image diary: snapshots from eden's birthday

we are ready

Grant, at a very early hour, watching the construction of our pool from our bedroom window.

It makes me think that there must be something really big I am forgetting about. But we feel ready and excited for next week. My mom gets in tonight. Hospital bags are packed. Laundry is done. The beds have clean sheets. Cori worked himself to the bone yesterday and the house is all clean. Grace and Grant are in an ever improving schedule. The house is unpacked and pretty well organized- well enough for the next while, anyway. We even have some decorating done. Things aren't the way they will eventually be, but it feels like home around here. I have been looking forward to this next week nearly all year long.

In other news: Cori and I went on a date this weekend. It had been a long time. We went to the Temple and then to Cafe Rio afterwords. I was THIS happy about the whole evening. It was just what we needed. Being at the Temple polished away the stress/introverted-focus/weariness induced tarnish that had been clouding my line of site. My heart has felt free, renewed and light ever since. Plus, it is always nice to have one on one time with my guy. And Cafe Rio... well, enough said.

Also in other news: Construction of our pool began this week. We were told to expect the excavator at 6 am early in the week. Our doorbell rang at 5:30 Tuesday morning. We felt bad for our neighbors who undoubtedly heard the work begin at that early hour. But we can't blame these guys for getting an early start when temperatures still climb up above 100 in the afternoon. Grant was in window heaven the whole day. We had a back hoe and a dump truck in our yard! Next came the plumbers, and then the steel rebar went in. They may finish in time for us to get some swimming in yet.

In other not-so-newsy news: Preschool and playschool have brought a nice schedule and predictability to our everyday lives. I'm so glad we got to have a couple of weeks for Grace and Grant to get into the swing of their morning schedules before the baby's arrival. Their schedule has made it possible for me to get a lot done which has been nice as well. Dr's appointments, DMV visits, and little in and out errands are so much more enjoyable when done solo.

Next up on the blog: a bombardment of baby pictures. We will keep you posted!

another log on the fire

Yesterday, Grant and I got an invitation to join a very small playschool group.

It is just two days a week for only a couple of hours.

There will be only four kids participating. 2 girls and 2 boys.

And I won't have to do a thing until November. Two of the three other moms participating are former teachers and have laid out the entire curriculum. When it is my turn to host, I just have to print stuff out and provide a few supplies and, of course, supervision. I (hope) can handle it.

I almost said no. Grant and I had a lot of fun last week during our one-on-one time while Grace was at school and I wasn't quite ready to give that up. But he and I will still have a few mornings a week to ourselves. For the next two weeks, anyway.

And, Grant has been begging me on a daily basis to let him go to school with Grace.

He was so excited to go to his own 'school' today. Fortunately, we had a child-sized BYU backpack that had been recently unearthed from a box.

I had a surprisingly hard time leaving him. Aside from the time he spends in nursery every Sunday, he is never without another member of his family. My friend finally shooed me out the door.

When I picked him up, he showed me his project and talked all the way to Gracie's school. This is not usual for this kid. He is a man of few words. It helped that there were a lot of cars and motorcycles to occupy him during play time. This is what he talked mostly about.

Like so many parents, I worry about getting our days all booked up with stuff. Especially with a baby almost here and with kids that are still so young. But all our business is contained between breakfast and lunch and we have at least one day a week off.

And I can't shake the good feeling that this will be a great opportunity for our little guy to ease out of Gracie's shadow a bit. He likes the shade, you see. And so far, so good. When the kids were picking out their movie this afternoon, Grant won.

On their first day. Grant, Hunter, Ava, and Aspen. I think this was supposed to be the 'silly' picture.

back to school: happy girl, sad little boy

a wish her heart made

So, I have a new friend/neighbor/fellow ward member who had a career as a Walt Disney World princess before she was a wife and mommy. Though her princess dresses are all put away now she still has fun connections. Her friend was visiting over the weekend, and together they made several house calls. Her friend does a 'tuck-in' where she talks with, reads to, and tucks in the kids. We were sure to get our scripture reading and family prayer done early. Then, Becky gave me a call when they arrived at the house and Cori took the kids into the bathroom to brush teeth. When Gracie came into her room, Snow White was waiting (and Becky too. She took all the pictures).

Grace's reaction was so... Grace. No squealing or big surprise. Her attitude was more like, "Of course Snow White is waiting for me on my bed. Why wouldn't she be?"

Grant tried to act disinterested. But he couldn't help loving it too. Especially after a big red princess kiss on his cheek.

They read a story and talked about swimming. Snow White also told Grace about how giraffes have long purple tongues. Snow White is now the smartest princess.

Then, Snow White tucked in Grace and Grant and all their animals and cars. It was so much fun.


My only regret in all of this is that we had only been in the house a couple of days and the kids' room is so unfinished in the pictures. Unadorned as it was, it was still the most magical room in the house!

Blessings

I took this picture in Petoskey, MI a couple of years ago. I have a love/hate relationship with moving. I suffer from wanderlust, so the change and new environment that come with moving are always exciting. But it is hard to leave and it is so much work. I've been thinking about the beautiful places we've lived and all the wonderful people we have in our lives now as a result. Each new place has brought unique blessings and growth. I'm grateful for our journey so far. Some other blessings of late:

• A good move in It has been like Christmas times a thousand in our house for the last three days. Kitchen items, toys, games, movies, books and clothes that have been in storage for months have been unwrapped. I checked off all our boxes and items as they came in the door and everything is accounted for.
  
• My sister, Thea who flew out to lend a hand. The first couple of days unpacking by myself were a bit slow going. As you can imagine, I'm not super great at retrieivng items from the bottoms of large boxes, nor am I able to move the bigger boxes around with much ease. With Thea here and with Cori home from work over the weekend we've made great progress. Besides, it is just plain nice to have some one-on-one time with this girl!


• Just over three weeks to go and we'll have our baby girl here. I'm getting so excited!

goings on

The end of so many transitions is clearly in sight. I feel like I've been saying that a lot lately, but this time I REALLY mean it. We successfully closed on our house last weekend. The painting of the interior is nearly completed. I just got the call confirming the delivery of all our things for tomorrow morning. The birth of our little girl has been scheduled as have my mom's plane tickets. I got Gracie into the preschool we wanted (she starts next week -!!- school starts so early here). Normal life, is that you on the horizon? We're coming!

In the meantime, I turned 30. Maybe it is because of everything else that has been going on, but I felt absolutely no need to freak out about it. I don't mind being out of my 20's. I feel like I made good use of them. They were full of travel, new adventures, spiritual stepping stones, learning, love, big and wonderful decisions, family, and a necessary dose of growing pains. I've been wearing 30 around for a bit now and it feels great. And I had a fantastic day.

We have also had the opportunity to visit with some of Cori's extended family, which was so much fun. The kids and I have been to play dates and birthday parties. Most of these occasions have involved swimsuits. Nothing says 'nice to meet you' better than a 9 mo. pregnant me in a swimsuit in 100*+ weather. Ah well.

Things are going to get pretty busy this week, but I can't wait. This is the busy I've been waiting for all summer.