I've Been Tagged

Although I do have a few things to blog about, in the interest of sleep I will humor my friend, Arianne, and play Blogger Tag.

5 Things Meme

What I was doing ten years ago...

1. Getting ready to move to Korea
2. Still single and not dating anyone
3. Answering questions like, "How can you move to Korea? Don't you ever want to get married?" (BTW, my now-husband was about to marry someone else and was not available at the time anyway.)
4. Teaching high school Spanish
5. Living in Utah

Five things on my to-do list today...

1. Go to church (Check)
2. Take a nap (Check)
3. Hang out with family (Check)
4. Plan out the week with my hubby (Check)
5. Check e-mails (Check)
Pretty productive day as far as I can tell :-)

Five snacks I enjoy...

1. Chocolate with almonds
2. Chocolate cake
3. Chocolate ice cream
4. Hot chocolate
5. Chocolate con churros

Five things I would do if I was a billionaire...

1. Buy a house
2. Buy a new wardrobe
3. Travel
4. Pay back my student loans
5. Give money to children's charities

Five of my bad habits....

1. Eating chocolate
2. Staying up too late blogging and checking e-mails
3. Monk (if you know what I'm talking about, you'll understand)
4. Worrying
5. Letting Maija watch another episode of Diego, so I can have a minute to myself

Five places I have lived....

1. Madrid, Spain (twice)
2. Provo, Utah (three times)
3. Schenectady, NY (twice)
4. Hong Kong
5. Quebec, Canada

Five jobs I've had....

1. Pizza Hut server, dishwasher, hostess, cook
2. Cashier at a mini-mart in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
3. BYU Bookstore help desk
4. Utah County Prenatal Program for mothers with substance abuse issues
5. The hardest job of all ..... mother!

The Key to Happiness

Let me say right now that if you think this is going to be a deep, pensive post about how one can find true happiness, you might as well stop reading right now.   This week the KEY to my happiness is that I found my keys!!!   I know, it's a corny play on words, but anyway....

After a morning visit at Grandma's house, I was loading up the girls and decided to stow one of the stowable seats in our minivan.    My mother-in-law was helping me get everyone strapped in and settled, and I walked around to the driver's side.  I looked down on the driver's seat and saw.....MY LOST KEYS!!!!    My mother-in-law found them on the floor of the van right where the stowed seat had been.   I was so relieved and a little frustrated that I had already spent the fifty bucks to replace our mail key.   At least I hadn't gotten to replacing the keyless entry remote yet... Whew!!!   

Oddly enough, in response to a posted comment (see it  HERE), I told a story about Maija claiming the lost keys were in "the car."   In the end, they really were in the car, and, yes, Maija, I am a "silly Mommy."

Here is a cute picture of Sleeping Beauty Maija.  She fell asleep in one of her princess outfits.

 

Losing Things...Including My Mind!

There is nothing worse than losing your keys.  OK, maybe there is something worse than that, but humor me!   About a week ago, my key ring went missing.  Actually, it is only part of my key ring.  I usually have the key ring with my car keys on it, and a separate one with one of those "handy" detachable clips, so I can multitask.  The detachable ring had my keyless entry remote for my car, my house keys, my sister's house key, and our only mail key.  

After days of waiting for the key ring to suddenly appear, Kent and I started searching in earnest for the keys.  We turned our couches inside out to no avail;  it's amazing and disgusting what actually gets trapped inside the crevasses of our couches.   We searched the cars, the diaper bag, my purse, our pants pockets, and anything else we could think of.   Nothing!   I was getting more and more frustrated knowing the mail was piling up in our mailbox that we couldn't get to (not to mention our Netflix movie that was waiting to be watched!)   But we still held out hope that they keys would appear.

On the fifth day, that would be yesterday, I started calling around to find out how much it was going to cost to replace everything.  The post office said that our boxes were actually "builder" boxes, which means the HOA handles it.  The HOA said we had to call a contracted company.  The contracted company said it would cost $63, and we would have to wait a WEEK before they could come.  What?!?!    And this is just for the mail key.  Forget the keyless entry to my car, which I haven't even started trying to deal with yet.   Kent suggested we search again before spending the money to replace everything.  

