Blessings.

I had a dozen things on my to-do list today, most of them in SoPho. After making the trek over there and getting my hair cut, leaning once again on Jackie, letting J play with Finny, buying a bed frame from Craig's List, visiting the Meadows and returning stuff to CC library, I popped in to see our renters at our old house. Literally, popped in, with no notice. Not only were they totally gracious in letting me barge in and drill a hole in a cabinet door (don't ask) but they let me walk through and see what they've done to the place. And wow, was I impressed. Never, never, did I ever have that house so clean and put together. Their furniture is huge but very nice and looks great. They have pictures hanging in every room already. The counters were all clear and the tables had placemats set on them - it was like walking through a staged model home. (I mean really? Who lives like that?) They painted the brown dots pink in J's room and now it belongs to their little 6-yr-old girl, whose bedding and furniture and everything match beautifully. I'm so totally grateful. This family is awesome, and I couldn't have asked for a better situation. Hopefully they will stay there forever like they plan to right now!

Beach kids. Edit.

My cuties could stay at the beach ALL DAY LONG. As could their mother. We made a quick trip last week with the Foushees to California and spent two days at Newport Beach.  Aaaaahhhhh. J spent his time playing in the sand and collecting shells.

I.Love.This.Photo. Maybe I should make it sepia tone and print a big poster for J's room???

M and A played in the surf. Beach babes, these two! M says her favorite part was jumping over the waves with A.

I tried to get in as much reading as I could while still keeping track of six kids. A discovered the art of laying out though - she was just laying on the sand in the sun  "Oh, mom, this is SO nice. M you HAVE to come try this - just come lay down and relax!"  It.was.awesome.  Next month's family beach trip is going to be SO MUCH FUN! 

Slowly but surely...

Projects finished:
Kitchen pantry painted
New garbage disposal installed
R/O system taken out
New sink cabinet floor cut and put in
Pool drained & acid washed
Rose bushes trimmed
Holes in the drywall patched
Doggie door removed
New programmable thermostats installed
Built-ins ripped out in craft room
Furniture left in the house sold on Craig's List - YEAH!
J's room and closet painted
One wall in master bedroom painted

Projects in progress:
Shutters being installed TODAY in J's room and master bedroom
Block fence being repaired
Painting rest of master bedroom
Patching in rest of laminate floor in craft room
Painting craft room

Projects on horizon:
Installing craft room cabinets
Getting craft room up unpacked and up and running
Painting J's ceiling
Building shelves in J's room niches
Finishing J's quilt, or giving up and buying one
Getting garage door fixed
Getting garage door opener wires installed
Spray painting several ceiling fans & light fixtures
Buying and installing water softener
Buying and installing a new microwave
Dead tree ripped out and taken to dump
Somehow weather-proofing all the windows and doors, and getting the broken/missing screens made and installed
Getting a functioning latch/lock installed on J's window


...............

NEMO party *edit*

I have a great kid. Actually I have three great kids. My baby turned four this week, and I threw him a big fun NEMO-themed birthday party today and invited a whole bunch of So Pho friends out to see our new house. I think we had 18 kids here? I admit it was a little ambitious to host such a big to-do after just moving in. Thank goodness the other CHICK was around to help me get everything ready.  Luckily my birthday banner I made last year for Josh still sort of matched our theme, so I was able to use that again. We decorated with fish nets (courtesy of my kids' already fishy-themed bathroom) seashells (courtesy of J and our beach trip last week) and sand buckets. I also brought our goldfish in their bowl downstairs to be a centerpiece. Fun!  Soren I think had the best quote of the day, while watching our fish "I just can't stop watching them! I'm trying! I just can't stop!"  I also bought a big coral reef mural that went in our front room, where we played "Fish Fish Shark"  (instead of duck duck goose)  and read J's favorite book.  Also bought a big ride-on shark (Bruce) for the pool.
It was J's idea a while ago to have a NEMO themed party, because his favorite book in the world right now is "The Three Little Fish and the Big Bad Shark" which we read every night. So, we called it a Nemo party and had everyone over to swim. Lisa did a dramatic reading of the book, and all the kids were enthralled.

  With orange and white napkins, plate, and orange striped cupcake pops (which were too expensive, next time I will make them myself) and lots of themey food, I think it turned out pretty well. We had Gil's Sea Shells (pasta roni shells and cheese), Dory's Doritos, Goldfish (which should have had a tag that said "Mr. Ray's school of Fish") ,

Swedish Fish (also should have been "Krill") , Peach's Peaches (we happened to have fresh peaches this week), Inky's octopus hot dogs with blue "ink" ketchup, (Can't you just hear it? "Aaaaaw, you guys made me ink!" )

and orange baby carrots with blue ranch dressing. Fun.
Finny enjoyed the hot dogs too!

We.have.moved.

Oh, man, what a process. It took more blood, sweat, tears and gas money than I want to calculate, but it's done.  We're out of the Phoenix house, and into the Mesa one. Whew. I never want to move again! My advice, if you're thinking about moving, ever? Don't buy food storage. Sheesh.

