Our life as a musical

2010-08-13T23:14:00.002-06:00

My life right now consists of 3 basic things:

Work
Preschool
Wedding

Work has it's ups and downs. I'm thankful for the job and being able to make a little extra money to pay for the wedding. Today though, I listened to one of my phone calls because I had a "coaching tip" aka something I did wrong. I was so embarrassed. I said the word "crap" on a phone call. The moment I said it, I thought that was probably not my best choice of words. Thankfully, the card member didn't mind. If I hadn't said that one word, I would have gotten a perfect score! Bummer.
Preschool is getting ready to start. I seriously can't wait to start! I have so many cool things that I'm adding to my program this year. It's gonna be awesome! Oh, and I have a new preschool room, which I'm totally stoked about. I'm getting ready to paint in the next couple days. Hopefully that goes smoothly.
Wedding...I updated that in the last post.

In the midst of it all, I'm trying to be a good mom, a good wife, a good housekeeper, pay bills, and take care of myself too. Good news is I've lost 36 pounds now and I only have 9 more until I reach my goal!

How sad is this...I can't even think of a song. I think I've lost my mo-jo. :(

Wedding Bells

2010-08-13T22:56:00.002-06:00

The wedding bells are beginning to ring. We're knee deep in planning right now. Since I last updated the plans, we've met with the florist and ordered the flowers, designed the bridesmaid dresses and are having them made as we speak, the cake has been decided upon and will be ordered soon, and tomorrow, we're meeting with a photographer to look at her work and get a quote. (think cheap thoughts on this one. Trust me, we need it)
Until next time,

Groovy Bay-Be!

2010-06-28T20:49:00.003-06:00

We're alive. We're still here. Just keeping very busy, as I'm sure you all are too. I started a job about a month and a half ago. It's been crazy! I've been training for 40 hours a week. Yes, I'm still going to do preschool! I love teaching! This job is primarily to get us through the summer and then to help with wedding costs a bit. Next week, I start my real shift. I'm very anxious to do that. It's less hours and a better time slot, so that makes me happy!
We've been spending much of our free time together at Lagoon. I think we've gone 6 or 7 times since we bought our season passports. We're having so much fun with that! Some day, we'll bring the camera along with us and snap some pictures, but in the meantime, you'll just have to take my word that we go there frequently, and we have fun!!
We've also treated ourselves to a couple movies. We saw Toy Story 3; excellent, by the way! Our family gave it 6 thumbs up! (we took Prince Charming along with us to celebrate his 22 birthday) This past weekend, we saw How To Train Your Dragon at the dollar theater. Very cute too!
Anyway, thanks for watching me ramble. I really just wanted you to know I haven't forgotten my blog. I DO enjoy reading all of yours and updating my own, as well. I hope to get my groove back on very soon!
Until then,
TTFN!

Oh, and lets not forget about the songs! I'm feeling groovy today. What about you? How about Groove is in the heart by Dee-lite, Get into the Groove by Madonna, and lastly, 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)

-25 and counting

2010-06-01T22:14:00.005-06:00

If you've seen me lately, you may have noticed I'm missing something. 25 pounds. Well, 27.9 pounds to be exact. I've got more to go, but feeling great about my progress thus far!Those used to be my favorite pants!

Not to toot my own horn, but I've gone from a size 16 down to a 12 or sometimes, even a 10... depending on the manufacturer.
The last time I checked, I was down over 8 inches. (I haven't checked in a while though)
I've been doing weight watchers. Basically, that means, I'm watching my portions and making healthier decisions about what I'm putting in my mouth. I'm also exercising 4 to 5 times a week.

A couple weeks ago, I gathered all of my too big clothes and got rid of them! Dr. Phil says that you should get rid of 'em and never look back. If you keep them, it's like giving yourself permission to go back to your old size. I'm not going there. Ever again!
I'll let you know when I've reached another milestone worth sharing. Until then, Pounds lighter! (that's what my cute ww friend Carol tells me at the end of our meeting. Carol, I might add, just turned 75. She looks great! She's been a member for something like 20 years!)

