Dear Santa...

Dear Santa, just me, Kinley. First of all, I just want to say thank you for listening to my complaints over the last few years. The helper you sent to our local mall was a gazillion times better, in fact, I told my mom I was pretty sure it was really you. I thought it was super funny when you told me you were going to need another sleigh to bring everything on my list. I hope I didn't talk your ear off, my mom told me I was talking to you for a really long time. I wrote you a letter a few days ago just to remind you what I really want. I really want you to come to my town and bring me a Little Einstein computer. I told my mom that your favorite treats are hot chocolate cookies and orange juice. She looked kind of funny but said she'd try to make those. Anyway, I had a great time visiting you and I hope you have safe travels.

Your friend,

Kinley

Christmas preparations

We've been very busy getting everything ready for Christmas. I did my usual pathetic attempt at decorating (trust me, Martha would have a heart attack). I'm finding that Christmas through the eyes of a 3 year old is much more magical than my rusty old eyes. Kinley, of course, beyond excited for Christmas to come. Unfortunately she is not quite understanding everything, she is under the impression that we each have our own Santa Clause and hers happens to live at the North Pole.

In an effort to embrace my inner Martha (assuming I have one) I decided to attempt a recipe for homemade marshmallows. I must say that even with my lack of culinary skills they turned out really well. Of course they could be cut into perfectly little cubes like the picture in the magazine, but I'm still rather impressed with myself. Kinley had an absolute blast dipping them all in the sprinkles. Around 4 o'clock she was totally bouncing off the walls, so I guess next year I will step up my sprinkle consumption monitoring. I think this might be our new holiday tradition.


If anyone is interested in having their own children on a sugar high, let me know and I'll send the recipe right along.

Opposites do attract

We did a little babysitting this morning, well, it's not really babysitting when you have your kid's best friend come over to entertain her. I realized while Kinley and Reese were playing today that they really are complete opposites. Thank heavens for Reese, I think she helps calm Kinley down and she definitely helps her be a bit more girly. The girls wanted to play dress up. Of course Reese went straight for Snow White and Kinley went straight for "Spiderman Girl". In an effort to glam it up a bit, Reese suggested that Kinley add some jewelry. Kinley then spent a good 10 minutes trying to convince Reese that princesses fight bad guys, Reese felt like they probably didn't do that, and then she patiently watched Kinley fight off the bad guys that were coming for the princess. Oh well, they had a great time together, they usually do. I think we all need a friend who is willing to watch you fight off pretend villains while wearing a dozen necklaces and never once calls you cuckoo.

Quote of the Week Part 2

This week we have Rich to thank for our Quote of the Week. Rich has expressed several times lately his hatred of glitter. Today I asked him to put our star on top of the tree, unfortunately the star was also glittered. So he starts in again with his animosity towards all things glittered. This leads us to our quote.

Rich: Look at all this glitter. Glitter on my hands, glitter on the couch. I'm going to invent a non-transferable glitter.

Me: I'm so sorry, I had no idea you hated glitter so much.

Rich: It's not your fault. It's Christmas' fault.

So thank you Christmas, you're ruining our lives. You and your stupid glitter. Merry freaking Christmas.

Quote of the Week

This week's Quote of the Week comes courtesy of Kinley, just a tiny excerpt from dinner last night. "I really like this dinner but it sure doesn't taste good."

The runner-up quote also goes to Kinley. While driving past Albertson's on our way to Target, Kinley asked if we were going in that store. I told her no and that we were going to Target. She said, "oh, is that store only for old people that don't have kids?"

Halloween party and Halloween night

This year we were invited to an awesome Halloween party at a local celebrities home (right Kandis?). Okay, so they are our friends and neighbors too. The party was a blast and I'm pretty sure it was the first Halloween party we've ever been too. I was even able to convince Rich to dress up, which he hates, but he looked wonderful. He went as road kill and I was dressed as partly cloudy with a chance of rain.

Here is the famous hostess and her hubby. Aren't those the best 80's costumes ever??? His jacket literally says "members only". So awesome.

The spooky food and treats.

Then on to Halloween night. We went to the neighborhood's trunk or treat and had a great time. After every car Kinley would say, "that was so fun, I'm having a blast." It was pretty cute. The highlight of the night for her was handing out Halloween candy. Whenever the doorbell would ring she would come running yelling, "there's some more treatsters." Then she would give them a gigantic handful of candy.

Here is Kinley as Snow White with her friends Logan the vampire and Landen the dinosaur.

Carving pumpkins

Pumpkin carving at our house always ends up the same way. I have to gut the pumpkin while Rich does something actually entertaining. Kinley complains the whole time because the guts are gross and scary. Then Rich and Kinley carve the pumpkin. This year Kinley surprised me and actually picked out two seeds all on her own.

Apparently pumpking carving just wears Milo right out. He slept like this the entire time.

Rich and Kinley chose to do a cute little spider pumpkin. I think it turned out pretty well.

