11:58 AM

TWENTY-ONE years ago today, at 11:58 AM, we welcomed our firstborn into the world. Beautiful Jillian Shae Ditty...did you know that her name means "downy-haired child from the faerie fort"? Yep.

I don't have many pictures of her early life scanned. So this is what you get today.
Beautiful Jillian. She has been a delight from minute one...except for the emergency c-section. But after that, she has brought joy into our lives daily. She is kind, caring, nurturing, hard-working, musically talented, and funny. She is my firstborn, my much longed for daughter, my confidant, my partner-in-crime, my best friend. I love her more every day.
She got clothes, a pair of much-needed shoes, and a copy of Beauty and the Beast for her birthday. We have spent the day at church, playing duets on the piano, watching the above mentioned DVD, and playing Skip-Bo. It was a good day.

Grace turns 9

Grace's birthday celebrations began on Saturday at Incredible Pizza with family, and best friend Brynlie. We bowled...
Played Dance Revolution, skee-ball, and other games....
Ate, and got prizes! Super fun place to party.
Her actual birthday was on a Sunday. We had to wake her up exactly at 9:00 AM...on her 9th birthday....(don't judge...it's Sunday and she stayed up really late last night!)
She didn't want cake. She wanted (and got) a cream cheese brownie from Kneaders.
Making a wish...
Hugs from the person who made her.
I scrolled back and tried to see if I've blogged about her birth. I sort of did on her 7th birthday. So I won't bore you again with the "miracle of joy" story. But here are 9 things I love about our Grace:
1. She never leaves a room without saying "I love you."
2. She has a kind heart.
3. She's great fun to see movies with.
4. She has a fabulous sense of humor...she keeps us laughing.
5. She is a good, true, and loyal friend.
6. She is always quick to say "I'm sorry."
7. She reminds us of the simple joys in life.
8. She loves to make cards and letters for everyone.
9. She LOVES shoes!!!

It's hard sometimes being the youngest in a house full of adults. Our Grace keeps us all young-at-heart, and is so patient with us. Thank you, baby, for being one of my best friends. I love you more and more every day. Happy 9th Birthday!

17

My boy turned 17 today. His posted his facebook status this morning before he even rolled out of bed: "Now I can legally use magic!"
The truth is, he has BEEN magic for me since the moment he drew breath. I love everything about him. He has a special place in my heart; unconditionally and forever.

Curtains

I loathe sewing. Detest it. My mom was a BIG sewer...we always had matching polyester jumpsuits, t-shirts, dresses...you get the idea. She even made American Girl doll dresses for a huge family of dolls that she gifted to Jillian and her cousins. And we made the girls matching Christmas and Easter dresses every year. My job was cutting stuff out and ironing while she sewed. We made a great team! She made me learn how to sew, but I only choose to sew things that involve nothing but straight seams.
Anyway. I digress. Something always goes wrong when I attempt to sew; tension, bobbin, needle breaking...I have a basic, bottom of the line machine that's about 15 years old.
The problem with this is that I always WANT stuff that can be sewn. I can never find curtains that I like in the stores. So I sew them.
This is the project that I undertook a couple of weeks ago. New bedroom curtains. I adore toile...I would wrap my entire house in it if I could. I'm well on my way to that actually.
Notice the little brown puffball trim...that was seriously hard to attach! I also made a big toile pillow for the bed :)

Released

It's taken me a week to be able to post about this latest development...
Last Sunday I was released as our Primary Chorister. Sad, sad day. Almost four years is a long time to be in any calling.... I had four programs to pull off. And I added it up: I taught them over 70 songs! I had a couple of kids cry after Sacrament Meeting, a couple of them wrote me sweet notes and drew pictures. I love those kids so much...Primary is where it's at. They love you unconditionally, but don't give any mercy if you're boring or phoning it in....

Anyway. Onward I guess. I was called to be the Relief Society secretary....so I'll still have something to do. I have not attended Relief Society for EIGHT years. I must say I'm not especially looking forward to it. But I've already noticed that I have MUCH more time on my hands during the week. It's weird to not have half of my mind always on the songs, ideas of how to make it fun, always on the lookout at the store of things to use as props etc....and the ever-present what-am-I-going-to-do-this-Sunday-thing!
Perhaps I'll pick up one of my old hobbies...it's been YEARS since I've scrapbooked!

The Magic Of KSL.com

A few minutes ago, Grace came to me and said, "Mom you should blog about my new bed." I handed her the camera and she took all of these pictures.

Jillian and Grace shared a room for about 3 years...when Grace was 4 she moved out of our room (let's be honest...bed...I know. Sorry) and was super excited to have a bunk-bed with Jill. She's been in the room alone now for, oh, about 2 1/2 years. We really don't need the bunk-bed. It was taking up tons of space in an already small room. Last weekend, I decided to post it on KSL.com before I went to bed on Friday night. I had it sold, taken apart, and carted away by 8:30A.M. the next morning. Seriously.
With a wad of cash in my hand, off to Shopko we raced to purchase this fantastic captain's bed...complete with headboard and extra drawer space!
Huge thanks to My Ty who was home for the weekend. He took apart the bunk-bed, went shopping with me, helped cart the new bed inside and spent a couple of hours putting it together. Thanks to Andrew too, who rolls along good-naturedly with my wild-hairs and helped with the assembly as well.
Now if I could only manage to train her to make her bed and keep her room clean....

A Mermaid and Best Brother Ever

Another Halloween come and gone. For the first time IN HER LIFE Gracie has not had a brand-new costume from the GYMBOREE...complete with matching tights and accessories....she wore the same mermaid costume Jill wore when she was in 3rd grade...
It rained. Ryan arranged for Grace to go with him and a group of his movie-theatre friends to their ward's trunk-or-treat...in Alpine. S.C.O.R.E.
They left at 5pm...and got home at 9pm. Seriously. They went to the trunk-or-treat, then Ry drove through the rain house to house depositing them at the doorways of enormous mansions that gave out full-size candy bars.
Grace highly recommends begging for loot on the east side. I'm not sure she'll ever be able to go back to trick-or-treating in our neighborhood.
AND best brother ever award again to my Ryan.