As if I don't have enough to do...: May 2011

5/24/11

Simon's Preschool Program

(Simon with his buddy Xaiden doing "I'm a Little Teapot")

I can't believe that Simon is already done with his first year of preschool! I was so worried going into it that he would be the most aggressive kid and struggle with a stutter. I was wrong on both accounts. The stutter has completely disappeared and he seems to be the most easy going kid of the class (lots of kids have severe mental handicaps). Yesterday was Simon's end of year art show and program for the parents. Zach and my mom were able to come which made me so happy. My mom always comes but it's a rare treat to be able to pull Zach away from work these days. Its feel like just yesterday that we were going to Emmy's art show in this very room 8 years ago.

(BTW - Kids names are getting TOO weird. Daverick? Ryker? Xaiden?)

5/23/11

Beauty School

I've decided that I'm not going to pay money anymore to cut Simon's hair. I'm going to learn to cut hair using him as my guinea pig. He doesn't care if it looks funny. Zach does but he's getting over it. He draws the line at me cutting his or Connor's hair, though, so I guess I need to improve a little before I enter the big leagues.

(Simon is practicing his teapot pose for his upcoming preschool program)

I think this is why I get a little satisfaction cutting my son's hair. I've seen this scene a few times and it brings back good memories.

My mom is 70!

Seventy - it's such a relative number. When I was little, 70 was old. Blue hair, funny smelling, shaky voice, hunched over OLD. Now it's the new 50 apparently. I hope I look and act as young as she does when I'm 70.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, Misty and I put together a ladies lunch at her favorite bakery downtown - Gourmandise, with just a few of her favorite people who were able to come. My sister Erin couldn't make it because she had JUST dropped Spencer off at the MTC the day earlier and had to get back to her girls in California.

Unfortunately, there was a miscommunication between me and two of her favorite people and they were a day late apparently. So sad for them and us. Misty came up with a trivia questionnaire for the ladies to fill out. Some of the questions even stumped me like where she met my dad, and what she wanted to be when she grew up. Others I totally knew the answer to, like where does she think she will meet her maker (in a parking lot) and what was the name of her fur keychain business (Warm Fuzzies). It was fun getting to know my mom a little better. The prize for the most questions right was my mom's favorite dessert at this bakery, the infamous Porcupine.

I think I was singing Happy Birthday but it looks like she is trying to shush me!

Mom's favorite cake - Marzipan! (Spellcheck next time Gourmandise!)

My brother-in-law Mike crashed the girl party, but he brought his cute sense of humor and flowers so it was more than alright.

My niece Elle wasn't about to miss out on a girl party. She even wore a tiara like Grandma.

I spent the week scanning some pictures from her early life to share with her friends. Here are a few of my favorites:

At a high school dance as a senior.

Way to rock the beach body, mom!

My mom with her family - my Grandpa and Grandma Hixon, and my Aunt Bobbi and Aunt Cheri

Ready for a night on the town...

On her wedding day in 1963 with my 2 aunts

Mom pregnant with my brother Quinn and my debonair dad :)

5/17/11

Emmy's first video

I recently helped Emmy and a group of kids from her class make a video to the song "One Step at a Time" that I have been teaching the 6th graders for their graduation program coming up. Here is the finished product. They came up with everything, and I did the video editing.

Import-a-Friend

My mom always told me that more kids were easier than one kid. I have to admit I doubted her for a few years thinking I could only handle having 1 young child at a time. Simon, however, has proven me wrong, and it's too late for me to run out and have another child to solve that problem. So we are constantly on the prowl for a playdate. It's a little program we like to call Import-a-Friend. He has two friends that regularly come over - Carson and Matthew - that he also goes to preschool with. Occasionally we get the unexpected playdate with an older 5-year-old neighbor, and the best scenario in Simon's mind is the rare GIRL playdate. Those don't last very long, though, because girls don't really dig airplanes as much as he does.

Today we have Carson over. I picked them both up from preschool and just kept Carson for the rest of the afternoon. His mom just had a baby so I'm sure it works out for her, too. I get so much more done when he has friends over. I really wish I could do this every day! Is that bad??

Mothers Day 2011

I had my mom over for breakfast on Mothers Day with the intention of trying to make a quiche which I've never done (because I don't like eggs and I won't be eating it myself). I chickened out at the last minute and made something much more appealing to me - crepes. YUM. She is always so complimentary of my cooking efforts. I love having her over. She makes me feel so good.

