Spring Cleaning

I have had a bug this week--the spring cleaning bug. Suddenly, on Monday afternoon while driving home from playtime at Cec's house I felt compelled to start sorting out the messes in my house. While Caroline napped on Monday, Bentley and I went through all the kids' toys and separated them into 4 piles: keep, donate, throw out and store as "baby toys." It felt so amazing and Bentley's room suddenly looked much cleaner. On Tuesday I started working on Caroline's closet doing the same kind of organizing and once she went to bed for the night I tackled Bentley's closet.

By Wednesday, I felt sad that I hadn't been documenting how organized I was getting. So, before starting on my own closet, I just had to capture some 'before' pictures. By posting these I realize that I am revealing how messy I can let things get--yikes! Don't judge me for my piles and clutter :) At least I am in the mode of getting rid of them right?

Cleaning out my closet ending up taking 2 days to finish but by Thursday afternoon, all was in order. Except that I had a brand new, huge bruise forming on my shin from falling off of my apparently unstable chair to reach the high shelves. I can be such a clutz :)

**Favorite possession I finally gave up to charity: my blue, floral, GAP duffel bag. I have seriously had that thing since my sophomore year...of high school!! I have kept if for half of my life! And the great thing is that it is in very good shape even though I still use it all the time--it's the perfect bag for weekends in SG, Lake Powell trips and overnight stays at the cabin. It was just about 3 years ago that I reached into a forgotten pocket in it after a weekend trip and found a handout and decorative black and white ribbon I had saved from a Pep Club retreat. Classic--that was 12 years ago! Such a good bag. Joseph bought me a new one for my birthday because he is totally sick of seeing it. I probably would have kept it had he not found me a new one :)

Tagged Part 2

"8 Things" about my sweet, busy, happy, cutie pie Caroline :)

1) We call her "Cares" or "Caresie" most of the time which led to "Caresie Bears." We also call her "LineyBug" "LadyBug", and simply "Lady." She mostly refers to herself as "Caresie" but when she says "Caroline" I absolutely melt--it sounds so sweet and grown-up!

2) My little girl has natural curls in her hair. They are certainly not spiraling, springy curls but soft, light curls that really come out when her hair is wet or it is humid out. They also give her quite stunning "hairdos" when she wakes up and her hair is total fluff.

3) Caroline is quite the little talker lately. She has picked up on many of the things I say to her. For instance, she loves to look at me and say right in a row "I broke it. That's okay." And whenever we teach her something new she says "oh" as if she is really listening and taking it all in. She also likes to say "be all done" when she is finished eating in her high chair. And lately, she has a new favorite phrase, which I'm pretty sure she learned from cousin Maddie, "I need it" with the emphasis on 'need' and said quite coyly. Plus, she will say it until she is actually holding the thing she's asking for. It's awesome and never gets old...

4) Because Cares repeats so much of what we say she has definitely become Beans' 2nd mom. Just today he was getting a quick reprimand and after I told him he needed to stop being rude Cares piped in "rude Beanie" and then later she told him to "be nice."

5) My little lady is quickly falling in love with all things relating to princesses. I love how she calls every princess either "Pincess," "Sleeping Beauty" or "Belle." She also loves animals and can name some pretty advanced ones including goat, rooster, sea lion, and "wonder pets" (aka guinea pigs--do you think we watch too much Nick Jr. at my house?).

6) Cares is a daddy's girl through and through. She turns into the silliest, smiliest thing whenever he gets home from work and she will never let me put her to bed if he is home during bedtime. And every week at church she sits on daddy's lap for about 90% of sacrament meeting.

7) Our new naptime/bedtime routine with Cares includes reading books, doing "rock-ee-bye" and singing in her chair, saying prayers and then laying down in bed. One of her favorite books is her new "flamly book"--a book I made in iPhoto that shows all of Caroline and Bentley's extended family. We sent a picture of her looking at Marshall's page in a letter to him last week since she loves finding the "surfing" picture, among many others.

8) Cares is the queen of saying "cheese" for pictures. She is such a little poser and I truly love her for it :) She is such a fun little daughter who continually keeps me on my toes.

Tagged

Part 1: I only had time to write about one of my kids today in this "8 Things" post. So, here's to my darling, silly boy! Oh, and thanks for the idea Krista--I hadn't been feeling the creative blogging juices as much this week :)

1) Bentley is my little artist. He especially loves to draw anything Joseph has drawn for him to copy. Now, his new thing is using scissors and cutting paper up into teeny tiny bits. He gets totally transfixed and works hard for hours.

2) Ever since Hawaii, Bentley has become quite the snorkeler. It is so fun to take him swimming and just watch him dive for rockets. He looks so content and brave in the water with his mask, snorkel and life jacket on.

3) His nickname has been "Bean" or "Beans" since he was very tiny. When he was a baby we used to swaddle him tight and he looked so much like a little burrito that we started calling him "bean burrito." Beans is just our abbreviation and it has stuck. Every morning Cares wakes up she asks to see "my Daddy" and "my Beanie."

4) I think that after 6 months since starting, Bentley is finally, completely potty trained. He can sleep through the night in his underwear without any accidents and hopefully, we have conquered all his "poop" issues...good times :)

5) Bentley's favorite movies right now are Bee Movie and Madagascar. He laughs out loud while watching them which always cracks me up. He can also quote several lines from Barbie movies since he is definitely more into them than Caroline. A favorite of his: "you blew your chance Romeo..." can you name the movie that's from? :)

6) Bentley loves attending his neighborhood "joy school" preschool. He has 5 little friends whom he adores hanging out with and he has learned so much in the past 7 months. He can recite the "Plegibal Leegiance" (as he calls it ) and trace almost every letter of the alphabet. He is getting excited about a more formal preschool next year which he'll attend with some of the same kids.

