Monday, September 30, 2013

Sew much to tell you!

If I didn't have to use this super slow, old desktop (it has a floppy drive, to give you an idea) I would blog more.  This seriously took an hour of diligent uploading. Grrr.

First of all, these are skirts I made for Sarah for back-to-school. 6 out of 7 days she insists on wearing a skirt so I thought I'd better make her some that were a little more fall/winter friendly.  I made up the pattern but they're each slightly different.



Today was her first day of her second year of preschool.  She was sooo ready to go back. She insisted she was a big girl and didn't need me to walk her in. I relinquished but only because it's the exact same place she went last year. But next year, when she goes to kindergarten, they are going to have to drag me away. I'm already sad.
"I'm getting older so I have to wear glasses. My sunglasses."

Le'ts back track a little since September was more than just my birthday, I guess.  Justin's brother Dallin came home from his mission September 3.
 Sarah was very excited.  Henry had no idea who he was but talks about him all the time now.
For the last few weeks, Sarah has been playing soccer.  The first game was hilarious to watch. Sarah's team is outmatched every week but Sarah doesn't seem to mind.  They don't keep score and I don't think it occurs to Sarah that there could even be a winner.
 Her teammate was scared to play so Sarah volunteered to hold her hand. Always the little mother.

She has so much fun.  I don't know if she'll play next year because hauling around a baby and a three-year-old right before dinner time twice a week is going to be a pain.  
At first, Henry wanted to run out on the field and play too but he's learned he can't. Now he just wants to be taken over to the batting cage and watch the boys practice.
She's the best on her team.  I'm not bragging or even exaggerating. The fact that she's the only one truly "pre-K" on her team even though it's the pre-K league has a lot to do with it.  The other 4 kids are 3 and would rather do somersaults or sit with their moms.
These are Henry's "hiking boots".  They are a pain to get on but he doesn't care. Once they're on, he says, "Going hiking, Mom. Have fun." They stayed outside for 3 minutes before they got scared (It was raining really hard.)

Sarah is all about making patterns with things around the house.
 I find a car rainbow on the couch almost every day.
There was this one day where the kids were driving me up the wall. Henry put two dirty diapers in the toilet (luckily didn't flush) and there were screams and fits just to get dressed to go to the PARK. When we got back, they wanted to stay in the car while I unloaded groceries so I let them.  The most peaceful moments of my day were those 10 minutes before I made them come in.
 "Want to play baseball, Mom?" Henry has to put socks on (which he calls gloves but pronounces "doves") to play with any kind of ball.
The weekend before last we went to the cabin.  It started out fun and relaxing.  New toys to play with....
This toy microphone was a hit.  Luckily it stays at the cabin so I only have to hear "Presenting...Sarah!!!" a million times when we go up there.
The kids were so captivated by the cabin phone.  It has buttons. And a cord. "If you'd like to make a call...." Sarah liked to leave it off the hook just to hear that.
This is the kind of phone we'll get for our kids.  Want to talk to someone? You'll have to stay in earshot of everyone in the room. No texting, no pictures. Maybe caller ID.
 Junior explorers.
I had a mother-of-the-year moment when I led the four of us right through a patch of sticker weeds.  Poor Sarah's shoes and pants were covered and it took forever to get them all out of her clothes and mine.  I got three slivers in my thumb.
This kid doesn't hold still outside. Not even for a picture.
 I think Sarah was trying to do a weird pull-up but it just looks like she got shot in the shoulder.
These two love the cabin and besides the sticker week episode, we were having fun. But then things turned ugly that night. Henry spent that whole night crying for his crib. At 4 am Justin took him for a drive so the rest of us could sleep.
We didn't stay long the second day.  We were going to stay a second night but since Justin nor I had the energy to pull an all-nighter again, we packed up after lunch.  Poor Sarah was fine though.  She sleeps like a rock anywhere and never understands what all the fuss is about.
 I love these two.
Henry's favorite thing to say is "Know what Mom? My birthday's in May! So fun?" He loves Woody and Buzz. He's starting to become aware of super heroes (supa's he calls them) but I'm holding off for as long as I can because I don't want him to get into that stuff yet (ever).  I'm sad he's growing out of Winnie the Pooh so Toy Story and Cars are grown-up enough for me. He has an ear for motorcycles and an eye for sports. I think he's surpassed my football comprehending skills. He does fine in nursery 50% of the time and that's a big improvement. He asks for extended family members all. day. long. He talks a lot. I've got two big chatters and some mornings it's more than I can handle. He had a hard time while Sarah was at school today. I don't think he knows what to do without her but he'll figure out soon it means he can play with what he wants without Bossy Pants getting all up in his grill.