I almost forgot the song of the day!! Oh my!
How about Fat Bottomed Girls by Queen

I Write The Songs That Make The Whole World Sing

2010-05-09T22:52:00.002-06:00

I've written a song for all my mommy friends today. Here goes:

I wish you a happy mom's day
I wish you a happy mom's day
I wish you a happy mom's day
and good kids all year.
Clean houses for you where ever you are
Clean houses for mom's day
and good kids all year!

Happy Mother's Day!!

We Brake for Comics

2010-05-04T17:34:00.006-06:00

Saturday was National Free Comic Book Day. Supe and Jason ventured out to see what they could find. It was a success! Not as good as the loot they got last year, but still good nonetheless. Supe was pretty excited! She brought part of her collection to school on Monday and all the kids were oo-ing and ahh-ing over her stash. Needless to say, she felt proud!

Notice Supe is clad in her Wonder Woman shirt... It says "It's a girls' world. Boys just live here."
Part 2 of the story:
While at school Monday, one of the boys in her class was playing with his Pokeman cards. Supe begged him for one and he agreed. BUT, when she brought it home, I told her "No way! Sci Fi- yes, Legos- yes, but I have to draw the line at comic books." I know. I'm mean.

P.S. so far her favorite comics are The Simpson's and The Incredible's.

In honor of comic books AND the fact that Iron Man comes out Friday...enjoy some Black Sabbath~ Iron Man (this song always makes me think of Nelson from the Simpson's)

The REAL Thing

2010-04-22T22:01:00.004-06:00

I just saw something funny that totally relates to my previous post.

You: I'll take a Coke, please.
Waiter: Is Pepsi OK?
You: Is Monopoly money OK?

To top it off...

2010-04-21T21:54:00.004-06:00

Yesterday, I was a bit frazzled and grumpy with my husband and children. Jason told me very nicely, that I needed to "go find my happy place." Code for chill out woman. You're being a bitch!

The problem was, I had already found my happy place... in this.... An ice cold Coca-Cola. A very rare treat for me lately. And my kids drank the whole thing! I had 1 sip in the car. I thought to myself I'd better savor every sip of this liquid gold 'cause it will probably send me over my points for the day. Then, I took another sip and set it on the table...and walked away. An hour or so later (because I had completely forgotten about the fact that I had this cherished beauty) I went to grab it, and it was gone. G-O-N-E.

Anyway, that's my sad story. I never replaced my coke. It's probably better that way.
So how about some Matchbox 20- If You're Gone. (yes, it's a stretch, but it's the first song I thought of when I typed the word "gone")

Doin' Time

2010-04-18T11:18:00.002-06:00

Supe is a lyric magnet! She can pick them up, remember 'em, and even belt them out. Offen times, she surprises us with this uncanny ability!
A few nights ago, she did just that. To this song:

She sang it word for word until about :51 into the song where it says "I'm locked down like a penitentiary"
What can we say?
She has good taste? Yep. She does.
Should we be frightened? Probably.

Let's Call The Whole Thing Off

2010-04-15T12:50:00.000-06:00

One Saturday morning, Jason and the girls were all still asleep, so I crept downstairs for some computer time. I had been on my friend Ginger's blog, reading about some chocolate cake that she had made, and there was a link to this other blog. So...I clicked. I was intrigued. Little did I know that this would be where I would spend the next four hours of my life! I saw this cute picture on her sidebar and Black Heels to Tractor Wheels and something about Marlboro Man. I had to keep reading.

Anyway, now I follow her blog. It's my new favorite blog....aside from yours of course.

So....Ree (the Pioneer Woman- or P-Dub as she sometimes calls herself) highlights a different recipe every Tuesday and takes pictures of all of the process. This Tuesday, there was a recipe that I couldn't pass up! Plus, I really needed an excuse to buy a bundt pan.
I won't bore you with all of my step by step pictures. Ree has already posted some gorgeous photos!
But here's my finished product:
If I remember; because I'm writing this the night before it's going to post, and because I don't want you getting all excited or discombobulated with all this posting; today's song will be Let's Call The Whole Thing Off by Ella Fitzgerald and Lois Armstrong. And, if you haven't already clicked on the links above, it may shed some insight as to what this cake has in it.

By the way, the cake tastes just as good as it looks. Better- even!

Can We Build It?

