Sounds like....

Me: "Amberlyn go practice the piano."

Amberlyn: "Mom, I need to do my fairy."

Me: "...Amberlyn, you need to practice piano, you have lessons tomorrow."

Amberlyn: "No mom, I need to do my fairy!"

Me: "Your what? Just go practice!"

Amberlyn: "Sister Moak said I have to do my fairy!"

Me: "What's your fairy?"

Amberlyn: "You know, with writing the notes and stuff..."

Me: "... Your theory?"

Amberlyn: "Oh, ya. I need to do my theory."

Milk Anyone?

Fall Break. It's enough to drive a mother mad. Sure I like sleeping in, but it's not really sleeping in when the kids come in every morning at 7-oh-something demanding things like food, and entertainment. The nerve.

Plus, one can only take so much SpongeBob before you want to stab someone in the eye ban him from your house.

So I decided to do something out of the norm, so they don't drive me crazy. We decided to head over to a family in our ward's home, and learn how to milk a cow! I told them what we were going to do the night before, and they were so excited they were up practically at the crack of dawn. We had a quick lesson on what to do, and after watching Sister Palmer milk for a bit, Amberlyn was up for the challenge!

She did great and even got some milk! Denver took a bit of coaxing. He didn't want to get to close to the huge cow at first, but as soon as he sat on the stool with Sister Palmer, all fear went away!

He had success, but decided he was done after about a minute. They both had a great time, and even got to pet a chicken when they were done!

We took some milk home after learning how to pasturize it, and Matt is mostly excited about the cream.

Here's to finding more adventures over fall break!

Acrobats? Us? Whaaaatttt!!!??!?!

A gal I went to high school with posted that she was in a trapeze group and they were having a free show on Saturday night. (She used to be a trick-ski-er at Sea World, she was the top of the skiing pyramid!) I hadn't seen her in years and thought it would be fun to take the kiddos to the show. We invited a friend and her munchkins to go, loaded up the jammie-clad kids into the car, and headed out to Gilbert. We set up our camp chairs in the audience area, got some popcorn, and sat back to watch the acrobats!

There were several "flyers", each went 2 times. It seemed to be a 'recital' of sorts, sort of like a dance or piano recital, but they were showing what they had learned to do on the trapeze! It was fun to watch! The kids were enthralled, watching intently as they snacked on their popcorn, and some treats and juice that I'd brought. Each time a new flyer was ready to go, they would announce their name, and the trick they were going to do, such as a half-nest, or an over-top, etc. After each announcement, Denver would ask, "Mom, what's a half nest?" or whatever trick they had announced. Every time. Without fail. Kristen, the friend that went with us, started laughing at how often he asked. I would always say, "I don't know, let's watch and find out."

It was a good show! Afterwards, they announced that for a fee, you could have a turn flying! Well of course the kids wanted to try, and really, how often do you get to go on a flying trapeze with the greatest of ease?!? I thought it would be an awesome experience! The age minimum was 4-years old, Denver just made the cut off! So all three of us, (Daddy was at work unfortunately), plus my friend's son Andrew, signed our waivers, headed to the loading area, and waited for our safety harnesses. A guy explained what we would be doing as he suited us up, and one at a time we climbed the VERY tall ladder to the top of the jump board!

Denver was first, he had a blast! Yes...that's my 4-year old... on a trapeze.




Amberlyn came next! She was wearing a night gown, which we tried to rig a way to close, but in the end, she's just a fun loving upside down 7 year old!


Then was me. Did I mention that I'm afraid of heights? What was I thinking....
The hardest part was jumping off the board, which I told my feet to do several times until they finally listened. It was definitely scary! A huge adrenalin rush! I was still shaking when we got into the car to come home.



The kids had a bast, and now want to go to trapeze school!

As I tucked then in bed when we got home, I asked them what their favorite part of the night was. Amberlyn said it was watching the acrobats and going on the trapeze. Denver said it was watching me on the trapeze. aaawwww...

Who knows, we may just be a circus family...!

Kids-in-a-box

Apparently Matt used to love playing in boxes, as I'm sure every little boy does. This morning the kids decied to play in one of our cash register boxes, they took turns 'locking' each other in the box! (sorry the videos are sideways)

Funny things they say...

So today Amberlyn was going to a birthday party for her friend Hannah. We went and picked out a gift. I told Amberlyn we would go home and wrap it, then go to the party. She says, "I wish we could wrap it like Santa does."

???? ...umm.... what????

I asked her what she meant. She said she wanted to wrap it how Santa wraps things at Christmas.

Blank stare....

"Please explain what you mean. How does he wrap it?"

She says, "You know, with that paper... not like in a bag."

Me, "You want to put in in a box and wrap it with wrapping paper instead of putting it in a gift bag?"

"Yes."

"Santa has lots of elves to help him wrap all the presents like that. We don't have any elves, and not very much time to wrap it, or you'll be late to the party. We'll just put it in a cute bag."

"Okay..." (under her breath) "I wish we had some elves...."