She's Freaky!

So we made our annual trip up to Temple Square to see the lights. We headed downtown early, and totally missed the crowds. The weather was great and we had a fun time. Of course we can't have an outing without some crazy comment from Ginny. We were watching the nativity and DJ asked her if she liked Mary the best. Her reply was, "No, she's totally fake, and she's freaky!" So there you have it.

The next comment from her was, "I would rather go to Vegas. Atleast it's warm and fun there."
So apparently she wasn't too impressed with the lights. You can't win them all, I guess.

Reese has outgrown her hat, so all night it kept sliding up her head. It looked like she had a cone head. Time to dig out one of our bigger hats.

In other news, the kids got their booster H1N1 doses. Now usually we end up holding Taylor down while she freaks out, but not this time. She took a deep breath and got it over with. I guess turning 10 made her grow up. Now if we could just figure out how to get DJ to overcome his fear of needles......

Merry Christmas!

I'm Too Young To Have a 10 Year Old!!!

I really don't feel that old. Maybe because I don't act my age

(that's probably a bad thing... oh well)

With Taylor turning 10, I have learned that the older they get, the more expensive the gifts get.

Here is her list of things that she wants:

• A puppy. This has been on her list for the last 8 years, and will stay there until she has a husband to buy her one.... sorry kid!
• A Nintendo DS (not gonna happen)
• A laptop (keep dreaming)
• A camcorder (you can have my giant old one, it still works)
• An Ipod

Well, we caved and got her the last item on her list. We got her a refurbished Ipod and saved $50. The smile says it all.

We celebrated by going to see "The Princess and the Frog", making a replica of her favorite dish from Noodles and Co (yummy), and finishing the day watching "It's a Wonderful Life".
The next day we had a party for her and her cousin, where she got lots of Itunes money, real money, and a cute shirt. You couldn't find a happier kid around!
Speaking of happy kid, Taylor is so wonderfully happy. Not only is she happy, but she has made us happy for the last 10 years. I couldn't ask for a better girl. She is so genuinely kind and loving. Taylor is a little replica of her dad... minus the hairy body and boy parts.

Happy Birthday kid..... everyone who knows you, loves you!!!

Nativity:101, and Christmas Disclaimer

If it seems like I'm always talking about Ginny, it's because I am. That girl is my constant form of entertainment. Here's a look at some recent conversations:

Ginny and Reese are dancing to Christmas music the other day. I walk in and Ginny informs me that she is the angel, and Reese is "that lady who had the baby".

Now I promise I have taught my kids about the birth of Jesus. In fact, not only have we discussed it at home, but they just learned about it in primary on Sunday.

Fast forward a few days:

Ginny had a baby in a little basket. She said it was for part of our Christmas decorations.

Ginny: Mom, that is so sad that baby Jesus' Mom had to send him away down the river. The princess had to take care of him.... wait, was that another guy, or was it Jesus?

Me: That was Moses, Ginny

The next day:

Ginny: Mom, I love your statues of Mary, Moses, and Jesus.

Me: His name is Joseph, not Moses. Moses was the baby who was sent down the river.

Ginny: Yah, whatever.

I guess she's not that good with names. Atleast it made me laugh.

Also, here is my Christmas disclaimer:

Due to the fact that I want to enjoy Christmas this year, I will not be sending out christmas cards, or doing neighbor gifts. Sometimes I skip a year here or there, but it's because I run out of time. I end up worrying about it all month long. This year I just decided up front, not to do them. Now I get to sit back and enjoy Tay's birthday and the Christmas season.

Bah Humbug!!

Everybody Needs One...

A Ginny, that is!

This kid manages to make me laugh and frustrate the heck out of me, all at the same time.

The week before last was a BAD one! DJ was in Phoenix all week and it was one of those weeks that had a million different things going on. By Friday afternoon, I was done. The kids had been making huge mesess everywhere, and the house was trashed. I finally just lost it. I started chewing the kids out for being such lazy slobs and telling them that I was done being their Mom. Taylor apologized and said that she would do better, but not Ginny.

Ginny just turned it around on me and told me that she was "Kind of like a hobo, because she had mean parents who didn't love her and she was going to move away and be homeless because then she wouldn't have anyone to make her do work or go to school, etc.....".

That sure lightened the mood.... super funny!

