Ready for bed

Since I'm posting about Tanner, I thought I'd share another cute picture of him . . .


He wouldn't get into bed to read stories (that night he'd chosen Flat Stanley, and he wanted to read the first and last chapters, which are his favorite. Those are the parts where "he gets flat and he gets blowed up (where his brother suggests they stick a bicycle pump in Stanley's mouth and pump him up like a bicycle tire - I'm afraid Tanner is going to try it some day!).") until he had his bike helmet on. I never did figure out why he had to have his helmet on!

Too bad he won't wear it when he's riding his bike or his scooter. Occasionally he will wear it outside, but he won't let us do up the straps, because then it's "not so comfy!"

Ever wonder about plastic in the oven?

Have you ever wondered what would happen if your 3-year-old fills your oven with plastic Tupperware because he's "baking cookies" and then you forget about them and then turn the oven on to heat dinner? We haven't, but now we know the answer!

We decided to be thankful for 2 things - a fridge full of leftovers, and the fact that my next couple of dinners didn't need the oven, so we had a few days to figure out how to get all the melted (and cooled) plastic cleaned out!And second - it was only 2 bowls, and the rest of the oven was filled with the broiling pan (or whatever it's called). He's had other days where he has completely filled the oven with as many plastic bowls as he can fit in there . This was just the first time I forgot to take them out before I turned the oven on!
At times like this we just remind ourselves how much we wanted him in our family and how much we love him. Especially since he showed no remorse - he just thought it was "so coo-ool!"

Kiersten, the Author . . .

I know I should be blogging about Tanner since I wrote about Kiersten yesterday, but I don't have a lot of time this morning and wanted to get something up, and since I had these several quick, easy posts about Kiersten that's what I'm going to do! Hopefully I'll have some time tomorrow to post about Tanner. I wouldn't want him to end up in therapy because his mom didn't love him as much as his big sister or anything!

Yesterday Kiersten came out and asked me for a piece of paper so she could make a book. I wasn't sure what to expect, but here is the result . . .

(I Married Someone Who Only Eats Bugs)

(I married someone, I didn't know he only ate bugs)

(I let him make dinner, and I said, "What are we having for dinner?" "We are having shepherd's bug pie.")

(I slapped him . . . )

(and ran out the door!)

I think she's ready for a career as an author and illustrator of children's books, don't you? Although, we probably should discourage things like, "I slapped him" - it might give kids the wrong idea. She just graduated from Kindergarten, and she's already to take on the world!

Menu for the Week

A couple of Sundays ago I came home from church with a migraine and went straight to bed. Nate was a sweetheart and took care of the kids and got dinner on so I could sleep. When I got up the next morning, I found these posted on the fridge . . .

(In case you need help with her spelling, she's listed:
Dinner for this week / Corn bread / Mashed potatoes / Grilled cheese and tomato soup / peas / fruit (fruit coctail, apricots, pears / Cheeseburgers
and the second page:
Desserts for this week / Plain Cheesecake / Cherry Cheesecake / Brownies / Cupcakes / Cake / Candy)

I'm always asking the kids and Nate what they'd like for dinner. I don't mind doing the grocery shopping (especially since it ends up being REALLY expensive when I send Nate!), I don't mind preparing, but some days I just can't decide what to make! But I can't say that I have ever asked them for a list of desserts they'd like in one week - but I can tell what Kiersten likes!

My Special Mother by: Kiersten

For Mother's day each person in her class wrote about their mother. This is what she had to say about me:

In case you can't read it, between the pencil and her spelling it is kind of hard to read, it says," My mom is the most wonderful mom in the whole world! She's as pretty as a princess. She weighs 60 and is 32 feet tall. Her favorite food is pork chops. In the days when Mom was little, she used to go to church. I think Mom looks funny when she runs around the house and puts on her make-up. I know she is mad when she hears me say a bad word. I wish mom would put me to bed everyday with me everyday. I wouldn't trade my mom for anything! I think my mom is cute! I love her very much!"

