they're here!

ry's parents are here! they arrived this afternoon and already we are having fun. i walked in from the grocery store and heard ryan's mom laughing. i love hearing that laugh!
jan's already got a project started with the girls, and we are making plans to work on the ottomans, pick out fabric for a quilt for ella's bed, make some pillows and a cushion for a bench in ella's room.

afton had a fun weekend of sleepovers. friday night a sleepover in the rochester area, and then a sleepover saturday night with a friend from school. she even got to attend Mass with her school friend. then her friend came to the rest of our church with aft. the friend's mom said to her daughter "you think this (1 hour of mass) is bad, aftie has to go to church for 3 hours" apparently aftie quickly piped up "yeah, but my church is fun!"

sunday night we hosted our fire victim friends for dinner. two families in our ward share a duplex. on one side the furnace caught fire in the basement. that side has to be completely renovated, the other side has some smoke damage. both families are quite traumatized, but are all safe. so, the least i could do was make them some dinner. i wish i had a guest house they could move into. unfortunately, we just have a shed out back.

well, it is snowing like crazy and has been all day. last week, i was pretending it was spring and wore regular shoes, not my uggs. it was so cold, i immediately switched back to the uggs. thank goodness for those boots. they really keep me warm.

i watched the painted veil, finally. it was good, but not my favorite. i think some movies and books are just too sad for me. i recently read the time traveler's wife. it was also good but just so sad. i can't handle spouses dying. it's too much for me to think about. so from now on i'm only watching mary poppins and pollyanna.

now...back to american idol!

soooo overwhelmed

sometimes i get so excited about being creative, that when i finally settle down to create something, i find myself completely overwhelmed. this has been the case for the last couple of days. i have felt so inspired to create some things for our home, but then i find my mind running so fast that i can't think specifically. that may not make much sense. for instance, i saw a white bowl and decided i wanted to make a bowl from paper and make it sort of into a sculpture. i think i have a pretty good idea of how to go about it, but i was so overwhelmed by some beautiful clothing i saw, some beautiful home stuff i was looking at as well, besides all the thoughts of what needs to be done around the house, people i need to call, email, etc, etc. i haven't done a thing about any of it. what i am lacking is focus. i could also use a little more energy.

moving on...afton is having her first out of town sleepover. our good friends moved to the rochester area, and invited some of the buffalo girls for a birthday sleepover. she was sooooo excited and we haven't had any phone calls to come and pick her up.

ella also had a birthday party to attend this morning. i picked her up and found her with sparkling red dress-up shoes on her feet and a crown on her head, so i'm gathering it was a good party. she also got to bring home a star shaped rice krispie treat wand!

ryan is onto a new project...4 small ottomans to push together to create one big ottoman. i am excited to pick out fabric. i would like something leopard-ish, but i'm not sure if it would be too much. okay, pretty sure it would be too much. we'll find something.

ryan's parents are coming to visit us next week! i have a few projects lined up for jan. i'm sure ryan and his dad will come up with something as well. last time they were here, ryan and jim took out a couple of huge trees in our front yard. the time before, one of the sidewalks came out, the time before that, they took down the fake brick in our kitchen and hung new drywall. they are amazing! i try to feed them well to make up for all the hard work, but then they usually take us to dinner. i can't win! they are wonderful!

here's ella with grandpa! she really does love him more than it looks like here.

Ta Daaaa!

Well, here is a photo or two of our new furniture. It's much, much lovelier in real person. We still have a bit of arranging to do and some shelves to put up and new flooring to put in and also a big ugly entertainment center to do away with. But, our house is finally coming along. Hooray for us!

Tonite Ry is at High Council meeting and the girls are driving me bananas! They are so excited for tomorrow. They both have birthday parties to attend. So, part of today was spent purchasing and wrapping gifts. Also a little card making earlier tonite. I have just separated the two monkeys and gotten water, turned on quiet music for Aft, sung twinkle twinkle for Ella, and now I think they have finally drifted off. They are awfully sweet when they are lying so peacefully in their beds.

I am trying to watch a movie, The Painted Veil. I'm not sure about it yet, but have been looking forward to seeing it for a while now. I also checked out a book called The Lost by Daniel Mendelsohn. It was recommended by a friend. It's about the author and his quest to find the stories of loved ones lost in the holocaust. I am anxious to start it.

Tonite I made a new dish, Chicken Ragu with Farfalle. I found it in a Food Network Kitchens cookbook. It was quite healthy and everyone seemed to think it was okay. Maybe we'll add it to the binder.

