Sleepover - Part 2

A couple of months ago we had the girls' best friends Chloe and Sophie over for a sleepover, and Friday night they had Kiera and Makenna over there. I was a little nervous about the girls getting homesick when it came time to go to sleep, but I guess they did just fine - we didn't get any calls in the middle of the night!! The girls can't stop talking about it. They had so much fun! (And thanks to Chloe & Sophie's photographer-mom, we've got some great pictures!)

Dads & Donuts

This morning Quentin went into work a little late so he could attend the First Grade "Dads & Donuts" event with Kiera. She's been looking forward to this for months - the kids got to share donuts and juice with their dads, show off their pictures and sing some songs for them. Quentin and Kiera were both thrilled!

Yoga Class

So I started a yoga class tonight. Just one of those 8-week "Continuing Education" classes held at a local high school. But ahhh - I love it! My SIL introduced me to yoga maybe 5 or 6 years ago, and before I tried it I have to admit that I thought it was a little hokey. But after trying it I was hooked. Since then I've done it here and there (a few classes, a little bit on my own, and some on the Wii Fit), but it's nice to be able to go to an official class and have an excuse to have time alone and do some real exercise and have a chance to relax (boy, that's a run-on sentence!). Ahhhh. Namaste.

Kangaroo Zoo

Quentin and the girls were home from work/school for the holiday today, so we (of course) wanted to do something fun and out of the ordinary. We checked out Kangaroo Zoo in North Salt Lake and had a blast! My mom (Granny) gave us a family pass for Christmas and I can already tell that it is going to be a hot spot for our family, especially on the cold winter days. There is a huge bouncy play area, which the girls just loved. Kasidee was a little timid at first but she quickly got braver and kind of surprised us. It was a fun activity and we were so happy that Granny could join us - and also for ice cream at Baskin Robbins afterward (yum!) Next time at Kangaroo Zoo we might try the black light miniature golf!

Annie

Can I just say that I LOOOVE plays (or "The Theater" as some call it)! It's one of my all-time favorite things. Quentin and I have enjoyed going to lots of plays through the years, and we want to instill that same enjoyment in our daughters! Kiera and I saw "Suessical" a couple of years ago, and last night we took Makenna to her first play (along with Kiera and Granny!) We went to Bountiful High's production of "Annie." The girls enjoyed it. At one point, Kiera seemed bored but she said she was just tired. But she had fun, and Makenna was attentive and enjoyed it a lot.

So now within the next month or so, we're planning on taking the girls to Rodger's Memorial Theater's "Wizard of Oz" and Woods Cross High's "Beauty and the Beast." I can't wait!

Birthday Wish

This evening, Kiera said, "Mama, last year my birthday was on a Wednesday. Does that mean that my birthday will be on a Wednesday every single year for the rest of my life?" I explained that it changes each year and mentioned that this year it will happen to be on a Thursday. She seemed disappointed as she said, "Aw, darn it." I asked her what she was thinking and she said, "I wish it could be on a Monday this year because then it would come sooner!" :)

I'm Taking My Life Back

I'm giving credit to the New Year for giving me the motivation to finally take my life back. Most days I feel like I'm running through Jello - I feel like I can never get anything totally done. When I'm straightening up one room, the girls are in another room making a mess. There's always something to do in the parenting/house maintenance department.

Well, for Family Home Evening last night, we came up with some family goals and made a chart. Seeing them written down helped us all realize what we need to focus on. And I'll tell ya - today ran soooo smooth! (And I didn't even use the "TV Babysitter" to help me get things done - in fact, one of our new things is that the girls get 3 coins each day, good for 1/2 hour of TV or computer game or Wii time). The girls were excited to check off each thing (some were just reminders of good habits; others were new goals; and yet others were optional "extra" things that could help them toward their weekly allowance). Makenna was willing to help me unload the dishwasher and Kiera was thrilled to be able to help put clean laundry away. I know in most families, this is a requirement - but for us it's pretty much been hit and miss. Hopefully things will keep going like this. I realize that I'm happiest when I feel like my life is in control. I have a hard time concentrating on other things until the "basics" are done. I know I'm rambling, but I just wanted to jot this down because I'm feeling oh, so good!!

(P.S. Another idea we came up with a few months ago...instead of repeatedly asking the girls to put their stuff away, anytime I come across something out of place that one of the girls (well, Kasidee is excluded for a couple more years!) has gotten out, I put it in a red plastic basket. That way, it's out of the way and it makes me feel better. Then at the end of the day, before bedtime, the girls can go through the basket and put things away. Whatever is left in the basket after they've gone to bed gets to be MINE!! - So far I haven't been able to keep any of their stuff!)

Swell Noel

Okay, I'm addicted. And I had to quickly blog about it before I return to my new hobby.... I've always been fond of all things paper-crafty and all things miniature, and when I saw this little paper village in a store, I was immediately drawn to it. But I just figured it was not a necessity and I passed it by. But I kept thinking about it and emailed my sister-in-law (a fellow paper-craft and miniature lover) and I think we convinced each other that we each needed one. We thought it looked like a winter village more than a Christmas village, so it works for January decor! Anyway, I just started mine and have made 4 of the 8 buildings and boy, it sure is fun! It's quite time-consuming (the school took me 50 minutes to finish), but it's a fun process and WAY cool to see it come together. It's just so dang cute I can hardly stand it. Just thought I'd share. Now I'm off - my girls are asleep, the snow is quietly coming down, and I'm in the mood to stay up late and be crafty! (P.S. I thought it would be something the girls and I could do together, but it's a little tricky and they just ended up watching me anyway!)

Check out details at:
http://www.kandcompany.com/shop/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=128&idproduct=5929
(P.S. You can buy it at Ben Franklin's Crafts in Kaysville!)

Happy New Year!

2009 - another brand new year! Hope everyone had a fun celebration, and I hope everyone has a fabulous year ahead!! We had a rather quiet "party" with cousins and even had Marina, Roman and Isaac (and their mom and dad!) sleep over! Movies, games, talking, playing...it was fun. And the next day Quentin and Corbin made waffles and we enjoyed the laziness of the morning. Later, the 5 of us met Mom and Grandma for an early dinner at Grandma's (and the girls') favorite place - Chuck A Rama. Grandma was so excited to be able to go out to a restaurant for the first time in a long time since she's been sick. Last night we popped popcorn, rented Wall-E, and vegged. Ahhh....

This morning all 3 girls slept till 10:30. Wow. I enjoyed a quiet morning all by myself (Quentin had to work today). It will be good to get back into a routine on Monday with school starting again. For me the new year won't really start till Monday. I've got a list of personal goals and family goals that we want to work on this year. One new thing I want to do this year is to do my journal on the computer. I got my first journal when I was baptized and wrote occasionally in it. But I've basically written something for every day since 1991 (wow!) and I have a cedar chest half-full of journals. Since I've started blogging, most of my journal entries are just copies of what I wrote on my blog. So I figured, why not do it all on the computer? (Cutting and pasting are much easier than re-writing a ton of stuff). Besides, I've started making each girl their own journals and have had to go through my old journals and type stuff. Talk about tedious. So I'm excited about this new project.

Another goal, at least for the month of January, is for us to go on a Money Diet. We've gotten pretty lax in our spending lately and want to bump up our savings a little. So we'll see how that goes. It's kind of a fun challenge, actually, to see how little we can get by with.

Well, happy new year!! And here's to a fresh start! I love January....