What Kissing gets You

A couple of days ago I started working on putting more of my blog into printed book form.  I came across a funny story.  It was about 2 months after Braden was born.  Macy saw Brian give me an innocent kiss.  Of course she acts grossed out and then said you better not kiss anymore or you will have another baby.

We didn't listen and the kissing didn't stop so we have another family member on the way.  We were hoping this would be the case.  We couldn't be happier.  Of course some days and moments we question our sanity and say "what were we thinking?"  The kids are beyond excited and Braden keeps mentioning all the things we will need for the baby.  He is also mentions all the items he will share.  Let's hope it stays that way.

Macy was excited, and still is, but questions whether it would be better to have a baby or get a new boat.  She asks Braden and Kelsey if they would rather have a boat or a new baby.  She became a little unhappy when she asked if we could get a boat this year but was told that wouldn't happen because we were having a baby.

past updates

I did some updating but I put them in chronological order.  If you are interested in Disneyland pictures and trip or our family photos, click on the hyperlink.

Last Week's Adventure

I may not have been the most amazing mom last week.  There were some good moments and times the kids hated.

I made Kelsey bawl for about 20 minutes about how she was starving.  And when I say bawl picture complete sobbing, coughing from crying to hard and red blotchy cheeks by the time it was all over with.  I had told her and Macy that their room had to be clean before I would fix them lunch.  They had 3 1/2 hours to take care of a 30 minute chore.

The girls lost coins for fighting (a lot of coins meaning a lot of fighting) which meant they couldn't go to Classic on Friday.  The coins are a reward/payment system.  So on Wednesday and Thursday they really had to work their butts off to get enough coins again.

And I forced them to practice piano and do some chores.

Braden got his first black eye running straight into his cousin Ellie.  She is 6 months younger so her forehead was right at his eye level.

We rode the frontrunner for the first time to downtown with my parents and sister.  On the way home we missed getting off our stop.  Not for any fault of our own.  We were up in the top section for the ride home.  When the train stopped at our parking lot we quickly made our way down the stairs.  Well the driver assumed that nobody was getting off at that stop and no one got on so he made it a really short stop.  When we pushed the button to open the door the driver was already making preparations to leave so the door wouldn't open.  The kids and I were stranded at the next stop (in Draper).  There is nothing out there.  Nothing is within walking distance.  It was 20 degrees outside and no place to wait inside.  And the next train heading north wasn't due for another hour.  We had just missed it.  Luckily my sister, Stef, works nearby and she saved us, but she got lost on the way over so we still had to wait in the freezing cold for 30 minutes.  The lesson from this story is if you are going to ride the frontrunner train for fun, do it in the warmer months just in case a rude driver doesn't let you off.  Maybe the driver had no control but I need someone to direct my anger at.

On to the good things.

The kids ate mini corn dogs for lunch on 3 different days.  I think Braden had 2 hot dog meals during the week.  Brian was out of town the end part of the week so we ate Café Rio one night and the leftovers the next.  We had Sonic for lunch once.  We took my dad to Archibald's for his birthday Friday night.  The kids and I ate popeye pancakes, aka German pancakes, the night Brian went to the Jazz game.  He doesn't really enjoy breakfast dinners.  Sunday I threw Rhodes cinnamon rolls in the oven for breakfast.  Overall, we did some good eating.

The biggest thanks goes out to my mom (and my sister Emily did a lot of helping too) for sewing with my children.  They made the cutest jumbo pillows while I went to a continuing education class for real estate.  I know they had more fun than me.

Macy was a third grade finalist for the spelling bee.  She had to go to school on her day off to participate.  I never got her to study the lists.  I didn't do too much pushing.  When the day came, according to her, it was my fault she didn't study.  She did okay.  There were 18 kids (maybe 21).  She went out in the third round in the fourth grade words.  There were a number of kids that went to the sixth grade word list.

The boy next to her looks really worried.

We rode the frontrunner train.

The girls did earn back all their coins so it was Classic for us on Friday.  It was 3 1/2 hours of fun for them and 3 1/2 hours of boredom/exhaustion for mom (I just wanted a nap while there).  They did everything but laser tag.  We even had meltdowns when I wouldn't buy anymore tokens for the arcade than what was given in the admission price.

Monday night Kelsey took us to Scales and Tails for our FHE.  It was so cold that night that we were the only people there so the kids didn't have to fight or wait for a chance to feed alligators and other reptiles.  They were a little shocked to see the reptiles were fed dead rats but they got over it.  They even fed the turtles all the carrots the turtles could get.  Kelsey held her snakes.  I think Macy even held a snake.  They all held the baby turtles.  I think they all had a good time.

