Great To Be 8!

Kimball turned 8 June 4th. This was something he’d been looking forward to for many months. He knew he could be baptized when he turned 8 and he really wanted this. I am so happy for Kimball. He is such a kind, sweet, funny, enthusiastic, and smart boy. If anyone knows how to make me smile, it’s Kimball. Well I had spent much of May working to remodel a room for my parents to stay in when they came up for Kimball’s baptism. But so many things kept coming up that I was getting stressed and way behind. I started to realize my attitude was getting in the way of celebrating Kimball. I was stressed about getting my house fixed, and inviting people to the baptism and over for lunch after, etc. Guilt or love, I’m not sure but I decided to throw a birthday party. And with only 1 days notice, every single kid we invited came! It was the hottest day of the year so one mom called just before she dropped her son off to ask if he needed to dress for water games. I told her that would have been a great idea if I would have thought of it sooner. But once the boys arrived I realized the water games were necessary. So I got two buckets, gave each kid a paper cup and with the hose as the team boundaries said go and they began dousing each other for the next 45 minutes. It was the best party I ever threw. If only I knew it was that easy when I started hosting parties 9 years ago.

Kimball’s friends gave him “smart kid” gifts like book certificates, science experiment kits, and even a set to build inventions like a radio. He was so excited about it all, but all that got put a hold shortly, because John got him another Star Wars Lego kit, and when Kimball gets Lego sets he disappears for a few hours until it is complete.

Kimball was baptized June 13th. It was a beautiful service. Many people love Kimball and he had a great show of support at the baptism including: Grandma & Grandpa Cox, Grandma & Grandpa Jeppson, Uncle Denise, cousins- Joshua & Jonah, friends Korosh & Paul and their mothers, the Barrios, Bishop Guluka, Sisters Venn and Akin from the Primary presidency, Sister Bagley his primary teacher, and Brother Beland our home teacher. We are so grateful to his grandparents for making the extraordinary efforts to come up and attend.

After the service we came home for a little brunch attended by a few family and friends. But Kimball did not join us; he went in my room and went to sleep on my bed. He said he did not feel well, but I thought he was over exerted from the events of the day. After everyone left and the kitchen was clean John and I left the kids in my parents care and went to get Katie a birthday gift. We returned to find Kimball very ill. Good think Mom and Dad were there to care for him. Mom stayed home from Church with him the next day as he was recovering. He was nearly perfect Monday, but with the Swine Flu hysteria I kept him home and he played with his cousin all day. You’ll be happy to know no one else got sick. But I feel bad for the cute little guy.

You Don’t Wear Pink to Meetings!

Gail joined the track team at school. I was thrilled for her to do it and encouraged her in the endeavor, so to that end I made sure I attended each of her meets. The morning of her second meet I woke early, dressed and put on an outfit which I hoped would not destroy my daughter’s position in the eyes of her peers. That day I had several errands around town so I knew I would not have time to saw, chop, stain, or glue anything and I also had no time for the gym, so why not dress up. As a result, my children saw me in make-up and slacks at the breakfast table for the first time in yes, probably a year. Well such a strange sight did not go unnoticed. The boys instantly started asking me if I had a meeting that day. But then good old James piped up and said, indicating to my blouse, “You don’t wear pink to a meeting!” So Curtis, you may want to inform Elton of that. Anyway, they were so impressed with my outfit; I took another look at it. That is when I realized, only my underwear was originally mine: the boots I bought for Gail back when her feet were as small as mine, the pants my friend got at Good Will for her sister, but her sister did not want them, the blouse, another friends gave me after she decided she’d never wear it, and the silver and gold belt (which treasurer loving James was most enamored with) a different friend’s secretary off loaded to her, she then gave it to me. It’s just like I’ve always said, “My friends give me way better stuff than I would ever buy.”

The kids made me feel so good in the hodgepodge of hand-me-downs that I decided to wear the same thing the next week to Pack Meeting. That was an important Pack Meeting because Hyrum was earning his Webelos badge and his Arrow of Light. Kimball came to the meeting in his church suit because John and Bishop Guluka arranged that Kimball might have his baptismal interview after the meeting. Well, I did not know they were planning to welcome Kimball into Cub Scouts and give him his Wolf book at the meeting, but they did. So when they called Kimball Jardine to the front, he looked so cute and official striding up in his suit. Unfortunately, something came up and the interview was rescheduled, but Kimball was happy to be an official Cub Scout.

Who was not happy to be an official Cub Scout was Hyrum. As part of the Arrow of Light ceremony a scout leader painted stripes across his face. He almost started to cry about this and told John and I it is against our religion to paint our bodies, etc. My kids analyze so many things way too much. Hyrum was not too happy about the whole thing, but I was thrilled! Getting Hyrum through Cub Scouts was a chore. Now Kimball on the other hand has been reading Hyrum’s scout books for years and can’t wait to experience everything in it. You go Kimball!

