Beauty and the Beast

Bryce and I decided to give Kylie an early birthday present and take her to the Beauty and the Beast ballet at the Ellen Eccles theater in Logan. Brandt picked out a Belle dress for her and we gave it to her a few days early in case it needed alterations. She was the biggest brat when he first gave it to her and it broke his little heart. Thankfully she came around and decided she liked it and really did want to wear it. Bryce ended up not going with us, but it worked out because Mariah was able to go. Kylie told her she was happy she came cause"daddy would have been a big cranky pants." Lol I can't say for sure he would have been cranky, but I don't think he would have loved the performance as much as we did. I was a little worried about how the kids would do since it was a ballet and not the Disney version like they are used to, but they did great! We had front row seats which helps a ton with Brandt's anxiety as well as his distractability. The kids' eyes were glued to the stage during the entire performance. I'm always amazed at how much dance and music calms buddy. During the intermission he was bouncing all over the place, but as soon as the curtain came up and the music started he was the calmest little boy you've ever seen. I am really trying to help him recognize that as well. After it was over we were able to meet some of the performers and get pictures with them. The only one the kids were interested in was Beauty. She was such a sweet girl. Seeing Kylie beam standing next to her made the whole day worth it! Then we were off to Texas Roadhouse where the kids ordered their favorite- Andy's steak, and where Kylie got to sit on the birthday saddle. As a reward for being so good there and at Wal-Mart, we took them to pet smart where buddy wanted to get a new pet. He only had $10 which thankfully wouldn't buy a pet and habitat both, so he worked it out with grandpa that he would buy himself a new pet fish and keep it in grandpa's tank. Pretty creative solution I thought.;) After we got home Kylie wanted more steak and was upset that they didn't give her a refill of steak like they did root beer! She is the funniest girl!

Birthday Trip

For my birthday this year I decided I wanted to take a family trip and go to the Provo City Center Temple open house. Bryce ended up not being able to go with us, so the kids and I were on our own. I took a couple days off work and I pulled the kids out of school on Thursday the 25th and we headed out. We decided to just take our time and have some fun on our way. Kylie and I did some shopping at Wal-Mart in Evanston while Brandt read a book in the shopping cart-best shopping idea I ever had was to go to the book section first and let him pick out a new book. We made it through the whole store without any melt downs our runaways! Then we went to this cute little fossil shop with a dinosaur out front. From there we headed to Heber where we stopped at a pet store. It's like a mini free zoo lol!  Brandt fell in love with a Ferret and I was really thankful to be able to honestly tell him that we couldn't get a pet because we were so far from home.  The kids also thought it was great that there was a "wild" little bird that was flying all over the store-I thought it was creepy-I hate it when birds do the fly-by close to my head!  Finally we made it to Payson, where we stayed with Kenny and Teresa.  It was so good to see them and visit for a little bit!  Brandt and Kylie's favorite part was that they had 2 cute bunnies in their basement.  I loved to be able to spend some time chatting and catching up.  Early this morning, Kenny and I were able to go to the Payson temple and do a session before he had to go to work.  After we left the Celestial room, which was about the most beautiful one I've ever seen, Kenny was able to take me and show me some other parts of the temple like the baptistry and the sealing rooms, which were also so beautiful and extra peaceful since it was still early in the morning and there weren't many people there.  It was the perfect way to start the day and I was so thankful to be there.  The day continued to be great from there on out.  I got to spend some time with Teresa before we packed up and headed to the Temple open house.  Kylie almost got away with leaving a really sweet message for them on their bathroom sink-in bright pink fingernail polish!  We LOVED the Provo City Center Temple!  It was beautiful inside and out.  We had watched some short videos about the history of it before we went, and it was fun to watch my kids point out the things they remembered from the videos.  We especially loved the murals on the session room walls and we stepped out of line to take extra time looking at every animal, flower, plant, and star.  From there we went to the BYU paleontology museum.  It was the perfect size-big enough to have some really cool stuff in it, but small enough that Brandt could see that we would have plenty of time to get through it all so he didn't have to be anxious about it.  There was a teenage boy who kept inserting himself into our conversations randomly and telling us facts about whatever dinosaurs we happened to be looking at at the time.  Later Brandt made the observation, "mom, he was just like me so I bet he has Asperger's, too.  He knew lots of stuff about dinosaurs and would just come up and start talking to us, but he never really looked at our eyes and he fidgeted a lot and kept moving all over the place like he was nervous."  I had already formed that opinion on my own, but I hadn't voiced that to my kids at all, so I was amazed that Brandt had observed that on his own.  We were also able to go visit my Uncle Junior at the assisted living place he's at in Ogden.  He was having a good day and seemed to remember us well.  He was even asking specific questions about my dad and remembered that he'd had back surgery not to long ago with the surgeon in Provo.  He told us many times how much he loves us and how happy he was that we came to visit.  It was so nice to see him.  As we decided to make our way home, the kids spotted a Chuck E. Cheese's and I crumbled under the pressure to stop.  We have never been there, but they had both been so good all day, I decided it was a good time to try it.  The pizza wasn't the best, but they had a ton of fun playing, so it was worth the noise and chaos to try it once. All in all, it was one of my best birthdays ever and I'm so thankful for the several experiences I had with my children, some of my extended family members whom I love dearly, and in the Temple.

