Do You Believe in Magic?

I took the kids to The Magic House (the children's museum in St. Louis) a couple of weeks ago.  It was fun.  I took a slew of pictures, but have only posted a few (mostly for the grandparents and all of our out-of-state family).  The pictures pretty much speak for themselves, so I'll just let those who care (our relatives) have a looksie.  I really wish I had more to say, but this post has sat in my draft list for far too long.  It's time to publish this bad boy for all to see!

She really is so cute and sweet.  She behaved very well while we were there.  I was impressed!

I'm not sure if I like the fact that it looks like I haven't brushed Juliana's hair in weeks or that her sticker is upside down.  It's a toss up.

The oversized Legos were a huge hit with Everett.  He kept getting really frustrated every time Giselle would knock down his buildings, which unfortunately for him, happened more than once.

The more I look at Juliana the more I realize it looks like I haven't brushed her hair OR bathed her.  Poor girl.

Hands down my favorite picture of the day.  I love Giselle's face.  Like she knows something I don't and there's no way she's going to tell me.

Easily the kids second favorite part of the museum.  They love playing "restaurant" at home, so now that they had a real restaurant replete with tables, aprons, trays, and pizza, along with cups, plates and napkins.  Oh man.  They loved it. (Interestingly enough, another favorite game of theirs is "family".  I'll let you guess how that one's played.  And their favorite toys?  "Doggie" and "Cat".  Naming things obviously comes quick and easy for these two)

Ay, fuggedabouit.

My second favorite picture of the day.  Cheers to y'all too!

Who's the homeless girl?  These pictures have convinced me I need to get my girl a haircut pronto!

Empty Promises

We learned that the St. Louis Zoo was free within the first week of living here.  In our foolishness, Will and I promptly PROMISED (we're such suckers) the kids that we would take them.  The first time we tried it rained cats and dogs.  Although the kids were disappointed, it was easy to point out the window at the gusting, pouring down rain and reluctantly say, "Gosh, kids, we really wanted to take you to the zoo today, but darn the weather, we just can't!"

As ones slow to learn from our mistakes, this past Saturday we again hyped the zoo to Everett and Juliana. "Who's wants to go to the zoo today?!?!?"was quickly followed by tumultuous shrieks of excitement.  If our kids are anything, it's that they excite easily and quickly.  And have the memory of a elephant - they NEVER forget.

*(As a side note - last August on the day of Everett's preschool orientation I was running late (shocking) and in my haste to get out of the grocery store parking lot I hit a police car.  Of course, I had all three kids with me.  It was tragic and even I, with my heart of stone, burst into tears.  It was ugly.  Be glad you weren't there.  Unfortunately, nary a week goes by when Everett isn't either reminding me of that incident or telling others about it.  Just a few weeks ago after church his Primary teacher told me that although the lesson was on being obedient, Everett felt the need to share the "my mom hit a police car" story yet again.)

So after a morning of yard work and lunch, off we went to the zoo.  We were really going!  And it was a gorgeous, sunny day!  I have to admit, I was feeling pretty darn spiffy.  My thoughts ran along these lines: "Gosh, we are SO fun!  We told them we'd take them to the zoo and here we go.  They're going to remember this forever!"

Unfortunately, everyone in the metro St. Louis area had the same brilliant idea to visit the zoo, and they had one up on us because they had gotten there earlier in the day.  By the time we got there, there was literally and honestly, not a parking spot to be had.  The line of cars backed up to get in was completely ridiculous.  With Giselle's screeching, Juliana's constant questioning, "Is that the zoo?  Where's the zoo?  How do we get into the zoo?" and Everett pointing out parking spots that even his bike couldn't fit into, Will and I quickly realized a visit to the zoo had eluded us once again.  In an effort to make amends, we went to the closest "attraction" we could find: the St. Louis Science Center.

If you promise the zoo and then deliver the science center, expect your children to be a bit...underwhelmed.  But like I said, they excite easily and quickly, so after a few minutes, they were having a good time.  Inside I was thinking, "Wow, we really dodged a bullet.  I can't believe they're not putting up more of a fuss about missing the zoo.  I have the greatest kids!"  Until we were walking back to the car after it was over and Everett said, "NOW can we go to the zoo?"

