Classic Skating

Last Friday was the end of the quarter for the girls which meant parent teacher conferences and the day off of school. The kids slept over Thursday night at grandma's so that Brian and I could clean the temple from 10 PM to 12 AM (it really wasn't terrible and it takes an army to clean that building every night). Friday I was the coolest mom ever and took the kids to Classic skating. Macy has been begging ever since she received an award at school that included a pass to Classic.

All of the kids loved the bouncy things. I couldn't get them off. Braden and Kelsey just laughed and laughed. They took their scooters but I didn't bring a bike for Braden (didn't know I could) so we didn't spend much time on the rink. They played some arcade games with the tokens they had. Of course the girls were instantly drawn to the "claw" that grabbed stuffed animals. I tried to convince them that those things are not made to make it easy to win. But they had to try it anyways. Macy lost the first time. Then Kelsey was up and got a bear the first time out of the shoot. This upset Macy and she was determined to win. She tried 3 more times and was in tears by the end (one of those times was Kelsey using her own tokens to win Macy a toy because she was so good at it). She wasted all of her tokens and could only play one game of ski ball.. Luckily Braden donated some of his coins to her and some tickets so she could buy a prize. Kelsey racked up the tickets too with all her leftover tokens. So smiles were on every face when we left with 2 sticky hands, 1 stuffed bear and 1 ticket. By the way that bear already has a hole in it and every day I am reminded that I need to sew it up.

One thing I noticed about Classic is that nothing has changed in the main rink. It has the exact same carpet from 25 years ago and I think they still use the same music videos from 25 years ago.

Another note: Parent teacher conferences went really well. The teachers love the girls and love having them in their classes. Kelsey's teacher commented about how good Kelsey is. The teacher said she never has to remind her how to listen and behave during rug time and other parts of the day. She participates really well and appropriately. I think Brian almost fell out of his chair. I think he even said "really!?" to the teacher. You see Kelsey really struggles at home to sit still during FHE, scripture time, and dinner. She is usually giggling the whole time, not paying attention, rolling her eyes and teaching her brother the wrong way to act during these times. We constantly have to remind her to focus. She has been this way at home her whole life. It is nice to have these meetings to know that either are kids have figured it out or that we really have taught them something.

Meet...

I would like to introduce to you some people that live at our house.

Fido:

Darla:

He screams "Hi fish. Hi fish." He will pull up a stool to get to the fish and will scream at them and tap the sides. I have even caught him a couple of times with his hand in the water. When the fish hear or see him they swim to the farthest side of the talk. It sometimes looks as if they are pushing against the plastic hoping to break free and get away.

Bradelina:

Not to be confused with Angelina's husband. This same day he found a skirt of Macy's and made me put it on him. If I hadn't he was determined to get it on himself so I helped. That and I wanted a good laugh. I so wish I had a picture because it was stinkin' funny.

Cinderella:

Waiting for Keley's ride to school.

The other night Kelsey said she liked having him around so he could do things for her. Right after she said that she told Braden to put her clothes in the dirty clothes. He said "Okay" picked them up and hasn't stopped since. Every time he sees the girls clothes laying around he throws them in the closet. Kelsey makes him throw away her trash too. At least she has found one reason to be happy to have him around. Many times she is very annoyed with him. In fact no one will sit next to him at meals. It is a fight to see who can get the seat farthest from him. Poor guy.

Swimsuit

I was thinking about buying a swimsuit from Hapri this year. I hadn't done it yet (for several reasons) when I read on my friend's blog that her sister is giving away a gift card to Hapri. Who wouldn't want to get a free swimsuit. So thanks Ashley for letting me in on this and for anyone else that wants a chance to win you can check out Brooke's blog for details (it ends March 29).

I can't tell you which one is my favorite because I have to try on every single style before I can make that decision. I am a very picky swimsuit gal. I don't like tankinis that float up when I am in the pool. I want my swimsuits to enhance areas I like and camouflage the hideous ones and that takes special swimsuits. I haven't tried on the swimsuits because I have not scheduled the day to drive down to American Fork because I am waiting to pull myself out of the red for my own personal spending budget. Man I am full of excuses.

Sorry there are no pictures but I don't have time to figure out how to add pictures from other websites without saving them to my computer. You will just have to visit the Hapri website to see the suits for yourself. I like almost all of them so it will be rough choosing.

Things I love...

