Feeding the Birds

Yesterday morning right after breakfast Ethan insisted we feed the birds. I was a little confused by this because what birds were we going to feed. Well Ethan had seen a morning dove on the deck and really wanted to feed it. He thought it would be just like feeding the ducks I think which we have done a few times much to his delight. Anyhow we looked around in the kitchen and came up with a roll left over from dinner the night before so we broke it into little pieces and put it on a little plate (Ethan's idea) and he took it out on the deck. He then proceeded to yell at the top of his lungs "BIRDS BIRDS!!" then after a few mins of that he thought for a few mins then started to yell "BIRDS DINNER" Much to his disappointment they didn't come running. We then put the plate on the deck and he stood inside waiting for them to come and eat his offering. This went on for about an hour...every so often he would run to the door open it and yell at the birds, it was so cute.

In other Ethan news I have decided that it might be a good idea to start caring a dictionary with me. He ask questions constantly and sometimes he really stumps me. A few examples "What's a fact mom?" this one was asked at the dinner table and me and Jared just looked at each other with looks of how do we explain this and busted up laughing. We did end up explaining it and then spent the whole rest of dinner pointing out facts to him. Another example "What's a circle?" This one was asked as he drew a circle in the sand he just wanted more of a definition and I was totally stumped. I know what a circle is but I don't know it's definition. He would not let it drop until I promised we would look it up when we got home. The boy defiantly makes me think some days.

Take me out to the Ball Game

Yesterday I went to a Tigers game for my sister Tammy's Birthday. It was so much fun! If you have the time and want to do something fun this summer I highly recommend it. We go to at least one game a year and I really think it's one of the best things about summer. This year since she has a lot of Friday nights off we are going to try and make more games...I'm really excited! I don't know all the ins and outs of baseball and your lucky if I remember the players name but there is just something about being there. The smell of roasted peanuts and hot dogs, the roar of the crowd as someone hits a home run it's just the perfect summer evening. Though while I was watching the game I got to thinking about the players last night and the amount of pressure they must be under. One wrong move and everyone starts criticizing them, it's on ESPN the next day...that can not be good for your self image. It just gave me a new respect for the players and a understanding for the reasons they do some of the things they do that I don't approve of. It's not an excuses but an understanding.

Game Pix

Five Questions

Ok here are my five questions courtesy of Andrea.

1.) If you had to choose another country to live in for the rest of your life, which would you choose and why?

This one is pretty easy, Ireland. It's fairy tales and history and breath taking views all wrapped up in one little country with the best accent ever. The way people speak over there just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. I don't know why I just really love to just listen to people with Irish accents. They are such a passionate people and I just love that. The old stone walls and green pastures the historical ruins and sea swept cliffs. I could sit all day and just look at that. Who knows maybe it's the red hair being called home to the mother ship but Ireland is where I would want to be with England a close second.

2) If you had to get rid of every object (not person or animal) in your house but five, which five would you choose to keep and why?

First I have to say this is one of the hardest questions, I really had to think. So here are my five:
1.) My camera! I really think I would feel incomplete without it. It really is my way of understanding my children and my creative outlet, everyone needs at least one.
2.) My computer. I have to have a way to view my pictures and play with them hello. Ok and I would be a very sad person without my e-mail and word is very helpful if I have to actually type something. I love spell check.
3.)My Radio. What's life without music? Whenever I'm having a really horrible day I turn on the radio so Ethan and I can dance around the house, silly as it is it always makes me feel better. I'm also pretty sure I would never get any house cleaning done without it...that whole whistle while you work or in my case sing off key really helps things go faster.
4.) My Bed. I absolutely love it! It's huge and soft and one of my great indulgent. Actually it was a stipulation to us buying our house...I had to still be able to get my bed and we need to be able to afford our wedding if we could make that happen I told Jared we could buy it..so we did. I love the memory of that and I love the fact that it's big enough that if Ethan has a bad dream and wants to cuddle I'm not kicked out of bed. I also love to curl up on it in the middle of the day if both boys are sleeping and just read with a big cup of hot chocolate.
5.) My scriptures. Ok so I'm not always the best at reading them day to day but I know when life gets ruff there kind of like my security blanket. For some reason if I can just make time to read them things don't seem so bad and no matter what it is I know that it will get better. It also gives me a little perspective of this may be bad at the moment but there really is a reason for it.

3) If you could have lunch with one famous person, who would you choose and why?

Ok this was a hard one for me as well. I actually sat down and went uhh famous people we have those? I had the hardest time coming up with famous people isn't that pathetic. But after much consideration I think I would like to spend an after noon with a man named Neil Miller. Now most of you are going uhh who...this is suppose to be famous people right? Well he's actually one of the most influential scientist of all times. If you've taken a psychology class I'm sure you've heard of him. He also happens to be Jared's grandfather. The truth of the matter is this is a man I have meet but he was in his 90's and had alzheimer's. I would love to sit down with him when he was much younger teaching at Yale and learn more about his experiments. I've heard so many stories about him that I would really love to sit down with him and just get to know him.

