Square

So today I'm driving in the car with Madison and Zach in the back seat. Madison is telling me how her reading tutor at school thinks I need to get her eyes checked for glasses. Zach then pops up with this little tid-bit.

"If you don't wear glasses it means you are square. Do you know what square means? It means you are not cool. People who wear glasses are cool."

Yay! I guess this means I am cool! I tried to take a picture of myself with my glasses to post, but all the shots were hideous. Apparently glasses just make you cool, not gorgeous and photogenic. To be fair to the glasses, I wasn't wearing any make-up, and my hair needed more-than-usual serious help.

Just for clarification I asked a few questions and what I found out is that both regular glasses and sunglasses make you cool. Sunglasses more I think, or maybe he just added the regular glasses to make me feel better. Maybe I am really square and my five year old just doesn't have the heart to tell me.

Apparently he learned this from a girl on the bus. Could be worse I guess.

Simpsonized!

I totally stole this from my cousin Jess's blog. I thought it was hilarious and since she put the website, simpsonizeme.com on her blog I thought I'd give it a go!

Meet John and Kirsten Simspon and fam! (Is it sad that I think my cartoon self is better looking?)

John with his standard 5 o'clock shadow

Me!

Nick

Maddie

Zachary

Christoher (he looks like trouble doesn't he?)

12:34

So I was eating my lunch today and I looked over at the clock and it said 12:34 and I just had to laugh.

From a very early age, Zach has been fascinated with numbers. Counting, adding, subtracting, etc. He figured out how to count by 11's forever ago, except he goes, 77, 88, 99, 100! But he really loves time. He pays a lot of attention to time. Last year the bus would come pick him up at about 12:40, and if it was a minute late, he'd know. He knows that after 12:59, it goes to 1:00, but his absolute favorite time is 12:34. Followed by 1:23. Any time he can find some consecutive numbers he gets thrilled. (weird, I know) So anyway, it always makes me laugh because of a story John once told me. About a year ago I was away one afternoon and John was home working away in his office, (when he's not out of town, he gets to work a lot from home- one of the perks of having your work office in St. Louis) and Zach just comes bursting into the room surprising John and it's

"Dad! Dad!"

"What!?!?" (thinking the house was on fire, something was broken, you name it)

"Happy 1-2-3-4! Happy 1-2-3-4!"

Sure enough, the time was indeed 12:34 pm.

So for one minute every day, if we remember, we pause to celebrate 1-2-3-4.

Here's a picture of him lining dinner rolls up and counting them. A familiar sight back then (when he was 2 years old) I'm adding the next picture, because it shows what doesn't appear in the last one and while not relevant to the story, it's my blog and I want to show it anyway. Good thing it was washable.
PS- I don't allow my kids to climb on the counters, this is just what I came into the kitchen and found one day.

Enchanted

Okay, so yeah I'm a dork and not just because I've always loved Disney movies (and pretty much anything else Disney) but I had to share this, and even as I am typing I am thinking that maybe everyone else already knows this stuff, but I felt pretty cool figuring it out all by my self.

So the other day when our friends were in town we put the kids to bed and Mindy and I made the hubbies stay up late and watch Enchanted with us. So we loved the movie, (I'd seen it before) but still laughed and grossed out at the cockroaches and the hair from the sink made me want to hurl, and that's when I decided that I needed to put the "Happy cleaning song" on my blog , but I'm getting off the subject.

Earlier that day Mindy was flipping through my "Grimmerie" and she pointed out to me that Elphaba (Idina Menzel) was Nancy from Enchanted. No way! So we watched it that night, and I was paying extra attention to see if she would sing or just be in the soundtrack which I don't think she is, but was disappointed, so anyways as I was watching the credits roll by I notice that Paige O'Hara is in the credits as Angela. Who? I met her once and have her autograph and she was the voice of Belle from Beauty and the Beast. So that got me thinking, They pulled all these elements from other Disney Princess movies, they couldn't do them all, so what if they had a bunch of cameos of other princesses? Guess what?! they did! So they had Jodi Benson (Ariel) she was Sam, and even Pocahontas was in it (can't remember her real name, she was some pregnant mom though ) The only actress they didn't get was Lea Salonga who was both Mulan and Jasmine. So now you know what I just wasted an hour of my day doing....