Macy feeding Darth Gator

Braden feeding TNT

Kelsey feeding Gatorade

Pinkalicious

The other day while sitting at the computer Braden comes up to me and says:

"When it is my birthday, can you make pink cupcakes?  I want to eat them."

Too bad his birthday was 4 months away when he made that comment. 

You can tell one of his favorite stories is Pinkalicious.  All my kids have loved it, but I could definitely do without.  I think the author could have done so much better with the moral of the story or included a side moral on healthy eating.  Instead the main character "gagged" and "choked" down healthy vegetables.  She held her nose when she had to eat the green things.  What a pleasant message to send to the young audience of this book, "Be beautiful being you, but stay away from those gross fruits and vegetables."

Definitely got way sidetracked today, but that book is one of my hot buttons and I can't believe that everyone loves it.

To end on a positive note two of my favorite kid books are Me First and Farm Flu.  Now that I mentioned those two my mind is spinning with other greats but I won't list them today.

Giving Myself a Pat on the Back

I must be the coolest mom. My kids may not agree because they see way too many flaws but that is their opinion.  My kids are off-track, which is a crazy way to handle large student populations.  It is also one I am trying to get used to and enjoy.  I am still not to the enjoyment part because my house and routine get all out of whack every couple of months instead one big long break in the summer.  Nothing gets done around the place.  Somehow I did manage to clean up Christmas but it has been downhill since then.

I veered way off track so let me come back to why I am awesome.

I found this self portrait of Macy when downloading the other pictures.

So Macy isn't the reason why I was so awesome last week but the picture was too funny not to post.

I took the kids on several outings last week and we found some great places.  The first stop was the Gale Center. It had a little museum that completely trumped the Discovery Gateway's play area. First of all it was free and second of all no one was there so the kids didn't have to share anything with huge crowds of rowdy children. The museum gave the history of the South Jordan area.  It had a replica of one of the first homes, the old school house and one of the original stores.  All these exhibits were hands on and the kids could play house, school and pretend to shop.  They can't wait to go back.

 

 

 It also had an American Indian exhibit with a teepee and drum.

 There some other fun things to look at and a nice volunteer gives you a tour of the museum and tells you about everything.

Next it was off to the Sweet's Candy Factory.  This was a great tour with lots of candy.  Well worth the trip and the candy was delicious.

Sammi was the only one I could get a picture of with a hair net on. You couldn't take your cameras on the tour and everyone threw their hair nets away before I could get the camera back. But I can tell you we were all pretty hot.

One night we went back to the Gale Center because they have free art workshops. The night we went it was candy art.  The kids had fun and I had no mess to clean up or supplies to buy. We will be back another night.

 

To add to that excitement Brian took Macy and Kelsey to a University of Utah basketball game.  There were two games last week so each girl got to spend one on one time with her dad.  Braden's turn is coming up in a couple of weeks.

My coolness doesn't end there.  More fun will be coming this week and I am not counting the Costco trip we took today. 

What to Remember about Christmas 2012

•  I did get around to writing and completing Christmas cards. Sorry if you didn't get one. Let me know I will make sure I send one next year.
• We made it to Temple Square to see the lights and we made sure to go on one of the last warmer (for Utah) nights. It made the whole event much more pleasant. It also helped that we set a record for the fastest lap around the square. Not time to stop and smell the roses for this family. Macy made sure to document the trip with a few snap shots of the lights.

• This year we took the kids to Kohl's and had them pick out something that they would really like to receive for Christmas. This included Brian and I. We then purchased the items so we could donate them to the Candy Cane Corner. Kelsey was not real happy with this idea. She cried because then she wouldn't get what she really wanted for Christmas. The sad part is she probably can't remember what she picked out and I know she didn't get it for Christmas. I also donated the family's new Christmas jammies because Brian's mom was getting the kids PJs for Christmas and we tend to overflow with Christmas pajamas at our house. I think the kids were a little disappointed Christmas Eve, but they were over it by the next morning.
• The third grade had a whole Christmas program one day and then the next day the entire school had a sing around. Each grade sang one song for all the other kids. What amazed me at the second performance was one of the teachers sang a religious song. I believe it was the First Noel, but don't always bet on my memory. It could have been O Holy Night. I think it was one of those.
• I was able to get together with some of my best friends from high school for lunch. We don't get together often because 2 live out of state and 1 just moved back so getting together is sometimes hard. This time everything fell into place.
• Christmas Eve night, the girls woke up at 1:30 AM thinking it was later than that and came into our room to see if they could get up yet. Brian and I had gone to bed at 11:45. We were not thrilled by this intrusion. We sent them back to bed, gave them their ipods so they could check the time and to told them to not come back downstairs until 7:30 AM. They were so obedient. Best kids a mom could ask for.

