Found And Random Things

Colby asked why I've been using my crappy little camera instead of the Nikon. I said I didn't want to use my Grandpa's awesome old film camera (I didn't realize which Nikon he was talking about). Then he informed me that our lovely old digital camera was back from the repair shop (where it'd been fixed FOR FREE! Woot! Hooray for known factory defects!) (The camera has been broken since June of 2007. It's like Christmas to get it back!) So look what I did!!! Took pictures of Gretchen swinging that aren't blurry!!!




I'm not going to whine about the overwhelming list of things I had to do this week, or the amount of work I had (I think I whine about those two things every post.) Most days I feel like I'm either taking care of the girls or working, no down-time to myself (wait, I'm whining, but it's going somewhere, really!) Yesterday I decided to take a night off. It was wonderful. I finished a craft and then went to bed. Oh heaven! Then today I took advantage of my Sunday work-free time to document the crafts we've done in our MOPS group this year. Take a look if you're feeling crafty!

We've been working on Ella's science fair project. I was really proud of us when we came up with our experiment idea. They'd had a demonstration at school of what happens when you drop Mint Mentos into Diet Coke. She was pretty impressed with the explosion that resulted. We decided to see if we could find any other candy that would make soda explode. Fun, right? Then a few weeks ago we were at Girl Scouts and I was talking to another mom. I asked what they were doing for their experiment. THEY HAD THE EXACT SAME PLAN. Luckily the girls are in different classes. Though the other mom said, "You know, if we're doing it, chances are another 10 people will too..." So we're going to have to totally sell our experiment with a fantastic display board. Yesterday we picked up the last of our candy and went to an empty field. It's a good thing we didn't try it in the kitchen. I'll share the pictures next week. And you should go invest $2 in some Mint Mentos and Diet Coke. Or look at the million youtube videos dedicated to that awesomeness.

This week I listened to "The Road" as an audio book. Wow. That is one powerful book. It's really dark, but I loved it. If you haven't read it, skip this next part:

The whole time I was thinking, "The mom was totally right. They should have just all killed themselves before they were raped and cannibalized!" Especially when they went to that old house with all the people in the basement! But by the end I had completely switched my opinion. The fact that Cormac McCarthy was able to fill a book with such horrific and vivid details and still convince me that their painful struggle for life was worth it proves his mastery as a writer. The book is powerful and beautifully written.

Another thing that struck me was while listening to the brutality of their degenerate "society", I kept thinking, "No, this couldn't REALLY happen, right? God wouldn't let that happen." But it could. And it did. We have a scriptural record of this happening (Moroni 9: 7-10). So of course it could happen again. And though "The Road" is fiction, like all good stories, it makes you wonder about what choices you'd make with your life. If you knew that was in store for your little children, what would you do? Also, I need to go order about 5000 lighters and 50 extra pairs of shoes now.

Ella just came out of her room and jogged a circle around our apartment. I think she's still asleep. She's sleep-jogging! I'd better go take care of that and stop worrying about offing-myself before I get cannibalized by apocalyptic survivors.

(She just came back out and sat down at the kitchen table. Colby led her gently back to bed. I think the sleep-traveling is mostly over for the night...)

Do you kids ever do weird stuff like that in their sleep?

xoxo

Seriously? Cutest Thing Ever.

Hello Loves! How was your week? Ours was great, interesting, fun, and sad at the end.

It was great to host preschool. Gretchen had missed two weeks of learnin' cause she was hacking and coughing and oozing at the eyes and nose and being generally infectious. She woke up Tuesday morning with red eyes and after trying really hard not to say bad words, I called the other parents & said, "It could be pink eye. Maybe it's just her cold. We're having preschool. Risk it if you dare." They all risked it. I guess a two hour break from your toddler is worth that little roulette game. And it wasn't pink eye after all! It must have just been from her cold. CRISIS AVERTED!

After preschool, I was talking to my dear friend Becky, and she was going on and on about the most fabulous dance class our friend Katherine teaches. I've been wanting to put the girls in a dance class since I found out I was pregnant with a girl-child, and this class is pretty much ridiculously cute. But I just can't justify the minimal expense while Colby isn't working. (Just in case you're wondering, the girls now have a running tally of things they'll do when Colby gets a job. Go to Disneyland. Go out to eat. Go to ballet class. Buy Tinkerbell wings at the Disney Store. And I will join the gym so I won't have to use the scary one in our apartment complex. Oh yeah, and buy a house.) Becky was so sad that I said we wouldn't be signing up that she told Katherine about it. And then Katherine asked if I'd do a trade. OH YES I WILL!!! So now my dreams have come true. This dream here.