Graduation! (sorta)

During the past three years I have had numerous meetings with specialists and teachers and therapists and what not about Zach, and I think we are finally seeing the end of the tunnel. We've had therapists (well just one anyway) in our home working with him, he's and therapists at school, and he's gone to special pre-schools and a special kindergarten, but today I finally got the news that they are mainstreaming him and he gets to go to a regular old first grade class next year (but will still get some speech therapy.) It's amazing to see how far he's come in the past three years, even the specialists think his growth is remarkable. To me he's always been such a sweet, wonderful, special little boy, but I really worried about what his future would hold. He's always been such an introvert and would prefer to spend hours playing alone with his trains than socialize with anyone. I would actually cry because he wouldn't talk. I would try so hard, to get him to just say the first sound of some words, and he couldn't or wouldn't, I don't know, but when he would hit himself in the head with whatever was in his hand I gave that up and we worked on sign language which was a walk in the park in comparison. I was told by a friend to call the school district (which was the best advice I ever got, I will forever be grateful to that friend and the schools and teachers and programs that helped us) I would fill out all their forms, and it was so obvious that he needed help. He came up short in several areas by a long shot. We're still working on some issues, but today I got to hear how smart and funny he is, and how he's not getting his work done because he's TOO social (the most beautiful words that at one point not too long ago, I really never thought I would hear).

Spring Break 08 highlights

-Spring Break! woo-hoo! It might not have been the stereotypical party week but we had fun. Here are the highlights-

-Visiting teaching at the park while all the kids played. We called the ladies we visit and all met together at the park and chatted for an hour or so. It was lovely. I enjoyed it a lot.

-Brooksby's came to visit for the week. They have done this the last three years, and I hope it continues. They even leave their Easter baskets here year after year. Nolan and Mindy have 3 kids :Austin-12, Kimball-9, Jordan-5. My kids love to play with their kids, and John and I love to play with the grownups. John and Nolan always get in a round or two of golf and Mindy and I go shopping. Then we get together and play games later on.

-Playing at the park. We were going to try and go to the zoo, but we heard it was a zoo and that every other mother in the valley had the same idea this week. So the park it was. It was however a little irritating having to pause conversations so I could chase after my almost two year old before he ran off into the street.

-Having my own personal shoppers this week. Mindy was instructed by John to make sure I spent money on myself because he was sick of hearing me say I don't have anything to wear. Mindy took him very seriously and she and Jenn helped me do some serious damage to the old bank account. It was fun, but I was hoping my next big shopping spree would have been for clothes in a much smaller size. Next time!

-Thursday night Family night at Chick-Fil-A. The one by our house rocks! Every Thursday night they do this huge Family night at the local Chick-Fil-A. Free kids meals with purchase of grown up meals, balloon lady who makes free balloon animals and such, the Easter Bunny was there last week, kids get free ice-cream (sometimes they get to make their own) the week before it was dyed green for St. Patrick's day, crafts, etc. It was a zoo. But everyone seemed to have fun. We met a few of our friends there and had a really great time.

-BBQ at Cord and Gayla Smith's house. I miss seeing Gayla, she doesn't live that far away, but we seem to only see each other rarely. She told us she was pregnant with number 6! Totally unexpected, she's even given everything away. Luckily four is enough for me and I was wondering what to do with all that baby gear (bassinet, swing, bouncy seat) that is sitting in my garage. I got some new stuff for Christopher, because I refused to use the old crank swing I used for my other three with another kid.

-Going out to eat. Mindy and I met some friends for lunch, and about 4 of us couples met at PF Changs for dinner one night. I'd forgotten how good those lettuce wraps are. Oh yum. I might be heading back there soon. And they got smart and started offering smallish desserts. For $2 they stuff a dessert into a shot glass. They have like 10 different kinds. You can order as much or as little as you like, so even when you are so full from those lettuce wraps and everything else, it's ridiculously easy to justify one small dessert.

