2012 Olympic inspiration

This summer is the 2012 London Summer Olympics which we have been avidly watching.  I remember watching them as a little girl and loving the gymnastics, diving, and swimming most especially.  It was fun to watch the others but those were my top choices.

This year the kids are old enough to know what’s going on.  They have enjoyed just about every sport they’ve seen.

Just the other day, while watching the men’s gymnastics finals, Joseph came up to me and asked if I could teach him how to do flips like they do on the TV.  I was a little surprised by his sincerity and sense of urgency.  In trying to see how really into he was I told him that they started off by learning how to somersault, which he quickly responded with doing a front somersault  quickly followed by a back-somersault.  I was impressed!  So I went on to tell him that they need to be very flexible and strong.  I told him he needed to get his arms really strong by doing push-ups and needed to work on his flexibility by stretching so that he can do the splits.  I thought I’d lose him there but all he asked was how to stretch.  I showed him how Emma stretches for ballet, with the pillows and taking one out after a day or two of stretching.  He immediately piled the pillows high and got to work!  I’m now in the process of finding a gym for him to take a couple of months of gymnastics classes.  It could only help him, especially in his coordination.

Another incident, while the kids were swimming this afternoon I saw Jacob swimming very deliberately.  I immediately noticed what he was trying to do because we had been watching all the swimming trials and final races.  My children are well aware of who Ryan Lochte, Michael Phelps, and Missy Franklin are.  I catch my kids having Olympic races and playing different characters.  It’s really quite wonderful to watch and hear!

So, I was able to catch Jacob on video just to show you how far along he has come.

At the beginning of the summer he wouldn’t go in the pool on his own, at all.  Then he’d go in as long as he had a full-fledged life jacket on (no floaties).  After a couple of months of that I finally convinced him to use the floaties and he did, but wasn’t as active in the pool.  Now he’s in his floaties, swimming the backstroke, and occasionally jumping into the pool all on his own.  His progress is amazing and so inspiring.  It makes me feel a sense of relief at watching him and seeing all the hard work and time spent on his therapy.  Thank you Olympics!!!

Cub Day Camp – Family Day

Yesterday and today was Cub Scout Day Camp for Benjamin.  I have to say that I was really excited for him to go and experience this.  It opened up a lot of opportunities for him to pass of things to earn his Wolf.

I remember when my mom was in the stake primary when I was little and I got to help out with the week-long day camp.  In that stake they did it for four or five days and just a couple of hours each of those days.  Here they go from 7:00am to 4:00pm for two days.

I would have loved to volunteer to help out but I had all the kids and Jared had a call-back interview so wouldn’t be able to watch the kids.  That’s okay, because Saturday was family day and we would all get to go up to the campsite and watch Benjamin and be involved.

The hike up the trail from the parking lot seemed like closer to 12 miles than the actual 1/2 mile walk that it was because we were carrying chairs, lunch/dinner, and I was on crutches to help my ankle heal from the food fight the other day.  I had some pretty bad bruises under my arms after we got home but I’m just glad I didn’t hurt my ankle any further.

As much fun as it was a little part of me was thinking about my niece and nephew, Hannah and LJ, who were driving through town on their way to Utah.  We hardly ever see them and I usually make room to see them but it just wasn’t in the cards this trip.  It’ll be nice to see them during the holidays.

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The theme of the day camp was “Down Under”.  Everything that they did had some tie into Australia.  They made boomerangs, learned how to shoot a bow and arrow as well as a b.b. gun, they did a climbing wall, they made trail mix for the mile “walkabout” and learned a bunch of other things about the aborigines (face paint, rock symbols, etc).

While we were eating our late lunch/early dinner they had a woman talk about her time spent in the outback of Australia.  She lived for several weeks with an aboriginal tribe and had a lot to tell.  There was also a family that had lived in Australia for two years and the sons had learned how to blow on a didgeridoo and showed us all how.

It was quite the weekend for Benjamin and our family.  I don’t think Emma cared much for the dirt but it seemed that I couldn’t get Joseph or Jacob out of it.  It must be a boy thing 🙂 !

Ouch!

