Mother and Daughter's

Bring it on! Tonight will be our first of many M & D nights. Mason will be joining his dad on their first Father's and Son's campout. The big plans: shoppping, eating out, polishing fingernails and toenails, a movie and some treats. Is there anything I left off the list that girls should do when no guys are around. I'll have photos tomorrow to document our event. I'm so excited!

Geek Squad

Today I met with them for the first time. They're real people that really help. My computer is such a headache to me in so many ways that I went back to where we got it to explain my problems. They gave me a lot of answers and sent me on my way. They told me if I still have issues to bring it back and they'll look at the actual computer. Guess what, I'm stil having issues after trying their tricks out tonight. So it looks like me and the geek squad will soon be on a first name basis. The best part - it's free! (that is their help in the store) Maybe they can get away with it because there aren't alot of people willing to take their computers in. However if they have to come out to your house, $150.00 bucks per hour....ouch. I sure hope to get it resolved.

A.I.

Chris and Kris, anyway you spell it = Happiness. One in real life and one on a reality T.V. show. I so glad Chris Graham is my husband I'm so glad Kris Allen is in the American Idol finale. That's all I have to say about that.

My day off

I like to call Tues & Thurs my days off while Mason is at school. Perspective has changed so much in the past 8 years that I can call my alone time with 1 child a day off. It's my big day to get my groceries done, house cleaned, volunteer at the school, pay bills, and the list goes on.
This morning when Mason went to school I realized that he only has two more weeks left. I eat lunch with the girls every few weeks but have only joined Mason a few times. I'm not quite sure of the reasons why. For my free time today I put Mallory in the jogger and went for a run, came home and got ready and then went to the girls school. First Rozlyn for a 1/2 hour, then Charlotte for a 1/2 hour then I decided to go to Mason's school. I'd already packed him a lunch but grabbed a kids meal on the way there for him to be excited about. Just his mom coming might not seem that great. I'm lucky that all three of my school aged kids lunches are staggered about 35 min. apart so this could happen. He was excited to see me and we had a fun time. He's such a good little boy. When I took him back to class they were getting ready to rest. He has the view of the door so I could look in and wave, blow kisses, thumbs up, show him his prize I was taking home, hold up his lunch box, more kisses, funny faces and and a few more thumbs up. Luckily his teacher didn't come out to rush me along because I wouldn't have been ready to leave. He had the biggest smile and I was so happy that I spent my alone time not so alone today. The moment was priceless. Sometimes dirty houses can wait when these moments are available. I'm glad the opportunity didn't pass me by.

New Computer

I thought a new computer would be the solution to all of my techy problems. Nope. So I'm apologizing publicly to a computer that did us so good for so long. I'm not yet loyal to our new purchase. All the files are in wierd places. Certain files won't open because programs don't recognize them, the media center and picture viewers are all different. Grrr. I'm sure after some time I'll get used to it. Why is technology so difficult for me??? I even got suckered into paying for some upgrade/optimization that was supposed to make things easy breezy. Yes, totally suckered. It appears they just find desperate, uncapable looking females and charge us a large amount of money with empty promises. The sales dude gave me the pitch for alot of different systems to which he told me would all be 10X faster then our current computer. Chris's request was to get the fastest and best but honestly I can't tell any difference. On top of this all I've really wanted a lap top. I could have bought one but instead went with the desktop again putting off my wish for even longer. Even more then that I've wished for a Mac but in the end couldn't justify the price to myself because I'm so cheap. So here I am with this computer which I should be more happy about but just am not. At least it's not living and breathing. Now I don't have to feel all that guilty about my unkind feelings towards it.

