Let's hear it for the boy

Finally! Seth has been trying for months to learn how to ride that bike of his and he's finally done it. I thought he was doomed to a life of being uncoordinated, but it seems I was mistaken. He mustered up his courage and just took off down the driveway without so much as a "here, let me help you" from me. I laughed and laughed just watching the pure joy and freedom on his face as he cruised down the driveway. My laughter quickly turned to horror, however, as he neared the garage door and I began to wonder if he knew how to use the brakes. Turns out he did, thankfully, and he screeched to a halt in the nick of time. I have never seen him more proud of himself!

the Boo Bash

Every year, my wonderful and creative Mother holds a huge Halloween party for all the grandkids. It's one of her favorite holidays, and boy, does she go all out! The kids look forward to this gathering for months! It was "spider" themed this year, with a spider treasure hunt, fishing for spiders, a spider parachute, spider crafts, and a spider themed lunch. Grandma even had a huge spider perching on her shoulder all afternoon. (By the way, the kids love the spider tatoos....they're very creepy)

Happy Halloween!

Fall is finally here!

This is so completely my favorite time of year. I love everything about it: the weather, the leaves, the holidays, no more weeding, no more flies. I love hearing my heater kick on in the middle of the night, getting to wear my favorite sweater that's been in storage all summer and most of all the fact that my kids are all in school....you know. It's the best.

What I don't love though is the knowledge that Christmas is looming in the the very near future. When did I become such a Scrooge? Christmas stresses me out! Where will I get the money? Or the time? Or the motivation to make all those dang cookies? Maybe I dread it because I put too much expectation on myself to have everything so perfect. So this year I'm going to forget the cookies (well, except the sugar cookies because that is TRADITION), forget the parties and quit worrying about the shopping because I want to enjoy my family and actually have fun this year. I am having a Christmas makeover, people!!!

My trip to Denver

This trip was so fun! I know it seems weird that we would drive all the way to Laramie to pick up my sister, then drive all the way to Denver just to look at beads and spend all our time making jewelry. But it's an awesome girl's weekend and I love every minute of it!

Awesome article in the paper

Thanks Mom for emailing this article to me! I loved it and it is so true.

Motherhood is about all aspects of time:

"MOTHERHOOD is all about timing. We make time, find time, spend time, try to be on time, record time and then fight time with anti-wrinkle cream each night. Each day we cram in play­time, nap time, snack time, quiet time, dinnertime and quality time. No wonder I laugh when one of my single friends suggests I take a little “me time.” Yeah, I’ll squeeze that in on the 15th of Never, right after I finish my daughter’s scrapbook and read a book that doesn’t have fuzzy ducks on it. The clock has ruled my life since I became a mother 18 months ago. You’ll under­stand this feeling if you’ve ever missed your toddler’s “nap window” — which is about as close to “me time” as any mom can get — or been five minutes late feed­ing a hungry infant. Even when my daughter, Nicole, was first born, I found myself enslaved to time with breastfeeding every two hours, taking pain medica­tion in between and keeping a detailed log of diaper changes, meds and feedings. My life had been boiled down to two-hour incre­ments, and I thought I’d never escape the clock. Eighteen months later, I still feel locked in a daily bat­tle to fit it all in, get it all done and to do it all on time. Lately, though, I’ve real­ized that while I’ve been watching the clock, my daughter found the time to grow up. It came as a shock to me the other morning when I awoke to a toddler in my bed. It wasn’t a baby snuggled in next to me anymore, but a real little girl snoring away by my side. So with all the ways I feel about time, I also stand in aweof it. Perhaps it’s a fitting season to be contemplating the ephemeral nature of time as the canyons turn vibrant reds and yellows and the moun­tains don their annual snow­caps. Everywhere a round me there is evidence that time keeps trudging on — whether we like it or not. And if I’m not careful, time also can become a thief, stealing away precious moments with Nicole and replacing memories with schedules. It was my daughter who reminded me of this last week when my neighborhood had a power outage. With no Internet, lights or TV, my husband and I sat on the liv­ing room floor with Nicole to play flashlight games. She ran around the room laugh­ing and jumping as we skirted the lights around her. But then, the lights came back on. Just like that, I jumped up to check my e-mail, my hus­band turned on the TV, and Nicole was left wondering what happened. As she started crying and pulling on my arm, I realized all she wanted was a little more time without the dis­tractions and demands of our daily lives — just a little more time. So, we turned off all the lights, the computers, the clocks and the phones and turned our attention on each other. As lights flicked on across our neighborhood, we sat in the dark with just our flashlights and Nicole’s infec­tious giggle. And once all the clocks were off, a funny thing hap­pened. We were no longer finding time, making time or even spending time; we were just a family finally losing track of time."

Erin Stewart’s blog, Just4Mom, can be found Tuesdays and Thursdays at deseretnews.com.

I know, I just can't stop myself from taking pictures or having pictures taken of this cute little girl!