-Decorating Easter eggs. (not much discussion is needed)

-Brunch at the Arizona club. We're not cool enough to be members but we are cool enough to know people who get us in occasionally. We love going there. It's at the top of the Chase building in downtown Phoenix and the kids love looking out over the valley (It's the tallest building in Phoenix) The food is always so good you eat way too much (I believe I mentioned the banana nut bread french toast). The kids got to meet the Easter bunny and go for a little Easter egg hunt. Super fun. The baby in the second picture is Carson. His mommy and daddy (Shelly and Jayson) are the friends who invited us. Jayson is the head chef at the restaurant and Shelly is the manager. She is one of our oldest friends. She was even one of John's best men at our wedding.

-BBQ at my house. Pretty much the last hurrah of the week. It was fun. The kids ran around crazy while the parents talked and played Bohnanza- It's this fun bean planting card game. Sounds weird, but we always have fun playing it. I made creme brulee for dessert. Always a hit. The grownups love eating it, and the kids love watching me torch it.

Stant Ohana

Last Tuesday the kids and I met up with some of our friends at the Desert Breeze park in Chandler. We had a lot of fun. They had a train and a carousel, and a big playground for the kids. However it was hard to catch up much with 8 kids between the ages of 11 and 2 running in all different directions. I did however spend much of the time we did have trying to convince my friend Kawehi that she needed to blog. But apparently she's pretty busy with 4 kids, taking yoga instructor classes, teaching a yoga class, and dancing in a hula company. She was a professional hula dancer back in college when she lived in Hawaii (she grew up there). How cool is that?

Kahu, Kawehi, and Kiani

We Love Trains

pretty girl

Solitary Zachary

Such a little mommy

Kawelo, Nick, and Ikaika Ikaika, Nick, and Kawelo

Zachary, Ikaika, Kawelo, and Nicholas.

Christopher (sippy cup comes standard)

Kawehi and I met like 7 years ago or so when we were visiting teaching partners. Our oldest boys Nick and Kawelo went to pre-school together and have been the best of friends ever since. She and her family moved out to Maricopa a few years ago and it's hard to get together. Her husband is a cop and so he works a lot of nights and weekends. When we lived in the same neighborhood we pretty much had a standing date on Thursday nights to watch Friends and CSI. He would be gone and her kids would go to bed early and we would watch tv and talk and laugh way too late into the night. Miss those days.

4 year house anniversary

So I just realized earlier today that four years go this last week we moved into our house. That's pretty much a record for us. Zach probably talks about moving every other day. Today he said he wants to move into a house with an elevator (apartment? big huge house? we're not sure what he was referring to) We rented a house from my dad for about 4 years after we were married, but that was never our home. We never belonged. (to the ward or the neighborhood) Everyone else had lived in those houses for years and years, and all had high school kids I probably had more in common with. I spent those four years "playing house" with my little family. Despite the fact that the house was small and inadequate, (one bathroom, no built in dishwasher) it was cheap -300 a month as long as one of us was going to school.

Our next house only made it three and a half years. (It seems longer-but that's actually a good thing in this instance.) As if it was meant to be, almost the moment John graduated from Weber State University, we found out he would be laid off from work or we could transfer down here to Arizona. It was one of those things were everything just fell in to place and you KNEW you were making the right choice. He got a raise, we could afford to buy our first house, and after two whirlwind days of house hunting the moment I walked into the house I knew it was the right one. It was one of those things where the previous sale had just fallen through only the day before and the family was home and the realtor went knocking on the door to see if we could see it. We nearly made an offer on the spot. Don't get me wrong, the house wasn't that fabulous, but it was just right for us right then. Life wasn't all that peachy with the move either. I mean I was depressed. For like a whole year. I knew it was the right choice, but I wasn't all sunshiny about it. It was hard, but I think I grew more as a person/adult/mom than I could have imagined. And we made some awesome friends. After 3 and half years of living there, it was time to leave, we were growing out of that one, poor Zach was sleeping in the office with all of John's computers and junk, so we built a new house just two miles down the road. My new house was bigger and nicer, and better for our family, but I still cried when we left. It wasn't so much the house itself as it was the people I felt I was leaving behind. Without any family in the state our neighbors and friends became our family and it was hard to leave. -It's always amazing to me to look back or look around and see the hand of the Lord in my life and that I might not always be in control as I think, but that's a good thing. The good news is that I have managed to keep in contact with most of them and got to spend time with a lot of my good friends this week. It's been an exceptional week in that respect. (most likely more on that later)

