Mother's Day Tea

Today was a long awaited event...

...the Mother's Day Tea at JK's preschool.

What is a Mormon to do at a tea?

Drink lemonade, of course!

More pics coming soon!!

A "Get Better" Present

Growing up whenever my sister or I were sick my mom would buy us a "get better" present. It would be a little thing, nothing major but it always made us feel special. I remember getting books, a Barbie doll or some other little toy I was into at the time.

My little JK has been sick since Sunday evening. 103* fever, horrid headaches and his neck was super sore. Of course I began thinking the worse and had my son in his grave due to meningitis. Fortunately I have the most amazing pediatrician in the world (who is conveniently less than 2 miles down the road) and he squeezed JK into his busy schedule and assured me he was not dying but had a nasty virus.

And he was right. This morning JK woke up feeling so much better. He dressed himself, told me to brush his teeth and wash his face. He was ready to hit the town and procure his "get better" present. The problem is he wanted a $50 wii game. $50? For a "get better" present? Yikes! Talk about inflation!! After much negotiating my convincing son won and he has been happily playing his new game in between taking naps and drinking his "energy" juice (aka orange juice)!

{entertaining my sick little guy. he's pretty good at the spoon-hanging-on-your-nose thing}

I pray JK doesn't get sick again...I can't afford another "get better" present this year!

Today's Music

For Christmas the girls found iTune gift cards in their stockings.

Every so often they come to me and ask to buy a new song for their iPods.

Today's newest purchases include The Black Eyed Peas I Gotta Feeling and Plain White T's 1, 2, 3, 4.

Kind of funny.

They're getting so grown up.

It's super fun to "jam" with them....though I have a feeling they might get a bit embarrassed by their old mom!

I try to stay hip.

Really, I do!

I am a Radio Disney listening mom (but only when the girls are in the car with me...let's not get crazy!!).

But I do have to draw the line.

For example, I cannot stomach Willow Smith's Whip My Hair. Awful!

And Justin Bieber?

Eww.

Enough said.

Fortunately my girls cannot stand him either!

But they do like Owl City. They already purchased Fireflies and if you go to Owl City's blog you can hear a wonderful rendition of My Hope is Found.

It is just beautiful.

We all love listening to it!

How about you?

Do your children have any songs that drive you batty?

Do you try to stay up-to-date and be a "cool" mom or dad?

Good Fortune

Friday is typically date night in the Evans household.

After the kiddos go to bed the hubby and I snuggle up with Chinese and a movie. We save the fortune cookies for the kids to eat the next day. This was Rand's latest fortune:

Better advice for a soon-to-be 12 year old?

I think not!

Priceless wisdom!!

Flying Popcorn

I was being a good mama the other day and bought some popcorn at Target to bring home to Rand.

She loves their popcorn.

I think because it's so salty.

She LOVES salt!

On the way home I hit the brakes at a red light and the full bag of popcorn went flying.

This happened not once but twice!

What we mamas do for our chick-a-dees!

(As a side note...my dear hubby vacuumed the whole mess up for me. He's a keeper!)

Accepting Life's Curve Balls

It's about time I finally sat down and wrote what has been going on in my life the past 6 weeks. I have been sick. Exhausted. Nauseous. Exhausted. Nauseous. Hmmmmm, wonder what it could be? So, let me back up.......

I came home from Girl's Camp at the end of August and could not get my act together. I was so tired and finally faced the reality that I might be pregnant. But it was a far fetched idea...or so I thought. I had an IUD so how could I possibly be pregnant?

The last Sunday in August I took a home pregnancy test and sure enough: positive.

I called my doctor the next morning and he got me in right away. I took a test at his office: negative. We did an internal ultrasound: nothing. He checked my IUD: in place; no problem. He assured me that there was no way I was pregnant. Boy, did I feel dumb! Before I went home I went and had some blood work done...just in case. My doctor called me that night. Guess what? I was pregnant.

