Successful Daddy

I think Andy would consider himself a successful parent given that the children are right now playing with cut outs of the Super Friends and they can identify each hero. Batman and Spiderman are easy, but even Samantha can name Green Lantern and Aquaman. Way to go Andy!!

He's Alive!

We went to Bear Lake for the weekend with my family and I didn't realize until the last minute that we now have a fishy that needs to be fed every day! I was terrified that we'd come home to a dead fish but the little guy survived the weekend like a champ. Then Andy decided to "play" with him and held up a mirror for him to fight with. I've never seen these guys look at a mirror before but they puff up their gills and get all defensive. I told Andy to stop since Merrie is a lover, not a fighter.

I'll be posting about the weekend and hopefully include some photos when I feel like it. So you never know when that will be.

The Kristi Diet

Follow these easy steps to achieve your desired weight on "The Kristi Diet".

1. Get stressed about your upcoming trip with the kids.
2. Get even more stressed at the thought of your husband being gone for 10 days.
3. Develop 4 giant canker sores in your mouth from the stress that cause too much pain to eat.
4. Starve

Bada Bing! A quick and easy 4 step process to loosing all the weight you want!! It works for me!

Sneaky

Our bedroom window looks out over Mt. Timpanogos and the parking lot of the complex next to ours. Usually I try to overlook the parking lot and focus on the mountain but this morning there was some action in the parking lot I couldn't ignore. I saw 3 cops surrounding a man who was just sitting on the ground near a car. The car and the man looked equally trashy. I saw on top of the car a large, empty bottle of whiskey and a large can of beer. The man was very animated in obviously trying to tell his side of the story and one of the cops was just as animated in yelling at him. I've been known to be a little nosey from time to time and I just wanted to know what was going on. So I proceeded to lay on the floor and crack open my window to try and hear the argument. Our window is fairly close to the parking lot and is very noisey when it is opened....hence the secrecy and laying on the floor. Unfortunately they weren't talking loud enough for me to catch what they were saying but I did see them cuff the guy and take him away. Later, when we went out to ride bikes I noticed another bottle of the same whiskey on the grass in front of my house. Trying to get rid of some evidence I suspect. (Yeah, I watch CSI) The kids enjoyed watching me being sneaky and then got a lesson on what happens when you're bad.....you go to JAIL!!! I think I'll use it next time they don't nap.

By the way, I think I get my noseiness from my mother who has been known to lay on her bedroom floor, peer out the window and listen to her crazy neighbors scream at each other and call the cops. But then again, what else is she supposed to do at 2 am??

What's up people???

Am I just not writing anything interesting enough to comment on? Or have you stopped reading? Or are you intentionally trying to make me cry? I'm trying to think of reasons why you all aren't commenting on my witty and wonderful posts? Hook me up people! I'm feeling very unloved! ;-) (I'm only partially kidding!)

A couple of funnies from today

I got the hiccups at dinner which still hurts my back so I had a painful look on my face and complained a bit to which Samantha responded, "Tough it up mom!". I couldn't help but laugh.

Alex and Samantha were playing outside after dinner and she came inside to complain that her head got hurt. Alex was running behind her saying, "You won't die, it's okay, you won't die.". Can you tell what we say often to our children???

Enjoyable

I enjoyed listening to Andy scream for the USA basketball team this morning against China and Samantha repeating the cheers. Then she would run upstairs and tell me about the cool "goal" that a guy made by spinning around and dunking. I also enjoyed watching Archery and the kids getting into it by asking what score each person got and keeping track of how many 9's and how many 10's there were. As you can tell, we are enjoying the Olympics!!

Oh, and did you SEE those Opening Ceremonies??? I usually skip those but I was entranced by the sheer quantity of people involved and the fabulous costumes. Best Opening ceremonies ever. I was taking notes on what to have Andy buy me when he's there in April.

Side note: I'm watching water polo right now and the men wear very tiny Speedos. Not that I'm complaining.

Most expensive Build A Bear EVER!

My mom took all of the grandkids to Build A Bear and let them choose an animal and an outfit. The kids had a great time but, of course, Alex and Samantha enjoyed playing with the box more than anything. Here's the proof....

Long Lost Friends

Jenny, my best friend from high school, and her family came over for dinner last night and it was so good to see her and her husband again and meet her two beautiful daughters (they live in Ohio). Her oldest, Ali, is 3 and got along famously with my 2 kids and her 4 month old Sophie had me wrapped around her little finger! We have not seen each other since my wedding day and there was a lot of catching up to do. Andy felt bad that his hamburgers did not come out as he liked but I still thought they tasted good. The fact that I didn't have to stand over the hot flames and cook them made them taste that much better. Not that I ever have (or ever will) cook on the grill, but you know what I mean! The sky was overcast and we were able to eat outside which is a first for the summer. It's been so hot and we have a very sunny backyard so only on the overcast days can we spend much time back there. Thanks for coming over guys and spending some of your vacation time with us! See you again in another 5 years!

