This life is such a wonderful schooling experience. I, for one, feel as though I am learning something new SEVERAL times a day. Being a wife and mother lends to much learning. I love my family fiercely. Each one of my children has different gifts and talents. I enjoy each one of them so much. In an attempt at helping my children in on a little self-discovery of their own I asked them yesterday what they want to be when they grow up.
Hayden (10 years old) said, “I want be a trillionaire and I want to be the boss. I would like to do something with adventure.” That sounds like a great idea to me! I let him know that being a successful boss means being a great leader.
Abby (7 years old) said, “I want to be a puppy trainer or a veterinarian.” Hayden found this quite funny because she doesn’t really care about our family dog, Turk.
Bastian (5 years old) said, “I want to be a billionaire so I can buy a hundred Webkinz.” I hope that with inflation his purchase of 100 Webkinz will leave him with some leftover cash.
Weston (3 years old) said, “I want to be Scooby Doo.” Abby said, “That is impossible.” Weston forcefully reiterated that he wants to be Scooby Doo. Hayden agreed that it could happen because Weston could later legally change his name to Scooby Doo. Hayden is a great problem solver. Oh, how I love my children.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Friday, August 8, 2008
We Love Summer
Summer is packed with sun, spontaneity, and freedom. Our family will be sad to see it go. It is almost over. I tried to ignore the fact that I need to go school shopping....that school really ISN'T just around the corner. We counted today and there are 12 days until school starts. *Insert audible sobbing here.
We went swimming with our cousins Amanda, Rachel, and Sarah at the PG pool.
Amanda and Rachel were so awesome! I actually got to sit by the side of the pool and soak in the peaceful moment while they took Weston and Bastian down the water slides. I think this was the first peaceful moment I've had at a pool since having children.
Aunt Allison got in and swam with the kids.
Abby was so brave and jumped off the diving board in the deep end. Great job, Abby! Hayden and Sarah practiced diving off the edge of the pool. Allison gave them tips on how to improve their form.
These two pictures were taken right before swimming lessons at the Provo Veterans Pool. Abby isn't pictured because she stayed the night at Aunt Jessica's house the night before and wasn't at the pool yet. Jessica's girls and my kids took swimming lessons together this year. This is our second year doing lessons together. Jessica and I got to sit by the side of the pool for a half hour Monday through Thursday for 2 weeks catching up and reminiscing. I feel so blessed to have married into such a wonderful family.
After swimming lessons the kids had fun outside running through the sprinkler and eating popsicles.
One day after swimming lessons we went to the park and played with Annebel and Shelby. This is Abby with Shelby. We love all our cousins!
We went swimming with our cousins Amanda, Rachel, and Sarah at the PG pool.
Amanda and Rachel were so awesome! I actually got to sit by the side of the pool and soak in the peaceful moment while they took Weston and Bastian down the water slides. I think this was the first peaceful moment I've had at a pool since having children. 
Aunt Allison got in and swam with the kids.
Abby was so brave and jumped off the diving board in the deep end. Great job, Abby! Hayden and Sarah practiced diving off the edge of the pool. Allison gave them tips on how to improve their form.
These two pictures were taken right before swimming lessons at the Provo Veterans Pool. Abby isn't pictured because she stayed the night at Aunt Jessica's house the night before and wasn't at the pool yet. Jessica's girls and my kids took swimming lessons together this year. This is our second year doing lessons together. Jessica and I got to sit by the side of the pool for a half hour Monday through Thursday for 2 weeks catching up and reminiscing. I feel so blessed to have married into such a wonderful family.
After swimming lessons the kids had fun outside running through the sprinkler and eating popsicles.
One day after swimming lessons we went to the park and played with Annebel and Shelby. This is Abby with Shelby. We love all our cousins!Thursday, August 7, 2008
June and July Top Ten
This will be June's Top Ten and July's Top Ten all in one! I am resourceful.
20. My sweet friend Jacki came by my house and Weston noticed for the first time that her belly is pregnant (eight months). He said, "Do you have a baby in there?" She said, "Yes, I do." He said, "Is it Logan?" (Logan is her youngest child. He's 2.)
19. Abby was helping Bastian think up a user name for his Webkinz. This is a name that must be typed in every time you use your Webkinz. It cannot be changed. They came down and told me what Bastian's user name was. It is oooooppktyy. What??!!!!! Abby explained that when we were trying to think up a user name for hers....sooo many names were taken. Princess was taken, fairy was taken...you know the obvious "girl" user names. So she thought that oooooppktyy wouldn't be taken. She was right. In order to remember it I made it into a storyline. It goes like this, "Oh, oh, oh, oh , OH..... pee pee Katie! Why? Why?" Now even Weston knows Bastian's user name.
