Coincidence?

(Carrie, this is for you)
We got my stock options check the same day as our carpet bill. Coincidence? or fate telling me to pay it off. Woohoo!!!! We're debt FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok, ok, so the checks haven't cleared, but they will this week and I am elated beyond belief. I hate the weight on your shoulders bearing you down... ugh. Awful feeling. I would love to follow the Dave Ramsey book and live a debt free lifestyle, but we have a long way to go before that happens. I guess in a way I follow it, but we're still early in the 'steps'. Isn't step 3 to get your 6 month savings?
I find it so funny that only 50 years ago no one hardly owned a credit card. Funny how things change. We are blessed and that is all there is to it.

So did everyone have a good Labor Day? Mine was excellent. I enjoyed a full season of Veronica Mars (and am currently starting season 2) and Chris and I were able to get away for the evening without the kids. Thank you so much Sara and Kyle!!!! Today has been very lazy, but enjoyable. We bought the paint colors for our kitchen/entry. We're going to have a yellow kitchen now. I hope it's not too 'in your face' when it gets on the walls.

Anyway, just had to share my wonderful news. I could shout it from the rooftops. YAY!!!

2 weeks down... years to go

Well we're nearing the end of my first 2 weeks as a stay at home mom and I'm going to have to say, I've never been so busy in my life!! Everyone told me I would be surprised I ever had time to work and would wonder how I did it. I actually do! How did I have time to do everything?? Well, I know the answer to that - I didn't. I missed so many activities and fun playdates for Eli, my house was filthy and I didn't spend as much "quality" time with my kids.

So lets recap. I've watched neighbor kids several times (for varying amounts of time), we've gone swimming 4 times, been to the grocery store - 5? times, I've swept my kitchen floor at least 10 times, been to one birthday party and been to the playground with friends once. Twice if you include when we were watching Elis friends. I find that I clean the kitchen at least twice a day. Well... let me be more specific. I don't deep clean it twice, but say for example in the morning I'll do the dishes, sanitize the counters and table and high chair then in the afternoon I'll do the dishes again, sweep and quickly wipe down the counters. Unfortunately I'm still leaving the dinner dishes in the sink until the next morning. I have a tendency to shut down once Chris comes home. Its like my day is 'over' and thats when I get my break. I turn on the tv for the first time at about 4:00.

Whatever happened to the bon-bon eating, lemonade sipping, relax with a good magazine image I had of all you moms? LOL! Of course I'm kidding but I do have many days where I look at the clock and think how on earth is it 3:00 already?? I was going to get so much more done today and yet I feel like I haven't stopped moving.

The most interesting thing to me in all of this was the thought I had today while vacuuming the bedrooms. I haven't thought about work once! (well until that thought came) The meetings I had to be at on Wednesdays or the staff meetings that never seemed to happen, the office talk of politics, religion and other such hush-hush topics, the projects I had been working on so tirelessly... its like they're gone. I still think I should be setting my alarm at night and I kind of miss my friends, but thats about as far as it gets.

Anyway, I guess my point is that I am loving this so far. It is exactly what I had hoped for. I am seeing how important my time is with my kids. How short and fleeting it all is and how (for this short moment) they are so dependent on me and I on them. My favorite time of day is when Nathan wakes up from a nap and his eyes just light up when Eli or I enter the room. He is so much fun at this young age. I just love it. And my sweet little Eli. I have a parent orientation on Tuesday for his preschool. He looks so grown up to me, I hardly recognize him sometimes. Its like I still think of him as a 2 yr old. Oh well. I guess thats why we have pictures. You get to remember how small they were. I just uploaded over 100 pictures to walgreens so I can have actual printed copies. That might be part of my little reminiscent tangent there. I apologize. Well I guess I'm back to work. Nathan is about ready for a nap which means the real work begins.

Bon-Bon anyone?

New Layout!

Ok, so this is just one I found online for free. I thought it was kind of cutesy, but not over the top. It'll do for now. ;) Enjoy the new look!

Weekend

This weekend I got to meet a couple that Chris helped baptize while on his mission. It was great. We met up with Sam and Corinna in Salt Lake to go to a talent show at the convention they were in town for. The talent show was entertaining, but they were able to come over yesterday and go to church with us and visit for a while. I can't remember the last time we had guests come over for dinner. I think its something we may need to do more often. They were so nice and they told us all about their convention and sales. Melaleuca. Ever heard of it? We're going to try it out for a little while and see if we like the products. I like mostly the cleaning stuff. Get the major harmful chemicals out of the house... wouldn't that would be nice.

