blessings

This is what Sunday afternoons typically look like around here. I love it. I am glad that we were able to keep this afternoon and evening relatively quiet as well. Grace and Grant have been sufficiently Halloweened what with school parties and the big party at the Church. It was really the biggest affair - our ward was just split and it is still HUGE. On the way home from the trunk-or-treat, Cori said, and I quote, "God bless the activities committee. I hope I never have that calling here." Amen and amen. This week I am also grateful for:

• Cooler weather We are able to kill the a/c at night and open windows to let the cool desert night air into the house. It was actually chilly in our room this morning.
• Near project completion With the installation of the lawn, the back yard is all in (pictures to come). We just received approval from the HOA for our front yard plans and got on the schedule with our landscaper. Just another couple of weeks and the work will be done. AND we will no longer be the eye sore of our neighborhood. Our front yard is all dirt.
• A thoughtful husband who has had a rather crazy schedule. Between long work hours and evening meetings at church we hadn't seen a whole lot of him. He is very mindful of my sanity and was home every night if only just to grab a quick bite of dinner and to read to the kids. And this weekend has been so nice with him. Once the kids were in bed we worked on plans for our mountain getaway (coming up next weekend!), held hands on the couch and watched Halloween shows I had DVRd throughout the week. He even watched Project Runway with me! Am I the most exciting wife, or what?
• The predictability that comes as a baby locks into a schedule. I am getting back into the swing of everyday life, at last. Menus, cleaning house, chores for the bigger kids... It is refreshing to have the energy to be proactive and maybe even a little productive.
• A reaffirming message in our Relief Society lesson today in Church. We talked about simplifying life so as to keep a focus on the most important things. Over the last couple of months I had felt a little bad because I didn't do as much as I usually do for birthdays and holidays- this Halloween was especially simplified. In both my head and my heart I gave myself a break because, seriously, we had a crazy (not to mention expensive) Summer. And I know that the details I like to obsess over are really not important in the eternal scheme of things. But still, the feelings were there. The lesson today brought some mental snapshots of happy kids who know they are loved, special moments shared just in our little family, and experiences I have had with each of the kids simply because I wasn't too busy to sit and be with them over the last few months. I'll have time to do more next year. I am grateful that Eden came to our family when she did. Though the timing was a bit tight, I was forced to simplify. And today, I took time to realize what that has meant to me.

image diary 10.29.2010

feeling (maybe just a little bit) like fall

I wore a sweater the other day.

Not because I needed to, but just because I could.

For family night yesterday we ate fallish food and carved pumpkins.

This stuff makes me happy.

Pumpkin guts = gross.

Grant was definitely not into it.

Chili and cornbread = delish.

Grant was more into this.

Salty hot pepitas

Finished products - we're hoping the carved pumpkins last to the weekend!

date night

Friday was a very exciting day around here. Cori had tickets to see Beauty and the Beast, the musical. And Grace was his lucky date. Grace spent the first half of the day talking about how excited she was and then the second half of the day 'getting ready.' We painted nails. We painted toe nails. We washed hair. We laid out clothes. We laid out accessories. She wanted her hair "curled like boingy screws" and stood patiently in front of the mirror while I worked at it. At last, Cori was home from work. Grace donned her gloves and asked for two pieces of gum to put in her handbag. Cori wore his tux (isn't he so great?). The tickets went into Cori's pocket, and Grace tucked her opera glasses (mini binoculars we got from the science museum) in her bag and they were off. Reportedly, the evening was a great success. I wish I could have seen the attention they got at the theater.

