Snow

Aaron is going to study pediatric orthopaedic surgery at Primary Children's Hospital and Shriner's Hospital of Salt Lake City from February 1st to May 31st, 2011. And we're going with him! (Only because I can't bear the thought of being apart from him for 4 months.)

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However, the thought of me and my desert rat children dealing with snow has recently sent me into some small panic attacks!

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"When I was younger, we would wear our boots to school, and bring our shoes in our backpacks. We'd change shoes when we got to school, and repeat the whole thing when we went to recess."

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Seriously?! This whole idea is so foreign!

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My friends asked the other day if we had cold weather stuff. I said, "we have coats..." "But what about gloves, scarves, hats, snow pants, etc?" And therein begins my panic.

I don't want to invest in "good" stuff - we're only using it for 4 months - and by the time we could possibly ever use it again, the kids will have outgrown it.

Luckily, I have a guru of cold weather who moved her desert rat kiddos to the wilds of SLC a little over 2 years ago, who is a wealth of good advice. I would gratefully appreciate any advice on cold weather I can get! Do you have something to share? Knowledge is power!

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I'm still a little nervous. Did I mention I've never driven in snow, either?

Labor Day weekend

This weekend, we took off for Phoenix. We left El Paso around 2, at maybe 90 degrees, and pulled into Phoenix at 9:30 pm and 100 degrees. YUCK! I don't miss that heat!
We got to go to the temple on Saturday morning, and ducked inside IKEA for a few minutes. It was busier than I have ever seen it! However, in the As-is section, they had my set of dishes that I love - minus one small plate and $5 off. Sweet.
When we got back to my mom's house, my amiga Emily came over and my sisters and I got our hair done. The kids and the dads swam happily for 2 hours! Then, Aaron and I went out for my birthday dinner a few days early - at Morton's Steakhouse. Absolutely delicious!
It was nice to hang out and talk and relax - without the pressures of El Paso life around us. No thoughts of work, or laundry, or anything normal.
Blissful.
:)

A Loss in our Family

About a week ago, we lost a dear friend.

Eight years ago, we brought home our very own barbeque grill. Propane (just as Hank Hill likes it), not too much money, but a wonderful investment. My dear husband was thrilled at it's arrival. Now he could cook delectable delights the way he really wanted to!

That little grill traveled with us to Phoenix in our U-haul. It suffered a few dents and dings, a few Arizona summers, numerous tanks, and then a move to El Paso.

But after eight years, parts were breaking, parts that were not replaceable on an older model.

So we laid to rest our dear friend, and last night - brought in a new grill, after a good deal at Lowe's. :)

With a grin like that, you'da thought it was Christmas.

Alexandra's First Day of Kindergarten

Ben starts 3rd grade this year. Alex is in kindergarten, and once she saw the kids, she was JUST fine. Audrey was excited that mommy AND daddy got to escort her back to the car. Thanks to Dora and Elmo, she hasn't even mentioned the kids.

And it's just Dodge and me until Quattro shows up in December!

Sheesh.

So it's not our fault that Peanut picked October 9th to be married. (We ARE thrilled for her, and happy to be going - just we did not have a hand in picking the date.) It's also not our fault that the Lord decided that this baby needed to come in December. It's also not our fault that there is department policy that states that each resident take 7 days of holiday leave in December. And we weren't the ones that decided that this class of residents needed to have 4 as opposed to the 5 that the other classes all have. And we are not the "powers that be" that have understaffed this location.
But apparently it is not okay to take 19 days of leave in one three month rotation.
Good grief.

Parenting Lessons: Courtesy of the Simpsons

There is an episode of the Simpsons where Bart really, really, really wants to go to the Itchy and Scratchy movie. Then, he is supposed to watch Maggie but she escapes and sets the car loose on a local prison. Homer puts his foot down, and Bart's punishment is not getting to see the movie. Bart dismisses it, saying, "I'll watch it another time."

Homer enhances his punishment - you won't see it - EVER!!!

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Recently, my kids have had too much summer. They are arguing, talking back, ignoring me altogether - you know, the usual kid stuff. I'm at my limits.

Aaron is the self-proclaimed "King of Empty Threats." He threatens to take away tv (a punishment more for me than the kids). Last night, after the third time of telling the kids to sit down on the couch for their Phineas and Ferb episode, we turned it off. Ben dismissed it with a, "It's being recorded - I'll watch it off the DVR later." oooh. naughty.

Aaron told him that it was being deleted.

The tears flowed.

My boy would not eat dinner - he was too sad.

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Today, Alex has a birthday party to go to. It's Saturday - that means job day. After being assigned her task for the morning, she whined. She pleaded. She tried to hide. She got mouthy. She screamed at me. She cried. And that was all before 11 am. She fought with her brother. She yelled at her sister. I told her she was tired and needed a rest if she wanted to go to the party. She screamed at me, kicked her feet, and cried some more.

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So at what point do you take that beloved thing away - for good?

Like a sponge

They soak up everything around them.

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Back in the spring, I got my sister to put some popular music on a cd for me. Alex had heard Taylor Swift's "Love Story" and was trying to sing it all the time. Auntie Katee had the music, along with some other Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, and other pop songs, and put them on a cd for us to listen to on our epic 7 hour drive home. They loved it!

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I realized before too long that some of the music was a little more questionable than others - and I did supervise the song selection. I guess I just hoped that my kids would gloss over some of the words, and really pay attention to the chorus - or not pay attention at all!

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I discovered the depths of my WRONGNESS when I first heard Audrey singing Lady Gaga's "Pokerface." Not really a bad song - but on the lips of your 2 yr old - definitely questionable. Then, ads for the movie "Marmaduke" came out on tv, using Ke$sha's "Tick Tock" song - another song choice on the cd. Now, the chorus is a fun hip-hop dance beat, but the verses leave a lot to be desired. When it came on in the car, half the time, if they weren't paying attention, I would skip the song altogether. Other times, I would turn the volume down during the verse and ask them a question. But they heard, "Boys try to touch my junk, I slap 'em if they're getting too drunk." Oy. But thanks to Marmaduke, it was still getting requested in the car pretty regularly.

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Alex, my brilliant 5 yr old, pipes up today.

"Mom, Tick tock isn't my favorite song anymore. I don't like the junk part."

"Then we won't listen to it anymore, Al. I think that's a good choice."

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And that was my excursion into popular music. Mistake number 786 with my children thus far. What do you regret exposing your children to?