Just Call Me Barbara K

If I had to make a list of things that really suck, cleaning bathrooms would probably be at the top. More specifically, cleaning tubs/showers. You clean them, then turn around and get them dirty again. Well, just when I thought that chore couldn't get any worse, Tay decides to start practicing the recorder while I was cleaning the bathroom. Please kill me now. That instrument needs to be banned from elementary schools. What an awful noise those things make. I had to bite my tongue and suffer in silence. After Taylor was done practicing, she came up stairs and commented on how hard it was to keep her fingers in the right place.... yah, I noticed. Later that evening she decided to practice again. Her Dad had to kindly ask her to stop due to a "headache". Hopefully her recorder skills improve quickly, or she will be forced to practice in the backyard. If the dogs in the neighborhood start howling in the afternoon, you will know that my daughter is practicing the recorder.

I never had to learn the recorder in school. DJ did though. He remembers trying to learn "Hot Cross Buns", with no success. When the time came for the class to perform for the school, his teacher told him that he had to pretend to play so that he wouldn't mess up the other kids. The same thing happened when his class learned the ukalele. I guess Tay got her recorder skills from her Dad (funny since she is learning the piano so quickly).

Now on to the pictures below.

We posted our van to sell on KSL. A lady was coming to test drive it, so we decided to vaccuum it out. DJ was getting under the seat, when he saw a blue ball. He reached under to grab it, when it cracked in his hand. Whoops, that's not a ball, it's an easter egg.

GROSS!!! He was ticked/totally grossed out. He couldn't believe that I had an old hard boiled egg in my car (like I knew it was there). In my defense, it didn't belong to my family. I vaguely remember one of our car pool kids having a died egg in the car. Apparently it rolled under the seat. Oooops! Good thing it was boiled. It was all covered in mold.

The next day, I found this clementine in DJ's church bag.

It was all hard and blackish.

I think we're even.

That is until I found these onions in my cold storage. I wondered why my cold storage was starting to smell like onions. I wonder how big they would have gotten.

So Basically, we are a bunch of dirty slobs. My great aunt was a messy lady. She put the show "Hoarders" to shame. I guess I got her genes. Just call me Barabara K... may she rest in peace.

In other news, we sold our van.... Booo!

I loved that van. It wasn't anything fancy, but we loved it. So for now, we are a one car family. When you see me biking to Walmart with my kids in the bike trailer, please don't laugh at the lady in the helmet, or honk your horn to scare me because I will get revenge.

I struggled with the helmet thing, but what kind of a mother would I be if I made my kids wear one and I didn't. Safety first, right?

Oh well, who needs a car when you have a Walmart down the street.

Wish me happy pedaling...

DJ in a Speedo...

We went to Hawaii last month, it was nice!!

Thanks to wonderful sister's and my neighbor (who is my sister Natalie's clone),

for watching my three stinkers for me! It was nice knowing that my kids were in good hands while we were gone. I was able to not worry about a thing all week... that's

a vacation. This was only the second time in 10 1/2 years, that I was away from my kids overnight.... I'm thinking that we need to do it a lot more often.

Before we left, I promised my sister that I would take a picture of DJ in his speedo for her.

Here you go Laurel... DJ in all of his oily, leathery, hairy glory.

I had a tough time catching this shot. I was trying not to get noticed by the leathery bikini clad wife. Well worth it!!

I tried to get a photo of an Asian man in a speedo, but was unsuccessful.... Booo!

Let's just say that the Asian in the banana hammock was running low on produce. DJ thinks that

I'm sick for noticing, but I'm sorry, there is nothing else to notice when someone is sporting one of those suits. Nasty! Almost all of our pictures look similar to this one. It was weird asking people to take our picture all of the time.

The view from my beach chair. It makes me want to cry looking at it. I miss that chair!

At the temple, which was closed for renovations.... Boooo!

We did get to meet Mark Eubank at the temple visitor's center. He is serving a mission there

with his wife. He was so nice. I thought about asking him if people thought that is was going to snow every time he wore his white coat in the temple. I wonder if he used to use his temple coat for the news? I should have asked him. Maybe I will send him a letter...

Here is DJ with his ukulele coach at the PCC. DJ did alright, considering he doesn't have a musical bone in his body.

At the resort... I miss it!

Another self portrait... so nice!

This was my first trip to Hawaii. I can't wait to go back.... someday.

Fancy Nancy 6 Year Old

Ginny's Birthday FINALLY arrived!!

She'd been planning her 6th Birthday Party for about 10 or 11 months, so I was happy to see the day finally come (maybe we will get a break from birthday talk for a month or two).

I told her we would plan her party on her actual birthday, then surprised her a few days early. DJ picked her up from school and surprised her with some "Fancy Nancy" dress ups. He told her to change in the car so she could surprise me when she got home. Unfortunately, I had changed into my fancy clothes and left my phone in my pants, up in my closet, so I didn't get the call warning us that she was coming home. So instead, Ginny surprised us by just walking in the front door.

Even though the surprise part didn't work out as planned, Ginny said that it was the best party ever... except I forgot confetti and "one of those things that you whack with a stick". Maybe next year!All of her friends dressed in their fancy clothes.
It was the perfect "girl" party. We painted nails, did glittery makeup, made fancy purses, and then the girls got to go shopping at my fancy store for their party favors. What more can a six year old girl ask for? (except confetti and a pinata)

Bright and early on her actual birthday...

Her surprise party reminded me of my 8th birthday.