Felicidades Mama

This was the what the card said that was attached to my big, fresh and beautiful bunch of flowers from Charlotte. She asked me what the card said when she got home and I just laughed. I love my flowers with a little spanish flair.
Mother's Day is like another birthday, all about me, what's not to love about that. I quickly listed out my favorite parts of today.
-Sleeping in
-Big yummy breakfast
-No extra church meetings so Chris can help get the kids ready for church
-My huge beautiful and bright daisy from the ward
-The primary kids singing to me - Mason's first time
-Mason's first prayer in primary where he blessed me (his mom) and of course his belt
-No meetings after church for Chris
-Presents-yahoo!! My favorite is my new hose holder, I know it sounds pretty lame except that I really wanted it now that I'm finding my green thumb and all (that's for a future post)
-Yummy dinner, yummy dessert and Chris's mandatory "make every kid say nice things about mom" game
-thinking about my mom
Speaking of....today Charlotte was having a hard time cleaning up after dinner, she was frustrated and crying (totally not fair on MY day). She asked me what I would do when I was a girl when I got in trouble or when I was mad. It made me think of my own mom. I told Charlotte that honestly I can't remember ever getting in trouble. No grounding, no time-out, no shouting, no spanking. I really don't remember ever being bad, and the time I was afraid of getting in trouble (when I almost burnt down the house) I just cleaned and cleaned and cleaned hoping she wouldn't be as mad when she got home. This made zero sense to Charlotte that I would clean to get out of trouble while she was getting in trouble for not cleaning. The irony. It left me in awe wondering how she did it. She even had one more kid then me. I always felt love, she gave me wings to fly and be who I wanted to be. She supported me in all my wildest ambitions and really had me believing that I could be anything I wanted to be. I'm not the same with my kids. I'm controlling, I want them to act a certain way, be a certain way and have a hard time letting the control go. I need to be so much better. I wish I had more of my mom in me. So instead of beating myself up over my poor parenting, I'll celebrate how awesome of a mom mine was and just try to be better. I love you mom, you're the best - felicidades mama.

Hooray for Antibiotics

Today I've spent my day grateful for modern medicine and how miraculous our bodies are. Just yesterday I was feeling so crappy. My throat hurt, I was so tired, I was just plain sick. I got in two naps before I even had to pick the kids up - my lucky break. I had to shuffle the kids to their dress rehearsal for their school talent show and it took everything I had in me to do it. We even left early which was frowned down upon but I really couldn't hang out there. Chris came home from work and I swallowed my pride and went to the late night clinic. I got in about 9o'clock, and the Dr. checked me out. It was strep throat as I suspected. I got home at 10:00 with my drugs handy and went off to sleep. I woke up still feeling miserable, took some motrin and by 12:00 my throat wasn't hurting. I love drugs!!! It must have been such an exciting breakthrough when penicillin was discovered. So I've spent my days amazed at how a little tiny bit of medicine can work so quickly and effectively even with the complexity of our bodies. I know I probably still have it and am not at 100%, but the difference in one day has me so happy. I should go to sleep now seeing how it's already after 11:00 and I'm sure so many of these night in a row is why I got sick in the first place.

My one and only sister

I just wanted to wish my one and only sister a very happy birthday. Today is her big day!! I could write something I love about her for each year of her life but thought I shouldn't rub in her old age. I'll just say that I feel lucky to have her in my life. From the time I was little she's watched over and cared about me in a way no one else has. I know I bugged her as a kid always wanting to be everywhere she was, doing what she was doing but it was because I looked up to her and wanted to be like her. She's wrapped up in all my childhood memories. Sleeping in her bed, throwing my Sunday shoes at her, trying to figure out how she got chocolate out of a Hershey's chocolate notebook and having sleepovers with her after she went to school. She taught me how to dance, how to be creative, how to be crafty and above all thoughtful. I know of nobody else who is as good at remembering somebody else's special days. She was always there to teach me, wish me good luck, make me care packages and travel packs. Now she does the same for my kids as well. She never missed one of my events while I was dancing, cheerleading, and doing plays. She was always, always there. She taught me how to dance, through all of my performances she was the behind the scenes story. The song Wind Beneath My Wings has always reminded me of her because while I was winning awards, getting recogniation and tonz of attention she was in the background. I so appreciate the endless sacrifices she made for me to see me succeed and feel like I'll never be able to give that back to her. I love to laugh with her, play games, make fun of ourselves, travel and take the average age down of people. I'm sad that so many states separate us and that I can't be there for her. This has gone on and on and I now can't see the screen because my eyes are filled with tears thinking back with a grateful heart for my sister. So Ang just know that I love you and have a happy happy birthday. Sorry this is cheesy, not your favorite thing.

