background

Monday, October 20, 2008

Life is busy, but good

Just thought I would give a quick update on how things are going with us. Life has been super busy, but good. This past Saturday I was in charge of a Bi-ward Super Service Project and so it's been really busy getting ready for it. But it was a good day and we got a lot done - tied 5 quilts, made 30 fleece scarves, 350 craft kits for children in the local hospital, 20 wall-hangings and a lot of file folder games (not sure on the final count there), which will also be sent to the humanitarian center in SLC. I also have Young Women in Excellence coming up in a few weeks so I got home from being at the church ALL day Saturday and immediately started on the invitations for that. Sunday was busy with church and multiple meetings, so I think after YW in Exc. I will be ready to have a little bit of a break from the craziness. We get to go to Utah for Thanksgiving next month and I am so excited.

My boys are doing great, all three of them. :-) Matthew's work is going well and this week he is doing some Business Process Reviews (or something like that) but I think he really enjoys it, although it's exhausting. TJ is doing great with potty training and rarely has accidents anymore. It really wasn't a bad as I thought it would be, although there were some not-so-pleasant days in there too. He's so funny - recently we have been asking him when his birthday is and how old he will be (since it's coming up) and the last few days when we ask him how old he is he says two, and then when we ask how old he is going to be on his birthday he says 18 and just busts up laughing. What a random kid - I love him to death!!! Cooper turned 7 months old today and he has got the army crawl down to a science. I thought about putting a Swiffer sheet on his tummy and he can sweep my floor for me while he is crawling around. :-) I forget how you have to have EVERYTHING up off the floor if you don't want it in his mouth. ugghhhh. He still hasn't broken any teeth but I don't think it will be long.

So yesterday was one of "those days". While Matthew was out home teaching I was making some baby food for Cooper while I was trying to make dinner at the same time. I had baked some sweet potatoes and then I put some water on to boil the pasta while I pureed the sweet potatoes. My blender was getting a little stuck with the sweet potatoes so smart me puts a knife in (yes, while it's running) to try and get it unstuck. The next thing I know the knife goes flying, splattering sweet potatoes on my cupboards and I am pulling screws out of the baby food. I turn around to check on the water since it smells a little funny and realize that I had turned on the front burner when I thought I was turning on the back one, and there just happened to be a dish towl there, which was catching on fire. I quickly grab it and put it under the water to put the fire out. At that point TJ comes in the kitchen crying cause he didn't make it to the toilet in time and peed all over the floor, so I head in to mop up the bathroom floor. When I come out, TJ had given Cooper the little bugar sucker (which we DO use) and he was sucking on it! Ughh! All this happened in like a 5 minute period. I just started laughing cause it was just craziness!!!

So there's a little update on us. I am loving the fall weather and TJ has caught on that when leaves change they are BEAUTIFUL!! When we're driving we point out pretty trees to each other. It's so fun to be great friends with TJ (most of the time). I really love seeing his personality come out, he is so funny and so loving. He is always concerned about whether I am happy or not (I think he got that from his father). So we are blessed and happy.

Pumpkin Patch pics

Enjoying a beautiful day at the Pumpkin farm

Last Friday we went to the pumpkin patch with some friends and it was a beautiful day. I thought it would be super cold, but it warmed up quite nice. My camera was freaking out and would take pictures every 2-3 seconds on it's own, so luckily my friend Lily was able to get a few pictures of us as well.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Not much to report

Well, I don't have a whole lot to report but it's been a few weeks since I have posted anything so I thought I would just give a quick update. Things here are going well and we are having some BEAUTIFUL weather here in Chicago - low 70's and no humidity - I don't think you could ask for better weather. And the leaves are starting to change so my heart is singing - I LOVE FALL! My boys are doing well and growing so fast. I love to see TJ's sense of humor and how fast he learns everything. And Cooper is just my happy-go-lucky baby who doesn't like to sleep through the night even though is almost 7 months old.....uggghhh. Can't wait to sleep for 7 straight hours again someday - I'm sure we'll get there eventually.

So last night dinner was a disaster. I made meatloaf since it's Matthew's favorite, but once we sat down to eat it just tasted a little off, and I didn't want us to end up with food poisoning so we had to throw the whole thing away, and we had corn on the cob that wasn't that tasty, and the onions were way too strong in the salad.... it's not too often that I total botch up dinner, but last night was one of them. But we followed Elder Wirthlin's council and just laughed and had a bowl of cereal. I'm glad that we can laugh at things in life - laughter sure makes the world a whole lot more fun.

Next Saturday the youth in my ward are hosting a Super Service Saturday and I am heading it up, so it's been pretty busy getting ready for it. We are making 5 quilts, a bunch of wall-hangings and about 100 file-folder games to send to the humanitarian center in Salt Lake, and then we are also making a few hundred craft kits for the children who are staying at Northwest Community Hospital. It's a big undertaking, but I hope that it will be a wonderful experience.

We are in the middle of potty training right now and that's been an adventure. But TJ is doing pretty good -I just need to buy more underwear so that we don't have to keep going back to diapers inbetween loads of laundry. When we go through 4 pairs of underwear a day, it doesn't take long to be out.

Well, TJ is climbing all over me as I write this and Cooper is waking up, so I think I am going to end now. I'll hopefully post some more pictures soon.

Valerie