It's so beautiful!

Storage. How I love thee. Let me count the ways. 7 shelves of 17 plus feet ways!!

I built a whole wall of shelves in our garage because you just can't have too many shelves is my motto. Of course if took a million hours but I ams as giddy as a woman wanting to organize her life can get. I did have to insulate and sheetrock the wall before I could build the shelves which was annoying but well worth it. I must admit sheetrock is heavy to lift and secure by yourself.

The best part is it cost less then 100$ for everything because 80% of the wood is recycled from building the house. I did have to wash the wood first (another annoying task) as the wood has been outside for the last 6 months, but it saved us a lot and it was the greener option.

I can't wait to tackle the laundry room and make it an efficient heaven of storage and utility. Bring it on yo!

Happy Birthday Soren!!

Soren birthday was 10/10/10 this year. I threw him a castle party as he is in love with knights, guards and castles. We invited 5 friends of his and kicked off the celebration making family crests, swords and shields. Giving weapons to multiple boys in one room even if they are made of cardboard is somewhat dangerous.
The shield was definitely a good idea. They would hit each others shields so hard that before the end of the party several were broken. Last year Soren had a pirate party and we did cardboard swards but it was much more tamer. I am not sure if it is one year older or the different crowd but wow.
My in laws came to help and my mother in law could work magic with the kids. She is a 2nd grade teacher and even when the kids were wild she quickly was able to calm them and give them something more appropriate to do. She has super human powers. We did a obstacle coarse (lance a balloon, save the a maiden from a dragon and return her to her castle, and then we played tag as a dragon chain.
I made a castle bithday cake wich I turned out best of all my cakes so far. That being said I still had to push the second layer to be straight again before the picture. Every year I think, Oh, I want to do a fun cake for the birthday boy. It will be lots of fun to do. And every year about half way into it I start to curse the cake's existence and swear of cute cakes ever again in the future. I just do not have frosting skills. It seriously doesn't look that hard and yet perfection keeps alluding me.

It was a great party and Soren loved it.

I love 5 year olds and I am ecstatic to finally have one. I have been looking forward to this day for sometime............5 yrs to be exact. ;) Soren is so delightful, fun and easy to be around. He can busy himself doing non destructive things for quite sometime. He can follow directions and sometimes takes it upon himself to keep Xander in line.......okay so it is only very occasionally but I LOVE it when he does. Although usually it doesn't really help, I love how he knows the rules and wants others to keep them. Ah, the last 5 years hasn't been going through one ear and out the other as originally thought. What a relief. He doesn't argue about much and is quite flexible and easy going.

We went to his 5 year check up the other day and a friend from my church who is a medical student was there. He was working with Soren's Pediatrician. Small world. It was fun to see him there but I must admit I was a bit embraced. You see I was wearing paint clothes as I was in the middle of building some shelves in the garage when I jetted down for Soren's check up. I didn't really see the point in changing since I would be going right back to working in the garage when I got back. I guess I don't care what the people in the office think of me, but a friend from church is another story. Perhaps it is because his family is the most put together, well groomed, cutes family ever. Or maybe because there is only a small handful of people who think I look nice always and I just made that group of people even smaller then it was. But I digress. Lets get back to Soren. So during his check up Soren was incredibly social, giggly, and cooperative. He was really cute. The Pediatrician said, "Wow, you should bottle up this kids happiness and sell it. You could make a fortune." He really is a happy adorable kid.

10 things I love about Soren

1. When he does things he shouldn't do it usually isn't in spite or because he wants to cause problems, but because he is trying to problem solve something.

2. He loves girls. He treats them differently. Is more gentle and helpful with them. He wants a little sister real bad. He said to me once, "I love Brynlee (a 2 year old cousin), I love girlfriends."

3. When I threaten to leave Xander by driving away because he is not getting in the car, Soren starts to protest and cry. Xander on the other hand is much less fazed by the threat. It is sort of sad because Soren really cry's and screams in fear I am going to leave him, but I sort of love it and find it adorable too.

