Christmas Magic

This photo is blurry (because I have boys on the move), but it I still love it. The three of them all snuggled together, singing jingle bells for Harrison's amusement. They love playing with him and making him laugh. They make up games that involve him now, like "your a king and I'm a king and we both want the baby." They bring him along on their big boy adventures.

He is becoming a big boy himself, that Harrison. Now that he is officially one he is letting me know that he is a toddler. He climbed both steps of the kitchen stool (goodbye kitchen stool - I will miss you). He is getting into everything as all curious little boys do. He loves balls and pens and his favorite thing is a digital clock. He is walking more than crawling (especially if he is carrying something) and eating so much big people food that I wonder where it could possibly all be going.

On Monday night Lincoln got one of his headaches and threw up (in our newly detailed van, which has now been re-shampooed!). We went straight home (instead of looking at Christmas lights as planned) and he got cleaned up and went to bed. Jeff and I stayed up for a while watching a show. Right in the middle of it the spirit whispered to me that I should go and take Lincoln a bowl. I thought, "ok, I'll do that in a minute."

"Right now"

I grabbed a bowl and walked into his room. He was stirring a little bit, so I touched his back and said, "Lincoln, are you doing ok?" He sat up a little, filled the bowl and went right back to sleep for the rest of the night. I'm so grateful that He knows and takes care of us. It was such a sweet and simple blessing that allowed Lincoln to get some rest instead of having to bathe and change sheets, etc. He woke up feeling just fine.

Video from Santa

The kids got an e-mail from Santa this morning. He knew their names and showed them their pages in his book. He talked to them about what they have been doing, their vacations and their new brother. He told them that if they did things like being kind and helping around the house they would get specific gifts for Christmas (a wii game and a nerf gun). They weren't sure what to think! They were debating all morning what was an appropriate number of cookies to leave out for him. Jackson says that in the movies they always leave three. Lincoln says we could put ten on a plate and if he doesn't eat them all we'll get to have the rest. If you' like Santa to e-mail your kids you can request it here.

Testing His Theories

L: I think I can trick the tooth fairy. If I put a piece of popcorn under my pillow I bet she will think it is my tooth and I'll get some money!

*************

L: I think Santa might just be you and dad.

Me: Who told you that?

L: No one, I just think that.

Me: Hmmm, well you know Santa only comes if you believe in him.

L: Well, here's what I'll do. I'll make his some treats and then I'll hide them. I'll write a note that says, 'come wake me up and I'll show you where your treats are'."

Oh Happy Day!

All of the kids are well again. Sheesh, that took a while. I definitely had cabin fever after an entire week of never going anywhere but the school, never leaving the car. It was so great to see Jackson smiling again and back to his playful self. Harrison had a milder version and has been very clingy, whiny, only wanting mom, and not sleeping at night. Good times.

But alas, we are through it and today feels glorious and sunny (even though it's pretty chilly). Today I got the last of the Christmas shopping done and wrapped and I'm feelin' pretty great. Yesterday my parents came over for gingerbread house building, games and turkey soup. Tonight we have a work Christmas party so I even get to leave the house again. Let the Christmas fever (ooh, wrong word) begin.

Pagosa Springs Part 3

After skiing we split up. Jeff went to the grocery store, Joe kindly watched Harrison (while he slept), and Tosha and I took the big boys over to the resort's pool. I was surprised that they were still awake after such a big day, but they were and so off we went! It turned out that it was really lucky that we were there (esp. Tosha). There was only one other lady there. We chatted a little with her and when she got up to get out of the hot tub she passed out, hitting her head on the concrete. Tosha took good care of her, including playing ambulance driver and getting her to the hospital for stitches. When we got home Jackson said, "Mom! We helped two people since we left Oklahoma."

The next day we took it easy around the house in the morning, building snowmen in the backyard and wearing pjs all morning. Jeff took the kids to play mini golf in the snow and Tosha and I got our hair done. In the evening we went to check out the hot springs and had a great time walking round exploring the town and feeling how warm each spring was.

The next morning all of the boys got ready to hit the slopes again. Just as they were loaded up Jackson threw up all over the van (sound familiar?). After a quick clean up we decided it must have just been the excitement andd sent them on their way. Tosha and I were going to play racquetball and find other things to do, but just a Harrison fell asleep we got the call that Jackson had thrown up again and needed to be rescued. Tosha was kind enough to drive out and get him and helped me take care of him all day. Poor guy is still miserable.

