Synchronized Swimming

Um yeah, I should really pay more attention to the weather report. I woke up to a winter wonderland yesterday morning--we got another 6 in. of snow. Yippee skippee.

All of this snow put me in the mood for little synchronized swimming. Here is a video clip that made me LAUGH OUT LOUD. I don't know anyone in the video, but it is hilarious. Enjoy!

Our 3rd (and hopefully last) Spring Thaw

The kids are all happily playing with friends as I write this. When the weather warms up people and kids miraculously appear from out of nowhere. The kids love playing out in our cul-de-sac with all of the neighbor kids and its fun to see them being creative and enjoying themselves. Because of where we live I feel like I can give them a little more freedom than I ever could before and they love it.

I know why I don't have a lot to blog about lately. I realized today that we haven't put gas in either of our cars for a long time. This, of course, is a clear indication that we don't get out much. Our potty training adventure kept us home bound and we still haven't snapped out of it. The only person who leaves the house less than I do is Adam. Ah, the joys of working from home.

We are sooo excited to start putting in a yard! (Can you hear the sarcasm?) What fun projects we have to look forward to. We love spring! (And we'd love it even more if it actually stuck around one of these times)

"But it hurts SO bad, Mom!"

I think we may have seriously traumatized our daughter--Korinne has turned into a hypochondriac virtually overnight. Recently she stumbled and got a little scrape on her knee. Usually a band aid and a kiss from Mom would have her happily on her way. (Ahh, those were the good old days) But, that was the old Korinne, the new Korinne cried for about 1 1/2 hours straight (complete with crocodile tears) hobbled everywhere she went for 2 days (except for when she was having fun with the other kids and 'forgot' about her life threatening knee injury), asked for 50 different band aids (surprisingly they never stayed on when she wouldn't leave them alone) and made a new request for ice to place on the wound about every 5 hours or so.

Yesterday she got an "owie" on the bottom of her foot. Being true to the new Korinne she cried on and off all night long, refused to walk last night or this morning (except when she forgot and danced and played with Jenna), and asked for a new band aid every 90 seconds. When I declared that I was no longer in the band aid giving business she figured out how to put them on herself.

This was one of the many moments she found herself miraculously healed from her serious foot injury. She was moovin' and groovin' to some great music with Jenna. One of my favorite things about my new hypochondriac daughter is that I get to find band aids used and discarded all over my house. What's not to love about that?

Good times, my friends, good times. I'll let Korinne know you are all thinking of her and wishing her a big "Get Well Soon."

The Breakthrough

This week has been one of the hardest weeks of my life. I've been to the depths of despair and back. No, there wasn't a death in the family, and no one has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and yes, Adam still has a job-- so why all the anxiety and depression?? This week has been completely dedicated to the potty training of Miss Korinne. Korinne marches to the beat of her own drummer and let's face it, her peers have been potty trained for the better part of a year. She is just about 3 1/2 and I no longer have the luxury of saying, "She just isn't ready yet." Last night after 5 days of no diapers and 60 accidents with 0 (yes, that would be ZERO) successes I was in the depths of despair. It is statistically impossible to have done everything we have done and not have 1 successful potty experience under our belt. On Thursday morning we started the Potty Training in 3 Days program after reading testimonials from parents in our situation. They all said that by the end of 3 days it finally just clicked and their kids were finally totally potty trained. This morning around 11:00 or so Korinne finally ran into the bathroom and went to the bathroom in the toilet. You can imagine the scene as Jenna, Adam, Korinne and I all screamed and clapped and jumped up and down. When Britton found out he gave her a big hug. There was MUCH rejoicing. Seriously, I almost cried. Neither Britton nor Jenna gave us much trouble when it came to potty training and Korinne is such a bright communicative child it never entered my mind that we would have to go through such a painful process. I knew once it clicked that would be it, but did it really have to take 6 months and about 80 accidents?? We aren't out of the woods yet, but at least we are a big step closer.

Are you serious?

I've hit a new low. Last night I was putting curlers in the girls hair (it's their new favorite) and I was almost done when I couldn't find my comb. I looked and looked and finally asked Adam, "Have you seen my comb?" He looked at me and said, "you mean the one IN YOUR MOUTH??"

