Kindergarten

The most exciting day is here - Ethan's first day of Kindergarten. I have never seen a more excited boy! We were woken up at 6:15 this morning to a cheerful little boy standing by our bed, smiling & carrying his new school clothes, asking "Is it time to go to school?" Ethan was all smiles the whole walk to school this morning, backpack slung on his back, ready to go.

His teacher is Mrs. Marler & Ethan really loves her. He had a great day & came home wearing his "crown" that said "Hero" on it. He really was a hero today, there was a little boy that was really sad & scared & Ethan helped him feel better by giving him a hug & telling him it was ok. Such a sweet guy. He has been excited for months to get to go to school & is so happy the day is finally here. It was a day of learning, crayons, playdough, racing, slides, sitting "criss-cross-applesauce" & singing. All in all, Ethan had an incredible day!

I expected to have a bit of a hard day (based on what all the other mom's were telling me) but I have been so excited & proud, now I just have to figure out what to do with myself & Aubrey while he is gone. Maybe I'll learn to knit... We are so proud of our Big Boy.

Ethans BIG 5

Happy Birthday to my Little Man! Ethan's 5th birthday came so soon, I keep questioning if 5 years has really flown this fast. We had a great day - Ethan woke up to a balloon attack in his room & a big pancake breakfast complete with candles.

Since Ethan has been a bit Indiana Jones crazy the last few weeks (after receiving the Wii Lego Indiana Jones game as a bribe at Tyler's wedding) we decided to throw him a big Indiana Jones & the Temple of Balloons bash. With 16 kids & 14 adults invited, it was destined to be a mad free-for-all & we were a bit nervous about how it would turn out, but thankfully the guests that made it were our very favorites & we had a great time. I give thanks & credit to sippycupsareforchardonnay.blogspot.com for the fantastic ideas for the party & to thecakestandblog.blogspot.com for the cake.

I think when I learn to split myself in two, I am going into the cake decorating business... I had SO much fun making Ethan's cake, it took about 3 hours & I loved every minute. I would have loved to use fondant, but the stuff tastes like nasty candy corn & who wants a cake that tastes like leftover melted Halloween candy? So frosting was the ingredient of choice for me on this one. The vines & leaves were sculpted from marzipan (yum!), rocks out of M&Ms & of course the Lego cameos -thanks Ethan for letting me "borrow" your Indiana Jones & bad guys for the decor, it was a wrench getting them out of his hands for a few hours, but I think he liked how they made his cake special.

The party was Indiana Jones & the Temple of Balloons, so we thought a true IJ treasure hunt was in order. Pretending the kids were after the evil "Belloq" & his soldiers who stole the treasure, we had the kids follow clues to get to the next part of the adventure. So first, the kids had to wrap each other up as mummies to find the next clue. Ethan especially loved breaking out of his wraps at the end!

Next the kids had to crawl through the "Tunnel of Terror" which was filled with spiders, crawly bugs & vines to find the clue at the other end of the tunnel. Lots of squeals & screams of course!

After that, they followed the bad guys to the "desert" where the next clue was buried in the sand with lots of gold & silver coins & bouncy balls - which the kids got to keep as they figured out the next clue. The little girls - Aubrey & Dorothy especially loved digging in the sand.

Following the bad guys across the rickety bridge was treacherous, as they were chased by a giant "boulder" (thank you yoga ball!) that almost knocked them off. Then on to the Snake Pit, where they had to swing across the giant boa & the little rattlesnakes that were hiding in the grass. Good thing no one was bitten....

A sneaky monkey stole the next clue, so the little Indianas had to shoot it with darts (straws & Q-tips) to get it to drop the clue. They were all surprisingly good shots, & I apologize in advance for all the parents who have to endure being darted by q-tip shooting kids in the next few weeks!

Next was the Gross-Out Banquet (from the 2nd movie). They had to reach into beetles (nuts), monkey brains (jello) & squiggly worms (spaghetti) to find the sticky clue inside, which told the last directions for finding the treasure.

As you can see, the real adventure was making their way through our wonderfully overgrown backyard to find the treasure box. Then of course, the free-for-all for the melting chocolate gold inside!

So all-in-all, a complete & wonderful success for our little family - hosting our first big party was great fun. We loved sharing Ethan's special day with our best friends & family. Thanks to all who came to watch the delightfully fun madness! Happy birthday to my most special Little Star, I love you & can't wait to see what year #5 brings for you!