Next time we have people over though, I'm going to have most of my clutter piles gone. Its just too much stress. My house will never be spotless, but I want to maintain some sort of sanity around here. I'm finding over the last week its a little easier to at least keep on top of the major things (that people can see) and hopefully once I get into a good routine I can tackle some of the organizing that desperately needs to be done. Thats my goal. It won't happen overnight, but its something I'm going to strive for. Well, I'm watching the neighbors kids today (so no cleaning is happening at the moment) but I better get back. 4 boys in one house. Heaven help me. LOL!

I'm sorry if I'm rude.

I'm just throwing that out there.
The one thing I have noticed in the last few weeks is how nice everyone is! Everyone helps everyone, offers to help everyone, writes kind notes thanking them for helping everyone... I'm a little overwhelmed! They think of these thoughtful and kind things that would have never crossed my mind! So for all of you in my neighborhood, if I come across as mean or rude because I don't do something that I probably should... I apologize. My brain doesn't work like that. I am not the nice note maker, or offerer of kind services. I blame the fact that I am an engineer and have the logical brain. I've also worked with men all my life. I really do love you, and if you need anything, please ask.
Sometimes I need to be beat over the head with what I should do. Hopefully you all will rub off on me and I'll come around to being as thoughtful as you. Maybe someday

PANIC!

All mothers know that feeling when their child is in a different room and are being just a little too quiet. :) What are they doing, what are they getting in to? What kind of havoc are they wreaking? (or with smaller ones) what are they choking on?
Well I had not had that experience with Nathan yet mostly because I am always in the room with him. ...Story time!

Yesterday we were tidying up our bedrooms. We were in Eli's room and had just moved on to Nathans room. Cleaning up books, clothes, etc. Nathan was with us in Elis room and had started to follow us into his own room. Eli and I started putting things away and a couple minutes later realized Nathan had never made it out of Eli's room. Yikes! Then I hear it, the sound that NO mother wants to hear... SILENCE.
uh-oh... I run over to the other room and see it. My sweet boy just nuzzling in to the little froggy chair. He was quietly pointing at and observing this giant (to him) green frog. I just thought it was so sweet, and very glad that he wasn't getting himself in to real trouble. (for now)

Food storage

I had to laugh when I saw this on the news tonight. Must have been a slow news day if they're talking about food storage clips they found on YouTube. Enjoy!!!

To set the records straight

My husband is the ultimate Yahtzee champion. 4 "yahtzees" in one game. Yes honey, no one can compete with your awesomeness {{ insert sarcasm here }}
Love ya babe... even when you laugh in my face because you are so "awesome"
hahaha

Day 1 - Success

My first day as a SAHM was very successful... though I guess its not quite over yet. The boys were up at their normal 7am, so it started early. Explain this to me. How is it that we got out of the house at 8am while on a normal 'work' day we were struggling to get out by 8:15? I mean, we didn't have to pack lunches or anything, but we were all fed and dressed and ready to go. Strange. Anyway, we hit our first grocery store at 8am. Came home and made cookies, unloaded the dishwasher, loaded it back up, wiped down the counters and the table, fed the baby, frosted the cookies, ate lunch, went to a 2nd grocery store, and now Eli is writing letters and numbers.
these are our cookies... if you'll notice, they are "E's" and "N's" for Eli and Nathan.

And here is Eli writing his numbers. He can trace pretty good, but once he has to do it himself he starts to question what he is doing. Preschool starts in 3 weeks!!


Man! This is great!! Of course I still have a sink full of dishes and there are a few shopping bags still on the ground, but I feel like I accomplished something - whether it looks like it or not. :)
I still have dinner to make, do the remainder of the dishes, put these groceries downstairs and fill out some new recipes that I want to try. Too bad most of them didn't correspond to this weeks sales. Note to self, couponing is harder than it looks! I'll get the hang of it, but I need to get a notebook organized and start checking the website each week...
Alright - back to "work"

Chris' new job!

Just wanted to give a shout out to Chris. Today was the first day at his new job.
Good luck honey! I love you!!

10 hours left, but I'm not counting

Ok, I'm sure this won't be my last post about quitting work... but this is my blog, and you chose to come read. :) I only have 2 days left. 10 hours to be exact, and I don't even know what to do with myself. I have plenty of work left to fill those 10 hours, and plenty of cleaning up and filing but here I blog. My head has been such a jumbled mess the last few days I don't really know where to start.

