Chaos 'N Kids

Happy new Year

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Pilz) — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 13:42:00 +0000

So it's been awhile....

Josh turned 7, we had a great Christmas vacation even if there was no snow, Sydney started ski club, Josh started basketball, Emily got a Fitbit for Christmas, and is always trying to be me on contests, I am going to physical therapy first for my shoulder now for my foot & leg, Karl's plant is closing next January, and we don't know what we will be doing after that, so.. Bam, up to date, more or less!

Bryce Canyon

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Pilz) — Sat, 15 Aug 2015 01:59:00 +0000

We went to Vegas by way of Bryce Canyon. Fun fact, the area in front of the canyon was the home of a settler named Ebenezer Bryce. He is said to have said in reference to the canyon that "it was a hell of a place to lose a cow." Because it was more of less in his backyard, it became known as Bryce's Canyon.

Nearly everyone we passed on the trail spoke a different language proving to the kids that other people than their crazy parents think this stuff is cool and worth seeing, not just "rocks, rocks, and more rocks, with some trees" sigh. They are such barbarians. We tried.

We went on a short hike down into a canyon on the Navajo Trail which was only about a mile or so each way, but wow, windy steep trail. The hoodoo's were really beautiful!

Salt Lake City Day 2

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Pilz) — Sat, 15 Aug 2015 01:53:00 +0000

Today we toured around Temple Square in the morning. We went into the conference center,

the north temple visitors center, and the Joseph Smith Memorial building, which is where Karl's mom works. We got to tour her floor and meet a few of her coworkers.

Salt Lake City

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Pilz) — Sat, 15 Aug 2015 01:48:00 +0000

We spent our first day in Salt Lake at This is the Place heritage park, kind of like a mormon Williamsburg, but a bit smaller. We could have seen so much more but we ran out of time! We started with Brigham Youngs pink forest home.

This was next to the trunk room,(aka old fashioned closet) and loom room/dance hall where they made fabric. Yikes. Glad I have a fabric store, but period costumes make me squeal with delight!

We did learn why they say it will cost you and arm and a leg, cause portrait painters charged per limb, and why you need to min your p's and q's, typesetting is a tough job.

The kids got to try a few crafts, pan for gold, and stamp leather. They also rode tiny trains.

Karl fell asleep whiles the kids were panning for gold.

We also got to go with friends from Syracuae who moved to Utah.

Pony express monument from the 2002 Olympics, did you know it took riders 10 days to ride across the country at a gallop, or that the pony express only lasted about 18 months? Yah, me neither.

Utah- Day 1 Arches National Park

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Pilz) — Sat, 15 Aug 2015 01:37:00 +0000

We spent the night in Moab, Ut. We went first to the Museum of Moab and saw dinosaurs, fossils, mining info of the area, an insane diorama made with tiny Layers of wood, Nativie American artifacts, and pioneer history.

After we left the museum we headed up to Arches National Park. We were worried about the upcoming storm so most of the park had to be viewed by the car/driving loop. We did get a few short hikes to see the Balanced Rock, and the North Windows.

After Arches we drove to Prpvo to see the temple and BYU, stopped at the creamery, and went to Salt Lake City.

Colorado National Monument

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Pilz) — Sat, 15 Aug 2015 01:36:00 +0000

We left Denver later than we planned, but we made it to the scenic Monument Road before the sun completely set for the day.

The view was spectacular as we drove the 30 odd miles through the canyon area. We didn't get to see a Big Horn Sheep despite the sheep crossing sign, but we found a prickly pear cactus with bunny dining upon said cactus, ouch, and a tiny little lizard! The trees were knurled an fascinating and the dirt was red and soft. We even saw insane bikers going up the 1000ft elevation.

Just don't look to the right as you drive on some of the hairpin turns as you go on the edge!

Day #1 wedding

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Pilz) — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 22:31:00 +0000

We had an amazing Saturday! The wedding was beautiful, couple was so happy and cute, reception was yummy and lots of fun! Super tired from the late arrival and car fiasco, but so happy we were able to come. Emily caught the bouquet. Yikes. But she shared all the flowers with all the other little girls. The kids loved the soft serve ice cream bar at the reception, especially because it was slightly tucked out of the view of any parents who might say silly things like no thirds! Cousins galore at the Johansons house!

Worst rental pickup experience to date

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Pilz) — Sat, 08 Aug 2015 07:52:00 +0000

You'd think at 1am it wouldn't be a huge rush to get your reserved car. There were 10-12 people lined up. Mind you, my body thinks it's 3:00. One person is taking rentals and she is agonizingly slow.

