"You are just like Juile"

Over the past few weeks my dear sweet husband has turned to me several times with a big smile on his face and simply stated, "You are exactly like Julie". The first time I asked him what he meant, he just said "I just can't see too much of your Mom, but I can see your Aunt Julie in you." Ryan didn't know my Mom when she was younger. I have tried to find a picture of Julie but I haven't been very successful, Sorry!
Anyway, I have taken this to mean the way I act toward others, mostly my kids when I am frustrated with them and the way I act when I am running late. Julie can be a little high string when she is overwhelmed and she does have a good temper on her, so I guess I AM like her. I will also take it to mean that I am a very strong women because that is also Julie. And if I am like her in other ways too then I think I am doing pretty well.
My Aunt Julie is loving, giving, a VERY hard worker and one of the strongest women I know. She is a breast cancer survivor and an great example to her 4 wonderful children as well as to all those around her.
Julie's place was my safe haven when I was at Rick's and she became my friend not just my Aunt during those years I was there. I know my Mom hates to hear this but I feel more like her sister rather than her niece and if I am like her I will take it as one of the best compliments I have ever received.
So Ryan, my love, thanks for the compliment. I am just like my Aunt Julie!

In honor of my Aunt Julie and Breast Cancer Awareness month I am going to have a drawing. Everyone who leaves a comment telling me a little something about a strong women that has been an example to them in their lives, I will put your names in a hat and draw out a winner for a grand prize.
I don't know what it will be yet, just something that will have it's proceeds going to Breast Cancer Research, and let's say you have until October 9th. Okay!
Looking forward to all the comments!

Too Fast

Ethan and I always talk about his day on the way home from school and he has made a lot of new friends.
Last week we had a conversation about girls when he said that he had changed girl friends. I asked him if he kissed any of them and he said, "NO! Mom that is gross!". So I explained to him that if he doesn't kiss them then he could have lots of girl friends, because they where friends that where girls. He liked that idea.
Then he was very happy because he had been invited to go to one of his friends, that happened to be a girl, birthday party this Saturday. Well he had so much fun and was so happy to get to go to a party without his sister. I guess that made him feel all grown up.
When I went to go get him from the party he didn't want to leave because he said that his girl friend Brooklyn was going to come back and if he wasn't there she would be very mad. I told him that he could blame it on his mean Mom and left it at that. But on the way home I got the feeling that Brooklyn was a little more than a friend. Ryan and I have decided not to make too much of a big deal about girls with Ethan because he gets really embarrassed and we want to keep an open dialog with him about that kind of stuff.
I asked him a few more questions about Brooklyn and you could tell he REALLY likes this girl. I asked him if he kissed her and of course he said, NO! But today Ryan came down stairs to check on Ethan and Holly after our "quiet time" we have every Sunday afternoon and found Ethan drawing a picture and writing a note to Brooklyn.
Can you believe it, MY little boy writing his very first love note!!!! He so carefully placed it in an envelop and made sure to put in in his back pack so he wouldn't forget to take it to school to give it to her. I know you are smiling, because I am!
Than tonight after dinner Ethan went out to play with his friend Patrick. Well Ryan bugs Patrick about kissing girls all the time and I guess Ethan told Patrick about Brooklyn and told him that he had kissed her! Patrick came right up to the door to "tell on" Ethan to his his Dad in hopes that Ryan would tease Ethan. I guess I didn't really give him what he wanted because when I answered the door I told Patrick that Ryan and I knew all about Brooklyn. That we weren't going to tease him about her and that he could tell us anything about it. Ethan was hiding, all embarrassed and then when he heard what I had said, came out much relieved, smiling and said "See Patrick - No Big Deal, so stop bugging me!"
I really hope that gave me some points with Ethan and that he won't be so embarrassed to talk to me. But I am kind of freaking out a little bit. "Oh my Gosh! MY little Boy is kissing girls!!" All to soon we will have to have "the talk" with him. I don't know if I'm up for this...but I'm just very happy that it will be Ryan that has to have the first "talk" with one of our kids.
But in the mean time, I'm still smiling...

Before and After

Okay, now I am finished painting for now. I'm tired, my kids are tired of having their Mom's focus somewhere other than with them and Ryan's tired of a dirty house. So I think I have done enough for right now. I will probably want to start up again next week knowing me but for now I like what I've done.

I still have my Big wall in my entryway to do but I have to figure out how to do it without a really tall ladder because I don't have one and do it with out killing myself because of it. But that will be the one thing that will be on my mind for the next week.

