Lesson #1

This is little bit. Big red took some Gangsta photos of him and his cousin. I thougt it was so funny. This little guy is doing so good. His vocabulary is getting HUGE! What a difference a year can make. He is chatting all the time and trying to put 5-6 words together in a sentence. Not bad considering he started out with three words. Love this little guy.

I am taking a new digital class I found and trying to learn some new things.
Lesson #1: Framing a picture, adding word art, along with resizing pictures, and resizing for the web. This is the web version. Haven't done it this way before and I really don't know what the difference is. I always just uploaded the "full" version. I am excited to start doing this again. It has been way too long.
I am also resharpening some skills so I can help out an "especial lady" (you know who you are!)

My Beautiful Daughter

My baby went to Prom! When did I get old enough for that. To be honest she went in April, so I have been old enough for a while.

We had fun picking out the dress. She had actually fell in love with this dress last year when she was shopping with her friend. I made her try on some other dresses so I felt part of the process, but she really has great taste and she picked out this one. Then it just came down to the color, Red or Ice Blue? A week before she was asked she colored her hair red so that pretty much made the choice. She is beautiful.

My rules for Prom were that she HAD to get ready at our house and that she WOULD be picked up at home. Too many times she is the designated driver and that wasn't happening either. This way I was able to do her hair and makeup. We took lots of pictures and had a fun time. I am glad we were able to have a bonding moment, these definately start to slip away as they get older.

Sweet Boy

This sweet little four year old is the cause of pleasure and pain. He is soooooo curious and wants to see how everything works. He loves to help and will make a mess to help clean it up (luckily this shows up mostly at preschool). Cooking is something he ALWAYS wants to be involved with, much to my dismay. He will yell and cry when it is time to change directions and do something else, and once he starts on the new project is very content to keep doing it. He loves to have books read to him and will sit for a long time being held and go thru book after book. All of a sudden he will decide he wants to give you a kiss or a hug, and melts into a puddle if you start stroking his hand.
Unfortunately we are in the process of figuring out if he has autism, some sensory issues and if he is having seizures. Grandma C spent the day with us at Primary Children's hospital meeting with the neurologist, and having blood and urine tests (looking for possible genetic issues). In two weeks we go back for an EEG and an MRI. Tomorrow we head to Provo for the ADOS test to check for autism. Next week is the sensory testing.
He will be five in two months and acts more like he is three, and is still not potty trained (possible sensory issues). He doesn't really want to talk to people even though he can. He chooses to play alone most of the time. All the testing sounds daunting but if we can figure out the best course of action for him it will be worth it.

Bagging leaves

Fall is finally being cleaned up off of my lawn. Two Saturday's ago we pitched in and racked up all the leaves that had fallen. Unfortunately it wasn't very many. Of course the next day the weather turned really cold and a bunch more leaves fell and then the storms started. Today is only the second of warm, decent weather that you would want little kids out working in - only because I have to be out there too :). The weather has taken care of most of the leaves in the trees. So the little's and I went out to bag the leaves that my oldest son had raked into piles a few days ago, but didn't get bagged because it was dark outside.

I wish I had the energy that these three
"wasted" while trying to bag these leaves. They had to jump over the piles, jump in them, throw leaves, push around the rake and flat shovel, almost anything else other than actually picking them up and bagging them. Lucky for me they did help bag them so I didn't have to do it alone.

I love the smile on little bit's face though. He really enjoyed being outside even if he had to help. I wish this was something we didn't loose as we got older. I wish work was still as fun for me and for other members of my family. Accomplishing a task, doing your best and feeling proud of a job well done seems to be lost on a lot of people now a days. They would rather do the bare minimum and get sent back to finish it five times rather than do it right the first time. Hopefully I can help these three realize how good it feels to do a good job the first time. Of course there are still more leaves from the other trees in our yard, my big's will get to do a good job too! They'll love it!

My Son

My oldest son is starting to look like a man! Where does the time go? I still remember singing and rocking him when he was a baby. Now he is dressed in his chamber choir outfit for his second concert of the year, and looking way to grown up. He just looks so handsome. Some of his classmates keep teasing him that he will look like a dork dressed up, but this proud mama thinks he looks great.

Of course I put off hemming his pants until last night and ended up having to hand stitch them! What a procrastinator am I. I also had the pleasure of IRONING (evil word), because it was left in its packaging since receiving it three weeks ago. I then proceeded to threaten him that if he waded it up and threw it on the floor he would be the next one with that pleasure, I don't think he was sufficiently scared.

I can't wait to hear how the concert and clothing went over. It is a multi-school performance hosted at our school, where they perform for each other. My nephew is also performing but doesn't have the tux look and they are excited to see each other. He also has a small following of girls that he is interested in finding out what they think about his "look". Should be a fun day for a teenage boy :)