just furniture no more

About a month before we got married I went to the ASU piano sale and spent WAY too much money on a piano. Anyhow, between naps, kids who need mom's lap, and life, we haven't played it much in the last 7 years, although it has been a lovely piece of furniture. Well, the piano is at rest NO MORE. When school started Diana and Emily also started piano lessons with mom and I got called to be the ward music chair and choir director. The piano gets played every day and instead of being a decorative perch for a few coffee table books it is covered with piano lesson books and sticker charts and the mountains of choir music I've suddenly inherited. I'm thrilled it's it realizing it's potential. Now all it needs is a tuning - ouch!

confusion

This is our friend Eric. He is an only child with a sister due any minute. He came to play this morning and Nora answered the door in her petticoat and Cinderella dress. He looked at her for a minute, turned to his mom and asked, "What is she wearing?" A sister will open up a WHOLE new world for Eric. Despite the wardrobe confusion, he and Nora play famously; Eric gets out all the trucks and cars and Nora loads up the little people princess carriage and off they go. Nora is so much happier when she has a playmate; Isaac just does not cut it.

more for mommy

As you know, Aunt Di, and by extension, the wedding planning are living at my house, so Mumsy needs updates as eBay sends more wedding pretties. Here is the dress with the sleeves brought in so you can admire Dianna's lovely waistline and the jewels that came in the mail yesterday. We only await the tiara and the after wedding dress dress (otherwise known as the red bomber - it's FUN!) The shoes are also a ton if fun, but I think they will have to be a surprise, even for Mumsy. We still have hem adjustments, raising the back, and hair-do (oh, and getting rid of that pesky tan-line). Busy wedding helpers here.

faith and "uh-oh"

For those of you well acquainted with Isaac, you know he is WAY behind in the speech area. He says "Mama" and that's about it. He won't even play speech games or imitate sounds (except tongue clicking). I asked the kids a few weeks ago if they would remember to ask Heavenly Father in their prayers to help Isaac learn how to talk. Diana, our girl with the memory of an elephant is the only one to consitently remember, but we have been trying.

Last night at dinner Isaac grasped the word "uh-oh". He said it over and over, would echo it etc and then laugh and laugh. We were all having a jolly time uh-ohing when Diana said, "Mom, you know what this means???"

"What?" I asked.

"It means Heavenly Father has answered our prayers!!"

Indeed He has and we are grateful. I love the faith of children.

they tell me it's a utah thing

I have a friend from Cambridge, MA days who is decidedly HIP. At the moment she and her husband and 3 children are living in France to restore a cottage they bought as a rental property! She is stylish, lovely, cosmopolitan, etc, etc, etc. . . . She also does AMAZING food and often her blog features this or that dish featuring the local delicacies.

The other day we were almost out of bread and Diana wanted toast for breakfast and I had to say no because we needed to do school sandwiches (note: when Ryan is stressed and busy he often, instead of eating a bowl of cereal for b-fast will grab 1/2 a loaf of bread to eat in the car, so the bread will disappear very quickly during stressful weeks. I have yet to convince him that a $2 loaf of bread is a more expensive meal than a bowl of cereal) I digress. We were almost breadless with no toast in sight and I was determined not to go to the grocery store AGAIN; so I told Diana I would make some bread that day for breakfast toast the next morning. The bread looked so tasty, I couldn't help but make my own local delicacy for lunch that day.

In the spirit of my HIP friend Stephanie, I would like to share with the world my local delicacy: Cheese toast with raspberry jam.



first: toast a piece of homemade bread with cheese under the broiler
second: top with raspberry jam (don't bother with the fake stuff)

It is divine. I know jam and cheese sound weird but I assure you it is tasty! We have deduced it is a Utah thing because my mom learned it from her grandmother in Utah and my father-in-law (from Utah) also does it, although his wife, from New Mexico thinks he is strange.

For those interested in hipness, French cottages and food check out Steph's blog: www.stephmodo.com

still starving

Isaac ate a bowl of cereal this morning. About 10 minutes later I was making Diana a PBH (that's honey) for lunch and he demanded one, said please and devoured it! I think he is a hobbit, but I wonder if he will make it to elevensese. We shall see.

starving!

