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

I don't know what to title this post

So when we went to California we stayed with some dear friends of ours...the Bensons. Sandi is an amazing person...she has 14 15 children,  most adopted, 5 have special needs. You would think that their house would be a chaotic zoo right? Wrong. It is beautifully kept and the kids are so respectful and kind. Its fun too because even with my family there we are the minority race. I love that! The only problem is every time we leave I nag Jeff to let me adopt. There are so many reasons I want another boy but I know I can't do a baby. I don't do well without uninterupted sleep. With Crohns disease if you get stressed, you poop. Me without sleep = stress. After much discussion and deep pondering I realized that because of my Crohns I can't mentally and physically take on a baby. And after listening to Sandi (who has owned an adoption agency) you need to adopt a baby vs. toddler. She also advised us that we would need more than one because how would you feel if you were the only white kid in an all black family. Outnumbered. There is no way I could do 5 kids. I know my limits. I wish I had it in me to mother more but I know I don't. I'm spent NOW. So for now we will just have to love on other peoples babies. Here are some pictures from our time with them....

another thing that was so nice is that my kids had someone to play with at all times!

I can't say that I had a favorite but this trip I bonded with Parker, Jeff with Ellie. 

 Parker LOVES to sing and dance and he doesn't love pants. I could just sit and watch him all day. He is the reason I started begging Jeff to adopt.

And then there is Ty. This kid had my heart from day one.

 The entire drive to California Garrett kept asking, "Are we almost to Shaylee's house?". I honestly have to say that their house if funner than an amusement park.

Thanks for having us Bensons!

My newish rooms

Today on Oprah there was a guy who had every material thing he'd ever want or need. He sold it all and was living in a (nice) mobile home. I only caught the first 10 minutes because other things needed to be done but here is what I got out of those 10 minutes. I think some people struggle because they want more. A bigger house, a newer car, the best toys. Why don't we use what is only necessary? Who are we trying to impress? Every once in a while I will put a bug in Jeff's ear...lets move. I want a bigger house with a more modern kitchen. If I had that I'd cook more. Thank goodness that Jeff is well grounded or we'd be financed up to our armpits. I have come to appreciate my small house. I know we don't have oodles of room but we don't NEED oodles of room. Take what you need. Not more. I happen to live in the greatest neighborhood. There is no competition. Everyone gets along. There is no drama. I feel like everyone has the mind that "it takes a village" and even though at one time I was itching to get out I am well rooted and happy here. Happiness isn't found in the extras for me. Are the extras nice? Oh yeah, but I am proud of my simple lifestyle. My dream dwelling is on a different continent but until we get there (and we may never) I am content. That being said, we have done some awesome home improvements. And when I say we I mean Jeff. He is such a perfectionist that I am usually kicked out. I am not a well developed artist. We moved the girls downstairs, put Garrett in the girls old room and made Garrett's old room the office. Its my favorite room. Jeff found old maps from the Netherlands and had them all framed. The desk? Its my kitchen table cut in half. So right now we don't have a kitchen table but we are looking for one.

This is Garrett's new room. The colors are all picked by Garrett and we have ordered vinyl teams to put in each color. BYU, U of U, Texas Longhorns, and the Jets.

I think it turned out pretty great.

The best part is the De-junking. Where did we get all those stuffed animals?

LegoLand

So I'll admit, Legoland was the basis of this trip. Its the last year that Abby could ride some of the rides and Garrett has gone Lego crazy. Em isn't into Lego's but they just added a new aquarium to the park and she loved that.

Here are Dip and Dot being silly.

Abby has been studying Egypt this year at school. When she learned that Grandma rode a camel while in Egypt it increased her love of it. Lucky for her they also just added a new Egyptian area to LegoLand.

This is completely made out of Lego's and Abby was proud to tell us what everything meant.

This picture is of Gilly driving the cars. I posted it because he was so mad at this kid who kept rear ending him.

This is Em starting out on the boat driving.....

and this is Em getting mad at the dipwad who couldn't steer his boat

Abby and I just happy that we didn't have that dipwad in front of us

They are trying to look like they were prisoners

The next few pictures are dedicated to the Heisterman family. They wanted Gil to flash the West coast gang sign. He was practicing the whole trip.