Lincoln took another half day of lessons, with the instructor all to himself and did fantastic. He finished out the day with Jeff and Joe on the green and easy blue slopes. I've heard there is a great video... maybe I'll post that when I've found the video camera. For now, I've got plenty of unpacking, van cleaning and mothering to do!

Pagosa Springs Part 2

I've been reprimanded for leaving out Lincoln's famous quote from our Peyu cliff dwellings adventure. As we were walking up the path he looked down and remarked, "Look! Indian poop!" The tour guide thought it was hilarious and said she might have to use that line.

We made it into town and were so excited to see the snow on the ground. The boys had a snowball fight with uncle Joe as quickly as they could get their gear on. We spent the rest of the day getting settled and ready for skiing the next day.

I had only been once before (without much success), so I signed up for lessons. I spent the morning in a group lesson, which ended up being me and one other guy, who left early to ski with his wife. Tosha worked on her snowboarding skills, Lincoln and Jackson went to ski school and Jeff and Joe hit the slopes. Harrison stayed with a local daycare lady (who was fantastic). I gained some confidence by lunch time and was picking up some speed, but then fell a few times and wimped out. Tosha and I both had sore legs and rested for an hour until the kids were done with school and headed out to get Harrison. The boys both LOVED skiing and were so excited to go back and do it again. After we left Jeff took a crazy tumble (according to Joe he goes really fast) end over end with skis and poles flying everywhere. He is still pretty sore on his rib cage where the video camera in his pocket hit, but it didn't keep him from going back for a second day!

Pagosa Springs Part 1 - The Journey

Tuesday we picked the kids up from school about an hour early and began our journey toward Pagosa Springs, CO. Armed with a couple of Leapsters and a Scooby Doo movie, the kids were great and we had a fairly uneventful drive. We did pick up one man who had run out of gas along the way and dropped him at the next gas station (poor man, he was in the middle of nowhere!). Joe and Tosha traveled with us and we met up along the way. We laughed at how different the timing was on our GPS versus theirs and figured out that there was a time change involved and the factor that the milage was just until our next turn, not the complete mileage. As we patted ourselves on the back for a great day of travel, we pulled into a hotel in Santa Fe, NM. Jeff went in to get us checked in and Jackson woke up. He mumbled sleepily, "mom, I'm wet."

I heard a cough from the back of the van and Jackson looked at me again, completely relaxed, and said, "Lincoln throwed up."

Harrison awoke and let us know that he wanted some attention too. In a matter of one minute our awesome trip had just turned ugly.

We got everyone to the room where I worked to clean everyone up. They were all in surprisingly good spirits considering their states. The big boys had a shower and I took care of Harrison while the rest of the adults cleaned up the van and it's contents. (He managed to get pretty much all of the luggage, etc. What a mess!).

The next morning I was so excited to be in Santa Fe. I had heard that it was a really neat city and very artsy. We only had a three hour drive to get to our destination, so I wanted to spend some time seeing the area. Jeff wasn't very excited about it, but was sweet and amused me. We drove around the downtown area and I'm so glad we did. I'd love to go back and really spend some time there some day. As we made our way north I realized how close we were to Los Alamos where my brother had lived a few years ago. I remembered seeing pictures of cliff dwellings that he had visited and went about finding a way to go and see them as well. It took a lot of work getting past everyone else's grumblings, but I'm so glad we went! We ended up at a different version of the dwellings because we found a closer one to our path. We were able to walk up and see the carvings in the rocks, climb the tall ladders and stretch our legs. It was a lovely day and we had the guided tour all to ourselves. It was one of my favorite parts of our whole trip!

Mom is short

After Thanksgiving we had a family volleyball game. It was a great idea and I hope we continue the tradition! Lincoln kept score for part of the game and he named the teams: is versus the. I was on team is, though I wasn't much help. Mom is short and not that athletic. It made me smile that he just chose some words that he knew how to spell and named the teams that way.

The next day we found this turkey Lincoln had made at school. He and Jackson were reading it in the back seat. Jeff thought he would expand on it and asked, "Lincoln, why are you thankful for mom?"

"It is a short word."

There went the wind from my sails.

500th Post!

Appropriately enough, I have a whole lot of great pictures from Thanksgiving and I have a whole lot to be grateful for. I thought it might bore everyone to read even a far from complete list, but since this is my 500th post I am going to list the first 500. Ok, maybe that is too large a number... but I'm going to type and see what happens. If you've already drifted off, I'm not offended. Hey, I don't even know. And since I somehow avoided the "everyone must participate and say something they are thankful for" at the family dinner - without a single person out of 30 calling me out on it... they get the long list e-mailed out to them (sorry Joe)!

