Month: November 2008

Today Tanner was baptized! There was a great spirit about it, and he has been all smiles all day long. Grandma and Grandpa T are still here visiting and were able to participate. Grandpa gave a talk on the Holy Ghost, and I knew he was speaking words from his heart and from his life experiences. I feel that Grandparents have so much to offer their grandchildren, and are a wonderful gift, they have lived so much and know so much, if only we are willing to listen to what they have to tell us.
Tanner came home and put on his scout shirt, he’s so excited to be a Cub Scout. He’s growing up and as much as I might want to stop it in some ways, I’m also so glad that he’s making great choices and is progressing in a way that I want to see him grow.
I took some pictures but they are all taken staring into the sun… so everyone looks like they are grumpy. There are some with me in them, and maybe I could be persuaded (bribed) to post them, it would have to be good though.

Some of the things that went wrong today. Alyssa has been potty trained for a long time now, completely trust worthy to the point where I don’t even bring a change of clothing for her. She was playing in a classroom with Aubrey and told Aubrey she had to go potty, so Aubrey found me, and by the time I got back to Alyssa she was in the process of well, going. I had been shopping the day before, and hadn’t unloaded the Christmas bags, and had some tights in there, and a friend gave me a pull up so all was well with that in the end. Tanner and Danny both forgot extra underwear, oops… and towels… another oops I probably should have had those covered, but we made the most of it and it made for a memorable day!

I feel like I should be out shopping, being black Friday and all, but I just don’t have the heart to do it this year…
Here are a couple of pictures from yesterday. It was a perfect day, of course we missed family, hopefully everyone had a good Thanksgiving also. I did most of my cooking on Wednesday afternoon so most things except the turkey which I love to smell on Thanksgiving morning was done, and just needed to be warmed up.

It’s been a challenging week with sick kids, field trips, and prep work for Tanner’s birthday party. Today I found myself in a situation that I personally could not get myself out of, and had to call a friend for help. I really have a hard time asking people to help me, but I was so grateful for the kindness of a friend today. She was willing to drive to the store, pick up treats for Tanner’s classroom and take them in for me, and even took care of my Aubrey and picked her up from preschool for me. Thank You!
I must also thank my wonderful husband today! He swooped in and saved the day when I had given up. He does this a lot, and is so positively fabulous, and my best friend, and I would be lost without my wonderful man who is always so willing to play along with my crazy plans. My crazy plan this time involved making light sabers for all of the birthday guest, but when I couldn’t find the right pieces for the project, he had a solution and just took care of it. Thank You Danny! I love you!
Now on to Tanner’s party. Can I just say that every guest was truly charming and respectful and lots of fun to have here. Tanner had a blast. I really had to take some deep breaths with 11 boys and 3 girls running around with light sabers bopping everything they came in contact with, but that is what I wanted to make them for, and I’m glad they were able to enjoy them.
Now for some pictures from the party!

Danny even made a little light saber for Alyssa, who wasn’t feeling too well.

All is quiet now, and I can relax, tomorrow I’m going to go see Twilight with my friend from forever who is in town and I’m so excited. The kids are watching a movie, Alyssa I think is feeling a little better, and I’m ready for some sleep.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

What to say? Tanner is an absolute joy! Heavenly Father couldn’t have sent a better kid, he’s so good with his sisters, patient, and loving, and a great example to them. He often takes Aubrey into his room and engages her in a game of Star Wars, or he’ll take Alyssa out to the trampoline with blankets and play forever with her.
Tanner has a great sense of humor, and is always good for a laugh when he senses the mood of the family might not be the best. He’s usually willing to help with chores around the house with minimal complaining, and is just a friend to everyone.
Tanner turns 8 today and will be baptized soon, I know he is ready for that, and looking forward to it. What a great kid, Happy Birthday Tanner!

4:44 am and I hear a little pitter patter of feet coming down the hall. Alyssa comes into the room, Danny is tuned to react to screaming, but I’m tuned into pitter patters. I rolled over and told Danny he had a little friend by his bed, she asked to snuggle, so he picked her up and tucked her under his arm pit and went back to sleep. Then we heard that sound that we all dread hearing, someone was vomiting. I knew when it was over by the scream that it was Emma. Of course we went down there and took care of her, tucked her back into bed, and went down there again in an hour to do the same. Then again, and again, and eventually the sun came up and we could assess the damage. This story is sad because today Emma’s GT class was going to take a trip to the Reno Philharmonic Orchestra. Emma has been talking non stop about this outing for weeks now, and she knew she would be unable to go. I called her teacher at 8:00, and told her Emma wouldn’t make it, but that Tanner and I were still going to come. So Tanner and I took an adventure to Reno, I don’t often get one on one time with Tanner, and I enjoyed his company. He enjoyed putting the coins into the parking meter, we watched Reno’s Christmas Tree drive into town, and watched them put it up. We got to see them setting up the Ice Rink, and enjoyed the entire day. The concert was fun, they really tailored it to children, playing scary songs from Phantom of the Opera, Bach, and the theme song of Jurassic Park. We got demonstrations of different instruments making different feelings. Emma would have loved it, too bad she couldn’t make it, life is full of disappointment sometimes. A local resort in Reno is having the Reno Philharmonic Christmas Concert in December with dancers and lights and all sort of fauna that I’m going to try and get tickets for so that Emma can enjoy the Philharmonic also.