This is my favorite picture ever. We should have bought those goggles and hats. We didn't because my kids, as it turns out, are cheepskates. They each had an allotment to spend. They figured out that if they didn't spend it they'd have money when they got home. Gil actually blew his on Lego sets. Abby has half of hers left. Em has the entire amount. Who is like Jeff and who is like me?

Darf Bader and Gilly

Here they are at some of the Star Wars displays. Gil was trying to pick up on a girl at the next display. He wanted to look cool.

And just like the zoo, Jeff to a bazillion pictures of all the underwater life.

I took this one.

Its the only picture that has a human in it.

Notice the sign.

Yep, that's my kid.

My Heart

my Greasers

Last night was my first Special Needs production.

I am so glad that it won't be my last. The nervous energy was palpable! We had so much fun but here is the part that sticks with me....

After our dance (Grease) I snuck into the auditorium to take a peek. I haven't seen the full play yet because I am in charge of many people. The place was packed. The love from the audience was audible. Every year there is a boy that does push ups no matter what dance he is in. As he was doing his push ups people from the audience were yelling his name, cheering him on. After the play was over and he was walking to the car I noticed all the back slaps from boys that couldn't be older than 18 telling him how awesome his push ups were.

While I was on stage all I could hear were people yelling the names of people in my dance. It fills my heart that people come and support us. There is a girl that is mostly deaf and she was trying to sign to me that she could hear her family calling her name. She tried to tell me that she was so embarrassed but she was glowing with pride and I didn't believe her.

this caveman can do 35 pushups!

 Backstage I had the time of my life listening to everyone encouraging one another, telling them what a great job they did or good luck. In my group I have one of the Hansen twins. Three decades ago they were born conjoined at the head, one is in a wheelchair and the other is partially paralysed. When we came out for curtain call she pulled another person from our group with her who is quiet and doesn't dance much and convinced her that she needed to twirl in her poodle skirt. She told me "you only get to wear a poodle skirt twice this year, you need to show it off!". The two of them did their twirl and were in their own slice of Broadway for less than a minute. They loved it, I loved watching them.

 All the costumes were hand made by a group of talented seamstresses. The stage crew is there voluntarily. The scenery done by the leaders. Nobody takes a dime home. I'm taking my camera tonight to get pictures of everyone in their full gear which I will post tonight...

Thank you to all my great friends and family who came to support me but fell in love with the Special needs kids. Tonight we are expecting a full house!

me with the star of the show...Jeff Weston

San Diego Zoo

Remember how I said we had 410 pictures? Well 300 of them are from the zoo and only 4 have my kids in them. Yes, Jeff took all the pictures. Yes, he took pictures of animals that you can google. That's why I love him. Em and the zoo go hand in hand, she had so much fun. She was so surprised that she saw only one Magpie in California and it was at the zoo. Glad I nixed the BB gun from her packing list.

 We got pictures of every bird ever made

Garrett loved the snakes and reptiles 

Abby wants a chameleon.

 Here they are eating ice cream...we needed to boost their blood sugars after all that walking. It was a little chilly that day and the ice cream didn't help.

This picture doesn't show it but Garrett just threw a bit of a tantrum. It was pre ice cream.

We loved the zoo. If you want to see it I have pictures of every animal. Every animal folks!

Nancy Kerrigan

I'm downloading pictures from our trip right now and guess how many there are? 410! I love my camera.  I'll start out with the only trauma that happened....I was heading up some outdoor cement stairs and my toe got caught on the bottom of my PJ's. Since I am so graceful I fell up the stairs banging my shin on the edge of the stair. No biggie right? There is a knot bigger than my knee right below my knee and now my leg has all sorts of colors running from the knot clear down to my ankles. Just in time for the Special Needs Production that runs on Thursday and Friday night. Yes, I'll be in a dress. The only thought that ran through my mind was the Nancy Kerrigan "whhhyyyyyy" when Tonya Harding hit her with a lead pipe.

It was an eventful trip for Garrett when he got proposed to. We all laughed and cheered when he said "yes" and he was so embarrassed he started to sweat.

I will post pictures by tomorrow but right now I am having anxiety over unpacking and laundry.

Mostly I'm having anxiety over being in a play and having to dance. I probably should start practicing in the mirror.