"Vintage" High School Pics

So, I thought I would share some old high school photos of me for all those friends of mine that only know the grown-up mom side of me. The picture quality is not so great since they are scanned copies of old photos but I was having fun looking back on the old me! Oh, the good ol' high school days when I had all the confidence and all the insecurity in the world, simultaneously! It's weird, but so true! I remember being so insecure about my body and about being "cool" and having friends, but then at the same time feeling like I could do anything, be anything with my whole life ahead of me. Now, I feel like I have more of a sense of who I am and am a lot more comfortable in my own skin, but I do wish I could regain that sense of optimism and that belief that I can accomplish anything I put my mind to. So, please excuse my brief trip down memory lane, but enjoy the laughs anyways! And who knows, hopefully I'll inspire some of you to pull out those old high school pics and remember those crazy high school days...and I'd love to see some of them posted on your blogs!

This is at a "Murder Mystery" birthday party (hopefully that explains the costumes!) I was the evil mistress, hence that "sultry" look on my face! Well, ok, I was trying for sultry anyways!

This is at a store in the mall. We were asked to model some of their dresses and had to walk around the mall in them to help encourage other girls to buy their dresses for prom. I have no idea how we got picked to do this!

This is me on the hurdle team, check out those awesome socks and super attractive spandex shorts!

This is me at homecoming, junior year, I think (?) with the other girls in our group. Did everyone go to the dances in big groups at their high schools? That's how we did it at GVHS! haha!

Mommy Fell Asleep

Ok, so I'm a little embarrassed to admit this but I think it is so stinkin' (yes, Emily, I live in Utah) cute that I have to. I fell asleep today while Ethan was napping but Kellin was still awake. The "poor kid" had to entertain himself during my nap and I guess he needed some toys out of the toy closet because when I finally woke up and went upstairs this is what I saw at the top of the stairs. He took the pillows off his bed, the cushions off the couch and anything else he could find to climb up on and reach the top shelf. It's his fault really, he came down to our room in the middle of the night last night and wanted to sleep in our bed. I love to let him sleep with us and all, but I'm usually the one who ends up half awake trying not to fall off the bed! Gotta love my little monkeys, even if I can hardly keep my eyes open while doing it!

Valentine Pancakes!

This is as creative as I got this year for Valetine's day! Heart shaped cookie cutter to the pancakes, rasberry jam & some cool whip from the can (which is my new favorite thing, by the way). Oh ya, and marshmallows & sprinkles to decorate. With Kade & the two boys, I can't go too girly with Valentine's day! We did have a fun weekend though, with Kade off for President's day we enjoyed a nice 3-day family weekend at home. We were hoping to go up to Brian Head for some tubing on Monday but the weather up there was really bad so we decided to bag the tubing and hit Jumpin' Jacks instead. We had lots of fun racing through the different bounce houses etc. and all came home with some good battle wounds! I just have to say, with this being my Valentine's post and all, Kade is awesome. He ran around Jumpin' Jacks for 3 hours with me and the boys and we all had a blast doing it. Thanks Kade for not being "too cool" to let loose with me & the kids! Love ya!

Magic Beans

Probably over a year ago when I was putting Kellin to bed one night I told him the story of Jack and the Beanstalk - as best as I could remember anyways. He really liked the story of course, especially the part about the magic beans that grew and grew into a gigantic beanstalk. A few days later we were at Bajio and you know how they have a bowl of uncooked beans at the checkout to put pens in? Well, Kellin saw the beans and said, "look mom, magic beans!!" He grabbed a handful and put them in his pocket to take home and plant in the backyard so he could, of course, grow his own beanstalk. As soon as we got home he went straight to the backyard and "planted" them in the rocks (since our backyard at the time was just rocks). Nothing grew of course but to this day he is still trying. So, this morning when I was doing laundry I pulled all the clothes out of the washer to put into the dryer and found a whole bunch of beans at the bottom of the washer. It's not the first time it's happened, usually about once a month when I do laundry I find a handful of beans at the bottom of the washer! He must find them when we are at the grocery store, Bajio or Cafe Rio, or who knows where else that they have beans within his reach. He's even grabbed coffee beans from the bins at the grocery store thinking maybe those ones would work better! He will usually find them on the dryer and remember to go outside and plant them. So who knows, maybe one day we will have a gigantic beanstalk growing in our backyard and one night we'll hear:

"Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman,
Be he alive, or be he dead,
I'll have his bones to grind my bread!"

