Time

Time is a funny little word, but a word with much power. During my last few months I have been deparately out of time. I haven't been on time to anything for some time. I am stealing time right now to write about how I am wishing for more time. I keep thinking there will be a time in my life where time is not an issue. I think that time will be only when I am at the end of my life and time is up.

WWYDF30OFFAK

Let me help you decipher the title. What would you do for 30% off at Kohls? That is the question I was faced with this afternoon. I am sure those of you who covet the rarely seen 30% off deal from Kohls will appreciate this post the most. Last week I got this little blessing and with school shopping around the corner it couldn't have arrived at a better time. The problem occured when I went to use this coupon today I couldn't find it anywhere in the house. Then it dawned on me that I cleaned out the "junk area" of the kitchen a couple days ago. No big deal, right? A little dumpster diving never hurt anyone. Well on this particular morning James mowed the yard and dumped the clippings in the garbage. My obstacle was great but my determination even greater! I did it, I went in for the coupon. There I was up to my arm pits in grass clippings searching for this great deal. This is what I would do for 30% OFF.

The end

By the way- I never found the coupon.

Just another loving family

I love how Sydney can make a family out of the most unlikely group of toys. Let me introduce you to her version of what a family can be.



MOM- ultra conservative, very normal but may have some contact with an alternate universe in a dressing robe closet.



DAD- works a second job as a pimp, unlikely match with MOM but whose judging.



BABY-Not sure how mom is still standing after birthing this baby.



GRANDPA-Old MacDonald




THE CAR- Missing doors but thats okay cause baby's driving. Puppy and Kitty are securely strapped into their car seats and Mom and Dad are safetly tucked away in the trunk.

Humble Pie Anyone?

I have grown to love being at home with my kids. I know that may sound bad
"grown to love",but I thought at first there is no way I am going to make it 12 weeks without going stir crazy. I will admit that I have felt not quite with-it a few days from lack of sleep but have finally started to get my groove down. In fact, I have starting feeling so confident I have been throwing out advice to random people, because obviously I am now a professional. For instance, the other day at a doctors office appointment, a perfectly kind, single slinger (one child mom)asked if it was hard handling 2 kids. I proudly piped up "oh I have 3". I felt inclined to continue this conversation with "first one is always the hardest" and gave her some words of encouragement. She must have been biting her tongue as she surveyed the scene going on around me. While telling her this little bit of wise wisdom I turned around just in time to thwart a near escape from the doctors office by child 2. A kindly older woman must have thought if a two year old wants to go out, let 'em out. I smiled at her as I grabbed Sydney and pulled her VERY GENTLY back into the office. I was now returning to my seat with my car seat strapped infant slung over my forearm, and dragging a two year old. The young lady was no longer making eye contact with me. I should have regarded this as she doesn't want any more advice, but NO I went on to tell her again that really by the time you hit number 3 its like a favorite old movie you just know whats going on without looking. At this point we finally get called back and I notice that at some point during the wait Sydney had managed to paste about 15 smiling face glitter stickers on the beautiful ornate fish tank in the waiting room. Normally I would have stopped and tried to peel them off but the pressure to get into the next waiting room is so intense. Its like a race to get all your stuff gathered up and make sure they know you heard your name. I had no choice but to continue on. I said my "good luck and congrats" to the woman I had met and went my merry way. The true TA-DAH in all this didn't occur until I got home and looked in the mirror. Apparently, Sydney also decorated chairs with smiley face glitter sticker cause I had 4 stuck to my butt. Humbled? YES, I was.

My powerball numbers- 0,2,9,27,32

If Utah had a lottery these are the numbers I would play. All of these numbers have been so lucky for me this year.

0-Harley's age, wonderful baby. Sleeps great, nurses well, and I am feeling 100% attached with this kid.

2-Not too hard to guess, this is Syndey's age. This happens to be my favorite kid age. They are energetic, talkative, and very loving.

9- Okay I am lame.. Kaleb as you know is now 9, which isn't my favorite age per say but does represent one my most favorite persons.

27- Good year for James, good year for me. He is now on his own up at the Tracon (no more training). Lots of relief all around for doing this and many blessings.

32- Great age to be. Old enough to not be totally ignorant and young enough to still feel totally ignorant but able to admit it with confidence.


I wanted to post some new pictures of the family but needed to have some sort of story line. I find my lack of sufficient interactions with the outside world is putting a damper on Creative Alesia. I will have to walk the aisles of Walmart or Target this next week and see if I can find something or someone interesting to write about.

Did I hear a niner in there?

