Survived the Week!

We made it through the first week of school, only 38 weeks to go! It turned out to be a fun week. I actually have much to post. On Wednesday I was trying to post and had computer problems and then I never had a spare moment to blog after that so I have some catching up to do.

Tuesday~
It was Cub Scout Pack Meeting tonight. I also call these events "Hours sucked out of my life nights". Actually this Pack Meeting wasn't too bad or too long. It was the Pinewood Derby Race. Matt & J-Bear worked on the car all weekend and it did pretty good. Twice it came in second. I think that is amazing - if you know my husbands handyman skills you will also consider the second place finish amazing. Sorry, sweetie but it's true. Give the guy a computer and he is in his element, but wood is a completely different story. That is why the car was so cool, because even though it is not Matt's "thing" he still helped J-Bear pull off respectable placing!!

J-Bear also received his Webelos Award! Now he will be working on his Arrow of Light Award. Here are some pictures of the evening:

J-Bear's car is the one on the far left. It was painted light blue and orange (his favorite colors at the moment.) Matt and J-Bear named it the "Blue Dart".



J-Bear getting his medal of honor!

J-Bear holding his award!

J-Bear with his good-looking parents!

Wednesday~

Chloe & I went to a mother/daughter activity at the church. It was beautiful! I've been meaning to email all my friends, sisters-in-laws, and any other girl I can think of....the book they centered the activity was absolutely amazing.

I think this book is fairly new, at least I had never heard of it until this evening. It is a must have in your homes for your daughters, young and old. And also a MUST HAVE for yourselves! It was amazing. I recommend getting the one that comes with the cd because it has some great music to go with the story. I am convinced that it is Seth Green's voice doing the storytelling. Matt says no way. I will do some research and let you know if it is him, because I'm sure you're all wondering that as well.

Aside from the story we also got to highlight our daughters and I thought I'd put some of the things I said about "Princess Chloe".

She is 11 years old. She is my one and only sweet loving daughter. The 3 things I love most about her are: 1) She is kind to everyone 2) She is so hard working & tries to do her best at everything 3) She loves to help with babies & kids. And one day she will make a great mom!

She is special to me because from the moment I held her in my arms I could feel her sweet spirit. And to this day I feel that sweet spirit and see all the good she does in her young life. She always tries to do what is right & inspires me to be a good person because of how good she is!!

That is all my time allotted me to say, but there are so many wonderful qualities about this little girl and I am so excited to see the wonderful woman she will one day be.

Friday~
The kids started up Piano lessons again. They have a new teacher and both kids seemed to like her a lot. Their old teacher quit teaching piano because she got a job teaching English at the kid's school. Chloe also started Violin lessons. She loves her teacher, who is just a kid herself (16 years old), but an amazing Violin player.

Finally to Today~
Not much happening today. I was happy to be able to sleep in until 8:00 am. The 6:00 am thing was probably the hardest part of my whole week, but my body seems to be readjusting to the school hours. No more lazy summer days for 38 more weeks!

That's all folks! Thanks for sticking with me through the unbearably long post!! Next week will be even more exciting as the homework starts to pile on the kids. Can't wait!

Back to School!!

The summer went by quickly and now it's time to head back to school. Here are some pictures.

C-Bug is now in sixth grade!

J-Bear is now in fifth grade!

The kids had a great first day of school and tomorrow is another first day because it is the second half of their block schedule with all new teachers.

Not So Perfect Silver Box

The little silver box that keeps my life in a happy, organized tv viewing bliss completely let me down last night. And of all nights to fail me, of course, there was a season finale. Not just any season finale, but the So You Think You Can Dance season finale.

I was through the first hour when suddenly it ends and all I know at this point is that Courtney is the fourth runner up. At this point I'm thinking this is weird why would my beloved TiVo split up the hours, so as I check my playlist for the second hour and as my heart starts to race because I realize it's not there!!! How could this be?? What could my TiVo have possibly considered more important than SYTYCD?? Grey's Anatomy, that's what! And it was even a rerun. I ditched that show long ago when they decided on the stupid Izzy/George storyline, but for some reason my TiVo will not let go (I think it has a thing for McSteamy.)

Thankfully, we live in the age of the internet where I was able to find the results, with even some bits and pieces of that last hour sprinkled on YouTube so I didn't feel jilted after losing that last hour. I still love my little silver box, even if it's not so perfect!

In case you missed this season of SYTYCD, here is one of my many favorite dances from this season.

Can we adopt? Pleassseee!!

While driving home from a family BBQ tonight, I asked Matt if we could adopt. Of course his response was "What the heck...over"! All these munchkins are just so adorable and I love every minute we get to spend with them. Matt suggested we kidnap/borrow them. I guess adopting is too much of a time commitment. Here is Chloe with her baby sister "Ingrid"! She makes an awesome 'big sister'! Matt did say if we kidnapped/borrowed any kids we'd have Chloe take over the night shifts!

Here is cutie pie "Maddison," that is the name we gave her for when we kidnap/borrow her!

This little guy has grown double his size since we baby-sat him and his siblings last week. That is proof that kids just grow up way too fast! This little man is so helpful with his little brother. It is very impressive and could come in handy for Chloe during her night shifts! Two cutie-patooties! I think adding these two princesses to our collection would be fun! Matt thinks it would just be adding trouble!

