Don't Feed the Wild Animals!

For Kaitlyn's birthday we set up the basement with the slide and balls, trampoline and the roller coaster for all the kids to play with. After cake and ice cream came the presents. All the girls started out in a circle watching Kaitlyn open her birthday presents, but slowly they started creeping in until they all were attacking the presents! This video definitely made me think of the 'don't feed the wild animal' phenomenon!

Happy Halloween

Halloween was really cold this year but the girls had a blast. Madison's costume was plenty warm and we ended up putting a hat on under the crown for Kaitlyn. There was one house where a guy was sitting outside dressed up. It freaked Madison out enough that when she couldn't get down the stairs because there were too many people, I thought she was going to jump off the porch. After that she was pretty cautious about anything on porches. After trick-or-treating with our friends, we went over to their house and had hot chocolate and watched a movie. And then of course we had to bring the treasure back and analyze how much loot we got. Whenever Kaitlyn got any chocolate she got excited and had to tell me about it. I guess she is a girl after my own heart.

Happy Birthday Curtis

I know I am a little behind since his birthday was before Kaitlyn's but we finally were able to celebrate it last night. I bought him tickets to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra and it was amazing! I guess it would be more accurate to say that my Dad bought the tickets for me. I thought it was a nice gesture when I was telling my Mom how hard it was to get to a computer when Curtis wasn't around so I could get him tickets. She offered to have my Dad get them. I told her that they should get some tickets to come with but, now after the fact, I learned she changed the topic. I should have caught that there was something up her sleeve. We got to SLC early so we decided to do some shopping. It took us a few minutes to get back to the Energy Solutions Arena and we were waiting outside when my Dad called to see how we liked the seats. Of course we hadn't made it inside but the meaning behind the phone call was "we are getting kind of nervous that your not here did you trade your tickets in for better seats". As we got to our seats I noticed that my Parents were there to surprise us. I completely played into their hands by letting my Dad get the tickets so that we could sit together.
There was a great light show with lasers, fire, fireworks and snow that glittered with the lasers. Of course the music was amazing, they were amazing singers and they had oh-so-much energy. It is a little strange to see an orchestra and die-hard rock stars with long hair and head banging all meshed into one. I couldn't find a clip of this years performance but to get a taste of what we got to see go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR3CKEC3lbs.
Many, many moons ago I took my, then boyfriend Curtis to a Chris Ledoux concert for his birthday. He loved Chris Ledoux and I am glad we went because it was one of his last performances before he died. After the concert we conveniently stopped for gas and then I fell asleep on the way home. I awoke because we were suddenly doing some off roading. I must of trusted him because I let him hall me up a mountain where candles, music, "bubbly" and a ring was waiting for me. The gas stop was just an excuse to give Curt's friend time to get ahead of us to go light the candles. I was teasing my husband that the last time I took him to a concert we got engaged so I had high expectations for this one. I should have known better because the comment I got in return was "What, you want me to get another wife?!?"

Happy Birthday Kaitlyn

Where did the time go?!? Here are seven things that I love about Kaitlyn (though it was hard to narrow it down)
1 She looks just like me!
2 She says the most thought provoking, insightful, crazy things I have ever heard
3 She is passionate about everything she does
4 When she was little she liked to sing at the top of her lungs while we were at the store. We got stopped by many people and got a lot of smiles
5 She is a natural learner and has a thirst for knowledge
6 She easily makes friends where ever she goes
7 She has brought a lot of joy into my life!!
I was going through some pictures that were on one of our computers and reminiscing about my not-so-little girl. Here is what i found:

Family Pictures

I had to hurry and schedule family pictures because Kaitlyn's two front teeth are about to fall out. I was a little disappointed this year because they didn't have someone being silly to get some really great smiles of the girls, so some of the smiles are a little forced. The girls weren't really into the whole being propped for the pictures but all in all we got some really cute ones. Here are a few of my favorite ones.

In-fur-tility

If you don't want to hear any griping then you may want to pass on this post. On the other hand if you need a good laugh at someone else's expense then carry on.