My work had a little going away party for me. They got me all kinds of little gifts (mostly because no one communicated on who was going to do the gift purchasing... so I made out like a bandit!) My one boss bought me "The Mothers Almanac" while another boss bought me a toy cell phone because I never seemed to answer the phone whenever he called. Then the office girl (who usually does the gifts) got me a gift certificate to a local spa. This place is like family. I feel like I've known them forever. I'm going to miss talking with their wives at the office parties and going to miss yelling at certain co-workers for turning on 'He who shall not be named' who 3 hours a day is all he asks... I'm going to miss the office drama and one kid who will be going to 'summer camp' and another who is the spitting image of Giselle from the movie Enchanted. I work with the best people in the world, but I'm not going to be a 'productive member of society' anymore. I'm going to lose 1/2 of myself in one day. I don't know that I really associate my self-worth with my job, but its who I am. I am a civil-engineer. I am a mother. I am both. Well, for 10 more hours I am both...

But really, what am I giving up? I get to stay home with my kids! I get to teach them respect and honesty. I get to teach them fun and laughter, watch them smile everyday - all day. I get to roll my eyes when they throw tantrums and be the police officer when they fight. My life is not my own anymore, and I couldn't be happier. I'm sure my house will get messier faster than I can clean it, but at least I'll know how it got there. I look forward to seeing Eli come home from preschool and be excited about what he did that day and show me the papers he brought home. I want to be involved with his schooling and help out in his class. I guess my point in all of this is that I'm going to be INVOLVED. I can't believe that I was given this opportunity. It is such a blessing. My kids have always been my world, and now I get to act like it. I hope that a year from now I will look back and be just as excited about staying at home as I am today. I really hope this will be an easy transition. I hope that the 1/2 of me that I will lose will be quickly filled up with what I am gaining. That is my hope at least.

Always nice to know you're brilliant. ;)

I scored a 138! Yes, now you know... you are in the midst of excellence. LOL! NOT!!!
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Nice guys finish last.

I seriously hope that sentence isn't true, and I'll get to that story in a minute. Last night we went to a Bees game. We sat on the lawn and actually had a really good time. (until we got rained on that is) We went with some friends from our ward. They have a 2 yr old named Jack and a newborn. SOOOO cute and little, she looks quite a bit like her older brother. Anyway, it was nice to just sit and watch the kids. There were a lot of other kids running around and at one point were acting like dogs (and other animals). One of them cornered Jack and Eli came over to him just patting his back and leading him out of the corner, back to his mom. It was so sweet. Eli is such a little helper. LOL! This was our view. Not the best, but to be honest, we watched about 10 minutes of the game and 90 minutes of the kids. oh well.


This picture just makes me giggle.

Ok, so now on to the story.

Eli found this little girl to play with. She got that lunch bag that she is carrying from the game and was busy opening it. So of course, Eli wanted to help. There was a plastic bag though that kept flying off, and every time he would go run down the hill and get it for her. He must have gotten it 5 or 6 times. Then she asked him to hold something for her, then something else... until he had his arms full. Well, then the bag got dropped again and he went running off after it already with arms full of stuff. It was just hilarious. Oh, and she kept calling him "boy". "Go get this boy" and "Boy, will you open this for me?" or "Come over here BOY!!" I finally told him to tell her your name was Eli. The whole process of them hanging out was just hysterical. They went running off with the other kids at one point and she grabbed his hand. I thought - oh no! Here we go. We're officially holding hands. But he pulled his hand away and ran back to our blanket. LOL! Good little 'boy' Eli!!!

Anyway, I just couldn't help but notice him doing everything she asked and running around like a little messenger boy. He is SO going to get picked on in his dating years! If he stays as nice and sweet as he is now, the poor thing is going to get trampled by every girl that comes his way. Now, I should say that I hope he stays just as sweet and wonderful as he is now. I'd much rather him stay the nice guy than some rude, selfish one that breaks womens hearts. Nice guys finish last. I sure hope not. But only time will tell. ;)

Money money money!

I need to get out of this spending spree I'm in!! Its all fun stuff though. ;) Doesn't my head know that I'm quitting my job and we need to tighten down a little more?? It has been on my mind a little more lately. I think honestly, I feel like I need to get it out of my system while I still can.
Last night we went to Walmart to pick up some of the "Back-to-school" supplies that were on sale. Not that Eli necessarily needs them for preschool, but because they were on sale and we are going to need things to do while I'm home all the time. I was doing ok until we went looking for shin guards... which got us over by the toys (and the playdoh). Then Chris went to the Mens department looking for a tshirt and it got me over by the party stuff (and the poster board/white boards). They have a lot of fun things!! I found this white board set. Its like a spiral bound set of 3 white boards and each side has something 'preschoolish' on it. Like tracing your letter or numbers, shapes, and one thats just an open space to draw. Grandma Gillie bought him a BIG preschool book with matching games and find the object that belongs.... he loves it! He does like 10 pages a day. So I'm not over the top in thinking he might sit down and do this. He also likes to write his name.

