The Weekend

I had a really enjoyable weekend. On Friday, I went out with my friends Christy and Michelle to MacCool's for dinner. The food was good, and they have extremely friendly service. It was a nice place, but a bit expensive. We had so much fun talking and laughing.

Then on Saturday, Troy took me out. We went to Applebees and just had their appetizer platter, because neither of us were very hungry. That alone was enough to fill us both up. Then we went to see Forbidden Kingdom. It was pretty good. It was interesting to see both Jackie Chan and Jet Li together in a movie. I love martial arts movies, so it was pretty much right up my alley.

On Sunday we went to Troy's parents house for dinner. His mom made me a birthday cake, which is nice, because it's likely the only one I'll get. We usually have ice cream cakes for birthdays (Troy and I and the kids, I mean), but it's usually me that goes out and gets them. So unless I wanted to buy my own (and I don't), I'm not having cake.

Anyway, it was a busy, but nice weekend, and I'm so blessed to have great family and friends.

Tired

Why do I never luck out getting kids that start sleeping through the night early, and are good from then on? Last night Ethan woke up at 11:30, and I didn't get him back to bed until 2:15. And that was putting him in bed awake, just praying that he'd not cry (again), and go to sleep.

After that you'd think he'd sleep in a little bit, but noooooo. He was awake before 6. And I'll tell you what. I like sleep. I mean, I really, really like sleep. I'm a night person, so sometimes I stay up really late, but once I'm in bed, that's it--I don't want to get up again until morning. And even then, I'd rather morning not start until about 9 or 10, but nowadays sleeping until 8 is sleeping in for me.

So, even though I really enjoyed sitting and cuddling with Ethan in the rocking chair last night, I would like to think we could do the same thing during the day. I don't even have anything clever or witty to write, because I'm just that tired.

And also not especially clever or witty at the best of times.

My Fairy Collection

Someone on paperbackswap said they'd like to see my fairy collection. So I figured I'd take pictures and post them here. The pictures aren't great, but it's gonna have to do for now.

This was the first fairy I ever got. My parents gave it to me, I don't remember how long ago, but it's been awhile. I've always loved popcorn, so it was perfect!

These three fairies I got at various times. The one on the left was given to me by my friend, Eileen. I can't remember if it was for a birthday or Christmas or what. The one on the right was the second fairy I ever got, from my mother-in-law for a birthday. The one in the middle I have no idea where I got or who gave it to me. I really wish I had a better memory, or that I would write these things down or something.
This is one set of the Guardians of the Glen faeries from Faerie Glen. I've gotten these from various places. Some I bought for myself, most of them Troy gave me for various gifts, and some from my mother-in-law.
This is the other set.
These fairies I bought while Troy and I were on a trip. We took a day tour to Ghent and Bruges, Belgium. I got these ones in Bruges.
I'm going to guess on this, because I can't remember between this and the next one where Troy got them. I'll ask if he remembers and update, if needed. I know how important it is to everyone for me to get it right. (Actually, it'd be nice to have it somewhere, because I will forget, obviously). This one Troy brought back for me from Toulouse, France. He took a lot of trips to Europe for work (when we were in CA), and this is one of the cooler things he brought back.
This one Troy brought back for me from Brussels, also a work trip.
These ones I bought for myself, when a Hallmark store that was near us in CA was going out of business. I really liked that store, because they had all kinds of fairies.
The end.

Hmm . . .

I watched American Idol for the first time this season. The Biggest Loser is over, so I had nothing else to watch, and I was feeling too lazy to do anything besides sit on the couch. Not to mention both the boys were ornery, and Kevin was laying on my lap because he didn't feel good.

Anyway, it really, really wasn't my style of music, but it wasn't too bad. It didn't make me want to shoot the TV, or myself, so there was at least that. Apparently David Cook sings my kind of music, from what I hear, so for his sake, I hope he doesn't win. I got all invested in the show when Chris Daughtry was on it, and I really hoped he would win, but then when he got out, and went on to be, well, awesome, I realized it's probably better to not win and have a little more freedom.

