The End of Our Life as we Knew It.

Painfully aware of the fact that my last post was made in June 2010, I make this new one with a million thoughts in my head.

A few months ago I found myself in Kristi's living room talking about blogs. She told me how much she enjoys following the blogs of people she knows but that lately new posts had been scarce. Hearing the call to action, I felt brave and said: "I will make a new post on my blog just for you, Kristi". So... 4 months later, BAM! here it is. Do I deliver or what?!

Life at the Kenrick household, although still common, has changed quite a bit since that June post. I shall share with you what has been going on.

Things were going well, life has always been good to us. Money though, had us feeling pretty restricted. We did manage to go to California for a little vacation and because miracles do happen, I was able to go see my parents in Chile after a gas explosion in their house. But although we were staying out of trouble, things were tight.

Damon's job has been a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it is a job. A curse because is nothing more than that and it is not being thoroughly enjoyed. So we have been praying and looking for other, better opportunities.

To make the story short, I received a call in August offering me a job (very simple job) as an assistant in an Early Intervention class in Roy Elementary. Tori had been to that class a few years ago for speech therapy. I had interviewed with them last year with no success, but now they needed someone ASAP. I don't know how many people they called before me, the case is that they got to me and we jumped on it.

We worked a schedule that had me going Monday and Wednesday mornings from 7 to 12. Damon stayed home and went to work after I got back and stayed until about 9pm. It was working pretty well, although Monday and Wednesday became very long days.

In comes the next endeavor: Damon started his own business. The Children's Art Studio. We turned our play room into an art studio and got 8 students ages 8-11. For 8 Saturdays we had a 2 hour session with Damon teaching the kids really cool stuff. This was our trial run for what we hope will be something that will grow into something great. More on that in later posts.

In comes the next job: I had finished my training as a Spanish Medical Interpreter and in the fall I signed as an independent contractor with an agency. So now I interpret over the phone and on site whenever I get the chance. Our phone now rings ALL the time and the master bathroom is my "office". I lock our bedroom door and hide in the bathroom for great acoustics and a quiet phone call.

In comes the next job: This one is Damon's and it's in addition to his full- time one. He has been training to be a seminary teacher (looking for new opportunities). This training comes with no guarantees whatsoever. 2 weeks ago he was offered the chance to start his student teaching early at Ben Lomond High School.

This was completely unexpected since we were told that we wouldn't find out until the end of April if he would even be chosen to advance on to the student teaching stage. And I have to add here that Damon's boss has been extremely gracious and flexible with us.

So now, we each have 2 jobs and a small business and are running around a little crazy. One of my counselors in Primary (because I get to do that too!) watches Jo and also Tori after school on Monday and Wednesday, since Damon can't stay home those mornings any more. That alone is another story to be told later.

We started this new schedule last week, and to be honest, I was absolutely drained. All of this without having mentioned that I need to start going to the gym regularly, improve my scripture study, raise my 4 girlies (with the oldest one *this* close to going to Young Women) and do better with FHE. The house manages to stay messy and I am always behind with laundry.

So I prayed. I thanked God because he was providing the new opportunities we had been asking for. Only thing was, he provided them all at once. So, I said "I either need to be blessed with a lot more strength and stamina, or I need to recognize the non-essential and do away with it". My problem is that answers for me are hard to hear sometimes. I guess I will wait and see.

I think of women who do so much more and seem to be able to take on the world. Sometimes I feel ashamed to feel tired. I am a wimp. Yes siree. But everyone's lives and strengths are different. Maybe this will make me stronger. Maybe this will teach me that it is ok to let some things go.

How do you feel when you find yourself up to the ears in busy-ness? how do you cope? Please, do share.

Did Somebody Say "Par-tay"?

This is Tori. My girly #3. She is awesome. She has turned 5 years old. How I love her. I mean, look at her, how could you not love her?


I am a sucker mom and end up doing parties for the girls' birthdays every year. But it's so fun. They get so excited, and having their friends over for some b-day fun is a treat that only comes once every 12 months. Oh, and I do try to keep them simple and fairly inexpensive, I am after all a non-planner, so everything for me must workout with little effort and a lot of the reusable party items I have been saving through time.