The first time i sat in the doctors office and she came in to see me for "infertility" I was shocked that she had labeled me that. I wasn't infertile, I have been able to get pregnant three times and I could plan it down to the day. After the initial diagnosing all the lab rat tests began. Of course you have to go to a million different places and they all have to know what your diagnosis is. It was hard enough hearing it but having the dreaded word come of your own mouth I felt like I should just stamp it on my forehead. After several months the doctor finally sent me to do the "fun" tests. You know the ones that they tell you to take a million milligrams of IB Profin before coming in. I was on the phone with the girl who sets up appointments and after a few short moments I concluded that she was either really young or not the sharpest tool in the shed. After all the drama of trying to find the right test, scheduling it and then telling me what I had to do prior to the appointment, I was finally able to get off the phone. I show up to the preregistration and after jumping through the hoops I had to sign my life away. I was glancing through the paperwork when my diagnosis caught my eye as infurtility. So not only am I not able to have a kid, I guess I am not able to grow hair as well.
Eventually I was able to see the doctor. Of course he preps me by saying that the procedure will be a little uncomfortable. My only retort I could come up with was that just being a girl has many uncomfortable moments. He was ready to do some x-rays when he saw my ankle. He asked if the picture on my ankle was a temporary tattoo. I proceeded to tell the doctor that it was my consolation prize. A few days before I was deathly ill so my family left me home and went to the fair. I guess they didn't want me to feel left out or something so, while I lay unable to move, my husband took advantage of my weakened state and slapped a tattoo on my ankle. That certainly got the doctors attention and he had to stop what he was doing because he was laughing so hard. Well, I am glad I was able to brighten someones day because he sure as heck didn't brighten mine any!

Back to First Grade

I was lucky enough today that Grandma had Madison so I could go volunteer in Kaitlyn's class for a couple of hours. I graded spelling tests and helped with their art project. I couldn't believe how fast they jumped from thing to thing. There was never enough time to finish one project before the next one began. I was sitting at the teachers desk when a little girl came up and asked if I was Kaitlyn's Mom. Then she preceded to tell me that I looked just like her (shouldn't it be the other way around, she looks like me because I was here first!). Later on I was helping someone when a couple of other boys got into a deep conversation about how I look just like Kaitlyn. I don't think they realized I was listening by the look on their faces when I commented on it. Apparently Kaitlyn and i look a lot alike. To top off the day a little girl came up to me and told me "Kaitlyn is really nice to everyone. She is a really a good friend". I had a blast being in first grade again!

Eww that's gross

Curtis and I were out staining our porch one night when Madison came running out in a panic to tell Curtis "Kaitlyn kissed me by my tongue . . . and that's gross!!"

After going through all the toys and organizing them, our play room was finally clean. In an attempt to keep it clean I posted some rules 1- clean up before you leave the room 2- no food or drink in the playroom 3- nothing gets taken in our out of the room. After explaining that the consequence of not putting away the toys would be that they lose the toys, Kaitlyn told me "That's an evil consequence"

Madison had on a hat, scarf and mittens on while we were going to get the mail. She stopped and held up her hands to tell me her hands were cozy

My Madison

Tea Party

The tea set was by far the best white elephant gift I have every gotten! Of course it was a tough decision to make when there were things such as a snuggie and an old programming book to choose from. It was down to the last few rounds and I knew that one of Curt's co-workers wanted the set. She said that if it was Curtis who had it she would take it but she was nice and let me keep the gift. We have definitely put it to good use. We had to use all the pieces so we had water and in the sugar bowl we put powdered Gatorade to add to our drink.

Brownies

Later that day we decided to make brownies from scratch. My girls love being in the middle of everything (and having been a preschool teacher I know all the benefits of cooking with kids . . . However was this mess worth it!?!). I was on my way to add the cocoa and butter mixture to the brownies when Madison asked for a taste. I completely forgot that there was no sugar in the mixture to sweeten it. The look on her face, she thought I poisoned her and started wiping it out of her mouth. I started adding the cocoa mixture into the other ingredients when Madison said "My favorite color is brownies"

Dear Tooth Fairy

I found this under Kaitlyn's pillow the other day:

Dear Tooth Fere,
I will pay you bakc.
love Kaitlyn

and then there were two nickels taped to the letter. I asked her about it and she thought that the tooth fairy gave her too much money for her tooth.

Summer Dance

I put the girls in summer dance to see how they liked it. I have to say the cutest thing I have ever seen is little 4 year old girls in leotards dancing around! Here are some videos and pictures of their little dance recital. Kaitlyn is on the back right and then Madison is in the purple "dancing" skirt that she insisted on wearing.

School Started

First grade here we come. Kaitlyn has been so excited to start school because she was starting to get really bored! They built a new school a few blocks from our house so everyone has been anxious to get a peek inside. After the first day of school I asked Kaitlyn all about it and her reply was "We got to have three recesses, I love first grade!" At least she has her priorities right.