Now without further a due here is the before picture...
And here are the after pictures....

And the hall way, which was all white. If you look closely you can see the different shades between the wall to you left and the rest of the hall.

I know you have to look hard. It's just a picture so you will all have to come to our house and see for yourself.

I have only used half a gallon of paint so I think I can convince Ryan that I should get another color and I can do my bathroom with only half a gallon and then do Holly's room with even less than that. She wants to have textured pink stripes on her walls. Yes, she picked it out. She saw a room just like what she wants in a magazine I have of different kids rooms.
Ethan is bugging me to paint his room too but it changes weekly as to what he wants to do with it. The latest is a Red Socks room, as in Boston Red Socks. Which I think would be cute but the decal he wants is $99.98 so that is out and I don't know if I'm up to trying to draw the Red Socks logo on his wall and then painting it. I think I have another idea for it but now I just need to convince Ethan and get him to not change his mind.
Oh, the fun of decorating a new house. But I'm having fun. It's a kind of therapy for me and I think Ryan likes having me happy. I'm kind of like the way Ryan is after he has found a really cool Star Wars action figure. I just have to make sure the house is clean before I start a new project. :)

New Project

I have been busy all week, or at least part of the week painting. Ryan finally caved and let me go to Lowe's and get some paint. So I got my gallon of paint (light brownish) , glaze and painters tape. I already had some brushes.
I like to do the textured stuff on some of my walls. Well I have done the two big walls in my great room and have hardly used any of paint. But I just love what it has done to warm up the room. It is such a big room with lots of light but it was almost to bright. Now it is warm and comfy.
With so much paint left over we or rather I am going to mix the brown with a little bit of white to lighten it a shade and do the other walls in the room plus the hall way to help give it some dimension.
I was going to post some pictures but I wanted to wait until it is all finished, which should be by Tuesday if I have my way.
I was all I could do not to paint yesterday but I've let the house go this week painting and needed to clean, shop, etc. Then of course today is Sunday and I can't really paint today being the Sabbath. But I think after I drop Ethan off at school I will be back at it.
Oh - Those Granquist's out there mark your calendars!! We are going to do Halloween at our house this year. Trick or treating, food fun, etc. Then if Katie wants to do it at her house next year, cool. I just figured that Rhonda needed to have a break and enjoy the day. Anyone else who is with in driving distance that would like to come too, your invited (Micky), and if Liz is planning on coming over too, wonderful. Just leave me a comment to let me know.
So watch for the picture by Tuesday, Okay!!

Scrapblog.com

This is a fun site I found were you can do digital scrapbooking for FREE!! Try it out.

All Grown Up

Okay, I know I have been a slacker when it comes to blogging lately but my goal is to be better. I was called to be the new Enrichment Leader in our new ward and yesterday was our big Super Saturday activity for the year. And of course the RS Presidency wanted to do an Emergency Preparedness Fair and it was a BIG job. I have been running around all over two counties all week trying to get everything for it and now I am just so very HAPPY that it is all over.

Anyway this past week my two boys and my little princess have just made me smile through all the stress. Last weekend Ryan was helping Ethan and his friend Patrick fix their bikes. Well Ethan's bike has been having problems with the training wheels and so Ryan told Ethan we just needed to take them off. Ethan would not even think about taking them off and the fight ensued. At the end of it we were coming in for dinner and Ryan called Ethan in with a "come in and eat Son", to which Ethan replayed "Don't call me that I'm NOT a child!" I started laughing right there. I asked him if he wasn't a child what he was and Ethan said quite forcefully that he was "all grown up!" Ryan and I just looked at each other and laughed. Ethan didn't like that at all.

So latter that night when I went down to check on the kids after they had fallen asleep, this pictures is what I found.I guess grown up boys tuck all their stuffed animals in with their own pillows. I just smiled and thought to my self how much more growing up he really had to do and how I really wanted him to enjoy it rather than worry about growing up so fast. But I guess I was the same way and now wish I had enjoyed my childhood more, so I want better for him. Like mother, like son I guess.

Well Ryan convinced Ethan that we should take his training wheels off and he should learn to ride a two wheeler. It didn't hurt that Patrick took his training wheels off to and was riding a two wheeler by the end of the next day or the fact that Ryan promised to get him a two wheeled scooter if he learned to ride his bike without the training wheels. So Ethan has been working on it all week. He has since been able to ride his bike about three peddle turns before he falls off. I'm sure that he will be riding it in no time and then Ryan will have to cough up that scooter.