18. Weston calls lasagna, "mazanya."
17. I had just finished chopping cucumbers, tomatoes, and green onion for a salad that is popular in Rob's family. I added the mayonnaise and Bastian said, "That will make it delightful, right Mom?" RIGHT!
16. One Sunday after church Rob was helping me load the kids in the van before getting into his car to go home (we drove separate because we need to get to church early to get a bench). He said, "The last one home gets to spank bottoms." We pulled out of the parking lot and turned on a side street and waited for Rob to pass. The kids could hardly contain themselves. THEY wanted to be the ones doing the spanking. We waited until he couldn't see us and drove home to find that he was not in the driveway! We had to go around the block a few times before he relented to let us win....this time.
15. Uncle Joe was living with us for a while. He came upstairs and a pungent smell followed. I found out that he had been working out in his clothes and had not washed them for days. He wreaked of sweat and mildew. It was making me sick to my stomach. I told him, "Joe, you stink so bad, I'm going to throw up!" Weston ran downstairs and came up with a throw up bowl for me.
14. The kids and I were getting into a hot van. I turned on the A/C but it still hadn't cooled the van yet. Weston asked, "Is the ABC on?"
13. Abby trying her hand at a little manipulation was complaining that she NEVER gets to ride her bike in the front of the house on the road. After futile attempts of asking, re-asking, re-re-asking on and on she said, "Maybe we should just give my bike away." I called her bluff and she wanted to renegotiate. Smart girl.
12. Hayden was putting the dishes away out of the dishwasher and was singing a self-written song. While putting away a knife he sang to an unknown tune, "If I slip, I will die and then I won't live to tell the stooooory." I said, "What story?" He said smiling, "The story of the knives. It's easy making up songs."
11. While hiking the Y Bastian asked seriously, "Is the Y made of ice cream?" I said, "No." He said, "Oh, it looks like it."
10. Rob and I were talking on the phone to each other when Weston walked in the room. Rob said, "Let me talk to him." I put Weston on and I heard Rob say, "Hello, Weston this is Santa. (in the summer!) What do you want for Christmas?" Weston's face was so serious. He said, "a bike." Santa asked what color of bike. He said, "a spiderman bike." Then his face softened and he said, "Dad?" Rob laughed and laughed and then Weston laughed and laughed. He said, "Dad tricked me."
9. I killed a wasp in our house and put it in the toilet. I forgot to flush it down. Hayden entered the bathroom and said, "There's a wasp in the toilet!" I explained to him what happened and he said relieved, "I thought there was a wasp's nest in the bathroom and I thought, 'I'm never going in there for the rest of my life.'"
8. I was in the kitchen getting ready to make dinner. Rob was on the couch watching me putter around the kitchen. Rob said, "If I were on the Atkins diet, you'd be a big, juicy steak."
7.While making jam Weston looked into the bucket of sugar and said, "This has sparkles in it." I peered inside the bucket and saw the shiny sugar crystals....ahhh to see the world through the eyes of a three year old.
6.While straining the seeds out of the raspberry puree for the jam the kids wondered if it would be completely seedless. I said, "Only a few fall through the holes." Abby said seriously, "Only if I fall through the holes?"
5. We noticed while lighting fireworks that the manufacturer names weren't very original. They had names like desert flower, flower fountain, flower this and flower that. Half way through Rob began renaming them. These were some of our favorites: Death to All--at this name Bastian scooted his chair all the way back to the garage seriously thinking it would be a BIG one. Then there was: Bastian, I'm Going to Eat You (which had a similar effect on Bastian), Chicken Broccoli Bake, Migraine Inducer, and my favorite firework: Get Your Pajamas On and Go to Bed.
4. I made sandwiches for lunch and Hayden spoke with love toward his sandwich. He looked it over saying very commentator-like, "It's a yummy, delicious sandwich....toasted turkey, cheese, tomato, lettuce and pickles."
3. There was a storm brewing outside. We had seen lightning and everyone was told to stay indoors. Abby opened the sliding glass door to Weston's shock. She gave her left over hamburger to the dog and closed the door. Hayden said like a true tease, "Abby, did you know that meat attracts lightning?" Abby turned quickly and asked in fear, "Mom, does meat attract lightning?"
2. In an attempt to get out of going to church Bastian walked up to me in my bathroom and said, "Mom, I was just coughing a lot in the rocking chair." Sorry, buddy, I'm too smart for that one.
