More graduation pics

Now that the weekend is over I had a chance to get a few more pictures of Chloe's graduation off of the camera...

Chloe and her diploma

Chloe and her teacher, Miss Katie

Chloe's Graduation from Preschool

On Tuesday, Chloe graduated from Miss Katie's pre-school class. Liz, Katelyn, Nathan and I were joined by Grandma and Grandpa Stone and Grandma Hall for the ceremony. As always, Chloe took charge of the program; reminding the other kids of where to stand when they stood in the wrong place, projecting her memorized part the best and singing her heart out.

Way to go Chloe! We are proud of you!

To all the other Mothers

Mother's Day is great and awesome. I am fortunate to have 2 great mothers and I am thankful for them every day. I'm glad to have a Mother's day to celebrate all the great mothers in the world. But this post goes out to all those other mothers who don't get a day of recognition.

You may be wondering what an "other mother" is. Well if you have ever

• Paid for lessons of a child who isn't yours
• Taught a primary, young women/men's, or sunday school lesson
• Kissed a booboo, tied a shoe, given a love to someone who didn't belong to you
• etc

well then you are an "other mother." Other mother's are part of what makes the world a better place. They can be any age, they can have kids or not. Each lends a hand when not strictly required by biology. This post is a thank all of my other mothers and to all the other mothers of my children. You make life a better and easier place. You help when times are rough. Sometimes you can even make checkout at Wal-mart with 4 kids possible. You entertain and smile when you don't have to. Your patient, loving, helpful, nice, and happy when real mothers need a hand. So, take some time to not only celebrate the mothers, but the other mothers that make our lives so great.

Thank you Grandmas, Aunts, Sisters, Cousins, Teachers, Neighbors, and Friends. You make my job as a mother actually possible.

Beware of the microwave

For those of you who know me very well, I tend to have unusual circumstances around injuries: falling down a single stair = on crutches at camp, Spraining ankle because you got locked in your 4 yr olds room and dropped out 2nd story window, walking into side view mirrors of trucks, etc, this story is no less unusual. And it's a really good thing that I have super observant neighbors.

When I was little, and not so little, My mom used to tell me to "Be reware." I would walk into and trip over all sorts of things. I still have to pay really close attention or I walk into the wall when rounding a corner. Last Thursday, I was cooking dinner. It was something with rice. I had cooked the rice in the microwave with my handy dandy Pampered Chef Rice Cooker. I pulled the rice out of the microwave and placed it on the counter. I turned to get glasses out of the cupboard and without looking attempted to shut the microwave. I was also talking on the phone to Scott and I was not "being reware." I must not have pushed the door hard enough and it swung back and the handle hit me in the back of the head. It hurt really bad. But I was proud of myself and didn't say any naughty words. No I couldn't recreate the effect for curious observers.

As aforementioned I tend to get injured a lot so I didn't really think anything of the injury, UNTIL . . . I had a neighbor stop by. Now I have super great neighbors. I'm sorry to all of my friends and family but I live in the hands down best ward that ever could exist. We were chatting, and she looks at me and says "Are your eyes usually dilated differently? Did you just hit your head?" I mentioned that the microwave had swung and hit me in the back of the head, but it was no big deal. She was getting really concerned and asked when Scott was coming home. Of course, he was at play practice and wouldn't be home for another 3-4 hours. She gets more worried, and says that I should go get checked, and she was going to call me and check in on me.

I laughed it off. Oh whatever, I hit my head all the time. I'm always fine. I'll get the kids in bed and worry about it later. We ate dinner, and the kids got in jammies, and my doorbell rang. Apparently neighbor #1 had called neighbor #2 to come check on me. Neighbor #2 then proceeded to tell me horror stories of death with supposedly minor head injuries. I ask, "Are you sure that it isn't just the light. Are my eyes really different?" She says, "Yes they are different, and it's worse in the light." I tell her that I'll put the kids to bed, and find someone to come help me. She offers to either watch my kids or come with me to the ER. Yes I told you I have great neighbors.

So I put the kids in bed and call my Mom, who just happens to be kind of close at the Draper Costco. Then I call Instacare to see if they'll take me if I can get there 5 min. before they close. Guess what? With a head injury, you have to go to the ER - no choice. So I'm officially freaking out. I've looked at my eyes, they look different. I'm going to die. I call Scott and have him leave play practice. Now Mom, Dad, and Scott are all on their way to help me. I sit and watch 10 minutes of Life and begin to feel really stupid. It was just a microwave door. . . I'm not dying . . . this isn't a big deal. . . why did I bother everyone. . .

Well one hour and one blessing later, I'm on my way to the ER with Scott. One CT scan and 3 hours later, I'm on my way home. I have a regular old concussion. And I have a concussion from my microwave door. A week later, I feel back to normal. Headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting all gone. Feeling like an idiot, still very prevalent.

I'm extremely grateful for my vigilant neighbors that worried about me over the night. I grateful my Mom and Dad were close and could watch my kids. I'm grateful for a husband to drop what he was doing, give me a blessing, take me to the hospital, and sit with me for the next 24 hours because I couldn't be left alone. I'm grateful that I wasn't hurt worse. I grateful for pain killer for went I felt hurt worse.

