don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened

kristine tolman bott

may 5, 1953-september 26, 2005

three years ago today the best woman in the world, my mom, passed away. she taught me so much. she was the best example of kindness, charity, hard work, unconditional love, faith, and of course how to cook, how to make and keep a home, how to shop til you drop, and how to love every second of this precious time we have on earth. all that i am, that is good, is because of her. there is not a day that goes by that i don't think of her.

warming up at the cabin

new york

race for the cure

i carry your heart with me

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in my heart)

i am never without it (anywhere i go you go, my dear;

and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling) i fear

no fate (for you are my fate you sweet) i want

no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)

and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and they sky of the sky of a tree called life;

which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

-ee cummings

i am in love with fall

bright tights

FRESH PEACHES!!!

hot chocolate from hatch 

family chocolates, the

dark chocolate is my favorite

the moon going down over midway in fall

one of my favorite br jackets

fire roasted tomato soup 

from paradise bakery

boots!

i am on a new budget thanks to dave ramsey

but i scrounged up the money for one new

fall item. i fell in love with this sweater

when i saw it at hip and humble.

light scarves

my fall just be bags came out 

of the closet september 1

fall leaves

my favorite weather

when mommy's away

avery's mom michelle is in new nyork (i know that's spelled wrong, that's how she says it) for the weekend. ammon came to visit. this is what avery was sporting. at least it all matches!

monet to picasso

 

the best field trip ever! michelle is in new york so i got to go with abby on her field trip. her and landon are in the same first grade class this year. it was fun to be with the kids and absolutely amazing to see the art that was exhibited. i could have spent all day there. the kids have been learning about the art and really knew when they saw something. they know what realism is, they could pick out van gough, etc. it was such a great day. i am so glad i am off track and got to go!

landon and abby on the bus

landon and abby at the museum

me, abby, jennifer and landon eating lunch

me, abby and abby's friend jaden

it's a boy

my long time friend amy is having her second baby in 4 short weeks. this time it's a boy so of course we had to have another shower.  i can't wait to meet him!

two of my very best friends 

trish, the mommy to be and me

i wish i could take credit for the pizza 

but it was all my italian chef sister. 

zucchini, tomato, garlic, delizioso!

decorating cupcakes...my new joy

so cute! all different, all delicious. 

i even made cream puffs from scratch.  

quite delightful.

frost yourself

my dear friend and jerusalem roommate jana is going on a mission.  her farewell was on sunday so i wanted to make something special that i knew she would like.  colorful cupcakes is what came to mind. my good friend erin came to my rescue. she helped make my cupcakes a hit! we had so much fun and jana loved them. 

little blue ball

once upon a time there was a little girl named kristy. she had always dreamed of playing racquetball.  one day a princess named dawnell came from a land far away. dawnell told kristy she would love to teach her all she knows.  the princess was very nice.  the princess told the girl she has a lot to learn like hitting, ducking, rules, and most of all to always keep moving. this sounded very daunting to the little girl but she agreed to try.  the princess showed the little girl the very fashionable goggles she got to wear.  the little girl didn't want to wear them.  but, the princess insisted.  after a few hits the little blue ball hit the little girl right in the face.  the little girl decided to listen to everything the princess said and to do everything the princess did. the little girl wasn't very skilled in this game but the princess was very patient and helpful. when the clock struck midnight and the girls had to leave the court the little girl thanked the princess and begged for more lessons.  the princess agreed.  the little girl is excited to learn more from the princess. maybe even next time the princess will teach the little girl how to make her famous chocolate chip zucchini cake...then the little girl will live happily ever after.

up in her grill

this post is the reason i love having a blog.  i laughed so hard but it might be one of those "you had to be there" moments.  jess and i were eating lunch after our saturday cleaning and antique store shopping.  the movie save the last dance was on so we watched it for a sec. jess used to love this movie (her love now goes out to the step up movies).  while we were watching the dancers in da club the girl leaves because her boyfriend is dancing with another girl.  jess said, this is the funny part that I am still laughing about, well, he is all up in her grill. apparently i don't go clubbing enough to know the dance lingo.

deer

my brothers jason and ammon got together with their high school friends and of course jess and i were nominated to babysit.  it ended up being such a fun night! after we played pass the ball to someone and say what you love about them (absolutely endearing with 5 kids under 6) we headed to the cemetery to look for the deer my dad sees each night walking.  when we got there we saw a bunch but they ran off.  so we played on the stage, visited my mom's headstone, and chased birds.  only the bott's can have this much fun at the cemetery...

abby, avery, lincoln & lukas

abby, lincoln, carson, avery, lukas on grandma's headstone

avery

abby, lukas, avery

lincoln

me & linc

jess & carson

see you later...

ish

i guess i say ish a lot. funny-ish, finished-ish, running-ish, singing-ish, scary-ish, pretty-ish etc.  my students have started saying it too. one of my favorite children's book is ish by peter h reynolds. it is an adorable little book about a boy who draws but his pictures are never good enough for himself. he finds his little sister pulling a crumpled up drawing from the trash. he chases her to her room where he is surprised to see his art hung all over her walls. he says they are supposed to be flowers in vases. she says they are vase-ish. after my kids pointed out that i said ish a lot i decided to read them the book. they loved it so i decided to do an art project with it. they painted all sorts of ish things. butterfly-ish, flower-ish, lemon-ish, etc. we talked about how it doesn't matter how things turn out but what matters is they do their best and that someone (especially teachers and parents) will love their work. i think their paintings are amazing-ish. 

ish

our tree of ish

flower-ish

dinosaur-ish

color-ish