"he was only as fat as you are..."

today at school, kale'a's class had a visit from santa at their christmas party. she sat on his lap and told him that she wanted a stuffed bear for christmas.

 

she was so excited when i picked her up. she chattered non-stop the whole way home. this was the conversation:

kale'a: "mom, i don't think that was the real santa!"

me: "how come?"

"well, he didn't laugh like santa laughs."

"you could be right! santa is pretty busy this time of year. maybe he sent one of his helpers to pretend to be santa."

"yeah, but he couldn't be one of the elves because the elves are SUPER busy right now! they wouldn't have time!"

 

several hours later, i was working on some christmas presents that i am making and she started up the conversation again about the "fake/helper santa":

 

"mom, do you know how fat santa is?"

"umm, not exactly. i just know he is pretty fat!"

"yeah! he is really fat! that is why i don't think that was the real santa at school today! he wasn't fat enough! he was only as fat as you are!"

a-hem...excuse me??! did she really just say what i think she said? as i chuckle, "oh really? so you think i am fat?"

"well, only because you have the baby in your tummy!" as she touches my belly.

 

good save girly! good save! at least i'm not as fat as the real santa!

not a pretty sight

could it be that i am getting old, or that i'm pregnant with my fourth child, or that i have three little ones to take care of, or that i am just plain out of shape from not being able to exercise for the last 7 months. whatever the reason, i am sad to say that i waddle. now i know this shouldn't be a big deal, many pregnant ladies waddle late in their pregnancies, i just never was one of them!

 

i was always the cute little pregnant lady that did pregnancy so well! i've always loved being pregnant because it was easy for me. i always exercised up until i delivered the baby. i would run and lift weights and do cycle classes and swim. i was often found in the gym 3 or 4 times each week walking around proudly with my little belly. well, today it took me TWO hours in wal-mart to get a few groceries and some stocking stuffers! two whole hours! it should have taken me a half hour! the old ladies were passing me with their carts!

 

if the waddle wasn't enough, a few days ago as we were leaving to take nani to school i had a little embarrassing and painful "incident", that made the waddle even worse!

 

i was carrying the baby (i really need to stop calling kawena "the baby". she's over two years old, but she will be the baby until we have another one!) out the front door and for some reason i forgot that there was a small step down. of course, i stepped halfway off the step and my knees buckled beneath me.

 

being the good mom that i am, i DID NOT drop the baby to catch myself.  instead, i held tight to her to protect her and sacrificed myself, landing very hard on my knees. this would have been bad in and of itself had it just been the weight of my big pregnant body, but add to that the weight of the baby and we are talking "big time owwwie".

 

the only humor in this story is that i was also holding kawena's stuffed cat in one hand and i apparently dropped it onto the ground during my graceful fall. kawena, in her sad voice said, "meow, meow fall!" to which i responded, "yeah, i know so did mommie!" i'm so glad for my children's loving concern for their mother!

 

since that lovely morning, i don't only waddle, now, i waddle and i limp! let me tell you....it is NOT a pretty sight!!

**note: this is not meant as a complaint of my pregnancy. in fact, i thank Heavenly Father every night for all the aches and pains and difficulties that i am experiencing this pregnancy because it means that i am pregnant!

blackened turkey... a thanksgiving tale

i'm pretty confident that most of you have heard of blackened chicken.

you know, the southern favorite, cajun spice chicken. i have never tried it myself because i typically don't like spicy foods. but i am sure many of you have at least heard of it or even tried it yourself. am i right?

 

well, how many of you have heard of "blackened turkey"? (upon doing a google search i did discover that it does exist, but it is also a variation on the cajun blackened chicken. this is NOT what i am referring to)

 

let me tell you a little tale of OUR "blackened turkey"....

 

since mitch and i married 9 years ago, we have managed to NEVER cook a turkey, by choice. we have always had thanksgiving with family, friends or, the one pathetically sad year we had it by ourselves, we ordered a safeway turkey dinner.

 

well, not this year! i was ready to go another year without cooking a turkey, but mitch had other plans. so, i let him be in charge of the turkey for the family gathering. ever since a neighbor practically burned down his house frying a turkey several years ago, mitch has wanted to fry a turkey. i was a bit opposed to it, not only because i didn't want the house to burn down, but a turkey fryer runs about $80, not to mention the $50 to buy the 35 gallons of oil required to fry a turkey. that's one large expense for turkey when i prefer ham!

 

fortunately, i found a fryer on sale at target for $40. i spent the $48 for the oil and, of course, bought the turkey. we were all set to fry our first turkey!

 

the day donned bright and sunny and we were ready to give it a try. before starting, mitch asked me, "where is the fire extinguisher?" once locating the extinguisher, mitch slowly lowered the turkey into the boiling oil and it sizzled away.

notice the extinguisher and its close proximity to the fryer! it sizzled for about 28 minutes, a few minutes less than required, but mitch was a little concerned by the turkey's appearance. so, he opted to take it out early.

