nothing great and monumental

I think I might try this blogging thing again. I'm not promising anything great and wonderful or super exciting but I'm thinking about giving it another shot and seeing how it goes. We'll see.

Austen

I finally did it. I read my first Jane Austen book. I finished it today.

And . . .

I loved it!

It took me a few chapters to get used to the language

but once I did, it was easy sailing.

But . . .

I'm pretty sure I didn't catch a lot because I just didn't know what a lot of the words meant but I'm just not going to read with a dictionary in the other hand. I'd never finish a book. I just move and get the jist from the rest of the sentence.

(Am I the only one that does this?)

So, I'm safe as long as I've seen the movie first.

p.s. Now that I can compare, the movie was very well done. It stayed true to the book. Now I want to see it again. I'm not sure I can talk Adam into that.

Fav quote, Edward said it,

"Shyness is only the effect of a sense of inferiority in some way or other. If I could persuade myself that my manners were perfectly easy and graceful, I should not be shy."

Hello? Hello? Is Anyone There?

Joe loves him some bananas.

I was doing dishes and looked over to him doing this.

So I grabbed the camera and took a picture.
Then I said, "Joe, smile for mama."
He did this.

Then I said, "Joe, a regular smile."

He did this.

I thanked him for being sweet and went back to the dishes and he went back to his banana.
I looked back a few dishes later to find this.

How eats a banana horizontally?

Joseph!

Glamour Shots

Grace went to a birthday party last weekend that promised "glamour shots" for each little girl. Oddly enough, they didn't follow through with it but Grace (and Ella) are still fascinated by the idea of glamour shots.

"Mom, what are glamour shots?", they asked.

"They're when you get dressed up really fancy and take pictures.", I answered.

How else do you explain that gaudy 90's phenomenon?

The girls decided to do glamour shots of their own.

Ella asked me yesterday, "Mom, did you blog those pictures of me and Grace yet?"
I answered, "No, do you not want me to put them on the blog?"

"No, we want you to hurry up.",

Ella replied.

So here are our girls dressed up "fancy".

They completely did this themselves.

I wasn't even home when all this fabulousness was going on.

Do you love their "glamour shots"?

Aren't they fancy?

Our girls are completely hilarious and oh so glamorous.

Concentration

Adam has an iPod Touch that our kids love, love, love.

Joe especially likes to "pway on daddy's chuch"

(Its ridiculously cute to hear him say it.)

Joseph gets to concentrating pretty hard.

Out comes the tongue
I'm told that grandpa Hutchinson (Steve's dad) was a tongue-sticker-outer.
I just think its hee-ha-larious!

Disney on Ice

We went to the opening night of Disney on Ice last week.

(Opening Night sounds all cool but actually was the least expensive night.)

Our kids were

CRAZY EXCITED

Did you know its perfectly fine to attend Disney on Ice dressed as a princess?

There were even some adults in costume. It was . . . special

(you have to say "special" in the Church Lady voice, like it is in my head.)

I was curious how they were going to pull off "Cars" on ice.

Like this.

There was some fancy driving and Joe LOVED it.Then came the Little Mermaid which was pretty cool.

The kids were still pretty excited at this point.

The way they did waves was very cool. This isn't it but it was still cool.

The Lion King was the last thing before intermission. Whew!

The kids (and adults) welcomed intermission.
This is all the cousins (minus Olivia)
counterclockwise from left: Heidi, Isabelle, Ella, Grace, Abby and Joseph in the center

Then came Tinker Bell, lots and lots of Tinker Bell.
An entire second half of Tinker Bell.
I wish I'd gotten a picture of Ella dozing off during the endless Tinker Bell. It was hilarious!

Overall the kids had fun and we are thankful that Angie spotted those great tickets for all of us.

p.s. I've about decided that all things Disney are overrated. Granted I've never been to Disneyland or Disney World but seeing this show made me want to take the kids there even less. I just don't get the big deal with all things Disney.
(Feel free to boo and hiss and throw rotten tomatoes at your computer screen.)

Yesterday

Yesterday was a truly lovely day.

Sunday it snowed and was wretched, Monday was all melty and soggy but that made

Tuesday all the more wonderful.