Fast forward a few days... Ginny informs me that she wants to be either a bus driver, a doctor, or work at In N Out when she grows up. I told her to take the fast food profession... free double double's, and no student loans.

THEN, last night it was her turn to say family prayer. Luckily she remembered to pray that we wouldn't run out of food and have to go eat at "those places that give you free food". You'll also be pleased to hear that she is still praying that no one else will get the swine flu, especially not us.

Love her!!!

Lady Bug, Bee, and Witchy Poo

We had a great Halloween this year!

Lots of parties, candy, and fun!

Taylor wanted to be something scary, so chose a witch. When all was said and done, she ended up being a "cute" witch, instead of a scary one. Her hat was decorated with a cute sash and a sparkly spider, but they don't show up in any of the pictures. Ginny was the opposite... she chose to be a cute bee, but then decided she wanted to scare people. I had already started on her costume, so I told her it was too late to change. Her solution was that she could be a squished bee, and put fake blood all over her face. Luckily, she stuck with sparkles on her face.

Reese didn't know what was going on, so I decided on a lady bug. She didn't care... she just liked to twirl in her skirt.

FYI: Chuckie masks are not as funny as we might think. Unless you want lights left on all night, and kids too scared to go anywhere in the house by themselves, then I would not recommend a Chuckie mask. Well, it actually works well for disciplining. We haven't had to pull it out yet, but DJ warned the girls that if they don't obey, then Chuckie will be the one to decide the punishment (ie one of us will put on the mask while punishing the offender). Even Reese comes running if we threaten Chuckie. As of yet, Chuckie has not had to step in. Ginny has gotten close, but quickly obeyed when we mentioned the mask.

"Child's Play" was on tv (edited) the other night, and Tay claims that she wants to watch it during the day so that she can see how lame he really is. I will have to watch it first, then decide if she can. Although, I'm sure that she will chicken out.... I'll keep you posted.

If anyone needs to borrow the mask, let me know!!

Happy Halloweenie

The last couple of years we have gone to the Scarecrow Festival, and the kids love it.

Ginny and Taylor both had coupons for free admission, Reese was free, and adults are only $5 so DJ loved it even more than the kids!

Reese always cracks me up at these things. She has to do everything that the big kids do, which includes going down giant slides by herself. Taylor wouldn't go on those things until she was 6 or 7. She is quite the entertainer.

There's tiny little Reese on the left, going all by herself. Speaking of tiny... she had her 2 yr old appointment yesterday and she only weighs 21 pounds!! That is lower than the 5th percentile. The Dr told me to start putting Carnation instant breakfast in her milk, and putting olive oil on any food that I can. I wish I could be on that diet. (I guess I could, I just wouldn't like the end result). I have to take her back in 2 months for a weigh in. It feels like I'm raising an athlete who's trying to beef up for the big game.

This slide below must have been made in China or something. It's a giant whale. You go in through the mouth and out the back end. I guess it would have been just as funny the other way around. The girls had no idea that I was taking pictures of them being birthed by a whale. Ginny was even born with a twin brother (aka rude kid who wouldn't wait his turn). Of course all of the little boys noticed that they were coming out of the whales bum. They kept saying, "The whale just pooped me out." I guess that someone at the bounce house factory is either very naive, or has a sick sense of humor. Either way, it was funny!

The girls picked out pumpkins and of course Ginny found the 1 yellow one and had to have it. She always likes to be a little different... I love it!

Then there's Taylor. She takes a million years picking hers out, and then keeps changing her mind. I guess she was afraid of picking the wrong one. Reese wanted all of the baby ones. I don't think that 3 kids could be any more different.

Last, it wouldn't be Halloween without going to see the witches. Reese is no longer terrified of them, so that's good. She is however terrified of the new Chuckie mask I bought yesterday. Not only is she scared, so are the other 2. Taylor cried for about 10 minutes, then pouted for another 20. The funny thing is, she DIDN'T EVEN SEE IT!!! I warned her that I had it, so she closed her eyes and never looked. It didn't stop her from crying though. She told me that she doesn't really want to go trick or treating this year... crazy kid.

FYI: Don't jump out at DJ while wearing a Chuckie mask. You may get shoved out of the way, and almost punched in the face. Yah, that made me pee. Super funny!!

