If I Clean it, He Will Build

That is my hope at least. Greg and I have been talking about finishing off our basement for awhile and his newest excuse is that the room is too messy (I should have taken a before picture but this was taken last year). The last two days I have been lifting and pushing to remove that excuse. I am happy to say that Greg called his dad (a pro at construction) to come and give him some direction and he is coming tonight. I don't know how long it will take or how much it will cost, but I now see an end in sight and I am thrilled.

We have this computer desk that is in GREAT shape that anyone can have. We will take it to DI (along with 3 old mattresses and 1 old box spring) if we don't get any one wanting it.

I AM DONE!!

I can't believe that I have been changing diapers non-stop for almost seven years!! Each of the kids have overlapped so at some points I was changing 2 different bums. Annabelle turned out to be surprisingly easy. I give a lot of credit to the fact that I remained completely calm, and didn't scare her like last time. She isn't even 2 1/2 (the boys were 3+), and she is great at telling me when she needs to go. It goes right along with her being so independent. She has been dry during nap/quiet time, bed time, and even out in public. I can count the number of accidents she had on one hand! She was so excited to earn her Sleeping Beauty doll and then go and buy new underwear. I can't believe my baby is growing up, and at the same time I love it!!

Jumpin' Around

We finally made it to one of those warehouses filled with trampolines and we had a blast. It was a little scary signing waivers about what could happen and seeing so many signs about the dangers of trampolines, but in the end we returned home safely, and exhausted. The kids had a blast jumping and we all decided that we will have to bring daddy next time.

I didn't have any more quarters but the kids wanted to just sit on this one and rock it a bit.

Both of my boys are so good at helping their little sister do things.
Oh, and Annie was dry the whole time!!

Living in a Cloud

This phrase has two meanings. First off you think of the figurative one. Before Christmas I did feel like I was living in a cloud. A cloud of busy schedules and crazy deadlines and too much to do. I am happy to say that since we have returned from California I have been much more relaxed-I'm even potty training Annabelle and it is going great. I fear that those schedules and deadlines might sneak up on me again since the boys' birthdays are coming up. But for now I am feeling ahead of the game for the first time in a while.Literally I have awoken each morning to a cloud surrounding my neighborhood/city. I am not sure if fog really is low clouds, but that is what we tell the kids (it sounds better than some scientific explanation). It makes driving in the morning a little precarious and the chill is amazingly biting. I can actually see and feel the ice particles in the air. I used to wonder why we didn't get that much fog here, compared to CA, but this last week has shown me otherwise. I really think the fog is beautiful, especially the frost the covers the trees and makes them look like fragile ice sculptures.

Gross!!

So what have we been up to? Up until today things have just been going. School being back in session we have been carpooling and doing homework and piano practice. My cousin had her baby yesterday and so I have tried to help her get ready for that. Things have been busy, but not too busy. The kids have gone out a couple of times into the snow we have out front (it fell while we were in CA and it is still there!!). Life was just plugging along and then Nathan came home itching.
At first I figured it was just probably the dryness here, but then I decided to get a closer look. GROSS!! Yes, my friends, it was lice. I like to think of myself as having a pretty neat home. Some people have even commented to me or my hubbie that I am a little overboard. So, imagine my surprise when I found many little bugs in Nate's hair.
The kids FREAKED OUT!! They were bawling and screaming about the bugs attacking them. They even got Annie all worked up that she had bugs crawling around in her hair. It took some pretty loud yelling on my part to calm them down and explain that the bugs didn't hurt and it was really just a big mess for me.
The rest of this afternoon and evening I have been scrubbing, spraying, washing and disinfecting everything I can. As of tonight, he is clean, but I think I will keep him home from school (the place where I am sure he got it) so we can stay in our clean home for the day. Even though I have always placed lice in the category of a "white trash" or "dirty home" thing, I have to apologize for that generalization. I just pray that it doesn't ever happen again!

I LOVE 9am Church!

It may have been a little rushed this morning getting to church on time (early for me to set up primary), but this afternoon made it all worth it. After the kids ate lunch Greg and I were able to get so me quiet time. He fell asleep first while I caught up a little on the Ensign (our church's magazine) and then I also fell asleep. And what were our kids doing?? Well, the were in their own rooms to start but soon they were all working and playing together. About and hour later they woke me up excitedly to show me this:
I was quite impressed and after they gave me a tour we read parts of the Friend together. It is amazing the spiritual conversations you can have with 3 kids under the age of 6. I will forever cherish those moments today. Once we got Greg up the kids wanted to show us what the discovered on their camera, a timer. It took a couple takes but this is what they eventually got:
It was just such a nice afternoon of resting, reading and playing happily. We even got in a good round of Uno Attack (thanks GiGi Bonnie), had Daddy interviews, and watched one of Greg and my favorite classics, Iron Will (a little tough for the kids but they were cheering Will on at the end). I loved having the whole of the afternoon to lay low. I wish we could always have this time slot, or at least never the 1pm. Oh well, we all get to pay our dues. Here is to next Sunday, I honestly can't wait!

Sledding

I am not a snow person. I have admitted this before, but that being said, I do try to like it. We got home Monday and really hadn't left the house except to do some much needed grocery shopping. I decided that it was our last day of vacation and we should get out and do something that most people around here have already done this season. We luckily found a hill not too far away and down we went. It was a lot of fun, but cold. If Annabelle was older it may have been a little easier, but one of us always had to be with her. I couldn't believe how dangerous sledding is. I watched a kid get plowed over by a lady who had flipped around backwards. Every time the kids went down I said a little prayer that they would make it safe.

Annie and I left halfway through to get hot chocolate for everyone. That made things a little warmer. At the end we were all freezing and pink faced but at least we got out of the house.

Rockin' Out!

I got Guitar Hero World Tour for Greg for Christmas. We have had a lot of fun with it since Monday! I am better on guitar than drums, but still not that great. I hope that I will catch on soon so I can catch up a little to Greg.