"Sister Handsome"

So, preschool last Wednesday was Healthy Foods day (the unit we are doing right now is All About Me/My Body). We made this cool food guide pyramid. I knew that Rylee would have fun doing this preschool, but who knew I would like it this much! Sometimes Rylee says things like "I want to go to Harrison's house for preschool" when it is at our house or "Sister Dyreng is the funniest teacher!" So maybe I am not the most creative or funny of the three moms, but I feel like I am doing an okay job and, according to Harrison, I am "Sister Handsome"! So hey, I'll take that!

The Best of Both Worlds

Rylee is in two preschools this fall. One is at a local church on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9am-noon. She is in the "Penguin Class". The other was put together by three moms in our church (including me!). We call ourselves the "Sunbeam Preschool" because the 4 kids (one mom has twin girls) are in Rylee's Sunbeam primary class. So these next two weeks the Sunbeam Preschool is being held at my house on Monday and Wednesday from 10am-noon. Monday was Oral Health day! For me, it was like the best of both worlds: teaching what I studied in school to Rylee and her friends! We made these mouths with Lima Beans for teeth. I have dried glue all over my coffee table but who cares! They turned out so cute I had to take a picture!

Life is good

When I look back over an entire week, I can't believe how my life has changed over the past 3 months. Take this week for example: on Tuesday I baked a pie (my first!), on Wednesday I dusted off my sewing machine and helped the young men sew hammocks for an upcoming campout, on Thursday I made 5lbs. of Coleslaw, bought 72 rolls at Costco, and set up for enrichment, and on Saturday I decorated this cake at Women's Day. Fill in the other hours with a big dose of Rylee and wow...I am a mom! I mean, obviously I have been a mom for almost four years but I just really feel blessed to be in this new stage of life. For the last 3 years it felt like 80% of my daily efforts went to achieving one big goal that could only be concluded on May 13th, 2007. Now, I feel like 80% of my efforts are for things I can accomplish today/this week/this month. And for now, I like it that way. Life is good!
So about my cake...I hope its easy to tell that its a Winnie the Pooh cake. I came home from Women's Day excited to show Rylee. When I walked in the door Rylan was giving her bath so I told her when she got out, I had a surprise. However, when she finally saw it, she didn't know what it was. I mean, obviously she knew it was Winne the Pooh. But she didn't know WHAT it was (a cake). I think she thought it was just a big plastic version of Pooh because she reached out her hands and tried to pick it up. In other words, she stuck her (freshly bathed) fingers right into the icing! You can imagine her surprise when her fingers sank into Pooh and how when she pulled them out part of Pooh was sticking to her. She gave me this look like "what IS this thing?" However, all was bliss I told her "it is a cake!" So, we had cake for dessert and the rest went to a few neighbors (who now include Lance, Becca and Davis!). Cake AND pie proved to be one too many baked goods for a single week!

Rylee's Sense of Humor

Rylee loves being funny these days. She loves telling jokes and making us laugh. Well, actually she was making us laugh a long before she started telling jokes by being goofy and clumsy. But recently she has been experimenting with her own little sense of humor. Her jokes were totally random at first: the punchline would have absolutely nothing to do with the question, would rarely constitute as a complete thought, and really the only thing funny was the complete absurdity of it. Now she has graduated to where the two parts actually relate and have some wit but would still never be considered funny in the real world. For example, today she said "What animal never goes home when his mommy tells him because his home is on his back?" The answer: "A turtle". See, I told you...not funny, but it melts our hearts and makes us laugh none the less. I think we laugh more at the fact she thinks she's funny. This photo captures one of those moments. One day my mom and I heard Rylee cracking up by herself in another room and when we came in this is what we found her doing!

I Was Tagged

JOBS I have had (and still have):
- Mom
- Dental Hygienist
- Dental Assistant
- Shoe Store Sales Associate (hated this job!)
- Receptionist for a tanning salon
- Waitress

MOVIES that I could watch over and over:
- Steel Magnolias
- home movies

Favorite T.V Shows:
- 24 (all time favorite)
- Grey's Anatomy
(and occasionally The Office and My Name is Earl)

Favorite Hobbies:
- Reading...recently Harry Potter...although that is quickly coming to an end :(
- walking outside (especially now that it is not so hot)
- boating/water skiing/tubing/swimming/skinny dipping (just kidding!)
- making things with my hands...whether its a craft, a scrapbook page, a new recipe, or refinishing a piece of furniture

Places I have lived:
- Chapel Hill, NC
- Provo, UT
- Layton, UT
- Salt Lake City, UT
- Gottingen, Germany (my Dad did a sabbatical for work here when I was 12)
- Canberra, Australia (where I was born)

Favorite Foods:
- almost anything chocolate
- Fresh fruit
- Fondue
- Greek cuisine
- Thai Cuisine

Places I would rather be right now:
- playgroup with Rylee's friends and their moms...I miss going!
- Hawaii with Rylan
- a Disney cruise with all of Rylee's cousins/aunts/uncles
- Smith Mountain Lake with my Dad

Websites I check Daily:
- my Gmail e-mail account
- my blog and those linked to my blog

Frogs, Butterflies, and Ballerinas

Today Rylee started her first day of ballet. I don't know who was more excited: her or me. But she certainly looked like a little princess. She woke up at 7am and wanted put her leotard on right away, even though her ballet class was not until 9:30am. When I picked her up and asked her what she learned today she told me she galloped and pretended to be a

butterfly and a frog
(pretending to be a frog basically involves lying on her tummy and pointing her feet toward her head...or at least that is how she demonstrated it). Just to warn you...I will probably have another ballet posting at some point in the future because 3 year olds learning ballet is just about one of the cutest things I can think of!

Summer days are drifting away

Here we are at Jordan Lake on my dad's boat. What a blast! Rylee felt so independent in her little life jacket. I am getting really excited for Fall and the upcoming series of Holidays. However, when I look at these pictures, I can't help but feel a little sad that the warm "carefree days" (do those really exist?) of summer are almost over.

My New Life...Our New Blog

May 13th, 2007. Whew! Am I glad that day has come and gone! Graduation was exciting but I must admit that I am super happy to be finished my degree. Life has slowed down to a more reasonable pace and now I have time to do all of the things I never had time to do before...like creating a family blog! I am hoping this blog will allow our family to stay in better touch with those we love who don't live close by. And for those who do, well, I know how much I enjoy viewing your blogs even when we see you regularly. So, visit often and enjoy!