Things That Made Me Smile

This week there have been some great things that have made me smile that I wanted to share.

First, Holly...she just makes me smile so much, especially this week. I was on the computer, which is down in a nook off of the play room and Holly and Mason were down there with me. Holly and Ethan are in charge of keeping the play room clean and had done a very good job cleaning it the night before. Mason proceeded to dump balls all over the floor, which he often does when Holly let out a sigh and said, "Oh, Mason we just cleaned the play room! Mom I don't like having a baby brother anymore can we take him back to the baby store, Please!" That made my day. Mason is a handful and very tenacious. We love him but sometimes feel the same way.

Second, Ryan has the blessing (yes blessing Ryan) of having a job where he can pretty much make his own hours because other than store visits and a few meetings, he works completely from his blackberry and laptop. So he often stays home a little late, until 8:30 am or so and has the kids all come and climb into bed with us when they get up. He asks them how they slept, about any dreams they may have had and what their plans are for the day. They kids love it! Ryan also always has his i*touch close by and sometimes pulls it out once he has had a chance to talk to each of them. So I walked into our room the other morning to find this....

The kids love to watch Dad use his i*touch! It doesn't matter what he is doing they just love the thing. Like Father like Son/Daughter. I just had to smile.

Also notice Holly's hair in the morning and that smile on Masons face. How can that not bring a smile to your face?

Then if you have ever watched Yo Gabba Gabba they have something called "cool cool tricks". Holly loves to figure out new ones she can do all the time. This morning she was so proud to show me this one....curling her tongue.
Then she was even more happy that Mom could do it too. Which made me smile.

Finally Ethan's last day of Kindergarten was today. He was having a hard time last night because he thought that he would never see his teacher Mrs. Larabee again. I explained to him that he would see her next year around the school, the only thing that would change was that she wouldn't be his teacher any more because he would have a new one. We also got up this morning and wrote Mrs. Larabee a thank you note telling her what a great teacher she was and how much we appreciated her. Ethan was so excited to give it to her. When I picked him up from school he got a really big hug from her as he said goodbye and came home with his Kindergarten diploma. He said that she really liked her note and that made him feel better about the school year ending. He has such a big heart and loves learning. He made me smile for just being the great boy he is.

So that is the fun stuff that has made me smile this week and I hope it brought a smile to your face too.

Birthday Recap

The week is finally over and Holly has enjoyed 3 birthday parties with cake and ice cream for all 3. I think I've gained 5 lbs with all that cake and my body is acting like Elaine's, needing a 3 o'clock sugar rush. (you know from Seinfeld..)

On Wednesday, her actual birthday, we had just a little party with just us. She got her big present from Mom and Dad, a new 2 wheel bike with training wheels.

Ethan and Mason got her a helmet to go along with her bike. She LOVES it! She rides it everyday and said to me, "now I'm a big girl now that I have a big girl bike". It's so funny what kids think of as a right of passage.

Then on Saturday she had her Fairy Princess Party. Five little girls all dressed up like fairies or princesses or both.

Don't they look cute...

Holly for some reason was embarrassed to have everyone sing her Happy Birthday that day. I don't know why but she got over it when I had all her friends help her blow out the candles.
Our good friends the Jessops came down from North Ogden and we got to visit them for awhile. They lived next door to us in our condo and Ethan and their son Karson are only 3 months apart and were "best buddies" while we lived next to them. They haven't had a chance to play together for a year so it was really nice to have them over. We also had my brother Rayn and his family over. They live so close but we never seem to be able to get together that much. They stayed for dinner and they kids had a blast playing together.

They on Sunday we had Ryan's family up and our good friends the Ropers over. Ropers have all boys so we didn't think they would want to dress up like fairy's so we had them over with Ryan's family. More cake and ice cream and lots of fun.

Holly loved having all her friends and family over to help celebrate her birthday. She tells me everyday now that she is 4 now and only 1 year till she is in Kindergarten. She is so excited to grown up, I have to keep reminding her that she needs to just have fun being 4 because all too soon she will be as old as me, to which I receive the dirty look of "your crazy mom". Ah, childhood.

