I'm Done With Fake

So my eyelashes were fun for a while.

They were an expensive splurge but, I decided they just weren't worth it for me.

I mean when you can feel your eyelashes blowing in the wind when you ride your bike it isn't exactly a "model" look.

And then there's the fact that you can't ever rub your eyes—

Chlorine bugging your eyes after swimming?

Too bad.

Your eye itches...

Deal with it.

Wanna wash off your eyeshadow?

Get creative with a Q-tip.

And never, ever, let anything greasy/oily near your eyes or it dissolves the glue.

Well, at least I got to look pretty for 4 weeks. (smile)

Oh, ya, and then there's the matter they forget to tell you about eyelash extensions... they ruin your eyelashes. I hardly have any left after removing (carefully with baby oil). I look very, hmmm... bare. My bottom lashes are now longer than my top lashes. That's gonna be interesting.

"Hello" thick, black eyeliner. I'll be into that until I get some lashes of my own growin' here.

I'm gonna miss these beauties:

Beach Cruising in the Valley

So my mom, as I have mentioned before, is the Queen of yard sales and got Marc a nice beach cruiser for $5 and just last week she got me a really nice beach cruiser for only $20!!!

So, of course, Marc and I made the obvious choice for our Saturday morning date...

Yard sale-ing on our beach cruisers! One of my most favorite dates EVER!!

We were out and about for two hours (Thanks Grandma Lynne for babysitting). We went all over town, from the West to the East. We even picked up a bike trailer to take Sister and Baby in and it was only...

wait for it...

$5!!!

Ya, I love yard sales.

So on Monday night we tried the bike trailer out and went on a family bike ride. It worked perfectly and the girls had so much fun, rain and all. Brother was struggling a bit on his bike because it is getting too small for him. So we lowered the seat on Marc's beach cruiser and Brother fell in love.

It was so neat to see him riding this bike up and down the street with a HUGE smile on his face.

The best part was when I was reading to him at bedtime, he paused my reading and proclaimed, with pride, "Daddy gave me his bike!"

Later when I mentioned our conversation, Marc told me how Brother had approached him and asked, "Can I have your bike, Daddy?"

Marc replied, "Ya, you can have it."

Brother then threw his arms around his Dad and said, "I love you, Daddy!"

I guess Marc will be getting a new bike, but it is so worth it.

The New Green Apple Phone

I had to laugh when on a family drive I looked back to see
Baby having a conversation on her "apple phone." 

Wouldn't Steve Jobs be proud that he has influenced
even the youngest of Apple users...

Tee hee!

What if...

What if you had 13 kids...

and...

this was the traffic sign in front of your house?

What in the world was this city thinking when they decided on the wording for this sign?

My sisters and I saw this sign in our yard sale travels and I just HAD to stop and take a picture...

just sayin'...

In the long shadows of the morning

 My kids waiting for the bus.

Thank goodness their backpacks have wheels to they can keep up with these two kids. I think the love of backpacks with wheels start last year on our trip to Florida when they would fight over the suitcase with a handle and wheels...  a true love was born.

They love to run them around the drive-way, up and down the sidewalk and across the grass while they wait.

I could hardly get them to stand still for a cute "back to school" picture

Oh, those smiles... cha ching!

They certainly love their bus. They are so proud of it and really enjoy the bus driver and bus technician.

It wasn't until recently that I found out that the special ed bus drivers and helpers aren't told anything about the kids they bus around.

Part of that privacy thing.

I made sure to give them a flyer about Fragile X Syndrome this time so that can learn about my children. I am hoping to have time one morning to kind of brief them a bit, specifically, about my kids and how FXS affects them.

I think that anyone who is involved with my children in a positive way have the right to understand them... I don't like keeping people in the dark, testing them to see if they will treat my child normal. I don't think that helps either party, but there is also the flip side that one they know my children's struggles they tend to treat them like toddlers.