I kid you not, I had the comb in my mouth. It was IN MY MOUTH! My teeth were clenched when I asked, "Have you seen my comb?" I'm definitely losing it. Senile at 32. Adam and I laughed about it for at least 15 minutes. How is it even possible to do that?

On Thursday the kids were out of school so they got to go stay at Aunt Kim's overnight while Adam and I went to Park City for an awards dinner for his company. Every year his company has an awards dinner for the top producers in the company and every year Adam gets a little plaque and a figurative high five and that's it, see you next year. We hear about how other companies send their top producers on trips and give out really strange things like bonuses at Christmas time. Anyway, it looks like his company might have finally gotten the memo, or at least hired someone who had a clue. This year they put us up in the Park City Marriott and had a big dinner at an expensive steakhouse, and gave all of the top producers a travel voucher to go along with their plaque. (Which we already used, of course. After so many years of getting nothing we were at Disneyland within a week of getting the voucher in the mail) I must admit I felt kind of like a country bumpkin staying at such a nice hotel and eating at such an expensive restaurant. I about had a heart attack when person after person at our table turned down a box to take their extra food home. Their plates were FULL of steak and lots of other good food. Who does that? My idea of going all out is Cafe Rio so throwing away a $35.00 steak is completely foreign to me.

The kids had fun with Aunt Kim and Grandma and Grandpa P and we were able to go to dinner on Friday night with some good friends from our old neighborhood. It was a fun weekend indeed.

The following conversation took place during our dinner tonight:

Korinne, "Can I have another roll?"
Mom, "Sorry, they are all gone."
Korinne, "But I need one!"
Jenna, "Korinne you don't need a roll, you just want a roll. All you really need is food, water, and air!" (If you want to get technical a roll is food, but not the point that Jenna was making)
Dad, "Wow Jenna, where did you learn that?"
Jenna, "Britton"
Slam! Parents get zero credit for teaching the difference between needs and wants. . .better luck next time, I guess. It's a good thing Britton's got our backs.

Everybody loves a comeback

When Jenna was 3 I used sponge curlers on her a few times but then she cut her own hair off and suddenly the sponge curlers were out and hats and barrettes were in. Well, 3 years have passed and I decided it was high time the sponge curler made a comeback. I knew Jenna would be 100% up for it, and was pleasantly surprised when Korinne refused to be left out of the experiment. So, last night I got the girls all rolled up.


It didn't take them too long to fall asleep, even with their new head gear.

This morning Jenna was so pleased with the results she was practically dancing around. Korinne's curls were quite tight (I learned that its probably ok to use a bigger curler on her) and she looked in the mirror and said, "I look like a boy!" We styled it a bit and now she has the cutest bunch of curls and seems to enjoy it. So yea for sponge curlers!

Whenever Britton or Jenna are working on homework or practicing the piano there is Korinne right in the middle of it all. If it is homework time Korinne insists that she work on her "homework" as well, if it's piano she MUST be in the room at all times (preferably on the bench with them), and if they are reading then Korinne has a book out and is "reading", too. Last night we were reading scriptures and just like usual Jenna took her turn then Britton took his turn and just like always Korinne wanted HER turn. Usually Adam just reads a verse very slowly so she can repeat each word while following along with her finger, but last night she insisted that she read it all by herself (thank you very much). So, she started moving her finger along a sentance of words and out came, "Alma and Rapunzel went to the city. . ." Britton laughed so hard he started crying. Jenna thought it was the best thing she had heard all day and Korinne wasn't really sure why they were laughing but appreciated the opportunity to really show off her "reading" skills. We look forward to hearing more about Alma and Rapunzel in the future.

Shocker

When I woke up this morning I knew I would be dealing with the effects of yesterday's "Spring" forward time change, but since I haven't been following the weather I had no idea I would be dealing with this:

This is our mailbox and that is a lot of snow!

The girls loved it and were out playing by 8:30 a.m.

The snowblower--truly the best investment we ever made. Just ask Adam.

So, a very happy spring to you all!