Master Gardener Apprentice

So something I've wanted to do for a long time...ever since I decided to get married instead of pursue a degree in Horticulture, is become a Master Gardener. Last fall I applied to the program here in Salt Lake City and then held my breath for two months. I found out I was accepted on Thanksgiving Day (thanks to forgetting to check the mail the day before). The program includes 8 weeks of classes and then you have to complete 40 hours of volunteer gardening during the summer. I've been going to classes for three weeks now and (eeek!) I love it and get so excited every Tuesday and Thursday night. I get all giddy thinking about Spring and being able to plant things in my own yard (aaahhh!!). Here are some forsythia I cut this week to force into bloom. This is the before picture, stay tuned for the after.

Hu?

This is how Owen was watching t.v. the other day. Sometimes I catch him doing a head-stand on the couch.

I went downstairs to see if Jeff was ready for bed and this is what I found. If you look close you can see his earphones in. He was listening to an audiobook and woke up several hundred pages later.


Hannah has decided she isn't a baby anymore and started to refuse to sit down in the high chair. So I finally waved the white flag and moved her to the table.

She also decided she was too big for her crib.

You have to love the first few weeks in the bed. No, Hannah, the blanket was to catch your fall. As was the pillow.

Jury Duty

Yesterday I did jury duty. The whole thing: went there, was selected, listened to testimony forever, deliberated. It was really interesting. I felt bad for the woman who was at our mercy. She was charged with retail theft from a home depot. How much did she still? $30 worth of merchandise. She was part Asian, so beautiful, well dressed and clean. And she had a little boy. I wanted her to be innocent, but she wasn't. It seemed so silly to me that she had chosen to steal $30. Now she was going to jail for it. What a stupid choice. Well the moral of the story is: don't steal or you could be prosecuted and go to jail for it.

I heart

1. Happy children singing Christmas carols all day long.
2. Being at a Psychiatry Department Christmas party.
3. Getting my car washed.
4. Christmas lights on all the lampposts on our street.
5. The smell of popcorn popping.

Random Thought #2

Buying things online is satisfying. No grumpy workers, no kids crying in the store, no traffic, aahhhhh:)

random thought #1

One of my biggest disappointments of the year is when I got a parking ticket in front of my own house. I backed out of my driveway in a hurry because someone was picking up my free washer. I left the car facing the wrong way for a few hours....and Mr. Parking Enforcement got me.

2-speed-Owen

Owen has 2 speeds.
Stopped and running.
This makes is difficult to walk him to school.
He runs and I say "Stop. You need to wait for me. Please stop. OWEN DO NOT GO PAST THE CORNER."
He stops and waits.
I catch up, walk past him, but he doesn't move.
He is busy watching a garbage truck.
I continue on and finally turn around "Owen, lets go!"
He turns his head and looks at me and then returns to looking at the truck.
"All right Owen, time to walk or we're going to be late."
He comes, running.
He runs past me...and past the 8 people ahead of me.
Now I can't see where he is. So I take off trying to weave through people with my Chariot.
I finally see him ahead "Owen, you need to stay by us. Just hold onto the stroller and walk with me."
O:"I'm tired, I need a rest!!!! My hands are soaking cold"
C: "We need to walk to make the crossing guard. Let's rest after we cross the street."
O: "urgh! I'm so tired."
We cross the street and then he takes off down the sidewalk toward the school.
I keep up but then suddenly...
O:"Ouch! Why do you always run over me?"
C: "well you can't just stop in front of the stroller without telling me."
O: "I wanted to see the water in the road" (the sewer drain)
C: "okay, just for a minute"
We finally make it to the school, coat off, hands washed, name tag on, and a hug goodbye.
I turn around and walk home.
Each step is uniform and identical.
There is no variation in my speed.
I turn each corner with precision and hop up each curb with alacrity.
I smile to myself, but by the time I get home I can't wait to go back and pick up my 2-speed-Owen

I Heart

1. Two-year-olds blowing out candles.
2. The first snowfall.
3. Babies who have the hiccups.
4. The shine of a returned missionary.
5. The quiet concentration of kids digging through their Halloween candy.

2

We're all smiles here today because Hannah turns 2! It's easy to let my thoughts turn back to when she was born and how much fun she has been the past two years. I made a video to help celebrate!

I Heart

I Heart: (thanks Mic for the fun idea)
1. Hannah turning her head back and forth to feel her ponytail flop around.
2. Lots of covers on a cold night.
3. Carving pumpkins.
4. The smell of Fall.
5. The familiar voice of a friend on the phone.

Back East

Wow, Owen and I had such a fun trip! It's good to be home, but hard too. There is always a lull after returning from something really fun. Owen is happy to be back in preschool and I am happy to be back with Jeff and Hannah. The first 24 hrs with Hannah were so fun. She had this very content, happy smile and kept letting me hold and cuddle her. (And if you know Hannah you know that's unusual).

