50 Days: Day 1: Introduction

For day one of my 50 day project I am going to have the kids introduce themselves. So, keep in mind this is my kids describing themselves.

Kaylee (Age 8)

Kaylee loves to read, play board games, make cards, draw pictures, and write books. She likes to eat pizza. She loves to swim and play in water, and misses the beach. She also loves gymnastics.

Gabby (Age 5)

Gabby likes to be silly, play at the beach, play at the park, watch movies, play on the iPod and computer. She is addicted to Chocolate milk. She loves her dog Falkor. She likes to play with her friends and cousins. She really loves Fancy Nancy, tutus, and everything girly.

50 Days

My friend is doing this on her blog right now about her kiddos. I thought it looked like such a fun idea that I wanted to try it too. I can't wait to see what random, and crazy things come from doing this. It originally started out as a getting to know you thing, but I really like the twist that my friend did to make it about her kids. This will be fun to look back on and see what the kids were like at this stage, especially since I make my blog into a book every year so we can enjoy my randomness for years to come. I took a little bit of liberty on this list in changing a few things around since it was originally meant for an adult get to know you thing. So here it goes...

Day 1: Introduce the kids (have the kids introduce themselves)
Day 2: A bulleted list of everything that happened in your day that involves the kids (their schedules)
Day 3: Their favorite movie
Day 4: A baby photo of each kiddo
Day 5: A letter to your favorite person.
Day 6: A list of what you ate today....hmmm probably what I fed them.
Day 7: A youtube video you find funny (this could be interesting)
Day 8: A photo of them taken recently
Day 9: List some of your favorite activities
Day 10: A letter from Dad to them
Day 11: Share your favorite recipe(s) (their favorite recipes)
Day 12: Self portrait
Day 13: Whatever tickles your fancy (random thoughts from the kiddos)
Day 14: A song from your childhood (favorite song right now)
Day 15: A letter to someone you wish you could meet (who would they love to meet right now)
Day 16: Provide pictures of 5 celebrity crushes (Hopefully they won't have any crushes right now but I will find out their favorite movies and characters)
Day 17: A photo that makes you sad (what makes them sad)
Day 18: Set or share a goal (goals that they are working on)
Day 19: Whatever tickles your fancy (random)
Day 20: A letter to someone that changed your life (a letter from me to them)
Day 21: Your favorite television program (theirs, even though they don't watch TV unless through netflix)
Day 22: A photo that makes you happy (what makes them happy)
Day 23: Share one of your favorite tunes (favorite song)
Day 24: Time to face morph (hmmmm....not sure about this one)
Day 25: Someone you judged by their first impression (My first impression of them)
Day 26: Favorite books (theirs)
Day 27: A talent of yours (theirs)
Day 28: Favorite places to shop (theirs)
Day 29: Your favorite color (theirs)
Day 30: The friendliest person you knew for only 1 day
Day 31: Whatever tickles your fancy (random)
Day 32: A photo you took (he he he...this ought to be funny)
Day 33: What you’re craving right now (this will be interesting too)
Day 34: Your favorite quote (favorite sayings right now)
Day 35: A letter to a long lost friend.
Day 36: Some hobbies of yours (theirs)
Day 37: A song that you like to dance to (theirs)
Day 38: A photo of your parents (easy)
Day 39: Zodiac sign and do you think it fits your personality (theirs)
Day 40: A deceased person you wish you could talk to (hmmm.....interesting)
Day 41: Whatever tickles your fancy (random)
Day 42: A bad habit you have (theirs)
Day 43: A picture of your favorite place in the world (theirs)
Day 44: Something that fascinates you and why (theirs)
Day 45: A letter to yourself a year ago (what they were like a year ago)
Day 46: Photos of personal things in your life (pets, family, house, etc)
Day 47: Birthday wish list (theirs)
Day 48: A photo of you right now (another one?)
Day 49: Hopes, dreams, and plans for the next 365 days (future dreams)
Day 50: A letter to your reflection in the mirror (theirs)

Weekly Review 2011 - January 30 - February 5

Sunday, January 30 - My nephew just turned 12 and received the priesthood at church. We went to their ward for the ordination, and then over to my sister-in-law, and brother-in-laws house for lunch. It was nice to spend time with Paul's family. After lunch the kids turned on Despicable Me down in the family room, and a heard more than a few grumbles when it was time to go home.

