Thursday, December 25, 2014

Merry Christmas to All! 2014

   This was the year. We've been expecting it for the past three years. Evelyn didn't sleep last night. She finally drifted off, and then woke up and ran into our bedroom at 1 AM to ask if it was time to wake up yet. She only got about half-way through her sentence when she noticed the clock. She sighed a long-suffering kind of sigh and slumped back to her bedroom. She came in again around 3 AM and exclaimed, "HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO SLEEP THIS NIGHT WITH ALL THE EXCITEMENT?!?!" We found out this morning that she had been in her room between 1 and 3 listening to Christmas music and daydreaming about today's promised treasures. She did eventually drift back off to sleep, but she might need a nap today.

   We finally crawled out of bed at about 7 AM. Penny woke us all up when she discovered that we had hung a blanket to block off the view from the hallway, and she thought it was the scariest thing she had ever seen. (She also did this to the snowflakes we hung up two days ago.)

 We peeked out the window and what to our wondering eyes did behold, the white Christmas we've all been waiting so anxiously for. We had our ritual Christmas morning prayer, thanking Heavenly Father for the gift of His Son. Then we pulled down the blanket and turned up Mannheim Steamroller's "Joy to the World" full blast. Sorry neighbors, but we have to dance to  it every Christmas morning. This year was especially fun because Penny joined us in the dance.
 
 
   After our dance we opened just a few presents while we waited for our oven to preheat. Evelyn was lucky because her first gift she opened was Santa's big gift to her: her dragon toy. (This year Evelyn asked Santa for lots of dragons and some money.) As soon as our oven beeped, we stopped and made our breakfast: Pigs in a blanket. While they cooked, we opened a few more gifts, then we paused again to eat. It was nice to kind of take things slowly this year and enjoy the individual presents more.

   Evelyn made us a cute calendar for next year. She also wrote me a poem. I should really start compiling those in a book. Those little hand-made gifts are the most special presents I get. --But I also really loved the new outfit that Michael bought me.

  Really, we were kind of lucky this year to get any presents at all. The only reason we did is that I already had Christmas bought and paid for when our water heater went out....and then our fridge died...and then our car needed repairing. It was quite the December! But I chose to look at it that I also got a new water heater and a brand new fridge!!!

Penny spent the whole morning eating the bone Santa gave her, and staying out of trouble.
   As soon as we finished unwrapping the presents and digging through our stockings (Evelyn's had a small roll of quarters in hers!) Evelyn started begging to go play out in the snow. So we bundled everyone up, including Penny and went sledding.
Here is another video of our little sled-dog:

 
And here's a family Christmas picture of us:
 


Saturday, November 1, 2014

Halloween Fun

 
 

Lots of pictures to update!  First off, here is our little kitty that we got to pretend was ours for 1 hour while we delivered it to the Johnsons. Their poor little kitty got hit by a car. So we're hoping this kitten fills a little bit of the void.
  The Johnsons named her Narnia.



This is the pumpkin patch where we picked our pumpkins. Evelyn dressed up for this as Minnie mouse, but she really didn't commit to what she was going to be for Halloween until she dressed to get ready for school.


Michael and I decided to dress up this year as well. I put on his old Class A's except for the trousers which I couldn't fit in--I promise I'm not that big! They were his original trousers from when he was 17! So I didn't look completely official, but I still managed to fool all sorts of people. Granted, the official Class A's are blue now.

 Michael decided to also dress as a soldier, He somehow squished himself into his old uniform, but he also wasn't completely kosher. Notice the gray t-shirt, and he also wore cowboy boots because his old boots are at his mom's house. We tried to get him into his Class A's and he couldn't even button it because he's filled out so much--from his neck to his chest--I don't know how he got those things on only 5 1/2 years ago!!
 



 Evelyn decided to be an Ewok from the original Star Wars Trilogy. This is her cute made-from-scratch costume. For the parade at school, she carried her little baby Ewok, who she named "Itchy", but she didn't want to lose him while trick or treating.



 We really hoarded on the treats. Evelyn just about half-filled her pillow-case. It was sick. --Not that we've eaten it already!!! We're hoping it lasts until Santa comes.

