Wake Up and Say Cheese!

Other than the first day of school, there is no other school morning filled with more motivation to get up early than picture day. Sofia was up and dressed by 6:50am ready for me to do her hair. So with my limited supplies and hair fixing talent, we got both Victoria and Sofia ready and out the door AND on time (because I consider getting to school before the late bell rings, as on time). I have beautiful girls, so really, it doesn't take much.

Today is also Thursday, so I got to go staple homework for Victoria's teacher and take in the refreshing view of all the children around the school, ready to have their faces immortalized. All ready in their own (or their parents') way.

It turns out that just by simple observation you can identify a few categories in what becomes a kaleidoscope of looks.

1. The kids (moms) that picked their outfit the night before, laid it all out with matching accessories and a plan for their hair. Maybe the clothes even got ironed.

This category can be divided into two subcategories:

1.a. The "within reason" category, where the children are prepared and well groomed, but still look like themselves, look within their age group and their clothes still reflects the setting (as in "school").

1.b. The "over the top" category, where the children have had their hair gunked up, twisted, pinned and/or spiked to the death. Some girls wear their fluffy church dresses, maybe even heels (!!!???), and makeup. Oh yeah, by 4th grade makeup is a must, and it becomes thicker as you go up in grades. And what is it with those 6th grade girls who feel like they need to look 18?!!!

2. These kids (moms) forgot about it until the morning of, threw on a clean shirt and did their hair the best they could, brushed their teeth and rubbed off with some spit that pesky milk mustache.

3. Picture day was forgotten altogether.

4. The mom remembered and prepared the child for the picture, but the child might have been better off if she had forgotten about it. Enough said.

This year I consider myself to be a low 1.a. My girls knew what they wanted to wear last night. I would have chosen something else, but I learned a few picture days ago not to pick that battle. One of the shirts had ruffles that had to be ironed but I didn't do it until this morning. The hair was done with just a few spritz of spray gel and hopefully it stayed put until pic time.

There have been times when I have been a 2. And maybe one of my girls, at some point of her short picture day history, has considered me a 4. Oh well.

I hope that the fact that we only purchase a class picture doesn't traumatize the Kenrick girls for life. It seems like kids are supposed to gauge the love of their parents by the amount of school pictures they purchase. Lifetime has told them so. And why is Lifetime the one and only school picture provider? I guess that's a whole other topic.

Anyway, in case I managed to offend someone by some of my categories, here is one of my school pictures. This kind of humiliation should suffice as an apology, right?

I think the day this picture was taken, I was a category 3. Can you tell?

What memories do you have of school picture day?

*disclaimer: my categories list has nothing to do with how expensive or cheap or trendy the clothes are or look. I couldn't care less about that. In fact, both Sofia and Victoria were wearing items from the thrift store.

A Penny For My Thoughts?

Image: posterize / FreeDigitalPhotos.net


Couponing is all the rage these days. I tried it myself only to find out that I do not have the patience or the brains to keep it all straight AND stay sane at the same time. Keeping track of children at the store is challenging enough.

I used to feel guilty about this. Yep, because I needed one more thing to feel guilty about. I felt that since we are not rolling in cash, it was my responsibility to do everything in my power to make the best use of that hard-earned money (yes, hubs has a job again). But with time, I realized that it is up to me to decide how I would do that. Coupons are not the thing for me. Not now.

I decided that it is worth our money to have the simplicity and convenience of couponless shopping. So while I still use coupons for diapers, restaurants and some entertainment, I have given myself freedom to not chase after sales or buy diapers in one store, shampoo in another, and bread somewhere else. Ad matching you say? uuuh, thanks but no thanks. The freedom to cruise through checkout without juggling melting toddlers and a stack of coupons is priceless to me. I choose to pay for that convenience, thank you very much.

And so I am free, until I innocently stand in the checkout line behind someone who is concealing a 3-inch-high stack of coupons. Then it is all over. Convenience all gone. Of course I don't find out about it until all my stuff is on the conveyor belt.