Grace and Cori didn't have all the fun. Grant, Eden and I dined out. Sadly, the play place wasn't nearly as fun without Grace. But we still had fun. We got home and put on PJs and a movie. Grant snuggled with me on the couch until he asked to go to bed (!!!). Eden was in bed shortly afterwords and I finished out the evening with the DVR. Smiles all around!

gracie lately

Grace loves:

• dancing
• sharing a room with her brother
• coloring a dozen pictures a day
• cheese
• doing cannon balls into the pool
• Scooby-Doo mysteries and America's Funniest Home Videos
• drawing treasure/adventure/explorer maps
• her preschool
• giving talks in Primary
• tea parties in the back yard
• her many stuffed animals

Grace is extremely patient with Eden. She asks to hold the baby quite a lot, and will rock her and sing to her even when she is screaming. Gracie has been a huge help to me in so many ways. As I'm not as free to run and do for Grant as much as he was used to, I can count on Grace to pick up the slack.

I take for granted her almost perpetual happiness. She is very positive and has more than her fair share of confidence. I love watching her play with her friends. It is a treat being the mommy of this 5-year-old (99% of the time).

my sisters: the law student, the photography student

Blessings

Another visitor. We got to hang out with Grandpa Randy this weekend! Pictured here at the park at the end of our street and the new fire pit in our back yard. We LOVE being closer to all our family. We've seen more of everyone since we moved here than we usually do in a whole year.

Happy, healthy kids. I was able to pack their three Dr.'s appointments into one this last week. (One nice thing about having all three of their birthdays so close.) They are all growing and developing as they should and I was reminded of how much I don't have to take them to the doctor's office.

A happy, healthy me! I got the all-clear from my doctor. Things look great. Such a blessing.

The change of the season. Not that it really feels like Fall around here, though it is a good 20* cooler than it was a month or so ago. I am vicariously enjoying Fall splendor through friends and family elsewhere. And Cori is working hard on planning a mountain getaway for us in a couple of weeks.

bookending

We had visitors on either end of our big family weekend. Cori's sister, Brittany, came out with her family a few days before. The kids had a great time hanging out with their cousins. We went swimming everyday. I really enjoyed hanging out with Brittany. She was completely tolerant of my craziness and helped out so much. Especially on the day we nonchalantly loaded up our 5 kids (all under 5) and took a trip out to the aquarium. It was great fun made possible by great company.

On the other end of the weekend, my kind sister, Sara, spent yet another of her law school breaks with us. She cooked for us and spent every waking moment with at least one of the kids all over her. Cori took a day off and we went to a zoo. Sara was the photographer for most of the day. We ate dinner that night at the restaurant inside the zoo's aquarium.

The week went by fast. And then she went back to Provo. :( And I had no more excuses for avoiding things like laundry and the stack of mail piling up by the phone.

five

Our big girl turned five last week. There are only a couple of weeks between her birthday and Grant's. So as soon as Grant's celebration was through, Grace starting counting down. Thus, the 10 days of Grace began. Seriously. She milked it. But she had a lot of opportunity. First, she got to celebrate while all the grandparents were here.

Then, she got to take a birthday snack to preschool and wear the birthday crown for a whole day. Her request for snack was these puppy dog cupcakes.

Then the Friday night before the big day, we had our friends, the A* family, over to swim (what else?), eat cheese tacos (quesadilla bar), watch Scooby Doo, and sing happy birthday over banana splits.

Her actual birthday was a bit more mild. She chose meals. She enjoyed receiving birthday phone calls. And Cori made her a very special birthday smoothie. I think she felt adequately celebrated even though there were no fancy parties this year.

Happy birthday, Graciebug!

blessings

A healthy baby and a brother and sister who love her. Eden is a lucky girl.

All our visitors over the last several weeks. Cori's sister and her family came out a few days before the blessing, and my sister stayed for a week after. And, again, we are so grateful for all our family who came out for Eden's blessing last weekend.

Some assignments at church. Though we have enjoyed a lengthy break without any church responsibilities, it is nice to be back to work. Cori got called into the Elder's Quorum presidency and I'll be playing the organ and the piano. Our ward is so big and nicely stocked with outstanding couples - we were starting to worry that they wouldn't have anything for us to do!

A recovery without complications. I will have my 6 week post-op check up tomorrow. I know what a blessing it is that I have been up and around and relatively pain-free since coming home from the hospital. I'm hoping for an all-clear from my doctor so I can start exercising again. My running shoes are calling...