Christmas EXCITEMENT

I don't know what he is looking for but he is excited to find something.

They are so excited to be in snowy Utah. They went night sledding at 10pm. Notice Taylor's headlamp. Crazy 15 degrees out. My flip flops were not cutting it so I bought some boots. I always forget how warm it is in So Cal. until I come here. I thought turning on my heater last week at 55 degrees outside was cold. Nope, I am officially a So. Cal wimp.

The Big #2

I knew it would be hard to have a child with a birthday on the 21st of December. I forever apologize it was such bad planning on my part. We have had so many Christmas treats I was almost sick just thinking of cake. My cake man came through again and we managed something that I will call a party. H.B. Brody.

Scripture study?

Every morning this year we have been waking up early to read the scriptures as a family(no Brody). Now everyone can read and participate and it was time to make it a daily scripture study. We have always read but when it was at night it was a hit or miss. It has started our day out right and all the promises given to us about reading scriptures daily has blessed our family. We have great spiritual mornings...we have check the box mornings...we have punish children mornings...we have did anyone even listen mornings...or then we have today's morning. We are reading in Genesis 16 about Sarai and Hagar and Abraham and his "seed". Quick review...Sarai can't have children so she let Hagar(handmaiden) sleep with her husband Abraham so he can have kids. For some reason everyone seems to be paying close attention this morning which is odd. Kids..."What do you mean obtain children by her?"...Dad..."She is going to let her help their family by having kids for them?" Mom...cracking up waiting to see where this is going. Kids.."How do you help someone have a kids?...Dad...speechless...(Only our oldest has had the birds and the bees talk). Mom says how it is with a little bitterness. "Abraham's wife said go have sex with another women and he was already out the door before she finished her thought." Dad..."Is that necessary?" So, in conclusion skip this chapter for family scripture study. What am I exposing my kids to...I don't even let them say the word butt and now I have to explain helping someone have kids. Now off to school kids and remember what you learned this morning...Have a Great Day! Until tomorrow...circumcision.

Addicted to Gum

My Bubble Gum girl wanted a Bubble Gum cake...made by her father. Tax Accountant by day, cake decorator by night.

Life is never fair!

I would like to tell my kids a secret of motherhood. Each day a mother wakes up and tries to come up with ways to teach them that life is not fair and everyone gets to do something fun but them. What is my plan today? Today I will let Sydney miss school and laugh like an evil queen as the others go out the door. Then I will take her to a full day of Disneyland and let her eat churros while you have to eat school food. Later I will buy her something at Disneyland so she can rub it in your faces when she gets home. Last, I will call and check on you so you can hear the parade in the background...just hoping to hear the words..."It is so not fair and we never do anything fun!" Yes, my day is complete and once again I have accomplished my job as a mother...or maybe just maybe it was Sydney's 6th birthday.



Now on to another day of making your lives not fair...What can I do today to accomplish my job as a mother? I can not come up with a Christmas card idea with whole family. I have a cute picture of Brody and this would be a great Christmas card photo. It would totally not be fair if I sent out seasons greetings with just one kid out of four in the photo:)

Merry Christmas from Brody and the rest of us!

The Griswold's

All the girls wanted this year was for their Dad to put up Christmas lights. So we left him alone for a day and we came back to a "Christmas miracle," quoting the girls. It personally reminded me of the Griswold's house from Christmas vacation. Especially because Clark...I mean Scott was so proud of his work. A great way to start the season.

If you have no idea who the Griswold's are, you are missing a great Christmas movie.

new stuff

I think these countdown blocks are going to be on my list for super sat next year. They are 4x4 cubes on a 2x4 with modge podge paper for the season of choice.

Nothing to do with Christmas but I am so excited to organize all the balls in the garage. I thought these were a great find.


Favorite treat at the holidays. If you are looking for something new to give to friends try theses.
Peanut butter balls.

4 3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 cup peanut butter

2 sticks of butter.

mix well then refrigerate till cold to roll in balls. Don't make the balls to big. About half the size of a ping pong ball. After in balls dip in dipping chocolate and put back in fridge till chocolate is hard. Yummy.

"JOY" school

The kids are on year-round school...which means they get a month off every 3 months. I needed to come up with some activities to keep them busy. Every Tuesday one mom would teach Spanish for 3 hours and every Thursday one mom would do a cooking class. It is like the old preschool version of JOYSCHOOL but it really is "Joy" school...LOL This is a picture of my day teaching them how to make soft pretzels and write a recipe card. I think they learned more Spanish skills then cooking. I went to the Mexican market to buy my favorite meat and they decided to only speak Spanish. I am sure every Spanish speaker in there was offended.

Our taste tester of the chocolate chip cheesecake.

Someone left their stamp of approval on the Texas sheet cake.

Go Dumb' Lakers

One of these things is not like the others...The only girl playing basketball with the boys. Now that is a hard obstacle for a five year old in itself, but then the boys decided their name should be Da' Lakers. Sydney was scared to tell Scott that she was playing for the lakers knowing his intense dislike for them. If anyone gives our girls laker stuff they simply say no thankyou. They know it is forbidden within the walls of our house. She suggested Utah Jazz but a no go. I was proud she even had the guts to suggest it. She told her Dad that since they are called Da' Lakers she was going to call them Dumb' Lakers. Makes a father proud. Every Saturday it is fun to hear Scott yell Go Lakers!!! I never thought I would hear those words out of his mouth.

Go Dumb' Lakers and You Go Girl!