It's Been A While...

I haven't posted for a while, and here is why...

I HATE COMPUTERS!!!!

(technology for that matter)

I know, it sounds harsh, but let me explain. A while back I spent HOURS organizing about 3000 pictures into different files (Summer '09 etc.) I was going to burn them to disks, but hadn't gotten around to it. We bought a new computer, so I just figured I would transfer the pictures over to the new computer, then put them on disks (faster computer). Before I could, our old computer got a virus. CRAP!! I was still able to copy them to one of those memory stick thingies, and transfer them over. This only took a couple of hours. The problem is that now they are all just lumped together in random order. If you want to find a picture, you have to scroll through 3000 of them... ugh.

To add to that, we went to Lost Vegas (Ginny calls it that) over our anniversary and Reese's birthday. We didn't grab the most important bag when we left. The one that had the snacks, coke, and our cameras. Normally I would say "Oh well" (Las Vegas totally sucks anyway), but we were going to be there over Reese's 2nd birthday .

*see post below*

So, we swung by Best Buy in St George, 5 minutes before closing. We bought a digital video camera that also takes pictures. We were still using our huge one from 10 years ago. It still worked perfectly, so I couldn't justify buying a new one. Anyway, all of our pictures from Reese's birthday and our trip, are saved in the program that we had to download onto our computer. The problem with that, is that I can't figure out how to transfer those pictures to my picture file. To top it all off, the video camera pictures are kind of fuzzy, AND I thought that you could turn the camera side ways while filming. Now half of those videos play sideways. Why would the camera flip the image while filming, but not store it that way?

Yes, maybe I am mildly retarded, BUT STILL!

So, that is why I haven't been posting.

Thanks for letting me vent. I feel better (kind of).

Happy Birthday Reese!!

I love how Reese first started getting around.

She would arch her back, and scoot like an inch worm.

Super funny!

Then she moved on to the "Michael Phelps" crawl.

She would drag herself forward, then butterfly her

arms around for another scoot.

I LOVED that trip to the Oregon coast... Reese did too!

I also like that lady behind us in the bikini. (I'm kidding)

I'm a few weeks behind on posting this, but oh well.

There is so much I love about this kid. It's hard to choose my

favorite things, but I'll do my best.

• Reese is hilarious. She can make me laugh no matter what. She has learned that this gets her out of trouble.
• She is the perfect mix of her big sisters. Smart AND charming.
• She has really started talking the last few weeks, and it cracks us up. My recent favorite's: "Ooooh, I like your socks mom!" and "Awesome slide Mom" . We have been so used to only a few simple words, so the sentences are always shocking.
• She says the "B" word for witch (DJ uses this to his advantage), and the "A" word for hands.... super funny when she tells me to wash her "hands".
• This kid knows what she wants and isn't afraid to tell you. This won't be so cute when she's a teenager, but for now we're enjoying it.
• Reese can climb and run like no other. She started doing somersaults not long after her first birthday. My other 2 were a little slow in the physical department, so it's been crazy seeing her do all of things so quickly.
• Perfect kid to end with. We are definitely going out with a bang!

We adore this kid, and it makes me sad that she is growing up so quickly.

Happy Birthday Reesie!!

So Easily Fooled...

I decided a long time ago, that if I am ever going to have any problems with one of my kids, it is going to be Ginny. We have our first kid, who has always been so obedient and desires to do what is right. Then there's Ginny.

Tay LOVED school and couldn't wait to go. Ginny loves school too, but not until she is there. She is in afternoon school, so she gets to play all morning, then has to stop what she's doing to go to school. She complains the whole way there. Every day she asks if she can please stay home. I finally started telling her that she could skip school on Saturday's. Since this kid is NOT Taylor, this little trick works. Every Saturday she is so giddy that she gets to "miss" school. I of course have to let Taylor stay home too (wink, wink). Hopefully no one reveals to her that she is being played by her mother.

Speaking of being played.... Ginny has been telling little lies lately. She is fine doing this, until she gets caught, then the guilt is written all over her face. Unfortunately, she acts like every punishment we give her is no big deal (extremely frustrating).

Well, i caught her in a string of lies today, so I started giving her the "You're not choosing the right, and Heavenly Father is sad, and Satan is happy " lecture. At this point, she was pretty upset that she had been caught telling lies. She then responded by saying, "Mom, Satan was just playing me, all right."

