That's my girl!

This morning Kambree and I had this text & picture exchange. (Warning this is a PG-13 post!)

Fri, Sept 24 10:57 From Kambree:

Made some banana cookies :)

10:59 ME TOO! Banana. How funny. Yours look better though.

11:03 That is way to funny! Mine were kind of hard to make because we don't have a mixer. But I am pretty proud of myself. 

11:05 We are so in sync.....even two hours away!

11:06 Haha its like we made them together. Haha. Oh, I did another thing that I think you would do.

11:06 What?......

11:07 I made this box for my roommates stuff

 

11:08 I AM LAUGHING OUT LOUD!!!

11:11Yeah there is like shoes, books, cups and a cup full of shrimp shells in it. Whitney and I were saying our mothers would be so upset with us if they found out our roommates had to,make us a box to put our stuff in that we left out!

11:15 I am still laughing!

11:27 Ha Ha I am glad I could make you laugh this morning :)

Awww....look at that. Cooking and cleaning! A college education is priceless! And she's right....I so would have made that box!!!

Alex Update....

I was reading this morning on my blog about what was going on around this time last year. I wrote DAILY about funny things Alex said and did. It seemed everyday I just had a plethora of material. Now that Alex is getting the language down, I don't have as much to write about. But I've got a couple Alexisms to share.

Alex has spelling words, my vocabulary words and content words (usually relating to science or what the class is studying.) weekly. This week there were some expressions in his content words. Try as I might he had a hard time grasping what an expression was. I finally just asked what he thought these expressions might mean:

Shed some light on it.

To shine a flashlight on it?

Light a fire underneath someone.

Light him on fire?

Make light of something.

(Absolute silence.)

Yep. Expressions are hard.

Because he's still not regained-and probably never will-full video game privileges he's found a lot of fun things to do with his spare time. (He's even confessed that he's glad he doesn't get to play video games all the time because he's having much more fun with his new found desire to build things and play tunes on the piano!)

His newest project is building this: "sweet homemade Nerf gun" ! (Click on link if you'd like to see how he's building it.) He needs a certain 1/2 inch ball valve-which took me forever to figure out-finally he just showed me the video. He went down to my Dad's. No valve. (Not even sure he was able to communicate what he wanted because he was telling me it was a tool? My Dad doesn't hear well so, I can't imagine that the communication was actually accurate!) We emailed James. No answer. Then later he was sort of stomping around disgruntled about everything that I was asking of him. I asked him to do his reading. He was frowning so much and I couldn't figure out why. I frowned at him and asked how he'd like it if I looked at him with this grumpy face all the time. He stormed off and began to read. I gave him a minute and then checked on him and his eyes were filled with tears. "What is wrong Alex?" He burst into tears. "I can't make it work. I try and try and it won't work. I need to buy part and I don't have enough money!" "The Nerf gun?" "Yes." "All this stomping around and looking grumpy is over the Nerf gun that you don't have the right parts for?" "Yes." I explained that I thought he was mad at me for asking him to put his scout book away and do his reading. That he can't expect to make things without the right materials-even if he is creative there are some jobs that just need the right stuff. That we'd talk to Dad, see if we had this do-hicky and if not he could buy one at the store. But until he gets back with us, he just needs to wait. I suggested he could look it up on line and see how much it cost, reminded him that he was getting his allowance tomorrow. Then we talked about patience. His lack of patience. (We've been talking about patience for almost two years now-given that I was trying to teach him patience two October's ago during the hosting program when he couldn't ride a bike the very minute he sat on it and had dissolved into a puddle of tears. A Ukraine puddle of tears never the less that could not communicate with me or I with him!) He needs to be more patient.  I cannot and will not drop everything and run and get parts or what not for his projects. He only informed me of the need of said part today around dinner. He needs to plan, communicate and have patience. (Gee-wiz! He and Devree are like peas in a pod with their need to get things RIGHT NOW!  Can I handle having TWO of these high maintenance, gotta get it now kids?? I think they're going to drive me to drink!) Then I made him take some deep cleansing breaths, air in through the nose out through the mouth and he began to giggle. 

After he finished his thirty minutes of reading he found the part on line. It's at the local hardware store and it cost $2.47. He will have his allowance tomorrow and I have no doubt that he'll negotiate/bug me until we get to the store after school! 