One more fruitless search, and I finally decided to put our mail on hold at the post office and start the process of replacing the mail key.  I called the post office, and a very nice postal worker told me that she could give the number of an independent locksmith who could do it for $40 and would get it replaced within 24 hours.   So, after all of the searching, phone calls, and frustration, the independent locksmith came 2 hours after I called him this morning, replaced the lock, gave us 3 mail keys, and charged us $50 instead of the $40 suggested by the postal lady.   But, it is replaced!!!  

Now to replace house keys and the keyless entry remote.   

My April Fool's Plans

Although in my world it is still Monday night (3/31), in the real world it is well after midnight, which means it's really April Fools' Day!   I've been thinking about what kind of joke to play on my husband.  I'm fairly confident (I'd say 99.9% sure) that he won't read this blog before I can play a joke on him, so...what to do?  

My first thought was to call him at work and tell him that there had been some kind of clerical error, and we owe $2000 to some financial institution or another.  But then that might be too mean, since I'm pretty sure he'd freak out about that.   I could make up some story about having to leave town for a week to take care of an ailing relative, and that I'd have to leave the girls with him.  :)  *grin*   That's a good one.  Hmmm....   I'll have to keep thinking.

April Fools Part II - What Happened?

(Posted after the fact) 

I finally decided to give my husband a real scare.   I called him at work and told him that the Stake Executive Secretary had called and said that the Stake Presidency wanted to meet with us before the end of the week.   For those who aren't sure what that means, a stake presidency is a council of 3 men who oversees several church congregations.  If they call, it usually means they are asking you to do something big, like be in charge of something.   Kent was definitely a little freaked out (*grin*) and I let him stew about it for most of the day.  Finally, at the end of the day, I told him that it was an April Fools joke.  He was slightly amused, but I thought it was pretty funny myself.   

She's In!

We got an e-mail today from the preschool I was hoping to get Maija into. There is a spot open, so...yea!!!...Maija will for sure be going to preschool in the fall. I think I've even got summer lined up. Am I a soccer mom in training or what?

I've been teaching a little Spanish preschool class for about a month now, and I have to say that I am loving teaching again. There is something so fulfilling about seeing the lights come on, especially when they are so young and are absorbing the world around them. Many linguists believe that there is a critical period for acquiring language, which pretty much ends at puberty, and is at its height in the preschool years. You can see it with these little girls. They are taking so much in and are learning faster than my high school kids ever did.

Maija is in the Spanish class, so between my speaking to her occasionally, watching Dora, and her Spanish class, she is actually picking things up. The other night after tucking her in bed, I was headed out of her room, when she yelled to me, "Mommy! ¡Espera!" which means "Wait!" That made my day! Spontaneous Español. Now I'll have to start working on Rebekah too.

The Preschool Push

One of the "joys" of living on the outer-outskirts of town is that there just aren't enough businesses, stores, or services around. The latest dilemma has been figuring out preschool for Maija. She is starting to go stir crazy at home (making 2 of us) and is asking all the time, "Where's my school?" as we drive past our neighborhood elementary. I kept telling her that she couldn't go to school until she could go peepies on the potty.

Well, now she goes peepies on the potty (most of the time,) and she now says as we pass the elementary school, "I get to go to MY school because I go on the potty." Sigh. Now I have to do that following through part. I started by asking some of the young moms at church about local preschools, and they had great things to say about their children's schools. But, as I soon found out, getting INTO one of these schools would be no easy task.

Believe it or not, to get in for this fall it's pretty much too late already. Luckily, I started contacting preschools and submitting forms before everything filled up, but as it is, we are still on waiting lists. Is that crazy, or what? These kids are not even kindergarten age, and you have to "tour" the preschools, submit forms, pay deposits, and sit on waiting lists to get into the local homegrown preschools - these aren't fancy pre-Ivy League schools. We're talking about your average at-home operations.

The good news is that one of the home-based preschools in our neighborhood says that Maija is as good as in since we are at the top of the waiting list. The sad news is that I NEVER thought I'd be the kind of mother who would be clamoring to get my 3 year-old into preschool, waiting lists and all. Of course, I also had no idea before having a 3 year-old how ready I would be to get 2 hours twice a week with only 1 child at home.