My Mom planned a surprise party for me, and she put my neighbor/sister from another mother, Becky, in charge of handing out my invitations. Becky was so excited that she was totally obvious about handing out the invites. She asked me who my friends were, then made me hide behind an umbrella while she passed them out. I knew something was up so I asked my best friend Kim what was going on. Of course she told me about the party but made me promise not to tell (girls can't keep secrets). So when the big day finally came, everyone yelled "Surprise", and even though it wasn't a surprise I totally started crying. Funny, considering I'm don't cry too often.... DJ's the family softy.

So anyway, Happy Birthday to my hilarious, funny, crazy 6 year old whom I love to death!!!!

A 2 Year Olds Survival Kit

If you ever come over to our house and see Reese carrying around a big white mixing bowl, let me explain what that is. It's her barf bowl. She got the stomache flu several months ago, and we have a "barf bowl" that we use (don't worry, we won't show up to a potluck with this bowl... we keep it in the bathroom cupboard).

Well, after Reese was sick she would always claim that she needed the barf bowl. If she ate too much, she would get out the bowl. If she didn't want to go to bed, she would pull ou the bowl and claim she was sick. Eventually, she just kept it out all of the time. After a while, she discovered that it can carry alot of treasures. Here is a list of her usual treasures that get carried around in the barf bowl:

• Her heat pack that her aunt gave her for Christmas (I guess if she was in an emergency situation, she could eat the dried corn inside)
• Lipgloss (a must in any survival kit)
• Purple exam gloves from the ENT Doctor (usually she is seen wearing these, while carrying the bowl)
• A Hello Kitty flashlight
• A miniature gift bag (?)
• Sunglasses
• Her Charm bracelet
• Her potty watch (in case she forgets that she has to pee)
• And her favorite, a pocket sized German dictionary

I have to say that the German Dictionary is my favorite too. She will sit and "read" that thing for 15 minutes at a time. I won't be surprised when she breaks out in German one day. In fact, she's probabably already speaking it. I can't understand half of what she says. Just this morning she was frantic about something. I finally realized that she was saying, "I can't find my baby German book, it's lost. Help me look mom." We finally found it, and it was promptly put back into the barf bowl.

In other news, she WAS potty trained, then decided she wasn't. Luckily, I hadn't made the transition to underwear yet, so my carpets aren't yellow. She kept saying that she was a baby, not a big girl and even took to crawling occasionally. I finally got out her underwear the other day and told her that if she goes pee or poo in them, that I will give them to Chucky. So far this has done the trick... not a single accident. She has even survived grocery shopping at Walmart. She did inform me yesterday, that Chucky doesn't have a butt, so he can't wear her undies. Smart kid, considering Chucky is just a mask, so he technically does not have a butt.

That Chucky mask is golden... best $2.50 I've ever spent.

Cat Got Your Tongue?

WARNING: Nasty pictures...

Before stitches... (these pictures make the cut look mild)

After Stitches.

This is what happens when your 2 yr old likes to climb on the stool, pull herself onto the counter to drink from the faucet, then misses the stool on the way down and catches herself with her chin on the edge of the counter... and don't forget her tongue was between her teeth.

I discovered why I was meant to have girls. Stitches don't happen too often in a house full of girls, and for that I am thankful. I was fine with the blood but once I saw that big chunk of tongue just hanging down, my stomache did a little flip.

The Doctor said it was bad enough for stitches, but warned us that the tongue is the hardest part to stitch.... that was an understatement!

Reese was fine until the Dr gave her a shot in the tongue, then she wouldn't open her mouth for anyone.

It took 4 adults holding her down, and after a half an hour, she was only able to get 2 stitches in. The poor nurse had to force her tongue out with a tongue depressor (resulting in those gross sores on the corner of her mouth) while the Dr tried to grab and keep a hold of her tongue with one hand, while stitching with the other.

Let's just say that Reese is freakishly strong for her size, and we were all dripping sweat when it was over with. Why they didn't drug her, I will never know.

So, if you ever have a kid who needs stitches in the mouth, make sure that they give them something strong to relax them.

It's pretty funny watching Reese try to eat or drink now. She holds her cup to the one corner of her mouth and drinks sideways. Today at lunch she pointed to her face and said, "Dis side have owie, but not dis side. I dwink wif dis side."

I guess if I had boys, this would have been no big deal...

Our Amazing Grandma Ginger

Have I ever told you about my amazing Grandma Ginger?

Well, she's amazing. So amazing, that I was named after her. I think that my parents were hoping that I would turn out to be just as great... sorry to dissapoint you Mom and Dad!

Well, I was blessed to have her in my life for 31 1/2 happy years.

My Grandma could do anything! She could bake the most wonderful desserts and breads, all without a recipe. She could take just about any boring item and turn it into something beautiful. When I was little, she crocheted a pair of leg warmers and a matching bag for me... I thought I was the stuff going back to school after Christmas break. She taught my girls how to make the most beautiful paper dolls. She was a beautiful writer and story teller. All though she grew up a city girl, she went on to help run a ranch in the middle of Montana, without electricity or running water. Later in her life, she went on to serve a mission with my Grandpa in Sau Paulo, Brazil. This meant that she had to learn to speak Portuguese, even though she was in her 60's. My Grandpa used to tell us that she could shoot a gun better than any man he knew.

All this, and she also raised 6 kids.

4 years ago, my Grandma was told that she had lung cancer and only had a couple of months to live. Well, a couple of months was not enough for her so she decided that she was going to stick around for a few more years... so she did.

My Grandma Ginger passed away peacefully on Christmas morning. I was able to see her the night before and tell her goodbye. It was such a sacred experience.

Although I will miss her terribly, I am so happy to have had such an amazing women in my life. I went away from her funeral wanting to be a better person and to try to live up to her name. I hope that my girls will remember her and her amazing strength.

I can't wait until the day I get to see her again (well, maybe I can wait about 50 or 60 years). I am going to miss her!

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!