This and that

I have been having the greatest  time the last couple of weeks!  Having lots of projects = heaven for me!  I have been crocheting and sewing and making new wall groupings of pictures, and painting furniture and getting the house ready for a baby. Time is flying by and our new baby will be here before we know it.

Kami went to girls camp a couple of weeks ago and had a great time- I didn't go up with Shawn this year though, for bishopric night because 1) I had some little boys here that still weren't picked up when it was time to leave and 2) I am  very uncomfortable sitting in the car for more than 15 minutes.  Kami had a funny story from one evening while she was there.  I guess all of the younger girls had plans to stay up as late as possible and the leaders weren't very thrilled about it.  One of the leaders told Kami, "I don't know what to do - I am exhausted and I feel like a witch."  Kami responded, "well, I know just how to handle witches!"  Her leader laughed and said, "Oh, how is that?"  And Kami said, "You help get the kids to bed!!"  (She definitely knows what my worst time of the day is!!)So she gathered all the girls and told them all "Bony Legs", a story that I used to have on tape when I was a little girl.  She said that before the story was even over all the girls were sound asleep:)

Kami has been training hard for cross country all summer. On Mondays she runs a "long and hard" run, Tuesdays she runs hills, Wednesdays she runs at the track, running a lap at race pace and then one slower in between each fast lap.  Thursdays is hills again, fridays is stadium stairs and Saturdays is a long and slow run.  She increases her distance by 10% each week for each run, and each run is a different distance.  She averages about 35 miles per week.  Anyway, she didn't run during girls camp and didn't run every single day while she was in Oregon picking raspberries last week.  And this week she is wondering if she really wants to do cross country at all.  So we will see what happens, but she is still running every day.  Frankly, I don't know how she would fit cross country into her busy schedule...

While the girls were gone in Oregon, Caden started building lockers for our mud room.  They are looking great and I am really excited!  He is such a handy guy to have around - all these years of tagging along with Shawn are paying off! As he builds, I paint- we are spending lots of quality time together out in the garage:)  I remember as a teenager reading in the Reader's Digest that the best time to talk to your son is when you are driving somewhere and you aren't looking directly at each other.  The article said that boys will open up a lot more and do a lot more talking that way.  Well the same thing goes for working on a project together!  It's pretty awesome!!... Anyways...he put the swing that he built on Craigslist just to see if it would sell, and says that if it does, he will build me another.  I got onto Craigslist one day to look at his advertisement.  While I was on, I saw a great bookcase with cabinets underneath it for $20 dollars.   It was over 6' tall, so I called Jim, my father-in-law and asked to borrow his pick-up.  The boys and I drove to the next town and picked it up and then I painted it (because I'm really into painting furniture right now) and then I organized what we call our "scripture room" with it.  I  must be into the "nesting" mode because I want everything super clean and organized right now.

Besides going to Oregon with my parents for a week, Maddie also got invited by her Aunt Suzette to go to Yellowstone National Park with her and Maddie's cousin Abby.  She has talked about it a lot and had a marvelous time!

The only thing that Isabelle REALLY wanted for her birthday was a kitten... I know...I know....but yes we got her one.  We just made sure it was male:) She is taking care of it constantly and only lets it out of her sight for ten minutes at a time.

Nolan finished soccer and then started begging to be in flag football, so we signed him up for that.  He is constantly outside in the yard throwing or kicking a ball around.  I think we have a little sports lover:)

Abram has been having some serious melt-downs and separation anxiety whenever either Shawn or I, or both of us, have to go somewhere.  Is this normal for an almost four-year-old?  He gets so worried about something happening to us and just comes unglued and chases us down the driveway.  It's so sad! I hope he passes through this stage soon, as he won't even go to his primary class!  Maybe he senses the big change that is coming with a new baby brother?