Basketball

Abigail’s first basketball season is coming to an end. She only has a few games left and then it’s on to spring soccer. She has the same fantastic coach that coaches her soccer team and many of the same girls from soccer have also been on her basketball team. They are a great group of girls and are easily the better team in the league. I was so glad I took the video camera to her game on Saturday cause she was on fire. She made at least seven baskets and has really come far for being her first time playing. You’d never know how nervous she gets before each game. In fact last week she told me she wished they only had practices and no games. Once she gets on the court though she clearly enjoys it.

Bon Jovi LIVE!!!

Friday was going to be just another day. I thought the pinnacle of excitement for me would be doing our taxes that morning. However, while running errands with Jason I heard on the radio they were giving away tickets to see Bon Jovi. I was so excited and texted Justin to see if he knew when they were coming. His first reply was “I think mid April” then “I’m wrong” then “it’s today”. Now I was totally freaking out. How did I not hear they were opening their tour here in Seattle?

I’ve only been to one real concert in my entire life. It was Boston when I was 17. I’ve been tempted many times, but Justin and I have completely different tastes in music. He’s seen Garth Brooks in concert three times and I’d choose Def Leppard or Bon Jovi any day. I’ve always said though that the ultimate concert for me would be to see Bon Jovi. And here they were in Seattle and I didn’t have tickets.

I immediately came home and got on the computer and was relieved to find that tickets were still available. What ever it took I knew I was going to see Bon Jovi.

We ended up deciding the best way to get tickets would be to head downtown and see what the box office still had available or purchase tickets off the street. As we were cruising downtown in the carpool lane I told Justin there was a cop in the far right lane. Justin has a cop-phobia so he very indiscreetly slowed down and got out of the carpool lane. Next we see the flashing lights and of course we’re thinking we’re in for a real expensive evening. The cop walked up to the car, looked us over and immediately asked if I was in labor and if we were heading to the hospital. We weren’t sure if it would help our case to tell him we were heading to the Bon Jovi concert so we simply said ‘no’. He took Justin’s license, registration, etc… and then let us go after telling us we had a headlight out. Phew! Anyhow, once downtown we found a guy selling great tickets at below cost. Done deal – we were in!

Dashboard Confessionals was the opening act and I to my surprise I even knew a few of their songs. I loved that they openly admitted to be nervous. First night touring with Bon Jovi… seriously, what band wouldn’t be a tad nervous? They were fantastic though.

Opening act: Dashboard Confessionals

Of course Bon Jovi was awesome. Our seats couldn’t have been more than 150 feet from the stage.

Video Clip for any Bon Jovi fans:

My favorite part of the concert was when he came out further into the crowd and sang “Hallelujah” and “Bed of Roses.”

Me and Jon

To see them play in person was really quite surreal. Definitely a dream of mine and they didn’t disappoint.

Isn’t this just as you’d picture Jon? And oh, my that smile of his!

Mid-Winter Break & Organization

Apparently this is our last mid-winter break. I’ve always thought it was a crazy break, coming only 6 weeks after a 2 week Christmas break, and followed shortly by a week-long spring break in April. I actually love having my kids at home with me all day and enjoying a week of lazy mornings, but it will be great to get out of school before the end of June next year. I’m trying to take full advantage of our time off this week. While many are heading off to Disneyland, Hawaii, and San Diego we’ve been doing some organizing.

We have a cupboard in our kitchen that the girls are able to keep some of their crafty stuff. Keeping it organized has been a battle we’ve been fighting for years. Most of the time we open the cupboard papers and stickers fall all over the floor. I was inspired to get organized by a recent post by Becky Higgins, a scrapbooking and organizing genius (link).

Craft Cupboard: the before and after



The craft cupboard really is one of the least of our organizational nightmares so we didn’t stop there. For the most part we enter our house through the garage, which means our laundry room is the first room I see everytime I come home. A few years ago we put in shelves so we could store our shoes, games, etc… We can fit a ton of stuff in there, but everything always seemed to just get shoved wherever we could cram it (loose puzzle pieces, craft projects, card games… basically anything and everything.)

This is what welcomed me home:


Of course, things tend to get worse before they get better:


Having the girls home has been a HUGE help, in fact we let them stay up til almost 10pm Monday night trying to finish getting the laundry room cleaned out.

Laundry Room: the before and after

Becky’s post was really about getting her bathroom closet organized so I decided it was time to get our linen/medicine closet organized. The results of this project make me the most excited. With the piles of medicine we had in here we never knew what we had (I found 3 bottles of Tylenol). This way everything has its place and the next time we need Children’s Tylenol in the middle of the night we won’t have to search for it.

Linen Closet: the before and after

Don’t get the wrong idea. These are probably the only 3 areas of my house at all presentable at this moment, but I’m working on it. This nesting stuff is really tiresome!

