A Day of Mourning

Kei had to get his hair buzzed the other day. The poor kid was not truly happy about it, but it was a dire necessity, after he twisted several knots in his hair that had to be cut out. As you can tell from the pictures below, he would sit and twist his hair and sometimes he would get two different curls tangled up. I could poke my finger through the bottom of the individual curls but towards the top they were a twisted mess. The only way to get them out...cut them. I think we may have been able to salvage his hair, other than he took it upon himself to cut two of the knots out, and they were in the very front of his head(while Rachel was watching him..he he he, not your fault)! I thought only toddlers cut their own hair? It was a good effort by Keion but VERY noticeable nonetheless. His hair was long. The longest it has ever been. I'm not sure how long we will let it get this next time. He just doesn't have the motivation to keep product in it and take care of it like he needs to. I don't blame him-soul glow (not what he really uses but same effect) is a greasy mess. He looks so different with his short hair. I'm not sure why I'm having a hard time getting use to it. He had short hair his whole life until this last year. Give me a couple days and I won't even notice, I'm sure. To ease the pain of having to cut his hair, Kylan and I tell him that he will have less (or do you say more? I'm having a brain cramp) wind resistance for his State Tourney this weekend. Keion, a.k.a. FLASH! Do you think he looks older with short hair?

Here is a picture collage of the adventure. Buzzing his hair was like mowing thick, wet grass up to your knees. A pure joy. The remnants of his hair on the floor is so unlike white people hair. You can see each individual curl on the ground and it comes off in strips, all stuck together. Have you ever tried to peel an orange in only one strip? You could do a similar technique with Kei's hair, if only you could whip his head around like that and get him to sit still. Never, not going to happen!

Runner-Up

Kei had a bball tourney this last weekend in Hudson. His "A" team took 2nd place. I sure hope they can pull it together for the state tourney this next weekend in Columbus. It will be a fun weekend away and we will get to hang out with the Sorensen's too! Only 2 tourney's left.

"Mom Feet"

You know that crusty, calloused layer moms build at the bottom of their feet? Well, I got it. I'm not proud in the least. I've been fighting this for years and I think I'm starting to lose. I went to take my socks off the other night and they totally got snagged on these bad boys. Eeew. Granted, this photo was taken with 2 days of no lotion and after I applied some they looked much better. I didn't take an after shot because it would ruin the dramatic affect I'm going for!
Kei said,"I know where you got that mom (talking about my nasty feet)."
Me: "Where?"
Kei: "From Grandma!"
That made me really laugh. No offence to my mom but she has a built in layer of shoes because her feet are so bad. If she were to step on a nail, the nail would bend. I believe it comes from years of being a stay- at- home mom and hardly ever wearing shoes. In that case she can parade around in her crusty feet with honor. Me on the other hand, I'm not the domestic goddess that she was and have no good excuse for my hideous feet.
Do any of you have this problem? Am I alone, in my old age, with leathered soles?
Any home remedies you readers know about? Please share. Oh ya, and getting a pedicure is out of the question-you know that will be several years down the road before I have that luxury!

The Other Boleyn Girl

This was the first book that I read 4 years ago by Philippa Gregory. It sparked my interest in King Henry VIII and the whole royal family. I've read countless books, mostly historical fiction, on King Henry and the women in his life. He, and his life, are very fascinating to me. As you can imagine, I was thrilled when I was in New York and saw an advertisement for the making of the movie.It starts showing February 29th. Any of you ladies up for a girls night out? I know for a fact that Dulcey (good friend) is going to go watch it with me. She also enjoys Philippa Gregory as an author and the stories behind the royal family. I love that I can talk to her about it! Anyone else is invited, even if you haven't read the book. I'm giddy with delight just thinking about it!
It helps that Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson and Eric Bana are playing the lead characters.
It truly can't get any better.
Check out the website for the movie http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/theotherboleyngirl/

Sledding

When we had a snow day last week, my friend and I took our kids sledding. The hill was the perfect size, not to long and steep so the treck back to the top was quick and painless. Heaven knows, I didn't want to have to walk down and help them up everytime!
I was messing around with some pictures of Aspen (friends daughter) that I took at the hill.
What do you like better, the left or right? Or can you even tell a difference?
This picture, obviously, had different lighting and I really didn't do too much to it. I'm no pro, nor want to be, but would like to know how to fix up my own pics to make them look better. Fortunately, Apen is so darn cute that she can make any picture look good.

