Questions, Answers, and Aunt Tera's Good Deed

A couple of questions (well 4 of them), and a couple (well, 4 of them, too) answers...
Q: Why is Miss Kylie so gussied up on a Saturday?
A: Our lucky little lady got to go to a birthday tea party (actually lemonade and homemade taffy) at the Lion House in downtown SLC and I must say that few things in life are cuter than a whole group of smily, giggly, excited, gussied up 7-year-old party-going girlies...
Q: Is that kid totally amazing or what?
A: Umm, yeah--besides amazing, Cael is a fantastic, though not necessarily "still-sitting" spectator at his big brother's basketball games...


Q: What are they staring at?
A: After 5 (and almost 1/2) years of serious dish-washing, our dishwasher completely gave out--serious bummer. Good news, though, we are all delighted with the replacement that was purchased and delivered. This is not to be confused with "delivered and installed" even though the signs all over Lowe's boldly professed their "installation guarantee" and then the round tag hanging inside of the new dishwasher also said "installation guarantee"--we took this to mean that "installation" was something they did, something they "guaranteed." Silly us! They can't install dishwashers! Something about OSHA and plumbers, it's still a little foggy. SO lucky for me, I am married to a handy handy (that's right, double handy) fella that took care of the installation part and I took care of the "keep it up, you're doing so great!!" part and now the dishes can again be stacked in a genuine dishwasher and not the genuine sink...


Q: What kind of super-fun game is being played here?
A: This is your basic "Twister" where one 3-year-old rolls up in the game mat and the other one tries to jump on him. You don't actually need the spinner for this version. Disclaimer--when played this way, "Twister" is not necessarily equal parts fun for both of the participants...




Here is Paul's sister, our cute Aunt Tera (pictured here with what may be the best birthday gift ever). On Friday, Aunt Tera and I had a great early morning at the Jordan River Temple. As we were walking back to the parking lot, this car pulls up and a very concerned lady rolls down the window to say "Fix that lady's skirt!" I'm sure we both had rather quizzical looks on our faces, so she repeated louder and more animatedly "FIX THAT LADY'S SKIRT!!" We turned around to see the nice 60-ish year-old lady that we had just said "hi" to --things were all fine when we saw her from the front--with her skirt and slip completely tucked into the backside of her waistband!! Oh dear--it was deja vu from "The Parent Trap" when Susan was leaning backwards against the rail of the deck talking to her dreamy date for the camp dance, Stafford, and Sharon and her room-mates quietly and carefully cut the back of Susan's pink party dress off, leaving her bloomers completely and embarrassingly exposed!! Aunt Tera sprang right into action and could not have been sweeter with this lady--"let's just fix your skirt here..."--the lady was gracious and shocked and possibly mortified, but with her backside covered. Nicely done, Aunt Tera, and if they ever take nominations for "Mormon of the Year" I think Tera may be a shoe-in...

Jens, Jan, and Marsha...

So my agile little bro, Jens, and my superfun/superfan mom came for a sweet little weekend adventure--Uncle Jens entertained his adoring fans with a variety of excellent skills. Jumping in the air with Kylie on his shoulders was a big hit and fortunately, no ceiling fans or heads were injured in the process!! Curtis was so blown away that he had to keep lounging on the couch while looking in the other direction...

Gramma Jan soaked in the 14-year-old boys Junior Jazz basketball scene with the Goff girlies! It was absolutely intense and Curtis' team totally pulled out the 24-23 victory-- whew!!

Zander and Cael were so pleased to be released into their natural outdoor habitat, where they were free to run, climb, slide, run, and run!! Hopefully this 55degree weather is a great sign of things to come!! You know you're not in California when 55 degrees is considered balmy...

Morgan, Kendell, and our pal, Chelby, refined their driving/looking super-cool skills--it was just that kind of a day...

The mother of this bunch continued in her quest to gather all possible infomation related to what may be one of the best shows ever created and executed, of course I speak of "The Brady Bunch!!"

