I'm a postin' fool this week, but I just had to share this beautiful bouquet that is mine! Cody came home from work tonight with a smile and this gorgeous bunch of flowers. What a sweetheart! When Chloe commented on how pretty they were he said something like, "almost as pretty as your Mom." Ah, how nice! I think what I love most about getting flowers-besides the obvious-is that every time I see them I'm reminded of the person who was kind of enough to remember me. It's like getting the bouquet all over again. Somehow it helps me gloss over the little things that sometimes annoy me on a daily basis and that's a good thing! So, the awesome husband of the day award definitely goes to my man!
glad for gladiolas...
I've been tagged...
The fun middle-name game!
1. You have to post these rules before you give the facts.
2. Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of their middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.
3. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog-post containing your own middle name game facts.
4. At the end of your blog-post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
Alright, so when I was in 4th grade I read a book about Margaret Mead, an anthropologist who went to Samoa. It apparently made an impression and I started doodling "Tanya Mead Yost" in the margins of my tablets. Wow, it really doesn't sound so great with my name, but for some reason I thought it would be cool back then! It's truly the only time I've thought about having a middle name or what it would be. Can't say I miss having one too much. So I'll do my acronym with Mead :)
M -minute- I think that's my most often used phrase- "just a minute..."
-muffins- my favorite breakfast food to make and eat
-music- ALWAYS a part of every day
E -exercise-something I like to do, need to do, but don't make time to do-hopefully that will change
A -apron- I always thought aprons were something frumpy old housewives wore, but I became converted when I kept staining my shirts while cooking. Nothing fancy, just a denim cover-up, but I wear it nearly everyday. Guess I'm one of THOSE kind of Moms now!
D -daisy- Gerbera to be exact, I love all kinds of flowers, but daisies are one of my favorites
Guess I don't have too many friends that blog that haven't been tagged, so Carrie, you're it!
what was under my nightstand...
and accidentally became overdue was this little book. The Naturally Clean Home-it really motivated me in my efforts to be more green. I dabbled with creating my own cleaners in college and have used borax, castile soap, and baking soda for quite a while. This lady just came up with some actual recipes which I had to try. And she points out a lot of reasons why traditional cleaners maybe aren't the best. I just hate spraying my bathroom or kitchen with all those smelly chemicals and then calling it clean. This is more my style, she used a lot of essential oils and herbs. As you can see I still haven't mixed up any Tub and Tile Scrubber yet. Anyway, it's an interesting read if you're looking for something a little bit different and more environmentally friendly! Plus, some containers were right there in my fridge, holding the last bits of ketchup and parmesan cheese, how cool. Happy cleaning! (Sorry for the blurry pics)
wide open spaces....
Does, anyone else hear a phrase and immediately a song starts playing in your head? Happens to me ALL the time. Well, on Saturday after a very fun brunch with my friends, we left to go to Bancroft. My uncle Lyle from Morro Bay, CA was visiting my Mom. I get to see him only about once a year so I hated to miss it. It was so nice to see and visit with him, he's made some pretty big changes in his life and it's so exciting to see the difference! I'm not sure why we're posed here with my Dad's Kawasaki, he doesn't bike or anything! Cody was going to come down Saturday after work, but had his car overheated near Shelley so he missed the whole weekend. My Dad is in the midst of harvesting so I took Noah and we went out to ride with him in the combine for a hour or so. Noah was pretty enthralled, mostly by the horn and the dumping of the grain. I have to admit I really enjoyed it, it's been nearly 20 years since I rode in one. I love going home to visit, the open quiet space is something I always notice and enjoy now. When Dad dropped us off at the van at the edge of field and was driving away I had the most overwhelming feeling-looking over the endless fields and feeling so grateful my Dad does what he does and has quietly done it for so many years. It truly is hard work, but I think rewarding in the sense that you see something you cared for come to fruition, full circle. I don't think as a kid and teenager I really understood all that went into his work, not that I totally do now, but as a parent I have a little more understanding and a more grateful heart for the sacrifice and time he spent for us. Love you Dad, thanks for all the hours you spend out in the fields! Oh, not sure I'm ready for another week, so many things need to be done, so here I am blogging :) Just escaping for a moment, motivating myself to get to it!
First day of First grade...
Lauren and Chloe survived the first day yesterday! Lauren had a little excitement when she left her backpack in Cody's car , luckily he saw it and delivered it. She was concerned she might have to eat a corndog and chimis for lunch-whatever that is?! Their teacher Ms. Gill seemed nice when we met her, she looked a bit frazzled at the end of the day, with good reason I suspect! Lauren wanted me to buy the old-fashioned foam curlers for her hair. I thought it turned out so cute, too bad we can't do it everyday. I guess we could...but... Already only the second day of school and we are rushing through breakfast. It has been hard for all of us adjusting to the earlier hour. Not that we sleep in too late during the summer, we just like to take our time making and eating breakfast, maybe reading while we eat, just a lazy morning, I'm missing that. But a routine will be nice, just give us a another week or so. It's new having them gone all day, Noah napped 3 hours yesterday and I got dinner made, bathrooms cleaned, some sewing and wash done. I've forgotten how productive I can be when I'm not interrupted all the time! Not that I mind, I miss having lunch with them and their questions. I guess Ms. Gill will enjoy the thousand question days now!
birthdays and Q&A.....