So now you know, if you are perfectly normal you can disregard this warning. But if like me you have ever gotten hurt in an unusual way, please beware of your microwave.

Days of the Week

While talking to Scott last week I realized the advantage to being super busy. You always know what day it is. I don't have to rely on a calendar or even what's on TV tonight. Usually during the month I can even tell you what week of the month it is. Like I know the 3rd Thursday. I couldn't tell you the date, but I know during the week that it's the 3rd Thursday. Here is how I became aware of my amazing talents.

Scott woke up on Wednesday and said, "Didn't I do this yesterday?" I replied, "Nope, today is laudry day, yesterday was kickboxing." Then on Thursday, Scott woke up and said "Didn't I do this yesterday?" And I replied, "Nope, today is recipe group, and scripture group, and dance. It's totally different than yesterday." You see every day Scott gets up and goes to his important job and basically does the same thing he did yesterday.

I get up and work, drive the car pool to preschool and dance, change a diaper, etc. Yep I get up and I'm a Mom. Some people, myself included, don't think that being a Mom is very glamous. It's not - most days I'm covered in ick and I don't know how or when it got there. You might thing that it isn't very exciting, and it gets very very boring, every day being the same as the one before. This is far from the truth and exactly why I know what day it is every day.

Take a look at our Schedule. Just the basic things we do week in and week out

Sunday - Go to church
Monday - Chloe has preschool, Mom gets to work
Tuesday - Kickboxing
Wednesday - preschool again and laundry day. Each week has different "extra" loads (1st adult sheets, 2nd kids sheets, 3rd lounging blankets, 4th towels - then repeat)
Thursday - scripture group, dance
Friday - Grandma's
Saturday - Dad is home, go grocery shopping and run errands

1st Thursday & Saturday = Quilting Class
3rd Thursday = Recipe Group
4th Thursday = Writing Group

My life is full of so many wonderful activities. I run around like a chicken with my head cut off most days, but at least I know what day it is.

I love Friday!

I love Friday. Let me say it again I love Friday. The kids would say I don't like Friday, I LUUUUUV Friday. It is the last day of the school week, the last day I have to get up early to get someone else ready. The last day the alarm goes off. The last day my personal heater pulls off the covers, making me have to get up. I don't have to drive car pool. I can stay in my jammies until noon. Friday afternoon, we always go to Scott's parents house. The kids get to play outside in the safe, fenced back yard. Pa takes them on walks. I get to talk to my sister (the one I had to get married to get so I have 20 years of no sister conversation to catch up on). The kids watch a movie, the adults play games, and get silly. I don't have to think about what's for dinner. I don't have to clean the house. I don't have to worry about who needs to be where and when they need to be there. I don't have to worry about home "fun." And the best part is I get to see my best friend for almost 2 days straight. Friday is heaven. I can enjoy the few hours of freedom before the work of Saturday.

And best of all, our tax return should be direct deposited today and I'll be able to book our hotel to go visit my brother who moved away to California. I can think about a whole week of just the pool, the beach, and baby Maren (and Andy and Nicole too). Oh the joy. I just love Friday.

Quiet

My house is quiet. Okay it's not really quiet, the dishwasher, washing machine and dryer are all running, and my ChaCha doorbell is ringing. But the 3 kids who are home are actually having quiet time in their new rooms. And they are actually being quiet. We haven't had actual quiet time for . . . well I can't remember when the last time was. It is so nice for my brain to be able to think about home stuff. Usually I can only think in the shower, or on the rare occasions when I'm alone in the car. In the shower, I'm always obsessing about my dreams or making a list of the things I need to do that day, or thinking hmmmmm HOT WATER. Usually I'm only alone in the car when I'm on my way somewhere - thinking about the Pampered Chef show, did I remember the quilt block, etc. Now I can think about . . . well I can think about anything.

I opened the curtains in my room, which I haven't done all winter. It's stormy outside but the sunshine is so nice. The snow is finally all melted from the yard and soon we'll start to see the shoots of new flowers and the grass will start to turn green. It feels like I spend my whole life wishing the days away, or being so consumed will all the jobs I've got to get done today. Then suddenly tomorrow is today. Today in the quiet, I was thinking, someday almost every day will be this quiet. In 2 years I'll have all 4 kids in school. In 3, they will all be gone from 8-3 Monday thru Friday. They are so much fun as they get older, and smarter, and more independent. Will I enjoy them then as I much as I do now? Will I wish away all my tomorrows and wonder what happened when they all leave to be grownup?

I love the quiet, and I love that my kids are growing up. I was never one to wish back the baby stage. I didn't miss them sleeping in my arms (maybe because they never did) or rocking a screaming baby to sleep. I think I'll miss the funny things that they do and say everyday. I may even miss them playing in the water in the bathroom sink (and soaking themselves and the floor), and running down the hall at church panties in hand - dress pulled up to nose. Today's quiet was a good reminder to not skip past everything. I'm very thankful for something as small as a quiet house, if even for only an hour.