Oh boy, Ry just walked in bearing gifts...Diet Coke! Bless him. He must have been inspired at that meeting.

Goodnite for now.

school's out and everyone's at chuck e cheese's

it's winter break this week and today we thought we would hang out at chuck e cheese's with a small group of friends. when we pulled into the parking lot, there was hardly a parking place left. so, we decided to try the bowling alley. also very busy. so, we headed to the mall where they have an indoor beach set up. the kids had a fun time playing in the sand and we had a fabulous lunch from tijuana taco. actually, it was much less than fabulous.

the best and most exciting news of the day is that we are going to have a new arrival in our family. (not from me, by the way) ryan's brother, brad, and his wife emily are expecting their first baby in october! we are soooo excited for them. they made a cute video to announce the big news. congratulations and we can't wait to see the new little sweetheart!

my little philosopher

our sweet afton wanted to write on the blog, so she posted the entry below. she wrote it all by herself and would like to add a few more thoughts tomorrow, so stay tuned for more afton-thoughts!

today was great! ryan and afton were both home and we took full advantage.

we slept in

we ate lunch out

we painted the hall

ryan put a bench together for ella's room

ryan took the girls to target for littlest pet shop toys (afton was spending her spelling money)

did a little laundry

went to story time at the library

ry and i hung some pictures in the newly painted hallway!!!

unfortunately, ryan is back to work tomorrow. we'll have to be in mourning while we're at chuck e cheese's with our friends. (my least favorite place in the world, but i can't deny my children a visit to chuckie's)

wonders

some times people wonder. The mening of that word is when you have a queshtin...
and a queshtin is what you asc when you are cereisy ubat something. Like what if I
wondered ubat when the Hulse holiday...see it is not to hord to wondr. wonder wonders wonders I wonders when it is the right time to sneak up on Mom and Dad and spank
them or say BOO and scare them but if I don't scare them I don't GIVUP I triugn.

extreme makeover

tonite we have been watching extreme makeover home edition. afton especially loves this show, but rarely gets to watch it due to her school schedule. she has winter break this week and so she wanted to stay up late to watch the show. the family featured tonite has a 19 year old son who was born without eyes and is also in a wheelchair. afton was really taken with how his parents have to put him in the bathtub. she has made several comments about it, which shows her concern about their situation. so, we are anxiously awaiting the revealing of the bathroom. i love this show and how it really changes people's lives, especially the folks who work on the house. when the contractors are crying, you know they have had a really special experience. we have now seen the bathroom and afton says "i love it!" she also thinks it will help him to become more independent. her parents will be able to do their own stuff, and he can do his stuff. i also love that afton gets the chance to see how other people live their lives while overcoming challenges.

weekends are for fun

today was super fun. here are the highlights...
*lunch at atlanta bread company (of course)
*quick trip to lowe's
*long trip to marshall's (ella scored a pretty dress)
*long trip to the mall (afton scored a dress at the gap), (our furniture scored fancy new pillows)
*long trip to target - just aftie & me (we both scored a few fun things!!!)
*ryan finished sanding and painting the hallway ceiling. it is so pretty and white.

aft and i had so much fun at target. we looked up and down most aisles and i enjoyed her comments - such as... like, don't like, like, like, don't like (as she walked quickly past some dresses hanging on the wall!) she is a funny and fun little girl. she had to have some new earrings, because "she never gets any new earrings" and of course, being a girl myself, i completely understood where she was coming from. luckily we found some butterfly earrings and her face could have lit up the room.

now the time for resting has come, finally. there's just nothing better than climbing into bed after a long, hard day of shopping. good night.

back on track

it's been a while since i've blogged, but now i'm back. since my last entry the following important things have happened...

many loads of laundry

ryan traveled to louisiana and florida

my friend backed into my car in her driveway; i'm now driving a blue chevy(?) colorado with an extended cab for my two little sweethearts and their carseats, courtesy of enterprise rentals!

i was severely beaten in tennis by a 79 year old man

we got our new furniture delivered yesterday and it is beee-utiful!

we had a great valentine's day with dinner at the bonefish grill, a little shopping, and dessert at butterwood - a delicious little dessert spot. and did i mention the children were nestled all snug in our friend's futon? we swapped babysitting with our friends.

this photo is from last night. aren't we gorgeous?

by the way, a happy be-lated valentine wish for you...the hulse family loves you!!!