Update on the Kids

Here are current pictures of everyone and a little bit about what they are up to.

Summer got her hair cut (about 5 or 6 inches off) a week and a half ago, on Saturday. Isn't she cute?


She is also following Elvis' code of dress (they are suede).


Rachel saved some money and had me give her the new haircut she has been wanting. I think (not very modestly) that her stylist did a fabulous job. Isn't she is cute, too?


She has been sewing skirts and displayed them at a church function recently.



Heather switched from violin to viola this year in Strings Class.
Since this is her second year, she is in the intermediate class. Gwen is in the beginning class, playing the violin. They both like to practice in my bedroom for the peace and relative quiet during the crazy time after school and before bedtime.


Gwen is enjoying her first year of public school. She goes to Science Club every Monday after school and loves it. She is also our first daughter to truly love hot lunch and breakfast. You couldn't have paid Summer to eat it while she was in school, but Gwen does almost every day. Here she is checking out the menu for the day on her way out the door in the morning.


Kelly is busy with first grade work.
Her reading is really taking off and she has decided to teach Michael how to do her math.

Here she is with her cute (and messy, because it is the end of the day)
I-am-going-to-class-today hair.



Michael drew this picture, brought it to me and said in one breath, "Can we get a cat and can it be a fancy cat like this one and I will clean up all the poop?!"

That last part is him anticipating my argument against pets of all types.


Naomi is busy being the I-am-cute-and-I-know-it member of the family.


She has a new bed, but it is still in our bedroom. Baby steps...

Last week, the kids had a couple days off of school. The first one, I took the five youngest and met a group of families to walk around a local botanic garden. Michael didn't want to be in this picture.


We found a few different kinds of mushrooms.


Jordyn (a friend's daughter) found other exciting things.


The next day we had off was spent going to the kids semi-annual dentist appointment. We LOVE the kids' dentist. He is really nice.

Nice enough to take all seven kids in a row. (Our pediatrician only lets me take in three at a time - ugh!)

Nice enough to let me take his picture with all the kids.


After the dentist, we headed over to IKEA to eat lunch and watch guys work on the roof.


After we ate, some of the kids checked into the play area and the rest of us shopped for about an hour, which was long enough to put Mo to sleep in the store.

I don't know why...

...I find this interesting enough to blog about (and neither do my children), but somehow it fascinates me that when I tried to heat up in the microwave some cold fudge sauce into it's preferred state of hot fudge sauce, this glass cracked into two pieces so cleanly. There were no shards, just two pieces.

Maybe I am just a magpie and mesmerized by shiny things. Who knows?

See how well they fit together?

Tagged Twice!

I've been tagged twice in the last few weeks and since I am catching up tonight...

First, thanks to Cynthia, I get to list 6 random things about myself.

These are all things that put a huge, can't stop smiling, grin on my face.

1. When I was a junior in high school I took Calculus. Sometimes, I would get 100% on a test. It would make my whole week. I love math.

2. I jumped out of an airplane. I was in freefall, unattached to anyone and pulled my own ripcord. That smile probably lasted for at least a month.

3.A friend and I drove from NY to UT by ourselves, two girls, me without a license (so Karen had to do all the driving) to go to college when we were 19 and 20. What fun! I love road trips!

4. I took a horseback riding class for one of my PE credits in college. I had to get up before dawn, in the cold and go out and catch, brush, then saddle my own horse - heaven!

5. Seeing my kids happy. I love it when they laugh, tell me a joke or tell me the good parts of their day.

6. Last, but far from least - I love flirting with Stan. He is really fun and very funny. Maybe a side of him not everyone knows about :)

And then, thanks to Alyssa, here is another tag...

10 years ago...
1. I was living with my inlaws
2. I loved getting to know them better
3. I spent a little bit of almost every day looking online for a job for Stan
4. I didn't have a church calling
5. I was pregnant with Gwen

5 things on today's "to do" list
1. Turn in work samples for Rachel and Kelly
2. Orthodontist appts. for Summer and Heather
3. Wash the whites
4. FHE
5. Blog

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire...
1. Take the family to New York and Pennsylvania (road trip anyone?)
2. Take Stan to Hawaii and go on one of those helicopter volcano trips
3. Buy every Wodehouse book ever published and maybe even indulge in a couple first editions
4. Redo the kitchen
5. Buy some stocks

5 places I have lived...
1. Colorado
2. New York
3. New Hampshire
4. Utah
5. Virginia

5 jobs I have had...
1. waitress/cook/lunchtime manager in a pizzaria
2. photo retoucher
3. book repairer
4. substitute teacher's aide
5. spy, I mean mystery shopper

~

So, I am gong to tag no one in particular (so no pressure) and everyone who may read this. If it sounds fun, do it yourself and leave a comment here saying that you did :)

Election day is...