2010-04-14T20:37:00.008-06:00

A bit ago I mentioned how Jason and I want to try to do as much of this wedding stuff as we can. We figured we should try to do Bridezilla's cake. Now, we've watched a few episodes of cake boss. We thought we can totally do this! We can mold play doh. Heck, I work with playdoh at least once a week with preschool! And Jason can build anything! This should be a piece of cake! No pun intended. So I began my quest for finding a good cake recipe (that does NOT come from a box).

I came across this "Black Magic Cake". De.lic.ious! It was perfectly chocolaty and smelled yummy!

We filled and frosted the cake with this butter cream frosting . Now, I don't know about you, but I love store-bought frosting. Not the kind in a can. Ick. But the bakery frosting. Mm Mm good. That frosting recipe is like the store's only better.

And last, but not least, we made fondant. Some of you may not know this, but fondant has a bad rep. Lots of people don't like it. Prince Charming doesn't like it either- which is exactly why we wanted to try to make it. You see, Bridezilla ONLY wants fondant. There's no way she's going to settle for butter cream frosting. NO WAY! So Jason and I have to come up with a fondant that we can not just work with, but also have it taste good enough that the Prince will like it. After all, it's his wedding also.

Anyhow, here's a bit of the process:

1. You have to roll and roll and roll the fondant. It's supposed to be 1/8" - 1/4 " thick. And the thickness matters because if it's too heavy, your cake will sink or fall. Not good. In this picture, Jason is using his expert measuring eye to test the thickness. And Rhino's on clean-up duty.
It took us not 1. Not 2. BUT 3 times to get that damn thing rolled to the right thickness AND taken off the counter and put onto the cake. I'll bet we spent an hour and a half rolling and rolling and rolling, and prying, and rolling again.

2. The rest is easy! You lay it on the cake and use a pizza cutter to trim off the extra fondant (so it can be eaten and /or played with later) 3. If you want your fondant colored, you just color a small amount of fondant, then knead it into the rest of the dough. Then, get out your fuzzy pumper and go to town! Ha ha! (you young ones will go what's a fuzzy pumper? Then I'd tell you that it was THE best Play doh toy ever invented.)

Conclusion: We loved making the cake and the fondant, but we're going to leave it to the professionals. I think we'd have to spend about $100 to buy the pans and all the paraphernalia for fondant. That combined with the stress of it all, means we need to find somewhere else to save money. Honestly, this cake making thing interests us a TON. We'd really like to get good enough at it that we could do it on the side or open our own business. We'd also like to do catering...which is our next adventure.

P.S.
Fuzzy Pumper:
Notice the yellow barber chair and crank on the side. Yeah. That's what I'm talkin' about!
P.S.S.

I am well aware that to actually sell our cake products we would have to be a lot better than this. It's just fun to think about!

How about some Cake? Short Skirt Long Jacket? Yeah, I'm glad you all agree.

I think I'm gonna cry!

2010-04-13T12:44:00.010-06:00

Shrek: Ogres are like onions.
Donkey: They stink?
Shrek: Yes. No!
Donkey: Oh, they make you cry.
Shrek: No.
Donkey: Oh, you leave em out in the sun, they get all brown, start sproutin' little white hairs.
Shrek: NO. Layers. Onions have layers. Ogres have layers. Onions have layers. You get it? We both have layers. [sighs]
Donkey: Oh, you both have layers. Oh. You know, not everybody like onions.

Loo wanted to help cook dinner the other day. I'm no dummy. I don't EVER turn down help in the kitchen.
Anyway, she asked if she could do the onion.
My response: Are you sure? ('cause I don't love cutting them and I want the kids to keep coming back asking if they can help)
Her reply: Yep!
Then I go about my thing and turn around and she's gone! Just like that. Gone. Oh well. I think to myself. I knew it was too good to be true.
A couple minutes later, Loo reappears. Wearing these:
Song: How about a little Funky Town today.

Kids say the darndest things!

2010-04-10T09:58:00.005-06:00

I have to share something that happened yesterday. It's a story that every girl can enjoy or relate to, but my purpose for posting is twofold. #1 I want to remember and #2 I want all you moms of young children to know that you don't have to worry about your children growing out of the saying silly things stage.