KALEB JAY


9 birthdays down

Total recall- past 9

NEWBORN- Beautiful baby
1) Age 1- Learns to crawl, walk along furniture, loves water. Cutest brown eyes.
2) Age 2- crashed his first automobile (Hot Wheels Jeep), Favorite toys-Trains
3) Age 3- Potty trained but felt that coming inside to use the bathroom took too long so he was often caught doing his business in the backyard. Favorite toy- Still trains. Took him to see Thomas the train in Heber.
4) Age 4- Learned to ride a bike. One of my favorite memories was catching him outside with no pants on riding his bike down the sidewalk. I can't imagine what my neighbors thought! Favorite toy- Trains
5) Age 5- Lots of changes in Kaleb's life this year and he had to grow up too fast. One of my favorite things he would say "mom you are a purple flower" He was always such a sweet talker. He proclaimed himself a "lady killer" due to his suave factor.
6) Age 6- Kaleb got a sister, and all of a sudden he had someone to boss around. Favorites: Friends, Play station, bike, trampoline
7) Age 7- Kaleb likes school and this will be the last year he actually says this to me. Kaleb starts asking for a cell phone. The answer to that was "no"
8) Age 8- Kaleb likes his friends at school,but that's about it. He got student of the month for showing kindness to others. Our family dog was put to sleep, this was pretty hard for Kaleb since he considered Roz "his dog." He could spend all day making rivers in the garden area. He also has informed me he has several girlfriends. Kaleb asks again for a cell phone, still "no"
9) Age 9- Kaleb gets a brother,a cell phone, and loves soccer. Likes to tell a good tall-tail or AKA loves to see what he can get away with. We are working on what is lying and what is a "tall-tail".

Kaleb is one of the most compassionate, kind, and empathetic little boys I have ever been around. I am proud to be his mom.
Here are some pictures of birthday week the activities were; Fun center with a couple friends, Camp out that weekend,and Golden corral (his fave restaurant) and the annual surprise cake made by James.

Oh baby!

The baby is here! Its 5 am and I should be sleeping. I am tired, a little sore and extremely happy to "be done". Its poring rain outside and I wish I was at home snuggled up with my 14 pillows and husband ,of course he usually gets lost in the pillow pile but its nice to know he is somewhere in the bed.
Harley James Ipsen born May 21st at 9:30 am. It was as easy as a delivery gets, I would almost say pain-free. It only serves me right that afterwards something would have to worry me. Its just the way things work to keep balance in the world. I hope this isn't too premature to say but the doctors are thinking he 'just' has fluid in his lungs that hasn't been absorbed yet. He was on oxygen all day yesterday and started on antibiotics. All his levels looked great after 8 hours and this morning he was taken off O2. We are pretty sure he will be weaned off the IV today too. That is the update on the not-so-fun stuff.
There were 20 babies in the nursery with Harley this morning it was a maze of sweet little ones. Great hospital and staff plus they offer free Wi-Fi..yipee!

Favorite part of last 24 hours: Being able to wake James up and say "my water broke" it was straight out of a movie.

Worst Part: well obviously, having to see poor little baby hooked up to all those monitors.

Time to nap again. Update again later with more pictures

Just another day in paradise with the Bubonic plague

You probably will be thinking "another blog stating how great it is to be a mom, and how great their moms are". Well, today you are going to get something different. This is the DAY AFTER MOTHERS DAY blog and that opens the door to more than just a "typical" post. While all those above things are true (most days) I find there are holidays where kids don't want to act like they should, I don't feel like I should, and nothing seems go as it should. But like all days that have gone to the dogs sometimes you just have "eat whats in front of you" (quoted from a great blog artist).
Speaking of eating whats in front of you, we got a half-a-cow from James' Dad and 6 coolers later we filled our chest freezer to the top. We had the best tasting steak in the world last night for dinner. I would like to thank the Academy (James, Mark, Becky) for the wonderful gift of glorious red meat!



Now that I have your attention I would like to swing back to the actual Mothers Day events.

1) Slept in til 5 am *thank you chest cold*- Right, do I hear sounds of jealousy?? hmm... well lets keep going.

2) Had to miss church for the 3rd Sunday in a row thanks to the hacking cough.. grrr but I did get an applause from my 9 year old because of this. DOUBLE GRRR.

3) Officially over-did the nesting again, and got stuck between two beds while looking underneath for a baby item (boppy) that I had to have right then and there! Barely wiggled my way out of that predicament without calling for help.

4) 2 year olds favorite monkey's nose fell off yesterday, and another plastic surgery took place.

5) 9 year old hated me all day except for when he realized we weren't going to church. 3x grrr. This age is especially fun, cause you get eye-rolls with the crusty looks. Makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside.

I really do love being a mom, as you can see from my current situation of "about to poppage" but there are those moments where you wish for a warm sunny secluded beach, with no noise, no dishes/cleaning to do, no beds to be made, with just the sound of waves, birds, wind and quiet thoughts.


