Woohoo! We have trim! Thanks to Joel. Thanks to Gabe.
We now have 1 1/2 sidewalks. (We were short on cement.) Jack was soooooo excited to have a cement truck come to his house. He spent the entire time on our porch swing, laying on his stomach, head in his hands, watching. No, I didn't get a picture, though I should have. Gabe, Brian from work, Bill and Bro. Murray came to help us out. Great to see some progress! I will have grass someday soon...
Okay. Now the back of my hair.
This is not what I was expecting - this is VERY subtle. I was thinking a bright triangle on the back of my head. I had called ahead telling her that I changed my mind to blue, not pink. In my mind I was thinking turquoise blue. Kellie (my hair dresser) was obviously NOT on the same page as me in any respects.
She ended up doing 5 blue strips in the back of my head. When it is up you can kinda see it if you are looking for it. KINDA. And it is not bright blue in the slightest.
But I do like it. It is totally not as I expected, and now that it is done it is like what's the big deal. I should have done this ages ago. So this was a nice warmer upper for I think both her and me. I really like the strips - Bill (Joel's dad) says that it looks like I have ribbon in my hair. Next time I am going to go really bright. For reals this time.
Even though no one else has noticed, it makes me feel like I have found a little of my old self that sometimes gets lost in the hustle bustle of daily life as wife and mother.
Okay, if you haven't scrolled down already.....presenting.....ME!
It is amazing how much a hair cut makes me feel better about the way I feel when I look in the mirror. I don't wear a lot of makeup - just sometimes to church on Sunday, but it seems with a new haircut and especially color that I feel all jazzed up. (My new hidden color will be revealed soon, just need to get a good picture of it. It is hard to get a picture of the back of your head!) Self image is a funny thing. I can feel like a beast some days and then feel like I look pretty good on others, with no particular change. I have a friend who just had a baby (since there are like 5 of you out there, no one knows for sure who I am talking about) that is worried about losing her baby weight. The thing is, she looks AMAZING. It was a reminder to me that we really are our own worst enemies. We are overly critical of ourselves. But all in all, it doesn't really matter what others think of us, just how we feel about ourselves. That radiates, and others see it too and they aren't focusing (and really don't even care) about our wobbly parts. Wow, don't know where that rant came from...But I need to go and be a mom now - Jack has torn the front room apart and Sage is now waking up.
We have a neighbor that stopped me on the street about a week ago. She said that she needed some help picking and eating her cherries from her trees. I couldn't leave the lady hanging :) I think we have been over there almost every day. Jack loves that he gets to climb the ladder. I love that I get to eat them. Fresh fruit is hard to beat.
...the better.
(Since it seems that I am unable to take pictures of Sage when she is not covered in food or snot, I decided to embrace it. Sage at 11 months.)
I was inspired by reading a book that my friend Kim let me read. It was about all these crafty things you can do with your kids. I took their ideas and came up with the idea of making a library bag for all our library books!
Jack decorated one side and I did the other. It is nothing fancy but I'm happy with the result.
I enjoy sewing and other crafty things, but I have a road block with no directions. I myself am so not artistic (you can tell by looking at my side of the bag) but if I have directions, I can do anything. This is the first time that I've ever done anything without directions, when I just start cutting and sewing.
I'm looking forward to using the bag today to go to story time at the library!
On Friday Sage woke up feverish and was hot all day. Since then we have been really busy, and she has sure been cranky, a little warm, a little runny nose. A new tooth, maybe?
Then the past few days her sleeping has been really off too - sleeping only 40 minutes total during the day, screaming whenever I put her down, or taking two naps instead of one.
This morning at 4:30 she was up crying in her crib. When I went in she was just sitting there holding her ears. DING! Maybe she has an ear infection?!?! She was off this morning but not too bad, but after her nap she woke up and was bad enough for me to call the doctor. They got me in the last appointment for the day.
Sure enough, once we saw our doctor, it took him, hmmmm, let's say less than a minute to look at her ears and write a prescription. Poor lady has an ear infection in both ears.
I do feel validated that I wasn't just being an impatient mom for no reason. I guess this is proof that she must have not been a happy camper. (Sometimes the kids can be having terrible days and then Joel comes home and they are so happy and sweet. He always says something along the lines of "Been like this all day?" or "Yeah, so terrible".) And Joel was pleased with my accurate diagnosis.
I sure hope those antibiotics kick in soon - for all of our sakes.
Next week is Father's Day. The primary has to sing in Sacrament meeting. This is going to be our first gig since I've been called as the music leader.
We are doing the 'I am a builder song' well, I guess it is called "My Eternal Family". It feels wierd writing this, knowing that his mom is going to read this, but there is a little boy in Jr. Primary that just rocks this song. He even called me few weeks ago to ask where to find the music so he could sing a long while his mom played. He sure puts a smile on my face hearing him sing with everything he's got.
