Thankful Thursday... wait.... Friday

I have a friend that does Thankful Thursday on her blog and posts up to 10 things that she is grateful for throughout the week. I've thought about doing this in the past, but decided not to because I always try to be positive in each post I write. But as I keep thinking about it, it's kind of nice to sit down and really think through the week at things that happened that I'm thankful for. So I'm going to try it. I hope she doesn't mind, but I'm going to change it to Fridays because I seem to be able to sit down more on that day and really think through the whole week. It's not as catchy, but I think it'll still work :)

1. Birthdays - I love birthdays. Even when it's not my own. One of my goals this year is to remember all the birthdays of my family members. (I may try to move on to friends next year.) But I had a brother, 2 sister-in-laws, nephew and sister all with birthdays in the past 2 weeks. I was late getting things off to them, but I was happy to let them know I remembered and how glad I am that they are here and in my life.

2. Swimming - I love watching Alex at his swimming lessons. It's fun to remember when I was in swimming lessons. This week I took Darek swimming for the first time after one of Alex's lessons. He was so funny in the water. He liked it for about 30 minutes or so and then was done. But I'm glad to see that he will tolerate it.

3. New talents - I love learning new things, but I am truly enjoying my cake decorating class. I am having so much fun learning new techniques and having fun with my friends while doing it. I'm grateful for those opportunities.

4. Alex's pranks - Alex is so funny right now. He loves to trick you and sneak up on you. Most of the time you can see it coming, but every once in a while he really gets you. But I truly love it. It's fun to watch him play with his imagination and try new things (even if they do annoy me at times)

5. Darek's smile - There is truly nothing cuter than a toothless, baby smile.

6. My parents - I don't thank them nearly as much as I should. But I am so grateful that they have tolerated us for the past 3 1/2 years. I never thought we would be here that long, and I'm surprised they haven't kicked us out yet. But I know we would not be doing the things we are without their love and kindness. Honestly, we probably wouldn't have Darek and Ian if we hadn't moved in here. And as excited as I am to move out and get on with life, I will miss having them around and miss having Alex go up some evenings to torture his Papa.

7. Ryan - I know I talk about him a lot on here about how much I love him, but I really do! He is supporting our family and going to school full-time. I don't know how he does it and I know I would never be capable of doing that. But besides that, I love that we can still sit and talk for hours about anything. I love that we understand each other and support each other. I love my marriage with Ryan and can't imagine what I would do without him.

8. Friends - I have 3 friends that I spend almost every day with. Whether it's a quick hello or text letting each other know the other is missed, we are always in contact and never tire of each other. We have at least 4 trips planned for the summertime and I cannot wait for those dates to come. I am so lucky to have other friends that I love so much too. I wish we were a little closer in distance to be able to do more together, but I love that we can still stay in contact through other means.

9. Facebook - After mentioning the last one, I have to mention facebook. It's a total love/hate relationship with facebook. I love that I've come in contact with so many people, but hate that it's so addicting and I spend WAY too much time on that site. If I can learn to limit my time, I'll come to love it even more. :)

10. Game nights - Tonight we sat and played games for a long time. I love that Alex is big enough to play board games and video games. We played Clue Jr. tonight and then switched to the xbox 360 and played Scene It! It's fun to play as a family, and even Darek gets in on the action and starts yelling at the TV. I love that family time is so important to all of us.

Well, that wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Now I'll just have to remember to do it every week. We'll see how well that works. Thanks for listening... hope you weren't too bored :)

Hanging with Kindergartners

For the past 3 weeks, I have been helping in Alex's class all day on Thursdays. Every week I go through wondering if I should go or not... thinking how exhausted I'll be afterward. But somehow I talk myself into going, and I have not regretted it yet. 5-6 year olds are the greatest! Not only are they learning new things like crazy, but they are making friends and I know my Alex is developing his sense of humor every day.

