Vampire Obsession

While Kodi's obsession is princesses and Spiderman, Kyson is obsessed with the movie "Hotel Transylvania" so he loves all things Halloween.  This month's favorite is a vampire, and Kyson decided to make a vampire costume out of paper.  It's really cute how he went through the trouble to cute out each part of the "mask" and tape it all to his face.  It looked ridiculous, but was adorable to see how proud he was of it. 

The Joseph Smith Story...Kyson's Version

In church, Kyson has been learning about Joseph Smith and the first vision.  He decided to draw a book about it.  I heard him telling the story while I was doing the dishes and the story involved the Easter Bunny and some other characters, so I decided to have him tell the story again, and I'd videotape it this time.  The second version didn't have the Easter Bunny, but it did have a caterpillar.

Here is the Joseph Smith story, according to Kyson.

(I'm having trouble uploading the video - I'll try again another time)

President's Day Family Bonding

Because I had President's day off, I wanted to do something with the family and spend time together.  I feel like I'm gone so much that I savor every opportunity that I have, at least I try.  We decided to take the kids to the Children's Discovery Museum at the Gateway Mall because I had found a 2 for 1 coupon.  I'm glad we went too, becuase the kids really seemed to enjoy it. 

They had all sorts of exhibits that the kids really enjoyed.  They got to pretend to be construction workers and firemen, there was a huge water exhibit to play and watch science in action.  There was a store that they could pick things and then children would check them out as cashiers.  There was a farm where you could sit on a big horse, an area where kids could pretend to pump the gasoline into a car, and a hild size house with a full kitchen, grand piano, and all sorts of fun stuff.  While it is a pricey museum, the kids truly enjoyed it and we ended up staying for hours.

After the museum, we went across the street and visited the Clark Planetarium.  We didn't spend much time becuase the kids were tired, but there were some cool things for the kids.  The kids were able to walk on Mars and the moon.  I was most impressed that Kyson was able to name all the planets.  He has really learned a lot in school and it makes me very happy.

I'm so grateful for time off.  I know that I'm always thinking about all the things I could be doing on my day off - like cleaning the house, painting, or getting to projects I always think about, but I've been thinking a lot about President Uchdorf's talk in conference about regrets.  He said that the one thing that people always seem to regret as their life is ending is the way they use their time.  They don't wish they'd spent more time at work, they always regret not spending more time with their loved ones.  I really want to try and use the little time I have to be with my loved ones.  A day at the museum is a way for me to work toward that.

Kysonisms

When I opened the washer this afternoon to put the clothes in the dryer, there was one thing that I kept saying: "I love my son, I love my son, I love my son..."  My sweet boy left tissues in his hoodie and put it in to be washed.  I then had the luxery of trying to get tissues off an entire load of darks - which was not fun.

While this was one of those days when I had to remind myself of the love I have for my son, I'm grateful for the wonderful person that he is.  When he doesn't have an attitude problem, he is the sweetest child.  He is very helpful, has wonderful manners, really wants to work hard and do well, and he accepts feedback well.  I hope he works out the attitude problem as he matures, but I guess we all have our vices that we need work on.

In the recent months, Kyson has been sharing some interesting things.  Some of my favorite Kysonisms are:

"Mom, when you were little, did you lose all your teeth and then get really old?"

"Mom and Dad, you need to get married in the princess castle.  I'll be the coach."

One day at church:

Kyson - "Mom, I want to share my testimony."

Mom - "Do you know what that means?"

Kyson - "Yes"

Mom - "So you know you go up in front of everyone and tell everyone what you believe?"

Kyson - "Yes, Mom.  I want to share my testimony."

Mom - "Okay"

When we got to the front and in front of the puplit, Kyson laid on the floor and left me to share my testimony.  As we went to walk off, he asked if he could say "potato bugs" in the microphone.  I said, "No."

Five-year-olds are so innocent and I love their enthusiasm and unconditional love.

Throw it Away, Already!

Kodi has had an obsession with princesses for some time now.  Every princess dress she has, she destroyed within 2 weeks or so.  No amount of sewing can repair the damage she does to her princess dresses.  My Grandma Tinsch gave Kodi some money for Christmas and we decided some new princess dresses would be a good purchase.  Even with beautiful new dresses, she will not relinquish the old ones.  On the bright side, she now has a torn up dress that I'm okay with her sleeping in.

Valentine's Day

I wish I could say that Valentine's Day was all I had hoped and imagined it would be.  With  my bsuy schedule, rarely do I take the time to do something really thoughtful for Valentine's Day.  I do acknoledge the holiday and give a gift and some kisses and snuggles, but it's never anything special.  This year, I was ispired to do something more thoughtful.

Wednesday night, I spent two hours making a ransom note that I took over to our babysitter.  Kris knew nothing of my plans and expected Valentine's night to be like any normal night.  at 6:40 on Valentine's evening, the babysitter was to show up at the house with the note I had so cleverly made.  It read: "Kris, Do what I say and no one gets hurt!  Meet a sercret admirer at Chili's at 7:00.  You had better hurry."  He would then (hopefully) figure out that the sitter was there to watch the kids so he could meet his wife for dinner.  I had called Chili's in advance to have a table ready at 7:00 or close to it, and they were expecting us.  I let work early and spent half the day cleaning the house so I wouldn't be utterly humiliated when the sitter showed up. 

