My Sweet Valentine

Today Rebekah rode her scooter home clutching her bag full of Valentines when suddenly she ran over an invisible bump and landed on her cute little face.  Fortunately, a neighbor, Miss A saw her seconds after it happened.  She stopped and started mopping up blood.  Rebekah was able to take a breath and rattle off our phone number and Miss A called me.   There was so much blood that she thought Rebekah would need stitches.  I arrived a minute after to see a dozen kids surrounding Miss A as she held soaked napkins to Rebekah's face.  It was a little scary.  Rebekah's pants, coat, shirt, and hair was covered in blood - she even left a nice puddle of the gooey stuff on the sidewalk.  Thankfully, there was no need for stitches.  Just a missing front tooth (Jarin found it on the sidewalk), a very sore face and eyeglasses that need to be replaced.  

After the pain subsided, she told me that right before she crashed she was thinking about how perfect today was and now she can't even eat her Valentine candy.  I went through her stash and pulled out all the chocolates for her to suck on.  She was happy and I was glad to get a little sugar in her. 

I am so grateful for Miss A for being there.  I am grateful for Jarin for taking care of everything that I left behind and staying cool and calm.  I am grateful for Trevor who sat next to Rebekah and showed her all of her Valentine cards to help ease her pain.  She had angels and blessings all around her.  

Not to be outdone,  Kerri burned her thumb on a jelly roll pan right before dinner and is now sporting a big blister. 

Rebekah's note to the tooth fairy.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Family Dinner

Often time dinnertime is anything but relaxing.  I have to mentally prepare myself for every nightly meal at the table.  I am the overseer of menu planning, kid job control and the quality of comments given to one another.  By the time I set my weary bottom down the fun begins in any order.....

  

1.  Jarin gets up to trade forks because someone set the "DI" fork in his place.  Why he can't just eat with the "DI" fork is beyond me.

2.  He brushes behind Makayla's chair who deliberately pushes her chair up against his toe.

3.  Jarin howls in pain and calls her a naughty name, not a bad name, just a name I won't tolerate.

4.  A time-out is in order.  Both children are asked to sit in the living room and make lively positive conversation while the rest of us eat.

5.  Trevor plays with his Lego guys while eating. 

6.  Five minutes later (I am still eating my salad and a little grumpy) the two come back with smiles.

7.  Kerri hides her spinach in her napkin.

8.  Lively conversation ensues due to Cameron's good cheer that he gets leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

9.  Rebekah reaches for her third piece of bread without tasting her soup.

10.  Out of the blue Makayla asks Jarin if he would like long brown hair.  The two begin to experiment....

I can't really complain.  I'm still weary, but at least with a smile.

Super Bowl XLIV

2005 was the year the Seattle Seahawks played against the Pittsburgh Steelers.  It was also the year we began to watch the Super Bowl.  Living near Seattle, we couldn't help but join in on the excitement that was going around.  We decorated posters, hung up blue and gold streamers and started a new tradition.... Jones Soda and game food (ahem...try-to-be-healthy game food).  Since then we have celebrated the football heros with our sodas and cheers. 

The Text Plan

I held off learning the art of texting out of pure laziness.  Having a teenage daughter whose main goal in life was to save and purchase her own iPod ruined my plans of not joining the new texting generation. She downloaded a free *app that gave her free texting and started texting me from school.   Seeing that my phone is a far cry from the latest greatest, I would fumble and tumble over how many times to push a number to get the correct letter to appear on my teeny screen.  It was painstaking at first and sometimes I would get three texts from Makayla before I had the chance to get a response back to her.  The fact that I had to pay twenty cents for every text sent to and by me didn't faze her.   Cameron finally upgraded my texting plan after I reached my limit of 20 texts (four were from me) per month to 200 texts a month.  Now I can text my mom who has been texting for four years.  I'm thinking a nice phone upgrade would also be nice - hint hint.  Perhaps an iPhone?  :)

Here's a funny text from Makayla the other day....

La:  Dear Mom, would you like to bring me my chapstick by any chance?

Me:  I'm really busy right now (grating cheese on tortillas).  Just ask the school nurse.

La:  Haha!!  I get it!!!  I think I'll pass on the nurse.  I'll survive the day.

*FYI: an app is an application that Apple calls third-party software programs that you can purchase for your iPod.  Didn't make any sense to me either at first.

