Happy Birthday to...Me?

Please let me have this one self-indulgent moment to feel sorry for myself. I'm "stewing and brewing" so I might as well get it off my chest.

Cameron left for his 8 hour class this morning with out saying a word - no happy birthday, have a good day, good luck at church by your self with the kids - notta *sigh*

I woke up at 6:30 to prepare my lesson for primary - no sleeping in for me *sigh*

I have to wrestle the kids during sacrament by myself and take little Isaac as my special guest to "help" teach my class *sigh* Maybe I'll just bring a movie for them to watch *sigh*

The kitchen is a disaster. Should have cleaned it yesterday. Too busy grocery shopping, doing laundry, getting the kids ready to go to a football game with Cameron, packing the food for our camping trip this afternoon - which brings me to my next point *sigh* *sigh*

We're going camping as soon as Cameron gets home from his class - all the work's on me *sigh* Not that I don't like camping, ocassionally, but I really HATE the preperation for it and today it's all my job *sigh*

I should be posting pictures of Austin's birthday - he's in the years where birthday's still mean something!! No time to download the pictures. why is there never anytime for the fun stuff? *sigh*

Birthday Smirthday - whatev...

I guess I should look at the possitive:

My mom got me an AWESOME skirt for my birthday and I love it, thanks mom

I get to open a present that Cameron's parents sent me - the only thing I get to open, so thanks, really

We went to REI a couple weeks ago and I got the best fitting jacket I've ever had. It's North Face so it's super warm - I think I'll take it camping today

A friend gave a really yummy smelling candle and sweet card yesterday. I really like where I live and we're all making good friends.

Cameron took me to PF Changs last night. It was great food. We had Maggie Moos Ice Cream as an appetizer to pass the 45 minute waiting time. Not the best idea; rich ice cream on an empty stomach was a little rough but it was worth it

I'm getting a NEW CAMERA - Cameron ordered it a few days ago and it should be here by the end of the week. Canon 40d - I am really excited. For three years I've wanted an DSLR camera! I may be lost under a rock for a few weeks learning how to use it. Maybe I'll just celebrate my birthday when the camera comes.

3rd TimesThe Charm

First Day One:
This is Austin's FIRST first day of Preschool. He loved it! But when I went to pick him up the director told me I owed 98.00 for the first week (two days). I said, "WHAT? I thought it was $114.00." She said they raised the price to $155.00. I thought okay. But it still didn't make sense that I owed $98.00 for the first two days. After some discussion with her and a friend of mine who was having the same problem as me we figured out the confusion. The price was a WEEKLY price not monthly like I thought it was. Well there's no way we can afford over $500.00 a month for preschool so needless to say Austin did not go back.

Luckily I found another school for him run by a lady in our Stake. A friend from church told us about it and she had one more opening!! So... I got Austin all ready to go and...

First Day Two:
We spent the first day this time in the ER. Austin was passing the time before his BIG DAY jumping off the couch. He landed hard on the ground and started screaming that he couldn't move his arm. As the swelling increased and the crying REALLY increased, it became apparent that something was wrong. We headed to the ER and boy was it NOT fun. Anyway, his arm was sprained and not broken so that was good. But... something I didn't know... Sprains hurt worse than breaks so it was still a little rough. But he only had to wear the brace for 5 days - much better than the six weeks for a cast.

First Day Three:

Finally!! Austin's REAL first day of school. He LOVED it. He got to bring home a cool airplane glider he put together for "letter a day". He painted two pictures. He tried to do the monkey bars but his hand hurt too bad so his teacher carried him on her shoulders while he grabbed each bar. He played with all the balls - "my teacher has SO MANY balls mom!" And he got to pick out a sticker for his drawer - "the biggest Spidy sticker she had". He is more than excited to go back. Woo Hoo

Blessed

I took Austin and Isaac to Panara this morning to pass some time until the library opened (a new pet peave: you bust it to get everyone ready in the morning so you can drop your oldest kid off at the bus stop and then you have to wait around until 10:00 for every thing to open...). As a sat down I noticed a "grandpa" watching and smiling. As he passed our table he told me how beautiful my family is. He said I am very blessed. I've been thinking about it all day. I really am blessed (pet peaves and all!). How could I ask for more?

