Art imitating life

Even Barbie's belongings are packed up in boxes.

Keeping the D.I. in business

I should move more often. I've become quite the throw-away'er and D.I.'er these past few months. Today, I was cleaning out cupboards in the kitchen and was mortified to find a jar of marshmallow creme, never been opened, with a 'best used' stamp of May 1998. Hello. Granted, it was tipped over on its side and behind a bunch of cans so I couldn't really see it back there but still.... Hello! And a few boxes of mac&cheese in an obscure cupboard that were way too old and had been infested with weavils. I'm getting the heebies just thinking about it.

The house is littered with boxes. We're doing the packing but have hired a moving company to come move it all. Mike hired this particular company because they have a UofU moving van and the day of our move is the Utah/BYU football game. The move had better be finished before kick-off or my poor hubby will be a mess. Not that we'll have anywhere to actually watch the game, mind you. Someone with a giant big screen please invite him over. I'll send him with take-out.  But I digress ... boxes.  Boxes everywhere.  Not a toy left to play with, only the essentials still out and visible.  I feel like we're camping in the middle of all of our boxes of stuff.  It's a feeling we'll be very familiar with for the next few months, I'm sure.

There's fun stuff too, though. We're designing the new kitchen, which is something I've dreamed about for years. I can hardly believe it's really happening. Once we officially close next week, I'll put pictures up so everyone can appreciate the before & afters. Oh, and Pinterest! Ever heard of it? Thanks to my cousin, Linsey, for making me a complete addict. Haven't we all kept a little file of torn out magazine pictures for house ideas or cooking ideas or decorating tips? Pinterest is that but in digital form. I 'pin' pictures of kitchens I like onto my virtual bulletin board and then when our contractor asked me what style of kitchen I wanted, I opened our laptop and showed him 40 pictures of my exact style. It's so great! Super handy to have while planning a remodel.

Anyway, back to packing. And PTA meeting and dance and preschool this morning. Busy and crazy right now but very happy, too.

Murder

Found this when I went to get an egg today. No doubt compliments of Christian.

City Planner & Banker, all in one

This was the scene in front of our house the other night...

Notice the "road" they were driving on. Christian got the girls together and they drew a bike city. This is the parking lot where Christian was also 'paying' them based on what professions they chose. Elle only earned 4 chalk by being a dancer, while Haley had a large pile since she was a medical scientist. Love it.

There was an art museum,

a bike motel,

and a fairly complicated race course, which they raced on all night.

The funny part to me was that Christian charged the girls for the use of each of the places. They had to pay 2 chalks for use of the race track, 1 chalk to visit the art museum....  City banker or miser?

Help for Zimbabwe

At the ripe old age of 12 (technically, almost 13), Christian is working on his Eagle project for scouts. He's been so diligent in scouting -- some on his own, some forced by dad but all of it good. And now the Eagle project is in the works.

He's set up his own blog for his project to tell everyone about it and keep people informed about his progress. So please visit HERE (www.christianeagleproject.blogspot.com) and consider helping out with a good cause.

Thank you, friends!

Her turn .. finally

It's hard to watch everyone else start school and then have to wait and wait until it's your turn. But, eventually, preschool started for Elle, too.

She was a little shy at first but the playroom - absolutely bursting with fun toys - won her over. She can't wait to go back.

Hijacked

Someone 'kidnapped' my phone and entertained themselves for a very long time.

There were literally 34 pictures originally. Thank heavens for digital, eh?