It’s official!  Well it’s official that I did more than trip and fall at least.

During last night’s amazing fun I tripped and fell several times on the kitchen floor.  I guess in all my planning and preparing I didn’t realise the effect that tons of food laying on a flat surface (tile floor) covered in plastic would have on those trying to run or walk on it.  In short, it became extremely slippery and several of us fell throughout the night.

The falling part wasn’t so bad, it would have only left a bruise which would have healed in a couple of days (a small price to pay) but it was the fact that I slipped once, stood up, fell after taking a step, and then Joseph slipped right behind me and landed hard on my ankle. There was an audible crack and it took me a minute or two to catch my breath, but then I was back up and playing.

At dinner last night it was hard for me to apply my full weight to my foot so I walked around on my tippy-toes.  By this morning it was in pain.  The weird thing was that it wasn’t swollen.  It hurt to apply pressure to it and to put ice on it but it felt fine when I walked on it a certain way and wrapped it.  Unfortunately, this will have to be one of those times where we hope that we’ve diagnosed it right because our insurance hasn’t kicked in with Jared’s new job so we can’t go see a doctor.  At least it’s just me and not one of the kids ’cause then we’d go to a doctor no matter what!

I’ve broken my other ankle before and didn’t know it until a set of x-rays showed it so if this is a break I’m hoping it will be similar in that I’ll be able to continue on with life instead of everything screeching to a halt.  Only time will tell.

Epic!!!

How many times in your youth did you participate in an all out food-fight?  For me and my family I can safely say that tonight was our first time!  It was inspired by a conversation that Jared had with Joseph in which he asked his daddy why we don’t ever have food fights 🙂 .  Such a funny little boy!  Isn’t it obvious?!?  What was a little more perplexing was that Jared thought to himself “why not?!”  If I had more sense I could have listed off a million different reasons, but for some reason it got me to thinking the same thing and  ways to make it possible instead of thinking of all the ways and reasons it shouldn’t be.

It started with a list of foods that we could throw.  We thought of spaghetti and chocolate cream pies but both were nixed because of their ability to stain.  I wanted this to be fun and not me worrying about their clothes or my house and furniture.  I’m sure I would be worried enough about it as it was.  We settled on a menu of pancakes, stuffing, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, green and orange jello, brownies, oatmeal, spaghetti noodles without the sauce, ramen noodles, whipped cream in the cans, homemade whipped cream, and the pièce de resistance was our pudding bombs (pudding set inside cupcake liners).

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We spent one day making all the food and making sure they were in plastic containers.  Just in case the containers were picked up or dropped I didn’t want to have the added worry of glass on the floor.  Sunday night, after the kids were asleep in bed, Jared and I started pushing furniture off to the side and taping the plastic to the ceiling.  W e used painters plastic and just pieced sections  together with duct tape.

We had planned on doing this as a family but thought it might be a little more fun to have a few more people involved.  We thought to ask my parents but we both knew that if they knew what we were doing they probably wouldn’t come at all.  So we invited them over for dinner and FHE.  We asked them to bring foods like eggs, refried beans, and rice so that it would look like we were actually going to be eating dinner.  We also asked them to wear grubby clothes because I wanted them to really enjoy themselves and not worry about their clothes.  Once I asked that though they had questions as to what we would be doing.  The minute they walked through the front door and I had them take off their watches and they saw the plastic dividing that back part of the house my mom seemed to deflate and said, “We’re painting aren’t we!?!”  I just smiled and waved them through the entrance.

They commented on all the food on the table, we started our FHE off with a prayer and then Jared recited the scripture from Zechariah 5 that says, “Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll.”  As he was reciting he took a pancake and smeared a bit of mashed potatoes on it.  I think at that moment my parents started to understand what was going on.

 

I’ll never forget Jared throwing the first piece of food at Benjamin.  As he was winding up Benjamin started saying, “NO! NO! NO!”  You have to remember that this is going against everything we’ve ever told the kids.  We were worried about how they’d act afterward, that they’d start throwing their food all the time but we decided to be open and honest with them and explain to them the amount of work we had to do in prepping so that our house could still be livable after.

