the giver

Last week my mom organized a book group for my 11-year old sister and some of her friends. On their list of books recommended by the librarian is The Giver by Lois Lowry. Having never read this book, my mother sent it home with me to read. It came highly recommended by several people, including my Schwan's delivery man who noticed it on my counter last week. I finished it this afternoon. I'm not sure what to think about it. What I do know is that I'll be thinking about it for a while to come. Perhaps my unease comes from the fact that I have such little ones and it was hard for me to suspend my disbelief without thinking of them, especially with the "release" of the twin newchild. If you haven't read it, that will make absolutely no sense, but for those who have read it, am I the only one who had a hard time with it? To be honest, I'm surprised that I made it throught school without having read it. It seems like the kind of book some of my English teachers would have LOVED.

Lately I've been checking in to digital scrapbooking. The more I learn, the more I think that it is the path for me. I love to shop for supplies, but I have a closet of things that I never have time to use because I fear the chaos the mess would create. Any thoughts, recommendations, or favorite sites?

Today we went to Ridgway for the afternoon with the kids. It turned out that about six other member families were all up there, too. Here are some pictures from the outing.

can you say OCD?

So it may be a slight exageration, but am I the only one who has to go back and fix misspelled words and incorrect grammar when I read back through my previous posts and notice the mistakes? I know I'm the only one who probably reads them more than once, and I know that no one else probably even notices. I just bugs me to no end, especially because I usually proof each post a few times before I publish it. It's funny how some people care about that kind of thing and others don't. I used to work with a girl who would send out office emails and memos without a second glance and they always had the most obvious errors. The rest of us used to joke that if it made no sense, then Adrienne probably wrote it. My favorite writing error happened when I was working and needed to hire a new Office Manager. I got a resume from a guy who wrote the following sentence in his cover letter..."I pat attention to detail." Really? Of all the sentences to screw up, that was not the one. His resume went directly to the "Nope" pile. Too harsh? I think not. Anyways, I hope there are no errors in this post!

This morning we started our second week of swimming lessons. Derrick and Abbie are both doing great. Abbie is still a little timid and won't stick her head under water, but she is in the Preschool level so there is very little pressure. Derrick is quite the little swimmer and listens to every instruction. I'm so proud of how he is mastering the torpedo.

At this very moment here is a picture of what each of my brood is doing.

Derrick, very concerned that without his help the Green Team will definitely lose the Disney Channel Games this year, is busily playing computer games to earn points for team captain Dylan Sprouse, aka Zack from the Suite Life. All will be lost without his help!

Gracie is taking a much needed nap in her carseat. The shade offers a bit of protection from her nemesis, who at this moment is...

Outside in the backyard mixing up bowls of who knows what with her friend Jill. To be honest, the mixture somewhat resembles a gourmet salad, although I would definitely not eat it! I hope the bushes and trees survive the afternoon.

not so pleasant memory

So, my sister just called because she thinks that her little girl may have a dislocated elbow or shoulder. She called me because, yes indeedy, it happened to us a few years ago with Derrick. How pleasant to remember that we let him go for almost half a day before taking him in to the doctor. How pleasant to remember the fear that we were going to be reported for child abuse and have our children taken away. After being told that dislocated joints are actually rather common childhood injuries, we still didn't feel any better. How quickly the picture comes back to mind of the pitiful look on his face while he sat there protecting his little arm without crying. And how easily the trauma of it all was forgotten the second the doctor popped it back into place, at least for Derrick. Now it's Karin's turn. From what it sounds like, her little one is experiencing the same thing. But that's what is frustrating about dislocated joints. It's so hard to know because they just act different. Of course these things always happen after normal office hours, so should she take her to the ER if Instacare isn't open? How do you make that call? All I know is I hope not to experience it again, and I'm sure we'll hear about this trauma first hand soon!

On a happier note, I want to start jotting down little things to remember about each of my little ones. Things that are funny/unusual/sweet that I may not always remember.

Derrick loves to read ZooBooks.

Abbie loves anything sour. Especially lemons. She always steals the lemon wedge from our waters at restaurants and eats the WHOLE thing, rind included. We try to get her to stop, but it never works.

Gracie loves to blow bubbles. That's how I know she is done eating.

bits and pieces

Yes, it's true. I haven't blogged since last month. We've had a lot going on and it's just not been on the top of my priority list lately. But, I intend to get back on track. First, I must recap our goings on for the last few weeks, in no particular order.

Three kids, 14 days, and three different road trips makes for a very tired family. After we returned from Richfield on Sunday, May 27th, we made a last minute decision to go to Provo for my uncle's wedding. We left on Friday, June 1st and came home on Sunday, June 3rd. We had less than 24 hours to get pulled back together before we had to get back in the car and drive to Denver on Monday, June 4th. Jon had 3 days of training so the kids and I spent some time with his sister. We came home on Friday, June 8th. We've had a couple weeks of down time, but in another week and a half we load back up for a week at Fish Lake in Utah with Jon's family. Jon will have more training in Denver towards the end of July, but the kids and I will stay home that time. Then I will take the kids back to Provo for the first weekend in August because my mom, my sisters and I are throwing a bridal shower for my soon to be sister-in-law. Then we have a couple of weeks before we trek to San Diego for a week to vacation and do my brother's wedding. WHEW! The more I think about it, the more tired I get. The kids have been pretty good travelers so far, but I'm really afraid that we're going to be pushing our luck this summer.

About a week ago, we gave our 30 day notice to move in the middle of July. We will be moving to a larger house that is really close to Jon's work. We are really excited, but I HATE the whole process of moving. I wish I could pull an I Dream of Jeanie and blink my belongings across town, clean the old place, and get settled in the new. If only. Fortunately, Jon loves to pack and move. This will be the 13th place we have lived in in less than 8 years and I can honestly blame him as the instigator of almost all our moves! Anyone want to come and help?

Gracie is growing so fast. Last week she rolled over for the first time, just a few days past her four month mark. Now she does it so easily. I've forgotten the excitement that comes with reaching each of these milestones. It's also hard to realize that each of these firsts quickly passes us by. I miss the newborn small that she used to be but love the personality that comes more each day. Giggles and ready grins are the trade-off for cuddles and 3 hour naps.

Last week our desktop gave us a scare which resulted in the purchase of our first laptop. Yes, our FIRST laptop. We may be a bit slow in reaching this milestone, I realize. However, we now have set up wireless internet access to make up for our tardiness in reaching this stage. So far things are going well. We even replaced the CD drive in our old computer all by ourselves, and it actually works! We plan to make the old computer a place for the kids to play games and go online.

We have been putting a patio in at my parent's house and are almost done. Just a few more things to do, but spending time over there keeps me from getting anything done around here. Laundry piles up, fast food is the meal of choice, and a vicious cycle is set in motion. To add to the craziness, I have moved all of my piano lessons to morning time slots, and we started swimming lessons this week. I get ready in the morning, teach piano, spend an hour and a half at the swimming pool, attempt to feed Gracie somewhere in the middle of all of this, and then make it home in the early afternoon where I proceed to argue with a brick wall about keeping the house clean, but eventually decide that I'm too tired and so I give up fighting. Why not, the wall doesn't listen anyways! I also attempt to keep our personal business under control while keeping on top of the financial stuff that I do for Jon's dad's business. And then I read other people's blogs and wonder why I haven't been able to blog, because so many people seem to have more on their plates than I do and still manage to keep up. Oh well.

I hope the rest of the summer won't be so crazy. Here's to hoping!