Thatching and other Ramblings

• The other day Ken told me I reminded him of Mary Poppins.  I, of course, agreed, since I am "practically perfect in every way".  I'm just wondering what took him so long to notice ;)
• Ken decided that it was time to de-thatch the lawn to try to get rid of the moss, or at least not have more moss than grass.  We rented the tools yesterday and Ken got to work.  This is the front yard after thatching, aerating, and raking up all the thatch/moss.  It was a lot of hard work.  You can see how brown and ugly our lawn is now, compared to the neighbors green lawn.

This is the back yard after thatching and before raking.  I don't think this picture even does justice to just how thick the moss/thatch is that needs to be raked up.   Poor "Jumpy Squirrel" - I'm sure this just wreaked havoc on his winter food storage.

This afternoon, I took the girls outside and we all worked on the backyard.  Amelia is actually a great helper and I was impressed with her raking skills.  Last night while we were raking, I asked Amelia if she needed help, and she said, "that would be lovely."   

Amelia also said to me, "get out of town", when I told her how good she was at raking.  I have no idea where she learned that phrase; I certainly don't say it.  Sophia didn't last very long outside today, perhaps because it was only 35F?  This is Amelia having fun after she got done raking.

 I spent about an hour outside and between Amelia and I, we did about a 1/3 of the yard.

• And on a completely unrelated note, here is a picture of our new, correct table, with 4 of the 8 chairs.  It's so nice to have a table that fits all of us, plus guests (hint, hint) :)

Riding Bikes

Amelia has almost outgrown her little bike, so last night, Ken found a used one and brought it home for Amelia.  She was excited and a bit nervous, but she has done great riding it.  The hardest part for her is getting on it, but she can get off it just fine. 

 Sophia is thrilled to be able to ride Amelia's old bike and is already up and running.

Misc Ramblings

• The girls love playing with Daddy, and he happily obliges.  (BTW - I always said I wouldn't be one of those moms that let their kids run around in just a diaper . . . you should never say never . . . I can not keep clothes on my hot-blooded girls).

• Amelia LOVES Sunbeams.  She has dragged me to the Primary room each Sunday after Sacrament Mtg.  Yeah!
• A few weeks ago, I was able to hook up with my friend, Molly (pictured here with her beautiful nieces), that I haven't seen for over 6 years.  It was as if it had only been a week since I'd seen her last.  I love friends like that.  Molly's nieces loved playing with my girl's hair while Molly and I were visiting - it was a perfect distraction/entertainment.  

• I know it's only January, but I have already started planning activities, etc. for my girls for this summer's road-trips.  I have come to the maybe obvious conclusion that they are happiest with interaction from me, rather than me just handing them something to do.  I'm wishing I had a passenger seat that I could turn around to face the girls so I wouldn't have to spend so much road time sitting sideways in my seat.
• I miss my mom.
• When it rains all winter, you find the fun where you can:

• So it turns out that the wrong table got shipped to us, which is why it doesn't look at all like what we thought it should look like.  In the meantime, we are all enjoying are new wrong table.  I love having counter-height chairs to use at our bar.  And the girls like sitting at the bar.  As for when our wrong table is going to be made right, we have no idea.  Costco ordered us the right table and told us the vendor doesn't want the wrong table back, so when the new table eventually shows up, we'll figure out what we're going to do with the wrong table.

This is how I found my girls today when it had gotten just a bit too quiet upstairs.

And just now, while working on this blog, the doorbell rings, and there is Amelia and Sophia on the doorstep.  Amelia says to me "here is my little girl, I'm just dropping her off."  I love the creative, imaginative minds of my little girls.  And I love that they play together so well.

Flat Stanley

Our nephew, Landon, sent us his version of Flat Stanley for his school assignment.  It's been sitting on our counter for almost 2 months now and we finally got around to taking Flat Landon somewhere in the area for his "photo shoot".  Since we live in the state's capital, we thought that would be a great place to visit.