Wow. 

I wonder if Ben Franklin or Thomas Edison's mom had this problem?

We have a court of honor on Sunday where he'll be awarded four merit badges for his work during scout camp. He had a board review last night and needed to review the scout oath, motto and pledge. Here he is practicing:

Isn't he a cute kid?

Todays' journal entry was sweet but a little odd. 

I know that I do not like taking all the getages (garbages) but thats how my mom loves me. My mom loves me when ever she gets mad and  I love her now matter what happened's.

We talked a bit about this. I asked if he thought I brought him here just to take out the garbage?

No.

Do I only love him only because he takes out the garbage?

No.

Do I only love him when I'm mad?

No.

Well, that's what is sounds like in you journal.

Oh.

We went back over it to try and make more sense of it and he decided to erase the garbage part and then switch some words around so it says "My mom loves me even when she's mad." (Whew. That sounds a lot better then the only time I ever love him is when I'm mad!)

Later after his spelling pretest (where he got ONE right and asked if I could help him study spelling better next week-I almost fell to the floor-he was asking ME for help and additional time to study! Glory be and the Saints be praised!) and his vocabulary pre-test (that he aced-thank you very much!) I told him as he was leaving, "I sure love ya!" and he looked at me confused. "Alex, it means I sure love YOU!" Again confused look, "Sure love you?" I finally just asked, "What do you think I'm saying?"  "That you love me lots and lots no matter what?"

Yep. 

Exactly.

What I'm Missing Rant....

I think I'm a pretty organized person. According to my offspring I'm "anal" about the condition of my house, I call it OCD'ish as I think the word anal is so....yucky! Anyway, despite my OCD'ness, lately many things have come up missing in our house and it's driving me CRAZY!!!

Here is  a list of the tangible things that are missing;

• My tape dispenser-which is always in my office and everyone knows that if you take it and don't return it....you're in trouble! But it's missing and despite my texting and asking EVERYONE....no one has any idea where it is.
• My pasta spoon-my big Salad Master one that would survive a house fire so NO CHANCE that it broke and someone threw it away. (Besides, I'm the only one that throws anything away-including the card board middle of the toilet paper roll that will continue to sit spinning uselessly on the toilet paper dispenser with the new roll of tp sitting on the counter! Seriously! Why is it I'm the only one that can put the new roll on??)
• Austin's packet of school pictures. I put these in a very special place and dang it! I can't remember what that place is! This is actually on my daily list of things to do.  ( )Find Austin's pictures and has been left unchecked and transferred to the next day's list for a week now. 
• The primary song book. Grrr...this one makes me sooo mad!! Who lent this out or left it at church?It's been missing for months!
• MY COSTUME PIECES!!!! Nothing drives me more crazy than going down in my costume bins (yes, I have eight) and not finding my satin white gloves or my gold pirate tooth! The problem lies with the children that reside in this house and their friends that borrow and NEVER return my costume pieces. (Seriously, who would borrow my gold pirate tooth?? That's gross!) I really don't mind lending them out (except the tooth of course) but just ask my nephew Brach how harsh I am when you don't personally return my stuff!! Or ask Jazmine when she borrowed a few items and I admitted to her that I was a little witchy about my costume stuff being returned. (Only I didn't use the word witchy but it rhymes with it.) 
• The trailer keys. Which have been lost for months and no one knows anything about them. These were actually returned yesterday by my Dad who found them hanging in his key stash. I knew we hadn't lost them but of course we look like we did since we store the trailer and have an abundance of children that "probably" lost them. Good grief!
• James. Yes. Day 23 and I'm missing him....lots!

It makes me worried that like my friend-who found numerous odd items behind her fridge due to her children stashing them there-that I might have a black hole of sorts in my house. (Not that I truly think James is sucked into some black hole or hiding behind the fridge. That would indicate a little psychosis on my part wouldn't it?)

In addition to the tangible missing items above, there are also some very non-tangible things I am missing lately.