Anyway, it is was it is and I hope I can make it all work for the benefit of my kids best interests and needs.

Car Show Poop

I have to laugh when I hear people say that they are going to give me the "poop" on a situation... I guess that means they're just going to dump it all on me. (insert giggle here)

Anyway, I do have a reason for the title, you'll figure it out.

These pictures are from a few weeks ago, I've just finally gotten around to getting them posted.

We had our local city festival and we took the kids to the car show because Brother loves cars and knows the name of many of them, so we thought we'd encourage the interest.

How could not just LOVE this kid... he is so excited about this car he can hardly contain himself.

Sister liked this car so Brother decided he liked it too.

Sister was so excited to see this BLUE beetle bop... ha! Beetle bop, that's what we called them as kids and I still catch myself saying it sometimes and people look at me really strange.

I laughed out loud when Brother wanted his picture taken with this "car." That's one sweet golf cart.

And this was Sister's most favoritest (just made up a word, sweet)

You know it is really tough to take our kids to things like this. Not just because they are kids, all kids have their tough times with crowds, but, it's different with these kids. I don't exactly know how to explain it... hmm... nope, I think you have to witness it to understand it, otherwise you'll just think to yourself, "Hmmm. Sounds like any other kid."

It's for that very reason, though, that I am so proud when my kids can make it through and entire activity where they are surrounded by people, commotion and revving engines.

Oh, I was also very proud of Sister for stepping and then sitting in the only plop of dog poop in the entire park. That was one for the record.

A bird in the hand, is worth two in the bush... what the heck does that mean?

I say a dog in the park is worth two shoes dipped in poop.

Forgiving

You know, I wish I was as skinny as I was in high school when my pants seemed a little more forgiving.

Now, I'm just trying to forget how many sizes bigger I am than I was then.

I wish my skin was as forgiving now as it was when I was in my 20's.

Now, I have to make sure I don't forget a single step in my skin care routine.

We always want forgiving...

But it seems to be hard to be forgiving.

Have you ever noticed how if we ask for forgiveness we expect to be forgiven.

But if we are the ones who are asked to forgive we aren't willing to let go so easily.

So, put that into perspective:
If you want to be forgiven
You are expected to also forgive.

So, size 2 jeans I forgive you for not fitting me anymore, but can you forgive me for not being able to wear a size 2 again for the rest of my life?

School Days and Making the Cut

I was so excited to have the kids start school today.

For many reasons:
Routine
Structure
Alone time
Routine
Time to design without wrangling kids in between
One on one time with Baby

Routine

Teachers that help make my life easier by teaching my children SOOOO much that I could never have enough patience to teach

and of course...

Routine

Sister and Brother were so excited to get ready for school and get on the bus.

I was so busy getting them ready and make sure they had all meds, backpacks, notes, breakfast eaten, teeth brushed, faces washed, etc. that I forgot to take a picture of them...

But, being the wonderful mom that I am (most of the time) I did get a picture of Sister's back to school haircut.

I didn't do it.

She did.

At grandma Judy's.

I blame grandma. (wink)

They were her scissors.

In her bathroom drawer.

Thank goodness J-man interrupted Sister when he heard the "snip, snip" of the scissors.

He walked in to see what she was doing and saw her hair laying on the counter and Sister looked at him and said, "Cutting hair. Goodby." and ran out of the bathroom.

I am so glad he walked in on her or I have a feeling it would have been a lot worse.

I thought I had made it through without the famous self-haircut all little sweet girls seem to do...

I wonder if she got the idea because I trimmed her hair for school a few days before and she watched me give Baby her first trim... I had to take a picture of the tiny wisps of hair that I trimmed to even her up a bit... so cute. Her "first trim" curls are in a baggy, labeled.

So are Sister's chunks of hair. They are in a baggy, labeled.

Labeled: First self-haircut

Oh well, so her pigtails will be lop-sided. I refuse to cut it. I will just have to hide it.

Somehow.

We'll see how successful I am.

