DIA

We were discussing the unique look of the Denver International Airport, and Amy commented that it looked like a circus tent. She then asked, "Do you think there are any clowns that work there." My comeback was snappy, "Yes, they're called the TSA."

Garden Gloves

I need some better work gloves. I have garden gloves that work fine for weeding and such, but they don't do a good job of protecting my hand. I have been shoveling and then transporting a lot of dirt via a wheelbarrow lately, and it definitely shows... and hurts. It isn't so much the shoveling but the grabbing of a heavy, dirt-laden wheelbarrow that rubs my hand the wrong way. I even tried some of Chris' gloves but they are so loose that it just exacerbates the problem.

Tornadoes

For those of you not in the area, tornadoes have been touching down in various places of Colorado this afternoon. Our girls were sent home from school around noon, though I've heard that many schools were on lock down originally.

I was just hanging out with the fireplace guy. He had come to change out a piece on the outside vent for our basement fireplace. We have had problems with the fire extinguishing itself on windy days. Today was a perfect day to test the vent. And...it works perfectly. Mike, the fireplace guy, had come from Fort Collins and wasn't too anxious to return in that direction since a major tornado touched down in Windsor which is 5 to 10 miles from Fort Collins. We stood on the back patio and watched the clouds rumbling around in the sky, and there was no mistaking the circular motion they were making. The fact that we live a half a block away from a trailer court does not help us! You can see the roofs of all of the trailers in the bottom of the picture.


Misha came upstairs a bit ago asking if it was safe now. I said that the first storm had passed but that we needed to continue watching the clouds and listening to the news. Her response was, "Whew, my prayer worked." A little girl's prayer in the midst of a storm humbles my heart. Thanks, Misha.

Dyslexic Tongue

Many of Kristen's consonants are mixed up in her speech. If you are around her long enough, you begin to understand her language. Otherwise, you might just look at her and say, "Huh?" Kristen watched "Finding Nemo" the other day, and when she was finished I asked her what the fish's name was.

First, let me offer a little background. Her sister's name is Misha. Kristen calls her Nisha. I can say to her, "Ma ma ma Misha," and she'll repeat back, "Ma ma ma Nisha." Another funny one is salami. Kristen calls it "sanami". So I'll say to her "Sa sa sa lami, " and she'll repeat back to me, "Sa sa sa lanami." Kind of frustrating.

Back to Nemo. "What was the fish's name?"

Kristen's reply, "Memo." (long e)

"Can you say Nemo?" Heavy emphasis on the "N".

"Memo.

Okay, I'm thinking, let's try this. "What is Misha's name?" Her response, "Nisha."

Now we're getting somewhere. What's the fish's name?" Her response, "Memo."

Silly child. And this could go on for awhile (it did, but it would get monotous to both type and read.) I think she must have a dyslexic tongue.

Violin

I am looking for a 1/2 (changed from the 3/4 size) violin for Misha. If anybody has one they aren't using anymore, let me know. I am happy to buy it from you, but I don't want to spend a lot of money on a smaller size one--especially since I don't know what her commitment level will be.

Not for the faint of heart

Kristen isn't much of a nose picker. Whew. Others in the family (who will remain unnamed) have taken the opportunity to do a little exploring in their nasal cavities. Sadly, that is a bad habit to break. The other day, Kristen had stopped her descent down the stairs and said, "Poop."

"What?! Nooooo. Hold still." She's potty trained so this is a setback. I start climbing the stairs to see her holding out her pointer finger with a goober stuck to it.

"Poop, Mom." she expresses again and obviously wants me to remove it. I run to the kitchen to retrieve a tissue and remove the offending object. Ugghh.

"That's a goobie, not poop. There's a difference." I'd rather it not be poop any day!

How sad is it when you think about taking a picture for your blog? You should be grateful I didn't.

