A P- P- P- POST.

I obviously took a little hiatus from writing on the blog.  I'll be honest.  I was worried about this blog.  I got intimidated by all the great blogs out there, some of them are dear friends, and I couldn't help but compare my shaggy blog to theirs, and I let my blog go for a little while.  It's sad. only it wasn't. I think I need the break from my blog. But here I am again.  Hopefully I will reach my expectations of this blog and it will be FUN.

Considering I haven't updated in a while, a quick update:

Sariah had her first choir concert for sixth grade.  She did great.  She also got glasses.  They make her look like she is fifteen, which isn't so great.  She is not officially taller than me, again, not so great in my view.  She is not even 12 yet!  She made the high honor roll, we are proud.  She is in love with a boy named Max.

Luke is doing great in kindergarten.  I found out that he and a friend, another boy a named Max, (go figure) are the leaders in their class.  All the kids kind of follow whatever it is they are doing.   He is also the class clown, but the teacher said he knows when to be silly and when to be serious.  I suppose that is a good thing.  He is reading, and being silly, and loves playing dreaded video games, I keep making him play outside.  He loves riding his bike, without training wheels!

Ethan.  He is still getting into everything.  He demands my attention, a lot.  More so now, i think than ever before.  He plops himself on top of me if I happen to be sitting down.  He helps wash dishes.  (he fell in the sink  a few weeks ago, luckily I was right there to rescue him)  he loves his play kitchen.  He cooks me dinner every day, at least five times a day.  He is now going down the scary slide without any problems.  Now if we can get him to like the swing, Lagoon might be fun for him this year.

Me, I am trying to keep my house clean.  It's a work in progress.  I will forever be astounded by the women who can keep their house clean, all the time.  I lack the energy, maybe even the motivation to clean my house all the time, around the clock.  If you stop by, it looks lived in, but not dirty, enough said.  Also, my big sis, Jeni, dragged me to a writing event in Provo last week.  I met a couple of Authors based here in Utah, like Shannon Hale, Tracy Hickman, Brandon Sanderson, and Lisa Mangum, Bree Despain.  I had one of my novel ideas critiqued by Lisa Mangum, who turned out to be very nice and likable, she talked to my sister and I for a long time.  My sister said that Ms. Mangum really liked my story.  I was so nervous I didn't notice.  It was a very interesting and I suppose rewarding experience.  I have wanted to be a writer since I was 12, but you know, life happens.  Next post will be amazing, or at least interesting... :)

Hello World, It's been a While.

That title almost sounds like a Bon Jovi song...

I did not realize how long it had been since my last post.  Apparently I haven't had much to say.  Even know, I am struggling.  I have been reading too many blogs and feeling slightly less par, I suppose.  But hey, I am here now.  Time to start again.  As always.  Things have been busy around my house.  Ethan has been coming into his own.  He never stops.  He has been coloring all over the house.  I find his art work every where.  And when I say every where, I mean it.  He does this when I am sleeping, or going to the bathroom, or distracted by the phone or the Ipad, or cooking his meals.  He also loves playing outside and making mud pies.  His play house is filled with sand he has been spending the past four months transferring from the sandbox to the play house, one bucket full at a time.  It is now the mud house.  I love him.  Which is what I chant now every time he is up to something naughty, it seems to help slightly when I want to scream things.  I don't scream as loudly..or as long, or not at all when I say that, over and over and over again.  (which reminds me of a She &Him song)  Luke has been thriving in kindergarten.  He is a social butterfly. (can you call a boy a butterfly?) He loves kindergarten.  He loved learning about Thanksgiving.  He loved learning about the Indians and how they helped the Pilgrims plant their corn by putting fish in the garden, he wondered if we could put fish in our garden.  He did a great job singing in their kindergarten program.  He is one of the tallest in his class.  Which we knew and still can't believe.  Sariah had an accident two weeks ago.  She picked up a fork.  A fork?  Yep, a fork and injured her wrist.  She know has to wear a brace for two more weeks and then we go in for yet another appointment.  If it is not better by then we have to get an MRI done to see if something else is up.  YEAH.  she is growing up way too fast.  She looks older than 11, which can't be possible, it really can't.  I am too young to have a pre teen, really, I am.  Let's see...Thanksgiving was quiet this year.  It was spent at my parents house, which I love.  I enjoyed the caramel  yam the most this year.  Maybe because that is the only time I eat yams?    My kids got a lot of time with Grandma G.  They love that.  We put up our tree this year.  Mike got to put lights on the tree. (we got a new tree last year, no pre-lite tree..)  He picked colored lights.  Which wouldn't be that big of deal, except all my ornaments are red and white.  I don't really like the colored lights.  It looks off to me, but I decided not to change anything on the tree this year, and I let the kids just decorate the tree how they wanted and it is now the morning after and ladies, I have not touched the tree!  This is a huge step for me. :)

I am sure that other delightful things have happened, and I am sure I will think of them once I end this post.  But my brain is foggy from some dayquil I took, thank you little E man for giving me your cold..so I am off to veg out on the couch and watch Modern Family..oh my my.

