FYI

Homemade meatballs are totally not worth it.

I decided to try it tonight.

As I was removing them from the skillet a piece of beef exploded sending boiling-lava-hot butter on my arm and in my eye.

Thus the pic... (which i found in a random hallway at the Museum of Natural Science, I take no responsibility for how extremely offensive it is).

I screamed, which scared Olivia to death, and sent Kolby hiding under the table, so the "bubbles" wouldn't hurt him. Just then my chem-teacher-hubby walks through the door and gives me some lecture about flushing it out properly. Blah blah blah. I washed my eye while Daniel flipped the next batch of meatballs and the kids hid upstairs shouting "be careful daddy, don't let the bubbles get you!"

If you do want to actually make meatballs instead of just buying the frozen bag like any normal person would do, I would recommend safety googles. Unless you wanna end up like Carol.

Stage Fright and Headbangers

Ok so i suppose this post is mostly for my sister.

Olivia has been singing Twinkle Little Star for the past month and i thought i should catch it. For some reason she got stage fright and Kolby was her back up.

ANd the second clip...Basically i laughed myself sick and i just know Brittany will do the same. Esp. at Olivia's face at the last freeze frame. Its classic. We are wierd like that. We are sisters.

The Beheading...

This is what i did last night... Step 1. get my kids to hold still for a profile shot

Step 2. cut off their heads (just the photos i promise)

Step 3. trace on to black paper and cut again

Step 4. paste into adorable frames from IKEA

Viola! Silhouttes for my "music room", plus Olivia likes to run around the house talking with the kolby and olivia heads. They didn't turn out as big or as amazing as they were in my head but then again nothing ever does really:) It was still a fun and super cheap project. And most importantly a project that i actually finished in one day!!!

Also found this vintage poster from a piano book from the 60s thanks to my mother-in-law. It makes me laugh to think of some poor fool trying to play the piano with a piece of paper with a hole in it for their head to stick out. Now i just need some kind of music collage for the other wall and two chairs and the room will be complete. Good thing my piano students are finanacing my decor'.

Lost

No I'm not talking about the tv series..which i have yet to see... I'm talking about a new annoying habit I'm making of losing things (or letting my husband lose my things)

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This week has been spent reclaiming my lost items.

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I got my temple reccommend last Sunday, Daniel put it in his planner, and it was never seen again. I met with Bishop on Tues night and the Stake on Wed night to get a new one in time for our "fill the temple" this week.

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Today i was on the phone all morning with the tax office, got lost trying to find the courthouse (anyone wanna donate a GPS?), and stood in a long line to get a new registration sticker for my car after the last one was mysteriously thrown out

(I think I'd like to blame Daniel for this one as well...).

Kolby told me, "It was driving you ridic-ul-ous!"

I feel like i can sleep better tonight knowing that I have these important documents.

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I have learned my lesson(s).

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1. Its far more inconvient to replace something than to be anal about your stuff.

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2.All government employees try their hardest to never actually talk to you on the phone and if they do they make up directions for their own entertainment.

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3.Never trust my husband with any important pieces of paper.

Sick Day

They watched Homeward Bound 2 and Little Mermaid and Hannah Montana.

I watched my baby shake and vomit all morning.

Then i watched her fall alseep in my bed.

As much work as it was, especially all the wash and trying to explain to my 2 year old that she could not have a snack, I was actually grateful to be a stay at home mom today.

Everything just got put on hold. I have no deadlines or mandatory meetings so the fact that i didn't shower til 2 had no effect on the day.

She felt well enough to play superheros with Kolby by 6pm.

I love how quickly children bounce back!

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(Pardon the scraggle-muffin kids...did i mention it was a sick-day?)

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And here's a video clip of "How to be a Superhero"...which turns into

"How to greet your Superhero" :)

First Day of School Blues

sent my baby off to school today...ok not really just my hubby.

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Woke up at 5:30am with kolby to suprise Daniel and make him breakfast for his first day back. Any of you who know me know that me getting up early when i don't have to speaks volumes. I've been so spoiled to actually have someone to share all the child care and housework with all summer. Man am i gonna miss my hubby for the next 10 months.

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I thought i was being productive today. cleaned the upstairs, went grocery shopping, got my oil changed, folded and put away laundry, managed to sqeeze in a game of Trouble and Monster jam, made dinner before 7:00, had FHE and bathed the kids. Now i look at my house and see dinner dishes, Trouble pieces, brownies stuck to the floor, and a pooed-in bathtub thanks to Olivia. Perhaps I'll just be lazy tomorrow and have the same results.

