Tuesday, June 28, 2011

It’s not like me to go this long without posting a list.

Me, Brynlee and Kate during the intermission of Annie on Thrusday night.
·         Brynlee, Katie and I went and watched the play Annie last Thursday.  We had such a great time and I’m not ashamed to admit that I cried like a heartbroken teenager when the cute little orphans sang “It’s a Hard Knock Life.”  I really am such a sap.  The evening was perfect though.  I’m so glad Katie joined us and I am so glad that my Little Miss Sidekick loves watching plays just as much as her mama does.  She can sit through about 10 minutes of a movie before she get bored silly, but a two hour play keeps her entertained for its entirety.  Makes me happy.
·         My kids hate tags on their clothes.  Like passionately hate.  You know, like the tag sewn into the back of a shirt that says the size, and fabric material, and little love notes like if you dare dry this sweater in your hoity toity drying machine it will turn to a size small enough to fit your lapdog.  Yeah, the kids hate those things.  Neither of them will wear any clothes until all the tags have been removed from the vicinity of their body.  It drives me batty.  I never know the size of their clothes, it’s hard to tell front from back, and it’s a pain in the keester to be on the tag removal crew at any beck and call.
·         Celebrating summer has become our full-time job.  No kidding.  We’ve been spending our every second basking in all that summer has to offer.  And it’s just as I like it. 
·         Speaking of celebrating summer we spent the weekend camping with Spence’s big sister, Sarah, and brother, Matt, and their families.  We didn’t go camping at all last summer and this trip reminded me how much I love camping.  Here’s to more summer 2011 camping trips. {clink, clink}
·         And also to cooking more dinner’s dutch oven style.  Every time we join Sarah & Brett for dutch oven chicken and potatoes I’m motivated to make it part of my summertime cooking routine.  And then I forget.  Actually, I don’t forget . . . it’s the follow through that I struggle with.  But this summer I’ll triumph.  Maybe.
·         I’ll be posting pictures from our camping trip in the next day or two.  Because it’s what I do.
·         Completely unrelated:  you know the self flushing toilets that are in most public places?  You stand up, and without any warning – no pulling on the flushin’ handle, no nod of the head or wave of the hand – they flush.  I hate them!!  I mean, sure they are convenient and arguable more sanitary for full grown adults, but for the miniature potty users they’re crap {no pun intended}.  My kids are too small to set them into automatic flushy mode.  Which isn’t a big deal if there is a handy toilet flushing button to push, but not all models are equip with The Button.  So instead I’m left waving my arms, and shaking my booty in hopes that my killer moves will trigger the automatic flushy feature.  Just sit down on the potty and stand back up, Brynlee will advise me.  Your behind is bigger, it will make it flush.  So I do the half squat, still no flushing.  So I shake my butt in front of the sensor, still nothing.  And just as I’m about to give up, to admit defeat, I turn my back to the toilet to walk away and ta-da dumb thing flushes.  Just to mock me, I think. 
·         And with that I’m off to bed.  And I believe it’s high time.  Don’t you?

Thursday, June 23, 2011

I used to occasionally write about stuff.

Me and my kiddos at the circus this afternoon.
The weather has been perfect, our schedule has been full and we’ve been celebrating summertime.  And some nights I really want to blog.  You know, to remember.  But I decide to watch five episodes of Scrubs instead.  And I promise myself that I will blog tomorrow night.  And then its tomorrow night and no matter how hard I try I can’t get my mind to form complete sentences, so I skip blogging and Spence and I watch Scrubs then we go to bed.  But not before I promise myself that tomorrow night, tomorrow night I’ll blog.  And then it’s tomorrow night, and just to appease my addiction {it’s real, you guys} I publish 100 pictures and consider myself caught up on my journaling, then I watch Scrubs, then I go to bed. 
Start this post over and read it again.  And then again.  And then again.
And then, somehow, June is almost over and as I scroll down through my last posts I realize that I’ve written nothing down that I wanted to.  No stories about how I managed to destroyed a perfectly good learning experience with my children by confusing a camel with a donkey.  No post about how we accidently left Baby Luke all alone in the middle of Cougareat (on BYU campus) because we were suddenly distracted by the smell of ice-cream.  No post about the bagel that made my mom and Jami laugh out loud and caused me to spray milk out my nose.  Instead all of my last blog posts have turned into collages of a million billion pictures.
Not that it’s a bad thing.  Honestly, pictures are worth 1,000 words – so I’ve all but written a book.
Anyway, today’s post: a million, billion more pictures of what we’ve been up to.  Because apparently, that's how I blog.  Then I’m going to watch Scrubs.  Then go to bed. 


Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Photo Album: Cousin Retreat

A few years ago my mom, my sisters and myself {and probably a kid or two} went on a mini vacation.  Girls Week, we called it.  And I think every year since then we’ve ventured on some sort of “Girls Week”.  This year as we activity jumped from Children’s museums, to kid friendly restaurants, to swimming pools to parks and as we refereed pint-size disagreements, pushed strollers and buckled seatbelts for the umpteenth time I realized something – This is so not a girls week.  This is a cousin retreat.  We aren’t here to relax; we’re only here to chauffeur, supervise and pay the final tab!

Some day we will reclaim Girls Week, I hope.  I envision getting pedicures, eating at nice restaurants and sleeping in hotel beds without a foot in your gut and three heads on your pillow, but for now we are content being camp counselors at a weeklong Cousins Retreat.  Mainly because it makes the kids happy, and their little cousin friendships are worth the investment.
Jessica had a conference in Provo, Utah so we went up a day early – crammed in as many activities that were possible - and spent the remainder of the week park hopping, hanging out at the hotel pool and eating ice-cream at BYU’s Creamery.  Mom, a BYU alumni, took us on a mini BYU tour to see her old apartments and stomping ground and we also squeezed in an Ikea trip. 
I have the best family in the world!  I wish Kate could have joined us and that Jaelynn could have stayed longer, but as a whole I think this year’s Cousins Retreat was a smashing success.
Warning:  I’m posting close to a million pictures.  My apologies.  I tend to be excessive.  But you already knew that about me, right?

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

12 on the 12th [The June Chapter]


01.Windshield View. Driving home from my Sunday morning Young Women’s Meeting.  On the agenda: Girl’s Camp.  I can’t believe it’s already that time again.
02. Feet.  I wore heels to church - a very rare occurrence.  I tend to favor flats because they’re cuter, because they’re more comfortable, because I hate to be taller than my husband!
03. Lunch.  Made cheese snacks for a before church snack.  Jace’s suggestion.  Spence added leftover meatloaf to his.  Cheese, salsa & sour cream for me.  And just plain cheese for the kids.
04. Bridge.  Raced home from church to go on a Sunday hike.  Our summer goal is to hike a new Greenway trail every Sunday.  This one led to an old bridge.
05. Stairs to nowhere.  There is nothing cooler than random stairs that climb a mountain side.
06. Butterfly.  While Jace and Spencer spent an hour throwing sticks in the water, Brynlee and I ran off to discover.  There were tons of forts that I suppose served as protection during a paintball war, wildflowers, birds and this beauty of a butterfly.  I love where I live. 
07. My boys.  I told Jace to flex his muscles – this is what I got.  That little guy makes me smile.
08. Me.  In case you’re wondering, taking a picture of your shadow while you jump in the air isn’t easy.  It may take more than one attempt.  Which may cause your five-year-old to laugh at your expense.
09. Art.  Coloring a birthday sign for Grandma’s {Spence’s moms} birthday book. 
10. Gardener.  Planting the pit from her peach in hopes of a peach tree in my flower garden.
11. Batman.  Wall decor that Spence and I have been creating for Jace’s bedroom.
12. Clothes.  Packing for a get-a-way with my mom, sisters and their kiddos.  Oh happy day.

12 on the 12th inspired by her.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Monday, June 6, 2011

Odds are it’s safest to stay in bed.

When I was 4, I fell down the stairs.  Well frankly, I lost my temper, threw a fit until I passed out, and then fell down the stairs.

At 5, my older sister and I decided it a good decision to lock ourselves in the trunk of mom’s car.  Luckily my little sister was a tattletale and mom raced to our rescue.

When I was 8, I stole all my mom’s boxed Jell-O then ate them like Fun Dip.  Licked my finger then dipped it in the Jell-O then licked my finger. Dip, lick, repeat.  Dip, lick, repeat. 

When I was 18, I carpooled to beauty school with two fellow cosmetology students - on the back of a moped.  Three girls, three backpacks, three mannequin heads, ONE moped.

