Making A Play For Upper Management

Tuesday evenings are hard on Miss Molly. Her dad and her sisters take off for soccer practice, and she is left behind. She hates it, and I have to make her happy with trips to the park, Team Umizoomi episodes, and sometimes the occasional Sesame Street.

Last night I brought out the blocks. Finding the wagon more entertaining, she dumped them out all over the floor so she could sit in the wagon.

When Garry got home, he told Molly to clean up her blocks. She's a lot like Macey in that she does a good job cleaning up in nursery, but at home, she's a little tyrant.

After Garry told her to clean up, she looked at Macey, pointed to the blocks and said, "See-See (Macey), blocks!"

We had to laugh at her attempt to delegate, especially her attempt to delegate to the one kid who would rather go to bed than clean up a single block! She may be the youngest, but she's already making a play for upper management.

Taking It Up A Notch

While I was at Target today, I picked up a new conditioner: Frizz Ease Smooth Start Conditioner.

It promises to repair damaged hair and mend and block frizz for easy styling.

One can dream.

I'll let you know how it goes!!

I Did Not Even Know I Did Not Know That. . .

Before today, I would have said that before September 11th the only time the U.S. got attacked was Pearl Harbor. But, this morning I was reading Seven Miracles That Saved America and read about the Japanese submarine attack of an oil refinery 12 miles from Santa Barbara, California. There was also a submarine attack off of the coast of Oregon.

Who knew???

What To Do With. . .Myself

This week I got the bad news that my American Government class did not have enough people registered and was therefore cancelled. I was bummed. I had just gotten the book the day before and had started reading, getting ready to put the syllabus together. I was looking forward to teaching this subject and the money right before Christmas would have been fabulous!

I really enjoyed teaching. In January we will try again and I may end up teaching Intellectual Property and American Government back-to-back. So, it's not "over". It's just postponed. For several months.

But still, I'm left thinking, what should I do with myself? Though Garry might disagree, I just feel that there are only so many things that I can clean everyday. Are your 30s too early for an identity crisis?

Sunshine Generation Pictures

It's been a long wait for poor Emma. She went to her cousin
Samantha's ballet. Then she went to Cousin Chloe's dance show. And then Macey's. Finally it was her turn to get all dressed up and go perform!
She had a great time!

After the show, Garry gave her flowers. And she got a sucker from one of the Moms. Could a day get any better?

Emma Makes Youtube!

We signed Emma up for Sunshine Generation, a little performance group here in Utah. This last week they performed for a Constitution Day celebration with the mayor, Lt. Governor and the Governor.

Here's the youtube video -- I have pictures that I will post soon!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-9M8qhwdpY

Look Mom, No Training Wheels!

Emma has wanted to take her training wheels off of her bike for quite awhile. If it kept her safe, she could leave them on forever -- I did not really care. But she noticed that other kids did not have them (and so it begins. . . .) and asked us to help her take them off. And so Garry did. . . Somtimes it went well. . .Sometimes it did not.

But by the end of the afternoon, she had it down. We're so proud of how well she did and how she did not give up. Sometimes she likes to give up if it proves to be too hard, but she kept trying!

Good job, Emma!

Stand And Deliver

Yesterday I finished my first class at Neumont University. I was so excited to get to teach in a university setting! And to get to teach adults! I think that I was really blessed with my 10 students. Neumont is a computer-science school and the students there can be quirky. But I had ten really respectful young men in my class.

Neumont is different because it is an intensive program. The students (and their professors!) go through sprints. My class, Social Science 350, Intellectual Property, was a 2 credit class. But to help the students graduate fast and get into the job market, the sprints move them through a 2 credit course in five weeks. We had class everyday for 50 minutes.

Starting October 4 I will be teaching American Government. It is three credits and so it will be 90 minutes, everyday.

It's intense having to do a 50 minute lesson everyday. My hat is off to school teachers who have to plan for a much, much longer day. Though it would be nice to hand my students some crayons and glue and tell them to make something, anything, for the rest of the hour ;)

To keep my student's attention in a sometimes (okay, most of the time) dreery subject, I really had to make a fool out of myself sometimes. But, I kept their attention most of the time, and I think that they learned something. I really thought that I reached about 8 of the 10 students. Two I think thought that I was an idiot and the class was a waste of time. I called them my peanut gallery.