Easter vestido

Well my computer has been in and out of Dr. John’s care for the past 4 months. It seems when the kids get the idea that they can use my resources for their own entertainment my stuff ends up trashed. But Good old John just keeps putting Humpty back together again. Anyway I finally got about 400 pictures I took this year downloaded so now I am ready to share. So let’s blogg!

There is so much to write about the comings and goings around here, but today I will just start by sending pictures of the little girls on Easter Sunday. In March I was in St. George for my Grandfather’s funeral and Marcy, my sister-in-law asked if I wanted to go shopping with her. I hate shopping and she was going to the outlet mall which I hate even more than regular shopping, but I love being with Marcy so of course I wanted to go. In addition I only had with me sweet little Katie. Shopping is much more tolerable when I don’t have kids running around, yelling, grabbing everything off the shelves, and repeatedly asking, “Can I have this? When can we go home?”! Well Marcy it seems is an expert shopper and knew all about the great sales at Children’s Place. I went crazy. With totally cute velour blouses, pj’s, and corduroy pants for $2 each who wouldn’t? And there, next to the clearance rack I couldn’t help but spy the Easter duds. Well, if you haven’t figured this out by now I go for the practical. But then and there, holding an armful of awesome sales, I decided to splurge on full price Easter dresses. I didn’t go hog wild because I got only dresses and socks and hair ribbons for the two little girls. Everyone else had to do without.

Febuary the cursed month

Febuary was a cursed month for us. It all started the first Sunday of the month. Shortly before we were to go to church, as I set out to dress Esther and Katie, Gail came to me all disgruntled. In an attempt to defuse the situation I got behind schedule and I was not able to put Esther’s shoes on her. This got us to church just as the service was about to start. Sending the 4 oldest children in I picked up shoeless Esther and my big bag out of the car, and proceeded to shut the door, hard so it would stay closed. To my horror, Esther’s toe was in the way. I turned to Gail and told her to go get John. I told her he would be on the stand but she would have to walk up to him and tell him to come out. I was so proud of her for doing just that. John came out and drove me and the three youngest kids to the doctors office and then to the emergency room at Children’s Hospital in Seattle. Esther and I were at Children’s for about 7 hours and she left with 12 sutures in her big toe on her right foot. They took an x-ray which showed a possible chip of the bone. She had to take antibiotics to prevent an infection. Well the second day I gave her the medication she threw up every time I gave it to her. So the 3rd time I gave it to her she threw a fit and spit it out. I told her, “It’s yummy! It’s strawberry!” She replied, “It’s not strawberry, it’s poison!” Now she sings this song she made up about the doctor fixed her toe, thank you doctor

Then the last Sunday of the month it was Isaac’s turn to keep me away from church. He and Esther were on the bathroom counter and Esther pushed him off. He fell and hit his mouth on the toilet and it bled profusely. This was about an hour before Church starts, so I finished getting everyone ready and drove over to Church. I informed John that I was taking Isaac to the doctor’s office and left the other kids to fend for themselves in Sacrament Meeting. I drove him over to Pediatric Associates (our children’s primary care physicians) after lecturing him about how he had to be brave (I did not want to take him to Children’s Hospital Emergency Room for 2 stitches and Pediatric Associates won’t put stitches in screaming children). He was very brave and received 2 stitches. I think I need to find out where to purchase sterile un-barbed fish hooks because putting stitches in looks very easy and it is very expensive! We made it back to church in time for Relief Society. Between the times that Esther got her toe sewn together and Isaac got his face sewn up a mild flu slowly ran all through the family. As the last two kids came up in the middle of the night and threw up all over my bed I couldn’t help but just laugh. So I was very happy to start with a fresh month in March.

Also in February we dealt with a little bit of car trouble. John drives a 22 year old Toyota Camry. Well in January it started having this problem where when he would pull out into traffic it would sometimes stall. I find that a bit worrisome. But he was dealing with it okay, until one day the speedometer stopped working. Well, then he decided to take it to be repaired. Rob, our mechanic had a difficult time finding parts for such an old car, but soon had it all taken care of. Why did the speedometer stop working you may ask…well it had actually turned so much for so long, that it actually wore the shaft off. Rob had never seen that happen before! In addition he was amazed to see so many original parts left in the car and warned many of them were nigh unto death! So I advise John not to drive it too much on the freeway. Also, the tires had a slow leak. So John would fill them with our air compressor. The kids do not like the sound of the air compressor. So when he turned it on they all stared screaming and Kimball said, “Quick, we’ll all be safe downstairs!” John assured him they would be safe upstairs and to this Kimball replied, “That’s because you never read the manual!” When you read the owners manual you wonder why Hamas does not purchase air compressors to launch at Israel, because if everything that they warn could happen, did happen more frequently than the 1 every 10 million times it does they would be lethal weapons. Anyway, Kimball cracks me up. He loved to read stuff like owners manuals and learn how things work. We got him a circuit board set for Christmas and he is always building stuff and making adjustments to his creations so they will do different things.

