The Simple Things

While there is so much going on in my life... an imminent move to Colorado, being 7 mos. pregnant, being (basically) a single parent to two precocious little girls, an extended family experiencing major drama on a daily basis, etc. I am trying to simplify and enjoy those little things that make life wonderful. (Play "What a Wonderful World" courtesy Louis Armstrong in your mind while reading this post).

Having small children around helps me be "Young at Heart" ('nother great song) and take some time to return to childhood. I long for the days where my worries included the man lurking under my bed (aka my cat), my mom trying to dress me in hideous clothes, getting out of practicing the piano and having the tangles brushed out of my hair. Summertime has brought back those feelings of laying on warm cement in a wet swimsuit, drinking from the hose, getting watermelon sticky, spitting out seeds and washing it all off by jumping into a pool with more grass in it than water. With the weather being what it has been this year I was also reminded of how much of the year I spent in a jacket, shorts and shoeless or in galoshes. If I have to live with this kind of spring I might as well be in New Hampshire.

Last week Ginny fell asleep on the couch. I walked past and noticed a pink piece of paper that had been placed on her. I picked it up. Abby had seen Ginny sleeping and made her a little note. She came in to ask me how to spell "you" and I didn't think anything of it since she does that a lot. Cute, huh? The lines above and below the "i" and between the "t" and "h" in "the" are there because in her reading program that's how it's written.

Sisters. I am so glad that they get along so well. It makes my life easier. These little things make my heart melt. They were sleeping together at my parents the other night with their arms reaching to each other and Ginny's hand was holding Abby's face. I took a picture with my phone but don't have the fancy equipment to upload it.

Sending happy thoughts to everyone I love... may your lives be filled with those simple happy moments that make up what really matters!

Ballet shoes, last-minute moves and head cold blues

Just call me Dr. Seuss. The last week of May was a busy one in the Naylor family. Abby had her ballet performance which meant practice for 5 hours on Monday, dress rehearsal for 3 hours on Tuesday and performances on Wednesday and Thursday. She had to be at the Marriot Center for dance from 3:30 until 9:00 both days but she LOVED it. She was very tired but sat through the second half of the show on Thursday (the ballet portion only took up the first half). She has been asking me if she can go on the stage again this week. She's crazy. I'm glad she had fun. It was a lot of stress for me. They did a movie theme and she was in Star Wars. I am so glad that I don't have to do Princess Leia buns anymore.



In a conversation at church I mentioned that we were thinking of renting our house since it's been on the market for 9 months and we don't want to lower the price yet again. The sister I was speaking with said that she was looking for a house to rent... long story short she needed to move in before the end of the month so we spent Wednesday-Saturday moving our things out of our house. But what a relief!!! I am planning to move to Denver with the girls on Father's Day, subject to change.

I have had a head cold for 3 weeks but it has entered it's really enjoyable phase this week. Ahhh the joys of pregnancy. Last week I was a bit of a crazy person (stress) and I had been hoping to make it up to my kids this week. Oh well, I have been nicer (goodbye scary monster mommy). We have not done all of the fun things I was hoping to do. I would like to play with our Utah friends while we still can. Crossing my fingers that this cold thingy will wear itself out by next week.

And this one went WEE WEE WEE all the way home!!!

Today, after months of suggestion Ginny FINALLY "went" on the big girl potty... still crossing our fingers for #2. Now that swim-suit wearing is upon us (if the weather cooperates) I felt I needed to really start pushing it. Ginny sat on her little potty while she ate lunch (sounds sanitary, I know, you parents didn't give it a second thought did you?). I was hoping it wouldn't take long- two hours later she really wanted to get off the potty.
I repeatedly told her she had to tinkle first. Feeling that this was verging on child-abuse (even though she was entertained with coloring, playing clapping games with mommy, etc. the WHOLE time) I went and got her a glass of punch NOT in a sippy cup hoping it would go down faster. She got about half-way through the punch and started whining, acting uncomfortable and saying that she was "stanky". I could tell she really needed to go but was set on holding back the flood gates. I filled a glass with warm water and put her hand in... she whimpered but no dice. I dried off that hand and tried the other. Either that worked or she couldn't hold out any more, probably a little bit of both. She acted a little surprised/scared at first but got excited when she realized that Abby and I were dancing and cheering. She gave each of us high fives and then we gave daddy a call.

If you were wondering about the photo... in an attempt to get Ginny excited for potty training I bought her "McQueen" panties. Yes, we call them panties even though they are little boys underwear. Ginny got mad at me when I suggested she wear some of Abby's old panties. They are much to pretty and Much to pink. I will say, in her defense, that while she plays with dinosaurs, trains, cars & likes to talk in a low low voice she DOES like to dress up and particularly likes dresses that flair out when she spins.

Ghostbusters SLC

My little bro Jonathan and his friends put together a Ghostbusters fan film. They spent a lot of time on it. I have to admit being pretty impressed by the special effects. On May 2nd we (mom, dad, Liz, her boys, Betty, my girls) went to see the premiere in Provo. You should all consider yourselves lucky because we waited 2 hours to watch it while two of his friends got their stuff together. I felt a little bad for the guys at the theater who tried to keep the crowd from revolting.
Anyway if you would like to check it out here it is Ghostbusters SLC.
Tips:
1. The film is about a half hour long and takes a while to download (I paused it and waited for it to load to 20% and still caught up to it- maybe try waiting to 30%) so be prepared to spend some time.... I think it's worth it, but it's MY brother.