I'm guessing that 30 years ago (OK, fine, 33 years ago) when I was 3 years old things weren't like this. Disposable diapers didn't exist, car seats as we know them didn't exist, and 3 year old children didn't go to Little Gym classes and sit on waiting lists for preschool. I'm not sure what is better, but I will say that those once-a-week tumbling classes sure do save my sanity. I'm already figuring out what we can do during the summer to keep all of us from climbing the walls in our air-conditioned home. I love the desert, but summers can be brutal!

Wish us luck with our preschool odyssey!

Flew Past January, Sliding Through February, and Onto March...

Before I give my 4 big excuses for not having posted in ages, I have to thank those friends who actually check my blog often enough to notice that it is outdated. Seriously, I didn't realize anyone cared....shows ya how much I still have to learn about the blogosphere (yes, I had to look up how to spell that word.)

So here are the BIG 4 reasons why I've been too busy to blog...or too tired....or ....

BIG REASON #1 - Our Trip to Utah

We had been planning for a couple of months to take a trip up to Utah in early January. I had meticulously prepared every detail, Pricelining hotels, rental cars, and using airline miles for airline tickets etc. What do they say about the best laid plans? Well, two days before our flight was to leave, both Maija and Rebekah got fevers. We immediately got them to the doctor's office, so we could make sure they got healthy ASAP. Nice try!!! Rebekah had a double ear infection, and Maija had strep. Both girls went on antibiotics, and the doc suggested we get Rebekah rechecked the night before our flight.

Thursday evening we took Rebekah to the pediatrician, and she said her ears hadn't gotten any better and that she strongly recommended we not take her on an airplane!!! Sigh! She said that both girls were fine to travel, just not on an airplane. We called the airline, the car rental places, the hotels, and luckily, we got SOME of our money refunded. But the real question was whether to try to drive up to Utah or let it go. We finally opted to drive and faced another interesting challenge, snow, LOTS of it! After a grueling drive, we made it to Utah, and proceeded to visit as many people as possible. You can see pics here.

BIG REASON #2 - The Girls' Birthdays

Maija and Rebekah's birthdays are 6 days apart, so I decided to do one party for both girls and have it be a mostly family affair. With 12 cousins on their daddy's side of the family, seven of them under the age of 5, we figured that would be enough chaos and fun for all of us! Although it was Rebekah's first birthday, I knew that Maija would care a lot more about it, so I opted to go with a SuperWhy theme....her absolute FAVORITE cartoon in the whole world. The problem is that the cartoon is new enough that there are ZERO SuperWhy products out there: no dolls, no party items, no posters, nothing. Here's where I prove my dedication as a mother - I made SuperWhy balloons, plates, cups, and a tablecloth all by myself the night before the party....OK, not ALL by myself, Kent did help a lot. But, as he put it, I would never have done this for the girls, if you weren't doing it. That's why I'm the mommy. The party was great! You can see pics here.

BIG REASON #3 - Spain Trip

That's right! Kent and I went to Spain. It was an amazing trip. Not only were we on our own without the girls, but we had such a great time seeing beautiful Spain. I played tour guide, having lived in Madrid as a little girl and again in my early 20s as a missionary. We saw some of the most amazing castles, cities, cathedrals, and I had a lot of fun using my Spanish again. We rented a car right at the airport in Madrid on Friday morning (we arrived at 9am) and then drove straight to my old house in the town of Pozuelo, outside of Madrid. I had visited the house during my mission, and again right after my mission, but that was 14 years ago. Not much had changed in 14 years, but it felt like home being back in that neighborhood.

I've realized that my home is really a combinations of many places and houses, since I moved around so much growing up. To be able to go back and see the places where I lived, gives me a sense of being at home. I don't know if that's what people feel, who grew up in one house, when they visit home...maybe I'll never completely know that feeling, but to me home is more like a puzzle that is made up of many pieces. When it's all put together, I feel at home.

After our stop in Pozuelo, we drove down to the old city of Toledo. We spent the night there and had a great time seeing the city's cathedral and also being there during Spanish "carnaval". We had churros con chocolate (SO yummy) and strolled around like honeymooners, holding hands and reveling in our independence. The next day we drove to the east coast to the timeshare we had reserved, stopping at some amazing sites along the way.

Unfortunately, the timeshare was the biggest downer of our trip. It didn't have any heating, which made it VERY cold, since it is Winter there. There was also virtually no hot water to shower, so we suffered through one night and freezing cold showers, and then decided that even though it would be a lot more expensive, we had to get out of there. We took off within the first few hours, and drove up to Barcelona where we spent 2 days. I won't describe all of Barcelona because you can see the pics here.