Wish me luck!

Flowers after the Ride

Sometimes I get jealous when Marc gets "guy" time on a week that I don't get any "girl" time.

But, today he made up for it by bringing me these:

He even had them waiting for me "arranged" in this beautiful vase. Aw.

Love him.

And I went yard sale-ing with Jessie and we laughed and laughed and laughed...

at ourselves.

I am starting to find that that is usually the funniest thing I can come up with. (smile)

Toofless

As promised... Sister without her two front teeth.

Warped Words

Sister says:

arial for oreo

callipillar for caterpillar

toof for tooth

strawberry oat cake for strawberry short cake

and when you see her say all these with her two front teeth missing it just adds to the cuteness.

Baby says:

"taintchu" for 'thank you' when you give her something

Oh and Brother wants everything he colors or draws to be a girl, so if an animal in his coloring book needs to be a girl he draws eyelashes on them.

Well, I am glad that because of Brother I will not have to teach Sister how to tell the boys apart from the girls—I asked her, "How do you know if [it's] a girl?"

Her reply was,

"It has eyelashes."

Now if that just doesn't make sense... thank goodness I got some better eyelashes so she wouldn't think I was Dad....

Wind, Water, Fire and Marshmallows

We had some free passes to the Scera Water Park and we invited my brother, Aaron and his wife, Chelsea and their daughter Yaya to come with us.

It was the perfect day for swimming and the water was perfect. We had a ball.

Yaya was really happy once she got used to the idea of being in a REALLY big bath tub

Baby was having a lot of fun and really enjoyed walking in the water.

Classic

This is one of the last pictures of Sister with one missing front tooth because later that day Marc was able to pull the other loose tooth and now she is missing two front teeth. I have yet to get a picture of that, but, I must say, it is awfully cute...

After the water park it was off to my mom's for pocket bread and fun.

My brother, Aaron, his wife and baby are all going to Texas for a month for his work. So we wanted to have a farewell party for them. Aaron got to choose what Mom made for dinner and wanted to roast marshmallows too.

I have to say that those were some of the best marshmallows I've ever had. Aaron and Chelsea got them at Walmart and they were strawberry marshmallows with chocolate filling. They were even shaped like marshmallows.

Aaron and I were having a great time roasting them and testing the perfect roasting techniques. At one point Aaron thought he had perfection... until it fell into the coals.

Then, Kirsten gave it a shot and ... well... let's just say it was a little on the well-done side.

While we were laughing and talking around the fire that my dad had stoked up for us, Marc noticed some clouds or dust rolling in from the South. We were all kind of gandering at it wondering what it was and within 5 minutes the wind gusts hit. We hurried to get the hose hooked up so we could get the fire out before the wind spread  it to the house or yard. Jessie saved the day when she ran out a watering pot of water to pour on the fire while we were struggling to get the hose hooked up. (I say that with a little smirk.)

We got it out just before the micro-burst really hit. My mom had run to the grocery store to get us some ice cream and she got stuck in the dark at the store. She called to make sure we were all OK and got the fire out and everything.

When we got home we saw the damage that the micro-burst had done in our area. Our gate was hanging crooked and our Barbeque had been whipped about and broken. The power was out in our neighborhood and Sister was freaking out about having lights. We had warned her that there was a power outage and that it would be dark when we got home. It took me a while to realize that when she was saying, "I hate Power Rangers. I really hate Power Rangers," she was talking about the power outage.

Made me laugh.

Not her.

She cried some more.

But, we got through it and it only lasted about an hour after we had gotten home.

Now the kids have been having fun playing "Power Rangers" with the flashlights.

Tee hee!

Uphill in the Rain

 So, Sunday mornings...

We have a love/hate relationship.

Church starts at 9am

I start at 8am

Not early enough to get me and three kids ready.

My mother-in-law comes to help me since Marc is gone in the morning to meetings.