On another topic, Friday is Tanner’s 8th birthday! And I’m having a Star Wars party for him. I have never been able to stay awake for those movies, and I guess I lack an appreciation for them. I know flame away, how could I not watch Star Wars? Believe me it wasn’t hard. So Tanner says you can make me a Death Star cake, sure I say, mental note-check what a Death Star is. For those of you who are Star Wars impaired like me it’s not a star… So I’m in trouble here, how do I make a cake for Star Wars? Sigh. How do I get into these things? So there is this blog I love to go to it is called cakewreckers.blogspot.com or something similar, I’d have to go look it up, but it shows horrible cakes, and all the mistakes people make. The whole site cracks me up, it’s worth a trip to, but I should just submit my cake now to this lady for her ridicule and let her get it over with. I will have a good attitude. Hey Target sells action figures, can I stab those into a cake? Tanner is very excited, he had his baptism interview on Sunday and he is ready and excited to be baptized on Saturday the 29th at 10:00am. I’m proud of him, he’s good natured and a joy to be with.

Doing pickup duty this morning, I ran into this little guy. As badly as I felt, I had to introduce him to the vacuum. Poor guy didn’t even see it coming. He is longer then a quarter in size, and has 10 legs, so what does that make him? Any ideas? I think I will be cleaning out under beds, and other hiding places because my little visitor gives me the creeps.

I went and researched this little cutie, go here to read about him. He is called a Wind Scorpion.

Aubrey: What’s tomorrow?
Mom: Tomorrow is tomorrow.
Aubrey: NOOO! What is tomorrow?
Mom: When it’s tomorrow you can call it today…
Aubrey: NOOOO!!! What is tomorrow?
Mom: Good Gravy kid, why don’t you tell me what tomorrow is?
Aubrey: Tomorrow is Veteran’s Day.
Mom: Oh.
Aubrey: What is Veteran’s Day?
Mom: It’s the day we think about and thank the people who protect us and our country.
Aubrey: How come we don’t?
Mom: Don’t what?
Aubrey: Say Thank You…
Mom: Hmmm, good point, we should, we will.

Once again, I have been taught by my little ones. Thanks Aubrey.

I had a dentist appointment this morning. This generally, does not put me in the best of moods, and I go in with the attitude of lets get this over with. Today I walked in and almost instantly knew it was going to be one of those days. There before me sat, Michael Jackson, now I know it wasn’t really Michael Jackson that was just my first impression. Here sat a lady, dressed from head to toe in black, covered in fur, wearing a pair of earrings that look like she stole from my Mothers chandelier. This was odd, but it got odder. She was wearing white lipstick, yes, white, it looked like she mistakenly picked up white out instead of her lip gloss. The application of the white out was on her lips and probably and inch around the outside of her lips, and matched her white powder foundation wonderfully. I was nice, and just walked in and sat down… picked up a magazine, and looked preoccupied. I must not have been convincing enough because she started talking to me. She asked me why the people at the office hate her? That they were being so mean to her… I put my magazine down and listened to her, figuring that someday I could be an eccentric old lady who just needs someone to talk to, but if I ever put white out on, someone tell me. So I said, they were mean to you? “Yes, I needed them to check my credit, don’t they know my computer is broken, I give them so much money, the least they can do is get online and check my account for me.” “My car is broken, I had to walk here, and they wont check my account, they don’t have to be hateful with me, I’m a person… on an on she went.” So I asked her if she had her card, that she could borrow my phone and call the number on the back of her card, and get her account info, she declined my offer saying she wouldn’t know how to do that, and not wanting to ask her personal info about her social security number to help her I just let her continue to rant to me. Then walks in a large hairy man. We’re talking pony tails and earrings, and then I smelled something, now I have a pregnant nose so it’s possible it wasn’t as bad as I smelled, but to me it was pretty bad. I thought maybe my Michael Jackson lady’s fox around her neck had passed on, or maybe it was the dead bunnies on her gloves, or the dead squirrel on her head, but I’m pretty sure it was the guy who just walked in. It wasn’t horribly offensive, so I decided to ignore… what would I have done anyway, then the lady opened the door and called my name, I’ve never been so happy to see the dentist in all my life.
I made a promise to myself to be more understanding of people. When I think of this lady, who tried hard to look her best, but had to walk to the dentist, she probably really could use some help. I have my oddities, and I’d rather people be understanding of them then judgmental, which with this lady I really tried but wasn’t sure how I could have helped her. I’m glad everyone is a little odd it makes life more interesting.

So I just had a conversation with Aubrey. She said so seriously and very cute. “Mom, the new baby is a boy.” “Oh Yeah?” I said, then I asked her how she knew, and she said “I’ve been doing some thinking, and my thinking says it’s a boy”. Aubrey seems pretty certain… but we wont be letting her name him, she wants to name him Ella. Tanner would be delighted to have a brother, but then I wonder how much joy he’ll get out of him when he’ll be 8 years older then him… Just some random thoughts. Believe me this is a much better topic then the gross thing that occurred in the back yard this morning.