100 things Erin

I tried this once before and never made it past 37. Let's see if I can do better today without putting everyone to sleep.

1) I love our new house.
2) I am a chocaholic.
3) I love my kids
4) ...but sometimes they drive me crazy
5) I am the youngest of 5 kids.
6) If you count my step siblings on my mom's side, the youngest of 10.
7) If you count my step siblings on my dad's side, the youngest of 13.
8) I haven't met all of my dad's step kids yet.
9) I am homesick for Utah, especially the mountains,
10) but I love living in Philadelphia!
11) Spring is my favorite season
12) because it means winter (my least favorite) is OVER!
13) I love it when someone gives me flowers...
14) it also makes me a little sad because eventually the flowers die.
15) I don't wear perfume because I think it makes me smell funny.
16) I like the good smelling lotions though.
17) I miss having long hair.
18) I used to dream up hair styles for the plays I was in.
19) I miss my friends from high school
20) but I don't miss high school!
21) I really miss college!!
22) I wish I still sang with an a'capella group.
23) I create a'capella arrangements in my head when I listen to the radio.
24) I sing pretty much all the time, either in my head or out loud.
25) I used to pretend to be a famous opera singer.
26) I can't really sing opera very well. My voice is better suited for musical theater.
27) But I love to listen to opera - especially when sung by tenors!
28) I love tenors!!
29) But I always dated basses.
30) I married a guy who is tone deaf but I love him anyway. =)
31) I am happy I married someone smarter than me
32) and more sane than me too.
33) Of course, John would joke, that is not too hard.
34) My favorite color is blue or red or purple depending on the day.
35) I sleep with 3 pillows... more when I am pregnant.
36) I am super self-conscious about my legs, especially my hips and thighs.
37) I love to dance - anytime, anywhere.
38) I love shoes even though that is so cliche.
39) I don't know what I want to do with my life when I grow up.
40) I used to have my life mapped out and then realized that was silly because I never followed my plan.
41) I like being spontaneous.
42) Unfortunately, I have found that difficult with kids.
43) I love watching my kids play together.
44) Hearing them laugh melts my heart.
45) I enjoy the details in life.
46) That is why I have fun decorating my house, because I get to add details.
47) I do not like overly floral patterns in my house.
48) The previous owners left floral curtains in our new house. The first thing I did was take them down.
49) I also don't really like hearts as jewelery or decorations...
50) except on Valentine's Day.
51) I prefer earth tones in my house: browns, blues, greens.
52) I can't wait to repaint our peach family room.
53) I love my boys but I wish I had a girl.
54) I have a pink satin blanket stored away just in case.
55) I miss my sisters.
56) I miss my mom, too.
57) I wish someone would create a teleporter already so I could see them more often.
58) I love that I have big brothers.
59) They were my protectors when I was growing up,
60) especially Jared.
61) He once buried a boy's face in the dirt because he was exceptionally rude to me.
62) He has been my hero ever since then.
63) Jared also grilled the guys I dated in high school. "What are your intentions toward my sister?"
64) He liked to embarrass me.
65) I am actually very shy, especially around people I don't know very well.
66) I cover up being shy by pretending to be an extrovert.
67) Sometimes it works.
68) Sometimes it makes me more shy.
69) I once dated a guy I met on an airplane.
70) It was weird.
71) I played the trumpet in middle school and high school, so did John.
72) I still have mine.
73) We pull it out occasionally to entertain the kids.
74) I still remember the fingering, though I don't play very well.
75) I also remember almost every word to every song I have ever sung.
76) I am constantly correcting John on the words to songs off the radio or from musicals.
77) I try not to be annoying about it but I think it bugs him.
78) I find it ironic that I can't remember much of anything but lyrics always stick in my head.
79) I am afraid that I will have Alzheimer's since my memory is so bad.
80) I don't have a family history for it though.
81) I don't like cats.
82) I love dogs.
83) I can't have either because I am so allergic to the dander.
84) We did have a bunny for a while but he made me sick too.
85) My kids are in for a life of fish and turtles as pets.
86) They kind of creap me out but I can deal with it.
87) I enjoy watching cartoons with my kids.
88) I love going to movies in the movie theaters.
89) My first movie theater memory is going to see "The Princess Bride"
90) It is still one of my favorite movies.
91) I am a Star Wars fanatic.
92) I also grew up watching Star Trek TNG
93) I love to read!
94) I read to escape real life and for fun.
95) I do not like depressing books but will read pretty much anything else.
96) My current favorites are the "Twilight" series by Stephenie Meyer.
97) I also love the Harry Potter books.
98) John and I read them out loud together.
99) I am a picky eater.
100) I could eat ice cream all day, every day, and never get sick of it.

