Nuttin' Much

So we haven't been up to too much lately.  I've been really busy with craft stuff, Chris has midterms next week, Gavin's hanging out with me in craft business training, and Maci's pluggin away at school.  I got a nasty cold this week that put me out of commission for a couple days, but I think I'm almost 100% now.  I did get a fabulous new laptop, with proceeds from our tax refund.  My little mini was WAY low on RAM, and it would take me minutes to do what takes seconds now with my 2gb of RAM on my laptop.  I got the lowest end Macbook, but it's a great little machine, I LOVE it, it's so fast.  I know, we're so spoiled these days! But it has improved my productivity, that was my justification, and selling a few things on Craig's List too.  So if you're in the market for a Mac Mini, let me know, I've got one to spare!  

This weekend, Thurs-Mon, we're watching some friends kids while they're in FL.  They have 4, the oldest is 9, youngest is 10 mo.  So it's been an adventure so far!  The kids have been really good and no major catastrophe's yet.  I did have to drive the baby around in the car last night to get him to go to sleep. . .  We're staying at their house, since it's a little bigger than ours and we don't have beds for everyone.  I honestly don't know how people have more than 4 kids!  I think I could handle 4, that's our goal to get 4, but all you out there with more than that, hats off to you! You have nerves of steal and energy for a marathon.  It's been fun to have a baby for a while too, you forget how much you forget! until you're thrown back into it.  But it's been fun.  So it's Fri, have 3.5 days left, we'll see if we all survive!!  Have a great weekend, all.

Vday Fun

We had a great Valentine's Day. One of the best I can remember actually! No Chris did not wisk me away on some romantic getaway, although that would have been nice, in fact we didn't even do presents this year, we just spent time as a family and had a great day. Chris started out by cutting out 12 sets of Spring letters for an enrichment thing in our ward, which was a HUGE deal for me, I was getting overwhelmed by the prospects of cutting that many out and he just took up the job and did it all for me. He did 5 more this morning in fact before he went to school. What a sweetie! Seriously the best Vday present I could have asked for. Then we ran some errands, Home Depot, the Dollar Store for the kids, then we came home and made heart shaped pizza's and had Sparkling Grape Juice in our "fancy" glass goblets. We ate by candelight and just had a great time. Chris and I watched Ghost Town, pretty funny movie actually. It was just a perfect family day, no froof or frill needed. Maybe next year ;)

My 5 year old is 6!

Maci's birthday was Feb. 12th. We had such a fun day! She started off by going to school, with poster in hand all about her, what she likes, who's in her family, etc. She got to share this with the class. They didn't have school on Friday, so the Valentine's Day party was that day. She said it was a party for her though :) I usually go into the library with her on Thursdays, but they had the party during that time, so I got to go help all the kids go from station to station at the party. It was fun, I really enjoy seeing Maci in her element at school. We made rice crispy treats cut out in heart shapes to share with her class. Unfortunately, the schedule was busy that day and they didn't have "snack" time in the afternoon, so her teacher forgot to hand them out! They had plastic wrap over them so maybe they'll keep till today, we'll see.

We decided to let Maci have a sleepover with her 3 best friends from the ward, Emily, Emma, and Lilly. These 4 go to dance together and are just best buds. Luckily they did have school off on Friday so we could have the party on her actual birthday. We ate spaghetti and breadsticks, which is her favorite dinner, and had a My Little Pony cake, (thanks again Anne!). We let the girls decorate crowns, and just hang out and play. They had a blast, went to bed at a decent hour, but woke up at 4:30am! and would not go back to sleep. Now I know why most parents hate sleepovers! They had such a great time though and I'm glad Maci got to spend her birthday how she wanted to.

She got some great presents from all the family back home, so thank you Grandma's and Grandpa's Boren and Ward!! She loved it all and has played with it all already. We took her to the store on Friday to spend her birthday money from Gma and Gpa Boren, she loved getting to pick whatever she wanted, but had a hard time choosing!