(This picture pretty much sums it up.)

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

I have quite a few posts up my sleeves to catch up for the past month, but I really wanted to post this little gem.  

Last week we drove (yes, DROVE) back to Atlanta to attend the cultural celebration and rededication of the Atlanta LDS Temple.  It was wonderful to be there and we have some neat stories to share, but that's a different story for a different post.  While we were there, I called Everett's former preschool teacher, Ms. Kathy, to see if Everett could drop by his former place of higher education to say hello.  Everett LOVED preschool, Ms. Kathy, and his friends and was definitely sad to leave them.  Ms. Kathy was more than happy for me to drop Everett off at preschool for a few hours.  When I picked him up in the carpool line, he had this wrapped Mother's Day present:

My Mommy by Everett, 5 years old, 2011

My Mommy's eyes are: blue, I think.

My Mommy's hair is: black

My Mommy is 31 years old.

My Mommy likes to: play with me and my sister.

My Mommy is the most pretty when: she is the prettiest she can be.

My Mommy is the funniest when: I get home from school.

My favorite thing my Mommy cooks is: rice and beans.

My Mommy's favorite color is: red.

What my Mommy does all day is: she cleans the house a lot.

My Mommy likes me to help her: do the dishwasher.

My Mommy loves me because: I am wonderful.

The best part is, aside from the eye color (seriously, Buddy?  Blue?!?), he was right on.  I am 31!  My favorite color is red!  I rock at cooking rice and beans!  I do clean up a lot!  Color me impressed that he has been that observant to know/notice the answers to those questions.

As a side note, discussing everyone's age and favorite color is something we do quite a bit whenever we're driving in the car.  It usually goes something like this:
E: "I'm 5 and Juliana's 3 and Giselle's 11 months." (which Juliana then repeats)
and then
E: "And Mommy, you're 31, but Daddy's only 30." (which again, Juliana repeats)
And then we go through cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents and their ages.  After we've exhausted ages, we then move on to colors.
E: "My favorite color is green and Juliana likes pink and purple.  Daddy likes blue and Mommy, you like red, right?"  Once I answer in the affirmative, Juliana then repeats.
Seriously folks, we go through those above conversations probably 5-10 times a day.  Don't you wish you could ride around in our car?

M to the O

Whew!  Time flies when you're having fun.  Or moving.  Our lives have been a whirlwind of making decisions and plans, then changing our minds and heading in a different direction.  Some of you may have heard (directly from us, no less) that we were moving to Virginia.  And that was true - for a few weeks.  But then a much better opportunity presented itself and we jumped on it.  Within two weeks time Will accepted a job in St. Louis, we packed our belongings, Will drove out to find us a place to live, flew back to Atlanta where we promptly loaded the moving truck (with the help of MANY friends - THANK YOU!) and off we drove to the Gateway to the West.  We've been here for a full week and it is AWESOME.  We are excited to be here and for this new chapter in our lives.

So now for a few details.  Will's new employer:

Our new metropolitan city:

We are totally excited about St. Louis.  It's smaller than Atlanta (by about 200,000 people) and has a small-town feel, but with all the perks of a big city (restaurants, library system, parks, cultural arts, etc.).  We already have a list of things to do: the Arch, a Cardinals game at Busch Stadium, the Zoo (free!), the Science Museum, and the Children's Museum - to name a few.  We're in a great city just outside of downtown and we've discovered (in the whole week that we've been here) that's it's incredibly convenient to everything.  Yes!

The kids have adjusted pretty well.  They still ask everyday to see their family and friends back in Atlanta, but when I tell them that those people live too far away, they quickly agree and start in on the, "We live far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far away from them." Imagine that conversation about 20 times a day and that's about how our week has gone.  Thank goodness for cell phones and Skype!

We live next door to a family with four kids and a great backyard and Everett and Juliana love it.  Plus, we went to our ward's (congregation's) playgroup on Thursday and there were tons of kids there too.  Tomorrow's our first time at church and we're excited to meet people and start to make new friends.

