The Backpack

This is Kyler's Backpack from Kindergarden.

The last two months of Kindergarden, Kyler developed a deep relationship with this backpack. He carried it on his back literally every second of every day. Seriously. No..., really. He would wear it while sitting on the couch watching cartoons. He would wear it while riding his bike. He would pack it every single day with various items he believed he needed for the day.
Every night I would empty out the backpack and put the items away in different random places...some of them hoping to be lost and/or forgotten about so Kyler wouldn't put them back in (like vacuum attatchments that I actually needed, crumpled up papers that were in the recycling bin, etc.) I have actually had people tell me that they did not recognize Kyler several times because he did not have his backpack on...so everyone knew Kyler for his backpack. The last week of school I had to sew the bottom closed because it had ripped open in several places.

Now, we had a deal that Kyler had to empty the backpack before school and he was really good about doing it. But there were a few times that he would go to a friends house to play and go straight from there to the bus stop and I did not make him empty his backpack before going like I should have...On one of those occasions Kyler's teacher pulled me aside to inform me that she had to look in Kyler's backpack for a paper that he was supposed to turn in. She told me that technically Kyler should have been in big trouble because he technically had WEAPONS on hand...even though they were plastic (an axe, a hammer), they were still considered weapons. But she knew Kyler wouldn't hurt anyone, but he could not bring them back to school! ;)

The backpack holds so many memories...

There was one time we were in an elevator and Kyler looked up at me and said "Mom, if we get stuck in this elevator, I have everything we need to live on for a while until someone helps us." It was the sweetest, cutest thing ever...and the funniest part about it was that there was NOTHING in the backpack that we actually could have used for anything!

So now we have offically thrown the backpack away. There is a new backpack in Kyler's life for 1st grade. It is already filled with items Kyler thinks he needs for the day. He is not nearly as attatched to the backpack as he was a few months ago...I think taking the summer off (since his backpack was so broken he couldn't use it anymore) helped him grow out of the phase a little. But I could be wrong, this could be the new beginning again with a new backpack. Either way, it has been such a fun phase for me to see Kyler's personality show through the backpack.

Books

I am not going to write a review of every book I read, but I wanted to vent on my blog today that my sister was inspired, truly, to recommend this book to me. As silly as it sounds, this summer has been soooo busy that I have not have time to read until this week, and my sister just happened to e-mail me the recommendation to read this book. I right away and got it, and it was the perfect motivation for me to clean my house...

I am a little OCD and cannot sit down, relax and read without my house being clean. It's the same for when I make wipey cases, when I sew, etc. Now, it doesn't always turn out this way...sometimes the house has to be a mess and I just have to go ahead and do something anyways. BUT, this time, I knew I had the time and just needed the motivation. So I cleaned my little heart out and actually started the book at 11:00 that night. I only read the preface and the first chapter and knew that if I did not put it down right then, I would be reading all night. So I started the next day after working out, getting showered and straightening things up from breakfast. And I literally read ALL DAY LONG. I read while making the kids lunches, I read while going to the potty. I had to stop a few times, but pretty much just kept reading until I was done. And it was such a great book. I highly recommend reading it!!

Here is the books discription: Dante, a prisoner sent from fifteenth-century Italy into the present time as a punishment, meets and falls in love with Abby, a high school senior who may be the only one who can save him.

Now, don't let that scare you away. It's not all time machiney whatever...it's the best love story! More than a love story between the main characters, but between family members, etc. it is just reallllly good. It's also clean. I hate foul language in a book, among other things. What else can I say? Go get it, read it and you will love it!!

Now I have book two, but didn't start reading it today because I had too much to do...and tomorrow I have too much to do as well...so we are going for Saturday...in case you try to reach me and can't.... :):):):)

A trip to the Police Station

So I have been having a problem with Brayden (I know, what else is new?!) and I have been thinking about possible solutions. We may have come up with one today, but I don't know if it worked like I wanted...

Brayden is in a booster car seat with a back. He has been in it for a few months, ever since he hit the weight/size/age limit. He can buckle himself in, which is nice...but he can un-buckle himself, which is not so good in the middle of the freeway when I am going 75mph...

He does it specifically because he knows he is not supposed to. I have been telling him that I am going to put him back into a baby carseat if he continues to do it. At first I was nice about it, then I pushed it a little higher, told him I would get a ticket and he could get in an accident...then I pushed it into full gear andtold him that if someone hit our car and he was unbuckled, he would go flying through the windshield, have shards of glass all over his body, have to get a million shots, stitches, possible surgery and be crying in pain and possibly die.

Doesn't.Phase.Him.At.All.

What? Seriously? Really?

So I have toyed with the idea of taking him to the police station and having a police officer tell him the same thing...maybe coming from that type of authority would help. So today, after going to the post office and having him slide down from his car seat because he wasn't wearing it correctly, I marched right into the police station.

I told the lady at the front what was going on. I realllly wanted to say "please send someone out who will be aggressive, even mean who will really scare him..." but I couldn't. A sargeant came out, he was a little stern, but mostly nice calling him "little buddy," etc. I am not sure if Brayden gets it. I mean, I know he knows its wrong and knows he shouldnt do it (which is exactly why he does it), but I don't know if the little chat with the officer today made any difference cause he was still so nice about it.