Back story:
Tuesday ish Bridezilla (BZ) thought she found "THE" (pronounced thee) dress, but we didn't have time to wrap up the sale right then. BZ had to go to work. No worries. We have pllllennnnty of time. But the next day, Margo, our salesperson calls us and says "I forgot to tell you about the coupon we have online. It's for 50-150 off of your purchase, but the coupon expires on Saturday. And, we got some new dresses in." So we were like well, we better make sure we get there before Saturday then. Thursday, we looked into wedding dress rental. (Click here if that interests you. They have VERY good customer service and the dresses were CLEAN, which was something we didn't find at the other rental place in our area)

Anyway, yesterday, we went back to the place. Bridezilla had a new salesperson (lets call her Jane because I can't remember her name). Anyway, Jane encouraged her to try on a couple more styles of dresses. Because, at that point, BZ had only tried on the ballroom style. And, just in case you are wondering, there are 3 basic styles of dresses:
All wedding dresses fall into one of those categories. Whew, now that we got THAT out of the way....

So, to make a long story short, she ended up liking the style that she thought she was sure she didn't want. And after a long and drawn out (and by that, I mean, it's not exciting enough to tell you about) process of actually deciding on THE "THE" dress, Bridezilla has a brand new favorite. Something she looks absolutely stunning in. I almost choked up several times while she had it on, but I guess that isn't really part of this story. (Sorry. Sometimes I get off track)

OK- so we're talking with Jane about the coupon and the alterations. The coupon says that you have to buy your dress and 3 accessories, and depending upon the total, you get X amount off.

I promise the punch line is coming:

So, Bridezilla's new dress has a bit of extra room in the bust. Jane tells us it's no big deal, it can be fixed with alterations and some padding if she wants. BZ asks if there's any way she can put the padding in to see what it does. It worked wonders. So, BZ turns to Jane and says "Do boobs count as an accessory?" We all busted up laughing! It was pretty funny. And, in case you're wondering, no, "boobs" are NOT an accessory, they're an alteration.

I will not post pictures of the actual dress until the wedding is over. Sorry. But, I will tell you that she chose the sheath style.

Song: How about I Love You by Sarah Mclachlin (fantastic CD by the way)

Get me to the church on time!

2010-04-05T14:20:00.008-06:00

So, the wedding plans are coming along quite well, I think.

Last week, we visited four different reception places (or places we could have a reception).

We went to Wheeler Farm- not going to do it there. It's a glorified cultural hall, and we could reserve the one at the church for free! Plus, at WF, they don't set up or take down. And, you'd have to rent all your linens (which means big bucks if you don't want the place to look like a barn!)

We went to This Is The Place- it didn't feel like Bridezilla* and Prince Charming**. I don't know what it is exactly. Other than the fact that it's very pioneer-y. Anyway, it was sort of like Cinderella's step sisters trying to fit the glass shoe on their foot. It just isn't going to work!

We went to Aspen Landing- Cute place. Nice people, but you have to use their catering, and we're on a tight budget. (which means, unless we have a naked bride and bridesmaids, no flowers, no cake, etc- it's not going to work)

The place we've decided on, is a secret. I don't want to say until we've officially booked AND I have Bridezilla's permission to tell the world. But it's quaint and beautiful! If I were getting married, that's where I'd do my thing!

I believe we've officially decided on a date! We even have the temple booked for that day already! This is HUGE people! We wanted the cream of the crop pick for times, and I think we've got it!! If you're interested in knowing the date, drop me an email (sorry, the paranoia is kicking in)

This morning, we went wedding dress shopping. Bridezilla thinks she may have found THE dress! I'm sure hoping so! Don't get me wrong, this dress shopping thing is fun! It's still surreal to see my baby wearing a wedding dress, BUT whenever I'm doing this kind of thing, it makes me a little sick to my stomach! We looked around for a bit after Bridezilla left, for a dress for Loo and Super. Now I know how my mom felt school shopping and Christmas shopping when I was growing up. Now I know why she reached for a cigarette after we left each store! Since I'm not a smoker, I dealt with the stress by delving into a big ol' slab of chocolate cake when we got home. And now, I totally have the jitters (too much sugar today). And, I don't think that slab 'o cake is very much of a help to my weight loss. I'm just sayin'.

