One of My Babies Turned 8

Before I get to the actual subject, I need to tell a quick story. So the other day Braden informed me that my butt is too big. Those were his exact words "Mom, your butt is too big." Thanks buddy. I was unloading the dishwasher and was standing at the open door to it. Braden thought he needed to try to squeeze between me and the counter. Obviously he thought it was a little tight.

On to the real celebration. Last week Macy turned the big 8. How I love that little girl. There are times of great frustration between the two of us, but I couldn't ask for a better, smarter, cuter, nicer, friendlier girl. I hope that we can be great friends as she continues to grow up. I love her enthusiasm for things. I love how she carries, gets ice and cuddles her brother when he gets hurt. She probably does a better job than me. I love how she wants to be so cool and grown up as she listens/dances to her Ipod touch (it was one of her presents). For school she filled in a poster all about her. This is what it said:

When I grow up I want to be a cook. (She is always checking out cookbooks from the school library and wanting to help me.)
My favorite things to do are boat (ride on the tube), swim, and cook.
My favorite place is California.
If I could have one wish, I would wish for $100.

On the day of her birthday she had her 2nd piano recital. So the family watched her wonderful performance of London Bridge. Grandpa DeVon, Jeff and a friend, Grandma Carol and Grandpa Alan and our neighbor Wyatt came too. After we went to dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory with everyone. She opened her presents at dinner and was super excited for an ipod touch, bubble gum machine, the Lego Knight Bus (from Harry Potter), clothes, and an angry bird.

But that was not the end to the celebration. The following Saturday she was able to have a friend birthday party. She invited 17 girls. Who was the crazy mom who said yes to that? In my defense, when I asked her to trim the original list she went from 15 to 12. That would leave out 3 girls from her entire school class and I thought that would have made them sad so I agreed to 15. Then I remembered I hadn't included the cousins in the original count and what is 15 compared to 17.

So the theme was Angry Birds. We built towers and launched birds to knock the towers over. I thought this would be the hit. Not so much. We only spent 15 minutes at this game.

The girls and I made our own pinata. But when it was filled it was too heavy for the string and fell to the ground unopened after 4 hits. So Macy threw it from the deck. This activity only lasted 5 to 10 minutes.

Pay no attention to my closed eyes. I am sad that this is really the only picture we have of the pinata.

Then we played angry bird ball/dodgeball. I wasn't sure if we would even have time to do this and I wasn't sure who would like it. Well it was the hit of the party and they wanted to keep playing which is a good thing because I ran out of things to do with 45 minutes left. I still had to improvise at the very end but I hope they had a good time. I wasn't sure Kelsey liked dodgeball because she would hide in the corner the entire time but the next day in the car she enthusiastically asked if we could play dodgeball again. Macy's cousin, Jensen who is 7, hid behind Braden during each game and used him as her shield. So it was a fantastic party except I had too much time at the end.

So I May Never Get Back into Regular Posting

I wish I had a program that could collage my pictures so I didn't up with a lengthy post. But I don't. So here comes March.

• I finally finished Braden's baby book. He got it in time for his birthday. I couldn't be happier and wish the girls were done with the computer. It is so much more compact and no pictures will be falling out or worrying about damaging it. I also printed the first year of my blog. Only 4 1/2 more years to go. Just call me the turtle, slow and steady.
• St Patrick's day was not exciting but the girls built a leprechaun paradise/house to try to attract the leprechauns. They really wanted to see one. They were disappointed because the leprechaun didn't leave them anything. Thank you school teachers and parents who gave them ideas that leprechauns leave trails of gold and cause mischief in the house.



You can't read the writing but there is a bed, outside relaxing chair, the pool was pulled off because it soaked through the paper plate, bath room, drinking fountain, hot tub, kitchen, etc.

• The girls finished a year of tumbling and really loved it. I need to find a place for gymnastics next year.
• Macy had her turn with the class pet for a weekend. Luigi the hamster came to stay and I was afraid Kelsey and Braden would love him to death. Kelsey was a natural and loved to hold him and did pretty good. Macy was scared to touch or hold him. In fact I am not sure she did hold him. Kelsey always got him out of the cage and took him where Macy wanted him to go. She might have to get one for her next birthday.

• We put an offer on a home. Everything looks solid. The home inspection went well. The appraisal was okay, we are approved for the loan and the earnest money has gone hard. We close in 2 weeks but won't move until May 18th. We are going to let the kids finish out the school year. My head is spinning at all the things that need to happen but I can't work on because there are other pressing things such as a final activity for my calling, a birthday, a birthday party, and then a baptism. I get excited to have my own house, garden, and to move close to some of our best friends. I get sad when I think of moving farther away from another couple of best friends and all the people that I love around here. But no time to ponder on that.
• St. George for Easter break. We spent a glorious week of playing in the warmth. We hiked with family and friends. The kids swam and played in the fountain. We did go-karts in Vegas (way better than Fiesta Fun in St. George). Visited the strip for a bit to get to the M & M factory. Vowed to never go back to the nasty strip. We celebrated Braden's birthday and he had himself a St. George birthday party.
  
  






He may sometimes be forced to dress up, but he has quite the shot and won himself quite a few tickets at the arcade.






Crazy hair day at school in the beginning of March.





On crazy hair day it was also Kelsey's Kinder Cross Country. This is the car she made.



This is what happens when you have 2 older sisters that get bored.

A Hole!

