I is a pre-school graduate.

It was pre-school graduation and Katie was in full DIVA mode.

Here she is with her poster all about her. When questioned by her teacher "If I could have one wish I would wish for?" Her reply. Brace yourself. "My mom to buy a dog."

Umm...I do believe she will either need to find a different mom, or make a different wish.

Singing with her class.

More singing.


Its official, she completed year #1 of pre-school.

And the teacher still LIKES her.

Model Behavior

After multiple attempts during the last three months I finally got Lauren's dance makeup just the way I wanted it. After I finished Lauren was very pleased and declared herself to be a model.

Model pose #1

Model pose #2

Project Runway, watch out. She is a double threat, not only can she sew her clothes she can model them too.

Savor

May is always a crazy month. I just anticipate it every year, and know I need to batten down the hatches because it will be a bumpy ride. Both Mark and Katie have birthdays in May, school is wrapping up with lots of end of the year projects and special activities, and our after school activities always have competitions, and recitals in May. I just know that every moment of every day WILL be busy.

This year the critical mass was May 14-16, 2011. During this 72 hour time period I had one piano recital, one dance competition, (three dances for Lauren, two for Katie), one dance recital, (five dances for Lauren, and two for Katie), Katie's birthday party at home and school, Lauren's county project was due, and I had to teach Relief Society. (Not to mention the 40 cases for work, and the normal everyday running of our life things.) So I knew I would have to be hyper organized in order to pull off.

About 36 hours into the mayhem, the kids were in bed and I was taking a moment to savor the day. It was the day when we had the piano recital, the dance competition, and the finishing touches to prepare for Katie's birthday party. I was exhausted. We has such a good day.

First to be savored, the piano recital. Lauren did so well at her piano recital, on a piece she has been working on for many months. I love to hear her play and I love how well she is developing her talent.

Second to be savored, the dance competition. The girls love to dance, and LOVE dance competition. Me, being competitive by nature, LOVES dance competitions too. I love to see the girls preform, I love getting them ready for their next dance. I love seeing them having fun with their friends. I love taking to the other moms. I love the excitement I feel and the girls feel when they are dancing. I love that I am creating this memory with my girls.

Last to be savored, the finishing touches to Katie's party. I loved to see the look on her face when she saw her finished cupcakes. I love how excited she was in making the "picks" to decorate her cupcakes. I loved how excited she was to decorate for her party, making sure the table cloth was flat, the plates were in the correct place, and a napkin carefully placed on each plate. The balloons....I love how much $4.00 in balloons can entertain a soon to be four year old. I love how much she kept telling me she LOVED the Barbie wrapping paper that her presents were wrapped in. It was a delight to see the joy in her eyes.

As I contemplated the day and the many memories we created in such a short time, it reminded me how short this time really is. How I only have them for a few years, how I want them much longer. How I can't imagine not having the daily demands from them. How I want to pause and savor this for much longer than I can.

Shoes

Katie is not the only child in my house who enjoys Barbies. Lauren likes them too. The only difference, Lauren likes the high end fashion Barbies. The other night I went in Lauren's room to discover the Barbie shoe collection neatly lined out on the floor.

I am jealous.

The county fair.

LAST PROJECT of the school year!

The county report.

Lauren chose Weber County. Not that she had a clue as to any county other than Utah or Salt Lake County.

She was absent from school the day they picked counties, so she had to pick from the leftovers. She picked Weber because she thought she had heard of it before. I was just glad it was not a county in the middle of nowhere.

In addition to doing a written report she had to have a poster because all the kids in the school paraded by the county posters for the county fair. Lauren's "treat" was bread with honey because honey is produced in Weber County.


Parents and siblings were invited to the county fair. Katie thought it was grand, she scored all sorts of treats. Don't ask me how Swedish fish and suckers relate to counties in Utah.

She works too.

Last week I while working through my 48 cases I had to spend a significant amount of time on the telephone with the attorneys I work with reviewing these cases. Katie decided during one of those conversations to decorate my desk.

While I sat at my desk, she sat at the stool to the side and proceeded to take a post-it-note pad and create art work, to be hung on and around my desk.

As you can see modern art is her style of choice.

The train circus.

Last week Mark decided trains at the landing of my stairs would be a good thing. After all its been a couple of years since we have had a visit to the emergency room.

When I asked what this was about I was told it was a train circus. If you look closely, in the bottom right hand corner you can see Sir Topham Hatt conducting the circus.

And Mark making sure the trains are strictly obeying those orders.

Happy Birthday Katie!

Happy Birthday Katie! Four years ago today Katie came into out lives. Mark is still trying to decide how he feels about that.....

Due to scheduling conflicts, primarily a dance recital on the evening of Katie's birthday we decided to celebrate a day early. Katie did not object. The party was planned for Sunday afternoon, after church.