2. There is no language (unless you are British) but it DOES open with the song "Highway to Hell" playing. If you don't want your kids to hear that wait until after bedtime. Also, be prepared to see my brother in boxer shorts. He is an RM so it's not his usual fare. My girls have seen it. Abby says that she calls the poltergeist "that goose thing" because it is white and because it is a duck and a ghost. I am so glad she cleared that up for me... wonder if Jonathan knows.

3. If you don't know my brother he is playing the character "Garin Sketch" and it says "SKETCH" in large letters on his uniform. He's the funny one, in my humble opinion.

4. If you look closely at the books that are used you will notice that they are old gynecology books. They were able to get a bunch of them free and they all swear that they didn't open them, hee hee. They were destroyed during filming, but thankfully no animals were harmed.

5. There is a bonus after the credits if you feel up to waiting.

A Long Awaited Reunion

Last night I went to my Book Club excited to discuss "The Zookeeper's Wife", yet a little more excited for a night out, ahhhh the life of a mother! In the course of our discussion of a couple who hid Jews escaping the Krakow ghetto during WWII one of the women informed us of the passing of Karl Schnibbe. He was one of three courageous young friends chronicled in Rudy Wobbe's "Three Against Hitler". For a review of the book on families.com click here.
I was privileged to have met Brother Schnibbe when we were on the same shift at the temple. The men and women didn't really work together but he always said "hi" to me often giving me a piece of candy. Once he stopped to chat for a minute when I was greeting patrons and there was no one to greet. I don't remember what we talked about but he was such a sweet old man with a wonderful spirit about him. I had read the book about their experiences so I knew who he was, and I have to admit, was in total awe of someone who had lived through what he had. I have similar feelings towards extraordinary members of my ward... I am truly surrounded by greatness.
Although I was saddened to learn of the death of the last of these three amazing men I can only imagine what a joyous reunion it must have been.
To read Karl-Heinz Schnibbe's story in the Salt Lake Tribune click here.
To learn more about Brother Schnibbe's friend Helmuth Hubener who was the instigator of their activities and was executed at the age of seventeen click here.
In my search for Bro. Scnibbe's obituary I found out that there is a movie in production about their experiences (or will be this fall). At this time it is being called "Truth and Treason" and Haley Joel Osment has been cast as Helmuth Hubener.

Birds and Beesies

We went to visit Grandma Betty at Liberty Park on one of Brian's recent visits. It dawned on me that the girls and I have never been to Tracy Aviary. We decided to take advantage of our daddy- visit- adventure trend and went to see the birds! Ginny LOVED the peacocks. Brian was a little concerned as she chased them across the lawns. He was waiting anxiously, convinced that one of them would turn on her ("Who's the overprotective parent?" "No, you are."). She was giggling and shouting and yet came away unscathed (phew).

Abby got a running science lesson from her dad as they walked along. I never realized how much Brian knew about birds. Like my dad he tends to remember random information that no one REALLY needs to know unless they're going to be on Jeopardy. Abby's favorite were the flamingos. I learned something new about flamingos... they are not born pink, the color is due to their diet made up of, primarily, SHRIMP!













Ginny chose the batmobile (of course) and was very upset when ever one of the cars was left empty- I can only imagine that she felt sorry for the poor unused car! Cute.
The airplanes weren't much different with Abby in the pink and Ginny in the blue. (the airplanes did eventually move... I took some pictures in flight but the stationary ones turned out better, shocking!






After a healthful meal (specially prepared by Grandma) of burgers, chicken nuggets, a corn dog, fries and onion rings we topped it off with cotton candy. Hey, if you're gonna do it go all out- that's what summer time is for, right?!?!?!

CuRLiNg HaiR (part 2, results)

Ginny pouting on the couch after seeing herself in the mirror. (the toothpaste leftovers add an extra zing to the comedy of it all, I think.)
Rear View




















When the girls woke up Ginny was IMMEDIATELY tugging at her hair trying to pull out the rags. I did hers first. Some of the ends didn't get curled properly so I overly separated her curls trying to hide it. She looked something like this at first. I showed her what she looked like in the mirror and she started to cry and said "comb it". Little did she know that would only make it worse. I really don't blame her... if I had woken up to that I would have cried too. I put some smoother in it and the curls calmed down a bit. By the afternoon she was looking adorable. Lesson learned: #1 don't roll the rags all the way to their head if their hair isn't pretty long #2 don't get lazy while wrapping/make sure the ends are wrapped correctly #3 don't overly separate the curls.

My little Shirley Temple!!!
you can see the little shreds of cloth from the cheap sheets.



Abby's curls, on the other hand, were gorgeous! She had perfect little ringlets, I debated whether or not to separate them at all. I ended up separating them a little. She was very happy with her hair. She was a little hesitant to go out in public at first. I told her we were going to the library and she said, "will everyone think I look silly?" By the end of the day she wanted to do it again. She is excited to curl her hair for church (one of these days).

Front and back views later that day... once Ginny decided to embrace the curls.