And, just to clarify a few things . . . I do like pork chops, especially when Nate grills them with a dill marinade, but of all the yummy things in the world, pork chops certainly aren't my favorite. We must have had them the night before she filled out this page! Just in case you are wondering, I didn't stop going to church now that I've grown up - I still go. I'm not sure what to say about the "runs around the house and puts on her makeup comment." I think I'll just leave that one to your imagination! And, I'm pretty sure that the bad words she's referring to are words like, "stupid" and "ugly" because she comes home talking about people on the bus who say bad words and we always talk about how it isn't good to say bad words. I think I traumatized the poor girl when I called something stupid the other day!

Oh la la! Kiersten is 6!

Once again far more time has gone by than I intended since my last post. Even though I haven't been blogging, I have been scrapbooking, so I thought I'd just post some pictures of scrapbook pages I've done to help me along!

Kiersten turned 6 on April 8th and wanted a Fancy Nancy birthday party. If I were completely honest, I would probably have to admit that I had a lot to do with it! I suggested that she have one, and then told her all the fun things we could do with the theme. And then any time she would say she wanted some other sort of birthday party I would ask, "Don't you want a Fancy Nancy one, where we . . . ?" And she would always remember "Oh yeah, that's what I want!"

I think my mom and I had as much fun getting ready for the party as the girls had at the party! Nate and I timed our trip to Hong Kong so that it was just perfect for picking up fancy party supplies! And all the shopping we did there didn't feel like we were spending real money (in part because of the exchange rate, and partly because the money looks different than ours!), so I probably spent more than I normally would have on a birthday party. We picked up paper fans (from the Ladies Market), and sparkle bracelets (from the Jade Market), and . . .my mom came up with the best find of all - the biggest, fanciest, foo-foo-i-est headbands I have ever seen!

What could be better for a Fancy Nancy party?!?! She found them in her favorite market in (mainland) China - the shopkeepers recognize her and now whenever they see her they tell her , "I have headbands for you! I give you a good deal because I like you!" I guess that's what happens when you buy 14 headbands in 1 trip!

The girls had lots of fun at the party - we started out with a fancy breakfast (we ended up doing a morning party because that Saturday was really busy!), which was more difficult than I thought it would be. Kiersten knew right off that she wanted fruit and pastries, and I felt that we needed some sort of protein to round it out. But I could not come up with anything that I thought little girls would like. Finally the night before the party we were in the frozen food isle at the grocery store and I read Kiersten her options and told her to choose. She chose sausage on a stick, wrapped in pancakes (a breakfast version of corndog on a stick!). As we were walking up to pay I started having second thoughts - did they really go with a fancy breakfast? She looks at me, completely exasperated and says, "Mom, not everything has to be fancy. This is what I want." Well, that settles that! So then I had to laugh when one of the girls said, "Wow! This is such a fancy breakfast!" I don't think it was the sausage on a stick that inspired that comment, but maybe the clear plastic goblets (I found at the dollar store!) that I'd glued a rose and a bow to that the girls thought were from a wedding!

After breakfast we played Pin the jewel on the Tiara, and the girls practiced their princess/fancy walk with a banana on their heads (because bananas don't get in the way of their tiaras like a book would, duh!) while I cleared breakfast and set out the stuff so they could make their own fancy shopping bag. Once the bags were complete we headed out to the garage where they got to go "shopping" and then came inside and opened presents and had cake and ice cream.

Kiersten wanted a yellow cake with chocolate frosting this year - yummy, but how do you make that fancy? It didn't help that I completely forgot to make sure I had birthday candles, which, it turns out I didn't have! And, I didn't even start the cake until 8pm the night before! In an effort to make it a little fancier I sprinkled mini chocolate chips in the batter and then baked it as a bundt cake. I poured a chocolate glaze over the top and then let it cool. I intended to go back and try to make it fancy . . . maybe with some pearls and flowers I hadn't really decided what I was going to do, and then forgot about the cake until it was time to serve it! Maybe that's why we don't have any pictures of the cake! Oh well - it may not have been fancy, but it sure tasted good!
As far as life with a 6-year-old vs. life with a 5-year-old goes, I don't think there has been much of a difference. She did tell me that she could tell that she was taller and thinks that she grew an inch the night before her birthday. And Nate and I both agree that her 6-year-old talent of counting to 10 in VERY gringo-Spanish (all numbers are self taught!) is much more annoying than her 5-year-old talent of whistling! However, she constantly loves to share both talents with us . . . constantly!