Painting Pumpkins

We had a great Halloween this year. Last year Kinley was scared to death when it came to anything Halloween. This year, she thinks that all things "spooky" are totally awesome, which made for a great Halloween. Kinley chose 3 lovely little pumpkins for us to paint. Kinley is currently obsessed with Monsters vs. Aliens, so she chose to paint her pumpkin like Bob. This lead to hear quoting the movie the entire time we were painting. Rich of course had to pay respect to his alma mater. I went with a traditional ghost.

Temporarily out of commission

The blog is temporarily out of commission due to the author coming down with the swine flu. Once the author is able to get death to quit knocking on her door, she promises to blog about their wonderful Halloween activities. For now, the author is considering various methods of revenge towards the evil swine and their flu. She is unsure whether a complete boycott of swine products is in order, or if she should switch to a mostly swine diet as a method of payback. More info to follow.

Another attempt

We decided to take the plunge and try being pet owners again. We bought this little guy yesterday and so far he is making a nice addition to the family. His name is Milo and he is a 3 month old Shih Tzu. Kinley absolutely loves him and so far Milo seems to be tolerating her just fine. We took Milo to get groomed today and Kinley cried for most of the car ride home that we left her puppy. Hopefully Milo works out better than our last attempt at dog ownership did.

New Pictures

Here are a few of our pictures from our recent family photo shoot. Thanks do our most talented friend Kandis for taking these for us. They sure look a lot better on my computer before I post them to Blogger, so just pretend the colors look much more vivid.

She's on a roll

Sorry to bombard you all with Kinley's comments, but this girl is on a roll lately. Yesterday while I was getting ready, I was watching the Martina McBride concert that was on t.v. Kinley was in the bath tub playing with "Bath Tub Mickey Mouse" and yells, "mom, this music is making me sad, and now Mickey just died. Great." Personally I find Martina to be rather uplifting so I don't know what her problem is. Apparently she has inherited her father's bad taste in music.

Then today I informed Kinley that Grandpa Reed had to have eye surgery. I suggested we make him a card to help him feel better. She says, "I know, let's get some bubble gum. I can chew it, then put it in my hand and give it to him. That should make his eye feel better." Absolutely! I'm certain the doctor recommended pre-chewed bubble gum as opposed to pain medication.

I saved my favorite for last. Kinley is becoming a huge fan of dancing, loves to watch it. So I showed her a clip from So You Think You Can Dance of a break dancer. While he was spinning like a maniac on his head she says, "oh, I can do that, but I don't feel like showing you right now." I usually don't feel like demonstrating super awesome tricks to people either.

Words of Wisdom From Kinley

"Mom, it's not fun to be filled up with pukes. It makes us sick."

Flashback to about 12:15 am, and I can hear Kinley crying. I get up to see what is wrong. When I open the door she says, "I puked-ded." She tends to add an extra "ed" sound to past tense words. The poor little thing continued to "puked-ded" for the next 3 hours, then fell asleep, tossed, turned, and flopped around all night. I, of course, didn't sleep a wink for fear I was going to get "puked-dud" on. Then, 7 am rolls around, and some how Kinley is magically cured and back to her usual self. Very strange.

Strange conversations

Kinley and I have been having some very strange conversations lately. I'm starting to notice that not only is she one very funny and silly little girl, she is also a tad on the strange side. Here's a few of our conversations.

Kinley: "Mom, I was talking to Heavenly Father and I said, Heavenly Father, I don't want to eat the seeds (on her strawberries), and he said, that's okay, you don't have to eat the seeds. Then I said, Heavenly Father, I really want some Handy Manny toys, and Heavenly Father said, of course you can have some Handy Manny toys."

Me: "Did Heavenly Father say how you were going to pay for the toys?"

Kinley: "He told me to ask Santa."

Kinley: "Mom, you can't be my best friend anymore. Reese is so much my best friend, I don't have room for you."

Me: "Well that makes me sad. Who is going to be my best friend?"

Kinley: "Maybe daddy has room for you."

Rich and I have both been very busy attending various different church meetings. It seemed like one of us was at a meeting almost every day last week (okay, mostly me). Kinley calls them "mediums", seems like a strange word to not be able to pronounce. Today, I overheard her talking to a few of her friends of the stuffed variety. It went something like this: "Raffey, we are having a medium in 5 minutes. If you are late, you are going to be in big trouble. Tiger, you have to be at the medium too." I only caught the beginning of the meeting, but it was pretty funny. "Thanks for coming to my medium. Today we are going to the dentist. If I'm nice, we get Monsters vs Aliens. Don't ruin it for me." To this I will just say, classic Kinley.

Introducing

Before I had a child, I use to say idiotic things like, "my child will never do.....". Apparently I have bad karma or something. Naturally, my child is doing all of the things I said she wouldn't, and worse. For some strange reason, I always figured that my child would not be one to insist on wearing some crazy outfit in public. I thought for sure I would be able to talk them out of this. As I feast upon my words, let me take this time to introduce you to our new Superhero.