I sure wouldn't mind finding the golden harp at the top!

Biting, Hitting, Scratching

How sweet, huh? With such an adorable face you wouldn't think this sweet little boy in on the verge of being suspended from the day care (again!) for hitting & scratching & hair pulling. But, alas, he is. I need some help. I take Ethan to the community center day care for an hour three times a week while I help in Kellin's preschool. A few months ago I got a call from the day care director, very nicely saying that if I can't get Ethan to stop hitting, etc... that he will have to be put on a 30 day suspension! So, Kade and I worked very hard putting him on time outs any time he was aggressive and it seemed to work. He has been doing better for the past couple of months, until this past week. All of a sudden the behavior is back and I don't know what to do. I try to not personalize it, but it is hard to pick him up from the day care and have the workers give me "that look" and tell me that he is hitting again. I am dreading the inevitable call from the director. So, I know other parents have been through this, I know it's not me, but I need some advice, suggestions, etc on things I can do to change this behavior. We do the time-out thing, and I've tried to teach him "soft" and "no hit". They work ok, but I'm hoping some of my amazing mother-friends out there might be able to give some more suggestions. He is such a smart and happy baby, I love him to pieces, I just don't know why he is hitting and scratching and I don't know how to fix it. Help, please!

When do we speak up??

I recently had an experience with some friends where I felt very conflicted about whether or not I should speak up and say something or just remain silent to "keep the peace". This experience got me thinking about other situations in my life in which I have faced the same dilemma - should I speak up and say something or just keep my thoughts to myself? Because, it seems like when I do speak up, later I end up thinking, "I should have just kept my mouth shut, why do I always have to say something?" But, then there have been other times when I have kept my mouth shut and then later regretted not speaking up. So, here is what I have come up with as a guide for these kinds of situations but I really would like to hear some of your thoughts on this dilemma. My thoughts are that if what is going on or being said is hurting you or someone you love, or anyone for that matter - you should definately speak up. But then things get a little gray. What if what is being said or done conflicts with your moral/spiritual/ethical beliefs? Speak up? Keep it to yourself? Depends on the situation I think. If it seems like the person or persons might be receptive to what you have to say, speak up. But if it seems as though nothing good could come out of you speaking up, then maybe keep it to yourself?? I'm gray on this one though. In the situation I faced this week, I finally decided to speak up, but only after remaining silent to keep the peace on several occasions. I worry that my speaking up might end up costing us a friendship but, I guess, sometimes you just have to do what you have to do, right? Wrong? In this situation, I had to weigh what was worse - possibly loosing the friendship by speaking up or allow something hurtful to continue. And the thing that stinks is that no matter how hard you may try to go about it in the best way possible, if the other person doens't want to hear it or has a problem with it, then there's really not much you can do, right? So, anyways, interested in hearing your thoughts or maybe experiences that you have had with this kind of a situation.

January 5, 2009

So is it just me or is today a totally depressing day? As I went to bed last night I had serious Holiday high withdraws - I fought falling asleep with all the will power I could muster. But, alas, sleep took over and at 6 am this morning as my alarm went off, I realized, sadly, that the Holidays were now done and gone and all I have to look forward to is three months of cold weather, early mornings, virtually no holidays, and lots of chores. Now, don't get me wrong, I love being a mom and I am so lucky to get to stay home and be with my kids, but there is something so magical for me about the Holidays, and not just Christmas. I love everything from the Fourth of July to Halloween to Thanksgiving to Christmas to New Year's. It's just the next three months that are so blah! No more shopping now that all the money is spent, no more vacations now that all the money is spent and Kade's PTO (paid time off) is all used up, and no more eating delicious meals and desserts now that they are all on my butt! Oh, the Holidays! Wouldn't it be great to just rewind time and go back to December 19th? I'm sure some of you are relieved it is over and ready to get back to normal life, and I guess part of me is too, but it sure was great while it lasted. January, February, March, here I come. I think I need to plan a trip so I can have something to look forward to. Any suggestions?? Would love to hear anyone's thoughts on the post-holiday blues :)