I am missing a solid nights sleep. Going on for months now. I wake up around 3 or 4 am and try NOT to look at the clock-assuming it's close to 5 am and my alarm will go off. So, I toss and turn waiting for the alarm to go off, then finally give in and attempt to focus on the digital display which will inform me that it's only 3:30 am!!! What the heck??? Every night. I've tried all sorts of things. Eating carbs before bed-as someone told me I was waking up because I was hungry? Nope.  Going to bed later? Nope. I even tried my sister-in-laws "essential oils" and went to bed smelling like a health food store but it didn't work either! And since I had that one experience in Ukraine on the train when I took an Ambien and then dreamt I was devouring a bag of cashews like a starved chipmunk and woke up to find I actually had, I'm afraid I'll eat the entire contents of my fridge each night if I take any medication. Besides I don't have trouble falling asleep it's staying asleep that's the issue.

I miss my memory. When did this happen? I use to be so good at names and dates and my brain was full of useless facts and trivia. Now I try to search for the info and there's just a blank. Like  my brain just isn't booting up or something. I've just go that stupid little hour glass blinking, telling me to wait. It's so disturbing. Eventually it comes to me but not when I need it!! Is this a sign of what is to come? Am I going to be one of those crazy ladies that leave the house with my bra on the outside of my shirt because I forgot it goes on first?

I miss my childhood. No really. Why was I in such a hurry to grow up? Why didn't I appreciate the days when all I had to worry about is what flavor of  lip gloss to buy? This mortgage paying-in charge of everything-responsible for everyone-life is not all it's cracked up to be! Oh, to be a little kid again with worries like: what to wear and who to walk home from school with. I'd like just a day of it here and there. Wouldn't it be nice?

I miss my wit. Oh, I use to be so quick and witty. One liners just rolled off my tongue. Now? I can totally come up with good ones.....a half hour later! I know who has found my wit and is not returning it anytime soon. Austin. Yes. He took it! That little scalawag! 

I miss my metabolism. Need I say more?

I  miss my babies. I miss blowing zurberts on their bellies and kissing their chubby cheeks. I missed Alex's babyhood entirely. I would just like to go back to those crazy baby days every once in awhile. I had four under eight and their world was what I made it! No one had their own plans, work to get to, homework to get done,  friends wanting to "hang out", cell phones vibrating, i-tunes blaring and insatiable appetites. It was the days of Barney and Telly Tubies and naps and walks to the park. And I was all knowing and looked up too. Don't get me wrong, I love my teens but it's a different ball game and I would just like to re-visit that other game every once in awhile or at the least, remember it better! (See #2 on this list!)

I miss my knowledge and usage of the English language. You will only relate if you have teens and the words that you used your whole life suddenly take on a new meaning. Like "These costumes are so sick!" Which  no longer means sick, as in yucky or bad but suddenly, sick=cool! Bad=good! Wicked=Awesome! And when YOU use these words in this new context....you look dumb. As in DUMB=DUMB!

I miss family TV shows. Like Different Strokes, The Cosby Show, Little House, Doctor Quinn Medicine Woman. Shows you could watch together as a family and not field questions from your ten year old about all the sexual humor jokes.

I miss entertainment creativity. My children are in awe that I know so many words to the songs they listen to. Well, that would be because so many artists are only re-making 80's songs! Don't they have a creative thought on their own? And now Hollywood is remaking movies and TV shows-only adding 21st century smut to them. Really? And why is it a child cannot entertain themselves? What happened to make believe? Making a game out of nothing. Just riding bikes? Why do children need technology and/or parents to be entertained? We're working on that in our home.

Well, I'm sure I'm missing many items on both lists but with my memory, I'll probably remember them tomorrow. Maybe I'll just go back and add to this post later? If I remember that is!

What are you missing???

After note: I found the tape dispenser!!! It was in MY Sunday bag!! That dang missing memory! Now, did I do something with all the other things? Think Wendy think!

Congrats James!

James entered the "Invented in Utah 2010" competition with his Glummy Bag invention and is one of the top 26 entries!!!

Whootwhoo!
(I was only disappointed in that the timing nixed our plans for a couples overnight bike ride in Park City with some of my favorite people. Boo. But at least we're going up for dinner and games Friday night.)

He presents to a panel of judges Saturday morning. Scary!

Here are his instructions:

Presenting:
You have exactly 15 minutes from the moment you enter the room of judges until you leave.  Do not go over as you will be cutoff and ushered from the room so that the next semi-finalist can enter.  We will have a timer in your line of sight the entire time so that you are aware of exactly how much time you have.  Again we suggest you keep your presentation to 5-7 minutes and leave the remaining time for answering questions from the judges.

