Bed Time

Tonight went as follows. 
9:00-ish - Alyssa in pajammies, Tim reads her bedtime story.
9:15-ish - drink of water
9:30-ish - "nightmare"
9:45-ish - potty
9:50-ish - STILL washing her hands.  I let her know she has 5 seconds to be back in bed before I put her on the porch for one of the deer to take her back in the forest for a sleepover.
10:00-ish - "MOOOOOOOM I have some to TELL you NOW!  I have an owie. See it?"  Um.  No.
10:15-ish - her leg hurts (while dancing in to the family room)
10:30-ish - Alyssa - I just need to sleep somewhere else.  Like your bed.
                  Me - Well sweetie, good luck with that.  Go take a look and let me know where you're going to sleep at.
                  Alyssa - Ok!

My bed around 10:30

Alyssa at 10:45.  Good thing she's tiny.

Field Trip to the "Chapel"

Alyssa's preschool class took a field trip to the state capitol building last month.  She kept saying they were going to the "chapel."  Such a funny girl.

 

Her teacher printed off a bingo card that had pictures of things inside the rotunda.  The kids had to find the different items and mark them off.  

Alyssa, Isabel and Torrey.  Such cute little girlies.

First Day of Preschool 2010

As you can see, Alyssa has made the first day of school picture posing a tradition. 

 At least until she feels I have taken enough pictures.  Then she's done.

Being that we recently relocated, she is in Miss Alby's preschool this year and is loving it.  She has two little friends she talks about, Torrey and Isabella.  Then of course the boy who chews on scissors... not quite sure about that. 

So far, so good.  It's a little weird for me not calling her teacher 5-6 times a week and getting the preschool recap like I did last year.  (Thanks Kaarina!)  So I'm left with Alyssa's rendition of the day's events.  While entertaining, sometimes details are left out (or added) that leave me wondering.... 

And while she spends two hours a day, three days a week at school, it's left me with some lovely me time.  I get a lot of errands done, and have been able to work on some projects.  But it's not so much time that I'm left feeling lonely.  It's gearing me up for kindergarten next year I suppose.      

And the cat gets a point

Poor kitty has had to get used to living in a rather confined space in our new residence.  She was used to being able to saunter through the upstairs at our old house, then be turned loose to go crazy in the basement.  Well she just doesn't have that here.

Every now and then, she goes a little nuts.  She'll race through the family room and make the loop through the kitchen/laundry room area like there's a mountain lion trying to eat her for lunch.  A time or two, she has run right in to my leg.  Once I remember tripping over her, trying not to fall to the floor.  The other time I believe it was her who took a little trip into the wall.  

Alyssa was the unfortunate one to encounter crazy kitty today.  I was having her come in the bathroom to do her hair or something and here comes kitty from the opposite direction.  The cat went racing through the door way that Alyssa was coming through, took her out at the knees and left her sprawled out on her little tummy.  Poor Alyssa!  Dang cat!  Needless to say, kitty got a major time out from her Alyssa.

Side note:  Today as we were walking in to the grocery store, another mom was walking out with a screaming toddler (poor mom).  Lately, when Alyssa has witnessed a screaming child she has informed me that "they are just having a bad day."  Today?  "Mom, is that baby having issues?"  Ha!  Indeed!

Buford

Last week when I was painting Alyssa's soon-to-be room, we were having a little chat.  I love her endless chatter.  She always have something fantastic to say.  That day was no exception.  The discussion went a little something like this.

Me:  Hey Alyssa, who are we painting this room for?

Alyssa:  Um... my boyfriend.  He lives with me.  We live together.

Me:  You live with your boyfriend, eh?

Alyssa: Yup.

Hmmm....

Then her grandpa came in.  Apparently they had a similar conversation.  Alyssa told him she was going for a ride in the back seat of his car with her boyfriend.  (I'm sure she got quite an expressive look from grandpa.)  And an even more shocked one when she later ran by and asked him to babysit her kid for her. 

Oh boy!  The best part of the story?  Her boyfriend's name is Buford. 

Never a dull day with this one.

L-A-GOON

Well, it's official.  I've spent more time at Lagoon in the past week than I have in the last 5-10 years of my life.  And it was quite enjoyable.  We went last week for our stake lagoon day, and met up with my brother-in-laws family.  Then, of course, we had to bounce back with them today. 

I didn't realize how many rides they have for little kids.  My fearless Alyssa had the time of her life.  The only ride she refused to go on more than once was the lady bug bop.  Tim took her on it and as soon as it dropped she started saying "ok, I'm done-I'm done-I'm done-I'm done."  Hilarious! 

