First concert

I shared a first with Ashley tonight. Our first concert.... Greyson Chance was in town and did a benefit concert for the high school he would have gone to if he hadn't been discovered- they were doing a fundraiser for one of the cancer hospitals in town. Last year she actually went to his concert too at the high school, so I guess it was just my first concert.

We had a good time with her best friend. We got up pretty close to the stage. Our feet hurt after four hours of standing but we had a fun time! :)

Kids are growing... and we can't stop it.

I have reflected a lot lately on how fast kids grow up.  There is a boy from our ward that is at BYU... when we moved into this ward he was in Primary... I have never lived in one place for this long in my life and it is so odd to be watching these kids grow up right in front of my eyes.  I don't feel old enough to have a 13 year old and be thinking that in two short years he will be getting his learners permit.  Or that this summer I'll have not one, but two kids that will attend camps (Scout and YW's camp), and starting next year we'll have Youth Conference to fit into the summer schedule as well. 

We have had so many new families move into our ward lately, and I realize that they don't know me as the young mom that I still feel like in many ways.  They see me as an older mom without any toddlers or babies at home anymore.  It is like making a new identity for myself as I realize what I used to identify myself as for so many years is no longer what I am.

I do miss the days of staying at home in our pj's and playing with toys and not having a schedule all the time, but I do enjoy the freedom I'm allowed now to exercise while kids are at school, and to simply run errands all by myself.

I can't stop the kids growing up, but I hope reflecting on it more helps me to stop and enjoy the moments more before they are all grown up and not at home with me anymore.

Snow, snow, snow, snow, snow.... (From White Christmas)

Last year and the year before we saw a lot of this:

So this year I snapped up four saucer sleds in anticipation of the same- since our kids have never had sleds to use at home for our occasional snow falls...

Of course we have seen a lot of above average temps and the kids have been able to play outside a lot this winter- but sadly for them we have had no snow...

I'm fine with the trade off... 4 sleds at $5 each= $20 for no snow??  :)  Maybe I should get a few bags of ice melt too to encourage no ice storms for us this winter? 

mid week

It's been a busy week and I just don't have any pictures to share right now. :)  I'm enjoying a rare slow morning at home working on some laundry and catching up on some favorite food network shows (the ones no one else wants to watch with me :) )  I feel like I spend less time just at home doing cleaning now that the kids are all in school than when I had little ones making messes every time I turned around.  I feel lately like I wind up with so many errands or meetings or school volunteer stuff that between those and exercising I pretty much fill up my hours while the kids are at school.  It's nice to have a day every once in a while with no specific things I have to do. :)

Freezing this morning!!!

Yesterday was beautiful... The girls played outside all afternoon without jackets.

This morning winter was back. Standing in the car line with the wind blowing around me I wasn't surprised at all when I got in the car and the temp looked like this:

Backyard

Back in August our play fort was turned on its side literally when we had a windstorm that ripped through our town. We got the fence replaced after almost two months, and a few weeks ago rich got the last of the fort disassembled. Some friends are going to salvage the parts that are still usable and build something with it. For now our backyard is just an open space for the kids to run and play. It's a bitter sweet moment for me. We have built three play sets and I think we are going to graduate to open yard space now. It's a good thing we have good neighbors with swing the girls can go play with when they need a swing set fix. :)

New possibilities

I have never ever thought to print on a brown paper bag.... I'm going to have to try it!! :)

Light

When we moved into the house seven years ago we put up some wood blinds.  It was an easy choice to choose the blinds to put on all the windows in the house.  We were happy with them, the kids were little and we didn't want curtains for them to swing on, hide between and ultimately pull down out of the wall. :)

Now that the kids are older we are slowly changing things up.  Last week we put up some curtains in the living room/dining room and the front room (by the front door).  I'm sitting here on the couch enjoying the full sunlight coming in the windows instead of the dimmer light we got with the blinds. 

We still have a few panels of sheers to put up so I'll wait and post photo's when they are up.  But I just am enjoying the light and today.

School Projects and memory lane...

Two school projects due this week... one got done yesterday and turned in today, the other was worked on yesterday and will be completed this evening and turned in tomorrow.

That on top of my inability to get a full nights sleep when Rich is out of town...

I missed my post yesterday, and I don't have any great picture or thought to share today.

But here's a fun one from my archives... I printed out a bunch of old photo's to put in some picture frames I've had sitting around for about a year... and also printed out some scrapbook layouts that I've had sitting in the memory files and never printed out.   I had fun going down memory lane a bit...




Alex and Ashley are at the age where they just don't get along... it was sweet to remember back when they were each others best friends and they wanted to do everything together.  I know that someday they will regain that close relationship again.  The sooner the better! :)

From Chaos to Organized

A good friend came over today to help me tame my pantry and get it organized... so I could find stuff in it again...

Here are our after pictures... :)

We went to get some shoes to Rich last night. We took all three girls with us. They knew going into the store we were shopping or daddy's shoes-not for shoes for them. I think until I had three shoe obsessed girls I never dreaded a show store. Now I do. Lol!

One of these things is not like the other....

I had to take the picture. It just seems lonely and out of place. For some reason I don't think they sell a lot of men's white Levi's in Oklahoma. :)

And it's Friday...

Another week in the books... and it's the weekend again.  Time to recharge the batteries (even with a short school/work week we wound up drained by today) and gear up for next week.  I've got five little girls running around the house (Alyssa and Angie and three friends) and I love hearing their squeals of laughter as they have fun. 

So my thought today is to just make the time to have fun... the girls only had an hour we could get them all together to play for, but for that one hour they are having so much fun... and I need to remember to just take the short amounts of time and enjoy them. :)

Sick kiddo's

Today I've got two little girls with sniffly noses and sore throats... It would have been more convenient for them to get sick during their winter break- earlier this week and last week, but I guess not as fun for them!

here's our photo of the day at our house...

warm cozy blankies... with pj's and pillows...

Whoops! Missed a day!

Pretend it's still yesterday!!! I actually had this and meant to post it yesterday and forgot to.

Here's my project this week. New class chair covers for primary. We'll see how it turns out! :)

Blonde hair

Here I am... A blonde. :)

A picture or thought a day

Ok I like blogging. And this past year 2011 I really didn't blog much. So I'm going to copy many friends who have done a picture a day on their blogs. I'll do either a picture or a thought a day. Can I keep it up through the year? We'll see.

Here's where I am today. Those genetic grey hairs are getting hidden.... Last summer I decided if I was going to have to cover the grey hair I could have a little fun with it and go blonde. :)