Earth Day 2010

Every year, the base holds an Earth Day Fair. And every year, the students at Kyle's elementary school get to take a "walking field trip" over to the fair. This year, I was lucky enough to attend as a parent chaperone, and Marie got to tag along in the stroller. And boy, oh boy, was she the center of attention. The kids could've cared less about the fair, all they cared about was making that cute little girl in the stroller laugh. And that doesn't take much.

They go to a lot of work to make the fair really fun and interesting. But the funny thing is, it's SO CROWDED and CRAZY and CHAOTIC that the kids learn absolutely nothing. They're simply herded from booth to booth, with the adults trying not to lose any kids (or their sanity!) along the way. I think this particular booth was supposed to be teaching them about the PH balance in different liquids, but they didn't know that, and couldn't hear the person explaining it. All they cared about was the fact that they got to wear goggles and gloves, and "make science experiments."

The other highlight is collecting all of the free stuff at each booth. Who doesn't love free stuff?! Even if it is just stickers and pencils and pictures of desert flowers. These pinwheels were one of the highlights, along with free ice cream and balloons.

I wish I could say we learned something about our beautiful earth, how it works, or how to protect it. Sadly, we didn't. But we sure had a lot of fun!

Muffins for Mom

"Please join Mrs. Powell's class for
'Muffins for Mom'
on Friday, May 7, 2010
at 9:00 a.m."

I walked in the door and was almost tackled by a very excited little boy. He gave me a big hug, and handed me a very cool card (probably the coolest card I've ever received - I need to take a picture!) and a writing sample. You know...

M - mom
O - outstanding
T - thotfull
H - happy
E - enrgetic
R - run

"My mom's the greatest because...that she loves me!"

Then we were treated to two different songs - one to the tune of "You are my Sunshine" and I can't remember the other one. But it was adorable, and Kyle sang his heart out, as usual.

After that, the kids served us muffins and milk, and we had a little breakfast. They were so excited and happy, and it was such a fun way to spend the morning. And the best part, every mother came, so EVERY child was happy! It was awesome.

It's moments like this that make being a mother THE BEST.

It gets even better...

I couldn't thank Kyle enough for my lovely slumber on Sunday morning. I thanked him again and again (you know, hoping he'd do again in the future). After my 57th time thanking him, he said, "Oh it gets better, mom."

I asked him what he meant, and he replied, "I can't tell you."

I thought to myself, "That's sweet. He must be planning something for Mother's Day next Sunday" and didn't press the issue.

But my surprise came earlier than expected. At 6:45 the next morning (5 minutes after his alarm went off), I heard my bedroom door squeak again. This time, Kyle tiptoed in with a big bowl of Cap'n Crunch overflowing with milk.

"Here you go, mom," he said, as the milk sloshed onto the mattress. "Breakfast in bed!"

As if on cue, Marie jabbered from the other room. And off Kyle went to rescue her from the crib.

What a kid!

Hello, Gorgeous!

The Young Women held their annual camp fundraiser last night - a spaghetti dinner and dessert auction. We had a great time and came home with a $27 pan of Oreo brownies, with cream cheese frosting. And yes, they're as good as they sound.

I think Kyle would back me up on that because this afternoon, he walked up to me with cream cheese frosting smeared all over his face and said, "Mom, are those the best brownies you've ever had? I think they're definitely the best EVER."

And after dinner tonight, he immediately walked over to the pan to help himself to a brownie. As he took the lid off the pan, he gazed at the brownies and said, "Hello, gorgeous!"

Seriously? Seriously?!? It was the funniest thing ever...

PS: Kiri, we might be calling you for that recipe!

And it's not even Mother's Day...

Marie woke up at her usual time this morning - 6:22 on the dot. It never ceases to amaze me.

I ignored her for a few minutes, and then started to drag myself out of bed. I heard the squeak of a door, and turned over to find Kyle quietly closing my bedroom door. I started to sit up, and he said, "No, just lay back down, Mom. I'll get her."

I dozed off, and next thing I knew, it was 7:40 a.m. I jumped out of bed and walked out to the livingroom to find my children playing together quietly. Kyle had entertained his sister for over an hour.

Do I have the best kids, or what?!?

California Screamin'!

With Kevin's deployment, we got a killer deal on some Disneyland and California Adventure tickets. We jumped right on it, but didn't get a chance to use them before he left. So in an effort to keep busy the week after daddy left, we invited some friends and went down to Anaheim. It just happened to be spring break (ie: the crazy busiest week EVER) so we decided to just do one park and come back later for the other. So California Adventure it was!

Toy Story will forever be one of our favorite movies, so we couldn't pass up the chance to pose with Woody. Especially since Kyle's finally at the age that he's not scared of the characters.




I've never been an advocate of those leash-type things people put on their kids. But there were a few times that day that I wished I'd had one. Little Miss Marie kept trying to wander off. Finally I had to lure her in with a frozen lemonade treat.