But of course, those wishful thoughts are only reserved for the day after Mothers day. On Mothers day I want the exact opposite, who wouldn't?

Just to re-emphasize I do love being a mom, I wouldn't trade this time taking care of my little ones for anything. Also, I do appreciate my mom and all the phone calls that she takes from me
(750 minutes approximately a month).
HAPPY DAY AFTER MOTHERS DAY!

HAS IT REALLY BEEN 2 YEARS?

To my 2 year old

I never completely understood that saying that love is not divided but multiplied UNTIL.. I had sydney. Some of my favorite Sydney moments

1) Her monkey is her best friend. Usually dressed and diapered daily. Last night she claimed monkey had poopie... "EW, poopie" and he was cleaned and re-diapered. As you can imagine this little game gets expensive with the diapers. I usually have to fish out the "dirty" ones and put them back in the diaper stock. I think monkey is ready to start potty training this summer.




2) She pulls out all the clothes from her drawers at least once a day. This super fun game used to be just a random throw-everything-in-a-pile deal, but now it has turned into a meaningful, and very contemplative process for choosing what to wear. Things are not thrown in piles, but rather layed flat and held up to her (to make sure it fits). Hilarious




3) My new favorite words; EW, Disquesting,, heavy (in a deep,breathless voice), "I want a balloon", "Help me"
She uses these last couple phrases with her super sweet voice and adds either a "mommy or daddy to the beginning or end. Its very effective way of getting what she wants.



4) Going to bed, ride in the car or just coming to sit by me on the couch she must have the essentials; Balloon, blanket, monkey, baby monkey, & multiple books.





5) Her love of balloons is sometimes out of control. Right down to having to say good night and "tuck" balloon in at night. I just keep telling myself that, if all it takes is a balloon to make all the world seem right then, why not?





6) Her morning hugs and kisses brighten my day, and late night snuggles are something I crave. -please note: she usually won't kiss on the lips. Apparently Sydney and Pretty Woman have the same feelings about kissing on the lips "too personal". She usually will only give you the back or side of her head.





I feel so lucky to have this quirky, loving, curious little girl in my world.

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY SYDNEY GRACE

The plan

I have been a member of the baby center website for all my kids and they send little suggested activities each day. Today's activity was to "create your birth plan". This plan is obviously made for the ultra-natural, first-time birthers. As I went through their suggested labor comfort options I had to laugh;



A birthing stool- WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THIS?


A birthing chair- AGAIN, WHAT?

A squatting bar- I can imagine what this is but, really has anyone ever used one?


A birthing pool/tub- Sounds nice, right?


All these options do not apply when you get an epidural.. NOT something that was mentioned before I got to the hospital with number 1.

Another favorite section on your birthing plan list; Pain medication options, one of the choices you can check is;
Please don't offer me pain medication. I'll request it if I need it.
- Now why would this be on your birth plan. Is it just because you feel like you could wuss out and don't want to? I call this choice- New Mother masochism

I have never knew of this category before but sounds a little "out-there". It is called, "After the birth" and one option is;
I would like to wait until the umbilical cord stops pulsating before it's clamped and cut.
- Anyone have any clue why?

This one must be why they throw the birth plan out the window when you arrive;
Please don't offer anything to my baby at any point
-This must be for those women who don't plan to or need to sleep post delivery. I guess the baby gets to eat air until you wake up.

I know the first time I was pregnant I was really into this concept of "the birth plan". I laugh now at how naive I was. It must have been the sense of control I felt at writing down exactly what I wanted to have happen. As I walked in the door to labor and delivery I was waiting for the nurse to say "do you have your birth-plan orders?" This piece of paper so carefully planned had all the instructions for the imagined 2-4 hour event. Of course, like most of us girls it was never removed from the suitcase nor did anything go "as planned". For anyone on number 1 just remember that the birth plan is kind of like the seat in the airplane that can also be a floatation device... false hope.

Lessons from the weekend

I love when its just a tish too cold to play outside and just a little too nice to be indoors. Its about this time of the year when I start to get really stir crazy for a vacation or warmer weather! This weekend was a 3 day long venture in getting out of this shlump of stir craziness. I can't say its completely gone but with some amazing creativity (by me, of course) we did make some interesting creations. I gave my son the option of making a robot or an airplane for our craft time on Saturday. This is the first craft time, please don't get all excited that I regulary have a time slot for "craft time". That would be way too organized for me. Back to the story, Kaleb wanted both an airplane and robot, which is kind of funny cause I have no idea how to make a robot or an airplane (other than paper one). :) Ha ha joke's on him, right?