Summer Camps

I was showing Misha some summer camps sponsored by Carbon Valley Academy (open to any student). One of the options was a Community Service camp where students would participate in three community service projects throughout the summer. I asked her if she thought she might want to do it. She kind of hummed and hawed then said, "You already know what my answer is going to be don't you?" "Uh, no, I don't. What is it?" She looked at me as if to say "Duh, Mom." and then replied, "I don't even like doing my own chores...!" shaking her hands for added emphasis.

Fingernail Polish and Forgiveness

Last night I was doing the "Saturday is a special day, it's the day we get ready for Sunday..." deal with my girls. They had showered, I had clipped 30 toenails and 30 fingernails, and it was required of Amy and Misha to remove the nasty, chipped, red and silver-streaked fingernail polish that had been on their nails for weeks. I then gave in and applied pink fingernail polish to those 30 toenails and 30 fingernails. Amy's comment as she was working to remove the old fingernail polish was pretty profound. "Mom, making the choice to put on the fingernail polish is like sinning and taking the fingernail polish off with the remover makes them clean again just like baptism."

Be Free Chihuahua

We were driving home from getting groceries at King Soopers this afternoon on Firestone Boulevard. As we were turning on to Birch Street, we spy a teenage boy chasing a little dog all over the road, onto the side of the road, in front of cars, back to the side, and then zipping around the corner. Fortunately, most of the cars had stopped for the boy and his dog. From the back seat of our car, we hear Amy cry, "Run, Chihuahua, run. Be free. Be free." It was hilarious.

Hold On

There's something about someone else using the bathroom that inspires Kristen to have an urgent need to be in there as well. You learn pretty quickly to lock the door behind you. Yesterday, Misha was in the bathroom and Kristen decided she need to go. "I'll be just a minute." Misha yells as Kristen bangs on the door. Kristen then comes to me, "Mom, I need to go potty." I explain that Misha will be finished soon and that she needs to "just hold on." I had to laugh when she grabbed the arm rest on my chair, "I hold on."

Gourmet BBQ

I was surprised when Amy walked out to the back patio, asked what we were going to have for dinner, and gave a positive answer to my response of "fish." Five minutes later she passed by the BBQ and saw the tilapia cooking and said, "Oh, I thought you meant those fish sticks." I have never been a fish fan, but I decided that my children need more exposure to new things (that won't ever include liver though). So for dinner tonight, I BBQed tilapia, potato bites, asparagus, and corn on the cob. With a little advice from Chris' dad and a lot of attentiveness to the grill, the food turned out quite tasty. Good timing Grandpa! Kristen dug in to the potatoes even before the rest of us sat down at the table. "Yummy tatoes," she declared.

No broken anythings

I was organizing and tidying the storage room this morning. All of a sudden I saw Kristen and her marshmallows go flying onto the carpet at the bottom of the stairs. I think she must have skipped a step coming down the stairs. I sat and held her asking somewhat jokingly if she had broken her arm. "No, my xxxxx." I thought she said feet. "You broke your feet?" "No," she replied, "my cheek." I looked and sure enough it was rosy pink--but not broken. Whew.

I think she must be growing because she is falling down a lot more than normal. I measured her yesterday and she has grown three inches since last July.

Congratulations!

It isn't every day that you get a new Grandma; however, my kids are excited to welcome Grandma Chris to the family. Chris' Dad and Chris (yeah that could be confusing) were married April 20th. Welcome to the family and congratulations!

Horoscopes

I don't live my life by horoscopes, yet sometimes I find them rather humorous, especially when they are spot on. This was my horoscope a couple of years ago.

If January 22nd is your birthday: You prefer things "just so." Also, once you have your ideas set, you seldom change your mind. These traits can make you stubborn to a fault. You are a very persevering person and always complete what you start. An organizer extraordinaire, you know how to get things done. People always know they can count on you to follow through. You have a nontraditional outlook and win people over with your combination of uniqueness and dependability.

So, this was Kristen's horoscope on her birthday:

If April 19 is your birthday: Big dreams require big efforts, but this year you don't need to worry about having enough stamina and determination to see any major ambition through to the end. Past mistakes could spoil your efforts in June. (Doesn't that pretty much say you can be lazy all year long?")