Christmas 08

Christmas is a perfect example of the complexities of life known only to a parent.

This year Esther got a Mrs. Potatohead doll for Christmas. Now, just a touch of background here…the first Mr. Potatohead I remember seeing belonged to Nicole Oilier. She owned one when we lived across the street from her on 900 W, and for me it was love at first sight. I mean, the doll has tons of accessories which can be attached anyway your heart desires and then they can all hide in a special secret compartment. Since that day, I always wanted one. BUT, it was John who chose this particular gift for the little princess. Okay, so in fact I was a touch excited; no, I would not be the proud owner of a Mrs. Potatohead doll, but by bestowing this Holy Grail of toys upon my own child, I would be in close proximity to it. Soon after Mrs. Potatohead emerged from her box, her true character unfolded. Poorly designed, the pieces fall out of the holes, and the union-suit like trapdoor intended for storage almost never stays in place, opened or shut. Esther and I quickly discovered that Mrs. Potatohead’s glasses, earrings, and lips stay on a human better than the artificial tuber. Pieces of Mrs. Potatohead litter the house. Though far from the bane of my life, I gain little pleasure from this long anticipated gift. But Esther cracks me up every time she asks for different pieces of this perpetually disassembled puzzle. “Where’s tatohead?”

This Christmas Erin dispelled another long held wish when she gave me a Chia Pet. Hey, I saw the commercials how many years ago and instantly felt drawn to them. Christmas morning I opened that hippo Chia Pet and quickly got it soaking in water to plant the next day. I carefully followed all the directions and soon “Hairy Hippo” was looking fine. My Chia also came with a little alarm clock which plays the Chia Pet theme song. I chronicled the development of Hairy by photographing each day’s growth, and considered starting a website dedicated to my Chia Pet’s life. About 13 days after Christmas, Hairy sported the perfect Chia coat. 15 days after Christmas Esther gave Hairy a haircut by pulling out all the plants on one side of him. Three days, and 2 “haircuts” later I gave up on dreams of becoming a window horticulturists. The good news is, Hairy was the perfect example for my Relief Society lesson when we read Matthew 13:20-21

20 But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
21 Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.

E.B. White a true Optimist

Well this is all new to me, and I’m sure most of you have little time for a microscopic view of life for a Pacific Northwest family, but I decided to try and write a little “blog”. Why do it? I don’t know a faster or, cheaper way to send pictures to my mom. Also, I think my kids are really funny and I love to share their stories. Agree with me or not, I feel like someone cares if I send our little adventures out into cyberspace.

So give me a few weeks to work all the kinks out and remember what it was I wanted to tell my mom for the past 3 months. I’ll try not to waste your time should you choose to actually read my words.

I officially begin my life as a blogger with a little story from the life of my friend, Stacy. To make life a touch easier for this amazing mother of many sons, Daniel, Stacy’s husband, decided to remodel their kitchen. Yes, I am jealous, but so as not to be trivial about it I offered to loan her a bunch of my outdoor cooking equipment. I may be jealous but not uncompassionate towards a friend living without a kitchen for two months.

Perhaps it is all the years of listening to “Especially for Mormons” stories in Sacrament Meeting that made me the way I am. It goes like this: someone needed help and was either helped or not. If they were helped the world is great and thus we should all strive to be like the protagonist of the story. If they were not helped we are all to feel bad and secretly determine never to let it be said I could have helped someone but did not. And thus, years of conditioning compel me to search out opportunities to be of service to my fellowman. That said, let’s begin our story…

At Cub Scouts one day Stacy (read here Damsel in Distress) tells me Daniel barbequed hot dogs in the rain for Easter Dinner. Ding! My ears perk up and my mind begins searching for the perfect solution, the way I can HELP. Now this one is easy. You see I have fanaticized about a kitchen remodel for 2 years and so I thought how I would deal with the heart of my home ripped out for 2 months. Pragmatic and cheap as always I planned out an outdoor kitchen to put most indoor kitchens to shame. If that day comes I am ready with 2 massive camp stoves, 2 enormous griddles, and Dutch ovens to go on top these powerful cooking machines. So I thrust upon my befuddled friend a cook stove, griddle, and 2 Dutch ovens. Stacy sweetly smiled and drove away. Well, two weeks later the camp equipment still sat in the back of her car unforgotten, until…On Monday morning Stacy opened the car door only to discover thousands of baby spiders and their little “parachutes” stuck all over the ceiling of her car. It seems the camp equipment had a little more in it than just big BTUs. Stacy told me “They had no where to fly away to. It was just not as sweet as Charlotte’s Web.”

Well sorry to give you a taste of Arachnophobia Stacy…can we PLEASE still be friends?

Try again

I just got off the phone with Gail and it reminded me that I need to add some pics...now if I can just find them...

So how is that for random? Most of this is like from Christmas 08.

Later I will really start sending interesting pics and stories, but I am so behind until the middle of June so forget it until then...