Kids are wonderful!

For those of you that think my blog is only used for complaining, I decided to write about my wonderful kids and the funny things they do every day that make me smile.

Two days ago, Alyssa was acting grumpy and wanted to sit with me while I was sewing. It's really hard for me to hold her while I'm sewing, so I set her on the chair next to me and she fell asleep!

I was reading a book with Dallin yesterday and he saw a picture of a cockroach and he said, "Eww, a coachrock!"

I was looking Alyssa in the eye and said "You are so beautiful." Her response..."Mommy, your eyes are green, just like an alien!"

Anytime Dallin plays a game or we get something that has instructions, he says "We need to look at the "constructions."

When Alyssa says the prayer, she says "thank you for the food" but she doesn't bless it, so we whisper "bless the food" and she says loudly "I already did!"

Last time we went to the zoo, Dallin kept asking us where the "miracle ground" was. I couldn't figure out what he was talking about until he said, "I want to ride the panda on the miracle ground." Merry-go-round...go figure.

When I whisper "I love you" in Alyssa's ear, she always says something unrelated back in my ear, like "I'm hungry" or "Let's go to Nana's house."

Dallin really wanted to jump on the tramp last week, but it was snowing, so we got all our snow gear on and took him out to jump. He had a blast!

Alyssa sometimes has a fit if she has to be buckled in the car. I told her once that the police would take me to jail if she didn't get buckled. She started crying and said "But mommy, you're my best friend." It made my heart melt.

Dallin likes to make up jokes that don't make any sense. They usually go something like "why did the shark cross the bridge...so he could fall in the water!" Like I said, they don't make sense, but they make me smile all the same.

The other day, the kids wanted to ride their bikes. I put a helmet on Dallin and then tried to get one on Alyssa. She got a shocked look on her face, put her hands up to the sides of her head and said, "But mom, it will mess up my hair!" What a girl!

I love my kids. They cheer me up when I'm blue, they make me laugh, they keep me young.

(See, I can be positive!)

Scared for the Future

Some of you may know that I play the piano for the local middle school choir class. Well, occasionally their teacher, my ward-friend Brenda, has them sing a solo of their choice in front of the class. I have unfortunately been present at too many of these "performances." They usually don't practice and show up on the day and stick their ipod in their ear and sing along to a song only they can hear. It's painful to say the least. Even if they do prepare, it's usually an easy Disney song they've known all their life, so it's not quite fair. I know I'm just the pianist, but I had had enough, so I told Brenda that the kids need to step it up. I volunteered to bring in some art songs from home and told her she needed to assign each student a song. They were songs they had never heard before and were somewhat difficult. (She wouldn't let me pick songs in Italian, darn it :0) Anyway, she gave the songs to them about a month ago and occasionally let them practice in class. Today was the day for them to perform... it wasn't much better than the old performances. Half of them didn't even try to have their song memorized (they held music in front of them). I was playing as quietly as I could and still couldn't hear them. When I could hear them, they weren't singing all the words and notes right. One of them even decided to change the song from how I had been practicing it with her. She cut a verse and told me in the middle of the song to skip to the end. I got to help grade them and it's no surprise that only one student got above a 60%. Sad, isn't it? I don't know what I or Brenda or anyone can do to get through to these kids. I've never seen so many kids that have no attention span, no respect, and no ambition. I know I sound negative, but you'd have to be in my shoes to know that I'm being kind right now. It's really so much worse than I'm portraying right now. I cry for the future and what my kids will have to go through and hope that they will rise above.

American Idol Thoughts

When the judges announced last week that there was going to be a change in the contest, I was praying that they would say they were changing the voting procedure... alas, they announced they could save someone...which is a good thing, but not what really would have solved the problem of the best person getting voted off. THEY NEED TO SET A LIMIT ON HOW MANY TIMES YOU CAN VOTE! It's that simple. If each phone number were allowed only 5 votes, the results would be a lot more accurate of what the country really wants. The way it is now, why would I vote at all unless I plan to call for the entire 2 hours straight? The results are showing what a small obsessed group of people want and not what the majority of America would want... case in point, anyone remember Taylor Hicks? How about Ruben Studdard? They had their home states voting for them just for the sake of someone from their state winning...after they won, who could care less about them? The show's numbers would be much less impressive if they changed the voting. Ryan would be saying "we had a disappointing 100,000 votes." I think that's the only reason they aren't changing it. Dancing With the Stars has the right idea. They limit votes and for the most part, I usually completely agree with the results. Another option would be to let America choose the bottom 3, but then have the judges pick which one needs to go. Or let the judges pick their top three and give them immunity... oh, the things I would do if I were in charge!

By the way, did anyone like Adam's song on Tuesday? It was very weird, not exactly the kind of music I would listen to, but, man-o-man, can that boy sing!! He's the only one I look forward to every week, just to see what vocal feat he will attempt (and succeed in)... everyone else is predictable. I want to see them change things up and do something other that karaoke, which almost everyone does! They sound great, but ....yawn...boring.

Ready for Spring!

We are so ready for spring right now. We were teased last week with 2 days that felt like spring. We went to the park (I attached pictures of our outing), took walks, rode bikes, put up the tramp... and then it gets cold and gloomy again. It's just cruel! I think it would be easier to deal with if we weren't teased so much. I was all ready to get out the capris and sandals and now I'm back to coats and long pants. The kids are going nuts inside all the time. We have cabin fever! I have tons of projects I can't get to because the kids are so bored that I'm playing with them 24/7 to keep them happy. Spring will come soon enough and then summer will quickly follow and I will be wishing for fall. Time flies too fast around here!

American Idol Song

I have been working very hard on composing a song for the American Idol finale (I know you are laughing at me... that's ok). For those of you who don't know, they have a contest every year for songwriters to write the song that the new winner sings on the last show. Let's just say.... I am SO out of my league here! Last year, I listened to the songs and every one of them was recorded in a studio with a band and everything. They say that you can just record a rough copy, yet every year, the only finalists they pick are all professional. I feel like I have a decent song, but no way to get it sounding like they want it to sound. Brian's co-worker was kind enough to let me borrow his super-expensive microphone (the one I have been using was only $30 at RadioShack), so that's helping, but the house needs to be absolutely silent. When does that every happen with 2 kids? I'm just frustrated, but just my luck, they probably won't even have the competition this year and it's all for nothing. The cup is half empty today. Just kidding... I really have never tried to write a real song with lyrics and everything, so it's been a fun experience.