Happy Birthday Kayla

lighting the candles

Eating lunch

Kayla and Alayna

Kayla with her new haircut

Blowing out the candles

With the birthday cake

March 26- Happy Bday Kayla

March 26, 2006

It is Kayla’s 10th birthday and we finally have a beautiful Spring day to celebrate it. It’s hard to believe that exactly a decade ago I went through 53 hours of labor for that sweet little thing! She had a fun birthday party yesterday. She only wanted to invite 4 girls and only 2 came, but it was so much fun. Marisa and Tyler decorated for the party and Marisa even made a fun scavenger hunt with goodie bags at the end. She loved her gifts and I took her shopping in the afternoon for more. We had such a great time and found some adorable stuff. She finally got the gauchos she has been pining for. I will post some pictures from the party. She wasn’t feeling so well yesterday and woke up feeling miserable today, which made her sad to miss church on her birthday.

Marisa shared some of the OT scripture stories that she enjoys while bearing her testimony today. She is becoming quite articulate. I subbed the 12-13 Sunday school class so we played a OT trivia game, girls against boys. (There were about 15 in the class!)

We did have a fun Spring break, although I will say that was the fastest week of the year by far. We did some easy bake oven stuff, shrinky dinks, crafts, etc. The kids amazingly got along the whole week so no one had to do their chore charts. I found out that Alayna’s preschool had school and her break is this week. That made me very mad, especially when I found out this second teacher they just got is leaving so they have to get a new one. Argh! Don’t they know preschoolers need consistency?

Well, lots of love to everyone! Enjoy your Aprils Fool’s Day on Saturday!

Trying to buy a swim suit

Trying to find a bathing suit at the store yesterday was a horrifying experience. It truly was. I was getting myself all geared up to write about it when I remembered I had read recently about someone else who had written their experience. I cannot possibly put into words the things that she described so accurately. So, I am choosing to send you her version as it almost exactly resembles my experience. Enjoy!

Buying a New Swimming Suit

author unknown

I have just been through the annual pilgrimage of torture and humiliation knownas buying a
bathing suit. When I was a child in the 1940s, the bathing suit for a woman with a mature
figure was designed for a woman with a mature figure: boned, trussed, and reinforced, not
so much sewn as engineered. They were built to hold
back and uplift, and they did a darn good job. Today's stretch fabrics are designed for
the prepubescent girl with a figure chipped from marble. The mature woman has a choice -
she can either front up at the maternity department and try on a floral suit with a skirt,
coming away looking like a hippopotamus escaped from Disney's
Fantasia, or she can wander around every run-of-the-mill department store trying to make a
sensible choice from what amounts to a designer range of FLEXIBLE rubberbands. What choice
did I have?

I wandered around, made my sensible choice, and entered the chamber of horrors known as
"The Fitting Room." The first thing I noticed was the extraordinary tensile strength of
the stretch material. The Lycra used in bathing suits was developed, I believe, by NASA to
launch small rockets from a slingshot, giving the added bonus that if you manage to
actually lever yourself into one, you are protected
from shark attacks. The reason for this is that any shark taking a swipe at your passing
midriff would immediately suffer whiplash. I fought my way into the bathing suit, but as I
twanged the shoulder strap into place, I gasped in horror - myn bpsom had disappeared.
Eventually I found one cowering under my left armpit. It
took a while to find the other. At last I located it flattened beside my seventh rib.

The problem is that modern bathing suits have no bra cups. The mature woman is meant to
wear her bosom spread across the chest like a speed bump. I realigned my speed bump and
lurched toward the mirror to take a full-view assessment. The suit fit all
right, but unfortunately it only fit those bits of me willing to stay inside it. The rest
of me oozed out rebelliously from top, bottom and sides. I looked like a lump of Play-Doh
wearing cling wrap.

As I tried to work out where all those extra bits had come from, the
prepubescent salesgirl popped her head through the curtains, "Oh, they are sooo YOU!" she
said, admiring the suits. I replied that I wasn't so sure and asked what else she had to
show me. I tried on a cream crinkled one that made me look like a lump of masking tape,
and a floral two-piece that gave the appearance of an oversize
napkin in a serviette ring. I struggled into a pair of leopard-skin bathers with ragged
frill and came out looking like Tarzan's Jane on a bad day. I tried a black number with a
midriff and looked like a jellyfish in mourning. I tried on a bright pink suit with such a
high-cut leg I thought I would have to wax my eyebrows to wear it.

