Chain of Love

I have seen this going around on blogs so I am jumping on board because I like to do random acts of kindness.

The first 5 people to comment on this blog post get something from me-and I promise it will be good! Doesn't matter where you live, near or far-within the next few months you will get something homemade from dear old Amber.

The catch? You have to post this message on your blog and do the same thing for 5 more people! :) Can't you just feel the love?

Sprained ankle

Ready for another life analogy by Amber? A broken space bar is like a sprained ankle. You can get around the house to take care of necessities but you sure wouldn't go out for a walk around the block. For two weeks I have had a broken space bar (finally got fixed last night), hence no blog posts-"walking around the block" just would have been too hard.

Another reason I love Josh

Right now Josh is standing in the kitchen doing science experiments with the two big boys. They are repeating things like "sodium bicarbonate" and saying "whoa!" while they watch him work his science magic. Dal is laying with his head on Daddy's shoulder (he is tired and not feeling his best). Josh is the coolest dad ever!

Highlights of the Past Week

I have several things to write about tonight so I will just highlights of a few things from the past week.

1. We have planted a garden! This is the first time we have had the space to do a garden so we figured we would give it a whirl. I can't even describe how much fun it has been for me and Jack in particular (since we have done most of it while Nathan is at school and Josh is at work and Dal is asleep) to work on this. There is something very fulfilling about working the earth with your own two hands. And Jack likes the worms. He made a worm house and gave each worm we found a role. In fact, if you are an important person in Jack's life, you probably had a worm named after you.

Here is Jack with his worm house (pile of dirt on the left side of the picture next to Jack's shoulder).

Here is a shot of what our little garden plot looked like before me and Jack attacked (this isn't the actual spot because I didn't get a pic of it before we started, but this is what it looked like with this plant growing all over it).

And here is a picture that Jack took of me working in the garden. Impressive photography isn't it?

And here is a picture of our garden after we all (the whole fam) spent a few hours planting on Saturday. We planted tomatoes, radishes, carrots, green peppers, jalapenos, strawberries, beans, cilantro, lettuce and garlic. We are still going to plant pumpkins, cucumbers and peas in another spot.

2. (This is going to be a long post I can tell already. I am told my brother Doug hates long blog posts. Guess what Doug? I also leave my milk out sometimes after I drive home from the store and I even sometimes fix my boys lunch before I even get it out of the car-then I put it away. And, it's skim.)

3. Dal took his first steps this past weekend. Just a few timid steps but we were all so excited for him. Then tonight he took 7 steps! I think he will be walking pretty soon! Here is a video of him standing and clapping for himself (his new favorite pasttime).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImjwYi9xKpY

4. I have friends! We moved in exactly 6 months ago today and as I was cleaning the kitchen tonight I was pondering the fact that I am finally really starting to feel at home here. On Friday night I went out with 3 really wonderful friends-moms of kids at Nathan's school and two of them are neighbors. I sat there at dinner and thought what a wonderful thing it is to have these three ladies in my life. They really are amazing. And then last night I went to a fireside with several other girls. At one point one of them thought something was funny and looked over at me with a big smile and it hit me...these are friends now-no longer just people I am getting to know! Yay!

4. I am spoiled. It is rainy and cold in San Diego and I am sick of it. Where is the sunny and 70 degree weather we love?

5. We had a fun family home evening tonight acting out the story where Nephi chops off Laban's head. That was fun-especially the part where Jack (Laman) started yelling at Laban that he has lasers for eyes and could kill him. I didn't think that was part of the story. Then we had a fun Valentine's treat. Kind of a bad pic but I was so proud of it that I had to take a picture.

6. Last, this morning because it was rainy and yuck, me and Jack laid in my bed and read stories and then played I spy. One of our interchanges went something like this:

Me: I spy with my little eye someone who is really nice, lots of fun to play with, cooks really great things...

Jack: Daddy!

Me: No! I meant ME!

Sewing

To answer a couple of questions-yes, I really sew on the floor-I stick my foot out to the side and off I go! I know, that is so strange, but I really prefer it that way. I have even done that 9 months pregnant. And no, I don't always use pins or patterns. I know-I am a weirdie!

25 Things (from my facebook)

1. I love to bake-too much because I shouldn't eat so much junk, so I am always looking for an excuse to bake something and then give it away!

2. I was a social worker back before kids and worked in Child Protection. I have been out on drug busts with the police, taken kids from those homes, visited jail, been sworn at and called names...lots of fun!

3. I used to play the violin-for 6.5 years-and I still don't really regret quitting.

4. I was made to live in San Diego because I hate snow and love 75 degree weather.

5. In high school I was the sports editor for our school newspaper. I thought at that time that I wanted to go into journalism.

6. I took 6 years of German. I can probably vaguely understand a conversation now but I can't really speak it-not that I ever could really since I have never even been to Germany.

7. In High School and for my first year of college I really didn't study hardly at all. It was like a lightbulb went on during my sophomore year of college when I realized that when a professor assigned a chapter he wanted us to READ it!