4. Soren drawings. I love to see his pictures and what he is thinking about. He is not big on talking about this thoughts like Xander, so all the insights I get on Soren I really enjoy.

5. His creative mind and how he enjoys making things.

6. His social personality. He loves to be around people and welcomes them into our home in the cutest fashion

7. His hugs when we reunite. Even if it only has been 1 or 2 hrs he always comes running up to me in full speed and wraps his arms around me and proclaims, "Oh Mom, I missed you so much!" I know this is temporary so I have to document it.

8. His sleeping skills. He goes to bed like a champ and he sleeps in until 7 on a regular basis now. Xander take note.

9. Just the fact that he can do more things. Pour his own milk. Ride his bike. Stop when I ask him to.

10. His cheerful happy go lucky, easy going self. We love you Soren. I am so glad I get you in my family.

70 year anniversary

Ryan's Grandpa and Grandma have been married 70 years in September. 70 YEARS!! I don't even know if I am going to live that long. They are one of the cutest little couples I have ever seen. I believe they are 91 and 92 years old. Howard (grandpa) is from S. Dakota I think and grew up on a farm with a twin bother - youngest of 6. He always loved working in his shop and was quite handy as far as I can tell. They use to raise honey bees. He still tinkers around in the shop building bird houses. I just love it. I like getting him on reminiscing stories because he has several great ones. I just think he is the most cutes and delightful 92 year old man I have ever met. His wife is as sweet as can be as well. They are always smiling and quite amiable. They tolerate my kids running around and asking them questions like pros.

Ryan's family never really dies. Both his mom and Dad's side of the family is going to live forever. Ryan probably will too. Which is why I married an older man. You see it was a calculated decision. Half my family can't make it past 65, so I figure with my age difference and my gender Ryan and I just might die around the same time......maybe. It helps Ryan justify eating all the stake and pie he wants anyway.
Here is Ryan's family along with his Dad's extended family. Children are somewhat of a scarcity on that side. We are so grateful for Theo, Ryan's sisters boy who is just a few months older then Xander. He is full of life and drama so he gets along with my kids just fine. It is fun to get a lot of attention for our kids as they are extra special since there aren't as many. On my side I think the 17th grandchild is brewing and as the youngest of 6 I wasn't the first to do anything. However marrying into Ryan's family I get to the first for a handful of things and that has been fun.

Way to go Howard and Phyllis. You are an insperation and a delight. Here is to many more years!!

Soccer!

My boys started soccer this year. I grew up playing soccer and loved it so I have been excited for the day I could watch them play. I started playing soccer when I was 7 and I remember asking some of the girls on my team when they started playing. When they told me 3 years old, I was shocked and a little horrified. That is weird to start at age 3. I mean how can a 3 year old play soccer? Well, I now know..........and it is as I thought when I was 7. Xander is 3 and Soren is 4 and luckily they are on the same team this year. They have a fabulous coach who works great with the kids. He coached last year and teaches great age appropriate excersizes. I am the "assistant coach". I basically just support Coach David and help round up all the kids and try to keep the focused - a mighty task at times.

Here is the team. I think Xander is the youngest and smallest and Soren is the oldest and tallest.

Xander has been grumpy for the first couple of games. Today was the first game he actually got into it.
During games it is 5 on 5 with no goalie or referee. The coach is on the field as referee but more importantly as the person directing all the kids. The ball goes out of bounce every 10-30 seconds. Once the ball goes out you have to move every child to an open spot and remind them they are playing soccer and which one is our goal. Here we are trying to position the kids.
The kids do a lot of bunching when the ball isn't out of bounds. When it gets really crazy, kids get too excited and start to dive for the ball, forgetting the no hands rule. Note here it is all orange (our team) doing the bunching.
Oh a good moment of running. Look at all the kids that remembered they are playing soccer and to run for the ball. The first 5 minutes most kids can stay focused. Then slowly over the course of the game you start to loose the interest of the kids and they begin talking, goofing off or day dreaming. Soren is notorious for this, but once the ball is on the move again he snaps out of it.

