tooth fairy shenanigans and more

Elise, our wimpiest Kangling that takes after her mother, lost her first tooth today with minimal drama. (we have been warning her for a week that it will bleed and that she doesn't need to cry about it.) I can't wait for her to lose a few more teeth as she has had the most cavities of all of our girls. I like to blame it on Chris' stroke, her sneaky nature and on the lack of a pantry door lock. (which we did end up purchasing eventually.) Anyway, I would love for those teeth to fall out and for us to get a new start on her mouth. And typing this lovely blog post has reminded me that I better go off and do my motherly tooth fairy duties. Our family hasn't required a visit from the tooth fairy for a while so I suspect that my eldest daughter might be out of practice when it comes to covering my rear. You know the routine. Mom forgets, daughter distracts tooth fairy client, daughter fills in for the oh so sloppy and forgetful tooth fairy, mom wakes up.

Other exciting family news? Our banana is getting baptized this weekend. It got moved up to October from November, which made us all extra happy. Hannah has been counting down for so long that it was a fun bonus to have it come even sooner. The only bad part of this rescheduling was that my mom had a not so lovely surgery last week. This not only prevented her from making the traditional baptism dress, but it also might prevent her from coming. We are hoping that she can make it, but we also don't want her put at any risks for blood clots and what not just to come down. We're excited to have lots of family join us (Mike and his fabulous new wife are coming, along with Beth and James!) but we're pretty disappointed that Lia isn't hauling all 6 kids cross country for the big day. :) Just kidding, Lia. But we are sad that she lives too far away to come to our little family gatherings anymore. Changes stink. It will still be a lovely day, just a little quieter. (in a sad way, Lia!!)

Side note: our Bishop brought this picture to our attention...doesn't it look a lot like our Hannah, complete with personality?

our school year and its delayed start

Our big bang of a start to our school year is kind of...nonexistant. (in a good way.) I had a rather silly goal of starting school this past Tuesday while all of the local kids didn't start school until Thursday. I figured it would make up for us taking next week off to play at Disneyland. The problems with this plan?

•I still am waiting for a few books to show up in the mail.

•My house was a mess.

•We need to pack for said trip.

•I haven't even printed up the girls' schedules

The girls humored me. They get an a+ for effort, but my heart just wasn't in it. There was too much to do. So, like any mom who needs a little bit of permission to be mediocre, I asked Chris to tell me to wait to start school. Like a good husband, he did. Like a tricky mom, I waited to tell the kids until Wednesday around 9. (which resulted in a few more subjects being done. Ha.) Instead of school, we cleaned. I think they would have preferred school, but it feels good to have a clean(er) house. School year delayed. Disneyland, here we come. Lilly is excited to ride every ride except for the "roller coaster with the scary monster" and is pretty sure that the princesses are waiting for her. Elise is tall enough to ride just about every ride and plans on doing just that. btw: Disneyland has a great discounts for groups over 10. It is so great that it is worth doing even if you have a couple short of 10.

Conference recap

I am trying to distract myself while waiting for Becky news. (really horrible headaches, mri's....you get the idea.) So I thought I would recap conference a little because...I love conference. We have figured out with our little gaggle of girls that our efforts to listen to conference at home are pretty futile. Kids running around, at normal volume and the speakers are easily drowned out by well meaning kids who have too many toys around to want to sit still enough to listen. For this very reason, we dress everyone up and head off to the church to watch the broadcast with the other 2 families within 30 minutes that do the same thing. When they are in a dark chapel, they at least fill restricted to whispering and hear tidbits of goodness while I get to hear at least 5 times as much as I would at home. (and 1/4 of what I would hear if I didn't have my kids there, but Elder Bednar helps me feel fabulous none the less.) We made it to all 4 sessions, but the two that included Lilly were the ones that I have 2 lines of notes on. I have a standard for my girls and it is that they misbehave in age order. And fittingly enough, Rachel took pretty intense notes, Autumn and Chloe worked in their workbooks I printed up, Hannah goofed off a little more, Elise colored and talked bugs (but did keep it to a whisper) and Lilly....distracted us all with her cuteness. When President Uchtdorf spoke, I held her close and whispered, "Lilly, that is Dieter F. Uchtdorf. He is an apostle. Let's listen to him." She turned to our friends behind us and said "That's Dieter Uchtdorf." And now let's fast forward to Wednesday. In an effort to rationalize a trip to the beach, we listened to some old conference talks. Dieter F. Uchtdorf started speaking and what did Lilly say? "That's Dieter F. Uchtdorf." And tonight at dinner she told Chris "Dieter F. Uchtdorf talked in our car." And there we go. All of the wiggling and slight chaos was totally worth it.

