Well, the dishes won't do themselves...or will they?

Okay so I could have put this up a few days ago, but I wasn't sure if I wanted people to know how dorky I really am. Oh well, here it is anyway.... Before viewing this video keep in mind that we were nasty sick here for most of a week- thus the condition of my kitchen. Monday morning hit and I felt a little better and had my eyes open to what a truly big mess I had to attack around the house- starting in the kitchen. I looked at my dishes and thought, "Well they aren't going to do themselves, so get crackin' woman." and then I imagined them really doing themselves and thought how I could create that sort of a facade myself. I had Seth tape our camera to the top of a ladder and place it in the kitchen and every few dishes I washed I took a picture. Sometimes I had fun by opening cupboards by degrees and putting things inside them and closing them again and I pretended that the dishes had to travel down the counter to make it into the sink, or take pictures of the wash cloth in several positions around a dish, etc. In all I took 159 pictures to create this 13 seconds of "animation" and I think the next time I do it I will want to take at least 4 times that many pictures to make it even more convincing and fun. I feel a new hobby coming on. :)

The magical number is...

429!

So that makes Jessica the winner whose guess was 425. Email me Jess (or call) :) and tell me some of your favorite candies and I'll mail that off to you and get it to you by Valentines Day.

btw- sorry I didn't post by the 3rd. I ended up getting sick and so did two of my girlies around here. I just got all caught up in that and forgot.

Celebrating Mile Stones and A Prize Give Away!

On Saturday our little "Pip" turned 6 weeks old. She smiled her first real smile and she did it over and over and over again!


We were so proud and excited for her and I think she was pretty excited for herself. :) Here's some pictures we got of her during dinner last night smiling at Seth.




Along with that I finished my medicine for my second time of Mastitis. Here's a dessert with how we celebrated... It was to die for! It's extremely good and deadly. For the recipe click here.

The first time I got to the end of my medicine with Mastitis I made these cookies in honor of it being out of my body. :) Appropriate no? Cross your fingers it doesn't come back again. It's pretty annoying and very painful. Remembering to take the medicine every 6 hours is a pain in the pa-tooty as well.


And almost as big of news as Penelope smiling... I am off my blood thinner medication!!!! No more blood clot!!!! I had to be on it until Penelope was 6 weeks old. I'm so happy to not have to poke myself in the belly twice a day anymore. I always meant to take my containers of empty shots every time I went to the hospital for my doctor visits while pregnant, but kept forgetting. It's amazing to see that I did enough injections to fill 5 containers! Makes you wonder how many are in there right? Well why don't you make a guess. Now you can't quite do the math of 2 times the amount of days I had to do it because some are missing. I did turn a little into the hospital near the beginning and I wasn't exactly faithful of doing it every 12 hours once Penelope had come. I just kept forgetting. Anyway, make your guess and whoever is closest wins some Valentines Candy that I'll send you. I'll be sure to put in a liquorish rope so you can remember my big ol' blood clot that was the length of my leg. :) hahaha Disgusting!

I'll tell you the answer Feb. 3rd

"Brocolli Obama"

Kendyl is in afternoon Kindergarten and so she could be home to watch President Obama's inauguration with me. I had her sit down while he was being sworn in and told her how special it was to see a new president come into office without there being a war over who would become the next president of our country. We talked a little about our freedoms and democracy. Anyway, today she told me something funny...

"Mom, you know how we watched the egg nog- eration a few days ago and you said it was special?"
"Yes."
"Well my friend Connor at school said he hates Brocolli Obama."

I don't think it's funny that these poor kids are taught this young to hate people/political figures their parents don't like. I just think it's cute that she thought it was called an egg nog-eration and his first name was Brocolli. Minor technicalities :) I'm sure she remembers that it's a special thing to live in a free country.

Flash Back Friday- "Dear Dairy..."

Look at this lil' beauty that we found... my diary from 3-5th grade (most entries from 4th). This was so fun to find and see my handwriting and spelling and what was important or tragic to me at that time. It's been through better days obviously (the binding is completely detached and is held together by a single piece of tape on the back- Brilliant!), but don't judge a book by how it looks... it's got some gems in there. I love how I would title it with what I was going to write about complete with little drawings or stickers. Also I loved that a lot of the entries are "Dear Dairy" instead of "Dear Diary". Quite possibly my favorite thing about this are the entries every couple of pages that showed an alternate personality of mine- a evil streak you may say. I wanted to be sure that no one was reading this and so I thought that if I put in terrible insults, made up swear words, and death threats they would stop. Little did I know at the time it just made my little sister want to continue on. Below is a scan of some of the pages. In case you can't read it, I'll type it below the picture- spelling and all.


4th grade

Tony

Dear Dairy (diary),
I have a new friend. Her name is Tony. She has short brown hair, a ski slope nose, frickles (freckles), green eyes, and a long neck. Heres a pitchure (picture) of her.


-I love the arrow and a box where I was going to put a picture of her and then never asked for one so I wrote inside that I couldn't get one.