Trip One to Walmart: After a painful hour and half at looking at the craft aisle in Walmart we got all of our must have parts and pieces. We are in the process of backing out of the aisle and then, BUT OH WAIT... what do I spy with my little eye... is it...a Pottery Wheel? My heart does a slight leap, as my son looks at me and says "you won't let me have this" Of course I have to play it cool and say "well, I think you have to make a choice.. airplane, robot or super, awesome, amazing pottery wheel." Knowing what easy prey he is, I start having a vision of Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze

All the past hour of gathering "airplane" stuff went back on the shelf. Of course I put it all back where I found, it! Who would be so inconsiderate as to just dump a load of foam board, paint, brushes and glue on the shelf next to scrapbook supplies. CERTAINLY NOT ME. :)
Kaleb was excited and so was I,how could this go wrong?
After an hour of set-up and instruction time we began "wedging" the clay. This all would have been fine except the clay is very hard. It would have been easier to wedge a rock. None the less, with weakened wrists and strong determination we managed to form a ball of hard clay. Which was put on the machine.
I should note this is not my child on the machine, it is a copy of someone else's HAPPY child on their machine.


Once again, where was I with my camera? My kid looked like this trying to work on this machine.





Our creations were not a complete disaster. This is what we created





Okay,Okay this is a complete lie. We did not create anything except a humongous mess.

Load up kids..trip 2 to Walmart. Might I note that I also am battling a bad case of gastritis and all its glory. This better be a quicker trip than last time.

BACK TO WALMART WITH SOME VERY STRONG OPINIONS ABOUT THIS PRODUCT. I spend the drive over recreating the scene where the customer service representative tells me we cannot return this used product, and where I have to show her how this product makes false claims of success. OH YES, I was prepared for the worst. To my surprise no such interaction occured and off we went to buy all the "airplane" supplies again. Good thing no one cleaned up the scrapbook aisle yet.





PICTURE OF SUPER AWESOME AIRPLANE.


Best part of the day. Finishing craft time

Worst part of the day. Realizing at 6pm I have to make a 3rd trip to Walmart for Milk.

LESSONS:
1) Do not let movies influence you.
2) Never make promises for craft time sucess
3) Never go to walmart with a bad case of gastritis.
4) When having an urge to break a boredom spell, go to the movies I promise its WAY cheaper.

The bloggers wall

Sometimes taking a break from blogging is necessary, not only for yourself but for the poor people who have to endure the torture of pointless entries. You might be asking yourself "Wait.. isn't this a pointless entry?" To you I say, "Yes, yes, it is." I have had a few "Almost entries" but due to lack of clarity these days I haven't been able to expand on anything. Here are the top 10 ALMOST blog posts.. Sad

1) Is it a day off of church when there is "ward or stake" conference, I say yes?

2) How bad is it that I have two Dora movies memorized? There IS a topic here, I just haven't been able to come up with the interesting part yet.

3) Why my snack shelf is always restocked and full but cans of cream of chicken or chilies are never there when I need them. Why can't more recipes call for teddy grahams?

4) Why cleaning up dead mice on valentine's was actually fun, perhaps just because we got to wear our "gangsta gear"? That would be bandana's that covered our faces.

5) On the topic of gangsters, why do they cover their faces with bandana's, I would think they would have better vision to do there devious deeds if at least they had better vision? It would help at least peripherally if the scarf was worn around the leg, arm, neck like they used to do in the 90s. You would have to watch Gangster land on History channel to fully appreciate this, there are just too few nerds who watch it regularly like me.

6) Teaching my two year old to open doors was a bad idea.

7) Processed American cheese turns into the best adhesive I have ever seen when left on a flat service.

8) You know you have pregnancy brain when you use your own clothes as a napkin while wearing them.

9) Whole cloves are to be used sparingly.

10) I have found that the best way of getting your kids to try new foods is by telling them they have tried this before and loved it, this usually results in at least one bite being taken. Thanks to my sister's brillant idea, I have also started using fancy tooth picks instead of silverware to up the "interest" in dinner for the kids.

Funeral Potato's

I love this casserole and have never tried making it. I was given a bit of encouragement while standing in line at a post-funeral dinner. "Its so easy", this person said and even James' uncle had the recipe memorized. I was indeed feeling confident this was going to happen. FAST FORWARD 24 HOURS- Potatoes are in the oven and look and smell as they should. Here is the recipe I followed.

1 Bag of frozen hash browns
1.5 cup of sour cream
1 cup of cheddar cheese (or as much as you want..as I did)
1 can of cream of chicken soup (or mushroom)
1/2 cup diced onions (or onion flakes)
1/2 cup butter or margarine

Add corn flakes crumbled mixed with butter for a crusty topping (I didn't do this)

Apparently these potatoes are also called Mormon Potatoes, or ward potatoes. I have also read the peeps of the Lutheran faith claim these as their heritage. I guess we will have to duke it out for the title.