I have always been a Brady fan--the reruns we watched on our 9" Sony Trinitron made coming home from school each day just that much better for me!! Oh, the groovy adventures they had in each and every episode--among my personal faves are Jan's dark and curly wig (that had to be someone's real-life experience somewhere, I'm sure all girls with long, smooth, blond hair just dream of short, permy, brunette wigs); Bobby getting his clean, startched clothing soiled while carrying out his duty as a member of the school safety patrol and deciding to wash said clothing with all of the detergent he could find--oh the wacky, bubbly mess that ensued in the casa de Brady! Cousin Oliver and the faulty hair dye/orange rabbits business; the Hawaiin adventure with the Tiki that Bobby found that caused so much trouble (no worries--it all worked out okay); the hot date of Greg's in the blue convertible at the drive-in where the frog jumped onto the pizza-eewww; Marsha and Jan working at the ice cream parlor and the best worker getting to keep the gig--in the end it was actually Jan that prevailed, leaving Marsha more time to go out with cute boys! So much quality television and awesomely (I am not sure that is an actual word, but it fits) enough, you can buy this quality show on DVD so the indoctrination can be passed on to future generations!! One of my big dreams in life is to hunt down Seasons 4 and 5--the format was switched on me after we had already purchased and thoroughly enjoyed the first 3 Seasons. Now they have the whole series available as an entire set only, which is great unless you only need Seasons 4 & 5--oh well.

Because of my adoration (that's a pretty strong word there) of the show, I feel like I need to have as much background on the people that are the Brady's. I've seen Florence Henderson sing about how much she loves cooking with Wesson Oil. I have watched every Brady-related "Biography" that A&E offers. I have read Greg's book, "Growing Up Brady" when it came out in the early 90's and while I loved the inside scoop on each and every episode, I was bummed at the "real-life" and "less-than-Brady-esque" lives that were led by my favorite Brady's. I know that they are only human (or are they dancing?), but maybe I don't really need all this info. I know Peter has had some risque reality show with his wife on TV (come on, Peter! Would he really want his mom watching? I'll have to pass on that one...) And now Marsha has her book that I need to just finish so I can move on with my life. So far on this lovely day, my not quite complete review can be summed up in two words, "uh, wow..." and as a sidenote "Mom always said don't play ball in the house!"

This just in...

Here is Cael, pumped to point out the Jenga blocks Wall-E that Morgan made for him. This extremely artistic shot was supposed to be at the end of the post below, hmmm.....eventually I'll get this figured out...

Love, Love, Love...

So since it is such a LOVEY kind of week, how about some things that are loved by someone like me, actually exactly me since my name is on the blog? Only 4 things though, because for some odd reason, I can only post 5 photos at a time and I've already used one--whatever...

New curtains!! I love them very much, and I am thrilled that they may even compensate (just a teensy bit??) for the Desitin couch...

This Amy Butler fabric is my all time fave--I love fabric, I love Amy Butler design, I love green, not to mention circles, such a lovable combination...

I had forgotten how much I love avacados!! The Pioneer Woman re-introduced me to this wonderful green delicacy, and when it is combined with fresh homemade pico de gallo, WOW!! It is true love indeed...

And hey, who doesn't love kid creativity? Cael can't get enough of this Wall-E shirt (the long-sleeved version, for those of you playing along at home) and since he has a super-nice and super-fun big sister, Morgan who will do great things for him like make a fantastic Wall-E out of Jenga blocks, it's good times a-plenty!! (My novice blogging skills have just taken a turn for the worse--where did my pic of Cael with the Jenga blocks go? It was just here, and now it is gone, so just use your own mental creativity to come up with a Jenga robot design that you love...)

Hope your week is full of roses that are red and violets that are blue...

You Know You've Got a Couple of 3-Year-Olds in the House...

...if your Kitchenaid beater serves more than one purpose...

...if your blinds double as a super-cool hangout for every available Incredible...

...if your computer regularly features the Youtube versions of awesome Fantasyland rides at Disneyland...

...if your lunchtime includes Mickey waffles, mandarin oranges, 2 different Mac trucks, 1 piggy car...

