Lucky you!
The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me!
My choice. For you.
This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year.
4- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or an article on properly cleaning your face before a masque. I may sew or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.
The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Troglodyte
I figured it was time I peeked out of my cave to update everyone on our doings. Or perhaps I’m flattering myself to think many of you are wondering why I haven’t posted any news in two months. Regardless, here I am, ready to report.
With the new year came a new church calling for me: Sunbeams. Yep. And not just two or three. Fifteen. Our ward primary rivals any you’d find in Utah Valley. David’s CTR 5 class has 12 kids, and the Sunbeam class has 15 very active-in-every-sense-of-the-word 3 year-olds. It was a daunting calling for me at first, but now that we’ve gotten in the swing of things, it’s not as horrifying as I thought. I have to stop here and explain my word choice. The kids are great; it’s just a hard age for me personally to work with. But, I feel strengthened by prayers, blessings, and hands of angels each week.
Thus explains my disappearance to the locals at church. My disappearance in the blogosphere, however, is due to something very different. Inspired by a friend of mine, I decided get a grip on my love handles (har har… okay, bad pun), joined a local gym, and started strength training with a personal trainer. I now spend a couple hours each weekday morning exercising, and I love it. After six weeks I have lost 9 pounds, and more importantly to me, I’ve gained muscle tone. Today was even more of a joyful workout for me because I could see marked improvement in my skills. Woohoo!!
Working out has been a different challenge as far as time management. As I said, I spend a couple hours at the gym, and it pretty much eats up my whole morning. After a shower and maybe one or two errands, it’s time for lunch and naps, maybe another errand, dinner, kids in bed, and there’s my day. For the first two weeks I couldn’t figure out when to even grocery shop. However, I have often said you make time for what is important to you. Before, I did other things but didn’t get exercise in; now I exercise and some other things don’t get done. It’s a tradeoff, but so far I feel it’s been worthwhile.
I also ended up needing a root canal the first week of February. I'd had an old filling replaced back in November, but it still bothered me, and in the process of trying to fix that the dentist basically made a root canal necessary. After babying a sore tooth since before Thanksgiving, it's nice to finally be pain free.
The last week of January, David started at The Little Gym again. He missed going last semester and is very happy to be back. This time he’s one of the oldest kids in his class, and seems to also be more advanced. His teacher does a great job tackling each child’s individual skill level, however, so I know he’s getting a great experience.
David is also enjoying preschool, is a champion with the alphabet (in ASL, too!), and is showing reading readiness. I’m not sure I’m ready to teach that, but hopefully some trips to the library will aid both of us. He astounds us daily with his jigsaw puzzle skills. What a pro!
Daniel started Nursery last week. Can my baby really be that old?! Nathan said Daniel cried the first two minutes after he dropped him off and then he was fine. I was surprised that he even cried that much, because he’s happy to go play at the childcare center at my gym. He’s pretty easy going, for which I am very grateful.
He’s starting to show interest in learning letters, too. Dad Nash bought some cute letters for Daniel’s name when he was in France, and we put them on Daniel’s bedroom door. Every time we go into his room, we stop and spell his name out, pointing to each letter, then point to him and say “Daniel!” Now whenever he sees letters he starts chanting “E, E, E, E, Ay-yay!” which is how he says his name at the moment. He’s also very taken with Alea and says “kitty kitty” every time he sees her, or if we even mention her.
Nathan has brought me somewhat into the video gaming world through Rock Band 2 and the Wii. I have to confess, I always have loved percussive music and wanted to be in percussion when I joined band back in middle school. That didn’t happen, so I’m living out my dream as a drummer in our virtual Rock Band. It’s pretty fun! Playing on the Wii has been fun, too, I must admit. David and I exercise together some afternoons on the Wii Fit. He thinks it’s pretty neat.
Some other exciting changes for our household: we’ve started turning some wheels toward making this house our own. ‘Bout time after 18 months, eh? It came with very colorful walls, which have been sufficient, but we’re now ready to replace the carpet and tweak the colors to our own tastes. I had an epiphany on color choices Sunday while I was home from church nursing a bad cold. Here’s a preview:
I'm super excited to make it all happen! I'll post before/after pictures when we're done.
With the new year came a new church calling for me: Sunbeams. Yep. And not just two or three. Fifteen. Our ward primary rivals any you’d find in Utah Valley. David’s CTR 5 class has 12 kids, and the Sunbeam class has 15 very active-in-every-sense-of-the-word 3 year-olds. It was a daunting calling for me at first, but now that we’ve gotten in the swing of things, it’s not as horrifying as I thought. I have to stop here and explain my word choice. The kids are great; it’s just a hard age for me personally to work with. But, I feel strengthened by prayers, blessings, and hands of angels each week.