He gave him a badge in the end and told him the only way he could wear it is if he promised to wear his seat belt right all the time. I think if he takes it off or wears it wrong again I am going to put him back in the convertable car seat for a day to really show him I am serious and will not put up with it, then I think maybe he will wear it right. I am just not sure, but I really hope either way that today worked...

SURPRISE!

My friend Amber is having a boy. She has a girl and is now having a boy. She really didn't feel super comfortable with having a shower. Sometimes its hard for ladies who already have children to have a second baby shower, even if they have nothing for their new gender. So we took matters into our own hands and decided to throw her one anyone...much to her great surprise!

Now do you realize the planning that goes into making something a surprise? We had to tell her we are going out so she would get dressed up. We had to say that we were running late for our night out so she would actually come inside the house rather than waiting in the car...we had to tell everyone to park their cars down the street and have them show up 30 mins early...I'm just saying...a lot of preparation to make sure she did not find out!!

So, we kept it small. We invited only a few people who we knew she hangs out with or lives close to, etc. as well as her mom and sisters... so she would not be too overwhelmed. Now...my camera did not take pictures exactly as I took them, there is a delay so I am disappointed I did not get the big "suprise face" but I got pretty cute pics otherwise!!

So here is the story. This is Amber walking right out after we yelled Surprise. She burst into tears (HAPPY, EXCITED tears!). It was actually so sweet.

She was in the bathroom...and took a little coaxing to get out...;)

Here she is wiping away the tears getting ready to come out.

Some of the food. Aren't those plates and cups and napkins so cute?! I love now how baby showers are not all blue for boys and pink for girls, there are fun exciting new patterns and mixing and matching is fun. (can you tell I LOVE helping with baby showers?!)

Okay, okay, enough of the food, I know I am just making your mouth water,

Just having fun talking. Sorry for the lighting in the picture.

The cute mom/lady in waiting if you would...

All the pretty ladies...

So much fun!

I can't believe that Amber actually went for this, but we were pretending she was in labor...and well you get the idea!

4 cute pregnant moms! All at different stages...and on the far right is a mom to be of triplet boys!

Soooooooooooo silly ladies.

Great times had by all! So fun! I am so glad she ended up having a great time and loving the surprise!

Besties!

This is my beautiful friend Kyra. She became one of my best friends when we lived in Boise and she came down for a visit this past weekend JUST HER, so we could have a girls weekend with no kids. It. was. awesome.

Friday we picked her up from the airport. We came back, packed lunches and went to the park with some of my friends from here. It was hot, but we had fun. Later that night we went to The Gateway for some shopping, just the two of us, then a late showing of Eclipse. We got it around 12:30 in the morning, then got up on Saturday to spend the day doing more shopping. We hit IKEA, Tai Pan, then Cafe Rio for lunch. Next the mall, an afternoon showing of Letters to Juliet (which is awesome by the way), then we came home around 7 for some pedicures and off to bed early since we were exhausted by then! Sunday we relaxed, went to church, had a great dinner, went on a walk. The whole weekend was amazing. Just spending time with one of my besties was the best!

Got to have a few self-taken pictures.

Monday one of my friends watched the kids so we could go to lunch just the two of us before she had to get to the airport. it was great.

Seriously, just look at the food...it was GREAT!

I think the weekend was well needed and well deserved for the both of us! We had a great time and it really makes me so grateful for having such wonderful friends. I am glad that even though I have friends in different states, friends that live close and friends that live far away, no distance can separate how close we really are. Thanks again Kyra for coming. It was amazing!

4th of July...a little later...

So I have been SOOO crazy busy that I am just now getting around to posting our fabulous 4th of July weekend. We had such a great time with the Centerville Parade with Cort's family, then swimming at our place, a bbq, fireworks. Then Monday we continued the celebration with going to Boondocks for miniature golfing, then dinner with friends, fireworks in the street, the whole works! You can better believe our boys have been sooooo tired by the end of every day that we partied, so it was hard when they missed naps. But it was a great time!!

Here's some bits from the parade...
Keaton spent most of the time during the parade running away from me and Cort as well as dancing in the streets, literally.

Trying to teach the boys to golf...well Kyler wasn't really interested, Brayden loved it and Keaton loved stealing all the golf balls and throwing them, or taking them out of the hole and giving them back to us.

I think Brayden is a natural.

Here comes trouble.

Inside at Boondocks- the boys continued to have a great time!

Fireworks in the streets later.

Keaton didn't stay in the camping chair the whole time, but at least he really stayed away from the fireworks.

It was a great 4th of Juky!

What. A. Day.

