Pottermania

I finished Harry Potter this morning. What a great series! J.K. Rowling is very clever and creative. And very, very rich too! I just read a comment from another blog about how cool it is that so many people all over the world(and such a wide variety) have all been reading the same book this week-end. That is really cool if you think about it. And the fact that on average (this is from my own view) most books are about 200 pages, and this one was 800! And still it could be read in just a day or two (with lack of sleep and getting very little else done)Truly amazing!

And now a look back to when my Pottermania began. It was the summer of 2000, and I was on tour with the BYU Folk Dance Team in New Zealand and Australia. We were on the bus so much driving from performance site to performance site that we would get really bored. Most people had brought a book or two with them, and then we would just pass the books around to read. I had a Nancy Drew book with me (I know, so grown up!)My friend Melanie happened to have the first Harry Potter. I hadn't had any desire to see what all the fuss was about, but for lack of anything better to do, I decided it couldn't hurt. It looked like a quick read. Well, when I finished that book, i could not wait to find out what happened next, so I bought the second and third books in New Zealand. Needless to say, Pottermania spread really quickly throughout our team. When we got home later that summer, the fourth book came out. Of course we had to go get it right away!What torture it has been to have to wait over the past 7 years for the rest of them! It is finally over though, and it has been a great ride.

Family Picture

 

This is the picture we had taken up on the mountain in Blanding. We had all been up there for the round-up, and all the guys had to semi clean up using the water jugs so they would look presentable for the pictures! I wish my kids had nice faces, but what can you expect from them? It's a good thing you can't see up close, because I bet you might spot dirt hiding in places on Tony and Logan!

5 Things....

I was tagged by my friend Whitney. I know I have yet to blog about my trip, or anything else for that matter, but I felt compelled to do this. Priorities, priorities!

Five things I was doing 10 years ago

1. Folk Dancing lots and lots. I was getting ready to perform at the Pioneer Day Sesquicentennial Celebration at BYU. (I had to keep this one the same as Whitney!)
2. Working at Sea World during the summer when home from school.
3. I had just finished my sophomore year at BYU as an English major. (that didn't last long!)
4. I lived in my cute little blue house on 300 East in Provo.
5. My roommate Sharon and I were hanging out with my cousin Steve and his roommates doing crazy things like going to Nutty Putty cave,the hot pots, and walking on the green pipe in Provo Canyon at midnight.(what was I thinking?????)

My To-Do List today

1. Go to our ward Mommy and Me playgroup at the play area at the mall.
2. Do laundry.
3. Do the dishes and tidy up a bit.
4. Take care of some Enrichment stuff for my church calling.
5. Not much else to be honest!

Snacks I enjoy

1. Edamame lately! I can't stop eating the darn things!
2. Quaker mini cheddar cheese rice cakes
3. cookies of any kind
4. chips and salsa
5. anything and dip (fruit and dip, veggies and dip, chips and dip, etc.)

Songs I know the Lyrics to

1. songs from the Celtic Woman CD (it's in my van currently)
2. Carrie Underwood "Jesus take the wheel"
3. "On my own" from Les Mis
4. Twinkle Twinkle Little star (it's Logan's favorite at the moment)
5. Come thou fount (I love this song!)

Things I would Buy if I was a Millionaire

1. I would take Tony to Spain, and I would love to go back to the British Isles
2. My dream house
3. new furniture for my new house
4. a new wardrobe
5. fun things for my kids

Bad Habits

1. I chew my nails
2. lazy
3. Critical of my body and what I look like
4. Not nearly as clean and tidy as I would like to be
5. Snacking on treats instead of healthy things
* I just kept 2-5 the same as Whitney. It's exactly me to a T, it is scary!

Things I would never wear again

1. peach lipstick
2. overalls
3. scrunchies
4. I can't think of anything else (not implying that my style is perfect or ever was, I just can't think right now)

Things I like to do

1. read
2. sing
3. make cards
4. Chat with friends and family
5. Hug and kiss my children's sweet little cheeks!

