Feb 5, 2010

Big long blog, but worth a read if your kids do this, too.

So today is wear your costumes to school day. I am looking out the window at all the little kids dressed like devils, robots, and princesses running around the school grounds, and it is adorable. Gotta love Fall. Only thing, my little princess refuses to wear her costume (which is an adorable pink princess dress complete with hoop skirt) to school. Is she missing out on all the fun? Will she regret it once she gets there and be sad? I don't know. I hope not.
All my kids seem to have this freakish thing that I just don't get. I don't even know what to call it. It is that they can't go to primary activities after school WITHOUT ME. Or they can't go to school if the bell rings and they are late. Or they don't want to go to school at all because someone will see them. Or they can't wear their costumes to school. Or they can't sing or speak in the primary program. Weird. Random.
Kate went through it until kindergarten. She couldn't even go to preschool. I had to be there every day. Dance? One year of it until we discovered she wouldn't perform. AAAHH! Scott was even more severe. His lasted until he was 8. He wouldn't go to school. He was afraid of being struck by lightning on a cloudy day with no rain. He was simply terrified of the most random things. He wouldn't go to anybody's house even to play. He does now, but when he was 7 he wouldn't even play at his cousin's house unless I was there.
Now it is Kara. The bell rang and she was late yesterday. Instead of running to school she ran home. I being very familiar with this crap didn't let it go down. We went kicking and screaming (I carried her all the way) to school, and I had to put Kara's thrashing hand into Mr. McKinney's hand and quickly explain. Bless his heart. Sometimes if we have guests over, and it can be ANY visitor for even a little bit, she hides and won't join the rest of the family in the visit. Even if we are playing duck duck goose together. Today it is that she won't wear her beautiful costume to school.
Well, I have had enough experience in this situation to know that you let things slide, and if the temptation of "but what if they feel sad later" comes you just ignore it. Because that is what they can do right now. And later when they get bigger, they will have built courage line upon line. And when they are fifth graders like Scotty, they will wear their princess costume to school, go to other people's houses to play, and will participate in all the things that seem to come so naturally to everybody else. i.e. all the little kids in costumes running around the school ground.
Sometimes things are what they are. Like Katelyn will have to have surgery on both feet in four years. It is what it is. In the doctor's office was a vinyl lettering on the wall that said something like, " The most happy person knows how to float along the river instead of trying to push it back unnecessarily." something like that. But it is true. I could fight and have her wear the costume. But it is NOT worth it. Sh e would be unhappy and wouldn't enjoy the gamefilled day to the best way she can. I could fight a lot of battles, but there is some absolute truth to the saying," YOU PICK YOUR BATTLES" I think they should add "AND DON'T FEEL GUILTY ABOUT IT, EITHER. PUNK!" I just added the punk thing for fun. Happy Halloween.

The ARM Pit

Skyler was telling Jozet, his 4 year old cousin, about how he went to the gymnasium to play in the ARM PIT and how fun it was. Piqued my attention. Turns out it is the foam pit at the gymnastics place. I giggled a little.
"Yeah, Jozet, we got to go to the ARM PIT!" It must have been fun.

Random

That was random. hydroponic lettuce leaves! Whoah. Somebody bettah shut me down.
shut up

That was so funny

I just have to say that sometimes I crack myself up. I think I am so clever for thinking that last poem up. Ha ha. I thought it was funny.

I am sick

I am sick. I need to write a poem about it....think think think


I know how sickly I are.
I know my face aint no star.
But I do not mind it cause I am behind it
and you folks out front get the jar.

No no no. Scratch that. Beginnnn againnnn.

Cough, cough, cough. My head hurts.
My cheeks are all stuffy and full.
Sniff sniff sniff, sound and light hurts.
There's throbbing so strong in my skull.

Nice hot bath. Soft dim lights.
tylenol helps with relief.
Bright warm fire. Kids in bed.
Now I will catch me some sleep.

Mommmm???? I have a bloody nose.
Mommmm???? I wet the bed.
Mommmmmm??? oh nothing. I just wanted to wake you up.
Ha ha ha. :)

Utah Trip

We took a trip as a family to Utah over the weekend. What a fun time! First stop: the Finlinsons. I had a sister missionary friend from Brazil whom I haven't seen since I was actually a missionary IN Brazil, and I found out she married an Americano and was living in Sandy. So on our way down to Provo, we stopped at her house and met her family. Our kids instantly felt comfortable around each other and played and played. Thelma made coxinhas, brigadeiros, suco de maracuja', and pudim for us! Talk about heaven. In English, that is coxinhas, little chicken thingies with dough then deep fried in olive oil. Heaven! It was exactly like my memory. So crunchy on the outside and warm on the inside. I think I am going to make some today. Secondly, brigadeiros (or little warriors) are these fudgy chewy little balls of chocolate, about as expected at birthday parties as birthday cake. Definitely a Brazilian traditional favorite. Then the suco de maracuja' or passionfruit juice. No mixture of pineapple and strawberry garbage. Just pure Brazillian passionfruit juice. Que delicia. Pudim is like flan, and super delicious when Brazilian makes it, so so when Kirsten makes it. But even more delicious than all the food, was reacquainting myself with Thelma and her beautiful family. They are so interesting. He furnishes temples for his living. So you can imagine that their home was very tastefully decorated. And it was. The children were lovely, the time spent was one of the highlights of the trip for everybody, and we'll definitely go back. Next stop was visiting the Bickels, some friends of ours that go back to college days, and even further for Dave and Roy Bickel, who were friends in Indiana. We stayed at their lovely home in Orem and woke up to blueberry pancakes. Next, we took a hike up to Bridal Veil falls, a super little easy hike even for the four year olds, and played at the bottom of the falls in the water. The kids hiked up the rocks of the falls a little bit and we had such a great time in the nature. After the hike, our hungry bellies found ourselves at Golden Corral. We were loading up our plates, and I teased Scott to be careful of his food choices (he just got braces) because his Dentist would FIND him. Well how about this? HIS DENTIST AND ORTHODONTIST WERE BOTH THERE IN THE RESTAURANT! How funny is that? We chatted with them to find out they were brothers and they wer.e there for the BYU game. We thought that was funny. After lunch Dave and Roy went to the game (we only went to the tail gating games and the kids all won BYU towels They love them!) and we walked back to the van to go check into the hotel. As Dave was at the game we went swimming and then off to bed. Sunday church was lovely and aside from our ward, they were the sweetest ward I'd ever been to. And I've been to a lot of sweet natured wards. They were exceptionally accepting, and cared for us like we were so valuable to them. It was awesome. After a barbecue at the Bickels, it was then time to come home. Driving on the highway was no big deal, smooth sailing, until the blowout. We were nervous, but were protected from the oncoming traffic. It was dark and all, but prayer definitely kept us safe and then eventually on our way. It was an awesome trip. I loved all of it.