Monday, October 15, 2012

Tea Party

"Mom, I'm having a tea party!" 

This is the announcement my four year-old son just made. 

"Do you want to come?"

This was the next question.  Of course, I said yes, so I am having a tea party and will finish this in a little bit.  He runs quickly upstairs telling me he is getting the food for the party.  This kid knows how to throw a party.  He runs downstairs with "steak."

The tea party consists of Legos.  I have a round Lego for a cup and a long red Lego for steak.  He keeps telling me that one of the pretend people is spilling.  My steak happens to be "lemonade steak."  I believe I have gotten lucky!  Although I've never had lemonade steak before, I think it is supposed to be delicious. 

I haven't had a tea party in a while.  I wonder if they do this at his school or what made him think about it.  It is nice to take a moment and have a tea party though. 

The party ends as abruptly as it started.  My four year-old got up and ran out to see his older siblings.  It was fun while it lasted!

On another note, my baby is sound asleep on my lap.  I told one of my friends today that it is hard to believe that my last baby is one.  She is still small, only 18 pounds, so she is still rear-facing in her car seat.  I am sure she looks forward to being able to see out the front window.

My children make me happy. They keep me going. 

Thursday, October 11, 2012

My Daughter, the Narrator

Tonight I got to go to see my daughter perform on stage.  I have to admit, I was incredibly proud of her.  She did something that I could never dream of doing, and she did it without a problem.  I could never stand in front of a crowd, and not want to cry.   It is a horribly stressful time to me. 

She has always wanted to be an actress/singer.  I think her favorite person on television is Victoria Justice from "Victorious."  She prefers to be the center of attention, so this was right up her alley.  When I asked the children if this was something they would want to do, it went exactly how I imagined.  My 9 year-old son said no, and my 8 year-old daughter said yes.  I made the appointment, they gave me the time of her casting call.

My daughter loves the spotlight.  She loves to get makeup put on her.  I am not a makeup artist by any stretch of the imagination, but I do my best.  She needs to get it on before the shows. 

I hope that this is just the beginning of many performances for her.  She seems like a natural. Ever since she was a baby, I knew she liked performing.  She would perform songs in front of us and our friends. 

My other three children went to the show tonight with my sister and I.  They were captivated.  I was so proud of how good they did.  We sat in the second to the last row, which wasn't a good idea, since they had a hard time seeing.  I was holding my baby up so she could see and my 4 year-old son sat on my sister's lap so he could see.

At the end of the show, when the audience came out to the crowd to thank us all for coming, each of my sons gave her a rose.  We surprised her, she didn't know we were coming to tonight.  She was very surprised and happy that we were there.  Her eyes lit up when she us after the show.

Keith and I will be going to the show on Saturday, since he will not have to be at work.  I think he will enjoy it as much as we did.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

A Visit from my Mom

My mother was here for a visit from Sept. 21 to Sept 27.  She left early on Sept 27 to go up and see my brothers in WA state.  It was sad to see her go, but I knew that my brothers were excited to see her.

When my mom got here, we headed to WY to see my sister and her family.  The time there flew by quickly.  We rented a minivan for that trip, it was super nice one.  We had to get our Guinea pig in there too.  She had to ride in the very back, which she fit in nicely.  We couldn't leave her home.  She traveled well.

Mom had her birthday when we were over in Wyoming.  That day, Saturday, we went and watched Matthew play football.  We had to watch both games, in case he got to play in the first one.  After the game, we went over to a Chinese restaurant.  It was good food.  We celebrated my sisters' birthday, my anniversary, and my mom's anniversary that day.

We had to leave on Sunday morning to get the van back here on time.  We barely made it.  When we got to my house, we had to toss everything out and then continue on to Salt Lake City.  I was so tired, but I had to make that trip so I could drive the car to pick up my husband at the airport after he dropped off the car.

That evening, we watched some football and hung out with each other.  We love our football!

On Monday, we went and bought a baby Guinea pig.  Her name is Elizabeth.  Our other Guinea pig is Grace.  The kids named both of them.  I wanted to go with Disney names, but they didn't.  Grace is a short-haired and Elizabeth is a long-haired.  We brought her home and let her get acquainted with Grace.   Mom, the children and I, then continued on to the indoor playground.  They always enjoy that!  I love getting the Icee's.  I am a glutton when it comes to those! 

My mom and I did a lot of running around while she was here.  I was hoping to find a baby gate, so I went to the Deseret Industries (it is like Goodwill).  I didn't find a baby gate, but I found a television with a VCR built-in for the kids' playroom.  That led me to buying many VHS tapes.  They were 50 cents each.  I found many Disney movies and Pixar, movies that can't be bought until they open the vault, unless you find them somewhere like this.

I found a rake, which we will need, since we have a giant tree and a couple smaller ones.  The leaves have started to fall off the trees, so the rake will be getting put to use soon.  Mom was patient while I looked around.  I have discovered that I enjoy thrift shops, seems like they have everything (except baby gates).