Monday, January 31 - My kids LOVE creating things. They get very creative sometimes. They love play dough, legos, and pretty much anything that lets them create. They played with this play dough set for a few hours before putting it away and moving on to something else.

Tuesday, February 1 - My cousin Tiffany's son's school had parent teacher conferences this week so every day was early out day. She met me downtown at the children's museum. My girls, and her boys had fun playing, exploring, and building. Her boys were especially excited about the building part. In the play grocery store the groceries were all over the place so Kaylee put on the stock associate apron and started putting things away. A few employees came through to clean up and saw what a great job Kaylee was doing and they gave her a toy out of a special cabinet for her ta take home. She was so excited, and made sure the store area was completely clean before we could move on to the next area.

Wednesday, February 2 - I asked Gabby if she wanted to help make dinner, and she was super excited to crumble the Ritz Crackers for parmesan chicken. While the chicken was in the oven cooking she helped me make mashed potatoes. She wanted to put the potatoes through the potato ricer all by herself.

Thursday, February 3 - It turned out to be a pretty busy day. It started out doing some homeschool work, the I ended up picking up my sister from the car dealership where she had just dropped off her van to get fixed and took her to work. I took my fluffy little dog to the groomer, went to the library where Gabby got 21 new books, we met up with my mom at Target and then went to lunch at Kneaders. After lunch we took lunch from Kneaders to my little sister at work, took keys to the car lot where my little sister's car is sitting totalled from hitting a gas station, and the went shopping with my mom at Sam's Club...then it was time to pick up my not-so-fluffy doggy from the groomer, go home, and make dinner. Once again Gabby was more than thrilled to be my little kitchen helper to make sloppy joes, even if she did refuse to eat the finished product.

Friday, February 4 - I picked my little sister Marla up from work and she came over to my house so we could make some amazingly delicious Samoa Cheesecake Bars. They ended up taking FOREVER to make. They did turn out delicious though. We learned a few things while making them, and by the end we were getting a little out of control.

Saturday, February 5 - With the leftover chocolate from the Samoa Cheesecake Bars the girls and I made some zoo animals with a chocolate mold. We had lions, and monkeys, and hippos! After we made our zoo animals we went shopping at Lowes, and RC Willey to find some new flooring for a few areas in our house. Stay tuned to see our new flooring. We got new laminate wood looking flooring for the kitchen at Lowes, and RC Willey will be here on Friday to install carpet in the downstairs family room.

Discovery Gateway Children's Museum

On February 1 we went to the Discovery Gateway Children's museum with my cousin Tiffany and her 2 boys Corbin, and Carter. We met up with them and went in to play. They played for a few minutes before we moved onto the kids size town. Gabby and Carter spent most of their time in the construction area, and Kaylee and Corbin spent quite a bit of time in the house. Kaylee was enjoying ironing, cleaning the house, and just looking around (why doesn't she enjoy cleaning our house?) Gabby built a huge house tower with the building bricks.

As we continued through the kids town we went over to the area by the grocery store, water area, and farm. Kaylee put on a store apron and was pretending to be a cashier, when a couple of other little girls wanted to be cashiers she changed her apron so she was a stock clerk. She was going around the store picking things up and putting it in the right spot. She was doing a great job and when some of the museum employees came to clean that area they told her how impressed they were that she was doing such an excellent job cleaning up and they opened a locked cabinet and gave her a souvenir for being such an great helper. She was so excited and wouldn't let us move on until everything was put back in its right spot.

When we were done playing in the kids town we headed upstairs. The kids got to build with blocks, paper, play at the pretend tv studio, and check out the life flight helicopter exhibit.

Weekly Review 2011 - January 23-29

Sunday, January 23 - I woke up not feeling so well. Paul went to church, and I stayed home on the couch. The girls decided to stay home with me, and Gabby got ahold of my camera. She took some interesting pictures including this funny picture that she took upside down. She's a funny girl (with some lunch still on her face.)