Thus explains my disappearance to the locals at church. My disappearance in the blogosphere, however, is due to something very different. Inspired by a friend of mine, I decided get a grip on my love handles (har har… okay, bad pun), joined a local gym, and started strength training with a personal trainer. I now spend a couple hours each weekday morning exercising, and I love it. After six weeks I have lost 9 pounds, and more importantly to me, I’ve gained muscle tone. Today was even more of a joyful workout for me because I could see marked improvement in my skills. Woohoo!!
Working out has been a different challenge as far as time management. As I said, I spend a couple hours at the gym, and it pretty much eats up my whole morning. After a shower and maybe one or two errands, it’s time for lunch and naps, maybe another errand, dinner, kids in bed, and there’s my day. For the first two weeks I couldn’t figure out when to even grocery shop. However, I have often said you make time for what is important to you. Before, I did other things but didn’t get exercise in; now I exercise and some other things don’t get done. It’s a tradeoff, but so far I feel it’s been worthwhile.
I also ended up needing a root canal the first week of February. I'd had an old filling replaced back in November, but it still bothered me, and in the process of trying to fix that the dentist basically made a root canal necessary. After babying a sore tooth since before Thanksgiving, it's nice to finally be pain free.
Daniel's first snow!
After his initial venture I decided I needed to bundle him up more.
Then he just looked like the kid from A Christmas Story.
David enjoyed the snow too!
The last week of January, David started at The Little Gym again. He missed going last semester and is very happy to be back. This time he’s one of the oldest kids in his class, and seems to also be more advanced. His teacher does a great job tackling each child’s individual skill level, however, so I know he’s getting a great experience.
David is also enjoying preschool, is a champion with the alphabet (in ASL, too!), and is showing reading readiness. I’m not sure I’m ready to teach that, but hopefully some trips to the library will aid both of us. He astounds us daily with his jigsaw puzzle skills. What a pro!
Daniel started Nursery last week. Can my baby really be that old?! Nathan said Daniel cried the first two minutes after he dropped him off and then he was fine. I was surprised that he even cried that much, because he’s happy to go play at the childcare center at my gym. He’s pretty easy going, for which I am very grateful.
Daniel on his first day of Nursery
He’s starting to show interest in learning letters, too. Dad Nash bought some cute letters for Daniel’s name when he was in France, and we put them on Daniel’s bedroom door. Every time we go into his room, we stop and spell his name out, pointing to each letter, then point to him and say “Daniel!” Now whenever he sees letters he starts chanting “E, E, E, E, Ay-yay!” which is how he says his name at the moment. He’s also very taken with Alea and says “kitty kitty” every time he sees her, or if we even mention her.
Daniel enjoyed the frosting on his Valentine cupcake.
Nathan has brought me somewhat into the video gaming world through Rock Band 2 and the Wii. I have to confess, I always have loved percussive music and wanted to be in percussion when I joined band back in middle school. That didn’t happen, so I’m living out my dream as a drummer in our virtual Rock Band. It’s pretty fun! Playing on the Wii has been fun, too, I must admit. David and I exercise together some afternoons on the Wii Fit. He thinks it’s pretty neat.
Some other exciting changes for our household: we’ve started turning some wheels toward making this house our own. ‘Bout time after 18 months, eh? It came with very colorful walls, which have been sufficient, but we’re now ready to replace the carpet and tweak the colors to our own tastes. I had an epiphany on color choices Sunday while I was home from church nursing a bad cold. Here’s a preview:
Flecked carpet to hide any dirt and stains better:
I may choose a slightly different shade after I get these bad boys:
Two of the world's comfiest recliners to allow for versatile conversation seating:
These get delivered Thursday. We can't wait!!
I'm super excited to make it all happen! I'll post before/after pictures when we're done.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Economic Solution
Nathan's cousin posted this on her blog, and I'm afraid I have to copy cat. Here's a fantastic economic solution for America:
Monday, January 19, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
CuteThingsFallingAsleep.org
I saw this on cutethingsfallingasleep.org and thought it was too funny:
If you can't view the video, try this link.
If you can't view the video, try this link.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Fairy of Christmas Cheer
When I was growing up, our family would go "fairy" other families. Many do it: basically leave a treat or gift on someone's doorstep, ring the bell, and high-tail it outta there before they see you.