Favorite Toys

1. The laptop-my brother says I need computer rehab cause I am online all the time
2. Mp3 player-I am getting hooked on audiobooks! It keeps me on the treadmill!
3. My stamp stuff
4. My Kitchenaid mixer
5. My sewing machine (although I haven't used it much, I still think it is cool)

People I tag:

1. Heather
2. Christy
3. Linnea
4. Lark
5. Maren

Diagnosis please

O.k. I need to throw this out there in blog land for any experienced mother/child care-giver expert person, or anyone else for that matter.

What would you say the reason is for:

1. A 5 1/2 month old baby waking up in the middle of the night when they haven't done that since they were born.

2. The same 5 1/2 month old baby being fussy all the time when they haven't been this way EVER.

3. Again, said baby always wanting to be held, but still crying, fussing, wriggling, and grabbing/pulling my hair?

4. Also not napping as well as normal, or waking up too early only to be coaxed back to sleep?

My original thought was that she is hungry. I am nursing, but she just started on solids, so I am wondering if she is not getting enough when nursing anymore?She doesn't nurse as long as she used to at each feeding, but seems like she wants to eat more often. I don't want to get her started on bad habits that will be hard to break later (like not sleeping well, and wanting to eat in the middle of the night.)

Could it be a growth spurt? At this age when she has already been going every 4 hours between feedings and about 11 hours at night, could she all of a sudden really need to eat so much more often?

I mentioned this to my mom who suggested teething. Hmmm...??? Logan got his first tooth at around 7 1/2 months. Would she really be two months earlier? He was a pretty easy teether though, so I guess I am not sure what to look for if she is having more of a rough time with it.

So...any advice, suggestions, or other assumptions? I would appreciate any comments so i am not forced to give my baby to the neighbors. Along with her 3 year old brother who has also been driving me NUTS with his whining since we returned from our vacation. It has been a week now since we got home. I would have thought he would have been over it by now. Maybe I am just an ignorant mother who has no idea what's in store for her and has only been somewhat lucky and fortunate up until now. Or maybe I just need more patience.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig!

Well, we are back! I don't know how happy I am about that to be honest.While living out of suitcases is a bit tiring, as is the lack of naps and a consistent schedule for the wee ones, it is nice to be free from the stresses of everyday life. I almost felt the weight of things settle back on my shoulders when I walked back in the door last night. How sad when I don't feel relief in my own home.

So, before I post about our adventures, I wanted to post about some interesting vacation observations.

1. Why is it that there are always shoes in the middle of the road? And only one shoe not both? It is something that I notice all the time and it is so bewildering to me. Who throws their shoes out of the car? And why? Or do they fall out when the occupants open the door? But why would they open the door in the middle of the freeway? And there are shoes everywhere in the road! Really...have you noticed? And also, why are there always shoes hanging from telephone wires? Come on people! Stop throwing your shoes everywhere!

2. Hotels are wonderful places. Especially nice ones. I think Logan would prefer to live in a hotel. He likes the swimming pool and the breakfast. Too bad Logan's blue blankie got left behind in Cheyenne. But the nice hotel people will be sending it in the mail. Can we make it until it arrives? It sure made the trip home a tough one with all the whining about " my bwue bwanket!"

3. Three things I wish they had where I live.
1.) IKEA
2.) Trader Joe's
3.) Bajio's Mexican Restaurant (Yummy-o!)

4.) Long car trips really aren't so bad with a mini-van. I have to say I traveled quite comfortably.And the kids were really good (with a few incidents here and there as expected)

5.)Logan can get tired enough to fall asleep while eating dinner, in the jacuzzi, and even while watching fireworks.

6.) There is a huge difference between lightly salted Edamame (yum!) and plain Edamame (yuck!)

7.) Did you know there are such things as deep fried avocados? And...a fried chicken sandwich with Krispy Kreme donuts for the bun. We went to the San Diego County Fair in Del Mar, and those were some of the lovely food items available. My mom and I did try the fried avocados (pretty tasty dipped in ranch) but NOT the Krispy kreme chicken sandwich.