Monday, January 24 - Janeene brought over a Christmas present from her in-laws that they had left for Kaylee and Gabby that Janeene and Israel had just found in their basement. Israel's parent's went back to Chile on December 7th and they didn't realize that Maria (Israel's mom) had made all the little kids in my family gifts. She crocheted my girls each a pink hat, and they love them. They are so cute, and it was so sweet of Maria to make them a gift.

Tuesday, January 25 - I went to Costco to get Milk, and few groceries. I found some delicious looking raspberries, strawberries, and grape tomatoes, and peppers. I was so happy that I found some amazing produce. I went home and ate more than half of the container of rasberries, and quite a few grape tomatoes. They were so delicious, I can't wait to get back to Costco to get some more delicious produce.

Wednesday, January 26 - My sister Wendy and I took our kids to the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum. There were a few field trip groups there so we found areas of the museum that the groups hadn't taken over yet and played in the quieter areas. We had so much fun and the kids have already asked when we can go back again. Kaylee and Gabby love going places with Roman and Hudson, and can't wait for our next adventure.

Thursday, January 27 - I made each of my kids reading charts and when they completely fill in their reading chart they get to choose a reading prize. For Kaylee's reading chart she has to read 10 chapter books, and write me a book report on each of the books; and for Gabby's chart she has to read me 9 phonics reading books. Gabby filled in her chart and got to choose a prize. She chose the Sleeping Beauty Pretty, Pretty Princess Board game and wanted to play it over, and over, and over. Kaylee has filled up her reading chart twice and picked a felt crafts book for her first prize, and a Barbie DS game for her second prize.

Friday, January 28 - Paul got off work early and surprised me when he was home so early. It was really nice when he took the kids and the dog to the park to play while I went and picked Marla up from work. Marla came over to our house for the afternoon and we decided to go to Leatherby's for dinner. We had some delicious cheese fries, sandwiches, and of course you can NOT go to Leatherby's without getting ice cream. YUM!!!

Saturday, January 29 - Paul told the girls that Falkor needed a bath so for them to go give him one. Paul was totally kidding and just meant that the girls could help him wash Falkor. Kaylee and Gabby took this very seriously and took Falkor in and put him in the tub, they got him all wet, and then Kaylee got the No More Tangles shampoo so that his fur would be smooth and easier to brush (That's what she told me). Kaylee and Gabby did an amazing job making sure the shampoo was all scrubbed in, and well rinsed. Kaylee told Falkor "You know this would be a lot easier, and faster if you would just hold still and not walk around the bathtub when I'm trying to rinse you off."

Weekly Review 2011 - January 16-22

Sunday, January 16 - Happy Birthday to my little sister Brenda! We went to my parent's house to celebrate my little sister's birthday. While we were there one of my nephews made the comment that big people(adults) could do the splits better than kids can. I told Marla that if she did the splits then I would take a picture. The closest thing I had to me was my phone so it's not the greatest picture.

Monday, January 17 - It was Martin Luther King Jr. Day and so there was no school, and Paul didn't have school or work. Kaylee and Gabby were going to go over to our neighbor's house for a play day but Sunday afternoon their furnace broke so I volunteered for her girls to come over to my house instead. They had fun playing all morning with legos, crafts, and dress up clothes. After lunch their mom came over to get her girls and ended up taking my girls for a few hours. They had a fun all-day play date.

Tuesday, January 18 - Tuesday started out with a bang. I was on the phone with my little sister Marla while she was on break at work and she was driving over to the gas station to get her co-worker a drink. All of the sudden she wasn't there but I could still hear some noises in the background and then the next thing I heard was a man's voice asking if she was okay and if she could turn off her car and if she could get out. I was totally freaking out! I didn't know if she had gotten in an accident, or pulled over or what had happened. I didn't dare hang up the phone and Marla picked up the phone a minute later. I asked her what happened and she said she didn't know. I asked her if she had hit something, or if someone hit her and she was really dazed and didn't know what to tell me. I asked her where she was and after a few seconds she responded that she was near the Smith's grocery store by her work. I told her I would be there in 10 minutes and jumped in my car (with my kids) and was on my way. When I got near that area I looked for cop cars and saw them in the gas station parking lot. As I pulled in the parking lot I realized that what Marla had hit was the front door of the gas station. It had shattered and part of the brick wall was broken as well. She had a blackout seizer while heading toward the gas station parking lot. A blackout seizer is when your body doesn't seize, but your brain does and your brain shuts down for a bit and when she comes back from it she has some memory problems, and doesn't know what happened or where she is. She hasn't had one in a very long time and it was REALLY freaky! So, she had a blackout seizure and ran into the front of the gas station. In the process of freaking out, and trying to figure things out I didn't get a picture of what happened. She wasn't going very fast, and no one was hurt. Her air bags went off, and her car lost the bumper, and the insurance company totalled her car, but everyone is okay!

