My Deep Thought & Happy Thanksgiving

"Why is it, when you don't have anything, you feel like you have everything and you count your many blessings; but when you do have it, it's never enough and you want more." ~J.L. Webster

I thought about this the other day. Last year at this time, we were just about to get laid off, the Monday after Thanksgiving to be exact. That was the worst time, yet the best. Why? Because we were truly humbled. Our priorities were put in order, and our perspective on life was focused on the eternities and our good health. I truly felt like the richest woman in the whole world.
Just one year later, now with a job, I caught myself the other day thinking about all the things I don't have, and everything I want. Shame on me. I want my old life back. At least my perspective on life. Although I am truly thankful for a WONDERFUL job, I need my mind to remember what I have.
I am so thankful for family, my health, my family's health, 3 beautiful kids, a wonderful loving hard-working husband, our cozy warm home, the beautiful place we live, the food we eat, our neighbors, my Savior, our friends both old and new, the Holidays, and being alive every day to enjoy it all.
That's all I need. That's all I want.

Happy Thanksgiving Family and Friends!

Halloween 2010

Holy Cow it's hard to get a good pic of 3 kids!! I had to hurry and document this years costumes...because I'm getting farther and farther behind on my scrapbooking!
LOVE BLOGS for journaling purposes!

Meet Rapunzel, a BYU football player, and a monkey!

My sweet daughter

My cute little sweetheart has a wonderful friend. Bus Driver Mike. He drives her home from school everyday, and he is wonderful. She always sings me the songs he sings to them, and tells me how fun he is. He even gives them suckers, which is huge to a 6 yr old! Bus Driver Mike went missing for a couple weeks, and it really bothered little Ais. So, she must have asked the sub bus driver where he was, and she found out his wife was sick in the hospital. (they are an older couple). So the sub bus driver told Aislee that he would be back the next day, and cute little Aislee asked me to go get flowers while she was at school and meet her at the bus stop so she could give them to bus driver Mike to give to his wife. She spent that whole morning working on a card for her too. It makes me cry it's so sweet. And when we gave them to bus driver Mike a little tear dropped from his eye too. She since has recieved a thank you note signed....Bus Driver Mike's wife Sherry.
I love you sweet Ais!

My new blog

Hey everyone....I am starting a new blog...if you are interested in checking it out...it is:
cleanandreal.blogspot.com. I'm really excited about it!
It's about FOOD!

The birthday party (Ais!)

So, let me preface with this. This was Aislee's first ever birthday party. Therefore, this was my first birthday party as a mother. I loved it. But--it was a lot of work. I get the whole every other year idea....but I think mine will be every 3 years....or ONCE in a LIFETIME!!! No, it really was fun, and when I asked Ais what she thought after it was over..she replied...Mom, I want to have another one!! How fun would a Halloween party for 6 year girls be??!!! Tiff....come on!






The invites:

The goody bags (soooo easy, just decorated lunch sacks!...oh and that little puff ball, is a bow)

They were filled with: Silly bands (of course)...homemade lipgloss (see below), ring, sticker earings, aislee's chocolate covered strawberries (because they are her favorite food) thank you card (see below),

The cupcakes: from the Sweet Tooth Fairy, now here in St. G

The beautiful guests:

Easton with his date: Halle. These two are the cutest best friends ever. In church the other day, (nursery), during lesson time, I was sitting behind them and they were sitting so close together it was like they were glued there! Then Halle would play with Eastons hair, and Easton would lay on her lap. It was so dang cute, I was taking pics with my phone, and if I could figure out how to get them on here, I will....so stinkin cute. So, in this pic, Easton decorated the table...notice the spiders and transformers....and even cuter...Halle LOVED it!!

the Martini glasses (from the 1$ store, dipped in Oj and Pink sugar) oh, and of course, the peace sign napkins.

Aislee's little thank you note:

the pink chocolate covered berries to go with her note!

we made homemade lips gloss!!

And not pictured:
We did sparkly toes. SOOOO EASY. all you need: polish, glitter, and a top coat. See here!

It was so much fun! I had to do this....just in case another girl doesn't come my way. And, I've had a serious guilty conscience about not having a decked out tea party with her friends/dolls/stuffed animals. This makes up for that right???!!!! I hope so, because she's 6...she's getting old...maybe I still need to have a tea party. any good ideas?????

A little on Ais

Here's a quick pic of all three...but mostly I will be writing about Ais today. I love this picture, because it shows all three of their personalities. Crazy-cheesy-hyper Ais, chill Lewis, and super cool Easton! I love my kids!