I knew we would be running tight after church so on Saturday night after we go home from the dance competition Katie helped me decorate for her party. Barbie was the theme. She helped me with the table cloth, making sure it was smooth, then she set out a pink plate for everyone.

She carefully placed a napkin on each plate.

Sunday morning before church I snapped this cute picture with her presents that were of course wrapped in Barbie wrapping paper.

She was telling me a story as I snapped this picture with her cupcakes.

Here is a close up of the cupcakes. Her request, strawberry cupcakes. I think it was the color of the cake, pink, rather than the flavor that drove that choice. She wanted vanilla ice cream, but after giving in on the strawberry cupcakes, I could not stomach the vanilla ice cream and I bought Whopper ice cream....she refused to eat any ice cream..... and to make up for it she ate TWO cupcakes.

For her birthday dinner she wanted mac & cheese. Now she would have been perfectly happy with Kraft mac & cheese, however we were having guests over whose pallet would have been insulted by Kraft, so I opted for a fancier version. I made it from scratch, and used Swiss, Asiago, and Gouda cheese. It was tasty, although a little lumpy, my cheese sauce making skills need some work. (As in I have never made a cheese sauce before. Rick promised a lesson in the future.)

Yes, it was on to the presents.

Barbie, all the way.

Alas time to blow out the candles and be wished a happy birthday.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent making sure the new toys all worked. Verdict: They all work.

I have created another one.....

As you know I already have one fashionista in my family, well now I have two. Recently Katie has demanded full involvement in outfit selection. I try to gently guide her, but that is kind of like herding cats.....

The other day she decided by mid-afternoon she needed an outfit change. This is what she came up with. Green t-shirt on the top, yellow shirt on the bottom. Pants were apparently not a item of consideration. To complete the outfit she chose Lauren's socks.

Help.......

This is a rant....be warned.....

My 48 cases for this week. And yes I have to read every scrap of paper.

As many of you know I work for a state agency for the State of Utah. During the tenure of Governor Huntsman he changed the work day from five days a week, eight hours a day, to four days a week, 10 hours a day. Although it took some adjustment at first, me and most of my co-workers found the new schedule to be a HUGE quality of life issue, especially at a time when budgets were getting leaner, and the cost of health benefits was going up. It was an inexpensive way to boost moral for state employees.

In addition it was a cost saving, one day less to heat/cool the buildings, and less electrical power due to lights and computers that were not turned on Friday. It made the commute better too because state workers were going in earlier, leaving later, which spread the traffic out during commute time.

In my office over the course of the last five years we have become more efficient. We have a case load that it inverse to the economy. In other words when the economy is bad, our case load increases, SIGNIFICANTLY. With the new 4/10's we still had the same 40 hours in a week that we were required to work, but I noticed an increase in efficiency because come Thursday afternoon you could not put it off until Friday, you were putting it off until Monday and with our federally imposed deadlines, putting it off three more days had a large impact. In addition our office was open from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. For those citizens who needed access to our services and worked a standard work day of 8-5 Monday through Friday, it meant that they could access our services without having to take time off work, if they were willing to adjust their schedule to either come in prior to work or after work.

Now the Utah Legislature has decided that the State needs to return to a five day a work week in order to better serve residents. Phooey I say. I have been reading some of the comment boards on the news websites, and in my opinion the argument that 4/10's was not serving the residents of the State is without merit. Yes, you can't go in on a Friday, but the State has expanded hours Monday through Thursday and has really made a commitment to technology that allows residents to access government 24/7. Change always call for a new way of thinking, a new way of doing business, and quite often the new way becomes the better way.

Many of the comments I read were from individuals who had "forgotten" until Thursday night that they needed a particular State service, and were frustrated that they then had to wait until Monday. Even under a Monday through Friday model individuals will still "forget" and things have to be pushed to Monday. Much better than "forgetting" is recalling and planning. And if you do "forget" acknowledge your choice not to take a more proactive steps to prevent "forgetting."

Now I don't know about you, but I really don't have a huge call for state services on a routine basis. I don't make it a point of hanging out in government offices, unless of course they are paying me to do my job, and that's a different story. But during the course of the last year I had to access both the DMV and the Driver's License Division. (In Utah they are not housed together, its two separate places.) I think once yearly visit to both of those divisions is probably pretty standard for most residents.