When we first got there she kept saying that she wanted to go on roller coasters.  But when we got around to little puff she was NOT interested.  Ok - that's fine.  It's nothing compared to the other things she had been on, but whatever.  Finally today I talked her in to it.  I reminded her about her wanting to go on "roller coasters" and told her that's what Puff is.  "It is?! Well ok - let's do it!"  Silly girl.

She braved the rattle snake rapids - twice.  Both times we were on the side that goes right underneath the waterfall.  Tim and I dove over the top of her so she didn't get pelted with the falls.  It did not save her from being soaked, however.

The swings, of course, was one of her favorite rides.

   Brave, confident and friendly. That's my little girl.  Before we met up with her cousins and she was riding, she didn't care if I went on the rides with her or if I watched.  The little rides that I couldn't go on, and sometimes they double up the single riders?  She just started chatting with whomever hopped in the ride with her.  Or she would just hop in with someone else and make a new friend.  What a fantastic little girl she is.  When I grow up, I want to be just like her.

Moved

It's been brought to my attention that my poor little blog is neglected.  I know - this saddens me too.  I'd like to be able to make a good, strong committment to being better, updating regularly and keeping the family informed on our current events.  I'd like to... but I'm not sure if I can take on that big of a commitment.  For now, I'll say I will try to do better.  :o)

We'll start with the move. 

Our little family has relocated to the land of Bountiful.  We are currently residing in the lower quarters of my inlaws home.  It's cozy, and we're grateful that we are few in numbers, because not many more of us would be able to fit as comfortably as we do now.  We will continue living underground until the end of November, when Mary Louise and Linford will embark on the next adventure in their lives, serving for the church with young single adults in the Belgium - Netherlands mission! 

They are so excited to go, and we're excited for them!  We moved out here just as they were putting the finishing touches on their mission papers.  It was so fun listening to them talk about where they wanted to go and what they wanted to do.  It was also fun to hide their call from them when they came home from vacation, secretly invite the local family over for dinner, arrange skype and speaker phones for the not so local and surprise mums and pops with their letter without them knowing it had been here for 5 days.  Good times.

So far, so good here in the land of Bountiful.  We really like the ward, Tim knows and loves the area and I'm trying to remember where things are so I don't have to look up the address to the bank every time I need to go.  I can EASILY find my way to Taco Bell so that's all that really matters.... right?

Alyssa's favorite part?  She has many, of course - living with a set of granparents upstairs, new friends at church, a new pool to swim at, park play dates.  But the best one?

Little girl friend loves her swingset.  By about 6:00 at night, the swingset it 100% in the shade.  We head out there with her pink little baseball bat, some horshoes and her velcro mits and spend the rest of the night playing outside.  It's perfect.

I thought I would have a hard time adjusting to life out here.  I've lived on the good ol' west side for almost 19 years.  Um... that's a pretty good portion of my life.  But I don't feel out of place here.  I feel at home.  That feeling came almost immediately and it didn't take me long to realize that it was because I have my little family with me.  Home is with my hubbs and my Alyssa.  As long as I have them, I'm fairly confident that I could set up home anywhere. 

And it doens't hurt to have a Taco Bell close by either.     

My Little Graduate

Alyssa graduated from her preschool class today.  It has been the best experience for her.  Every day she comes home and tells me what she learned, who was missing from school, what games they played.  It has been so fun to watch her grow and have this little social life.  Above she's sitting by one of her besties, Cami.  Rumor has it, Alyssa starts up the game of house at school, assigns her fellow classmates their various roles and poor Cami always gets assigned the dog.  I tried to tell Alyssa she could be the family pet sometimes but she didn't think that was a good idea... oh boy.

Alyssa received the "Best Imagination" award from Miss Kaarina.  Um... hahahahaha we weren't surprised!  That is one of my favorite qualities of Alyssa, her imagination is fantastic.  Did you know there is a wicked witch that lives at her house?  And locks her in her room and doesn't let her out?  It's a good thing her teacher knows her parents.

And of course, with the fabulous Miss Kaarina.  Could there be a better preschool teacher?  I think not.  The projects that Alyssa came home with, the songs she learned.  My girl can spell her name forwards and backwards.  She's writing words, sings her ABC's and more.  All of this she learned at preschool.  Thank you SO MUCH for giving my little sweetie the perfect start in her world of learning. 

My Little Dancer

Alyssa had her spring recital for dance earlier this month.  She danced to Strawberry Shortcake and Ain't She Sweet.  Gotta say, Ain't She Sweet was my favorite.  Not only did I make her costume (with the assistance of mom) But she did the cutest little shimmy, shook her little toosh, and flipped that marabou like it was nobody's business.  It has been so fun watching her grow over the last year.  I love my tiny dancer!

Beauty

That's My Girl

Bugged

Not sure how I managed to mess up my blog so that every post preceding my "improvement" post clumped all the text in to one gigantic ugly paragraph.