This dream is a FAIRY TALE DANCE CLASS. Gretchen was shy at first. That lasted about 30 seconds. Then she realized that THIS. IS. AWESOME.


Within 5 minutes she was volunteering to show the other girls how it's done.


And they all dressed up as Belle, her favorite princess this week, and acted out the story. OMG. SERIOUSLY? Yes. It was cute.


So basically, thrilled.


Ella had testing at her school a few weeks ago & we got the results back. She is doing so well in school. I'm so proud of her. I'm so grateful for her teachers. I'm so grateful for her school. I'm SO GRATEFUL I don't home school her. I know that's the best choice for some people, but not us. If I were teaching my child....it would be bad. But since all I have to do is help with her homework, it's PERFECT. I still feel like I'm involved with her education, but I don't really have to do anything. Ta da! Genius child that still has a relationship with her mom.

While volunteering in her class this week, I came across a number of Safety Tips the kids had written themselves:
-Always swim with a buddy.
-Never stand on a swivel chair.
-Don't say bad words to a police man (one of my favorites.)

When we got home, I overheard Ella say in a dramatic voice, "Safety Tip #7: Never say, 'You are bad!!!' to your sister." Wise choice, my darling.

The sad end of our week was that a friend from church had a fire at her condo. Julie (mother to the infamous biting victim John John) arranged for us to go over and help a bit yesterday. It was awful. There was a huge hole in her roof. There was insulation and ceiling bits and broken glass and ash EVERYWHERE. We wore masks and helped pull all her daughters clothes and bedding and stuffed animals out to distribute to volunteers to wash. I've never seen anything like it. I've been lucky enough not to be in any fires. It was crazy. As soon as I walked in the door, I started crying (I know, I'm a wimp, but it was HORRIBLE.) If anyone has a broken heating lamp in their bathroom, do me a favor and get it fixed. Also, make sure you have renters insurance. Say prayers for my friend too.

So that's us. What about you?

The Week Alone

Colby went out of town last Monday to attend a tradeshow & be all networky and stuff. He just got back a few hours ago. Seven days.

First it was great! There were WAAAAY less dishes. I didn't have to cook a nice dinner every night (not that it happens every night, but a lot of the time I try). The house stayed cleaner. The TV wasn't on all night. I could watch whatever I wanted. I was ALL OVER IT. I was cocky.

Then I started to get tired.

Then I got a HUGE job and stayed up working every night till 11. Then a toddler snuck into my bed every night and coughed in my face for three hours till I finally gave in and rallied enough to pour her a bowl of cereal and turn PBS kids on. (Praise to PBS kids. You don't know how much I appreciate the break you give me.) Then I was in charge of way too much crap last week (craft for my mom's group, because of course I'm the craft leader, right? Young Womens fundraiser straightened out. Volunteering in Ella's class, etc.) Not to mention the rush job and 16 sketches I whipped out. TIRED.

I'm so glad Colby's back. Right now HE'S the one yelling at the girls to clean up their room, not me. And HE'S the one doing PJ duty (an hour early, I might add.)

Last week I also did carpool. I love the kid we do carpool with. So does Ella. And Gretchen. Gretchen often shows her love by swatting him in the face and kicking him, but he's nice enough to let it slide (we have lots of talks with Gretchen about showing our friends we love them with kindness. Not flirtatious slapping.) While we were in the car, Ella said that there are three bad kids in her class.

Me: They're not "bad" sweetie, they just make bad choices sometimes.

Carpool Kid: That's right. Satan gets in their head and tells them to be bad.

Ella: Satan must get in my sister's head A LOT.

(The "devil made me do it" attitude makes me crazy. Dude people, you make your OWN decisions. But this was too funny, I had to share.)