*"Sue" will be referred to as Bridezilla- at least until the wedding. She's not being beastly, it's just a funny name for her.

**Sue's fiance will be referred to as Prince Charming because, well, he is her Prince Charming.

Now, for today's song: I feel this dire need to play a super sappy love song, BUT I think I'll refrain...for today. So how about Get Me to The Church on Time by good 'ol Deano! NOPE. Stupid Playlist! How about L.O.V.E (it says this is by Frank Sinatra, and I know I should know, but for some reason, it sounds more like Dean Martin than Frank. Sorry Hubbs if I got it wrong) and Memories are made of this by Dean Martin (this one, I'm sure of)

Clarity

2010-03-25T14:23:00.005-06:00

I feel like I need to clarify something I wrote in my last post. I said these words "Jason wants to do as many things as possible by ourselves, and that freaks me out too!"

I honestly meant to delete that. I deleted what followed the statement. I was starting to ramble on about all the things that Jason wants to do by ourselves like making the table decorations, doing the photography and editing photos, designing the invitation, making all the refreshments; basically anything that we can do ourselves so that we don't have to pay someone to do it for us. I deleted the ramblings because I wanted my post to be about the fact that my oldest was engaged. BUT, since I'm rambling now, I'll go into my why in the world would you guys want to do all those things when it's your own daughters wedding shpill... Two reasons: #1 We're 37 and planning a wedding. A wedding! Needless to say, that wasn't in our savings plan! #2 We are grade A do-it-yourselfers! Jason's a plumber, mechanic, the HVAC guy, the maintenance man, the vacuum repair guy, the drywaller, the painter.... (the list goes on and on) We finished the basement by ourselves, did our kitchen remodel by ourselves, any car repairs that he can do, he does. See what I mean? We're do-it-yourselfers! Really, he is the do it yourselfer. I'm the that looks great honey gal or the do you need me to get the drill girl.

Anyway, as for the planning part, I can't think of any real man, and by "real", I mean, not fictitious; who wants to plan someone else's wedding. We'll help the couple where they need help, offer suggestions and ideas when appropriate, and hand over the wallet, but the majority of the planning will come from the happy couple!

Love you Hun!

Songs: for no reason other than it feels like a Shins kind of day, I present, Sleeping Lessons and Red Rabbits. Two of my favorites from them.

So This Is Love

2010-03-21T09:12:00.003-06:00

Well, it's finally official! Trent and Sue are engaged! He asked her Wednesday morning while on their St. George trip. She's NOT a morning person. But, he woke her up at 6:30 this morning and told her that they should go outside and watch the sun rise. She was extremely grumpy about it, and at one point, even told him "This had better be good!" Anyway, she accepted, and now they've got a tentative date set for December.
How do I feel? Anxious, excited, nervous. Jason wants to do as many things as possible by ourselves, and that freaks me out too! I keep having these Father of the Bride flashback glimpses similar to this one...

In short, it's pretty surreal!

I should note that although Jason and I are somewhat freaked out, we feel very good about her choice in mates. Trent is mature, he's a planner and a saver, he's organized, and most importantly, I know he loves her and will take care of her.

Anyway, this is the stuff you guys want to see:

This is where he proposed:

Here's the ring:They plan to wed in the temple (not this one, necessarily)Happy couple!

We have to have songs right? "So This Is Love" from Cinderella and "True Love's Kiss" from Enchanted

That last picture was sort of a good measure picture. It's entitled... What else? True Love's Kiss!

No Business Like Show Business

2010-03-08T16:29:00.004-07:00

ONE of the super-cool things about our school is the Discovery program. I think I my have mentioned it before on my blog. But, anyway, this past discovery, Super chose to do the "Show Time" class. For 6 weeks (I think it was) they met each Tuesday for a couple of hours and learned a bit about Broadway musicals. In addition, they learned to sing and perform a musical number (complete with kick line). It was so cute! Supe even got up the courage to try out for a solo and made it! It makes me so proud to see her coming out of her shell a little!

They sang No Business Like Show Business from Annie Get Your Gun, so I think that should be today's song. Don't you? Well, you'll have to click on it to listen. Playlist doesn't have it!

Someone had a birthday!