Lets start with the DMV. I had a vehicle whose registration had expired. First stop, safety and emissions. Passed both. For a fee of $5.00 the safety and emissions people would submit my registration information, print me a temporary tag, and my actual tags would be mailed to me. I elected to skip that fee, because I knew I could accomplish the same thing, without the extra charge. So later that evening around 10:00 p.m. I got on-line with the DMV. I entered my licence plate number, my vehicle registration number, the numbers from my safety and emissions, paid my registration fee via credit card, and the DMV website spit out to my computer a temporary registration until my new one arrived in the mail. Never did I grace the steps of their door. Never did I wait in line. Never was I inconvenienced by the four day a week. Furthermore if more people would register their vehicles using this WONDERFUL technology then the lines at the actual DMV, for individuals who CAN'T accomplish their registration on-line, would be significantly less. And guess what you can register your car at 3:00 a.m on Sunday morning if you so desire. It makes no difference when the office is open or closed because the website runs 24/7. How did I know about this secret tool??? Was this inside information? NO! When I received my annual letter from the DMV telling me my registration was set to expire, it also informed me that I could complete "express registration" over the Internet. In fact I would say the letter actually encouraged me to use the "express registration." I did not want to disappoint the sender of my letter so I availed myself of this technology, and was delightfully happy with my experience.

Next stop Driver's License Division. I had a name change last year due to my divorce, so I needed a driver's license that reflected my new legal name. Before even braving the office I got on-line to their website, to determine what paperwork I needed to take with me in order to prove myself to the State of Utah. The website was full of all sorts of helpful information, and told me every piece of documentation I would need to bring with me. The website also allowed me to print the forms I would need to fill out, so I could come prepared with my forms completed. Finally the web site allowed me to make an appointment. I made an appointment. I showed up to the Driver's License Division at my appointed time of 4:00 p.m. on a Thursday afternoon, armed with my identification paperwork, and my forms filled out. Upon entry into the building, there were two lines, one for individuals who walked in and were filling out paperwork and one for individuals with appointments. The walk-in line was very long. The appointment line had no one it in. I cruised to the front of the appointment line, past about 20 people waiting in the walk-in line and went immediately to the next window, while those in the walk-in line sneered at me. I sneered back and thought to myself "SUCKERS. Get on-line, make an appointment, and don't be dogging on my organized self."

I was in and out of the Driver's License Division within 20 minutes on a Thursday afternoon at 4:00 p.m.

I also had occasion this last year to come in contact with the State Tax Commission, and The Office of Professional Licences. Both of these contacts started out by a visit to the web site where the majority of my questions were answered. The follow up was a brief telephone call that took about 10 minutes each. Was my life in anyway inconvenienced by these offices not being open on Friday??? No! I looked at the web sites at night, and made my telephone call during my morning break at work.

The State of Utah is so progressive in its use of technology to enhance the services it provides the residents. And that use of technology is not limited to just DMV or driver's license services. Most agencies have a significant amount of information and access available on-line, as in 24/7 on-line. My agency probably conducts a good 70% of its business on-line, as in 24/7 on-line.

Get with the program folks, you don't need the state agencies to be open another day, you just need to fully use and avail yourself of the services currently offered.

What every fashionable girls wears.

This is what every fashionable girls wears for an outing in the rain. A Coach hat, an Old Navy scarf, and Old Navy jacket, and an umbrella from ?????

Also Katie would like you to know that "this is my camping hat, my rain hat, my dog hat." Don't ask questions its easier that way.....

I am so stinking spoiled!

I was spoiled for Mother's Day, what can I say??!!!

First bouquet

Second bouquet


And really cool make-up brushes!



The best part.....Rick took the kids AWAY from the house all day on Saturday leaving me alone in the house for 11 hours! Do you know how much you can get done when you don't have a three kids who are 10, 7 and almost 4 interrupting you? I spent the first two hours sleeping, then I was like a crazy person getting stuff done around my house. By the end of the day I felt like I was sort of caught up, which made the actual Mother's Day relaxing!

I'm obsessed

I bought one of these. I LOVE IT! I love it so much I bought one for Lauren. It cleans your face soooooooo well. I feel like I have had a spa treatment. Lauren is just now starting to get a few pimples and has a really oily skin, especially around her nose, which is where the pimples are starting to show up. It got her excited about washing her face every night. We have a new ritual. After Mark and Katie are in bed we head to my bathroom, which conveniently has double sinks. Lauren takes one sink and I take the other, and away we go scrubbing our faces clean. With just the few times she has used it, I can tell it is going to make a HUGE difference in her skin, and control her acne outbreaks.

My recommendation if you want one of these is to head to Costco. If you don't have a Costco membership find a friend with a membership. At Costco you get the cleaning system, which includes the scrubber, an extra cleaning head, and 6 oz of cleaning product for $36.99. At Walmart you get the cleaning system, WITHOUT the extra cleaning head, and about 1/2 an ounce of cleaner for $29.97. The 6 oz cleaning product alone is not sold at Costco, but that is available at Walmart for $17.99.

Worth every penny. Buy one, your skin will thank you.

