Food Critic

The kids love to play restaurant. I think the object of the game is to get the other person laughing as hard as possible. This is how it usually goes:

The "customer" sits at the kitchen table and places an order for some outrageous food.

The "servant" (aka waiter or waitress) rounds up some random household item and delivers it on a plate to the customer.

The customer pretends to eat the food.

They both giggle...and laugh...and laugh...and laugh...

Then the game starts over and the silliness escalates.


But last night the restaurant game took a new turn. Gracie, the "servant" decided to make and serve real chocolate milk. Dallin took a big gulp and called out, "I'll rate this a 9.6!" Next he wanted me to cut up some strawberries for a snack, which also earned a 9.6 rating. He announced that Gracie and I will be having a "cook-off" tomorrow to break the tie.

He had me laughing pretty hard, but I'm thinking it won't be so funny at the dinner table. I can just imagine him saying, "I'll rate this meal a 2.3!"

Did You Know?

We've had Gracie's friend Sophie staying with us while her parents are on a cruise. She's been enlightening us with all kinds of useful information while she's been here. Most of her little nuggets of wisdom begin with, "Did you know..." Here are a few of the little gems we've learned from her the past couple of days:

1. Did you know that my dad makes the BEST breadsticks? (Spoken after her first and only bite of the breadsticks I made for dinner.)

2. Did you know that your mom eats garbage Gracie? (Said after she watched me put black beans on a whole wheat tortilla. LOL!)

3. Did you know my Grandpa with 8 toes only has 8 toes because bugs got into his feet?....(long pause)....but I don't know what kind of bugs.

There have been others, but that's probably good for now.

I've actually learned a thing or two myself while Sophie has been staying with us. For example:

1. Did you know that two little girls can change clothes more than half a dozen times before lunchtime? Together they can also make a mess - not just twice as big, but about 9 times larger - than either one of them is capable of making on their own.

2. Did you know some kids are afraid to sleep in the basement? (Mine aren't, so this is new to me.)

3. Did you know that there might be spiders in the basement? And did you know that there are spiders outside? (Since there are most certainly spiders outside, you should never ever go outside to play!)

4. Did you know that little girls are drama queens?

5. Did you know that it is exhausting to tuck two preschoolers into bed approximately 47 times in one night?

6. Did you know that when exhaustion sets in, all your best parenting techniques go out the window? (I learned this one while spending a couple nights on the upstairs couch, while Adam slept in the basement. The two girls were sound asleep on our bed when I came to this realization.)

7. Did you know that finding such a good friend for your kid is pretty rare? These girls just adore each other! They're going on day 6 of being together around the clock and not only are they still friends, they're still acting like they can't get enough of each other.


We're all learning a lot this week!

She Cracks Me Up!

This is Rose.

This was Rose a couple of weeks ago.


Gracie had her in a wooden box. She frequently puts toys in purses, buckets, bowls, baskets, etc. so I really wasn't alarmed...until this conversation...


Gracie: "Mom, look at Rose."

Me: "Oh that's cute honey." (I was a little distracted at the moment.)

Gracie: "You better get cooking - LOTS of food!"

Me: "Why's that?"

Gracie: "Because Rose died, and we're having a funeral!"


Um. OK! (I seriously laughed so hard.) There's probably another child out there somewhere who loves playing "funeral" with his or her stuffed animals. That child's parent is probably a mortician or something. Ha Ha Ha!

Can you tell that she has been a front row spectator at Relief Society events for most of her life?

Goodbye Spring Break - Hello Spring

It's back to school today after a week of Spring Break. It was cold and snowy all week last week, so it didn't really feel like much of a Spring Break. But wouldn't you know it - it's nice and sunny today, now that the kids are back in school. Go figure! Ha Ha!

We had a sleepover at Grandma's house last week. The kids got to visit Grandma and Grandpa and play with cousin Kylee. I got to escape the ringing phone and housework, which was nice. And I even read a novel while I was there. Ahhhh!

We had talked about going to the zoo over Spring Break, but the weather wasn't really cooperating. So, I took the kids to do a couple of indoor activities instead. We went to Kangaroo Zoo - a place with inflatable slides, trampolines, and bounce houses. The kids had a blast slipping, sliding, jumping, and acting like wild animals.







At one point I was worried when I couldn't see Gracie anywhere. Dallin finally found her inside the inflatable castle. She was lying on the middle divider between two slides "taking a rest." Crazy girl!



We spent about 5 hours there, but the kids still weren't ready to leave. I bought a 10-punch card, so we'll probably go again soon.

We also managed a trip to the indoor pool. Adam joined us for that one and took us to dinner afterwards.



Snow and sickness aside, it was still nice to take a break from our normal routine for a few days.

Rockin' and Rollin'

The kids went yesterday to record a couple of songs in a recording studio for their Grandma 'Gumry. She's a Kindergarten teacher and she's written songs for each of the letters and sounds in the alphabet. She called Sunday and asked the kids to come and sing the "nnnnn" song and the "ch-ch-ch-choo" song for her. They are both big American Idol fans, so they were so excited to go record some songs - like Carrie Underwood. LOL!

Then on Monday, Gracie got sick. She's been sniffling and coughing like crazy. I gave her some cough medicine before we left yesterday. Then on the way down the canyon she was getting cranky with Dallin. She told him she needed some "peace and quiet" for a minute. (And I thought I was the only one who ever felt that way. He He!) It turned out she was saying a prayer that her cough would go away and that she would be able to sing her best. Awwww.