Be sure to practice your presentation.  We recommend that you come early to make sure you find the building, practice any audio visual hookups and also just have your wits about you.  Come to room 102.  You will then present in the adjacent room 101 where the judges will all be sitting around a boardroom-type table.  

See what I mean about scary!!  

He drives home Friday after working 25 days straight, is taking me to dinner and games and then presents first thing Saturday. Leaves again for work on Sunday. Whew! He comes home again next weekend and then is gone for nine days and then home for THREE WEEKS! Thank goodness. Normally he doesn't work like this but he's been covering for some other guys. The money will be nice but dang! We miss him!

Speaking of money.....

We picked up Austin's car from the car doctor yesterday. $657 for the "Retro-Metro" but we figured we can't get him another car for that and if we can just keep it running through high school it will be well worth it. (For all you car people something was wrong with the fuel filter and then something about a plug coming undone and then somehow that made the other plugs all weird and they needed new wires and then there were a bunch of oil leaks. Whew! I remembered! I am so proud!) The mechanic assured me that it should last two more years. He told Austin to tell all his friend that his mechanic says "NO ONE BUT ME CAN DRIVE THIS CAR!" Apparently there was another boys car in the shop with $1200 in damages from a friend that drove it. Good advice and I'm sure he listened to the mechanic better than he'd listen to me or James. (Not that any of his friends are dying to drive the Retro! It's pretty rough. But Austin's not complaining-once he realized just how much cars cost and just how much he actually makes now that he's a working man! Reality. It hits hard when your young!)

Thanks everyone that reads my blog. Despite my lack of comments I know you're reading. I have one of those tracker thingys. I don't know who you are but I know what part of the country you live in and how many hits I get. My top day was September 6th with 117 hits but that's really high. I average about 40 hits a day with 15 of them returning visitors. So shout out to my faithful fifteen!!!

~Wendy

Alex's Important Book

This morning, as I pulled Alex's back pack out of his locker and a bunch of pens, papers, and crappy toys fell to the ground, I sighed. How do you teach organization skills to a child who had nothing for so long? As I attached his lunch to his backpack-he has a backpack with a lunch bag that hooks on it-I noticed a large stack of papers peeking out of his backpack. Graded papers. The first I've seen. Funny. He usually shows me everything the minute he gets home from school. I thumbed through his math assignments, noting that he's missing 10-20 problems per assignment. Hum? This is work that is done IN class and probably on his own.Yet he's always telling me how cool math is. How  much he loves it. I'm thinking these grades are as much a surprise to Alex as they are to me and the fact that he hasn't shown them to me makes me think he's embarrassed or afraid. Math was low but his weekly summary's show 100% on homework and unit work and his test score one week for spelling and vocabulary was respectable, at 83% but the following week (is graded odd and I can't figure it out) he got a 30%. Yet he really didn't do that bad. Humm....
When he came down for breakfast I had a chance to talk with him before the other children arrived. I mentioned I saw his math work and didn't make a big deal about it, I just asked if he thought he needed help with math? Yes. I asked if he'd like to talk to his teacher or should I? You. I asked if he'd like to get help in class or bring it home? Bring home. That surprised me. He complains so much about how much time it takes to do his homework at home. (It also scares me as I am not a math wizard!) Then I told him how awesome he was doing and that we'd figure out together how to help him with his math. He seemed relieved. (In the game of Mommy I should score some points for not getting angry and frustrated about his grades. Right? Because truthfully that was my first emotion. What??? You missed twenty??? Angry and frustrated happen more than I care to admit! I just choose to not make my blog a record of my horrid parenting skills and or lack of patience of understanding!)
But back to my backpack exploration...
Crumpled in the bottom of his back pack was a four page, stapled book about what is important to Alex. I can tell he got help on the first three pages but it's the forth page I know he did on his own. Take note of the art work. (Especially the self portrait of the muscular boy with incredible biceps standing in front of the class!) Here is Alex's Important Book.

Well, I need to do a million things this Monday. Starting with emailing Alex's teacher about what we're going to do about Alex's math situation and his weird grading for the 2nd weeks tests.