But, yesterday, after the final, one of the members of my peanut gallery handed in his final and said he'd see me in government in 2 weeks. I waited until he closed the door and wondered aloud, "why would he take another class from me? I thought he hated me?" One student heard me and said, "Oh no, he likes you. He's just. . .like that."

Lucky me. Long live the peanut gallery!

Justin B & Me!

Last night I had weird dream after weird dream. It started off as a dream about bookclub and I forgot to bring the dessert afterward. I was so frustrated with myself! But then people from up the street "crashed" our bookclub and so we just "crashed" theirs because they had better snacks.

And then Garry and I were with four other friends. One dear set of friends had recently lost a son but knew that he was still alive in a parallel universe. So we were making plans to go to New Zealand to enter the parallel universe (because that's where the world ends, you know) and get their son. Which would never work for a million reasons. . .

But while Garry was making plans to get to New Zealand, I was playing the piano and in walks Justin Bieber. Now, I do not know a single song that he sings but I do know that he is famous in the tween crowd. While we were talking, he was eating crackers and spit one out while he was talking. I picked it up and told him that I was going to sell it on Ebay.

I wonder how much I could get for that cracker?

There's Crime. . .And Then There's CRIME

One of the reasons why Garry and I moved here was so our kids could grow up somewhere safe and go to safe schools. It's been an interesting adjustment. In Washington, D.C., there was so much crime that the news did not even try to report on even a percentage of it. There was a double homicide two miles away from our townhouse, and I do not think that it even made the news. There's just SO MUCH.

In Utah, there is a lot less crime but I feel like I hear about all of it. From Layton down to Provo, the news reports it all. And then they do follow-up stories and follow-up to those stories. The end effect is that I am more aware of the crime here and therefore almost feel LESS safe.

Ah, the power of the media. . .

Little Pink Shoes

Sometimes I get really tired of picking up little pink shoes. All of the girls have pink crocs and seem to leave them around the house. Not to mention pink tennis shoes. It seems as though a large part of my day is chasing down little pink shoes.

Yesterday when I thought, ugh, not another pair of pink shoes, I heard the country song in my head "You're going to miss this. . ."

He's probably right. I'm sure that the day will come when I miss having little pink shoes around the house. . .

Who Do They Think I Am?

My "spam" inbox to my email account makes me laugh. I cannot quite figure out who they think I am or why they are targeting me for THAT. Just this week I have received:

• An invitation to meet Latino singles online.
• A chance to buy Viagra online.
• Get information about a great new hip replacement surgery.
• Get help finding an apartment -- 1,2 or 3 bedrooms!
• Sign up for AARP.
• Look for retirement housing in my golden years.
• Buy a pickup using the link to take me to great prices, deals I cannot find anywhere.

I am not sure who they think I am, but I sound like I am having fun!

Run, Baby, Run!

Yesterday I was upstairs getting ready and when I came down the stairs I saw the front door, wide open. I called out, "Macey, Molly!" (Emma was at school) and quickly found out that Macey was in the living room but Molly was nowhere to be seen.

Ugh.

I ran out the front door, to the sidewalk, looked left, looked right, and I could not see anything. Would she try to go to the park? Would she try to go to Emma's bus stop and wait for Emma? Would she try to go for the neighbor's trampoline? Or look for the neighbor's cat?

Ugh.

I saw something to the left, just a little flash of something, and I headed for it. Luckily "it" was Molly. She was going for a walk down the street and had just rounded the corner.

Ugh.

What could I do to make sure this never happened again? I know I needed to keep the doors locked and chained, but I decided to add some extra security.

"Macey," I said, "If you see Molly go out the door again like that, you have to tell me."

"Okay," she said. A little noncommittal.

Not good enough.

"So I can find her and give her spankings."

"Big-time, hard spankings?" she asked?

"Absolutely!"

"OKAY!" she answered.

Problem solved. There's nothing that girl likes more than seeing her siblings get in serious trouble.

