Happy Reader

I am so happy to be seeing a lot of this lately:

-Nathan curled up with a chapter book! He is starting to love reading and understand the joy of chapter books. It makes me soooo happy to see. I try to encourage him every step of the way. I quiz him on what he's reading, and his comprehension seems good. When he reads aloud, he even does voice inflections. It makes me giddy inside. Is that weird? Hooray for reading!

And even better than chapter books, here he is reading Dr. Seuss to Sarah and Matthew. What mother doesn't love to see that?!

Meeting Milsap

Last night, as part of the Jr. Jazz program we got to attend a "meet the Jazz player night." As they wouldn't announce which player would be coming, we excitedly anticipated who it would be. Nathan wanted it to be Matt Harpring, his favorite. I, of course (with all the other Moms) was secretly hoping for Kyle Korver. We got Paul Milsap, who is Rob's favorite Jazz player. And Rob wasn't even there for it- he was on a scout camp out. Milsap was great, and cute with the 100's of kids. Nathan was thrilled! I think it will be something he will remember for a long time. He was especially excited, because he knew he would be attending tonight's game with Rob. Go Jazz!
In this picture, Nathan is in the light blue jersey right in front of Milsap.

Curtain Catastrophe

So I think we've well established that I have trouble with laundry. I hate doing it (mostly the folding part, nor am I good at the putting it away part), then there was the whole crayon in the drier debacle... My recent trouble is with my curtains for my sliding glass door. When Rob painted our living room, he took down our curtains and suggested that I wash them while he was painting. Imagine my surprise and horror to see this when I hung them back up!
All four panels used to reach the floor! One of them shrunk a whole foot (I don't know that the picture does it justice)!!! I followed the instructions on the tags. How bizarre that they would shrink so much and so differently. Grrrr! Ridiculous! I guess my lesson to be learned is: you get what you pay for- don't buy cheap curtains at Walmart, and don't wash your curtains, even if the tags say it's ok.

Happy Flourescent Yellow Food Day!

Years ago my little sister Sherry and cousin Pamela invented a silly new holiday called Fluorescent Yellow Food Day. They have celebrated it on February 20th ever since. For a full history see her blog. Since Sherry reminded us ahead of time that her holiday was coming up, I decided we would join the celebration at our house this year. It was nothing spectacular (or difficult), but it was fun to see what yellow food we could come up with that I already had on hand. Who doesn't love an excuse to make Mac & Cheese for dinner! So Sherry, here it is... mac & cheese, bananas, yellow jello, corn and cheese rolls. Oh, and the best part was lemon cake for dessert. I cooked a lemon cake, poked holes in it and poured lemon jello all over it. Then I cooled it in the fridge and topped it with yellow colored whip cream. YUM!

Sarah and Her Fancy Pants

Sarah is such a funny little girl. She was so excited when I bought her some new jeans that have pink butterflies on them with a cute pink butterfly belt. She immediately started calling them her "fancy pants." When she first tried them on she said, "Mom, now I can be a rock star or a cowboy." I guess all you need is the fancy pants. Who knew! Luckily, she put on her cowboy boots, and decided that's the route she'll go with this pair of pants.

She wants to make sure everyone sees the design on the back pockets as well. I'm just glad that the orange crayon dots came out of her pants (as lamented in a previous post)!

At church I just started working in the Primary. Since then, I have come to find that my daughter shouts out the answer to every question asked, regardless of how many hands are in the air waiting to be called on. Oh that girl! She doesn't have a shy bone in her body. She is so excited about life. She definitely entertains us and keeps us laughing every day. We love you Sarah!

Hooray for Sunshine

I had a "moment " yesterday that hopefully I will always remember. It was nothing spectacular, just one of those times that you actually take the time to enjoy the moment. We had a brief period of sunshine yesterday afternoon, and the kids asked if we could play at the park. It was actually warm enough to play outside in sweatshirts. I loved watching Nathan and Sarah ride around the perimeter of the park on their scooters while Rob ran laps, and Matthew chased after all of them yelling, "wait Daddy!" It was so sweet. Then as I sat by Sarah as she made volcanoes in the sand, watching Rob, Nathan and Matthew playing frisbee, I had a great feeling of contentment. It struck me what a cute little family I have. I just enjoyed the moment!