After Barcelona, we drove back to central Spain to the city of Segovia. Again, see the pics to get an idea of what we saw in Segovia: the Roman aqueduct, the Alcazar castle, our amazing hotel, and the city itself. Our last night we spent in Madrid, where we enjoyed a Flamenco show. The next morning (1 week after arriving in Spain) we got on a plane and flew back to normal life. It was SO great to see the girls again; I had been missing them a lot. I think the saddest part of coming home was calculating exactly how much money we had spent there, but how often do you get to go to Spain? *grin* It was worth every dollar (or euro!)

BIG REASON #4 - Kent's Birthday

Because Kent is a Valentine baby, we always separate celebrating Valentine's Day from celebrating his birthday. This year Kent requested a karaoke birthday party, so we sang away the evening (see pics here --> ). We also bored everyone with our Spain slideshow, but we sure had fun!!!!

NOW YOU'RE UPDATED! There is, of course, more to tell, but that'll have to wait until another day...

We Made It!

After all of the preparation and anticipation, we made it through another Christmas. Both Maija and Rebekah seemed to enjoy all of the Christmas festivities, and Maija, especially, was so excited to wake up Christmas morning to see if Santa had come. I went into her room as soon as she woke up to detain her while Kent and my family made sure things were ready to go. Maija was chanting over and over again, "The sun is awake, Mommy! The sun is awake! I want to see Santa."

Rebekah was pretty oblivious to why everything was so fun, but she enjoyed it nonetheless. She ripped wrapping paper and played with all of the new toys, and was ecstatic to be getting so much attention. She handled Christmas Eve pretty well too with her cousins; there were 7 children under the age of 5 and then poor Lexi (12), who was the only older cousin for most of the night until Chelsea (15) showed up. We tried to get the little ones to do a nativity skit which turned into a lot of climbing, crawling away, and removing of various costume pieces (or all of the costume in Rebekah's case.) It was a fun evening!

The aftermath of Christmas is still lingering throughout the house, pieces of wrapping paper, a dying Christmas tree, and unwrapped Christmas presents. Even though it's a reminder that I need to get back to the everyday work of keeping our house livable, it also reminds me of my sweet girls on Christmas morning. Sometimes I wish I could freeze them in time and never let them grow up...sometimes.

Countdown to Christmas

I love this time of year! I love the Christmas lights, carols, and the general spirit of the season. Even being in a desert with no prospect of a white Christmas, you can feel that it's a different time of year, a special time. We have had a lot of fun this year getting ready for Christmas because the girls, especially Maija, actually care and understand what is going on.

We got pictures with Santa; we've been watching all the classic Christmas movies and videos (Rudolf the Rednose Reindeer, anyone?); and we have had a great time decorating our tree and looking at everyone else's decorations. Maija is VERY excited to have Santa come and bring lots of presents, anything Dora or Superwhy!

Check out some of our pre-Christmas photos in the slideshow!

Oh, yeah, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Kimberlina and family

Post Traumatic Stress

Does surviving over a month of sick children, not to mention being sick myself and having my mother get sick from my children, count as severe enough stress to require a recovery period? I feel like I have spent the last few days recovering physically and mentally from the constant worrying, cleaning, comforting, and lack of sleep.

I think I can officially say (well, at least for this moment right now) that we are all healthy. Now I realize that doesn't mean that tomorrow (or even tonight) I won't wake up to another sick child, but I will comfort myself with the thought that I haven't had to run the washing machine 24 hours a day or give the same child 2 or 3 baths a day for a few days now.

With that happy thought, we are all getting excited for Christmas and the whole holiday season. Maija is now old enough to know that it's Christmas time. She knows that Santa will come and bring her presents and loves to sing "Frosty the Snowman". Tonight, as my parents were visiting us one last time before leaving town tomorrow, we asked Maija to sing for Grandpa. She had just learned a few days ago that my father's name is Frosty, so she breaks out with, "Frosty the grandpa...." I guess she was serious because when we all burst out in laughter, she looked a little hurt.

Another fun item to add to the blog, Rebekah said her first word tonight, "Ju ju". She was asking for juice, and was happily chanting "ju ju" over and over as soon as she got her juice. They grow up too fast!

Kimberlina