2/3/16

I was watching for the bus this morning and out of the corner of my eye caught a glimpse of Brandt shoving fruit snacks into his coat pocket. I kept on watching out the window and said, " I'm just gonna pretend I didn't see that." A couple minutes later we remembered that he wanted cold lunch today so I quickly grabbed his sandwich out of the fridge and a G-milk. As I was throwing them in a bag for him he got a can of Pepsi, held it to his chest, and with the perfect lilt in his voice said, "just pretend you didn't see this." He packed the pop with his lunch, we both giggled, and out the door he went.  Would a responsible parent really let a third grader take a Pepsi in his lunch? Probably not and hopefully he won't expect it to be ok again tomorrow, but for today it wasn't worth the battle and was a lot better left as a joke that I've laughed at all day.

This morning I woke up to the sound of the microwave being turned on. By the time I forced myself to get out if bed-maybe 60 seconds later at the most-Brandt had just finished dipping his first caramel apple. It wasn't even 7 am on a weekend and he was wide awake making caramel apples! This same child just barely closed his eyes for the night and it is dang near 11:30 pm! And there is no such thing as napping in between. Since this type of schedule occurs often, this poor mama has circles under her eyes that seem to be darkening more by the day.  On the bright side, he made it all the way through church today with no meltdowns and no running away and hiding-for the first time in weeks, he didn't make any new messes in the house (at least that I know of lol), and he controlled himself a few times when Kylie was a major brat to him and I wouldn't have blamed him too much for letting her have it.

FHE Nibs

This week's family home evening started innocently enough with me showing a short Book of Mormon video to the kids, but it soon turned into an anatomy lesson-something that happens quite frequently at our house.  Brandt and Kylie are both very curious about the human body and how things all work, and I tend to be pretty scientific and blunt with them when it comes to most things-without acting completely shocked or laughing at some of the things they come up with to ask.  I want them to know that they can always ask me anything, and I sure as heck want to be the one to teach them about sensitive subjects so they don't seek their information from friends or the internet.  So, here we are learning about Nephi and the brass plates, and Kylie randomly starts talking about "nibs".  When I asked her if she meant the licorice, she put a finger on my chest and said, "no, this is your nib."  I gave her a funny look and she giggled and said, "I mean nibbles!"  By now Brandt is giggling and joining in, "yeah, nibbles!"  I quickly gathered my composure and informed them that it's spelled with "p's" not "b's".  That led to more questions and soon I was pulling up diagrams of the male and female breasts. In case that sounds boring, I assure you that with my little people it was not.  As I was pointing out and explaining the milk ducts, Brandt interrupted with, "I wish I could still drink your milk!  It's so much sweeter and better than the other kinds of milk!"  I explained that I don't have milk anymore and he said, "but you will if you have another baby."  I said, "right, but you still wouldn't be able to drink it," and Kylie added her two cents with, "yeah, Brandt, that wouldn't be e-ppropriate!"   Haha, never a dull moment! So now the real question is, do I take home a bag of licorice nibs to show them what they really are at the risk of starting another round of anatomy lessons?