8.) Relaxing music can make a huge difference in a whiny child (or adult for that matter). We listened to this CD in the car when Logan was having a fit, and it calmed home down pretty quick. It was amazing. He said "This pretty music makes me happy like this!" And then he proceeded to sing "do do, do do" and move his head back and forth. Happy guy.Happy parents.

9.) Apparently, and I won't correct the sweet boy, but I look like Anne Hathaway to Logan. We were watching "The Devil Wears Prada" in the hotel, and Logan looked up from jumping on the bed to say "That's you! That's you mommy!" What a precious, darling boy.

10.) I tend to have more energy on vacation. Now that I am home I am exhausted!

I will post about our trip later once I get the pictures off the camera!

Vacation fun!

I am not able to post any photos yet, but wanted to take a second to write about our vacation so far. We have been having a great time!

The drive was not so bad. Logan was really good. Avery and I both came down with a cold,so she was more fussy than usual for her sweet self. It was sad.I was also deaf in my left ear from Denver all the way to Blanding. So annoying. As soon as we got to Tony's parents house, Tony unloaded the van, and then took Logan up on the mountain to camp with his family. I stayed at the house with Avery, along with Tony's sister Jody and her little girl Macy. We drove up the next morning.Logan had a blast! He had so much fun playing with all his cousins, and getting oh so very dirty. I almost didn't recognize the kid! He got to ride a horse, and he even rode on the four wheeler with Tony to help herd the cows into the corral when it came time to brand. He was quite the cowboy.

After the round-up, we hung out at Tony's parents house, and Logan spent almost all day long jumping on the trampoline. He also ran through the sprinklers and had a great time...as long as Uncle Andy's dog Ruby was nowhere to be seen.

We left Blanding on Wednesday and drove all day to San Diego. The kids were both really good for the long drive, and I was very proud of them.

My sister Kristy and her family have been in California as well. Logan got to play with half of his cousins here as well.We went to the beach, and Logan played in the water and found some shells. We also went to the beach at night with my family for a cook-out. Tony took Logan swimming almost every day, and Tony got a very nice sunburn as a souvenir of his trip. We had a chance to go to the temple as well, which was very nice, and long overdue! Tony flew back home Sunday, and we will be without him until next Tuesday when he will meet us to help drive home.For now we are just relaxing and hanging out at Grandma's house and having a fun time.

I will post more later along with pictures!

Happy Anniversary to us!

I thought I would update a bit before I leave on our great cross-country adventure.Tomorrow is my last full day to get ready for our trip. We plan to leave in the afternoon on Wednesday.I still have several errands to run, some laundry to do, and finish packing. Craziness.

So, yesterday I sang in church. It was a last minute thing, but it was an easy arrangement of my favorite song, so it wasn't hard to prepare for. I was just a bit nervous since it was my first musical debut in our new ward (besides choir). O.k., there were actually 3 of us, but still. We sang Sally DeFord's arrangement of "Come Thou Fount". Did I mention how much I love this song? It was especially beautiful because we had a violin and an oboe as well. So pretty. It gave me chills. I would have loved just listening to them. Anyway, I think it went pretty well.Glad it's over.

So, this morning we had an appointment to take our van to get serviced. Tony was supposed to meet me at the car place after his dr. appointment. I ran around like crazy trying to get me ready, and gather up some supplies to prepare for the card class I am going to teach while at my mom's house. They told us it would be about 2 hours, so I figured I would wait, so I wanted something to do. Well, Logan didn't wake up until after 8, and so I hurried and got him dressed, and made him toast to eat in the car. I loaded him and all my stuff, then woke up Avery to put her in the car. I finally got us all loaded by around 8:40, only to discover that the battery was dead. Arggghhh! So, I unloaded everyone, and Logan was crying beause he wanted to go, and I was mad because I had woken up Avery and I knew she wouldn't go back to sleep. I had to call the car place and tell them i was coming later, and then I had to call the doctor's office to tell Tony that I needed him to come home to jump the van. Anyway, it all worked out in the end. It was my fault that the battery was dead however, so I can't blame that on anyone but myself.

