Cap, Snock Hops and Sleep

We've been busy around here. With what I don't know, but it feels like life is busy.  Maybe its the whole single parent thing that is exhausting!?  I've been trying to come up with exciting and different activities and every once and  while I am successful.  Case in point:

Porter meeting his idol Cap at the Safe Kids Fair

 And the Storm Troopers.  Elmo was there but cubs was too scared to even get remotely close.  Who knew a FREE event could be so exciting for the kiddos?  Mental note, I need to find more of these activities to keep us busy!

My kiddos were thrilled to attend the Sock Hop Birthday Party for their cousins Tillie, Sisi, and Olivia!  How cute is this?

 Porter was convinced this was called a Snock Hop and ever since this party we have had to play the CD and have a Snock Hop over and over again.  Quite exhausting let me tell you!

In Jack news, he has been SLEEPING!  Three nights in a row the entire night!  How pathetic to say this about an almost 2 year old, but it has been magical!  All you parents with children who sleep, count your blessings because you have no idea how hard life is when they don't.  He must be getting ready to grow because he has been sleeping a lot lately.  I always get nervous when things get quiet, but love it when this is what I find:

Yes my child is so vampire like in his paleness and yes that is a GIANT Fruit Loops box he may have confiscated from the cupboard.  But who can resist a SWEET sleeping babe?  He has been completely obsessed with Woody and the gang.  It is no small feat to haul all three of them around the house with those little arms with hats to keep track of too!  I love my cubs!~

Almost, But Not Quite

Last year at tithing settlement, the bishop asked Porter if he had paid his tithing.  I never had considered having him pay any tithing yet because, for one, he doesn't earn money except for birthdays and holidays, and two, he technically he doesn't need to pay tithing yet right?  But Porter was mortified that he hadn't been paying tithing and has insisted ever since that he pay tithing.  Last year the kid paid $12 in tithing and I know for a fact he probably only owed $3 at most and most of that would have been from finding money around the house.  But who am I to discourage such rightousness right, even if he doesn't get the whole 10% thing?  Well, yesterday he insisted he was going to pay tithing and he brought in a whopping 12 cents to take with to church.  He said, "Mom I just love paying tithing because it helps build temples."  And I'm of course thinking to myself how awesome I am because my child gets it.  And then he continues by saying, "Because it's good to build temples and have some that look the same so when the bad guys blow them up and use them as their headquarters we have other ones that look like them and it's important to have some temples." What?  Who is thinking of blowing up temples? At least we are headed in the right direction with our gospel knowledge right?

February So Far

I feel like every time I sit down to blog I start off my post by saying how crazy life has been.  So I guess it is just the standard for life and at this point I should just take it as the norm.  I can hardly believe that it is already the middle of February, can we start this month over?  

What We've Been Up To?

We had two darling visitors (my 4 year old cousins Josh and MacKay) at our house last week for a two night sleep over and Porter was elated!  We brought the blow up mattress into his room and the three of them had a campout.  My boys were in heaven and I realized I can never have more than one child the same age at the same time.  Meeting all of their demands was exhausting to say the least :) They left last Friday and Tom left for California the next morning and was gone until Wednesday and life has been rather lonely with only children to make conversation.  I continued to only associate myself with children when our Relief Society Activity for couples had an impressive turn out and I had to jump in to the under staffed nursery to help take care of the 30 kids that were ready for bed.  Saying I was excited to have Tom home was an understatement.  

We have also been busy helping my mom and dad prepare and move.  After 20 years in a house there is a lot of crap stuff to sort through and a ton to pack!  We discovered a box from our house in Sandy of items from my bedroom.  Jenna, I finally found my Sullvanian Family Critters (ok, it is 20 years too late but hey I knew I had them somewhere!)  My dad keeps trying to give "cool" stuff to Porter until he finally responded, "Papa, I love you but we don't need any more of your junk."  And I have come to the realization that I in my small house have too much crap and have gone on the rampage.  Maybe the fact that I live so close to a dumpster is a bad thing :)

What else have we been doing?  Well, baking of course because we love to bake lick the bowl clean!

  

1st Piano Lessons

My kids love the rain!

Today was a BIG day for Porter.  Not only did he have preschool, but he had his FIRST PIANO LESSON!

My cute friend Jill is going to teach Porter piano lessons and she is amazing and amazing with kids!  Porter had a fantastic lesson and is already wanting to work on his workbook pages.

How cute is this?!

Let me just tell you about how fantastic Jill is.  Not only is she teaching these piano lessons but she also taught a few of us a Barre Class this morning while all our little rug rats ran around her house.  I'm so blessed to have such incredible friends!

Shutting Down the Deal Site

Just an FYI, I've shut down my deal site, Simple Mom Solutions.  (i know it's weird to just obliterate the .com address, but I have an addictive personality and I know that if I don't take it off I will slowly find myself going back to it and that is something I don't want to do even if it did make some money:)  But I've had requests from some of my friends for access to the recipes and the content so you can access that here: http://dealsyouwant.blogspot.com/

A New Year

As one of my most MAJOR New Years Resolutions, I am going to try to be more interactive with my kiddos.  And well, I'm a planner so I do better if I plan.  So we are doing theme days. . . Here's a little glimpse.  We will have to see how long I can keep this up, but Porter loves the anticipation.

ANGRY BIRDS DAY
Complete with an Angry Birds Preschool Pack,
 Angry Birds the Game and the Iphone App Game
oh, and the Pizza

BAKERY DAY WITH A NEW APRON
ok, so we "baked" Rice Krispy Treats at 10 am
but we were out of some necessary ingredients
Next on the docket is Cars and Dinosaurs

My main Resolution this year is Time Management.  With this I hope to be a better mom and get more organized and get more accomplished. Another resolutions?  Getting Jack sleeping through the night.  We are  also trying to focus on reading the Book of Mormon with our kiddos (well Porter) and so far it is going quite well.  Who knew I would actually learn more from reading the Book of Mormon with Porter than I have on my own?  

Self Expression

We fully believe in individuality and self expression around here!