...tomorrow! Is that news to anyone? I am so excited to watch the results, especially for Prop 8.



Here are two friends, Kristin and Shelly, who were my compadres handing out literature outside our kids' school last Thursday. I felt so much more comfortable doing it with them than I would have alone, and who can blame me? With their sunglasses, they look like FBI agents...kind of...sort of. I was in good hands :)

Lunch

Yesterday, the at-home-during-the-day kids and I went out to lunch. We tried a Chinese place we hadn't been to before. Michael and Mo loved the fish tank. I loved the egg drop soup (it had tofu in it!). Kelly loved, loved, loved the sweet and sour pork.

I smiled at Naomi's fortune. We are all captivated by every little thing she does.

Yep, this would be Michael, at least until his younger sister starts crying or something is broken.

Here is Kelly's. Her fortune is a mystery, kind of like the microphone thing.

Rachel's in my favorite, a most fortuitous fortune, because it helped me convince her to pitch in the two more bucks I needed for the tip. Actually, she was already generous and willing, but it did put a smile on her face when I pointed it out :)


Truthfully, I put as much stock in fortune cookie promises as I do in campaign promises, but they are fun, aren't they?

Michael is four!

This past week our big boy turned four. He is so much fun!

Daddy's Girl

This is what Naomi says every time you ask her who her favorite person is,
and just for the record, she came up with it herself :)

Saturday...

...we had a ton of fun. I went to the temple and everyone met me there when the session was over with a picnic lunch. After lunch we headed up to Oak Glen to pick Stayman-Winesap apples (my favorite). The kids enjoyed the horse...

...and the pig.

When we got home from the mountains, it was time to make cornbread, get on the kids' costumes and break out the candy for our ward's Trunk or Treat.

Naomi as a pumpkin.

Michael as a bee. He left his shoes at home, so Stan went home and got him some, later.

Kelly as a princess.

Gwen as a tree.

Heather as a ghost.

Summer and Rachel didn't know what they wanted to "be", but they knew what they wanted to wear, so they just" dressed up", they didn't "dress up as..."

I took my "Blogs I Check Sometimes"...

...list off the sidebar because you can see them all when you look at my profile under "Blogs I Follow." It just seemed more streamlined, but what do you think? Is anyone sad that someone might be one click further from reading their blog?

Comments, questions, advice...?

Bubble Fight

Stan and I had a bubble fight this evening
while we were cleaning up after dinner.

I won...really...no, really!

Fall is the Time for Apples

I know most kids do this at one point or another (ok, kids whose mothers don't cut their apples up into neat little pieces, anyway), but I had to blog about Naomi doing it anyway.

Here's the story - I ate about half an apple and turned to see my cute bambina looking longingly at it, so I asked her if she wanted it. Of course she did. She loves apple. She calls anything that looks remotely like an apple, "APPLE, APPLE, APPLE!" If there was a Pear Council of America, she would probably upset them. So, I gave it to her and left her to eat away, which is just what she did - ate all of it - almost.

She came to me and carefully, deliberately handed me a stem and one seed.

Thanks, Mom!

Future Eternal Companion Qualifications

For FHE Sunday night, Summer gave a lesson on dating. She included an activity from one of the lessons she attended at church earlier in the day - make a list of the qualities you want in a future spouse. I would love to blog the girls' entire lists, but they would never agree and besides, Summer alone had over a hundred qualifications that some lucky guy will need to meet. Here is a sample -

Summer - Funny

Rachel - Optimistic

Heather - Interesting

Gwen - Big Ears

Kelly - Talks on Microphones

We are all still trying to figure that last one out :)

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Camping With the Young Women

This past weekend, I went camping with ten young women, three pre-young women and five other adults. It was a lot of fun. So much fun that I didn't take much time to take pictures and when all of us were supposed to be taking pictures, Summer was using my camera. So, I've included a couple of the pictures she took :)

We arrived Friday night in time for dinner which was Dutch oven cooking by Br. H. Then there were games, a devotional by Sister L., hot chocolate and bed (but not sleep). I was happy to announce to everyone trying to sleep at six in the morning that it had snowed during the night - how exciting (and how annoying of me!).