Other than that, some of those singers are not very good. Maybe it was just the theme, but if you can't at least sing a broadway tune decently, you have no business being a singer. I should know. I have experience. In the no business being a singer category, I mean.

Hats and Hair

Some pictures from today . . .

Here's Ethan putting on a hat. Can you see the eczema on his arms? It's getting really bad lately. I've dealt with it with both my boys, so I know what to do for eczema, I just don't know why his is flaring up so bad. Maybe the weather?

And a cute smiley picture.

Felicia did my hair today. Here's a picture. It's a little lighter than it was before.

She did Kaitlyn's hair too, but with this picture, I'm not sure you can really see it . . .

But you can here! Purple highlights. It's not extremely noticable, which is probably a good thing, but it's fun for her.

A Couple Pictures

Today I got a couple of packages from a buddy swap I'm doing at paperbackswap.com. I was really excited to get 4 Francine Rivers books, and now I think I have the whole Lineage of Grace series. I also LOVE the design on the journal (the black and white book). Very cool!

The weather has warmed up enough again for the boys to play outside. It's just been really windy. In California, I thought wind was my least favorite weather element. That was before we moved back here and I remembered what snow was like. Snow is the clear winner, but I still dislike wind. So wind can be the silver medal winner. The jury's still out on third place.

Today will be good

The sun is shining, and I get to see friends at MOPS this morning. I'm pretty sure the kids are going to be really, really obedient and do whatever I say. Troy will get off on time, and be home in time for dinner. And since he'll be home, he'll say he's going to make dinner for us. And then someone will drop a million dollars off on my doorstep.

Oh well, at least I can count on the first two.

My Daily Bible Study--DELIGHT

Job 22:26 Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty and will lift up your face to God

Job 27:10 Will he find delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times?

Psalm 35:9 Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD and delight in his salvation.

Psalm 43:4 Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God.

Psalm 111:2 Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them.

Isaiah 61:10 I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.

I was just thinking today about how I let so many little, insignificant things annoy me. Sometimes to the point where I forget to take delight in the Lord. I forget to look around at all the little details, each one showing me how much my God loves me. If I remember to focus on all the many, many delightful things, and not focus on or worry about things that don't matter, my life will be filled with so much more happiness. God is in control, and His plan for me is delightful!

Is This a Joke?

You remember my beautiful blue sky picture don't you? It shouldn't be too hard, since it was just yesterday. Here is the same view from today. And guess what's going on outside? Go on and guess. It's snowing. Just little flurries, but snow is snow. I'm going back to my cave to hibernate.

I'm Catching Up!

I haven't blogged very much lately, but I guess today I'm making up for it. I just had so much to blog about! I had to put these pictures on before I forgot. Here's Ethan, demonstrating happy and sad.

Things that make me happy

Blue, blue sky. I seriously can't even begin to express how happy this weather we've had for the last couple of days makes me. I don't know why, but it's like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders, I dislike the snow that much.

Reusable tote bags at the grocery store! These are so awesome, and I lub them. So much nicer than plastic (and even paper) bags.

The Yogurt Incident

Have you ever opened some yogurt and started eating, only to realize that it doesn't taste very good at all? And then you don't want to just throw it away, because that's really wasteful, so you wonder what you could do with the yogurt instead. Kevin has come up with the perfect solution. I give you . . . yogurt fingerpainting (could be done on other things besides walls, probably):

Good Reading

After a recommendation recently from a friend, I picked up A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray. I've since read Rebel Angels, the second book, and am now reading the third, which is The Sweet Far Thing. What I'm wondering is, why have I never heard of this author? Everyone is raving and raving over those Twilight books, which I thought were kind of crap (at least the first one, which is all I could make myself read), but these books are so much more well written, without the "cold, marble skin" and the whining.

Granted, the characters can be a little annoying at times. But I guess since they're teenage girls in a finishing school, that's to be expected. Anyway, the books take place in the late 1800's. There's a little bit of fantasy, which I love, of course. It's young adult, and I'm finding there are a lot of good young adult books out there. But what I'm also finding is that I don't like the ones that everyone else seems to love. The ones that receive all the hype. I didn't like Eragon (couldn't even finish), didn't like Twilight (made myself finish). Oddly enough, A Great and Terrible Beauty was on the New York Times Bestseller list, yet I still never heard of it. I wonder what other good books I've never heard of.