Then I sent my picture order in to Jenna... I had a hard time deciding, so I got it all (oops!). I have an idea of how I want to use them, but depending on the frames, might do one thing or another. Better to have too much than not enough - right? Stay tuned for all the fun progress. I'm actually going to have something hanging in my house! woot! woot!

My last spending spree was probably the ok one. I went to Costco and spent a little bit of money, but I think it was worth it. I had an epiphany about leaving my job. I'm going to lose my COSTCO CARD!!!! I don't know if I can live without it, but I might try for a couple months and see what happens. Anyway, I bought enough formula to last (hopefully) until Nathan turns a year and I can wean him from formula on to milk. I also bought another 2 tubs of wheat.
Are you all ready for this??? Are you sure?? You better sit down!!...............

I have a year supply of wheat.

I HAVE A YEARS SUPPLY OF WHEAT!!!! I also have a year supply of sugar, and if you may ask... what in the heck I'm going to do with just whole wheat and sugar? I have no idea. Not to mislead you, I have LOTS of other food, but not enough to last a full year. Its maybe in the 6 month range. But progress is being made. I need to go back to those New Years resolutions I made and see if I'm anywhere close to where I wanted to be. Next year I'm going to figure out how to use it all. Yes, its probably backwards to do it this way (buy it before I know how to use it) but its going to be ok. I'm VERY confident that I will use it.

I still need to buy the frames for all the photos and I would like to find some big butcher paper to play with. Then I'm done! ...I swear... Hopefully garage sales will help me with the frames.

Profile of Nathan

Nathan Nathan is my sweet loveable baby that I can just stare at hour after hour. He can stare back too thats for sure! He has this observant gaze where he just wants to figure something out. He has been accused of not smiling at all (because he just observes with that blank stare) but that is not true. He does smile quite a bit and his first smile is usually when his brother walks in every morning.
His favorite part of the day is bath time. He splashes just about every last drop of water from his little tub because he gets so excited. He even drenches himself (in his eyes) and it barely slows him down. Unfortunately, I can also count on him peeing at every bath as well...
He is an army crawler. This is new as of our vacation. He can now drag himself across the floor and into everything. You can literally look away for 10 seconds and he will be across the room. I really need to be more careful! He LOVES putting things in his mouth too which is scary. We've had a couple close calls with things he has tried to eat... so he is pretty much a child you have to watch constantly. (lucky me)
He still has his herniated belly button, and the doctor is not hopeful that it will go back in. This time I think I will wait an extra year or two - just to see, but who knows. It makes me sad that he will have to go through that surgery as well. I remember vividly the look on Elis face when I was allowed into the back after his. So droopy and sad. :( No fun at all.
I think he will be my boy that gets in to everything. Sure, Eli unrolled the toilet paper a couple times, but something tells me that this kid is going to do it every day. Not sure why I say that... I'm just worried. (should make blogging fun)
Overall, he is the easiest little kid. He is happy and content and if allowed to explore, he will definitely do it! He just has that face that you have to love and you can't say no to.
...oops.... just as I was typing this he stuck something else in his mouth... Pray that I'm able to direct that energy into good things in the years to come...

Profile of Eli

I thought it might be fun to do a little profile of my kids. I guess I kind of did this when Eli turned 4, but whats the harm in doing it again? Oh, and I'm taking this from my sister in law Saras blog... ;) Thanks Sara.


Eli Eli is 4 yrs and 2 months old. He will talk your ear off!! If he is comfortable with the person and the situation, he will tell you his entire life story (if you'll listen). Yesterday he all but invited the doctor to come to the Bees game with us... He remembers everything. He will start talking and explaining something, like for example he still remembers when we threw away his birthday balloons (LAST YEAR) and let one of them fly off. So now, a year and 2 months later, he won't mention his birthday, he'll just see an airplane and say - "Thats the airplane that catch-ed my balloon!!" And I say 'wha - huh??' and after talking about it for 5 or 10 minutes will realize what he is really saying.
He (can be) the most polite little boy in the world. He is always saying 'thank you mommy' and he'll pat me on the back. From wiping his bottom to opening his yogurt... he will say thanks. I just love hearing that.
As mentioned NUMEROUS times before, he absolutely adores his little brother. I hate to say it, but almost to a fault. He will hug and get in his face, tipping Nathan over... or share his half eaten cereal with him... Last night Chris went to the bank (which is one of Elis favorite places because you get a lollipop) and he wouldn't go. He wanted to sit next to Nathan. He couldn't leave his baby brother. Actually he threw a fit at the family reunion because we split them up putting them in 2 different cars. oh well.
I will admit, he does throw fits and tantrums and demand things. He is not perfect. He can get a snippy little attitude, but unfortunately when you give him a time-out for it he doesn't quite grasp what exactly he did wrong. I try to explain it but, looking at him, I wonder if it registers.
Oh, and he is painfully shy when in a new situation. He will cling to you like gum to your shoe. He is the type that hides behind your leg and won't look in your eyes... He is definitely a follower. When we were at the pool in our hotel a couple weeks ago, he wouldn't even get in the water and when he did, he would just about strangle you clinging so tight. Chris said that when some other kids showed up swimming by themselves, he kept pushing him away saying 'No Daddy, I can do it'. Oy vay...

