My Adorable Little Cave-Kids

I have been listening to audio on my MP3 player of a book from the IF Public Library: Happiest Toddler on the Block by Harvey Karp. I just happened to stumble upon it...if nothing else it's given me a funny little paradigm shift that has helped me chuckle at Shay's behavior (and Kysa's) without wanting so badly to pull my hair out.

I thought this review on the book was pretty good: http://thecelebritycafe.com/books/full_review/1174.html

Shay is between the stages of "Neanderthal" and "Cave-Kid". Kysa is between a "Cave-Kid" and a "Village Person". HA!

I was listening to some of the audio while I was watching the two of them in the bathtub, and I just kept laughing. I think I'm going to pick up a few tips from the audiobook that will help me be a better mom. I will report back once I've listened to the whole thing.

It was fun to go to the library. We hadn't been in a long time, and I decided it was time to start going regularly again. Kysa enjoyed being on the computer listening to a story for about 20 minutes. Shay was her usual wild self, and of course Raleigh is great in that setting. One thing the book said was that the toughest age is usually between 18 months and 24 months--and that's actually when the "terrible twos" usually hit with full force. I would agree with that wholeheartedly!

Ty helped his dad and the gang with a cattle drive today. Sue watched the kids this morning so I could attend our bi-weekly staff meeting.

Raleigh's Birthday Invite

Raleigh is NOT happy about this little birthday invite--which I'm just
printing off as photos as Sam's Club One Hour for 15 cents each. He said,
"Well, nobody else had invitations with their pictures...I just want a
normal invitation... I don't want people to laugh at me...I know, we can put
a Halloween sticker over it!" I haven't gone to pick them up yet....we'll
see. I guess I'm already starting to embarrass him. Yikes!

Halloween Costumes

Monkey See...

Shay is working on doing some "swingin" of her own.

Living Room Campout

This is what I came home to this afternoon...looks like fun to me!

Fireman's Hat

The kids liked the hats I brought home from the 10K. Kysa called it her
cowboy hat.

October Snow

This is Shay wearing the maroon dress I wore when I was two, trying to
figure out what's up with the skiff of snow on the lawn. It snowed over a
foot in Paul and it's not a good thing for the farmers who still have crops
to harvest.

What a View!

Grace lives directly across from the beautiful Conference Center on West
Temple. Isn't that an amazing view from her 7th floor apartment!

Snowy October Morning at Temple Square

Rudyard Kipling's Famous Poem "IF" was read as part of the Tabernacle Choir
program this morning. It's a classic, and here is the text of the poem:

If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Susan's House

Juan has a HUGE Transformer collection--Kirby would be impressed!

Hill Air Force Base Firehouse 10K

I went to SLC this weekend to hang out with Atim and Grace AND Susan. I
needed the break, and was so grateful for the chance to go down there. Atim
treated me to a great dinner at Market Street Grill Friday night and then we
had a great time talking back at the apartment before finally hitting the
hay. We thought seriously about sleeping in Saturday morning instead of
heading up to Hill Air Force Base for a free 10K run, but we managed to make
it out the door. Susan Venegas and her cute little family came too as Juan
is an awesome runner. He got second place and burned some serious rubber...
I can't remember his exact time but I think it was around 38 minutes!

Atim finished ahead of me by a couple of minutes, so I have to give her a
ton of credit. I made the mistake of stopping at the turn and getting a
Gatorade and after that my legs didn't work so well. My 5K time was 25
minutes...which isn't that great considering the first half was mostly
downhill. It didn't help that the second half of the race was back up the
HUGE Hill Air Force base hill. It seemed like it would never end. But it
did, and I was so thankful to get the awesome workout in for the weekend.
It was pretty dang cold and even snowed on us a bit while we were running,
but like Atim said, it was sort of calming--as weird as that sounds.