Last night I was trying to figure out stuff on my new mp3 player. I discovered that the Kansas libraries have free downloads of audio books and cd's. You have to "check" them out, so if they are already "checked" out, you have to place a hold just like you would if it was an actual book. Of course the books I wanted were all checked out. Anwyay...I was trying to download some audio books to listen to on our trip. Well, then I told Tony that I needed a cable to plug the mp3 player into the van. He told me he had one so I was really excited to try it out. Tony, Logan and I all went out and sat in the van and listened to music from my mp3 player in the van.I happened to turn on the reading lights for Tony to read the manual for the stereo system. He and Logan went in after a while, but I stayed and listened for a while. Silly, I know. Well, I forgot to turn off the reading lights, hence the dead battery this morning.Duh!

And another note. Today is our 8th wedding anniversary. We didn't do a single thing to celebrate other than say "Happy anniversary". Sad, I know. We are planning on going out to dinner when in San Diego so my parents can baby-sit. That will be really nice. There was just too much to think about with getting ready for our trip, that we didn't even try to squeeze in our anniversary. All I have to say is that by year 10, we better be able to celebrate in style. I will give us one more year of blah anniversaries, but by #10, it better be good. Like a trip somewhere, or maybe even a wedding band to go with my ring. I didn't want one at first, but now I think I do. I want lots of sparkle.Ok. 2 more years. I can wait.

Doctor visits

Today both kids had a doctor appointment. Avery went for her 4 month, and Logan went for his 3 year. Both kids had shots. Logan was sooooo brave! He didn't even cry! I was very proud of him. So here are the stats:

Logan weighed 31 pounds and is 37 inches long. 50% for height, and 80% for weight.
Avery weighed 13 lbs. 10 oz. which is 60% for weight, 26 inches long which was 97% for length, and her head is in the 95%. When Logan was 4 months old he weighed 16 lbs.6 oz, and was 27 inches long.Anyway...it is fun to see how they have grown, and to compare them as well.

We leave on our trip next Wednesday, so I have a lot of planning and preparing to do before then! Yikes! Can I get it all done in time? I need to get my haircut, go shopping for some clothes for me, and new shoes for Logan, and get the van serviced.And then figure out how to pack everything.Such fun! I have lots of movies for Logan to watch, but I need to figure out good snacks for the road. I am all for suggestions of any good trips for cross country drives!We will take a cooler, and hopefully stuff for sandwiches, etc. so we don't have to eat out too much. Anyway...it will be an adventure!

FREE PIANO!!!!

Yeah! I am so excited! My fetish with Craigslist has paid off. I got us another free piano. You can't beat that. We had a free piano in Indiana, but gave it to some friends when we moved. I have been wanting to find another one for our new house, but we just didn't have it in the budget right now. I have found some pianos for sale for a few hundred dollars that I thought we could do a bit down the road, but Sunday night I saw this one for free! It is in decent shape, and for free I couldn't complain! It turned out just right because Tony's cousin happened to come into town last night and had a truck. So we just needed one more guy from the ward to help, and we moved in our new piano! My dear husband has had quite a bit of experience moving pianos, and our neighbor had a dolly and some ramp thingy's to wheel it off the truck onto our door step, so it was a breeze! Ha! I say that as I watched three men turning red and dripping sweat. It will need a tuning eventually, but it sounds much better than our last one! It looks a bit better too. I figure with Logan playing it, it doesn't have to be in the best of shape. We can always pass it on and buy a nicer one some day if we want.

Catch-up !

Avery Noelle , age 3 months

Logan Frost, age 3 years

Logan and Avery, May 2007

So May was a big month for us. I turned 30 on May 4th, Avery turned 3 months on May 2nd, and Logan turned 3 years on May 20. I finally took the kids to get their pictures taken a few weeks ago. It's so much fun to see my cute kids together in a picture! I love it! I have their pictures hanging on the wall above the fireplace, and after they are in bed at night, I sit on the couch and look at their pictures and they make me happy. They are such sweet little people! I love them so much.

Here is the tricycle Logan got for his birthday. His daddy wanted to get him a good tricycle, and not a plastic one. I happened to find this all-terrain tricycle on Craigslist. It was a really good deal, so we got it. It is a bit too big for Logan still, but he will grow into it and be able to ride it for a long time. The bummer is that he can't ride it by himself. He needs help because when he tries to steer, then he can't reach the pedals. He was very excited about it though, and he loves it.

