My kids are trying to kill me

Today was the first day I went to a permanent job after 7.6 years of being a full time mom. That is the first line of a story about how my kids are trying to kill me.

The school year is coming to an end and that means homework is pretty much over. If you ask my kids, that is what they will tell you until 9pm on the last day of a long weekend. Two of them gave me a long list of things that needed done before 8:30am. One of which was to prepare an authentic Swiss meal. At 9pm. The other needed a white shirt to tie dye. Let me tell you right here that I had been to Wal-mart Friday, Saturday, and Monday without a mention of either of these projects.

This morning as I'm boiling spaetzel and cutting Emmentaler and Gruyere (I repeatedly asked Jeff to cut the cheese and he kept trying to fart not realizing that I meant literally) I walked into the bathroom where Garrett Beiber was cutting his hair with my sewing scissors. He is trying to grow it out but there is always a random lock of hair that is out of place and his solution is to just cut it. You know what? I didn't even care. I simply pointed out that he was parting it on the wrong side and quickly hid the scissors.

Then after I have cooked up a 7 course Swiss meal (that cost me more than a Dr. appointment to stop the nervous tick I now have) I went to my new job.

I miss working.

But in all honesty, that last line is a big fat lie.

My week

This week has been a busy one. School is almost out and summer is trying to begin. With that I only have a few activities with my Special Needs program. After Camp we will say goodbye for the summer. We had our closing social last night.

In any picture with Jeff I can't get his eyes open. He is a legend at our house. My kids beg to come with me so they can spend some time with him. This is going to be a long summer.

I stopped by the school today to see Em in a play. When I walked by the lunch room I saw this:

 As soon as he saw me he started calling out to me. Not "Mom!", but by my full name. As soon as I pulled out the camera he started goofing off in front of the girls. Trying to get a laugh. I only see Jeff when he's like this. Surrounded by women making them laugh.

 And the headdress made a reappearance today. It still frightens me.

And this girl is almost a Jr. Higher.

Hopefully I'll survive this next transition. At least she isn't into Magpie hats. 

Emily Claire Jones

This post is dedicated to Em. I have delayed posting it because I am the grand procrastinator. So Em turned double digits at the first of May. Upon waking up her first words were, "I hope the second decade is easier than the first!". We laughed because she doesn't have a clue.

These first two pictures are of us celebrating at Famous Daves.

Her cake. If you know Em you know that she is very into birds and bird watching.

In fact this is the American Kestral that she had painted on her arm when we went to Tracey Aviary.

This is my favorite picture. She couldn't hold still for very long because there were birds all over and she wanted to identify each species.

The Bird Festival happened to be going on the next week. They offered this great bird watching event where you could ride a horse around Antelope Island and spot different birds. She picked that as her main present and took Jeff. They spotted tons of different birds but the camera battery died five minutes into their ride. Of course Jeff made friends with the tour guide who owned all the horses and was invited to go again.

Here is the fox they spotted right before the battery died. They also got chased by a buffalo.

The party and Grandmas is always something the kids look forward to. This bird house was hanging from the light fixture. Em thought her Grandma rocked when she found out she got to take it home.

Opening presents

And this is on the morning of her Birthday. She had Jeff make Dutch pancakes with Nutella and Strawberries. When she was little I loved it when she ate chocolate because she puts her bottom lip over her top creating a moustache.

Now I'm going to start singing Sunrise, Sunset from Fiddler on the Roof and have myself a good cry.

I love you Em!

Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

They actually don't get me down. Its a great time to finish a book or get my kids to do art, usually I can do both at the same time. Recently Gil has been interested in Eric Carle type of art. Em is just into painting/drawing American Kestrals.

This is Garretts finished project. I actually really like it.

Now that I've ran out of ideas though, it needs to stop raining.

because all they know how to say is, "I have nothing to do!" but they really aren't saying it so much as yelling it.  Please Jesus, get me through this weather, its almost as bad as a suffering a third degree vaginal tear after childbirth. Only without the pain killers. 

Kaleki

I am so excited! After 17 years our fabulous washer and dryer are on their way out. Before they totally break down and cause us to get a rash we decided to get new ones. I'm telling you, I sit and watch my wash swish around in the new front loader and my clothes have never smelled so good. This new purchase has inspired Jeff us to go through closets and de-junk. I found a few bags of stuff that I swear I meant to take to DI but procrastination and memory had them sitting in the washroom for a good 12 months. In one of those bags Garrett found a pair of 3T pants and his Hawaiian shirt. He DID NOT want to give those up. So he wore them for a day. He liked wearing capris. I was mortified but I figured nobody would see us.

 He thinks this looks perfectly fine. He must get it from me because I have zero fashion sense whereas Jeff looks fashion cool and can spot a name brand from a distance.  

 The funny thing is the waist needed no adjustment.

Remember the part where I said we wouldn't see anyone? I was dead wrong. We saw many family members from Washington that day. Yeah...mortified.

p.s. Kaleki is Hawaiian for Garrett but he hates being called that