2010-02-22T23:00:00.005-07:00

Notice anything different? Earrings! Super finally decided she was ready and brave enough to get her ears pierced.

That's right! Supe's another year older. She's been with us now for over 3300 days and we're all still alive to tell about it! hahaha

Supe is still very much enjoying rock band, only she's moved from totally digging the drums, to being quite the performer when she's the singer! I should note that she still loves drums, but she just mixes it up now!

She's loving her new school! One of her favorite things is being there with her cousins! She also loves her teacher and doing math (she doesn't get that from me!)

Supa-Dupe (another nick name we have for her) loves to spend time in alone in her room- typically with the door shut. She always has, really. She loves to color and do art projects, listen to music, play school, read, do puzzles, and watch movies on her DVD player.

Her favorite store is Bath and Body Works. In fact, she spent a good portion of her birthday money there! It cracks me up!

Her favorite colors are hot pink and lime green.

She still does not like to eat anything that grows; lettuce, spinach, peas, carrots, peppers, mushrooms, broccoli, green beans, beats, cauliflower, potatoes, and the list goes on and on. Occasionally, she'll eat an apple if it's doused in caramel, or a few grapes, or some mandarin oranges, but that's about it. She is 80% carnivore! The other 20% consists of grains and milk products.

She detests mornings and and loathes leaving the house for anything other than school.

Above are some of the highlights of her birthday gifts.

Happy birthday baby girl!

Today's song: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Music

2010-02-06T10:25:00.001-07:00

My friend Evette does a family history journal entry every week on her blog. I usually don't participate for two reasons, #1 time, #2 I'm not entirely sure I want my children or anyone else for that matter, reading my thoughts about my childhood. But, this week, she chose a more current topic. Simple Pleasures. I can write about that!

There are many simple things that make me happy, but today, I'll share just one. Music. I love to turn it up loud enough that I can't really hear myself sing. Yep. That loud. (In my previous life, I'm fairly certain, I was a rock star) I love most types of music, but I'm not a fan of cheese- not the product made from milk. I like that. The kind of cheese I'm referring to is cheesy music. (cheesy top 40, not my fave) Oh, and I LOATHE music that feels the need to refer to women as "Shorty"- what does that mean anyway?

I do, however; love Muse. Wait. I LOVE Muse. I love 30 seconds to Mars and Coldplay. The Who, Queen and Boston. Regina Spektor, The Shins, Brandy Carlile, Sarah McLachlan and Josh Groban. And the list goes on and on! I love music with violin and piano. I'm not a horns or wind instrument kind of gal. I don't really like Jazz. (dear husband, please don't hit me) But, anyway, in my opinion, one of THE greatest inventions was the mp3 player. Whether you have it plugged into your stereo for the whole family to hear, or you have your head phones in, it's just awesome! No task is quite as daunting with music piped in. I love cleaning the house with it, or mowing the lawn with it, or cooking with it. It just makes everything better!

Without further ado, today's song is Music by Madonna.

Ahhhhhhhhh (that's the sound of angelic voices)

2010-01-17T10:17:00.006-07:00

Did you hear it? That unmistakable sound of angelic voices? I sure did. Here's why.

(first, a little background story) I was reading one of my favorite blogs, when she mentioned this Fly lady thing and shining her sink. I thought what's that, so, like any curious person would do, I clicked on the link. I was inspired. I love the concepts on there! If you don't know what it is, or you haven't clicked on the link above, let me just tell you that Fly lady is about making routines, cleaning, and taking back your life, without feeling overwhelmed. She has set out steps to insure you get a lot accomplished in a short time. There's even a section for kids!

(now for the story)Fly lady mentioned calling all the family into the room and giving them a brief here's what we're gonna do- type- thing where you clean like mad for 15 minutes. So, I thought I'd give it a try. What's the worst that could happen?