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Pumpkin Carving

Today we carved our pumpkins! Here's how they turned out:
This one was Michael's design
This one was Evelyn's design, carved by me. Evelyn ate the seeds.
 We also had Evelyn try bobbing for apples this year. We thought she might actually have more success trying it this year since she is no longer afraid to get her face wet. (That just makes life a little bit nicer, doesn't it?) So here is a movie of her bobbing for apples. She did eventually figure out how to get a good bite from watching her mommy try.

  

Monday, October 6, 2014

A Chance Encounter with Superman

This post was taken from another blog I attempted to write years a go....it only had one post. This is it. I think I'm going to let that blog die. But once I thought I might become a genius. So here it is: all my genius:


We know that superheroes need vulnerabilities, otherwise they just become obnoxious. This almost happened with Superman; luckily someone came up with kryptonite so that it would actually go on for more than one episode. Unfortunately, kryptonite doesn’t really do it for me. I mean, I can’t relate to it, so I have a hard time sympathizing with some overly-muscled, x-ray visioned, super-speed (not to mention flying) person struggling so desperately any time a pebble is introduced to him.
But what if Superman had a very recognizable fallacy? I mean, he’s got these super powers, but what if having super powers gave him also like a super active immunity or something? Superman with Rheumatoid Arthritis? Can’t you just picture it? He may be able to burst through walls, but...







Verses:


You know, this is a Superman whose greatest weakness is when someone steps on his toe. This is a Superman who has to sleep in a flying position because he got stuck in that position. This is a hero who has difficulty making a fist, so he head-butts instead. This would be a true hero who would truly sacrifice his comfort for the well-being of "the general good" because of his gifts. This is a Super-hero I could watch.

The Joys of Mismatched Furniture

To get after- Conference wiggles out:

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Ipod History

So we just barely figured out how to get our pictures from our ipod onto our computer. Yeah, it took a while. But now we have all these cute pictures I have to catch up on! So here goes!
Last Christmas we cut out snowflakes together, and Michael had cut out a piece that looked like a mustache! So we had to pause in our cutting and color them black and have a photo shoot. So here we are being strange.


Penny likes to nurse her octopus toy named "Woobley." She nurses it so vigorously! I guess it's better than when we had the cat that nursed Pheobe!
We took a tour this summer of Temple Square and the conference center. This was taken on the roof of the conference center.

Penny likes to be the ogre of Evelyn's castle. She used to fit through that little drawbridge but now she has to settle with this. Anytime she can she inflicts casualties in Evelyn's game. And the only thing to get her to stop is by pulling out the dragon. That is a scary dragon! It roars, and bites, and flies! But if Penny happens to pass by a little soldier in her fleeing, she still snatches it up and happily runs into the next room to give it a chew.
 
 Evelyn found an ewok hood in Disneyland. She was so excited! She was pretty obsessed with ewoks because we had her watch the original Star Wars Trilogy in hope she would be less terrified of Star Tours. It worked, but we had to listen to her say "Yub-Yub" for the next 5months. She decided she wants to be an ewok for Halloween this year. I almost wish we had bought that hood!

 This last summer was one quite filled with wildlife. We found these little baby skunks by the river. They were about the size of a six week kitten, so I'm guessing they were about that old. They were exploring the outside world while mama skunk was snoozing in the den--those naughty babies! They were absolutely confident and had no fear of us, while on the other hand, we were pretty nervous of them! I thought they were adorable though, and it made me think of Jane, who always wanted a pet skunk!
Then, in July, we noticed that every time Evelyn climbed her favorite tree, a hummingbird would start swooping around. I figured it must have a nest in the tree, and we found it! The nest was about the size in this picture: like you had cut a golf ball in half. We kept our eyes on it, and pretty soon, we saw some little needle beaks poking out of it! The hatchlings had emerged! Two little baby hummingbirds! We got this picture: they're still a little wet from hatching. We kept watch on them for a couple weeks while they grew. Pretty soon they got too big for their nest. One time when we went to check on them, one of the babies tried to fly away. It had more success falling. Michael got to pick up the tiny thing and place it back in the nest! He said its heartbeat felt like a constant vibration. About two days later, the birds left the nest. We kept checking in case they ever returned, but they never did. Michael and I were sad!! I guess you could say that we got a little glimpse of what it would be like to be empty nesters.

