Hold You

"Tate, what do you want? Do you want me to hold you?"

"Hodju. Hodju. Hodju!"

Might be my new favorite word.

Wood

Glenn here.

Five years ago today (Tuesday, June 21st 2005), I got to marry the awesomest girl on the planet. She is perfect for me in every way. Today, I am grateful for many things, including,
the following:

1) Kim has put up with my for 5 years.
2) I love Kim more today than I did 5 years ago.
3) If the first 5 years are the hardest of the marriage (as many have told me), then the years to come should be better than blissful.
4) Me + Kim = Tate (A.K.A. The Child of Extreme Awesomeness).
5) Kim is my best friend.
6) We have had many adventures together, and there are several more on the horizon (I like adventures).

I'm not sure why I got so lucky. Many people are unhappy in marriage. I am not one of them. I wonder why I get to be so happy.

Kimmy, I love you! Happy anniversary!

-Glenn

Quick Trip

We went to Houston Wednesday through Friday to check out some houses in our price range down there...assuming our house here sells, of course. We're much more excited about the move now, knowing the type of homes that are available down there. It's still miserably hot and humid and far away from our wonderful friends and everything else we love about Austin, but at least we will be able to live in a fabulous house!

Tate was a trooper. He missed naps, went long periods of time between diaper changes, endured incredibly hot days in the car, and even managed to get a little bit of sleep in with mom and dad in the same hotel room. Poor kiddo was really well behaved with so little sleep. We just kept moving and when he couldn't take being awake any more he crashed wherever we happened to be.

Our hotel had a great pool with a "mountain" (fountain) that Tate could climb on. At this point his seems kind of indifferent to the actual "fwimin" (swimming) and more excited about the "kiemin" (climbing) while in the pool. He likes to try to climb out from the side of the pool, and to climb on the stairs of the pool. So this pool was just perfect. He even learned to jump from the fountain to Daddy in the pool. It was so fun to watch.
It was fun to get away with our little family. Busy, hot, and tiring, but really fun at the same time.

Temple, Market Days and a Birthday

We had a fun and very busy weekend! Friday was our ward temple day so we car pooled with the Cluffs to San Antonio where our amazing Relief Society pres. had arranged for sitters for our kiddos at a nearby stake center so we could attend the temple. It was wonderful not to have to leave Tate with someone all day. It made it so much easier. Glenn and I did sealings while Tate played with a whole bunch of kids from our ward. It was so so nice.

Here we are at the San Antonio temple after we picked him up.
And here's little man admiring the "mountain", his word for fountain.
Saturday we did a craft fair. Glenn and Tate came to help set up. This was only at 10 in the morning and look at my hot little boy's pink cheeks. So cute.

The booth looked great. We were set up next to a tie dye booth. Yes, they even had tie dye boxers and briefs. Father's day gifts anyone? I'm always a little surprised at the things that people here sell at craft fairs. So many random booths. I wonder how they make any money. They're probably thinking the same thing about me. It was probably our most successful fair yet. We did quite well until about noon and then didn't sell a single thing the rest of the afternoon. It was just so hot. We did have gusts of wind most of the day which was nice. I had to keep Tate's books and my lint brush on top of things so they wouldn't blow away. Tate and Glenn went home for the afternoon to get in a nap and watch the world cup and then came back at the end to help me put things away. I had so much fun talking to people, sweating like a pig, and hearing that people actually like the things I make. It felt good.

Also this past weekend my little sister Kenzie turned 14! I hear she had quite a fabulous birthday. Lots of family over to play and dote on her, tons of presents. What more does a girl need? Kenzie is so wonderful and talented. She's a regular soccer star. Here are some pictures from a game we saw when we were in Utah a few weeks ago.

She was also in a Shakespeare play at her school a few weeks ago. And she plays the piano like nobody's business. She does NOT like to practice and she doesn't care who knows it, but she is quite the talented little lady.

Oh and did I mention that she's a marvelous Auntie to her nephew and two little nieces? Well, she is. We love and miss you Auntie Kenzie. Happy birthday!

Scoop It

Glenn saw this little lacrosse set at Target the other day and of course Tate needed it."You gotta start them early," he told me. Glenn tried to teach him to hold the stick and scoop up the ball with the net. He kept saying, "Scoop it Tate. Scoop it." So now Tate calls the sticks "Goopit". When he sees them on the ground, every time he's playing with them, he says "goopit" over and over. Glenn couldn't be more proud. I mean, really, who looks more excited in these pictures?
Glenn also got him a little plastic golf set. He tried to teach him to hit the little balls with the different clubs. He said, "whack it, Tate". So now golf clubs are "whackit". Tate could care less about the actual process of hitting the balls with the clubs. But it is fun to carry the sticks around the house. And this little bag is fun to drag around too.