I got my Realtor's license, sold our last house in an incredible 4 days (it was the market, not my amazing skill at selling houses- I've since let my license expire, it wasn't for me) and we moved into our current house. A friend of mine asked me the other day if this was our "forever house" I think so. Maybe. Possibly. Most likely. I'm living like it is. There are no plans for the immediate future. John has been offered jobs in many cities in the country, in fact his office is technically in St. Louis, MO and he has told me before that I could pick any city to move to because it doesn't really matter with all the traveling he does, but I think we are good here. I love it here. Our friends from Vernal kept lobbying for us to move there while they were here staying with us. He's a doctor so I countered with all the new hospitals that are open and the new medical office complexes that he could walk to if he opened a practice there and bought one of the houses in the neighborhood. Since he's a doctor he said that if we moved there we could pretty much get all our doctor visits for free, he'd be willing to come over and check ears and throats, and prescribe any medicines (I was harassing him all week to just write me a prescription for a muscle relaxant for my back, cause my prescription expired, but he has ethics-he doesn't want to contribute to any deliquency I might decide to take up- aargh! I hate Dr.'s offices) except he said I would have to get my own doctor for "female stuff" cause that's just too weird. But we are happy here. We sure wouldn't mind a basement with a home theater and a big game room or a snazzy gourmet kitchen for me, but that's just a fantasy at the moment and we could still be very happy here for many more years. We have great friends and neighbors, good schools, parks nearby, the new mall is open and the shopping gets better almost daily, I pretty much never have to leave Gilbert again. The only exception to that is the Chandler Fashion Center mall, they have Godiva, See's, and Williams-Sonoma.

(I've been really lousy at trying to keep any sort of journal the past 12 or so years, so I think I am trying to make up for it with this blog- I am sure there will be many more posts similar to this one in the future)

Random things

I learned how to text on my cell phone for the first time yesterday. yay! go me. That's what good friends are for, teaching you new ways to spend money and waste time. (thanks Mindy!)

Zach wants to be a blue train when he grows up. When he's done with that he'll consider a different occupation like a construction worker, but for now he just wants to be a blue train.

Nick is getting a C in social studies. This is serious cause to celebrate because for the last 6 weeks, it's been an F. I'm really irritated that I am excited about a C. He's a smart kid.

My friend Mindy said she doesn't know how I keep my house as clean as I do (which is a joke cause it drives me crazy it's so messy) because Christopher is such a little tornado. He's so busy making messes, I spend my day cleaning up after him. -while I am cleaning up one mess he moves to a different room and wreaks havoc and destruction. I call him my little monster, John likes the nick-name Taz. With all the candy floating around these past few days, I have unstuck handfuls of jellybeans from my floors and cleaned gobs of chocolate from my carpets. I took her comment as as compliment, because the kid keeps me busy.

Madison got one of her art projects chosen to display at the district office this month. I'm proud of her especially because that is not something that would have ever happened to me. I'm fairly artistically challenged.

I wore heels to church today which is a good thing because I could. I was in a lot of pain when I got home and my shoes spent most of the day under my chair, even while teaching my class, but it's a step in the right direction for me.

So seriously "we still keep in touch." ? Didn't anybody get the joke? isn't it a sad day when you realize you're not as funny as you think you are? sigh. (my last post)

I had some pretty good french toast at a brunch today. It took me half the time eating it to figure it out, but it was banana nut bread french toast. yummy. way yummy. Different, but really good. I've never made banana bread because I dislike bananas and I dislike old slimy black bananas even more, but I might just have to get past that. (or find some place to buy it that sells really good bread.-but it has to have nuts. I loved the nuts. )

I'll post more on my Spring break later. Lots of parks and pictures and friends. It was a good week.

Close Friends

Our good friends Nolan and Mindy and kids are here visiting for a few days. We always enjoy it when they come to stay. We're really close.

They live in Vernal Utah now, but we still keep in touch.