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Kolby at least made me giggle. Last night as Daniel and I were hugging he said "oooooh la la". Then he laughed so hard he fell off his chair.

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And today when i passed a cop he said, "mom, there's a police car, you gotta slow down." After i turned the corner he said. "ok now the police is gone you can speed up". When I told this to Daniel with a frown on my face he explained that Kolby just had a natural instinct about the situation and it was through no fault of his that our son could be thinking along those lines.

Inspired

Last night my fab sis-in-laws and i went to see Julie and Julia. Which i adored. I laughed out loud several times, got a wee teary eyed and felt inspired to do something more with my life. Not mention its totally a movie for bloggers:)

This morning I woke up and made this... (Blueberry-Cheese Rolls) sorry about the blurry pic, i would have taken a real pic since mine really were that scruptious looking but we ate them too fast!

I made it in less 10 minutes flat, spent less than $5 and served it with a strawberry smoothie...not the coffee. Of course Julia Child would be mortified by a can a cresent rolls but around here the only breakfast choices are Cheerios or Oatmeal Squares so that fact that i baked was huge. baby steps. Have no fear I have absolutely no intention of cooking. Just felt inspired to jump out of the mundane and try something new.

Finished this last night...

For sure unlike any other book i have read. It was intriguing and thought provoking, philisophical and scientific, symbolic and yet so real, hard to stop reading but hard to keep reading, beautiful and so horrific i could hardly stomach it at times. I'm pretty sure i loved it. But only reccommend it to those who find the previous descriptions mentioned a good read. If not you may be bored to tears or simply vomit. Don't know how my spectrum of taste can include this book and Hannah Montana. I'm a weirdo.

p.s. seriously what the heck? why can't i get my text to space correctly again? Why does blogger insist on jumbling my words all together? I swear it didn't used to do this and I highly doubt I'm smart enough to have changed any settings. help anyone?

Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk

...scream about it instead! at least that's what i felt like doing today. Olivia started out spilling her full cup of milk at the breakfast table. This happens every morning so I don't know why i still get frustrated. It wasn't so much the sticky mess I had to clean off my newly mopped floors it was dealing with a 2 year old tantrum and sending Olivia to time out within the first half hour of her being awake that made me want to scream. and then there was lunch... After a disasterous trip to Target where Olivia proceeded to display her swell mood we went to McDonalds. I know i know...its just that i promised both of them if they were good that we could go to lunch with Rosie and the girls and Kolby was good but Olivia wasn't. I was stuck in a jam. Do i punish them both? reward them both? Take them both and have Olivia watch us eat and other people stare at me for being such a mean mom? Oh ya i forgot to mention how i put Olivia in time out while i was in the check out line and Kolby got all choked up and said, " Mom don't leave Olivia at Target! Please she has to come home with us. She's sorry". After the bad-mother-looks at Target i decided to let Olivia eat lunch with us. While i was trying to get her to eat more than just fries she gave me attitude and then knocked over a jug of chocolate milk. Luckily for her it barely missed my pale gray capris and came right off my flip flops. Needless to say, spilled milk doesn't make me cry, it makes me wanna scream! After finishing setting up Daniel's classroom he took me out to Pei Wei while mark and rosie watched the kiddos. It was super yummy, there was no milk on the menu, and when i returned home i laughed and giggled and sang with my sweet Olivia.

Don't Judge

I may have watched this today and loved it. Don't judge. I may have bribed my neices with a dozen donuts to watch it with me. Don't judge. I may have eaten two of those donuts. Don't judge. I may be dying to learn the dance. ok you can judge.

Cute faces...quick fingers

Sunday i snapped a few pics of my kiddos adorned in Nursery/Sunbeam accesories. I was thinking how cute and innocent they were. Yesterday I walked out of the grocery store to discover that Olivia had snagged a jar of candy in the shape of a baby bottle. I'd like to say that this was the first time something like this happened but honestly I've managed to accidently go home with a pair of crocs, a poster board, and a case of water. Most of these were really my fault though for placing them on the bottom of the cart. I did go back and pay for them after i got some nastly looks. But this really was the first time my baby took something. Of course we took it right back and Daniel attempted to explain to her that we need to pay for things. She said, "ok daddy" and that was that. Perhaps I can't leave all the lessons for them to learn at church. Coincidentally when we got to our car it wouldn't start. I ended up taking the kids back inside the store and buying some candy while we waited for Daniel to run to the auto parts store in the 90 degree heat. Not sure if Olivia really learned her lesson but I've decided to never be a part of shop lifting again..even if its by accident. Cars are just too expensive:)

Fun in the Sun

The past few weeks we've been so busy playing i haven't had a chance to blog it all. Somehow we managed to squeeze in a trip to:

1. The neighborhood pool...with my twin sis-in-law:)

2. Galveston (ok not even close to the beauty of Cancun or Canon Beach from earlier this summer but our kiddos loved it!)