NEXT PAGE

4th grade

Stop reading now. If your not Karalenn don't pay atanion (attention) turn the page Karalenn and anyone that can read this. You are a very rood (rude), a nerd, ugly, and dumb. Farewell but (butt) head.


(Wasn't that scary?) :())

There are even better entries than those and meaner, but I'll save them for another time. If I get Makenzie's permission maybe I'll post some of her journal pages because they are just as hilarious. It's great to see how she writes being the same age as I was in this diary. I think Makenzie feels she can only write in her journal when she's completely ticked with me. So I love finding that puppy and reading through it. It's great for a laugh.

Happy Friday. Hope this brings back fun memories for you as well.

Kendyl's Newest Naughty Phase

While my parents were here during Christmas to help out with the new baby and celebrate that time of year my mom worked on a lot of embroidery and hemming. She propped herself in that chair for many hours and required a lamp for more light. We dug around the basement and found this beauty. :) It may look like your "normal" 5 light lamp, but Kendyl found an opportunity to express herself. She was constantly putting them in different directions and shining them into our faces.
One morning she put them in this particular fashion and asked her grandpa if he knew what it was. A lamp of course. But no, he was wrong. It was THE "swear word". It took us a moment to catch on that she had arranged it to look like a hand flipping the bird. (Oh dear!) We asked her not to do that anymore which of course makes her do it more. Usually when no one is in the room. We will walk in and find the lamp flipping us off at different times in the day. She especially loves to make the lamp flip us off when she is angry at us. Could she be Passive Aggressive possibly? (btw- she learned about flipping the bird from Makenzie who apparently showed her one day so that Kendyl would know not to ever do it).
That's not all. She recognizes swear words anywhere and can pick it up from anything. We play a game where we will say certain sayings and ask what movie it's from. Whoever can guess it wins. The other day she asked us what movie this was from... "Son of a Buh Buh Buh... Don't worry dad. I wont say the B#%&* word." (By the way- the quote was from Home Alone! A rated PG movie- sheesh!) I think it's time for one of these....

A ClearPlay DVD Player.

Flash Back FRIDAY! Stick Arm Girl

Okay. So we'll see how well I keep up with my new idea, but I believe I have plenty of resources to pull from to be able to share funny flashback memories and stories of the kids/our family on Fridays. I was going through an old binder where I write down funny moments and things the kids say and came across a great story that happened to Makenzie in first grade. What she did even inspired Seth to make the sketch below which I found in one of his sketch books this morning. I'm sure once Seth sees this post he will have plenty of complaints that I took a sketch that he didn't have time to refine or color etc. etc. :) So here's an exerpt from my memory journal of our kids...

The theme of this week's flashback- "Stick Arm Girl"

April 2007:

After school I was pushing Kendyl in a swing and watching Makenzie try something interesting a few swings away on her school playground. (Note: Makenzie wasn't paying attention to anything around her except what she was doing and so she didn't realize what area of the playground I was at) She had one arm inside her shirt and a stick poking out of her other arm hole. She was holding the stick from inside her shirt so that the divided end of the stick was proped against the swing chain. She was precariasly balancing in this manner and trying to swing when a little girl walked up to her.

Girl: "Hi, what's your name?"
Kenz: "Uuhh... Makenzie" (She grunted while not looking up because she was so focusing on her balance and it took a second to register what the girl had just asked.)
Girl: "I've never seen you before," she said in a tone like she was talking to a hurt puppy.
This made Makenzie look up at her in unbelief because we play there for at least 30 minutes every day after school and she knows most everyone. Then I saw the light click on in her mind as an idea dawned on her. A happy crocidile smile spread across her face as she said back to the girl, "Maybe you don't recognize me because I have a stick for an arm."
Girl: "Yah," she said as she stared at Kenzie's stick arm.
This made Makenzie even more happy as she said in the tone of a parent talking to a child, "Haven't you ever seen a girl with a stick arm before?"
Girl: "Na-uh"
Kenz: "Oh. Well, sometimes kids have to have stick arms when they don't have a real arm. My mom and dad gave me this stick arm so I could swing."
Girl: "ohhhh"
About this point I'd had enough and called Kenzie out of her happy pretending lie, even though I was thoroughly enjoying this inside and trying not to crack.
She almost jumped as she looked back and to the side and saw me.
Kenz: "MO-mmm!" She gritted through her teeth as if to tell me not to ruin her story.
I tilted my head, raised an eyebrow and gave her a look that she understood meant I was serious. She gave an embarrassed chuckle to the girl who was now explaining to another friend that had just walked up about stick arms. Then Kenzie took her arm out and chuckled and told the girl she was just kidding and ran away to find someone else to play with still holding onto her fun stick.

I laughed so hard about this that when we got home I called Seth, my best friend from when I was a kid, and my sister. I loved how much that felt like something I would have done as a kid. It gets better though because the next day...

