Keeping up

Trying to keep up with life these days has been overwhelming.  I am hanging in there and trying to balance it all without inflicting too much emotional damage to my family when I have less patience than usual and am more stressed than usual.  We had a nice Thanksgiving and the in-laws came for a visit.  Sierra was home so all six chairs at our table were full.  I almost started the house on fire twice but we made it and so did the food.

The holiday seemed to make me miss HD 10x more than usual.  I thought about him all day and hoped somewhere in the wild land of Salt Lake City some nice person took them in and fed them a proper dinner.  Got a nice surprise when I recieved a text from the nice family that fed him.  Sweet words that he was wonderful and that we would be proud of how he is serving accompanied this picture 

This has happened three times since he has been gone and I just can't put into words how thankful I have been each time.  It's so hard to only communicate with him once a week.  Ordered the rest of his Christmas today.  Praying it all arrives in record time so I can send it to him. 

We got all the Christmas decorations up. The house just seems cozy and warm with all the beautiful things all around.  The ornaments on the tree bring back so many memories.  Definitely my favorite part of decorating. 

One more small thing to note Haylee asked Joe to say the prayer at dinner tongint.  He always says no.  Tonight he said yes!!  :) it was great and we told him he is officially in the rotation :) 

Busy days!

This screenshot from today sums up my life these days. Origami Owl, Origami Owl, and ORIGAMI OWL! :) the holidays are certainly a busy time for gift giving so my Origami business is booming :) I love the product and it is a lot of fun to she the joy people get when the receive their lockets.  The Origami Owl system has also just gone through a major overhaul and is glitching up a storm so I spend a lot more hours entering orders and setting up parties. If you look close at my screenshot you see pandora so I can listen to music while I work, Facebook -I set up my events on there and keep up with my peeps, yahoo to check my OO email and the other there screens are OO.  :) 'tis the season!  :) 

Birthdays, babies, and the honor roll :

Lots going on lately -honestly when isn't there a lot going on! But busy means healthy and mostly happy- so on we go.

Last week, on the 6th Haylee turned 12.  The last two years I am pretty sure I paid her not to have a birthday party.  When the kids were all young I loved it.  I loved

having a houseful of kids hopped up on sugar, as I get older -or as they do- I could really live without the whole formal party where I have to plan things and entertain Tweens for a lot of hours.  Well this year Haylee really wanted a party and as you only get to have really super fun invite all your friends eat as much cake and junk as you want kind of birthdays I said "ok". She chose an art theme and we had a couple of little crafts and one big craft which was to paint a 20x24 canvas. The girls had SO MUCH FUN.  

The ginormous cake.  It was six layers! 

Haylee really wanted a rainbow cake so that's what we did.  It was so fun to cut into! 

Five girls became six when Daisy joined the sleepover. 

The next morning was a little chaotic in the house so I suggested they go out and play in the leaves. 

Ready....

Set....

Go! 

The girls had so much fun! 

Now onto the babies...

I am "working" these days.  I put that in quotation marks because I watch a sweet little cutie a couple days a week.  It is work she is 18 months and there are diapers and messes to clean up but she is so stinking cute and fun and so so so good that it doesn't really seem like work a lot of the time.  

Her name is Mia and she is so much fun! 

I watched another cutie tonight so his parents could go to a church activity his name is Eli and he is one of my favorite babies ever!!! He is so so happy! 

Love getting to play with the littles but not having to keep them!  Ha! :) 

Last but not least Haylee made the honor roll for the first quarter at school.  Today was the awards assembly she also won the character award for September the character trait was trustworthiness. She is a member of the student counsel again this year and enjoyed her role at the assembly of helping to keep order during the festivities.  

In other fantastic news Joe got accepted to his masters program today!!!  Now the question will he go.....????  He is still undecided.  Either way it was great news!

I am so glad he is finishing his bachelors now wonder if they would let him wear one of these hats to walk at graduation? 

Lol he is a goof! 

Soccer is over hallelujah!

I always feel like that at the end of the season.  Happy when it starts, happier when it's over! :) Haylee was on a losing team this season which is always hard.  They did not win one game the last three games they were shutout completely.  Today was the tournament.  They played the #1 seed and wouldn't you know it we scored the first goal and took them to overtime and still nobody scored and we had to go to penalty kicks!!  Who would have thought? It was a great way to end the season and you could see that all their coach had been working on had finally come together.  Love seeing Haylee on the field even is she is a bit timid she always has fun, -not so much when they lose, and enjoys playing.  GO TEAM ITALY!! 

Goooooo team!!! 

With two of her best buds, Sydney and Mia. 

Out of order!

Those last two posts are out of order!  The sick and a sidekick one didn't post last night for some reason.  She wasn't so sick then just fab for getting contacts. Lol although she still didn't feel great today getting contacts seemed to help her feel a lot better. :) 

Sick and a sidekick

My poor littlest kiddo is sick. The kind of sick where she had to stay home today and the kind of sick where I will be keeping her home tomorrow.  The neighbor kids have it too.  Headache, runny nose, headache! Miserable headache.  Haylee is ok if she has meds in her system as soon as they wear off though she is miserable again.  I wasn't feeling to great myself Sunday and Monday but feel a little better today.  So glad I don't have to worry about being at work.  Now while I was supposed to watch my little cutie Mia tomorrow that schedule is pretty flexible and I called her mom to see if she wanted me to bathe my house in Lysol -which lets face it I'm going to do anyway- and she could still bring my little bug over tomorrow or of she wanted to keep her home.  She opted to keep her home.  Probably a smart move.  Tomorrow we will be resting and drinking more orange juice.  Why does oj automatically make you feel better? I know it had vitamins and stuff but it really does seem if you drink it you feel better that moment.  

Mailed a box to my missionary boy today. Gloves, hat, scarf and some Halloween treats.  Poor kid is prepared to go to the equator not Utah this winter lol.  I miss that kid something awful.  Can't wait until Christmas when I get to talk to him!!!  :) 

Speaking of talking I talked to Sierra tonight for almost an hour.  Anyone who knows Sierra knows that is an eternity to be on the phone with that girl.  It was so great to catch up with her and chat about all the things going on. I love to see our relationship changing as she is away at college this first year.  Can't wait to see her at thanksgiving!

And now for my sidekick.  This cute pup doesn't leave my side for very long during the day. I am sure she would be near me at night too if we allowed her to come upstairs. I don't mind having her near even when she is shedding what seems like half her coat! 

 Look at this sweet face!! 

Love love love her!!!  She really is the best dog in the whole wide world.  She will be eight in a couple of months I hope she sticks around with us for lots more years!  

Contacts!

It took some convincing but I finally got Haylee to agree to try contacts.  She got them today and LOVES them!  :) probably helps that they are her correct prescription, her eyes had gotten a little worse since her last eye appointment a year ago, she was great at getting them in and out!  It takes some practice but she was almost a pro at her first try.  Lets hope that continues in the morning before school!