Wednesday, April 29, 2009

M.O.T.Y.

I had an experience today that reminded me of why I will NEVER be Mother of the Year. Nothing profound, mind you...just a typical day in my life. I will preface it by saying that I hate school photos. I think they look cheesy and boring and every time they come up, I think of all the reasons why I do not want to succumb to the pressure of ordering them. However, every time I still order them. Something inside me says that to be a good mother, you have to order school pictures...like my kid would be the only one in the class without the $90 check in the envelope while every other has the top of the line package marked on their envelopes. (I only imagine this but don't really have any idea what other mom's order) I don't think it's the money that bothers me because generally speaking, I am not a cheap person. I hate scrap booking and I don't have one of those frames that contains the mat with cutouts of each grade's picture. These pictures are stashed in a rubbermaid container that I will someday organize. I would just rather have a beautiful photo than a school photo. In the end, I always mark the cheapest package just to satisfy my own ego or my child's or both.

For a week, I have known that Fisher's preschool is taking their SECOND picture set of the year....BUGS!!! Anyway, he was supposed to wear his purple preschool t-shirt so they all look the same. He only wears this shirt when it is mandatory which means it has been worn maybe 3 times. The teacher kept reminding us to have our freshly laundered t-shirts ready for picture day:) Preschool starts at 9 a.m. and we live right around the corner from the building. I am not typically one to procrastinate things. At 8:55, I went to get Fisher's preschool shirt from his drawer. I found it crumpled in a ball in his drawer and got a little worried. I thought I'd be a good mom and iron it so that he would be in top form for this ever-so-important photo.

First, I noticed that it was covered with dried food...sauces, etc. I got a wash cloth to erase all of these since there was NO time to launder it. Next, I ran the iron across it forgetting that the print on the front is not meant for high heat so the iron dragged the white lines of the graphics across his shirt...permanently ruined! After picking up the iron, I noticed a stench coming from the shirt. I thought it must be the burning smell of graphics but oddly enough, it smelled like urine. After being disgusted, I remembered when Fisher wore this shirt last....a few weeks ago to a PETTING ZOO! It had food, goat, pony, deer, pig and chicken smell and whatever else he hugged all over it and to top that off, he had an accident in the bathroom that left urine on his shorts and the bottom of his shirt (too anxious to get the pants all the way down.) I burst out into laughter because could a shirt really have anything worse or more smelly on it? Maybe dried blood or something.

In the end, I had no recourse but to spray Kevin's cologne on it and send him to preschool for the coveted school photos that will sit under my bed in a rubbermaid container.

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Friday, April 24, 2009

Nearly finished kitchen update...family room next.





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Spring Break 2009

We had so much fun over Spring Break. This is the time of year that you DON'T want to leave Houston, because the weather is so amazing. A big city is a great place to do a stay-cation because there is so much to do!











The beach was so much fun. We don't go nearly enough. It was a perfect, beautiful day and we all had a great time.












Lots of jelly fish in Galveston!





























We drove to Brenham to visit the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory. You drive past fields of beautiful wild flowers along the way...anyone who has ventured into the fields knows that the picture is always better than the experience because it's scratchy, buggy and doesn't usually smell as good as it looks! I am not much for telling the kids what poses to get into, but Emme kept coming up with her own, so I went with it.






















With cousins from Jeremy and Anna Lisa's family at Blue Bell. Emme looks thrilled to be milking the cow...she would have done well as a pioneer:)



























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Sunday, January 4, 2009

Christmas Surprises!



























We give our children 3 big presents each Christmas. This year, a couple of those three were group gifts. The second was a Wii and the 3rd was a letter that gave them a clue to another location in the house. This went on for 5 more clues until the final clue said, "Your final gift awaits you 3 hours from here, so pack your bags and let's get going." They had no idea where we were going and I have NEVER seen them so excited. They were completely taken off guard. We packed our stuff and about an hour later, we left for San Antonio. We went straight to the zoo which was cool. I couldn't believe it was open on Christmas Day! Then we went to our hotel on the Riverwalk which is beautiful and full of life. That was really fun. The next couple of days, we went to Sea World. None of us has ever been, so it was great for us all. It couldn't have been a better Christmas and we enjoyed being together.