Sweet Talkin

I just returned home from bookclub, a few hours earlier then the normal. I think we're all getting old and have less energy. I guess that's what the 30's do to you. I think the history of the bookclub originated in downtown Dallas 5-6 years back. Since then everyone has moved out to the suburbs but the club has stayed intact. That makes for meetings all over the place. I kind of the like the seperation from my everyday friends and ward. Anyway, I was driving the crowd out to Flower Mound tonight. We had 4 women and 2 babies in the mini-van from over here. I like to refer to the road trip as pre and post book club, because before we even hit our destination we've already covered so much. In the middle of the chit-chat I see the dreaded flashing lights behind me. Grrrr!! Why me, why now? As we were waiting for the cop to come up I told them to trust me and that I could get out of it. We quickly talked strategies and then I told them to keep quiet and that I'd take care of it. Then in my head I was certain I would get a ticket just for being so arrogant. I was nice, friendly, apologetic, and a little chatty. After he came back he said we could without a ticket unless anyone else in the back wanted one for some reason. SUCCESS!!!! It was the pride of my day. Now I'll go hit the sack a refreshed, rejuvinated and ready to be a better wife and mom. That's what my adult girl talk does for me. It fills my tank to try harder and keep going. It also helps that I come home to a neat and tidy clean house - I love my husband. First he lets me go have some girl time, second he cleans the whole house while I'm away. I can't wait to share my news with him in the morning that I got out of yet another ticket.

It was one of those days

I just returned from a YW board meeting at 11:08 p.m. That's right. I love working with the YW and love love working with the other leaders. I sometimes joke that our monthly board meeting is my social life. But honestly we laugh our heads off every time. Tonight we re-wrote the lyrics to the Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mamma, la la la song with modesty lyrics. When we perform it I'll try to record it and post it.
Prior to YW this is how my day went down....
I found this on Sunday and just laughed and laughed. My favorite part... I've got some time to myself so I'll brush my teeth. All the lyrics though really hit to close to home and yet I love my life and wouldn't trade it for anything.

Celebrating May 5

Cinco de Mayo and a new fresh month's of minutes for my cell phone. Two things worth celebrating. I think I'll get takeout tonight.
Charlotte told me she was tired and needed a nap. I told her to hold out and go to bed early. She seemed all concerned that she'd miss our "party". I told her it wasn't a real party just one where we order some yummy mexican food and tell each other "Happy Cinco de Mayo" that's as festive as it gets. I think she was dissapointed. I guess she thinks I abused the use of the party word.

Mother's Day Preview

Today I took my kids out into the swine flu filled air, hand sanitizer on the ready, to take care of Mother's Day and my sister's birthday (May 8th). That in itself is a huge success because I'm never prepared ahead of time. We went to the church bookstore because I had some returns and needed to make my family some money (see earlier posts) ha ha. That really was a laugh because I came out spending way to much. Let me just quick brag about the steals I found. "The Wednesday Letters" by Jason F. Wright, New York Times bestseller, regular price 19.95 was 1.99. There were tonz of them. I haven't read it myself but I bought three because well, they were only 1.99. Who knows what I'm going to do with them but I couldn't resist. I also picked up two Leven Thumps books (book2&3) hardback for 1.99. Then I splurged and bought myself "Project Organization" by Marie Ricks (my sister always shares tips from her and I need it!)some dough enhancer and gluten just because.
My success ended at this point.
My next stops, and my failures will briefly be described below.
1.Distribution center - closed for renovation
2.Borders to pick up Guernsey Literary book for Chris's mom (because I love it and know she will too) was all sold out. Next pick "I Capture the Castle" all sold out. What?? Bad Luck
3. The cute little local post office to pick up cute new stamps since they up the prices on Monday. My mom would like them because of practicality and Chris's mom would like them because she's the master card sender and stamp collector. Of course all they have left were a few forever stamps, but that wasn't the point. The point was to get some unique ones because that's fun, the new price starts the next day and I'm a thoughtful daughter.
4. The big huge, long line, real Post Office. I waited in line for a few minutes, asked a dude if they had really neat stamps, I was told no and left.
So in all of my intentions to think of Mother's Day a little earlier then normal so that a gift might actually make it to them before the big day failed.
What am I going to do, what does everyone else do? Someone enlighten me. I'll trade you a few 1.99 books for some good ideas. Please, anyone? I might even throw in some gluten.