    

    

I have to say that I had expected quite a few things.  I was prepared for the mess but I wasn’t prepared for how much fun it would be or how into it everyone would get.  I wish I could have been a fly on the wall and snapped a million pictures of everyone laughing and playing.  Being there wasn’t enough especially when you’re ducking behind things and slip-sliding all over the floor.  The couple of times that I pulled out my camera I became a real easy target and had to put it away.  It was mostly Emma that would try to get me when my camera was out.  I was okay with the flour being thrown at me but when she started spraying whipped cream I had to put it away.

    

Not everyone had a smooth transition into the food fighting scene.  Once Benjamin got over his initial fears of getting in trouble we had to ease Jacob into everything.  He was in tears for the first few throws until Jared took him into the family room as showed him that it was just food.  Jared put some food on his fingers and had Jacob taste it.  Whatever reassurances he needed he got in that minute.  From that time on everyone knew that they needed to be a little easier on Jacob and I was so impressed that they were.  They still included him but they were softer, a bit more gentle when getting him.  He got very into after that but occasionally I’d find him sucking on his fingers 🙂 .  After he doused Nana with some food I had them get together for a picture.  As I was counting he turned his head to look at Nana and actually licked the side of her face!!!  It was a priceless moment!

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Jacob wasn’t the only one that I found enjoying the food that was strewn all over the house.  Towards the beginning of the fight I caught Emma taking a bite out of one of the pudding bombs before chucking it at someone.  Joseph took a break from throwing to squeeze a little whipped cream into his mouth.  My mom was a bit grossed out at the beginning when she saw Joseph eating some of the food.  She made an “ewe” comment until I reminded her that it was all edible.  That seemed to connect some dots for her and everyone else and it was great to see people eating the food throughout most of the event.

    

Here are some more pictures of us just have a good time!

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When all the food had been thrown and we had taken the massive amounts of food that had been caked on our feet off and re-thrown that, it was time for a group photo!

    

This was an amazing memory for our family!  I’m so glad I didn’t say no to one of Jared’s ideas.  It might be one of the funnest things we’ve done as a family.  I’m so glad that my parents didn’t back out but that they were here to build this memory with their grandchildren.  I know it was different and out of their comfort zones but I’m so grateful that they were grandparents before they were Bryan or Jennifer (that they put their grandchildren before themselves).  And I think that they found that they were really able to have a great time as well.

    

There was such a huge mess but I was pretty confident that 99% of it was contained.  I’m so glad that Jared and I spent that extra time to go over every seam and seal it.

I just about thought of everything except when it came to an exit strategy.  When we were all done I realized that I didn’t want everyone walking through the house covered in food so I had to tear a hole over the sink, wash my hands as best I could, and then tear another hole as close to the back door as possible for everyone to walk out.  That worked better in theory because everyone had to step onto the tile to get to the door so I had some scrubbing to do later.

Everyone got their feet and legs sprayed down and then what didn’t get washed away by the water they scrubbed off on the grass.  Even with that, we were still covered and had layers of food caked on us.  Actually, later at dinner I found some food in one of the kids’ ears that was missed in the shower 🙂 .

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And just like that, we started pulling the plastic off the ceiling and wrapping it in on itself.  There were one or two places where the food found its way out of the plastic but that was all on the tile and quickly cleaned up.  Surprisingly the worst of it was at the back door when the kids stepped on the tile before stepping outside.  All that food smashed on their feet smudged on the tile.

The kids passed out in the car on the way home from dinner at Famous Dave’s at 10:00pm.  By 11:15pm the house was spotless and back to normal!  What an amazing night!!!

Rec. Center Fun

Swimming and friends seem to be synonymous with summer.  Today we were fortunate enough to enjoy both!  I love when friends call us up and want to do things.  It breaks up the week and gets us all out of the house.  Even though we have a pool in our backyard it’s nice to go out and visit places like this every once in a while.

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We went to the Whitney Ranch rec. center to have some great outdoor fun!  It’s very similar to the outdoor pool at Paseo Verde and Green Valley Pkwy but it’s a bit smaller and a lot less crowded.