I went back to the doctor's office the next day to have the IUD removed and thus began my curve ball journey. Since then, for the past 5 weeks I have been to the "drawing station" for blood work 2-3 times a week. They know me by name and shake their head's each time they see me coming. My arms are so bruised!! JK groans each time I pull up to the building...poor little guy! When my hCG levels reached 2,000 I had another ultrasound to determine if I was carrying a viable pregnancy. We found out 2 1/2 weeks ago that it was not. The ultrasound found the sac in my right fallopian tube. I went back to the doctor the following day (the day I went to TOFW) and had two shots of methotrexate. So here I am over two weeks later and I am still going and having blood work done (now just once a week) hoping my levels go down to 0 and I won't need surgery.

Through all of this there have been so many blessings:

~I spent all of Labor Day weekend reading the NieNie Dialogues from start to finish (something I've wanted to do for a long time) while DK took the kids and did super fun stuff.

~One night when I was in the kitchen crying because I had to make dinner the phone rang. It was a woman from church saying she was on her way over to my house with dinner, dessert and flowers....and no, she didn't know anything about my situation! She just felt prompted to serve our family.

~I have been listening to Christmas music (growing up my Dad wouldn't allow Christmas music before Thanksgiving and here it is September and barely October!) because it makes me happy and lifts my spirit.

~I discovered how much I love Diet Raspberry Ginger Ale. Super good!

~DK, my night owl husband, has been up early every morning getting the kids ready for school. He's out the door with Rand at 7:05 to take her to the bus stop and then off to work himself. Amazing!

~One night while DK was at a town meeting I heard a car door in my driveway. It was a friend bringing chocolate chip banana bread for breakfast the next morning and a scrumptious pasta dish for dinner the next night. Manna from heaven!

~My children. The poor dears don't know what to think of all of this. It's something we have decided to not share with them. JK said the funniest thing to me Friday afternoon. Around 3:00, he said, "Mom, why don't you make some macaroni and cheese now so we can have dinner tonight." Another day I heard Rand tell a neighbor what a great mom I was because I let her eat popcorn and ice cream for dinner! Obviously that makes me the the most amazing mom ever! And my sweet Kenners is always there to snuggle or grab a blanket for me or refill my Diet Raspberry Ginger Ale cup. They really are the greatest kiddos in the world. I am so blessed.

~And most importantly, I have felt the comfort of the Spirit and the love of my Savior.

TOFW Recap

I cannot believe it has been two weeks since I was at TOFW!!!

It was everything I hoped it would be...plus more!

I was a little stressed on Friday evening.

I had been asked to give the opening prayer to kick off the whole event.

No pressure.

No stress.

Yeah, right!

On the upside...I had front row seats reserved for me and a guest!

Friday night's music was performed by Jenny Oaks Baker...

...I am LOVING her new CD!

Saturday's music was by Hilary Weeks. Always love her.

I didn't have as good a seat on Saturday (6 rows back) but I also didn't have the stress and worry of giving the opening prayer! Equal trade off!!

Every year I plan on taking lots of pictures and every year I don't.

I am too busy with my Staff responsibilities as well as catching up with friends, not to mention taking notes from all of the fabulous presenters and shopping at the book store. Maybe next year.....but in the meantime here is a fun little video showing a bit of the weekend.

Mariama Kallon was truly inspirational! What an amazing woman! I absolutely LOVED how she referred to her scriptures as her "therapist"! How true!! It's where we can find the answers to all of our problems and troubles. Thank you, Mariama!!!

My Time Out ended a tad bit early.

My darling family surprised me by coming to the Convention Center at the close of the event.

They were so excited to see me and I was completely shocked to see them!

It was a great way to end my Time Out and re-enter my role as a mom!!

Surf's Up Bedroom

This morning while I was making JK's bed and putting away his kazillion Bakugan's I realized [not for the first time] how much I really like his room!

Decorating my girl's room I have used painted dressers and iron headboards with shabby quilts. This has worked out super great but I didn't think it would work as well for a boy's room.

