Nutracker Ballet

We had a girls afternoon with my mom, sisters and our daughters on Saturday. We went to lunch at a Mexican place downtown and then went to the Northwest Ballet production of the Nutracker Ballet at the Washington Center in Olympia. We had a wonderful time and my favorite quote came from Claire immediately following the show, "That was WAY better than last year." After which Liz whispered to me, "It was exactly the same." I hope we can make this an annual Christmas tradition.

Grace's must have accessory...

For the last couple of days, the first thing she wants to do when she wakes up is put on her sunglasses. And she pretty much keeps them on all day. I have to insist that she remove them to sleep, and she gets very upset about that. Do I really have to endure another drama queen daughter? Thanks a lot, mom.

I have the best sister in the world

That's right! Mine is the best! I was up visiting my folks for a long weekend and my sister Liz was over with her family and could see that basically being a single parent is starting to wear on me. I don't think I was necessarily complaining, because I really try not to, but it does get hard sometimes without a break. So she offered to keep my two younger kids for the rest of the week and then we planned to meet up halfway on Friday so I could bring them back home.

And can I just tell you it was really a life saver. I had over 3 hours to myself in the morning after I got Sarah off to school, which meant I was able to shower every day and I even read a couple of books. And then of course dealing with one 5-year-old is a bit easier then all three kids. We were able to have some fun too. On Wednesday, after I picked her up from the bustop, we packed a lunch and went down to the law school and had lunch with Shawn. Then we went to see High School Musical 3 (confession: I really like those movies, and luckily Sarah does too). The coolest part was that we were the only ones in the theater, so Sarah got to dance in the aisles during the songs. It was so fun!

Anyway, Liz I can't thank you enough for your love and generosity. You're the best!

Happy Halloween!

I wasn't very good about taking pictures over the weekend of my kids in costumes, trick-or-treating and all that jazz (Halloween is one of those hit and miss holidays for me - I have to be in the mood for it), but here is a little song about pumpkins performed by Sarah. Take care everyone!

Last weekend we went to.....

Yippee!

Apparently, Jacob did not want his picture taken.


They had all these fun things to do for the kids.


Jacob loved this slide. We had a hard time getting him to leave.

And they even had a little petting zoo.


Isn't fall fun?

Don't look Grandpa...

This lovely instrument at my parent's house is also a kid magnet, especially for those under the age of 2. Here are cute cousins Grace and Anders playing us a little tune.

This is where Shawn lives

(It's not actually the law school building, because I couldn't find a picture online, so this is just one of the buildings on campus.)

He stays pretty busy, so the kids and I have been getting to know each other really well. I didn't realize how good I had it with so many wonderful neighbors with children my kids ages to play with back in Utah. There aren't very many kids in our apartment complex so we have to get creative. I do enjoy them most of the time. =)

I'm still here

Sorry for the long absence. Good grief, I just barely started this thing and I can't seem to keep it up to date. One contributing factor is that my life is pretty boring right now. We have no money and Shawn is basically at the Law School all day everyday, so I get to hang out with the kids and do the mundane mom stuff. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining or anything I'm just stating the obvious. I guess I just need to pay more attention, I'm sure I can find interesting things to post. So stay tuned!

Sweet Sisters

My sister, Becca, just sent me some pics from when we were all visiting in Washington at our parent's house a couple weeks ago. I had to post this one that was taken at the BYU vs. UW game on Sept. 6th. Aren't we adorable? I think we were just so happy because BYU was winning.

And then here are some shots of my kids at Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma.

Guess where I had dinner last night?

Shawn and I went to our Ward's Elders Quorum BBQ Party at Jon Heder's (star of Napoleon Dynamite) house. Well, he doesn't actually live there anymore (I think he lives in LA), but his parents still live there and one of his brothers was mowing the lawn. I met his dad too. And saw his wedding pictures on the bookcase in the kitchen. Shawn even played tetherball in the backyard. Pretty cool, huh?

Sarah's 1st day of Kindergarten/Worst Mother Ever

Here's Sarah posing outside the school before her first day of kindergarten. She was so excited, and I was so excited for her. I took her to school and walked her to her class (Grace was in a stroller and Jacob was on a leash - I know that sounds cruel but there was no way I could hold on to him otherwise). Sarah didn't even hesitate one bit, in fact I think she was happy to finally see me leave.
So I drive away with a list of a few errands to run. Everything was going according to schedule and I still had about 45 minutes until I had to be back at the school to pick her up. I was right by Walmart and needed a few items, so I checked the GPS to see how much time I needed to give myself to get back to the school which gave a good 30 minutes to shop. No problem, right?

Wrong!!!!

Let's just say I got in the wrong check out line. The lady in front of me had every issue imaginable. I kept thinking I should move, but I figured by the time I did the lady in front of me would be done. I stood in that check out line for 30 minutes. Can you believe that? I mean I know you can expect to stand in line for awhile at Walmart, but 30 minutes? Anyway, I was about 20 minutes late in picking up Sarah. I called the school as soon as I got in the car to leave the store and told them what happened. She was happily sitting in the office waiting for me. Hopefully no psychological damage has been done.

I can see the floor again

Today I was able to see what the floor looked like again. It has been awhile. There's not much of it, we started with 1300 square feet, and added beds, couches, two tables (OK so one is very small and is only tall enough for those under 36 inches to use), I think we are down to about 300 square feet plus or minus. This means that we all have to take turns walking around so that we don't knock each other down, and if we have company well we may be visiting out in the hall but there is very nice breeze there so I don't think they will mind. The best part about having only a small area is that we are getting to know each other even better, because there is no play room to send the kids for that ten minutes of pure happiness. All in all we are loving this new little place. Amy has made it into a home.