Busy, busy, fun life

I feel like I've been running around like crazy lately. Probably my fault since I could have been better prepared. I tend to leave things until the last minute, then realize there was other things I was supposed to do as well, so now I have to move like mad.

Yesterday, I was planning a leisurely day of cleaning, planning my games for the Halloween party later that night and getting the food ready. Instead, we decided to make an impromptu trip to Orem to go to a Halloween store to look for a wig for Steve's costume. We got to Orem around 9:30 and nothings was open yet! We finally walked around JoAnn Fabrics for a little while and then just waited until the store opened. There were about 6 other cars waiting for them to open as well. The employee had somewhat of a sense of humor though. Some people were waiting at the door when he went to unlock it. At the last second he turned and walked away. Just as the people were about to yell something, he turned back smiling. Unfortunately we didn't find a wizard wig there either, so Steve had to use the Santa wig we had. See pics - that was the funniest thing I'd ever seen - Steve in a white Afro! I bobby pinned it down for him somewhat, but it was still funny! After that we stopped to do a couple of errands and didn't make it home until almost 12:00. There was a message on the machine from a lady telling me about a yard sale for a teacher that has been teaching for 30 years. I decided to go, even though I was sure there would be nothing good left by that time. (Of course, Jill always starts yard saling about the time I'm finishing and she still finds stuff!) Anyway, there was still tons there and I was surprised by how many new things she had. Almost all the books were new - and priced accordingly - so I didn't get many of those. I did pick up a class set of those echo mics. I thought the kids would enjoy saying the letters, sounds and numbers in them. I actually brought them to church today so the little kids could practice their parts in a microphone! :) Anyway, by the time I got back, Steve was busy doing his home improvement project - putting up the moldings around the cabinets where we got new flooring. During lunch, I mentioned to Ella that we would put our costumes on after lunch. I didn't realize it, but Ella scooted off her chair and disappeared. About 30 seconds later she reappeared stripped to the diaper and holding both her and Emily's costumes! She was SO excited! After lunch, we took them to a couple of stores that I saw were having Halloween activities. We went to Home Depot first. They were doing a do-it-yourself (actually mom and dad do-it-yourself) project and handing out candy. I helped Emily make an art caddy and Steve helped Ella make a helicopter. Turns out Ella loved the caddy and Emily didn't care, so she got it. At one point I had Emily hold the hammer with me while I was pounding in some nails. She was pulling the hammer instead of pounding, so I was pulling while pounding. Then she suddenly let go, the hammer lurched forward and I pounded my index finger. Oh man, that was the worst pain I've felt in a long time. Fortunately for Emily I didn't yell and scream and cry because we were in a public place! But it throbbed all day and still hurts when I touch it today. Unfortunately, it didn't turn black and blue or anything, so I have nothing to show for it!!! Then we went to Walmart. They were having their candy walk on Saturday instead of Halloween night. I think I prefer Halloween night because Saturday afternoons at Walmart are so busy!! We've gone on Halloween night for about the last 3 years and have loved it! The store is practically empty, it's warm and well lit. And they usually give out tons of candy! And then we'd go walk around our block and be done. The girls were pooped by that time, so we took them home and they actually took naps! Steve worked on this project more and I set out to clean and prepare! I didn't get as much as I needed to done before it was time to start getting ready. I got dressed up as Cinderella and Steve as King Triton. Emily is Ariel and Ella is Minnie Mouse - so I guess we are a Disney family this year.

We met with all the sisters at the Lehi Legacy Halloween carnival. It's great for little kids. We started upstairs and trick-or-treated all around the track. Ella got really good at it and would say, "Trick-or-Treat!" (although it almost sounds more like "Parakeet!) and hold her bucket up to everyone. She figured out the system and would say it to both people working the booth and she was so cute they usually both gave her a candy! When we went downstairs to play games, there were some people sitting chairs waiting for something. She went up to them and yelled, "Trick-or-treat!" and help up their bucket! They thought she was adorable, but explained to her that they better not give their kids candy away! I hung out with Ella to do all the games and Steve helped Emily - he wanted to be right by her the whole time so people would know who he was! They both had a lot of fun and got a lot of prizes. Then it was time to come back to our house for dinner and party games. I made worms on a bun, Paige made spider rolls, Jill made witches brew with floating hands and dry ice, and Lynn made Eye Scream! It was a fun dinner. Then each of us did a game with the kids. I did a Halloween cake walk, Lynn did a Spooky walk outside and found the Spook (Dustin), and Jill played, "Don't eat the pumpkinhead!" We kept the kids busy so they would have less time to pull all the toys out! They all looked so cute in their costumes - thanks to Grandma for the most part! After the party I still had to get ready for primary! I had to plan a Sharing Time lesson and get things printed off to be ready to practice the program today! Luckily, everything came together quickly so I didn't have to stay up too late!!