Thanks everyone who let me stay at their place! It could not have been a better trip! Pictures to come soon.

GROSGRAIN MINI STORE OPENING NOVEMBER 6!!!!! AND BIG PREVIEW GIVEAWAY!!!!

So thanks to Kanien, I started looking at this blog of an amazing Mom who designs girls clothes. People are so creative!
GROSGRAIN MINI STORE OPENING NOVEMBER 6!!!!! AND BIG PREVIEW GIVEAWAY!!!!

Fun Times!!!

Owen and I are having so much fun on our trip! We're going to be sad to say goodbye to New York tomorrow. I can't wait to post some pictures from all our fun times. For now here are some shots of our cabin trip the weekend before we left. 

This is why I didn't bring Hannah with me. Her basic walking gear defaults sometimes.

Beautiful sister

Lucky Dog Creek

Herriman State Park

Owen

I've been getting a lot of people telling me they know someone who just named their child Owen. I love the name and I think it's fun to see how names come in and out. It seems like my Mr. O is soon going to have a lot of little O's running around.

In celebration of Fall, which is highly ranked number one in spite of all the other seasons great qualities, here are a few "hurray!" photos.2004

Who's that handsome young guy?

Owen's pointy eyebrows make me smile. (2005)

Notice the apple. One of my Fall favorites. 2006

2007

Snow and fall colors, amazing.

In two weeks Owen and I are headed off on a little trip back East. Happy Fall!

Bedtime questions

Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet
Eating her curds and whey,
Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away.

Owen "What's a tuffet?"
Jeff "a pillow"
Me (as I look it up on the internet) "a grassy mound"
Owen "What's curds and whey?"
Me "oatmeal with milk"
then I looked it up only to find out it is really cottage cheese! Interesting. And just in case you wanted to know more:

Story of the Little Miss Muffet Rhyme
Little Miss Muffet was a small girl whose name was Patience Muffet. Her stepfather, Dr. Muffet (1553-1604) was a famous entomologist who wrote the first scientific catalogue of British Insects. Whilst eating her breakfast of curds and whey Little Miss Muffet was frightened by one of his spiders and ran away! This particular Nursery Rhyme of Little Miss Muffet reputedly dates back to the late 16th century as indicated by the birth date of Dr Muffet!
(www.rhymes.org)

password required

I think I'm going to make my blog private. In the next week or so I'll send out an email. If you think I might not have your email then just send me a quick email to caroline.mccann at gmail.com After it's password protected just link my page and then sign in using your google account.

Golden Spike

We're big train fans and all year I've been meaning to take Owen to Golden Spike National Monument. So we finally went on Labor Day (the last day of the year they do the reenactment). It was so cold!!! But still so much fun!

ScHooL

My little man started school on Tuesday. He is going to the Pre-K program at the elementary. It is so much fun! He loves being able to walk with all his neighborhood friends and I have fun seeing everyone too. We're so lucky to live in such a great area. So far he loves going and tells me all about it when he gets home. I do feel a little sad and have had a wave of emotions mostly wondering if he has learned anything I've been trying to teach him the past 4 1/2 years. But I love his school, teachers, and having things a little quieter in the mornings.

Jenny Lake

Our trip to Jenny Lake in July was amazing! We were so lucky so get a campsite at the late hour of 9:00am. Most days we were there it filled up by 8:30. It is a beautiful tent-only campground at the base of Jenny Lake. I can't begin to describe how beautiful it is. It feels so good to breathe fresh mountain air all day and night. The trees, mountains, lake, birds, and other wildlife, all make it feel like paradise.

Greg, Jon, Lizzy, and Kristin came with us. They were so much fun and a lot of help with Hannah who kept running into the road and lying down every time something went wrong. She also had a hard time going to sleep in the tent. One night I woke up to her jumping on me and laughing. After a while I finally just bear hugged her until she fell asleep. By the end of the trip she was used to it, but then it was time to go. She wasn't all hard, she loved all the helmets and spent half her time awake putting them on and off. She also learned some sweet dance moves while Jon provided the acoustics.

Owen had fun riding his bike around the campground. He spent half his time trying to convince one of us to go on a ride with him. The rest of the time he asked when we could go swimming.

We spent the first few days just hanging around camp and swimming in the lake. It was nice and relaxing and so fun to spend time with four of my siblings, wonderful husband, and two fun kids. The last day we hiked from our campsite around the lake. Owen was amazing and hiked almost 5 miles. It ended up being longer than we thought so we took the ferry back over to cut off a few miles. Needless to say I can't wait to go back!

Trying to capture Hannah dancing.
And one more video just because it makes me laugh.

Disneyland

Owen wants to go to Disneyland....."SO BAD"

Not because he has friends that talk about it, or because he wants to meet the infamous Mickey Mouse.

He wants to go because he watched an old home-video of when I went. It has him totally memorized with the place.

Luckily I want to go back too.