With all the time that Ethan has been trying to learn to ride his bike, he has wanted us outside to watch him. He has not wanted any help but just someone to watch his accomplishments. So I have been taking Mason outside to watch. I wasn't too sure how Mason would do with this because before this week he hasn't liked the feel of grass on his feet or any part of his bare legs. But this week his curiosity about things outside has gotten the better of him and my little baby is going out on his own more and more. Mason took off though the grass after a ball, explored his Dad's shed and tried his hand at the slide. By the end of the evening and it was time to go inside he was so dirty! As you can see from the last picture of his feet and bum. But he had such a great time he has wanted to be outside every time the other kids are out. I think I'm going to be spending every waking moment outside between now and when the snow flies just to keep Mason happy.

And finely I can't not mention the sight I saw last night walking into the bathroom after I finished getting Mason out of the tub.

Ethan and Ryan had gone to the Utah vs. Utah State football game so it was just me and the other two kids.

Holly just made me laugh and brought a bright ending to my stressful week.

Oh the joys of childhood. I'm so blessed to be able to experience them again through the eyes of my children. So take the time to watch a child at play this week and enjoy a second childhood. It really helps to put life in perspective. Enjoy!!

First Week of School

Well this week has been really busy! Ethan and Holy started school and preschool respectively.
Tuesday morning came early as we all were not used to getting up that early.
Ryan gave each of the kids a wonderful start of school year blessing and helped me feel a little better for them having them. My babies are growing up and I was inwardly having a hard time.

Ryan stayed home from work to take Ethan to school and meet his teacher Mrs. Larabee, as he had not met her before then. I didn't get too many of the details but Ryan did take some good pictures. He was sure he was going to cry but was brave for Ethan and didn't. Good for you Honey! Ryan then headed to Best Buy as fast as he could to go get the 4th season of "The Office" on DVD that came out that morning, to console himself. ;)

Mason & I took Holly to preschool. I wasn't sure how she was going to do. When we first took her to nursery she had a really hard time and cried. So I was expecting the water works when I drop her off, but I made a big deal of her being a big girl and that it was a little like nursery. I would drop her off and then come back a get her latter after she had some fun with her teachers and played. We talked about how she would be making a lot of new friends and how much fun she would have.

It was a little crazy with all the parents dropping off their kids. Holly is going to a rather big preschool and there a tons of kids that go there. But I took the time to take her picture, which she loved and then took her in. She was a little apprehensive at first but once one of her teachers (she has 4) introduced herself to Holly and said "lets go find you a cubby", she smiled waved and ran off. That is when I got a little teary. She has been so excited to go and now I felt like I was letting her go off into the world by herself.

It was very quite when I got home. I just had Mason and he was very upset to not have his brother and sister around. For that reason it's good Holly will only have school two days a week. But it isalso good for me to have some one on one time with Mason. We just all need to get used to this big change but change is good, righ? I guess it is time for Mom to grow up with the kids and learn that life is going to be changing a lot from now on.

When I picked up Ethan from school he had had fun (that was all I could get) and when we picked up Holly he had lots of questions and advice for his little sister. It was really cute. Ethan thought he was the expert on preschool and wanted to impart his knowledge to his sister. Holly LOVES her school and now is upset that Ethan gets to go every day and she doesn't. I just am happy she loves school and hope she will always have that. Ethan has since found out the down side to school. He can't stay up at night, he has to get his homework done before video games (found out Mom wasn't joking about that) and he says that school is too long!! I wonder what he is going to say next year when he goes for 3 more hours a day! But we will cross that bridge when we get to it, eh? And we have all ready started with the "so and so gets to stay out later, so why do I have to come in so early?" stuff. Fun, Fun, Fun. My kids are growing up to fast.

Well I guess I should wrap it up, this post is long enough, but I'm sure the adventures of school days will continue. So stay tuned...

Party, Party

I have been busy editing pictures, or trying to edit with my little dumpy editing program all day of the pictures of Mason's big 1st Birthday party. We had a house FULL of people. Everyone we invited came, Yeah! And of course it was raining. It hasn't rained for months and it comes on the one day we have a party. Oh well, we had a great time, at least I think so.

Mason loved his cake. He ate the whole thing and was still trying to stuff crumbs in his mouth while I was cleaning him up.

Everyone gave him this best things clothes and toys, what more could a one year old want?

Well here are a few of pictures from the big night...

The cake

A Cool New Ride...