Goblin Valley Experience

This weekend I went to Goblin Valley, for those who don't know, it is a crazy amazing place 3.5 hours from where we live now.  I can't explain it so I won't try.  Here are several shots to attempt to capture the beauty of it:

It really is like a bunch of little rock goblins.  Speaking of little goblins...

Then my phone died. So I didn't capture the loveliest of all, my new amor for the outdoors that I discovered in a slot canyon. Little Wild Horse Trail. So I have to borrow some pictures from other sources, pretend like the kid in this picture is one of the young women in my ward or one of my own wee ones:

 Or...

Prior to this trip, when people would say "let's go on a hike" I would think things like uphill, stickers in my socks, plant identification, and being really thirsty.  But this kind of hiking, this kind of adventurous climbing and moving your way through small openings in rocks, now that... that is what I call a hike!

So fun, and I hope to repeat it several times over.  I am already trying to scope out a time when I can do it again.  Here is one more picture just for you to imagine it.  We saw several groups doing things like this so we could go under their legs to pass.  Again, don't know these people, but you can imagine that is the kind of group we might have seen.  If I get some actual photos, I will replace these.

Now Hiring: A New Tooth Fairy

Isn't it cute when your children get so excited when they lose a tooth? And the promise of a fair payment in exchange for the maturation process, the loss, bit by bit, of childhood and the mourning of the creeping threat of braces and root canals?

But in our house, the sight of a loose tooth inspires fear among the adults, a fear unlike any other you experience as a parent: the inevitable disappointment your children will experience the next morning knowing that no matter how hard you try, the tooth fairy is going to let you down.

The tooth fairy that visits our house is, alas, a mess. She has failed to come on several occasions and in fact has leveraged a few excuses to allay the tears of a child:

--The tooth fairy doesn't come on Sundays
--The tooth fairy is giving you three stickers instead of money

This morning, however, the tooth fairy topped even her own track record with a new excuse:

--The tooth fairy placed your money under your sister's pillow.

To be honest, I think the tooth fairy did it on purpose because he doesn't believe in propagating myths of fantastical beings.

Why Spring Break is Super Awesome

Americans participate in a wonderful experience called "Spring Break" in which loving mothers everywhere have the opportunity to experience the sheer joy of play.

It has been cute to watch the girls around the house (and periodically Casey when he isn't mercilessly teasing the chicas) and I couldn't help but capture them this morning as they were happily playing.  The video is super blurry, but you get a glimpse of my gimpy little Meg and her magical smile.

Rhetorical Question?

Teacher, last ten minutes of class today:

Please stop talking!  We are going to play this music now to try to get you all calmed down at the end of the day and you need to listen to it.  Or would you rather go outside?

Gillian:  I want to go outside.

Teacher:  Fine, go outside!

Gillian:  Wanders around/goes to the bathroom (depending on who you ask)

Teacher:   You will lose recess tomorrow.

After school when the teacher was telling me this information (side note, this is not her normal teacher but a Title I reading teacher who comes in to help get the classroom under control) I made a big deal about how Gillian was going to be better tomorrow in class, etc.

But in the car on the way home, I started thinking about it--if you ask a 6 year old if they would rather go outside and you expect them to say that no, they would rather stay inside... well, isn't that weird?

So then Gillian asked me what she should have said and I was perplexed.  What are the options here?

1)  Lie because that is what adults want to hear.

2)  Say "Is that rhetorical?"

3)  Say nothing, sit quietly and don't answer the teacher's questions

What would you tell your child?

Sweetness

G: Mama I really, really want to make this box to give to my teacher.

Dad: Well, why don't you wait until Christmas and you can put your present in there?

G: I will just put in this magnet I made in preschool. And can I have some granola too?

Dad: Just wait until Christmas...

G: I just want to give it to her now. Because no one listens to her and I feel really sorry for her.

A Few Updates

Droid is great. I am used to it now, have no complaints about the service or the interface and it has now taken the place of my iPhone. I will always love my iPhone but I can no longer say that it was a better phone. Too many cool things on the droid.

