Balloons

Nate blew up a couple of balloons last week, and the next thing we knew we had a house full of them. The girls had a blast with them. They had to have one of every color. It's so funny how they love to play with the simplest toys -- something to remember while we're starting to decide what to do for Christmas.

Nap time

I don't know what it is about the afternoon, but it is absolutely impossible for me to read anything between the hours of 1 pm and 4 pm. I fall instantly asleep. Eileen would probably laugh at me for this because I'm sure she remembers what it was like trying to get me to do my homework in high school. Any English reading assignments were hopeless for me to try to complete before supper. Well, I am still plagued with the nap syndrome. Yesterday and today I tried to study while Nikki was having quiet time. Well, I ended up more rested than Nikki. She came and laid beside me for a few minutes but didn't stay long. Then, when I finally came back to consciousness she said, "Mommy, are you done sleeping?" Thank goodness she's not a destructive or mischevious child. I got myself into a little trouble today, though. I fell asleep reading and finally put my assignment aside and laid down on the couch. When I woke up I couldn't find my glasses, and I really don't remember taking them off or where I put them. I looked all in the couch cushions (and found some amazing things), all around the couch, everywhere. I even went and put my contacts in and came back to look, but I don't know where they are. I suppose we'll figure it out when someone either steps or sits on them. So this is what I get for being a slackard and taking a nap even after I had a great night's sleep last night.

Family

We have been so blessed with a great family. Tonight my two brothers came over for a family dinner. We try to make sure we get together at least once a month and this dinner is a great way to do it. Whoever hosts it cooks a dinner, someone else brings dessert, and the other family prepares a little family night lesson/activity. I was just thinking that it's really neat to be a part of a group where I can try out a new recipe for my company and not fret about if it will turn out or not -- if it bombs, it will just be the newest family joke (like the time I left the bananas out of the banana pudding!). Not only do I enjoy sitting around talking to my brothers and sisters-in-law, but the girls also have so much fun with the cousins. They are really good friends, and if we don't see them for a week or two the girls start asking about when we'll get to play with them next.

There were two special events tonight. Mike & Sherrie are babysitting a dog with the intention of seeing if they want to keep it, and so they brought Zoey with them. The kids loved her. It was nice to have a little entertainment to entice them out of the house so we could hear our conversation. =) And then there is baby Brenna. She is two months old and just so sweet and adorable. Hannah has not wanted to hold her until today. I think she was afraid of hurting her since the parents always make such a big deal of washing hands and sitting down and being careful with her head and things like that. But on the way home from church today Hannah mentioned that she was excited that Brenna was coming so she could look at her. I told her she could hold her if she wanted to, and she actually said that she did. It was so cute to see her face while she was holding and looking at the baby. She just had on the sweetest smile, and she said, "Mom, she is so pretty."

And it's really nice that Nate likes my family, too. His mom just came to visit us a few weeks ago, and it was so good to have her with us. Hannah even said today that she wished Grandma was still here. We wish we could be close to them too, but since we are so far away I'm glad that Nate can be comfortable with the family that we do have here.

There are plenty of times that I miss my mom, but I am certainly still taken care of (and being the baby of my family, I think I'll probably always need that). I have Eileen that I can still ask to proofread my school assignments or important letters, and even if I am terrible at calling very often every time I do talk to her I still feel just like part of the family. I have free babysitters with my brothers' families (perhaps not free because we return the favor, but when we do it just seems more like a playdate than babysitting). I can always call my sisters for recipes, and it's likely that they'll have the recipe card from Mom or Grandma White's recipe boxes. My uncle Billy even popped in the other day when he was around this area for business last week, and the girls were going crazy playing with him just like we always did as kids.

So, tonight I'm just feeling really blessed to have my family. So maybe I'll quit rambling and go spend some time with them.

So I feel like bragging on Nikki today. I got a progress report from her teacher at preschool that just warmed my heart to no end. She commented, "I just love your daughter! She is a joy to be around. She is attentive and eager to participate." What a wonderful report! She really does bring a lot of joy to our home. She is always saying something that Nate and I get a kick out of, and she is such a devoted little sister. Hannah could never ask for a better audience than Nikki. Even though I may complain about her little independent streak sometimes, I really think she is just adorable inside and out.

Living in luxury

We made a major purchase yesterday. Lowe's had a riding lawn mower on clearance, and I all but jumped to get one. I'm in the middle of a family finance class from BYU, and one of the principles the professor teaches is that spending money on things we value leads to feelings of satisfaction and accomplishment. And conversely, money spent on things we don't value leads to feelings of frustration and futility. So, we must value something about a riding lawn mower because we have definitely been satisfied and even excited. First of all, I'm excited that we got it on clearance and didn't have to pay the amount we thought we might. Then, we just cut our whole yard, including pushing the ditch bank and around the trees, in about an hour and a half, which has taken us all summer just pushing it at least 3 1/2 hrs. That was so wonderful!! So maybe it's my time that I value so much. Not to mention that the job was a whole lot easier! Yes, I am an American who is always looking to add a little pleasure and convenience to my life, and I am very grateful that I can do more than just worry about surviving from day to day. We are so blessed.

I was skimming through the owner's manual that came with it and came across a sentence that I thought was pretty funny for a LAWN mower. "WARNING: This unit is equipped with an internal combustion engine and should not be used on or near . . . grass-covered land unless the engine's exhaust system is equipped with a spark arrester meeting applicable local or state laws." Soooo, where else would I use it if not on my grass-covered front yard?

little sayings

The girls have just been saying the cutest things lately.