I don't know how to fix it and it's buggin.

Improvement

I used to make New Year's Resolutions every year.  They would last about a week, if that.  So several years ago I gave up on that nonsense.

Last year I didn't exactly set a goal, but I did have a plan in mind for 2009.  Because of how that plan came about, I was upset that it didn't work out.  I had plans and expectations that, to me, were realistic.  But ultimately I wasn't the one in control.   

As I was trying NOT to have a plan for this year, one came up.  One that I can control.  One that other people's decisions and actions will have little or no effect on.

Self Improvement.

And who has more room to improve than me!

I've decided to take one thing at a time and work on it for a month.  January just kind of happened to me.  One day I picked up my scriptures and started reading.  I've read every day since then.  My attitude towards church has changed.  I've been more patient with Alyssa and have been more motivated to get things accomplished. 

As I've thought about February, and what I want to work on, not much has come to mind.  I thought about improving on my Pepsi consumption, and by that I don't mean cutting back.  I mean making sure there are no half empty cans sitting around.  Similarly, not leaving the last bite of chocolate cake on my plate.  There's just no excuse for wasting such deliciousness. 

Regardless of what I decide to work for the next 28 days (Ooh, it should totally be exercising.  Only 28 days to commit to rather than 31.) I'm going to take great satisfaction in knowing that the only person that can hold me back is myself.  The only person that can keep it from happening is me.  The only one I can blame if I fail is me.  I'm taking back control and accepting accountability.

This and That

I have "this." I love this. I've always wanted this.

But... then there's "that." I want that too. But I don't have that.

I tried for a year to get that. Put myself though a lot to have that, and at one point I thought that was within my grasp. I thought I would have this and that. But then that was taken and I was left wondering if I would have the opportunity to have that again.

I put that on the back burner and decided to focus on this. Part of me feels like this will suffer and be neglected if I put much more effort in to that. Shouldn't I be grateful for what I do have? Shouldn't I put my all into this? This is here. This is a gift. This deserves my best.

But what about that? I want this to have that, more than I want that for myself. I feel like this would go well with that. I worry that this could resent me for not doing what I can to get that too.

I fear I may regret not trying again to have that.

I don't want this to get the shaft while I'm trying to have that.

I am eternally grateful for this. Don't really know what I would do with out this.

Le Funk

I'm not sure why, but the weirdest things happen to me. Weird things. Freaky and somewhat gross things. Why? No one knows. I'm just lucky. For example, back in the late fall early winter of 1999-ish I had my first episode of what was soon affectionately named "The Funk" by my loving roommates.

It started out with a sore throat. Being prone to strep, I went to the doc only to have the text come back negative. The next day a new symptom arrived. Visible blisters on my throat. Back to the doc. Doc says its just a crappy sore throat. Each day after that, a new symptom appeared. By then of the week I had blisters on my gums, cheeks and throat, some lovely "coating," if you wil,l on my tongue, my whole body hurt and I felt like crap.

I ended up going home from school, seeing our family doctor who also had no idea what it was. She had me mix up a lovely concoction of kaopectate and benedryl to swish around. Yum! Well that did the trick. After about 2 days the blisters were gone and bits of the "coating" on my tongue had flaked off with each delicious swish.

To this day, I have no idea what it was. I've recounted the story several times and have never heard of anyone else who has experienced this lovely Funk.

Example #2

During the summer of 2005 I had this annoying wart on my elbow. I've had it for years. I'd had it frozen off, burned off, put duct tape on it, smothered it in vinegar, let it breathe - used every home remedy I came across until I read the one that said to rub raw bacon on it then bury the bacon in the back yard. Ya... I just came to realization that the sucker was never going to go away.

I was sharing this with my mom one day and she said "Oh! I have something that will take that right away." Um, ok. Why not? Apparently little brother had a wart on his lip and they got a prescription from a dermatologist for it. It got rid of his in just a few days.

So mom gets her little bottle of magic, paints the stuff on my little friend and tells me to paint a little more on tomorrow. I do as I'm told. The day after that, my elbow started to blister and looked like it had been burned. Then it started to ooze and looked infected so I went to the doctor. They gave me a prescription, drew a circle around the swollen area and told me to come back if it got any bigger.

Well... of course it got bigger. The redness went about 3/4 of the way down my forearm from my elbow, blistering here and there and was starting to swell. Imagine Pop-Eye's forearm. Perhaps I'm being dramatic, but it was big.

I found out the prescription my brother had was a form of liquid poison ivy, which does in fact get rid of warts, but you have to desensitize your skin to it for 2 weeks before actually using it. This somehow slipped mom's mind. Bless her heart, she was just trying to help my deformed elbow!