So, that is my story of the day, and since I didn't get a picture to go with my story I have a picture of my dog Falkor sitting in his favorite spot in the kitchen, on the step stool.

Wednesday, January 19 - My kids LOVE playing with Legos, they get very creative (which I love) and are always making something new. Gabby brought this little guy into me to show me her little Lego Man.

Thursday, January 20 - One of my kids favorite places to go is the library. A whole building full of books! New stories, adventures, and things to read and imagine! We went to the library and Gabby found 6 books and a movie to check out, Kaylee found 16 new chapter books to read.

Friday, January 21 - We decided to have a family night out and took the kids to see the new Chronicles of Narnia movie: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Before the movie started the girls were playing around in the games/arcade area at the theater and I decided to get some tokens and let them play a game of air hockey. They had some much fun, and it was just as fun watching them hit the hockey puck back and forth.

Saturday, January 22 - You gotta love a Saturday with not much to do, where you can just enjoy the day, and...look out the front window with the dog. Paul and Falkor were checking on what was going on out in the neighborhood...a whole lot of nothing.

Weekly Review 2011 - January 9-15

Sunday, January 9 - We went to church and then just hung around the house. Gabby is cuddling with Falkor in their "nest" with her yellow fuzzy duck blanket.

Monday, January 10 - I made Gabby some silly sentence cards. She can put together the cards by putting them blue first, then green, and purple last. She loves them and thinks they are hilarious! It has really made her want to read them which I have been struggling lately with getting her to want to read to me. So now she is making sentences like: "The moon is jumping on my bed." Followed by nonstop giggles...then she makes another sentence like: "My bed was dancing in the trees." followed by more giggles.

Tuesday, January 11 - As I wrote last week Gabby has really been into color theme days...and usually it goes along with a tutu. This was a purple day from head to toe. When we went on some errands she found her purple jacket, but was a bit upset that she didn't have any purple shoes and had to settle on some black boots.

Wednesday, January 12 - The girls have both been saving their money since Christmas. They had me make them a goal chart to save $20. They originally wanted to get a pillow pet, but after they saw the new bears at Build-a-Bear they had a tough choice to make. They were both only about half-way to their goal so they had plenty of time to change their minds back and forth. When they reached their goals they had decided they wanted to go to Build-a-Bear and get a new bear. Gabby got the new love bear with a heart dress, and Kaylee got a lavender fluffy dog with a dog barking sound inside. We had gotten some coupons in the mail and the kids were thrilled that their money went further than they thought it would. They LOVE their new stuffed animals.

Thursday, January 13 - On Tuesday we had gone over to my parent's house and the girls made sugar cookies with my mom. She packed them up in a box as soon as they came out of the oven because we needed to get home. The girls had fun frosting them and putting candy on them, and licking the frosting right off the knife.

Friday, January 14 - My sister's kids didn't have school so I babysat her 3 kids. One thing I know will happen whenever Jaren comes over is that he will bring his legos, and there will be lots of Lego building throughout the day. They played with Jaren's Legos downstairs, then they came and played with Kaylee and Gabby's Legos upstairs. I did laundry yesterday and found a few clean Legos when I was done. They are everywhere!

Saturday, January 15 - The girls figured out how to make a teeter-totter using a couple of boxes. They also figured out the perfect weight distribution to keep them teetering, and tottering. They have had so much fun playing in this big box in so many different ways. Seriously...Why don't I just buy them boxes and not worry about the toys?