Sadly, I can't think of any thing else. Can anyone reading this think of cute stories of 6-year-old Kiersten that I've already forgotten? If so, let me know!

Catching up - Tanner meets the Beach

(Just a warning - this is kind of a long post with LOTS of pictures. I'm posting this mostly for Grandmas' benefit!)

Sometime last summer Nate commented on the fact that Tanner has never been to the beach, so we decided to go visit his brother and sister-in-law who live near San Diego over fall break in October. (Fall break is new to me to, but for whatever reason kids get a week off of school for Spring Break in March, and a week off for Fall Break in October.) It's so weird having to plan our trips around school breaks (both Nate's and Kiersten's!) and not being able to just pick up and go whenever we wanted.

We had so much fun with Michael, Julia and Maiya and Mira. Our first day we headed out to the beach - Tanner was in heaven! He loved the beach from the minute he got out of the car. Kiersten, on the other hand, wasn't so sure - it has been almost 3 years since she'd been to the beach and apparently we had to remind her that she liked it, too. She did ok as long as she could wear her flip flops and didn't have to actually get in the water! Both kids had a great time making sandcastles with Maiya and Mira while Dad (he's the mound under the BYU sweatshirt and animal towel) and Uncle Mike (he's the mound under the had and pink stripe towel) tried to sleep.

I have several friends who have kids close to Kiersten and Tanner's ages who told me that their kids LOVED the zoo, so we bought tickets and hoped ours would too! Our first stop was the snakes and reptiles, a stop I could have done without. However, Tanner was fascinated - we quickly fell behind everyone else because he wanted to stop and watch at each case. The snakes were really active and interesting, but not interesting enough to "open the windows" like Tanner wanted to do! After that was the turtles, which cracked Tanner up. If one turtle was walking and then just stopped (which they frequently did), any turtles behind him would just stop and wait for the first one to start moving again. Tanner thought it was so funny that the turtles wouldn't go around each other. When we finally managed to drag him away from the turtles, it was off to the petting zoo. A couple of times I caught Kiersten giving the animals a sideways look that seemed to say, "If I don't come near you, then you don't need to come near me either."

We were so busy all day that Tanner didn't get his normal afternoon nap, so as soon as we sat down on the bus Tanner fell asleep. Luckily Nate noticed and I could catch him before he fell off the seat and hit his head!

Our last day of fun found us at the Temecula Children's Museum, which was AWESOME!!! It isn't huge, but there had to be some sort of experiment the kids - and adults! - could do relating to every single law of physical science. Kiersten and Tanner are already asking when we can go back.












It's always sad when it is time to head home, although a week of Tanner not napping (there was too much to do and see each day!) made it not quite as sad as usual! We haven't planned our next trip to California yet, but I'm sure it won't be too far away - I think the only place we go more than California is Utah!

Tanner's Favorite Book

Tanner loves stories, and loves being read to, and he also likes routines, especially when it comes to books. He gets on a kick and wants the same 2 books read every day at nap time and at bed time (he'd love more, but I've had to limit him or I fall asleep before I finish reading!) Currently, and it has been this way for at least the last 3 weeks, his 2 favorites are "Frank was a Monster who Wanted to Dance" and "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie." Like I said, we read these books at least twice a day, but sometimes more (I think the most I've read it is 5 times in the same day, and 3 of those were right in a row)!

Knowing Tanner, this should come as no surprise that this is his favorite page:



And every time we read it - even when we're on the third time of a triple-header - he points out that Frank's eye has a plug on it. And he's delighted by that fact every time. I worry that Tanner now thinks his eyeballs are connected with plugs and cords! Oh well, in his world that is a good thing!

School is . . . Cancelled?

Thursday morning Nate and I woke up to something we haven't experienced in the 6 years we've lived here in southern Arizona - our pipes had frozen and we had no water (of course it would happen on the morning we all needed to be ready and out the door by 7am!). So Nate headed out, armed with new-found knowledge (isn't the Internet wonderful?) and my blowdryer and had the water running in less than an hour. Kiersten had a great time telling me every 5 minutes that we didn't have water because the water had frozen in the pipes, and then proceeded to turn on every faucet she could find to prove her point. I think she was the only one disappointed when Nate got the water flowing again!