Bad Mom Moments

You know you are a bad mom when you go to the store, and suddenly notice that your child has a dirty face, but not just a dirty face.  NO.  He has dirt all over his body, from head to toe.  The worst part?  You just shrug your shoulders and go into the store anyway.  Hopefully you don't run into anyone you know.

You know you are a bad mom when you encourage you five year old to skip school to stay at home, because GRANDPA and GRANDMA are coming to town, you even encourage you child to tell his teacher.  At least he got his homework done yesterday!

You know you are a bad mom when your daughter starts crying because you told her that the word "also" did not have to be in her language arts paragraph, and that using the word "fun" in a sentence twice isn't necessary and to think of another word and she protests that she does not know another word for FUN.

You know you are a bad mom when your kids are eating out of the cereal box and seven because you were too busy to make dinner.

If you can't tell, my life has been a little crazy.  I have spent all day cleaning my daughter's bedroom.  GASP.  I know, she is old enough to clean her room, and I know that having her clean her room teaches irresponsibility and integrity..but after three months (no joke) of telling her that her room did in fact need to be cleaned, and even after threats of dire consequences, and still the room looked like a flash flood, tornado and earth quake had invaded it was time to step in.  By stepping in, I really mean, throwing away a lot of junk.  Three hours and two garbage bags later the room was finally up to my standards with threats that if she does not keep it clean, then she will come home to an empty bedroom.

I have also taken it upon myself to make Luke's birthday cake.  He wanted a SUPER MARIO BROTHERS cake.  DUH me, thought this would be brilliant.  because you know, I have so many success stories on decorating cakes, why not just jump right in and make one?  WHAT AM I THINKING?  making the cake has been an adventure.  It started out with planning, and sketching and making.  Chocolate plastic my friends.  I thought, hey I can do this, it's just shapes!  UM..I forgot that i am not artistically inclined.  Oh well.  At least it will taste good right??

Now it's a matter of waiting for the aforementioned grandparents to arrive and have my weekend full of family and hopefully lots of fun.

We survived the first week of school

Being the great mom I am, I don't have any pictures of Sariah's first day of school, I was sleeping when she left.  In fact, I had no clue what she wore on her first day, or even if she had done her hair and had her lunch ready, because I am that great of a mom!  I was sleeping...but she was fine, and she is very independent, so she didn't mind that I wasn't awake (or at least I hope she didn't mind)..she has to get up at the crack of dawn and head to the bus stop, and me?  Well, I enjoy sleeping.  Sariah made it to all her classes without any problems, she was relieved that she had home lunch, because as she put it, "the lunch line was out the door, MOM!" and after two weeks, she has figured out how to open her gym locker!  Shy Sariah has been willingly talking to the kids in her class, and has started on her own, to make friends, we are very excited by this!  Maybe growing almost two inches in the summer helped?(she is now as tall as me..hard thing to do, I know)  As the weeks go by, I hope that her confidence will grow as well.  She loves her Chinese class and her science class, she hates her social studies teacher, and she loves lunch time with her best friend in the whole world, besides her mom..JESSICA BILLS.


Luke..what can I say about this silly boy of mine?  He was very excited about kindergarten.  He didn't even want me to drive him to school, he wanted to ride the bus..apparently, being in the pick up line is not a cool thing in kindergarten...I took pictures, but am too lazy to put them on the computer right now..so, those will be added later.  He did not want his picture taken, it was getting in the way of going to school.  He looked a little nervous when he got on the bus, but I am sure he loved riding it!  He wasn't sure about the no seat belt thing..but he survived. (I made it without shedding any tears..even though they were welling up in my eyes as he climbed the stairs on the bus..my little buddy was leaving me, AHHHH!) He met a little boy his age at the bus stop and they have become friends! (he was so worried about not making any friends, and I told him he was really good at making friends, to which he replied, "I am, Mom, huh?"Luke is not shy, and if he can get you to laugh at the words poop, pooh or fart, you will be his best friend) 


We are now in our second week of school and our routine is pretty much set.  Luke loves going to school after lunch..(he didn't want morning kindergarten because he thought he wouldn't get to eat lunch, what, does he think i would let him starve?  Maybe I am that great of a mom!) Luke doesn't remember all the rules of his class..but ONE: KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOURSELF.  I have a feeling that rule was said a lot the first week.  Luke's favorite part about kindergarten?  He gets to go to the gym on Wednesday and play in there (he even showed me some of the fancy moves he has learned from the P.E. Teacher, they are very fancy!)..his least favorite part?  Story time, because according to Luke, you can't get up and get a drink or go to the bathroom.  (I am thinking it's because he has to sit still for a long time..Luke doesn't like to sit still, EVER)  


Ethan and I have enjoyed our time together, he is obsessed with the Ipad, and I have to take that blasted thing away from him, ALL THE TIME. He is also obsessed with gum, any flavor, and he knows where I stash my gum.  He has been counting, and dancing, and twirling and getting into lots of trouble..of course, he wouldn't be Ethan if he wasn't getting into trouble..he goes down for a nap around 1, so I have about an hour of just Mommy time until Sariah gets home from school.  Ethan is always sad when we get home from the bus stop..he tells me in a very sad voice that Luke went on the bus. (yesterday, he wore my brown high heels to the bus stop, and didn't take them off until nap time, he loves, loves, LOVES shoes, his favorite are the princess shoes at grandma's house) I just lost my train of thought..which means I must be done reporting on our first week of school!  Here's to nine months of school! And SLEEPING IN..WHICH I ENJOYED ONCE AGAIN, THIS VERY MORNING! (and I really do miss Sariah and Lukey when they are gone..I love when they come home! Can I just keep them here with me, FoReVeR, is that possible? 

