Thought of the Day

Isn't the magic of a mother's kiss amazing? It can make just about anything feel better. A scraped knee, a bonked head, a finger that gets smashed. Love it.

What I've been up to

This last week has been kind of crazy. About two weeks ago I decided I was going to paint Ethan's room. Before Dylan was born we got a crib and matching dresser, and for some reason I chose white furniture. Of course we were renting at the time, so we also had white walls. For the next 6 years we had white walls. We have been in our own home for a year and a half, and the room that has been Ethan's room has white walls, and white-ish carpet, so put that with white furniture and it is really boring. Of all the rooms in my house, that one has been my least favorite. Can you see why? Oh, and for some reason that carpet almost looks brown in these pictures, it really is much closer to white. It must have been my lighting as I took the picture.

So I finally had enough, and I began taping, moving furniture, and I bought paint. Then I got sick with some crazy vertigo thing. Then Ethan got sick with a nasty cold, so together for a few days we sat on the couch. He felt lousy and didn't want to do anything but sit on the couch and watch a show, usually Baby Einsteins or a show called My Day with Trains we got for free with our GeoTrax. And I didn't feel good enough to protest much. The only bad thing is now that he is starting to feel better he still constantly keeps asking to watch a show.

Toward the end of the week I started to feel better, so I painted the top half of Ethans room. The next day was a feel-lousy day after all the up and downs on the ladder, moving things around as I went wall to wall. I still wasn't totally over the vertigo thing, but enough that I could handle it. Luckily my Mom finally suggested to try some Dramamine, since for vertigo doctors often prescribe another sort of motion sickness pill. I didn't feel like going to the doctor because I wasn't feeling super sick so I tried it, and man did it work wonders. So yesterday Devon and I painted the bottom half. I got this great idea of doing his room two different colors, now my only problem (and maybe I should have figured this out BEFORE I started) is deciding what to do to finish it off. Do I find a wallpaper border or do we put up a chair rail? Or should I just paint on a faux chair rail, maybe doing some sort of fun texturing? I don't know. If you have any good ideas, let me know. I'll have to post the final product. This is my first attempt at any kind of painting, so I think I did a pretty good job. I think it would have been easier to just do one color so I would already be done, but I'm sure I will love it once I figure out the border/chair-rail thing. So please, give me your good ideas.

Books - 2008

Lisa posted the books she read last year, and I thought I would do the same. I am sure I will miss a few of them, but here are the ones I can remember, not in any particular order:

1.Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
2. Pretties by Scott Westerfeld
3. Specials by Scott Westerfeld
4. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
5. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
6. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
7. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
8. Midnighters: Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld
9. Austenland by Shannon Hale
10. Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
11. Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
12. Enna Burning by Shannon Hale
13. Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
14. Joseph and Emma: A Love Story (volumes 1 and 2) by Marsha Newman and Buddy Youngreen
15. Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements
16. Things Hoped for by Andrew Clements
17. Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke

I would recommend just about all of these books. Austenland was a little cheesy however, and Midnighters got a little dark. There are 3 books in the series, and I can't remember if I read the first one or two of them, but I know I didn't keep going becuase of the feeling I got reading them. Joseph and Emma: A Love Story I really, really enjoyed. It gave such a great look into the lives of Joseph and Emma. I saw the new movie about Emma after I read the books, and it was very similar, but I think the books did a much better job.

A New Fav

I found a new yummy snack today at Costco. These are sooo good. I have never had dried fruit like this. It kind of reminds me of the Astronaut Ice Cream you can buy, it seriously almost melts in your mouth. I looked online to see if I could find it cheaper in bulk, but it looks like Costco's price is just about as good as it gets, unless you look in thier "specials" section. So, if you haven't tried this, you should. Its nice and healthy- no sugar added. My kids loved it too. We all agreed the strawberries are the best, but those apples and bananas are right up there with them. And I don't usually care for dried apples or bananas.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! What a fun night we had! We played the Wii (Rock Band 2 is a lot of fun!), we played Ticket to Ride, we played Settlers of Catan, and we played so much more. We celebrated the New York New Year with the kids so we could put them to bed early.

Dylan was really tired at about 9, and asked if he could go to bed, but I told him we were going to celebrate the New Year pretty soon. I was worried he wouldn't make it. Then when the time finally came, he was one of the last ones partying. He was blowing all the noise makers, having fun, and when it was all winding down, I found him lying on a couch. I asked him if he wanted to go get in bed now, and he told me he wanted to wait till the party was over. What a tired party animal!

Ethan and Grandma. Poor Grandma, Ethan does not leave her alone. He is constantly wanting her to hold him. I worry she gets tired (or will get tired) of the never ending attack!

Ethan playing with his cousin Joel. This is where all the food was, and all three of my boys were very content to sit here. I told Dylan and Jayden they couldn't sit there eating all night, and Dylan told me they wouldn't sit there all night, they would go to bed when I told them it was time.

Jayden celebrating the New Year.

Ethan loving Grandma, and Uncle Ben. They came to join the party with us and we loved having them there. The only downside was Ben wallopping us in Settlers of Catan. =)

Some of the girls had fun decorating Devon, and he was a good sport about it all.