Thankful thing #?

So I've stopped counting and/or trying to come up with a new thankful thing each week, but on Monday as I was attempting to make some cookies for St. Patrick's day, I was thinking that I am thankful for my KitchenAid. I love it. Sometimes I wish it were bigger like the kind with the arms that raise the bowl to the mixing attachment, or sometimes I wish it were a different color, like pink, but then I think how my mom's KitchenAid is over 30 years old and running strong and it is a really ugly olive color, and what was she thinking when she picked it out, and will I still want a pink one in 30 years or shall I be grateful it is just plain white?So here's the long story. When John and I were first married, just as most newlyweds are, we were pretty poor. We had a baby right off and we were both trying to go to school and John worked hard for what we had. John knew I really wanted a KitchenAid mixer. Like I mentioned before my mom had one, and I really couldn't fathom functioning in a kitchen without one. I didn't have NEED of one yet, because there was no one to bake for, but that never stopped me from stopping "just to look" whenever I'd see them. So for our second Christmas, John surprised me with one under the tree. I truly had no idea what was in that ridiculously heavy box. I would have guessed he had lined a box with bricks just to throw me off the sent of a bathrobe or something before I would have guessed a KitchenAid. I cried when I opened that box on Christmas morning. I didn't use it much those first couple years, because John was never around and Nick was a baby, and I didn't need to eat cookies all by myself but I use it all the time now. I even have two bowls just in case (which happens quite a bit) I need it. In fact on Monday I made two batches of cookies, because there never seems to be enough. The kids love them, John always wants to give them to his Home Teaching Families, I was going visiting teaching the next day, etc. etc. So here's a few pictures cause I took a bunch.

Also I need to point out there's this whole Bosch vs. KitchenAid mixer thing going on. Kinda like the whole Mac vs. PC thing. Well I can totally say that a KitchenAid is better. I'm not a bread baker, so I can't really compare, that functionality, but I know cookies and last November I went up to Utah to learn how to make traditional Swedish cookies. John has an Aunt who makes like 120 dozen every year, actually this year I think it was more. She has like 8 different recipes. Some of them are so old they actually have ingredients in them like "washed butter" huh? I guess they used to actually wash the butter to get the salt out. weird. And other ingredients you can only get at IKEA like Pearl sugar cause American grocery stores don't generally carry it. Well we mixed up all these cookies in her Bosch and I wanted to scream. Mixing cookies with a dough hook?!?! It was so slow. I am guessing (because logic would dictate) that you can buy a paddle attachment, but she didn't have one. The cookies did turn out fabulous as usual, but I kept thinking that I wish I had my mixer. The only thing that I can think that might be it's saving grace, is that when they made these cookies way back when there where no KitchenAids then, so maybe properly creaming the butter and sugar isn't so important? Of course the cookies turned out fabulous, as they always do, they're downright sinful, but that's not the point.

So anyway I ended up making like 90 cookies, and the plan was to take them to friends and neighbors for part of FHE, but I totally didn't finish baking til like 10 pm, so they didn't get frosted until Tuesday. Even though technically St. Patrick's day was over, I still frosted them green. (besides I had sprinkles I wanted to use)

Here's the real story. After spending most of the day inside cleaning and mopping, I was ready for some fresh air, so instead of getting straight to baking I took the kids to the neighborhood park to enjoy the especially beautiful Arizona spring afternoon.

I tried to get a cute picture of them together all in green, but it wasn't happening. Zach and Christopher didn't want to sit down, they wanted to play, Madison had hurt her nose and was doing her best not to cry, Nick was trying to cooperate, but in reality was only wrestling with Christopher. Maybe next time.

Blog music

I had fun tonight adding music to my blog, most of it is just stuff that makes me smile. Unfortunately it wasn't the most comprehensive list that I had to choose from, and I am not sure how (or if) I can add music from other places (itunes, my own CD's or hard drive) so there were a bunch I should have liked to add. So I will probably add and/or delete as impulse strikes me.

