"experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted." -randy pausch

Saturday, June 8, 2013

dancing in flip flops {dance mom of the year}

she almost missed going on 
AND she went on in her flip flops:)
i miscounted the number of dances that had already gone on,
and was about to walk her backstage 
when another mom came down the aisle in a whispering panic that makenzie was on next.
so what did i do you ask?
in a furry of hustle my post baby having days didn't know they could muster,
i dragged max by the arm over 4 adults and 2 small children and then...
wait for it...
wait for it...
i put her on stage from the front. 
yeah, i did.
desperate times call for desperate measures folks,
and it was the closest way from point A to point B.
i'm pretty sure this is all wrong in the world of dancing.
b/c it was for sure wrong in the world of theater back in my high school days of musicals.
the director had already told everyone during the intermission 
NOT to use the door down by the front of the stage,
and in my mind of amateur dance mom i was all, 
"julie said not to use the door, 
STAIRS! THERE'S STAIRS RIGHT THERE! 
we'll use the stairs!"
{she didn't need to point out not to use the stairs b/c it was
CLEARLY OBVIOUS you were NOT to use the front stage stairs.}
OH THE HORROR.
i can't believe i used the front stage stairs.
for sure the veteran dance moms were chuckling.
ghetto gibson's.
we bring the show.
always.
dance mom of the year over here.
dance
mom
of
the
year.
she went on,
danced her little lion king roar song,
and then we all cooed over her flawless performance.
it was so much fun:)
max was entranced by the dancers on "tippy toe shoes."
we thought we had two more dances after this one to get backstage.
we were wrong.
memories!!!
...
intermission entertainment:
post show:

       GiGi and the big gibs                                              grandma carol and max


i love this family.
lots:)
{i can't believe i used the front stage stairs.}
{i'm so embarrassed.}

s-a-t-u-r-d-a-y-s

{max draws on her face a lot. arms and fingers too.}
...
our saturdays usually 
look like this.
missing: brennan {in the tv room for sure} 
sean {at work during the morning}
and me in pajamas on the fainting couch.
i usually call my grandma joy.
and we chat about life and sometimes some good gossip.
for an hour or so she tells me about when she and grandpa were young bucks,
i particularly love to hear her talk about when grandpa was away in the war,
and their struggles as a young married couple with their two little girls. the things she was afraid of as a young mother, and the lessons life has taught her along the way.
i also REALLY adore her story about how when they didn't have any money, 
she would buy herself a lipstick to cheer herself up and make her feel like new. 
she always makes me feel like a million bucks when i call.
i tell her about the kids, what we did during the week, 
about everyone's level of health,
the weather,
and my deep thoughts about life, living, and the pursuit of happiness.
we talk about politics, religion, the whole gamete.
nothing is off limits.
grandpa sometimes gets on the phone.
i love to ask him about his life as a young boy.
no electricity and no running water.
and no toilet inside their house.
{and then i think about his angel mother who had to potty train two children without a toilet inside her house. and then i think potty training isn't really that hard for us women these days at all.}
he tells me about life on the farm,
his one room school house, and the wonderful teacher that educated up to high school,
and how his family migrated west to oakland, california by train.
{his dad planned to stop in salt lake city to settle, but a fellow traveler convinced him that was a waste of his time and talents, and that he should get on his merry way to oakland. 
and so he did, and the rest was history.}
it's my favorite weekly routine.
{i hope no one ever wants to do soccer in our family. please don't let anyone want to do soccer.}
finger's crossed.
:):):)

Thursday, June 6, 2013

i'm so glad we got to eat dinner tonight.