The meanest mommy EVER!

Just in time for Mother's Day I am working, and by working I mean working HARD on the title of "Meanest Mommy EVER." Its seems fitting.

I have a lot of responsibility. I work full time, I take care of my kids full time. I give them a bath EVERY morning, I fix them breakfast, I get them off to school, I run them around to their activities after school, I fix them dinner, I clean up the mess after dinner, (trust me between Mark and Katie, the vacuum or broom is usually involved, ) I help with homework, I mediate fights, I make sure they live in a clean organized hours, I go to the grocery store so they have food to eat, I cater to their every whim. (ok, that one is my fault.....)

AND I DO LAUNDRY. Now I don't mind laundry. Its a necessary evil, and I do enjoy seeing my kids in clean clothes, and I like sleeping on clean sheets and using a clean towel. What I don't like about doing laundry is washing clothes that are already clean.

Now you may be asking yourself why in the world would I wash clothes that are already clean? Well you see I have a 10 year old daughter who is a fashionista. (My fault, I admit...) Every morning she sorts through her closet in search of the perfect outfit. Without fail something clean, yet chosen not to be worn, ends up on the floor. Then when I instruct her to pick up her room, any clothes on the floor automatically get put into the dirty clothes basket, regardless of their cleanliness. This means on more than on occasion when I have been sorting laundry I have come across clean clothes in the dirty clothes basket. Now by the time they have spent a day or two mixed in with the dirty clothes, they must be washed. This results in a cranky mommy.

So I issued a warning to Lauren, informing her that was not acceptable, and she was old enough to put her clean clothes away. Happened again. Second warning, this time accompanied with the instruction that next time the clothes were mixed she would be doing her own laundry.

Yesterday afternoon I went into her room in search of her sweats for dance. I could not immediately locate them so I checked her dirty clothes basket. What did I find, yep you guessed it, a bunch of clean clothes, mixed in with the dirty clothes. When I picked her up from school she was in a BAD mood so I decided to wait and drop the laundry bomb after dance. Two hours of dance later her mood improved, so I put a damper on that.

As you can see from the picture she is not very happy. I made her do two loads, one light, one dark. She had to hang up her clothes to dry, just like I do, and once they are dry she will be required to fold her clothes and put them away, JUST LIKE I DO.

I figure one of two things will happen, either the clean and dirty clothes will no longer be mixed, or she will be washing her own clothes. Either way I am doing less laundry.

Happy Birthday Mark

Sunday it was birthday time for Mark! It started in primary. The first counselor was welcoming the kids to primary and looked around and said "It looks like we don't have any visitors today." Mark piped up "But you do have a birthday today." Hence announcing to the entire primary it was HIS birthday. Let the party begin.....

Of course it was a Thomas themed birthday party. The good new for me was that since this was the FOURTH year of having a Thomas birthday party, I did not have to purchase a single decoration, I have been recycling for three years now. Just call me green.

Here is Mark's yummy lunch. Per his request, grilled steak, baked potatoes, salad and Coke in a bottle. It was soooooo good.

Oh, yes all presents were Thomas, wrapped in Thomas paper. Did I mention his OBSESSION with Thomas has passed the five year mark?

He got a really cool track to make mountains. Seriously, if he does not move on to a new obsession I am going to be in trouble. I am running out of Thomas stuff to buy. Honestly I don't think there is a kid in America that has a Thomas set as good as Mark's. HE HAS NEARLY EVERY ACCESSORY. He is a toy makers dream.

Of course he had to have the Sodor Steamworks, which is where engines go to be repaired.
You must understand that when he receives new trains they must be introduced to the old trains. A proper introduction is required. Mark's job is to supervise the introduction and ensure that all trains are getting along.

I could hardly get him to stop playing with his new trains to blow out his candles.

It was a great day, and I love my little man, and his train obsession very much!

The man, the myth, the legend.

Seven years ago Mark arrived. All 9lbs, and 8oz of Mark arrived. He wasn't nearly as ready to arrive as Lauren was. He would have been perfectly content to say put for another few weeks and work on a few more pounds. He did not clear that plan with me, and seeing as how I was hosting his party, I said "party over."

Arrival. He was not screaming or breathing like he should. The doctors and nurses were not really paying attention to him. Rick was holding him. Rick is the one who pointed out "Hey he is having a hard time breathing." This garnered some attention.

He had to spend some time in the NICU. At 9lbs he was the "bruiser" baby of the NICU. The other mothers with their one pound babies were looking at me and Mark like "what's his problem?" The NICU staff loved Mark, because although he was a sick guy, at 9lbs he was not fragile like those one pound babies. He could be man handled.

They man handled an IV right out of the top of his head. After a week he decided he was ready to come home and join the family. I am very glad he joined our family.