hallelujah!

A few updates....

1. The preschool year has begun! Ethan is in 3 day mornings. We've been at it for 3 days now and have even been on time each day! He loves it and takes off running for his classroom as soon as I set his feet on the ground. It gives me and my little man some much needed space and it gives him a new outlet for learning and new people to ask questions of. I get a break! I still have Olivia with me and unfortunately her behavior is going downhill as Ethan's is going uphill. Oh well, can't have them both in good spirits at the same time I guess.

2. MOPS starts tomorrow! I am starting my 4th year of being a discussion group leader. I love my group and this year looks to be fantastic! It is such a blessing to have these women to hang out with, rejoice with and commiserate with. I remember how lonely I was that first year of motherhood--wishing that I had some good friends that lived close by that I could really connect with. Thanks to MOPS I have more friends like that than I ever hoped for! If you are a mom that wants to know more about MOPS, just email me! I will hook you up right. :)

3. I am officially a small business owner! I have kept mostly quiet about this because I wanted to wait until it was official. Myself and two other women (Terri Miller and Sally Reed) have started a small coaching business called more coaching. We provide strengths-based coaching to individuals, couples and families. This has been a dream of mine for some time. My passion lies in helping couples strengthen their relationships by figuring how to best use their strengths in the marriage. I just didn't have the strengths needed to take it to the next step. Thankfully Jimbo hooked me up with Terri and the rest is history! You'll be getting an email from me once we get all our stuff together. But be thinking about giving a gift certificate from more coaching to someone for Christmas or for a wedding/engagement present. It is the gift that keeps on giving! :)

4. Jay and I leave for the Grand Canyon in one week! I will not be partaking in the hike this year--I learned my lesson last year. And my toenails have never quite recovered. :( Jay and a group of 22 other victims will be hiking from the North Rim to the South Rim--in one day! That is about a 25 mile hike and highly discouraged by the park rangers. But who cares about them, right? :) I have a muy importante job--driving a car full of everyone's gear so they don't have to haul it across the canyon. I will have a 5 hour drive all alone with my ipod--I can't wait. For those of you that know me well, you know I love to road trip. I don't get to do it much now that we have kids. So the idea of just driving without Olivia screaming bloody murder is delightful! We are already anticipating numerous stops at In n' Out and have budgeted accordingly. Our kids will go stay with the grandparents--many thanks go out to them for making this happen!

5. I just read a completely enthralling book: King Leopold's Ghost. Jimbo is super involved in a non-profit in Africa called AfricaWorks. I saw him reading this book at Crow Wing and hijacked it from him whenever I could. I finished it last week and would highly recommend it to anyone with the slightest interest in Africa. It is about the colonization of the Congo by Belgium and basically what a disaster they turned it into. Gives some interesting insight into why Africa is the way it is. Now I am reading Scramble for Africa which Jimbo says will give me an even greater picture of why it is such a mess. I will say this--what was done to the Africans was horrifying. There is no other way to put it. They were set up for failure from day one. I give major praise to people like my dad that still decide to go there and try to make a difference even though it seems like a mere drop in the ocean.


I know there was more stuff I was going to write about but Olivia just pooped so I have to go deal with that. Later!

i got schooled by my four year old.

As I was tucking Ethan in tonight, I was stressing to him the importance of "soft feet" in the morning. You see, I am blessed with a child that keeps to himself in the morning and lets the rest of us sleep in. When Ethan wakes up, he goes downstairs to have a snack and watch PBS Kids. But some mornings I hear him, thundering like a herd of elephants as he runs to the kitchen and back to the TV. So I was asking him to have "soft feet" and not make so much noise when getting his snack. So then he asked me to set his snack out and I of course, trying to foster independence, told him that he knows where we keep them, he could get it himself.

Then he says, "But Mom, the noise from my feet is when I have to run into the kitchen to get my snack. That is why we are having this problem!"

Point taken. He wins that round.

BTW, I realize I have hardly blogged lately. I will soon change this. But not tonight. :)

the bank always strikes twice.

Just got a letter in the mail from the bank that holds our Home Equity Line of Credit--our account has been frozen (no longer able to draw money out) due to a decrease in housing values in our area. Um, yeah. Aren't home values decreasing just about everywhere? And how does this impact my ability to pay on a loan that is owed?