Willie is one of Benjamin’s best friends.  He’s the one that got him interested in boxing.  I love that they are able to spar one another in the ring but then leave the gym and play and plan things together.  They’re going to scout camp next week together and that will be another great adventure for the two of them.

It was so much fun to sit and relax with Amee while the kids ran back and forth between swimming and snacking on treats.  They could have gone on like that for hours but I ran out of food and Emma had a ballet appointment.  So, back to real life until we can come back again!

7 going on 17

My sweet daughter turned 7 today!  Sometimes I forget how young she is because she’s so very mature or very hormonal 🙂 .  Hey, she’s a girl!!!

She surprises me sometimes by choosing to read over playing with the boys.  In some ways she reminds me of myself.  She’s stays active by doing ballet and soccer but she can also appreciate quiet time.

Well, today came and I still didn’t have much of a plan as to what to do.  Originally we were supposed to be in Florida and we were going to do something fun like go to the beach or the Everglades.  That plan blew up in my face and I found myself needing to have a birthday party but not much time to do it in.  I made it a thing for me and the boys to do while Jared was at home with Emma.  We ran to the dollar store and Target and picked up some pink crape paper ($0.50), a Hello Kitty table cloth ($1.50), pink plates ($0.97), a birthday banner ($2.00), a helium balloon ($1.00), package of balloons ($1.49), and a birthday badge ($2.00)!  I had everything else that I would need to make her cake and do her presents.  We drapped everything, and blew up all the balloons but only put some of them up.  The others we just left scattered on the family room floor for everyone to play with during the day.  I think the cutest thing was hanging the crape paper over the table to look like a chandelier!  She thought that was pretty fun!

Next we moved onto making the cupcakes and her individual cake.  She wanted vanilla cake with vanilla icing.  She is a frosting lover so even though I had made a Hello Kitty cake before (and on a much larger scale) I made it with frosting instead of draping it with fondant.  I did make a big pink bow out of fondant but just because I have no idea how to do something like that with a piping bag.  I did pipe on the ears though.

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The best thing about this baking process was Emma’s involvment.  She helped me through most of the process.  I decided that it would be a little time consuming to make 18 individual Hello Kitty cupcakes but I thought we could make them Hello Kitty-“esque”.  We put them in bright pink and purple liners, frosted them with large dollops of frosting, rolled them in pearl balls, and topped them with a pink fondant bow.  As I was rolling out the fondant to make the bows Emma asked if she could help me.  I started to say no but that she could watch when it dawned on me that this is probably one of the easiest things to do with fondant.  She pulled up the stool and I showed her what she needed to do.  She made 18 beautiful bows that she then placed on each of the cupcakes!

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While Emma and I were finishing up the cakes the boys took a walk over to the park.  When they got back I was taking pictures of Emma in the room but Benjamin walked straight up to Emma and gave her a flower that he had picked.  Ignoring the fact that it’s an oliander flower (poisonous) it was a very sweet gesture.

We started the party off by watching a little movie that I made of Emma.  It started with her birth and went all the way to just a few weeks ago.  I’ll add photos and video from today to it later.

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Once we were thoroughly Emma-tized we gathered around the table to sing “Happy Birthday” and eat cake and ice cream.

  

At one point I spotted Jacob pulling out the stool.  He saw me watching him and in his own quiet way said, “I’m just watching them!”  Right?!?  I’m sure that’s all you were doing 🙂 .

I love how just this morning when my parents called to wish her a happy day, and we invited them over, and they asked if they could bring anything, and Emma said she’d love some strawberry ice cream how they ended up bringing vanilla!  🙂  Gotta love getting old!!!

It’s funny that she took so long to think of something to wish for.  She had done the same thing when we celebrated with Jared’s parents.  I guess that means she’s a pretty content child!  I can take that!!!

Content or not, she had her fair share of presents.  I had taken her to the book store the other day and we went through a bunch of books that she might be interested in.  I wanted her to have books that she’d enjoy but also books that would challenge her.  We each compromised on topics and came up with a good grouping (Boxcar Children, Ella Enchanted, Clementine).  Because she’s growing up physically and not just in age we had to get her some new dance clothes and ballet shoes.  We signed her up with a new studio for a few months to see if the more technical approach might help.