Gillian is doing really well--we took her this summer to get a second opinion from a specialist in Utah and he said that the treatment she is getting here is stellar (current treatment: do nothing, medically known as "wait and watch')

I have a list of 13 things I am going to do in Santa Barbara before I leave town. I completed #1 on Saturday. Here is my list, feel free to join me if you like and reviews welcome

1) Gaviota Hot Springs (it was like a warm, stinky bathtub, the girls totally went swimming and loved it, picture coming next post)

2) Tidepool--the problem here is that the low tide is early morning or late at night so I have to pick a Friday night or something

3) Painted Caves

4) Red Rock Swimming Hole

5) Railroad depot to take pictures of my kids

6) UCSB Art Museum

7) Storke tower--I want to see if I can find my way to the top, I hear they don't do that anymore but I would love to try

8) SB Orchid Estate

9) Clairmont Lavender Farm

10) Gaviota Coast Conservatory

11) Ganey Vineyards

12) Drum Circle on East/West Beach

13) Oak Park Wading Pool

I know that anyone who lives here has already done all of these things, I am just a slacker. We have already done cool stuff locally but we don't get out enough.  It is tough to do everything when you live a mile from a couple of beaches, a butterfly preserve, a couple of nice hikes, a lake, and a Costco.  Who else can claim that?

Magic Kingdom (girls only)

Bridget and Gillian got their own trip to Dland yesterday.

We stopped at Sephora at downtown Disney and it was heaven for these two little ones.  I hope they don't fall asleep in class today.

Birthday Celebrations

A Pirate theme...

Sound like a fun idea.  This ^^^ is the party I attended exactly two hours before the party we threw for our kids.  Needless to say, do not go a party the day you are hosting one because it just sets the bar unbelievably high.  Unless it is a moving themed party.

I asked my own kids what theme they wanted and the response was: Food.

So we had a food themed party, which I can't really say is radically different than any other party we throw.  Here are the shots of our food:

Behind the fruit salad was the bruschetta so here is the much requested recipe for y'all.  The bread, fyi, was a combo of the Trader Joes' Multigrain, the Albertson's French and a loaf of sourdough from Our Daily Bread. Did you know that the Goleta weird Albertson's (over by TJs) sells bread from Our Daily Bread?  So good. 

The Graham Crackers were actually Fruit S'mores which I really liked for kids treats.  Super easy, cream cheese and brown sugar spread on the crackers, then fruit--we did a slice of strawberry, a half blackberry and two halves of raspberries.  

Then the cardinal sin of kitchens, I actually used a jar product to appease my children and I still regret it.  I wanted to make my own nacho cheese sauce but they insisted I buy this stuff.  AND they didn't even like it ("this cheese is yucky"--duh!)

Gross.  But we did have some other stuff for the nacho bar:

Each of the kids also got their own cake.  Bonus points to those who know which character is featured on the cupcakes.  Doesn't count if you came to the party.

And party cake numero dos:

It was my first time ever making roses so no mocking.

And the last one that took the most amount of time and really looks the least appetizing:

Yes I am a short-order baker one time a year.  This is my attempt to show love via baking--which kinds of the ways of showing love is that? Time?

We always do a treasure hunt, also related to the food theme because they got a lot of chocolate.  Steve created 44 clues, 4 treasure hunts, and a very complex party experience.  A few parents were concerned that we lost the five year old group but they all appeared eventually, none the worse for the wear.  Safety in numbers, remember that.

Some of the treasure seekers:

Remember this kid in white ^^^

If this were Friday, it would my favorite foto.  The kid in white I told you to remember?  He is hilarious.  His older brother is too, they are the same ages as my 2 and 3 and in their respective classes as school.  So the kid brings a gift in a bag with the following note:

Translation:  do you like the Dodgers?  If you like the Dodgers then open this.

So in spite of not having any intention of becoming a *fan, she did indeed open the bag which yielded a stained and well-used jersey from the kid.  He, btw, is 5,and he gave the gift to my daughter turning 8. His mother suggested he give it to Gillian instead, but he insisted that he wanted Bridget to have it.  I thought this was the best gift of the day and provided a great memory for everyone in the family who got a kick out of it.  A gift lasts a few days but a hilarious memory lasts a lifetime.  

