Have You Heard About the New Kindergarten Curriculum?

Last night, Sydnee was looking through the Target Toy Catalog and circling the things she wanted for Christmas. I overheard her tell her cousin Tyler, "look how many pimples Dora has." He looked and laughed. I was curious, so I asked her to show me.


"What is a pimple?" I ask.
"It's a big red thing on your nose or face."
"How do you know what that is?"
"We've been learning about them."
"Where?"
"In Kindergarten."

Then Tyler says, "Sydnee, those are called zits, not pimples."
If you want to read more about Tyler's experience with these things, look here. I doubt that they really are studying the adverse effects of puberty in Kindergarten, but you never know.

My Kids are Like a Walking Comedy Show.....

On Saturday, I was out shopping and I found a great deal on some lace trimmed shirts for Sydnee. I put them away in her room because they were a little too big for her still. I didn't even tell her that I had gotten them. Last night, she found one in her closet and put it on. She came into the family room and said, "Mom, thanks for the new dress." Um yea, l love to dress my 5 year old in sleazy cocktail-type dresses. They make her look so grown-up. NOT! It did give JL and I a good laught though. And don't worry, I did explain to her that it was a tank top for layering, not a church dress!

Also last night, Tanner was looking through his book order forms and found an electronic organizer that he wanted. He kept telling us all night how bad he wanted it. JL remembered that we had an old Palm Pilot sitting around and he let him use it. He was obsessed with it ALL NIGHT LONG!! He is so great figuring out anything related to technology. We didn't tell him or show him how to do anything. So this morning when he woke up he wouldn't put it down to get ready for school, so JL had to take it from him. JL brought it up to me to show me Tanner's FINE to-do list for the day:
Notice that last item? Torment Gav??? It is very important that he has this electronic device in his possession now, because I'm certain if he didn't, he wouldn't remember to do that on a daily basis. Right....

OOPS! I Forgot to Post Halloween Pics!

The Benefit of Early to Bed and Early to Rise....

This morning I had an 8am appointment so I was up early. I was driving down 90th South at 7:30 a.m. and the sunrise was SO beautiful. I just happened to have my camera in the car so I snapped these pictures WHILE I was driving (and through my windshield).


I love the unexpected reminders of the beautiful world we have been given. This sunrise made me smile the rest of the morning.

3 Hours of Church and NO Nap...

Ellie came home from church, took off all her clothes, and lay down on a pile of blankets and went to sleep. I hadn't seen her for a while and I asked JL where she was. He didn't know, so I went looking and this is what I found on the side of her bed.

Chicken Anyone?

Macey's had boneless skinless chicken breasts on sale last week (40 lb. box for $47), so I decided to can some chicken for our food storage. I have never done it before, but I had tasted some that my neighbor gave me a while back, and it was SO tender juicy good!!

I inherited a pressure caner from my grandma several years back and it has been sitting in my basement. I hauled the huge thing out and I remembered it was full of what I thought were recipes. When I opened it and took all the stuff out, it was really just a bunch of blank paper and construction paper. No user manual....no recipes.

I got online and located a user manual because I know pressure cookers can be dangerous, and frankly, I had no idea how to use it. I did have some instructions on how to can chicken though.
I washed my pint jars and packed them each with a pound of chicken and 1 bullion cube. This part was super easy and went very fast. It was basically 2 breasts per jar.


I was able to fit 16 pints into this monster pot. I added 3 quarts of water to the caner. And after watching it for 90 minutes and making sure it stayed as close to 15 psi as possible, I had me a nice batch of canned chicken....or so I thought.

I waited for all the pressure to release. I waited....and waited. Then I tried to take the lid off. It was not budging. When JL got home from work, I had him try. I tried getting a hammer out and promptly broke one handle off. My dad suggested that I wait for it to cool all the way down. So I waited longer. Late that night, I tried again. JL and I were both trying using all the strength we could muster and that blasted lid wasn't going anywhere.

I went to bed frustrated. All I could think about was all the $$$$ that would be wasted if I couldn't get it out or if it hadn't processed correctly. I dreamed (had nightmares) about that dang pot and the chicken all night. At 4 am, I got out of bed and tried to open it again. NOPE!

After I got my kids to school, I called customer service and they told me to hit it with a rubber mallet all around the perimeter of the lid. NOPE. They also suggested wedging a butter knife around to break the seal. NOPE. I put a post on PYP in the chicken canning thread and asked for suggestions. Most of them were ones I had already tried. Jared came home from work and we tried again together. NOPE. So he called our wise, strong neighbor Orrin over to help and give advice.

Together they hammered (and broke the other handle). They were on the floor holding and twisting. They broke the screws that were holding the handles on. The screws broke right in half! That lid wasn't budging. They had been working on it for a good 20 minutes when Orrin said, "Okay, this is the last try." Jared held the pot steady, Orrin twisted the lid, and I banged the hammer on the lid all at the same time. And guess what? That stinkin' lid came right off!!!


Thank you Orrin and Jared (and ME). Thank you lid for finally deciding to come off and allow me to see that all my hard work was not wasted. Luckily, all of my chicken has sealed and none of it was wasted. Was it worth it? Possibly. Will I try again with the second half of my 40 lb. box? Probably. Will I try it with this caner? Probably not.
The beautiful finished product. Sorry for the novel, but I must say, it was quite an ordeal!!!

