Piano Prodigy

So, I guess Kienna is my little prodigy. I've been trying to teach Kaia and Kienna piano for a while, but just haven't gotten around to it. These last two weeks, however, we've actually been doing lessons and for the most part they're going well.

Today, during Kienna's lesson, she wasn't quite getting one of the songs. So I was helping her by pointing to the notes and counting. She finally stopped half way through and said, "Mom, I'll just do this one by myself." She then proceeds to play random notes all over the piano. Obviously the composer and the teacher aren't needed. I was unaware I have the next Mozart in my house.

Pictures

So, I totally thought I haven't been taking any pictures, only to go onto my camera and discovering over 100 that I haven't uploaded yet. Sigh. So it's time for a picture update. Here's what we have been up to.

Saryn was sitting on the kitchen chair and somehow flew herself off. She only got a little tiny cut on the side of her eye, but after a couple days, it developed into a full on shiner. Very nice.

My Mother's Day Bouquet. I LOVED it.

My little girls who helped Daddy pick it out. They were SO excited.

The card that they made for me. They chose to give me a butterfly and Kaia coloured the left half while Kienna coloured the right. Then Jarett typed up what they said when he asked them, "Why do you want to give Mom the butterfly" There responses are as follows:

Kaia:
Because it is so very beautiful, and I love you. And so I decided to give this to you because it is so beautiful. And I love you so much because you are always so very very nice to me because I am the oldest sister, and you sound very very pretty to me, even though sometimes I make mistakes, and I know you love me even when you are so made at me, and you are so so very nice to me. And you are very very so awesome and pretty.

Kienna:
Cuz I love her and she's very pretty and very awesome and I'll give her some yummy treats and jewels because I love her so much.

Saryn:
Na na na, bla ha to bo no hififi wa. K?

(Yes, Jarett actually typed her response)

This was our trauma. I have not included Kaia and Saryn's pictures of the incident since there were no injuries, they were just jealous that Kienna got pictures taken. Kaia was standing on the bench at the kitchen table while Kienna was eating her crusts that she had thrown on the ground while lying under the table. Of course, the bench started rocking and fell down right on Kienna's eye with Kaia weight on top of it. It was SO sad and she had a really swollen eye for at least a week.

Our backyard picnics have started up again since the weather has been so beautiful.
(When it's not raining)

Saryn was helping to water the Strawberry plants that we planted over the long weekend. She would do this all day and all night if we would let her. She was super cute though.

My Girls night to Moxie's. We all had a crummy week and needed a night of venting. It was a blast and we really needed it. It's amazing what 3 hours with some girls will do for you.

PS - I would like Rebecca and Keltie to notice that there is only one picture - I don't post EVERYTHING.

West Edmonton Mall food court. Gotta love the water jets going over the walk ways.

The famous Whale in West Ed. My kids love it and can't walk by it. I finally had my camera!!

Another shot of the whale. Saryn would only sit at the back...


Well, that is about all we've been up to so far this month. We are heading down to Calgary soon to take in my Sisters in "The Fiddler on the Roof" and a year end Dance Recital. We're super excited for that. Sorry for the serious lack of updates until now. Hope this excuses me.

Kienna

So, this morning at about 6:30 Kienna woke up to grunts and groans and crying. This is really strange for her. When she's sick, she usually is really tough. She just grabs a bucket and throws up etc... Stomach aches really have no effect, but this morning she was really having a hard time. The other thing that threw me off was that it was only on the right hand side and below her belly button. She doesn't have a fever, although I really don't know if appendicitis creates fevers. Anyway, while she was in pain, I was trying to figure out what medicine to give her to ease her pain and I said, "I just don't know what to give you, Kienna!" So she thought she'd help me out and tell me. "Um, You should give me a Belle and a Snow White Barbie". Anyway, she had a really good nap, the pain has lifted and she's doing better now. But I just thought that was particularly funny in a stressful moment. What a goofball.

Way too long........

I apologize for not posting sooner, but I really haven't had pictures or any good stories or anecdotes to write. Now, don't get your hopes up, I don't really have any now............. Just thought I'd check in.......haha. Hope you all are having a great time. This weather is long overdue and has been wonderful. Yesterday we were at the park and had a blast. We stayed for 2 hours and after being whipped by sand in the wind, moved over to a soccer field where the kids ran like crazy. I carried Saryn in the baby backpack and put Kaia and Kienna in the stroller. I think I should win an award for the craziest thing to do!! I was dying by the night. As many of you know, during pregnancy my hips separate and are quite painful. I guess carrying 35 pounds on my back and pushing over 100 pounds (the stroller and the kids and the food combined) wasn't what my body was up to handling. Sigh, the joys of motherhood!! Anyway, back to fight off the ever crazy house!! Happy Long Weekend!!