Ugh, I should be in bed, it's hard to go when it's so quiet, peaceful, and smells like rain outside. I'm soaking it in and enjoying my time! So no pictures this time. Not sure if I have a rechargeable battery problem or an actual recharger issue? Noah has played with it so many times-it's possible. It feels like I always have low batteries, I'm really getting bugged by it. This morning there was this cool little orange dragonfly on the tomatoes. "Mom, quick, take a picture!" Sorry-dead batteries. I saw an ad for Eneloop-I'm curious about them. Anyway.....We celebrated Cody's birthday on Tuesday by having a BBQ with some of his friends. One family we've known since our days in Moscow. It was fun, we all had too much food and skipped cake and ice cream altogether. Lauren and Chloe were appalled-what is a b-day party without that!? Hard to believe we're both turning 30 this year. My Mom always says how she still feels so young and I'm starting to understand that a bit. How you maybe never feel quite as old as you are, which is a good thing I think.
Tomorrow the girls get to go in and meet their first grade teacher, Ms. Gill, fun times, they are so excited. I'm so glad that they are so inquisitive and passionate about life around them. Today it felt like the day of a thousand questions.
1-Mom, what did you do in first grade?
2-Mom, where does the water in the drain go?
3-Mom, could a dinosaur eat me in one bite?
4-Mom, can frogs see underwater?
5-Mom, how long will my hair be in one year?
6-Mom, how many quarters make three dollars?
It seriously went on all day long. They helped me defrost the freezer in the garage. We had a good discussion about the neutering and spaying of pets. Why it's important to animals, but not us humans :) Man, they are full of questions, the randomness cracks me up sometimes. I love them bunches. It will hard to see them head back to school. I'll miss gabbing all day long with them, won't miss the tattling though :) Hope everyone has a great weekend!
nostalgic...
just a fun post for no reason really. We had one of these cute phones kicking around growing up, I think we all loved it. Ours looked much more battered and the ear piece was detached from the phone. I had to share, it's as adorable as I remember it!
forget chocolates on your pillow...
this is what we found when we turned down the covers last night, ha ha. Of course it was Chloe since this little guy belongs to her. One of those squishy, bean-filled rubber animals that my girls love for some reason. Ever since they were about two years old, we had a variety of them to torment each other with, and eventually clean up when they burst! The whole trick reminded me of another incident. When I was younger we had a small mouse problem in our house (we did live on a grain farm) and nearly everyday we were cleaning off the traps and disposing of the mice. One morning Mom fashioned a mouse out of cotton balls and gray and red food coloring and put it in my brother Loren's pancake. He wasn't too old, I'll never forget the look on his face. It was utter horror, then disgust, with a bit a fear. Funny, do you remember that Loren? Anyway, the girls are off to Bancroft for a few more days, getting in their last visits with grandparents before school starts up again. Maybe Noah and I can find some little rubber spiders while they're away...
what's on your nightstand? part deux...
actually this is on Cody's 'nightstand'- a pile on the floor near the bed. He reads these business related books from a library at ICCU, he brought this one home and said, "I think you're going to like this book." For those of you who don't know, I LOVE Trader Joe's and some days would give a small appendage if there could be one here in Idaho Falls. I became hooked on their soy milk, nuts, cheese, and crackers in San Diego. All delicious, natural, whole-grain, and won't break your budget. So if you haven't ever been in one, feel grateful, at least you don't know what you're missing, because it is fantastic! I'm reading a book about cleaning products, I'll post some more on that later :)
take a look...
it's in a book-the Reading Rainbow....did anyone else watch that show?! Anyhow, tomorrow I'm hosting an Usborne book show. My cousin Dawn is a consultant for their company. I'm excited, just because the books are very age appropriate and so well illustrated. They also have some cool activity kits I want to get L & C for Christmas, plus some touch and feel books for Noah. If you want to shop online you can check out her website- www.dawnsbooknook.com - you can click on my name off to the right and shop my e-show. If you're at all into kids books it's worth a peek-trust me!
a big thanks...
to my friend and awesome photographer Lisa Huber! I just went upstairs and saw the CD of proofs she gave me from our photo session and had to come downstairs and view them again, she did a fantastic job, I love all of the pictures! Noah was a bit irritated, but felt better towards the end when everyone went wading. Freeman Park was a definite hit with my kids. Check out her portfolio and find the Hansen gallery under 'protected galleries.' She really captured their little spirits! I so love photographs- old, new, black&white, color, my kids, ancestors-just can't seem to get enough!
http://lisahuber.smugmug.com- the password is clairview
all lowercase-thanks Carrie!
unwinding...
So this is how I've spent the last few evenings de-stressing from my day. I babysat two kids today-not sure I'm up to having 5 kids-it was wild but fun. Not that all days are stressful by any means, but for me there's nothing quite like doing something creative to bring me down a few notches. I've wanted to do a quiet book since my girls were little, but never did. I planned on just putting together something fast, but got carried away in the fun of it. Plus I used all old scraps, I didn't buy anything and that made me feel good and thrifty :) It felt like creating scrapbook layouts-only with fabric-so up my alley :) Some of the images were from an old quiet book my Mom gave me, funky early 80's colors-I should have posted the weird-looking kangaroo (mom, why is that kangaroo wearing a collar?!) Anyway, hope Noah enjoys it, and hope I get to sit in sacrament meeting at least for a few weeks!