Phew! I made it! Now if you survived reading the whole thing, it is your turn!

Gotta love Linvilla!!

On Saturday we found ourselves in a unique position- we had absolutely nothing we had to do! It was great! We had a leisurely morning and then decided to take the kids to Linvilla Orchards for their sweet corn/blackberry festival. The kids had a great time and I was thrilled to learn that Linvilla is only 8 minutes from our new house. How cool is that?!

The boys enjoyed the music and the characters who came to the festival. James wasn't so sure about Whinne the Pooh, but he climbed right up on Bob the Builder's lap. He was so excited to meet Bob, James wanted to get back in line again after we took their picture the first time. There was also this awesome clown who could make pretty much anything out of balloons. She made Sam a blue zebra (what else?) and James a fishing pole with a fish attached.

If you ever come to visit, we can spend the day at Linvilla picking berries or going on a hayride. I know we will spend a lot more time there now!!

new house pics

Finally! I actually took pictures of the house today. We don't have any art work or family pics hung up and are still getting books on the shelves, etc. I am also still working on convincing John that we need to repaint some of the rooms. He is in a no-projects-ever-again phase. So the house doesn't look much different than it did before we moved in, but here is what it looks like with our mess. Enjoy!

Living Room with the thousand pound bookshelves.

Dining Room the table is covered with pictures waiting to be hung.

Our office. There are a ton of awesome built in bookshelves!

Hall bath with Sam's most favorite feature in the house -- the blue toilet.

The boys' room. We really need to get James a bed that matches Sam's. But the blue race car is cool.

Master bedroom. This is actually a really big space, it is just hard to tell via my digital camera.

Our really messy playroom/guest room. The kids missed their toys while they were packed. I haven't had the heart to clean them up yet.

The pictures really don't do it justice. To really appreciate the house, I guess you will all just have to visit! I will even clean up the guest room for you.

just a little hitch

Well, we survived moving and are now safely ensconced in our new home. The move was a production - worthy of a Chevy Chase movie! We loaded the van on Wednesday the 16th with the help of some awesome guys from church. They didn't even complain (too much) about the 10 odd book shelves they helped move. Had it not been for brother Besson, I am convinced that we would never have fit all of that stuff in the truck. He is the amazing Tetris master!

Thursday night we drove the van to John's parents' house, took a dip in the pool, and steeled ourselves for closing day. Friday the 18th we closed on our Foss house at 9am and our new home at 11am. There were virtually no problems (Thanks to our awesome realtor, Emily) and John even took off the afternoon to do some preliminary moving. He got the truck to our house and with the help of our new ward, unloaded in less than an hour. We fed them pizza and sent them home. So far, so good, right? Too bad we have a history of trouble with moving vans! John, Dave and Gavin were packed in the truck ready to head to John's parents' house to pick up the millions of boxes we have been storing there for the last 2 months. Just as they were pulling out of the driveway, the hitch on the back of the moving van dug into the asphalt in the middle of the road and the truck jerked to a stop. It was stuck. One of our new neighbors came over with a jack and some wood. He tried jacking up the truck and putting wood under the tires, but nothing seemed to work- no matter how many ways they tried. (Kick me for not thinking to take pictures before it got so dark! But you get the idea...)Finally, about 9:30pm, John came in and asked me to call a tow truck. Hooray for AAA! They were the only place that was open and they sent a couple of guys out. They got here about 11:00pm and had the truck unstuck within a matter of minutes. They had never seen something like this before and thought it was hillarious. We thought they were hillarious - it only took them a few minutes to get us unstuck, but in those few minutes they argued with and cursed each other like nobodys business. We thought they could take their act on the road... oh wait, they already had!