We are also planning our vacation for the summer. It will be fun, but we will be doing a LOT of driving! We are leaving June 13th and driving from here to Blanding. We will be there for about 4 or 5 days. We will be there for the round-up, so Tony and Logan get to be cowboys. Tony's whole family will be there, so we will get to see everyone and Logan can play with all his cousins. He will have a blast! Plus everyone will get to meet Avery. Only Tony's parents have seen her so far. After we leave Blanding, we are driving to El Cajon (San Diego) to be with my family. My sister and her family will also be visiting from Idaho, so it will be my parents,brother, sister and I all together. That will be 4 cousins for Logan to play with. We are thinking of trying to go to Disneyland with the whole family. Tony will also get to go to a Padre game. Tony will fly back to KC on Saturday or Sunday the 23 or 24th. I will stay with my family until the end of June. My brother that lives in California is planning on moving to Cedar City the first of July, so I will drive up when he goes. My parents will probably drive with us so I will have help. After Cedar, I will have to drive to SLC by myself with the kids. I am hoping I can handle 4 hours alone! I will visit my best friend Heidi who lives in Woods Cross. She will have a brand new baby, so I will get to see him! Tony will fly into SLC on July 3rd, and then we will drive up to Idaho Falls to see my other brother, my sister again, my grandma, and my grandpa. We will be in Idaho for the 4th of July, and then we will make the long drive home that week-end to get home by the 8th. And after that I won't want to drive anywhere again for a LONG time! So that is the plan! Sounds crazy, I know, but at least I will get to see everyone in both families. I mapquested it and it will be over 4,000 miles of driving!

So, hopefully I am caught up now. We did have some computer issues as well, so it was hard for me to get online as frequently as I do. We are all fixed now, so I am back!

I have been tagged

My friend Vicki tagged me to do a meme listing 7 random things about myself. It is always hard for me to think of things to say in these types of things but I will give it a shot.

1. When I was little I wanted to be a scientist. I hate math! That career will definitely NOT work!

2. I was a Barbie addict. I think I played Barbies until I was 13 or something like that. I even would hide in my closet to play with them in the middle of the night when I had friends sleep over, or even with my sister to play with them so my parents wouldn't hear us.

3. I have a minor in Folk Dance.

4. I got a $500 tip once when I worked at Sea World. It was from a tour I helped give to Saudi Arabian royalty.

5. When I was in elementary school, my fifth grade teacher told me I should be a diver. We had year round school and would go to the pool at the HS down the road sometimes. Considering that I don't tan and was (and still am) very self-conscious in a swimsuit, I steered clear of something that would require wearing a bathing suit all the time.

6. I love jelly-belly jelly beans.

7. I hate mopping the floors.

Ok. That was hard. I hope those things were random enough. If anyone knows anything random about me that they can think of, I would love to know! Leave me a comment!

But now I have to tag 7 people, and this is also hard. I will tag you, but won't feel bad if you don't play.

Heather, Amiee, Whitney, Andrea, Kenzi, Lark, and Kris.

Happy Mother's Day!

What a wonderful day! Not only do I get to be grateful for my mother, but I get to be grateful for being a mother! I love my two sweet children! I am so proud of them, and how precious they are. I feel so lucky to have such beautiful, wonderful kids. It is so much fun to see who they are! I mentioned to Tony today that I loved seeing what my children are like after always wondering my whole life what they would be like. I told him I was so glad they were cute, and asked him if he was glad to finally see what his kids were like. Apparently boys don't wonder about that kind of thing. He said he didn't ever wonder what his kids would be like. How could you not? I don't think that's a "girly" thing to think about at all? Do you? Anyway...whatever. It just thrills me to pieces to see my very own, very cute children in real life. I love them so much!

Tony made me breakfast this morning. I don't think the kids really helped, but it's their presence that matters! We had bacon, eggs, and blueberry pancakes. Yummy! You have to snatch your bacon rather fast however or Logan might eat it all. He could eat the whole package of bacon if we let him I bet. He loves it. I guess that is a good thing, considering the only other meat he will eat is chicken...as in chicken nuggets. Not that either method of preparing the meat is healthy, but it's protein, right?