There was a power outage on Saturday night and apparently I set me kitchen clocks wrong so when I thought my mother-in-law had a arrived early at 8am, it was actually 8:30am.

I, of course, try to act as if "I knew that" and "I can handle this" and "I meant to get all four of us ready in 25 minutes." I'm sure she saw right through me...

To top it all off Sister was really having a rough time of getting ready and getting to church. I think part of it may have been the fact that grandma had been gone for over a month and we were getting ready in the mornings on our own and I had forgotten to "prep" Sister to let her know that grandma Lynne would be coming in the morning to help... therefore, the transition nightmare.

So I quickly showered while Lynne was here with the kids and I threw my hair in a sopping wet bun and skipped the make-up because I can do that now with my fake/amazing eyelashes. (A little moisturizer and some lip gloss and I am good to go.)

Even with all the help Lynne was giving Sister was still falling apart at the seams.

I told Lynne to go ahead and take Brother with her to church and then I would bring the girls when I could get Sister to calm down.

Have I mentioned that I am the Primary Chorister? Well, I am. And with that responsibility comes a heavy load... no literally a heavy load. You wouldn't believe how heavy the bag is that I carry around—music book, binder of song prompt/pictures, toys for the nursery songs, and books and crayons for my kids during Sacrament Meeting.

Anyway, I am lugging The Bag and Baby and trying to hurry in my fantastically-grown-up-woman-heels and I am searching with my free hand... free hand? I must be an octopus... anyway, I was searching for my keys in the bag.

I can't find them.

It dawns on me that they are in the trunk of the car that Marc has already taken to church...

"Why were they there?" you ask.

We had been on a family outing the day before and when we were packing up I just threw everything in the trunk... anyway...

So, church starts at 9am and it is now 9:30am.

I decide to just take the stroller and walk, I may, at least, catch the last speaker. It's not far at all, about 4 blocks. I should be walking anyway.

Sister is getting a little upset (because remember she doesn't do well with transitions and she was under the impression we were going to church in the suburban) Remember when she used to call it a persimmon?

Anyway, the sky is just a little over cast and doesn't look too hot or too cold out so to calm Sister down I tell her that we should be fine as long as it doesn't rain...

Before we even stepped foot out of the garage, here it came.

Rain.

"It's OK," I thought, my morning has been crappy anyway so why not add to it. My hair was wet anyway, right?

So the whole way to church I am mumbling in my head (can you mumble in your head?) about how my life is so hard and why can't anything go right.

As I am thinking this I am pushing harder and angrier.

WHAM!

I about gave Sister whiplash going over that bump in the sidewalk so I calm myself back down and start watching for more sidewalk hazards.

Then the rain starts to really pour.

I don't want to go to church like a wet cat so I think, "I should run." I was only a block away anyway...

RUN

I did.

I got to church.

I walked/ran in late.

Sister was being quite good considering.

Then I start to sweat.

Profusely.

I reach into my heavy chorister bag and find some song props that will work great as a fan.

It was a cool day.

I am sure people were wondering why I needed a fan...

Anyway, I just kept stewing over my crappy morning and how it just got crappier in the rain. Oh, and did I mention it was uphill? (OK, so it was a slight incline, but, think about the bag and two kids in a stroller. The bag alone must weigh at least 30 pounds.)

After church Sister and Brother and Baby all wanted to go home in the stroller. I figured, what the heck, my day can't get any worse, it is all down hill from here.... literally, it was down hill so it made it a little easier.

I got thinking on the way home that life is like going in uphill in the rain sometimes.

It can be drudgery and misery if we continue to whine about it.

Or we can lift our face up, raise our hands and thank our Heavenly Father for the opportunity to feel the rain and experience the moments, because if we keep our head down in despair, we are bound to hit a few major bumps along the way instead of looking ahead to what we are learning on the journey.

So, I think that today I am going to try harder to enjoy the rain.

It will make the sunshine all that much brighter.