Crash Potatoes

For those who are sick of your average baked potato... thought I would post a variation that I made for dinner tonight. YUM!!!
~Use New Potatoes (or other small, round potato), Olive Oil, Kosher Salt, Black Pepper, and whatever herb you like. I’m using Rosemary.
~Begin by bringing a pot of salted water to a boil and add as many potatoes as you wish. Cook until they are fork-tender
~Next, generously drizzle olive oil on a sheet pan.
~When the potatoes are tender, place them on the cookie sheet…Giving them plenty of room to spread out. Grab your potato masher and gently press down on the potato until it slightly mashes, then rotate the masher 90 degrees and finish flattening it. (Of course, you don’t want to absolutely smash it into the pan—you want it almost to resemble a cookie) Repeat until all are flattened.
~Brush the tops rather generously with olive oil. Add salt and pepper generously and add the herbs
~Bake them on the top rack of a very hot (450-degree) oven, and cook them for 20-25 minutes…Or until they’re golden and crispy and sizzling.

My friend who gave me this recipe served it with sour cream, but I just served them plain. The olive oil takes the place of needing any butter and the salt and pepper make them perfect. Anyway, just in case you're sick of plain old baked potatoes.

Lets throw another log on the fire... shall we?

Well yesterday was an eventful day. I quit my job and so did Chris! What are we thinking?? LOL! Ok, so to be fair he has a new job lined up and ready to go, but its just kind of funny. His company is pretty sad to see him go, and rightly so. He has been there almost as long as we have been married. 7 years next month I think... They have been a good company, but things have changed lately and it was time for him to move on. Chris actually mentioned that when we were first married and came back to Utah, neither one of us had jobs. Now, 7 years later, we are both in the middle of our 'last 2 weeks'. I just hope that the owner doesn't tell him to hit the road today and make our insurance expire as of the day he came in (which was yesterday, the last day of the month)

We are scrambling a bit to find new insurance. His new company doesn't offer insurance, but a stipend for families to find their own. Anyone do this, or know of good companies? or better yet, ones to avoid? Humana One is looking like the best value, but who knows. I'm sure the fine print will prove its too good to be true. ugh. I hate insurance.

Well wish us luck!! Hopefully all these changes will be just what we needed. Stay tuned!!!

I QUIT!

I did it! I'm not sure how I feel about it yet, but its a done deal. I told my boss today that I am going to leave JUB. He just said, 'yeah.. ok' and that 'life changes, and you need to change with it'. Its like he expected me to do it. He knows it hasn't been easy since Nathan was born, so that helped. At least he wasn't shocked or anything. I told him I'd stay for a couple weeks and help close things out, and train someone on ROW, so I'm looking at August 15th as my last day. Then me and the kids will have a week and Eli will start school the following week (the 25th). I'm still in the thick of my projects right now at work to really see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I know that once I start distancing myself and closing things out, it'll get harder. Hopefully by then the excitement will set in that I get to be home with my kids. Too bad I'm scared to death of that. ;)
I keep looking around the house and thinking of all the things that I'm going to be able to do. Feeding my kids for one thing... Poor Nathan gets neglected more than he should just because we have been so hectic lately.
2 weeks!!! That is going to happen so fast....

Well Grandma, we were right.

I FINALLY got around to watch the Next Food Network Star, and I was right! Aaron won! Although, I will have to say that after watching the last episode with the demo tapes, I was starting to lean towards "Bangs" a little more. I really liked the idea that on her show I would learn to make things that I'd never heard of. Zabanion sauce?? (however you spell it) I thought she did a really good job. Oh well. I'll definitely be tuning in on Sunday for Aaron and see if he can pull it off.