thinkin' about it thursday.

today i'm thinkin' about grass.  my grass.  a weird, interesting, random fact about me?  i like mowing the lawn {i warned you that it was random. and weird.}  no, i don't want to come mow your lawn.  i like mowing my lawn.  i've picked up some tips over the years that i thought i would share so that you, too, can like mowing the lawn.

1.  music is essential.  this is like 20 mins. of "free" time from the kiddos, so grab your ipod, load it with rockin' tunes, and go.  feel free to sing along and head bang in the back yard, but keep it under control in the front yard where more neighbors can see you.

2.  make sure it is a beautiful sunny day and that the wind is blowing 20-30 mph.  this is important for a few reasons:

*you don't have to do your hair {again, neighbors might be watching}

*the breeze keeps that trickle of sweat under control

and

*you don't have to use the leaf blower after you mow because the wind takes care of the extra grass strewn about on the sidewalks.  bonus!

3.  if you are going to miss a thin strip between passes, make sure it is NOT in front of the kitchen window, because every time you use the sink {which is all day, every day} you will see it and it will drive you crazy!!

4.  make sure your 3 yr. old is out of his pj's.  especially if it is 11:00 am.  even if he says "no" when you ask if he wants to go out with you.  because he WILL come ripping around the corner of the house, yes, in the front yard, on the too-small trike, shoe-less.  {ahhhhhh........such a proud mommy moment for me.}

5.  make sure to get ready for all those thank you's from the husband!  and be prepared for help with the dishes and laundry and vacuuming.  lol.

happy grass cutting!

thinkin' about it thursday.

{sad sigh}

these guys:

aren't they cute?  they moved away.  actually, they are moving away right now.  and i miss them.  yes, already.  {another sad sigh}  i'm gonna need some chocolate.

thinkin' about it thursday.

you may be asking yourself, "what is this?"

THAT is my curtain.

now, you could be saying, "what's behind her curtain?"

well, i'll tell you:  a speaker.

and what is on that speaker?

lane, of course.

lane is my climber.  he climbs, climbs, climbs, climbs.  on anything and everything.  he has found himself this little spot in the corner where he can climb up and look outside the window and wave bye-bye to daddy, the neighbors, the garbage truck, leaves........you know, everything that is moving.

so. so. much. fun.

and here is cy:

he's cute, too.

and here are some of lane's fun faces that i could not resist posting:

{tears} i love these boys of mine.

thinkin' about it thursday.

fingernail polish.
and how I need to get some on my toenails.
soon.

thinkin' about it thursday.

{eeeeeeek!}

i'm so excited about this post today! 

i'm thinkin' about remodeling.  i would looooooooooove to update my house [it's not gonna happen] but if it does it will look something like what you're gonna see today..........

this is going to be great for all you iversons out there who have yet to see grandma's "new" house.  {everyone else might not be interested.......you can check back next week!} get ready to see some major changes:

alright, i was going to go through each and every picture, but i think i will just hit the highlights and then feel free to ask any questions.........

the entryway is beautifully tiled, the new windows are awesome, the kitchen is.........ahhhhhhhhh......dreamy.  i love the backsplash.  the back porch has linoleum that looks just like tile.  {the cute kids are not part of the remodel.  i had to throw them in.  sorry, my blog.  :)}

there is a ponsietta in the corner.  gma tells me it is not going to stay.  the new propane fireplace - works and looks great!  the grandkid picture shelf: gone!  what?!?!?!? the new light fixtures are so pretty and the ceilings are new......with no popcorn!  yay!  {new walls, too!}  and the carpets are so pretty, like, the best color ever!

gorgeous new wood floors, a close-up of the cupboards and finally, a perfect pic to end with!  :)

don't you love it?

now, we only have to ask gma ivy what SHE thinks!  

{also, i have lots of other angles, if you want to see something different, closer up let me know!}

i did just want to add one more looking from the kitchen to the living room:

i'm jealous, grandma, i love it!

thinkin' about it thursday.

k, so, lately we've been eating a lot of this:

and this:

and these:

we've also been doing this:

every day.

and, the numbers on this:

is doing this:

which i love.  but, even though the numbers are getting smaller, i haven't felt much change in my clothes.  well, this week i figured it out.  my this:

has a lot more room in it.

so i'm wondering if doing all this hard work to look like this:

is worth being "less curvy."

so, please weigh in..........(oh, man, i crack myself up) and tell me which is better:  

{stick figure} or {womanly curves}.

i might just have to add some more of this:

to the diet!