Every week I hear the funniest stories from these little kids. I'll have to write some of the stories down so I can type them up on here. But I get to sit and paint with them a group at a time. They all seem to love "Alex's Mom", but I think that's because I bring the "really cute baby" with me every week. Darek has become somewhat of a celebrity in Alex's class. Alex loves to show him off and I think Darek ends up being as exhausted as I am with all his adoring fans surrounding him. (And for all those freaking out right now, I'm not completely irresponsible. I don't let the kids touch him... just look at him and talk to him.)

Tomorrow, I think I'll be going a little overboard. I'm going to be taking Darek, Alex and 4 of Alex's school friends to the Gateway to have lunch and then to the Discovery Gateway. I'm actually really excited and maybe a little nervous. I will have one other person there to help me, so it shouldn't be too bad. But after getting confirmations from his friends, Alex said, "Mom, tomorrow is going to be the best day ever!" I hope it will live up to his standards :) I'm taking my camera with me, so hopefully I'll have some great pictures to post of our fun day tomorrow.

Daycare

I am looking to do daycare out of my home and wanted to post this to see if anyone is in need or knows of anyone in need of child care for their children. I am open to any age and am quite flexible with time availability. I have done child care off and on for over 9 years. I recently finished watching an adorable little boy, and just loved having him around.

I am located in North Salt Lake. If any specific information is needed, please contact me. I would be happy to answer any questions at all. The best way to contact me would be by email at:

shellybug49@hotmail.com

And for those who are not aware of anyone at this time, please keep me in mind if you do come across anyone looking for daycare.

Thank you!

A New Bed

Alex loves that Darek is old enough to "play with" now. Of course Darek can't really play, but Alex still loves to play with him. One thing Alex has really wanted to do lately is to have a sleepover with Darek. I don't quite understand this, since they sleep in the same room. But I guess in order for it to be a sleepover, it has to be in another room. So the last couple days, Alex has been setting up different ways that he and Darek could sleep in the front room together. Most of them have been pretty normal - blankets on the couches, sleeping bags, etc. But I must say his idea today for Darek was pretty genius... well I'll just let you see for yourself.










Alex set up the suitcase and blankets all by himself. I can't wait to see what happens when Darek is big enough to play back. What great buddies these boys are already.

Enchanted

I love the movie Enchanted. Loved it the first time I saw it. I just watched it with Alex again the other day. I have so many favorite scenes and songs from the movie, but for some reason I really fell in love with this scene and song this last time I watched it. Maybe it was because it was around Valentines day or something. Just watching the video makes me want to dance. I want to dance like that with Ryan just once in my life.

Cake Fun

I was supposed to go to my cake class last night. But because of the storm, our teacher canceled and rescheduled for another day. Well, my friends and I had already made our cakes and icing, so we decided to do our own thing last night and still make our cakes. I think we all did a pretty decent job, but the important thing was, we had a TON of fun doing it.

Icing our cakes

More icing

Me, staring on my decorations.

I think this was Darek's was of trying to get our attention.

Look at that face!

Tammy working on some decorating


My cute little flowers

Kaylene trying to hold back from taking a bite :)

I had to wait for my flowers to harden a little, so I finally got to finish decorating this morning

More of my cake

The finished product. I need to work on placement and my writing, but overall I think it turned out pretty well. I'll let the other girls show of their cakes on their blogs. I don't want to take their glory away!

Valentines Day

I'm a little late posting this, but I had to mention my wonderful Valentines Day this year. We usually don't do very much (if anything at all) for Valentines. This year though I found something that sounded kinda fun and asked Ryan if he was interested. We were lucky enough to have my parents available and gracious enough to watch our boys for the night, so we could have a small get away.

Megaplex theaters did a package deal which included a romantic dinner, live music, a movie, popcorn and drinks. We even got a rose (which Ryan wanted to take credit for) on our table at dinner. We went to the theater in Ogden and stayed in a hotel right down the street. The neat thing about the hotel is that it is said to be haunted, and if you know us (especially Ryan), we find haunted places to be extremely cool and exciting. Sadly we were not put on the specific floor that is said to have had "activity", but it still had that creepy feeling. Anyway, we checked into our hotel and walked down the street to the theater. We had a couple hours to kill, so we went next door and found that they had mini golf, bowling, games... just about any activity you could want. We played a round of mini golf (which I won), and then a couple games of air hockey. From there we went over to the Ogden temple grounds and looked around a little before heading to the theater.