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More than anything she wanted a Sorry game and a CTR ring.  For the CTR ring we attached it to the helium balloon and stuffed it in a box.  When she opened it the balloon floated to the ceiling and the ring was sitting there at the bottom 🙂 .  It was super cute!
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It was a fun evening to celebrate my daughter.  She really is the most amazing daughter.  I have loved watching her grow and develope into this beautiful, caring person that she is.  Here’s to another 7 great years with amazing adventures to match these last few!

The Tooth Fairy Visits

Emma’s tooth fairy came last night which is a bit unusual for her.  In the past it has taken her anywhere from a day up to a week to get back to the kids about their teeth.  Emma was lucky that she didn’t have to wait too long and even luckier because she got one whole glittery dollar (something that has never happened in our house).  I’m guessing that the tooth buying business hasn’t been affected by the economy.

Finally!!!

Emma has had this incredibly loose tooth for several weeks now.  Almost the entire time that we were up in Utah for Grandma’s funeral she was wiggling it and everyone around her took a crack at trying to pull it out.  Tonight it finally came out!

She was eating dinner and every time she chewed it hurt her tooth.  She was sitting at the table with her napkin pressed agains it.  I asked her to move the napkin so I could see.  Her saliva had dried her tooth to the napkin so that when she pulled the napkin away she also pulled her tooth out.  It didn’t completely come out, it was literally hanging on for dear life.  She started crying because she thought she was bleeding even though nothing hurt.  She started to say something and it fell out into Jared’s hand.  She kept crying until we showed her that there was no blood and reminded her that she was the one that pulled it out, not us!  She started talking and started laughing because she has a lisp.  We all had a good laugh while we put her tooth in a bag to stick below her pillow.

I’m so glad it finally fell out otherwise I might have been forced to pull it out in the middle of the night.  I’m just really glad that it happened now instead of later tonight when she could have swallowed it in her sleep.

The Faith of a little Child

I’m constantly amazed with my children.  Maybe it’s because my nerves and emotions are still quite a bit raw from my grandmother’s passing but their simple prayers seem to be so much more tender and insightful than before.

For the prayer over our lunch Benjamin blessed “that Grandma would be safe and happy up in Heaven.”  He proceeded through his prayer and finished with a blessing for “Grandpa to be safe and not lonely without Grandma.”  I couldn’t help but cry at his simple yet very heart felt prayer for his great-grandparents and their well-being.

A short while later Jacob approached me with some little pictures of the Savior that we sometimes use during sacrament meeting.  He had it flipped to a picture of Christ on the cross.  He asked me what it was a picture of.  I knew he already knew so I reversed the question so that he could tell me.  He surprised me by saying, “He’s dying, like Grandma.”  That really caught me off guard and I didn’t really know how to respond so I just said yes.  I was already a bit emotional from Benjamin’s prayer so this little innocent boy’s matter-a-fact comments were like a slap in the face, but in a good way.  He flipped through the pictures and we talked about some of the other images until we came to another picture of Christ where he again amazed me with his understanding and said, “With Grandma!”

I have constantly questioned if it was right for me to take my kids to the hospital and see Grandma dying.  I didn’t have that as a child, or at least that I can remember.  Oh no, that’s not true.  I remember someone dying, I think it was my Tia Isaura (my Mama Julia’s sister).  I think we had to travel to Mexico to say goodbye but all I really remember was the smell.  It was a weird smell in her room and I remember how soft her hands were.  I don’t know how old I was (probably no older than 4, so  right in between Jacob and Joseph’s age) but those are the only real memories of death that I have as a child.

I have wondered what the kids will remember about that weeklong process of being in the hospital, saying good-bye, and going through the whole funeral and burial process.  Will it be that they were among loved ones? Or will it be of the three days of torture in the hospital? I do have to say that it was the most beautiful time for my children to see some eternal gospel principals at work, but still I wonder.  It’s times like today where I feel like they weren’t scared by the whole process and that they truly understand that there is life after this one one earth.