I've been Elected

I'm happy to announce my new office - the Graham Family Historian. I don't think I've ever been elected to anything. I've tried and been the big loser a few times so I had to make up an office that was automatic and no one could vote me out of. (Chris made it clear he didn't want to run or be appointed).
With my new office comes new equipment. Presenting my new toy/headache...

Toy because of the many possibilities, headache because of my limited technical abilities.
Anyway, this device allows me to put all of my old unwatched media onto DVD's. I can put any VHS tape, our 8mm camcorder days and our recent miniDV's. My kids love home videos and in the past they've been such a pain to hook up, wires, wires, wires, change channels, change inputs, it doesn't work try it all again, I can hear the sound but can't see the pictures, you know the drill. Not any more, put in the DVD, select which scene you want and you're off. I'm so excited!!!
After I get the stuff transfered I'll be able to piece, add music, add still pictures and make movies.
Another responsibility of the family historian is to scrapbook. Unfortunately my goods are in a far away closet getting dusty. I can't get rid of them because I do enjoy it but don't have it in me to do right now. In the meantime shutterfly photo books are doing the tricks. They're not as personal, but they get the job done and that's the survival mode I'm in right now in my life.
I'll be up for re-election as soon as one of my own is capable to take over. Actually I'll probably just resign and enjoy the fruits of someone else's labors. I'll deserve it.

Vain at 3

Mason has been way into both his age and looks lately. He keeps on saying the funniest things. He's very into his clothes, picking them out, laying them out for the next day before he goes to bed and making sure they match just right. Then after he gets dressed he likes to look in the mirror. This is when he starts talking like this "How do I look??? Hey guys, do I look good?" "I'm a handsome guy". This is all while he's staring and beaming at himself in the mirror.
Along the same clothing lines, he always checks his tags and lately has refused to wear anything that doesn't have a 3 on it. If it's 2T or 4T I might as well just pack it away. This gets frustrating because he has some great outfits that aren't size three. Another obsession - his braided belt. He has to wear it everyday. This means only pants with loops will work. I'm sure you can imagine the problems he has with his shoes that are size 8. He just can't figure it out. "He this isn't right, these are Charlotte's shoes, Charlotte is 8". It just cracks me up how much these sorts of things mean to him when my girls never thought twice about any of it.
The last funny thing about being three is that he won't use the term "me too" when I ask the kids if they want to do something. He'll only say "me three" so he specifically waits for someone to say "me too" so he can use his age appropriate "me three". He then smiles all proud of himself like he just tricked everyone.
Someday I wish I could freeze this "3" stage. It's just such a funny one.

31 Posts

A brilliant idea to motivate me to post just came to me. "One a day in May". So starting today is the begining of 31 posts to come. I have so much to catch up on and never have it in me to do all at once so maybe if I spread it out I'll enjoy the process more. Since I'm slacking at my own personal journal I need to be at this. I still hold that reading everyone else's is way funner then writing one.
So brace yourself, daily updates are coming your way - I know you can hardly wait for the scope on our super exciting lives.
I'm so glad I got this in at 11:28p.m. and that it's still May 1st.