We landed at 12:06, It took almost 30 minutes to dock the plane, we waited for another 20-30 in baggage claim and now it's been maybe 45 minutes and there are 5 more people in line ahead of us. I want to cry. It's still a 45 minute drive to get to our final destination. I'm so glad the wedding isn't at 9am. Never flying west after 6pm ever again.

It took 2 hours to be helped. The kicker, oh, we don't have a mini van. You can have a large suv instead. I am still annoyed because behind the kids are all kinds of happy about touching one another.

What is the point of reserving a specific style of car (at a specific price point) if they don't honor it? I gave my arrival time. Surely that would allow staff to gauge when the vehicle will be needed so they don't give it away.

What would the staff have done if we had 4 kids, not 3. 3 can uncomfortably stuff themselves into a tiny suv, but 4 not so much. If I had wanted to experience the joy of hearing kids say "he's touching me" on my 2000 mile road trip, I'd have gotten the cheaper suv. thanks for the extra 60 mile detour to go back to rental car place to hopefully get the car I asked for 6 weeks ago.

***update. We were able to get a van on Sunday! Drove through some amazing mountains today on our way to Arches National Park!

Dance recitals done!

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Pilz) — Sun, 21 Jun 2015 16:56:00 +0000

Emily and I both had dance lessons this year and as a result we're both performing in the annual dance recitals. I didn't get a new shot of Emily in her tap costume, so hers the one from dress rehersal/crash night from last weeks post.

My recital was Friday night, hers Saturday afternoon. As usual, my favorite part was watching the experienced girls dancing. Hopefully we can both continue to get better next year.

I got her hat wrong last Monday, so we fixed it up for the real show! Love my baby girl! I can't post videos from my phone, so I'll try to post from the computer once I upload them! So proud of her hard work, and now that I've performed on stage, so proud of her for going out there and performing despite anxieties over being on the stage. I had no clue how scary it really is to get out there and perform. I don't have a video of me yet, hoping to get a copy from a friend.

Please can we keep it

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Pilz) — Wed, 17 Jun 2015 01:30:00 +0000

My rental. Kids love it. Sigh.

Update... The car officially got totaled out by the insurance company I've been car shopping and going nutty all week trying to find a good replacement. Kids of course are putting in their wish list items. I went yesterday and got all our stuff from the car. I cried as I drove away leaving my poor smashed car behind. Couldn't help but be grateful it took the hit on impact and Emily and I walked away with no issues. Granted it was a slow moving accident, but over the last 6.5 years it has been a wonderful vehicle for me and I will really miss it.

Everybody is ok!

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Pilz) — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 03:37:00 +0000

So two weeks ago I accidentally hit a bumper of a parked car. That was bad and super embarrassing because the owner was in his car, and I had two youth and an adult leader in mine.

Today was worse. Emily and I were off to her tap dance dress rehersal.

I was the fifth car in a pile up. My poor Van looks awful. I was so upset I promptly burst into tears. It had been a rough day to begin with, and this just did me in.

Thankfully we were fine. No air bags deployed, nothing terrible happened. We missed the rehersal, and we have no car. Karl is in VA, and his car is in the shop.

Sigh. Thankfully I have awesome neighbors who came and got me, then took me out again to dance class so Emily could go to her hip hop, and I could attend my tap recital.

Updates!!

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Pilz) — Wed, 27 May 2015 00:52:00 +0000

Got a lot done this past week! So happy to be able to enjoy some time with family this week!

Pintrest proud

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Pilz) — Fri, 22 May 2015 23:22:00 +0000

So, Karl and I were talking about a laundry room kitchen project and he actually said "I am trying to think of something I saw on Pintrest..." Made me so proud! My hubby, pinning:)

Happy Mother's Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Pilz) — Sun, 10 May 2015 14:41:00 +0000

I'm trying to look in the bright side that we might be getting a chance to replace the ugly vinyl flooring in the laundry and bathroom that I hate with something better, maybe tile, and I have a chance to reorganize the laundry room, but the reason is probably an overflowing toilet caused by a sewage block that is truly an unpleasant nightmare. Clean up remediation team just arrived. Plumber will be here with the next 2 hours but since we are calling on a holiday weekend, it will be an insane bill!

Oh and Josh's dream has arrived, we are missing church, and we had to tell him to pee in the yard.

Spring bike riding!

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Pilz) — Sun, 19 Apr 2015 02:04:00 +0000

So Sydney has been using Emily old bike for two years, and it was way too small. I bought her a new one today and she excited for the new bike but unsure of all the new gears.

Josh wanted to try out his bike, but we got it without training wheels, and the tire was flat. So Karl pumped it up. About a minute after we filled it, bam, the tire burst and made an absolutely deafening noise which made both our ears hurt!