None of my other family started passing away until I was engaged.  My great-grandma Betty passed just before I got married to Jared.  My great-grandma Julia died just before I had Benjamin.  I remember the disappointment I felt in knowing that she would never know her great-great-grandson in this earthlife.  Jared’s grandma Doris died while I was pregnant with Emma.  But for me Grandma Combs is the first of my grandparents to pass and that makes me a little worried about what the future holds.  I know that I’m getting older and that my children are as well but I constantly forget that the rest of the world is ageing as well.  My grandparents aren’t as young as they used to be and neither are my parents.  I thought I had so much more time with my grandma but the Lord had other plans for her.  Seeing the amazing amount of family and friends that turned up that week it’s no surprise to me that the Lord needs her on the other side.  She had an amazing ability to make friends with someone at the drop of a hat.  It embarrased us sometimes but even our embarrasment didn’t phase her.  She knew names and remembered details of people’s lives that made them feel special and important whenever they were around her.  She was an amazing missionary in this life even with all of her physical limitations.  I can only imagine what she can accomplish without those things holding her back.

I am so glad that I chose to drop everything (literally) and drive up to say good-bye.  Even though it was so hard to see her that way I now know after writing through all of my emotions that it was the right choice.

Last Day of School

With today being the last day of school we needed some great treats for the teachers as a way to say good-bye.  Benjamin and Emma gave their teachers gift certificates for massages (something I’m sure they’ll be able to use and appreciate wholeheartedly).  Jacob and Joseph each gave their teacher some fruity fish with a cute tag that I got several years ago from the ladies over at eighteen25.

It wasn’t until after we dropped the big kids off at school that I realised I forgot a little gift for their bus driver, Tom.  He has been such an angel driving the kids back and forth for the past five months, I couldn’t just let that go unnoticed.

The two boys and I ran to the grocery store and picked up some gold-foil covered chocolates and rushed home.  I printed off these adorable candy covers that made the chocolates look like little buses.  It doesn’t get better than that!!!  The boys helped me cut and tape the covers to the candies and then they helped me eat a few of the chocolates 🙂 .

   

With treats all done and ready to go, Tom picked up the boys and I followed them to the school so I could help out for the last day parties and such.  I asked if I could drive them but they love Tom so much that it wasn’t going to happen.  It’s okay, they’ll have plenty of me in just a few short hours!

Saying good-bye to our teachers was a bit harder today than past years.  In the past we come back the next year and see our old teachers in the hallway but that won’t be the case this next year.  Who knows when we’ll get to see these great people again.  That made it a bit harder as we were saying our good-byes.

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I ran around from class to class helping out with parties and sometimes just watching my kids say good-bye to their friends and get addresses so they can keep in touch over the summer.

Benjamin’s class had a wall with white butcher paper up so that the kids could sign their autograph for their teacher!

They had a pizza party and shaving cream time on their desks.  Benjamin wrote a cute note before he wiped it away and gave me his hand print.

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It was a wonderful day where we got to say good-bye to a lot of people that we love.

I find myself feeling incredibly thankful to these people who love doing what they do.  I love that they’re willing to work with my child when they’re great and when they need to improve.  We have been truly blessed with teachers who love to teach!  My only regret is that I didn’t get a picture of Emma and Ms. Daskas today but I put one up of the two of them from earlier in the year.

Benjamin’s Final 2nd Grade Award Ceremony

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Benjamin had his final award ceremony for second grade today.  He did a wonderful job this year.  He was incredibly busy in school and out of school as well.  He managed to do boxing every day after school, scouts each week, and soccer on the weekends and keep a really good handle on his school work.  He was tested for GATE and passed which will be a lot of fun for him next year.

He received the “A B Honor Roll” and “Exemplary Attendance” awards for the third trimester.  Tata and Nana were both able to come and watch with me.  I think it was nice for Tata to be there to see Benjamin, just like it was for him to see Emma yesterday.  What a fun experience!

