Tuesday, April 29, 2008

17 pictures for April 17th!

First off, did you know I've had this blog for 3 years now, WOW. I love looking back at the old posts and seeing how my kids have grown. It does a heart good to see what our life has been like..it's all good.

So, in a previous post, I talked about 12 of 12 day. It's where you take 12 pictures on the 12th of each month that represent a typical day in your life, or whatever you want to focus on. I always focus on whatever we are doing that day, whatever is around me...Well, this month I FORGOT! So, I took 17 pictures on the 17th instead! I wasn't really in the mood that morning to take pictures, but having this task to do, really changed and shaped the way my day turned out..it was a long one, are you ready?

Pictures 1,2 and 3:
We went to the Library, and I was glad I had my camera to get these pictures, we have to remember to get pictures of the town around us that we live in...those are the memories that are in our heads, but not always in our pictures...
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Pictures 4,5 and 6:
This library branch has a park right behind it, that's half the fun of going there. We bought some chairs to sit out and watch the kids play, even bought the kids scooters knowing there is a place for them to play there:
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Picture 7:
How odd, just this picture of a dandelion..but at the time, it stood out to me. Sometimes I feel like a dandelion. You think you stand alone, and then you look across the field and you see that there's so many more like you, standing out in defiance of the grass. But what is your purpose, you know....besides humoring children...you're a weed..but hey, God created you for something, and you DO stand out, LOL!
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Pictures 8,9,10,11 and 12:
One library is not enough sometimes, so we headed to the main library and I bought this whole box of books at their library sale for $9.50....gotta love deals like this, I live for moments like this. Natasha picked this Scary Stories book even though I told her it freaked me out when I was a kid. Well, turns out my kids don't scare as easy as I did, that's a good thing, they just thought the book was gross. I even let Kalel pick one out too, his had stickers, makes every kids heart soar. We sat outside of Target reading books in the van (loved doing that as a child and letting the sun shine down on me) while waiting for Keilani to go in and try on swimming suits, plus, I think Zane was asleep in his carseat too.
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Pictures 13,14,15, and 16:
Remember how I said the day didn't go according to plan? Well, Keilani's friend in Orem called and asked if she could come play. Since I was already in AF I decided I'd go ahead and drop Keilani off there. That meant a trip to my sister Nancy's house...where the kids played in the back yard, just having fun. Remember that little fish game when we were little, Zane love it!
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And last, but not least, Picture #17:
There's more pics, but I had to narrow it down to the ones that told the story. This was one of those surreal childhood moments. My girls had to go in the back ditch behind my sisters house to get a bunch of balls that accidentally went over the fence. I don't know why they decided to just sit in there afterwards, perhaps they didn't want to leave just yet..., but I snapped this picture even though I was a bit further away than I would have liked, a peek into a childhood moment, wish I had some of these from when I was little:
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And that was the day! It was GOOD! That doesn't mean it wasn't without it's drama. There was the fight at the park over who got to ride the scooters between Kalel and Zane and then Natasha and Vivian, and let's not forget the moment when Natasha was mad and decided to shove herself past me, only to hear the expression of shock and anger from her mothers suprise that her daughter would DARE shove her mother! I think for a moment she forgot I was not her sister, Keilani, but her mother. She learned a lesson that day that you NEVER shove your mother!!! I really was shocked and had a talk with her about that. Of course she went stomping off and crying to the car...drama I tell you!

Okay off to deal with a 2 year old monkey and his antics!

Vivian's Unbirthday Party...

So, last October Vivian wanted to have a birthday party, but we had just moved into the area. I told her we needed to wait awhile to invite friends over, because none of the parents knew us yet. She was fine with that, and as April approached, she kept reminding me of the party I told her we could have. We were thinking to do an April Fools party, but I got sick the week before and wasn't in the mood anymore...so we decided to do a Half Birthday party. Looking up ideas online I decided to go with the whole Alice in Wonderland Unbirthday party idea. When Alice sits down for tea with the Mad Hatter, they are having a Very Merry Unbirthday party. Basically it's your birthday once a year, so it's your unbirthday all the other 364 days of the year! We had a little tea luncheon, played games, watched Alice in Wonderland, and made a Queen of Hearts craft. Turned out to be fun! Here's a picture of Vivian playing the game, "Can you stand on your head?" and with her heart. Happy Unbirthday Vivian!!! (Who is now 7)
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Wednesday, April 02, 2008

April Fools Day!

So, April Fools day is officially over, and I wasn't in the mood to do any fooling, but I didn't need to, because as you see, I already have enough fools in the house. No children were hurt in the making of these pictures.... :)

Vivian jumping off the couch:
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Kalel jumping off the couch:
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The boys favorite thing to do, take off all the couch cushions and hang out on them:
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and of course jumping off the couch TOGETHER!
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Saturday, February 16, 2008

Yesterday....

I started to keep a record of my day, for a challenge on Lifetime Moments to do a page about a typical day in your life....Here's my "typical" day I had yesterday....

