Ahh, Springtime!

Do I really need to say anything? Maybe just this:
Yes, they are using teddy bears as weapons!

Forty Smorty

It's just another birthday, nothing to get too worked up about. It's not like my mind and body are doomed to immediate failure, right? On the day of my birthday I went to take my pills in the morning like I always do, and as I stood there looking at the bottles I honestly couldn't remember whether I had already taken them or not. I decided to error on the side of caution and not take (retake?) them just in case. I remember thinking, "Wow, that's so weird. I think I took them, but I'm not sure. Oh well, missing one day won't hurt." I was pretty tired that afternoon, but chalked it up to all the birthday revelry. The next morning as I went to take my pills the EXACT same thing happened. I poured the pills into my hand and then had a very strong impression that I had already taken them, AHHHGG!! It's bad enough that I'm old enough to HAVE to take PILLS everyday, but to not even remember whether you have taken them or not??? I was wrong about 40. 40 isn't just another day. 40 is churlish. 40 won't be ignored. 40 says enjoy today because pretty soon you won't be able to remember how old you are anyway. I bought myself a belated birthday gift.

DIY

So I have been reading a lot of fun blogs lately about home improvement (our home would improve vastly if I would get off the computer and do the dishes!) My kids love to do art projects. The problem we have found is displaying everyones creations in a way that doesn't interfere with my need to have a clean refrigerator or no thumbtacks in the wall. Well after gasping at how expensive the cork boards were at Pottery Barn, I came up with this solution: my own giant (7x3) bulletin board in the little boys room. All I needed were cork tiles (Target), wood moulding and corner pieces (Home Depot), and construction adhesive. I painted one wall BYU blue first to make the white trim pop, and then just stuck the rest of the pieces up. I love it, and so do the boys. I had to hurry and take a picture before they totally covered it in pictures, but we were all happy with our little art display board. I think I'll paint the Living Room next!

A Great View

I keep telling Paul that we live in a pretty awesome place, and that if we move I doubt that we could ever find a neighborhood as ideal as where we are now. Case in point: my view from the front door this morning. A hot air balloon landed in the park across the street. Our kids were so excited to see such a fun thing so close up. This and the 3000 lbs. of wheat in the basement help make my point that we don't need to move!

Happy Chinese New Year!

To ring in the year of the Tiger, I thought it might be fun to see if there is any significance to the Chinese animal signs that correlate to the years my family were born.

How appropriate to start with our own Tiger. Rachel was born 12 years ago in the previous year of the Tiger. According to Chinese Zodiac lore: Tiger's are short-tempered, suspicious, adventurious, sensitive, emotional and risk-taking. Compatible with: Dogs, Horses. AVOID: MONKEYS
Paul and Ben and Brig were all born in the year of the Sheep/Ram. Sheep are wise, gentle, compassionate, charming, elegant(i'm not making this stuff up), slightly materialistic, quick to complain, shy, and pessimistic. Sheep are also compatible with Dogs, and Rabbits.
Next we come to the family Dog: Me, I'm sure you can see the resemblance.
(I look sad because I'm on a diet) Dogs are honest, faithful, loyal, trust-worthy, worrisome, and sharp-tongued. Luckily, Dogs are compatible with just about everyone. That would bring us to the last member of the family...

Monkeys are intelligent, clever, popular, judgemental and have good memorys. Dogs can tolerate them, Rams want to head-butt them, and Tiger's should avoid them entirely! I'm sure that any correlation to actual personalities is purely coincidental, but the fact that Monkeys tend to stir things up is no ancient Chinese secret!

Hi-Ya

Just a little sampling of things to come. Karate class x3. Jake will be in the little ninja class while Ben and Brig will be in the Jrs. class. Which means I will be in the car...a lot.

Things Have GOT to Change!

I remember being so excited every Christmas to get a little, individual box of "sugary" cold cereal in my stocking. That was the one time a year that my mom let that kind of garbage into the house. She did a really great job making sure that her family ate healthy meals. Look at my pantry...

Yup, 10 boxes of junky cereal that I let my kids eat before I send them off to public school. (Make sure you spell my name correctly when you nominate me for mother of the year.) Well, things are gonna change baby. I had a great talk with Melissa today, and she has inspired me to eat better. She gave me a lot of great ideas and recipes that I can't wait to try. Rachel helped me make the most wonderful salad for dinner tonight to kick off our goal to eat more fruits and veg and less (way less) sugar! I told everyone at the dinner table that I will no longer be buying sugar cereal. There was some moaning, but in general everyone is willing to take part in our healthy eating program. Now all I need is the ability to withstand the begging on the cereal aisle at the grocery store.