Glacier Lilies & Rainbows

Island Park, Idaho has always been the best vacation spot for me. I have been going up to our family's house there since I was a tiny kid & I was so happy to get to go this spring finally, after 3 years of being gone - the longest I have ever gone without going up there. It was so beautiful, with the snow melted & the Glacier Lilies blooming away, we couldn't have asked for better weather or a more fun trip.

Our first day there, we biked to Big Springs to see the giant rainbow trout under the bridge. Ethan loved feeding the fish & Aubrey was fascinated by the seagulls that swooped in, stealing the fish's bread that we threw. There was a little spot by the dock that Ethan liked to sit & watch the minnows & the Caddis larvae crawling in the water, dragging their little shells of rock over the sand.

We stopped on the way home & fished in a gorgeous stream, catching & releasing several Rainbows with some new flies that Austin had tied. Ethan liked wading in the river - getting his feet & pants wet, & spotting the fish for Daddy on the bridge above. We loved every day there, going fishing, biking & shopping in West Yellowstone (which is only 20 minutes from the house).

It was so nice to spend the weekend with Mom, Dad & Granny Morton - whom we don't get to see very much anymore. We are very much looking forward to going back this Fall for huckleberries!!

Unintentional Environmentalism

I am not an environmentalist. I repeat, I am not an environmentalist... but am I? Now, please don't misunderstand, I LOVE the earth & strongly believe in taking care of Her, cleaning up trash, recycling, using less packaging etc... I just don't want to be labeled as a radical, card-carrying, save-the-planet, stop-global-warming-neo-nazi Al Gore fan - because I am NOT. What I am, however, is a very earth-conscious, pro natural-living mother who is trying each day to do my part to lessen the impact of garbage & pollution. Leaving the planet a better place for my beautiful children.


Example #1: I use 100% Recycled Eco Felt in all my BugBites Toys. I believe that we shouldn't be afraid of toxins, lead & other nasty garbage in our children's toys. I am an advocate for soft, tactile play food that teaches good eating habits & care for the earth through play. What better way than to play with recycled post-consumer plastic bottles? http://bugbitesplayfood.etsy.com

Example #2: I use Cloth Diapers on my baby. This actually started out of desperation at the rising cost of diapers - $70 a month, money I thought could better be used elsewhere (flyfishing trips or buying orchids). Doing my homework on how to cloth diaper also enlightened me on how much damage conventional diapers really do. It is estimated that a child will go through 9,100 diapers in 2 1/2 years of diaper wearing. see Verybaby.com for more: http://verybaby.com/faq . Imagine the landfill space that one child's diapers takes up - by the way, conventional diapers DON'T biodegrate, especially when wrapped tightly & then placed in individually twisted sausage-sections of plastic bag. If only the Diaper Genie® magially made diapers decompose as well... PLUS disposables never look this cute! I found these darling diapers from monkeysnugglesdiaper at her shop on etsy: http://monkeysnugglesdiaper.etsy.com


Example #3: I use handmade Cloth Wipes on my baby. Figure the cost of cloth diapers plus the cost of wipes that just go in the trash - you might as well wipe your child's bum with a dollar bill each time & toss it in the trash... Reusable, cute & much sturdier than the thin, don't-wipe-too-hard-or-you'll-be scrubbing-ick-out of your-fingernails, store-bought wipes... need I say more? I found these adorable wipes from Bundled on http://bundled.etsy.com

Example #4: I use Cloth Lunch & Sandwich Bags. Again the cost of lousy ziplocs that just end up in the trash made me rethink the logic of ziploc. I make my sandwich bags with a nylon inner fabric & cute cotton prints on the outside. They work so much better, are easily washable, & take about 5 minutes to sew myself. These are from Britgaldesigns at http://britgaldesigns.etsy.com

Example #5: I use Cloth Feminine Pads. Okay, I am the biggest hippocrite in the world on this one. Growing up, I had never heard of such a thing & thought "eeeeew gross!" at first, wondering why anyone would ever try cloth menstrual pads. However, after finding out the hard way for years I never knew that I was actually allergic to plastic maxi pads, suffering each month from uneccesary infections & discomfort. Natural cotton is a million times better next to your skin than cancer-causing SODIUM POLYACRYLATE, DIOXINS, & TRIBUTYL TIN (TBT). Besides, if lovely, soft, natural cloth is good enough for my daughter's bum, why not mine? These cute pads are from an etsy seller named Pleat - see her shop here: http://www.pleat.etsy.com

Taking stock of some of my habits over the last year, I have come to the conclusion that I am inadvertently a serious advocate of "Green" living. We all would do better to improve our lives, pocketbooks & of course Mother Earth by switching from harmful, cancer-causing, chemical-laden plastics & synthetics to natural renewable fibers like cotton & bamboo. Go Green!