Happy easter

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Pilz) — Sun, 19 Apr 2015 02:02:00 +0000

Had a wonderful day with family. Attempted a fun pintrest breakfast item, and had to post the results.

Teenagers

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Pilz) — Sun, 19 Apr 2015 02:01:00 +0000

Me: those are my pillows. They are not to be used in a pillow fight.

Emily: well they are called throw pillows!

Snow day #1

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Pilz) — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 02:36:00 +0000

The kids were thrilled yesterday to get their first snow day of the year. They would have preferred another today, but I was thrilled with just a 2 hour delay. Sorry, but my living room got way too messy yesterday while they watched a little bit too much TV. Sadly I had planned to spend the whole day sewing a curtain order.

Congratulations go to Emily for being an awesome snow shoveler! I finished the job after she left for school. I adore our giant yellow snow shovel, but it is still a decent workout! Especially at the bottom of the drive. Ugh. That stuff has got to be double if not triple the weight of everything else!

Domestic goddess

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Pilz) — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 02:35:00 +0000

I had a moment of pure brilliance driving home from the dr with Sydney. We stopped at the grocery store and I asked her what sorts of fun things we needed to get so lunches were not a giant complaint filled suck fest, and she pointed out Lunchables (which I loathe cause they are icky). So I was able to convince her to grab pepperoni and cheese and a bag of premixed dough along with some other fun yummy items to make our own. We went home, divided up the dough into 18 little rounds and baked them. After we did bedtime I grabbed the kids quickly and asked who was buying lunch, Josh wanted to buy until he saw the awesomeness of Sydney's lunch!

Pizza, sauce, cheese, and pepperoni and inside a handy reusable container. She gleefully got her lunch ready! Yeah for making my morning a tiny bit better tomorrow. Now to finish the laundry so we have her favorite outfit! We didn't get her hair brushed so it will probably be exciting in the morning.

Good times!

Merry Christmas!!

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Pilz) — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 03:27:00 +0000

Christmas setup mayhem

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Pilz) — Wed, 03 Dec 2014 13:23:00 +0000

So the pre-lit tree setup this year has been delightful! We pulled it out, set it all up and plugged it in. Most of the tree wasn't lit. Karl spent several hours down in the floor with a multimeter and got one strand mostly happy.

I jiggled a plug and the top portion popped on, but still left with a chunk gone. It was after 11pm, so we found 3 strands of working white lights and flung them up on the tree. It is far from perfect, but for tonight it'll do. Maybe tomorrow I'll get a strand of colored ones to help it blend in.

I added some of the first round of ornaments when Karl yelped for help.

He was trying to fix the glasses Emily had just broken in the center, snapping them in half, and managed to glue his fingers together when the super glue exploded. I got him freed with 100% acetone, and he is back working on repairs.

After he patches the glasses, he is going to fix the broken stocking hanger, and the 4 broken pieces on the Christmas village. These are definitely first world problems, and I'm going to stop complaining now!

Soapy fail

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Pilz) — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 13:08:00 +0000

A gallon of laundry detergent spilled on the floor is nasty business. After a quick google search I am opting for the kitty litter method. Sadly it is under the machine. No clue how to best get that out without pulling it out which I'm not gonna do. Argh. Welcome to Monday. And what do I do with the towels I stared soaking up all this mess! They are gonna be fun to put through the machine.

Let it Snow!

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Pilz) — Thu, 13 Nov 2014 21:03:00 +0000

First snowfall equals cocoa, marshmallows and homemade cookies!

Josh just now-"I need ice to cool ym hot cocoa down. Wait, is it supposed to be hot?"

Awesome Halloween costumes

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Pilz) — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 17:30:00 +0000

Despite the fact that Karl seems to utterly dislike Halloween, I absolutely adore it! I love costumes, as long as they are creative and/or adorable. We don't do scary at my house.

So this year I made the girls their choice of costumes, a vampire for Sydney, and Mavis from Hotel Transylvania for Emily. She was a vampire mid way into turning into her bat self.

Josh wanted to be Bumblebee the transformer so I bought his. I had grand plans to make hima transforming car costume, but reality kicked in and I scraped that idea.

I was Snow White, from theTV show Once Upon a Time. No one got my costume, but I think everyone should wear a cape and awesome boots. It's very fun!

We actually carved real pumpkins this year. Um, ewwwwwww! Pumpkin guts are nasty! But it was fun to use a chisel on a pumpkin.

Awkward Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (Heather Pilz) — Fri, 31 Oct 2014 12:22:00 +0000

That awkward moment Halloween morning as you're dropping off your late child at school and you see someone in the school building wearing a bathrobe looking like she has a blackeye and you don't know whether that's a Halloween costume or her normal appearance but since you're wearing a pajama top and fuzzy slippers you can't really say anything.