My Princess

On this day 4 years ago I was given the most wonderful birthday present anyone could ever have. A princess of my very own...Holly Geniel. We named her after my Grandma, which she takes after being quite sensitive to things going on around her, as well as being compassionate and loving. She loves her family more than anything, especially her Daddy, but has a hard time "liking" her brothers sometimes. She is fun loving, likes to make and have lots of friends and is loyal to them to a fault. Holly sometimes has a hard time forgiving but that is often because she feels so much. She is a prissy tomboy, by that I mean she loves to dress up and everything having to do with be a girl but also likes to get down and dirty in the mud with the boys too.

Holly is strong willed and stubborn like her Mom, but that will give her great strength to always be herself and stand up for what is right latter in her life. She has her Daddy's eyes, and loves to cuddle with him while watching TV on Saturday mornings. You can't leave the house without giving her a hug and a kiss, even if it is for 5 minutes. She loves pink, playing sports and she sees the beauty all around her, which in turn helps me to see it too. We are so very blessed to have such a wonderful girl in our family.

Happy Birthday my little princess! I love you more than you will ever know!

Lava Rock

I have never understood why anyone would want to fill large areas of their yard with lava rock. When we bought this house the front flower bed, island in front and on the side of our house was filled with lava rock. We thought "oh, no big deal we will just take that out and plant grass and flowers". Ryan took out the stuff in the flower bed a couple of months after we moved in. That just about killed him because moving lava rock is really hard work and for someone who is not used to manual labour on a daily basis, my self included that is overwhelming.

We put off taking out the rock from the islands until this summer. The phrase, "time dims" takes on new meaning when it comes to this kind of work. One island is a big enough job but both is enormous! So I got smart and listed all the lava rock on KSL.com's classifieds. If anyone is willing to load it they can have it free of charge. It's only been listed for two hours and has had 41 hits, but no calls yet. I really hope it goes quick. I hate the stuff.

Once it is all gone we are going to get a couple of tons of top soil and then lay out grass seed. With any luck we should have our yard looking much better by the end of the summer.

So if you or anyone you know whats FREE lava rock. Come and get it...it's all yours!

Holly's Preschool Program

This morning we all went to see Holly preform in her end of the year preschool program. She sang her little heart out and a lot of the songs I have heard her singing to herself around the house for the last couple of weeks.
Her big performance was as a duck in "5 Little Ducks" number. The picture isn't too clear, sorry I showed up 1/2 hour before it was to start and was still in the very back. She was so cute though.

Mason lost interest about half way through so Ryan and Ethan took him into the back hall and let him run around so that I could video tape most of the performance. If anyone wants to come over and have a screening of her grand performance we would be happy to provide.

This is what Mason & Ethan were up to...playing under the stairs. And this is where Ryan put Mason before too long. Can you tell it's on the top of the coat rack.Once the performances where over they had each class come up and get there completion certificates or diplomas. Holly loved this and was so proud. She wanted a graduation hat that all the 4 year old's were getting, so I had to explain to her that she would get one next year when she graduated from preschool. She has one more year to go and then it will be her turn. She seemed Okay with that because she loves her school and her teachers and is excited to be able to go back next year.

Holly loved preforming and getting all dolled up for the big day. I spent 1/2 curling her hair and I even let her have some mascara on. I was reading my Aunt Dori's blog the other day and she saw pictures of my cousins girls waring make-up for their dance recitals. Holly asked why they got to ware make-up and I explained to her that little girls could ware make-up just for performances. Well this morning she reminded me that she was performing and she needed to have some make-up on. So I gave in. She is such a girl!

It was so fun and now she is out for the summer and is looking forward to living in her swimming suit for a few months before going back to school.

Winding Down / Gearing Up

The school year is almost over, just 3 weeks left until Ethan will be done with Kindergarten. Holly just had her last class in preschool for the year and all we have left is her end of the year program tomorrow. She is so excited to sing and preform. We just got her class pictures and she is so cute, if I do say so my self. Holly loves school and can't wait to go back. I can't believe that once summer is done it will be only 1 year until Mason will be in preschool and Holly goes to Kindergarten. I'm looking forward to the quite during the day but I am getting way ahead of myself, because when I do that too much I end having something happen like getting pregnant again. NO! (Knock on wood) I'm too old to have any more babies!!! I will be 38 next week and I think I am going to go get fixed this summer. Then I can get rid of all the baby stuff in my house which leads me to my next subject.