I know what you are all thinking. It's a bird. No, it's a plane. No, it's just Kinley in a ridiculous mask. Wrong! This amazing creature is Batgirl. Batgirl made her first appearance a little over a week ago. Thanks to a cape that I was able to use my poor sewing skills to make, and a great $1 bat mask from Target, we now have this beautiful creature running around. At first, Batgirl was just content to "save" people that were in our house. Then, she needed to save a few people in our neighborhood and we had to take a walk in her costume. Then yesterday, apparently the folks at Walmart were in peril and she insisted on going to save them. I must say, I am proud of myself for actually letting her wear the costume out in public, it is a big step for me. Plus, she makes a pretty cute little super hero.

Shortly after this picture was taken, Kinley said "okay mom, Batgirl to the rescue!" Hopefully she can rescue my sanity, motherhood seems to be knocking it out of me.

Another classic from Kinley

Earlier this week, I was heading out to the movie with some friends. I had Kinley in bed and was just waiting for Rich to come home from his meetings at the church. As I was grabbing my bag and jacket, I could hear Kinley yelling for me. I opened the door and asked her what was wrong. She said, "I put my hand down my pants and now it stinks. I think you should wash it." I thought it was pretty funny, totally disgusting, but pretty funny. The sad part is, it isn't the first time it has happened.

Trying to stay afloat

A friend of mine recently told me that part of the test to become a beach lifeguard includes being able to tread water for 3 hours. I personally think that is absolutely insane and don't understand why anybody would want to do that. However, after a few changes in our lives, I'm starting to feel like somebody chucked me in the ocean and I'm just trying to keep my head above the water. In June, I was called to be the 2nd Counselor in the Relief Society presidency (over Home and Personal Enrichment, hilarious, right?). As of Sunday, Rich is now the 2nd Counselor in our new Bishopric. I am still having a hard time wrapping my brain around these new changes, and I really have a hard time accepting the fact that we are old enough for these callings, but apparently we are. So, for now, I think we are both just trying to figure out how to stay afloat. Unfortunately, my blogging has been seriously interrupted lately, so here is a tiny attempt at catching up on a quick trip.

My brothers Jason and Chad, and sister Shawna, all took a trip to Island Park with their families a few weeks ago. Kinley and I were able to drive up and spend some time with them. We had a blast. I absolutely love Island Park, it is beautiful. We hiked around Mesa Falls and then went to Big Springs and saw John somebody's cabin (sorry, can't remember his last name). Then of course, we had some awesome food and made some smores. Here are a few pictures from our trip.

Kinley loves to sit by the fire as long as she doesn't get too close and somebody will get her stick on fire once in a while. No marshmallows for her though, they're too yucky when they get brown.

Jason with Kinley and his son Wyatt

Chad with his girls Hayden and Haley

Wyatt, Kinley, and Hayden

Kinley, Haley, and Hayden in front of the falls

Horse ride with Aunt Sherry

Kinley and I were looking through some pictures today so that I could come up with a new post. She saw some pictures from a few weeks ago when we did a day trip to Salt Lake. She said, "this is when I rode horses with Aunt Sherry. She is so fun." Kinley would like to thank Aunt Sherry and Uncle Shane for letting her ride your horses. She still thinks it is so silly that those horses ate carrots.

Slip and Slide tutorial

Step one: Rather than using your inflatable boogie board to help you fly down the slip and slide, go to the wrong end of the slide, and stand on said boogie board.

Step two: Get flustered because you aren't moving then sit down and let your inflatable boogie board soak up some water.
Step three: Figure out that you can stand up and basically skateboard down the slip and slide.
Step four: Sit down, relax, and soak up some water, and grin with delight.

Kinley's words of wisdom

Just thought I would share some of Kinley's wisdom with you today. Kinley had her 3 year well child check up this week. She has been to the doctor a couple of times this summer for some trouble with "the no poops" as we call them. I mentioned to her that the doctor would be asking her if she had been pooping in the potty. She then told me, "you shouldn't put fire in my bum because then I will shoot fireworks, and that won't be good." Aahh, wisdom beyond her years.

Birthday Palooza

Kinley had her birthday party on Saturday and I think it was a big success. She had been telling me for days that no big people could come because that would be naughty. I let them come anyways. We invited some friends from the neighborhood to come and have a BBQ with us, and of course we had to serve some Sanpete BBQ turkey, wouldn't be a party without it. Kinley kept changing her mind as to what kind of party she wanted, and finally she told me she just wanted a party, so a party she had. Rich and I decided to splurge this year and bought her a bounce house. I'm quite certain it was a big hit and I think it's going to make us pretty popular in the neighborhood. We were even lucky enough to have my parents, and my sister Nicole and her family join us for the party. I think we all had a great time.

I love this picture, classic family picture. Kinley with a cheesy grin, Kolter a silly face, then cute and adorable little Paige and Hunter.

Birthday palooza was very fun this year, but next year I think we'll be going much more low key. Thanks to all who made it to the party, we sure love our neighborhood.