When we got to the theater, we were escorted upstairs to the room where they had the tables all set up and the live music going. We were lucky enough to get seated right by the window, so we had a beautiful view of the mountains. The food was great, and during the meal it started snowing, which made it that much more romantic. After dinner, we were again escorted to the concessions, where we were handed our popcorn and drinks and shown to our movie. We opted to see "He's Just Not That Into You". It was a cute movie, not my favorite, but cute. After the movie we walked back to the hotel. Washington blvd. in Ogden at night was a little different from when we had been out during the day. Amazingly we didn't hear any gun shots or anything, but still a little creepy.

All in all, it was a wonderful 24 hours away with my wonderful husband. He was such a gentleman (well, he always is). It was nice to have a little get away, but felt a little strange not having our kids with us. Almost felt like it did when we were first married. We missed our boys, and were so happy to see their smiling faces when we came home.

Thank you for the wonderful trip Ryan! Happy Valentines Day!

Seven Things

Seven things I can do:
1. Play the piano. It's a talent I've had for a long time, and I love that I can play.
2. Be a good friend. I love having close friends and feel that I am a good friend back. But betray me, and you'll lose my trust forever.
3. Bake. I love baking! I feel I can bake pretty well and it's something I really enjoy doing... especially when Alex wants to help me.
4. I've been told that I'm a great wife and mother. I love my family more than anything and being a wife and mother is something I'm always striving to get better at doing.
5. Planning. I probably should be a reservation agent or something, because I love to plan. I love planning vacations, parties (I can't wait for Alex's birthday party!), daily activities, etc. I love making lists of what I need to get done and when. I really find it to be exciting to cross things off my lists.
6. Have fun. I love to have fun! We take as many vacations as possible as a family. It's so nice to get away and not have those every day worries of life. I love being with my friends and playing games.
7. Sing. I don't feel that I have a spectacular voice, but I really love to sing. I love singing in the shower, singing in the car, singing in the store... but I love singing with Ryan. We have particular songs that we'll just start singing a'capella to. And I must admit, we sound pretty good together.

Seven things I can't do:
1. Lose weight. I probably could do this if I tried really hard. I'm actually starting a diet today and we'll see how it goes.
2. Keep my house clean. Again, this is probably I could do if I tried. I just have a hard time with wanting to do it.
3. Read. I like to read, but never give myself the time to do it.
4. Stop thinking about Disneyland. It's always on my mind. Even right after I come home from a trip, I can't stop thinking about the next time we'll get to go. I love that place!
5. Get back to school. Part of this is a time issue, but another part of it is lack of motivation. As long as I feel that I'm getting some sort of education in what I want to be doing (ex. taking a cake decorating class), I don't feel the need to go back to school.
6. I can't stop shopping. It's a true addiction. It's really bad right after a holiday. I know that the candy and merchandise will all be 50% off, so I feel I need to take advantage if it's such a good deal. It's not even about having the "stuff", it's about getting an amazing deal. I'm truly sick and I need help. :)
7. Get enough of my friends and family. The bonus to being home now is that I get to spend so much time with my friends and my family. But it still seems like I don't have enough time with them.

Seven things I say most:
1. I love you!
2. Totally
3. Alex David (not always out of anger, but just to say it)
4. Darek Ethan (same as above)
5. Not right now (this is one I want to work on... I hate that I say this one too much)
6. Ryan - mention in conversation and such
7. Disney/Disneyland - it comes up a lot around here

Seven Goals for the New Year:
1. Remember family members birthday's, even if it's a little late! - Jen, I did remember yours and you will be getting something from me soon! I promise! And, happy birthday Aaron! You'll be getting something soon too!
2. Handle finances a little better
3. Try not to let people get to me/Be true to myself
4. Be a better member of the church
5. Become really great at something - hopefully it'll be making cakes. I would love to make someone's wedding cake by the end of the year, but I don't know if I'll have the guts to do it.
6. Eat less junk food.
7. Less shopping... oh this one is going to kill me!

