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