Her actual horoscope for the day said in part: You may feel the need to be argumentative and bossy, but you should pay attention to your own business rather than others.... (her sisters would second that idea).

I think since Kristen has mastered the whole potty training gig (my big dream), she's pretty much in for smooth sailing this year. Not bad when you're three...except for June. Something's up there.

Magnificent

This is a wonderful video clip that my brother sent to me.

http://www.reflectionsofchrist.org/

This second link is from the blog for this website. Scroll about a 1/4 of the way down the page, enlarge the screen and play. It will play the same video but with the song "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing". The arrangement is beautiful.

http://mabrystudios.typepad.com/reflections_of_christ

Happy Birthday Kristen!

Kristen Nicole turned 3 today. What a sweet little angel to bless our home. She's feisty and tempermental but has the sweetest heart. When her sister is sad, Kristen runs to get a kleenex to wipe away tears. She loves to dress-up, willingly shares her toys, and patiently sits as I brush the knots out of her hair. Her hair...I used to say she won the baby hair lottery.

To her Daddy, she's been "Baby Cakes"; when she gets in trouble, I call her "Kristen Cole". Here's a look over the past three years...




We love you Kristen.

Loserville

Chris was telling the girls all the places he stopped as he flew home from his church mission in the Philippines. Amy chirped in, "Did you stop in Loserville on the way?"

I love tulips!

The robin has been around for a couple of weeks, has been snowed on, and has been frozen most likely in early morning temperatures. A hardy bird, but not always the best indicator of Spring. For me, tulips mean Spring...that and the sun rising before I finish exercising in the morning.

The Gravy Place

I was driving home with the girls this afternoon from the Longmont Clinic. We passed the cemetery and commented about it. About five minutes later, Misha asked, "Did President Hinckley get buried in that gravy place?" At least that is what I heard.

"What?" I query.

I asked her to repeat the question and to my ears, it came out exactly the same. "Oh my goodness," I think, "I thought we had taught her more clearly than this. We really need to have a talk with her--gravy place--where did she come up with that?"

"In the gravy place?" I ask in astonishment.

She looks at me like I'm crazy. "No, in that grave we passed." She slowly enunciates.

"Ahhh. Uhhh, no sweetie, he was buried in Salt Lake City."

Talk averted--at least about gravy places.

Good news

So I was talking with Miss Jan after story time today. She explained a relaxation in the rules on "no child under 12 left alone". Woohoo. I guess their handbook stated that children under 12 shouldn't be left alone, and as a new library staff, they were taking it literally and enforcing with much effort. After receiving further instruction from the District Office, the rules are now relaxed--the rule was a guideline. She was much relieved because she felt as though they were spending more time policing than helping. That makes me happy. I felt they were spending more time policing than helping too!

I'm Glad She's Noticing

As we were driving through Green Valley, UT on our way home from spending a lovely night in Hurricane, UT (BTW, I don't recommend the Days Inn there), we stopped at a gas station/convenience store/Burger King for lunch. The girls and I were looking in the convenience store section while waiting to order. Amy happened to notice a Rachael Ray magazine and commented, "Do you know, Mom, that Rachael Ray never dresses immodestly?"

It is no small thing to spend time teaching our children, to instill ethics and morals, to be a parent.

Zion National Park

We spent Thursday, April 3, at Zion National Park. It was beautiful. Spring was in the process of arriving and trees were beginning to blossom. We parked at the Visitors' Center at the entrance to the park and checked out the sites before boarding a shuttle into the park. I have to say, we got some fantastic pictures. You won't see me in many of them since I am the unofficial photographer of the Kline family vacations, but every once in awhile Chris takes a pictures of me just to prove I was there.

We started with lunch at the cafe at the Lodge. Not cheap! But, hey, we're making memories here. Our first hiking excursion was to the lower Emerald Pools. The water was pretty skanky and not so emerald-like, but the water falls were great.