Seven reasons I fell in Love with Ryan:
1. We met in choir, and I loved that he could sing
2. He wrote the most beautiful letters to me. I remember that I would actually forget to breathe while reading his letters.
3. The way I felt when he held me.
4. The fact he never second guessed marrying me. He knew from the start that we were supposed to be together.
5. He is the funniest person I know. He can always make me laugh, even on my worst day.
6. This one came later... but I love how much he loves our children. He is an amazing father and would do anything to make sure our children are happy.
7. I love him just as much as he loves me.

Seven things I love to eat:
1. Texas Roadhouse!!!!
2. Better Cheddars
3. Red Vines
4. Manicotti
5. Fruit - I especially love berries... strawberries and raspberries... oh sooo good!
6. Chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven
7. Chocolate covered marshmallow
---Now I'm extremely hungry... maybe I'll start the diet tomorrow :)

Seven people I tag:
1. Clover
2. Tammy
3. Amy G.
4. Kaylene
5. Amy A.
6. Rachel
7. Koreena

This is assuming you all read my blog, which you probably don't. How about this, just do it if you feel like it.

Why We Love Each Other

Last night I was talking to Alex and he loves to come up with little games. Especially trivia games. Right now the big one is trivia about Disneyland. (ex. Q. How many ghosts in the Haunted Mansion? A. 999, but always room for one more.) Well, last night he was doing this and switched it up a little. He decided we all should to name one of our favorite things about each family member. I thought it was perfect for Valentine's Day. So here is what we came up with.

On Darek - Alex said he loves that Darek talks now and all the funny noises he makes. Mandi said she loves Dareks smile and how happy it makes her. Ryan said he loves when Darek gets really excited and stomps his foot (it's really cute, and very funny).

On Alex - (we guessed on Dareks answers) Darek said he loves how funny Alex is and loves to watch him do crazy things. Mandi said she loves how kind Alex is. She also loves to get hugs and kisses from him. Ryan said he loves listening to Alex laugh.

On Mandi - Darek said he loves that Mommy can cheer him up and knows what to do when he's sad. Alex said he loves that his Mommy loves him and he loves his Mommy. Ryan said he loves that Mandi understands him and loves him for who he is.

On Ryan - Darek said he loves being in his Daddy's arms and loves to cuddle with him. Alex said that he loves that his Daddy is the best game buddy in the world. Mandi said she loves that Ryan knows how important it is for her to be home right now, and he is doing everything he can to make sure that happens.

This was such a fun activity, and it was really neat to see what each person came up with. I love my family so much! We went out last night for a family Valentine's dinner, and as we were all walking together, I found myself thinking that everything I wanted was right there with me. Yes, I would love to have more children. Yes, it would be great to have Ryan done with school and move to our future home in California. Sure, I would love to go back to school and get a few degrees. But honestly, what matters most is that I have an amazing relationship with my incredible and loving husband. I have three beautiful boys that are so sweet and wonderful... I feel so in awe that I was chosen to be their Mother. I love that I can be at home right now and give 100% of my time to Ryan, Alex and Darek. When I look at all of these things, I know that I have a truly blessed life.

Chuck E Cheese's

I had absolutely nothing scheduled to do yesterday. It was actually a first and I decided I wanted to do something really fun for Alex. I decided to surprise him with Chuck E Cheese's.

Alex is such a great big brother! I did not know how he was going to take becoming a big brother, especially since he was an only child for so long. But I have been so amazed at how natural it has been for him. Not only that, but when Alex is in the room, Darek cannot take his eyes off his big brother. I have a feeling that as soon as Darek is mobile, Alex will have a little shadow everywhere he goes. I also went to parent/teacher conference with Alex the other night and found that he really doing wonderful in school. (I kinda already knew that, but it's nice to hear from his teacher too.) He has met and exceeded everything they are supposed to learn. He is doing really well with reading, and it makes me so proud as a Mom.