4) If Jared got abducted by aliens and you had to support your family single-handedly, what would you do for a living?

This one is pretty easy. I would try to make a go of it as a photographer. I'm not sure if it would work but that's were I would go first I think.

5) You are in a meditation class, and you have to think of a place that soothes you. Which place do you think of?

The first place I would think of is our cabin in Maine. There's a spot out front where you can lay in the hammock and listen to the waves genitally hitting the rocks. It's usually warm but not really hot with a nice cool breeze. Tall pine trees and birds. No electricity, no phones, no motor boats, and very few people. It's the most wonderful place I know of.

Now, if you want me to ask you five questions, which you will post on your blog, here is what you need to do:

1. Leave me a comment saying, "I too am an autobiographer."
2. I'll respond by asking you up to five questions. You will answer them, because you like talking about yourself.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Lessons Learned

Some pictures from this week. The first is of Cora and the second of Grant when they came over on Saturday to play. The last is of River a new arrival in the Holman family also taken on Saturday.

A few things my children have taught me since last I wrote:

1.) Don't turn your back on the child in the tub. This is for two reasons the first of which is Daniel has learned to crawl out of the tub and will do so if I stop paying attention. The second reason for this is Ethan has decided to soak me if I stop paying attention to him in order to get my attention.

2.) Sometimes it's ok to give in. On Mother's Day Ethan melted down because he didn't want to wear ANY cloths and he wanted to eat outside. It was only 65 and we didn't want him to get cold but after half an hour of hearing him sob his little heart out we decided to just give in on this one. We did make him put on a diaper but he was allowed to come outside and eat with us. You would think he would get cold and go back in learning his lesson but no he sat there shivering and eating. Once he was done he carried his plate inside and didn't ask to go outside again that night.

3.) Enjoy your siblings. Ethan and Daniel have learned to play together. Ethan will push Daniel around the house in his walker and both boys will crack up laughing. Ethan will also push cars just out of Daniel reach so that Daniel will chase him.

4.) Bask in the ability to stand for not everyone can. Daniel is pulling up on everything, and I do mean everything! He has started doing things like pulling up on the fridge then will look over at me with the biggest smile as if to say look mom I did it aren't you proud.

5.) Knowledge can be a scary thing. I discovered this week that Ethan has a real knack for memorizing things and it's really scary for me as a parent. This week we went to the library and got some new books came home and read them. An hour latter Ethan picked up one of the books and read it to me word for word. It was a simple book but still I was pretty impressed. I worry that I won't know what to do to challenge him. I also really worry that the boy is to smart for his own good. The people I know who are the most unhappy with life happen to be the smartest people I know so this worries me a little.

Webpage

Just spent the last two hours putting this together...it was my mothers day present. Anyhow I want to add more stuff to it and work on it some more but thought I would pass it along and get input.

Photography by Jess

I have some funny stories to relate about today but they will have to wait until tomorrow so that I can go watch a show with my husband another mothers day treat.

Well Seasoned Panio

I can now officially say we have a well seasoned piano though probably not the way some people may. This morning Ethan became board while I was feeding Daniel his breakfast. Solid food may me more of an obstacle than I thought simply because it allows Ethan to get into so much trouble. Anyhow this morning I was listening to Ethan play while I was feeding Daniel. He's playing with piano no big deal, so he makes a lot of noise, so what. He can't hurt the piano right and if I can hear him he must be not into trouble? Umm in these types of situations it's always best to check I've discovered but I always try to convince my self that he's being good. Ethan had obtained an all purpose spice from the counter where I had left it from the night before (Note to self reason number 48 to clean up after dinner) and for some reason had decided to season the piano. No I don't mean just a shake or two but the whole bottle sprinkled along the keys. My house now smells just like all purpose seasoning for some odd reason and now every time I look at the piano I start to laugh.

Club Boy

This week for FHE the boys went outside to jump on the trampoline while I quick whipped up a lesson. After about 20 mins I went outside to join them and play catch with Ethan. The plan was to play outside for another half hour then go inside and have our lesson. Why is it things never go as planned in my house? A few mins latter I see this group of boys coming up the street. All the kids on our street with the exception of one eight year old girl are boys. Anyhow all the boys were out catching bugs and decided to drop by to see if we had any bugs in our yard. Ethan was all over that. I think I must have had a look of total dismay as I saw my neatly laid out plans for the night slipping away. Jared came over and put his arm around me and whispering in my ear "Welcome to Club boy." I know he's so right. All I could think of was all the bug hunts in my future soon to be followed by snake hunts I'm sure and frog hunts and anything else they can think of. After an eventful quest the boys decided to jump on the trampoline then it was off to play at a neighbors yard. I couldn't bring my self to ruin there fun and hall Ethan inside. Maybe next week we will have a family bug hunt and talk about how god created everything even little bugs.