A Day in the Life

Isaac LOVES to rip up the shelf paper and the second he hears the pantry open he comes crawling

Following Landon and Austin Around



Seconds before a BRAWL breaks out over the piano keys on this toy - it ends with Austin on top of Isaac and both boys crying


Back to the shelf

And back to the toys

Caught red - handed... this happens EVERY time the bathroom door is left open and Isaac is left alone anywhere near it. This time some of the toilet paper was salvageable

Other adventures not caught on camera: Tipping over the trash can; Playing in the toilet water; Emptying three cupboards all over the kitchen floor; Pulling Dad's books off the shelf; Pushing "talk" on the phone and leaving it on for 34 minutes; Climbing in the dishwasher; Cruising over to the oven the second I open it (don't worry I stopped him in time - but he always wants to pull up on it - I make sure he's strapped in somewhere or in a different room before I open it - what a pain...)

Fun Times!!

P.S. The pictures are fuzzy and I don't know why but if you double click them you can see them without the fuzz

Landon is in 1st Grade...

...and I can't believe it!

Last night we went to Land's "meet the teacher" night. As we walked down the hall Landon grabbed my hand to hold. Since hand holding has become a rare occurance in his old age it gave me that warm fuzzy, I'm a happy mom feeling. Of course I opened my big mouth and asked him if he was nervous and off he went running down the hall to find his friend Dallin. Today as we walked to the bus stop it was more of the same; he did everything he could think of to let me know he was not my little boy anymore. He wouldn't even let me carry one of his big boxes of kleenex's he had to take today.

So as he jumped on the bus without a look back I had a little moment of sadness. But as I watched him talking to his friend and squishing in his seat to make room for his other friend I also felt so proud of him. He is so good at making friends and always optimistic. I love his good attitude and the way he just takes things in stride. I think he'll have a great year. I just love this kid.

(Landon laid his clothes out the night before exactly like he would be wearing them. Believe me, he put much thought into his first day wardrobe. We had a little problem when his "no show" ankle socks didn't fit just right so he opted for the crew socks... Ha Ha The kid is serious about his own ideas of fashion)

The highlights of the first day were:
*Science is a "special" class (meaning they get to go to another teacher in the science lab) and Landon got to do an experiment in front of his whole class
*He got to bring a lunchable for lunch (he's been begging since last year!)
*He wants to join the 30 club - that means he wont flip a card (for disciplin) for 3o days in a row and then he gets a prize
*He made a friend name Jacob, one of four Jacobs in his class
*He saw his friend Dallin at all three recesses
*He sat with Dallin and Spencer on the bus to and from school
*He likes his teacher and she didn't make him flip a card when he was talking to his new friend Jacob
*His folder has a sticker with his name on it

Cave of the Winds

There is a little treasure here in Colorado Springs. It is an active cave that is fun to take a tour through. The kids LOVED it. I must say the highlight of the adventure for me was when our tour guide took us into the cave "room" called something like Silent Cathedral. She explained that if you were quiet enough you could here your own heart beat. Just when the entire group got silent Isaac started yelling and laughing at his echo. A little while later our tour guide got someone to esscort Zac and I out of the cave because he just couldn't stop making his little squeals of delight echo off the walls. Not to mention he kept reaching out and touching the cave walls which is a $2800.00 fine - I'll take the escort out of there over that fine any day, thanks. Oh, and if you don't want babies yelling in the cave, why don't you put an age limit on who can go in? Just wondering. All in all, though it was a great, rainy, fun day...

(We asked a lady to take this for us - she didn't do a great job, obviously, but I love the picture anyway. Just try to look past the blurrieness)

A few new things

You all know that Cameron and I have been in school since we got married 8 years ago. We have been scrimping and saving in a big way. Cameron just got his first "REAL" paycheck ever! Sadly, we still don't "have money". (will we ever?!) But it is such a wonderful feeling to pay our bills with money from a paycheck rather than money from a student loan, credit card, or other random chunk of money we somehow managed to come up with. So as a way to celebrate our first ever paycheck we bought a few things from our "things to buy when we're done with school" list. Let me tell you it's been a long time coming. I'm still holding my breath for my camera and microfiber couches and piano and... (He He I could go on and on!!) Oh wait, we have to pay off student loans, credit cards, our car... I think our list is now called "things to buy when we win the lottery because our "real" paycheck is not enough to fulfill our every wish and desire". It's too bad, I was hopin' it would be!

This is the monitor that goes with our computer! Finally, a computer with the capacity to do what we need it to. Our out-dated laptop was just not cutting it anymore. The hard drive was so full we couldn't access anything which is why I thought I lost our pictures from this summer. So happy happy joy joy I have them back and once I figure out how to use this monster computer I will finally get them posted.





And this little beauty is something I've been wanting FOREVER. Since central vac is what I really want and you know that's not going to happen until we can build a house, I'll settle for this baby. I actually found it on sale and had a twenty percent coupon which made it affordable so... Hallalujah, I don't have to vacuum that piece of lint 4 times before the vacuum finally sucks it up!