Waiting in the car during Macy's piano lesson, Braden whimpers from the back seat about needing help getting something out of his nose. Instantly I think he is picking his nose and can't get a large bugger out. I turn around and see tears running down his right cheek and the same eye is watery and red. I wonder what is going on. I am about to ask him when it hits me as to what has happened. I ask him "Braden did you stick your gum wrapper up your nose?" He nods his head sadly. Thoughts about having to take him to the doctor because it won't come out run through my head. Lucky for me he gave one strong blow and out it shot disgusting all in the car. Never had a problem with the other 2 kids and items going up noses. Let's hope the little man had enough pain to learn his lesson.

Our House

I grumble when I have to vacuum two sets of stairs. I really grumble when I add a third and do the stairs to the basement. But these stairs (there is one in the front of the house and one in the back that both lead upstairs) allow for awesome games of freeze tag, which was Kelsey's choice for the activity for FHE. With to stairs it is hard to get cornered. There is also a couple of circle routes between other rooms. There are tons of doors that I wonder what truly useful purpose they serve besides allowing for exhilerating games. Yes this is the perfect house for tag and hide-and-go seek. I probably won't ever live in a house like this again. And that is okay. I will just have to shoo the kids outside instead.

Our Unsuccessful Family Home Evening

I'll be honest, most of our family home evenings (FHE) are more towards the unsuccessful side. The definition of unsuccessful is that information goes in one ear (if it even goes in at all) and out the other. Tonight we did a home talk which is a homework assignment for Kelsey. On a side note I hate the home talk thing but we somewhat attempt them anyway. The topic was patriotism and what living in America means to you. We began with the "Star Spangled Banner". We spent 15 to 20 minutes talking about freedom, being a good citizen, how we became a free country, voting, that we don't have a king because of the Revolutionary War, the US flag, etc. Brian showed pictures of when he lived in D.C. We showed them the Statue of Liberty, the Lincoln Memorial, the Capital Building and the White House. We talked about who lived in the White House and who worked in the Capital Building and what these people did. Then we related it back to the Book of Mormon and why this nation is a promised land and what we need to do to maintain our freedom. We even talked about the Amlicites because in our family scripture reading we just read that story last night. Obviously we were not extremely detailed in everything but we hit the main parts such as freedom, that we don't have a king and how to remain free by being a good citizen and being righteous.

Then came the important part of the evening, treats. We had left over ice cream sundaes from the Sunday Brownie Sundae Social last night (my current calling is the Young Family activity organizer). As we are eating Macy asks "Who is our king?" What the?! Did she really just ask that? So we remind her that we fought the Revolutionary War so we didn't have to have a king anymore. We told her that we have a president and Kelsey had to tell her Obama is the president. So then Braden pipes in. "I want presents." "Braden there are no presents. We said 'president.'" "Oh. Are the presents downstairs?" "There are no presents." This thread of conversation with Braden continues all through the ice cream and our continued conversation with Macy. He went to bed still wondering where the presents are. Back to our conversation with Macy, she asks who is in charge if we have a president. This leads back to the FHE topic of Congress and Senators, people voting and ultimately it is the citizens who rule the nation. She probably went to bed still wondering who was in charge and how she could be in charge of everyone one day.

Melt My Heart

In St. George while swimming crazy man Braden jumps and wraps his arms around my neck and says "I got my bwest fwiend." Then today he grabbed hold of me and told me I was his best friend. My heart just melted. If anyone knows Braden, they know that he is a complete momma's boy. Not sure how I feel about this every moment of the day, especially when I want a break. For the most part it makes me so happy to feel so loved.

Moments like this make me wonder what my relationship would be like with Macy and Kelsey if they were spaced further apart. I loved that they have always had a friend and that they have never really been alone. Before Braden I would have told you that having your kids close was the way to go. But now I couldn't give you a definitive answer of which is the best. Braden has had way more one on one time and I have felt so much joy in that time (frustrations too always the good with the bad). I felt joy watching the girls grow up (and still do) but mostly it was through observing them interact with each other and not the interactions with myself personally. There have been sweet moments in which the joy came from interacting with one or the other but the scales probably fall heavier the other way. I don't think each one of these ways are bad. I just wonder what my relationship will be like with the girls when they are grown. Would it have been easier to get where I want if they had had that extra special time with mom? Will I even get what I want and do I have the personality to have what I want? All deep questions that only time, myself and God will tell. Right now I will savor what I have and hopefully one day I will have 3 best friends (4 if you count my main squeeze).

February

• Taxes complete. Check
• Finances updated. Check
• Get crafty. Check:   Made Valentine boxes with the kids. The idea came from Pottery Barn but morphed into something easier than pulling out the sewing machine. Made a skirt in time for my cruise (actually my sewing teacher did all the finishing work because there were a couple of goof ups that slowed me down and she felt I just had to have the skirt for my trip). Made a Valentine's table runner. Mended some clothing. Made Valentine warm fuzzies with Kelsey and Braden. Started next project with my sewing teacher, a shirt and pants. (Need some luck here folks.)
• Celebrate my birthday. Check:   Kids throw me a chocolate party complete with Braden throwing a bagful of confetti on me and a little limbo. Kelsey and Braden also serenaded me on the karaoke. An indirect present was the gift of vacuuming up the confetti. The vacuum was out of commission for the weekend because I had cleaned the filter and it needed to dry.
• Help at Kelsey's school Valentine Party. Check:   In charge of the treat. Made fruit and marshmallow kabobs for a healthy snack.
• Go to St. George for President's Day weekend. Check:    Brian saved his company $50 by flying into St. George instead of getting off the plane in Salt Lake. To help save his company money and leave earlier I drove by myself with the chitlins. They were really good and we only made one stop. 

  

  The confetti

  






Lots of swimming at grandma and grandpa's





Hiking in St. George