Just like every year we got a whole lot of stuff.

• Macy's haul: r/c car, electric scooter (already had to be replaced because it never worked), jewelry box, the game of Life, dream lite, snow boots, Legos, clothes, books, watch, camera, furby (most annoying toy award), and a scripture case. There might be more but you can already tell they are spoiled.

Excited about Just Dance

• Kelsey's pile: bike, r/c car, Sorry, jewelry tree, Legos, boots, clothes, watch, camera, portable speaker for ipod, furby, and tinkerbell figures. Same endnote as Macy.

• Braden's: bike, 2 r/c cars, Legos, clothes, gator golf, Jake and the Neverland eyeglass, boat for the bath tub. Again same side note.
• Family gifts were Just Dance 4 and dart guns for the whole family.
• Now for the good stuff. I received clothes, a new coat and tickets to the symphony. Already went to the symphony and it was great. Brian opened new ear buds, snow boots, backpack and a Utah shirt.
• The not so fun things were a new water heater and a new dishwasher (which I still have to order). The water heater started to leak the Saturday before Christmas and the repair company couldn't come out until after Christmas. I don't blame them and it wasn't too big of an in convenience.  I think the dishwasher has been leaking for awhile but it finally became noticeable. I never liked the dishwasher and wanted a new one, but when did they get so expensive. Thank goodness for the home warranty. It just paid for itself.
• To really add to the buying season we finally upgraded to a brand new computer. Hurray!

• The worst part about Christmas was all the germs flying around. In the wee hours the Friday before Christmas, Kelsey comes to me and tells me she has thrown up. I had to watch and clean up her misery for the next 4 hours. It was painful to watch. We had our fingers crossed and we prayed that no one else would come down with it. Well that was not our lot in life. Remember when the girls got up that night, well Braden woke up 1 1/2 hours later at 3 to tell me he had thrown up. Out came the bucket. He was so proud that several times he hit that bucket. Again I had to sit and watch as someone had to go through a miserable illness for several hours. Finally all was quiet and a little shut eye was caught. Luckily it was Braden who got sick because he is the best and happiest sick kid even in the middle of the night. Brian and I made one fatal mistake the next morning. Braden acted pretty normal and from pictures you would never know he had been sick. We let him eat chocolate from his stocking. His stomach wasn't ready for that and I now need to call the carpet cleaners. The bucket had been put away because we thought all was well. We slept most of the afternoon and missed one grandma's party, but made it to another's (they had already had the little flu bug so felt okay about having him over). The next question was when was Macy going to get it. We have lucked out so far, but not completely. She threw up on New Year's night but I am 99% sure it was from all the junk she ate.
• Despite the last few items, it was actually a really great holiday. Nothing really put a huge damper on the actual day and we have been so blessed that we were not bothered. It is all a part of life and leaves us with memories that we will always remember and sometimes it is nice to have a few stand out years to always talk about.

Chocolate Jesus

We were talking about Christmas the other night and what gifts we could give to God. The girls had some great answers like service and visiting people. Then Braden said "I could give him a Jesus statue...a chocolate Jesus statue...He would like that...but if he ate the statue he would die." Gotta love 3 year olds.

So Christmas is closing in fast. Most of the shopping has been done. I still have all of the wrapping. And I plan on dipping oreos in chocolate for the second year in a row. Partly by default because last year I purchased 40 lbs of dipping chocolate. I had always wanted to try dipping candy and last year was the year. I didn't know how much I would need but I knew I would need dark chocolate for me and milk for Brian. Only the 20 lbs increments were on sale so that is what I bought.  The other reason for dipping oreos, have you tried them? Add a little peppermint and you know why I am doing it.

Besides putting off wrapping and blogging, I have been procrastinating Christmas cards.  I have put off cards for 3 years now.  It was nice not to have to worry about another thing to do.  But my list of received Christmas cards has greatly diminished.  So maybe this year I am up for the challenge.  We did get a new family picture this summer (which I failed to post).  When we moved into the new home I pulled out wall pictures that had been packed away since AZ.  Kelsey was only 6 months old in the last professional family portrait which meant Braden wasn't even a twinkle. I remedied the situation very quickly and am pleased with the results.  I don't think I could even give you a favorite of the kids.  So maybe just maybe I will get to it this year.