Cello Concert

I attended a cello concert tonight at Spokane's beautiful St. John's Cathedral.

The guest artist, Kevin Hekmatpanah, is the chair of the music department at Gonzaga University, here in Spokane (where Bing Crosby attended college). He played selections by Boccherini, Schuman, Paganini, Chopin and Brahms.

Can you imagine sitting in this beautiful cathedral listening to solo cello music? It was amazing!

I Hope My Floor Was Clean...

The boys have been learning about Prairie animals in Science. After school today, they made a burrow with the kitchen chairs and played Prairie Dogs. I'm not sure what Jared's name was, but he called Caleb, Baby. They crawled around on the floor for nearly an hour, trying to dodge badgers, and other such predators. After a while, I decided these cute little doggies needed a few snacks.

This is a very organized burrow, as you can see, complete with plastic containers to organize prairie dog snacks.

Tea Anyone?

My Dad gave these beautiful tea sets to the girls when they were babies. Now that they're big girls, I thought it was time to pull the tea sets out and let the girls enjoy playing with them.

They were very excited to unwrap each piece and discover that one set is purple and the other set is pink.

Thanks, Papa!

Slumbering Sweetness

Don't you wish you could kiss those cheeks goodnight?

...so precious

Finally!!!

I never, ever, EVER thought I'd see this day...and I'm not exaggerating here. I think the girls are potty trained, and that means no more diapers for us!!! We've been a diaper family for the past 6 years. And for one of those years all four of our kids were in diapers! I've been putting off the potty training because the thought of training 2 at one time was overwhelming for me. Last Sunday the girls realized that they were still in the 2 year old class at church. They have to be out of diapers to be in the 3 year old class. This motivated them to want to wear the big girl underwear that Auntie Emy gave them for their 3rd birthday in November. They've worked hard all week, and I think they'll be ready to go to the big girl class tomorrow morning. What a great award for their efforts! Now, is there a potty training award for mommies?

A Wedding Quiz, Dark Chocolate and Groundhogs

This post goes along with the previous post about Jared and weddings. Jared and I had this little conversation before he fell asleep tonight:

Jared: "I'm going to give my wife a little quiz before I marry her."

Me: "What kind of quiz?"

Jared: "A wedding quiz."

Me: "What will you ask her?"

Jared: "Four things:

1. Are you a Christian?
2. Do you love God?
3. Do you read your Bible?
4. Do you go to church?"

Too cute. I hope she passes!

And this has nothing to do with the wedding quiz, but I just thought I'd share with all of you what I'll be eating tonight. Phil doesn't study on Friday nights, so I made a batch of brownies for us to share later. He stopped by the store on the way home from school tonight and brought home this Dark Chocolate Truffle Flourless Cake and these Silky Smooth Dark Chocolate Dove Promises. Yum! Have you ever tried the Silky Smooth variety? They're incredible!

And this picture is for my mom, who, by the way, is celebrating her 37th wedding anniversary today!

She wanted me to post a picture of what we made in Friday Preschool this morning. Today's theme was Groundhog Day.

Pre-wedding Jitters

Jared has been asking me lots of questions about getting married. I don't why, but he's really interested in the subject. Last Sunday he told us that he wanted to stay here in Spokane with his wife, because he loves this area.

Today he asked questions about paying bills and supporting a family. I told him he needed to get a job so he could have money to pay bills and buy food and clothes. He thought about that for awhile; I could tell he was nervous. This was his response...

"So, when you get married, do they give you money so you can survive the first day?"

He must equate getting married with getting his first job--like they both begin on the same day. And I'd like to know who "they" are!

Yummies!

This morning I took the kids to a place called Jump and Bounce. We stopped by Krispy Kreme doughnuts on the way. Gracie and Lily wanted the chocolate-filled Valentine doughnuts.

The boys ordered doughnuts with rainbow sprinkles.

Caleb took a break from his doughnut to do a little "nose twitching" with Mommy. He also wanted to share his hat with me.

Now, off to Jump and Bounce!

Jump and Bounce

We enjoyed a wonderful morning at Jump and Bounce!

Jared is such a good big brother to help sisters up the big slides.

Caleb enjoyed running through the giant obstacle course.

Gracie liked the pretty pink flowers in the Toddler Zone.

Just Keepin' It Real...

Behold, the cabinet underneath my kitchen sink!

Blogging is an interesting thing. I've enjoyed using it to journal our family's life. Phil is going to make a hard copy one of these days so we can have it to cherish in book form. Won't that be fun?

I also enjoy "blog surfing" to peek into the lives of others and see what's going on in their homes. One of the things I've realized about blogging, is that people do it for different reasons. I find myself drawn to blogs that present life in a positive light. I feel the same way about visiting with my friends face-to-face. I much prefer visiting with friends who don't gripe and complain about their husbands and children, but encourage me spiritually. None of us are perfect or live in perfect homes, but getting together to chat about all the negative things going on in our lives does nothing to improve matters.

Another thing about blogging is that it's very easy to post what you want people to know about your life. I choose to write about the positive things that go on in my home. I realize it gives the impression that I have it all together as a mom. But the truth is, I don't! And that's not what I set out to do when I post here on my blog. When I look back on my years as mom, I want to remember the good times. I want to remember my kids doing craft projects with me, not the fact that almost everything I do with them backfires on me when they start arguing about paint colors, or who gets to sit on the stools, or who gets the pink sprinkles, etc. Just so you know my kids do fight. They argue all the time. They gripe, complain, hang onto me and whine, throw themselves on the floor and cry, and I do get upset. I also lack organizational skills, and the evidence around my home haunts me daily. I just don't want to focus on all of that here on my blog. Writing about it would only remind me of it later.

Last night I told my friend, Jenny, that I would post a few pictures here to confirm that I don't have it all together. :) So, without further adieu, here's the proof.

Enjoy...

Here's my sewing stuff. I know I'm really going to embarrass myself here. Not only do you see an unorganized mess, but there are 3-4 unfinished sewing projects stashed in that corner...

One of my kitchen counters...

My pantry closet--no rhyme or reason to the placement of anything in here...

My purse--not such a mess, but, I confess, that's bribery candy you see in there...

My bathroom cabinet...

My kids' closet...

Our boots and coats by the back door....

And here's the biggie. I saved the best for last...my bedroom closet and this morning's laundry. I was so tempted to straighten up the closet before taking this picture, but I restrained myself. As I took this picture, I asked myself,

Does it always look this bad?

So, there you have it! It's kind of refreshing to post pictures of my closets. Now I feel motivated to do something about the mess!

Need a Superhero?

Just give me a call...I have a few on hand.

Circus Tent Club

If you're fortunate enough, you just might get a special invite to the exclusive Circus Tent Club!

Once a member, you can enjoy a relaxing time in a very special two-room tent with pancake snacks and sweet, smiling faces.

There's even a pasture out back in case your sheep need to graze.

Simple Gifts

Wasn't Yo-Yo Ma incredible this morning? Click here to watch him play John Williams' new composition of "Air and Simple Gifts" if you missed it!

Once upon a Dollhouse...

Gracie, talking to her dollhouse: "I wish I was little and lived inside of you."

What girl hasn't dreamed of living in her dollhouse?

Me by Me

I was looking through a few boxes in the basement this afternoon, and I found this book from 2nd grade Scholastic book orders (1981). It was a fill-in-the-blank diary of sorts. Jared was excited to see that my favorite game was Twister.

I find it interesting that I wanted to give a million dollars to the "chirch," considering I didn't even go to chirch back then.

My favorite song was Sheena Easton's "Morning Train," or, as I used to call it, "9 to 5."