Fun Pictures from Bakersfield

Scott and Shelli (my sister and brother-in-law) hosted a BBQ at their house on Sunday enabling all the families to hang out together.

It was so much fun!

Farewell Grandma Kippy

Myron, Micah, Kip and Darron Nilsson

(kids missing: The Elders--Adam, Amy and Dan)

Mr. John Patrick Smith III (My Beloved Pops)

Kip and Dave Nilsson

Hadn't seen the boys in awhile, this is where we found them--too cute!

Another place we found Beckam
Windsyr Maughan and Tessa
(Micah's sister Amy's little girl, visiting the Nilsson clan without Mom and Dad)
Sweet Little Evan
(Darron and Sandee's #3 of 4)
Lexi (Scott and Shelli's #4 of 4), Jaden and Bradon (Darron and Sandee's #2 of 4)
Myron and Jessica (cool friend he met this summer)
Morganne (Scott and Shelli's #3 of 4) giving rafting tours
Ashlyn (Scott and Shelli's #2 of 4) requesting a turn on the skateboard
Beckam doing what he does best
(with Uncle Scott standing guard)
My Grandma Doris, The Greatest!

Oh, Happy Day

Had I posted yesterday, the title of the post would have read very differently!!

Yesterday, was just one of those days and as I was sitting on the couch mulling it over with Micah, I remembered the BAD day I had last month when I wondered if it was cyclical and told Micah we should pay attention to the date the next time I had a bad day. Interestingly, it was the same time last month...are you thinking what I'm thinking?
Yes indeed, I think I'm suffering from PMS and it's taken me 28 years to realize it. I'm sure there are factors (1. Jaden 2. Beckam, etc.) that make it more noticeable now than at other times in my life. I'm not embarassed to admit it because I'm actually glad there's an explanation. I'm wondering if any of you share this condition with me and what you do about it?!

Today was a FABULOUS day!

1. Beckam and I were out of the house at 10 am this morning, finished our WalMart shopping trip in 45 min. and made it back to pick up Jaden from school with 20 min. to spare!
2. Beckam took a 3 hour nap today!
3. Micah came home while Beckam was napping and played Bocce outside with Jaden while I played on the computer for a few minutes and then visited with some friends outside.
4. We took a trip to IKEA after Beckam woke up. Just the thought that we have an IKEA 15 min. from our house makes me so happy! I returned some stuff we didn't use from our reunion and got a $50 credit, which paid for all the purchases I made today. I thought a $50 gift card to IKEA was a suitable reward for all my hard work on the reunion. We had a fabulous meal there, which of course included Swedish meatballs but I had something even more delish. It was a breast of chicken covered with a thin slice of fresh ham and a lemon-garlic cream sauce, along with mashed potatoes and fresh veggies!!! Leave it to FOOD to make my day! We enjoyed our meal while the boys sat at their own little table next to ours in the play area, watched Aladdin and played with the wooden train. I also found the little glass bowls I was searching for to serve my butternut squash soup in for a whopping .59 cents. I bought 15. We had $23 left on our card after we checked out so we spent the remaining balance on Swedish delicacies: chocolate tort, lingonberry cheesecake, swedish "rats," double chocolate crisps and Remi (chocolate covered wafers with mint cream).
5. We got home just in time for me to head off to Farmer's Market for Mutual tonight where I enjoyed an excellant evening with the Young Women of the Davis 1st Ward!
6. I'm so grateful BAD days are few and far between and that GREAT days follow!!
   

Top Ten Reasons to LOVE the Great Kern County Fair

10. The option to ride an elephant or pony and have your picture taken

9. The pig, turkey and dog races

8. The art exhibits from the local elementary, junior high and high schools

7. The "Lights, Camera, Animals" show staring Hollywood's best, including baboons, even a Mandrill, birds, goats and dogs. Our own Morganne Hill, World's Most Devoted Animal Friend and Rescuer was selected as the star of the show!

6. The FFA and 4H animals, especially the laboring cows that no one I know has actually ever seen give birth. I think I almost did...once...I think. (Dear Cows, I wouldn't give birth in front of all those gawkers either)

5. The self-esteem boost you receive from hanging out with the carney's and the rest of Bakersfield's Best

4. The trampoline bungee jumping thing that Jaden finally figured out how to do flips on like the rest of the Hill cousins

3. Wristbands for the kids: rite of passage to all the rides as many times as their hearts desire, including the Tilt O' Whirl (a.k.a Teacups to Jaden). Jaden was the only kid I saw climb halfway out of the horizontal rockets before it actually came to a stop. He didn't try that again.

2. It's a Nilsson, Hill, Hicks Family Affair. We had 10 Adults and 13 kids with us. You would be amazed at our coordination!

1. REALLY, it's all about the FOOD...ready?:
Baked potatos and yummy yams from the Boys Scouts of America Booth, apple
dumplings from Teen Challenge, fresh taquitos garnished generously with fresh guacomole, funnel cakes, deep fried twinkies, frozen bananas and homemade corndogs.

YES, besides the twinkie, this was all consumed, by me, in one afternoon. Our planning was very strategic so that we could fit it all in.

The good news: I didn't eat every item all by myself (with the exception of the corn dog) but I enjoyed every bite!! We also drank lots of water, which I always think helps...a little.

This should serve as proof to my family that my whole foods eating practices are not too finatic!!

Lately...

We celebrated our 3rd annual
Diez y Ocho de Septiembre
(Chile's Independance Day) with the Moore's.

We ate empanadas and the boys got to wear their manta's that Grandma Kippy brought back for them from Chile (wonder what they'll get from Africa?).