Here's a few things about Maci (so I'll remember when she's old ;) )
She loves to draw and color, paint and craft
Her favorite food is spaghetti, but she's not a very picky eater. She loves fruit and veggies!
Her favorite thing to play is Barbies and Dress-up
I love hearing her play with her friends, they have great imaginations!
Her favorite Board Game is Leap Frog Bingo, we play it ALL the time!
She is an excellent student and stays "on task" at school. She's reading at a
1st grade level already!
She is very friendly and makes friends easily
She's very passionate about things, some might say dramatic??
She loves to laugh and often gets the uncontrollable giggles
She's a great helper, and loves to help me cook especially
She loves her brother, even though he causes said drama on occasion
She is a daddy's girl
She's started to take showers recently, and loves to stay in there for as long as I'll let her
and loves singing in the shower.
She is a girly girl through and through. She loves getting dressed up, wearing jewelry and
doing her hair in a special way. She'll get dressed up if we say we're going out to dinner!

She is by far my favorite Daughter in the whole world! Love you Maci!

Worm Gender

So it's been raining a lot here lately, and there's lots of worms out. Gavin was spotting them out in the driveway and yelled to me in the house, "Come here quick Mommy!" so I dashed outside. He pointed to a long worm and said he wanted to touch it. It was down in a crack so we couldn't get to it (thank goodness). Then he excitedly said he thought it was a girl worm. I asked him how he could tell it was a girl worm. He said "Because it looks like it has long hair Mommy"! I was relieved that this was his distinction between girls and boys, at least for another few years. I know I should be teaching him about correct body parts and all that, but I love that he's still young and innocent!

This was good timing, because just yesterday I was thinking that I never remember the funny things my kids say, and even questioning if they do indeed say funny things?! So I'm glad they still do and that I remembered to write it down today at least.

I've been struggling with how to "enjoy" my mommy moments, instead of always wishing to have a moment to myself. Everyone tells you the time goes too fast, and to enjoy every moment with your kids. But it seems like us women have a really hard time doing that! We always want what we can't have, now when our kids are young we don't enjoy them enough, and I know once they're old and grown I'll be pining for the good ole days when I was up to my neck in laundry and making school lunch every day. So how do we slow down and just enjoy what we're doing NOW?! I have days where I do enjoy it, and I love my kids to death, don't get me wrong, but there are days when I'm tired of everything a young family involves. I vented to my mom last night after she called and read me a journal entry of the weeks after I was born, and what a connection we had even in those first precious days. It made me bawl, in a good way of course, and just hope that I will look back on the days I'm living now with fond memories and forget all the laundry and the dishes and the school posters to be made. I just need to be sure to make those good memories, and not get lost in all the every day stuff. So thanks for letting me vent here again, I always love it when I hear other moms talking about this kind of stuff, so I know I'm not alone in my guilt! Hopefully I'm not alone here, but even if I am, at least I fessed up to it and wrote it down for Maci to read some day when she's overwhelmed by her 2 kids. Agggh the thought!!

Lament of the Grungy Galley Floor

Oohhh kitchen floor, why doest thou punish me! With your vast sea of filthy vinyl that needs to be swept, scrubbed, and scoured far too often? Your immenseness is daunting to me, time and time again.

Alright, enough of that. The Thesaurus website is giving me trouble :) But seriously, I hate cleaning my floor!! And therefore, it does not get cleaned enough. But this Sat. it was my one thing I really wanted to get done, so I did it. Any my triceps are feeling it still today, 2 days later. But it looked nice, for a day :)

We also taught Maci how to vacuum the floor "properly" in hopes to have that as one of her regular Saturday jobs. I've been horrible at giving my kids jobs on a regular basis, mostly because I know it would be faster for me to do it myself. But she's old enough now, and Gavin too, that she can do things on her own in a fairly competent manner, even if it does take a little longer. They also washed the glass on all the doors and windows that were low enough for them to reach. My little cleaning crew is blossoming!


Chris's job he wanted to get done was to paint some walls that have needed it since we moved in, but didn't get done due to painting exhaustion. But we rallied our little troops and got it done on Sat. They look SOOO much better, even though they were freshly painted (with completely matte paint) when we moved in, they still look so much brighter with the yellow on them instead of sterile white. It's amazing how not bright white can look after a while, in my opinion. Now we just have to do the halls and a couple walls in our room and the kids rooms, and most of the matte white will be covered up. Another weekend down the line. . .