... as we were walking out the door to head out to school Makenzie spotted her wonderful stick on the porch (she left it there the night before because I told her she couldn't bring it in the house). Again a I saw a light brighten across her little face as she remembered yesterday's adventures with stick arms.
As she picked it up and walked a little with it she seemed to change her mind and turned to me seriously, "Mom. Kids shouldn't bring these kinds of sticks to school because they are almost weapons! A kid got expelled for bringing a pocket knife to school because it was a weapon."
Me: "Oh- I see, but what about all the kids who have to have stick arms at school?" I asked in feign sincereity. :)
She looked up at me with concern and then she realized I was teesing and her brows went down and lips tightened as she said, "Mooom!"
That made me laugh which made her laugh and she threw the stick on the front lawn. As soon as we got into the school we spied a happy little kindergartener (remember Makenzie was a big first grader when this happened). The kindergartener was holding a small stick and bouncing up and down. We then heard her shout to the P.E. Coach, "Coach Jimenez, look at my stick I found!"
Kenzie turned to me and sighed rolling her eyes and whispered, "Kids." :)

The Story (and song) Behind the Name- Penelope Calypso ALSO... some extra stuff

Most of my pregnancy Seth and I disagreed on what Penelope's middle name should be. I wanted her name to be Penelope Jane because I thought she needed a simple middle name with a first name like Penelope and my mom's name is Jane. Seth wanted her name to be Penelope Calypso because he loved the way it sounded. I would joke around and call her Penelope Jane and he would say Penelope Calypso. We could not get the other to fold.

One day on his way home from work he made up a song about her using the name he liked and came home and taught it to the girls and even figured out the guitar chords to it. The rest of my pregnancy he would sing the song everyday and get them singing it too (okay so sometimes I joined in- hey, it's catchy). The girls sang it all day long even when he was gone and finally I had to admit defeat because now their hearts were set on the name Penelope Calypso as well. Yes, I know, he plays very dirty. :) He was sweet though because while in the hospital he filled out the paper work and put her name as Penelope Calypso Jane letting me win too. So Makenzie added the last part on the song using her new full name. She also made up the part about how much Penelope's mom and dad love her. It's very cute. Without further adieu... here is Penelope's song- performed by our girls.



In case you couldn't understand the words I wrote them here.

"Penelope Calypso, you make my heart go flip-so.
I don't know what to do. I don't know what to say.
Except that I do love you. Sure wish that I could hug you.
Perhaps I'll find a way. Today might be the day.

You've got a lot of love already, even more than Makenzie love's spaghetti.
And Kendyl loves you too, more than her free tattoo."

Kenzie's part: "Mommy loves you too. She'd give her life for you.
Daddy's next, he will protext you.
Penelope Calypso Jane, what a great name!"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

I also made a little recording below of Makenzie and Kendyl telling us what they like best about their new little sister. We sure are having fun with her. It's wonderful to have two such helpful and happy big sisters who want to be little mommies too. I can't believe how easily this new little girl fits into our home- as if she were always here. It's been a very peaceful, quiet Christmas season and our hearts are so full of gratitude and awe for her- reminding us of another special baby.

Announcing...

We went in last Saturday to be induced and after almost 8 hours of labor and 2 epidurals that didn't work, we got our little Penelope. :) She is such a sweet baby. It took a few nights to figure out that she might want to go to sleep before 5 in the morning- but she has now learned to take longer naps which means her mommy is less emotional and puffy in her eyes.


I wish I could thank the anonymous person who dropped off the little Santa hats and stockings at the hospital because it made me so happy to have the nursery bring her to me in this one night.

And we have to put this picture in because it's our girl's favorite. It looks like she is wondering whose hand is hitting her in the face. :)
A big thank you to my sister (Kristie) for creating that cute announcement at the top and Seth's sister (Hanna) for taking such cute pictures of our new little girly!

Making Fleece Blankets

We had a few families over two weeks ago to tie some fleece blankets. Every year the UFA Uniform Firefighter Association has a coat and blanket drive for the homeless shelters in the area. These blankets are so fun and easy for kids to make and make such soft warm winter blankets that I wanted to make them. We did this for Family Home Evening the Monday before Thanksgiving and had a small lesson about being thankful for the many things we have and that a way to show gratitude was to give to others less fortunate. The kids loved tying the edges and knowing that the blankets were going to other children that didn't have a home. Of course they played around a lot too and snacked on pumpkin cookies, but overall I'm pretty surprised at home much work they put into it. Here's some pictures of our fun.



Makenzie became the "scrap monster". All the little pieces that were left over were tied to her in different ways. This was very helpful. :)

Here's a finished one.

And another. :) Good thing they tried it out to see if it was comfy. :) The Price's green one turned out great too. If you want instructions on how to make them you can look at this link here. There's absolutely no sewing involved and take only about 30- 45 minutes to make depending on how fast you are and how helpful little ones are around you. :) Keep your eye out for when fleece goes on sale and grab a bunch. I think they would make great little Christmas gifts too.