Finally...

Well Gram has lived in her house for 4 years and today the outside was finally painted! Hurray for Seville Park Ward High Priest Quorum. They wanted to do a service project and gram's house was the one they chose. I have posted some pictures. They were also kind enough to paint my school. I am so thrilled. I have before and after pic's of my school but only the gram's house after it was painted.

This last picture is our wonderful Bishop (on the ladder) and a member of the Quorum that came to help.

The Rug

The other day Russ found this rug in a vacant house that he was preparing to list for sale. It is in perfect condition. He brought it home and put it on the floor in the family room. I thought it looked great as it broke up all the blue in the room.


Later in the evening Annie came by and announced that she didn't like that rug one single bit. Russ and I responded by telling her we liked it and it was going to stay put. "Well", she said, "just wait until my sisters see it!"


Well I guess the statement about the "sisters" was supposed to make us want to jump up and drag that rug out to the nearest bonfire. Poor Annie, she really did get stuck with old fashioned parents. Maybe someday she will look past our lousy taste in rugs and love us inspite of our age. After all age is just a number!

The Coupon Escapade

Friday I bundled up my coupons and decided it was time to head to Fry's and see what this coupon frenzy was all about. I really didn't have a ton of coupons (I am a newbie to couponing). I tried to plan it out so I would be organized and not have to crisscross the store a dozen time. I swear I was in The Hotel California where "you can check out but you can never leave". It was making me so nervous carrying those coupons around and searching for just the right products. It is a really time consuming ordeal. As I finally headed toward the front of the store to check out I started sweating wondering if the moment I opened up my envelope to dump out the coupons, the floor would open up and swallow me! Everyone hates couponers...especially me. I held my breath as I waited for someone behind me in line to throw a rotten tomato at my head. Fortunately, the floor didn't open, no one threw a rotten tomato at me and I quit sweating when the cashier finally announced that I had saved $199.71 (I promise it sounded like she was shouting it over the intercom). I still spent more than most couponers do in a year but I had lots of items without coupons too. And, I lived to tell this story. I guess I might try it again next week, if I can get up the nerve!

Wake up All You Bloggers!

The following statement is not intented to focus on my own family but rather bloggers in general.

I know many of you will consider me a hypocrite and you would be right! I really love reading other peoples blogs but I seldom contribute to my own. What is up with that?

I get so out of sorts when I check someones blog and they haven't blogged in a month (and in some cases months). PLEASE...can you put something new so I can enjoy keeping up with you and your family. Thank goodness we have enough family members that someone generally contributes to this blog every week or 2.

So, why am I whining about such matters? I guess it is because I have been looking at some new blogs lately and I really enjoy the good things I have read. In some funny way I am inspired by the good I see in others through their blog. I get to take a peek at good families, loving mom's, families having fun together, trials that people cope with (especially those that make mine look like a walk through the park), fabulous food ideas, new babies arriving, weddings, well you get the idea. All kinds of things. I wanted to make a New Years resolution to blog at least once a week this year. Oops! Looks like I already failed since it is the 3rd week of January.

Thank goodness everyday is a new day and I get to start over. Forget the New Years resolution...I think I will just start today. Consider this my new beginning to blogging more often. Hope you find me here next week!

Love to All,
Mom

P.S. I almost deleted this post because I didn't have a picture to go with it. Just seems like a picture makes it more interesting. But I resisted and posted anyway. Maybe you will see a picture next week.

Look it has my eyes!!!

Well I know how excited women get about that first ultrasound picture so here it is.

I can't believe it!

That's right! Our baby boy is a sunbeam. Ok so he really isn't a baby but it is hard for me to believe! Today was a little weird for me but we got through it and Cooper L-O-V-E-D primary. Our Primary Presidency did a really good job of trying to prepare the kids that would be moving up into primary. They started taking them into singing/sharing time about the middle of November and they went each Sunday. The first Sunday Cooper had a hard time because he was sitting there being really reverent like they asked him too and when it was all said and done and his Aunt Nichole didn't pick him to help with the songs, he melted. But luckily that has been the only problem. Last Sunday we started helping him prepare also by telling him that he would have a new teacher and he would get to go to primary. We were always positive about it and he was getting really excited. So today I prepared him a little bit more by telling him that in his new class he wouldn't have playtime and snack time. At first he seemed a little leery but then when we got to church he was perfectly fine. At one point during Sacrament meeting he said,"Momma do I get to go to my classroom with the toy cupboard?" When I replied ,"No" he didn't even blink and he just smiled and said, "Oh yeah, I get my new teachers!". I was so thrilled that he was OK with that! Once we got to primary, I took him to sit by his teachers and then hurried out since I wasn't sure if he was going to take a cue from any of the other kids and start crying as their parents brought them in, so I just watched him from another door and he did great. He had no problems and I am ecstatic! He loved it and I hope he continues to love it. But for me it is still strange!