Happy Halloween!

Hope your day is filled with fun, spooks, and candy!

Because I also love Stephanie...

I'm doing this tag, too.

Copy and paste and pass it along!

Joys:
1. Eating food someone else made
2. Reading
3. Travel

Fears:
1. That my kids could possibly not embrace the gospel.
2. Vampires.
3. Being YW president. Oh, wait a sec...

Goals:
1. To not hurt any of my friends' feelings by not doing their tags. :-)
2. Get organized, keep my house clean!
3. Learn to be a fantastic photographer

Collections/Obsessions:
1. I used to collect ceramic cats. My mom still has my little collection in her curio cabinet.
2. Being on time. I hate not being on time.
3. Not wasting anything.

Random:
1. I could eat an entire giant Costco jar of jelly bellies. I actually haven't tried, but I think I could.
2. I regularly have that dream where you show up to math class and you have a final and you haven't even been to the class all semester and everything hangs on how you perform on this one test.
3. I love my friend Steph, who I have known since my Freshman year at the BY. We have had some good times as friends and roomies. And I love her blog. Don't you love this picture of her?

Just 'cause I love Leslie...

I'm doing this tag.

If you feel like doing this tag, you can. Especially if you haven't blogged in a while...Matt, Nettie, MK, Sally, Kim, Funkweiler...game on!

You have to answer the following questions with one word, one word only...

1. Where is your cell phone? Busted
2. Where is your significant other? Working
3. Your hair color? Blonde
4. Your mother? American
5. Your father? Busy
6. Your favorite thing? Tiramisu
7. Your dream last night? Nada
8. Your dream/goal? goodness
9. The room you're in? Messy
10. Your hobby? Blogging
11. Your fear? Alone
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Settled
13. Where were you last night? YW
14. What you're not? Supermodel
15. One of your wish-list items? Nikon D-90
16. Where you grew up? Europe
17. The last thing you did? Email
18. What are you wearing? Comfort
19. Your TV? Clunky
20. Your pet? Kids
21. Your computer? Slow
22. Your mood? Relaxed
23. Missing someone? Family
24. Your car? Minivan
25. Something you're not wearing? Shoes
26. Favorite store? H&M
27. Your summer? Schedule-free
28. Love someone? Ben
29. Your favorite color? Aqua
30. When is the last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? Yesterday

And just for the record, Leslie is one of those high school friends I still stay in touch with and adore and will never break up with. And she has a hilarious blog.

Oh, so naughty and oh, so cute.

Kate is...

Oh, so naughty when she colors on the floor and walls with crayons.
But oh, so cute when she is coloring in her new princess coloring book daddy got her FROM Disneyworld.

Oh, so naughty when she draws on Ian's homework with a marker.
But, oh, so cute when she exclaims, "I do homewahk!"

Oh, so naughty when she runs away at top speed down they hall at church.
But oh, so cute when she you finally catch up with her and she gives you a big squeeze and a pat- pat on the back.

Oh, so naughty, when she rips six keys off daddy's laptop while he's out.
Oh, so cute while she is watching me fix them and saying, "Thassa P, Mommy!"




I'd give you away, Kate, if you just weren't s'darn cute!

I Heart YW!

I have been serving in the YW program in my ward for just over a year and now I'll be serving as the YW president. I'm a little scared but also excited and just filled with love for these girls!

This picture was taken at the Newport Beach Temple with six of the best girls in the world: Nory, Jolie, Kiara, Hannah, Rachel and Channing.

Scholastic-Schmastic

I love books. I always have. I remember being Ian's age and just wanting to devour books. You know, in the non-literal sense. My grandpa once sent me a whole set of Trixie Belden Books for my birthday and I read them in two days. I still love curling up in bed with a good book, reading late into the night.









My favorites in 3rd grade were The Neverending Story by Micheal Ende -you remember the movie- and Momo by the same author- both originally in German. (If you didn't know already...I grew up speaking German and didn't learn to speak English fluently until I was about 7 or 8 years old.)

Both of these books really made me think.








I remember going to the book fair at school during fourth grade after I moved to the States and wishing with all my little heart that my mom would buy me those books on display in the library. I remember Judy Blume books like Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing, and the Ramona Quimby Series by Beverly Cleary. My mom neverl et me buy these. But she did let me ride my bike to the library all summer long to check out as many books as my library card would allow.






Although I am cheap, and Ben is cheaper still, I decided two years ago when Ian got his first Scholastic Book Order Form in Kindergarten, that my kids should have the privilege of buying "those books" just because I didn't. So we became fans of Scholastic! At first Ian was choosing cute books by Dr. Seuss and Eric Carl, and other favorites like Magic School Bus and Magic Tree House books.
















Over the years, Scholastic Book Orders have become a little more annoying. The boys started wanting books with Star Wars and Indiana Jones and Captain Underpants in the title. While not the best choices, at least these books have a plot. However, the latest requests have been Pokemon Guidebook and Test your Video Game IQ! The latter was Ian's choice for this month. I a) tried to talk him out of it, b) refused you pay for it, c) tried explain to him that this does not necessarily qualify as a good book and d) conceded when he insisted on using his own hard-earned allowance to buy it!

Side note -I think Video Game IQ is my new favorite oxymoron.






And don't even get me started on the non-book junk they offer. They even sell video games, which, to me, are the complete opposite of books - neither educational or imaginative, frying brain cells left and right.


This item was truly alarming...



Because...


1. How early do we really need to introduce texting? Ian is in 2nd grade and is still learning how to actually spell words.
imo txtng isnt the bst thng vr to hapn 2 the englsh lngj

2. It costs $20! It would take Ian four months to earn that kind of cash.

3. It's practically encouraging kids to text each other in class. What teacher wants that going on?! in second grade!?

"Shhh...this pen really writes but it's also a texting device!"

4. It only works up to 10 feet away??? Can't you just talk?

5. It looks like a pregnancy test.



I'm ready to quit Scholastic. Maybe my mom was on to something.



Okay, really there still are a lot of good options with Scholastic and there's always the library...
Please share your favorite children's books in your comments!