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Wednesday, December 10, 2008

"Oh the First Snowfall of the Winter..."

I love this song by Karen Carpenter...I used to sing it all of the time in Utah whenever the first snowfall came each Fall. I figured it had to be shelved for a while since we live in HOUSTON...but TODAY IT SNOWED!!! It only happens about every 4 or 5 years down here, so my kids were in heaven tonight. It's a night they will never forget. I don't really miss the snow, but I got teary-eyed when I saw how excited they were about it. All the neighbors are outside just staring...I guess it takes hurricanes and snow to get people to hang out outside:)




I figured this was as good as it would get...that I'd better take a photo before it melted!












They managed to get a baby snowman complete with cherry tomato eyes and a mini carrot nose. The snow was so hard and compact that they practically bloodied their fingers trying to bury their vegetables in the snowman.









Sheer joy on the trampoline.












...coming in for a brief break to get warm.















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Monday, November 10, 2008

Tagged....

Monday, November 10, 2008

Tagged by Megan

I was tagged - so here goes with my extremely interesting answers:

8 TV shows that I love: (I don't have cable, but like these shows)
1- The Office
2- What Not to Wear
3- 20/20, Dateline and the like
4- Lost(just started on DVD)
5- 24 (watched all six seasons last Fall)
6- Little House on the Prairie...still love
7- Without a trace
8- I am ashamed to admit it, but I like The Bachelor if the guy seems nice...I won't try to justify it.

8 Restaurants I Love:(in no particular order)
1- Chuy's
2- Italianos
3- Cafe Rio
4- Pei Wei
5- Berry Hill
6- Another Mexican restaurant that I cannot think of right now, but it has the best salsa and avocado ranch dipping sauce for chips
7- That's all I can think of.
8-

8 things that happened today:
1-Woke up at 6:30 and got kids ready for school
2 -Read scriptures as family from 7:15-7:30
3- Took the kids to the school book fair before school
4- Planned on spending $20, but spent $55:(
5- Came home and sat down with Fisher to look at one of our purchases....it was actually super fun!
6- took Fisher to preschool
7- cleaned house and started laundry
8-avoiding exercise by looking at Megan's blog first

8 things I am looking forward to:
1- Christmas
2- Thanksgiving, too
3- my hair appt. on Wednesday
4- becoming meek and merciful...something I am working on (seriously..this is always on my mind, so I have to put it.)
5- The day that Kevin will let me refurnish my back T.V. room to my liking.
6- Megan's ultrasound
7-Being surprised by Kevin when he takes me to Hawaii (hint)
8- Everything I can do to my house and to make it perfect

8 things on my wish list: (not in order, of course)
1- To be an amazing mother who is adored by her children forever...seriously
2- A brand new Landcruiser fully loaded with every possible gadget
3- The means to go wherever, whenever for vacations
4- to look back and know we spent the holidays in a way that would make the Lord happy
5- For my kids to have strong testimonies and the desire to do what is right
6- a dream backyard
7- to be the kind of person that improves and inspires the lives of others
8- A million dollar savings account so that I can spend all of our extra money without feeling guilty.

I don't normally tag, but I will tag Nancy G., Kari C., Heather B. and Sarah D. ( I know she won't do it, though)

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Thursday, October 30, 2008

Halloween in the Book of Mormon?

This morning when we were reading before school, we read a passage that is so perfect for Halloween. It is in Helaman where Nephi is talking about the wicked band of Gadianton robbers. Helaman 11:34 (read a little differently, my daughter's ears were perked)

"Now this great evil, which came unto the people because of their iniquity, did stir them up again in remembrance of the Lord their God."

After reading it she said, "What was that about a great, evil witch?"
Can't you just imagine a great, evil witch stirring up the wicked in her cauldron...only she is stirring them up in remembrance....if you were being stirred up in a big pot by a great, evil witch, wouldn't you remember God?:)

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