I hope the kids do as well as they did in practicing today.
Help your kids practice the song this week, especially the 2nd verse! Thanks.
Today we went on Bishop's boat with Joel's Uncle Tom and his 2 kids. (Gabe Hansen was our escort.) They are in town for the weekend. This is a pretty big thing because this is the first time in the 10 years Katherine has lived here that any of her family has come for a visit. Including Josh's funeral. The first visit EVER. I have only met this uncle once, at our wedding reception in California. The kids are 10 and 13. They are really good kids.
But yeah, the boat was SO MUCH FUN. Joel and I were the only ones brave enough to venture into the cold water to go skiing. We both were able to get up and stay up for awhile. I haven't gone skiing in YEARS. We had a boat growing up, but we did kneeboarding and tubing. I definately want to go again. Then we went and shot a few fish with a bow. Zach really liked that.
Have you noticed I've been writing more often? Less pictures - more due to my internet connection...grrrrr...but it helps me "journal" more often. Just random thoughts that I'm sure no one is all that interested in, but more for me than for your reading pleasure. Do you like the new style?
At our house, pooping in your underwear is a no-no. You can poop on the toilet, diapers, or pullups. (Please keep this in mind next time you come for a visit.)
Jack was awesome yesterday. I was on the phone, and, without saying a word, Jack took his underwear off and put his pullups on, did his duty, and then came to tell me!!!! He rocked! I was so proud of him.
Today, though, he went in his underwear. It seems that whenever he takes a step forward, he always takes 2 steps back. I tell him that pooping is a great wonderful thing and so good for your body - but it is just plain gross in your underwear. But, I know how Jack is, once he is ready he'll have no problems. And there you have it.
Yay for homemade Popsicles!
We just got back from a bike ride and both of the kids were bright red. I sat them at the table and now they are completely enthralled. Wow - a free moment!?!? What do I do? Well, here I am...hmmm...maybe I should rethink that....
Can I tell you how much I HATE our Internet connection? It really is terrible. Sometimes it works marginally and others not at all. It has come to the point that Jack is dissapointed if he doesn't get to see our buddy at EOT, Roy, who Jack refers to as 'the man' on a regular basis. I can live without TV, without people around, without so many things, but the Internet, I cannot. Unfortunately they really are the ONLY ones that service this area. They say that it is worse during gowing season because the farmers and the water irrigation district use our same wireless 'channel' so we are the ones who suffer.
So much for high-speed internet...
My family is having a reunion at the end of this month at the Tetons - Colter Bay to be more precise. So naturally my thoughts are turning to my family.
I have a brother, Nate, whose kids LOVE animals. They have all these different kinds of animals at home and are always making different houses for them. His oldest daughter loves animals so much that she chose to be a vegetarian several years ago (she is only six years old.)
Jack is an animal lover too. In fact, yesterday when we were outside he saw a bug and stomped his foot on it over and over again. When he was done, he spit on it.
I'm not sure how well the cousins are going to be getting along... :)
It is the little things that make me smile during the day:
Jack singing his ABCs
Snuggles from Sage
Seeing the blossoms on the tomato plants
Having bread that turned out just right
A successful art projectAnd the fact that I made Sage wear her brother's underwear on her head most of the day...
Gotta love it!
Joel is out of town this week to take a class at Kansas State University. The company pays for all of it, so it is really nice for him. But that leaves me here by myself with the kids. Last time Joel was gone he and Jack went to the Father's and Sons campout. It was just 1 night. I stayed up late watching movies and eating ice cream sundaes. So, I am trying so hard not to eat constantly and to be semi-productive. Growing up, my mom wasn't very good at coping with my dad away, she'd be all weird and crazy like. Even Freda (our African gogo/domestic) would ask what happened to mom when dad was gone. So I'm determined to be normal, at least when the kids are awake. So far so good...
A friend and I were talking a few weeks ago about hair. She wanted to shave her head and I wanted to dye my hair pink or blue or purple in the back under my hair. I've wanted to do it FOREVER, but just always had an excuse of applying for jobs, needing to look professional, and the list goes on. I've also always wanted to do dreads in my hair too. For some reason being pregnant with dreadlocks has always appealed to me. Whenever I go get my hair done I tell my hairdresser that I want to do it pink and she just laughs uncomfortably like I'm joking.
Then my friend called me on Saturday. She did it. Her husband helped with her clean shave. And I LOVE IT! You can really see her face now and she looks gorgeous.
I just got off the phone with my hairdresser. I wanted to get my hair done before my family reunion at the end of the month anyways. I told her about my little pact (her first question asking if my friend has cancer) and she is going to do it - a fuscia/pink color in a peek-a-boo style. The date is set. I'm so excited!