1. At a family reunion Weston saw a white haired, wrinkled woman. Wide-eyed and without taking his eyes off from her he said, "Mom, is that a witch?" I laughed and said, "No, that's a grandma." While eating he stared relentlessly at her. I said, "Weston, what are you doing?" He said, "I'm looking at the.....(long pause)....grandma."
20. My sweet friend Jacki came by my house and Weston noticed for the first time that her belly is pregnant (eight months). He said, "Do you have a baby in there?" She said, "Yes, I do." He said, "Is it Logan?" (Logan is her youngest child. He's 2.)
19. Abby was helping Bastian think up a user name for his Webkinz. This is a name that must be typed in every time you use your Webkinz. It cannot be changed. They came down and told me what Bastian's user name was. It is oooooppktyy. What??!!!!! Abby explained that when we were trying to think up a user name for hers....sooo many names were taken. Princess was taken, fairy was taken...you know the obvious "girl" user names. So she thought that oooooppktyy wouldn't be taken. She was right. In order to remember it I made it into a storyline. It goes like this, "Oh, oh, oh, oh , OH..... pee pee Katie! Why? Why?" Now even Weston knows Bastian's user name.
18. Weston calls lasagna, "mazanya."
17. I had just finished chopping cucumbers, tomatoes, and green onion for a salad that is popular in Rob's family. I added the mayonnaise and Bastian said, "That will make it delightful, right Mom?" RIGHT!
16. One Sunday after church Rob was helping me load the kids in the van before getting into his car to go home (we drove separate because we need to get to church early to get a bench). He said, "The last one home gets to spank bottoms." We pulled out of the parking lot and turned on a side street and waited for Rob to pass. The kids could hardly contain themselves. THEY wanted to be the ones doing the spanking. We waited until he couldn't see us and drove home to find that he was not in the driveway! We had to go around the block a few times before he relented to let us win....this time.
15. Uncle Joe was living with us for a while. He came upstairs and a pungent smell followed. I found out that he had been working out in his clothes and had not washed them for days. He wreaked of sweat and mildew. It was making me sick to my stomach. I told him, "Joe, you stink so bad, I'm going to throw up!" Weston ran downstairs and came up with a throw up bowl for me.
14. The kids and I were getting into a hot van. I turned on the A/C but it still hadn't cooled the van yet. Weston asked, "Is the ABC on?"
13. Abby trying her hand at a little manipulation was complaining that she NEVER gets to ride her bike in the front of the house on the road. After futile attempts of asking, re-asking, re-re-asking on and on she said, "Maybe we should just give my bike away." I called her bluff and she wanted to renegotiate. Smart girl.
12. Hayden was putting the dishes away out of the dishwasher and was singing a self-written song. While putting away a knife he sang to an unknown tune, "If I slip, I will die and then I won't live to tell the stooooory." I said, "What story?" He said smiling, "The story of the knives. It's easy making up songs."
11. While hiking the Y Bastian asked seriously, "Is the Y made of ice cream?" I said, "No." He said, "Oh, it looks like it."
10. Rob and I were talking on the phone to each other when Weston walked in the room. Rob said, "Let me talk to him." I put Weston on and I heard Rob say, "Hello, Weston this is Santa. (in the summer!) What do you want for Christmas?" Weston's face was so serious. He said, "a bike." Santa asked what color of bike. He said, "a spiderman bike." Then his face softened and he said, "Dad?" Rob laughed and laughed and then Weston laughed and laughed. He said, "Dad tricked me."
9. I killed a wasp in our house and put it in the toilet. I forgot to flush it down. Hayden entered the bathroom and said, "There's a wasp in the toilet!" I explained to him what happened and he said relieved, "I thought there was a wasp's nest in the bathroom and I thought, 'I'm never going in there for the rest of my life.'"
8. I was in the kitchen getting ready to make dinner. Rob was on the couch watching me putter around the kitchen. Rob said, "If I were on the Atkins diet, you'd be a big, juicy steak."
7.While making jam Weston looked into the bucket of sugar and said, "This has sparkles in it." I peered inside the bucket and saw the shiny sugar crystals....ahhh to see the world through the eyes of a three year old.
6.While straining the seeds out of the raspberry puree for the jam the kids wondered if it would be completely seedless. I said, "Only a few fall through the holes." Abby said seriously, "Only if I fall through the holes?"