Back to the doc I go. The diseased appendage had now developed a staff infection. I got a shot in the butt of a heavy duty antibiotic, and a stronger dose to take at home.

BUT WAIT! What happened the next day? While I'm at work, I break out in hives. HIVES!Covering my body from head to toe. Apparently I'm allergic to whatever shot went in to my caboose. I call the doctor AGAIN, tell them what's happening, and get put on hold only to have a frantic nurse get back on the phone telling me to drive directly there and if I stop breathing on the way to go the emergency room. If I stop breathing on the way there... um ok. Don't think I'd be able to drive to a hospital but ok.

More counteracting medication. Arm went back to normal size. Wart is still there. We've become quite fond of eachother.

Example #3

Ever heard of Pityriasis Rosea? Well I haven't, at least until 2 weeks ago.

I had this funky patch of dry skin on my leg that had been bothering me since just after Christmas, but because of other unpleasantries I was ignoring it. I noticed other red spots starting to form so I finally showed it to mom. She told me it looked like ringworm and Nicki told me I needed to stop rolling with the ally cats behind the dumpsters.

Off to the doc I go!

Doctor lady told me what it was and had me mix, yet another lovely concoction of a steroid cream with A&D diaper cream to put on it.

Excuse me? You want me to rub butt cream all over my body? Nice. That's going to smell good.

Two days later it had gotten worse, which if it did that they wanted more of my money and to see me again. At this visit I was told the special recipe wasn't supposed to make it go away, just treat the itchiness.

Um, I wasn't itchy until I had to rub butt cream all over myself. Now I itch like a crazy person!

No more mixing of the creams. Need to add a moisturizer because I have dry skin. I also need to eat more leafy green vegetables because perhaps this has been caused by a lack of magnesium and one day soon I'm going to wake up and look like doctor lady - overweight, bad skin, gray hair greased back into a bad pony tail and talking out the side of my mouth. Her vision, not mine.

After giving me this fine lecture, doctor lady leaves the room and heads next door to the dude I had been sitting in the waiting room with. She was sure to let him know that the girl in the next room had a rash and now she was feeling itchy. Beasty dumb doctor lady. Whatever. My special rash isn't even contagious so hush it on up now.

Not sure when this episode will be over. According to the WebMD it can spread it nasty little self around for 2 weeks, chill for 2 weeks and take its sweet time leaving over 2 weeks. We shall see.

See? Weird things happen to me. Weird things.

Mommy, will you play with me?

Words I never hear come from Alyssa's mouth. She is famous for entertaining herself for hours on end. For example, a few months ago I was down with a crappy sore throat/cold. I laid down on the couch and told Alyssa that I was going to take a little snooze. She said that was fine and she would just be coloring in her room. Well... four hours later I get off the couch and she is still in her room coloring. She would come out from time to time and show me her creations, but other than that I didn't really see her. Self - entertaining.

This week was different. The poor girl had her turn to have the crappy cold. Note, I did not say "down" with a cold. Not much gets her down, certainly not a silly cold. She was just as playful as usual, but unfortunately couldn't go to preschool or dance OR play in the snow (devasting for her). Not having her normal social schedule... well the girl needs to see her friends. She did inform me that "all her kids at preschool will say 'where's Alyssa?' and they will miss her."

By about Tuesday afternoon I started hearing "um... Mommy? Will you play polly pockets with me?" Uh... what? Me? You actually WANT to play with ME?!?! Well hot dog, absolutely I will!

Polly pockets was the most favored of our play time. Let it be known, that I am not allowed to be Cinderella. Not only that, but none of the princesses are allowed to wear their own clothes. They have to share. All of them.

I will admit, after about the 19th session of polly pockets, I thought I'd had enough of it. I tried to get her to do something else with me, but she her mind was made up. Polly pockets it is.

That girl is such a character. Everyday was another princess' "marrying day." They have magic dresses and pajammie dresses. Sometimes when they kiss a frog they turn into a frog, and sometimes they turn in to a mouse. They have slumber parties and have to rescue eachother from Ursula or Mergona. The stories are never ending. I absolutely adore her imagination.

This week was pretty relaxing considering the bit of sickness that decided to come for a few days.

Since we didn't go anywhere my house looks amazing!

Alyssa is feeling much better and is looking forward to preschool tomorrow.

She's also looking forward to a little more fun out in the snow when she's "all the way, all better."

Excited doesn't quite seem a big enough word...

Some dear friends of mine are on their way to sign adoption papers for a baby girl that was born this morning. I'M SO EXCITED FOR THEM!!! They've been approved an waiting for a couple years and it's finally happening. Praying our guts out that this happens for them!!! Can't wait to meet that little sweetie...