Conference Recap Handouts

Conference Funnies (the part I enjoy about this one is imagining a cartoonist watching conference through his silly glasses.)

Our little conference vacation

Last Friday we drove down to Salt Lake City to take the girls to our church's General Conference. Conference is held at Temple Square every October and April and we normally visit our church building to watch it via satellite. (because they actually listen when we are in church and if we watch it on the computer at home, it is a zoo.) When Rachel turned eight, we told her that we would take her to Salt Lake to watch it in real life, but real life kind of got in the way. 2 new babies, a stroke....all sorts of things to get in the way and to make the trip a little difficult. And this year, things have calmed down enough that we decided to go for it. It was wonderful. We met Chris' sister and my nephew there and we each got to go to at least one session. There is really nothing to explain the feelings associated with being in a room (no matter how large or with how many people in it) with a prophet of God. Wow. Conference is always a good time for reevaluating your life and setting new goals so amongst my notes are a few things I am going to be working on. There were a lot of talks on motherhood that were so inspiring that one of my goals is to go back this week and listen to them again! My personal favorites from the session that I attended were by Julie Beck and M Russell Ballard. And here is a quote that I really need:

"A good woman knows that she doesn't have time to do all that her heart yearns to do." {Julie Beck}

los pantalones de fuego

Ok...so I am a big fat liar. Or, to quote Shawn Spencer, my favorite psychic detective, los pantalones de fuego. No picture of my beautiful shoes and just a poor neglected blog for you folks out there. This week I've been running around getting all sorts of errands done while getting ready for the big girls' conference trip. Make up piano lessons. Hair cuts. (what? Autumn wants her hair short? fabulous!) Oil Change. Easter party. (ok, that wasn't really getting ready for the trip, but it was splendid springtime goodness.) Packing. Costco-ing. Laundry. Oh. And the mandatory endless hours in front of the computer doing genealogy. If someone would have informed me that would be quite so addicting, I think I would have waited for two more weeks to start. Bad timing, but so much fun! Rachel got me started and we have loved making all sorts of ancestor discoveries together. BUT if I hear her say "It is so fun seeing you on Ancestry.com instead of facebook, doing something worthwhile...." one more time, there will be trouble. It is nice having a twelve year old who is helping me grow up, but can she be a little less of a sassafrass pants? ;)

Passing on the genealogy bug: Here are some links to get you addicted, too.

Who do you think you are?

Ancestry.com

This little book I picked up for my trip (I flipped through it and it looks like an easier read that the other, more laborious genealogy books)

And, por supuesto, we've added a day onto our trip to explore the Family History Library in SLC. Yippee! And I am packing my mom's History of Baxter County book. Jennifer: I will be coming to visit you soon!

bonnet love

And the bonnet(s) go to Bethie Poo. Beth is my awesome and wonderful sister in law who just purchased a very cool falcon wagon. I would only be more jealous if it was an early 50's truck. (Yes, that is my dream truck. Chris laughs it off, but the girls point out every "cute car" that we pass by. Someday.....) Beth, I will get your bonnets in the mail asap. And since you are my sister in law, you know what asap means in my dictionary.

Elise-isms

Elise, you smart little cookie. How does a three year old get what she wants?

Elise: Dad, put your hand up. Ok. Now say "I will make Elise popcorn and I will watch Dog Whisperer with her." Say it, dad.

Pretty smart, right? I was impressed even if she was a little disappointed that her little master plan failed so miserably.

a little bonnet lovin'

Because we have a few extra bonnets lying around the Kang abode now and because I think every little girl should have a bonnet to put on when the mood hits (like when head off to visit lambs and my 3 year old deems that a very pioneer/bonnet friendly activity), I thought I would giveaway two of my extra bonnets from Autumn's party. Leave a comment and I will pick someone ever so randomly on Sunday, March 21st.

And now I am off to find a way to make our food nice and greeny today. Did I ever tell you that green is my favorite color? Yep. Our last two houses have had at least two green rooms. I am still working on getting a green room here, but have temporary settled for painting everything that gets in my way green. (insert even laugh here)

a rundown of the week

Humor me. I am mainly doing this for myself to get my week in order. Next Saturday is Autumn's pioneer birthday and I am a wee bit behind for a party that requires this much sewing. (What a time for me to start going to bed early!!) I have 14 aprons and bonnets to sew. Invited still need a ruffle sewn on before delivering *today*. I probably should try the candle dipping ahead of time so I don't look like a shmuck in front of a bunch of 10 year olds. I need to practice felting eggs for the same reason as listed above. I have no idea what we will be eating, but I am thinking of us making biscuits with jam and of course having some very simple cupcakes. And then I plan on throwing some flowers in mason jars and maybe picking up some hay or something for the barn. Luckily, if all of the above goes to pot, we'll be at the Woodwards'. This means there will be chickens and goats to entertain if things get sticky. Oh. And their lovely land to romp about. Wow. I don't think that helped at all as I now realize that there is even more for me to worry about. Great.