I'm thankful for - in no particular order:

1. knowledge and power of Jesus Christ

2. the 4 handsome boys I get to kiss every day

3. amazing parents

4. awesome in-laws

5. a great place to live and call home

6. the opportunity to begin again each day

7. laughter

8. indoor plumbing (it's seriously way up there on my list)

9. friends who know and care about me

10. Bettina because she makes my brother so happy

11. fantastic grandparents

12. Jeff's job

13. my college education

14. my college friends and fun memories

15. my design programs

16. anyone who is still reading this

17. forgiveness

18. color

19. cameras

20. cuddling

21. a strong mind

22. airplanes, modern transportation

23. prophets

24. availability of foods grown around the world

25. warm blankets

26. neighborhood swimming pools

27. game nights

28. the smell of a newborn baby

29. girls night out

30. general conference

31. netflix

32. a husband full of surprises

33. cousins

34. change

35. super aunts and uncles

36. sisters-in law

37. sleep (getting tired - it's late)

38. naps (when other people, specifically little people sleep)

39. date nights

40. my calling (currently in RS presidency)

41. holidays

42. blog books

43. a mini-van

44. great teachers

45. health

46. America

47. my whole mission experience

48. a testimony of the Gospel

49. road trips

50. a grateful heart that knows this list could go on and on and a mind that says, "yes, but you also need to go to bed."

So take all of those things and multiply my gratitude by 100 and you get 500 amazing things that I'm thankful for. Oh, and also online Black Friday deals so that I don't even have to leave the house and face the crazies. That's 51 x 100 and now my gratitude has really grown. . It's new math. Love you all. Good night. Oh and the hilarious things that my kids say. And... ok. I hear ya. Good night, really.

The Big Seven

Today is Lincoln's "real" birthday. We celebrated at their gymnastics place on Saturday with an hour of tumbling and bouncing and jumping and swinging and gliding. The kids had a blast and the adults had it pretty easy! It was the most stress-free birthday I've ever put on and I'm so glad I did it this way at least this one time! The most stressful part was waking up to find that the brownies had an entire row eaten in the night by the birthday boy himself. We covered it up with a little decoration and called it good. Today the kids kept asking to invite lots of people over again because it is his "real" birthday. We celebrated with donuts for breakfast (his choice - and it had to be AT a donut place) and he was perfectly happy with grilled cheese for lunch and ribs for dinner. We spent lots of time playing with his new birthday toys (does he look just a little excited in that last picture?) and talking about how great it is to be seven. Love you Lincoln!

He's Home!

Jeff has been out of town for two weeks in a row on business trips to Nashville and Austin. We have missed him so much and we are so excited to have him back with us! When he is here we have more laughs, go more places, have greater adventures and smile more. He is a great help to me, especially in the mornings with getting everyone ready and off to school. Jeff left the day after I'd been gone for three days in Texas (and on his birthday). The boys were thrilled to be all together as a family. Lincoln said, "I act the best when both mom and dad are here." I'm so grateful to have a wonderful and caring husband. Welcome home babe!

Ways In Which the Kids Make Me Laugh

Lincoln introducing me to his friend from school: "This is my mom. She cleans up our house a lot."

Jackson: "Anybody need some lip balm (he just learned that it is in fact balm and not lip bomb)? Not you dad, not while you are driving."

Lincoln was in his pajamas when I sent him to bed. I went in to check on him and he was changing into regular clothes. When I asked him what he was doing he said, "This way I won't have to get dressed in the morning!" I drew the line at shoes. No shoes in bed. Get to sleep crazy man.

I emptied out a bin to organize some old kid shoes while they are in storage for Harrison. Jackson found it and decided that he had to have it to keep his shirts in. Why? Because they will stay folded better in there. He refused to put his pajamas on until I said we could talk about moving his shirts in the morning.

Harrison has been progressing on standing without holding onto anything. Tonight he was playing with one of the toys that blows the balls in a loop and stood a good 10 minutes. I asked him to come to me though, and he dove head first at me. We're gonna have to work on that! I bought him a fun new toy that he could use as a walker. He hasn't used it that way, but he did push the diaper box around the living room instead. That would've been a lot cheaper.

Jackson brings home a new book from the school library each Tuesday. For some reason, it has become a tradition to read it to him as soon as we get home... at the curb by the mailbox. I have no idea why this started. Today it was crazy as Lincoln brought out the jar of peanut butter and a batch of homemade orange juice popsicles. Harrison crawled over and ate a big scoop of dirt, so I gave him a popsicle too. He would only hold it by the icy part. Brr. What a messy book reading session.