I also got to sleep in a bit after breakfast, so that was nice. Nice if you can sleep listening to Logan pounding on the bedroom door yelling" Mommy, let me in! Let me in Mommy!" No, I didn't lock the door. Our bedroom door tends to stick a bit, so it can be a little hard to open...especially if you are only 3. Oh well. I just layed there trying to sleep and thinking I was lucky that my son loved me so much.

After church, we went over to our friends house for dinner. It was really nice to not have to make dinner, and to get a chance to visit as well. Logan didn't get a nap again today, so once we got home, Igot him ready for bed and he was asleep before 7:30. That was soooo nice! It was a nice Mother's Day.
Yesterday we went to a children's farm that's near our house. Logan had a great time milking the cow. He said he was a cowboy. He kept going "whoosh, whoosh" as he was milking. Funny kid. He must really be his daddy's son, and his grandpa's grandson. He has the cow milking gene. Tony' has milked cows, and my dad milked cows. My mom's parents had milk cows for a long time too. What a funny kid. We almost couldn't get him away from the fake cow! He was so excited to milk the cow!

Logan has a little "girl" friend named Sarah. He always talks about Sarah, and how she is his friend. Well, Sarah's mom told me that Sarah had already decided she was going to marry another little boy from church. Well, today she told me that Sarah told her she wasn't going to marry Jacob anymore. She was going to marry Logan. Go Logan! I guess we better refine his potty skills before then!

Birthday RAK's

I am just now getting around to posting these fun Birthday RAK's I received! Sorry it has taken so long! I loved getting them, and I appreciate the thoughtfulness of the senders! Feel free to visit their blogs by clicking on their names!

This one is from Simone from the SCS Blogger RAK group. Thank you Simone!

This one is from Nancy also from the SCS Blogger RAK group. I love the colors on this one!

This one is from Angie. SCS name Renski. She is just on the SCS RAK group, not the blogger group.

Fun Stuff

So, I have been addicted to the internet lately. I have a fascination with coming across really great websites that are full of ideas and neat things. Since I have embarked on the journey of motherhood, stay at home mom, homemaker, Enrichment leader (for church), and Stampin' Up! demonstrator, I have found myself looking for helpful tips, ideas, and suggestions for how to be the best I can be in all those areas, and maybe even to find new areas to grow in. I have mentioned a few sites before, but i will compile all the fun new places I like to visit here in this post.

(These are not numbered in any particular order)

1. www.menus4moms.com This is my new way of meal planning for my family. It is really quick and easy as far as printing up the grocery list, checking what I already have, and then going to the store. I then know that I have everything I need to make 5 dinner meals for the upcoming week. I cn usually make it stretch becuase we often have leftovers, so I can get through a whole 7 day week for sure. It has helped me save money on groceries, and we have been trying new things, so it has been great.

2. www.splitcoaststampers.com As a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, this website has been a wonderful resource! I get all sort of ideas and help for my business, or for anything else I might need some creative inspiration for. Love it! But beware...if you enjoy this kind of thing, you will get sucked into it and might possibly spend hours perusing the galleries and forums. Just a warning!

3. http://deseretbook.com/mormon-life/curric/archive?area_id=7 This is awesome if you are in a bind about what to do for Family Home Evening. I have seen FHE packets and kits to buy, but this is free to download, and very cute. It is perfect for young children too. You could make your own FHE booklet with these, and color the pages, or whatever. Such a great resource! I had to share!

4. http://www.save-on-crafts.com/ I recently came across this site. I haven't ordered anything from it yet, but it looks promising, so I decided to add it to my favorites for future reference. I am sure it will come in handy.

5.http://www.fontifier.com/ Now this is really cool. I haven't done this yet either, but it is on my list. Just think how cool it would be to have a font of your very own handwriting! You could even do this for your kids at different ages to document their writing. I am visioning handwritten cards and letters minus the crampy hand! How nice!

