaning to scan her projects so I can have a digital copy, plus I am working on a layout for her. She loved helping me do this.

I've also been going through tons of old cloths in search of warm weather clothing for Tess and Megan. I've bought them a few things, but knew I had a bunch of stuff in boxes so I wanted to go through them before I bought anything else. Well, apparently Tess doesn't need any pants. I turned up about 12 pairs of pants just for her. I was actually really surprised that most of them fit. She has such a small body but needs the length of the bigger size so the adjustable waist has saved us; however, back in the day they didn't have adjustable waist so I was afraid most things wouldn't fit. I guess it pays to have all girls and a sister with two who spent $ on nice durable pants. (Shirts are a different story and most the time I end up buying new tees every year.) Both Megan and Tess got a kick out of looking through all the cloths and never complained once when I asked them to try something on. Why would they, they change their cloths several time throughout the day. I think I have some fashion lovers on my hands.

Yesterday I spent a lot of time completing my monthly goal of going through all my photos from the month and getting prints made. I remember Jill telling me one of the reasons that kept her from going digital was you never have any prints. It's so true. If you don't stay on top of it you end up with a lot of photos in a file just sitting on your computer instead of the usual stack of prints. So I made a goal that ever month I would go through my photos, upload them, and get them printed out. I have done this for about the last 6 months and have loved it. Now I have photos to scrapbook and a pile to enjoy flipping through. I just sent in an order to shutterfly yesterday and I'm so excited to get them back. Adam is going out of town this week so I am hoping to spend more time being creative than worrying about dinner and house stuff. Here are just a few photos I took from our outing to the "pumpkin patch" a few weeks ago. I had not looked at them before yesterday. In fact I sort of forgot about them. I wonder how long they would have gone unnoticed without my monthly goal.

What are you up to this week?
Don't forget to vote!

It was one of those phone calls that you dread

You know the ones that start of with "Bella was at recess..." I was fearing the worst, but got better news than I was expecting...so I thought. This all happened yesterday when Bella fell off the monkey bars. In her words, "It's just that I was trying to start out on the second bar like everyone else, but I missed". Her fall caused her to hurt her back and wrist. She was really upset when I spoke to her on the phone so I picked her up from school early. I didn't think much about it since her wrist wasn't swollen at all and she could move it. So this morning when I noticed she wasn't doing so good I took her to the doctor to find out if there was something wrong. I really thought they would take an x-ray and we'd be on our way...I mean I was just being cautious by taking her in. It turns out she has a "bracket fracture". It's where the bone compresses and bulges out. I could see from the x-ray what the doctor was talking about, though I've never heard of this. The bluge is actually quite small. Apparently it happens to children since their bones are softer. Even with this news I thought no big deal, she'll heal up in a few weeks. Apparently not, you still need a cast for this sort of fracture. I was way bummed. She has to have it on for 6 weeks. Luckily it's her left hand, but sadly I don't think she will be able to play her violin. That sort of stresses me out because all this work she's putting into playing will go out the drain in 6 weeks. Arrgh! Oh well. No worries. I am just so grateful she wasn't hurt worse and that I actually went in. The doctor said we were lucky to catch it.

While I was taking pictures of Bella's cast she said, "make sure to put this on your blog so that Whitney knows." Too funny. I didn't even know she had any idea about my blog. So Jill make sure to show Whitney.

Oh and here is another layout I did from the other night that I just finished up really quickly this afternoon by putting on the title and journaling.

Have a great weekend.

Lighthouse tour Day 2

I'm under the impression blogger hates me. It's not allowing me to post photos so if you want to get a visual just click on the links provided. I will keep trying.

We woke up this morning and had breakfast at the bed and breakfast we stayed at. I have never actually stay for the breakfast when I stay at B&Bs. In fact I always thought they gave out pastries instead of a full meal. It was by far the best breakfast of the trip. Shirley, the woman running the B&B, knows how to cook and host. She was very funny and had interesting stories to tells us about her famous, yes famous, seagull named Baby. Apparently he had a broken leg and she feed him back to health. He found a mate who also had a bad leg and they lived happily by the B&B until she broke her other leg and then ended up dying. Apparently Baby wouldn't eat and almost died (I was teary at this point). He eventually found the will to live and found himself another woman. Apparently he lives at his woman's place these days, but I saw his celebrity first hand in a golf magazine. Too funny.

After breakfast we headed out of town to our second lighthouse of the trip, Cape Arago. It was only viewable from a distance. It was quite small where we were, but through my lens you got a decent view. It was a bit out of the way from highway 101, but such a gorgeous drive. At some point we were driving amids the tree in a fog. It was very cool. Here we are with the lighthouse at a distance...you can't even make it out.

As we headed out of this small town we saw a place called "Fun center" with the word "adult" circled at the top. Why am I telling you this...because it was located across from a school. Unbelievable.

Next on our list was Cape Umpqua. This was the first one we were able to tour. We waited for a while for the tour to start and spent time in the small museum and gift shop. Our tour guide was Bob and he liked to talk. He gave us some interesting info that really helped me for the rest of the trip, but my goodness he talked a lot. I thought it was really funny at the end when he said he always wanted to be a History teacher, but ended up being a chemist. I was happy to see him retired and doing what he always wanted. Very cool to see someone living their dream.

Back on highway 101 we headed to my favorite Lighthouse of the trip, Heceta Head. It was in an amazing spot. The drive, the hike up to it, and the surrounding area...just stunning. It was located just above a calm cove with rocks and of course tons of trees. The hike to the lighthouse was needless to say beautiful. Most of the way was lined with raspberry bushes so I can only imagine what it would look like in the summer. We actually got there just in time to take the last tour. It actually looked a lot like Cape Umpqua, but enjoyed it just as much. We spent a lot of time at the lighthouse and the surrounding area. It was just so beautifully overcast and the weather was delightful...plus there was a ton of sea life to see.

Next we head to our last location, Newport. We got there pretty late so just headed to our hotel and then out to dinner. We ate at a restaurant down by the water. It was a scary looking place, but actually had great food. From our room I could actually see one of the lighthouses on our list from the hotel window. It made me very happy to see the lighthouse signature.

All and all it was a perfect day. As the afternoon came in it began to get cloudy, but perfect temperature. I can't say the same for day 3. Coming soon.