Sup?

Asher keeps petting me today. I'm wearing a fleecy sweater and apparently he likes the feel of it. On his face. And hands. And arms. And ears. ...

Isaiah now uses his version of the following words regularly: you, why, more, please, bye bye, morning, help me. Most of his words couldn't be understood by some random person - but they are the beginnings of the right sounds and that is miraculous to me!

Naomi recently got her first report card back. It was a pretty even split between E's and M's. E for Exceeds standards and M for Meets standards. We are all very happy about it. I had a chance to go into her class for about half an hour recently during school and see how things work. It was wonderful. Her teacher is fabulous! Now I understand why Naomi is so happy when she comes home every day - I was happy too after I left her class!

Asher has taken a hiatus from potty training. He just holds it all day until I put a diaper on him for naptime and bedtime. I think the solution is to stop putting a diaper on him at naptime. But to do that I have to stop locking him into his room during that time. And before I do that I have to do some serious Asher-proofing upstairs. And have a lot of patience. ... Maybe I'll start next week.

I think I'm more excited about Naomi's birthday party next week than she is. We have grand plans for a Princess/Fancy Nancy/tea party. Only two friends were invited - but that just means I could really go all out for the three of them. They'll each be totally decked out in their own boas, necklaces, bracelets, tiaras, rings, etc.

We're all excited about our plans to spend Thanksgiving with Richard's brother Roger and family in PA. (I think Richard is most excited because it means that I won't stress quite as much about the house being perfect, the dinner being perfect, the decorations being perfect, etc, etc, etc.)

(Does anyone out there ever read "etc, etc, etc." without thinking of The King and I? Yes? ... Must just be me then.)

My will to blog is shrinking. I think it's just that I'm super busy right now. Hopefully it'll come back when life calms down a little. And when I get a computer that isn't liable to self-implode at any second and doesn't take three years to do each little thing.

Sometimes I really want to yell at blogger, "Naptime IS a word! It's a major part of my day. It's a real thing! If naptime doesn't exist then I might die!" (Blogger thinks I should put "nap time" but I firmly hold that it is one word. In my world, it is one word. Just like "wa la" is a real word in my world)

Peaceful Moment

I sat on the couch. The beautiful, seldom used, super comfy, yellow couch in my living room. My feet were up. I was covered in a soft fleece blanket, and under that I wore my "comfy clothes". My favorite candle burned nearby. The high second-story windows of the living room were above me letting in the gray, but bright, light of day. I read by only that light. Rain tinked on the windows. Everything else was silent. I read Jane Eyre.

For an hour.

Of total peace.

Thank you so much, Richard. That was just what I needed after my busy day yesterday.

I'm...

I'm planning, baking, etc for our ward's "Young Women's in Excellence" tomorrow. I have two dozen sugar cookies to bake and frost to perfection in the shape of crowns, programs to type up and print out, a group speech type thing that I wrote for our Young Women to fix and print out 12 copies of, 12 8x10 photos of the girls to pick up at Costco, put into frames, and then adorn the frames with ribbons and such. ...All before 9am tomorrow when I go to the church to start setting up for the big event.

I'm organizing, creating, and buying supplies for the earring-making class I am teaching at church on Saturday. 38 people signed up to take the class. Then I'll go straight from that to picking up Naomi to take her to a friend's ice skating birthday party. Oh, and did I mention Richard won't be here this weekend so we hired a "nanny" last weekend. She'll be here from 8am until 1pm Saturday.
*Note to self - buy "friend" a present

I'm planning Naomi's birthday party for next Tuesday. Only two friends were invited and luckily they both can come. The girls will have a tea party lunch, play dress up, giggle, etc. Naomi just requested that her brothers not be present during this time so that they don't "get into everything and mess it up". Anyone up for babysitting?
*Note to self - buy Naomi a present

Then, of course, comes the New Moon release. We can't forget that. Big plans for going to that with girlfriends the night of. (Go, Jacob!)

I'm making a digital photo book of the past year because the deal I've been waiting for is finally here and I only have 10 days before it expires.

And then it's Thanksgiving!!!! Holy cow! And then it's Christmas!!! How does this happen?

What It's All About

The candy. It's all about the candy. Twice a day at snack time. Who will pick what? And how long will it take to choose?

Isaiah takes the prize for "Longest Decision Maker". He actually took half an hour the other day to choose which one piece of candy he wanted.

Here's a little video of the selection process so that you can truly get a feel for it.

Halloween 09 Costume pics

Halloween 2009 - Mom the Cowgirl, Dad the "snazzy dresser" (also known as a p*mp), Naomi the Sleeping Beauty, Asher the dragon and Isaiah from Go, Diego, Go.


We didn't get one great picture of Richard's costume, so here's one of the top and then one of the bottom. He got lots of compliments!
Naomi was the most beautiful Sleeping Beauty ever!

She declared that Halloween was "the best day EVER!"

Asher was a very cute, yet viscous, dragon.And Isaiah was even more handsome than the real Diego. (But I may be biased.)

All these pictures are from the church Trunk Or Treat on Friday night. We all got dressed up again on Saturday night for Trick Or Treating in the neighborhood. It was a little rainy on Saturday, but for the most part it was clear. We have loads of candy leftover because there were fewer Trick Or Treaters out than usual - probably because of the rain.
It was a fun day for all - even the grown-ups.