Aislee is such a cute older sister. She is especially in love with her little brother. I don't think a minute goes by without her asking to hold him. Well, he's so super huge (19 lbs people-5 months) that its hard for her to hold him...but she doesn't care...she'll find a way! And he LOVES her!

She started gymnastics in February. We desperately needed something for her to do....way too much pinned up energy. It has been wonderful. She LOVES going, and is constantly doing cartwheels, handstands and backbends all day long! She recently told me that she wants to be a gymnastics teacher when she grows up!

I'm so proud of her since starting gymnastics, she has moved up to level 3! She works so hard at everything her teachers tell her, and she practices practices practices until she's mastered it. My absolute favorite is watching her on the bars. (I think she's good...but I'm also her mom!!)

Aislee LOVES Kindergarten! I love talking about school when she gets home. She just talks and talks my ear off. I loved school too, so I'm excited that she does. It makes sending her a little easier!! She loves reading, and is getting better and better, reading all the signs we drive by in the car too!
I love you Ais, thanks for being my sweet girl. I love all these fun things that you are involved in in your life!! I'm so dang proud of you too!!!!

So something besides Ais, that's totally random....we have a huge garden in town that we share with our best ever neighbors. And it was a total trial and error year, since it's our first garden experience in this crazy heat. Well, our mini-pumpkins not only took up half the garden, but they were ready in August!!! So, we had a very pre-halloween pumpkin painting party with Bryn and Halle. We love these little girls, and are so thankful we have friends next door. Bryn and Ais are a lot alike which is good and bad cause they love each other, but often fight...it's a girl thing, right?! But sooooo thankful Ais has a sweet friend like Brynlee. Cute Halle even plays Transformers with Easton (she knows all their names too!) Hopefully she'll still play with him after the bloody nose he gave her....sorry again Hal. We are so thankful for their family in our life!

Going Private & Kindergarten!

So, yes, I've decided to go Private. Simply because I want to post pictures up of Aislee's first day of Kindergarten. I have the cutest pics of her first day in front of her school sign, and in this sick crazy world, I knew that posting a picture of my daughter with the name of her Elementary school with her name and our city plastered all over my blog.....I just can't post them....until I'm private. So, please post a comment with your email address if you'd like to check in on us every once in awhile!!

Also---Ais rode the bus this morning. I cried. Did she get to school okay? Why does she have to be so old and so brave already? Was everyone nice to her? Does she feel safe? Her life is still so innocent, and I'm not ready for that to change. My sweet little girl is growing up. Please life...slow down. Please leave the brave and scary things for her Mommy to worry about. Please let her still think she's a Princess in a safe beautiful peaceful country that's hers to rule. Please help her remember she is the most beautiful girl in this whole world. Please come home on the right bus!

Choices

I have two choices: worry and stress about things I cannot control, or love and live in the moment and enjoy every breath, scream, whine, cry, and occasional laughter of these 3 little kids. When I write it down, the choice seems easy. How come living it is a little harder? Breathe in, breathe out. Today is a great day!

I highly recommend......

My sister told me about this book. I highly recommend it to anyone who has a child going into Kindergarten! I am so impressed with how quickly Aislee is learning how to read. The lessons are short, just enough time for them NOT to get sick of it. Aislee and I actually do 2 lessons a day because she goes through them so quickly.
I love this book because it actually teaches you, the parent, how to teach your child. It has the parts you say to your child in red, so you say know exactly what to say.
It has opened up a whole new world for Aislee, she goes around reading and sounding out everything in the house!
I actually checked it out from the library....but then it was requested so I couldn't check it out anymore. I found it on amazon.com for $14. I will definitely use it with all my kids.
I'm so excited for Ais to start Kindergarten (and sad)...and I'm even more excited that she'll be able to read. I loved reading as a kid and still do........It's such a fun thing reading with her. We even started our first chapter book....My Father's Dragon. It was mine from when I was a little girl, and I actually recommend that book too. It has a little map in front that you can follow as you read it, it tracks little Elmer Elevator as he trys to save a baby dragon!

Easton just said......

My little buddy was cuddling with me this morning. He said....I love you. I said...I love you to the moon and back...he looked at me with wide eyes and said...Well I love you as much as a truck...actually a farm...(pause) with all the animals on it. I smiled and said...Wow thats a lot! But seriously, I love you. He replied...Seriously I love you so much I'm going to punch your cheeks off!

I love my little Teta! Having those moments are few are far between right now. He's having some issues, he thinks the world is so unfair, and we find him most of the time growling at us, and fighting us like Iron Man, and Megatron. So, this morning, that moment was precious, even though it still was a little violent!!!!
Love you BUD!