How do you NOT laugh when your 5 year old says this?

On the flip side, you will not find a more entertaining, hilarious kid. EVERYONE loves Ginny, and she's hard to get mad at sometimes. She looks at you with those huge eyes, and you can't stay mad at her. Gotta love the little stinker!!

The Cow Took Your Binky

Weird post title, I know, let me explain.... we went camping this last thursday up by Tony Grove. Tony Grove is up Logan Canyon, and not too far from Bear Lake. For some reason, there are cows roaming all over The Cache National Forrest. They belong to someone because they are tagged, but it just seems like a weird place for them. At our campsite, there was a log fence just a few yards behind our tent and the cows would just graze through the trees. The girls loved it and they didn't stink, so no big deal.

Well sleeping in a tent with Reese kind of bugged because she sucks on her binky ALL NIGHT. All night long..... suck, suck, suck. We nicknamed her Maggie Simpson. On the drive home, she fell alseep without her binky so I asked DJ if we should just take it away and tell her that we left it camping. We decided to do it, so when she woke up I told her that we left it behind. I wasn't sure if she understood what I was telling her, so I finally just told her that the cows took it. I was dreading putting her to bed that night, but when the time came she just kept saying, "Cows, bink gone." She went to bed without a peep. Nap time today, no complaints. Bed time tonight, no complaints. I am completely shocked, and I think that I can say that the binky is officially gone... Yay!! I know it's pathetic that she's about to turn 2 and still had one, but I have been a pushover/slacker mom. Now if Reese ends up hating cows, we'll know why. She does love steak and hamburger, maybe when she finds out where they come from, she will love them even more.

More on our trip...

We went and got Aggie ice cream at the USU creamery... yummy! Reese didn't want what we all had and kept saying that she wanted the yellow ice cream, so we went back and got her a lemon custard shake. She was as happy as can be eating a huge shake by herself. That was our lunch.


We took the girls swimming at Bear Lake and had a blast. When we were getting ready to leave, I stripped Reese down to get her dressed and she took off to the lake, completely naked. That girl can run FAST!!!
We were up there with my parents but their dog wasn't allowed on the beach, so we ditched them to go swim. Ginny had the idea to dress the dog in clothes so that we could sneak him there. Good idea Ginny!

We then went up to the caves by Bear Lake. It was so much fun! None of them had been in a cave before, including DJ, so it was a new adventure for them. There are 444 stairs leading into the caves, then you have to take them back out. Ginny was a little slow at times, but they did great. The guide warned DJ to duck in some areas so that he wouldn't scrape Reese's head. They were fine on the way into the caves, but coming out I heard a scraping noise and looked up in time to see Reese scraping her head along the cave. It was so sad. She had little bits of rock and mineral deposits in her hair, but luckily just a little scrape. They told us that if we touched the rock, it would die and stop growing. I guess Reese broke the rules. When we got all the way into the cave, they turned out the lights. It was pretty freaky! It was so dark that you couldn't even see your hand in front of your face. They told us that if you stayed in there for 2 weeks, you would first go blind, then you would go crazy. Luckily we only saw 2 bats in there. During the winter they estimate that there are over 10,000 that hibernate in there... scary!

We had a great trip and can't wait to go back. Next time DJ will be sure to duck I'm sure.

Fastforward 2 Weeks...

Yah, I'm not sure what all of the crying was about... Kindergarten rocks!!

I'm now trying to figure out a way to get Ginny enrolled in morning kindy-garten as well, maybe try a different school. Would anyone even know?

That would be sweet!

I wish that I could say that my house is now spotless and that my 10 million sewing projects are done, but they're not. In fact, instead of cleaning my disgusting showers today, I went and bought 3 more projects to sew.

Speaking of projects, Reese LOVES blankets, especially the minky ones.

She has a few already, but there was one that I never got around to sewing before she was born.

I came across the fabric in the basement the other day, and brought it upstairs. I figured that

I could make it for my friend who just had a baby. Reese had other plans... she took one look at that fabric and immediately smothered her face in it. She then spread it out on the floor, layed down and watched a whole episode of Sesame Street on it (which is rare for her).

She has since been sleeping with this big peice of fabric for the past week.