Pictures of the house to come soon! We are still unpacking as half of our stuff is still at John's parents' house!

almost packed

We pick up the moving van tomorrow. My aunt and uncle arrived yesterday morning with furniture from Grandpa's house in Utah for us and John and I have moved all of our stuff from upstairs to the dining room. Our house is taking on the appearance of a warehouse. But other than a few stubbed toes, the boys don't seem to mind.

I hope posting these pictures doesn't discourage people from coming to help us move! Really, it is not as bad as it looks. (I hope!!)

Sam-isms

Samuel has a new favorite word. He used it twice today and had me cracking up!

1st time- We were watching a cartoon version of the story of Lazarus and at the point when Jesus healed a sick man Sam said, "Jesus is just terrific!" I had to ask him to repeat himself to make sure I heard him right.

2nd time- I was helping Sam get his floaties on so we could go swimming and he looked at me and said, "Mom you're terrific!" I responded the only way I could, "Thanks Sam. I think you're terrific too!"

Man, he is a cutie!!

strange dreams

I can not wait until we move! I have finally reached the point of stress (not bad stress, mostly excitement/anticipation) that I am having trouble sleeping. The other night I was up until about 3am because I could not turn my brain off - I was decorating our new house in my mind and deciding where to put furniture, etc. Anyway, I have hit the point where I am so wound up that when I do fall asleep I am having bizarre dreams. REALLY BIZARRE DREAMS! So strange, I actually remember them.
You PVHS people will appreciate this one: Last night I had a dream that Mr Eaton and Mr Lister chose to do a musical that was half in English and half in Russian. Mr Eaton was reading through the script with me, correcting my pronunciation of the Russian. (As far as I know, he doesn't speak Russian) The show was about a Mexican Revolution of some sort and I got to play one of the two main guys. Weird. Last night I impressed myself with the new degree of craziness which my dreams have reached! I am looking forward to the blissful, dreamless sleep that complete physical and mental exhaustion will bring after the move.

Alvin and the Chipmunks

I took my kids to the dollar movie this morning. They were showing the new (to me) Alvin and the Chipmunks movie. I used to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks when I was a kid. I loved the show and got a kick out of the songs. Although I never could figure out why Simon and Theodore would continue to follow Alvin's plans after he had led them into trouble time and again.

But anyway, the one episode I really remember from my childhood was when the Chipmunks flew to Germany with Dave to do a concert and Alvin had a dream about the Berlin wall being torn down. They sang a song "Let the wall come down, tumble to the ground." When they landed, Alvin found out it wasn't a dream or something like that. It is so odd the things I remember from when I was a kid. I am sure some psychiatrist could write volumes!

Anyway, the whole point of this blog is that I actually really enjoyed the movie - so did my boys- and it was fun because it brought back memories. The only thing that I didn't like is that the chipmunks used to sing songs that were actually about something. With the exception of their Christmas song, which was a nod to the old days, the songs in the new movie were junk, kind of like most pop music today. I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Remember this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EkmnlmtNLo

Top 10 take 1

Top 10 Things I am going to miss about living in our old house:

(These are in no particular order!)

1. Our Neighborhood - we have the sweetest neighbors! We block off the street every year and have a 4th of July block party. There are lots of kids for the boys to play with as well as some older kids who love my boys and can babysit.

2. Our ward!!!! - There are so many wonderful things about our ward that it would take an entire blog to fill, if you really want to know, give me a call.

3. All of the windows in our house - I love natural sunlight so the 20+ windows we have make me happy.

4. Our nursery - We worked so stinking hard on this room to get it ready when I was pregnant with Samuel. I dreamed up the decor and it turned out better than I had imagined!

5. Being within biking distance from Dairy Queen- We love blizzards! Biking to and from DQ lessens the guilt and the calories a little.