Mom rode with me to drop off and pick up my 4 year-old from school.  He goes to school almost 4 miles away.  It was nice to have someone to ride with.  The first day, they put up a roadblock on my way home.  Once I took the detour, I got extremely lost.  They didn't have any signs to show us where to go after we took our first turn.  I ended up a lot further away from home than I thought.  I finally knew where I was when I saw the Wal-Mart and the Starbucks.  I love Starbucks, and I loved it even more that day.  I introduced my mom to the Chocolate cookie crumble frappucino without coffee.   They are super tasty.  Since I knew where I was, I was finally able to get us home. 

The next couple of days, I would go home the other way, so that if they did block off the road, I knew where I was.  I have no clue if they blocked it off or not, but I didn't want to find out the hard way. 

My mom encouraged me to start running again.  I started running on Wednesday.  I went back and forth to the school.  It is .62 miles each way.  I would get a break while I waited for the children to come out of the school.  Then we would all run home together.   It is hard to get back into running, but I know I will enjoy it once I build up my endurance again. 

Mom made fried pan stew.  That is my 8 year-old daughter's favorite meal.  It is something that my grandpa and great-grandma would make.  It is so delicious.  It takes a while to make.  I need to get the recipe from my mom. 

On Wednesday, we inherited a bushel of tomatoes.  I have never canned before in my life.  My mom mentioned to the person that gave them to us that we would have to learn to make salsa.  She told us of a mix you can buy and then can them.  She lent us her water bath pot, we went and bought a bunch of medium salsa mixes and canning jars.  I canned for the first time in my life and my mom canned for the second time in her life.  I really enjoyed it.  I don't know if it was because of the company or if it is really fun.  It makes me want to go and buy everything I would ever need to start canning.   On Thursday, we made more salsa and froze it.  We gave my neighbor across the street that kept us stocked up on veggies a pint of salsa. 

We had lunch at Zupas with the people that gave us the tomatoes and gave them a pint of the salsa and all their canning supplies back.  We love them.  We knew them at church in NY, then they moved to this area.  We were happy to move close to them.  It was a wonderful visit. 

Friday came too quickly.  My husband helped get my mom's things into the car and we gave hugs and kisses and off she went.  It is so sad to say goodbye!  I am looking forward to the next visit!

Sunday, September 16, 2012

No More Excuses...

I need to face it, I have been making excuses.  I just don't want to go back to running, because I know there is a lot of time before I am back to where I used to be.  I was never fast, but I was faster than I will be when I lace up my shoes and run out my front door.  I am going to face struggles, such as learning to breathe and run at the same time.  That is the hardest one... breathing is such an important part of life, regardless if running or not.

Time... another big excuse I use.  No time, actually.  Trying to figure out when to lace up those shoes and hit the pavement.  I need to just do it.  There is generally some time in the mornings before my husband has to leave for work.  That would be the perfect time.  I could leave the baby with him and head out.  I have been walking to pick up the kids from school.  I have done that everyday, except one that it rained.It is time to lace up those shoes.

Fear... I am afraid of remarks I will hear as I start running again.  Not everyone is kind.  Not everyone understands that there are some people that start exercising when they are overweight, so they can get into shape.  There are people that think that only people in perfect shape should be outside running.  There have been the people that have "mooed" and "barked" as I have run.  It always startled me. 


I have two more marathon finisher medals that I have to earn.  Almost all of the races in this area are on Saturday.  There is absolutely no reason why I shouldn't be out there.  I want to give each of my children one of my medals.  I only have two medals right now.  I have four children.  I need to get on the ball!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Who Doesn't Love M&M's?

My 4 year-old gets out of school a couple of hours before my older two children.  He goes to school 3 miles away from home.  It was the only school in the area with an opening for Head Start.  My older two children went to Head Start back east, I am a believer in what they do. 

Today I had to go to the grocery store before I picked him up.  It is much easier doing it with one child than with two or more,  especially since the one child I brought with me doesn't ask for everything.  I went to the store this morning after dropping him off at school, but didn't realize that I had enough milk for one bowl of cereal.  The shopping trip this afternoon was for more milk.  It was on sale at a local store for $1.99, so I got two.  I get skim milk and 1% milk.  While I was there, I saw that M&M's were on sale for 50 cents per package.  I thought those would be a great thing for my 4 year-old to enjoy after school.

After finishing at the store, I headed to his school.  I was about a mile away from home, so I thought I would take a different route to pick him up.  Never a good idea to attempt a different route in an area you don't know.  My GPS was confused too.  It just wasn't good.  I finally got myself to a road that I knew and thankfully I wasn't late to pick him up.

On the way out of the school, I told him what treat I got him.  He wasn't really impressed.  In fact, I think he told me he hates M&M's.  This was quite shocking to me.  I thought, "Perhaps he had a bad experience with them lately?!"  Nope, that wasn't it!  He wanted a Beyblade.  He doesn't hate M&M's, he hates that he got those instead of a Beyblade.  Those cost a little more than 50 cents.