Just a couple of weeks ago I went to the store (yes, it was Walmart) with the 5 and 2 year olds in tow. They were doing great and I was keeping the trip short so we could all make it back to the car still happy. Checkout time. Only one person ahead of me, already checking out so I started loading my things onto the conveyor belt. Swift is what I like. Then I noticed that the lady ahead of me is getting a lot of the same things. Cat food to feed an army (of cats), cream cheese to last a lifetime, and some other items I didn't have time to make out because next thing I see is this woman pulling out a pile of coupons so tall, I knew I was in for it. She could have told me. I would have appreciated the warning.

So one by one, the cashier goes through those blasted coupons. I tried to be all nice and friendly and made small talk with this lady. She proudly told me about her "technique". She pulls newspapers out of the big recycling containers and then finds the sales to match them. "It is amazing how people just throw away the coupons. The recycling containers are full, I don't even need to climb in". While I admired the dedication of this woman, I knew those people have good reasons to just throw their coupons away. Luckily there was a display of pillow pets by the checkout stand so the girls kept themselves entertained, but to be honest, after a few minutes of coupon-scanning, I wished that Jo would give them a taste of what she can pull at a store when she is in a bad mood. That way they would "feel" the inconvenience that was being imposed on me.

It turned out that the store actually owed the lady a whopping $60 for shopping with them. Wow! But money is money, so here comes the manager to go through the whole stack of coupons AGAIN!. I was done being patient. Really done. I told the manager about how careful the cashier had been the first time around and could you please just trust him because I have waited enough. No, she must check again, and then a third important person comes and grabs some of the coupons. AAAAGGGGHHHH! I paid for the convenience of waiting behind this person AND full price for my stuff!!!

I had no choice but to grab my things and move to the next checkout. Fuming, I told this other cashier that they should have lines just for couponers. She just shrugged and said "I wish we could". Didn't she see my frustration???!!!! Of course you can! and what you need to say is "You are so right we'll take care of it right away". "Your highness".

Why share this story? no reason other than to vent one of my many frustrations in life. But I truly believe that stores should have one checkout with a sign that says "WARNING, over 10 coupons accepted here".

If you are a couponer yourself and you are at a store with a total lack of warning signage, then please, kindly flash your coupons to those who dare stand behind you so we can choose a different fate.

I never knew if the lady got her $60. If she did, I should have gotten half.

And now a penny for your thoughts: What does couponing do for you?

About Unemployment and Other Happenings

January 22nd was my last post. Fast forward a few weeks and the picture I described on that post has changed substantially .

In a nutshell, after a lot of consideration and prayer I told my boss at Early Intervention that for sanity's sake I wouldn't be able to work any more (I would finish out February). I hesitated for several days but once I said it I felt so relieved and happy.

Two weeks after that, Damon got laid off from Iomega. From the job that had been both a blessing and a curse. We weren't shocked. After all, his boss was being so flexible with Damon's student teaching, we figured something was up. The timing however, seemed less than ideal. Why had I felt inspired to quit my job just a couple of weeks prior? That, we don't really know, but I like being available whenever Damon needs to go somewhere or needs a quiet room for an interview.

So from 5 jobs, we are down to 2. Damon is still student teaching at Ben Lomond Seminary for a few hours a week and I am still interpreting. Our art studio project will have to wait for now.

We are receiving severance through June, so ideally, we will have a job and plans for the next few years by then. As for now, we are in limbo. Most days are good, some not so much. But mostly, I am excited for change.

All in all, Damon has had several second interviews and we are hoping and praying for good opportunities.

The Kenrick household is still full of love and fun. We celebrated all 3 of our March birthdays. The most exciting one being Sara's, who turned 12. She is enjoying Young Women and yesterday she had her first official babysitting job. WOW. Where has time gone. I am so proud of my Sara girl, she is quite amazing.

(Sara's first day of Young Women)

Our girlies are growing by the minute, and are keeping us so so busy and tired. But my goodness, they have such a unique way of bringing all the fun to our home.

(Sara, Sofia and Victoria after their latest play "Isabella and Tinka")



Tori played Isabella, a little girl who had recently moved to a new town and was having a hard time making new friends. Mom (Sara), in an attempt to ease the transition, got Isabella a puppy she named Tinka (Sofia). This puppy turned out to have amazing dancing skills, making the kids in the neighborhood notice and love the new pet and ultimately the lovely Isabella. 2 thumbs up!

(JoJo as herself)

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...