8. Back in my younger years I had a memory that could remember anything (hence the reason I could manage to get through school without studying and still get all A's) but now I find that my memory forgets the simplest things. Too much going on in there!

9. I LOVE Chinese food. The spicier the better.

10. I miss having cookie dough egg roll parties, LOST parties and other great get togethers with my Madison friends.

11. I LOVE being around people (which is funny because I was deathly shy as a child).

12. I genuinely love serving others. Love to make pizza for families who have a new baby, love to help people with their websites, etc.

13. I hate dogs.

14. OK, I basically hate all animals. Except maybe potato bugs.

15. Ever since I had Dallen I am a sucker for chocolate chip cookies. I never really liked them all that muc before I had him, but somehow, giving birth to him triggered my inner cookie cravings.

16. I have way too many hobbies and not enough time for them. I love to work on my business-it is my top hobbie. But I also love to read, make bracelets, bake, stamp, sew, etc. I want to try my hand at photography and gardening sometime too.

17. I love birthdays, even my own.

18. I love, love, love having three boys and I am exhausted by it as well.

19. I realize that I have probably married the best guy out there. (Sorry girls.) The things this man does for me, and for my kids...just such a great guy!

20. I was always considered by my teachers to be a really good writer and I would love to use those skills for something like writing a book but I am completely lacking the creativity to think of a story.

21. I am usually surprised by the endings of books. I can almost never figure out what is going to happen until the last page (hence the reason I can't write one of my own).

22. Even though my mom spent years trying to teach me to sew, I didn't really learn until college when I taught myself on a machine that barely worked.

23. I sew on the floor.

24. My favorite things to do with my kids are read stories, snuggle in bed in the morning, and bake cookies.

25. I am currently obsessed with building my mom a website and it is taking up a lot of my time!

I had a blast doing this! I am going to copy and paste it to my journal and blog.

Ta Da!!!!

For Christmas I gave my mom a business. On Christmas day I basically gave her an empty shell of a website with the promise to help her get it up and running with a fully functional business. Today (my 5 year anniversary of My Sweet Dreams Baby) is the official launch day of hers.


Pretty Hippos-Personalized jewelry custom made for all the girls in your life. She will sell things like mother's bracelets, baby name bracelets and birthstone bracelets, that sort of thing. The site is officially, up, running and working. We still have lots more bracelets to add-it has been a lot of work to make bracelets, take pictures, get them on the site, etc. but there are some there now and I think the site looks good.

Check it out:
http://www.prettyhippos.com/

The New Law

Since a few people asked, the government has passed some new law about things that are sold for children-it all has to be tested and whatever before it can be sold. Basically the way the law was originially written it would mean you could no longer give anyone your hand me downs, you can't sell any of your old kid stuff on ebay, DI and goodwill couldn't sell kid's stuff, etc. Really smart lawmakers, especially given the current economic situation. They have revised it to be less all encompassing and according to a few sources it has been pushed back so I guess I am going to just continue to sell this particular lunch box until it sells out. But then I won't restock it because I don't want to be stuck with it. Super cute lunch boxes though! So, now you know, at least sort of.

All boy?

Of my 3 boys Jack is the one that a person would be most likely to call "all boy" I think. He loves dirt and should have been born on a farm in the 1800s. I can barely keep shoes on the kid and he is perfectly at home outside in a dirt pile (of course Nathan is this way too but there is something more farm boyish about Jack). He likes trucks and trains and kicking a soccer ball.

But, at the same time, Jack is in touch with his feminine self. His favorite color? Pink. Movie character selection from Pirates Who Don't Do Anything? The Princess.

Today I let Jack have a lunch box out of my collection in the garage because come Feb. 10th and the new law I can no longer sell them. He had his choice of several animals...pig, frog, penguin. What did Jack choose?


And then he put it over his shoulder and said it was his purse.

Olive Garden

Another wonderful recipe to share. My favorite thing to get at the Olive Garden is the Chicken Scampi so last week when I got the inkling to eat it, I decided to see if I could find a recipe online for it. Sure enough I did. Tonight I made it and it was SO good! I even made bread sticks (better than the Olive Garden ones) and salad to go with it. Here is the recipe. I highly recommend it:

http://www.recipezaar.com/Olive-Garden-Chicken-Sci-Yummy-Copycat-179336

Why Josh is great (today)

There are a lot of reasons that Josh is great, but here's one. On Tuesdays he usually has to work late and doesn't get home till after the kids are in bed. So, lately he has started staying home late in the mornings on Tuesdays (since he usually leaves before any of us are up) and even being the one to get the kids ready and take Nathan to school. This is so great for several reasons:

1. Gives me a break since Tuesdays are a long day without him here.
2. The boys LOVE getting to see daddy in the morning and it is SUPER cool to have daddy be the one taking Nathan to school. All the other moms on the playground are impressed and even Nathan's teacher is impressed.

So right now I am sitting here eating my breakfast while he is dropping Nathan off at school (with the other two in tow). Love you Josh!