Backyard Fun...

This was before that crazy snowstorm, but I thought that a few of these turned out pretty cute. Jarett moved the slide up from the basement and they've loved having it in the yard. Now to just get a good shot......aha! Let's get them to sing "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree". Just to explain what they're all doing.

Oh yeah, and "Book of Mormon Stories" (singing "Right-eous-ly")

Kienna in her true element - haha. What a goof ball she is. She did all the songs with her hair clips acting them out!!

Best Week EVER

Well, Jarett finally finished exams. HALLELUJAH. He and I both needed a break, but he took it the next level and surprised me with a trip to Canmore. He had arranged babysitting and had rearranged all my piano lessons etc. so that we could go. (Big Brownie Points). Anyway, it was a wonderful couple days just to get some much needed R&R. If only it was a couple days longer and the weather was better. Sigh. Anyway, with the retreat they gave us a spa credit and I was able to get an hour long massage and an hour long pedicure. It was heavenly and SO needed. Anyway, here are some pictures from my trip to Canmore. We didn't take very many, and they aren't great quality (you can tell it was really foggy and overcast, but it's still beautiful), but here they are......







That morning, before Jarett took me to Canmore, I had an ultrasound....the doctor thought it might be twins, so I got an early one. Thank Goodness there's only one....but here is the picture (for those of you who can see it).

March Photo Shoot

I got to go out with some girls and have a photo shoot. It was super fun. These are my top 3 pictures of myself that I've received.






and a tag.....

1. Pick up the nearest book (at least 123 pages)
2. Turn to page 123
3. Find the 5th sentence
4. Post the 5th sentence on your blog
5. Tag 5 people

"One Woman told me: 'We can hardly afford to provide for our own families....but they knocked on our doors and we must help them.'"

Wow, it sounds like they live in my complex.....haha....

Spring Cleaning

We decided to clean out our backyard......the kids were all over raking up the dead grass.....but they needed gloves to do it. Here's some pics:

In response to Mary's comment.....

okay Mary, here's your answer...... You asked What does Kaia say about the chocolate food group?

"Chocolate doesn't make you smart, it just makes you fat...but it's a yummy treat. But do you know what makes you grow really fast? In our garden we have carrots and lettuce and that grows really fast and what makes them grow really fast is water. So water and carrots and lettuce all make us grow really fast.....that's why I want some water."

The Contrast in Salmon....

So, I might be a little biased, but the following story made me very proud of how smart Kaia is. She was calling a family friend, Zach, on his birthday. The conversation went along these lines:

"Zach, how old are you turning?"
"Can you guess"
"Um, 19"
"Yes, how did you know?"
"Well, last time I saw you, you said that you were 18 and so now you add 1 and that makes 19"
"Wow Kaia, you're really smart"
"I know, I like to eat Salmon"

Obviously, I've driven home the point that each kind of food helps us in different ways, and she's paying a lot more attention than I thought. To contrast this sweet conversation however, I would like to bring you all into my van yesterday. I had just finished buckling up the crew when I remembered that we didn't bring the iPod into the van. . . .

"Uh oh, I forgot to bring the iPod, should I run back in and get it, or should we just go?"
"Go and get it Mom....we'll wait"
"Okay, just give me a second" *deep breath bracing for a run*
"Mom, maybe you should eat some more salmon."
"Why, honey?"
"Because sometimes you're not very smart"

I tell you, if the show "Kids say the Darndest Things" came back, Kaia would take it to new levels....

Anyway, just wanted to write those down before I forgot....you know, because I don't eat enough Salmon.

Easter pics - really late.

We had a fun Easter. The Easter Bunny came after church during naps. (This due to our 8:30 church). The kids loved the egg hunt. Saryn was completely satisfied once she saw the trail of Spearmint Leaves coming down the stairs. She had one in each hand and just wanted to sit down and eat them. It was really cute.

The Count of Monte Cristo (revised)

Okay, for those of you who somehow didn't receive my email (due to wrong email address or complete ignorance) or my facebook message, here goes!!

Hey Everybody....

So, the plan is to start reading the Count of Monte Cristo. I have asked if anyone would like to join me so I actually read and finish the book. It's just WAY more fun to do it with other people. It is quite a long book, so I've divided it so that it won't be as overwhelming. If we are finding this to be too slow we can speed it up and if it's too fast we can slow it down. I have approximated about 100 pages per week. It's an easy read and fairly large print accounting to these 100 pages (depending on your copy it could be more or less pages). I would love to meet once or twice a month to talk about what we have read and have thoughts on it etc. Please let me know if you are wanting to be a part of this or not, so I know who to talk to about upcoming dates etc. Thank you!!