Tyler & Misty's Wedding

Congratulations to Tyler & Misty! We hope you have a wonderful life together - and thanks for giving us the opportunity to get all dressed up! We had such a great time at the wedding, which happened to be 2 days after our 7th anniversary (which was another great reason to dress up & have a party). Austin looked SO great in his tux, Aubrey of course was a little princess as always - and I even survived wearing my HEELS! No accidents, trips or even stumbles for me, which is a miracle, as I have never worn heels before (even at my own wedding)!

Our very favorite was seeing Ethan in his tuxedo! He was the ring-bearer, & in anticipation for this we have spent months getting him ready for this big day. Usually Ethan is shy & gets embarrassed easily when too many people are watching him - to the point of rage, actually - so, needless to say we had been worried how he would do walking down the aisle with all eyes on him. It is funny what you stoop to as parents to get your children to do really important events - bribery, extortion, even blackmail has no limits in situations like these. We convinced Ethan that he was a "Super Spy" & that his "mission" was to get the ring on the pillow safely to Uncle Ty. Knowing that he would be self-conscious of the audience, we convinced him (forgive me the little white lie) that his cufflink was an "invisibility button" that turned him invisible to all. We had great fun practicing this before the big moment, & I am so happy to say that Ethan did magnificently! He did such a great job that he earned a Wii game from Grandpa Charlie & Grandma Dona - Ethan must have known he did a stellar job, because the first thing he said after the ceremony was "where's my game?" He didn't let go of it the whole night & delighted in smacking uncle Tyler in the butt with it during wedding photos - thats why we were smiling so much!

Needless to say, Tyler was handsome & of course Misty was gorgeous - she should definitely consider a career as a wedding planner if her dreams of a doctor fall through - everything was so beautiful. Congrats guys!

New Digs

Breaking news: We MOVED! For those of you who have heard me gush about our new house, I apologize that this may get repetetive... WE LOVE IT!!!

We are so surprisingly happy here in Orem, us Country Mice from da hills is loving dis big city life - well, the suburban life anyway. Funny how life alters your decisions when circumstances change - Austin & I swore we'd never move to the valley again if we could help it, convinced that life in Wallsburg was everything we wanted for our family... wow, things have changed. No more driving 30 minutes to get to the store, being stranded with no where to go (as I didn't have a car), no more hearing Ethan cry "Mommy, I need a friend!" (he has SEVEN friends now!), no more dark-basement living (though we will miss Mom & Dad). So although we will terribly miss our wide open beautiful little valley - which we will always call home, we are really loving it here.

Our house is a really cute (big 1200 sq ft) upper level 3 Bedroom, 1 bath, split level home. We have so much space, we don't know what to do with ourselves! Who knew that you could actually have empty cupboards in your kitchen because there wasn't stuff to put in it? We actually have a bathtub for the kids & room enough to play fun games & our Wii without injuring each other. I love the office where I can escape when things get too crazy.

We live in the perfect location, as we are a block away from a huge park, library & shopping. Ethan will go to school just a few blocks away & Austin's work is only 3 miles down the road, so he has been riding his bike to work most days (chalk up 12 miles of bike riding for Austin each day!) I swear our car is going to petrify from non-use. We are walking everywhere now & loving it.

As you can tell, we are just giddy with our happiness. Moving has been the best thing for our family. Did I mention WE LOVE IT!!! So, here is your standing invitation: Come PLAY with us!!

Fantastic Excitement!

We have excellent news!! After MONTHS (dare I say years?) of waiting, Austin has finally got a great full-time position at his job... sooooo, with the tremendous prospects of a stable-high paying-benefit-including position - we are MOVING!!!! I can't tell you how long we have waited for this news! Well, actually I can - but "nickel & diming" it down to the exact day & hour would be a bit obsessive, so lets just call it over 18 months of waiting! I am so excited, I might just wet myself... Can you tell I am obscenely giddy with happiness??

We have been apartment shopping & think we have found a great apartment to rent - it is a cute HUGE upstairs level of a house in Orem that is next to a park, church, shopping & KIDS for Ethan to play with - happy me! We will know if we can move in sometime this week, so I'm sure you will see another gushing blog post about it soon!