Vote No On Daylight Savings Time

Nobody tells kids about daylight savings time. I let them stay up until the new 8 o'clock, but their little bodies don't register to sleep in until the new 6:30. We had a nice long morning together which included, craft time (nice crown Jackson!) and teaching Harrison how to stand up without holding onto anything. Harrison is now sporting a grown up baby look, which is now all blonde and continues to curl up on top. In my baby newsletters they are now calling him "your almost toddler." Can't he just be my baby as long as it lasts? I'm in no rush this time around.

I Should've Uploaded

Yesterday I didn't even look at what pictures I had taken over the weekend. I should have. Here are some of the pics that would have worked great with yesterday's post.

Halloween Weekend

Originally we were all going to head down to Texas for Halloween. I was really looking forward to that and was disappointed that it didn't work out that way. Jeff was called as the Elder's Quorum President and felt like he had to actually be there for it. Ha! He strongly encouraged me to head down on my own with Harrison and he would hold down the fort here with the big guys.

I hesitantly agreed. I don't know why, but I felt very unsure about separating the family for the weekend. I still don't know why.

On Thursday I made sure that we did a family Halloween activity so that I was at least a part of the kids' Halloween. We went to Haunt the Zoo. It was CRAZY busy there. I've never seen anything like it. We were herded like cattle for the first half an hour until things started to finally open up a little bit. The kids loved it, but I think it will be our ONLY Haunt the Zoo experience.

On Friday I asked a friend to get the kids from school (thanks Nicole!) so that I could head out early and spend the afternoon with Lesley and her cute baby girls. [I was a slacker picture taker this weekend-the only one I took there was of Harrison in girly dress up wings - I don't think Jeff would approve...] It was so nice to have some relaxed time with them just talking and playing with babies. Les made me an awesome diet approved chicken/asparagus/peppers dinner. Yum... and so thoughtful of her.

From there I headed out to Mimi's and got to hang out with the family all of Saturday. Favorite moments included singing with the girls in their room while they tried on costumes, reading with and tickling Wesley, sharing new phone apps with Jared and learning to make green shakes with Mimi. When I am allowed to have more sugars I am definitely going to try those.

In the evening I went to the ward trunk or treat and got to see lots of old friends and do some catching up. It was so fun to see everyone, have some chili and cheat on my diet with a piece of apple pie. The star of the show was brother Schmitt's amazing pirate ship that he built. It was the size of a car and very impressive. Afterward, I headed out to Grandpa and Toni's house for the night. We had a nice little visit. Harrison was wide awake and happy so we let him play with Toni's granddaughter Brooke for a little while and then talked a little while longer after he went to bed. I headed out early the next morning for the main event of the weekend - Andy's music!

My brother-in-law is an amazing musician. He plays and composes and is generally talented and amazing. He wrote a piece called "The Nativity" which was performed by an organ and choir at a Presbyterian church in downtown Fort Worth. I got there early (so that Harrison could have his morning nap during the drive) and was privileged to hear the rehearsal. It was so beautiful, I could picture the events of the birth of our Savior based on the dynamics and words of the arrangement. The Spirit was powerful and I'm so grateful I had the opportunity to be there in that moment. It was beautiful in the actual performance as well, but there were more distractions (it was done during the passing of the plate). Granny, Papa, Amy, and Bobo joined me (Sarah stayed in the nursery to help with the babies) and it was fun to share that experience with them. The topic of the day was "Saints" and Andy played his arrangement of "Come, Come Ye Saints" as prelude. We all smiled about that and enjoyed discussing the preacher's sermon over a delicious kabob dinner back in Denton.

Lincoln's Perch

Lincoln is obsessed with being up high. I can always find him at the playground because he is up at the top. Lately he has been scaling the basketball pole and hanging out up top. He has super strong arms and a pretty good sense of balance, but it still scares me so much to watch it!

Jackson's Perch

Jackson loves to be outside. Sometimes he'll just go out and sit on the mailbox and watch to see if a car will go by. Today he tried to run through the neighbor's sprinkler (he had just planted some flowers), but it didn't take long to figure out it was way too cold for that. (I think I might have mentioned that, but he didn't believe me.) Instead he just hung out on the mailbox for a while. Whatever floats your cute little boat.

What If?