The following is a tentative reading schedule:

Dates	Chapters
April 1-5	1-9
April 6-12	10-17
April 13-19	18-26
April 20-26	27-32
April 27-May3	33-37
May 4-10	38-45
May 11-17	46-52
May 18-24	53-59
May 25-31	60-67
June 1-7	68-76
June 8-14	77-82
June 15-21	83-91
June 22-28	92-101
June 29-July 5	102-111
July 6-12	112-117

Let me know if you're going to be joining me!!

Lord of the Rings

YAY, I'm FINALLY finished the reading of the trilogy. I am saying it's time to have a party. Anyone who has read Lord of the Rings can come and we will have 'Lembas' bread and orc water (punch) and we'll play the Lord of the Rings Trivia game that we have and we can be total Tolkien losers all together - Who's in ???? Anybody??

Thanks Laura.....this made me cry!

By Sister Marjorie Pay Hinckley

I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails.

I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp.

I want to be there with grass stains on my shoes from mowing Sister Schenk's lawn.

I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children.

I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden.

I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder.

I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived.

Road Show

Well, it's all over. We were really worried that it wouldn't be as good as everyone elses, especially after seeing Parkland and all their sets that they built. We won the "Best Acting" award though, so it couldn't have been too bad (I'd say that was thanks to Jack, the Gypsy and the Narrator). Our Road Show was "Jack and the Beanstalk" and we had to base it on Morality. So Jarett was Jack, and was ridiculous (which went over well). Rebecca, Natasha and I were "beauties" that tempted him away from saving the harp. Ben was the narrator. Sandra Lane-Wassing (absolutely hilarious) played the gypsy that gave Jarett the beans and Karen Mitchell played Jarett's mom (really ironic since she actually reminds Jarett and me of his mom). Twila Ellis was the producer and was thrown into this half way, so she pulled through wonderfully. The whole thing was written by Maren, and it was SO much fun to act out (although we are all very glad that it's overwith and it went well.....) Anyway, here are some pictures of us backstage.



Rebecca, Jarett, Ashley and Natasha. Working our charms for the man with the money!!


Rebecca, Ashley and Natasha - "The temptresses"


The tough guys - Jack and the Narrator
(Ben was phenominal with his guitar and singing and his accent was perfect!!)



The whole cast!! Ben, Shelley, Jarett, Ashley, Natasha, Sandra, Karen, Rebecca and Twila.

Book Frenzy

Okay, so I think that for all of you who received my book email (sorry to how many I did send it) I have had many responses and to almost all of them people have said as one of their main choices,


The Count of Monte Cristo




These are pictures of the film and not the book, obviously, but just to get us excited!!


So as of April 1st (this should give people adequate time to find books and finish up current books etc.) I will be starting this book. For those of you who live in Edmonton and would like to join me, we could have a bi-weekly book club review. I will look over the book and have a time line for those who would like to do this with me. Just let me know and pass the word along. I'm thinking Thursday nights at 9 right now, but we will see. Let me know!!

Thank Heaven for Little Girls!!

Just a couple funny things.... Kaia was saying that she doesn't like to do something and I asked her why. Her response was, "Well, That's just the kind of woman that I am". What 5 year old says that? She also commented, when we were over at a friends house, "Do you know what I like about your living room? It's really organized."

Kienna also came into the room recently I was in saying, "Mommy, we can buy a house now, I just found some money!!" She was holding about 65 cents that she had found on my dresser.

Results:

So, we went to the doctor yesterday. Apparently they're both eczema and Saryn has been scratching it in her sleep or something. Anyway, we have a good cream now and it's already almost gone. Kaia's is also clearing up like crazy. She had a severe case of eczema, but because she scratched it so much, it had become infected... so yeah, with antibiotic steroid ointment, it's almost completely gone... Thank you for all your support and ideas. Those are things I'm very fastidious about, so it hasn't been any of those things for sure. We just have lucky fun things like this sometimes I guess. Anyway, new post soon....

Mommy 9-1-1

I need help figuring this one out..... It's on Saryn's thighs and calves and no where else.





Okay, so if anyone has any idea what could be causing this.... please let me know. I've dealt with a lot of crazy skin stuff, but this one has me stumped. It's especially strange because it ends right where the diaper is. So nothing to do with diaper rash, it's all on the legs....and it's all in stripes. Anyway, any ideas, let me know.

Oh, and just for fun, look at Kaia's whole new level of Eczema. I promise we're not some disgusting diseased family......really.