I know spring is almost over but April is too rainy to do much and May is so busy for us that spring cleaning doesn't really get started around here until the end of May, first of June. I am itching to do a MAJOR purge of all the junk in my house. I would just take it all to the DI or Salvation Army but I think we are going to do a yard sale. The proceeds to go to our hopefully still on vacation to Canada. It just kind of drives me crazy to put those things aside for a yard sale and have my kids go through everything and throw a fit over "you can't sell this, I love this!". It must be a Granquist gene because I have the same problem with Ryan sometimes. He gets it from his Mom, sorry Rhonda, but you don't throw anything out or give it away without help from an outside source.

I still have to finish my kitchen before next week when I going to have everyone over for Holly's birthday party. Plus my Aunt Cherri said she is going to try to come and see me the last week-end in May when she is in Idaho Falls for my cousins Mission farewell. So I have to get things together just in case. Then my Mom will be here the middle of June. My kids are so excited to see Grandma Bo, mainly because they get to go to Toys r' us and spend some of her money. But also because we get to do fun stuff while she is here.

Anyway I will post picture of Holly's preschool program tomorrow and then my finished kitchen. So I guess I better get busy.

Goooal!!!!

This morning we, as a family headed off to Ethan's soccer game in the new van. Ryan got to coach as Ethan's regular coach asked Ryan to fill in for him while he went out of town. Ryan did really well and I think he had fun doing it.

Ethan was a scoring machine. He got 3 goals! His first hat trick. Is it still called a hat trick in soccer?

The first one he got in the net off of his chest which he thought was pretty cool. Ryan called it a Bobby Hill goal (fluke goal), but Ethan thought it was awesome. What 6 year old doesn't have a fluke goal most of the time.

He got two others goals before the end of the game and his team (Green Fireballs) won 8 to 1. Ethan was quick to say that he need to call Grandpa and tell him. Ryan's Dad calls Ethan and Holly almost everyday to see how they are doing and has even come up for a few of Ethan's games so he is always quick to want to tell Grandpa all about it.

Now Ethan is trying to convince us that he should get a "prize" for getting 3 goals in one game. This is an on going discussion.

Good game Ethan and we are proud of you!!!

Trying to Get it Together

The past week has been trying, yeah that's the word. We have had some things come up that kind of hit us hard and made both Ryan and I ask, "why is this happening". Well after a much reflection, many long talks, and prayer we found that we were living with the attitude of what was going on in the world around us wasn't going to affect us. WRONG!!! We needed to adjust our outlook and our lives into the right perspective. To live in the now, not in the future, but still plan for what may come. Does that make sense?
So now we are in the process of making some needed changes to, not only our lives but our outlook. To make our lives more livable and happy, as well as be able to teach our children how best to live to become great people. So we are cutting back and cutting out those things that are not needed and start a few things to make us more self reliant. In so doing I have really seen how much our children really need these changes. Let's just say I never thought my kids were spoiled but once again I have been proven wrong. Ryan and I have also stood back and looked at each others strengths and weaknesses and rearranged some of our "assigned" tasks to help our family run more effectively. The kids and I have cleared a patch of ground so that we can plant a vegetable garden. They were so excited when they found out about that one. Ethan has been out there clearing the ground all by himself at times. I'm crossing my fingers that I can get something to grow and still be eatable.
We are also making it a point to set up a new bed time routine that includes not only family prayer, which we have already been doing but family scripture study. The kids have really liked this because it gives them time to talk and participate with both Mom and Dad together. I don't know how much they are retaining of actual scriptures but they are liking the attention. We are also trying to institute Family Home Evening. Just taking time to play and just be together as a family with no friends once a week. We are really trying to live the truth of "your family and your relationship with them is more important than anything else you can have".
The rest is just clearing out the crap both temporally and emotionally and getting organized. I know that this will take some time but it's just so overwhelming right now it's hard for me to wrap my head around things. I have had a lot of epiphanies this week, and we have learned a lot about each other. So we are working on it together as a family and that is the most important thing. I know that once we can get it together we will all benefit from it and be closer because of it. In a way trials rock! But only in a way, the rest suck.