School Picture Day

Sporting a new haircut (I asked the guy, who was obviously new and had clearly never cut a kid's hair before, to keep the length and after one miserable HOUR, this is what we got. Jaden was such a great sport...mostly).
He loves posing for the camera and needs no prodding.

Jaden "reading" (by memory), his own
Crazy Color Creatures

My favorite creature: Orin Orange can dance the torange
(spoken with the finger snapping seen in Latin dancing)

Score!!

Awaiting the arrival of something I've ordered is torturous for me. I check the tracking information daily and just hope it will come early. It doesn't matter how big or small, significant or not, I'm just impatient and perhaps impuslive...and want things NOW.

Today, I scored. Two things in one day.

We've been using one of the Calder's helmets for Beckam since their little guy wasn't quite ready for it but then they moved to Maryland so we had to give it back.

That put us in the market for a new helmet. There are some advantages to being the oldest: Jaden gets the new helmet and Beckam gets Jaden's old one, which isn't too shabby. We're pretty fanatic about the fit of our kid's safety gear and the old helmet is a PERFECT fit (with the adjustable clasp to secure around the back of the head) but Jaden really likes the skate helmets that kids are using for bike helmets. I was a little apprehensive because I wanted to be sure these skate helmets were safe enough for bike riding, too.

Our neighbor has a very cool bike/skate helmet that fits Jaden great and both of our boys love to wear it. Since we didn't recognize the brand and had no idea where to find it (they got their's out of the freebie bin in the laundry room), we picked one similar to it from WalMart. No luck. The fit was pathetic and slid back and forth and all over his head. So we took it back and checked some others out at the skate shop in town to no avail.

Well leave it to the trustee internet! We found our neighbors very helmet on-line and it was actually advertised as a bike helmet!! The key is making sure helmets comply with CPSC Safety Standards, which it did!! Jaden picked it out himself and we've been anxiously awaiting it's arrival all the way from Massachusetts . It arrived today...not a day earlier than the estimated delivery date. With our kind of boys, having a good helmet is a neccesity and it serves all purposes (skating, biking, rollerblading, wearing it at the playground like Beckam did for three hours today, etc). This is where we found it, in case you're intersted: http://www.hardheadedsports.com/prclbihered.html



The other surprise was the bottle of OH! de Moschino perfume. When I was at my sister's house last, I sampled this scent and after spraying it I let out some kind of hoot and holler because I loved it so much. Today, it arrived in the mail. My husband is such a sweetheart and loves me so much!! Thank You, Micah! I LOVE you, too!

The Birds AND the Bees!!

Jaden was educated this afternoon on the playground of Solano Park (not at school) about S-E-X. And although he can't quite remember what it's called, he remembers ALL the details.

"You lay in the bed together, on top of each other, naked with your private parts touching. And that's the only way you can get children, right mom? Is that what you do?"

Me, dumbfounded, "Well, yeah, but...," trying to grasp that I'm acutally having this conversation with my FOUR year old!

It all goes back to that girlfriend situation. Some of the older kids on the playground have caught on to their "relationship" even though our kids are completely innocent about it. They hardly even play together now but the titles remain. Kaylin, "the girlfriend" used it as a threat yesterday when Jaden wouldn't let her have a turn riding the tractor:

Kaylin: "You are SELFISH! Do you know what SELFISH means? It means you have to let me ride the tractor. If you don't let me have a turn Jaden, I won't be your girlfriend anymore."

Anyway, today an older boy was teasing them saying, "Jaden loves Kaylin" while Jaden was on one end of the playground and Kaylin on the other. Then an older little girl whispers "a secret" to Kaylin with Micah watching all the while never suspecting what the secret actually entailed.

He thought the secret was that Jaden wanted to marry her...Wow, was he wrong--she skipped that part completely.

We later learned that the older girl began giving explicit instructions to Kaylin on how to carry out the act and then went over to where Jaden was playing on the bars and educated him. Who would suspect...with Micah sitting right there?!

When asked what his response was, Jaden said, "WOW!!"

It was actually a great and probably very appropriate time for us to have this conversation so he doesn't have to rely on his peers for information of this nature. We were all laying in bed reading scriptures together when it came up. Thankfully, I had been cued by Kaylin's mom so that I would have the opportunity to talk to him about it.

We had a great discussion where I told him that this is not a conversation that children should be having together. That it is up to mommy's and daddy's to teach their children about those things and not other children. We told him that if children have questions about their bodies, they need to talk to their parents.

We told him that only adults have children and explained that mommy and daddy were best friends from the time they were little kids and that we rollerbladed together, went to dances together and became best friends. Then we each decided that we loved each other more than any other boy/girl in the whole world and so we got married. After that we waited two years, until we had enough money (well--ideally, right?), a place to live and were really ready to have children and take care of them. We asked him if children were easy to take care of and he emphatically replied, "No! Beckam whines and is a lot of work."

We also explained what can happen if people have children before they're ready and how sometimes they have to give their babies to other families who can take care of them (of course we explained how wonderful it is for the family that gets the baby, which he is very familiar with because our good friends here were just able to adopt).

It all seemed to sink in and he was very interested and affected by what we were saying. We asked him to promise that he would not discuss these things with other children since it was not his job and to let the kids know that he was only 4 3/4 and didn't need to worry about it for a long time. I told him he should then run off to play.

He said, "I'll just tell them that I'm 4 and I won't run off because that would be rude."

Point taken. So hopefully we're on the same page and he doesn't do any educating about this newly acquired information. I think we'll be just fine. I did have a nice talk with the girl's parents and they were surprised but aware of when she was educated by an older boy a few years ago and so it goes....

Have you had the opportunity to have "the talk" with your kids? Were they FOUR?!!