5. We noticed while lighting fireworks that the manufacturer names weren't very original. They had names like desert flower, flower fountain, flower this and flower that. Half way through Rob began renaming them. These were some of our favorites: Death to All--at this name Bastian scooted his chair all the way back to the garage seriously thinking it would be a BIG one. Then there was: Bastian, I'm Going to Eat You (which had a similar effect on Bastian), Chicken Broccoli Bake, Migraine Inducer, and my favorite firework: Get Your Pajamas On and Go to Bed.
4. I made sandwiches for lunch and Hayden spoke with love toward his sandwich. He looked it over saying very commentator-like, "It's a yummy, delicious sandwich....toasted turkey, cheese, tomato, lettuce and pickles."
3. There was a storm brewing outside. We had seen lightning and everyone was told to stay indoors. Abby opened the sliding glass door to Weston's shock. She gave her left over hamburger to the dog and closed the door. Hayden said like a true tease, "Abby, did you know that meat attracts lightning?" Abby turned quickly and asked in fear, "Mom, does meat attract lightning?"
2. In an attempt to get out of going to church Bastian walked up to me in my bathroom and said, "Mom, I was just coughing a lot in the rocking chair." Sorry, buddy, I'm too smart for that one.
1. At a family reunion Weston saw a white haired, wrinkled woman. Wide-eyed and without taking his eyes off from her he said, "Mom, is that a witch?" I laughed and said, "No, that's a grandma." While eating he stared relentlessly at her. I said, "Weston, what are you doing?" He said, "I'm looking at the.....(long pause)....grandma."
Some of My Favorite Things
I wrote my own version of "Favorite Things" from the Sound of Music:
Choc-o-late creamy filled Oreo Cakesters,
Chocolate dipped Almond Joys are quite the tasters,
Brussels mint makes my taste buds want to sing,
These are a few of my favorite things,
Milk chocolate bliss with a melt-away center,
Jumbo red vines that are ever so tender,
Rhodes cinn-a-mon rolls and dongs with a ding,
These are a few of my favorite things!
When the juice spills,
When the kids fight,
When I'm going MAD,
I simply go taste test my favorite things,
And then I don't feel.....
Soooooooooo bad!
Rob and I were browsing at the BYU Creamery on 9th East and came home with a couple oldies and a couple newbies. I have such lovely memories of my childhood travels with my parents. My mom would often buy Pepperidge Farm's Milano Mint and Brussels Mint cookies for road trips. They were a special treat. I have seen Milano Mint in Wal-Mart, but I haven't seen Brussels Mint in....well, I can't remember seeing them since I moved from home 13 years ago. You can imagine my surprise and delight when I spotted them on the shelf. I immediately snatched them up excited to share the memory and the cookies with my husband and kids. Rob was eying the Cakesters and the Almond Joy cookies. He did a little snatching of his own and we commenced a taster's table in the van on the way home. I crunched into a Brussels Mint cookie and stated that I always loved these cookies as a child. He munched a Almond Joy cookie saying, "I always loved these cookies. I have loved them for the last 30 seconds."
Choc-o-late creamy filled Oreo Cakesters,
Chocolate dipped Almond Joys are quite the tasters,
Brussels mint makes my taste buds want to sing,
These are a few of my favorite things,
Milk chocolate bliss with a melt-away center,
Jumbo red vines that are ever so tender,
Rhodes cinn-a-mon rolls and dongs with a ding,
These are a few of my favorite things!
When the juice spills,
When the kids fight,
When I'm going MAD,
I simply go taste test my favorite things,
And then I don't feel.....
Soooooooooo bad!
Rob and I were browsing at the BYU Creamery on 9th East and came home with a couple oldies and a couple newbies. I have such lovely memories of my childhood travels with my parents. My mom would often buy Pepperidge Farm's Milano Mint and Brussels Mint cookies for road trips. They were a special treat. I have seen Milano Mint in Wal-Mart, but I haven't seen Brussels Mint in....well, I can't remember seeing them since I moved from home 13 years ago. You can imagine my surprise and delight when I spotted them on the shelf. I immediately snatched them up excited to share the memory and the cookies with my husband and kids. Rob was eying the Cakesters and the Almond Joy cookies. He did a little snatching of his own and we commenced a taster's table in the van on the way home. I crunched into a Brussels Mint cookie and stated that I always loved these cookies as a child. He munched a Almond Joy cookie saying, "I always loved these cookies. I have loved them for the last 30 seconds."The World of Webkinz
After Abby got her first Webkinz, a Yorkie she named Pearl, for her birthday (thank you Grandma LeBaron) she demonstrated to the rest of the family how entertaining a Webkinz can be. The boys had inward battles as to whether or not they were a "girly" toy...(except Weston who actually asked me to buy him pink Dora shoes the other day). Eventually they made up their minds that a toy this fun can't be exclusive to girls and we rushed with money in hand to quilted bear where they each spent their own money on the Webkinz of their choice. Bastian chose a lion that he named Lie. (I know. Lie? Lie the Lion. Abby helped him. Where was I on this one?) Abby chose a chocolate lab and named her Brownie. Weston chose a tiger that Hayden helped him name Brock. Hayden chose a husky and named him Roark.
