cuties

"what's your mom and dad's jobs"? ella's friend asked."well, my mom's job is staying home."

9:46! and all's well

if you've seen the disney robin hood, then you might remember trigger and nutsy yelling out the time and "all's welllll!"

when afton was 1 and a half, she had an asthma episode and we had a 6 day stay in the twin falls hospital.  she was admitted on new year's eve and we stayed for the rest of our christmas break.  we watched this movie over and over and over during her stay.  that's all she wanted to watch. 
and here we are 9 years later...
our aftie girl is still awake and working on homework.  she's learned so much over these past 9 years.  she's doing a report on ancient rome and working on her science field journal.  she's an amazing girl and i love her. 
but i wish she would start her homework a little earlier!

a poem

a bit of verse i've written on this special day of spring cleaning...

gotta be done
but i don't wanna do it.
want it to be clean
but i'd rather say, screw it.

toilets to be scrubbed
dishes to be done
windows need washin
but i think i'll just play dumb.

fresh and breezy outside
but smelly in here
sunny outside
but sunny outside
did i say sunny outside?

beds to be changed
and floors to mop
the bamboo floors sure hide a lot
of dirt

laundry's piled up
socks to be matched
did someone say
match?

gotta be done
but i don't wanna do it
the merry maids make it look
like there's nuthin' to it

gotta be done
but i don't wanna do it
if my mom was here
i'd make her do it!

why is water so fun?

the peeps are outside playing!

it's so beautiful outside!

 they've been filling up bowls of warm water from the bathroom sink. 

not cold.  warm.

then they dump it out all over the driveway. 

just for fun.

i mentioned the part about "the tremendous waste of water", but i think it floated right past them.

and in the kitchen, i've been working on a picnic blanket made of sugar cookies. 

you might be thinking that these are pepperoni pizzas, but i assure you they are not.

ryan returns home from new jersery tonite, and i hope he brings some normalcy with him.

fantastic day

here's an image i found when i typed "fantastic day" into google image search.
stop!
hamm-uh time!

today has turned out to be a fantastic day for myself. 
it all began this morning when...
everyone got out of bed semi-easily
nobody was mad about what they had to wear to school
each little person was on time for the bus!

then the day got a little more fantastic when...
i ate some chobani kids very berry yogurt
i went to the gym
my heart got a good beating!

even fantastic-er when...
i talked to my sissie on the phone
i whipped up some 58 calorie chocolate muffins
i tasted them and they weren't too awful!

and the fantastic-est part was when...
i zipped around on pinterest for a while
i lounged in a hot shower at a very un-showerly hour of the day
i realized i don't have to pick up the children for another hour!

that's right, hammer time!

woo hoo!

 this little cutie-patootie is a winner!

in many ways, of course!

but in this particular case, she is the winner of the reflections contest in the visual arts category (at the school level and at the regional level!)

her artwork has been sent to the state level for judging!

 last night was the awards ceremony at aftie's school. 

here she is with her co-winners/friends (and friend's little brother & sister)!

aren't they cute and smiley?

 she was one of three from the school whose work won at the regional level.

 here she is accepting her award from the lovely hostess and program coordinator for the school. 

and of course, a group shot. 

these kids won for their work in the visual arts, photography and literature categories. 

the other categories that no one entered are:  choreography, film and music composition.

the contest is called "reflections" and is sponsored by the pta.  i believe it is a nation wide contest. 

it's a really great program that definitely boosts the confidence of kids from kindergarten through 12th grade.

we are soooooo excited for our aftie-girl!!!!!

not miserable at all

last night we had the wonderful pleasure of seeing les miserables!

it was a fantastic production and i loved every minute.

all of these beautiful girls got to go, because their husbands all bought tickets for christmas gifts.

(eliza, stacie, me, cherri)

 such smart boys!

this is the cute boy who bought my ticket! 

we met at cheesecake factory for a little dinner, zipped to the theatre, and then indulged in some dessert afterwards.

it was a great evening out!