I feel that I do this way too infrequently. I'm always rushing through a game to get on to the next thing, or thinking about what to cook for dinner, the next cleaning project... the list goes on and on. Rarely do I take the time to just enjoy. Thanks to my friend Jeannie that had sent me a little email with quote from Elder M. Russell Ballard, as he quoted:

"Author Anna Quindlen reminds us not to rush past the fleeting moments. She said: 'The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. . . . I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less."

I hope I will always remember Nathan saying, "Mom, did you see how great I'm throwing the frisbee, and my catches are even better!" Or the sound of Sarah's giggles as she slides down the slide head first. Or Matthew chasing after Nathan, trying to throw him the frisbee. Or Rob chasing down a wild frisbee throw with Matthew in one arm. Or Nathan running a lap around the park as hard as he could then trying to do push ups like his Dad. Thanks to a loving Heavenly Father to give us a brief period of sunshine in February, and more importantly, a glimpse at what's really important- a moment to treasure.

What a great thing to be able to play outside again- at least until it started raining again.

Crayons in the Dryer

I opened my dryer yesterday to fold the latest load of laundry, only to find bright orange spots all over everything. Apparently someone had an orange crayon in their pocket that I didn't find (until it was melted all over my dryer and clothes). Aaaarrrrrggggghhhhhh!!! It was a huge load too, including Sarah and Nathan's brand new pants, the kids' pjs and some maternity clothes that aren't even mine (sorry Linda!!!). I would have cried if I wasn't so mad. It was the first time I had washed Sarah and Nathan's new jeans (it's bad enough that they've already grown out of the pants I just bought them in October, but now their new pants covered in orange spots...!) It about threw me over the edge. After the initial frustration and panic, I decided to Google it. Sure enough, I'm not the only one that has experienced this. A ton of people swore by a recipe of:

1 cup OxiClean

2 capfuls of Tide

1/2 cup Borax

1 cup Shout

1 cup white vinegar

There were raving reviews from people who had soaked their clothes this, and it took out all their crayon spots. The problem with crayons is, it's not just the colored spot, but it leaves a big grease mark all around it too. I was skeptical, but hopeful. I ran to the store, bought the stuff I didn't already have, and had it soak overnight. The result... now only half of the clothes have orange spots on them. Why oh why couldn't it work for me like the people on the Internet?! Why did it take the spots out of some clothes and not others? I thought that the problem was my load was way too full (I tend to over-fill my washer). I tried soaking the still-spotted-clothes, and they seem to be a little better, just lighter orange spots.

ANY SUGGESTIONS?!!!

It took a lot of scrubbing of my dryer drum with a Magic Eraser, but I think at least the dryer is clean. Gosh I sure needed all this extra work.

Party, Party, Party

My kids went to two birthday parties for cousins in the last week. They had such a great time (and I got such cute pictures) that I have to write about them.

Kung Fu Panda Party

My nephew Ryan had a very cool surprise Kung Fu Panda party. All Nathan thinks about is Kung Fu Panda, so he was especially excited. My sister-in-law Lynette is so creative, and had the cutest games.Why Tylung is the favorite, I don't know.Matthew's getting the hang of this chop sticks, don't you think?!Happy Birthday Ryan!!!How cute are these panda cupcakes?!!!Back in November, Lynette made an R2D2 cake for my nephew Alex's birthday. I meant the post a picture back then, but didn't. So here is a flash back:
Lynette is absolutely amazing! To see more of her amazing cakes click here or follow the link to Crazy about Cakes in my sidebar.

Bouncin' Off the Walls Party

My sister Laura and brother-in-law Mike had a birthday party for Lindsey and Carter at Bouncin' Off the Walls in Sandy. It was a riot! The kids ran and bounced and climbed and slid to their heart's content. They said, "this is the best party EVER!" Look at the excitement and anticipation on Sarah and Ashely's faces. Behind them is my sister Terri, and the birthday-girl, Lindsey.Terri is so great to always play with the kids! They adore her.Matthew loved that he could go in and out of the bounce house all by himself. He's jumping with birthday-boy Carter.

Nathan showing off where he just lost a tooth.

Nathan and Ryan playing air hockey.Sarah went down the Monster slide over and over and over again.
Matthew liked it too (once he was going down it). You pick up a lot of speed going down that baby!

Nathan and Sarah were really good at the obstacle course. I have to admit, I had a hard time getting over that wall.Wouldn't you love to have something like this in your house?!What a fun place and what a fun party! Thanks Mike and Laura!!!