3 weeks and counting

So I decided the whole uniform thing might not be such a bad thing. On Tuesday my girlfriend and I got a babysitter and finished the rest of our school shopping. Children's Place had the cutest skirts and the sweetest little sweater. So I stocked up on the few items I was missing, and now we're good to go! When I came home, Ellie was so excited to see what I got that she had to try everything on right then (see how Sadie is still in her car seat). After dinner she even did a fashion show for Dustin of all her clothes. I'm happy to report she likes what I bought -- even if it isn't pink and doesn't have flowers or butterflies. Plus I think she looks so stinking cute and so darn grown up.

Results!

If I had to chose one word for the last few days it would be productive. I've had way too much energy. I got all my laundry done, cleaned my house (twice!), baked bread, made flashcards for Ellie and even laminated them so she can practice writing on them, made Jacque's shower invitations plus stamped and addresses all the envelopes, and (don't hate me) I even started on my Christmas cards. I designed and printed the message part and I just need to go get me some green paper and we're good to go.


Saturday we hauled the big slide out for the first time this year and had a bunch of friends over for a BBQ. Dustin made the most delicious gourmet hamburgers. One of my friends made the kids' desserts out of Twinkies (they looked like fire crackers -- super cute). So Ellie gets her fire cracker and takes a bite. "OH MY GOSH! There's CREAM on the inside. WOW!" Uh yeah, honey, it's a Twinkie, of course there's cream on the inside. "WOW! I've never had cake with cream on the inside. This is the most delicious thing ever." On and on she goes and I suddenly realize, my 5 year old has never had a Twinkie before! Her amazement was worth the years and years of deprivation right there.

Today we've been taking it easy after my weekend of domesticity. We went to the gym and then had Tasha's kids over. We've been swapping kids on Mondays since the neighborhood decided to take the summer off from our Mom Day Out. I only get every other Monday off, but it has been so easy because our kids get along so well. I seriously didn't even see them for 3 hours.

Tasha's another person I've known since I was a baby (just like Meredith in the post below), and we also live about a mile apart. I seriously had no clue how close we would all be when we built this house. Even stranger is that we're all in 3 different wards (that's Arizona for you, I guess, the Ward boundaries are small) and all in the Primary Presidencies (Mer and I are Presidents and Tasha is the 1st Counselor). It makes planning Sharing Time and Quarterly Activities so much easier when you have people to share ideas with! I am super lucky to have moved close to such a great friends and even luckier that our kids get along so well.

Summer Lovin!

I can't believe that summer is half way over, it has been flying by. I've been taking a self-imposed break from the computer the last week or so. I'll get on to check e-mail, but we've just had so much fun being lazy and doing fun things that I've enjoyed not being tied to anything. So forgive my poor blogging, I've been enjoying my kids!
We've been swimming a lot, summer movies, playing with friends, play group, baking (gasp, I've been sticking with my goals), going to the gym, going out to lunch, shopping. . . The other day we had Mer's kids over to play. I've known Meredith since I was born, so it's neat that 20 plus years later we live less than a mile apart and our girls are good friends and going to the same school. Little girls can be such divas! I caught them all in the guest room bossing poor Nate around.

We started Sadie on rice cereal this week. She's not quite sure that she likes it. Ellie couldn't get enough of the stuff when she started, but Sadie sort of looks like she's going to cry. I can't believe she is growing up so fast. She's started schooching herself across the floor and she stopped napping in the swing. She's also really started going for her thumb.










Dustin is off in California, so Ellie and I had a sleep over last night. Ellie was actually the best little helper when I was getting Sadie ready for bed. She got me a drink and turned off the lights. . . I told her that Dustin usually rubs my feet and she went and got lotion even. I love that girl :) After I got Sadie down, we put on face masks and put cucumbers on our eyes (Ellie saw it on a TV show one time and has been obsessed with the idea since we got cucumbers last week). Then we stayed up and watched cartoons until 10:30.







And here's Nate. My mom says he never gets enough face time, but it's usually because he's running around too much. Last night the kids were out playing and when we finally got ready for bed, I found a bunch of toys from the neighbors on our lawn. Casey -- I think this is Brady's truck and Jill, we have Brody's new sword. I'm holding them hostage for cookies ;p




Oh -- and here is Nate's great hair-do, courtesy of Ellie.

Firsts

I think I deserve some kind of award. Last week I made dinner EVERY single night and this week. . . I baked bread. TWICE! Yes, two loaves of delicious home goodness were made by ME! And that's not even the exciting news. Sadie started to roll over onto her tummy today. WOO HOO! After a few months of doing nothing new, we finally have something Sadie-licious to celebrate.

I was at a meeting when the whole thing happened. Everyone was excited to tell me when I came home, but I was so bummed that I missed it that I almost started crying. Luckily, after I fed her and got down to change her diaper, she showed me her new trick. And then after I rolled her over, she did again. And again. And again. In fact, she wouldn't stop doing it. The bad part is, she can only roll one way and after a few minutes on her belly, she starts fussing. So I roll her onto her back . . . and then she does it again. It is actually no longer a fun new trick, but kind of annoying. So tomorrow, we're going to have to practice rolling the *other* way.

Weekend Update

I like summer -- for about the first 2 hours. Hopefully this summer will be better since Ellie starts school again in 7 weeks. The first weekend of summer was actually fun. We went swimming at my friend Rickie's and then I watched Molly's kids for the afternoon. Thank heavens for the slip n slide. That night Dustin had "man plans" so I had some girlfriends come over. We watch Music and Lyrics (loved it), ate cookies and even scrapped a little (I know, I cheated on my MAS girls -- forgive me?). Saturday I went crazy and de-junked the Master Bedroom closet. I now have a pile of boxes and bags in the garage ready for DI. I love getting rid of stuff. It's such a great feeling to rid yourself of all the excess baggae in life. It is seriously my way of de-cluttering my life and re-simplifying. I feel much more in charge now that all that junk is out of my house.

The best part of the summer -- sheer exhaustion. Today the kids went to Tasha's for the morning (love my Monday lunch date with my husband) and then we went swimming at Michelle's for a few hours. The kids were so tired. Nate fell asleep in the middle of family home evening and Ellie was in bed before the sun had set. Now I get to enjoy the quiet! If only there was some good junky tv to watch. I deserve a break after taking 3 kids swimming all week. Seriously, though, what am I going to watch? I hate summer TV.

While Nate was at Tasha's, he fell in love with her little boy's Better Batter Baseball toy. It was all he could talk about when I picked him up and the entire car ride to Michelle's he kept saying, "Better Batte Baseall is fun." Over and over again -- wonder where he got his obsessive personality from ;p. At Michelle's we played trains, doctor, played in the kiddie pool, sprinkler, painted, blew bubbles, ate snacks and then went swimming in the big pool. 3 hours later, we get in the car to go home and I ask the kids if they had fun. Nate response: "Better Batter Baseball is fun."

And a quick Sadie picture share because I love it. Sadie is wearing my mom's dress from when she was a baby. It is all completey hand-sewn. I'm just in awe of all the hours and love that went into it. I just love that my Grandma can still be a part of my kids' lives even though we can't see her.