The Annual Halloween Party

Sunday we had the annual Button Halloween Party at our house. Every year, we have dinner and then the kids go around to all the rooms in the house and go trick-or-treating. The kids love it and my parents get to see all of their grand kids in their costumes and we don't have to haul the kids all around town on Halloween night to show off their costumes. It works out great!

All the little munchkins (I guess some of them aren't little anymore, but I am in denial)

Coming up/down the stairs for more candy!


Getting the goods from grandma and grandpa


Patiently awaiting more trick-or-treaters


Eating dessert (as if a bag full of candy isn't enough. Actually we had birthdays too)

It was a great night and every was there. I love my family and I love spending time with them! Happy Halloween!

Photo 4's Tag

My friend Megan tagged me with this fun photo tag. The idea is to go to your photo folders and find the 4th picture in the 4th folder. And today, our lucky picture is:

Unfortunately, this picture isn't all that exciting, and it doesn't reveal any fun family secrets. This is a picture of Disney Princesses on Ice earlier this year. (I think this is Aladdin and Jasmine, but I'm not sure)

I think this is a fun one though, so I tag my four sisters....(oh wait, I only have 3 that blog) Krista, Noelle, and Brooke!

Have fun.

How Do You Know if Your Child Needs Therapy?

Possibly when they come home with a cute Halloween bat craft that says the following:

My sister drives me nuts because she is annoying and my brother he tries to kill me.

The spelling wasn't so correct and the handwriting was bad, but when I asked the child who wrote this what it said, he got a little embarassed and said, "well it's true."

I hope the teacher didn't really read it, and if she did, she's probably gonna contact the school psychiatrist. Lovely.

Dreaming and Dreading....

I am dreaming of this:










And dreading this:






I love that no matter what time of year you visit Hawaii, there are beautiful flowers in bloom. Now, my garden is dead, the plants and grass are turning brown, and winter is knocking. I love the Spring and Fall, when the weather is "perfect" in my book. But I can say, having a cold winter makes me appreciate the spring. So bring on the cold, but I am still dreaming about seeing those beautiful flowers in Hawaii (or anywhere tropical) again.

Snowbird

On Saturday we had family pictures taken at Murray Park. It is always crazy trying to figure out what everyone is going to wear and getting everyone dressed and ready, but not so early that they get dirt or food on their clothes. We were totally late for our appointment, and those of you who know me well, know I HATE HATE HATE to be late...ever. I am constantly telling JL that I would rather be 20 minutes early to church and have to sit there than to be 1 minute late. I'm weird, I know.

So after the stress of the pictures was over, we headed up to Snowbird for their customer appreciation days. For the donation of a can of food, you could ride the tram up for free. So we told the kids we were going on an adventure.


I took several pictures of the kiddos waiting in line. We were a little dressed up for the occasion, but we didn't want to go home to change clothes.







The sad part about these cute pictures of the kids is this: I had no idea that my battery was almost dead on the camera. So I was wasting away the little umph it had left taking pictures of the kids standing in line looking cute. And when we finally made it through the line and onto the tram, I took the camera out to take pictures as we went up, and the battery was dead. I was so sad.

However, I did have my trusty cell phone with me, and it takes fantastic 1 megapixel pictures. NOT! So we did snap a few shots on top of Snowbird.

This picture is looking back into the Salt Lake Valley.
That weird mushy looking stuff under our feet is dirty snow.

The weather was so nice. It was a bit windy up top, but it wasn't too cold. It was really muddy because the snow was melting. We had a great day with the kids. I think we will make an annual trip of it. You can't beat the price...that's for sure. (The normal cost is $12 a person!)

Are YOU a Child of God?

Last night, JL prepared a Family Home Evening Lesson for the kids from the new Nursery Manual the the LDS church just put out. The Lesson was entitled, "I Am A Child of God". JL was asking the kids, one at a time if different people in our family were a child of God. The following dialogue took place:

JL: Is Tanner a Child of God?
Kiddos: yes!
JL: Is Gavin a Child of God?
Kiddos: yes!
JL: Is Sydnee?
Kiddos: Yes!
JL: Is Ellie?
Kids: Yes!
JL: Is Daddy a Child of God?
Kids (except Sydnee): Yes!
Sydnee: No, dad isn't a child of God, he's an ADULT of God.

It was so funny. Kids brains hard at work!

The HOTTEST Giveaway Yet! (At The Domestic Goddess)

As you well know by now, the Domestic Goddess has fantastic giveaways. But I think she has outdone herself this time! She is currently in NYC, and has agreed to give away 3 $50 gift cards for for 3 fantastic modest fashion designers: funky frum, Christa-Taylor, and Vintage Hem. Go check out her blog and leave a comment to be entered! (And if you heard about this from me, let her know in your comment. Thanks!)

HELP! I AM ADDICTED!!!

I need help....a lot of it. I am addicted to facebook and I am not getting anything done these days! It is too much fun finding all of my childhood/high school/college friends. But this is a little ridiculous. Is there a 10 step program....no, really, I am serious, is there?

Who Took This Picture?

And who wants to sleep next to a dirty diaper?
UPDATE: JL has admitted to taking this picture. I have informed him to remove dirty diapers from all future photography endeavors.