FHE

This is how our family home evening just went......the picture for the evening : Peter's Denial.

Andy: "Do you guys know who this is?" (Pointing at Peter)

Samantha: "Jesus!"

Andy: "No, this is Jesus in the dark back here. This man in front is Peter."

Samantha: "Yeah, like Peter Pan!!"

Andy: "No, not Peter Pan, just Peter."

Alex: "Peter Parker!!!!!!"

I didn't catch the rest of the lesson because I was silently laughing to myself in the corner. If they weren't so much darn work I'd have a hundred kids just for the things they say.

Samantha's Birthday

The slideshow below shows a few pictures from Samantha's birthday, her party and just a random cute picture from her soccer game on Saturday. Her birthday on Tuesday started out great when she came down the stairs and saw her bike (Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!) and her most favorite present of all.....her huge singing mylar balloon! Of course the theme of her birthday was Disney princesses and the color pink. Princess bike, princess balloon, princess cups and plates and everything in the color pink. We are going to have to do a totally manly birthday for Alex because the girly hormones flowing through this house after this week are making me nauseous! The day of her birthday we played with some cousins, went to lunch and had a shopping spree at Toys R Us. Although, I don't know that you could call it a shopping spree!! I figured she'd be able to pick out 3 or 4 toys in our budget and in reality she only got 2! Toys are too expensive! But she seemed happy with her purchases and that's all that matters. Plus, we don't want to spoil her too much, right??

Saturday was her birthday party at Kangaroo Zoo and the kids had a blast! We stayed for about 2 hours and the kids were tired and hungry and sweaty by the time we left. In fact, so were the adults from just chasing the kids! We came back to our house and had pizza, cake and ice cream and of course presents! Samantha smiled a lot the whole day and I smiled a lot when her uncle Greg taught her how to ride her bike. She has been frustrated with it all week and hasn't wanted to ride it until magical uncle Greg figured out a way to teach her that she understood and this morning it was the first thing she wanted to do! Thank you Greg. I think it was a successful birthday for her and she seems happy to be 4! The doctor said she is doing well; 50th percentile in height and weight and seems healthy and right on target for her age. The nurse was nice enough to measure and weigh Alex as well and he is only a few ounces less than her and 1 inch shorter. No wonder everyone thinks they are twins!

Thanks to all our family for making Samantha's birthday very fun and special!

Samantha's Birthday Party

I love the History Channel!

The kids are in bed (not sure if they're sleeping) but I'm watching the history of Rome on the History Channel and it is fascinating! I've never been a huge history fan and always got poor grades in the subject in school but I love the way The History Channel brings things to life and makes things so clear. Nero sure was a bad-ass! I want to go back to Rome now and take Andy. Because he's never been. And I have. And I like to rub that in his face. And Florence. And Venice. ALL those places Andy's NEVER been. HA HA HA HA.

Olympics

Who else is SO excited for the Olympics??? I am a huge Olympics fan and plan on ignoring my house, my kids and my husband for 2 weeks while I plant my butt on the couch and eat Cheetos while cheering for the good ol' USA! I think swimming is my favorite. But diving is great too. And of course track and field. And then there is gymnastics. Wow, I think I have a serious Olympic addiction!

Happy Birthday Samantha!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!!!

Today you turn 4 years old and you are officially making me feel old! Daddy and I were talking tonight and realized that you are out of the “toddler” classification and into the “preschool” group! Wow! Which, by the way, you are SO excited for preschool. If I would have known how much you wanted to go to school I would have put you in preschool last year as well. My bad. You talk non-stop about school, you make up games and pack your backpack to go to school almost every day. I really hope that you keep this enthusiasm for school your whole life. You are so smart and I know that you can learn anything you want to and you will excel at anything you put your mind to. You are so driven and passionate and I think that if we put you on the right track now you will never go astray. At least that’s what I pray for every night!

You have not been an easy child but boy are you fun!! You are very witty and say such insightful, smart, funny things that I know you will always keep us laughing. I think my favorite thing about you, Samantha, is your ability to show compassion to everyone around you. You are always concerned for others and when you see someone upset or crying you immediately want to help. What a great quality! I can’t count the number of times I have struggled during the day and you have brought me a stuffed animal and your blankie to comfort me. You are especially concerned for Alex which I LOVE to see! When you get a treat in primary or dance class or soccer, you always save a bite for Alex. That makes me feel like I might be doing something right. You two are such good friends and I hope that you always will be.