...if the back of your couch is slathered in Desitin...


Now normally, I like our home to smell warm and inviting, like winter candy apple, or cinnamon, or something tasty baking in the oven--generally, something in the family of pleasant fragrances. But for the next little bit, (to escape the mudanity of an olfactory rut) why not mix things up with a distinctive aromatic cocktail of zinc oxide and cod liver oil?! Wow. But on the bright side, no diper rash for the back of the couch...

Adventures in Up-Chucking...

So this past Thursday, I dropped off my girls for their dance class with the lovely, gracious, and talented Aunt Tera. Cael and I, actually completely I with Cael tagging along because he is 3 and I am his mom and he pretty much goes where I go, headed to the semi-nearby Albertson's for a (supposed-to-be) quick and coupon-filled grocery run.

Cael had nodded off while in the car and was so mellow and pleasant when I undid his carseat. He wanted to just sit in the cart and take it easy, which was fine by me. I meticulously went through my coupons, gathering the precise amounts of Quaker oats and Campbells soup--these things must be counted very specifically, you know.

While winding through the frozen foods, Cael got this very, very sad look on his face, and then so rudely, every item that the poor child had consumed (from what seemed like the beginning of time) violently came out-- all over him, the cart, the case of soup underneath the cart, wow. I attempted to use his green corduroy jacket as a mop; Cael just asked if we could go home now.

What to do with a sicky boy and a cart with puked-on soup cans?? I couldn't/ shouldn't really abandon it, especially after the meticulous coupon clipping... I opted to head to the nearest check-out stand, and calmly and rationally (thanks Hayley Mills) fill in my check-out stand guy on the state of affairs in my cart (and also see if they had a water source in which to hose down said cart). Two- thumbs up to the Albertson's crew, who not only were very nice, but they put my stuff in another cart and brought it out to the car.

Situations like this--yes, I've had more than one, always remind me of my lovely and beloved 5th grade teacher, Ms. Renberg. (She actually was a model on the weekends, and taught elementary school Monday- Friday, but that's for another post...) Way back in 5th grade in Washington (State, not DC), Ms. Renberg shared a story on "maturation" day (oh boy, and back then, it was none of this "have a health specialist come in and speak in terms that neither 5th graders nor their parents can understand"- it was have 2 of the 5th grade teachers go in and chat with the boys and the other 2 5th grade teachers go in with the girls and field whatever anonymous questions they can think of. (Who wouldn't want to be a 5th grade teacher??) Ms. Renberg told us about a lady who was out and about one day in white pants, unprepared for the "natural phenomenon" that happens each and every month for the female species. Anyway, the white-panted gal had to walk by a guy outside on her way to her car, and so instead of freaking out (like she wanted to) and making a big deal out of things, she played it cool and normal and said "hi" like no big deal, and he never even noticed that anything wasn't quite right with her wardrobe.

Great story to think of (that's just how my mind works), and hey, maybe no one did notice the vomit dripping from the cart as we rolled out into the parking lot?? I think Ms. Renberg would at least hane given me and Cael some "completely capable" points for composure...

**good news--no more puking for any of the Goff boys for 3 whole days now!! We'll keep our fingers crossed, and try to remain calm and rational...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CURTIS!!

This is what my very precious and handsome firstborn looked like after a few weeks with his new and learning parents...

This is what my still precious and handsome firstborn looked like this very morning, eating his ultimate birthday breakfast--leftover bacon fried rice and wontons from his special request pre-birthday dinner yesterday. He just loves it when I break out the camera, putting out that "more pictures, mom, PLEASE" vibe...

This is my precious and handsome Curtis, being the very fun/ good sport big bro and cousin who totally still brings it when it comes to the Lego table...

What can I say--Curtis is no longer our 1-week overdue, 8 lb. little teensy-tiny, non-sleeping, perpetually starving newborn. He's fun, funny, handsome, only semi-sleepy, still pretty hungry, a great big brother to 3 little sisters and 1 little brother, a great son to his thankful parents. Thanks for coming, Curtis!! We love you!! Happy 14th Birthday!!