As for the house, it's an older home, a 3/2 ranch with a basement.  It very quaint and cozy and so far, it's been nice to settle into it.  For those who have asked (mostly family), here's our new place.  But first, some gratuitous pictures of the big kids.  Giselle was already in bed by the time I took these.  I'll try to snap some of her tomorrow.

Juliana being a "ballerina".  She does this several times a day and it includes one of two things.  1) Putting her hands above her head or 2) Sticking one leg out and up very awkwardly and holding it for 5-10 seconds.

Juliana sitting on our office chair - we can't quite find the screws for the rolly part underneath.

 Everett saw all the fun Juliana was having that he had to jump on the ballerina bandwagon too.  In a few years he's going to love that I documented this.

 As for the house, here's the back driveway, patio and yard:

The garage and this time, our car actually fits!

This will be the last room to situate.  We need some bookshelves and another chair in here and it's just a mess at this point.  This house doesn't have as many closets/storage as our old place, so trying to figure out where to put everything has been challenging.

The kitchen table and family room.  See that HUGE window with no blinds or curtains?  Yeah, that's fun.  Especially at night. Or whenever the sun's setting.

Another view:

 Yet another view of the same two rooms, this time from the front door.  Apparently I got a little trigger happy photographing these two rooms.

 That's one huge window.  Good thing I don't watch scary movies or I'd be completely freaked out by it.

The kitchen, where I churn out one gourmet meal after another.

The stairs to the basement, 2nd bathroom, storage rooms and laundry room.  There was some flooding down there several months ago, so the tile was ripped up, the flooding taken care of, and there will be carpet down there soon.  Whenever that happens, the basement will become the kids playroom.  Yea for their toys being in the basement!

The three bedrooms.  All right next to each other with the master in the middle.

The upstairs bathroom

And the piece de resistance: a laundry shoot straight to the laundry room below.  This little contraption has changed my life!

Ahh, and here's the best part.  Somehow we misplaced ALL OF THE SCREWS for the kids' bunk beds.  They were all together in a big Ziplock bag, but we've unpacked just about everything (only the kids toys are left) and we can't find that bag anywhere.  Luckily, the kids think sleeping on a mattress on the floor is the best thing since sliced bread.  As a result of not putting their beds together, it's been hard to organize their room at all.  Fun times!

Seriously though, except for a few minor inconveniences, this move has been a dream.  The way everything fell into place so seamlessly really is a testimony to us that we're where we're supposed to be.  Never thought we'd be Midwesterners, but here we are.  Wish us luck!

Valentines Shcmalentines

I saw this recipe awhile ago on Our Best Bites, which incidentally, is a pretty awesome web site for recipes, in case you're looking, and I thought I could swing that for Valentine's Day breakfast.  Because really, what says "love and friendship" better than chocolate waffles and whipped cream?

Here they are, eagerly awaiting their yummy breakfast.  And from the looks of it, Everett's channeling his Latin ancestors.  Look at that chest!  Aye caramba!

My terrible attempt to show you that yes, I did in fact make these from scratch. 

Voila!  Kind of a let down, appearance-wise, huh?  But let me assure you, they were scarfed up by the munchkins.

They seriously couldn't wait.  Immediately after this picture was snapped they went into full devour mode, as evidenced below.

Juliana's devour face

Everett's devour face

And Giselle's devour/get that camera out of my face look.  If that nasty mug doesn't scream, "I love chocolate waffles!" then I don't know what does.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Stretching Other Rusty Muscles

My bachelor's degree is in Print Journalism.  I remember way back in third grade becoming a "Published Author" and thinking it was one of the neatest things ever.  I've always enjoyed writing and I freely admit that there are plenty of people who are waaaaay better at it than I am.  But I enjoy it and most of the time, I feel like I have a good "voice" and write in a logical, sensical manner.

Once upon a time, I did some freelance writing, and I was even the assistant editor at a magazine here in Atlanta.  But since having children, I've let that talent lie dormant.  Not buried, exactly.  But to say I haven't done much with it would be fairly accurate.

Fortunately, I have plenty of people who seem to want me to succeed in writing.  Yesterday at church the woman in charge of Public Affairs for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Southeast came up to me and asked me for my help.  I was happy to write this for her, but more importantly, I forgot how much fun I have writing!