{yep, this is me begging for comments.  please!}

*all pictures courtesy of google images*

thinkin' about it thursday.

{thomas the train}
just spent all. morning. long. ALL. morning. (including part of my baby-free time) putting together this:

for a 3 yr old.  without instructions.  yes, the tracks are numbered.......but it didn't help.  sorry, will.  holy crap, i must love this kid.  a lot, a whole lot.  trains - not so much.  now i need a nap.

easter.

egg dyeing and painting:

we kept the baby locked up in the high chair.  don't feel too bad for him, he had food.  cy loved, loved the painting although it was a huge mess.  we'll definitely do that again next year.

the neighborhood egg hunt:

 so, our super sweet neighbors put on an egg hunt for the little ones.  cy was more interested in watching the lake and playing with the sandbox toys than finding eggs.  we had just done our hunt around the house...........i was hoping that the warm-up would be helpful - not so much.  he still brought home candy and coins, though!

and, the last egg hunt at gma and gpa hills:

finally, finally the third hunt of the day, cy got into it!  maybe it helped that it was only him and maddax hunting.  oh well, we'll take it!

{have i ever mentioned my kids are super spoiled?  well, they are.}

thinkin' about it thursday.

it's a busy day in my head today.  try to keep up.

{easter candy}
these:

are my downfall.  i {heart} them.  double {heart} {heart} them.  *to my sister tilleea: i may or may not have bought 2 more bags of these and they may or may not be gone.  alright, 4 bags.  but, the other 2 are stashed away for a rainy day (in the summer perhaps?) so, they totally don't count.  you have some catching up to do.*  yes, i stash candy.  it's a sickness.

{t.v. -or lack of}
i know lots of people who have turned off their cable or dish.  i've thought about this......a little......and come to realize will and i would not be candidates for this.  first of all, baseball.  can't live without it.  secondly, when there's nothing on around 6 pm or 7 pm, we will turn it onto USA network and NCIS will be on.  (really just in the background) well, when we "assume the position" for the evening(aka sitting in our regular spots on the couch), NCIS will be on and we will finish watching the episode.  and then watch the next episode, and sometimes the next one.  even though we have seen them all.  a few times.  lastly, conan.  he makes us laugh.  jeremy does a great impression.  it makes me chuckle just thinkin' of it.

{vegas}
that's it.  vegas. (thanks a lot, katie, now i want to go.)

{blue frosting}
[giggles] o my heck.  this makes me laugh.  i wonder if it's gonna be funny to anyone else..........well,  shoot, now i'm feeling all this pressure.  so, for church, i had to frost cupcakes with different colors of frosting.  one of those colors was blue.  well, cy wanted a cupcake.  really bad.  but i didn't have extra and i wasn't gonna bake him a whole batch just for him, so i frosted a graham cracker.  well, when i turned back around, his whole mouth and all around it was blue.  which was funny, but then i wondered how people in their church clothes would look eating those blue cupcakes.  (yep, still makes me laugh.)

{egg-dyeing}

i have NO idea if cy is going to be interested in this.  (fingers-crossed.)

{thomas the train}
we constantly think about this.  cy is obsessed.  he knows all of their names.  he has a little magazine he looks through all the time.  he looks at trains on amazon.  he sets up tracks and watches them go round and round.  he takes his little portable trains when he goes places.  well, when we were in walmart the other day we were taking our mandatory walk through the toy section to look at trains and he saw this "rescue center" set with harold that he wanted really, really bad.  i didn't get it and he has been talking about it all week.  so, i sent will back to get it and cy is getting it for easter.  he will be so exciting and i can hardly wait thinking how much fun it will be to see his face.  can't wait for that!

{ashley}
who is at home with sick kiddos(the yucky sick.)  again.  i feel for her.  hi, ashley!  how ya doin'?  are you sick yet? (please say no.)

{my family}
i {heart} {heart} {heart} them.  (yep, that's a triple heart.)  they are so fun.  i love the random texts and funny comebacks and phone calls and words' game playing and love they share with me!  this is what makes me happy.