This is the calm before the storm. Tori chose a jungle theme and Damon hung crepe paper "vines" the night before. They were everywhere. We had the party at noon and hubs couldn't be with us very long so the older sisters and I manned all positions. First, Jo enjoyed her lunch in peace and then was graceful enough to take a nap during the party. Tender mercies...
For any special occasion I usually focus mainly on the table setting. This one is very plain but I like to use contrasting colors. The plastic table cover is a dollar, the cups, plates and napkins range from 1 to 2.50. Since the number of guests is usually small I always have left overs I save for future celebrations. I love it when I can just open my "party" box and whip up something special in minutes. It makes me feel rather awesome.
This is the paper lanterns' 3rd appearance. Settings for the older girls are a bit more elaborate (just a bit) since I figure they will actually look at it.



Pictures like this make it all worth it.

Sara and Sofia did the face painting. Tori went for the cheetah look. The other girls did a variety of just about everything they could think of. Boys opted for rainbows though (?). Sofia said she thought "gee, what's next, a unicorn?" haha.

Sara and Sofia also crafted the parts necessary for a game of "put the hat on the safari guy" out of craft paper (59 cents a yard). It was awesome and I wish I had taken a picture of it. For kids this age I find that games are best when they are something they already know. Besides, they are just giddy to be at a party, so entertainment can be simple. We also played "animal charades" and "guess which animal".

In the end, our Tori is a year older (party or no party), had an afternoon filled with joy, and I am pooped but happy.

A Case for Far Away Closeness

On Friday Tia Alicia passed away.
When I was told that she had died I realized something that has been bothering me since.

Alicia was born and raised in southern Chile. She was Ester's and Manuel's first child. My father was their youngest of a total of 5.
Of all the siblings, they are the only two that moved and established in Santiago, the capital city.
They lived in opposite sides of the city and I only remember going to visit her once. Once.
I mainly saw her in the summers when we visited the family in the south at around the same time. Even then, I don't remember seeing her after the mid-90's except in 2008 for Ester's funeral.

I know a few facts about her. She was strikingly beautiful. I often stared at the pictures of her that hung on my grandparents walls wondering if I could really be related to someone so gorgeous. I mean, really beautiful.

From what I gathered from the adult conversations I overheard (because there was nothing else for me to do there), she was a rebellious young lady and rather conceited. She was used to getting all the attention from the guys. So when a handsome man started frequenting their house she was convinced that he was in love with her, but turned out that he was really after her younger sister. Classic.

She smoked. She smoked a lot and I don't know if she ever quit.

I don't know if she was ever married. She had a daughter who for the first few years was raised by the grandparents. This daughter of hers (my cousin) is one of the nicest people you will ever meet, and so is her husband. I hardly ever saw them.

She claimed to be a hairdresser, but I have doubted that ever since that summer when my mother let her give me the worst haircut possible. Good grief, I was already feeling awkward in my body.

She seemed to be a fun lady, but I am not sure that she got along very well with the rest of the family, at least for a long time. I suppose that time helps past hurts be soothed and forgotten, but I wonder why we were such a distant extended family. Because I don't really remember having much interaction with any of them.

I am the youngest child of the youngest child on both paternal and maternal sides of our family and I wasn't even planned, so there is an 8 year difference between me and my next older brother. I was an afterthought to most aunts, uncles and cousins and I understand that, it is all about timing. We also lived far away from most relatives. These and a few other reasons that I won't bore you with right now, are why I think that I became detached from my extended family.

So there I was Friday night receiving the news about Tia Alicia when I realized that my family now lives far away from every relative imaginable and I am not doing much to prevent this detachment from happening to my girls.

"The family is ordained of God" and although the nuclear family is most important, there are valuable things to be gained from everyone in the family tree. And there are things that we can give them in return.

SO, it is now time to dust the cobwebs of family togetherness despite the distance. There are many ways that will help us get to know, love and cherish our far away family even more. So that we won't have regrets like this one.
I don't know why we visited Tia Alicia only once. But now that I am in charge of this boat, I want to make sure that our family is a very close extended family.

Here's the Mail, it Never Fails...

Thursday was a good day mainly because of one thing: MAIL. It really made me want to wag my tail.

I got a very sweet note from an old friend who was randomly thinking of me and cared to write to me... with her own hand and pen. Via snail mail. What a nice thing to do for me and really for anyone who could use a little pick me up. Thank you Amy O.!

I have always been awful with mail. I get it from my mother (yes, I am blaming her). Christmas cards is as far as I go. That must change, because if something so simple made my day, then I want to do it for someone else.