Thanks to everyone who came, especially those who gave us these GREAT games that we have been loving for hours:

Blokus

Set

I have no idea who the giver was of these gifts but Set is seriously THE best game.  Too bad my family members cannot seem to beat me.  Katie another reason that I need you to stick around and provide me with some competition.

*A joke I once heard from this guy:

A guy was heading down to watch a Dodgers game and realized halfway to the stadium he forgot his tickets in his car on the dashboard.  He walked back to his car and saw that someone had broken into his car windshield... and placed two more Dodger's tickets on the dash.

This and That

I have been doing a lot of stuff so I have had to neglect a few invites to charadium which I am unfortunately just not mastering. However, I turned on the autocorrect and let's see if that helps.



Here is a quick update:


1. Disneyland. We are trying to make good use of those passes we bought so we have gone now 7 times. I like to dress us all in the same color so I can find everyone quickly but unfortunately this last time I selected brown and everyone just blends it. Red works WAY better. Oh well lesson learned.

2. I have taken a lot of years to discover how much I like this place but there is no other FF place I would rather be than this one (aside from Chick-Fil-A which we don't have here).  I wish this discovery had not come at the beginning of a serious calorie reduction program (which is working great for me, thanks for asking) but I did discover that you can get a "protein style" burger with lettuce instead of a bun that only has 280 calories.  The problem is I love the buns so it kind of loses its fun. 

3. Kinder graduation. Nothing special and it might be a bit of an overly blown ceremony but I still found a joy in watching this little cute girl limp down the aisle.  She is holding our end of the year teacher treats in her hands.

 

I spent most of the ceremony chasing this child:

Gillian was sad that we didn't bring balloons like a lot of the other parents but we told her she had a lot more to go before we would fork out any cash for her.  But still, major milestone!

4.  Katie's birthday bash.  Gooood times at Chilis outdoor exile patio.  We were the only ones out there so we could be loud, and not worry about talking over everyone which is good considering there were 17 adoring fans in attendance.

5.  A songbird flew into our house.  For some reason it was enthralling and scary.  Mary Poppins and Cinderella mainly communicated through windows with them, right?  Here are three of ten shots I took:

6. Cream is yummy. We celebrated Katie's Dessert Contest win by buying a half gallon of cream to make a chocolate trifle. No pics evidently but believe me, it was scrumptious.

Overheard at the Dinner Table

Gillian, aged 5:  Daddy you better read so you can hurry and get a job and get paid.

I have no idea where she got that.

Emotional Side of a Disease

My poor Gillian is a wreck.

She has always been emotional but these days she is a walking tantrum.  I am trying to determine what is okay and what has to be handled differently around our house.

I know she is in pain but I just can't tell what is going on--she says that both legs hurt now sometimes but she isn't limping anymore.  I need to get some support from the doctoro for both what is going on physically as well as how I can help her cope during my next appointment.

Which is Wednesday.

It might not sound like a big deal, but when your child could be in pain all day, how hard do you come down on her for falling apart at the seams?  When does her tantrum become a behavior problem?

So here is what I have come up with and I would love any other advice on this:

1)  Crying is okay as long as it isn't loud and disturbing the peace in general.  This behavior is preferred in your room but you can do it quietly anywhere.

2)  If you are hurting you need to tell mommy so she can help you or get you medicine if you need it.

3)  Just because you are tired or hurt, that doesn't make it okay to be mean to people.  No yelling "I hate you Bridget" or hitting mommy because you are mad. You still have to be nice.

4) If you do have a tantrum, we are canceling any activities for the afternoon and going straight home (this is tougher to enforce because it messes up the other kids sometimes.)

5) Majority still rules. You don't get two votes because you hurt.  This is the toughest one because usually you are irrational by the time we are voting.  Example:  Do you want to watch Madagascar 2 or Up?  2 vote for Up and you vote for Madagascar.  You still lose, even if you are super grumpy and sick and tired.  Also, 2 votes for the Habit beats your 1 vote for Jack-in-the-Box.  PS The Habit is way better anyway.

6)  When you have your second tantrum within five minutes of the previous one, just go to bed.

So... these seem really simple, but when you have four children and one of them is constantly crying, it is really sad.  Once she went to bed at 4:30 pm and it was the nicest evening we have had in a very long time.  I feel bad saying that but it is true.