During my short time at home, Kris gave me his Valentine gift, which was my favorite Cadbury eggs, some scented candles and lotion.  He wanted to give me a foot rub that night, and I loved the gift becuase he put thought into it, rather than just picking something up from the store.  I felt his foot rub would be the perfect end to the evening.  Then I went to work excited and full of anticipation for that evenings festivities.

Around 5:00, I got a text from Kris telling me that he wasn't feeling well and was started to feel nausiated.  I got really nervous and discouraged.  I responded by telling him to le on the couch and there was some Sprite in the pantry.  Time passed and I never heard back from him.  So I text again confessing that I had planned something and asked if he could pull it together for a couple of hours.  Again, I never heard from him.  More time passed and I text again, asking how he was feeling.  Again, nothing.  Starting at about 6:15, I started calling the house non-stop.  I would call, wait until I got the voicemail, hang up, then dial again.  I did this continually for 30 minutes, with a short break to call the sitter to tell her to wait for a few.  Just before I reached the house, Kris answered the phone.  He decided to go take a nap in the bedroom.  When I got home, he couldn't tell me if he felt well enough to go out, but by then, the surprise was ruined and I cancelled everything.  I took the kids to Cafe Rio and had an evening with my children, depressed, discouraged, and moving toward anger.

The last time I tried to really do a nice gesture was when I planned the weekend get-away.  While we were succeful in getting there, everything imaginable went wrong trying to get out.  I'm starting to wonder if maybe I'm not supposed to do nice things for my husband.  They don't seem to turn out.

I can't get it to go the right way, it won't let me. Sorry

The last time I tried to really do a nice gesture was when I planned the weekend get-away.  While we were succeful in getting there, everything imaginable went wrong trying to get out.  I'm starting to wonder if maybe I'm not supposed to do nice things for my husband.  They don't seem to turn out.

Art Show

I just love Kyson's school.  This Montessori school and its teachers, has been exactly what Kyson needed.  This week they had an art show, and asked the parents to drop by to see their students' art work.  I went to the art show and Kyson was very polite.  He handed me a refreshment and showed me the pictures that he had drawn.  While it was an "art show," it was really only one display board for all the kids.  I thought it was adorable.  Kyson had three pieces in the exhibit, and he was so proud of his work.  While the art show was simple, it's little things like this that make such big differences for these kids.  I'm so grateful we listened to our gut about Kyson's schooling.  This school has been the right thing for him.

  

 

Our Little VIP

At Kodi's school, it was her turn to be the VIP.  I remember making the posters for Kyson's VIPs, and of course I remember making Kodi's.  I was really excited about how it turned out, becuase I thought it looked really good.  I showed it to Amy Hansen, and her response was, "You know it doesn't have to look that good - it's preschool."  That made me feel good - it gave confirmation that it looked good.

Kris went and spoke to her class, but he said it was funny.  The kids are supposed to raise their hands to ask questions about Kodi, but instead they would raise their hands to share a story.  So, Kris didn't really have to do much.  I think that it has gotten a lot easier for Kris.  This is his 3rd time doing a VIP.  Next year will be even easier.

How do you say "Hands Off My Clothes" in Japanese?

Lately, Kodi has made a habit of carrying her clothes around, to the point that she's emptying her closet and has nothing clean to wear on a daily basis.  So I decided to clean out part of my closet to make room for her clothes.  We can lock my closet, but not hers.

While on a quest to find her clothes, she was successful, but instead of going for her clothes, she found something more interesting to her.  My grandparents used to do a lot of traveling and one time, they went to Japan.  My grandmother brought back a kimono and I got to keep it after wearing it for a Halloween costume many years ago.  Kodi found this brightly colored kimono and brought it downstairs to wear.  I let her try it out, but of course, it is WAY too big for her.  She didn't care and wore it with pride.  I snapped a few photos and she obligingly posed.

I can't wait until she grows out of this hoarding habit.  Then my clothes will be safe and she'll have something to wear again.

Jr. Jazz Basketball

Kyson has a friend down the street named Parker, who he plays basketball with in the summer.  It has always made me happy to see him want to do something like basketball with a friend.  He asked to play basketball this season on the Jr Jazz team, so I signed him up and we requested Parker be on his team.  I think it has been so good for him. 

Basketball is definitely not his strength.  In fact, I think he got worse as the season progressed, but he did so much better socially than he did with soccer.  He loved being on the court, running around with the team, but he never went for the ball.  I don't see the NBA in his future, but the opportinity to learn teamwork and sportsmanlike behavior are what is most important to me.  I beieve this has been a great thing for him.  As we left his last game, his coach said to him, "You've done such a great job this season, Kyson.  Keep practicing and we hope to see you again."  That kind of support warmed my heart.  He was a great coach and was so patient with him.  We'll see if he wants to play again next year.

Basketball is definitely not his strength.  In fact, I think he got worse as the season progressed, but he did so much better socially than he did with soccer.  He loved being on the court, running around with the team, but he never went for the ball.  I don't see the NBA in his future, but the opportinity to learn teamwork and sportsmanlike behavior are what is most important to me.  I beieve this has been a great thing for him.  As we left his last game, his coach said to him, "You've done such a great job this season, Kyson.  Keep practicing and we hope to see you again."  That kind of support warmed my heart.  He was a great coach and was so patient with him.  We'll see if he wants to play again next year.