After taking Grace to school, Joe wanted to stay outside. I really needed to run but I can't say,

"Sorry kid, no playing outside on the first nice day in forever. I've got to run."

So we cleaned the junk and garbage out the of the van, playing basketball on the patio and spied some bees doing their thing.

Joseph was game for taking pictures of the bees.

Kind of.

He's actually terrified of any and all flying bugs (including house flies).

So I tried getting some pics of the busy bees.

Then Joe wanted a turn.

So after securing the strap around his wrist so he couldn't drop it (breathe Adam, breathe)

I let him at it.

He took a pic of his "skeches"

(his favorite shoes are Sketchers that he refuses to call tennis shoes, only "skeches"

What was left of Sunday's snow.
Me, of course. (In my defense, I was waiting to run that afternoon so why take a shower and get fixed if you still need to run that day.) I spend too many days like this, waiting to run. Like today, but I never got to run b/c I forgot Adam was working OT. I was C-U-T-E!
And this one, which is my favorite of the bunch.
He also took pics of the sky, our snow shovels and the ground.
We had a fun time, just the two of us, hanging out and doing what he wanted to do.
I hope I can remember to do this more often with all my kids.
It was a happy mom day!

Imperfections

So here's the deal. Its been a month, yes a full month, since I posted. I sat down tonight determined to do a post and get back into the habit. As usual I go to my pictures first to choose something to post about.

I like to include pics. Its a weakness.

I've looked over this month's pictures, last month's and January and . . . nothin' but crap

(mom, you're no longer allowed to ground me for saying "crap").

The backgrounds look awful, the kids look a mess (heaven forbid I get a pic BEFORE they destroy the mom-made cuteness) and someone is ALWAYS picking their nose (Joe), flashing underwear (Grace) or running around half naked (Ella). Ugh!

I've come to terms with these imperfections and have decided to post, for the sake of far away family, pictures with the least amount of nose picking, underwear and nudity. When I look at many of the pictures to come I see the imperfections in myself and hate to show them to the world. But let's be honest, the world's not reading this blog. I doubt ten people are reading this blog. So, forgive my absence and my awful pictures. They're the best I've got (oh, that's sad)!

Lucky Me

I have this brother,

Ben

And I have this other brother,

Sam

They are both really great brothers and awesome uncles. We like 'em a little bit.

A while back Ben married this super cool chic,

Meggan.

Then a while later Sam married Meggan's also cool little sister,

Cortney.

So now my little brothers are married to sisters. When I gained sisters, I gained sisters who were already sisters. Pretty cool!

These two cool sisters have another cool sister, Lindsay, who isn't married to a Boston but is married to a really great guy named Adam (but not my Adam, of course). Sorry, no pics of Adam and Lindsay.

I feel like, in getting to have Meggan and Cortney as sister, I get Lindsay too. I think that's awesome. Lindsay is funny, loving and honest.
I was just checking comments on my last post and found that all three of those sisters had chimed in and I love it.
I hope that someday we can all live so much closer so we can hang out, craft, scrap, babysit, chat and laugh.
Sure love those Kennedy girls!

What I'm Talking About

While talking to my sister the other day, she reminded me that she has no idea what our place looks like. She says she just can't "picture it".

So, family of mine, here it is.

Our living room

Pictures of our cutie kids hung behind the couch.

I have tried and tried to hang them EXACTLY straight but have failed.

Help!

On the huge wall in the walkway from the living room to the entry way and kitchen

Our retro kitchen
(its BIG and works, so I love it)

and the LONG hallway that leads to everything else
(on the left is our kid's art gallery and on the right are the kids' hooks)

My dear sister, now you can "picture it". Picture me sitting on the kitchen counter top by the sink talking to you, or hollering down this hallway for my kids to remember to flush and wash their hands, or snuggling onto the couch to watch a movie with my little family.

I am thankful to live here. We love the area, the neighborhood, the school, the ward.
Everything!

Pain You Enjoy

Its official!

We registered, paid and chose a new training schedule.

(Yes, I said WE.)

I will, once again, begin writing about running/training but will try to keep it on happyme so y'all won't get thoroughly annoyed and/or nauseous.

