Big SKY!

I swear the sky is just bigger here in Colorado. Every day when I am driving I catch myself saying, "it is beautiful here"
The sky also seems rounded instead of just flat across. That sounds so weird but the only way I can seem to describe it.
2 weeks ago we hung out in our front yard just taking photos in the 80 degree weather after church. This was the girls seriously jumping for joy.
For the past week I have started to feel the moving sting start to wear away. I am feeling more adjusted and wonder who that girl was that moved into the house (the one that rocked in the corner and cried every day) that had my same name. We have now been here 5 months and I almost feel like I am living in my house and not just visiting the family we bought it from.

After the kids got home from school the clouds started to come in and the most beautiful sunset appeared. We all were in a room with big windows in different parts of the house and I heard everyone say, "look outside!" Oh my it was beautiful. Jeff was driving home from work and said, "have you looked outside" He drives home everyday from work looking at his new mountains and it is just a beautiful view!!

This Colorado sky is just amazing!

Have you ever seen a rounded sky?
Have you been to Colorado?
When are you coming to visit me?

Mama Mia - I am behind.

I wonder why I can't get my "blog on" and sit down everyday like I used to. So here are a few thoughts from last week.
The girls had the day off that Mega Mind started in the movie theaters. So we went to one of the first shows and had no crowds.
Since moving here I have loved going to the movies with the girls. They can now all sit in their own seat, go the whole movie without going to the bathroom and I love the movie theaters here, they are so clean and huge!
I have never been given one of these surveys before but Annie Kate and I both got one to give our thoughts about the movie for a national survey.
That night Jeff and I went out downtown. Going on dates is something we have very rarely done in our marriage. One of my pet peeves is when people say to me, "no matter what every week you have to have a date with your husband" really? really? ugh it totally bugs me! I think saying that to someone is appropriate as saying everyone should have a pink couch in your living room like I do.
For years I felt guilty that we didn't do that. We had no money for babysitting, Jeff worked 3 jobs for 6 years, slept at the hospital every weekend and if we would have gone out when he was home he never would have seen the kids. (how did you like that little rant!)


Anyway times have changed and we now have the time, older kids and money to go out to dinner. It may surprise most people to know I would rather stay home in my pj's then go out any day of the week. But I had seen that Mama Mia was in town and I have always wanted to see it! So a few hours before I called and got $35 seats! I love cheap seats that have great views.
Denver has quite the theatre district. It is amazing down there!

As we were walking in there was a red carpet full of cameras and interviews. I guess there was a film festival going on. I looked over my shoulder to see Mondo from Project Runway (not my photo as mine did not turn out this good) it was the day after the finale and I wanted to scream to him "you were robbed!" Mondo lives in Denver and my friend has seen him at the fabric store here.
I really enjoyed Mama Mia as I love the music. Yet, I have to say I wish I would have seen it years ago before the movie. Because I have seen the movie so many times I felt like I was correcting the characters "no this is how you sing that part".
I love seeing musicals and can't wait to surprise the girls this weekend with our tickets we have to Shrek! There are some great shows coming here in 2011 and I will be on speed dial December 5th trying to get great seats to all of them. Les Miserables is coming in August and I can't wait!



I also feel a sense to dress up more now that I am in the Relief Society Presidency at church. I have a bunch of high heels that I wear now (thanks to my good friend in D.C. who told me I wear troll shoes to church and that they do nothing for my big calves, heck she was right!)
So I try to dress more like a grown up when I teach on conduct - I quite like it.
I also have to give the biggest shout out to ichat. It is so great to see Jeff in person when he goes out of town. This was him a few weeks ago talking to the girls and you will never guess what he was saying.
"You want me on that wall, you need me on that wall! - You can't handle the truth!" Seriously does he not look just like Jack Nicholson.

do you use ichat?
do you tell people do go on dates? (if you do - stop it!)
have you seen Mama Mia on stage - did the movie ruin it for you too?

This day was years in the making!