Marie's favorite ride was a toss-up. She thoroughly enjoyed the carousel and had a smile on her face the entire time. But during "Toy Story" she threw her hands in the air and squealed the entire time. What a pro. That might have been my favorite moment of the day.

Kyle's favorite ride was a no-brainer - California Screamin'. I think he loved the ride, but I also think he loved the fact that he was brave enough to actually ride it. If you know my child, you know he takes great pride in being big enough and brave enough to do things. In any case, he LOVED it and wouldn't stop talking about it. It was his first big rollercoaster that went upside down. And yes, I'm the cheapskate that takes a picture of the professional photo they snap. There's no way I'm paying for an ugly picture of me.

We had such a great time. We just went back to Disneyland this week, sans Marie, and had a blast. But we used an old-school disposable camera for that trip and haven't found a place to develop it yet. :)

You know you're a REAL parent when...

1. The tooth fairy forgets to come. Again. Oops.

2. Your response when your child complains of boredom is, "Do you want me to find you something to do? 'Cause I can find you something to do!"

I've achieved both of these in the last week. Awesome.

An Early Easter

The Easter Bunny visited our house on Saturday, instead of Sunday, so that Daddy could be there. I thought I'd pull a fast one on Kyle and just tell him that Easter was on Saturday. That didn't work out so well. He clearly knew that Easter was supposed to be on Sunday, so we had to write the Easter bunny and see if he wouldn't mind making an early visit to our house. Luckily, he obliged.

The kids loved their baskets. I tried to scale back this year - it amazes me what people do for Easter. This isn't Christmas, people! A couple of weeks ago, Kyle started talking about Easter and "toys and treats" and I knew it had gone too far. I always try to stick a new outside toy in there, and a few treats, and I think we struck a good balance this year. It was fun, but not overboard. My kids aren't thrilled about clothes, so that was just for me.

Afterwards, we had our Easter egg hunt. Isn't my baby adorable?

He's pretty cute, too.

Kyle found the grand prize egg again. What a shocker. One of these years, he'll have some competition. I wonder how big of a fit he'll throw the first time Marie finds it before him!

However, Marie seemed pretty pleased about her stash. Obviously, all of the pink and purple ones were reserved or her. She stole that green one right out of Kyle's basket.

Afterwards, we spent a little time outside enjoying a rare non-windy spring day.

After shooting off a few rockets, we took a trip to LAX to say good-bye to daddy...

...and came home to console ourselves with butter and sugar. I pretty much put Kyle in charge of rolling and cutting the cookies and he did a FANTASTIC job. They were delicious. Now I've just got to teach him to read a recipe. Then I'll be set!

And Marie put herself in charge of frosting the cookies. Clearly, she enjoyed it. At one point I heard Kyle say, "No Marie, not on your belly!" and looked over to see her lifting her shirt up and smearing a big (plastic) knife-full all over her stomach. That girl...I love her!

It was certainly an interesting Easter weekend for us. Happiness, tears, and everything in between. We loved General Conference and felt the love of the Lord in our lives.

Dear Kyle,

Today you said goodbye to your Daddy for 6 months as he left for Afghanistan. I've worried about this day for months and months. After all, he's your best friend, your go-to guy. The person you love more than anyone in the world.

I knew Marie would be okay. Sure, he's the apple of her eye. The guy who will read her 157 stories just because she wants to. Yes, I knew she would miss him. But she's little. The emptiness will fade for her.

But you, I knew you wouldn't forget. I knew you wouldn't want to let him go. I wondered if you'd understand, or if you'd be angry. Or if you'd just be sad. And I wondered how I could step in and fill two roles in your life for the next few months. I wondered how I could keep you from hurting.

But I shouldn't have worried, because you have strength beyond your years. As you said our family prayer last night, you prayed, "Please let Dad be safe and help him not to miss us too much for 6 whole months." And as you and Daddy talked this morning, he got choked up, and you said, "Are you going to be okay, Dad?" and gave him a hug.

He asked you to take care of me and Marie, and you so maturely said, "I will," and put your arm around your little sister as you walked away.

As I drove away from the airport this morning, with silent tears streaming down my face (I was trying to be brave, too), I looked at you in the backseat. You were hugging your new teddy bear - the one you and Dad made at Build-a-Bear on your Father & Son date last night. You were hugging it with all your might. I could tell you were sad, but you were determined to be brave. And when I asked if you were okay, you gave me a tiny smile, and in a very quiet voice said, "Yeah, I'm okay." So brave.

Such a gift my Heavenly Father gave me - to have you as my firstborn. To have you as the eldest. I couldn't imagine anyone else equal to the task.

Tonight I'll walk quietly into your room, to kiss that sleeping face goodnight for the millionth time. I'll see you hugging that teddy bear and I'll think to myself, "I'm so lucky. So lucky." But it's not luck. It's a blessing. A blessing that I'll be forever grateful for.

Love,

Mom