Emmy made me this flower charm at school. I just love it.

Mom's mother's day present to me were these cute kitchen towels. They remind me of Fruit Stripes gum. I have not one but all 4 hanging on my oven handle.

And this cute little boy picked out these flowers for his mom. I think those are exactly the ones I would have chosen. My favorite color - periwinkle.

Zach surprised me with a new BBQ for my gift. I was thrilled because we have donated our old BBQ to the bees for the last 2 years (translation - the bees have claimed our BBQ as their home and we've been afraid to take it back!). So we will be doing lots of grilling once it stops snowing and raining.

This is my mom's Mother's Day gift from her kids - a new recliner for her "horizontal yard work" that she loves so much.

We spent the evening with Zach's family honoring his mom. And just my luck - his mom wanted to go out for pizza! Have I ever admitted to my unhealthy obsession/LOVE for pizza? Any pizza - Little Caesars, frozen, the Pie Pizzeria. It all works for me. His family found a great pizza place in Sandy - Rock Creek Pizza. Oh my gosh. SOOOOOO good. I want some right now.

Here's to another year of being a mom and having 2 moms still with us - hopefully for many more years! Being a mom is the absolute best job (for me) in the world. I wish I had the energy and money and the years to have 10 more kids because it's what I love doing the most.

Late Night Cravings

The other night Zach got a craving. Not for chips and soda like he normally does (ask me how I feel about that unhealthy habit!). This particular night he was in the mood for something exotic. Mushrooms. Not just any mushrooms. The kind you can't find at the regular grocery store. He searched and searched until he found what he wanted at some earthy food store somewhere and brought home a few ingredients to make a late night snack. He enlisted Emmy's help because she loves to cook, even though she doesn't love to eat most of what she cooks.

Finished result - mushrooms and pancetta on mini toasts. And you know what? It was really good! Gotta hand it to him - he is a natural in the kitchen. No recipes for this guy. Too bad he can't always be the cook.

5/8/11

Save the Tatas

When I ran the Race for the Cure 5K last year, I had no doubt that this race would become a new favorite tradition for me. I was a new runner then and struggled to run the whole thing (finished in 45 minutes running and walking), but I knew that in the future if I kept in shape, it would be something to look forward to.

This year, Zach arranged for me to be a part of Team M'lis, one of his oldest clients, in fact the same client we are going to Alaska with this summer. They go all out with their own t-shirts (which Zach designed) and a pre-race breakfast so I was really excited to join their team! You don't really run as a team. Everyone runs/walks at their own pace and there are so many people that I never saw a single M'lis person after the race started.

Also participating this year were Zach's parents, his brother Aaron, sister Audrey and her daugher Mikayla, and Emmy! And best of all - Zach ended up walking the 1 mile race with Simon on his shoulders. So it was a much bigger group for me than last year which made it so much fun.

Since I'm running up to 8 miles these days on my long runs, a 3.1 miler wasn't much of a challenge so I had a little more fun than last year. I finished in 32 minutes. I'll never be one of those going for the win, just hoping for improvement over my previous times. Some of the funny slogans I saw were "Will run 4 boobs" written on a cardboard sign hobo-style, "Jen's Juggernauts" and a very scholarly couple wearing shirts that said "The Scientits".

The Ultimate Dog Tease

Connor is at that stage where it's impossible to impress, entertain, please, etc. He appears to know it all and we as parents have little to offer, or so it seems. So when Zach was able to show Connor a new viral YouTube video for the first time and get a genuine belly laugh out of him, I had to take a picture of the moment. We have since watched it several times and it hasn't gotten old yet. It might be funnier to us because we have a dog and sometimes it seems that we can understand him.

Take a look..

Tulip Festival

I took my mom and kids to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point last Friday which happened to be one of the few warm spring days we have had this year. Not only was it a feast for the eyes, but the sun felt GLORIOUS. Between playing tennis earlier in the day and the tulip festival, I had quite the sunburn and I was completely happy about it! I've never been to the Thankgiving Point gardens during the festival and I was seriously surprised at how amazing it was. I can't believe how much work those gardeners must have gone to to create such beauty.

Emmy and I were both clicking pictures right and left so here is a sampling of what we captured...

There were literally fields of tulips...