Mommy Tax

The smartest thing that I have ever done is impose a mommy tax. Ever since my kids were little, if they ever had a treat or they were eating something I would automatically get a bite. Now if I ever say mommy tax they WILLINGLY give up a piece of their treat to me. With a mommy tax around sometimes my husband can get away with imposing a daddy tax. The other day both of my girls had fruit snacks while we were in the car and of course they each gave me afor piece. Kaitlyn finished hers but Madison was very insistent that she save one for her daddy (even though it rarely makes it home to him). We arrived to pick up a pizza for dinner and as we are getting out Madison realizes she dropped daddy's candy. Well she picks it up and places it in the car. After returning to the car we are driving and I hear Madison say that the treat touched her booger and it is wet. She asked for something to wipe it off so I gave her a paper towel. When we get home Madison brings the treat that she so diligently guarded for daddy up to me and asked me to get the paper towel off that was stuck to it. The fruit snack was covered in paper towel, hair and who knows what else. I rinsed it and then gave it back to her in hopes to be able to warn Curtis not to eat it. But to my horror she beat me to him. After realizing the fruit snack was wet Curtis decided he didn't want to eat it and fed it to Madison instead! I guess our clever tax kind of backfired on us.

Half and Half

Curtis has always teased me about my maiden name being Peeler. Heaven forbid if I ever ask where our peeler is because it just sets me up to be the brunt of a joke. I never thought I would see the day that my husband would fight over a white elephant gift just so he could bring me home a potato peeler. Well Kaitlyn's little ears must have picked up on it over the years. We were making applesauce so I borrowed my parents apple peeler/corer/slicer. The girls had a ton of fun turning the crank and watching it work magic by peeling the apple into little ribbons and then slicing it up. Kaitlyn decided she was really good at peeling the apples. The reason why she was so good was because she was half Peeler and half Strobelt!

The ice cream truck frequents our neighborhood. For some reason I just assumed that all kids new what an ice cream truck was and how to identify one until one day I was talking to my mother-in-law. Apparently Kaitlyn had been telling her Grandma how nice one of the drivers were. They turn up their music and drive around so everyone can share their nice music.

Fair

We went to a fair in Sandy a little while ago and turned Kaitlyn into an angel and Madison into a tiger. When they said they were doing face painting I thought it would be a little flower or heart on the cheek . . . oh, I was wrong. It was a full face painting. I also figured we would have family pictures done while we were there.

Bryce Canyon

We had an incredible getaway to Bryce Canyon last week! It was so much fun camping, hiking and enjoying nature. The first day we found a camping spot right next to the rim so that we could easily go hiking. So, of course, that first day we hiked part of the rim trail and celebrated Madison's birthday with great dutch oven cooking (including that cobbler we promised Madison). I managed to find four candles before we left home so we could properly do the birthday cake thing. After dinner and before cake, Madison had to run to the bathroom. After we got back I was looking for the candles when I was informed they were already in the cake. We walked over to the dutch oven, opened the lid and the candles were gone. Note to self: candles melt when they get hot! Curtis had put the candles in, realized we would be a minute, and then put the lid on to keep the bugs out. We pried the wicks off the cake and between the three adults we managed to light and hold the wicks so Madison could blow her birthday candles out.

Day two: We decided to check out the little towns and shops that were around Bryce. We went to an animal museum that reminded me a lot of Cabela's. It had a lot of exotic butterflies, beetles and spiders as well. The best part of it was going out back to the fenced area where they had deer you could hand feed. The girls really enjoyed feeding them and Madison had to make sure that every deer there got a few pieces of corn. We stopped by the store and a guy let the girls ride their horse for a bit and and got a picture of all of us together. We headed to another hike so we could see mossy cave and the waterfall.

Day three: The half marathon took up the morning and then after a very refreshing 8 minute shower we headed off to do more hiking (because the marathon wasn't enough walking for one day) and we saw a few more little shops. I never knew how fast I could shower until I had to shower, shave and shower both of my girls in eight minutes. There was a rock shop that had beautiful things, most of which were breakable so not an ideal place for little kids. The girls liked the area where they could lock each other up in jail. That night we went to an astronomy thing put on by the rangers and then took Kaitlyn to the visitors center to look in the telescopes. We were able to see Saturn and see the rings and a couple of its moons around it. We also looked at the moon and a few other stars.

Day four: We were just trying to see that last few of the view points that we didn't catch while we were hiking and then we headed home. It was raining a little bit off and on so it was a good thing we brought our umberlella. I also have another word to add to my favorite kid word list. We saw a lot of chipmunks while we were camping but for some reason Madison thought they were squirrels so she would call them squirrelers (like curlers). It also got started that big red (the truck) protected our camp spot from other people so it would "growl" to keep the people away. All day everyday if Madison heard a car coming or people getting near us she would say "it's ok big red, it is only a car" or if we were gone she would say she could hear big red growling. Madison also had to give her baby a piggy back ride. So here she was galloping around with her baby on her shoulders. The kids were way cute!