Well, I convinced him to let me have a few of his M&M's before I started driving again.  I took several and tossed them into my mouth.  I made sure he was strapped in and away we went.  By the time we got home, he had enjoyed most of the M&M's and announced that they had gotten rotten on our way home.  He set them on the foot rest to our couch when he got inside.

Along came my baby girl.  She is quite mobile these days.  She hasn't quite gotten to the point where she walks, but she is a huge fan of crawling.  She is also talented at cruising along the furniture.  She got to the foot rest, apparently.  I was out in the kitchen making myself a delicious bowl of ice cream.  When I came out, this is what I saw:


If you can't tell, she has blue and orange around her mouth.  She finished off her brother's M&M's.  Thankfully they weren't really rotten!  She held on to that wrapper for several minutes after they were gone.  I think she wanted to be sure that there weren't any extra ones that would come out.  I have to admit, she knows what the good stuff is! :)

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

A Trip to the Dentist

Yesterday I got to go to the dentist.  I was expecting good things.  A quick cleaning and be set on my way.  Not this time... although I faithfully brush and floss, I managed to get not one, not two, but three cavities.  I missed flossing perhaps three times in the past 6 months.  I blame that on just falling to sleep... I didn't plan to fall to sleep.  It just happened.  Perhaps, I got a cavity each of those nights?!

I have to admit that I was stunned.  My teeth don't hurt.  Well, they didn't hurt.  After getting the cleaning of a lifetime, I think that my teeth have never hurt so bad.  I haven't had on of those metal things run along my gum lines in a really long time.  My dentist previously used something a lot more humane, although I didn't realize until I was returned to the metal thing.

I had never had such a thorough check up.  I had to stick out my tongue and he grabbed it with his hand and felt all over it.  I had to relax my tongue so he could do this and then feel all around inside my mouth.  I am happy to report that I have no signs of oral cancer :)  I do have geographic tongue, but I had diagnosed myself with that years ago, after my little brother was diagnosed.  That wasn't too shocking.

At the end of the day, the good news far outweighed the bad news.  I would much rather be told that I have 3 cavities and geographic tongue, than to be told that I didn't pass my oral cancer screening!  I go back for fillings in October.

I shall continue to diligently brush and floss my teeth.  I took up flossing nightly a year ago.  I used to not be quite as diligent, to be quite honest.  I would floss whenever I felt like it, usually when I had something stuck between my teeth.  I don't know why I was lazy about that, I just was.  I have bought my children the animal shaped flossing things.  They are still not quite as diligent about flossing, but they do use mouthwash and brush every night before bed.  I guess baby steps and someday they will use the flossing things nightly too.

My four year-old is seeing the dentist in 45 minutes.  I hope he has better news than me!  Thank goodness for dental insurance!

Just an update, his dental check-up went well.  No cavities!  He chose strawberry flavored flouride for after the cleaning.  The hygienist was putting that on his teeth when my 9 year-old glanced over and saw 4 year-old's mouth and teeth completely red.  My  9 year-old turned completely white and asked me what happened to his brother.  I realized that he thought it was blood.  I assured him it wasn't and the color quickly came back.  I have a son that is just like me!  I don't handle blood very well...

Friday, September 7, 2012

First Day of School 2012

My two older children started school on Tuesday and my 4 year-old started school on Wednesday.  They were all excited for that first day of school.  Since moving into our new home, my children haven't had the vast array of friends in the neighborhood that they are used to.  We have always lived in apartments that were comprised of many families, so it seemed that friends came built in. 

The older children were also excited to start school because the school provides netbooks for the children to use during the school year.  That would be quite exciting for a child.  I was worried about the fact that they might bring them home and break them.  I was excited to learn after the first day of school that the netbook is not permitted to come home. 

My four year-old was sad to see his older siblings leave for school.  I had to go to a meeting at his school, so he got to go with his aunt and cousins for several hours, so that helped to make the day more bearable.

I forgot to set up a place to meet after school to get the children, so I got to wait in a long line of cars at the school.  As soon as I got all the children, I showed them where we would meet daily.  That has made the pickup a lot easier!

School started the next day for my 4 year-old.  He was not quite as thrilled to head out the door.  He was excited to start school until he found out that I had no clue where his Pokemon cards were.  I haven't seen them since we moved.  I didn't know that Pokemon cards were a must have for the first day of school...  I had to do everything short of drag him out of the door to get him to go.  Thankfully, by the end of the day, he forgot all about the need for Pokemon cards. 

All of the children seem to like their teachers, which is always a wonderful way to start the school year.  I met the teachers of the older children yesterday.  I met my four year-old's teacher before school started.  I have to admit that the children seem to be in good hands at school. 

As a parent, I hope the children pick up on what they are being taught quickly.  I hope that they make many good friends and good memories.  I hope they treat all the others with the respect that they deserve.  I hope they will take the children that look lonely and without friends under their wings. Most of all, I hope they have a wonderful year at school.

My baby turned 11 months on my four year-old's first day of school.  We got a picutre of her as well...