No More Rapunzel

What happens when mom wants to cut her own hair but is trying to grow it out? She cuts the hair of one of her daughters. We decided a couple of months ago that she would donate her hair... so we let it grow. Today was the day. I think she looks older...at least 9. She looks like she is getting ready to be tortured in the "before" photos. It was hard to let it go but she loves her new hair.

Hello Beautiful!!!

Thanks Katrina we trust you completely with our hair.

Halloween 2009

Hooray!!! I made it through another Halloween. Yes, I was still just a mom and yes, they told me I was no fun. After looking at all the costumes this year and how sexy everything was...even for young girls...I think next year they are going to just be moms, too.

We had YODA..or BRODA as we called him.

A pageant girl. She wants to be in real pageants so we compromised on a Halloween costume.

Little Red Riding Hood.

A Pink Punk Pirate...I think she just picked this so she could wear my big hoop earrings.

soccer hightlights

This soccer season is coming to an end. It has been hard with 3 girls in soccer and one boy who wishes he could kick a ball for 45 minutes. I thought I would share some of the highlights.

We had some losses.

We shed some tears...even though she is happy in this picture. How mean would I be to take a picture of her sobbing for a blog page. I am glad she is competitive though.

We had lots of wins. We used to bribe her with a pack of gum for each goal scored last year. Not this year... she would have come away with 5 packs of gum per game. This year we took the approach...just do your best because you want to and no gum.

We had some standing around. (Taylor wanted me to say I am not necessarily talking about her).

We had some "Mom I did not do good because I did not drink any water." My response was...I did not know water had such magical powers to soccer players.

We had a little boy who wanted to soak in all the soccer knowledge he could.

We had a lot of..."What are you thinking?"

We also let our child play by power lines so we could enjoy the game.

My best memory of this season came from Sydney.

"I think I need a sports bra"

You gotta love being a soccer mom!

Women's work

I think he is getting excited because he thinks we are going to do some man stuff with wood...In reality he is going to help me make some crafts.

Get the "point"

Why can none of my children sharpen a pencil? Why do I have 100 unsharpened pencils and they fight over the one sharpened one? Have I failed them or is it the failing school system? Have they not learned that you sharpen a pencil to procrastinate doing your homework...or to have an excuse to get up during class. Just letting out some frustration...They say to treasure these moments while they are young because quickly they grow up. Do you really think when I am older and all my kids are grown...and all my pencils are sharpened...I will miss unsharpened pencils? I seriously doubt it.

My Halloween costume

2000

2001

2002-?-Can't find this year...

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

"Mom are you ever going to be anything for Halloween?" I get this question every year and every year I tell them I am a mom. They don't buy it. I have good intentions of coming up with something so creative it could win any costume contest. Yet every year I fizzle out after coming up with all the kids costumes. It gets harder every year with more kids and stronger opinions to deal with. Plus now I have a boy who can't where any of the hand me downs. I wanted him to be a giraffe that I had but Scott x-neighed that(Carly 2003). Aren't there male giraffes? I figured out that after this Halloween I will have come up with 29 costumes with many years to go. So this year when they ask me what am I going to be?...A fizzled out mom who has no energy left to dress herself and doesn't want to spend one more dollar. See it is a different costume than last year. Last year I was just a mom. Do you think they will buy it? Now...what to wear to pull off this look?

I dedicate my song choice to ME from my children on Halloween night.

My Snow White

I was watching Oprah the other day and it was about a family who has a bizarre little girl. Their whole life revolves around her because she is schizophrenic, I think. I kept thinking how do little kids have such big problems...what goes on in that little girls mind is so disturbing. Wait ...what is going on in this little girls mind? At first, I thought how cute and then I kept thinking...this is actually disturbing. Oprah call me.

Payback

A week or two ago my kids came home with a ballot from school for all the parents to vote for something. I glanced over it as I was about to throw it in the trash and I saw my husband's name on the ballot. I called him and asked him what he was doing?...you are already busy enough...After he talked me down from the ledge, he assured me he had no idea what I was talking about. He was not trying to be a parent rep on the school site board for the kids school. We figured someone else was trying to be funny or mean. I called everyone I knew and told them not to vote for him and I did not vote for him. I told the girls that if they saw their friends ballots at school tell them to change who their parents voted for to not include Dad.
Fast Forward a week and we have accused so many and still have not found the culprit until Scott was talking to his mom. Apparently she has been waiting for some payback. 2 years ago, Scott signed her up in the temple to play the organ (which she does not play). She then thought it was not a mistake but a sign that she should work in the temple weekly. So... she diligently has worked there for at least 2 years and finally Scott broke it to her that it was him. I guess his Mom was waiting for the perfect time for payback. Remember our trip to Guatemala...well, she was watching the kids those ten days and the flyer was sent home for candidate volunteers. Payback opportunity!! I think this is the funniest thing she has ever done...Good Work.
What was the outcome? VICTORY!!!! Congrats to our new school site council parent candidate. I think this is the only victory he could not be any less happy about. Payback!!!! Thanks to all his supporters.

Leaving the runway of childhood

My new favorite quote for my child who is a little cautious..."When a great ship is in harbor and anchored, it is safe, there can be no doubt. But that is not what great ships are built for." Although there was no ship involved there was an airplane and nervous girl to fly alone to San Jose. You did it!!! Your ship/airplane is leaving the harbor/runway... You go Girl.

I am so deep today with my analogies. I will have her tell more of her trip soon.