As for me, even though the kids are 3 and 4 and you can tell, I love it when it clicks and they remember they are playing soccer, where their goal is and make a score. I am seriously going to be (or am) that loud cheering parent that jumps up and down with every single goal. It doesn't even have to be my kid. In fact right now I am not even that bias which team scores it.

Soren Skills

There are a lot of great things about Soren. One of them is his creative building gene. However, since he is a boy, this outlet often comes out in the form of weapons. I thought I would showcase what I am talking about.

Once Soren learned how to use scissors he has made paper swords daily. It wasn't until about 5 months ago that he started making 3-D weapons. This was one of his first and quite honestly scariest design. We had just moved into our house so we had ample tape and tools laying around. He would take any sort of staff or staff like object and tape on anything pointy. Anything you could insert in the sentence, "Don't run with _____ or you could poke your eye out" - he would tape to these staffs. There were about 3 or 4 weeks that I was continually dismantling such weapons. My favorite out of sheer resourcefulness was a tube of saran wrap used as the staff with a screw driver taped to the end. Luckily he moved on to different mediums.

I don't know if you can see, but this has about 10 pens without caps tapped all around this pole.
I just needed to show Soren how a real worrier would hold and use such a crafty weapon. I am not helping my cause here am I? I just couldn't help it. Soren took the pictures.

I was thinking Maori here

Every good pirate needs some weapons. The sword is a paint stick he cut a point on and the hook he taped to his hand is made out of cardboard.
This was a the latest he did today and I loved it. He made this completely on his own. In fact he made all these things on his own. He just disappears for a while and then comes back with weapons and now armor to match. I love it. The sword in this case is made of cardboard. I like how the armor is a halter top.

These are his best guard posses.

What have I been up to?

So with my kids in preschool I get a couple hours to myself a twice a week. What have I been up to? Glad you asked. I have been itching to do trim around my interior windows and fireplace. I haven't wanted to buy blinds until my trim is up because it will change the size. Well, we have been living in our house for 5 months and I am tired of no blinds so I got my rear in high gear and went to work. I have never done trim before but I loved it. It was so fun to do. I did 7 window and the slidding glass door and a fireplace. I purchased real wood appose to MDF for the flat inside window part (I am sure it has a name but I don't know what it is) because it was oddly cheaper and real wood must be better then sawdust glued and compressed together and protected by paint. Well, I understood in a hurry the benefits of MDF. It is pre-finished and already smooth. The sanding and priming of the wood took FOREVER! All in the name of $70 and principal. I am hoping I learned my lesson. Look at me all safety conscience. I was so proud of myself wearing the googles and so consistently and everything. A splinter in your eye will encourage all sorts of good practices.

My helper - I use the term "helper" loosly

My humble first shop. Soon to be more organized. I just got a 8ft long table cabinet for free (love you craigslist - I can't wait to meet Craig in heaven) that I am in the process of painting to help me in my organizing endeavors
This is what the fireplace looked like when the builders got done with it. Note the tile work
I did this in the summer but this shows the little extra tile work I did. I really like doing tile. It was my first job.........and you can tell but that doesn't bother me. I think it looks great, especially from this distance!!
And here is after I put the trim on. I haven't painted it or finished painting my walls even. So you can see the trim as good as if ti was all done but it look fantastic. I think I love trim. I love the contrast of colors and the boarder it makes. I really like lines.
Oooh, ahhhhh - it will look better once I paint it
This wall has already been painted so you can see it much better...........I can't seem to take a straight picture, can I? Anyway, so now I have A LOT of finish work and painting to do. Sigh, not my favorite.

My boys are growing up!!

My little boys are growing up! Both are in preschool this year. Soren is in 4 day a week preschool and Xander is in a coop preschool I am doing with 4 of my other friends. So every 5 weeks I will teach twice a week 5 - 3 year olds. I did that with Soren last year and it was great. Both boys love going to preschool. Xander has been so excited for weeks to go. When the day finally arrived he woke up at 6am and woke me up. " Xander it is too early, go back to bed." "Mom, I just wanted to tell you something. Is today the day I go to preschool?" He is so cute! Here are the official pictures

I love little kids in backpacks!