Happiness

This is my most favorite place. EVER.

Our temple is closed for the next two weeks for cleaning.

I had the delightful pleasure of being asked to help.

My assignment?

Polishing the 4200 crystals on the chandelier

in the Celestial Room.

No, not by myself - there were about 10 of us

working hard for four hours.

Amazingly enough, there was not ONE speck of dust on my white gloves

after cleaning--- I don't know how many hundreds of crystals.

This chandelier is only cleaned once a year.

No dust. None.

It was truly awesome.

Another testimony to me of the

Lord's attention to detail and cleanliness.

A true privilege.

Ask the Audience

Those of you who know me well, know that I am

(especially decoratively) creatively challenged.

So I'm using my 'ask the audience' option.

Pictured below is my breakfast area in the kitchen.

I want to put some toppers on, but not sure what to do.

I've found two fabrics I love - want to use both.

Any ideas???? Suggestions?

Thanks, friends!

You can email me pics or links if you have them.

raniandfam(at)gmail(dot)com

More Gross-ness

This is me (with rockin' sweet humidity hair)

applying some fancy stage makeup to Kyle's neck for his

first aide training at boyscouts back in July.

He had to show up with an injury.

He explained to me that he wanted to have

an attempted beheading as his mock injury.

That's not morbid or anything.

I did my best.

How about this masterpiece?

You can't tell me that doesn't look like

some fool tried to behead my boy!

The crowning moment of glory was when we stopped by the grocery store

on the way home. Kyle was looking at the Redbox for a movie

and some guys were standing behind him,

covering their mouths in disgust and pointing.

Finally one asked "Dude, doesn't that hurt??"

Kyle replied with pain in his eyes, "Oh, yeah."

Welcome to the family!

After getting a gift card to Petco for

CHRISTMAS

Tyler finally made his purchase.

(no, it's not the cutie in glasses...)

This is SPORT, our new skink.

My animal lovin' Maddie pays more attention

to the creature than anyone else.
If he gets loose...I'm moving out.
And I'm taking my ELFA shelves with me.

I *heart* Elfa!

I had a heyday at The Container Store yesterday.

Elfa is 25% off...happy news!

Nothing like a laundry room with a

15 year old washer and STORAGE!!!!

Organization = Happiness

Happy B-day Tyler!

Can it be? My baby is 14!

Tyler was THE MOST darling baby!

He was born with man hair.

It was so awesome!

We could style it the day he was born.

He grew up into an even cuter kid!

And an even CUTER teenager!
My boy got B*R*A*C*E*S today!
He's not so happy.

I really love this kid.

Tyler has always been a thoughtful, kind, and compassionate boy.

He's such an amazing 'oldest'.

He's brought so much joy to our family.

I appreciate so much his example, his testimony, and his kind heart.

Love you, Ty!

Medium

So, I'm not crazy about Rydge's teacher.

Aren't Kinder teachers supposed to be

WARM & FUZZY??

His is COLD & PRICKLY (thanks lunch friends :)

I HATED leaving my baby in her hands.

I boobed for an hour.

At the end of Rydge's first day,

trying to get a feel for the situation,

I asked him,

"So was your teacher really nice?

Or kind of mean? Or what?"

His reply:

"She's MEDIUM.".

And so it goes...

Wow! Summer is over.

ALL of my babies are in school...

ALL DAY!

Weird.

I had a really hard time letting go this year.

{ Tyler 8th, Kyle 6th (both Jr. High), Maddie 5th, Rydge -all day kinder.}

Especially this toad.

I love him. He's my friend.

He thinks he's so big.

He's really so so little.

Time just keeps trucking along.

SLOW DOWN!!!

I wish.

Driveway Fodder

You'd think after all of the

"deaths" we've had on the driveway

my critters would learn to pick up their crap.

My kids witnessed this scooters' demise.

They were playing on the lawn.

Did they wave and say "hey-STOP- watch out"?

I don't think so.

Just another senseless death.

Kindred Spirits

We had the great honor and privilege of having Sir Hunter Brittain visit us

for a week from the beautiful Camas, WA.

Tyler and Hunter are 'kindred spirits' - to coin the Anne of Green Gables phrase.

I've never seen so many cards played, jokesters,

late-late-late nights, and giggling!

Below - the kids anxiously awaiting Hunter's arrival.

Tyler & Rydge had to "Cowboy Up" to welcome Hunter to Texas!

I didn't take hardly any pictures from Hunter's visit. Too busy partying! :)

Here's Maddie hanging in the airport. Love her shirt.

Here he comes!!! Rydge had a friend visiting and the friend asked who Tyler's friend was. Rydge said "Hunter". The little friend then asked, "What does he hunt?"

Funny toad.

Below is a pic of the boys heading home from the airport.
It was such a great week. Thanks to Kristen and Shawn for loaning him to us.
As we were leaving to take Hunter for his flight back to Camas, Tyler asked if he could say a prayer. Of course, YES! In his prayer he asked that Hunter's plane would be full and that he'd have to stay longer.
These boys really love each other.

Kindred Spirits.

Rydge Olympics

What will the boys think of next?

Tyler and his friend Hunter came up with a new sport.

The Rydge Olympics.

Boys crack me up.

They can make a game out of anything.

This includes 'chunking' your little brother across the pool.

Rydge, however, was not an unwilling participant.

The favorite event was "FREESTYLE".
Chunk the kid anyway you like.
The judges loved this one.

There was also the SHOT PUT.
(maybe Rydge-put would be more accurate)

And the JAVELIN toss.

I'm not sure who the actual 'winner' was.

Tyler had tremendous upper body strength,

and Hunter was a champ with his form.

I guess in my book, Rydge was the true champion!

Unpacking Fairy

If I could have one wish, this day

it would be to enlist the help of

The Unpacking Fairy.

For the love of cardboard boxes everywhere!

How much crap is legally allotted to a family of six??

Honestly. Where did it all fit in the old house?

Anyway...I don't think my little fairy friend will

be dropping by anytime soon, so...

WISH ME LUCK!!

Cookie Dough and Haircuts

When Rydge eats

COOKIE DOUGH ICE CREAM

he picks out all of the doughy chunks

& sets them on the table next to his bowl.

*Kind of a dessert after dessert thing*

That's my boy.

NICE
Also, I feel renewed.
New haircut and new dark color today.
Such joy. Such rapture.
(Maddie & I on our new staircase!)
Now I just need a new At-ti-tude
to go with all of this new-ness!

New Digs

So here's a pic of our awesome new home.

We LOVE it!

The grass hadn't been mowed for more than three weeks.

Sweet Ty did the job.

He informed me with his VERY sweaty self that it took

40 lawnmower bag empties.

(He had the trash bags to prove it :)

That kid is AWESOME!

Rydge posing in upstairs hallway.
New home = New creatures.
Ty & Rydge found this
ARMADILLO skin in the bayou.

We're so happy to be getting settled!
Ssssslllloooooowwwwww but sure.

Chaos Sweet Chaos

After FIVE moves in less than SEVEN years

you'd think I'd have an efficient, organized

moving plan.

So why do more than half the rooms

in our new house look like

THIS?