When it was time to take her to the bus stop that morning, Nate checked the weather, and we saw another shocker . . .I think it has, on rare occasions, gotten down to the mid- to upper-20's, but this is the coldest I've seen it, and before this week I'd never seen it down to the single digits once you factor in the wind chill. Kiersten couldn't understand why we wouldn't let her just wear a cardigan sweater and a fleece jacket to school that day. We were really grateful that Grandma Berrett had a very nice wool winter coat made for her - one we never thought she'd actually need!

It sounds like we got off easy - so many of our friends had pipes burst in the middle of the day, and one friend was without water for the entire day. One of the Raytheon plants out here - unfortunately not the one Nate works at - had a pipe burst and everyone got sent home earlyon Thursday and didn't have to work on Friday since there wasn't water in the building.

That evening we got the news that school was being canceled on Friday "due to weather related concerns and reasonable foreseeability of continued conditions." The part of the announcement that got me was, "Therefore, in the interest of student safety and minimizing the chance for disruption of the educational process and causing a stressful situation for families, we have determined that this course of action, although less than ideal, is the reasonable and prudent course of action. " Does the school board think that having Kiersten home ALL day so she and Tanner can fight ALL day is less stressful than having to go get her in the middle of the day if there is a problem?

And I remember when I was growing up making fun of places that would cancel school when there was just a dusting of snow on the ground, and now I live in a place that canceled school when there wasn't even any snow!

LOST!

In November we went to the dentist for our semi-annual cleaning. The hygienist noticed that one of Kiersten's bottom teeth was loose and told her to expect it to fall out sometime in January. It was barely loose at that point - it was still several weeks until she could wiggle it enough for anyone to notice, but all that mattered to Kiersten was that it was loose. Apparently they keep track at school of everyone who has lost a tooth and who hasn't, and Kiersten was so excited to be able to see the day when she could move from the "hasn't" list to the "has" list!

For the last couple of weeks it was so loose it held on by just a string or two. She could push it forward until it was practically laying down flat which completely grossed me out. So I was absolutely delighted when she came home from school to tell me that it had fallen out at school. Yeah, she lost her first tooth, and I didn't have to be grossed out. Besides, I think my drama queen handled the blood much better there than she would have at home!

That night she made sure to put it under her pillow so the tooth fairy could come and get it. She even did all she could to help the tooth fairy - she only slept on one pillow that night so it wouldn't be too hard for the tooth fairy to find it. Thankfully she was willing to put the tooth in a zip lock bag under her pillow, especially when I explained that it would be easier for the tooth fairy to find the bag than just the loose tooth.

I have to admit - her tooth sure looked a lot smaller than I remember my teeth being when I was her age and my baby teeth fell out!

Catching up - Halloween

So it has been forever since I've been good about posting much about our crazy life, so here goes my attempt to catch up. In the past I've really gotten in to Halloween and Kiersten and I talk for weeks about costumes and what we're going to do (and of course, how cute she and Tanner will be!). But this past year it just wasn't happening for me . . . I didn't want to do anything that would cost much or require a lot of time. I lucked out with Kiersten - she wanted to be Ro from Barbie's Island Princess, and her dance costume from last year was perfect for that. At first I wasn't going to add anything, but at the last minute I felt guilty (why I'm not really sure!), so I decided to make her some peacock wings to go with the costume which she loved.

(All lined up for the Kindergarten parade at school. It was a LONG parade - there are 10 classes!)

But Tanner . . . I had absolutely no idea what to do for the poor boy. I was trying to decide if it made me a bad mother if I didn't do anything. I was pretty sure at 2 he wouldn't care, but it would hamper my scrapbooking! Then one day it came to me - he is obsessed with plugs and outlets, so why not do something with that. After looking at a few pictures on line of different costumes, I came up with a plan I thought wouldn't cost much money or be too time consuming. I was pretty pleased with how it turned out. While Tanner loved it, and loved that we were telling him to carry around a plug, he never really wanted to wear his costume. Thankfully he put it on long enough to get a couple of pictures.

(Here he is, showing off how to "use" his costume!)

So, thankfully my delima pretty much solved itself and both kids loved their costumes (even if Tanner wouldn't wear it he still carries it around when he finds it telling everyone that it is his outlet!), and I have something to scrapbook!