Also taped to the door were three packs of Icy Breeze Breath Mints and a note that read:
Well my anonymous friend (and yes, your Santa hat maintained your anonymity), it was very worth it. For reasons I do not know or understand, I was feeling pretty cheerless most of today. Downright bummed, even. The song "Where Are You, Christmas?" kept running through my head and felt very applicable. Your gift totally brought a smile and many appreciative tears to my glum Christmas Eve's eve. I feel very loved, both by you, whoever you are, and by our Father in Heaven, who notices not only when sparrows fall, but also when one of His daughters has an aching heart. Thank you so so much for answering an un-uttered prayer!
We got fairy-ed tonight. Boys were in bed, Nathan was playing on the Wii, and I was in the kitchen babying a second batch of lemon cheese through the thickening process. Nathan came in and said, "Someone wearing a Santa hat is doing something on our porch, and they're using a lot of tape. I can hear it going wren-tschh, wren-tschh." (yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Just imagine the sound of scotch tape being pulled and torn over and over) Then the doorbell rang and he very sweetly offered to stir the lemon cheese so I could go check out our surprise. I guess I should note that the only outward sign of Christmas on our house is a wreath on our door. Here's what I found:
Also taped to the door were three packs of Icy Breeze Breath Mints and a note that read:
Merry Christmas!
Yo,
Don't take down this door that's been frosted
'Cause you don't know how much it cost'd
But it's all worth it, if you feel loved
Just consider it a gift from abov'd!
Merry Christmas!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Let the Games Begin
The boys were cracking us up last night. We didn't get any pictures or video, but they sure were funny.
David and Daniel were racing each other around the house. David was an absolute machine, running 'round and 'round and 'round. Daniel would back himself up against the back door and holler at us ("Daaaaa! Daaaa! Daaaa!") until he was sure we were watching and we chanted "Go Daniel, go!". Then he'd take off--literally, running with his arms cocked behind him like wings. He'd get as far as the next room, then stop, walk backwards to the door, and start over.
After a bit David sat on the floor to play with something. Daniel wandered over and started pushing against David with his tummy. David often does this to Daniel, crowding him into a corner or something, so it was amusing to watch Daniel reciprocate. Daniel would crowd David for a bit, then David would just lightly bump against Daniel and make him plop on his bum, then Daniel would get back up and crowd David some more, bump/plop, crowd, bump/plop... it was all we could do not to laugh out loud.
THEN--David handed Daniel a stuffed hippo. Daniel immediately turned around and started chasing David with it, saying, "Nom Nom Nom!" David was a good sport and played along, grinning ear to ear while feigning fear of the hippo.
The next 14 years are going to be a lot of fun. :P
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Blah Blah Blah
So I'm feeling major guilt that I haven't posted much news lately, but I draw a total blank when I think about what to post. We haven't had any major catastrophes, injuries, news, or breakthroughs. Kinda nice, actually. We're just doin' our thing, one day at a time.
Daniel has started expanding his vocabulary and says "go" when I announce it's time to go somewhere and "out" when he wants to get out of his highchair. "Go" is also applicable to shoes and socks, and anything that goes, like toy cars and trains. He is fascinated with the Christmas tree and loves to pull (nonbreakable) ornaments off the tree and carry them around. His favorite one is a jingle bell. Both the boys love that one, so I bought them each a jingle bell necklace. I have been debating whether to put those in their stockings or just hand them over.
David is all go-go-go. He loves puzzles and games and is teeming with braininess.
I'm still digging myself out of my Christmas-gift-crafting chasm and feeling very exhausted, but happy with all that I've accomplished so far. This week I substituted as Primary Chorister at church. It was fun to be back in the saddle again, but I'm happy that's not my regular calling at the moment!
I made some Lemon Cheese this week, and derived great satisfaction from it. For those who don't know, Lemon Cheese (aka Lemon Curd) is a traditional British recipe something like lemon marmalade. My grandma used to send us some every Christmas, and now I like to make it for my Dad since she passed away. I even used her double boiler, which was my Great Grandma Hewitt's. Even though I have my own double boiler, which probably conducts heat more efficiently, it just seems like Grandma's recipe needs to be done in Grandma's pan.
My parents came through town this past weekend on their way to Salt Lake City for Christmas. We did presents with them and enjoyed a relaxed visit. They gave Daniel a remote-controlled Thomas the Tank Engine which delights him to no end, and David got some more trains for his existing set. He played with it all day yesterday after school. It's rather fun to have some Christmas gifts spread out so they get appreciated more individually. I can hardly believe Christmas is in a week!
Merry Christmas to all!
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