Well today she napped early, so when the other kiddos were at school, Reese and I hit the fabric store. She spotted the big bolts of minky behind the counter right away, and ran back to hug the fabric and smear her face all over it. Good thing her nose wasn't snotty. It cracks me up that she can spot that kind of fabric right away... I love that kid!

Reese is either my best friend, or a huge pain in the butt.

I guess that she takes after her name sake, my little brother... hahaha!

I wonder if Reese could pass for a 5 year old. Maybe I could just tell the school that she's delayed a bit, and enroll her in kindergarten as well. They have special needs classes at our school, she could even ride the short bus.

Does anyone know how to make fake birth certificates?

Drowning My Tears In A Coke

This is my little Ginny, 3 years ago, sending Tay off to first grade. She followed her sister all the way up to the doors and was sad when she couldn't go in.

Now here she is today, super excited for her first day in Kindergarten.
I can't say that I was happy... I bawled like a baby all the way to the school.

Of course Reese had to get in on the action and wear a backpack too.
Had she not needed a nap so badly, she probably would have put up a fight when I didn't let her follow Ginny into the school.

This is Ginny with her neighbor and friend, Tyler. They enjoyed the playground until the whistle blew for school to start.

Before the teacher took them in, she taught them how to do the "I Love You" sign in sign language. Ginny didn't quite get it down... she's just holding up an arthritic claw.

That girl never stops making me laugh!

And off they went. They wanted to make sure that I got a picture of their backpacks. I love the fact that Ginny does not mind hand me downs. Taylor used that backpack from kindergarten through half of 3rd grade. Lucky for me, it still looks practically brand new.

And Last, the PTA had a "Kleenex Party" for all of the kindergarten mom's. Reese quickly forgot about Ginny as soon as she saw the mini muffins and juice.

So that was my crappy afternoon. It is almost 2 in the afternoon, my 2 older kids are at school, Reese is napping, and I'm sitting here at the computer crying. I should be cleaning my bathrooms or mopping my kitchen, but I'm too sad right now.

I cry every year on the first day of school, but for some reason today has been especially hard. Maybe it's because I went through so much crap to get Ginny here, I don't know. All I know is that I only have one kid left at home and I'm not ready for Ginny to grow up.

Oh well, Homeschooling her would do more harm than good, so I guess that I have to get used to sending her off every day.

Boooooo! (maybe more like Boo-Hoo)!

Aaawwww, Nuts!

I love Ginny! There is never a dull moment with this kid.

Last week she was playing catch with her Dad. At one point the ball hit her in the head, to which she replied, "Oh man, you got me in the nuts!". After DJ finally stopped laughing, he vaguely explained what "nuts" are.

Well, yesterday she asked me if boys can ride bikes. I told her that they could. After a moment of thinking, she asked me how they could sit on the seat. I had an idea where this conversation was going, but I asked her what she meant anyway. She wanted to know how the heck they could sit, without sitting on their "nuts". I told her that they just do, so she said, "Oh, do they just kind of hang there and rest on the seat?"

Yup, that's about right kid!!

Besides her recent obsession with nuts, she is bound and determined to see a baby be born. When she found out that the neighbor was going to the hospital to deliver her baby, she asked if she could go and watch. I told her no, so she went on to say that she was really good friends with Kim, so she should be invited to watch. Again, I told her that she wasn't invited. Well, the next day she asked me if I was going to have another baby. When I told her no, she asked, "Don't you want to have a boy?" I told her no. "Don't you want to have another girl?" No again. This prompted a 10 minute discussion on how it's not fair that she is 5 yrs old and has never seen a baby be born. Fast forward the next day... "Hey Mom, I'll bet Aunt Cassie will let me watch her have a baby."

I don't think that will happen, but if anyone wants to invite Ginny to join them in the delivery room, just give her call. That would really make her day!

Also, Ginny had her Kindergarten evaluation yesterday. After it was done, I asked the teacher how she did. Her response was, "She did Okay." She then went on to say that all kids are born with so many different gifts that get unwrapped at different stages.

I've tried teaching her, she just doesn't care. We call her the party girl. When I tried to teach her to count past 30, she informed me that counting is only good for playing Hide and Go Seek, and that you don't need to count higher than 30.

Atleast she's got her charm!