6. I can walk through the house in the dark without running into things - I know this house so well after 7 years I can walk through the house in the middle of the night without turning lights on to get James a drink or Sam a blanket or whatever else they ask for at 2am.

7. Our friends - it is not like we are moving that far away, but when you switch wards and don't see each other each week, you tend to fall out of contact. I will just have to make the effort to keep in touch!

8. This was our first home - this is the first place where I really felt at home here in Philly. This is where we brought our boys when they were born. This house has so many memories and I am sad to leave it behind.

9. The tree in our back yard - the leaves turn the most amazing color of red in the fall!

10. The character of our house - this house was built sometime between 1900-1920 (we're not really sure when) and has a lot of really cool details. It has the gorgeous 3-4" trim around all the doors, windows and doorways. There are hardwood floors throughout the house with a cool pattern inlaid around the edges in a darker wood. We have the original glass doorknobs on the doors and the closets have clothes hooks from when people only had a couple of outfits.

flashback Monday

When I was in middle school and high school I became really good friends with Amy Workman and her entire family. We did shows together, sang together in choirs, heck, I practically lived at their house for a couple of years. I was even kind of adopted into the family. Mama Workman will forever be my extra mom. We used to have sing-things at the Workman's house. We would all get together with an amazing pianist and take turns singing whatever song we felt like. Those are some of my happiest memories. At one of the last sing-things Mama Workman sang "I Think I'm Going Out of My Head" with Laura and Emily in three parts it was awesome!

The Workman family in addition to being kind and funny are incredibly musical- some of the best singers I have ever met. They all have their unique sounds and can do the most amazing things with their voices. Laura, one of Amy's younger sisters can mimic any woman's voice you have ever heard. She has some YouTube videos that you have to check out! She dubs in her own voice for the Disney Princesses and honestly, you can not tell the difference.

http://www.youtube.com/user/disneydiva7

Laura and Emily are actually doing an acapella competition and win according to how many hits they get on their post so be sure to check that out too! Itis on the same site, the post is "singing sisters."

Workman Family, if you read this, I miss you!!!

attack of the mohawks

I have noticed an alarming hairstyle trend - the return of mohawks and something even more hideous - fauxhawks. The worst part is that most of the time it is kids sporting these looks. What were their parents thinking???!!! The 80s are over, let us keep them in the past where they belong. What could be next? Mulletts? Ugh!

favorite 4th of July memory

When I was in high school I spent a few summers with my sister Keri in Boston, MA. One of those summers we decided to brave the crowds and go to the Esplenade to hear the Boston Pops and to watch the fireworks. We left Keri's house around 10 or 11 am for the drive into the city and to score a spot where we could actually see the stage. We spread our blankets and basket of food out in a nice spot under a little shade tree and began the 8 hour wait. Being the east coast we spent part of the time with the blanket folded up and huddling under an umbrella. It seemed like as soon as we had spread the blanket out again, the clouds would move back in and we would have to fold everything back up again.

It was a novel experience for me being from St George and all so I actually enjoyed the rain and the concert was amazing! If I remember correctly Bebe Neworth performed along with the Pops as did the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Although, the hit of the concert was when Bebe Neworth came out with a yellow umbrella and sang Singing in the Rain. Man! She has a voice!!

deep thoughts

In honor of the 4th of July barbecue...


In this age of technology when all you have to do is push a button to access your bank accounts, have your car park itself, and even launch a nuclear weapon, you would think that the hot dog bun industry would have figured out how to fit 10 buns in a package so you don't have to buy two bags just to have enough for one package of hot dogs!

I was doing a search online for a picture of hot dogs and found this. I think it is hilarious! Do any of you dog owners have a picture that can top this???

procrastination

Thanks to Danielle's blog I decided to buy some beads for my kids to give them something to do while I am packing and cleaning and generally going crazy getting the house ready to move. Unfortunately my plan backfired and I have spent more time helping the kids make their bead animals than I have working on the house. Oh well, it has been fun anyway and the boys love the animals. Heres a little peek at our handiwork.

And just so I can remember why I am going crazy packing my house...

Ahhhhhhh!!!