Life with my Big'uns

Hannah has been making Zach laugh for 17 years -- the more things change the more they stay the same.

Jen says: "Hannah, I don't want a picture of your armpit!"

So Hannah says: "Olé!" and Zach cracks up. 

Okay bigs, just give me some cheese. :D

First Day Back

Curty in his ASU Prep School Uniform -- He's so cute!

Well, I just sent my sweet Curtis back to school after 3 years of
homeschooling. I had no idea two weeks ago that we'd be doing this,
but things have miraculously just fallen into place for him to attend
a small charter school that Ren has been looking at and admiring
since we moved here. I didn't even know he was still on the waiting
list there (I asked that all the boys be taken off last spring when
we made different plans), but they called out of the blue with a spot
for him. Not only that, but the administrative assistant who called
us, Miss Jodie, also worked at the Elementary school he attended in
first grade and she knows and loves him. When she saw his name come
up, she told everyone about him.

I was worried about the gaps in his education over the last 3 years,
but Ren has a colleague whose daughter is dyslexic and she is
thriving at ASU Prep after trying lots of different schools. I prayed
about this decision and asked the Lord to give not only me peace, but
Curtis as well, if it was the right thing for him. You can see by his
face, that he is doing well this morning. :)

When we dropped him off at school, they welcomed him with open arms.
He is in a 5/6 cluster as part of the middle school. His homeroom
teacher, Mr. Nielsen, is the science teacher there and just got back
from serving the country in Afghanistan. He was very excited to meet
Curtis and made him right at home. Curt's schedule today starts with
music class (where they get to compose using Garage Band on the Mac),
PE, and then Science, where they get to visit a science lab on the
ASU East campus (which is where the middle school is located) and do
some cool science-y things (that was very specific I know). Mr.
Nielsen also asked Curtis if he wanted to be part of their lego
robotics club. Cool!

I cried leaving. It was like dropping off a kindergartner again. But
I also feel so good about the school and the people there. Boy,
things can change quickly! Now I just have Gid and Eli at home (oh
yeah, and Zach). Crazy!

Hi Kids!

The weather is lovely, wish you were here. (or not!) Enjoying a gorgeous day at La Jolla Cove with my studly man. Life is good. :D

Cuteness Required

Heavens to betsy but my office is getting cute! It just puts my little creative heart into happiness overload when I take something old, ugly and unusable and transform it into something new, fabulous and functional too. (Fabulous in my opinion at least, and since I'm the only one that has to enjoy it, then mine is the only one that matters. Pretty selfish, huh?) Take these here old dining room chairs.

(Sorry, I've been listening to a book on tape set in Mississippi circa 1960 and I'm thinking with a twang.) Black and gold plaid upholstered, threadbare seats, comfy but horrific. We got them at a garage sale in trade for our old vaccum. Ugly, huh?

But, add some new fabric, a daisy-covered ribbon ("Daisies are the friendliest flower, don't you think?" -- name that character and movie) and Voila! you get new office chairs that are uber-fun and oh-so-cute!!!! I can't stand it, it makes me want to squeal.

 Anyway, you get the picture...so here are a couple more of my newly refurbished office chairs. I guess it's obvious...when it comes to creating, in my world, cuteness is required. :D

Hot Men!

Left to right: Jonah, cousin Bowen, Cody, Curty (in the towel), cousin Ammon, Gideon, cousin Jozen.

This is probably not the best way to welcome our Oregon cousins to Arizona...record-breaking heat for a week straight. Here is a picture of my boys and their cousins waiting in the half hour long line to get into a water park. I guess when the high predicted is 110 degrees, we should have expected everyone else in town to have the same great idea as we did. You can see how some of them interpreted my request to photograph the "Hot Men". I'll leave it up to you to decide who the hottest were. Lol! We can't ignore the fact that the sign says the real men are the other way. :D

Curtis Byers, a.k.a. Curt the Cute, Hits the One Decade Mark

My cute Curtis is finally a "double digit midget" as my boys like to call him, though his spirit is at least 63. He's always been an old soul in a little body, so I joke with him that his spirit is definitely older than mine. Curtis is uniquely wise for such a little guy, and whether he's telling strangers at the grocery store his latest joke, flashing those infectious dimples, or charming the babies and animals in our world, he's loved by everyone that encounters him.

So, I take this opportunity to say:

Happy Birthday Moose! 

I love you more than Honey Nut Cheerios (and we both know that's saying a LOT!)

If you give a Jen an organizing consultant...

...she's going to want a cute office to go with it!

Last month Hannah asked me what I wanted for Mother's Day. I happened to be sitting in the middle of my totally trashed office and I looked around me and whined that I would LOOOOOOOVE a clean office. Oh the joys of having a daughter! Hannah hired a lady from church who does organizational consulting to give me five hours of time to clean out, sort and organize. Super Organizer Woman (oh that would be SOW as an acronym, I'm sure she wouldn't appreciate that!) came over and suggested that since I had to take everything out to sort through it, I might want to repaint my office. And if I was going to repaint, I might want to install more shelving and add a longer, more useful desk area, and put in a wrapping paper station and...VOILA! Another version of "If you give a mouse a cookie" is born! I snapped some pictures with my phone camera (not nearly the quality of cuteness and clarity I would prefer, but I wanted pictures NOW!) and here they are for all to enjoy.

Just a reminder of what my office used to look like from this post: My Life is Now a Crime Scene
(Futon, old brown desk we've had since we got married 20 years ago, lots of messes, etc..)

Now, it looks like this:

Big wall of shelves -- I mean...CUTE shelves: check!

Bigger desk area (Ikea tables which were $5.99 each!) and more cute shelves and stuff: check!

Wrapping paper station in the closet: check!

Oh how this space is bringing me joy! I almost don't want to put anything on all those shelves, but I guess there must be some function with the form huh? I'll post more pics when it's complete.