First Day of school

So it's a little bright on our porch at 7:30 in the morning.

The first day of 3 all day schoolers.

Our home schedule is simple (aka boring for Hadley).

She is not doing preschool this year.

We are hanging out doing laundry, cleaning, playing candyland and making cookies.

We are down to two schools.

Em and Max go together (more on that later).

And we share a carpool with one other person for Jadey.

Blogging and miracles

I have been reading blogs for years.

It started with scrap-booking "stars" blogs.  Then I read some of their commentors and found other blogs from there.

I have narrowed down my list I check regularly. I have little time so I want the other stuff to be worth it.

I have RSS feed for my all time favorites, which basically means I go to one site (I chose bloglines) and insert my favorite sites and when I check it it tells me which ones have new posts.

I have narrowed down my list of those not related and friends in real life, to those that are most inspiring to me.

Two of those are sisters cjane and nienie.  Both are also linked on the right side of my blog.

What I love about them is different:

cjane can write.  I haven't read many books lately, but I have read cjane and I am inspired by her.

nienie has an amazingly jane austen outlook on life.  She sees the mundane everyday through rose colored glasses.  She refers to her husband as Mr. Nielsen and isn't afraid to tell how much she loves and adores him.  She takes pictures of her everyday.  And she portrays the beauty of motherhood.

They both have huge followings of lds and nonlds people.  They share their testimonies and are missionaries in their own sense.

Recently the one sister, nienie (Stephanie) was in a plane crash with her husband and his instructor.  The instructor died and Stephanie and her husband are seriously injured with burns.

You can read all about it on her sisters cjane's site.

But I would also encourage you to read nienie's site too.

One of the greatest thing about journaling/blogging is that through it you can see the hand of the Lord in your life and the life of others.  It is amazing to read the entries in nienie's blog prior to her crash and see how the Lord prepared them for this.

On Wednesday they are having a fundraising for Stephanie and her husband on this site.  All the funds will go toward helping them with living expenses while he is not working and with medical bills.  If you want to contribute this is just one way. cjane's site has other links also.

(Image from Bluelilyphotography.com) 

Things I Want to Remember About Right Now #9

His excitement about everything.

Except maybe jobs...to which he replies, "I don't want to...but I will"  with a smile.

Check out more pictures of a great 1st season game over at Kelly's site.

Things I Want to Remember About Right Now #8 Discovery

Watching a baby discover his hands is truly enjoyable.

It would seem that they are so amazed that they are making this action happen.

I would imagine a brain thought like this, "Wow, I just told it to move and it did, these things are great."

It's just the beginning of a lot of discovery.

In August Sam discovered his hands, his giggle and his voice (during sacrament meeting of course).

Tagged by Amy

(Max playing soccer with cotton candy in his hand...taken by Kelly my personal photographer)

I have to list 6 habits or things about me.

Tag 6 others.

Leave comments on 6 other blogs letting them know they were tagged.

1.  I don't blog regularly (where these supposed to by things you didn't know about me?)

2. I love to sew.

3. I get most excited at my kids soccer games (is this a good thing?)

4. I bite my nails (ew gross!)

5. I really like Fiest song 1 2 3 4  but even better I like it when she sings on sesame street "1 2 3 4 monsters walking cross the floor"  go look for it on you tube.  And bring your kids they'll love it too.  And then you can sing it together.  Or you can sing it yourself and your kids will all say "Mom, stop singing."

6. I should never be PTA treasurer, it just wouldn't be a good idea....well, never again.

I tag: Kelly, Lori (because she needs something to blog about :)  ), Dawn, Corin, and Erin (because I just found out she is expecting her 5th and I 'm so excited for her)

Things I want to remember about right now #6 & #7

#6 My best friend was here to visit and our children became best buds.

My best friend moved in when I was in 6th grade.  

We had an incredible neighborhood of great kids and so much fun together, but she was my best friend.  

She was a grade ahead of me.  

We watched all the classics together.  

We made movies together.  

When I graduated from high school and finished a year of college we went to Jerusalem together (with my sister).  

On our way back we toured Europe together.  

Just the two of us wondering through countries on train.  

She was in love with Germany and when we returned she received a mission call there.  

When she returned from her mission she was hotly pursued by a German and fell in love with and married him.  

And eventually he took her away to Germany.  

And it was okay because he was that great of a guy.  

So once a year we see each other, when she comes out here.  

Only this time it had been two years because she had purchased and old home and fixed it up to pottery barn proportions.  

But our kids still felt comfortable with each other after two years.  

And I want to remember their trip here and how fun it was to see our posterity forming friendships.

#7 Sam slept through the night.  9pm-6am.  It just makes him that much cuter.

Things I want to remember about right now #5

Their imagination.

Emily and Hadley imparticular have the greatest imaginations.

Hadley has all sorts of conversations with her imaginary friends Madelyn and Sarah, and usually her husbands name is Christian.

I recently caught Hadley and Emily playing church, which they do frequently.  Usually they take turns giving talks at the music stand, then they sing songs...well this time I walked around the corner and Emily was holding Sam while Hadley had her hands on his head and was giving him a blessing.  I am laughing even as I type this.

Also due to this pretending Hadley is anxious to get up and "talk her testimony" in church.  She is the first to not be so shy.  I guess we'll need to have a testimony meeting in FHE one of these days, I can't wait to here what she says.