Today was a day of complete and total frustration for Daniel. The boy wants to walk so bad and can't stand the fact that he can't. He's started taking steps but gets really angry when he falls. In some ways I can't wait until he walks because it means we will not have a total day of crying. Pray for my sanity until then.

In other news I learned something new today. I had yet another Dr appointment and while talking we got on the subject of my sleep issues. Did you know that if you are sleep deprived you are more likely to be over weight and your more likely to develop diabetes. Umm ya so if you have a family history of diabetes and have sleep issues that's like bad. If your wondering the reason evidently when your over tired your body starts producing more incline to try and keep you awake. This in turn can cause you to gain weight and for lack of a better term burn out your bodies own ability to regulate sugar. I found this interesting. I love my Dr she always teaches me something new when I go see her and she is always so helpful. So she has set the goal that I need to be in bed by 11...I'm going to try and hopefully it will work. She's also sending me to a dietician to help me create a healthy weight loss plan and learn to eat better so if possible I can avoid that whole diabetes thing.

Ok I'm going to stand on my soap box for just a min and plead with everyone to remember to wear sun screen and especially remember to put it on your kids. My parents were horrible about that and as a result I got burned quite badly quite often. Now I'm 26 and have to take a picture of a mole on my foot because well it could be skin cancer. I have to take a picture of it ever month or so to make sure it's not growing for how long I don't know until we're sure it's not growing I guess. Sucky

Small Victory

I really really hate potty training. In part because I never know if I'm doing the right thing and because you need to be so consistent and life just isn't. Anyhow tonight I told Ethan that we needed to spend an hour practicing using the potty because soon mommy was going to take away his diapers and he was going to have to use the potty all the time. He said ok and we took off the diaper. He immediately went to the potty and used it. I was so surprised you could have knocked me over. Maybe all the frustration is starting to pay off. Our goal this week is to try and have a one hour practice time every day hopefully they will all go this well. Ethan has been very hard to get to this stage so its so gratifying to see that all that work is starting to pay off. Maybe he will be potty trained before he's 12.

As for the Daniel update. The boy is driving me insane again! Ugh they really do take turns driving me nuts. Daniel is really into standing these days so he is always climbing on my leg or something and if he can't he gets really grumpy. This is how Ethan was and why we bought the walker but it's still driving me a little crazy. He's started pulling up on thing and either tyring to walk along them or letting go and trying to stand. The standing thing really isn't work that well for him the longest he's up is maybe a second. I see two walking whirlwinds in my near future and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about that. Part of me is happy because maybe they can play together...or at least chase each other around the house but still he's not suppose to walk yet right?

On a side note Ethan gave Daniel a roll of paper towels today without me knowing it until a few mins latter. Dinner time is always mischief time. At any rate Daniel had a ball at least and it really was funny to find him wrapped in paper towels. I should have taken pictures of it but I felt it was wrong to leave him there while I searched for the camera.

Trampoline

I have been so occupied with my family that I almost forgot to tell people. We got a trampoline! Yes Jenny your probably right one of my kids, probably Jared, will break a leg or something but I figure it's going to happen no matter what. Jared's parents got it for all three of my boys for a combined birthday present. They came over while Jared was out of town this last week and we all went to get it then Jared's dad took some time off work to help put it together. It was really sweet they wanted to have it all put together before Jared got home that night so that he could just go play on it if he wanted to. I have to say it's the best stress relief ever. How can you be upset when your jumping on a 15 foot trampoline. I think it would be really fun to have a sleep out on the trampoline or at the very least do some star gazing. I have decided on hard days this summer it will make the perfect place to take a nap while the boys are napping, or read a book. Ethan is totally in love with the trampoline and tells me every morning about it. It's also helping with his sleeping 30 mins on it and he's ready for a nap or bed which is great! I think it's just what we needed! Once life settles down a little bit we are going to have a wii/trampoline/bbq party. So far there is only one rule for the trampoline, only one person at a time. Jared has of coerce violated this rule already but Ethan is quite admit about no one jumping with him. I hope it stays that way. I do have to find out how to clean it though cause umm the birds have already found it, no surprise.