Memories

I was doing my morning blog reading, and browsing through different blogs that I hadn't read in awhile, and this blog post reminded me of something Kevin said when he was first potty training. He was standing there at the toilet for a long time, really concentrating. He'd never actually gone potty, so I was pretty excited, thinking this was finally it! Then he turned to me and said, "It's not working. The batteries are dead."

What kind of shoe are you?

You Are Clogs

You are a solid and down to earth person. You seek and almost always achieve a really sound balance in your life. You are stylish yet comfortable. Mellow but driven. Excited yet calm. You are the perfect mesh of contradictions. No matter what happens, you have the ability to stay well grounded in your life. People know that they can truly depend on you. You should live: In Europe You should work: At a company dedicated to helping the world

What Kind of Shoe Are You?

Appreciation Dinner

Tonight Troy and I went to an appreciation dinner for the volunteers in the children's ministry at church. Troy doesn't volunteer, but I got to bring a guest, which was good, because then it was kind of like a date, except not completely. The food was really good, and I got a little lunch bag type thingy (I don't even know what to call it).

I'm on the check-in crew, which means I help people check their kids in, and I also help new visitors fill out the required paperwork and show them around. I love what I do. I've been thinking I want to volunteer in the nursery (babies) as well, or maybe the toddler age. We have such an awesome children's ministry program at our church, and it's amazing all the things these kids are learning.

This whole week, Kevin has been saying "we can pray to Jesus anywhere". He learned it in church last Sunday, and it stays with him all week. I love that! He even told me the story about Paul and Silas praying in prison. And when we're driving around in the car, I often hear him singing along with the songs. We listen to KLove (a Christian radio station). He's got such a sweet little spirit. My other kids do as well, but I think Kevin's just at the age where he soaks it all up like a sponge.

:(

I'm feeling very sad. I can't find the pictures we had saved to disc from our old computer. This disc included pictures from my trip with Troy to Europe. I imagine they're in a box downstairs somewhere, but I feel like I've looked in every box. That's one of the problems you have when you use movers who pack your stuff for you. It doesn't help that I wasn't there when they packed it all up. It's a pretty big bummer for me if those pictures are lost.

Nothing Exciting

I haven't been doing very good at blogging lately. Maybe because there's nothing especially interesting to write about, or it could be because I'm extremely lazy. I'd like to say we've been busy doing a lot of fun stuff that I can write about, but I can't think of anything exciting. Just the usual stuff.

This is also the only new picture I have since last time I blogged. Christy came over, and the kids were playing dress up. So here's Kaitlyn, Sunny, and Kevin.

Some late Easter pictures

I didn't get very many Easter pictures. We went to the Easter egg hunt in Riverton, and the actual egg gathering part lasted 2 minutes, tops. Also, all the kids were in different areas, and I had the camera, so that made it hard to get pictures of all the kids as well. Kaitlyn was there. For some reason she's always off doing other things, so she never gets in pictures. They had a firetruck there, which is what made the noise for the start of the egg hunt.

Kevin was very selective in his hunting. He'd pick something up and walk past a bunch of eggs and stuff until he saw something else he wanted. I had to go in there and tell him he couldn't do it that way. There were some kids with full baskets, and Kevin only got as much as he did because I told him to pick up whatever he saw.

Kevin's Birthday Party

We had Kevin's birthday party last Sunday. There were a lot of people there, and I'm thinking we may have to make some changes in the way we do things in the future. 28 people in our living area is just a bit too much. Here's Kevin's cool cake:

Blowing out the candles . . .

Here's the pinata. We had originally thought we'd do most of the party outside, because we were silly, and thought the weather would have warmed up by now, not that there'd be snow that morning. Ethan loved wacking at the pinata.
Here's Kevin opening presents. I need to teach the boy some manners, though, because he just ripped into present after present, without so much as a thank you.

This was his present from Grandma Price. He plays with it every morning, and it's lovely to wake up to. "I am a Super Fighter. Now scanning. Enemy detected."