Confession

 Okay, I am admitting this...I really don't like doing crafts with children. I don't know if it's my perfectionism or impatience but I find it extremely stressful. I know this sounds ridiculous, seriously, but whenever I attempt to do crafts with my kids they are clamouring to get my attention, using the supplies in inappropriate ways, (licking the glue stick or stapling their shirt being two that happened during this particular crafting moment), or 'wrecking' what we are working on. So, glutton for punishment that I am, one of my goals for the summer is to do MORE crafting with them. The idea being that given more time and experience I will grow to love it, they will stop causing bodily harm to themselves and will eventually get so good at it that I can set them loose for hours on end with paper, glue and colouring utensils. Doesn't seem like too much to ask, does it? All joking aside, making these pirate hats wasn't so bad, and we did have fun, but there wasn't much that could go off the rails here. For anyone reading this -you are NEVER allowed to buy my children paint. I mean it. :)

The Home Stretch

 
Baby C's arrival is approaching very quickly, any time now really. (I guess I should figure out what we'll need at the hospital and actually pack eh?!) As I said in this layout I do have mixed feelings, really not looking forward to labour. Actually was doing ok not thiking about it until my Mom said "Be careful, don't wait too long to go to the hospital, I have a feeling about this labour, that it won't be as easy or problem free." Gack, Mother!!! Way to pull the carpet out from under me, good grief! I'm trying to ignore this bit of advice and proceed as normal but I feel like someone's put the evil eye on me! ;)

Other than this things are good, really looking forward to not being pregnant and having our own little person. Jack and Eric are excited to celebrate the Baby's birthday and Darrel is itching to be on parental leave. So really, any time now little one, we can't wait to meet you!

Ericisms #2

We are in the midst of potty training at the Anderson household. So we are spending a lot of time in the bathroom together, Eric and I. I was horrified on Monday when as we are taking off his pants and underwear he takes his little hand, swipes it across the toilet tank and then proceeds to lick the condensation off of his fingers. Gack!

A couple of questions come to mind:
How long has he been doing this? How many times have I kissed him or gave him a drink out of my glass when he's recently pulled this little maneuver?

Just when you think you've seen it all your children find another novel way to gross you out.

Jackisms #4

Jack: What are you doing Mom?
Kirsten: I'm weeding the garden.
Jack: Can I help you weed the garden?
Kirsten: Well, I think I better do it this time because right now it's hard to see which are good plants and which are weeds.
Jack: I can help, I can see the plants. I can see the plants better than Eric. You know why?
Kirsten: Why?
Jack: I have REALLY big eyes, bigger eyes than Eric even!

A Great Dad

 With Father's Day fast approaching I've been thinking a lot the last couple of days about what a good Dad Darrel is. He bought himself a router a little while ago that he says is his Father's Day gift, which makes things easy for me, but I still feel it's important to celebrate the day and let Darrel know how great he is. Some of the things I love about him as a Dad:
-He takes the time to let the boys "help" him. Goodness knows there are times when he could get stuff done in a quarter of the time without them but he is teaching them skills and interacting with them.
-He can turn a sad crying boy into a happy boy with a goofy question or a kind word. I really appreciate this talent, especially at the end of the day when I'm ready to throttle which ever child is throwing a tantrum at the dinner table about not having the right sauce, or for that matter the right meal ("I don't like peas!") I've learned some things about compassion from him.
-He makes the kids clean up their stuff. I think I sometimes do too much for my kids, things that they could and should do for themselves,(and I'm sure I'm not the only Mom out there who does this). Whether it's putting their own shoes on the boot rack or picking up the bucket of lego that they themselves dumped, Darrel is big on making them do things for themselves. This will serve them well in the future.
-He is just plain more fun than I am in a lot of ways. Case in point -this sprinkler episode. Eric's crying about the sprinkler mainly exasperated me, but Darrel found a way to ease him into it and get everybody laughing.

I love you honey! Happy Father's Day!

Fence

 Hooray, I once again have a corral for my little critters. :) Darrel spent the hottest weekend of the year to date putting in the new fence with Richard, our neighbour. It looks terrific! Many thanks to Brent and Jared who came to help at various times. Honey, you rock!

p.s. Please ignore our weedy lawn. Now that we have such a nice fence, and the gardens are coming along we are seriously thinking about re-sodding the whole yard. It's so bad back there we really don't know if it's salvageable. Our bishop and his wife did this last year and apparently you can lay sod right over the old grass. And really sod isn't that expensive, we could do the whole back yard for $200-$300. So we'll see, but that's probably not a project for this year. (Not with the garage roof and the jackhammered out driveway still needing attention.) In the mean time please excuse our dandelions.

Pretty

My friends and colleagues gave me these gorgeous flowers yesterday as part of my farewell. They are soooo beautiful. Seriously makes me want to grow roses, although I've heard they are finicky and I hate mowing around rose bushes. 
 
 They also took me to lunch at New Asian Village, an east indian restaurant here in Edmonton. Can I just say -delicious! It was so good, made me think "how come I haven't been coming here for lunch EVERY second Friday? I had a mango yogurt smoothie which has now become one of my new favourite things.

I will miss work but mostly I am relieved as I am just plain tuckered out. Glad to be home and just getting a few things done before Baby C arrives. (Not the least of which is potty training Eric. I think he's ready, I just haven't bothered while he's still been going to the sitter, but Monday is the day. Send positive energy our way!) Tomorrow I am helping to chaperone the primary visit to the temple. Should be fun, they rented a school bus to take them, so the kids are super excited. I think it's an awesome idea to take the kids at a young age and talk about preparing to be there. Our primary presidency is awesome.

Okay, should go to bed as it's after 11 and I have to be out the door by 8:30...g'night all.

May 2009

 
 

Spin City

 

Adorable

 Okay, I'm so excited tonight for a couple of reasons, well three actually.
1. The company I use to publish my finished scrapbooking albums, Blurb, is now offering a 12x12 format, HOORAY! As everything in the digital scrapbooking world is designed for 12x12 this will make things easier, and you can just get more on a page. So fantastic!

2.Went to the doctor today for my regular pre-natal appointment and things are looking good for not going another 4.5 weeks. My cervix is already softening and moved forward. Hallelujah! Sorry if this is too much information, but frankly I'm almost giddy at the thought of not being pregnant in maybe 2.5 weeks or 3 weeks. Bring it on. My mantra really is, "I can and will do anything to not be pregnant anymore."

3.Finally, how can anyone not be excited about baby girl clothes and shoes. They do make some cute boy stuff, but not like this. Not with shoes that go with different outfits and have cutesy sayings on them. Not with red patent and definitely not with embroidered flowers. Seriously, if I have jinxed myself and end up having a boy I will weep over the lost opportunity of not seeing my baby in these shoes.

Hmmmm, just saw two typos in my layout, doh! I hate it when that happens. I will have to go fix them tomorrow as it is definitely time for bed for this Mama.