I know she has always been emotional but I so rarely get to see her joyful little smile these days, it makes me extremely sad. Any advice is appreciated.  If you saw how sad she was all the time it would tear at your little heartstrings.  Remember how cute her happy face and her crocodile tears for the saddy from this post?  Cry for me, Argentina.

Kinder debrief

I was worried about dropping off little Gillian. For some reason I just knew it was going to be harder. Who can explain the workings of the human brain, why one child will storm the castle with confidence, one will follow all the orders of the regime, and one will cry the first time another soldier takes her seat.

And not in that order.

You would think that once you hit that third child, with two older siblings already in the same school in a building where she has been coming almost daily for three years that it would be easy. The teachers knew her name, almost half the children in her class are recognizable faces as siblings of other known families in the school.

It wasn't. I still have a baby left in the house who is plenty cute and plenty baby but I still felt very weepy leaving this daughter of mine at the school.

Auntie Lissa is visiting and she made a particular effort for the kids with these cute cookies that she made and decorated:




















School lunches are still the bane of my existence, btw, so if anyone has any tips or suggestions on what to bring please leave ideas in the comments section por favor.

Here we are in the morning before school:


























^^^ The cool sibs.

And Gillian:


























We dropped her off in her class and stayed until she whispered "you can go now" which was right after class started.


























It was so familiar with the uniforms and the other kids all speaking Spanish, I thought it would be okay after all.

Unforunately, when I went to pick her up she just looked somber. She said it was okay until lunch. The lunch ladies both told me that she was sad because I didn't send her with a water bottle and since she was so thirsty because it was soooo hot (80 degrees people) that when she got up to get a drink her spot was stolen. Apparently this was an unarticulated expectation, like many other things in the life of my school experience.

I went and bought three water bottles today and I hope my children forgive me for all the things I am doing to mess them up.

Here is to day number two. Oh and back to the lunch issue, in case you (landee) think that I am providing them with some weirdo junk, here are today's lunch contents:

Kudos bar
Peach
Homemade rolls with cheese and ham baked inside (only HALF whole wheat tyvm)
Water bottle

Doesn't that sound yummy? I will predict they come home with complaints about it. Please, please let little Gills have a good day today.

Trying to Trim it Down

I have been trying to go to some Zumba here and there, some hip hop here and there, and do some at-home workout stuff.

Not as consistent as I would like but better than in the past.

The other night I was doing a little youtube workout video with one of those huge exercise balls and the kids came in and were narrating what was happening on the workout vid so I didn't have to strain my neck (to see over them of course.) They would say things like "okay so turn on the other side" "no, straighten up your leg" stuff like that. It was fun and it was a good workout.

I did a 13-minute video and since I was on a roll and the kids were having fun, I looked up another one really quickly and started to get down to business.

It became evident in a matter of seconds that this video was a lot tougher, more ab work and I could barely complete some of the exercises. At one point the kids were like "wow this is really hard!" Then Gillian looked at the very fit blonde girl on the screen and then back at me and said:

"I think.... I think she is too... I think you are too..."

Then she pinched her sides and said "She is too skinny."

That is exactly right Gillian, it isn't me, it is her.

You can see my training on body image is coming along just fine.

Happy Birthday Gills!!

My baby is 5 today:







































My third born was a shy little babe...






















And she wanted to be in my arms a lot--she was always the most excited to see me when I got home and wanted me to pick her up.













Her little joyful face brings me so much happiness:


























AND she has a little wild and crazy streak too:





















One of her most famous poses is the shoulder shrug:





















She calls herself "yummins" sometimes and you can see why here:


























It is kind of blurry but this was the first moment in which she saw her baby sister and it still makes me cry when I look at it:


















Her favorite song is from High School Musical Two "I Can't Dance" which is from a scene on a baseball field. Here she is with the bat as a prop dancing like a crazy person:


























I didn't want to have a child at the time when I got pregnant and it was a really hard time when I was expecting her--I was pregnant with her when my mom died and surely some spirit matter crossed in the eternities when Gillian was born to bring with her some of the love of my mother to me.

I love this little girly girl so much and I can't believe I ever imagined a world without her.