Saturday we had Dutch oven breakfast and sweet rolls before a photography class by Br. L. and Br. M. Then we were off to hike and go on a photography scavenger hunt.

Finally, back to camp for lunch and packing up - it went so quickly, we'll just have to do it again!

Sick Day

I have been flirting with a cold the past week and today it is full blown, so I am taking the day off (as much as possible) and taking it easy, which translates into catching up on my blogging.

Fans (maybe that is too strong a word - smile) of Phraseology take note, I have caught up on the last three weeks, just in time to get a new assignment that I will probably procrastinate.

~

First, a couple of Michaelisms -

This morning I told Rachel, "I feel rotten."
Michael stood up for me, loudly exclaiming,
"You're not ROTTEN!"

Then, when I put the popcorn on the table for snack,
he tasted it and pronounced,
"This is my favorite kind of popcorn I never tasted!"

~

Heather has become adept at climbing the tulip tree in the backyard. She is hard to see, but I included this picture to give you an idea of how far up she gets.



~

Here is a video of Naomi with Poppy. Mo used to be scared of Poppy because the chicken likes to follow her around, but they have become good friends. First, she shares her raisins with Poppy. Then she tries to teach her how to play an unknown musical instrument. Finally, Naomi chases Poppy around, loudly asking for a "HUG".

Fishing With the Young Women

Last Saturday, I woke up at 3:20 am - not something I do for fun, but it is something I do on a regular basis to tell Naomi that it is still nighttime and that she should go back to sleep. Then, that is what I usually do - go back to sleep, but not this time. I was up to stay and welcome the teenagers showing up at the house at four to go fishing!

A brave, intrepid couple - Brother Rod and Sister Shirley - in our ward took us surf fishing at one of our state beaches. We were ready to go by 4:30, so we were off! It was still dark when we arrived.

By the time we trudged down from the parking lot to the sand, the sky was beginning to lighten. As annoying as it is to get up and be out for it, there is always something magical about seeing the day arrive.

Before we fished, Brother Rod gave us instruction. Shirley had told me he was a good teacher and he really is - succinct yet thorough and a pleasure to learn from.

Sister Shirley is an excellent teacher as well and spent time teaching some of us how to cast, which is trickier than it looks.

Rod demonstrated the proper way to bait the hooks with blood worms.

Kaylee was brave and gave it a try, herself.

Here we are, set up and waiting for nibbles, bites and gulps.

Gabriella caught the first fish.

Here is Ryan with her first catch.

Kaylee with her first fish.

Rod and Rachel admiring her first catch - two fish at one time!

In addition to the first fish, Gabriella caught the first shark.


Everyone had to feel its sandpapery skin before we threw it back. We caught and released all the fish we caught except one, which Gabriella took home to eat.

Here is Rod showing us the stinger on one of the rays one of the young women caught. He warned us about these before we started fishing and assured us that if anyone was stung, we'd all have to leave and head to the nearest hospital, so we stood back and let him do the careful and experienced handling.

Kaylee caught the second shark of the day. She knew she had something big on the line. We were all excited watching her reel it in. She ended up catching a small fish on her top hook and a shovel head shark on the bottom one. We wondered if the fish was acting as bait for the shark. Ryan thought that was a great idea. Every time someone hooked a really small fish, she would ask Brother Rod, "Can we use it for bait?!?"

All together, we caught 47 fish during five hours of fishing with three lines including two ray and two sharks.

We all had a blast and want to give a big thanks to Rod and Shirley for taking and teaching us.

It was a great day!

Bo...o...o...oring

Michael walked up to me this afternoon and said, "Everything we are doing around here today is boring. Can you, like, get out the Tinker Toys or something?"

FHE last night

We went for a walk and bike/scooter/parent ride for our FHE activity last night. Naomi put on a hat and thought she was ready to go.

I caught her and traded the hat for a dress.

Here some of us are watching the guy across the street reading on his front lawn while Stan either puts on or takes off roller blades for Michael. He changed his mind and ended up using the scooter. Stan and I were impressed with his persistence. He went really fast for a three year old and would fall on a regular basis, get up, say, "I'm ok," if he caught me looking worriedly at him, and head off again.