Am I really that old?

I feel like I am still really young, like somewhere in my twenties.  I doubt I will ever feel really old.  And then I have moments like Thursday, that just proves to me that no matter how hard I try, I will age.  What brought this knowledge full fledged to my brain?  Walking around my daughter's new school and realizing that it has been a very, very long time since I have had to transverse the crowded hallways of in my case, junior high. (Sariah is going to the Intermediate school..which for those of you who don't live in lovely WASH CO..is a 6th and 7th grade school) Sariah has left behind elementary, and judging from all the paper work we received on back to school night, and all the supplies we had to buy..elementary is far, far, far, behind us.  Sariah is excited.  She wanted to get all her supplies that very day, but I was tired and needed to make a very long list of things we needed for my sweetness.  She is nervous, I could tell because she kept walking very, very fast, because it mattered to get through her schedule over and over again.  She clutched onto her schedule with all her might and she got us to all her classes without a hitch. (and side note, most of the kids in the hallway were all taller than me or close to it.  I really did feel like a 7th grader right then)  She wants to be older, I think.  Me?  I still want Sariah to be five.  She was worried about not knowing many kids, but I told her that eventually she will know most of them, and I think she is a little worried about fitting in.  I am worried for her..mainly because walking through those halls brought back a lot of memories of me as a seventh grader.  SHUDDER.  But i think she will do extremely well.   But, really, dear readers, am I really, really, really, that old?  I have a sixth grader who proudly told me yesterday that she is as tall as me.  Has 11 years really gone by this fast?  I am scared that the next 11 will fly by.  Good thing little man Ethan will be here in my home a lot longer..just to give you some perspective on my future life: When Sariah is in high school and learning to drive, Ethan will be in second grade and Luke will be just starting 6th.  Then i really will be old.  And in that time, you can tell me that!  But not right now!  Right now, I want to pretend that I am still 25.

can summer be over so soon?

We have two weeks.  Yep, two weeks and my kiddos are heading to school.  Sariah will start at the intermediate school.  She is excited, I'm nervous.  She is taking drama and choir.  She even wants to ride her bike.  Sariah.  She hasn't touched her bike in like two years.  I don't think she fits on that bike now.  Luke is starting kindergarten.  he's excited.  I am excited.  He is a super social, nice and somewhat well behaved little man, I think he will have a lot of fun..until someone pumps into him, or  touches him while sliding down the slide..there might be tears and screams.  Ethan will be home with mommy, all by himself.  I am not sure what we will do.  Probably watch a lot of Finding Nemo.  He loves that show, maybe a little too much?  But being the sucker I am..sometimes I let him watch him three times a day.  I don't feel guilty for that.  I need to get stuff done, and sometimes that is the only way anything will be accomplished in my house! But he still hangs onto me like a monkey..so

I will be keeping my house clean from the hours of nine to 12:30, so if you want to stop by during those hours, then I will let you in.  If you stop by after I will not apologize for the mess!  It has been a challenge to keep my tiny house clean.  And honestly, some days, I just don't want to clean it up!  I believe in weekends being free... :)

Eight Years

Today was a bitter sweet day.  I got to spend the entire day with my kids, running errands, getting treats and listening to them talk.  It was also a day for remembering.  I know I have posted about Quinn before.  Every day, I am reminded of him.  EVERY DAY.  It is in the little things...like when Luke gives his funny little (loud) laugh because he has discovered something funny, usually only to himself, or when Sariah looks at me with her big brown eyes and asks how I am doing and when she is so willing to help with her younger siblings..who are sometimes very annoying to her, or when Ethan does something silly, like singing songs with words only he can understand, but he is having a grand old time singing them!  I love when he shoots his eyebrows as far as they will go, and he tells me something in his little voice, like when he slapped my bum and said his very first full sentence.."Mom go to room and get GUM!".  These are moments when I remember Quinn, and feel that tingle in my heart, and wish above all else that he could be here, experiencing these moments with us. I knew that today would either be one filled to the brim with sadness, or one filled with happiness.  I chose to have a happy day.  I could have drowned in my sorrow, and I could have easily gotten lost in the pain of loosing a precious child, but I chose not too.  A line from a hymn came into my head this morning, today, of all mornings.  "The Lord is on my side"  from Let Us All Press On, in the hymn book.  Just that line.  He really is on my side.  Even when life is getting to me and I am not doing my best in all things, He is still on my side.  I believe he gave me this day to rejoice in the knowledge of eternal families.  Yes, it's hard, yes this day will always bring back those memories, and that deep sense of longing and loss, but I can still fill joy in the blessing I have each day.  Because He is on our side.