At the same time that we are in the final stages of Autumn's party, we are planning Elise's party to happen right after we return for Utah. I am thinking carnival with popcorn and cotton candy and lots of games. I am going to assign the older girls to each come up with and man a game for the kiddoes and I bought a whole stack of beautiful matchy paper to make all of the decorations with. On Elise's list of important details? Balloons, blue cupcakes, water, games and for me to drive 4 hours north to pick up her cousins and bring them in for the fun. Easy enough, right? Oh...and pony rides. We'll have to thank our neighbor for letting her know that people can have ponies at their parties. I told her no way, but I am thinking she is still planning on it. I have a month to get it through her head, right? And I am rethinking having everyone's birthday party years on an even number. It would work better if I hadn't had all of the girls 2 years apart. Why be slammed one year and have the other year completely off? It just doesn't make sense!

Oh. And we've been letting Lilly run around free and nakie for day to top it off. How many accidents has she had? Two. One on my lap, due to a sister asking her if she needed to pee while sitting on my lap.

every party needs a pooper

I finally got around to hanging up some prints that I splurged on last Thanksgiving. I had to find the perfect frames (a la Goodwill, of course.) and then you have to factor in a 3 month turn around on spray painting when sunny days are hard to come by. Then top that off with general slackerness and a lack of ability to focus (SQUIRREL!) and it brings us into March. After hanging these up, I couldn't keep my eyes off of them. They just make me happy. The green frames, the fabulous artwork....they really brighten up our family room/kitchen. And then there is Chris. I wasn't home when he met them, but rumor has it (from a very reliable source) that his reaction included a long moment of silence, followed by several complaints. We grew up singing the party pooper song to my dad and I am happy to say that I can pass that tradition on to my daughters. I did humor him and adjusted them to center them on the wall better this morning, but the majority of his complaining involved the frames and the cohesiveness with our existing home decor. I, on the other hand, think it is a perfect fit. Like I said, pure happiness every time I waltz past them.

the 3 wee bears

Rachel apparently knows me well enough to know that when she is babysitting, I would like to come home to a cleaner house or to come home knowing that the girls were doing something so fabulous with their time that cleaning would seem altogether trivial.

While we were at the temple, we got two phone calls from home. The first one was asking permission to use my makeup. (at first, they got a resounding "No way!". After a little explaining that they were needing stage make up for bear noses, I couldn't resist.) The second one was requesting that I bring primroses home with me. After a little investigating, I found that they were looking for cut flowers in general and once again, I couldn't resist, coming home with a few bundles of daffodils.

Chris and I came home to tickets to the girls' production of The Three Little Bears, complete with stage (don't you love backdrops), curtain, set changes and 3 of the cutest bears of all time. I can't decide if my favorite part was Autumn's tie and glasses perched on her nose, Hannah's freckles or Elise's fake crying for her part as baby bear. Let's just say that it was the hit of the season and that it was so good that I was ok with the pigsty that we came home to. It reminded me of the plays that the March's attic must have seen. Oh, my sweet little women!

cheap thrills

How is this for a good laugh?

After choosing out Rachel's glasses today, we came home and broke it to Chris that the only pair she liked were.....Adidas. Gasp! After enjoying the reaction for a few minutes, we let him in on our joke and assured him that she chose a pair of Nike glasses. And since Chris can't stop laughing now (its a stroke thing.), we enjoyed watching him laugh for the next 5 minutes. And then we giggled about it all evening. You would think that Chris would remember my undying faith to Nike after their amazing support during his stroke, but not so. Anyhow, it was great entertainment for Rachel and me.

We will post pictures as soon as her glasses come in. In the mean time, the 12 year in me that always wanted glasses will be a little jealous that Rachel rightfully earned them with bad eyesight. Some kids get all the luck!

ramblings of a country bumpkin wannabe

Ok. We did go to the park, I didn't get to exercise, I didn't get to take Chloe's pictures and we didn't make it to the wetlands. Yikes! That to do list was a complete failure. And to top it off, the house is still a mess. Maybe tomorrow will be better? Nah! We did play at the park for a good 2.5 hours, soaking in the rays. And I did get a lot done Smiling Eyes wise. And I fed the kids! Beyond that? Not so hot.