This morning Emily woke us up about 7:15. We were on a whirlwind to get ready for our 8:30 church. We were all grumpy and stressed out by the time we got there - late for the 2nd week in a row! But the girls were better than usual in Sacrament meeting today. One of their babysitters walked right past us after playing the piano for the choir. Ella yelled out really loud, "Hi, Jennifer!!" She turned and waved and thought it was really cute. For the past two weeks at church I've been running around like crazy doing things for the program passed out while teaching Sharing Time the rest of the time. Two more weeks and it will be done! Emily's going to be singing a special musical number singing, "I'm trying to be like Jesus" with 7 other little kids - it will be so cute! I stopped in her class for a minute today and the teacher had me watch them preform their parts. They did SUCH a cute job! I know it will all come together in the end - it's just a lot of work! After church, Steve, Emily and Ella had their usual bonding time making blueberry pancakes and I got to relax for the first time in days. After lunch, they actually started playing nicely by themselves, so I snuck downstairs to the computer. Ella hasn't even come looking for me yet! Emily is downstairs drawing Jack-o-lanterns now, though. Hopefully the rest of the day will be "a day of rest" for us all!

A cute Ella story: Ella was playing with the felt pieces to the Three Little Pigs during sacrament meeting. She set up the houses and had the wolf "hop, hop, hop" towards them. Then she blew (spit) as hard as she could at the houses. The people behind us got a big kick out of that!

Pumpkinland

Well, today was our first fieldtrip. We went to pumpkinland. I was really happy with the way Emily & Ella behaved. Except that for some reason Emily was the only one who couldn't hold her pumpkin. And Ella gets shy and wants to be held the whole time. It was so darn hot that we all nearly melted. The poor 3 pregnant ladies stood in the shade the whole time. We were all exhausted by the time we returned. All in all it was a good trip though!

The end of a scheme

Well, my latest scheme was laid to rest today. About 2 months ago I saw an ad on Craigslist for a preschool/kindergarten business. That piqued my interest so I got more information. Everything sounded good so I went to go look at it. Everything looked good so I started the paperwork. She sent us the intent to purchase form. The night we went to look at her financials and give her the earnest money, everything started going sour. Her books were really messed up and she wasn't making as much money as she first claimed. It took weeks to get everything (almost) that we needed from her. We pretty much had made up our minds that it wasn't worth it for us to buy it, but we decided to have a CPA take a look at it as well. We were glad we did. He pretty much spelled it out for us - even if she gave us the business free and clear, we wouldn't be making enough money to make it worth all our effort. We pretty much knew that, but it was good to hear from someone else. I went in today to drop off all the paperwork, and perhaps talk to her. She wasn't there, and they were having class picture day. It was kind of hard to walk away when they were doing such cute things! I called her later, but only got her voicemail, so I guess I won't have to face her at all. In fact, I saw it listed on Craigslist again tonight. I'm glad they're not wasting any time, because I really wonder if she'll find anyone to buy it. So that's the end of another scheme. It's sad and relieving at the same time. I know I would have run the business well, and would have enjoyed it. That would have been a great challenge for me. Sometimes I feel like I need challenges in my life to keep from getting mundane. I always like to keep learning and growing, so I should be glad about all I learned while researching buying a business. It also opened my mind to maybe starting my own storefront preschool someday.