3. Sea World, San Antonio...Kolby was our navigator

4.Um...ok not really in the sun but i had to add our girls pampering trip to the spa...

5. Schlitterbahn... this was awesome, we had so much fun with Dave and the girls!

Sadly today Daniel headed back to work so its back to just me and the kiddos. Until next summer.....

Century Party

We celebrated my father-in-law's 60th birthday and my their 40th anniversary this past saturday with a huge party! Here's my amazing in-laws all squeezed in to one adorable picture! Thanks all for humoring me by wearing black and white to match the theme for the night. You know me and themes:)

The details: the sign-in table (i knew those lanterns i bought for olivia's party would come in handy), center pieces(made by rosie), memory book ( i made with blurb...gotta love it), and the cake (made by H.E.B.)

Unfortunately in the hussle and bussle i forgot to get a pic of the display table with the photos and slideshow we had going too. All in all the party turned out to be a huge success. I am so grateful for my mother and father-in-law and was so glad to be able to attempt to pay them back for all their love and generousity over the years. The thing that made my night was when a friend told me that she had barely had a chance to say hello to Estes when right away he took her and said, "You have to see my book!". Funny how just a few words can make everything worth it.

"Fun" run

I'm really not sure why fun and run can be grouped together but apparently my father-in-law loves running enough to do it 1st thing the morning of his 60th birthday! The grandkids all ran 9/10 of a mile and the pure blood Lawtons (plus Erwin) all ran a 5K. I prefered to wear cute running clothes and take pictures:)

Haha this pic is actually before they even ran but baby Levi just spit up on Daniel so it looks like he's sweating already:)

Doing stretches led by the military man, Dr. Dave.

Kolby was soooooo excited about getting to run in a race. He could hardly sleep the night before. He got up early and dressed in his running clothes all on his own. He told everyone, "I'm gonna run super fast! I'm gonna beat daddy! I gotta stretch"

Even Olivia completed the race...she did get a few rides from her cousins along the way.

I love seeing how the running-gene has definately been passed down throughout the Lawton family.

The serious runners...

The brothers...ok now that is real sweat.

Look who I met today...

For those of you who aren't piano nerds...this is Jane Bastien, as in the co creator of the Bastien Basics Piano series. She and her late husband James created the books i learned from and the books I now use with some of my students. I went to a clinic today and felt cool to meet a person who has actually has a Lifetime Achievement Award. Unfortunately piano teacher are most commonly funny old ladies with huge hair, I should know as I was sitting behind one of them and her bright orange hair often blocked my view. They were all extremely friendly and I have to admit I felt a bit out of place when they all started singing along with the songs Jane was playing (yes I just called Mrs. Bastien Jane). One woman asked me if I was a student because i looked like i was 17. I smiled and said nope, I'm 26. Obviously her eye sight was so bad she couldn't see my crows feet which are displayed in the photo above. The workshop was great, the lunch was yummy, and I even won a door prize! Yippe skippy! The funniest part of the whole day had to be when I asked to take this photo and Jane said, "oh shoot I had lipstick on earlier!" Women of all ages, even ones with a Lifetime Achievement Award, still worry about their looks. Gotta love it!

Wanna talk trash?

Saturday was spent deep cleaning the house basically all day long in preparation for the 15 + people who will be sleeping here and the 30+ people coming and going for my in-laws big 60th b-day adn 40th anniversary this weekend. At the end of the day i realized i had no idea where my renewal sticker for my car was, ya know the one that i paid $55 and am required to have on my car as of Aug 1. Needless to say Daniel and I sat in the driveway at 12:30 sorting through four bags of trash. We found some pretty horrendous things in the trash after it sat in the 100 degree weather all day but still no sticker. I hate cleaning!

Perhaps kolby's summer job, feeding the neighbor's wild squirrels and birds will help me pay my ticket when i get pulled over for being without my sticker:)