Party like a rockstar

Kylie's birthday is this Sunday, but I'll be in Utah until Saturday so she lucked out to get her party a week early (and with her baptism the next week, it's like the party that never ends!). Gone are the days of princess parties, it was all about the rockstars this year. My sister wanted the details of the party, so here they are....We went with the black and pink theme with the decorations (thanks, Chels for helping me with the poof balls :) and the goody bags were full of pink and black things. After pizza we played "pass the purse". It's like musical chairs, but you pass around a purse filled with candy bars and when the music stops the person holding it gets to pick one out. Then we made these fun t-shirts. I got the idea from my friend Marcee and the girls LOVED them. You use stencils to write words or shapes on freezer paper, then cut it out and iron it on the shirt. Put bleach in a spray bottle and spray all around the paper, then peel the paper off when it starts drying. Then they made their own body glitter (mix fine polyester glitter in with aloe vera, Wal-mart's travel section has the perfect little pink jars to put it in). After that they were ready to rock and had such a fun time playing Rockband and doing the American Idol karaoke. They are such a great group of girls and it was fun to watch them hanging out together. Jason took Jayden out for a boys night to {surprise} the Lego store. He thought that was way better than any birthday party. I'm too tired to try and make this post more interesting. It was a fun party. End of story. Good night.

Minority date night

We decided to recruit another couple into our tight knit minority circle. Even though Scott's minority status is a little diluted since he's only 1/8 Cherokee, we decided they're fun enough to invite into the fold. Now we have 100% Chinese, 1/2 Cuban, 1/4 Mexican, 1/8 Cherokee and a whole lot of white chicks that were hoping to pass some of that tan skin on to our kiddos. No seriously, these are all such fun couples and we had such a great time at Texas Roadhouse then watching the movie, "Date Night". Okay, don't judge but that was the FUNNIEST movie EVER. I think I emberassed Jason with how much I was laughing. Tina Fey and Steve Carell are my favoritest ever. Hopefully we can get together and show off our minority pride again soon!

Lazy
I got up early with Maddox this morning and as soon as Kylie woke up she was begging me to go back to sleep so she could baby-sit everyone. She only had to ask once and I was out of there before she could change her mind. We rolled out of bed to find the house in complete shambles and for once in my life I didn't care. She fed everybody Apple Jacks and salsa for breakfast and I got to sleep in until 10:00. It was a good day for all parties involved.

Two Tootheys

Jayden lost his first tooth today and to make it even more exciting, Kylie lost another tooth on the same day! Okay, so there may have been a little bribery involved to let Jason pull hers out too...along the lines of promises of a sleepover and an extra dollar bonus for both of them (which could be a problem since we don't have enough single bills on hand. I may just have to "borrow" from their piggy banks again. Isn't the first, won't be the last). I am so glad it's the Dad's job to pull out the teeth, I get so squemish and can't even watch. I have to laugh...you can't even see Kylie's tooth that she's holding up because she grinds them so much and it was nothing but a flat, teeny little nub. They were both so excited to be matcheys and they sure do have cute little toothless smiles!

Goodwill Hunting

I told you I was an addict. I promise not to post everytime I hit up the Goodwill, but it was a good week and I was excited about my finds. I'll just put it out there, I think I have a love affair with spray paint. The Lowe's employees are beginning to get suspicious that I'm using it for more than just painting since I go through atleast a can a week. But really, is there any job too big for a little can of paint? Not for my $8 chair or $3 fruit bowl.

and how perfect are these $3 blue pillows?

and last but not least, I love my new chalkboard that I made from an old frame (spray painted, of course), I replaced the picture with plywood and rolled on some chalkboard paint. Isn't it cute? My heart and hand sanitizer belong to Goodwill.

The Chili Song

Last Sunday I spent the morning canning salsa and chili. All was fine and dandy until we had a little accident. Long story short, I poured hot tap water into the pressure cooker and when it hit the scalding hot jars we had a little explosion. It was pretty scary, but thankfully I walked away with only a few small blisters on my face and chili splattered on every surface of my kitchen. The kids were in the other room and were pretty freaked out because it sounded like a bomb went off. So they did what all good kids would do, ran upstairs and wrote me a song. Bless their adorable little hearts.