I love my little Alex, and for all these reasons (and more), I really thought he deserved this. So without telling him where we were going, I asked him to pick two of his friends that he would like to have come with us to a very fun place. He chose Ben S. and Ben F. to come with us. I set it all up with parents and off we went. Right before we left, I gave him a few hints to figure out where we were going. When he figured it out, he got really excited. He looked at me and said, "Mom you are so awesome, and you are about to make me cry." I started laughing. But he got a little serious and said, "I'm serious, I'm really about to cry." I gave him a big hug, since the comment now was about to make me cry. (I love getting comments like that!)

We had 4 great hours at Chuck E Cheese's. The boys had so much fun and played so great together. Darek even had a great time! He was mesmerized by all the lights and all the kids playing.

I had planned to take lots of pictures with my camera. Well, I remembered my camera, but forgot my SD card. So I only have a few from my camera phone.

Arriving at Chuck E Cheese's

I thought they were going to run off all their energy just while we were waiting outside.

While we were waiting in line to get in, they all had to go to the window and look inside to see what awaited them.


Where a kid can be a kid!

Cupcake Fun

I had an incredibly fun night tonight. My 3 girlfriends came over and we went to town making some really fun cupcakes. I recently found a book at Alex's book fair at school on decorating cupcakes. So we got all the ingredients together and did two of those recipes tonight. I have to say that we did a pretty darn good job making them look like they did in the book. But more than that, we had SO much fun putting them all together.

Kaylene having fun while decorating

Tammy mistaking Crisco for frosting... just kidding of course :)

Cupcakes right out of the oven

Going WAY overboard on decorating supplies

Our very yummy frosting being prepared

Our first recipe. Looks pretty weird here, but turns out looking much better.


Kaylene taking her turn putting on the "noodles"

Beccie taking a bite out of a meatball

Me, attempting to put some more noodles on


After all the noodles were finally done

Putting on the first few meatballs

A few more...

After a bit of Parmesan cheese, we have a finished product

Doesn't that look appetizing.... okay and maybe a little weird

The girls, showing off our finished product

Our next recipe was to make a complete dinner. Our first task were the chicken drumsticks.

Can't forget the veggies... peas and carrots

Some mashed potatoes with butter and gravy

And a little pudding for dessert


Here is our complete dinner.


I can't tell you how fun this was. I have many more recipes to make and cannot wait to do them. I ended up eating the mashed potatoes and Tammy tried out one of the spaghetti and meatballs. Both were very tasty, but gave us quite the sugar high. If you're interested in getting the recipe, let me know. It was very fun to make!

He Really Is Growing

I put an outfit on Darek yesterday that is one of my favorites. Alex wore it when he was a baby, and I was so sad when he outgrew it. I was expecting it to be a little snug on Darek, but it was much too small and once again I was very sad. I looked back at the pictures I took of him in it days after we got him, and it was HUGE on him. Well, I'll let you see the comparison. It just made me realize that he really is growing up.

Alex in the outfit at about 2 months old.

Darek wearing the outfit at 7 months old.

Darek wearing the outfit at 2 months old.

I guess I should be grateful that Darek was able to wear it all the way to 7 months old. :)

Messy Darek

Because Darek was so premature, he's just starting things now that other babies his age have already mastered. It's pretty interesting because he's this little guy with such a grown up face. Anyway, one thing we've really started now is baby food. He hasn't really known how to eat before, but now he's very interested. The problem with this is he is also in the "put your hands in your mouth at any available moment" stage. So feeding him is never an easy (or clean) thing to do. But it sure makes for some great pictures.








I usually don't let him get that messy, but I just let him at it so I could get some cute pictures. Even messy, he's so stinkin' adorable!!