7) Bentley loves all things relating to transportation including the huge, loud, army helicopters that fly over our house on their way to Camp Williams and any and all trains we see as we pass under the railroad arch along Bangerter highway.

8) Bentley is a very silly boy and he loves to make us laugh. His favorite trick right now is to change the first letters of words to make them silly i.e. "that's not Grandpa Sherm Cares, it's Bampa Berm." Of course Cares plays the part of a doting little sis and always laughs at him. And sometimes he catches me off guard too. Like when he said the prayer with our home teachers last week and he suddenly pulled this trick. Let's just say we had a serious talk soon after about speaking the Lord's name with reverence and respect. He must take after his uncles (on both sides) and his dad...always trying to get a laugh :)

My Birthday

Are you all ready? I am preparing to list all of the reasons why I love myself :) OK --that my be taking it too far... But seriously, I do love birthdays and this year I had a stellar one. I told Joseph that all I wanted was to sleep and I wasn't kidding either (you guys all know how I love it!). Well, my tricky (and very sweet) hubby arranged for the kids to have a special sleepover with Nanny last night so we could grab dinner sans kids and then come home and sleep without our little 3 year old coming in to wake us at 7:00 am. Oh my, I feel like a new lady today with so many hours of sleep and all the time I needed to eat breakfast, get ready and even check some blogs and emails without a child on my lap :) Ruth Ann--thank you so very much for taking the kids!! And to my family and friends--I loved all the emails, messages, phone calls and hugs. I am one spoiled girl. Some other fabulous things that made this birthday so great:

--my new sewing supplies so I can get cracking on more aprons and frilly, little girl skirts
--a new subscription to Domino magazine
--some very cute new clothes from a shopping day with my mom
--my darling new children's book that's all about dance
--Dance Dance Revolution--I honestly have way too much fun playing it and feel like I had my cardio workout for the day afterwards--nerd alert right?!
--a birthday call from Joseph's cute grandma and a card from my sweet grandparents (they make these efforts every year but it truly makes me happy to know they care)
--a birthday card from my dear friend Heather containing 2 notes I wrote to her when we were in Jr. High. I could not stop laughing as I read them and remembered what a silly, boy-crazy, and naive girl I was. I'm so lucky I had such amazing friends back then to bear all the drama of my ridiculous crushes!

Easter Sunday

notice Caroline's hair bow--I made it myself and feel quite proud :)

how did Uncle Ben know exactly which shirt to wear?!

Joseph posing like Beans

In Case You Read On

On Easter morning we headed to 9:00 sacrament meeting thinking it would be the best way to start off our Easter holiday. Plus, that would allow us to begin the egg hunt once it had warmed up a little more outside. In all honesty, I wasn't really feeling it during church--meaning the reverence for and joy in the whole purpose of that holiday in the first place. And by the end of the day I realized I had really missed the target and hadn't taken the time to appreciate my Savior and His life and sacrifice for us. During the weekend I had noticed the striking beauties of nature while we enjoyed the spring weather, and I did stop to sit down a few times and watch all the children happily playing. These things certainly filled my soul but I really felt the desire for spiritual nourishment and just hadn't found it or set the time apart for it.

Well, earlier today, I read a letter from my little brother who has just survived, and seriously, barely survived, his first 2 weeks of boot camp with the marine corps. And he is suffering a lot. I am really glad he was so honest in his sentiments and descriptions because they really made his circumstances clear and made this whole experience of his feel very real for me as an outsider. My head tells me that this time of serious mental and physical strain will help him to become the man he needs to be. And my heart just feels sorrow for his soul--that it seems so belittled and heavy and alone. And suddenly I have been thinking about my Savior so much; how aware of our needs He is, how He suffered through more than anyone will ever have to suffer, how He willingly offered himself up simply so He could succor our needs in times of trial, heartache, frustration and fear, and how He appeared after His death to His beloved disciples and later to the Nephites to teach them face to face of His Gospel and then pray for them and bless them. Anytime I feel the need to be more loved or receive more strength than I think I have, I rely on my Savior to lift my heart and feed my soul. And now I am relying on Him to do this for my little brother.

"For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall...and the Lord God will wipe away the tears from off all faces..."

Isaiah 25:4 & 8

So that is how I came to find some meaning in Easter this year, even if it was a few days late.

Crazy Cousins

We just spent a long weekend (Thursday to Monday) with my family down in SG. What this translates to in Bentley and Caroline's world is "unlimited cousin time" and they sure made the most of it. I love that cute Ethan and Will invited Bentley to tag along on many of their big boy activities--even if meant that Bentley fell a lot (and cried a lot) while climbing on rocks and running down the golf course hills in the evening. He always recovered quickly and now has one awesome set of tough little boy legs full of bruises and scratches :) As for Caroline, she spent the weekend doing whatever Maddie did--especially when Maddie lead her around by the neck and basically told her exactly what to do. They sure are cute friends and need each other since they don't have any sisters yet :) The 75 degree weather allowed the kids so much freedom outside and we couldn't get enough of the beautifully green grass, blossoming trees, blue, blue sky and stunning views as always.

my mom and I decided to wear our own matching outfits to fit in with Maddie and Cares :)