This morning when I woke up Hannah, she asked me why she had to get up. I told her it was a school day, and she said, "School again?!" And today is only Monday.

Nikki has gotten into the habit of adding "you remember?" onto the end of almost anything she says. "Mom, I want apple juice, you remember?" or "We're going to the library, remember?" It's funny to me, but it sounds kind of rude and I hope she doesn't say it to her teacher at school.

Another frequent saying Nikki has begun (although it's not that cute), whenever Hannah leaves for school, is to ask, "what am I going to do?" Everyday walking back to the house from the bus stop I get to hear this one.

Then there was one afternoon that Hannah came home from school and with the most serious face and voice she told me that she now says bookbag and not backpack. That was kind of interesting to me because I grew up saying bookbag, but I guess no one else in my high school in Utah called it that, so it has been a long time since I have said it. Is it a North Carolina thing to say bookbag? I'm figuring it is, and I like the idea of passing on another small piece of NC heritage that will always make her feel a connection to her roots (okay, so that's stretching things, but she still made me smile).

And of course I love hearing their little southern accents. Nikki's teacher's name is Mrs. Lynn, and she pronounces it, "Miss Ly-unn."

Nikki went to preschool for the first time today. She didn't really want me to leave her, but she was really brave and did very well. I was surprised at her reluctance because she has just been dying to go. She was especially happy about the Smarties that she got as she was leaving. I tried to ask her about her day, and I guess she has learned well from Hannah because her response was, "I don't know."

So, for all my plans to be so productive and enjoy my time alone while the girls are in school, I couldn't believe what I had to do this morning after I dropped off Nikki. I had to go to the laundromat! Our dryer broke last week and Nate had to order a part to fix it that won't be in until Thursday. I had a mountain of laundry to do and my mother-in-law is coming to visit tomorrow, so I had to at least have some clean sheets for her to sleep on. Laundry is my least favorite chore, but going to the laundromat actually made it a lot easier. I had 7 loads going at once (of course their machines are really small to make you do more loads), and so I got everything washed, dryed, and folded in about an hour and a half. What is usually an all day job got done pretty quickly. Too bad it costs too much to do that regularly. At least it kept me too busy to really think about having both of our girls gone to school.

Ernesto

I can't remember the last time I watched anything on TV other than PBS Kids, so obviously I haven't been keeping up with the news very much. I did know that Tropical Storm Ernesto was coming, but I thought he was going to make landfall in Florida and so would be just a rain storm by the time he got all the way up here. So last night when the winds were loud enough to wake the girls up and have them end up in our bed I was taken by surprise. Then having four bodies in our bed, with three of them on my side since nothing else will fit on Nate's side besides him, I couldn't really rest very well through the night with a raging storm also keeping me awake. Sometime in the middle of the night I remembered that I had left our cooler outside of our garage to dry out after cleaning it, as well as an empty can of deck stain and a paint roller brush on our deck. I could just imagine one of our neighbors going door to door asking who was responsible for leaving a paint can outside to come crashing through their window when a tropical storm passed by. Luckily, everything remained in our yard. Although I just remembered that one of our tiki torches blew off the deck and I haven't gone out to find it yet. I guess there still is a chance we might have an irate neighbor.




School was closed today because of the storm, probably mostly because of flooded streets. So the girls broke out the paints and library books and princess dresses and movies and the chalkboard and all kinds of things to keep them busy on a wet, wet, wet day. And of course they played in the huge puddle in our driveway. So, Ernesto took me by surprise, but we had a fun day anyway.

A day of firsts

Nikki had her first day of dance class on Wednesday. She has been looking forward to this for almost a whole year. She was just so adorable. I was nervous that I had the wrong time when we got to the studio because there were no other cars in the parking lot, but it just turned out that no one else was there for her class that day. So she got to be the star of the show as the only one in class. She was absolutely in heaven. She thought the ride home took forever because she couldn't wait to show me everything she learned in class. It took a lot of bribery to get her out of her leotard and ballet shoes that afternoon.

It just so happened that Wednesday was also Hannah's first day of Kindergarten. I was probably more nervous than she was. She came home with so much energy. I think she loved it so much that she was just wired for the rest of the day. And she actually told me about what she did, which is a totally different experience from her preschool days last year. Nikki and I missed her so much that day. Around 10:30 Nikki started asking to go pick her up from school. I noticed that night as we were cleaning up the house before bed that there really wasn't that much to clean up with her gone for the better part of the day. That was a nice bonus.

I just can't believe my baby girls are so grown up.

Roughin' it

Nate & I went camping last weekend. I was so surprised when he said he wanted to go because he hates camping. His last camping experience was when he was Scoutmaster in Georgia. For a Utah cityboy, to go camping in the swamps of the deep south was a totally new experience. He was too hot and too tall for the tent, so he left the tent door open and stuck his feet out all night long. Needless to say, I had never seen so many redbugs on a pair of legs in all my life. He hasn't wanted anything to do with camping since then, but we did have a good time last weekend. It was really peaceful and fun to have no entertainment other than ourselves. We were really excited that we got such a good fire going. Nate let me help start it and feel useful, but I couldn't have kept it going -- I cheated on too many requirements during my Girls' Camp days. It was hot, so we want to take the girls to the mountains in October when the leaves are changing and it's cooler. To be completely honest, we spent the first night in a tent and the second in a hotel. Boy did I sleep good the second night! And smores are actually better cooked in the microwave than over a campfire. =)