It's funny, all the while I was researching this business, we had conference talks about mother's staying in the home; church lessons about the importance of motherhood, etc. While I understand all that is very important, I continue to wonder about the whole "don't bury your talents" things. Aren't there some women out there destined to be business women? Some women have changed the world with their talents - had they stayed home and not gotten involved, the world would be a very different place. I guess that's why everyone is entitled to their own personal revelations. Lucky for us we have the guidance of the Holy Ghost.

New floors

I was so busy reading everyone else's blogs yesterday that I forgot to write my own!! It was a crazy night watching Dancing with the Stars and getting ready for preschool too!

Dustin's upstairs installing the new laminate flooring we bought! I'm excited to finally have nice flooring in my kitchen. I've been dealing with that cheap white flooring for 4 years now. Even when it was clean it didn't look clean. And it got dirty instantly! So I used my super shopping skills and found 5 new boxes of laminate flooring at a yard sale! Then I had to find matching flooring and buy 3 more boxes. Steve was whimping out of wanting to install it, so I called around to a few handymen - including Dustin. Dustin was the best deal! He's doing a good job up there and has more than 1/2 laid! I was teaching preschool all day, so I just told the kids I had monsters living upstairs! They didn't seem to mind - they were pretty much noisier than the pounding anyway.


Emily and Ella looked adorable today - here they are all ready for preschool and babysitters!

Crazy routines

Well, we just got the kids in bed and I was thinking about the crazy things we do to appease our children. Our newest routine involves each family member singing a solo while standing on our coffee table. The cutest is when Ella sings, "Ba ba bye," (Lullaby) while swaying back and forth and lovingly holding a baby doll. Emily will usually sing the ABC song or the Barney song. But occasionally she'll make up her own nonsense song. Steve usually does an opera rendition. And I rack my brains to sing a new song everynight. But by 8:30, my brain is usually in shut-down mode. So tonight I sang, "Happy Birthday" - a tribute to Lynn and Karissa whose birthdays we celebrated at our house tonight with all the family.

The other bedtime routines are fairly normal, I guess. Luckily we've reduced the number of things we have to do before bed. However, if we forget ONE thing, Emily will cry during the night once she realizes it. So as of now, our usual bedtime routine consists of pjs, books, songs, teeth, prayers and hugs and kisses. Much better than the elaborate routines of the past.

Another crazy routine is at mealtimes. After we say prayer, everyone has to blow a kiss to every other family member. Then after somebody cleans their plate off, everyone else has to scream while that person holds their ears. (Yes, we work hard to get our children to eat.) During the worst mealtimes, I've been known to label every bite as a princess and explain why Emily has to let them into her mouth - ex. Cinderella's step-sisters are after her to rip her dress, or Sleeping Beauty needs a soft place to sleep, or Jasmine needs to take a magic carpet ride - you get the picture. I envy families whose children actually enjoy eating.

We do have a fun mealtime routine, though. It started at FHE at our family council, and has now infiltrated our mealtimes. We didn't know how to have family council with such little kids, so I would ask them, "What makes you happy? What makes you sad?" Now it's turned into the happy/sad/glad game. Emily will go around the table asking each person what makes them happy, sad and glad. It's a great way to recap our day. And it's a really great way for Emily to stall eating her dinner!

One of Ella's crazy routines is the game I have to play with her when I carry her downstairs. I always have to pretend like I'm falling down the stairs and am going to drop her. She laughs histerically until I finally do drop her on the couch downstairs.

My crazy routine with Emily is a word game we play. If one of us tells the other that we love them, the other person has to say, "No, I love you" and we argue back and forth about who loves the other until Emily finally says, "I know...how about we both love each other?" And I say, "Ok, great idea."

And our latest FHE routine involves everyone taking turns playing huckle buckle beanstalk or hide and go seek. Ella clings to daddy and they play together. They could play that game forever!!

I'm sure there's more crazy routines we have in our family, but I'll save those for a future blog. And I'll have to add pictures later, because Steve's gotten on the blog bandwagon too and is writing his blog on the main computer!

Getting on the band wagon

Ok, I decided it's time for me to start a blog. I need to keep a record of all the cute things my girls do. Although I'm not a writer like my sisters, at least I can get thoughts and experiences written! I'll try to "cuten" up this blog, but I'll have to figure that out!