I guess if we can't adopt, I'll just settle for a new baby kitty!:)

We had a fun time and we wish the Iowa Roblyer's luck with their drive home and upcoming move. Can't wait for Disneyland in 2010, but hope to see you before then!

Breaking Dawn and Everything in Between

I finally finished Breaking Dawn just after midnight. 12:47 am to be exact. I was determined to finish it because 1) I didn't want anybody else to accidently spoil details for me, 2) I am not able to do anything else when I have a must-read on my hands (including taking care of my family), and 3) I wanted to be the first one finished out of all my friends and family.
Thankfully I had prepared for this and did most of my Saturday chores on Friday, except one important detail, which was to get a present for my daughter's friends birthday party which was Saturday. So after staying up all night Friday and only getting 4 hours of sleep, I woke up Saturday morning at about 8:30 am ready to do a few things before I picked up Breaking Dawn, but once again I fooled myself into thinking "just one chapter". Many chapters later, my husband (yes, we've already established how sweet he is) offered to drive Chloe to the store before the party which they were under the impression was at 3:00 PM and I didn't bother to check because I was busy with the vampire world. But my glorious Blackberry saved the day, my alarm went off at 11:45 am and lo and behold the party started in 15 minutes!! After checking the invite, it turned out my Blackberry was correct. Matt & Chloe made it to the store and party in record time. She was only a few minutes late which was a relief because the drama that would have ensued had she missed the party, and the drama would not have been from Chloe, would have caused even greater guilt that I was neglecting my motherly duties. So my Saturday consisted of me pretty much absorbed in the book. I did make myself put it down at 11:45 PM because we have 9 'o clock church and my body does not function without sleep.
Sunday was an interesting day. I am so glad I put the book down because getting up at 6 am was barely manageble, but I did it. I came home from chruch cranky, which rarely happens because Sundays are my favorite day. But between me being tired, hungry and us (primary presidency) being short-staffed it made for a long, trying day at church. I came home and went straight for the book, only read a few chapters before I zonked. We normally take a nap on Sunday, but usually our naps consists of no more than and hour and a half. This paticular nap lasted from 1:00 PM until 5:30 PM. Holy cow!! Precious reading time wasted on zzzz's! Since I neglected my family all day yesterday, I decided to make them something yummy for dinner. I found a new healthy recipe for grilled pork chops, and my family loved them. Hooray, I got my good mom status back! After dinner we went to our friend's house for an ice cream social. I was not happy about this because 1)Sunday is a family day 2)this social engagement was interfering with precious reading time and 3)I had cancelled going to see my Grandma in the hospital because "someone" was complaining about an overload of computer work he had to finish before Monday, but as soon as the phone rang with the invite suddenly the work could wait til later that night.....needless to say we went and I forgot all about why I wasn't happy about going. I learned that this group of friends are quickly becoming like family and I am so grateful that they continue to include us in their tight knit circle!! We came home about 9:00 PM and it was bedtime for the kids and time for me to finish the book. The book was awesome! I love the Twilight series but I am not a crazed fan like some of my friends. I find Bella, the main character, highly annoying. A lot of her characteristics were grating in the first three books. She seemed whiney, needy, clingy, and honestly how klutzy can one person be?! I love Edward. I think anyone who reads these books and doesn't like Edward either hasn't met "their Edward" yet, or Edward is just too much to live up to. Luckily I've found my Edward, maybe that's why I like him so much! I also didn't like the love triangle. I just don't think the heart is made that way. If you are committed and have truly found your soul mate then why would anyone else even make it on your radar?? I was a little disgruntled when Breaking Dawn started up with the love triangle again. But like I said at the beginning, Stephenie Meyer pulled it off. All of Bella's annoying traits worked to her advantage, and now she's one of my favorite characters. Stephenie Meyer's wrapped this series up in a creative, crafty way, with a beautiful bow on top!! Seriously people, READ THE BOOK(s)!

The Sweetest

In case you didn't know, I am married to the sweetest guy in the world! Maybe this blog will become a shrine to how wonderful this man is - but back to the reason of why he is so perfect. In the middle of our movie last night he paused it and said, "I'll be back in awhile." I was shocked because a few weeks ago I had mentioned that it would be cool to get this book at midnight, but that was the last of the conversation. I couldn't believe Matt was willing to go and stand in line for the next installment from the Twilight series with hundreds of crazed fans. But he did!When he came home I told him I would only read the first chapter, of course the next thing I know is it is 4:30 in the morning.

Breaking Dawn is thus far a great read. I think I am most captivated by my desire to find out does she or doesn't she become a vampire? I am hoping she does, but I have thought all along, even before I started reading the book, that she will not become a vampire. Only six hundred more pages and I will have that knowledge. As for any other details, I am going to have to leave them out, just in case Chloe or Matt read this blog. I don't want to spoil any part of the book for them. Enough blogging, and back to reading!

I'm in the blog-o-sphere!

It's official, I am now a member of the blog-o-sphere. Isn't that exciting? I guess you'll just have to tune in every now and then to see just how exciting it is. I make no promises to how wonderful this blog will be, but I am sure by the end of August I should have a feel for what the direction and design of my blog will be, so in the meantime bear with me!