Here is a couple pics of Kei slidding out of control. He tried to make a jump out of snow and hit the side of it and spun out. I love the action shots my camera can take outside. The ones you are looking at below happend in about a second.

Kei and Sam (the neighbor boy I babysit) had a great time going down the hill together.

I'm now wishing for another snow day so we can go sledding again! We actually have another hill we want to try out at a local golf course. You need something to do around here when the skies are nothing but grey and the temp. never exceeds 20 degrees. I put a picture of myself on here too, but you can't find me because I'm so pastey white, I blend right into the snow. I need some sun!!!

A Little Behind

We had a pretty uneventful Valentine's Day. Ky and I had already celebrated with our evening to Wicked. Kei had his fun time at school. I, for the most part, completely dropped the ball on Valentine's. Typically I order caramel chocolate hearts from Fredrickson's, in Twin Falls, Idaho, for both Ky and Kei. It was a tradition Ky's dad did for his kids and after he passed away I wanted to continue to do it for Ky and buy and extra for him to give to Kei.

This year, I forgot all about it until the day of. It wouldn't have been so bad if they didn't have to travel a thousand miles to get here.

Shame on me. I did make some homemade Valentine's cards and so did Kei. He made both Ky and I a Valentine on a sticky note! If you remember from past posts, he is very creative with his sticky notes.

I did help volunteer for the 5th grade Valentine's party at Kei's school. The entire 5th grade had their party together. It was held in the gym with several stations for the kids to go around and win prizes. I was in charge of the dart throw. At times is was scary, some highly uncoordinated kids were throwing the darts and you just weren't sure where they were going to hit. That's when I made sure I was behind them!

Kei hit two balloons on the dart throw.

The school principal is wonderful. Everyone just loves her. She really does an amazing job. She let the kids throw pies (plates filled with whip cream) at her for a dollar a pie. It was a fundraiser and the kids LOVED it. Kei got a couple tosses at her, but never got her in the face.

By the way, spell check is broken and I hope that all of my misspellings don't make you cringe as much as they do Ky. Come on, we all know I can't spell, why fake it!

Ever Had One Of Those Days..

When everything goes wrong, you feel like crap, and there is nothing in the world that can change it? I've had more than my share of crumby hair days, days where my clothes don't fit (no matter how hard I try to suck in), days when everything breaks down- from the car to the kitchen appliances to my kid, days when telemarketers just won't leave you alone, and worst of all, days when your stuck on the john without any toilet paper!

When you think you have it bad just remember this little story-

Fire authorities in California found a corpse in a burned out section of forest while assessing the damage done by a forest fire. The deceased male was dressed in a full wet suit, complete with scuba tanks on his back, flippers, and facemask.


A post-mortem revealed that the person died not from burns, but from massive internal injuries.Dental records provided a positive identification. Investigators then set about to determine how a fully clad diver ended up in the middle of a forest fire. It was revealed that on the day of the fire, the person went for a diving trip off the coast some 20 miles from the forest. The firefighters, seeking to control the fire as quickly as possible, called in a fleet of helicopters with very large dip buckets.


Water was dipped from the ocean and then flown to the forest fire and emptied.You guessed it. One minute our diver was making like Flipper in thePacific, the next he was doing the breaststroke in a fire dip bucket 300 feet in the air. Apparently he extinguished exactly 5'10" of the fire. Some days it just doesn't pay to get out of bed.
This article was taken from the California Examiner, March 20, 1998.


I've found the best remedy for any of my problems is to laugh. Humor has been my lifesaver on more than one occasion and whenever I'm in an uncomfortable situation, I tend to crack jokes, to lessen and distract from the REAL feelings. It's a coping mechanism that works for me.
Try it. It's the best medicine.

Wicked

Wicked was absolutely amazing. The traveling to get to Playhouse Square wasn't to shabby. It started raining when we left and cleared out some of the snow on the roads. We only had about half an hour worth of white knuckle driving. On the way home it was late and the roads were only wet, lucky for us. Kei was complaining about us leaving him behind but Ky and I haven't had a date night out, solo, in a loooooong time. Kei is very spoiled and typically goes everywhere we go. Don't feel bad for him, he got to stay with the Olson's, order pizza, stay up late and play with Heber. Thanks Rachel, for helping us out. As far as the show goes...EVERYONE must see it!!! The last time I enjoyed myself this much, at a show, was when we watched Cirque du Soleil, in Seattle. I really can't compare the two because they are completely different but both VERY entertaining. The music was wonderful and the story line fantastic. I want to be the wicked green witch! The performers are truly talented individuals. I got ripped off when it comes to any artistic ability, unless you count ghetto club dancing as part of an art =)! If Wicked comes to a town near you, GO. You won't be disappointed.