I already linked to it on Facebook, but I wanted it here as well.  Here's the link: http://www.atlmormontemple.org/local-man-in-charge-of-rededication?utm_source=AtlMormonTemple&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=Rededication
and here's the text:

The announcement by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of the rededication of the Atlanta Georgia Temple has created quite the buzz among the over 76,000 members of the Church living in and around Atlanta. The announcement has also created a beehive of activity among those in charge of orchestrating the logistics, the publicity, the cultural celebration and all the other details a temple rededication encompasses.

Elder Giddens, a member of the Seventy, is the local man in charge of the rededication of the Atlanta LDS Temple

The Atlanta Georgia Temple was first announced by President Spencer W. Kimball on 2 April 1980. The groundbreaking and site dedication was 7 March 1981 with the official dedication on 1 June 1983.  To bring the building up to code, the entire inside of the temple was renovated and will be open to the public for viewing April 9 through April 23.

The local man assigned to oversee the temple rededication is no stranger to being busy.  Elder M. Keith Giddens, of Acworth, was called in April of 2010 as a member of one of the leadership councils of the Church termed a “Seventy.” He has been assigned by the First Presidency of the LDS Church to spearhead all the rededication activities.

In what usually takes nine months to coordinate, Elder Giddens and those working with him have been given about a third of the time.  “When I received the appointment I was humbled and overwhelmed. Even now as I look at the checklist of the many things that need to be done I try to keep in mind that a prophet of God will come to Atlanta to rededicate a house of the Lord,” says Elder Giddens. “That’s how I keep it all in perspective and recognize the blessing and privilege that is mine to be a part of such a remarkable event.”

Elder Giddens, who is working with the Temple Department and the Public Affairs Department of the LDS Church, has assembled a group of local people to help with the coordination efforts. “I started by selecting a team that is competent and has great capacity,” he says. “Everyone is excited and anxious as they feel the significance of what they have been called to do.”

The changes inside the temple are cause for excitement as well. “The temple is absolutely stunning,” Elder Giddens says. “The craftsmanship and furnishings are fitting for the house of the Lord. The attention to detail is remarkable.”  Elder Giddens says that excitement and anxiousness are apparent as he talks and meets with members in the Atlanta area.  “Everywhere I go the members are excited to once again have a temple in our midst.”

Although it’s a fast-paced schedule to keep, Elder Giddens knows everything will fall into place.  “When I was called as a mission president at age 41 President Thomas S. Monson told me that ‘when you are on the Lord’s errand you are entitled to Lord’s help’ and ‘he whom the Lord calls the Lord qualifies’.”

Elder Giddens is familiar with being called on the Lord’s errand.  He’s served twice as a bishop, twice as a stake president and presided over the New Jersey Cherry Hill Mission from 1998-2001.  He says that the most important thing he learned was the need to reach out to those in need.  “We are all in different phases of our lives with struggles and challenges and can use a kind word and a helping hand. My job was to try in some measure to lead them to the Savior s

Look Ma, No Hands!

So this is what happens when you have an 8 month old who pretty much refuses to be spoon fed.  Lots of mess and a mini-Nilla stuck to the side of her head.  Good to know.

Ugh.  This was really nasty.

I'll have to dig up pictures of Everett as a baby because the resemblance between him and Miss Giselle here is uncanny.

Wow, it's rough stretching my blogging muscles.  I feel like a novice all over again. Speaking of stretching my muscles, I've been Zumba-ing my little heart out lately.  And as much as I loathe to admit that I like, nay, enjoy even, group exercise, I must admit - I love it!  Believe me, that has been a hard pill to swallow.  Will's been trying to get me to go to group exercise classes for YEARS and I've always given him the same excuses, "I'm embarrassed", "I'm not coordinated enough", "Other people will be looking at me b/c I won't know what I'm doing", "I'm not in good enough shape", etc.  Well I'm here to tell you - ALL THOSE EXCUSES WERE BUNK!  None of them hold water.  Sure I'm not the best, sure, I get confused at the moves sometimes, but I have such a fun time doing it that I don't even care.  It's a great day when I get to go to Zumba and luckily, I get to/make myself go at least three times a week.  It's especially nice because even if the kids come with me to the gym, I simply check them into the childcare and off I go - it's awesome to get some alone time and it's even better since I'm a great date!

