Happy Birthday Kelly

Kelly turned six this past week. We are all happy for her and happy she is our girl. She was so excited to gain her freedom from the car seat :)

We saved her birthday for a day so that she could share it with her cousins. Cynthia, Niquelle, Nikki, Andrea, and Tristan went to the beach with us (Will was at a training) and then we came home, cleaned up, did some last minute birthday shopping and had a party. Grandma sent some light sticks for the party and I bought these funky plastic, probably toxic, "candles" at the dollar store that burned with different colored flames. It was fun, fun , fun all around.

Mother's Day Adventures

Maybe I was thinking more in depth about my responsibility to train my children to behave well than I do on other Sundays.

Maybe it was that we sat up closer to the front of the chapel than we have been for the last few months (we've been ending up in the back row a lot lately) and I was worried about bothering the people sitting behind us as well as the people in front of us.

Maybe it was because Stan made a breakfast (in bed for me) of eggs and toast instead of my usual cold-cereal-on-Sunday fare and the kids had more energy to burn off.

Whatever it was, Michael and Naomi were in true Mother's Day form (as in, "I think I'll just show everyone how imperfect you are, Mommy") and did the following during Sacrament Mtg.

Naomi -

said, "more" about two dozen times after the bread left our row,

stood on the pew, yelled at the top of her lungs and waved her arms, frantically trying to get the Aaronic priesthood to bring the water to her before the bishop,

pulverized a fish cracker into 227 crumbs that needed to be picked up individually,

pushed Michael off my lap at least five times,

played, "I want Daddy, no, I want Mommy, no, Daddy..." for two minutes,

and threw a major tantrum when Rachel left for Sunday school.

Michael -

needed to be reminded (threatened) on a continual basis to sit down instead of lean on the pew in front of us,

made a loud raspberry sound with his mouth (we hope) on the pew in front of us during one of the times he was ignoring the threats and during the quietest part of the meeting,

crawled under the pew to retrieve something from under the feet in front of us,

pushed Naomi off my lap at least six times and stepped on her at least twice,

tried to eat the fish crackers as fast as possible so that he could get as many as possible before Naomi got some more,

wrote on his tie,

and tickled (while yelling, "aarghhh" each time he reached for her) one of the the pretty girls in front of us.

All of which caused me to get the giggles and contribute to the general commotion, right when someone was talking about the nobility of mothers.

Ah, well, you all know I wouldn't trade it for the world. Isn't life great? Here's to all you mothers -

Happy Mother's Day :)

Piano Recital

Heather, Rachel and Summer had their piano recital today. Since all of our extended family live too far away to come listen, we're sharing excerpts from the two pieces each pianist played.

Animal Sounds

Tidbits From the Weekend

Yesterday, Summer and I took part in our stake's Tin Man Triathlon. We both have red dots on our bibs because we were only taking place in the run/walk, not the swim or bike race. Summer ran three miles in just over 31 minutes and I racewalked it in 35 minutes, 20 seconds. My goal was to make it in under 40, so I was happy :)



This morning, while we were getting ready for church, I was wetting Michael's hair and getting ready to comb it down. He looked at the shelves next to the mirror and politely asked, "Can you put jello in my hair?"

How could I say no?

Cha Cha Cha

Heather recently competed in a ballroom dancing competition. She got to pick out a new dress to wear as part of her birthday presents.

We put her hair up and found her something sparkly to put on.

Here she is with the group she went with...

...and here she is dancing the SALSA...

...the SWING...

...the CHA CHA...



and the FOX TROT!

If...

...you are Bored Beyond Belief,you could always head over to my other blog

and take the poll :)

Michael the Landscaper

The funny thing is...we only have a small patch of grass. It covers maybe 20-25 percent of the back yard and that is not counting the south forty. Most of the yard is dirt...arranged with swings, a rabbit, chickens, fruit trees, this year's garden, the track, etc. There is more than enough space for any kid to dig and cover themselves in humus and disintegrated rock. I guess Michael thinks you can never have too much of a good thing.

Michael - Mommy, sometime we should take away all the grass in the backyard.

Me - But I like the grass. You don't like the grass?

No.

If we do there will just be dirt.

Yeah...and mud. (happy, happy face)

:)

Taiwan Mayor Seeks Missionary Help

What I've been doing lately...

...is sewing pioneer clothes for Summer and a friend to wear on the youth conference pioneer trek.

An Eventful Day

Happy Birthday Heather!

(The candle is for one decade and yes, she does have a flaky mother who doesn't keep enough cute little b-day candles in the house.)

Heather's birthday was a busy day. Summer went to the orthodontist and had her bottom wire changed. We all loaded into the car and headed west. We went to IKEA for lunch and then all seven kids had appointments for dental checkups. It was Naomi's first time and she did well. The good news was that in all those seven mouths full of teeth, there were no cavities.

Heather wanted chicken and dumplings, artichokes and German chocolate cake for her birthday. We didn't end up eating the artichoke (they were $2 each, so we all shared one) and cake until her birthday was almost over...

(that's p.m.)

because...

Stan and I spent most of the evening with Kelly in Urgent Care waiting for her to get her stitches and glue.

Grammar is Strange Sometimes

The other day, I was working on the budget at the computer desk. I needed to talk to Heather about something, but didn't want to lose my train of thought by going to get her, so I thought I'd ask Michael to be my go-fer. Here's (approximately) how the conversation went.