Oh! I found some fabulous houses in the country that are calling for me. I e-mailed them to Chris and his response was something like: WHY are you looking at houses again?!!??!? I'll tell you why! My neighborhood has something against chickens (what is that about, huh?) *and* I will forever hear the call of the country and the ability to let your kids wander around in nature. I would live in a shack if it meant living in the country. Chris, on the other hand, would have to live in a pretty sweet house to make it worth living in the sticks. Sigh. This house was probably the closest I'll get to a compromise. (you know, living in a neighborhood that is in the sticks.) city rules (no chickens) with country perks. (close access to all things country and a beautiful drive anywhere you are headed.)

Note: this desire for chickens was only slightly hampered after hearing discussions from my 3 lovely friends about the times their chickens have had an egg stuck...and what you have to do about it. My plan if that ever happens to me when I have my own little flock of chickens? (see that optimism?) Call my dad. Or my home teacher. And get the gloves and KY for them. Yuck.

priorities

On today's schedule?

•Presidency meeting (at the park! Who could sit inside on a day like today?)

•Entice the kiddlings to plant the peas

•Take Chloe out for a shoot in her baptism dress (Yes, I have *planned* to do this with the older 2 girls and never have...so cross your fingers for me!)

•Go to the wetlands for some bird watching (although I am pretty sure our noise level will scare away any birds that we are planning on watching.)

What I should be doing today?

•laundry (lots of it)

•overseeing the cleaning of bedrooms

•vacuum

•mop

•clean my bedroom (novel concept that is unheard of in our house)

See where my priorities lie? Off to the park! We're going to get there early and try to get some mommy exercise in.

weekend wrap up

This was the big weekend for Chloe that has already ignited a count down for Hannah. Our family all gathered together for her special baptism (minus James' family...missed you guys!). I must say that I enjoyed not being 8 months pregnant this time around and am pretty sure that had a lot to do with us not being on time, but being early! No pictures of little Chloe to share on here, but I do have a picture of my nephew to share with you. I barely missed his arrival on my last trip to Snohomish so this was my first chance to shoot him. (in a photographic sense, of course.) His big blue eyes were quite spectacular, even if he is a little beyond the newborn cuddle up and sleep phase.

Chloe has been so excited for this day and you could see her sweet little spirit was just shining all day long. Her big goal was to read the Book of Mormon before her birthday, which she beat by almost a month. I love seeing her strive to choose the right and trying to help people at every turn. What a fabulous person she is! Ok. Enough bragging on my sweetness. (But she is exactly that!)

happy {heart} day to you

I am not too big on Valentine's day as I feel like it is pretty commercialized and Chris and I pretty much give keep it at giving each other a big hug and making sure we are extra nice. BUT I couldn't resist a few pieces of eye candy of the red, pink and white nature. First of all, these fabulous valentine's from my favorite antique store in town. I think they will be on each plate this Sunday night.

Then there were these simple paper chains that Hannah and Autumn have been cranking out that involved no new purchases. (see what happens when you have a year supply of paper?)

And these yummy treats for the girlies' friends, a la etsy and their many printable options. Like I said, nothing big.

We are keeping low as we prepare for a house full for Chloe's big baptism day this Saturday. Lucky for me, grandma makes the dress and costco is making the post baptism BBQ. What is left for me? Cleaning the house and....making sure I bring extra undies and towels on Saturday and getting to the church on time. (sounds simple, but I do have a record of failure.) This is the first baptism that I won't be 8 or 9 months pregnant at, so I think we're good.

goals shmoals.

Out of the four not so lofty goals that I made for myself this year, I have been successful at one. Yikes. And it is the hardest of the four that I have actually been doing. Silly me. I figure I want to be successful at these goals by the end of the year, which gives me a lot of time to screw it up and get back on the straight and narrow again. The car is still filthy, I have definitely not been staying off the internet until school is done (thanks to working on my website and other, less important endeavors such as cough...ahem...facebook...clearing throat.) and I am only in chapter 12 of 1 Nephi. And I didn't even dare put weight oriented goals on there! I will pick myself up and get my rear in gear. Pinky promise.