Warning: I will be writing some about body shape, body image and body changes as I train so if it bugs you when a "skinny" person talks about that kind of stuff, then don't look.

Happyme is "mainly, mostly just for me" so I write about what I want and how I am feeling about . . .stuff.

Y'all have been warned. No fair hating me for something I write there!

Wish us luck!

Happy Birthday, Pappaw! (blessing #4)

My dad, a.k.a. pappaw, had a birthday last week. I can't remember my dad EVER being excited about his birthday. But he's gracious and lets us celebrate it anyway and tries not to think about the increasing number of candles atop his banana pudding or chocolate cake.

Dad may not love his birthday but I do since its a great excuse to celebrate an incredible person.

I've blogged before about how great I think my dad is. Like when he sings to my kids,

the way he loves him some Oreos , and how I see his traits in myself.

I did a birthday post last year. Its all still true.

I love that my dad throws himself into everything he does, 100%.

I love that my dad loves to play with his grand kids. When we were visiting home last month, twice in four days he took a collection of grand kids out for the day, by himself. They did "Memphis stuff" and "kid stuff" for hours. The kids returned fed and exhausted while pappaw returned on cloud nine. He truly had fun! and I love him for it.

I love that even though my dad has a hectic schedule with church and work responsibilities demanding his time, he's finding/making the time to lace up his running shoes and pound the pavement. I think he's trying to show ol' Mother Nature and Father Time whose boss. Bob Boston will not "get old" until he's good and ready. I'm pretty sure that's going to be NEVER! and I love him for that too.

I love that my dad loves to text back and forth with my seven year old.

I love that my dad loves to listen to the endless chatting of my five year old.

I love that my dad loves to try and decipher my three year old.

I love to talk running with my dad. I wish I could run with my dad. Someday.

Thank you, dad, for being such a big fan of our little Hutchinson family.

We love you "too much"

(as Joe says).

(p.s. It goes without saying that my dad is definitely one of my many blessings in 2010.)

Best Compliment

This week my sister and I were discussing what we thought our dad might like for his birthday. We talked about the things he asks for every year (literally since our memories began) socks, ties, running shorts. Then Audra said the sweetest thing.

"I wish I could get dad what he really would love, a plane ticket to visit you."

I felt instantly loved and included, which I don't sometimes since I'm so far from home. I know my family loves me and misses me too but its nice to be reminded sometimes. Thank you my sweet sister!

Happy Birthday Dad!

(that post is coming, promise)

for Cortney

Grace wanted a "real" guitar for Christmas. Though Mr. and Mrs. Claus differed on whether she'd actually like it and play with, Mrs. Claus prevailed and Grace got a "real" guitar for Christmas.

(She's a little proud and excited. Can you tell?)

When Grace saw it Christmas morning, the first thing she said (pointing) was, "just like Aunt Cortney's."
Grace is so proud of her "real" guitar. She likes to dance around strumming and singing, especially in her room in front of the big mirrors. What does she sing? Made-up, I mean, original Grace songs, of course. If only I could catch her doing it. Its so stinkin' cute!

p.s. I'll keep trying!

"not me" Monday (blessing #3)

I absolutely did not share my laundry drama with y'all two weeks ago and promise to show you my fun laundry room "later this week". Nor did I forget that I hadn't promised to do that.

This is our laundry room. I am grateful, grateful, grateful to have a laundry room. Without this little room we would never have moved into this place and met so many incredible people and be enjoying this fantastic neighborhood and wonderful ward.

This space is . . . snug, cozy and every other cute word for TINY!

I have exactly 7.5 inches of clearance for me and my butt to get to the washing machine.

This room is packed with two furnaces, a large hot water heater, a water softener system, our washer and dryer and miscellaneous stuff like the iron, ironing board, our card table and chairs, brooms, on and on and on. You get the idea.

The kids have begun helping with me with the laundry. They are excellent at emptying the dryer and Ella is finally tall enough to empty the washer into the dryer. Grace or Joe is usually on hand to then push the clothes into the dryer. They have a great little system worked out.