By the way, it's another SNOW DAY! 3 in a row, Kei is stoked. We are off to go sledding.

Snow Snow Snow

I've been complaining for days that the weather has been miserably cold with nothing to show for it. We've had hardly any snow all winter and the little bit that we have had, lasts a minute and it's gone. I was praying extra hard Sat. night that we would have a snow day, why Sat.? Well I had to give a talk on Sun. and was hoping church would get canceled! Well my prayers were answered, just a day late.
Monday school was called off because the temprature was below zero. It was so cold that just walking outside caused you to get a cliff hanger- you know when you have a booger hanging on for dear life, stuck to your nose hairs and no matter how hard you blow it isn't going anywhere (especially when it is frozen in place), yes, that cold.
It warmed up later in the evening and that's when it started snowing. Today was another "real" snow day. Kei was pumped. I stepped outside to get the mail and snapped a picture of the winter wonderland. But of all days that I would wish for snow, this is not it...
Ky and I have tickets to see Wicked tonight at the Playhouse Square in Cleveland. The roads are going to be horrible and who knows how long it's going to take us to get there and back. Ugh.
I'm not letting it get me down because I am so excited to see Wicked. Everyone raves about it and we wanted to see it while we were in NYC but it wasn't showing due to the strike.
This is Ky's early birthday present from myself and his mom and we are counting it as a Valentine's gift for each other too. Ever since we've started med school we do alot of that, combining gifts for birthdays and holidays to be able to afford something other than the home-made dinner and card. I'm sure we aren't the only ones who have done this! I'll let you know what we think of the show. And for once I want no snow.

Kei had the Jackson Youth Basketball Assoc. championship last night. Even though he was not 100% for the game, he still played great and pulled off a victory, 44-42. It was down to the last wire and too much drama for me. I was trying to be polite as everyone at the game was going against us. That is what happens when you dominate the league all season and go into the championship undefeated. I must admit that I was a little worried that we weren't going to pull it off. At one point we were down 6 points-something that has never happened to them all season. More than anything I am happy for all the boys who don't play competitively and this was a big moment for them to go undefeated and win a championship. Kei on the other hand has several championships and will continue to play ball for his traveling team. Pretty crazy to have 2 undefeated seasons, one in football and one in basketball. Awesome. One lucky kid. Oh ya, Ky helped coach the team and received a free t-shirt. Well worth it! Way to go boys. I have to mention that last night when we got home from the game, Kei was getting ready for bed and was sucking on a cream saver. I was talking on the phone and he came in and told me that he was choking (the best he could with a piece of candy lodged in his throat). I instantly did the automatic no-no and slammed him on his back while dropping the phone and screaming for Ky to get upstairs. Kei started making gagging noises and Ky came upstairs and got him to calm down. I told him that Kei couldn't breathe (I didn't say choking), and in a matter of seconds Kei threw-up all over my bedroom floor, the cream saver and all! It was so scary. I don't remember ever having him choke on something like that. It freaked Kei out as well and he was very upset. After Ky saw the cream saver he realized that Kei was choking (I didnt' clearly describe the problem ) and would have given the heimlic right away. In the end it worked out as if he had, and Kei was fine. We kept checking on him all night to make sure he was breathing ok. It really wigged all of us out. I'm so thankful that he was ok.

Sick

Kei is sick. Not in the crazy, cool, insane type of way but the kind that knocks you out and makes you miserable.

The poor kid came home from a basketball game on Tues. night and just about had a melt down. We learned quickly that he wasn't feeling well. I took his temp and he was running a fever. He has been home from school for two days now and today he actually took a nap. SHOCKER! When Kei was little he was the best napper ever but as soon as he started school it was all over. He has taken a nap a total of 4 times since Ky and I have been married and today was one of them. You know he isn't feeling well when that happens.

I really do feel bad for Kei when he isn't feeling well but I have to admit that I enjoy his mellow attitude and compliance to everything I say! He is starting to feel a little better so I'm sure his typical attitude will surface soon. Can't wait (laced with extreme sarcasm!).