Since this is my blog I'd like to take the opportunity to talk about some of the music I put on and why it makes me happy. For starters, I love Harry Connick, Jr. If I weren't happily married and he wasn't married to a Victoria's Secret model I would be stalking him. He will probably always be on that list. I've seen him in concert a few times, and hope at least one of my kids will be a piano prodigy as well some day. (or at least be able to play me some of his music.) I prefer the big band stuff mostly. Back before the days of e-bay, John chased down a really hard to find import for me cause there was a CD out there I didn't have. (That's love for ya baby) I worked in a music store for several years and was always on the search for that thing.

I totally missed the bandwagon on Wicked when it came here to AZ, but after seeing it in New York, I am in love. I have several favorite songs, but one that makes me laugh is "Popular". It just makes me laugh because I have tons of experience being on the other end of that, my prettier and more popular friends wanting to make-over me. I generally welcomed it however, just because I knew my own limits and am not likely to change on my own. Then I'd stick my hair back in my ponytail and go back to being me.

Les Miserables has been a favorite for years, since a good friend of mine first introduced me to it. After hearing the music (on a cassette tape) I stood outside (again, back before the internet- I think I was 15) for HOURS (I think 8) in February in Utah at the Capitol Theater (still my very favorite theater) we got awful seats, but it was so worth it. I've probably seen it half a dozen times since, read the 2000 page book (it took 7 years, no exaggeration) and I still bawl my eyes out when Valjean dies. I picked the song "on my own" for a couple reasons, firstly, my choices were limited, a couple of my favorite songs are a little on the raunchy side (Master of the House) and thirdly, as a teenager I totally identified with that song. The whole unrequited love thing rang a little too true.

I think Simon and Garfunkel was my very first favorite band. No kidding. I think I was in the 5th grade before I realized they still made new music. I don't know if I thought that it was a passing fad particular to the fifties and sixties, or if the radio dial was frozen in one place and there was only one radio station. Consequently I grew up with the sounds of the Beatles, Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, Simon and Garfunkel, Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Righteous Brothers, amongst so many others. I remember this one time some friends of mine (6th grade?) were playing a game where you had to sing along to whatever song came on the radio next, I made them change the radio station when it was my turn because I had NO HOPE. (the first song I ever remember hearing when I did move that dial was "We built this city on rock and roll" -I think that's the title anyways. It was totally the coolest. That and my then best friend Michelle, was into A-Ha. She made me learn some of the songs so I could sing backup.)

(side note, totally unrelated to this particular post. I am upstairs typing and Christopher keeps climbing up the stairs to feed me. Ew gross, I know, but with four kids, gross becomes relative. I'm more worried about the mess that may or may not be downstairs. The strawberries from dessert I didn't mind so much, but I'm a little more worried about the piece of baked potato. (I thought I cleaned up from dinner already? )

I can't really remember what other songs I put on so they must not be too important or have some significant meaning to them. most likely they just make me smile.

Nick's blog

So Nick got the "blog bug" as well and started his own. There's a link to his on mine. he's been playing around with it and wanted to do a poll as one of the elements on the side. I thought my sad little vote (what's your favorite color?) was a bit pathetic being the only vote on there, and you can only vote once, so I was hoping that if anyone else read this post, they might just hop on over there and let your voice be heard. (you really couldn't know how excited he would be)

Arizona vs Utah

We moved here to Arizona something like 7 1/2 years ago. I had spent my whole life growing up in Utah, and was very sad to leave it. Of the things I miss the most are the mountains and the seasons. And fry sauce. Mostly the seasons. Spring was always my favorite, because of the flowers. After a long dreary winter where the white Christmas had dulled to a slushy gray, the bulb flowers start to bloom. My favorite yards were the ones just bursting with color. Yellow daffodils, red tulips, purple hyacinths. I haven't made it back in the spring time, but one of these years I will just to see the flowers. My neighbor planted some red tulips a couple weeks ago. I wanted to cry they were so pretty just the half dozen or so of them. (they didn't last very long) Last week John bought me tulips cause it wasn't the best of weeks for me. Those pathetic things are still on the counter probably dropping petals as I type.

