This And That

I don't seem to have time for creative blogging these days. But there are things happening that I want to keep track of. Here's a recent sampling.

Sara, Justin & kiddos paid us a visit last weekend. Here's Ayla forcing Sara to read to her. She likes to do that to anyone who visits. Don't say I never warned you.

Do you know what book I've been reading to the kids? Could you tell at an immediate glance? Oh, this book brings back many happy memories. My mom read it to me. It was the first chapter book I ever read to Micah. Ayla is our long suffering middle child. I don't read to her enough. Hence the reason she forces company to read to her. I've decided to start reading my favorites to the kids again. Micah reads very well on his own now, but I like reading out loud. Plus, some of the stuff he brings home from the school library is a bit dumbed down. I want to continue to influence his reading. There's a lot of junk out there & it's in their classrooms. I guess educators just want kids to read & that's good, but why not read something worthwhile?

Call me weird, but I love this photo that Kaia took. I love her chunky little foot in her cute yellow shoe. I love that you can see the bottom of my shoe as I'm sitting in front of the computer. And I love the fact that much later in the day I found my camera in the office garbage. You never know what you'll find in there these days!

This is what the bedroom/bathroom looked like on Saturday when Justin was helping Craig.

Here's what it looks like right now. That's Aaron N. helping out tonight. For the record, he called & asked if he could come help. I don't know how we're getting so lucky, but we're not going to complain!

We're Making Progress

The view from our bedroom at the very start of the bathroom mold cleanup/re-modeling project.

The view one week later. I wish I would have taken more photos. I should have done a before photo to show how tiny & very outdated our bathroom was. Some close-ups of the rotten, mold filled boards & sheet rock might have been good also. I guess I was a bit too grossed out.

Here's what Kaia looks like when she's doing her "chap stick laugh". It's this evil/excited little laugh she always does when she manages to get into Ayla's chap stick. I guess it's just as exciting to play on Ayla's laptop when she's at school.

This is my favorite photo from Ayla's birthday. What you see is three unbearably excited girls. The first sleep-over is a pretty big deal for all kids involved!

Bullet Point Birthday

I'll post more photos later. Hopefully this weekend sometime.

- Ayla got herself up at 6:30 this morning to help me finish decorating her cupcakes for school. For the record, I only let her decorate the extras. I didn't think anyone at school would want to eat frosting applied by a knife that was repeatedly licked clean. Not that they would know, but still. I do have some standards.

- Does anyone else not buy their kids a birthday present? I figure the made to order (almost) cakes, sleepover & general fuss make up for it. Not to mention the fact that they get plenty of gifts from family.

This year we had to have strawberry cupcakes, pink frosting, sprinkles (found some hiding in the way back part of the cupboard) and rings on top. Since there were no rings lurking in the back of the cupboard I drew the line there.

- By the way, those cupcakes? To die for. It's a good thing most of them went to school. I'm thinking they will be even more wonderful come strawberry season.

- It's a good thing birthdays only come once a year. I think that's all the extreme excitement I can handle. I just hope that today lives up to her expectations!

- Here's one more photo from last week's early celebration.

A photo speaks a thousand words, no? I love their expressions.

- In other news, we are now missing the wall between our bedroom and bathroom. It's the result of an extreme mold problem & a suddenly ambitious (read obsessed) husband.

Baby Brains

Someone has got to figure out a budget around here.

First Birthday Celebration Of 2010

We know how to make birthdays last. We start celebrating one week before the big day.

500 HUNDRED envelopes! Thanks Uncle Seth. This makes mommy & Ayla happy. No more raiding of mom's supply.

In the dining room AKA: pancake/DS/craft central station.

And for the grand finale a session of "I Bet You Can't Do This"

Only one person got hurt.

A Whole New House

Inspired by one new chair.

Some dear friends of ours are planning to move & they were nice enough to give us a comfy chair for our living room. I just took this photo & yes that's Craig & yes he's supposed to be at work right now. Unfortunately every February his neck & shoulders seize up to the point that he can hardly move. Poor Craig. Poor me. I had a date night all planned for tonight. Right down to food in the crock pot to deliver to the babysitter! Ahhhh. Anyway, trying to get him into the doctor today. Why does it happen every February? A virus that stays dormant until late winter & then settles in his neck? Hopefully we'll get some answers.

The best part of our "new" house (according to the kids), is the reading nook behind the couch. Even Kaia gets in on the action once the kids are in school. I'm not sure why Ayla had her coat on. Our house was warm, but that night she insisted on wearing her coat to bed. When I realized she was near a meltdown I gave in to the odd request. Sometimes it just doesn't pay to fight them. Wearing her coat to bed didn't hurt anything after all.

Anyway, back to the rearranging frenzy I've been on. The coffee table is now in the kids' playroom. It's the perfect height for them to sit on their knees & spread their board games out on it. The side table is now a bedside table for me. I also moved curtains, plants, books, candles, made another reading nook for the kids at the top of the stairs & got some new photos in frames. So thanks for the chair, Jerry & Darla! It's been an inspiration just like you have been to us all.

Showing My Age Big Time

This past weekend Ayla's class sang the Star-Spangled Banner at the high school basketball game. (It was as cute as it sounds.) Anyway, wow. Did the guys really look like that when I was in high school? You know, like little boys? We didn't have a clue where we were going once we got to the school. So, I just faithfully followed my husband who found us a seat right between the pep band & all the students. Yep we were the only old folks in our section. It was actually a very entertaining place to sit. I didn't watch the game, because I was too busy teenager watching. At one point I leaned over to Craig & told him I would never, ever live through those years again. Not for a million dollars. It's not like I had a horrible school experience. I didn't. I'm just so thankful those years are behind me. Watching all those boys & girls trying to fit in & figure out who they are was a bit painful to watch. It made me glad my kids are still fairly young. I kind of dread those years for them. I am starting to see the appeal of home schooling more & more. I can only hope I'll eventually have some kind of clue about how to guide them as the days and years go by........