(soft)

{yes, they wrote that, so be sure to sing in a soft voice}

Sorry that you

are hert

I hope you fill better because of the salsa

{salsa, chili, same thing}

I hope you fill better,

so we will help you fill better.

We don't care about the house

because we love you, even Jeasus!

So we love,

Love you because you are hurt, hurt.

We will go to sleep so we have enogh rest.

So we will be kind for our hole intire life.

So we love youuuuuuuuuuu!

To: Mommy

Love, Jayden, Kylie

Easter 2010

I used to be a good mom. I used to do mommy preschool with Kylie 3 days a week. Now I can't even get through a homework session without getting frustrated. I used to plan outings several days a week. Now I just let them invite friends over so that they will keep them entertained and I don't have to. I used to plan craft projects. Now I pretend like I don't know they've been parked in front of the tv for 3 hours straight while I work on my own pointeless projects. I used to rock my kids before bed, reading them stories and singing them primary songs. Now I stick Maddox in bed with a bottle, relieved to have one down, two to go. I used to never yell at my kids. Now I lose my temper at the drop of a hat. I used to look forward to playing with my kids. Now I look forward to their nap time and bed time. I used to be a good mom. I really want to be a good mom again. Maybe I'm getting old and tired. Maybe 3 kids wear me out more. Maybe I shouldn't be looking for excuses. I've been thinking about this alot lately and I know I need to make a better effort to be with my kids. Not just be next to them, but be engaged with them, be on their level and really be there for them. There were so many great conference talks this weekend that focused on the importance of mothers, and once again I realized that I need to try harder and make sure that my kids are my first priority. Today I was a good mom. We made some great memories this Easter. It wasn't the 3 egg hunts we went to in one day, although they were fun (except for the Life Link mad house. One day a year we become honorary members of the Life Link church because they have the best egg hunt around, but I think they recruited about 1,000 new members and it was pure craziness).

It wasn't when I forgot to get a basket for Maddox and he had to borrow Kylie's pink basket. It definately wasn't when I got mad at Kylie for ruining Easter by whining about having the smallest basket (yes, I realize I should probably get new baskets next year :). then threatened that she would go back to bed if she didn't smile for the dang Easter picture.
It wasn't when I was too tired from our neighborhood party to be a decent Easter bunny and it ended up looking like the Easter Bunny just barfed up a bag of robin eggs in the family room. It wasn't when I told Kylie she was spoiled when she didn't even want to pick up the candy because the Easter bunny only brought 3 different kinds. (okay, so maybe I was a lame bunny this year). It wasn't when I let my kids eat candy 24 hrs a day. I might as well just hook them up to a sugar IV. It wasn't even when I let the kids fend for themselves while Jason, Maddox and I took a 2 hour nap between sessions. No, that's not when I was a good mom and hopefully those aren't the things we'll remember from this Easter. I was a good mom because I actually played with my kids. We took a family bike ride to the park and instead of sitting on the side and just watching, I got up and played. We played tag until we were exhausted, had swinging contests and Kylie taught me how to work the fireman pole. That girl has skills, I really could learn a thing or two from her :). We came home and ate a yummy Easter dinner then had a really meaningful Easter family home evening. We watched the "Finding Faith in Christ" DVD and it made me so happy to see how absorbed they were in it. They asked alot of questions and Kylie even got teary eyed during the crucifixion part. We had a little testimony meeting and it brought me such pure joy to hear their little testimonies. To know that at times I am a good mom, that I have taught them and they have listened even though at times it seems like it goes in one ear and out the other. After eating the traditional carrot cake (mmmmm) we donned our shoes and black light and headed out for the first official scorpion hunt of the season. It seems like a weird tradition, but the kids love it and Kylie even gave us a name, "the gutners, cause we get scorpion guts." Then it was bedtime, but instead of making them go to bed I let them stay up and we all played hide-and-go-seek in the dark until way past bedtime. It's the simple things that mean the most and those simple laughs meant alot to me today. Happy Easter.