Me - Michael, I need to talk to Heather. Could you ask her to come here, please?

Michael - Where is her?

You mean, where is she?

Yeah, where is she?

I don't know, go look for her.

You mean, go look for she?!?!


Poor kid, grammar is strange sometimes :)

A Couple of Random Thoughts

I found Michael surrounded by sisters and this is what he looked like. It must be time for a haircut...

This is why the baby of the family is spoiled. They do the same obnoxious things as all the older siblings (like writing on the sheets), but the mother has been through it so many times before, stuff isn't shocking anymore. EVERYTHING is cute and sentimental. "Look dear, the baby is ______ (fill in the blank with something horrid), isn't she darling?"

Or MAYBE it is just that most of the families belongings have already gone through the kid machine, so there isn't much to get upset about.

Or maybe the mother's brain is just addled by then.

Trip to the Big Apple

Gwen, Naomi and I flew to PA to visit my parents a few weeks ago. One of the things I wanted to do while we were there was visit "the city". To people who have lived there, there is only one place that qualifies for that name. Every other place pales in comparison. There are wonderful places all around the world and I've been to a few of them, but no place is as much of a city as New York. We drove to Staten Island and parked at the ferry terminal. Here is a picture of Gwen sitting on the orange benches on the outside deck of one of the new boats...

...and here she is on one of the older boats a few years ago.

What a cutie :)

Riding on the ferry and then getting on the subway brings back such a rush of memories for me. So many hours of my life were spent on public transportation - reading, talking, drowsing, pushing, daydreaming, flirting.

The first place we went was the Toys R Us magnet store in Times Square. They have a full size (three stories high) ferris wheel inside. Gwen is in the green car on the top right.

Each car had a theme.

After the toy store, we went to M&M world, which was a disappointment. It was just tourist stuff and m&m's for $9 a pound. At least the Jelly Belly Factory had free samples...

One fun thing that happened on our way out was running into a police dog (not literally). The officer kindly let Gwen hold his leash (the dog's).

The ferry has one of the best views of the Statue of Liberty. We also saw one made out of legos in the toy store and even a giant green m&m Statue of Liberty.

Last of all we went to the Metropolitan museum of Art. Here is Gwen entering the Temple of Dendur.

It was a wonderful day. We ate bagels, hot dogs off the street (better than it sounds) and pizza. We even tracked down a piece of cheesecake to take home to Stan. Thanks Mom for the fix. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the calendars!!!

Milestones

We've hit some milestones around here this month.

Here's Naomi on the day she turned ONE in her birthday sweater from Grandma :)

Happy Birthday Mo!!!


I reached the 3.9 decades mark (and the daffodils are blooming in our yard).

And, the station wagon hit the big two-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh...

The Great Park Balloon

A couple of weeks ago, we went and rode the Great Park helium balloon. It is large. It is orange.

It was hard to decide whether to look down at the ground...


...or up.



We rode it twice and some of us still wanted to go back and ride again.

Fruit Loops vs. Cherrios

Naomi likes Fruit Loops. Naomi does NOT like Cherrios. If we put Cherrios in front of her, she fusses. If we put Fruit Loops on the menu, she is happy. If we mix them together, she sorts through them and only eats the Fruit Loops. Here she is doing her "I have Fruit Loops" happy song and dance.

The other day, I was sharing my chocolate yogurt mixed with Cherrios with her. I would try to give her only yogurt, but if a Cherrio was hidden too well, she'd spit it out after sucking all the yogurt off it.

This morning she hit a new high on the caution scale. She would eat ALL the Fruit Loops except the yellow ones. Those she'd sort out and banish them to the "Something That Looks Too Much Like a Cherrio" pile.

And to close, while we were documenting this behavior, Michael said, "Take a picture of ME!!!"

Visitors

Last week, my brother Matt, sister-in-law Stephanie, their two darling daughters, Ruby and Coral, and my mom came to visit. We really enjoyed their company. Not only was it fun to see them all, they were the easiest house guests I've ever had because they took care of dinner every night they were here. My kids are clamoring for more Navajo tacos, so, Steph and Matt, if you have time to put your recipe on your blog...

Speaking of blogs, the credit goes to Matt and Stephanie for inspiring me to start blogging and for setting the bar high for what a stellar blog should be. I may sound like I am laying it on a bit thick, but their blog really is one of my favorites to read.

While they were here, they picked their new cocker spaniel up at the airport. My kids tried their very best to spoil that dog ROTTEN while she was here. Here is Rachel doing Science schoolwork on the back porch, holding Olive the 2nd, because, "she's LONELY."

Coral and Naomi are three months apart in age. It was fun to see them together.

Michael and Ruby are also three months apart and Michael had fun with another three year old to play with. Stephanie, Matt and Grandma took Coral, Ruby and Michael to the San Diego Zoo the second day they were here and I think it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Rachel is Twelve!!!

Happy Birthday Rachel!!!

The birthday girl had Baked Alaska for her cake...yum :)

Eggs, Fascinating Eggs

Last month, Violet and Lily, our late blooming Ameraucanas, finally started laying eggs. We were so excited - they both lay green eggs. Violets are slightly bluer and more rounded than Lily's. It makes for a lovely view when we open our fridge. Also, here is a second humongous egg from Buttercup, slightly larger than the first .

One of them, Lily or Violet, even laid a double yolked egg :)