When I found out I was going to have a baby boy I told my dear sweet husband that I was going to pick out a classic bed and dresser that would fit every phase of this boy's life. Something he could use as a 2 year old and still use as a 23 year old grad student.

Enjoy a tour of my 4 year old's Surf's Up Bedroom:

Pottery Barn Kids bed [with trundle for future sleepovers] & bedding

Target bookcase & lamp with PBK clock & basket

Pottery Barn Kids dresser & Windsurfer cork board

Pottery Barn Kids from about 10 years ago...does that make it vintage? :)

Hawaiian license plates my sister bought at a flea market in HI

Oars purchased by my mom for JK's 1st birthday

[hey, don't judge...one year olds are too young to really care what they get as gifts!]

Pottery Barn Kids chair with Build-a-Bear monkey

There's a Party Going On!

My kids crack me up!

Should be a fun and happenin' night tonight!!!

A Do Nothing Day

Friday was one of those days that was crazy busy from the time my feet hit the floor at 5:15 and didn't stop until I pulled the break at 12:30 to eat a bite of lunch. As I sat down in front of my computer to answer e-mails while quickly eating my darling boy came up to me and asked, "So Mom, how are you enjoying your do nothing day?"

Say what?

I hadn't sat down for over 7 hours but in that one moment my little guy made the assumption that I was having a relaxing "do nothing" kind of day.

It's a good thing I love that kid so much!!!

I Love My Mommy

According to my darling son I was 16 years old when I gave birth to him.

He is such a funny, sweet little guy!

Science Center or Bust!

Today was a super fun day!

I got to tag along with Kenners and her class and go to the

Science Center!!

I'm not sure if Kenners is excited or scared that I'm coming along!!

The class had a lab on different types of rocks.

Getting ready for a science experiment!

Stirring, stirring, stirring...

Kenners coming up with her "Next Great Idea".

Of course we had to check out one of her favorite things...skulls!!

After school I was rushing Kenners to piano and then to dance and we were talking about the day. When I was first asked to chaperone Kenners wasn't even sure she wanted to be IN my group. She's such a social independent little thing. I guess it wasn't too bad and I wasn't too embarrassing because she told me how glad she was I came and we could spend the day together. Makes this mama's heart explode with joy!!

What's Age Got to do With It?

The other night during dinner JK was saying how happy he is to be 4. He turned to me and said, "Mom, you're 5!!!" The girls thought that was funny since obviously I cannot be 5!

I have REFUSED to tell the kids how old I am because let's face it, kids are blabber mouths! DK's age is frequently in the papers so he doesn't care who knows BUT not me!! It's a big FAT secret!

Kenners said to JK, "Mom's not 5! She's in her 30's or 40's." Hmmmm, 40's?!?!

Rand, my sweet child, looked me square in the eye and said, "Mom's not that old! She's only 21!"

Me on my last birthday...man, do I look TIRED!

OK, maybe I'm not 21 but I will forever feel like 29....just don't look too closely at my gray roots or crow lines!!!

She's In!

I cannot believe I am old enough to have a daughter entering middle school in the fall! And for those of you who went to "junior high" like me....6th-8th grades is no longer called that! I was told by the girl's school principal that it "ages" me when I refer to those grades as junior high. Oh my. How times have changed! My children have learned how to "regroup" not "borrow and carry" and will go to "middle school" instead of "junior high"!
I was really apprehensive about sending Rand to our town's middle school. Well, let me back up...I have been apprehensive about public schools in general! I researched homeschooling for years before coming to the peaceful conclusion that I am not cut from the homeschooling cloth. How I wish I was! How I envy my friends who homeschool. So if I'm not homeschooling and do not want to send my children to public school....then what?

I started researching out Magnet schools. Before anyone jumps on me, yes, I know they are part of the public school system. But they give more options and concentrations than what is offered here in town.

Last fall Rand went away for 3 days to an overnight science camp and came back full of enthusiasm for digging up salamanders, hiking in the woods, identifying species, etc.