Also, if any of you ever get a chance to burn a whole Christmas Tree in a bonfire, you should TOTALLY DO IT. But seriously? Make sure you've got at least 50' of clearance on all sides. We did this for our youth activity this week. It was AMAZING. Nothing like a little pyromania to help bond the kids, right? Ella was excited about the s'mores (or "smudges" as she thought they were called). The kids were excited about roasting Starburst (did you know about this trend? It's sweeping the nation, apparently. I didn't try them, but supposedly they're fabulous.)

And to round out the week, Ella had an ice-skating activity with the Girl Scouts yesterday. It was the first time for both the girls, and the first time in about 20 years for me. How do you think it went?

Here we are all cute and Ready For Anything!



And this is how it went. Gretchen's "help me!" pose.


Here's the "No, Seriously, Help Me" pose:


Ella was quite the sport. She went around three times (veeeeeryyy slowly while holding on to the side. But still, three times.) Gretchen and I went around twice.


Then we stopped and had snacks.


I have to say, it was SO FUN hangin' with the girl scouts. They kept coming up to Gretchen & offering to hold her other hand (I had one hand already). One particularly sweet girl said, "Do you know what? I'm living the girl scout law right now. I'm helping others." That's right, sweetie. (SO CUTE, right? Love it.)

So that was our week, what about yours?

Now We Love The Yankees

Gretchen caught a cold last week that has slowly lingered. We had a slow week trying to take it easy and get better. Just when I thought things were looking up, I got hit with it Saturday morning. (I think it's a combination of not enough sleep and Gretchen's fabulous open-mouth kisses. Thanks sweetie.) Colby took the girls sledding yesterday morning and I slept in. Till one p.m. It was AMAZING. Like I was in college. Also, apparently I was tired.

To make it up to the girls in a way that wouldn't require much effort on my part (three cheers for laziness!!!) I let the girls do my makeup. It started out nice. Then it got a little less nice. Then came the face painting sticks:



I think the mustache was a nice touch. Thanks girls. (See Gretchen's little hand putting the finishing touches on me?)

Don't worry, she wasn't left out:



Remember the days when she was so sweet and quiet?



It's like she & Ella have switched personalities.



While we were in California, Poppa Randy (my dad) gave us a box of amazing old photos. His dad died when he was about 12. His parents divorced before that, so he didn't know his father very well. He looked up his paternal grandmother in the 80's and got back in touch with that side of the family. She gave him a box of TREASURES.

It's amazing that I never knew my Grandpa, but that I love him so much. Look how handsome!



Grandma got married at 17 (right? Correct me if I'm wrong...) Look at this picture. I'm pretty sure this is what she's thinking: I'M GETTING MARRRRRRRIED!!!!!!!! Hee hee hee!!!!


She told me that Billie Dee was a Big Man On Campus. She was sooooo in love. But it didn't work out. And she didn't like to talk about him much.


Finding these pictures is a small miracle. That Dad thought to find his Grandma after 40 years of separation. That she was still alive. That she kept all these mementos and passed on these pictures to him, and now to us. We would never have seen these! (They made Adrianne cry. Ha ha, crybaby.)

Above: I think this is Billie Dee with his Mom, I know they're holding my Dad.

Below: The back of the picture has this cryptic message, "Grandmother on right. Reba (I'm assuming she's the one on the left) married Sleepy." Look at those dresses. Isn't this picture gorgeous????



Adrianne & I have both made goals to do more family history work, so this was all so very fortuitious. We'd gotten onto the excellent church genealogy site new.familysearch.org. You can search for an ancestor (because of privacy, it's got to be someone who's passed away) and it'll link you in to see work that other people in the church have done on that line (if you have other LDS family members, that is). It is FASCINATING. And let me tell you, we have some serious geneology buffs on both sides of my family (Aunt Bonnie has allegedly traced us back to Adam & Eve). A lot of the work that she's done is now being put online by another family member. Just messing around, Adrianne & I followed one line back to THE KING OF FRANCE, circa 1200. Adrianne and I looked at eachother and said in as simpering a voice as we could muster, "I always knew I was a princess!" (Sorry Brooke Shields, we are totally mocking you. Because yes, if we all go back far enough, we're all princesses.) (Did anyone else see that "Who Do You Think You Are" show with her family history?)

Later that night we were telling Dad about it. He said, "You know, you're great great Grandpa was in the NY Yankees."

"What?"