Ahhhh- It's good to be back!

A New Beginning?

I've been thinking about dusting the cobwebs off this site and rejoining the blogging community. I wonder if anyone would notice...

In other news, did you know the Fab Four are now the Fab Five? It's funny how much things can change in a year and a half since our last post.

The End of an Era

Anyone who's spent more than 10 minutes with me over the past three years has probably heard me mention or reference blogging in some way. I've loved blogging! I've always been one to champion its virtues (it's easy, it's fun, a great way to stay connected, practically like a journal, etc) and downplay its vices (stalkers, people stealing your family pictures, strangers knowing what you're up to, time consuming, etc). When I started blogging in January of 2006 (I know, THAT long ago), I forsaw myself keeping a blog for the rest of children's growing up years. That isn't the case anymore.

As evidenced by my lack of regular posts this year, I've been thinking/debating for awhile now about blogging and what precisely I'm accomplishing by doing it. As an outgoing, gregarious person, when I began blogging I was all about the comments, ie, attention. I tried to be funny and witty so as to garner the most comments possible. Over time, although the comments were great, they began to matter to me less and less.

I don't know if it's because I'm hitting 30 later this year and with age if I'm turning into a more private person, but I find that I'm no longer as interested in sharing my family's life with the World Wide Web. I've had a Site Meter on my blog from almost the very beginning and it's been enlightening to see where visitors were coming from. I can confidently say I've had blog visitors from almost every state and around 25-30 countries. It hasn't bothered me to have the virtual company. So it isn't so much an issue of, "There are crazy psychos out there who could find me and my family and do us harm" or even "I don't want everyone and their dog to know my business," although that does play into it a little (Read this blog to see what I mean about the crazies: http://www.extraordinarymommy.com/blog/are-you-kidding-me/stolen-picture/)

It's more about me. I find myself wasting A LOT of time blogging. Typing blogs, reading blogs, trying to find people's blogs, or blog surfing for fun. After reading this talk by Elder Bednar: "Things As They Really Are"( http://lds.org/library/display/0,4945,538-1-4830-1,00.html) and doing some introspection, I've simply come to the conclusion that it's time I step away from family blogging and pursue other, hopefully more worthwhile (for me) activities.

Thanks to all the readers and commenters I've had over the years. More often than not, the comments were better and funnier than my posts. And not to worry, you can still find me at other places on the Internet (read: Facebook, Goodreads, Shelfari, email, etc.). I may be quitting blogging, but there's no way I could stay completely out of touch!

In the immortal words of Ah-nald, "Hasta la vista, baby."

My GWTW Challenge

I have a confession to make: I’ve never read “Gone With the Wind.”

There, it’s out.  I’m coming clean.  For most people, the fact that they’ve never read Gone With the Wind is no biggie.  But for me, born and raised in the South, in Atlanta no less, with both the Gone With the Wind museum AND the Margaret Mitchell house not even 30 minutes from my front door, and with the Blue Willow Inn about an hour away (where Margaret Mitchell is said to have visited on numerous occasions and one of the inspirations for Tara), it’s a borderline travesty.

I have seen the movie.  And I liked it.  But as is the case with most movie adaptations, I’ve heard the book is better.  It’s just one of those books I’ve never gotten around to reading.   And that would probably still be the case if it weren’t for a particularly persistent friend who went as far as to mail me my very own paperback copy of this novel last summer.  I promised her then that I would read it, but as we were dealing with a lot of rather stressful things, I readily admit I kept thinking, “I can't think about this now. I'll go crazy if I do. I'll think about it tomorrow.”  Sadly, there have been quite a few tomorrows since Heidi first mailed me the book and I still have yet to read it.  How fickle is woman!  Well, no more!

So it is with much eagerness that I attempt to tackle “Gone With the Wind” during the month of August.  Upon punishment of being referred to as a weakling to all of Facebook, and as God as my witness, I will read in it’s entirety, “Gone With the Wind” before the month of August is complete.  If that’s not a binding promise, well then frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.