Looking forward to in October: General Conference (more cinnamon rolls!) kids picking out pumpkins for our porch, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, sewing Sarah's Halloween costume (she wants to be a purple and black witch. Henry will most likely be a kid in a coat, little stinker) sewing a baby quilt, soccer ending, leaves changing color, wearing jackets and scarves, no more yard work, Sarah's birthday, and Halloween.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

This is 30

This is 0.
This is 10. (So many things to love about this picture. The TV, the couch, my shirt...)
This is 20. (Those "candles" are matches.)
This is 30.

My "30 for 30"

1. I'm eating a Twix.
2. I have never seen an original Star Wars movie, just the one with Jar-Jar so I'm good.
3. I've never been skiing.
4. My favorite color is turquoise and has been since kindergarten.
5. I love making and eating desserts, especially cake but I get most excited twice a year when I make cinnamon rolls.
6. My favorite show right now is Rick Steve's Europe on PBS. Justin makes fun of me for waiting up til 10 to watch it.
7. I make fun of Justin for liking Pat Benatar and "A Walk to Remember"
8. I get a kick out seeing my kids like what I like but I fear they'll grow up just like me.
9. I feel guilty every day for something I did or didn't do. Mom guilt.
10. I once left Ream's with my friend and her mom and opened the door to the wrong car and started to get in.
11. I hated high school dances (well the ones you had to ask/be asked). I was an awkward date.
12. I never want to live in California. I want to live in Texas.
13. My favorite movie is "Return to Me" and my favorite book is "To Kill a Mockingbird."
14. I used to watch "Cinderella" when I was home sick from school.  I play it for Sarah when she's not feeling well.
15. I really want an Acura TL but I'm going to wait until my kids can travel without creating a pig-sty.
16. I've lost count of how many nieces and nephews I have. 30, maybe?? But I know all their birthdays.
17. I've never been good at memorizing song lyrics or movie lines but I can recognize just about any celebrity voice.
18. My favorite night-game is steal the flag. Favorite card game is Hand and Foot. Favorite party game is Balderdash or Cranium. Favorite board game is Life.
19. I think my husband has the best personality. And he's good looking so win-win. (He could tone down his obsession with football and hunting a little and I wouldn't mind.)
20. I think my kids have the best personalities and they're the cutest things ever so you'd think I want a dozen but you'd be wrong.
21. My middle name is Ellen. It's my great-grandma's middle name too.
22. I am stressed out knowing I have to name a third child. I don't like to think about it.
23. I don't know why people think Jay Leno or Charlie Sheen are funny.
24. I've been to 26 states but Hawaii is not one of them.
25. I've been to Canada (twice), Mexico, Honduras, Belize, and Grand Cayman and I really want to go to England, Spain, and Rome. And Vienna.
26. I write my grocery list in order of the store layout.
27. I hate getting dressed but I wouldn't mind going back to a time when men wore hats and ties everyday and women wore skirts. We just aren't a classy people anymore.
28. I love books but I'm a super picky reader. I've quit several books part-way in.
29. I have never owned a walk-man, disc-man or MP3 player.
30. I do not like pickles, peas, nuts, or most kinds of fish. 

My question for all of you that have been in your thirties for longer than I, what are they all about? My twenties were about college, graduating college, getting married, buying a house, having a baby or two. You know, all those big "firsts".  What are your thirties about?