So anyway - here's what I've been up to since the 3rd of May:  closing on our house, getting carpet cleaned, hiring movers, cleaning, packing, cleaning some more, touching up paint, mowing grass, getting termites treated, getting my car window fixed, pulling weeds, taking cabinets down, filling lots of holes in walls, painting our pantry, getting paint in my hair, trying to organize my kitchen, totally losing interest in American Idol, cleaning some more, sending N off on a business trip for four days,  performing in a school talent show, sending off the boys to F&S's (or boy camp, as J calls it), meeting lots of new neighbors and eating all their treats, swapping stoves, going to Home Depot, moving sheds, draining the pool and getting it acid washed, finishing up the last few days of school, getting the exterior of the Phx house painted, coordinating with renters, selling a trampoline, grocery shopping, going to the dentist, going to Home Depot again, replacing a garbage disposal, picking out paint, spending a fortune on paint, being without internet service for WAY too long, eating lots of junk & fast food, patching lots of holes in walls with Papa's help, scrubbing tile and grout with seemingly no progress, ripping out built-ins and realizing now I have to patch in the rest of the laminate floor (ugh, not fun), watching kids swim, driving to California with the other chick and her kids, spending two days sitting on the beach, going to Home Depot some more, hosting several last-minute BBQs, trying to read my book that's overdue at Cesar Chavez library, going to a new ward, getting sustained in new callings already in that new ward,  borrowing tools, getting ready for a yard sale this weekend, starting swim team and swim lessons...

so you'll forgive me if I haven't blogged lately, or if I owe you vinyl. Hopefully by this weekend my craft room will be up and running......

Wanna go to Disneyland?

I'm in a pickle.  I booked our timeshare rooms 6 months ago intending for us to take a family trip to Disneyland just after school got out. Oops. Now we've moved, and we have other summer vacation plans, and I'm broke due to 1) new house purchase 2) car repairs 3) termite treatment 4) my gas bills 5) carpet cleaning 6) dentist stuff - - etcetera, etcetera.  If you'd like to help me out, and possibly save my marriage, please pass this on to ANYONE you know who might be interested.

We have both a 3 BEDROOM SUITE and a 1 BEDROOM SUITE located around the corner from Disneyland - reservation is for FIVE NIGHTS from May 22 to the 26th at the Peacock Suites - located at 1745 Anaheim Blvd. It's basically on the corner of Katella and Anaheim Blvd.

We are too late to cancel the reservation at this point, so MAKE ME AN OFFER. Check in Sunday afternoon/ check out Friday morning. You can take the WHOLE FAMILY, and FRIENDS, and GRANDMA TOO!!! I've had these rooms sold a couple of times, and the buyers have flaked out on us - so here's your chance to take advantage. I originally had the 3BR suite (3 bedrooms, 3 bath, living & dining areas, etc) listed for $850 or the 1BR suite for $450. Apparently i didn't market them well enough, and I haven't had any serious offers. I've also been way too busy to think about them, but now it's crunch time and I have to take what we can get.  At this point I'd take half that.

SO REALLY, Make me an offer I can't refuse and do it before a buyer on EBAY does.

This is 5 nights in Anaheim!!!!! This is much more than just a regular hotel room! Free breakfast every morning, upgraded, remodeled nice rooms. CLEAN, valet parking, pool, jacuzzis, great customer service - - - - CALL ME with serious inquiries only - 602-309-4093

Rough Life.

I.am.stressed.  As of today, we own two houses - hooray! I feel like my sanity is very fragile right now, with me trying to coordinate everything that needs to happen in the next two weeks... including packing, loading my car and driving the trek over to the Mesa house for the third day in a row, unloading, vacuuming (?), hopefully getting power and water turned on tomorrow at our Mesa house in time for a carpet cleaning at noon, getting back to Phx in time to pick up kids from school, orchestrating a big wood/vinyl project for the Young Women tomorrow night, cutting and weeding 10 VERY intricate blocks of vinyl wording (dang, why did I design it like that???) routing and sanding the rest of their signs, putting together another vinyl project for Janna for Thursday morning, preschool, more packing, coordinating a talent show practice for 13 kids on Thursday afternoon, (what am I supposed to do with J while that's happening???)  playing volleyball with our ward's team on Thursday night, more packing on Friday, maybe getting a moving truck Friday afternoon with hopes of moving most of our furniture over on Saturday (??), cleaning the Mesa house top to bottom so we can move stuff IN, hiring the pool guy this weekend? maybe? , at some point practicing the piano to accompany the primary kids on Sunday in sacrament meeting, (but am I still going to have a piano? Or will it be in Mesa?)  Part of my stress is coming from trying to plan out what's going to be moved, when, and how little we can live with for the next two weeks... when should we start sleeping at the new house? On Monday Daddy leaves for a 4-day business trip, and oh yeah, we need to get our renters squared away and sign papers before he leaves, I need to pick and buy paint, and get all three kids' bedrooms painted while he's gone next week, need to hook up with my printer friends on Thursday the 12th to pick up the t-shirts for all the first graders at Vista, deliver the shirts to the school on Friday the 13th, oh, are we going to get professional movers that morning or will it all be done by then? What painters are we going to hire for the new house? NO idea yet. Daddy will be home for less than a day before leaving for Father's and Sons, the girls and I have the school talent show that night, somehow I need to find time to get makeup and hair done for 13 zombie children  (where to find white makeup? How to make black eyes and bloody necks? Need to go get black nail polish and lipstick too??  What kind of shoes do zombies wear anyway?)  I'm going to SCREAM if we can't get our timeshare rooms sold by then - I'm totally starting to panic about that because our buyers flaked out on the biggest suite, my gosh, we're going to end up forfeiting all those points, doesn't anyone want to go to Disneyland? Because I stinkin' need the cash!   CRAIGSLIST YOU HAVE TOTALLY LET ME DOWN LATELY!   ACK, I need sleep too. Goodnight.  I know, rough life, I've got a busy husband who has a great job, three active, involved, talented kids, and a big, beautiful new house I have to decorate.