Natalie's Birthday and the $19 Party

My little cutie!

Natalie turns 5 today, which in her mind means she goes to kindergarten today. I've had to be the kill joy and explain she has to wait until the fall to "ride the bus." To make matters worse, I made a big deal yesterday about registering her for kindergarten, so between the two events she's ready to walk though those Moran Prairie front doors today and take her seat.

Natalie decided she needed to write a letter to Mrs. Smith about all this (sadly, Ally and Nicholas have convinced her that this will be her teacher, even though I've made clear there's no guarantees). In her letter she included a list of her ABCs and a picture of an object that starts with each letter (I think she wanted to convince Mrs. Smith she was qualified for kindergarten . . . by the way, she spells Mrs. Smith "meses smef"). WARNING THE NEXT FEW SENTENCES WILL PROBABLY ONLY BE HUMOROUS TO BOSTON RED SOX FANS: When Natalie got to "M" she drew a picture of a baseball player. I gently reminded her "baseball player" does not start with "M," she then told me the picture was "Manny. The Big Hitter," referring to Manny Ramirez, the Red Sox's star outfielder. . . yes, daddy has taught his little girl well.

Now, about that $19 party. I've been totally inspired by my Dave Ramsey friends (isn't there something about courage in numbers???) So, I decided to spend as little money as possible on Natalie's party. We made the invitations, had a really inexpensive craft (party vests out of paper bags - really lame, I know), and I made the cake (which can be a little scary). All this resulted in about $100 less than I usually spend on parties and I don't think Natalie noticed the difference (I hope her friends didn't either!) But, then again, Natalie is pretty easy to please - a trait I cherish about her.

I'm so thankful for the opportunity to celebrate Natalie's birthday. My life is so blessed with her in it. I can't imagine having a day go by without seeing her smile with that cute dimple on her left cheek. She is truly a gift from Heavenly Father.

Party Pics

Party vests

Invitations made from supplies around the house

Homemade cake with candy from around the house

Happy Birthday Mr. Z

The Birthday Boy!

Today is Andrew’s 39th Birthday. I can’t believe he’s nearing the big “40.” But it brings me joy to think we’re doing just what we wanted to do . . . growing old together!

So in celebration, I’ve compiled a Top Ten list of what I love about Andrew

1. His eyes. Those big, brown, puppy-dog eyes can pretty much talk me into anything.

2. His funny idiosyncrasies. Andrew can’t stand pennies - something about the copper. He swears your hands smell after holding them. He’ll often ask me to get the change when we’re at a store/restaurant and he knows a penny is coming. He’s also a grammar fanatic. I swear he never does this with friends, but when we’re in public and he hears bad grammar I can literally feel him tense next to me.

3. He’s smart. Really, really smart (to set the record straight our kids get their brains from him).

4. His ability to small talk. He always talks to the stranger in the elevator, the person behind him in line at the grocery store, the taxi driver, etc.

5. His desire to make new families in our ward feel welcome. He’s usually the first to greet a new family – which is no easy task in our ward!

6. His humility. He doesn’t even share his successes with me! I remember several years ago when he was EQ President and President Elmer shared with me that he was proud of Andrew because the EQ home teaching numbers were the highest he’d ever seen them. While Andrew knew about this, he never once told me about it. He’s finding out right now that I even knew about it!

7. His desire to serve. When we wake up to fresh snow in the morning, our driveway is rarely the first to be shoveled.

8. His love for his children.

9. His love for me.

10. His love of the Gospel.

Happy Birthday Andrew! I only wish I could be half as good of a person as you are.

"Gray Skies Are Going to Clear Up"

Enjoying the sunshine!

I think our family needed sunshine. After weeks (months?) of cold, wet weather, we were treated this weekend to some much needed blue skies. We were actually in the Tri-cities, which is about 2 hours south of Spokane. The funny thing about the Tri-cities is it's only 130 miles away but it's desert. We were even greeted as we rolled into town with tumbleweeds blowing across the highway. By the way, wind is no stranger to the Tri-cities. I can't tell you the trauma this caused me in high school after spending hours on my hair (getting those bangs to stick up, of course!) and then to have it all messed up.

When we left Spokane Thursday it was raining and 49 degrees. When we left the Tri-cities to come back home on Saturday it was sunny and 70 degrees. Nicholas took advantage of the warm weather and spent endless hours outside shooting baskets. He's obsessed with basketball lately and was so happy to be playing outside instead of at the YMCA. (Andrew even surprise him with tickets to the Gonzaga/Portland game, which really sent him over the edge!)

We also had a picnic in the park, spending lots of time swinging, sliding, and climbing. The kids just couldn't get enough (nor could they stop smiling - can you believe I forgot to bring my camera to the park????) At night, the kids slept SO well. I'm always a little nervous when we're away from home that the kids won't sleep, but that good ol' sunshine appeared to wipe them out by the end of the day.

So now the "spring bug" has bitten. I want to wear capris, I want to put my turtlenecks away, I want to go for bike rides with my kids, I want to plant flowers . . . . But, I know from experience there's probably a little more winter in store for Spokane. We'll see.

p.s. Kristin - I just saw your "tag." There's so many weird things about me, I'm going to have to put some thought into which 6 I can actually share! :-)

Hip Hip Hooray . . . a Green Light Day

Every once in awhile I have one of those days where everything just seems to go right. I call these green light days because, I'm not kidding here, even the traffic lights seem to be in my favor. Today was a green light day.

It actually started the night before. All 4 of our children stayed in their own beds through the night. YEA!!! No one trying to climb in our bed, no one needing a drink, no one wanting to tell me they have to go to the bathroom (rather than just going!), etc. This is something we really struggle with. I'm thinking this may be the biggest factor in my green light day but not totally sure. I do know I'm definitely a happier person with at least 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

The morning went smoothly. I didn't have to ask twice for my kids to come to breakfast, get dressed, brush their teeth, etc. Family prayer in the morning even felt more spiritual rather than us just "going through the motions."

I won't bore you with all the other details of the day, but some of the highlights were being able to chat with a couple friends, getting lots of work done because Natalie played at a neighbor's while Adam was napping, being able to figure out a child care plan for a couple days in February when Andrew needed to be on campus and I needed to be in the office (thanks Rebecca!), and a meaningful family home evening (which can totally be a bust on some Monday nights!)

I'm not sure why some days are green light and some days aren't. I pondered today a testimony bore in my ward yesterday. The sister talked about running and that when you run uphill you gain strength and when you run downhill you're just coasting. I guess a green light day is like coasting, but I'll take it when I can get it!