And I lived. 

Here’s the thing – my husband throws my kids in the air.  He flips them haphazardly over the couch.  He pulls them down the stairs in a laundry basket.  He sends them down the sledding hill, alone.  He pushes them too high on the swing, and makes them “fly to the sky” on the trampoline, and gives them way too many treats.  And one time I busted him doing a ‘rocket ship’ with my son.  A stunt named by the two of them which is best described as unsafe for children. 

And all the while, I lecture.

Brynlee and her daddy playing 3-2-1 blast-off on the tramp.
I recently read on the internet that in any given year I have a 1 in 10,000 chance of being injured by a toilet.  A toilet?!  And since I believe everything the internet says I’ve taken that statistic as fact and tried to be more caution when near the porcelain throne.  You should too.

The statistic sparked my interest and I let the internet teach me more:

·         Odds of injury while mowing the lawn: 1 in 3,623
·         Odds of being struck by lightning: 1 in 576,000
·         Odds of dying from falling out of bed or a chair: 1 in 423,548
·         Odds of dying if your pajamas or nightgown catch on fire: 1 in 30,589,556
·         Odds of dying from choking on food: 1 in 370,035
Odds are that my children probably aren’t going to die from hitting their head on our {15 foot!} ceiling when dad throws them in the air or suffer extreme pain when thrown from a high flying park swing that’s gone off track.  In fact, they probably have a better chance of choking on something I serve them for dinner than dying from a horrible laundry basket accident in which dad was recklessly driving.

So, I’ve concluded that I’ll let dad be dad.  And do dad things - even when dad things aren’t mom approved.

And while he’s busy being dad, I’ll be mom.  I’ll lecture him on getting the kids “all hyped up at bedtime” and roll my eyes when he happily serves them an ice-cream cone 10 MINUTES BEFORE DINNER! And I’ll let out an audible gasp when I think his newest stunt is pushing circus danger.  I’ll tell him not to be so rough, and to quit teasing the kids, and that the ‘rocket ship’ is to never, ever, ever be done again.  Well, except for one more time . . . but wait until I get my camera.  Because lecturing dads and taking pictures – it’s just what mom’s do. 

And saying a little prayer when dad’s around never hurt either.

A still image taken from the video titled Spence and Jace doing the 'rocket ship'

Friday, June 3, 2011

Oh My Quotable Friday: Life's good


Bryn and Jace asked to soak their feet in the kitchen sink yesterday while I was cleaning the kitchen.  I agreed but only if they promised “feet -- ONLY FEET!’”

They promised.

No more than ten seconds later I had two naked babes bathing in my kitchen sink.

Kids are so weird.  And unsanitary.

****

Jace called me ‘Kim’ all morning.  Kim, can I have a yogurt?  Kim, hold me.  Sissy, where’s Kim?  He’s got such a fun little personality.  He called me Kim a few days ago and we all laughed so now it has become his go to joke.

Well that and “gummy bears”.  Strange, right?

I’ll ask him a question.  Any question really.  Say like “Hey Jace. Where are your shoes?”  His response, “Gummy bears.”  Or “Jace, do you need to go potty?”  Again, “gummy bears.”   And then he and Brynlee laugh until their eyes water.  Because if it’s funny the first time, it’s sure to be funny the seven THOUSANDTH time.

*****

We packed a lunch in hopes of picnicking at the park today, but it was so dang cold.  So instead we parked in front of the park, folded down the seats, laid out our picnic blanket and lunched – picnic style - in the back of the band.  White trash?  Absolutely.  But the kids thought it was as cool as Disneyland and I wasn’t about to tell them otherwise. 

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Photo Album: My Little Preschool Graduate


Brynlee graduated from preschool.  With high honors. . . err. . .um. . . with a construction paper cap complete with a gold tassel taped to the side. 

Same thing. 

It was a big day and she was so proud to be an official pre-school graduate.  Grandma, Grandpa, Katie and Jake came to cheer for the star of the day.  We toasted to her preschool success with a new Webkinz and some Chinese Food.  And Kate & Jake brought a balloon, a Pez Dispenser and a flower so you know . . . best day ever.

Brynlee and her best preschool friend, Tyson, and Miss Lori. 
We were so lucky to have Miss Lori as Bryn's preschool teacher.  She was excellent!!  We loved her.
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