So, to get back to my "not me" Monday. I do not have a tiny little laundry room, that is not cramped and will not not let me gain a single pound for fear I won't be able to reach the washer.
I have not put my sweet offspring to work in said laundry room and I do not smile to myself in joy that they are finally big enough to help.

p.s. I have not eaten cheesecake twice in two days (with cherries AND blueberries on top).

(another p.s. my kids being old enough and happy to help is definitely blessing #3)

Happy Birthday, my sweet (Blessing #2)

Happy Birthday, my sweet!

(yesterday)

I'm sorry to say that Adam's birthday was just a regular old Tuesday. Adam went for a run, I cooked, the girls went to school, Adam went to work, I had a primary meeting, the girls had homework, blah, blah,blah.

Thankfully we did get to celebrate a bit over the weekend. Grandma and grandpa watched our kidlets on Saturday so Adam and I could go see a movie AND get some dinner. We were gone for hours and it was lovely, just lovely.

We saw Invictus (we recommend it) and got Chinese/sushi (at Asian Star) for dinner. The Chinese food was good and the sushi was fabulous.

Grandma and grandpa had us over for birthday lunch on Sunday.

The kids were so excited to decorate this cake for Adam. Inspired by Uncle Ben's cake last month the kids worked their artistic magic.

I am thankful to have such a hard-working husband, a supportive co-parent and a kind friend in Adam.

Happy Birthday, my sweet.

I love you

p.s. For reasons that, I hope, are completely obvious Adam is blessing #2 this year.

trA nmutuA

More backwards blogging for me and, of course, for you.

Grace loves doing "art prachecks".

Occasionally these projects survive the day (the drying time) and make it to . . . the closet door!

Yes, we have side by side coat closets which have doors perfect for hanging art. And we do!

What else do you craft in the fall besides turkeys?

(Ella will do a non-school art project only if she thinks its cool enough.)
Oh ya, scarecrows and Indians! Is it "PC" to make Indians anymore?
Ella made this one at school. Its actually reversible (turkey on the other side). Nifty eh?

(Joe will craft . . . if he's in the mood.)
Joseph wanted to glue every last feather on his bird. So he did.
Grace didn't approve and Joe didn't care.

Happy Crafting
(for all seasons and holidays)

"not me" Monday

I am certainly not the kind of person who avoids doing things just because its cold outside. I did not notice on Saturday that my gas needle was touching the "E" line but decide it was too late and far too cold to get gas.

It would be utterly ridiculous to think that I actually ran completely out of gas this afternoon coming home from taking Grace to school.

Me? Run out of gas because it is was too cold to stand outside for three or four whole minutes while the gas pumps AND have to take my mittens off two whole times just to pump gas? Me?

Why ever would you think such a thing?

The high got nearly to freezing today!

NEEWOLLAH

I'm not much of a backwards blogger but it occurs to me that my lovely and loving family have missed a lot of the kids. So I decided to do just a little backwards blogging.

We thoroughly loved Halloween in our new neighborhood.

We, of course, went to grandma and grandpa's ward party then our own ward party plus the Halloween Parade & Party at school THEN trick-or-treating.

We got some serious use out of this year's costumes.

Ella decided to be a vampire weeks before Halloween and stuck with it. She INSISTED on having black hair and blood dripping from her fangs. She looked really good. Heidi (3 years old) was so scared she wouldn't come near Ella. Thankfully Sean was able to convince Heidi that it was really just Ella and the fun continued. It was hilarious!

Grace was a ga-zorgous "Queen". She discovered she loves ringlets in her hair and blush. We did two solid weeks of ringlets and blush after Halloween. She also discovered that Queen dresses are very itchy. Oh, the price of beauty!

Joseph wanted to be a spider, a ghost, a race car and 14 others things but finally decided on a horse when I pulled it out of dress-up and got him to try it on. He would only wear the "head" for pictures, wouldn't gallop and refused to say "neigh" more than once. But it all turned out pretty cute!

When Halloween night finally arrived Grace had worn the Queen dress three or four times already and was tired of it itching her (despite tights, a full slip and a shirt underneath). Grace decided to be a fairy (shocking!), but not a matching fairy. This is exactly what she wanted to wear and she love, love, loved it!

We had an awesome Halloween trick-or-treating with cousins with aunts, uncles and grandparents in tow.
Happy Halloween
(in January)