The Day We Flew the Kites

I was reading an entry on my friend Natalie's blog (http://www.100percentcottam.com/) about the guilt that sets in once you become a mother. You feel guilty if you do too much house work, you feel guilty if your house isn't clean enough. You feel guilty when you don't give your kids enough attention. Throw going to work in the mix, and it's enough to make anyone snap. Finding balance can be challenging. Which reminded me of one of my favorite short stories, The Day We Flew the Kites by Frances Fowler. This is a very uplifting story that doesn't completely solve the guilt problem, but gives some good insight.

http://citizenjohn.com/kites01.htm

Better Late Than Never

"Better Late Than Never" just happens to be one of my favorite motto's, second only to my favorite motto which is "Aim Low, Then No One is Ever Disappointed". Anyway, I just learned to french braid. I printed the instructions off of the Internet and practiced on my poor daughter everyday. The braids looked pretty hideous, but they still produced some very curly post braid hair. My friend Nikki took one look at my braids and promptly gave me some braiding lessons. So, I am feeling pretty proud of myself. It only took me 27 years, a million different hair styles, three sisters, a very patient mother, and a four year old daughter before I figured it out. Better Late Than Never!

My Apple Juice

Before it got too hot today we went out to play in the sprinklers for a while. My sister Jayna gave Cali the greatest water toy that hooks to a garden hose. Carter thinks that anything liquid is apple juice. At our house we have many different kinds of "apple juice". His favorite is bath time "apple juice". So, I guess these picture are really of my kids playing in apple juice.

The Princess of the Land

Cali has proclaimed herself "Princess of the Land". Which land? I am not sure. But this is pretty much how she spends her days.

Speaking of Pinata's

I have, in the past, really enjoyed beating a pinata to shreds. So, today when the kids were going to town on the poor thing, I remembered a Pokemon pinata that met a similar fate. These pictures are from 2001 (way back in the day). You know who you are with Pokemon head!

The Last of the Birthday Parties.....For This Year At Least

Pinata (Pre Bash)





Too busy to look up at the camera.


I really wasn't trying to drag Cali's birthday out over two weeks, but with families on different schedules and then the friend party, we managed to do it. Hurray, we are done. The friend party turned out pretty well. We decorated party sacks with foam stickers (quite the hit), played a thousand rounds of Duck Duck Goose, chucked some water balloons, and bashed the sh*t out of a pinata. I feel bad I didn't get any good action shots of the pinata bashing, this was due in part to the fact that I was holding it and ducking for my life.

Help!

This is a cry for help. I am having a birthday party (yes another one) for Cali on Saturday. This party is just for her little neighborhood friends. I am expecting about 12 kids between the ages of 3-5 both boys and girls. And now I don't know how to entertain them for two hours. Well, I guess some of that time we can eat lunch and cake and open presents. But what do I do with the rest of the time? Does anyone have suggestions about fun games for 12 really wild meowzers?

Also, I am new at this blogging thing and I am not sure how to get text between my pictures. Every post that I put out there has all the pictures first, and then the text at the bottom. How can I get text inbetween the pictures?

Duh nu nu nu nu nu Batman! (That was me singing the TV Batman theme song)

My friend Nikki brought her son Kai over for a little 24th-of-July-post-parade-watching lunch. It was really fun for Cali and Carter. Although we have discovered that Carter has no ability to share, and does not like other kids up in his grill. I probably tell Cali to "run" about 50 times a day, just so she doesn't get whacked by his little fists of fury. Anyway, Nikki's son Kai has not taken off his Batman costume for several days and this day was no exception. However, he did take his mask off long enough for Cali to try it on. And, I think she looks rather ferocious.

Perspective

With Cali turning 4 this past weekend I began to feel very old. Looking at this picture didn't help much either. This was the picture we took for her first birthday invitations. Time is very strange. It seems to move too slow and too fast. Where did my tiny baby girl go? And, NO, I don't want anther one. I just want this one to be sweet and small again!

Parade Mania!

As if marching in a parade wasn't enough. Today we went to the South Town Expo Center to see the floats that will be in the Days of '47 Parade tomorrow. Admission was free and everyone was given a ballot to vote for their favorite float. There were so many awesome floats. I don't know exactly how they are made, but I am pretty sure that my dream is to be a float maker. They also had several of the bands that are going to be marching in tomorrow's parade perform and march around. So, basically, it was like being at a parade minus the scorching heat and billions of people. Utah sure goes crazy for Pioneer Day!

Happy Birthday to Cali...again!

After the parade (and a pretty good sized nap) on Saturday we had a little birthday party with the Pollastro's.

I Can March on My Feet, I Can March Down the Street, I Can March in the Big Parade

On Saturday the 21st we marched in the Days of '47 Youth Parade. Our stake was selected as one of the lucky ones. We marched down 500 S from 600 E to 200 E. At the end of the parade route there was carnival. It was about 103 degrees outside, but it was very fun. Cali asked when she was going to see the parade, I had to explain that she was the parade!

Happy Birthday to Cali

We met Grandpa Neal and Grandma Gwenny for a pre-birthday adventure. We went to Wingers (Cali's favorite place to eat). We also visited the Monte L Bean Museum in Provo. The Museum is full of wild (stuffed) animals. After looking at all the wildlife, we got ice cream at the BYU Creamery.

Bye Bye Brittany

Last weekend we went to Helper to Brittany's farewell. It was hard to say good bye to her, but we know she'll be a great missionary. She will be serving in the Stockholm Sweden Mission, and she entered the MTC on Wed. July 18th.