But at least I've been reminded about what is important:

Friends

Mom

Family

May we all keep the important things in perspective as we start this week!

Kids Update

Lately Rylee's favorite show to watch on the computer is Master Chef. Last night she came in with wide, excited eyes, "Mom, we can buy the Master Chef Cookbook for only $14.95!" I explained that we have a shelf full of cookbooks and an Internet too and we don't need to BUY another cook book. So she goggled for breakfast recipes and decided to make a Raspberry Strudel Braid for breakfast on Sunday. Yes, Rylee is ten years old. Here is the picture of what she decided to make for her first cooking project:

I hear her rustling around the kitchen this morning and figured that she'd be hollering for help any minute. But nope. By the time I hauled my hinny out of bed I came down to witness the glaze being drizzled over the top.

Here is the finished product. It might not have looked just like the picture but it did taste good and given the fact that Rylee is a novice-besides her hours of viewing Master Chef-I think she did awesome!

Here she is ready for church. It was Stake Conference and yes, I let her wear my high heeled sandals to church. She just had to sit there for two hours so why not? When you're ten and your foot is a size 8.5 you need some perks. Besides, there are some days I'm just not up for the battle. Today was one of them.

I told Alex he didn't have to wear a white shirt to church and he came down in this shirt. I asked him what he was wearing? (I don't remember seeing it before but we have had a few people give us hand-me-downs and this was probably one of them.) He answered. 

A: A hot shirt.

Me: Hot as in "Whew, it's hot in here!" or hot as in "Oohlala this shirt is hot!"?

A: Hot as in Oohlala.

Me: (Laughing) Oh, well okay. But I hope you know that all hot guys iron their shirts. (It really needed to be ironed.)

A: Mom, the only hot guy you know is James! (And between you and me he HATES to iron his shirt!) I ironed Alex's shirt and then he gave me this hot guy pose:

And this is just a cute Alex pose:

Devree went to help my mom with my cousins wedding Friday night and caught the bouquet. Apparently it was between her and my other cousin-the brides sister-and her boyfriend was there so she didn't want to catch it so she whispered to Devree that it was hers. The bride didn't throw it far and Dev had to quickly pick it up off the floor. Here she is modeling it:

She also got her hair cut off on Thursday. She got a text in Stake Conference (I know, she should not have had her phone on in church. Again, just not a battle worthy day.) and her friend asked where she was? (He was sitting behind us.)

Dev: I am in Stake Conference. 

Friend:  No, I see your Mom, your Ukrainian, Austin, your little sister and Kambree. I don't see you. 

Dev: I am here, my sister Kambree is away at college. I'm wearing a green shirt.

Friend: You look just like Kambree from the back!

Great! I already call them by the wrong names all the time. Similar hair isn't going to help!

And since I was taking pictures I wanted to document Austin's new hair cut. (All signs of the 007 and gun insignia are now off his head-thank goodness!) but he was giving me these GQ poses:

Finally I caught a genuine pose on the way out the door!

Such a funny kid. He keeps me laughing.

Happy Sunday all-hope you have a great week!

Kambree @ College Pics.....

Checking in...

So...remember that list of vocabulary words for Alex this week?

Well, we were working on them and he just struggled with the word imitate.

So, I started imitating him. He sighed, I sighed, he tapped his pencil, I tapped my pencil. He soon caught on but didn't catch that I was trying to help him with vocabulary.

A: Mom!
Me: Mom!
He turned away, I turned away.

He sighed again, I sighed. I could sense he just wasn't grasping it.

I asked, "Alex what am I doing?"
He turned back towards me with eyes filled with tears.

"Making fun of me?"

"Oh, no honey," and I pulled him onto my lap. "I am IMITATING you!"

The light dawned as he laughed through his tears. 

"Oh." he said.

I reminded him of the time I taught him the word duck by throwing something at him. (I know, I'm not going to win any parenting awards admitting that.) And he laughed again. 

So this morning we were making a last ditch effort to review his vocabulary words and we got to imitate. He hummed, he hawed, then I said "Come on Alex. You should know THIS one!" and again the light and he grinned  "To copy!" 

YES!