Today our little family went skiing and began our long dream of being a ski family. It was one of the huge reasons we picked to take a job in Colorado.
One of the reasons Jeff picked his profession was because he wanted to be able to afford to ski with his family. (this is a pricey sport - yikes! Good thing Goodwill is my Nordstrom)
We had a great and wonderful day. It was the girls first times seeing "live skiers" (their words) as well as standing on skis.
Annie Kate basically taught herself because Jeff and I were with the little ones.
Jeff wins Dad of the year being able to work with those "tweedles" (Jeff's nickname for those two crazy girls)
Riding in the Gondola up and down the mountain while it was snowing was my favorite part.
I can't believe we did it and got all the gear up there and on their bodies.
I of course after packing three bags this morning at 6:00 am forgot my ski pants and had to buy some new ones at the resort (ouch $179.00 - that would have bought me 20 at Goodwill)When we got home the girls gave out awards for the day of skiing. Jeff won best ski teacher hands down. It will take a few years before we spend more time during the day skiing than bribing, eating, crying and riding ski lifts - but until then we are loving it and it has been worth the wait!!
Oh I just feel so incredibly blessed today!

Laundry Queen

I love being on top of my laundry and since we have moved into our new house and have a wonderful space for laundry I thought I would come up with something that would make it easy to stay on task.

I came up with the idea of each girl having their own day for laundry and for that day they are the Laundry Queen.

On the morning of their day they get a little tag that is hung on the door that says

You are the Laundry Queen.

On the bottom of the tag it tells them exactly what to bring downstairs. Strip their bed, all clothes in the hamper and towels out of the bathroom.


They also will find the pink crown (found at Goodwill and was spray painted pink)on the edge of their bed letting the whole house know they are Queen for the day.
I also have a large bag of Japanese erasers that they get to chose from if they fold and put their clothes away on the same day.

It was worked wonders. Few things I like about our little program.

1. They feel a huge sense of responsibly and are excited to find the tag on their door.
2. They carry down their laundry. I don't care how it gets down stairs, it just has to get there. They have been known to drop it over the balcony. (note to self, build chute someday)
   
3. They all have learned how to turn on the washing machine
4. They are disappointed when they don't get to put their stuff in the dryer (this often happens when they are at school)
5. They love having bragging rights of being the Queen
6. Having them have their own day means I don't have to sort clothes, just fold them. I love this part!

also while I was upstairs with my camera I took a photo of Annie Kate's latest school project. They are learning to knit in art. Since she has been home all week from school (sick), she has been able to finish her darling scarf.

Also while I was upstairs I thought I would show my cool thrifted find from the summer. The chest on the floor was my great craigslist find this summer, but the print on top was my favorite. I found it at the Paris Fla Market that is every month during the summer, just 4 miles from my house.
It is a framed piece of wallpaper! I don't know how old it is but I love it. The frame fits perfectly for the Girls wing of the house, which I call "Buttonwood".

I call that part of the house Buttonwood because when I was in Conneticut one year I saw a street that was called Buttonwood. Oh can you imagine having that be your address - it is oh so Charming! Since our street is not Buttonwood (but funny very close to that) I decided to name the part of the house that hold my three little queens "Buttonwood"
I am trying to come up with the perfect sign made out of Buttons to put upstairs - I should ask my friend Terry, he is a master with Buttons!

Anyway, the two graphics in this post are copyright free, I think I got them off of Graphicsfairy, in case you want to make your own Laundry Queen (or King) signs for your house!

Enjoy!

I can't think of a better way to spend $1.79. 2 dozen eggs are about what it takes to teach a kid to crack a egg on their own.

Whenever I am cooking the kids always want to crack the egg for the recipe. I get flustered because I may only have a few eggs, I don't want shell in the dinner or don't want a mess all over. Then I started how are these kids ever going to learn unless I just sit and teach them.

So I decided to buy each of them a pack of eggs to practice. Sure it may sound wasteful to some, but I look at is the best $1.79 I have ever spent.
On each egg we drew a face.
2 ears - this is where you place your fingers to crack the egg
eyes and nose - the nose is the part of his face you are trying to crack. They way they will shoot for the center.
Two thumbs in the nose (we called it picking for boogers - be are gross that way)
And then spill out the brain.


We had lots of chances and Caroline has received her egg license to be able to do any egg, anytime for cooking. Sally Jane still just has her permit and must crack with an adult's supervision. I am sure after 6 months she will also get a license.

