Finding the Joy

I'm trying to find the joy in Motherhood today. It's been a little tough. Especially when the girls' room looks like this: The boys room smells like this: And then I find this on the lamp table in the living room:Yep, that is PERMANANT marker. On the only piece of furniture that hadn't previously been ruined. I guess I need to be looking more for this kind of thing:

Super Crazy Saturday

Here's a recap of our crazy, busy Saturday:

6:00 am: Brandon left to play tennis with some friends.

7:30 am: Leave for synchro meet with Julia and Olivia. Brandon wasn't home yet, so I got lots of phone calls from Sam until about 9:00 when Brandon got home. (I don't think I should have shown Sam how to use the phone for a few more years) This was Julia's first (and only) meet. It was a figure meet, so it was pretty boring to watch. I had to judge. So exciting. Julia threw a fit and didn't want to do her figures when it was time. We finally figured out that she was scared (I guess it could be a little scary--you do a figure all by yourself in the pool, in front of a panel of judges). They made a big concession for her and allowed her to go last (out of order) and with Olivia in the water by her. She actually had some pretty good figures and ended up finishing in first place! (Disclaimer: there were only two competitors in her age group)

12:00 pm: Arrive home from synchro meet to discover that Brandon and the boys have cleaned the house and now Brandon is at the grocery store. I love this man.

12:00-12:30 pm: Frantically finish a few Halloween costumes for a few friends.

12:30 pm: Leave to take Dan to his football game (dropped him off), then deliver Halloween costumes to big smiles and rave reviews.

1:00 pm: Frantically finish cousin Audrey's Halloween costume.

1:30 pm: Leave to mail Audrey's costume, Brandon arrives home from store and deposits groceries on counter, then takes off for Dan's game.

2:00 pm: Brandon and Dan home from football. After Dan quickly showers, we are off to the mall for Dan and Olivia's piano recital. They did awesome!

(Disclaimer: they were allowed to wear their Halloween costumes. Olivia doesn't usually go to the mall dressed as a princess.)

3:20 pm: Home from the piano recital. Frantically try to sew Julia's Halloween costume before the Trunk or Treat at 6:00.

3:20-5:45 pm: While I am busily sewing, Brandon supervises Olivia making cupcakes for the party, Sam finding the cape and lightsaber for his costume, Dan finishing ripping a shirt up for his costume, and I don't know what else because I was busy sewing. I love this man. He also came up with a great idea for his own costume: Michael Phelps. He wore one of Olivia's swim caps, goggles and a few medals. Everybody loved it and they all seemed to know who he was. Amazing man. Did I mention that I love him? By the way, I did finish the costume (I even amazed myself. Doesn't it look great?)

5:45 pm: I taped some jack o'lantern shapes to an orange shirt for my costume, we loaded up the candy, cupcakes and the "Wanted" poster from the party a few weeks ago and headed off to the church. (BTW, I got a lot of grief over the costumes that I made for everyone else and then the fact that mine was paper taped to a shirt. It's kind of like the people that wash windows for a living, but always have dirty windows themselves, right?)

6:00 pm: Trunk or Treat at the church parking lot. We used the "Wanted" poster to decorate our trunk (Brandon sat behind it and handed out candy). Chili and hotdogs for dinner. I was so glad I didn't have to make it. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and got drafted to be a judge for the costume contest. How nerve wracking! Dan was mad at me that he didn't win. (He actually had a pretty creative costume: he (we) made a wooden "stocks" like they used to use for public humiliation--all his own idea, too.

(I didn't get a picture of his costume yet, but this is the idea)

8:00 pm: Home from the party, get kids ready for bed. Take away candy.

CRASH! I can't remember what time, but it was well deserved!

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful that I am going to bed now. All sewing projects can wait for another day...

Piano Man

I have decided today that I need to brag a little on my oldest. He is a fabulous pianist, and best of all, he actually loves to play. He walks in the door from school and sits down and plays. He plays something just about every time he walks by the piano (which is often). I love to have my house filled with music, and I especially love when the music is created by one of my own. I'm grateful that he has been blessed with this talent, and I'm so glad that he enjoys sharing his talent.