So we've been doing a lot of "goopit" and "whackit" around our house. Once Glenn and I even set up our own miniature golf course in the house and played with Tate's clubs while Tate took a nap. Glenn even used the appropriate club for each different shot. Good times.

Getting Ready

We are getting the house ready to put on the market. We have been for the last couple of weeks. Here is our list of completed tasks:
- Re-grout kitchen sink and master shower (done by Glenn while I was in Utah)
- Fix holes in back yard fence. (Also Glenn.)
- Get carpets cleaned.
- Finish paperwork for realtor
- Meet with Stager who gave us a massive list, some of which we intended to complete.
- Rearrange furniture in dining room, family room, living room
- Get tree trimmer to trim all large trees in front yard.
- Buy rug for living room, lamps for bedside tables, pillows for couch, and a shower caddy.
- Take paintings we have been putting of framing to craft store to get custom frames made during 50% off sale. (Apparently we need to hang art where a few of our family pictures are currently hung. Who wants to see that a real family lives here anyway?)
- Cut down three large bushes in front of house, fill space with lots of soil, plant flowers and an herb garden.
- New mulch around trees in front yard.
- Clean out blankets from linen cupboards and pack away in the garage. (to make cupboards look more spacious or something)
- Clean clothes that are out of season of out of closet and pack away in the garage.
- Clean out and organize kitchen pantry.
- Have last minute yardsale to sell some of the results of our cleaning out.
- Thoroughly clean house.

All done. I'm tired.
Tomorrow a photographer is coming to take pictures of our home and then within a couple of days I guess we'll be in business. I've been dreading this process. I love our home. So many wonderful memories here. I know we have to move on. I know we'll be happy where we end up in Houston and then Pennsylvania and then wherever. But right now I'm feeling stubborn. And tired. And grumpers. I'm comfy here. Especially now that my house looks so amazing!

Quiet Books

A friend of mine has a darling quiet book that her mom made for her. I was looking for a new sewing project and I thought it would be a fun challenge. My friend asked her mom about it and her mom sent her a link to the pattern. So that's how I got a hold of the pattern. I changed a few things and made up a few pages, but it was super helpful to have a pattern to start from.
I decided that while I was making one for Tate, I may as well make one for my niece Mya too. Her second birthday is coming up and I was planning a trip to Utah (for Mal's homecoming), so I set to work making two quiet books and trying to get them done in time for my trip to Utah (which I did, just barely).
I LOVE the way they turned out. It still makes me a little nervous when Tate plays with it because it took such an incredible amount of time (seriously it took every naptime and after most after bed times for a couple of weeks) and I'm still sort of a beginning sewer so I'm not sure how secure and sturdy everything will be. That, and there are so many little pieces that can and probably will be lost. So far so good. He has yet to break or lose anything!
So here are some pictures of the finished product! Tate's quiet book is on the left and Mya's on the right.The first page is this balloon matching page with velcro. Lots of hand sewing.

Caterpillar with fuzzy body part you can velcro on. (and also tear off and throw on the ground and under the bench at church and then scream "fuzzy!" over and over as they roll out of sight.)Fabrics with different textures to feel and a football to lace up and tie.

Different shapes that velcro to the matching fabric and shape on the page.

I think this page might be my favorite. I found vintage paper dolls you can print out for free online. Then I printed them out on iron on paper. I ironed the people on the page and the dresses on layers of fabric and interfacing. Then sewed around the clothes so they won't fall apart and sewed on velcro so you can dress the people up in different vintage outfits. It turned out so stinkin' cute.Pockets to hold Ikea finger puppets.

A mirror (currently Tate's favorite. He loves to chat with the cute boy inside.) And flowers that button onto lady bug buttons.

This page was Glenn's contribution. I wanted to do a page with buttons or beads or something they can move around on strings of elastic. He saw the Noah's ark buttons and decided a Noah's ark page could be fun with the animals escaping the flood. The boat has a little flap that you can open and close. Note the dinosaurs who were stuck in the water at the bottom and were left behind. Also Glenn's idea.

So there it is. My fun quiet book. I had so much fun figuring out how to make each thing and how to put it all together. I learned a lot, which means I made a lot of mistakes. But hey, if I ever make another I'll know how to do things differently.