To do this I believe you have to just release the eggs, don't worry about trying to make some egg salad something to save them all. That way you can just teach them and let them make mistakes. If you think of it, many people pay $25.00 for half an hour of piano lessons once a week. This is much cheaper to teach your child a skill!

The great thing about this is it kept us in the kitchen and motivated us to make homemade cinnamon rolls and homemade chicken noodle soup!

**also next time you are at the store ask the grocery if he has any eggs in the back that are expired that he was going to throw them away. He will probably give them to you. He may also make you sign something that says you are not going to peg your neighbors house!

Yikes!

My front door says it all! How do I get so behind again on my blog.

We had a 2 week fall break, which was much needed, from school. We did a mad dash tour of the 4 Corners (Colorado, NM, AZ & UT), fly fishing on the San Juan, we tried to see the Grand Canyon (we got fogged out and did not see one thing!) Zions National Park - Amazing! Drove home over the Vail pass in wonderful white snow and with a kid throwing up the whole 10 hours.
We have all been sick since we got back, but that did not stop us from having a fun Halloween, throwing a neighborhood party and passing out jumbo pixie sticks to 400 kids!

The good news is there is not a stitch of Halloween left in my house and my mind is getting on Christmas. We are laying low this week and the kids our home sick. The weather here has been incredible and this weekend we venture out to get ski clothes for the family. Oh I don't know if I am ready for this ski stuff!


I forgot my camera charger so I don't have many photos from the trip, but two of my favorite are of


Grandpy letting the girls pick out flies to fish with that surely will not catch a fish but that they were in their favorite colors, Yellow, Orange and Pink!
I thought this was quite nice of him to buy them and tell them they did a good job even though there was no way they were going to work that day on the river. It meant a lot to them.
And the best part of fly fishing is his new drift boat. The girls were in heaven! It was a wonderful relaxing day.

I have been a busy little bee planting bulbs and remulching our front yard. It took me weeks to pull up the beds along the sidewalk that were full of weeds. They are now filled with rows of pink tulips that I hope will come up next spring!
In Tennessee a lot of my neighbors used black mulch and I loved it. Here no one uses it. I thought it would make a great contrast with the the green against a brown house. Instead of brown mulch against a brown house. (this state loves the color brown!)
I am almost done getting all the front covered. My neighbor came by yesterday and asked me the funniest question. She said, "I always see you in your garage paining. I have never seen black mulch before, did you spray paint it?"
I thought this was so funny. My poor neighbors must just think I am crazy. I do think she was happy to know it was at Home Depot and she thought about putting it in too. She must be relieved to know she does not have to spay paint mulch to get the look!

going to bed 6 and waking up

7 years old!!

Happy Birthday to my little sweetheart!
Your first real birthday party was a blast.
We made pet rocks, had cake, pizza and a pinata!
You wanted everyone to have a great treat bag - that is so you to worry about everyone else.
You asked for fresh flowers of your very own but then put one on each of our beds!

We love you!

(and for the record if you would have been a boy you would have been Henry Benson)

i love getting my daily Etsy emails showing me how talented people are in this world.
Yesterday on my daily specials this print came up for sale. I just loved it, as my girls always need a constant reminder to wash their hands.
You are able to customize them in any color that you want. Guess what color I chose? Yep Pink!

The fun thing about buying things on Etsy is getting to know the different artists. This gal was awesome and had no idea that she had been featured. She is a new seller and not only do I love her print but wanted to give her a big shout out.

Give her a looky look here. Thanks Jena you are awesome!

Breakfast Help!!

We are so excited this weekend to have a guest room and basement - we get to have some of the BYU Lacrosse team stay with us for a tournament. Living in Maryland you always seem to have someone in your ward who plays on the team, so we get to have my friends son stay with us!

Anyway here comes my cry for help. I have to have them to the field by 6:00 am, which means I have to give them a wonderful breakfast by 5:00 am!
Anyone have a great breakfast casserole dish I can make the night before???

Finally Learning

I feel like I am finally at a stage in life where I accepting what I am not great at and just finding short cuts in life to spend the time on what I am good at.

