Ayres Insanity

  Thanksgiving was lovely as always. We went to my grandmas house at noon and enjoyed a delicious meal and some good time with the fam. Russ had worked the night before and hadn't slept much so after dinner he went and slept in the spare bedroom for a few hours. I took full advantage of the quiet time after everyone else left and spent a couple of hours reading my grandmas history and journal. My aunt had compiled her journal from back before I was even born so I skimmed through and read everything that involved me and my family, it was so sweet! My favorite parts were when she spoke about my grandpa, every single time she referred to him as her "sweetheart". Cutest thing ever! Maybe someday Russ and I will be that cute.   Later that evening we went to Russ' sisters house for leftover turkey sandwiches and more pie and enjoyed the rest of the evening with his family. Overall, a great holiday.   Next on the agenda, new baby. Only a few days left and I can't wait ...

  Yesterday as we were getting ready to take the kids to Cornbellys, it happened...   The boys were playing outside while Russ and I were getting Zoey ready, I walked downstairs to find a very terrified and sad looking Taevin sitting quietly on the couch. He said with his little voice shaking "mom, I feel really stupid". Thinking surely some kid had been mean to him I was ready to go outside demanding justice but I could barely ask why when he burst into tears and told me he had been throwing rocks in the road when one accidentally hit Tasia's car and broke the window. I tried to calm him down to gather the whole story but he was inconsolable. I finally said "well let's go take a look and talk to her."   We walked up there to survey the damage (Taevin sobbing and clinging to my arm the whole time) and sure enough, the window was broken. (turns out it was actually big dirt clots he had been throwing to break them up and one had flown up and got the wi...

  This has been a totally miserable pregnancy for me, and the only reason I'm documenting it is for my own personal records. This kind of rant is uncharacteristic for me given that I usually love being pregnant so I apologize in advance for the negativity.   As I've said before, this one caught us off guard and although we are thrilled to welcome this little girl into our family, it did take some getting used to, making this pregnancy an emotional roller coaster for the both of us.   I had just lost 10 lbs and was working toward my goal weight when the news came, and I was sick almost immediately so the working out stopped and I was devastated to have to put my health goals on hold. I was nauseous and throwing up until 20 weeks, the nausea has never fully gone away causing food (particularly breakfast) to be the enemy for the last 8 months. I eat what I can tolerate and probably shouldn't admit it but have given in to the urge to make chocolate pudding ca...

  Today was an eventful day. Among the many errands I had to run, one of my stops was at Joann Fabrics. We were there for a while so the kids were tired and I was frazzled by the time we had checked out, but alas, we made it home and were outside enjoying some play time when I noticed that Taevin and a bunch of the neighbor kids were chewing gum. I asked where they got it and they said that Ryler had given it to them. Given that Ryler cannot be trusted with gum, I very rarely have it around, so I called him over to inquire about where he had gotten it from. He innocently replied (with a wad of gum the size of a kiwi in his mouth) that he got it from the store and showed me the empty package.   Oh boy! Well my first response was to be angry but upon further questioning on our way back to the store, I discovered that not only did he not know what stealing was, but also didn't understand why it was bad. I explained things to him and told him th...

  Roughly 12 years ago I heard a quote from my mission president's lovely wife, and it goes...   "Be pretty if you are, be witty if you can, but be cheerful if it kills you!"   I think those are good words to live by, but I have to be honest, I'm kind of struggling with that last one. Under normal circumstances I'm fairly pleasant, but during the last 7 months of my particularly difficult pregnancy I've been a bit off my game. Like today for example, when I yelled at a random neighbor. I was out watching the kids when he came strolling through the neighborhood walking his little dog, it just so happened that my neighbor's dog had escaped (which is a common occurrence with small children who open front doors), anyway, my neighbors dog naturally ran up to this guy and his dog to play and exchange a harmless butt sniff when the guy grumpily picked up his dog, threw his hand up and looked at me and told me to take care of MY dog. Well, in my pregnant s...

  School is back in full swing and I had some mixed feelings about it. I loved summer! I loved not having to wake up early (that was my favorite part), getting to play outside all day, the warm weather, and just having that leisurely unscheduled time with the kids. But I love the structure that the school year provides, the time to get the things done that I can't do while they're around, and the opportunity for them to be taught by someone other than myself.   Taevin is now in 2nd grade and from what I'm told, has one of the best teachers in the whole school, Mrs. Arnold. He likes her a lot and has made friends quickly, he is reading like a champ and says his favorite part of school is recess (go figure).   Ryler is back to preschool for his second year with Mrs. Leanne and loves it! Lucky for us, preschool is just a short walk down the street, he goes on Mondays and Wednesdays from noon until 2:30, which happens to be around Zoey's nap time, so if I'm lucky ...

  Since my little Zoey will soon be getting booted out of the crib, we decided it was time to get a "big girl" bed. Given that a new bed would have cost us around three or four hundred bucks, I decided to give the KSL classifieds a try, and after a couple days of searching, I came across this little gem.     It came with the headboard, footboard and rails and for the bargain price of $50! I liked the basic shape and look of it but it needed a paint job and those prison bars had to go.   It sat in my living room for about a month until last weekend when Russ and I decided it was time to get motivated and get this project done. I removed the bars and Russ gave it a good sanding. I searched for a while to find some sort of decorative spindle to replace the bars but with little success. Finally I found some tiny candlesticks at Hobby Lobby, glued the ends together and voila... I had spindles, we cut them to size and added some little wood appliques and after a f...