Chris convinced us to keep walking toward the Grotto shuttle stop saying it was faster than walking back down from the pools and taking the shuttle from the Lodge to the Grotto. I think he needs a little more help reading a map, however, the view, rocks, and pictures were amazing.

We then hiked to the Weeping Wall, or in Misha's words, the Crying Wall. "Same thing, Mom." It was so windy up there that it was more like the Spraying Shower, but from the picture, you'll see that I was actually there. Don't you just love Misha's hat?



Our last "hike" of the day was to the Narrows. There were so many hikes that just weren't feasible with young children. Chris and I would love to go back by ourselves and spend more time there. It was awe-inspiring. And, I tried to teach the girls the fine art of rock skipping. You can tell from their faces that they were in awe!

Spring Break

What a great time away. Chris thinks he beat me to the punch by blogging while on vacation, but I've got pictures! We drove to SLC, UT on Friday afternoon and stayed with my brother Brad until Sunday afternoon. Saturday morning we ventured over to Cabella's. That's an adventure all by itself. They have a small museum of animals, dioramas, aquarium and thousands of cool items you just can't do without. We found a twin-size blow up mattress for vacations and camping.

Our next adventure was just around the corner at Tucano's, a feast for the meat-lover. It's not cheap but the meat is constant and varied. I'm not much of a meat lover myself, but Chris was salivating. I thought the roast beef was delicious (but frankly, mine is just as good) and enjoyed the salad bar. I think we all passed on the chicken hearts. Now really, people, who needs those!? We pretty much stuffed ourselves and then headed to BYU for a little bit of bowling. There's something about BYU that is magical for children. I remember the same feeling when I was a young girl, and my kids feel it too.

Sunday morning we woke to SNOW! How wrong is that on Spring Break? We left for St. George after Sacrament Meeting and a brief lunch. Only minor mishaps slowed us down. My bike kept unlatching from the new (to us) bike rack we purchased. By the time we arrived at the Worldmark condos, the tread on my rear tire was worn right through to the tube from being dragged on the freeway. Chris to the rescue and the tire was quickly fixed and a few well-placed bungee chords held my bike in place for the rest of the trip.

We had grand ideas of biking and exercising for our vacation. Great thoughts for parents brought back to reality by children who just wanted to swim all day long. (Yes, that is exercise too). For all the effort of lugging bikes 1700 miles on vacation, we ended up riding them for maybe one hour. Check out Chris' blog for lessons learned by my children in that short span of time.

We love the Worldmark condos and this one was just as great. It took Chris pointing out to the girls that the swimming pool was simply fifteen feet from our back patio. Oh the bliss. They were exploring the condo and basking in the smell (for some reason hotels/motels/condos have a smell that they love. I think it is associated with vacations and fun.) and had somehow missed the swimming pool in their brief perusal of the back patio. The clubhouse and play area were also right out our back door; we were all excited about the next four days.

We spent the next few days, shopping at the outlets, playing in the sand dunes, expressing awe at the red-striated mountains, swimming, eating, playing Wii, and visiting the St. George temple grounds.

I Was Right!

Kristen had her cast removed on Friday, March 28 just before we left for Spring Break. The doctor and nurse were so impressed that Kristen sat still and watched as a very noisy cast saw was used to cut open the cast. I had told her a couple of times that the saw would be really noisy, so she was prepared and came through with flying colors. After removing her cast, the nurse took another x-ray of Kristen's arm. If you read back through my post on February 28th when Kristen first broke her arm, you would read that I thought that both bones in Kristen's arm were broken though the doctor was not sure. I just have to say that looking at the x-ray one month later, it was completely obvious that both bones were broken. I felt a little glint of satisfaction.

P.S. I forgot to mention that she is supposed to wear her brace for two more weeks. She enjoys the freedom of not wearing it though and takes the liberty of removing it as often as possible.

Child Bike Seat/Carrier

Hey, we are looking for a child bike seat/carrier that will fit Kristen (she's tall and about 34 lbs). Does anyone have one or know of someone that might have one that we could borrow for a week? Anyone ever used the seats that mount in front of the adult on the bike?