A few weeks ago when we drove by the capital, Amelia called it a princess castle.  Today she kept calling it a temple.  Amelia loved exploring the inside of the capital; there were so many stairs to go up and down and both girls loved the cool echo.  Here's Amelia rubbing George's nose for good luck ;)

New Table

We have been saving for a new dining room/kitchen table for what seems like forever (in reality, probably just a year or so).  But we've been complaining about our table for most of our married life.  It worked great for Ken, in his small house, when it was just him.  But add 1, 2, 3 people and well, we've simply outgrown our table.  It has been well-loved by our girls - pounding on it with their forks, running around it, playing train under it.  But the time has come to get a new table.  The table we wanted at Costco.com finally came on sale and we bought it.  After anxiously awaiting 2 weeks for it's arrival, it finally came yesterday.  Dropped off by a large freight truck, delivered in 5 large boxes on a pallet.

We were all a bit like a child at Christmas.  Ken rushed through dinner to start assembling the 8 chairs and table.  The girls LOVED playing with all of the packing material.  It became a kite to fly and wave around . . .

confetti to create and throw . . .

and fun to just sit in.

My favorite use of the packing material, however, was what the girls were doing with it in the garage.

Ken finally got 4 chairs unboxed and assembled, then unboxed the table.  But when he took it out of the box, we discovered that the table was NOT the one we had ordered.  The table should be dark wood like the chairs, but instead, it is a light oak color.  At 9pm, I was so disappointed and frustrated.  Ken assembled it anyway so that we would have a table to go with our counter-height chairs.

In the meantime, the girls love the tall chairs.  I was a bit worried that the chairs would be too high for them, but so far, so good.  Sophia likes that she doesn't need the booster seat anymore.  Amelia loves sitting on a chair at our bar, instead of having to stand on a chair.  I called Costco this morning and am waiting for them to fix the mistake.  We'll see how long it takes.

Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam

Amelia's first day as a Sunbeam at church.  Her nursery teacher, Sis. Monks made these adorable shirts for all the kids going into Sunbeams.  I'm glad Amelia looks happy in this picture, because a few minutes later, she was crying as she walked (or rather, was carried) to the Primary room.  I'm glad she didn't see her mother standing out in the hall, watching the little trail of Sunbeams, because she was crying too.  Can you imagine what a baby I'll be when she does something big like start school or graduates from high school?

After church was over, Amelia excitedly told me about the yummy snacks and fun things she did in her new class.  But just as we pulled into our driveway, Amelia told me that she never, ever wanted to go back to that class again.  Change is hard for all of us, but we can do hard things :)

New Year Theme - 2014

Every year people set New Year's resolutions, myself included.  Last year, for the first time, I chose a theme for the year, rather than a bunch of resolutions and I loved it.  It was so much easier to keep a theme in mind, to keep me focused all year.  Last year I chose the theme of Joy.  I needed to find more joy in my journey; joy being a mom, joy in the every day things that happen, joy even when things didn't seem to be going right.  I also wanted to do more things to help my daughter, Amelia Joy, know my mother, Joy.  In January I had no idea that my Mom would pass away in 2013, but God knew I needed to create those memories for my daughter before it was too late.

And as I have reflected on my self, my behavior, who I am and who I want to be, I've known for the past few months what theme I needed for 2014.  In 2013 I turned 40, and spent the year celebrating me - doing things for me, things I needed.  And now I know that I need to focus outwardly this year, so my theme for 2014 is:

Charity

Sometimes I think of Charity as service, but it's so much more.  I am reminded of a great scripture that defines Charity:  Moroni 7: 44-46.  There are so many things in this scripture I need to work on, especially at home:  not being easily provoked (kids can drive me crazy), being kind, endureth all things (did I mention that kids can make me crazy), etc.  And I've come to realize lately that service is a lot more than what is typically thought of as a "service project". There are so many ways I can serve, even if I never leave my home.  I'm excited for this year and look forward to growing in new ways.