Finally I found a suit that fit. A two-piece affair, with shorts-like bottoms and a halter
top. It was cheap, comfortable and bulge-friendly, so I bought it. When I got home, I read
the label, which said, 'Material may become transparentin water,' but I'm determined to
wear it anyway. I just have to learn to do the breaststroke in the sand.

     

Ty, Kayla, and Alayna

Matching jamas

Trying to get out of bedtime

March 20, 2006

Just a quick update this week. It's Spring Break and has been wonderful so far. Marisa got a huge babysitting job for today and the other kids are playing so nicely, I have hardly seen them. I finished all my Spring Cleaning and I think my house looks perfect. I know it won't stay that way, but it felt good anyway. I conducted the RS choir yesterday and it was a huge success. The music will be so beautiful for the symposium. I guess that's about it. Everything else here is normal and happy, just the way we like it.

she said "take a picture of me!"

BOM wall with new paintings of Samuel (cant see because of flash) and Cpt. Moroni. Along with new plaques with kids names

March 13, 2006

March 13, 2006

I think I have contracted “spring fever”. Definition: This overwhelming urge to deep clean and deep organize my entire, and I do mean entire, household and not stopping until its completed while driving all family members insane. I am sure my family is ready to send me to the looney bin. I only have a few rooms left and the place looks fabulous. It’s not like anyone comes over. I just like it clean and organized. Maybe I will just check myself into that looney bin.

Alayna was sick this week with a cough and cold. She hasn’t really acted too sick. In fact, she hasn’t had a potty accident in over week and she goes to bed by 8:00. I kinda hope she stays sick. Oh my heck- what kind of mom am I?? I did find a new show she loves (as she has all the Doras and Diegos memorized). It’s called “Wonder Pets”. Its pretty dorky, but I will take it.

Well, we didn’t do much other than clean this week. Although, we got our BOM wall up and it looks so awesome. I will post a picture although it doesn’t quite capture it. We also changed the toy room as it is ALWAYS messy and drives me insane. Hopefully this new organized way will work. If not, I will change it into a....well, uh...whatever.

Kayla and Marisa lost all their games last week. But we know they will have a better game tonight. Its so fun to watch them play.

Enjoy your week!

March 5, 2006

March 5, 2006

Our week this week was busy but not overly exciting. I did write earlier this week about Marisa’s concert Tuesday night which was just amazing! She had her solo concert yesterday. All students in orchestra in the entire district have the opportunity to do a solo in front of an audience. She did a great job. She even had another babysitting job last night. We also got her sign up sheet for college for kids. What awesome classes they are offering. As soon as I know what classes she got for sure, I will post them.

On Thursday night we had the missionaries over along with another family in our ward. The daughter, who is 13, is getting baptized next week so the missionaries taught her a lesson in our home. The mom was just baptized last July. We had such a fun evening and then, when the missionaries left, we watched Survivor.

Tyler was down with a bit of a cold/ cough thing, but seems to be doing better today. The girls are loving volleyball and start their games a week from Monday. I am surprised Marisa likes it so much. Alayna was on a war path this week and spent much of her time in time out: cut Tylers punching bag with scissors, shoved a whole roll of toilet paper down the toilet, unrolled an entire toilet roll in our bathroom, went outside to play and fell in the mud (covered from head to toe- what a mess that was to clean up) and has started throwing temper tantrums to get her way. It just lands her in the time out chair which makes her really mad. I just keep telling myself she will grow out of this. She will...right? Hello?

I have started my Spring Cleaning. I must be sick in the head, but I sure enjoy the rooms once I am done with them. We finished the whole storage room yesterday and I did our room and closet this week. I am trying to get up enough energy to tackle Marisa’s room. We are also making fun plans for our garden this year and deciding what we want to plant. We are truly looking forward to spring and seeing everything bloom.

Have a wonderful week !

March 2, 2006

I know- how weird that I would post in the middle of the week, but I just had to share. I went to the festival of orchestras on Tuesday night. It showcases all the orchestras in our school district. Marisa's group did such a great job. There was a big difference between last years and this years. I can hardly wait to see next year. She got 3rd chair and was updet over it. Its hard to compete against kids who are taking private lessons. But I am so proud of her! It also had the high school symphony orchestra. Wow! Can I just say wow! They did Griegs "The Hall of the Mountain King" which was just amazing! Then they did Beethoven's 5th symphony and I was so glad it was dark because I cried. It was absolutely incredible! They received a standing ovation, well deserved. All I could do was think about how grateful I was that our kids have the opportunity to be in this school district. I wish you all could have been there- maybe some of you would like to travel out and go with me next year??