today after banging heads with Brennan all day long, he almost got hit by a car. 
it was so close that as i was running out into the street i knew for 100% sure he was going to get hit. 
right up until the car and brennan both stopped at the very last possible second.
i am still shooken up over it, and it's been 5 hours. 
{i have nightmares about our kids getting hit by cars on that corner.}
i gave brennan quite the verbal lashing out of complete terror. 
i'm pretty sure that my arms were in fact waving like an orangutan at the zoo.
to the point that he was plugging his ears and screaming "stop! stop! stop!" 
over and over and over again. 
not my finest moment. 
and of course all of my neighbors on every side of my house were there 
for a front row seat to all of it. 
awesome:) 
and now 5 hours later i'm still sitting here wondering 
why i was yelling at my 5 yr old brennan,
and not the man in the red car who was going 40mph down our little street, 
with what appeared to be ZERO awareness
to the 6 kids playing on the sidewalks on both sides of him. 
i even waved and said thank you to him after i finished scolding Brennan, 
as if I was so grateful he had stopped. 
i was relieved that he had stopped.
and saved my son.
why didn't i yell at that man? 
why didn't i get in his face and give him a lecture about 
slowing down when children are around, 
and tell him to get out of his car and apologize for almost killing my small child, 
stop to explain himself 
or make some mention about how beside himself he was 
at what had almost just happened,
these all appear like normal reactions to such an event.
{i can't explain how close he came to almost hitting brennan.}
why didn't i ask him why he appeared to be completely oblivious to any of it until the very last minute when I was running AT his car with 4 adults screaming "STOP!!!!! STOP!!!! STOP!!!!!" at the tops of their lungs in complete horror 
of everything happening in front of us in slow motion? 
instead i wave and say "thanks"??? 
what the heck?
i guess we all panic in our own ways. 
and when i panic,
i put on a good calm front.
i don't like conflict.
but no, 
i have no problem hashing it out with my 5 yr old on his tricycle,
sobbing his eyes out.
the only thing i can think is that i don't care about that man, but do i care about Brennan. 
{and by don't care, i mean i haven't invested all of my energy 
in his being alive for the last 5.3 years of my life like i have with brennan.}
and when you care, sometimes you care with gusto. 
AND
that i was just so relieved that the red car man DID actually stop.
at the last minute.
when it counted.
he stopped.
and i got to eat dinner with my family around our kitchen table tonight.
carpet and all.
and how grateful i was to do it.
so for the twenty minutes after we walked inside i talked with Brennan 
about how sorry i was 
for taking it all out on him.
and inside i was feeling so badly that i have so much to learn as a parent, and that brennan is our guinea pig, and that clearly other mothers don't have these things happen to them, at least not the ones that have it all together-- 
and then i remembered my step-mom telling me that no one really has it together. that we are all just like ducks. appearing calm on the top of the lake with all of our little chicks following in a straight row behind us, 
but really we're just paddling like hell underneath. 
then the sane rational part of me starts to laugh thinking about of those ducks paddling so hard under water, 
and how i don't think i could ever get my three little chicks to go anywhere in a straight row, unless of course a giant ice cream sundae with whipped cream 
were at the end of a 1x1 foot hallway, 
and even then i'm not sure max would make it to the target.
and so i was just so glad tonight. 
that brennan was eating dinner with us.
in the most melodramatic way i could possibly muster.
and i am sure that i was just SO annoying about how 
he needs to look two times before crossing from now on,  
and that no you don't regenerate if you die outside of your game,
and really profound stuff like that. 
and what did he do?
plugged his ears,
and told me "i know, i know, i know," 
{insert long groaning sounds and eye rolling here for 15 of the 20 min. period we talked}, 
and then the teenage brennan was flashing before my eyes and i'm thinking,
that's it, we're losing him already!
and do they have military school for 5 year olds?
and sean was looking at me with his loving eyes and was all, 
"oh stop, he's fine. lesson learned."
with a calm and confident wink;)
but i still feel like i'm doing this parenting thing all wrong.
and not in a self loathing, pity party kind of way.
just in a
i have no idea what i'm doing, 
so i'll just make sure he knows i love him at the end of every day kind of way.
{and that he'd better be ______ sure to look two extra times 
before he crosses our street from now on.}
{in my mind, i used a swear word in that last sentence. and it sounded funnier that way.}

P.S.
chase walked to the kids over and over and over again today.
it was really exciting.
he was so proud of himself.
we were too:)
his feet are completely turned out in bowlegged form, 
and so when he walks, he really does more of a pregnant lady waddle.
it is the cutest walk you've EVER seen.
his pirate peg leg crawl is a close second.
but i think it's most funny when he walks on all fours like a small dog 
to spare his knees from crawling on the concrete.
or kitchen floor.
{maybe it's not so bad to have carpet everywhere in your entire house...}
at some point he's going to figure out that if he just stands up and walks,
he won't have to crawl on the hot concrete or hard kitchen floor,
and it's gonna be 
MAGIC:)
the end.

don't judge, just DO {nice and fancy}

my favorite kind of dog.
all dressed up nice and fancy.
toasted bun
ketchup or bbq sauce
carrot shavings {yes, you read that right}
broken wavy lays {yes, they must be wavy}
chopped onions, NO relish, gross.
parmesian powder
don't judge,
just do.

spider-man and spider-girl to the rescue

fighting bad guys,
and helping kids that need help.
that's what they told me.
putting on their war paint.
chalk dipped in water=L-O-V-E
LOVE.
the prettiest colors you ever did see.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

pride in ownership

let me first say,
chase is a sorter.
he takes things out of bins and puts them into piles.
then he puts every last thing back into the bin where it originated from
one
at
a
time.
a 1 yr old that cleans up after himself.
a true GEM!
that being said...
EXHIBIT A:
 EXHIBIT B:
is he hurt do you ask?
why is he crying?
these are questions i myself also asked upon hearing his little baby man cries as i happily cleaned my kitchen appliances tuesday morning.
i found him crying on the floor in front of the window where he likes to call home.
with a massive
GAPING HOLE
in our front screen window.
a hole that was not present just fifteen minutes prior.
and then it hit me.
he wasn't hurt.
he was sorting.
and i knew just WHERE he was sorting:)
i give you... 
EXHIBIT C:
he couldn't sort them back into their specified bin.
b/c all of his sorting landed straight down into a party behind the rose bushes.
and the baby man just couldn't figure out why he couldn't get them back.
after he dropped them through his baby-man-made window screen hole.
anyone know how to fix window screens?
they tried to teach me at home depot a month ago.
it sounded involved.
so now we are the house on the street with the ghetto looking ripped screens flapping in the wind.
the one upstairs is way worse.
the 5 year old got to that one.
pride in ownership folks,
pride
in
ownership:)

i can so relate.