That day I also got a package (I know! lucky!) from a friend I haven't met but already love. You see, I joined this little package exchange group where we swap names and info and dear ole Amy sets us up in pairs to send each other a care package. I was reluctant to join at first because it implies a deadline, and I automatically think that I'll miss it, but I am so glad I did.

Saturday, Sofia received a note in the mail from her 2nd grade teacher, thanking her for the flowers she had given her the day before (the day before! regular mail must not be so snail-ish after all). Notes through the mail are now on my "top 5 ways to make your child feel special" list. I mean, nothing is stopping me from sending letters to my own girlies. I should, even though it would be faster to hand deliver them, there is something magical about opening that box and finding an envelope with your name hand written on it.

Mail.

Mail is good for the soul. It connects people in such a different way than cyberspace does because in it's inconvenience it shows how much you care. I firmly believe it. I really do. Maybe next time you open your mailbox you will find a note from me, and it will make you want to wail "MAIL!".

What do you think about mail? what is your favorite thing to find in your box? I'm sure is not bills...

Random facts of the Day

I went to the dentist today (again) and lived to tell the story (again).

It rained almost all day.

Crocheted flowers with my beautiful friends Tiffany and Ann. I love them. I always feel comfortable around them.

Sara couldn't go to the 5th grade's "No Tardy Party" because... well... through the school year she was tardy plenty times.

Find myself bothered by all the movie watching being done at school these last few days.

Dinner was so so today.

Sofia made a really cool hat out of paper. She keeps coughing at bedtime. I wish it would stop.

Damon just switched the laundry load for me. Mmmmm.... laundry.

Jo has taken up high-pitch screaming once more. Thought we were getting over that.

Tori is done with preschool and has communicated to me that she would like to move onto Kindergarten next year. We had planned a second year of preschool. What to do?

Only four more days of school!

Year End Blowout

Two weeks. That's all we have left of school. The year began in August 2009, yet these are the weeks jam packed with projects, field trips, book reports, presentations, class parties, events etc. Oh, throw in a preschool graduation, mother in law visiting (but she has been great help), and dentist visits to the mix too.

If I live through these next days I'll live through anything. Maybe.

I am tired. Fun tired with a hint of tears of exhaustion.

Thank goodness for Kristi who single handedly put an outfit together for Sara's school function last week. Thank goodness for my hubs who the morning of put together Sofia's slide show for her shindig.

This morning, Sara and the neighbor Sunni found a nest with 3 robin eggs and the dead mama lying on the sidewalk. I got to find where to take the nest and drive aaaalll the way to Ogden for the second time today; and forgot to take pictures of it. Hope the chics make it. Hope I make it.

In the Motherhood

Another mother's day has come and gone. I had a good one. Did you?

Motherhood has been on my mind lately, actually it's always on my mind because I have 4 constant reminders ("mom look!", "mom i need...", "mom she's bugging me", "mom! help!", "mooooooommm!", and even "mom, don't you know?")

There are two general feelings that thus far have been associated with my mothering experience: exhaustion and joyful love.

Home life is relentless, it takes no breaks. It is overwhelming at times, and although so many people say that these young demanding years go by so fast, there are days or weeks, that feel endless. Diaper after diaper. Homework after homework. Meal after stinking meal.

But then there is that other side of the coin.

The love.

There is no possible replacement for the love that I feel and receive from my daughters. It is almost magic the way they take over my life and at the same time add to it.
I have lost myself in my daughters and at the same time I have found the real me. They have forced me to define what really matters to me. What I am capable of. The things that I would like to make happen. How I feel about my life and theirs.
Oh, how I love them.
And when I feel this love, cooking a meal, helping with yet another school project, finding a bandaid, changing a diaper, they all become more joyful.

I love mothering.

Most my shirts are stained, my hands are "well worn", my good hair days are just a matter of luck and the list of things I would like to do is tucked somewhere I forgot. Bring me all those people who would dare criticize me or any woman for choosing this life. Bring them on and I'll show them there is nothing, nothing better I could be doing right now. I choose to not be distracted by anything less important. I choose to leave the rest for later. Because as for now, I have chosen to work towards becoming a well rounded, intelligent, bold, loving, talented and some days maybe even good looking mom.

I thank my Father in Heaven for this amazing blessing and responsibility he has given me. I often fall short, but I know that with God's help and the help of so many amazing women I know (moms or not) I can achieve my full potential as a mother and a woman.