For our anniversary, we bought year memberships to Thanksgiving Point. This is Michael in the Curiosity Museum. We built the legos up all around him, and then he had to break out. It was funny that originally it was just Evelyn and me building the tower, but as people came in, they'd laugh and join in. The tower turned out to be 6 feet high!

 Evelyn  is hanging like a sloth at the Curiosity Museum. It times you to see how long you can hang without falling off. Evelyn hung for over two minutes! This picture was taken right before she fell: hence the face. Michael, by the way, could only hang for about 20 seconds. The hard part about it was you couldn't straighten your arms because your weight would hit the mat underneath and it would stop the timer. So you had to keep your arms bent. That's  a good workout!


Here's our little gremlin again. She always makes us laugh. We bought her that box to store her toys in so the house wouldn't be constantly cluttered, but it became her favorite toy! This is her with her head through the handle. (She gets her head stuck a lot!)

Believe it or not, Penny is asleep in this picture. Sometimes she sleeps with her eyes open with just the whites showing. She is creepy. And she usually sleeps with her tongue out.

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Voice Lessons

I teach voice lessons. A lot of people are interested, but are a little nervous to commit before knowing what they are getting themselves into. Others are unsure whether they are even capable. I am trying to address these concerns and many others in a new blog I am creating.
 
Feel free to check it out!
 
 

Monday, September 1, 2014

Family Home Evening

Here is an example of a nice, peaceful Family Home Evening at our house:


 
Pillow fight with a pug twist!
 
By the way, if you want to know my involvement, I'm usually in the corner nursing battle wounds.

Sunday, August 31, 2014

Poor Traumatized Child

I told Evelyn that every time I caught her in a lie, the whole world would know about it because I would write about it in my blog. I am such a mean awesome mom :D. You can tell she doesn't lie much, BUT here we go!


Today I asked Evelyn what she learned about in church. Here was her answer:
 
Evelyn:  About being kind.

Me: Hmmm...you have learned about being kind for the last 6 weeks.

Evelyn: Yeah, we learn about it lots.

Me: --Or you just say that every time I ask you what you learned about.

Evelyn: Yeah, but today we really DID learn about being kind!

Me:  But not the last 6 weeks?

Evelyn: Not so much.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

"If you say that again, I WILL wash your mouth out with soap!--Love ya, have a good day at school!"

    Ah the wonderful, scheduled, frantic onset of school! Evelyn has been most anxious for school to start: wondering who her teacher will be, planning all the things she will brag about to her teacher ("I read 64 books this summer, Teacher!"), whether or not a certain not-so-desirable boy will end up in her class, dreaming about a much-more-desirable boy sitting next to her, and oh yeah: if her best friend will have the same teacher! It has been very amusing to listen to her verbal ponderings. 
   Last night was Back to School night for Evelyn. We were very pleased with her new teacher who has many glowing references by trusted friends. Everything went smoothly, with only slight threatenings of my tears spilling over. But I held them back successfully! WHY MUST CHILDREN GROW UP SO QUICKLY?!?! And why do I have a shortage of children that makes my "empty-nesting" years loom much too close for comfort?!  Ooookay, pardon the pity party: I just dropped off my first grader to her very first day of school.
   Speaking of which, I was very proud of my organized and successful morning! I got up with an hour to spare before school started. I did my daughter's hair, made her a nutritious, if not slightly sugary breakfast. Then I read her scriptures while she ate! (I am very impressed with this fact, mostly because it's what my mom did for her children before school, and thus, it's the BEST way to do things, right?) After which, we had about 25 more minutes, so I got Evelyn to do her work chart job, AND practice the piano before school started! Mom points!
    I would have given myself props for the perfect first day of school, if I hadn't had to threaten to wash Evelyn's mouth out with soap literally right before I wished her a good day at school.
    How's this for a first day of school memory? While rhyming words with "itch," Evelyn discovered her first swear word, and thought it was the most fascinating discovery since what women look like pregnant. (That was another embarrassing discovery, full of pointing and screaming out that random strangers must have a baby in their tummy--this proclamation was not limited to actual pregnant ladies, but extended the elderly, the women still recovering from their birth, and the occasional tubby male. Fun days.)
   Anyway Evelyn's potty mouth simply served to remind me that truly my baby is growing up, and while not purposely swearing, she is definitely going to stumble upon unpleasantness of life. And perhaps maybe even introduce some of that unpleasantness to your kids. (Sorry  if your kid comes home knowing a new swear word.)
   So I got a Good Mom Reward today, followed almost immediately by a slap in the face and a "Give that medal back!" But I have learned a valuable lesson: If your child is just making funny sounds with their mouth, don't point out the swear word. Oh, and don't define the swear word. Sometimes in trying to be educational you just give too much information.