 

as he carried the turkey inside the first thing i heard him say was, "it's a good thing mona and wes are bringing ham! i hope it's a big one!" i didn't know why he would say this, but i also hadn't laid eyes on the turkey, yet!  he walked into the kitchen and this is what i saw:

(i was forbidden to take a picture, but i couldn't NOT document this turkey! come on, you know you would have taken a picture, too! it's our first turkey, after all! in fact in his protests he said, "hey, when you mess up a dinner i don't take pictures of it and smear it across the internet for all to see!" this is true and i am very grateful, however, i still took the picture)

 

here it is from another angle:

 

as bad as this looks, i am here to tell you that this "blackened turkey" was the BEST turkey i have EVER eaten! hands down!! it was so delicious that i asked him to make it again for christmas. this says a lot coming from a girl who NEVER asks for turkey. i have ALWAYS preferred honey baked ham! turkey has always been too dry for my liking, but not anymore! i am a changed woman, thanks to my husband and his "blackened turkey"! there were other non-turkey lovers in attendance at our dinner and they, too, agreed that it was the best turkey they had ever eaten. we're going to see if we can get the christmas turkey to be a little less black! we're trying for a golden brown next time!

 

**moral of our thanksgiving tale: never judge a book by it's cover, or in this case, never judge a turkey by it's skin color!

little miss polite copycat

it seems that we have a little copycat on our hands! and some of the things that come out of her mouth seem way too old for a two year old to be saying!! i catch her all the time observing her sisters and mimicking their actions.

 

for example:

kale'a and kawena were eating lunch when kale'a looks out the window at something in the front yard and says, "what the...?"

immediately, kawena gets down out of her chair, climbs up on the stool in front of the window, peers outside in the direction kale'a is looking and says, "what theeee.... heck?!"

 

kawena was playing on the leapster the other day. she had the clifford cartridge in. she was helping jedda "draw" pictures. after one of the pictures jedda says, "nice work you were truly inspirational!"  to which kawena said, "in-spur-a-scholl!"  as she tilted her head backward and laughed. then she said it again, "in-spur-a-scholl!" i was shocked that that big word came out of my little girls mouth!

 

everyday and night after i tuck her into bed i blow her several kisses, she does the same. i say, "i love you!" she says, "i luhd you!" i say, "see you after your nap!" she says, "see af-fur nap!" i say, "sleep tight!" she says, "seep tight!" and as i close the door behind me i'm always smiling because it's just so stinkin' cute!

 

we were eating crackers and yogurt the other day when nani took a cracker and dropped it into her yogurt. she then proceeds to smash it into pieces with her spoon. as soon as i saw her do it i thought, "oh great! now kawena's going to do it and i'm going to have a mess to clean up!" sure enough, i soon have two daughters with crackers in their yogurt mashing away!

i was rushing to get the girls in the car so we could pick lala up from  preschool. i was getting juice for kawena. i poured the water in her cup (we never give full strength juice to our girls) and realized there was no juice made up and said, "oh, shoot!" from behind me i hear, "oh, sout!" from kawena and i just started to laugh!

 

not only does she copy the things  that others say, but i am constantly amazed at how polite our littlest miss is. in fact, of all three of our girls she is BY FAR  the most polite. any little thing that i do for her she says "dank you!" i don't know where she got this! i am constantly saying to her two older sisters, "what do you say girls? or "can you tell them thank you?" but not our littlest!

• i put on her shoes and she says, "dank you mommie!"
• i peel an orange and hand it to her and she says, "dank you mommie!
• she hands me something that i dropped on the floor, which is not as easy for me to pick up as it used to be, and i say, "thank you sweetheart!" and she says, "you wel-cum!"
• she hands me a fruit snack and says, "mommie, i want dis open peas?!" i open it and hand it to her and she says, "dank you!" as she runs to the trash can to throw away her trash (without me asking her to!)
• when one of her sisters does something that hurts her, i tell them to say sorry to kawena and give her a hug and kiss. in almost every instance, kawena will be the first one to pipe up through her tears and say, "sorry lala!" or "sorry nani!" and give THEM a kiss and hug!

these are just a few examples, but she seriously is just like that...polite! and it just melts my mommie heart!

 

has it really been 9 years?

it couldn't possibly have been nine years ago that we entered the san diego temple single, and exited a newlywed couple, could it?? that means we MUST be getting old!

 

and as i told you today, i would do it all over again!

 

in the past 9 years:

• we have owned one house (which we both wish we didn't still own)
• we've survived two major moves 
• we've had three (and a half) children
• we've owned four cars
• for some reason five escapes me (if i can think of anything later, i'll fill it in. lame, i know!)
• we stayed in six different states in an 8 week period while traveling in summer 2007
• we found and cut down seven perfect, fresh, tall, beautiful christmas trees
• we spent eight wonderful weeks living in "coug" our beloved fifth wheel during our sabbatical
• you supported me during my training for and competing in nine triathlons

the last nine years have been a wonderful roller coaster! we've laughed, we've cried, we've loved, we've lost, we've triumphed, we've struggled, we've worried, we've grown, we've been up, we've been down, we've prayed, we've been blessed, we've been strengthened. and through it all, the most important thing is that we did all of it together and have been one!

 

i love you, mitch! i am grateful to have you with me through this journey of life! i am better since having you with me! you are a great father to our girls and a wonderful husband to me!

 

happy anniversary!