Madison and Grandpa having a snowball fight-something that's a little more difficult to do in Arizona (I don't have a picture of spring flowers)
One of the many things on the side of why Arizona is better is Deseret Industries. Yeah I know that's a weird thing to put on the list and they have them in both places, and when I make my not-frequent-enough-semi-annual trip up to Mesa to drop off whatever I can pack in my Yukon XL, I think of how much I hate it, cause if I'm gonna leave Gilbert I better make it worth my while, so it takes half a day. But it still makes it on the list of why Arizona is better. I was pondering this as I was making my trek today. Thinking about all the junk that didn't make it in this trip, how I should do better and try and go monthly, or at least quarterly, and then this little thought popped in my head. (And this is gonna sound so awful, but it's still true) My grandmother (affectionately known as Grammy) has in the past few years truly found the joy in shopping at DI much to the dismay of everyone around her. She was always a big patron, but it's almost out of control at this point. She has 13 great grandchildren and is always on the lookout for "stuff"to buy for them. (many of the neighborhood children are the beneficiaries of her generosity as well. Toys, figurines, Happy Meal prizes, (yeah she actually paid good money for those things) etc. I have a whole box of Christmas stuff in my garage (DI doesn't take Christmas stuff this time of year, so I have at least a couple of boxes that might drive me insane if I don't remember later this year) that my parents had to bring down for my kids. This is why Arizona is better. We don't have to bear the brunt of all her gift giving. About once or twice a year is all. And it's not all horrid, I do have on or two things that made it to the "keeper" pile. Most of it is however just awful-manky old, loved too much by other kids stuffed animals, figurines that are broken with "Smith Family Reunion 1987" painted on the front, someone else's homemade Christmas ornaments (I think I got a couple of those this last year) and by homemade I mean simple ugly wooden gingerbread men with those little fuzzy balls glued on and other stuff painted on. My cousins in Utah at least are grateful to live far enough away that they know she'd never shop at their DI, so they can take the little treasures to a different one and some other grandma can bless the lives of their grandchildren. Don't get me wrong, I am glad that she has found something that makes her happy. She tells me she feels like "a little kid again" and I think she is totally trying to make up for a childhood where she grew up in the depression and had nothing. I also am truly sorry most of the time that my kids live so far away from any family. I want them to know her, know their cousins, know their aunts and uncles and other grandparents better. I say most of the time because sometimes, in some situations, distance can be a good thing.

Madison and Grammy

Real Underwear

Zach says the craziest things to me out of the blue. Today while getting dressed for school, and putting on his own Lightning McQueen underpants, he says, "I know what REAL underwear looks like. It's white with red polka dots." hmmm. I guess no one in this house has real underwear.

The other day ( I was in the kitchen, doing dishes) "If you kick the ball through the things you get three points, if you throw it it's a touchdown." (since when was he interested in football?)

"Nick! Nick! you gotta try this! pancakes and ketchup!" says the little boy who won't even touch cold cereal, has never in his entire life eaten a bowl of cereal.

What gets me most is when he corrects me. Several months ago after school one day, he started asking me a series of questions which I guess they must talk about in kindergarten.

"Mom, what's the month?"

"September"

"What's the day?"

"Um, the 19th."

"No, I said the day, not the date."

"Uh, okay, Wednesday."

"What's the date?"

"the 19th."

"What's the weather?"

"Sunny."(It's 7:00 pm and dark out, but I think back to what the weather must have been like this morning when they would have talked about it)

"Uh mom, I think it's dark out"

So that's what like twice in 30 seconds I got the answers wrong? is that some kind of record?

And finally on Saturday while driving in the car, Madison asked me how many days until St. Patrick's day, (so she can wear her new green shirt) and I guessed and said "ten." (it was a good guess) TWO HOURS LATER, not even realizing he had even paid attention to the last conversation I got this little correction,

"Mom, you're wrong. Wednesday was the 5th, (the day of his surgery) and two days later would be the 7th, but that is Friday and today is Saturday, so today is the 8th." (he was pointing out that if St. Patricks day was in 10 days, today should be the 7th, which tells me he can do math in his head, and he knows the date of St. Patricks day, did I mention he is 5?)

I realize at some point in every child's life (I was a teenager, I remember pretty clearly) kid's THINK themselves smarter than their parents. I'm kind of worried at how early he's gonna KNOW it.