He also plays the bass and has played the organ in church a few times. I am always stopped by people and told how wonderful he is and how much they enjoy hearing him. One lady in our ward even took the time to send him a card in the mail telling him how impressed she was. She said "the closing hymn on the organ rocked!" His strings teacher at school loves him (he is the only bass player), and she comments often that she wishes her strings players at other schools were as good as Dan.

Thank you, Dan, for filling our house with music and for enjoying it while you do.

Update

Sam's foot is getting much better with the antibiotics. Looks like we avoided a lovely trip to the hospital. Whew!

Big Girl

Julia has been BEGGING to get her ears pierced for many days. We finally came to an agreement yesterday and went to the mall. She picked these cute earrings and didn't even make a sound when they pierced them. She was quite the brave girl. Once we got home, she didn't quite understand that she couldn't take the earrings out for bed. Oh well. I think she gets it now. She is especially looking forward to Christmas, because then she will be able to wear different earrings. All in all, she is definitely more of a girly girl than her sister. I hope that's not a bad thing...

Thankful Thursday

Today, my post is going to be an ode to my main squeeze, the most wonderful man in the world. His desirable qualities are quite numerous, and frankly, out of this world. In no particular order, here is a small sampling of those qualities:

• he is tall (no need to ever look down on this man, he has a stature that is heads and shoulders above the rest)



• he is charming (especially when he comes home from work and sweeps me off my feet to give me a thorough "Honey, I'm home" kiss)



• he is dependable (for instance, I can always count on him to think of me endlessly while at work, or to eat the dinners I make)



• he is romantic (I can't tell you how many times he has planned a romantic evening without the kids at Home Depot)



• he is supportive (especially if I am up on a tall ladder)



• he is funny (my sides hurt even thinking about the jokes he tells)



• he is a gracious loser (ever hear of a game called "Quiddler"? When I beat the pants off him, he only complains a little, and for only a day or two)



• he is a hard worker (and he folds the laundry, too!)



• he never, ever, ever gives me a bad time about the amount of time I spend blogging. Which is why I had to let the entire blogging world know what an awesome man I married. Slobbery kisses coming your way, Brandon!

Editor's note: Said wonderful man thinks that this post is a tad bit sarcastic. My reply: Exactly what I was going for (and he was warned beforehand!)

This little piggy

Here Sam's left foot. Looks fine (except for being a little dirty, but hey, he is a boy!) Now, here is a picture of his right foot. Doesn't it look like it hurts? Turns out he has cellulitis. He is on antibiotics and if it doesn't look significantly better by tomorrow, the doctor says to call and he will need IV antibiotics. I'm REALLY hoping we don't have to go that route, especially after the lovely time Lindsay and her family had at the hospital last week. So, everybody keep their fingers crossed that his foot will be looking like a foot tomorrow and not like a sausage.

Re-thinking

For awhile now, Brandon and I have been thinking that we have the perfect spot on our patio for a firepit. This is the one I have found that I think I want: Isn't it pretty?

But after the last couple of nights, I am seriously re-thinking this particular want. See, we borrowed a similar firepit for the party (and forgot to light it, dang!). So we fired it up on Sunday evening and roasted marshmallows. The kids got a little crazy. But later, we had the owners of said firepit over and the four adults had a marvelous time chatting around a merrily blazing fire (made up of baseboards, of all things). All was good with the world.
Tonight, we decided to have hotdogs for dinner and Sam, Julia and Amanda (acquired in a kid-trade for Dan and Olivia) thought it would be SO cool to cook their hotdogs over the fire. This leads me to why I am re-thinking wanting one of these babies: those dang kids couldn't keep their sticks in the fire and I got really sick of yelling at them to stop waving them around and trying to burn each other. I think the whole idea of a firepit on the patio is just too much work. Which makes me sad because I REALLY enjoyed sitting around in the cool weather warming myself by that fire. All the best of camping without all the worst of camping (meaning I really love my modern conveniences and my bed, BUT I also love a campfire). Or maybe I could figure out a way to trade the firepit for the kids... Any takers?