One thing I am horrible at is getting dishes done in the morning after breakfast. My kids love Eggs and pancakes for breakfast. That takes a lot of dishes and pans to get that kind of breakfast in motion. They usually finish breakfast right before we walk out the door to school, which then leaves a messy kitchen when I walk back in 30 minutes later. I get overwhelmed and hide from my kitchen sink the rest of the day. My sink then always finds me right around dinner when I am then even more overwhelmed because now I have to cook dinner and clean up dried egg and sticky, hardened syrup.
So I have finally started buying all those darling and fun paper plates at TJMAxx and T.Morning that only have a set of 12 but are $1.00. Not enough for a party but great for a constant arrangement in the mornings. I have no idea how the kids feel about it, but I love it! I love using these great discounted plates and then I just throw them away. I swear it adds 20 minutes to my day!
and speaking of plates. Have you all seen the new line of John Derian (New York Designer) at Target? If not treat yourself to a hide and seek game and look in every department to see what you find. It is pretty fabulous. I purchased the Honeycomb box for our office and this plate above. It is melamine and the perfect non-scary Halloween decor. (it is not made for Halloween) I have it on a metal easel in my Kitchen that I change every month with something new. Here is the online link if you don't have a Target near by, and if you don't have a target near by then give yourself a hug from me, that must be hard! (yet my husband would think that was the best thing ever!)

Do you have any other tricks for me to make my life easier?

This week I am......

loving this free download from Graphics Fairy. (framed! and hung)planning a 7 year old birthday party (her first ever!) for this cutie!

getting my favorite Paris picture framed.
Seriously girls you are at the Louvre in front of a Renoir
and you are playing gameboys! Who is your mother!

wondering if I should be concerned my little one begs for Pressed meat any time she sees it!

and looking for fabric to get this guy recovered.
My new $15.00 score from Goodwill

Herberto (that is my father-in-law) would be so proud to know this his amazing Gingerwood invention has been introduced in our Nations Capital and now in Colorado.
Jeff was nice enough to assemble many wooden houses for the women at our church to varnish and stain for their own families. Today was our "Souper Saturday" where women in our congregation come together to make a festivus of crafts all in one day and eat soup!

The girls and I (and some of the neighbor boys) decorated it all for Halloween.

I loved using the chunky green licorice as a garden hedge around the bottom. It is green apple flavored and tastes disgusting but makes a perfect garden delight for a haunted house.

And if you are peeking in the back of my photo at my awesome plant....

Here is a close of up of my $6.00 hydrangea that I got the week we moved in. It is turning a beautiful greenish blue. I just love it!

One of my dreams come true of moving to our new house is that I finally have a house big enough to host baby showers and such. I have been collecting old glass dishes for years (from Goodwill of course) I have enough right now to serve 40 with glass tea cups, glass rectangular plates and real silver. (I just bought a full set of silver the other day at Goodwill for $4.40! that was a score)
Even better than having a house big enough was having a back yard that at one time had 21 kids out back during the open house luncheon (with their own kids lunch) and you would not even have known they were there. Oh the joys of space!

Last week a threw a baby shower for a girl having a baby that I get to visit teach (watch over, take care of and love) in my church congregation. It was so much fun. The invites were some of my favorite that I ever made. I used the graphics from one of my new favorite websites, Free Pretty Things For You (thank you!!!)

I made cupcakes with pretty pink polka dotted liners (I always buy my icing from the grocery store bakery, it is cheap, fast and much better than I can make at home) and my favorite fall drink of Spiced Fruit Punch. The recipe is from my friend Liz H who really should make a cook book because she has a great collection of yummies. Try it this fall you will like it.



Spiced Fruit Punch
Liz H.

1/3 cup of sugar
12 inches stick cinnamon, broken (buy these with the Mexican food at the grocery store, you can get a bag for $2.00)
1/2 tsp whole cloves
4 Cups apple juice, chilled
1 12 ounce can apricot nectar, chilled
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 liter of Sprite

In a saucepan combine 12 cup water, sugar and spices. Bring to boiling: reduce heat. Cover and simmer 10 minutes. Chill, covered, 2 - 24 hours. Strain spices from sugar and water and discard. Combine with fruit juices. Pour into punch bowl; add sprite.

I am slowly but surely fitting in and finding my spot. These women have been too good to me so far - I hope the more they get to know me they will be just as nice!