"OMG, that's WAY cooler than being a descendant of Charlemagne!"

"I know, right? That's like the GOLDEN AGE of baseball. Back when they wore knickers. So much cooler."

So now we're totally Yankee fans.



If you are LDS and haven't gone onto new.familysearch.org, DO IT TODAY! (But you need your membership # to get an account. So if you don't have it, see your ward clerk and DO IT NEXT WEEK! Then call you grandma and get some birth and death dates of your great grandparents. Then GO TO TOWN!!! So fun!)

If you aren't LDS, there's also a fabulous family history site called FamilySearch.org. It's FREE!!! And it's amazing. I love our church.

Roundup!

Hello Friends and Family! We kind of dropped off the face of the planet for a few weeks. But rest assured, we're alive and sassy (well, Ella and Gretchen are. Colby and I are mostly just alive...)

How was your Christmas? Ours was good. We enjoyed Uncle Aaron & Aunt B's hospitality in SoCal. But we did NOT enjoy the non-stop rain. Or that Adrianne and Mike and the Duffys got evacuated out of the house because the neighborhood was flooding. (Dude!) Ella really wanted to go to the Getty Museum again and I wanted to take the girls to play in the sand at the beach, but alas, neither happened. We were officially rained out. But at least it finally stopped. Just in time for us to pack up and leave.

It wasn't all a soggy mess, Aaron & B's house was super fun (as always) and we watched movies, played video games & played and played and played with cousins.

AND GRETCHEN TURNED THREE!!!!!

At Chuckee Cheeses. (As she'll tell you if you ask her age. "I'm three at Chuckee Cheese's.")

What I love about this picture is that Super Fun Uncle Mike is holding Gretchen upside-down, and Grandma Diana is trying so hard not to freak out! Look at her hand. "Uhhhhh...Mike???!?!?!" (Love you Mom!)


High Fives for blowing out the candles.



Awwww....



This is the Cinderella Wedding Dress (as seen on clearance at the Disney Store after Halloween). Gretchen's new nickname is "Bridezilla".


Nana Joy totally won the horse race.


Sisters doing sister-things together. (I couldn't tell you what they're doing, but they're entertained...)


Clifford!


And apparently we didn't get any Christmas Pictures. But rest assured, Santa came, the voice-changer toy he brought was a hit, we all laughed at Ella and Gretchen's Robot Voices, and then it was promptly hidden so that we didn't go crazy. They also got other stuff. I'm hoping we'll remember it all to do Thank Yous. If we don't and you're reading this, "Thank you for the present! That was so nice!" (So heartfelt, I know. Also, as my extended Christmas Gift to you, don't worry about sending me any Thank Yous. I gave you a gift because I love you. Lets just leave it at that...)

Poppa Randy brought the girls GIGANTIC GINGERBREAD MEN to decorate. There may or may not still be one on our kitchen counter.



Colby asked for and got a bunch of camera equipment for Christmas. Merry Christmas to both of us! He gets new toys, and I get lovely photos of our girls. Just messing around he got these two gems.




Happy 2nd week of January Friends! Love love love!

BIG SIGH OF RELIEF

I'm so happy. We made it through last week with it's massive To-Do list and the four Christmas parties. Now I can sit back and relax (and course you know by "relax" I mean run around and finish everything I need to do before we leave for Uncle Aaron's on Friday, right? And figure out how to fit all of Christmas + four suitcases into our trunk.) Still, this week was pretty good.

-I got another freelance job from my favorite client, a Hidden Picture puzzle of kids in Singing Time. And it's a puzzle proposal that I sent to them November of last year. So it's totally an Apryl Stott Original, written and illustrated. Hooray for me!

-I've listened to the Christmas Mix cd so much this week that the girls know the words to the songs (now it's time to make a NEW mix cd!) And Colby got to listen to it every time he was in my car. In case anyone ever thought that we share the same taste in music, apparently we don't. And apparently all I like is, "Lame emo crap." Whatevs. He's the one who said "Our Song" was Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart". That's like the ORIGINAL emo.

-The First Graders at Ella's school had a "Winter Performance". We showed up 5 minutes late. It was over 5 minutes after that. It was only TEN MINUTES LONG!!! This should be the new standard for school performances. Except we should get there in time. (Poor Ella was so nervous about the performance. Did she have a speaking part? No. She was supposed to sing "Jingle Bells" with the rest of the first grade. That's it. And stand there. Apparently she does NOT have a stage career in her future.)