I've entered the stage of pregnancy when I am hungry ALL THE TIME (FYI I'm 19.5 weeks) This was my 10:15 am PBJ (homemade raspberry jam - oh yea!). I guess Isaac was hungry too - he ate about half of mine and then needed one of his own.

ok mumsy

So, Aunt Di found a company in China on ebay that makes custom wedding dresses for INSANELY cheap prices (like cost of material in the US).We took a risk and it came today! We only have to make 2 minor alterations to make the sleeves fit tighter and she will be LOVELY! Mumsy needed pics, so here you go. Also, Isaac fell asleep in his chair at lunch. Poor tired boy.

emmy the brave

At our house when there is a loose tooth I get antsy and would drive my kids nuts every day to let me pull out their tooth if it weren't for a calender. When I start to get itchy I ask them what day we should pull the tooth and then we write it on the calender. Mom gets a date and they know I won't bug them about it until then.

Yesterday was the day for Emily's 2nd bottom tooth. I must say, she is a brave kid. Usually tooth extraction is one little pull and twist, but this one took 2 pulls and twists. She didn't even flinch! What a kid! If the tooth fairy had been better prepared she would have received 2 quarters for extreme bravery under mommy tooth extraction!

toddler bed woes

As I mentioned before, Isaac has moved into the toddler bed in the pick room while Aunt Di is here and in preparation for new baby to take over the crib. He is struggling with the new situation. Unless I catch him at the exact "tird-ness" level, not too tired, but tired enough, we have problems. He gets out of bed and empties drawers, climbs the dresser to dumps books, empties the closet etc. I've found him on the floor a few times with this or that, but I must say the other night was the best. He was not excited to go to bed - crying, screaming, banging door etc, but finally calmed down. When I checked on the kids later that night I found him asleep on the bed with the little people castle from the closet on his belly. Notice the not so relaxed look on his face - hmmmmm. Emily and Nora are being good sports about the new roommate and his antics.

first day of school

Here we are with TWO kids in school! Wow! Both Emily and Diana had a great first day at school. They liked their teachers, Emily made a new friend (whose name she cannot remember), Diana got her sandwich down at lunch, so all in all a great day. Hopefully tomorrow Emily's bus will pick her up, we had to make a mad dash to school - nothing like a little adventure!

changes

Some are good and some are bad and some are just a hard adjustment.

So, the good:

Aunt Di moved in last night to do her student teaching down here and wait out her engagement. We love Mr. Matt Funk and are pretty darn thrilled he is getting Di. We also LOVE having Di at our house - ahhhh. She and Diana are sharing a room and little Diana thinks that is pretty wonderful!

Isaac also changed rooms and beds. He is out of the crib and in the rather girly toddler bed in the very pink room with Em and Nora. it's a good thing Uncle Michael had a lot of Man time with him this Summer and taught Isaac all about manly stuff.




The bad:

It was really hot at meet the teacher today and it made me cranky and I think I'm not a fan of meet the teacher because, at least my kids come away totally overwhelmed from the millions of people.

The have to get used to:

Diana was in tears tonight at the thought of 7 hours of school. Poor kid! Emily, I think, is clueless.

wrap up

Well people, we have returned. Two 11.5 hour days in the car. I think we listened to "A Year With Frog and Toad" 6 or 7 times - good thing we love it. The highlight of the road trip was meeting baby Christian at Aunt Sherrie's house - precious. Here are a glut of pictures from the 460 plus we took. Needless to say, it was a great Summer.

Nora and Katie. I thought Katie's s-curve pose was HILARIOUS! But she is gorgeous.


Nora LOVES the farm (and her boots, and alone jumping time on the trampoline).


Snuggles with Grandpa in the morning are the payment for coming to the farm. The kids willingly pay up. Grandpa is in heaven (most of the time)


Isaac and a rock - need I say more?


New baby Christian - ahh


Pirates with Uncle David


He has incredible amounts of energy, especially considering baby does not yet sleep at night - only during the day!


Isaac was VERY busy at Grandma's - VERRRRRRRRRY busy.


Nora was Aunt Mel's big helper. They mowed the lawn, cut flowers, went to the nursery and bought plants. About 3 hours into the drive home, she informed me she needed to go back to Grandma's to help Aunt Mel dig holes for the new plants.


Josh, David, and Emily eating the Higginbotham fav: chicken with bones (roast chicken)


Isaac eating chocolate


Emily and Joshua dancing.


Rock hopping with Dad at some falls, an excellent outing