Kalel comes to room early in the morning to sleep on the floor.
Girls wake up to go to school at 7:00 am.
I stay in bed.
Get up at 8:00 am.
Get myself ready.
Get Kalel ready.
Get Zane ready.
Run to Walmart to pick up supplies.
Pick up 2 extra Valentine items that were on clearance.
A cute little heart shaped box to alter into a scrapbook album
And a little wire basket with hearts dangling from it.
Wish that I could go to Target and get more stuff…but go home.
Forget I was going to stop at the library and talk to the librarian.
Arrive at home.
Bring garbage bin back from street.
Unload groceries and boys.
Look up Mapquest for Ken….twice….
Read emails.
Have donuts and milk with boys.
Boys watch Land Before Time.
I go to 2peas and LM.
Write down cyber crop info.
All while wiping Kalels bum 5 times and Zane’s bum twice!
Turn on some music and journal.
Feed kids leftover mac and cheese…they won’t eat it…
Give them cereal instead.
Zane spills cereal….on purpose…
Boys throw the cushions off the couch…
And start jumping off the couch onto the “COOSHUNS”
Zane gets into sink…and gets wet.
I take off his shirt, so Kalel takes his off too.
I take the laundry downstairs.
Zane gets into my scrapbook stuff.
I’m tired and it’s only 1:00 pm.
So, I watch Lost on DVR.
While the boys keep jumping off the couch.
I unload the dishwasher
Load the dishwasher.
The girls get home at 2:30
Natasha vacuums, Vivian picks up, and Keilani puts bug down for a nap.
They all clean their rooms.
I start making luau cake for dinner tonight
Start making meatballs
2 hours later I am done.
Have girls deliver dinner to someones house who just had brain surgery.
It’s 5:30 now.
Check mail.
Check email.
We eat dinner without Ken, he is still at work.
The kids don’t like my luau cake.
How can you not like luau cake?
Ken doesn’t either…so reminder to self…
Don’t make them luau cake again!
Clean off table
Kids get into pj’s
Listen to music and dance around the room.
I collapse on the bed for 5 minutes.
Ken gets home an hour late…it’s 8:00 pm
grabs his food, and volleyball clothes
And he’s off with the kids.
They’re going to Nancy ‘s house for a late night.
This is NOT a normal thing.
Usually they will just hang out with me while Ken plays volleyball.
When I was working, Ken used to take them to the church with him
But today, Nancy offered to take them and how could I refuse that!
So, I’m going to scrapbook…
But I’m too tired.
So I watch Clean House on DVR.
Then come online, listen to music
and start updating my blog after 7 months of nothing.
So, I didn’t get done what I wanted to with my free time.
But, I’m pretty happy that I got something else done instead.
Ken come home LATE….
Brings the sleepy kids in…
They all stay asleep, YEAH!
We watch the end of House that we had recorded
And go to bed at 2AM!

And that's that! A typical day in the life of me! Okay, off to have some leftover luau cake..Ken just took the kids sledding and when he gets back we're going to do our taxes, YEAH!

Friday, February 15, 2008

Finally all caught up...

And Valentines Day! Why am I kissing this little boy? Because he's about to take a nap, YEAH! Zane has turned into quite the little monster. If I leave him alone for 10seconds, I kid you not, he will have turned something upside down....ripped something, spilled something, who knows what! Good thing he's still so loveable!
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First things first. Update on us. I worked at Archivers until Christmas Eve, and then I came home. Ken had started a new job in SLC and it made our schedules just not work out together. I'm glad to be home, but miss being a part of something different. This is the name tag I had made at work, which I changed from my name to a little pocket for our file folder which holds all our bills and stuff..Home Sweet Home, got that little stamp set from my Secret Santa on Lifetime Moments :)
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So, Ken took a break from getting his Masters degree. His field is Health Education, and he does a little work here and there in that field, but hasn't found a job that pays well enough to go full time with a company...looking into where to head next...further in his field, or try something new...This pic here is a Valentine I have yet to give my mom...since here in Utah we were bombarded with a blizzard the day before Valentines, and she didn't get to come up here and visit as planned...Sunday dinner, there's always Sunday dinner where I can give it to her:
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The kids are all back in public school, I couldn't cut the whole homeschooling thing. In a perfect world, that would work for our family, but since our family isn't perfect...that's what happens! They are all loving it though, so it was a good decision. What we will do next year when Keilani goes into junior high, who knows! Next are some random Valentine pics of stuff around the house I took on my 12 of 12 day. What may you ask is that? Well, some blogger posted a challenge to take 12 pictures on the 12th of each month. These are the ones I took a few days ago...some Love blocks I made in Enrichment. They look better IRL with the pp on the back that I added to them. Oh, pp, for those that don't scrapbook, is pattern paper. :) Then, just the kids getting ready to make their Valentine cards with candy in them....
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and last but not least. My lesson in sugar cookie making......DON'T bake sugar cookies with Splenda! We had a church Valentines party where I was to bring 50 cookies. I tried 3 different recipes to see which one was better. Well, since we eat healthy around here, I couldn't find any regular sugar, just organic cane sugar and Splenda. For two of the batches I used splenda and those cookies were HORRIBLE. Just ended up dumping half of them out. The kids ate the other ones though...luckily no one at church had to though. So, the lesson is...why bother making them, just go buy some, or better yet, get those fun Pillsbury ones. Look how good these ones turned out...I'll do that next time, and skip the baking for hours part!
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