Last night during scripture study we read the story of the prodigal son from the children's scripture book. The boys had a hard time getting past the very first idea that was presented... "you mean when your mom and dad die you get all of their money?"

I don't think they got too much more from the story (though I tried, I really tried). It ended with them asking me over and over what would happen to them if we both died. They were NOT worried. Jackson had an evil laugh about how he would get all of our money. Lincoln was excited at the prospect of going to live with his friend from school (even though I repeatedly told him that would NOT happen). We talked about how much family we have that care about them and love them that there are a lot of people that would take care of them. We talked about all of the grandparents and aunts and uncles and they seemed pretty good with that... except "well, if we go to Joe and Tosha's house I'm gonna need a GPS to get there and it is a really long walk." (cracks me up, because I TOTALLY need a GPS to find their house too)

unrelated picture, but how adorable is THAT?!

Too Much Fun

When you are four, there really is a limit to how much fun you can handle in one day. Yesterday was one of those days for Jackson where he couldn't take any more and he didn't know how to handle it. After school we went to the store for a few things (mom does not usually take three boys to the store - she was definitely reminded why). He crashed on the way home at 4:30 and then begins the debate... do we wake him? Will he sleep through the night?

We decided to wake him for some dinner at 6:30. It was something new, a soup. He freaked out. He refused to try it for an entire hour. There was kicking and screaming involved. Eventually, he said he would just try the "sauce." He liked it. He added pieces of deliciousness little by little and eventually gobbled the whole bowl. He wouldn't admit that he liked it.

I asked him if he'd like to go with me to deliver some soup to grandma and grandpa (we're sharing a lot of food lately as we are doing the South Beach diet together). He got really sad and said, "don't give it away!" He was reassured that we had more and we were on our way. He had a really hard time getting back to sleep and was up way past his bedtime.

Luckily, today is fall break, so I didn't have to worry about school the next day.

Today we had a huge fun-filled day. We carved a pumpkin, roasted our seeds, went out to lunch with dad, played outside for hours with cousins.

I knew we were pushing our limits and that he would probably crash again on the way home, especially after last night. He found out that Lincoln was going to a basketball game and he wasn't. He tried begging to go along, but I knew he wouldn't be able to handle the late night. He even said, "remember that time when Lincoln got to go camping and I was supposed to get to do the next fun thing?" That must have been 6 months to a year ago... and no mention of it since. When creativity and pleading didn't work, he lost it. I think that he threw the best tantrum I've ever seen. Poor Harrison didn't know what to think. He screamed for a good 25 minutes solid as we drove home from Jeff's office and then promptly fell asleep. I kept my cool the whole time (yay me). I feel for the guy. He can't quite do what Lincoln can do - at everything. He'll get to do those things, and they're not too far away, but man does it feel like he is getting left behind. I have to be sure to make sure that he knows that he is special. And he is. He really is. I love my sweet Jackson.

Namesakes

Lincoln has been putting his new reading skills to use and was so excited to figure out the peanut butter is really called Jif. This morning instead of asking for peanut butter toast he asked for Jif toast. Jeff said, "yeah, that kind of sound like my name doesn't it?"

Lincoln's response... "Dad, I'm named after a president. You're named after peanut butter."

Seeing the Sun Again, and the Stars

I've been sick for two weeks, the second half was a miserable sinus infection. I haven't been to the doctor (other than the baby doctor) in years, but I went to get rid of the misery! It's working and I'm finally feeling ready to get back to life again! Yesterday we picked up some of the kids friends and had a great time at the park. Jeff had a business dinner so the kids and I spent time together watching Toy Story (in the bathtub). Anyone else out there have a computer in the bathroom to watch movies? We read a book called "The Big Dipper" and then went outside to look at the stars and find constellations. The boys were so excited to find the big dipper. They were pointing it out to neighbors passing by. Jackson was a little scared of the dark. It was very refreshing to have outside time, to feel good enough to play with the kids. Watching them get excited about learning new things is the best!

Also on my mind though is a constant worry for my father-in-law who is in the hospital. He has had an episode of a-fib (where his heart gets out of rhythm - Jeff and his brother Joe have the same problem) that they haven't been able to get regulated. Last week they tried shocking him 5 times and it didn't work. They tried with some medicine, but that has given him problems with his blood. He is in hospital now, so please keep him in your prayers.