-Our new Family Performance Art Project (what, you don't have one of those?) is to put pictures of Colby into unsuspecting friends picture frames when they're not looking (you know, when they invite us over for dinner & are nice and naieve enough to leave us in a room unsupervised). Our friends had a frame hung up in their living room with the original model-family (the picture the frame came with). We replaced it with a nice 8x10 of Mr. Stott. It's been 24 hours. Apparently they haven't noticed yet. I'll give it a week.

But the best thing about this past week? It's DONE!!!

So what's YOUR Family Performance Art Project?

and so the holidays begin....

Ella made us this handy little map for our Thanksgiving trip. We totally followed it too.



The drive was so cold. How cold? When Colby went to wash the back window at McDonalds/Gas Station stop (as seen on map above), the water froze before he could clean off the window. That, my friends, is too cold.

We enjoyed a stay at Grandma & Grandpa's house. Baby Skye & Baby Kait are BFF-Cousins, and Gretchen loved them so.



(My favorite part of this pic isn't Gretchen's "Intense" face, it's Kait jumping on the bed inches from Skye's head.)


We had a few fun activities, the coldest being a trip to Temple Square. Here Grandpa holds the babies, who are probably wondering what possessed us to drag through sub-freezing temperatures to look at....Christmas lights.



Ella's Primary asked for a picture of her for a craft they're making. I can't find a good one! She's constantly doing stuff like this:


Grandpa, Thanksgiving is SO AWESOME, right?


Yes, yes it is.


We tried to take a family picture for Great Grandpa. Here's the best one:


And here's the 2nd best one:


Now we get to prepare for this:


And friends, let me tell you, it's been a little crazy here. Yesterday BEFORE NOON we'd:

-Had a major temper tantrum on the walk to Breakfast With Santa (Ella! Not Gretchen! She doesn't do it often, but when she does WATCH OUT!!! I promptly dragged her home and left her with Dad. Why was she so upset? She didn't like how baggy her new tights were. I understand that baggy tights can be frustrating, my darling child, but REALLY!?!?!?!?) And so....

-....Gretchen and I enjoyed Breakfast With Santa with our peeps. Donuts and OJ, Booya!

-Did the free craft at Home Depot

-Went to the church for a baptism

-Ran to the store because there were no refreshments and theYW were supposed to provide them! Ahhhhhh!

-Set up refreshments.

-Sighed with relief and checked to see when we could all go to bed.

But we didn't go to bed, instead we went home and cleaned and watched Doctor Who and cleaned and went to a church Christmas Party. And how many church Christmas parties are there this year? Three. THREE!!! Next up, the Relief Society Christmas Dinner. Oh my word, people! This is not keeping things simple! Plus on Friday is Ella's school Christmas program, plus Girl Scouts party, plus the school's "Holly Fest". No one can accuse us of letting Christmas get away un-celebrated.

This week I'm trying to ship out my Christmas Mix Cd-Presents, Christmas Cards & Christmas Mailers. WISH ME LUCK. What are YOU trying to get done this week. Because OMG, we have 20 days left!!! (Don't worry, it's really not that bad. This is the last bit of stuff I have to do & then I'm DONE! Yay!) (And yes, I realize I do this all to myself. I can only blame myself. It's all good.)

PS - I have to tell you what Gretchen did yesterday. She was wearing her Sleeping Beauty dress (of course), and as I tucked her in for her nap she said, "No mom! No blanket. Like Sleeping Beauty."
"Doesn't Sleeping Beauty use a blanket?"
"No. Like this," she said, covering only her feet. I obliged and then she said, "No Mom. I need flowers." I handed her some silk flowers we have (they have a very girly room). She grasped them in her hands and laid down the sleep, looking just as dramatic as this:

(And yes, this is a screenshot of Anne of Green Gables, where Anne reenacts "The Lady of Shallot". The drama runs deep.)

GOOD LUCK this week! Lets all try real hard to say "No" when anyone asks us to do anything else, and spend more time at home. Because really, we don't NEED to do all this stuff, right? Ok! (Yeah, like I'll really listen to my own advice!)