Monday, July 21, 2014

"You think you can do these things, Nemo, but you CAN'T!"

   Where is that limit when you stop hovering protectively over your child and let her feel the natural consequences of life? I know it is very good to let children learn from their actions, so I have a tendency to want to let Evelyn discover things for herself.
   Having said that, I must admit I'm horrible at putting those beliefs into practice. For instance, we have been trying to teach Evelyn how to swim for years, but last summer especially, we really focused on it. It wasn't super successful, because when we want her to learn something is when she decides to cling terrified to our necks. This year, we have been continuing to work on it, but without the same emphasis. She had sort of got to the place she had left off last year, which meant she could swim about 5 strokes before having to stop and breathe. If she couldn't reach the bottom or cling to someone, she would just take her breath underwater.


   So you can see why on the Fourth of July I almost ripped the clubhouse door off it's hinges trying to reach my little girl who was drowning! At least, I thought she was...We were having a family party at the clubhouse, and all the cousins were swimming together. Evelyn had her swim noodle, and we also had an adult or three supervising. But, just the same, I kept peeking out the window to see how she was doing. You can imagine how I felt when I saw her climb out of the pool with her noodle, walk to the deep part and chuck her swim noodle in. Then she plugged her nose and jumped in after it. The only problem was her splash pushed her noodle farther away. She swam after it, but her strokes continued to push her noodle across the pool. Her swimming was a little frantic and spasmodic, and I thought any second she would go under, but she just kept swimming, ...and swimming...and swimming. She ended up swimming across the whole pool! She was so proud of herself she did it about 100 more times.
   I was proud too, but it didn't stop me from going outside and preparing to jump in should anything go wrong. She did fine.
   Of course whenever we go swimming now she does the same thing, only she wants nothing to do with her swim noodle, and I keep finding myself ordering her to take it with her, just in case! Am I being too over-protective?

Hair Cuts Everywhere!

We cut off all of our hair!!! Actually, we only cut off the majority of all our hair. Michael's isn't that interesting (sorry, Michael) so I didn't include a picture. But Evelyn's: we cut off at least 5 inches! I think it makes her look 4 years younger. I'm finally getting used to her in it and most the time I recognize her now when she comes in a room.
Before we cut it.
And here she is with her hair cut. Her hair grows so fast that I am pretty sure it's already grown an inch since we cut it a month ago. When it was first cut, it was barely brushing her shoulders.




 I cut off about 5 inches of mine too. I hate it. But I'm trying not to get impulsive about it and cut the rest off, because then I'll probably never grow it out again. So I'm trying...to ...be...patient! AAAARRGGH! I still hate it!!!

Anyway, Evelyn's haircut does make it harder to put up. Her hair just likes to slide out of anything I put in it. But I did manage to get it to stay up for an hour while she went to a friend's birthday party. Here she is, dressed up as Cinderella.


 
 

Saturday, May 31, 2014

New Bike and Graduation

 We finally succumbed to our guilt of having deprived Evelyn the last 4 years and we bought her a new bike!  She is learning quickly how to not depend so heavily on the training wheels.  We'll pretend it was a kindergarten graduation present, but really there was just a bike sale at Walmart.

Evelyn's Kindergarten graduation was on Tuesday the 27th. I was so proud of her. She has come so far in the last year. I was pleased with the way she carried herself. I loved the way she sang right to the audience.  I loved  her confidence. I love her little choreography. I loved her disgusted little face when one of the kids of the front row puked. She's so fun to have!
   Here is the video of their first song. Don't worry, there's no kids puking in it.



Sitting so straight and tall!

Evelyn and her teacher, Mrs. Rigby