Murder at the Deadwood Saloon

We had such a great time in the Old West! Deadwood was definitely the place to be, except for maybe the guy who got murdered! (I won't spill the beans in case someone wants to do this party in the future). The night was filled with lots of great costumes, acting and food. It was a riot to see some of our usually reserved friends really step it up and get into character. Most memorable for me was Marianne as a bandit, Brenda and Emily as saloon girls, Dave as the Federal Marshall (with quite the accent) and Matt (a member of the Bishopric) as an outlaw. April definitely wasn't a stuffed shirt (but she did stuff other articles of clothing).The quickly disappearing and reappearing mustaches on most of the men were quite entertaining. Billy the Bartender (Mike) did a great job of serving us (root)beer and what we had on "tap" (water). The best line of the night goes to David, a businessman from the East, who apologized for being late because their "wagon caught on fire". (In real life, for those who don't know, their moving trailer caught on fire when they moved here about 2 months ago). Our dead guy took a while to stay dead: the poor Marshall had to keep moving the tape outline to accommodate the corpse who couldn't decide which position to lay in.We had it all: from the snooty saloon owners and the sheriff who likes to be bribed, to the spoiled rich daughter of the rich investors, to the Southern Belle with an awesome dress and a hat a mile wide. Gamblers and outlaws ruled the day and someone took justice into their own hands before the night was through, but in the end it was all in good fun and we had a rip-roarin' good time!

I have to say, doesn't Brandon look pretty good with that mustache?

Thankful Thursday

Today, I am thankful for my husband (btw, so is my friend Adrian. You can read why she is here.) Anyway, I am thankful that Brandon is such an easy going, supportive kind of fella. See, the thing is, last year I talked him into having a murder mystery party, with a pirate theme. We had a good time, but as he said, it just wasn't really his thing (I think most of the male participants would agree). So guess what we are doing on Saturday? Yep, having another one!

This one is a western theme complete with cowboys, sheriffs, saloon girls, poker players and outlaws. Brandon is playing the banker, and I am his wife. I'm sure we'll have a good time. I appreciate the fact that he is willing to go along with something that I think is fun, even if it means dressing up and acting a part. I am so lucky to have him! (I hope he's not the one that gets murdered...)

Beautiful New York

We had a MARVELOUS time in New York state. It was incredibly beautiful and chilly (which was a really nice change). It was a little rainy, but we don't get a lot of rain, so we enjoyed that, too. It was GREAT to be away from the kids for a few days, and it was so nice to sleep in until we woke up, and then not get out of bed until we felt like it. We enjoyed each other's company, and he even held my hand whenever we were walking somewhere. It was so nice not to be rushing around, and it was nice to be a couple! Here are some pictures: We went to some caverns just west of Albany before we drove up to the Adirondacks. The caverns were really cool (literally, too!) This was called the "Bronze Room" and was really pretty. The picture doesn't show all the beautiful colors. We spent a LOT of time driving (500+ miles), but it was good driving. There was no one in the backseat picking a fight with someone else or whining or anything. A very typical view of the Adirondacks. There were lakes everywhere. In one spot, the lakes were numbered instead of named. "I have a cabin on Fourth Lake, how about you?" Once in Lake Placid, we took a tour of a couple of Olympic sites. This is looking down from the top of the 120 meter ski jumping tower. It was REALLY high! This is looking up at the same tower. We saw a guy practicing. I think he was about 14. It was amazing to watch in person. This is looking over the Bobsled course. Aren't those colors amazing? This is what we would have looked like if we had plunked down over $100 to ride in a bobsled. In the end, we decided it wasn't worth the money, but we did enjoy watching others do it. Even though they were going over 50 mph around this turn, it is only about half as fast as a real bobsled team. This is called High Falls Gorge and was really cool. Once again, pictures don't really do it justice. It was much more awe inspiring than it looks. Looking up river from High Falls Gorge.

This is Lake George, where all the really rich people live, I think. There were some amazing homes along the lake. I think those people should donate their extra money to me.

We went on a ten mile hike on our way to the airport. This is us on the hike.

(Disclaimer: no, we did not hike the entire 10 miles, but we did go on the trail.)

I thought this was a really cool picture. Looking up from the forest floor.

And we came home to this cool sign from our biggest fans. I'm glad they missed us, I missed them, too.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful that I am on vacation. Here is where I am, with my sweetie. :)