Socks

While my husband is out working hard, doing important things with important people, I am home taking care of our little people and our home. I wash the socks while I'm here. I fold the socks and a lot of times I get the socks all the way to the drawer again before they are needed. When I put them in the drawer they are matched (even heavily worn matched to heavily worn and new matched to new). They are laid out nicely so that you can find the white ones or dark or stripety - as needed. If there is one missing, I don't put it in the drawer. I have a different spot for those guys so that if a partner shows up later they can be reunited (and yes, it feels so good). It's intended to make getting dressed in the morning an easy task, no rushing around to find socks.

When I get back to the sock drawer for a refill, it is no longer lovely. It is a jumbled mess. It makes me sigh, speak fake, soft curse words inside my head ('cause I don't do the real ones - even in my head) and I decide if I will bother to make it nice again. I make it nice again. I question why, why jumble through it when they are clearly laid out. I never say a word.

Well, a while back, I decided to say something. It was pre-meditated, so it was said as nicely as possible. "Why?" I asked. "Why do you have to dig through to find something when everything is already visible and organized?" I was having a bad day. I was crying about the socks. I kept asking myself, "is this really about socks?" In a way, it is. It's just plain about socks. And in many ways it's not.

The answer was, "because it doesn't matter."

"Doesn't it?"

"No. It doesn't matter."

Why then, am I bothering? Why can't I stop needing to have the socks in order when it isn't appreciated. I know he's right, in a way. And I know I'm right, in my own way.

Socks don't matter. But the time I'm taking to make his life easier matters to me. When we finished our conversation I was much more upset than when it started. The end of the conversation was that it just didn't matter. Well, it's what I'm doing and it's part of who I am and it doesn't matter?

Well, I braved the sock drawer again for the first time again today. I had quite a collection to put in there as I have avoided it for some time now. I've done loads and left the folded socks in the basket. It was orderly. I think he noticed that it matters after all. Even if it only matters to me.

Did I mention that I only wear sandals 99% of the time?

*** Jeff's Guest Post***

As I was running late to meet Christine and the boys at Gymnastics, I had Lincoln and Harrison in the car about ready to go. Christine tells me she has a blog post but wanted to have me review it before she posted and would not be offended if I did not want it shared.

I am reminded about our first year of marriage when Christine expressed some emotion about something I found simple. When I shared some great words of advice “Babe, don’t be so emotional”; as if this statement would fix the issue and we could move on to more important things. From that personal learning moment and many more since, I continue to learn from my sweet wife. She being the one who performs all the mundane tasks that are needed to keep our house a home. The one that takes care of our little Harrison each night, the one that manages all the bills, the one that reads to our kids and reminds them to brush their teeth each night. The one that does the laundry each week, the one that is so very patient with a husband who struggles with his sock drawer.

To quote a famous poet who's words I strive to live by:

Never gonna give you up,
Never gonna let you down,
Never gonna run around and desert you,

Never gonna make you cry,
Never gonna say goodbye,
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

-Jeff

Kid Thoughts

Lincoln: What if two people had babies at the same time and a bad guy came and switched the babies and they spoke different languages?!... and what if the mom and dad didn't know that the baby doesn't like carrots?

Jackson: (at 4am) Did Noah die after all of that rain?

Me: He didn't die from the rain because he was in the boat

Jackson: I mean did he die after he got to that other world?

Me: He died a long time later after he got old.

Jackson: Oh.... [snooze]

Lincoln: Dad, I think from now on I'm going to clean up my stuff right after I use it. Then our house will always be clean and we can have people over every day. Now all I have to do is tell Jackson.

Jackson: You guys have been watching conference all day! [said in our "it's time to turn that thing off" voice]

The Crafty Side

I have wanted square canvas pictures of my boys for as long as I can remember, but never could justify the cost or find the perfect picture. I found a great sale and had amazing pictures from Michelle, so I went for it (finally). They are hanging in the kitchen now and I LOVE LOVE LOVE them! Jackson told me yesterday that I should put up more pictures of Jeff and I. Maybe, but the boys are just so adorable!

Jackson and I found this praying mantis the other day while we were clearing out the flower bed. They are so fascinating! I had fun playing with my picture in photoshop with a new (to me) technique I learned online.

It has been a long time since I've pulled my paints out. I'm not sure why. It felt really good to get them out again... and it was'n't even for my own use. Jackson wanted to paint one day and I let him use the good stuff. I let him use my real watercolors with my real brushes. While I was at it I pulled out the good paper that our wedding invitations were printed on. It's been sitting in my closet for 9 years now, so why not just let them enjoy it?

This week I even pulled out my old craft paints and did some stencil work. It was a good reminder of how much I enjoy working with my hands and not just putting everything together on the computer.