{sewing}
i made a trash bag holder and can't wait to get to some other projects.  where can i buy more time in the day?

{meals}
the other day i made the kiddos lunch.  the one-yr-old was chowing down by himself and i was spoon-feeding the three-yr-old.  they both had the exact same food.  that's messed up.  o, well, i guess there's worse things, maybe.

and all that is what's on my mind today.  what's on yours?

thinkin' about it thursday.

quick shots.
when was the last time you looked through the pics on your phone?  i just went through mine and found some fun stuff. {for me, anyway}

 1. lane giving kisses. love it.

2. lane knows without a doubt he's not to get on top of the counter. he loves being in the big chairs, though. so, today he was eating a snack and he kept inching up on the counter and i keep telling him not too and he would sit back.  well the last time, he got on the counter, and got onto all floors and i said, "lane, no!" and he immediately went to his belly. {like it would be ok, then.} i laughed then grabbed the phone.  i love love this age.

3. lane begging for candy.  i had to hide the candy.  every last bit.

1. cy could watch his trains for hours

2. i guess some things are still fun no matter how old you get.  like exer-saucers.

3. springtime. time for buzz cuts.

1.  i tried to camoflauge the carrots by mixing them with the chicken.  the kid picked out every piece of chicken and did not eat one carrot.

2. cy finally got a comfortable chair to sit in while watching his trains.

3. lane is into wearing cy's shoes.  it cracks me up.  he brings out whatever shoes of cy's he wants to wear that day and "insists" they be put on.  clothes on or not. so funny.

1. more seattle.  we had fun, can you tell?!?!? this is lane and cousin olivia she is 5 weeks older, they are so cute.  they were sitting on the suitcase in the back of the van.

2. going on the driving course in the police car with cam.  it was fun in the back of the car. {cam insisted it had been thoroughly cleaned. and i choose to believe him.}  me and angela got thrown around back there, as there was nothing holding us in.  there was one part that cam was telling us they go around 50 mph, and then he sped us through it and i said, "wow, that was 50, right?" and he was like, "uh, no. 30."  crazy!  i can't imagine faster.

3.  going through the 'skimming pool'? part of the course.{i can't remember what it was called, help me out here, angela} in the police car. my favorite part.

a fun reminiscing day for me!

thinkin' about it thursday.

general conference.


love, love, love, love, love general conference.  love.  i am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  i love my religion.  every april and october we have a conference consisting of {4} 2-hour sessions and a priesthood session where the leaders of the church give instruction and upliftment (that should be a word).  i love these weekends.  the talks are always amazing.  i come away feeling uplifted {and} joyful {and} with a LIST of things i need to work on........it's what i'm STILL thinkin' about today.

thinkin' about it thursday.

it starts with a "base-" and ends with a "-ball."

*photo from google images

if you know me, you didn't even have to log on today, 'cause you already know what i'm thinkin' about.  it's opening day.  'bout time.  'nough said.

thinkin' about it thursday.

ketchup.

so, there was a daddy tomato, a mommy tomato and a baby tomato walking along.  the baby tomato starts falling behind, so the daddy tomato walks back to the baby tomato and squishes him and says, "ketchup!" {get it, catch up?}

ok, so i'm not thinkin' about the 'ketchup' you dip your fries into today.  i'm thinkin' about the one that means i'm behind on my blogging.  so, here it goes:

first up, is camron.  i think i'm the last one to be posting about his graduation last week.  cam is a state patrolman!  woo-hoo.  we went over to olympia to the academy and watched the diploma ceremony followed by a tour of the facilities and a drive course ride.  so cool.  we spent the night and then went to the capital the next day for the commission ceremony.  so cool.  here are some pics of the academy, hotel, dinner, capitol building, children's museum, the rain.........whoops, sorry, i forgot i didn't take pics of any of that.  that's a bummer, cause it would've been fun to look at.  oh well, these will have to do:

cam just happened to be the front guy in the car line up.  how cool is that?  very.  i didn't get to see that part 'cause you know how in seattle most of the time there's a nice little drizzle just to make the temperature cool and everything smelling good?  well, this day was NOT like that.  it was pouring and very cold and i was inside with 2 sleeping 1-yr-olds.  (but, i was warm, so i really didn't mind.  shhhhhhh.)  i heard it was awesome..........and just look at those pics.  congrats, cam, we are proud of you......and all that other mushy stuff.