On another note, birthday season has begun at the Kang abode. We have 5 birthdays from here until April. Plan A, which included combining 3 of the 5 into one big shindig, has been thrown to the wayside after realizing that it might lead to some bad birthday memories and many hours in therapy. Plan B includes 2 rather low key parties (when it comes to my time commitment, that is), one overly ambitious party that includes many hours at the sewing machine and a search for a barn and a combo party for the youngest two, who I am pretty sure won't give a darn. And then will come my day of rest. I am sure pictures will follow. or maybe not. (you know me better than that by now, right? You could see them if you are lucky or you might see them 5 months post-partym) Until then, I have a tea to put on this Saturday and invitations to get made for the next birthday in the line up. So goes the poor planning of a mother who did not have the foresight to have her children's birthdays spread out throughout the year. Next Kang baby? You will have June. June hasn't been taken yet. (wink. wink. that was just to see if Chris reads this. NO, I am not pregnant.)

Side note: I do not think it is a coincidence that most of my blogs are categorized under Kang Craziness. That's my life summed up in two words for you.

oh, you poor neglected blog

Meet Oreo. He prefers yarn to dog toys, hasn't quite grasped the where and when of pooping and is always on the lookout for left overs. He is proving to be good therapy as Chris runs around the house with him and Chris swears that he has lowered his blood pressure.

How did this all come about? It all started with a fish. Yep. We went to the farm store in Forest Grove because the girls thought there needed to be a fish in Chris' stocking. There was sweet little Oreo, being the perfect small dog that I wanted in a nice little no-shedding package and being exactly what the girls wanted (a dog of any sorts) and kind of being what Chris wanted. (he did want A dog, but he was aiming for a chihuahua of a yippy, not child friendly sort) Since I didn't really want a dog at all, I kind of got to call the shots on breed. Sounds fair, right?

It worked out quite perfectly as the kids had been debating on what they wanted to do for Halmoni and Halapoji's present and here we are, 2 weeks later, being full fledged dog owners. Yikes.

Hotel Kang is up and running

Yes, our guest rooms are filled to the brim (not hard, seeing as we only have the one and all...) and all is a party with the "cool aunt" visiting for a brief (but now less brief) visit. Today was makeover day, which including Aunt Rachel making up my daughters in an effort to freak me out about my near future. (you know...make up, dating, growing up....all of that stuff!) We got so excited about her cute hair that we ran out for a little (as in 10 minutes or less) impromptu photo shoot. (All the while, leaving two very mischievous three olds with little supervision. Good thing the freezing cold kept us hurrying, eh?)

And why is she called the cool aunt? Because she does things like this (a lot):

Halloween in review

Halloween rundown at the Kangs:

Rachel: It just seems wrong to be stuck in bed on Halloween. When Hannah was sick on her birthday, we at least could reschedule her party. Can't really reschedule Trick or Treating, now, can you? Don't worry. She got all of Lilly's candy and a tax on everyone else's. (Although she assured me that it is the experience that matters!)

Autumn: Tried settling for Pippie to make her sick mom's life easier, but still was feeling a pull to the witchie side. Mom bucked up, took some meds and we cranked out her skirt. Overall, trick or treating was much better without braces as she could actually enjoy her favorite, Almond Joys. note: she gave some of her favorites and a full size to her sick sister...ahhhh

Chloe: The determined Little Red Riding Hood, who saw her sick mom and made her own dang skirt. I think she pulled the whole thing off rather well, as she looks just like I imagine Little Red. Well done, Chloe.

Hannah: Big surprise, eh? A horse? What?? But Hannah doesn't like horses! This costume makes Chris laugh hysterically every time he sees it. When she was given it a few months back, she wore it night and day, making Chris giggle every time she came in the room. In a funny little twist, our little horsey ended up getting a piggy back ride from a friend who was dressed up as a cowboy for most of the night. A horse riding a cowboy? Not right, I tell you.

Elise: Daisy. You know who that is, right? I didn't either. When asked what she wanted to be, she knew immediately. When I turned to the girls in confusion, they explained that Daisy is Elise's sort of alter-ego when they play house. She wears a certain blue dress and talks in a high pitched, sweet voice. Besides being amazed by the sweetness of it all, I was relieved that this really meant one thing. We already had the costume.

Lilly: First costume we pulled out of the box. Oh, I mean a dog. She liked the whole candy thing (big surprise) and had to make her hardest decision at the 1st house that had full sized candy bars. She had a lollipop in one hand. She thought. and thought. (Silly me thought she was deciding which one to get!) She handed me the lollipop and grabbed a candy bar with both hands. Yep. Two full sized candy bars. Smart girlie, eh?

First real Halloween? A success.

Gee, this was a long post. See what happens when I miss a week? You get blog throw up. And no pumpkin carving, as Autumn is still reminding me.