After the race we went to Striders, the running store in Layton that
sponsored the run, and I got a nice pair of Saucony's for $25 on clearance.
Pretty excited about that. We also hit CostCo and I got some chocolate for
Kelsy, vitamins, and adorable little dresses for the girls. Kels met us at
my favorite ice cream place in the land, Nielson's Frozen Custard off 2600
S. in Bountiful. Then Atim and I headed home to shower and take a nap
before enjoying a lovely dinner with Grace, the most amazing 90 year old
woman you'll ever meet. There's no way you'd ever guess she's 90. She's
sharp as a tack and healthy and beautiful. After dinner we were off to
Susan's house to visit. She has a really nice house near Fashion Place
mall, and we talked and talked and talked until about 12:30. Haven't done
that in a long time...stayed out until 12:30 with friends. Yeah, we were
really partying it up while Susan nursed little Sienna. Party animals that
we are. :)

In the a.m. we went to the tabernacle choir's "Music and the Spoken Word"
performance. How uplifting! The t.v. and radio broadcasts just can't do it
justice. We all loved it, Atim especially enjoys the spirit she feels when
she hears that kind of worship music. I took some pictures of Randy Jensen
singing in the choir, who is a good friend of my parents who used to live in
Paul.

I missed the kids but I know they had a super time with their dad. They had
a campout in the living room last night--Ty even set up the tent.

Grandma Sue's Raspberries

Shay LOVES eating Grandma Sue's good raspberries. She had a bumper crop
this year, and we're so thankful to be the recipients of her hard work.
Kysa and Raleigh also enjoy them.

Kitty Love

We have three outside kitties now--"Snow Shack", a pretty female Siamese mix
who is 4 months old, and these two male kitties, "Gus Gus" (white) and "Jack
Jack" (black). The girls LOVE the kitties, sometimes a little too much! I
decided to follow the girls around and do a little feline photo shoot. I
think I'll make a slide show because I have way too many cute pics to post.

I hope I don't get in hot water with the humane society for the picture of
Kysa holding Jack Jack around the neck. She wanted to show him off, and she
got in trouble....after I snapped the photo.

I've never been much of a cat person, but they are a lot of fun for the
kids. It really stinks being allergic to so many animals. I can't enjoy
them like a normal person. But thankfully having them outside isn't too
much of a problem. It really helps if I remember to change the girls
clothes when they are done playing. Just what we need--more laundry to do!

Ups and Downs

We love and hate this playset. Love it because it's fun and hate it because
inevitably the kids get hurt one way or another. Kysa was hanging from
underneath the slide and fell back and bonked her head on the ladder. But
as usual, she was not to be deterred.

Raleigh's Picture in River City Weekly

http://www.rivercityweekly.com/2008/10/09/dribbling-for-diabetes/

I Won! I Won!

I was listening to 590 a.m. and the morning show guy Mike said the first five people to email him from the link on their web site would get 2 free tickets to American Carol.  Josh Stuart from our old ward also won some tickets.

 

Cool, huh!

 

Clowning Around

Ty, Shay, and Kysa have all thrown up this weekend, and I had basketball clinics yesterday for my JDRF fundraiser!  So much for a relaxing conference weekend!  Luckily the sickness  has been short lived for each of them.  Raleigh and I are hoping we don't get whatever they have.   We got out some Halloween decorations at Raleigh's request last night after the girls went to bed.  This morning, the kids had fun with some costumes and wigs.  Kysa wanted me to put on a mask, which I did, and then I was quiet for a few seconds.  She kept saying, “Mommy….mommy…”   Then I yelled “GRRRR!”  She yelled, “No!  Don’t do that!”  And started crying.  She was MAD at me.  Ooops. 

 

 

Accessorize...

Kysa shows off a style all her own!

Watching General Conference with Dad

the life of a mom

Ty doesn’t have school today so I’m trying to get some work done this morning.  I’m sitting in the living room working on my laptop, and Kysa comes in with a half-eaten boiled egg and says, “Mom, I don’t want this.”  Before I have time to react, she drops the egg and it lands right on my laptop keyboard.  NICE!  Little eggy pieces all up in my keys.