moving on.  lane.  he turned one.  we had a party a big green st. patty's day party.  i had fun.  look:

*i had all of lane's extended family, instead of getting him a birthday present, take a pic of themselves wearing green or holding a green birthday sign or have green in the picture and then i printed them off and put a collage on the wall.  (it's behind the 3 kids on the second row of pics.)  my plan is to put the pics in a book for lane to have.  i LOVED this.  it was so so fun to see how creative everyone was and lane had a blast tearing the pics off the wall every time i wasn't looking.  *i've been taking monthly pics, so i printed those off and stuck them on the wall.  *we had tacos with green tortillas, green lettuce, and green guacamole.  *we had a fruit rainbow (which was super fun to put together) and water and sprite to drink.  *cy was not fun on his 1st birthday cause he wouldn't tear into the cake, so i've been "training" lane.  when it came right down to it, he choked.  no fun.  someone dipped his hand into the frosting and he freaked out cause it was on his hand.  oh well, what're you gonna do?  *we also had maddax's birthday the same night and ashley made a super cute volcano cake.  she is so creative.  


phew, i'm tired.

and lastly, this:

so, the party cleared out and will was putting stuff away and he noticed the milk was GREEN.  it scared us a little at first cause we didn't know what would turn the milk green, and then we figured out that we had invited the leprechaun fairy to the party and didn't even know it.  i was afraid my kiddos wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole, but alas i was proven wrong once again.  they loved it.  the next morning we had green eggs (we put a little milk into our eggs when we scramble them, are we the only ones that do that?!?!?!?!?) the baby had a green bottle and cy couldn't get enough of the green milk.  it was so fun and cute and we loved it!  what a good trick.  {cough, ahem, ASHLEY, cough, cough}

and that was our busy, fun week.  i'm good on blogging for awhile, right!?!?!?!?  i need a break.  :)

thinkin' about it thursday.

didn't have time to think today, too busy running around the house getting ready for the big first birthday.  good times, good times.  happy lucky, green, birthday, lane.

there may or may not be a 1st birthday post of all the fun.  it depends on if i ever get un-tired.  don't get your hopes up.

thinkin' about it thursday.

today, i'm thinkin' about....
{my mom.}
i like her.
i like her a lot.
she makes me happy.
hi, mom.

thinkin' about it thursday.

just some things that have been buggin' me this week:
[caution: whining to follow]

• on the top of the fridge this week i found a box of triscuits with 3 half triscuits inside.
• i also found a large box of cheerios with literally 10 o's left in it.  next time you have cheerios, count out 10 and you will see how little that is.
• i ran out of m&m's this week.  totally out.  i cannot remember the last time i didn't have a bag of m&m's.  the good news is in my desperate tearing apart search of the kitchen i found a bag of reese's peanut butter bells from christmas (the whole bag had 2 bells left.)  {hey, there's a pattern going on here.}  so after i finished off the christmas candy, i still needed m&m's.  i then remembered i bought green m&m's for lane's birthday.  yes, i have no shame.  ***hehehe and then will brought home m&m's after work without me even telling him the story!!  same day.  haha that still cracks me up.
• and while we're on the subject of chocolate, i've had to restart my diet every morning this week.  ugh.  it's so annoying.  where'd my willpower go?
• right now i have 3 craft projects going in my kitchen.  i would love to finish them and clean up the mess, but i have 2 kids, and i'm playing on the computer instead.
• i never tie my shoelaces.  on any of my shoes.  except for the first time after i buy them.  well, i got new running shoes, and i haven't broken them in enough to be able to slip them on and off, so every time i exercise i have to bend over and tie my shoelaces.  i know it's the epitome of laziness, but it has been driving me crazy.  i'm considering stopping exercise.
• i asked my sister for her address and instead of just giving it to me she had to ask why first.  why? why!?!?!?  ummmmmmm........so i can mail you stuff, why do people normally want your address?!?!?!?  so they can sleep?  so they can watch tv?  so they can breathe?  sheesh.
• by the end of this month i will no longer have a baby {sad sigh}..........i will have 2 toddlers - which is awesome - but there is something inside of me that is so sad about not having a baby anymore........oh wait, i've been sleeping through the night.  ok, i feel a little better.