Photos of the Day

Memories

I just got back out of bed after spending half an hour laying there with my eyes closed thinking I could sleep if I just tried hard enough. It almost worked then my brain started thinking about the this that and the other thing and that was that. I started thinking about my grandmother and you know the little things you remember and how important those things are. Like I was telling someone today about this button box my grandmother had. It's really such a simple thing but it's my most memorable thing about her. Every time she got an outfit the extra button went in the box, every time she threw away a shirt the buttons went in the box, buttons off her army uniform went in that silly little box. I remember spending hours playing with grandam buttons. We would count them when I was learning to count, and sort them by colors when I was learning my colors. When I got older some of the more special buttons had stories to them. I think I'm going to start my own button box for my kids. It's such a silly little thing but it always meant a lot to me. At first I thought I had so few memories of my grandmother but the more I think of it the more and more little things keep coming back. Like helping her plant trees in her yard one year and having my sister chase me with the hose. Or the year we painted the patio furniture and painted our shoes to match. Grandma said they looked great but mom didn't think so...they were umm rather stiff afterward. I remember always getting candy when we went to grandmas house, that was something really special because it wasn't allowed at home. I remember the summer she would come and pick me up every single day and take me to her house to teach me how to take care of her flowers. Every Halloween we would trek into grandma's house for a big family get together and trick or treating. We would lay on the floor at the end of the night with our candy and grandma would sneak a piece of two and laugh at us. I know I wasn't there for her like she was for me but loosing her has taught me how important it is to know your grandparents. I guess it's true you don't really appreciate things until they are gone.

Grandma

Today was the funeral. That was hard though not as hard as I thought it would be I have to say. Overall it turned into a celebration of family. Some of the stories that have come out over the last few days have really made me look at her in a new light and appreciate her a little more. I wish I could have appreciated her more while she was here. I have to share one of the stories because it just made me laugh so hard. So my grandparents one year decided to raise chickens and so they got them self some bantam hens. Well bantam hens are great for laying eggs but not much good for anything else. Well after the hens had grown to a reasonable size they umm ya know killed them (they were farmers sorry guys) anyhow and they decided to roast these hens over the fire ridged up a spicet and everything. Well here's the part they didn't know bantam hens aren't the type you really eat. So I guess you would take a bite of the hen and it would kind bounce back...you literaly couldn't eat the stuff...so they had a little burial service for the hens instead of dinner that night. I was asked to put together a slide show of pictures of grandma threw out her life here are just a few I wanted to share. You can really tell she loved to ham it up.

Paying customer

I officially have my first paying customer! I'm both excited and terrified. What if I totally mess it up and they hate the pictures? Ok so I told them not to pay me if they don't like the pictures. It's a money back guarantee I guess. At the same time I've already done pictures for them so they know what to expect and they are willing to pay me for my time. We went back and forth a little bit because we both didn't want to take advantage of the other but we finally agreed they would pay me whatever they feel is appropriate and to be honest I'm just trilled that they think that much of my photos. I have to say it a real self esteem boost to have someone call you up and say they are willing to pay you for something you enjoy doing.

This made me sit down and go ok what do I charge people? I figure I probably needed a little push to figure this out. So last night I sat down and spent a few hours looking up different photography sites and different products how much does it cost to do x. I had been putting it off but actually it was kind of fun to figure out well if I'm going to x what are the cost I need to take into account. Everyone who I have already talk to about doing pictures please don't think you have to pay me. At some point I guess I will take to just say I'm charging people but I'm not sure I'm ready for that. I mean if I do that means I'm really really doing this. Ok so the fact that I order $200 worth of equipment might already mean that but that's beside the point. Maybe by fall I'll feel confident enough to say I'm ready to charge but right now I'm so worried people will pay me then hate the pictures. It's that whole I've never taken a class thing. Jared says it's silly that I have this little hang up...I suppose that's because he never took a college computer class and look at where he is. He does have a point that I can learn as I go and just not charge very much right now and as I learn more and get more experience I can up my rates.

I guess the next step is figuring out how to make the website I want...ohh and writing that photography essay everyone seems to have on there website about there philosophy or how they got started. I know exactly how I want things to look now it's just a matter of figuring out how to make that work.

Saying goodbye

So I can't sleep again. I really hate the fact that I seem to lack the ability to sleep even when I'm really really tired. I'm glad my child en didn't fully inherit this gene. I won't say they didn't inherit it because we all know what wonderful sleepers my children are. At any rate tomorrow I head to my parents for the day to help with funeral plans. We are going to get together as a family tomorrow night and just talk about my grandmother and go threw pictures. We tend to do this whenever someone passes away and I always appreciate it. We eat, we cry, we laugh, we remember. Those stories that everyone laugh always end up coming out or that one story that only so and so knows the full extent of. It really is great. Thursday I'll be back home to finish getting things here ready then back across the state Thursday night. Friday is the big party. It's interesting that in my family after ever funeral there is a Party. Yes I mean party with a capital P. For my grandfather several years ago I think it lasted close to 12 hours with everyone laughing and joking and remembering all the really funny things about him. I have to say that when I go I hope someone has a party in my honor.