The middle school we found for Rand is focused on environmental science and located at the intersection of two rivers. They literally have an outdoor science lab!! When I went to visit the school I was blown away by the technology and all that they have to offer. I just KNEW this was the school for Rand.

Applications were due the beginning of February. I felt such a peace when I submitted hers. The lottery drawing was scheduled for mid-March. The second week of March brought such an attack of butterflies and anxiety as the drawing drew closer. What if she didn't get in? Where would she go? What would I do? Should I homeschool? Should I send her to a private school? Should I just cave in and send her to our town middle school? I was a ball of nerves!!

Two weeks ago I received a call from a friend who also applied to the same school. She had just received her son's acceptance letter in the mail. I was overjoyed for her but panicked for me! What if her son took Rand's spot? (Don't you just love the irrationality?!) I was on pins and needles for about 30 minutes waiting for our mail to be delivered.

In the end we received that beautiful acceptance letter and will attend the orientation for new students a week from today. Rand is thrilled. I am relieved and we are both grateful that we have a loving God who knows our desires and looks out for us!

Not So Boring Life

"Boring!!!!"

That's JK's newest response to anything he doesn't like or doesn't want to do!

But truthfully life has been anything but boring lately!

The following is a snippet of things going on in our household. I just started typing as things came to mind. If you make it through this post you are definitely a saint!

We are enjoying fabulous weather!! We have been jumping on the trampoline, going on bike rides, taking walks and spending oodles of time at the playground. Subsequently we are all exhausted by the end of the evening.

And speaking of being exhausted, I cannot get enough sleep since last Sunday. I am not enjoying daylight savings at all this year!!! I am usually a leap out of bed kind of gal...but not so much right now!!

I signed Rand up for a Red Cross Babysitting course. I cannot believe she is old enough!! She's very excited and I am equally excited to start utilizing her soon-to-be-learned skills!

Kenners is adding tennis lessons to her already overflowing schedule.

To my own crazy schedule, I have added on our town's Historic District Commission. I am serving as an alternate member. I'm not sure what all it entails but I am looking forward to being involved in something new. And it looks like I will continue on as PTO President for another year. I think this is a good thing! I hope the other parents agree!!

I'm anxiously awaiting to hear if Rand was accepted into the magnet school we selected for her. Every time I think about it I awaken the butterflies in my stomach. I try not to think about it.

I am absolutely in love with Target's Liberty of London line. I have purchased the pillow and lamp for the living room. Such a crazy pop of color!!!

DK has been gone from home this week. It was quite unexpected and due to last week's Nor Easter that hit New England. There are still thousands without electricity here in our state and he was mobilized to help coordinate the lodging and food for the utility workers. He snuck home this evening for some clean clothes and a home cooked dinner. And of course hugs and kisses from all of us!

I bought a new nail polish today. Haute Chocolate by Sally Hansen. I've been wearing Pat on the Black exclusively for months now but thought I'd trade it in for something new. I love this new color!!!

Haute Chocolate

Pat on the Black

March is not only Madness due to basketball but also budget hearings!! DK has been gone 2-3 nights each week this month for town budget hearings in addition to his other Town Council meetings. Between the two of us meetings are a huge part of our lives. We don't mind. If we did, we would be in a heap of trouble!!!

I have been dealing with stress headaches, sinus issues and a possible brain tumor. Well, okay, I don't have a brain tumor but it sure feels like it some days!!! Today was a better day and my head didn't start pounding and swelling until this afternoon. It was nice to have a pain free morning!

Have I mentioned my father was diagnosed with bladder cancer? We found out on New Year's Eve...just about 3 months ago. I have quietly tried to deal with this development and have not told many people. Some things are just hard to talk about. Did I mention I've been having stress headaches?!

Well, my friends, it is now time for bed. This stressed out, overly tired mama is hitting the hay! Blessings to you if you finished reading this highly quirky and discombobulated post!! You are a true friend!