Each Webkinz comes with a internet password to the Webkinz World. You get on the Webkinz website, set up a user name and password, and play with your Webkinz online. You feed it, play with it, put it to bed...but you also earn "kinz cash" or Webkinz money to buy the food, and all the needs (and wants) for your pet. Bastian earned enough kinz cash to make a perfectly decorated online pirate room for his Webkinz. I think they are very fun.
While making user names for their webkinz, all the user names Bastian was trying were taken. Being a helpful older sister, Abby helped him with his username. It ended up being oooooppktyy! What?! We now remember it as a sentence, "Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, pee-pee Katy, why, why?" Also pictured is Abby's Yorkie, Pearl, and her velvety elephant named Cassie, thanks to cousin Sarah!
Each Webkinz comes with a internet password to the Webkinz World. You get on the Webkinz website, set up a user name and password, and play with your Webkinz online. You feed it, play with it, put it to bed...but you also earn "kinz cash" or Webkinz money to buy the food, and all the needs (and wants) for your pet. Bastian earned enough kinz cash to make a perfectly decorated online pirate room for his Webkinz. I think they are very fun.
While making user names for their webkinz, all the user names Bastian was trying were taken. Being a helpful older sister, Abby helped him with his username. It ended up being oooooppktyy! What?! We now remember it as a sentence, "Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, pee-pee Katy, why, why?" Also pictured is Abby's Yorkie, Pearl, and her velvety elephant named Cassie, thanks to cousin Sarah!Dinosaur Museum
We were invited to the Dinosaur Museum by my wonderful friend Sarah and her children. The kids practiced their ferocious faces while amidst these dinosaur bones. They all look like carnivores to me.
Paleontology was never as easy as this. Each child has a brush that sweeps the sand off the bones hidden beneath. Then you pile the sand back onto the bones and start over again.
We got to make our very own dinosaurs out of pipe cleaners and googly eyes.
So this is what I came back to after the whole......let's see, hour and a half excursion. In my haste to catch up with Sarah, I forgot to shut the trunk of our van! My purse was still in the van and no one wanted to steal all the paper products in my trunk from the last Primary Activity day party. I do love Utah.
This has got to be one of my favorite parts of the museum. I always have been quite scared of sharks. But as one of Hayden's books says, "Sharks don't like the taste of human flesh." What? Yeah, ridiculous.
The museum is filled with hands on projects. This one lets you know how it would feel to have the whole world in your hands. It kinda makes you want to break out in song. "They've got the whole world in their hands, they've got the whole world....."
This is the hands on sand molding activity. You put an apron on the kids and let them play in the watery sand till their hands are wrinkly.
Weston has to be confined to a stroller on outings like these as he is a...hmmm, not a wanderer but a runner-off-er.
Where is this child's mother? It's HANDS ON....not BODY ON. I blame the parents.
Paleontology was never as easy as this. Each child has a brush that sweeps the sand off the bones hidden beneath. Then you pile the sand back onto the bones and start over again.
We got to make our very own dinosaurs out of pipe cleaners and googly eyes.
So this is what I came back to after the whole......let's see, hour and a half excursion. In my haste to catch up with Sarah, I forgot to shut the trunk of our van! My purse was still in the van and no one wanted to steal all the paper products in my trunk from the last Primary Activity day party. I do love Utah.
This has got to be one of my favorite parts of the museum. I always have been quite scared of sharks. But as one of Hayden's books says, "Sharks don't like the taste of human flesh." What? Yeah, ridiculous.
The museum is filled with hands on projects. This one lets you know how it would feel to have the whole world in your hands. It kinda makes you want to break out in song. "They've got the whole world in their hands, they've got the whole world....."
This is the hands on sand molding activity. You put an apron on the kids and let them play in the watery sand till their hands are wrinkly.
Weston has to be confined to a stroller on outings like these as he is a...hmmm, not a wanderer but a runner-off-er.
Where is this child's mother? It's HANDS ON....not BODY ON. I blame the parents.
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