This has happened to us before, believe it or not. Last year, when we were just about to pull the trigger on the kitchen project, we were informed that the HELOC we had for 5 years (and never used, I might add), was being closed due to home value decreasing. Okay, fine. We just went and got another one without a problem.

Fast forward to now. We haven't used the entire HELOC amount we were approved for and had no intention of doing so. We didn't ever use it like an ATM--we used it for the remodeling of our home only, figuring that we would get the value out someday (like 20 years from now). I needed to get a little more out of it to pay a no interest for one year purchase at Lowe's--a bill I hadn't been paying (because it isn't due until November) because I had been sinking all I had into paying off the HELOC. Now I have no way of getting the money I needed to pay that Lowe's purchase off and I haven't even made headway on it because I figured that I should pay the loan with interest first.

And to top it off, the freeze was effective on July 17. Yep, got the letter today. Would've been nice to know on the 17th. This is such a wimpy way out for these banks--they force us to go electronic on everything but if there is something negative to report (canceled account, bounced check), they send it snail mail thus ensuring they have at least 5 days in between the event and you finding out about it.

Jerks.

a few of my favorite things...

I haven't been blogging much lately because I have been a cleaning freak. When Ethan had mono I spent the week cleaning and organizing closets, my scrapbook room, my laundry room, etc. It was so satisfying! I found a couple cool things that I am loving right now so at the prompting of my sister, here they are!

1. Shoe organizer


I found this at Storables but they also have it at the Container Store (my favorite store!!). I got it in chrome but this one (in bronze) is on sale now for $20! It holds 18 pairs of shoes and each tier spins so you can find what you are looking for easily. Plus my kids think it is fun so they actually put their shoes away!

2. Closet rod dividers


Some might say this is the pinnacle of craziness but I think it is amazing! I got these at the Container Store for 99 cents each. I wrote on them with dry erase marker and organized my closet. I have categories for tanks, short sleeves, cardigans, hoodies, pants, dresses, skirts, etc. You get the idea. It not only helps me find things, it also helps me put clothes away--there is a hanger in place for everything!

3. SIGG water bottle


I have two of these--one is 20 ounces to take out with me and the other is 33 ounces to keep at home. I love the way tap water tastes out of these! I keep them in the fridge filled up so they are nice and chilly. Plus, you don't have to worry about any gross chemicals leeching out into you water. And you can wear your ecofriendly badge proudly when carrying one around. :)

thump.

Olivia just jumped out of her crib. I have been dreading this moment for quite some time. We heard a huge thump and ran up there--she was standing in the dark screaming and seemed a little confused as to what just happened.

I tried to reinforce the idea that we stay in our beds, not jump. I didn't do that with Ethan--and it was terrible. I don't want to go through that again. Hopefully she scared herself tonight by falling and won't try it again for a while. But knowing Pibs, she will soon realize how much freedom can be found by not being caged.

Time to start looking for a big girl bed!

who has he been kissing?

Ethan has mono! Seriously. I was shocked--I didn't know that little kids could get mono. He has had a high fever since Friday morning so I took him in yesterday--mono. He is on an antibotic to help with the lymph infection but other than that there isn't much to be done for the mono. She said he will most likely start feeling better in the next few days. Needless to say, it has been a miserable few days at the Olson house. Now I'm just waiting for Pibs to get sick!

Jay took yesterday and today off work so we could do some fun family stuff. Yeah, we aren't able to do much of anything, except break up fights between the kids (apparently you can fight just fine while having mono). And now Jay is feeling sick! He is still in bed with a really sore throat and the start of a summer cold.

I was able to clean and organize Ethan's room and our bathroom linen closet and I must say, I feel a little high from it. Really! I get really juiced up when I do a really good cleaning that results in good organizing. And I didn't spend a dime--usually my organizing requires a few trips to the store. Jay and I have bets on how long the clean will last. My money is on a week.

That's it from our part of the world. I feel like melting but I sure would love to be at the pool with the kids. Maybe soon!

good for a laugh

A friend introduced me to literal music videos a while ago and this one is by far my favorite! It is good for a laugh. Sometimes I find myself singing the words in this video instead of the actual lyrics!