• Climbing into bed with fresh, clean sheets. The first night after changing sheets is heavenly to me. The down side changing and washing those sheets.
• Slipping into bed with silky, smooth legs because I actually shaved them that day. It is worth shaving for this benefit alone.
• Having the sun shine and going outside to enjoy it. I really miss seeing the sun everyday like I did in Phoenix. Even if it is a warm day, if the sun ain't shinin' it ain't that great. Sunday we walked to church. It was so lovely because the sun was out the whole time. It was the best way to prepare for church. I had a tear in my eye as I recalled how often we could walk to church in Phoenix. I think the last year we were there we walked 9 months out of the year. By the way, this walk was no small feat. Our house is the furthest I have ever lived from a church building. We have to cross a busy road to get there too. Don't worry we did the "do as we say, not as we do" with our kids. We taught them to jay-walk and then said don't ever do this. It is against the law.
• that Brian has not won the last four games of Settlers. I don't think he will play the game again. It is back to Ticket to Ride and Carcassone for him.
• when Braden teases Kelsey by grabbing her blanket and running. Or when he is the monster and chases his sisters around the house. I hate that he dumps every cup or water bottle on the ground.
• that Braden stuck is lawn mower and wagon in time out yesterday. He pushed each one into a corner and yelled "in the corner" and "go to time out". I hate to hear what I sound like when my kids are playing me.
• that Macy wants two gift cards and money for her birthday. Her reason "so she doesn't have to spend her own money to buy things". What am I supposed to do for her birthday? Obviously the royal wedding is not an option.

The Other Children's Turn and Pres. Day Weekend

One of the other preschool parents told me this story when I picked Kelsey up today. Kelsey had one hand in her pocket and her hip cocked. Then she said to her friend, "Ally you should really get a skirt like this because it is sooo cute." Obviously she was wearing a skirt today.

Yesterday morning while I was getting ready for the day I heard doors shut and silence fall upon the house. This should have been a red flag. One day I will notice these flags more quickly. I finish up and realize that I may have a problem. I search for Braden and find the girls bedroom door shut. I open it and it looks like someone has been viciously murdered, except that that person would have bled toothpaste. There were smatterings on the wall, on the bed, on the floor, on the bathroom cabinets and on the bathroom counter tops. In the middle of it all was little man with a blue mouth from eating the toothpaste and more smatterings on him. Luckily I did not have to make a poison control call because that has already been done back when Macy was about Braden's age. Did you know that on the tube of toothpaste it tells you call poison control if ingested? Well last time poison control said not to worry. The worst it can do is make you nauseous. So I didn't get worried and was just angry at the mess.

On a side note, I am beginning to think that poison control is a conspiracy or companies use it to nonchalantly to avoid lawsuits. I hate to admit this because I feel that we keep most harmful products out our kids way, but we have had to make several calls. Each time they tell us that they don't worry about that type of product. Let's see toothpaste, Bed Bath and Beyond's wallflowers, and Windex.

To save my house it is sometimes best to get out. That is what we did for the girls day off of school last Friday. Macy informed me that she had a four day weekend and wanted to know what we were going to fill the time. It was off to the Clark Planetarium where they could look at cool things they really didn't understand. When saw a movie in the dome and afterwards ate Panda Express for lunch.




We stopped by Mars. Braden did some exploring.
Whose child is breaking the rules and climbing on the dangerous rocks?




Then we landed on the moon. Braden was off exploring again.

Saturday Brian took Macy up Big Cottonwood to do some sledding. They both had a great time. Kelsey didn't want to go because it was too cold. Sound familiar?

Here is a random photo from February. Braden tried to put on his own shoes and was so proud of the job he did. He go them on backwards and his heels weren't in but at least he tried. By the way, he is so picky about what he wears. He has to pick out his own socks, choose his own shirt and has a preference on shoes. He has to pick out what pjs to wear at night. He gets mad if I try to make him wear something he doesn't want to wear that day.

The Funny Things Macy Said... Today

Just so you all know, our family is going to have to turn down our invitation to the royal wedding in April. I had the Today Show on this morning and there was a story about the wedding. The reporters said something about it being in April. Macy then says disappointedly "Ohhh, I can't go." Her birthday is in April and she isn't going to miss that for some wedding.

Macy also thinks that she is a handy girl. She was playing with her pretend cash register and is upset because the cash drawer no longer opens. Then she lights up and walks to the kitchen utensil drawer to grab out a butter knife. She exclaims "I know how to fix this. I saw Handy Mandy do this." She was unsuccessful but I got a good chuckle.

Bus Stop

My neighbor is kind enough to walk Macy up to the bus stop each day. This is probably so I don't embarrass myself and Macy (and also to be nice since there are two other kids inside the house that could cause some chaos during the 1 minute I am gone). Occasionally the slowness of my neighbor's children cause them to miss the bus so I am forced to walk Macy up to the bus stop myself. When this happens I know that I give the drivers a good laugh (the bus stop is on a pretty busy road so I see lots of cars). This morning you could see me in a gray jacket, navy blue and green plaid pajama bottoms, no socks (the pants shrunk enough that you can see this), and my black flats that were closest to the door (of course socks may have made this outfit pretty funny too). My hair is also looking quite stylish, like I just got out of bed. At least there are no pink curlers in it. It curls on its own. I do have to say I am also glad that my high heeled shoes were not the ones closest to the exit.