i feel the same way when i realize my chocolate pudding cup is not endless.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

me and my snip job.

yellow squash,
radishes,
pumpkins,
green beans,
and cucumbers.
all popping their pretty little green heads up through the dirt today.
SO exciting!!! 
every time:)
i still can't get over how strong those little seeds are.
breaking through the dirt to the light.
amazing.
every morning,
before i even get my breakfast,
you can be assured,
i'm out checking on our garden.
it's like christmas morning,
every morning.
thrilling!!!
i love the dump truck tracks every which way across my grass.
every little boy needs a tonka truck.
1 yr olds are the best:)
also...
i MAY have gone a little overboard on the pruning today.
it started out as a snip job for broken branches from last week's wind storm.
the peach tree even lost a few arms.
and then all of a sudden...
well, 
you be the judge.
BEFORE...
AFTER...
who knew there was a satellite dish under there?!?
ok, maybe we knew.
it just seems like i got more aggressive the further to the left i went.
i had no plans to prune.
zero.
but pruning i did.
everything was dead in the middle of what i fondly referred to as the trees on the side of the house,
so i just kept clipping.
and now they are bushes.
as they should be.
my arms feel like J-E-L-L-O tonight.
if they die from over pruning,
i'll plant more lilacs.
no biggie:)
my basement is DEFINITELY going to be brighter.
no idea what we are going to do with all of those clippings.
i probably should have waited for the bulk waste removal in the fall.
but pruning is like...
well, it's like...
it's like...
you know...
it's like...
look, you just have to do it when you're in the mood.
we'll leave it at that.
sean pulled out a massive tarp to pull it over to the garbage cans 
on the other side of the house. 
in one full swoop.
genius.
me and my snip job.
have mercy.

do your jobs {sacrificial canning jars}

yesterday i sacrificed two of my canning jars for the greater good of child labor.
{i quickly found out that we actually needed 4 
b/c who in their right mind wants to sift through a jar of sticks for the color end being up or down. 
b/c really, the 3 yr old just wasn't getting that party anyway. WORTH EVERY JAR.}
summer is here, and we are now ready.
do your jobs, and friends can come play.
do your jobs, and you can go play with friends.
do your jobs, and we can go get shave ice.
do your jobs, and mom will put out the baby pools.
do your jobs, and you will feel good about your work.
do your jobs, and the toilets will sparkle at least once a week.
do your jobs, and the world will be at peace.
"JOOOOOOBBBBSSSS and heaaaaaaavvvvennnlllyyyy peace!"
do your jobs, and i'll let you play with dry ice for half an hour past bedtime in the kitchen sink.
{b/c it's summer and there's really no bedtime anyway.}
seriously, this is the most genius idea i have ever stolen from brooke.
ever.
i'm not stressed out about keeping the house in order,
the toys all over are not a big beast staring at me at the end of the day,
and brennan's not getting into trouble.
and do you know why?
b/c the people are busy.
and the people are learning to work.
they're doing jobs.
and it's a happy thing.
A VERY HAPPY THING.
i swear to you, they LOVE it.
sometimes they don't love to get going, but man they love being done.
that feeling of accomplishment i have apparently been robbing them of until now.
their little faces beam with pride.
plus, i let them decorate their jars with 3 sleeves of stickers each.
which made me wonder why i am such a sticker hoarder anyway.
why am i saving stickers in the pantry?
to go with my year's supply of food storage.
{let's be honest, it's more like 3 months of beans, corn, cream of chicken/mushroom soups, and powdered rice milk i won't drink even if there's nothing left to drink on the planet.}
b/c heaven knows, if we're hunkered down in the basement with our powdered milk and canned beans we will surely need a year's supply of stickers.
wait...no.
my favorite part is when they make their beds, 
get dressed, and put their dirty clothes in the hamper.
all
by
themselves.
this is new to us folks.
and it's good for business.

having clean potties is pretty great too:)
WINNING!
dry ice=magic.
THE END.

Monday, June 3, 2013

it's june, and 3 out of 5 gibson's are sick.

down for the count: max, chase, me
immune systems of the incredible hulk: sean and brennan
......
my kids are completely entranced by the new deck 
our backyard neighbors are building today.
t-minus 1 week until swimming lessons take over our summer.
i can't wait:)
happy monday!