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Lake Powell Trip

After a 7-year absence, I made my reluctant return to Lake Powell on Thursday. I barely survived the trip in 2006 and that was without kids and I wasn't pregnant. But this time around, Justin's parents generously rented a houseboat so I knew I could at least survive the trip, if not enjoy it.

Captain Henry taking us to "a party."
 Sarah the little swimmer kept her life jacket on most of the time so that she could jump into the water at a moment's notice.  "Is anyone going swimming?"
 Eating chips on the way to our spot.
 This is the only picture of me on the first day, on our drive to our spot and that's intentional. It was all downhill from here on hair and makeup.
Poor little guy got so tired of his life jacket.  That was part of the reason we only stayed two nights, he just couldn't handle it anymore.
 This little lady on the other hand could have stayed for a week.
It takes Henry a little while to warm up to the idea of water.  This is how Kristen eased him in.  If you called it splashing and let him splash water in your face, he'd have fun.
 Henry's favorite job was to yell 1-2-3 for others to jump into the water.
 1! 2!
 3!

Sarah is sad because she had to come in and take off her life jacket since it was rubbing her armpits and chin raw. And we'd all been up since 5 am.
Friday. Anytime the boat stopped, Sarah asked to jump into the water. We also wised up and put Henry's rash guard on her.
 Henry wouldn't wear his new hat so Justin did.
 Melissa brought these goggles and Sarah adopted them. She rarely took them off her face.
And I mean rarely.  Here's our dedicated swimmer.
 Saturday. The second-best activity was making mud pies or throwing rocks into the water.
 Henry loves anything that requires mud and not putting his lifejacket on.
 Tube Wars 2013
 Henry zonked out after keeping us up half the night. Nadine kindly held him for over an hour.
 Swim nerd eating some chips.
Sarah would only ride the tube if it was going super slow and straight. It was such a boring ride for everyone else. Corey even fell asleep driving the boat.

The thing about Lake Powell is that the entire time you are there, you are either wet or hot. I think there might be an hour in the wee early morning where one can be dry and cool and that's when you get all your sleep for the night.

The first night we were there, the neighboring party boat blared their music until 2 am (my kids slept through all of that) and when Justin and I finally laid down on the roof and dozed off, Henry woke up downstairs. He and Sarah were so hot and sweaty so Justin brought them to the roof to sleep too. We all slept until it got a tiny bit light and then Henry was awake and ready to go.  Total sleep that night: maybe 3 hours. Maybe.

The second (and predetermined final night for my family) couldn't possibly be worse, right? We were off to a good start. We all started out on the roof (knowing that's where we would end up with the heat), the night was cooler than the previous night, and we had successfully bullied the party boat into turning down their music with a combination of honking and yelling.  All 10 of us laid down at 9 pm and went to sleep.

And then came the wind just when I was in the deepest sleep and so were my kids.  Justin and I took the kids inside which was fine since it wasn't too hot in there. Then it got even windier. The houseboat blew off the beach and drifted sideways into the rocks.  That was exciting. It was like Titanic. We're all sleeping and then we all feel this crash and it takes us a minute to figure out what happened.  We didn't sink; we just had to add a third anchor. That was at 12:30.  Calm down from that then came the rain.  Roof sleepers scrambled to stay dry, some came inside, some huddled under the awning.  Back to sleep. Then a mouse crawled on my hand. (This would get more attention but when it's in a series of events like this, it just gets mentioned).  Once my heart rate returned to normal and I laid down again, Henry woke up hysterically crying and wouldn't be calmed down. He cried and whined and wanted to go outside or see anyone else in the boat but me.  Finally Justin took him out to the deck but that was after he had fully woken everyone else on the boat. They stayed out there until morning. If we weren't leaving that day, we would have been kicked out for sure. Total sleep that night: maybe 4 hours.

We drove home Saturday afternoon.  I'm pretty sure I have just this morning caught up on rest and hydration which is good because Dallin comes home from Brazil tomorrow!