Oh, and learn to laugh at yourself... it helps bring the sunshine when there isn't any. (smile)

Riding Back Horse

We do most things backward around here so why not my post title...

Brother has been asking everyday to ride the horse lately, so of course Sister has to be part of that.

Brother was actually reigning Blue himself. He needed a little help here and there, but he had not fear and was definitely trying to show her who was boss.

I just had to laugh at Sister. He little arms just couldn't pull her reigns tight enough to get her to do what she wanted so Dad finally led her around.

And there's Marc, aaah, I love it when he wears the cowboy garb...

Bragging Writes

I love to write down what I can brag about because that is what keeps me going every day.

I love the picture above because it shows how much Baby loves books. She knows how to hold it right side up and she puts her fingers on the words like she is reading them as she is babbling away with inflection and tone that says it all. (She's almost 22 months now!)

But, amongst all the brag there is still a little drag.

It's just hard.

All of it.

Having children with special needs is tough on marriages and relationships, it is tough emotionally, it is tough physically, and spiritually.

I try to sugar-coat it the best I can with all my bragging about what they are accomplishing. I know that the moms out there who have children with special needs know exactly what to fill in between the lines.

Sometimes I long for "normal."

But, what is "normal?" is what so many people ask me.

Maybe it is all normal, considering how many families live with children and adults who have special needs—maybe we are becoming the "norm."

Hmmm.

I guess I am more normal than I think... (wink, wink)

Her First Birthday Party

.. with friends!!

I am so excited that I was finally able to have a friend birthday party for Sister!!

Big accomplishment.

I have just been doing family only parties for her because she could barely even handle those. You can take a look back at the last three if you want to catch up-- (Note: I used to name my kids by their ages on this blog, so Sister will be known in these past post by her age.) 2008, 2009, 2010

I had done some friend birthday parties for Brother when he was younger so I was sad when I had to stop doing them because he didn't want them anymore. Sister, I never thought would do well with them. So this year when she started talking about her birthday party back in May, I jumped on the band wagon and kept encouraging her along. I know that she learned about birthday parties at school, and I know that is why she was totally OK with the whole idea, so, I have to thank her teachers for the opportunity of celebrating her birthday with some friends today!

(WARNING: There are only 3 pictures of the friend party. Here's the reasons why: I was busy trying to make sure the party was a success, I forgot to give my camera to someone else to take pictures, and Grandpa Gary was there to take pictures with his camera but, I haven't downloaded them yet. I will post those when I get them.)

She LOVES Scooby Doo, M&M's, horses, chocolate and the color blue. None of those go together but they make for a great party.

Marc took work off to help with the party and he was in charge of the horse rides.

My sister, Jessie, did face painting.

I made blue cupcakes (my mom frosted them).

I also made brownies.

We colored scooby doo and M&M coloring pages that I printed off.

And they just had a good time hanging out.

I was so proud of Sister. She did so well, and was so pleasant. She was so excited to blow out her candles and open her presents.

I was so excited to have her friends for a birthday party! Finally on her 6th birthday.

Wait, did I just say 6?

Oh my word, she is 6?

Can I just stick in the cliche line here, "Where does the time go?"

Oh, and get this, Brother is excited for his friend birthday party this year!!

I am so happy to be able to have these kinds of parties for them. It's so exciting! Wahoo! (I really mean that, I am not being sarcastic at all.)

Oh, and we had a family party for her on Sunday with my family.

Marc took some pictures on his iPod of some of the cute things.

My dad was so excited to give her something to help with her love of M&M's, he even added in some M&M candies for her to put in the dispenser.

I love this. Look at my dad in the background.

She hugged this guy for quite a while.

 They helped grandma Judy turn the homemade ice cream.  Mmmmmmmmmm......

She was very excited for us to sing "Happy Birthday" and blow out her candles.

She also loved the "boy barbie" she got from Grandma Judy. (It's an Aaron Carter doll... my mom got him at a yard sale... someone's been holding onto that one for a while.)