The Pink Blanket

Cameron and I welcomed our favorite blankie into our family the day we were married.  It was made by Cameron's mom as a wedding gift.  It is the biggest and coziest and pinkest blanket around and Cameron loves it.  Despite the warm fuzzies the blanket gave us, it hid a secret identity that was discovered later.  As the children joined our family, they each formed an attachment to the big fluff.  With all this love, the pink blanket turned into the Pink Blanket Monster.  It loved children.  No doubt it was a combination of toddler tears, drool and snot that transformed it into a monster.  It began eating children in 2000 and is still at large.  Just today it slithered into the living room and starting devouring kids whole.  The entire room was in an uproar.  Kids ran toward the monster jumping on it until they were eaten and spit back out.  It was a great night.

The girls have tamed the Pink Blanket Monster.

2000 - Makayla - The pink blanket biding its time.

2002 - Jarin holding the blanket down.

He really sleeps with his eyes half open - even now.

2003

Resting after a session of defeating the Pink Blanket Monster - it's under there somewhere.

2004 - Jarin keeping Kerri safe from the blanket.

2004

2004 - Rebekah crying and Kerri singing.

The blanket doesn't know what to think about this.

Trevor claimed and tamed the blanket in 2004.

2009 - Makayla made a truce with the pink blanket as it warmed her through a few winters.

2010 - This was the year the monster started wearing ear plugs to play.

Little girls squeal high.

Trevor getting eaten alive!

Here it quietly serves as a hut....for now.

2011

Jarin getting swallowed whole by the Pink Blanket Monster!

We just never know when it will strike again!

Barbies on Parade

 For nearly 13 years, Barbies have graced our home in their birthday suits.   This morning my other child (who wishes to remain nameless) alerted me to a delicate situation.  He told me that naked Barbies were inappropriate to have laying around.  I immediately took control of the situation and got out the nail polish bottles.  One hour later and a room full of noxious fumes, all ten and a half Barbies were sporting the latest modest swimwear.  Mission accomplished!  The girls saved up their money and bought homemade modest clothing a month later.  Double score!

A Tooth for a Tooth

Rebekah had a loose tooth (front top right) for six weeks.  No amount of wiggling and tasting blood had persuaded her to pull the lopsided tooth out until......Kerri lost her tooth (bottom left).  As soon as Kerri's tooth fell out, quite by accident, Rebekah detatched her tooth in record time.  There was no way she was going to let her twin get all the glory from the tooth fairy.  I love my children's childhood!

Cynical

Today I was informed by my child, who is to remain anonymous, that her friend thinks I am cynical.  Oh, and that I don't do my fair share of carpooling.  I was a little baffled by this, then hurt, then greatly humored.  I wondered what cynical and car pooling had to do with one another.  Does this child even know what cynical means?
In my humble defense, I CAR POOL a lot.  I spend so much time carting children/teenagers around that when a simple request of taking a bunch of giggling girls to the mall and dropping them off (45-60 min roundtrip) comes up, I am the first to step off the wagon and look busy.  The fact that I'm scared silly of driving on freeways has nothing to do with it.  Really.  Well, sort of.   I'll work on it.

On to cynical.  What does cynical actually mean?  After accepting my constructive criticism graciously,  I ran upstairs and quickly looked up the meaning just in case I rose-colored the term for my sake.


cyn·i·cal 

ADJECTIVE:

1. of or related to the belief that human actions are motivated only or primarily by base desires or selfishness.
2. skeptical of the integrity, sincerity, or motives of others.
3. bitterly or jadedly distrustful or contemptuous; mocking.
4. showing contempt for accepted moral standards by one's actions.

There you have it folks. 

Just to give the bearer the benefit of doubt, I'm going to think that she meant crazy.  I'll proudly claim that title.

Trying to look cynical.

New Year Sledding

Our 2nd annual New Year sledding complete with mittens, snowy hills, squealing children and hot chocolate.

Jarin was great with the ladybugs.  

He took them down the hill several times before they dared to do it themselves.

Love Kerri's face.

Oh, I love the view!

SO.  MUCH.  FUN!

Getting ready for the famous 'Jensen Train'.

All five kids on three sleds - see Trevor's legs in back.

Opps!

Kerri running after her sled.

Rebekah is thinking about it.....

oh, here she comes!

So serious face.

Just resting.

Makayla demonstrating the art of penguin sledding.

She's got the technique down!

She even looks like a cute penguin.

Trevor biffing it - hee hee.

It's great to supervise fun!

Where's the hot chocolate?