I really wish I could come up with all the right words to describe you and your personality but you are just too big for any words I know. You are larger than life. Sometimes Grammy and I call you and Alex “forces of nature”. Please take this as a compliment! You have been such a difficult child to parent but I also think, because of that, the rewards for raising you right are going to be that much greater!! It would be so much easier to be the parent of a child who loved the entertain themself (which you don’t) or a child who was easy-going (which you’re not) but you make me grow and stretch myself and you are helping me learn patience and unconditional love and because of that, I wouldn’t change one little thing about you!!!!

I want you to know how special and beautiful you are and how much I love and adore you! I always call you my baby girl to which you reply “I’m not a baby, I’m a big girl!”. FYI, no matter how old you are you will always be my baby girl. I used to think that if you just got a little older you’d be easier…..it turns out I was wrong and I just wished away you being a baby, for which I am forever saddened by. Now I am just trying to savor each phase with you because I know it won’t be too long before you won’t want to rock with me anymore and you will discover many other people more fascinating than me that you will want to spend your time with. Until that day though, I will rock with you whenever you want and spend as much time with you as possible! You are my whole world!! I love you so much baby girl! Happy 4^th Birthday!

Momma

Because we rock!

Just now Andy had the kids in the tub while I dropped something off at the post office. I got home and wasn't trying to be quiet or sneaky but apparently the kids didn't hear me come upstairs until I'd gotten some clothes out and walked around for a while. They suddenly heard me close a drawer and I heard Samantha ask Andy what the noise was and ask if it was a monster. Andy yelled "Hey big scary monster are you there??", at which point I jumped into the bathroom and screamed. Let me just say, the reaction was AWESOME!! Both kids started screaming which lead to crying. They really didn't know it was me. You may think Andy and I are mean for laughing, but come on, it really is funny!! Once they finished crying they found it funny and we continued scaring them for a while, so don't feel too bad for the kids. They recovered quickly.

Samantha's first soccer game

Samantha had her first soccer game this morning and she did so amazingly well and it was the most entertaining soccer game I've been to! And I've been to a soccer game in Rio!! I think we all know how 4 year-olds play soccer.....in one big bunch! Samantha kept up with everyone and tried her hardest to kick the ball. She even ran in the right direction most of the time. The best part was that she had a smile on her face almost the whole time. She was hot and sweaty but didn't complain at all. What a trooper! She also wanted to play this afternoon and practice outside so I think that's a good sign.

Very concentrated.
In the middle of the game she was showing her new friend her pink shoes! Girls have priorities.
She was so cute and excited to be goalie.

As you can see, she was a very effective goalie.

The rest of our day was very fun since the kids both took naps and we were able to go to dinner, get a little shopping done and watch the storm come in before bed. Usually they go to bed so early we don't get to have much fun with them but when they are rested they are hilarious and fun and I so much enjoy being around them.

The ol' swimming hole

Friday morning my family came over for a nice morning swim which turned out to be hot and very fun. My dad had the day off of work so he even got to join us. It brought back a ton of memories of vacations with my family and swimming in the hotel pools. My dad would always let us stand on his shoulders and he would flip us in the air and we would do a back flip into the water. Of course, we'd always try to dunk my dad in the water which we could never do and, come to find out, we still can't!
The kids were great and had such a fun time, which, as we all know, is why we do this stuff anyways.

My mom, dad, Cameron, Spencer and me.

Cameron enjoyed Grampy and I throwing him around.

Samantha swimming on her back kicking her legs.

Alex finally learned how to hold his breath under water. He opened his eyes as well and enjoyed looking under the water.

Happy Birthday Mom!

My mom's birthday was 2 days ago and last night my sisters and I went to dinner and a movie with her to celebrate. It's always a lot of fun to hang out with just the girls and we were very girly and saw Mama Mia. I had no desire to see the movie - no real good reason why, I just didn't care about it. But I must say, it was great! It was sweet, the music was fantastically ABBA and Pierce Brosnon provided the comic relief with his singing. I was so happy to be able to celebrate my mom with 3 of my best friends!

On a side note the kids asked this morning what movie I saw and since then they have been calling me Mama Mia. I kind of like it! I decree I should be called Mama Mia henceforth!!!

Zoo

I took the kids to the zoo this morning (man was it hot!) and it made me realize how big they are getting! We didn't use a stroller because they've outgrown it and just fight sitting next to each other. Oh, and between the 2 kids and the stroller it's about 100 pounds to push!! They just walked next to me, didn't complain about being tired and didn't even drag their feet too much. Besides it being so hot it really was a fun time. I've been waiting for the day that i could take them places like that by myself and it looks like we're there!