Breakfast of Champions

I'm not sure what is included in the Breakfast of Champions(I have some family members who think it's a diet coke and a snickers bar!) and I'm sure it differs from person to person, but you should all find out what Kei and Eli Manning had Sunday morning because they both kicked some major bootay in their games!
This past weekend was a blast. First, Kei was playing in a bball tourney in Stow, Ohio. He did have a little injury in the first game (he pulled his groin muscle) and wasn't able to play the next game. We iced his leg the rest of the day and night and Ky helped him stretch and taped it up the next day so that he could play. He ROCKED! They had a tough game in the semi-finals and Kei had to gaurd their biggest and best player. It was so freaking awesome to watch Kei annoy the this kid with his stellar defense and shut him completely down. Our fans were going crazy and it was so much fun. Needless to say, we won the game and made it to the championship. In the end we didn't play the championship game because our other 5 grade travel team, that we practice with, also made it to the championship and the coaches decided that we would all go home and not wait around another hour to play and just be co-champions. It was sorta crappy because I know our boys would have wooped up on them, but oh well, we got to go home and get ready for the Super Bowl.


How does Keion feel about being the tourney champs?

How does he feel about sharing the championship with the other team?

Check out the hardware they got. I'm actually running out of places to store all of them. We have one weekend off and then we have another tourney here in Jackson. We find out in a week if he made the "A" team that is formed from the best players of the two teams they have now. I'm positive he will make it and then we will be going to state in Columbus the end of Feb.

After we got home, we went over to Ben and Rachel Olson's house to watch the Super Bowl. We had some time before kick off so Keion went upstairs to play with Heber and enjoy his awesome toys.

I think I would actually enjoy the Cars Race Track for myself. If you have little kids and you don't own this..you should. Heber has the best expressions and is so darn cute and he loves Keion, of course(notice Keion's ice pack, he was a little sore after his game)!

Rachel made the BEST egg rolls for the party. I've mentioned them before but they are worth mentioning again. Kylan LOVES them and we both ate way too many. Check out Rachel's hot new haircut and color. I wish this picture would do more justice on the color, it is so vibrant and looks amazing on her. Poor Rachel slaving away at the stove. I'm watching, doing nothing and waiting to benefit from all of her hard work! Here is the recipe for her egg rolls. I know it sounds simple but these are scrumpdilliumscious!
Rachel buys a bag of cole slaw mix that has the cabbage and carrots already shredded (this is definitely how I will do it).

Brown the ground pork and onions in a skillet

Add salt, pepper and soy sauce to taste (ends up being about half a bottle of soy sauce, in all)

When the meat is done, add the cabbage and carrots and mix around

Add more soy sauce

Cook just until cabbage is tender

Remove from heat (duh!)

Let it cool before placing on wraps so they won't melt (double duh!)

Wrap the egg rolls following packages directions using a flour and water paste to close

Fry in oil on medium heat until golden brown and bubbly (see pic above)

There you have it. I'm so happy that I saw her make part of these because even with her simple "Duh" proof recipe- I would find a way to completely destroy them.

We had lots of other yummy snacks but they were your typical party snacks. Our other friends, the Allred's, came over too. Unfortunetly they were going for the Pats. I felt for them but I was so much more happy that NY won that I couldn't keep my enthusiasm hidden. What an awesome game. It was the icing on a perfect weekend!

Pillow Talk

For the month of love (February)-I've made the music all about just that.
Turn up the volume and get ready for a blast from the past. You'll be
reminiscing about those Junior High lunch dances that cost 25 cents to enter (that was
the amount of change you had after buying lunch). And don't act like you
don't know every word to everyone of these songs, I know you do!
Warning: Don't listen while working, can cause drowsiness and cause you to fall asleep.

SEWWHAT APRONS

A fellow med-wife and friend of mine, has a new blog where she sells aprons. They are so fun, wild and hip and I always like to think that I would be a better cook if I looked better while doing it! Hey, the food may taste like garbage but the husband might be able to look past it if you are wearing an amazing apron. Even better...just the apron (insert gagging noises!). Anyway, she is giving away an apron and all you have to do to enter is leave a comment on her apron blog. Good luck, you don't stand a chance because I've already signed up but I'm sure you will all do it just to prove me wrong! Here is the link: www.sewwhat1.blogspot.com (I haven't figured out how to add the link with the name and you click on it and it takes you to the site, I'm just not the blogging goddess that most of you are, nor caring enough to research and figure it out!).