6. http://www.flavorshare.com/ This website was created and shared with me by some friends we met in Indiana. It is so much fun! I had to share. I love recipes!

7.http://www.jennysmith.net/search-lds-activities.php?ActivityID=43 This site is very helpful for any chuch calling. I never come up with my own ideas, so i always need to get them from someone else.

That's all I can think of right now. If you have any really fun, cool, useful websites to share with me, please do! I am always tying to find new things to visit!

My Roly Poly

My baby is already reaching her milestones! She rolled over tonight! She has been working on it for a week now. She started rolling onto her side last Thursday, and tonight she made it all the way over onto her tummy! I am so excited! She has managed to be able to spin herself in a circle, and it has been fun to watch her working so hard to accomplish these things. I totally didn't have my camera, or else I would have a picture to post. I will have it out tomorrow so I can document her achievement for sure! I love these proud mommy moments!

On to the other child. I thought Logan was napping this afternoon when I heard some noises upstairs. I went up to see what it was and found Logan trying to climb up on the potty by himself. Now I would have been really proud of him if he wasn't using it as an excuse to get out of bed. But at least I know he is perfectly capable of going potty on his own, and I was proud of him. I can't believe how big he is getting! He will be 3 in just over a week!

Well, we have all been a bunch of sickies around here this week, so we are trying to get better. I hate being sick! And it is even worse when your family is sick too. I hope it doesn't last long!

Pouring Rain and Birthday Fun

These are just some pictures of our backyard being flooded! It has been storming pretty good since late last night, and now our backyard is one big puddle. There is a creek that runs behind our house, and a drainage ditch as well that runs into the creek. Before church today I was in Avery's room getting her dressed and happened to look out the window. I saw the big pools of water in the trees and at first just thought it was a puddle. The closer I looked, and the more I looked I realized how high the water in the dithc and creek were, and that it was overflowing the banks in some places. This is way cool. Kind of exciting! Our house isn't that close, so I am not too worried about our house flooding, but if you noticed, there is a picture of the pipe from the sump pump draining. Our sump pump has been spouting out tons of water every few minutes it seems. I am glad it is working! If it quit working on us, we would be in big trouble! Anyway...before dinner I put on my flip flops and waded my way through the muck to take these pictures. It was fun. It was really pretty in a crazy, wet kind of way.

Here is the beautiful birthday cake my visiting teacher brought me. I was going to take it to my mommy/daughter night at my friends house to share, but I caught Logan taking one of the candles out, licking it, then putting it back on the cake, so I decided I better not share such a thing with non-family members. I am not sure how many of the other candles he had done the same thing too when I wasn't watching!

I had a really fun time at our girl's night. There were 6 of us "big" girls, and about 10 little kids. We had some yummy food, and nice conversation. The first girl left at 9 because she had to go pick up her husband from the airport. The next few girls left around 10:30. There were 3 of us left at this point and we had a good discussion until about 12:30 when one of the girls left. I ended up staying and talking to Hillary (whose house it was at) until 2:30! Avery was sound asleep in the swing, and Hillary had to feed her baby at about 2 a.m. anyway (plus her little girl woke up a few times after 12 anyway, so she was up. There is nothing as therapeutic as some really good girl talk. I think we both really needed that, even though we haven't quite recovered from our late night! It was fun.

So that was my birthday week-end. I had a nice birthday, and now I need to try to act like the 30 year old that I am! I guess it is time to grow up. I will start tomorrow.(Well, we will sure try anyway!)

Trip to Archivers!

So I made my first visit to Archivers today. My friend Cherisse works there so I told her I would come visit her while she was working. It was also a nice get-away for a few hours.

I came home with some lovely treasures. The item I went there for specifically was primas. I am finally discovering the need for these sweet little flowers. I got the bottle of mixed colors, because I couldn't narrow it down! I saw so many cute things! I also got some cute pink and green chipboard letters that I thought I would use to make an altered lunch tin for Avery's room with her name on it. I then got myself another color of Stickles. I now have diamonds and lime green. I also had heard about the Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust pens, so I had to get a pack of those. I also got this really cool glue pen. It is so cool! It is a fine tip just like a ball point pen, so you can write very fine and use it with glitter, or whatever. Really cool.