I knew from about 5 minutes after getting up this morning that today was going to be a HARD day. Brayden woke up extra early after being up really late. He was grouchy. Therefore I was grouchy. I woke up with the worst allergies I have had in a long time. I felt so drained. But surprisingly the day was decent until this afternoon. I was soooo tired and laid down for a few minutes, my allergies were killing me even after having taken medicine for it. I couldn't really relax well and the boys were fighting a lot. I could tell Brayden was reallllly tired and he eventually fell asleep on the couch. The problem with this? Naturally he fell asleep about 20 minutes before I had to leave...the ONE and ONLY day I have something important to be to (my ob annual appointment that I have to schedule like 3 months in advance). Nice. However, when I moved him to the carseat, he stayed asleep. And Keaton was still asleep when I had to leave, and he transfered to the carseat. Wow. I am thinking my luck has turned around. The boys are asleep. And even though it would be nice to be home taking advantage of them both being asleep, I am on my way to the ob doctor's office.

I get to the docs office and wait until the last possible second to wake them up. When I finally get inside, I learn my doc is at the hospital delivering a baby. he was only running about 15 minutes late they say...but he actually was about 45 minutes late. Brayden is tired, Keaton is fine and eating snacks. But Brayden literally cried the ENTIRE 45 minutes. Literally. Cried. Nothing I could say or do calmed him down, so I just let him cry. Now, normally I do NOT like bringing my kids to appointments like these. But today I had to. And this is the one docs office I come to where the staff and doctor especially LOVES seeing my kids. He plays with them, talks to them, and when its time to get business done, he has one of his nurses take the kids on a walk and its wonderful. So I really don't mind bringing them to this particular appointment...except today was just miserable. The other thing about this office I love is my doc is usually never late. They typically run ontime...even though he spends time talking to me and explaining things to me and really listens, he is still typically on time. But like I said, not today. And I understand, but man, it was hard. So after the doc comes in and business is done...Brayden cried the whole way home too...I kept looking back and laughing at Keaton cause he was plugging his ears!!
I got home and magically got dinner together (one of Cortney's favorites too). Cort had to put Brayden to bed early, Keaton to bed a little early and Kyler is now asleep. Sigh. The house is clean, I am ready to take a hott shower to help relieve these dang allergies and hopefully I can have a more relaxing night and have a better day tomorrow. Sigh again. Kids. One day I will miss these moments. I AM glad I had my camera today. Sigh. Again and again. Nite.

Tuesday

Tuesday was a super busy jam packed day. Swimming lessons in the morning (I've been teaching a neighbor girl along with Kyler and Brayden)...cleaning my house top to bottom, errands to run, and then the Bees Baseball game with Cort's mom, sister and her husband and kids. It was so much fun. The kids had a great time and there was so much for the kids to do during the game...so naturally I did not see a ton of the game, just spent more time playing with the kids. But it was great anyways.

Here's Kyler with his cousin Ashlyn riding the train.

Me attempting to capture Brayden's and Keaton's face during the train ride (and I guess a little of my face too!) ;)
The whole fam!

The game.
Come on now... what a GREAT SHOT!

And finally...the BEE!!!

Now I forgot to mention the most IMPORTANT part of the day and that was Eclipse! After the Bees game, some gals came over and we went to Chilis (around 10pm) to hang until the midnight showing. We got to the theater around 11:10 and got seats, talked and waited for the movie.

Yes, I love the Twilight Series. Yes, I would definetly see the midnight showing and Yes it was totally worth it. The movie was amazing. The best of all of them by far. I thought Twilight was okay, mostly lame when I really think about it, but because it's Twilight, I still love it. New Moon was so much better and I really liked it, not just because it's Twilight. But Eclipse is truly well done, so amazing and so incredible! I seriously can't wait to see it again and again and again! And I did take a picture of one of my friends and I at the movie, but with my camera it did not flash and did not turn out. So another friend took one and is going to e-mail it to me, so I will just have to wait to post it until then!! Can't wait to show you cause I totally wore my $3 Edward t-shirt. WOOT!

Craftiness

Let me start this post by saying that I love crafts and craftiness in general. I am not very good at sewing, but getting better. I am not great at a lot of things, but I LOVE making wipey cases and am good at it. I always try very carefully to make them to the best of my abilities and with great care. I have thought about expanding my products, making more than one item. Sometimes I think it's a good idea, sometimes I just want to keep doing what I am doing and leave it at that. BUT, I have really toyed with the idea of at least sewing other things/making other things simply for myself or as gifts, etc. and have tried doing cute birp cloths for a while. Well, I should say a few months ago I tried making a few and I just couldn't seem to keep my lines straight. But I practiced and now am pretty decent. It's just a simple stitch, but I want it to be absolutely straight! So I put together a little trio of birp cloths for my friend having triplets to give her with her wipey case and they turned out cute. No, I don't plan on selling these...at least not for now. I just think they are cute and fun to give to someone, especially when a lot of my friends already have wipey cases, so now I can give them something else to go with it! ;)

I made a cute little tag that did not photograph well "Made for you by Lizzy Luu."
Two girl ones I made that turned out cute.

The three boy ones I made for my friend.

Here's one unrolled, so you can see what it looks like.

All three together laid out. Now isn't that cuter than a plan old birp cloth??

Sew fun! (Get it?!?!!) Can't wait to sew a few more! ;)