He heads to scout camp for an overnight-er tonight. His back pack is almost as big as him. Its a two mile hike. I hope he doesn't fall over backwards. He came in with it strapped on and asked if I wanted to be a scout? No thanks. Then later he came and rubbed his cheek against mine and sighed and laid against my shoulder and I teased him that he was going to miss his mama. He laughed. "No, I will not miss you for ONE night." I asked if he was sure, that maybe he would cry "I want my mama!" and he laughed. No mom, I will not. Lately he's been so much easier to joke with and be around. He's getting our humor and we're getting his. 

He's very protective of Rylee. Rylee had a guy friend from school drop by out of the blue and he was very concerned. Almost like a father-hen or I guess that would be a father-roster? It made me laugh. Rylee is really going to be in for it in junior high and high school with Alex looking out for her. 

I forgot to blog about Alex's talk in church. He did really well. I always remind my children to speak slow and loud enough for grandpa to hear. My dad is hard of hearing and we're lucky enough to be in the same ward. Alex walked up to the mike, leaned into it and in a deep, low voice said "Grandpa....can you hear me?" The congregation laughed as my Dad nodded. He bore a sweet testimony at the end of his talk saying he was thankful for his family and the scriptures and that he can come to church and learn about Jesus. 

Chalk that one up to a Parent Pay Day! 

Another P.P.D. I need to mention is about Austin. He doesn't read my blog so I'm safe as he would be embarrassed that I wrote about this. I have been trying to ask the kids each night to tell me a nice thing they did for someone else during the day.(With hopes that they'll look for opportunities to do nice things and make it a part of their character? I know, maybe not. But it's worth a shot right?)  I usually get crazy answers-especially from Austin-like,  "I was nice to not hit/make fun of/punch so and so when they did this or that." Last night I hadn't asked for a nice thing report but Austin shared that he thought he was in trouble during school that day. He was asked to go into his PE teachers office after class.  He wasn't sure what he had done but he knew getting called into the office wasn't a good thing but it turned out he wasn't in trouble. 

So I had to probe, well then why did you get called in? He was called in because they had been playing baseball in class and had a handicap student pitching and Austin had swung at all his pitches-despite the fact they didn't make it to the plate-and he obviously struck out. The teacher complimented him for being a good sport and taking the strikes without complaining. 

Awww....that's my boy! It warms my heart to hear these stories. I always hear-through the neighborhood grapevine-when he's being mischievous. Nice to hear some good stuff. (Note to self: Don't be that neighbor that tattles on the teenagers. Be the neighbor that tells the frazzled mom that her prankster teenage son did something GOOD!)

I need to keep my note to myself in mind as I serve in YOUNG WOMEN'S! Yes, that's right. I am no longer the 2nd counselor in Relief Society but the 1st counselor in YW's. I couldn't be more thrilled! I will be over Devree's age group and working with many of my ward friends! So excited. I hope they don't think I'm old and fuddy-duddy. I remember thinking woman my age were exactly that when I was a young woman. Funny, how your body say's "Yes I'm 41" but you spirit is still in its early twenty's! Now if I could just get my energy level to agree more with my spirit and not my body!

Happy weekend everyone!

Crazy Hat Day at the Elementary

And the battle rages on.....

So, I thought Kambree going away to college and Devree remaining at home would solve all the clothing battles. Wrong O! Here is a verbatim text conversation between my two lovely daughters.

D: (September 11th  10:51 pm) Where's my black skirt?
K: (No reply)
D: (September 15th 7:57 pm) Do you have my black skirt?
K: Yeah, when I was throwing everything into my bag that was on my floor at home and I found it when I was unpacking at my apartment.
D: Well, can you give it back or mail it? Cause I am not waiting until October or whenever you are visiting.
K: I will probably be coming home sometime in the next few weeks.
D: Well, when you do bring my skirt and give me the blue jean dress. Cause it's my turn.
K: It's not your turn for the blue dress until October unless you want to trade it for a different dress.
D: That WILL be October.
K: I just said I'm probably coming home in the next few weeks. That is still September.
D: Oh. Well, bring the dress and the skirt AND MY SHOES!
K: (No Reply)

So, in Devree's defense a few weeks from September 15th IS going to be October. In Kambree's defense-she did have a big mess on the floor at home and probably didn't notice that Dev's skirt was in the mess on the floor.  But really, "Can you mail it?".

Good grief.