The best find of the day was this. Two things I love combined in one magazine! Are you kidding me? It is totally awesome! Now I can look at recipes AND paper crafts, all at the same time. Someone was very clever when they thought of this. Seriously awesome.

Well, that' all for now.

Happy Birthday to Me!!!!

I was going to wait until later to post so I could have some pictures to include, but a good friend was waiting for me to post so she could comment. SO here I am! Pictures will have to wait until later!

I am officially no longer in my 20's today. Yikes. Not sure how I feel about that. We all went out to breakfast this morning to Cracker Barrell. Yum! I love going out for breakfast! After that, I took Logan and Avery to the park for our Mommy and Me play group. Tony and Logan gave me an Mp3 player (yippee!) so after lunch and the kids were down for naps I prceeded to try and figure it out. My eyes got too droopy, so I took a little nap! Before that however, my VT'er came by and brought me a cake! How nice! I can't remember how long it has been since I have had a real birthday cake. I was so excited!

Tonight is the father/sons campout, and Tony is taking Logan, so I am taking Avery over to a friends house for a mommy/daughter night. It should be lots of fun! When is it not fun to get together with friends, eat, and socialize? I am almost always up for that!

Logan is eyeing my cake, so I better go share with him! I will post pictures later! Happy birthday to me!

Motherhood

This post is a bit more serious than most. Just to let you know what you are in for before proceeding.

I read the other day in my Woman's Day magazine an article titled Motherhood in 2007. This got me thinking a lot about being a mother, and the views of society about the role of women...especially mothers, and even more about stay at home moms. I have had this on my mind a lot over the past 3 years, and I know I have friends who have also been struggling to find their worth as a stay at home mom. I know many mothers lose their identity and sense of self when they embark down the road of wife and mother. There are a lot of roles to fill, and it is easy to lose track of who you were before becoming a wife and mother.When asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, the only easy answer for me was to be a mom. I never had any passion, or interest or desire to have a profession or career. In college I changed my major 5 times before settling on a course of study that would help me in that path. I worked full-time before having children and pretty much hated it. It was a way to bring home a pay-check, but I never had a sense of satisfaction with what I was doing. I knew that working full-time in the "corporate" world was not for me. It wasn't who I was.The reality of what being a stay at home mom entailed of course hit shortly after I quit work to stay home with my son. While I was relieved to be out of the brown-nosing politics of retail management, I soon fell into the monotony of my days as a mom, and began to miss the intellectual and social stimulation I got when I was working. I had to find other avenues to make myself feel valued and important. I know that being a mother is the most important job there is, and that you are the most important person to your children, but it is hard to see that sometimes. I have spent every day since then trying to find a way to balance myself and create a new definition of who I am, and feeling pleased and happy with that definition.

I have discovered stamping, card making, scrapbooking ( a little bit) and paper crafts as a way to feel a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. I became a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator when my son was 9 months old as a way to have a new hobby and creative outlet. I have also enjoyed making new recipes, and recently began trying to learn to sew. There are so many rewards to being a mother and having the sweet little spirits in my home, that I wouldn't trade it for the world! After they are in bed at night, I find myself thinking about them, and their cute smiles, funny things they said or did, and just remembering their hugs and kisses. Even on days when I feel like I am not happy with who I am, and I just want to quit. I could never actually quit. I love them too much! It has just been hard for me to embrace motherhood whole heartedly while maintaining my old self. I still have to redefine myself and find comfort and peace with that new definition. It is an ongoing search, but I hope that one day I will find it and be happy with it. The search is on....

Popcorn Head

This is what happens when I am busy on the phone and the computer and not paying attention to Logan. Yum. What a silly kid! I look over at him and there he is with two bowls on his head and the popcorn all over the floor. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother vacuuming? I guess when the floor looks nice and clean, it is too tempting to mess it up again? Anyway. I had to laugh and hurried and grabbed my camera. I really wonder what was going on inside his head when he thought to stack the bowls on top of his head. He was just in his own little popcorn world. Oh to be 3! Or almost 3!