The poor thing was trying so hard, but she just couldn't control that pesky hacking cough. She squeaked out one verse of the "nnnnn" song, but she sounded miserable. Hopefully the music man can work his magic and get a decent song out of what he had to work with. I took Gracie out of the room while Dallin and Grandma recorded the other song. Dallin came out of there on cloud nine. He said it "felt so good to do 2 songs in a row!" He also commented that he realized that he is actually a pretty good singer. Ha Ha. Gotta love it!

I left my camera in the car, but luckily grandma took a couple pics for us. (I didn't have time to scrap them yet, but Dani's pop rock tag album was perfect for now.)





We had a nice Conference weekend. The kids were relatively well-behaved and I actually heard a lot more of the talks than I normally get to. I loved so many, but if I had to pick my favorite, it would have to be Elder Ballard's talk on mothers. I can't wait to get that one in print!

Sickness and snow aside, we've been enjoying our Spring Break so far. It's been so nice to not have to run a million directions every day! We have plans to do some fun things the rest of the week. I guess I'd better get moving and making some more memories with the kids.

This Face

OK. Tell the truth. Does this look like the face of a bully to you?


I never thought so, but apparently I don't know - I'm just his mother.

This face was called in to the principal's office last week after a parent reported that her child had been bullied.

Really?

Yes. Really!

Dallin had mentioned in passing that someone at school (let's call him "Tom") didn't like him. He said that Tom and his friends kept trying to "attack" him -his word, not mine. He was so pleased with himself because when Tom's friends were about to "attack" him, he distracted them by showing them his super flexible thumb joint. (Way to use your noggin buddy!)

His point in telling me the story was to relay how advantageous it is to have a super flexible thumb joint. But that's not what I heard. Maybe it was the way he kept using the word "attack" that raised the red flag, but something in my gut didn't feel right. I didn't want to be one of those overprotective, meddling moms. I think it's important for kids to learn to work things out, so I let it drop for the time being. But I didn't forget about it. I would be sure to ask how things went with "Tom" after school the next day.

Are you with me so far?

Now let's fast forward to the next morning. I just happened to be volunteering at the school that day. I was out in the hall working with one of the kids when the principal walked by. He smiled and said "hi" and thanked me for being there to help. When he left the classroom, he took Dallin and 5 or 6 other kids with him. They all seemed very calm and laid back. There was no indication that this was anything out of the ordinary.

A while later Dallin came back to the classroom alone. He gave me his best please-don't-be-mad-at-me look and said, "The principal let me go since I wasn't even there when the trouble happened." Trouble? What trouble? Who said anything about trouble? I never even saw it coming.

As it turned out, the principal had received a call from "Tom's" mom accusing Dallin and his friends of being bullies. I was surprised by this development since that's not the story I heard the day before. Not even close. I know that there are 2 sides to this story, but I'm not fully convinced that I know either one of them.

That night before bed, Dallin and I had a nice looooooong talk; a talk I never imagined I'd be having with him. I know he's not perfect. I mean after all he is a boy, but still...he's my sweet, scrawny, non-aggressive, tenderhearted, little boy. (As I'm typing these qualities, it hit me that they are all rather intimidating. I'm sure first graders all over the world are shaking in their shoes right now. LOL!)

So anyway, while we were having "the talk", I asked Dallin what lessons he had learned from this experience? He said that he felt "sick inside his stomach and in his heart" when he thought he was going to be in trouble at the principal's office. Hopefully that sick feeling will be enough to keep him from going back anytime soon. I guess that's not such a bad lesson to learn.

And as for me, I've learned that I didn't read the fine print when I signed up for this motherhood thing. Clearly I didn't know what I was getting myself into. I'm sure I sprouted a few new grey hairs this past week. It didn't help that I've been so sick. It also didn't help that I had to speak in church last Sunday for our ward conference. The theme for the conference was "Teach Your Children" - and the principal was one of the stake visitors attending our ward. How's that for irony? Or shall I say humiliation? Ha! Ha! Now I'm just looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend watching General Conference. I've got my pen and notebook ready to go. With any luck there will be a couple good talks on parenting. Heaven knows I need all the help I can get.

Whoa Nellie!

75 words

Speedtest

It's been years since I've taken a type test. I don't know what my top speed was back in the days, but it was still fun to see where I am now. I've always thought it would be fun to top 100 wpm. I'm clearly a long ways from that now.

Try it. It's kinda fun!

Out like a LION!

We woke up to new snow again this past weekend. Yesterday Dallin looked out the window on the way to school and after seeing MORE new snow said, "In like a lion, out like a lion. That's not right!" I couldn't agree more. We're ready for spring anytime Mother Nature wants to stop playing her cruel jokes on us.

Yesterday Gracie's class went on a field trip to the fire station.



I knew she Gracie was tall for her age, but I was cracking up when my friend Karen pointed out that she was towering over all the other kids. She can thank her dad for that!



Stand back - she's got the hose!





I've been battling sickness for a week now. Chills, headache, ear aches, and the worst sore throat I've had in over a decade. I haven't felt good all week, so I finally broke down and went in to see the Dr. today. The good news is that it wasn't strep...the bad news is that it just has to run it's course. The 800 mg of Ibuprofen isn't even touching the pain and there's no relief in sight. I've tried decongestants, cough drops, Chloraseptic, hot baths, etc., but nothing is helping to relieve the pain.

Any suggestions? I'm to the point that I'll try anything - well almost anything.