A little of this a little of that

So I think it is really weird to not have any pictures to upload when I blog - I really need a new camera for Christmas Santa! That said here goes another random update.

The children have been doing really wonderful in school. They seem to be settling into the routine of things very well. I think I have been getting the hang of my routine or at least trying to have a routine. I really have been so very busy with projects that yesterday when Toshia said lets make applesauce I thought to myself I just want to do nothing today. She came over (we have been having a great time getting together on Mondays canning and crafting) so we continued our "mother/daughter Mondays". She worked on her little guys Christmas present and I did a "trick or treat" banner. So for not wanting to do anything I still managed to get some creative thing done. We will get the applesauce and apple butter done when I get back from Utah next week.

Thursday Noah has to have a little surgery on his lip. He is a little nervous about it but looking forward to missing school on Friday.The little girls have started up again with piano. We took half of July and all of August off and it has been somewhat slow getting back into it since school started. Hayden in her most dramatic tone ever said, "I don't ever want to play the piano I only want to play the violin and if I can't do that then I just don't want to do anything!." I am not accomplished enough on the violin to teach her anything - I still need lots of teaching myself - so in my most dramatic tone I replied, "I would be the worst mom in the world if I let you quit - and quite frankly I don't think I could stand to hear you scratch the notes out on the violin!" She huffed off and said, "Oh well, it was worth a try." She then had another similar conversation in front of Toshia and I tried to get Toshia to let her know how unhappy she would be if she quit because when she grew up she would always wish she had stuck with it. Toshia did not quite catch on to what I was going for and said some totally random thing that did not help my cause at all. Even Chad is back at the piano and Noah is still working very hard at the guitar.

Reagan was blessed last Sunday and it was so sweet to have all the family here (except Chelsea who had a previously planned trip) for dinner afterwards. Paige was home for the first time in several months - it was nice. Lots has been going on with that little one. That is for another blog post in the future. I made Reagan's dress and bonnet and even though Ashleigh thought the bonnet was a little over the top -(it totally was not!) I think it turned out so beautiful. Toshia picked the pattern and I went from there. Lots of tucks - I love, love, love tucks on baby clothes!

I have been substituting in Seminary and teaching my sweet Sunbeam class. It has kept me in the scriptures a lot. It has been fun preparing for the two totally different kinds of teaching you have to do with the two different ages. I also have read three books in the last couple of weeks and loved all of them - "Rhett Butler's People". "The Mysterious Benedict Society", and finally I read " Goose Girl". I have also started making Christmas presents. I think we are going for more homemade again this year. It is so fun to search out projects and work on them with each person in mind. I also started a sampler quilt that I will work on with some other lady friends each month.

There has not been a slow day yet since school started. I look forward to the lazy days of summer but really have been enjoying the busy days of fall!

This and That

I have not had a chance to sit down and write for so long! The end of summer was such a whirlwind of activity and then school starting this really has been the first time I felt like I could spend time here. While on vacation my camera broke:( but fortunately Toshia was able to get lots of pictures. While I have those now on a CD I have not downloaded to the computer so I won't have any photos for this post.

Needless to say, our vacation was wonderful and fun and very relaxing. We enjoyed lots of time with family and really enjoyed "Disneyland". It was such a journey getting there (with the free ticket thing falling through) but I have to say it was worth every penny just watching the children's faces and hearing their laughter. It was also fun to be with Toshia and her sweet little family. We stayed from opening until closing. It was a long day! I am glad that we saved that for the very end of the vacation. We swam at my mom's pool. We spent time on the California beaches - the water was actually warm! We played at the park, spent time with cousins, aunts, uncles, second cousins, grandma and papa John, time at Aunt Kelly's house and her fabulous pool and backyard (a park in and of itself!), eating great food (thanks mom), going to the movies, surfing, and star gazing on the beach late at night. The kids were great and really got along well for such a long car ride. (David does not believe in stopping much - so we drove straight through in record time) I was glad to get home though because we had so much to do to get ready for school.

This school year will be a very different one for me. It will be 29 years since I have not had small children home during the day. Miss Autumn started first grade this year and that leaves me with as she tells me "six whole hours to myself". The first day I wanted to take everyone like I usually do but the little girls wanted to ride the bus. While I implored and pleaded with them to let me make sure they got to the right places on the first day Autumn informed me that "I am so over that mom". So with much apprehension I let them do it their way. I kind of worried all day until she came bouncing in the door at 2:38 all excited and happy about her first day of school. They all got where they were supposed to and things seem to be going pretty smoothly so far. As for my "six hours" of free time I have managed to fill up every minute until today. Without even trying there seemed to be some kind of project or activity I was needing to be involved with that the days have just flown by. I am hoping to get to some of the things on my "to do" list that I made during the summer next week. I kind of thought the quiet would drive me nuts but it has not taken me long to embrace the quiet. In between everything I have even managed to get a great book read!

Yeah for life right now! yeah for school! yeah for wonderful children! yeah for my hard working husband! and mostly yeah for all the joy this mother of eleven feels at this moment!