Freedom

Do you know there are people that actually enjoy working out? That blows my mind. I’ve spent the last two YEARS (nearly 28 months) forcing myself to go to the gym at least twice a week. Exercise had never been a part of my life up until that point. I can honestly say I’ve hated nearly every moment. Had it been free I never would have gone, but the fact that money was being deducted from my account each month the pressure of how to fit it into my week was always on my mind. What’s worse is that it did me very little good. My “baby weight” from Jason’s pregnancy came off slower than either of my two pregnancies before and I never even lost it all. Why would someone ever put forth that much effort to lose weight when they know full-well they will only gain it back again? I’ll give myself some slack because I didn’t think we’d brave another pregnancy. But here I am again, humongous (heavier than I’ve ever been at this point in any pregnancy) – despite the fact that I spent over two YEARS “getting in shape” and that I have continued to exercise throughout this pregnancy. All those hours, all that gas money, all the gym membership money wasted. Today is a bright day. As of today I no longer have a gym membership (technically I’m on medical leave due to my bad back). It’s been two years too long. I’m finally a free woman.

The Hardships of Nesting

.
I’m “nesting”
My to-do list is REALLY, really long
Which is a problem
While I have plenty of desire
I don’t have enough time
Or enough money
Or enough skill
Or enough energy
The result is feelings of stress and frustration

Over the past few days I tackled one of the many items on my before-baby-comes-to-do-list. Sorting through old clothing. Including each and every bin and box we’ve been storing in the garage. I knew it would be a big job, but wasn’t quite expecting to put in the 8-10 hours that it has taken. Typically I try and get rid of stuff we don’t need at the massive neighborhood garage sale in May, but this year it falls 2 weeks after my due date. While I’m not entirely confident I’ll be up for it this year, I’m going to do what I can to be prepared for it just in case.

It’s been fun to see some of the girls old baby clothes and hang up some of the things we will be able to use again, but it’s also been hard for me to go through Jason’s baby clothes. I feel quite certain we won’t have a need for any boy clothing ever again (yes, three years ago I was saying the same thing and look at where we are now). He had some really cute stuff that’s still in excellent condition and to sell it for a measly $2 is something I’m really struggling with. I don’t think it’s so much of a sentimental thing, I think it’s more of my being too frugal. Giving it all away for free does sound generous, but let’s face it, my cheap side overpowers my generous side 90% of the time.

Anyhow, everything has been gone through and I can check one task off my to-do list. However, you may be seeing our baby girl dressed in sweater vests and corduroys unless I can come to terms with letting go.

Abigail's Baptism Weekend

Abigail was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Saturday. This was a day that we have all been looking forward to for a very long time.

Abigail was baptized by her Dad. (baptism link)

After her baptism she was given the gift of the Holy Ghost and a special blessing from Justin. (Holy Ghost link)

It was an emotional day for me. So many blessings come from our membership in the church. How grateful I am to have the knowledge that we have. What a comfort it is to know that Abigail can have the Holy Ghost to help guide her throughout her life.

For years she’s been looking forward to receiving her very own set of scriptures. It’s a tradition in my family that my Mom gives each of her grandkids a set of scriptures when they get baptized. Abigail was thrilled! She’s already marked a few of her favorites.

Afterward we had refreshments at our house. Everything was egg-free and nut-free, including two yummy desserts. This was HUGE for Abigail. Can you imagine what it would be like to taste cheesecake for the first time in your life? Abigail thought everything was wonderful.

The person who gave the closing prayer after the baptism and confirmation suggested that those that were baptized write about their baptism so they will always remember how they felt. Abigail loves to write and took the time yesterday to put down her thoughts about her special day. As I read it today I was very touched. She included details about the people that were there and the songs that were sung (and the desserts that she loved), but she also wrote about feeling the spirit and how special she felt throughout the day. I hope she will always remember those feelings.

flowers from Justin's sister's family

and a new bracelet from Grandma & Grandpa Fletcher

We had a relaxing weekend with my Mom and her husband in town. It was exactly what I needed. My never-ending to-do list has been stressing me out lately so to spend an entire weekend playing games and reading was perfect. And it totally helps that both my Mom and Val were great at entertaining the kids and were always helping out around the house. My Mom gave Abigail Dominos for her birthday and with a little instruction from Val I now have two little Domino-addicts at my house. Thankfully it’s a fun game for the whole family so the hours we’ll spend playing will be enjoyable.

My Mom and Val left this afternoon. As we were driving away from the airport I noticed Carly was quietly crying in the back seat. Visits with Grandma mean so much to the kids and it’s always so emotional to say good-bye. Thankfully we won’t have to wait too long since she’ll be back in April to help when the new baby comes. And she’s promised Carly it will be more than just three days.