Birthday...

Since moving into our new house, we are still trying to find things. While looking for Christmas decorations, I came across some counted cross stitch that I did while I was in college. It was wrapped in a wal-mart bag at the bottom of the box. I took it out and looked at it. Right then I decided that I was going to frame it. After all these years, why not enjoy it? So I picked out a vintage looking frame, bought the form board, pins, spacers and glass. Richard and I put it on the form board. It took a while to get it just right. We then cleaned the glass and add the spacers. Then we carefully put the picture into it. It measures 24X36. It is big and it took a long time to do. Every X is going the exact same way. There are no mistakes. I did a really good job on it and now I can enjoy it.....after all these years. This is what I got for my birthday, today. I love it. Thanks to Richard for all his help. I love you!!

Gingerbread houses

A few weeks ago Daniel came to me and asked to do a gingerbread house this year. We always have done sugar cookies and decorated them. So I started to think that Daniel only has five more christmas's before he leaves on a mission. And. We have never done gingerbread houses. So why not? Let's do gingerbread houses. So I asked the Tolbert's if they would be interested in making them too. They seemed all excited. They came last night for FHE. We had a great time. Chiron ate so much candy. Poor kid loves loves loves sweets. This is his little house.


This is Nathan's house. Beautifully constructed and decorated. Nathan sure has the talent of building.


This is Daniel's. It turned into a chair. He sure did try.


This is Qualan's. He did a great job. He says is looks like a tent. I like his creativity.


I think that we will do this again next year. It was a lot of fun. It is always fun to build and create things.

In the News!!!

Daniel's primary teacher wrote this story and submitted it to the newspaper. It was published in November. How many primary teachers are so inspired by their students to take the time to write a story and submit it to the newspaper? What a neat neat experience for Daniel. He is such a good kid.

Christmas is coming....

Christmas is almost here. I have yet to finish decorating or for that matter, just plain clean my house. I have been so so so busy. I have more things to do then I can possibly get done with a toddler and a wee one. My days are full of holding them and loving them. But always in the back of my mind my 'to do list' runs. I feel stressed about finishing my list. My husbands says that it is no big deal if I don't finish. The list is self imposed. Yes, this may be true, but wouldn't be nice to have a clean house, with a tree that is decorated, with some christmas cookies, fudge, and candy. Not to mention a Christmas dress made for my baby and some presents bought? I have everything started, just nothing finished yet. It will come in time...But time is running out.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.






(I know that it says no words, but I just have to say that I love these two photos. I love Kaydee's face as she is looking at me as if to say I have had enough. I love Chiron's face in the light of the blinds. Beautiful photo.)

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Slowly...

It's happening slowly. A little more each day. Some rooms in our house feel more like home with the presence of our things and the sound of laughter. Other rooms are taking a bit longer. I am still deciding where to put certain things. My boys are uncertain where to put bowls, cups, and pots after they unload the wash. I find bowls in funny places. We are still adjusting to our life in this home. We are finding our rhythm here ever so slowly. As I bake, feed, eat and clean the rhythm will come naturally and slowly. And before I know it this house will be filled with love and laughter, joy and happiness and sweet memories. It will become "us".

Brown Bag Lunch

I have been looking on line for some lunch ideas for my boys. Sandwiches, granola bars, water and fruit is what they normally take. I think that they get tired of it. So. I came across this web-site www.school-lunch-ideas.net Which led me to this site: www.best-ever-cookie-collection.com/index.html On the side they have their favorite web pages. It is a terrific resource. Maybe, I will find something good for my boys lunch between these two web sites. If you have a good idea, I would love to hear from you.

Daniel

So school has began. Life is getting into a routine. Teachers are getting to know their students. Homework has begun. It's all good. I received this email the other day from one of Daniel teachers.

Hello!



I just wanted to send a note to brag on Daniel – he is absolutely wonderful and such a positive example for his classmates! I really admire his school work ethic, and just wanted you to know just how proud I am of him!



Tell him to keep up the good work!! J



Mrs. Tutt

It's nice to have teacher's notice their students' strengths and send a positive note home. It's also nice to have great boys!! We are so blessed! :)

Chiron is 2!!

Chiron turned 2 on August 17. He had a cow cake. He loves animals and the sounds that they make, so a cow cake was perfect for him. There are cows and horses close to our house. Chiron cried when we sang Happy Birthday. It was pretty funny how offended he looked when we tried to sing to him. We actually quite singing because it hurt his feelings. He had a great day!

She is Here!!

Our new Baby girl arrived August 12,2010 at 9:06 in the morning. It was my longest labor. My first contraction was at 3:44am. I immediately jumped in the shower. Richard ran upstairs and told the boys we were leaving for the hospital. Delivery went really well. My doctor delivered her. (It's only the second time my doctor has delivered my baby.) She weighed 7 lbs. 2.5 oz, so they rounded up to 7lbs 3 oz. She was 18 inches long with lots of long dark hair. She is brown! Daniel was happy about that. I was a little sad. I would have liked to have a red hair girl. But. She is a cutie for sure. We named her Kaydee Lucille Bradford. If she was red we would have named her Ruby Kate. But Alas. Kaydee it is. We have adored having a new born in our home. It is so fun. She has a sweet spirit about her. How we love our new Miss Kaydee. (These pictures have not been doctored by photo shop. They are the orginials. One day I will get some time to post some beautiful doctored pictures of her.)

Our new yard is becoming littered with weeds! I think that they put the grass down on top of the weeds and they just come up. It doesn't help either that all around us are empty lots full of weeds. For FHE, we decided that we needed to do some weed pulling. Then we all came in for brownies. We still have weeds. The boys are working on them early in the morning. We need to spray. That will also help. If you look the the background, we have an amazing view from our house. It is really pretty.

We have MOVED!!!

After 10 1/2 years in our house, we decided that it was time to move. We loved that house and it served us well for a long time. Daniel was 2 and Nathan was 18 months old when we moved there. It has a nice yard and we had a big garden that produced more than we could eat. It was good for us. But Now we moved HERE....




This is our new house. Much bigger than the last one. Actually, one floor of this house is bigger than our last house, so we over doubled our last house size. I was a little worried about our electric bill, but this house is so well built that it was only $10 more than I paid last year in our small house. Not to bad. It sits on over a 1/4 of an acre of land. Richard is looking forward to his garden next year. Me too! There is nothing like fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, zucchini and catalope (just to name a few) right out of the garden. I am looking forward to decorating it and unpacking and organizing it. It will always be a work in progress. We are loving it here and our new ward. The school for Daniel and Nathan is just a few blocks away. They can't wait to ride their bikes to school.

Qualan's Baptism

On July 3, 2010 Qualan Thomas was Baptized! He was so excited. It was a wonderful day for him. For his birthday he wants green scriptures. The church is out of that color so he has opted to wait for them to come. I am so proud of him. What a great boy he is. Daniel took these pictures. He did a great job!

Stumped...

About a year ago, I was talked with a sister in my ward. As we talked about many subjects, she made one comment has stayed with me all this time. She told me that I was not thin. So I thought if I am not thin then I must be.....chunky....overweight...fat? I told my husband about the comment and of course he says that I am fine and that is how eating disorders start. But...is he just saying that or am I really, well you know. I graduated from high school at 110 pounds and that's what I weight today. I thought that I looked OK, but maybe I am blinded by my own sense of reality. So who do I ask? A stranger on the street? Would they tell me the truth or would they, who don't know me, not want to hurt my feelings and shade the truth? Then their is the question of how much weight do I need to loose 10 pounds...7.8 pounds....20? I don't know. Why do I worry about what someone else says, but then why did she say it?