I told my girls "We're going to set the timer and clean the house as fast as we can for 15 minutes. We're going to clean up and pick up everything even if it's not our mess. And we're only going to do it for 15 minutes!" I was so pumped! I wanted them to be as excited as I was. But, they looked at me like I had just signed them up for a colonoscopy! Yes, they were that excited! But I kept my chin up, kept saying "isn't this going to be fun?!" I put on some good cleaning tunes, "Supe" set the timer, and away we went! (now here's where the story gets good) All of us were literally running from project to project, cleaning like our pants were on fire. "Supe" would holler out "8 minutes left!" Then, "5 minutes!" When we got down to just two minutes, we were really cookin'! And guess what? We got it done! The whole house (minus bedrooms). "Supe" didn't want to stop. She said "I just want to dust one more thing!" Did you just read what I said? She did not want to stop cleaning! When does that happen? And then I had sort of a Mary Poppins moment. It was practically perfect in every way!

I figured we were on a roll, so we would continue on. So I said "Now we're going to clean our rooms for 15 minutes. Vacuuming and everything. But once the timer goes off, you have to be done with your room. You can't continue cleaning it after the timer goes off." So, we all cleaned up our rooms in the same manner as we did the house. I had the girls throw their clothes down the steps and told them we would take care of it when we were done. We continued counting down the minutes until we were finished. The rooms looked great! Yahoo!

And our last task (because we now had a ton of laundry littering the steps) was to sort the laundry. We set the timer again, and sorted like our life depended on it, for 10 minutes, and whatta' you know? Another success! So, there we were. We'd been cleaning for 40 minutes and we had the house cleaned (including dusting and vacuuming), the bedrooms were all cleaned, and we had the laundry out of our rooms, sorted, and even had a load in the washer! Whew! And then it happened....the angelic voices I was talking about.... I heard them. I almost teared up!

When we finished, we turned off all the lights, grabbed our stuff, locked the doors, and left the house for some fun!!

Note: yesterday, we did the same thing, only this time, Jason was home, so there were 4 of us to clean! In just 45 minutes, we got all of our rooms cleaned, the toilets and sinks scrubbed, the floors vacuumed, and swept, and all the laundry folded and put away!

p.s. Then Jason heard the voices too!

One of the songs that inspired us was Supermassive Black Whole by Muse, so it's only appropriate that it be the song today!

All that Jazz!

2010-01-15T16:00:00.000-07:00

Last week, Jason's work gave him 4 tickets to the autograph party for the Utah Jazz 100 club. Thankfully, Sue didn't have to work so Jason could have a daddy-daughter date night with all his girls!

Tuesday, was the autograph party. The girls were so excited. Jason was too (of course, he's the REAL Jazz fan in the house) Anyway, they were able to go and get the autographs of the coaches and all of the players except for 2. Loo is in love with Kyle Korver . He went to grab the ball from her and accidently dropped it in guacamole. When she got home, she showed me her ball and the spot from the guacamole and said "It's OK Mom. Now I'm memorable!" Too funny!

song: All That Jazz

Girl v. Food

2010-01-13T16:50:00.003-07:00

I wanted to write this story down before I forget, I have a habit of doing that these days:

A couple weeks ago, we went out to dinner at Red Robin. Supe had ordered chicken fingers and had eaten all she could and then some. She was stuffed, but her food wasn't gone yet. All of the sudden, she leans back in her seat, pats her belly and says, "Today in the battle of man verses food, the food won!" Jason and I looked at each other and started cracking up! Apparently, we have been watching way too much Man v. Food lately!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-05T12:30:00.001-07:00

These are a few of our favorite things...

Sue's favorite gift was her "tennies". She keeps saying "aren't they just so cute?"

Loo's favorite gift was a bath robe, but she said "I'm not getting my picture taken in my bath robe. I wear that when I'm naked!" But her second favorite thing was her Roxy hoodie. (shown below)

Super's favorite gift was her portable DVD player. She used all of her Christmas money and a tiny bit of birthday cash to buy it. That's a smart shopper!

Jason's favorite gift was his yellow hoodie. He looks pretty cute in it too.

and, last but not least, my personal favorite thing is a toss up between my gift card to Hale Theater and my food processor.

note: You'd think that Loo would be fine to have her picture taken. She has a digital camera and always does self portraits, but NO. When it's my idea, it's just not cool enough. Oh well, at least I finally got it!

Today, it would only be appropriate to have Favorite Things by Julie Andrews be the song. Don't you think?

The Houses that WE built

2010-01-04T16:22:00.014-07:00

These are the houses that we built.

This is the kit that has all that we need