#600, Baby

I obviously have the ability to talk about. . .not much. . .as this is blog post #600. When I started this blog, I had two kids. One was still in diapers. Now I have three. One goes to Kindergarten, one goes to preschool, and one is trying to break her crib into pieces and escape as I type because she took a two minute nap in the car and isn't that long enough?

I wish I had something profound to say at this momentous #600 occasion, but I got nothin'. Instead, I'll just blog about what I was going to in the first place: the incredibly sneaky Macey Moo.

On Saturday we went to Provo to go to the BYU game. The girls stayed with my sister and were excited about their evening out. Macey asked if she could take a library book to Provo to show Aunt Cindy. I told her absolutely not and even told her why! (you could lose it, we'd have to pay a fine. . .)

Not only did she not listen but she snuck it into the van and snuck it into my sister's house! It wasn't until we had left and she started crying that I realized what she had done. Because, of course, she left the book there. . .argh!

Fast forward to Tuesday when, during Macey's dance class, I pick up the unicorn pillowpet from Target that she wanted in order to beat the Christmas rush. Though it was "hidden" Macey still spotted a little bit of purple in the very back of the van. Recognizing that color, that size, that bit of pillowness, Macey was pretty sure I had gotten her a pillowpet.

She asked about it and I told her she did not see what she thought she did and to forget about it. Which worked rather well when she was 1. But, now she's 4 and so she waited until I went to work and then started searching the house. She even recruited Emma.

Coming up empty-handed, she asked me if she might see whatever was in that bag again, say, maybe around Christmas?

What a supersneak!

Devil's Advocate

Yesterday I was talking to a woman who was very busy and probably very distracted. At the end of the conversation, she said something a little flippant as she walked away. It bothered me all day. I had no idea what she was talking about and it was rather random.

I told Garry what happened and asked, "Isn't that weird? I have no idea what THAT was all about."

He sensibly answered, "I don't know. I wasn't there and did not hear the context and the tone."

Now, this seems to be a complete break-down of spousal duties. I don't really need a devil's advocate; I need someone to have my back. It seems like the perfect answer should have been:

"That sounds very weird. But I always thought that she was a little odd. Don't let her weirdness ruin your afternoon."

See? That would have been so much better.

Macey Steps Up To The Mike!

Last week Macey was assigned to give a talk in Primary. Garry and I both groaned when we got the assignment because the last time she got an assignment it was just for a prayer and she refused to do it. She got up there, saw all of the kids, and would not say a word. I ended up giving the prayer really quickly when it was evident she was never going to do it.

So I was not excited over the idea of giving a talk. We only wrote it this morning because she was never going to give it, why spend time on it?? I put something together really quickly, we practiced a few times, and then we left for church.

I am so proud of Macey! She really stepped up and did a great job! She held up her pictures and spoke loudly and clearly. I wish now that I had written a better talk!

Mad Skills

Molly has developed some mad skills. While I am in the shower, she can open the pantry door, slide over a chair, grab the chocolate mix from crazy heights, bring it back down, use her teeth to open the lid and then dig in.

Just to prove that her mad skills were not a fluke, she has done it more than once. Love the chocolate ring around her mouth in this picture.

Because I am a blogger first and a angry mother second, I've taken pictures. She's a punk.

Screaming For Attention

We all have people in our lives that, at times, need a little more attention than they are getting. They wait for it and wait for it and when they do not get it they explode in bad behavior.

I'm not talking about Emma, Macey or Molly.

I am talking about our Honda Odyssey.

It only has 30000 miles on it, just nearly two years old (oh, the terrible twos) but last week went to Les Schwab twice and yesterday spent most of the day at the dealership.

Ugh.

I hope she has it out of her system now and will quietly BEHAVE!

The Super Mutant Fly

For the past week we have been tormented by three flies. Well, there may have been more than three, but it seemed to be just three that really liked to hang around us.



I finally gave up and went to Target for a $1.50 fly swatter. I was ready to go home and start SWATTING AWAY!



But when I got home, there were no flies to be found! I did not see a single fly all day.



Those flies must be some mutant, super-smart flies! They saw the swatter come into the house and they (wisely) decided to keep a low profile.



They cannot keep a low profile forever, and when they come back, I'm ready for them!



I will feel bad about killing them, though, since they are super-mutant-super-smart flies!