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The Letter “A”

I was getting ready to serve the boys their lunch today when I heard them singing something very quietly.  There was no way for me to be sneaky about it so I just asked them what they were singing.  Joseph pipped up before Jacob and said “Apple Annie”, as if I should know what that was 🙂 .

Joseph quickly sang through the song so that I could hear it but you could tell that Jacob had wanted to join in but just couldn’t get the words out fast enough.  I asked him to sing it again with his little brother and he was so good about it.  These two make a great team (when they feel like it)!!!  My favorite part is hearing Jacob say big words like “alligator” and astronaut”!  Brilliant!!!

I’ve started to notice that Joseph learns real quickly through song.  When it comes time to learn his times tables I think I’ll have to come up with some cute song for him to sing so that he can memorize them all!

Emma’s Final 1st Grade Award Ceremony

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My sweet little Emma had her final award ceremony for the year!  She did such an amazing job this year and I think she’s really developed some great habits that she’ll use for the rest of her school career.

In case you couldn’t hear.. she earned the Principal’s Honor Roll (straight A’s and E’s) for the third trimester, perfect attendance for the third trimester, Principal’s Honor Roll for the entire year, and the Governor’s Award (perfect attendance and no tardies the entire year).  She’s such a hard worker but more importantly she LOVES doing it!  In the mornings I find her in her bed with a book, I’ll catch her writing pages and pages to put together as  books, and occasionally I find her helping Joseph with his reading and writing.  She’s a great big sister, a terrific daughter, and an amazing student!!!

                

Tata happened to still be in town and he was more than eager to go see her at school.  Tata used to be a big educator in Arizona.  He’s done and seen it all but I think it was extra special for him to see his great-granddaughter walk across the stage and hear her accomplishments!  His health has been decreasing rapidly over the past year and with us moving across the country you just never know when or if you’ll ever see each other again.  His glaucoma has taken 70% of his sight, his diabetes is slowly eating away at him, and he’s fighting with the effects of his prostate cancer.  Even with all of that going on he’s still the same Tata!  He’s never let his physical issues come before his family.  He’s incredibly upbeat and so optimistic.  I love how he spent his time this week teaching my children songs that he taught me and my brothers and sister years ago.  I’m so glad he was able to be with us today!!!

Good-bye in the park

Benjamin’s primary teacher put together a little party for his class to say good-bye to him!  It went above and beyond anything that we would have expected.  She bought a bunch of cupcakes, ice pops, and water.  She went straight to the park from work to stake out a spot at the park so that the kids could play too.  It was such a wonderful evening!

We’ve known Tammy for a couple of years now.  We first met her when she was investigating the church and would come over to our place for FHE and discussions.  The kids love her and it has been wonderful to watch her grow in the gospel.  I miss that part of Jared’s old calling as ward mission leader.  Our family was so involved with the missionary process and got to see, up close, how these new members learn and grow and eventually become these great disciples.

    

Benjamin and Willie (do boxing together)

Benjamin and some more of his classmates.  The little girl on the end, Brooke, is thought very highly of by Benjamin 😉 .

Benjamin was so pleased to have his party.  He told me later, “I know that you don’t like us to watch Sponge Bob but I didn’t say anything to Tammy (who had bought Sponge Bob cupcakes and balloons for him) because I know that would have hurt her feelings.  I hope that was okay?”  I have to say that, first of all, no I was no thrilled that they were Sponge Bob themed but I didn’t really think much of it because it was a party put on by someone else, but secondly, I was elated, thrilled, ecstatic, and any other adjective you want to throw in there just because he got it!!!

More than half of the time I go around “mothering” and most of the time I don’t think the kids even hear what I’m saying, much less comprehending it.  To know that he understood what I expected of him, both from the subject of Sponge Bob and minding his manners, and was able to find a happy medium and execute it all on his own made me think that I must be doing something right.  Whatever I’m doing I should just keep doing it because even if it’s only a fraction of what I’m saying to my children that’s sinking in that’s a whole lot better than nothing!  Of course I’d love them to hear everything that I say, take it to heart, implement it, find a way for them to make it work all the time and in every situation, and be these amazingly perfect beings!  But I also know reality.  It’s their choice and hopefully if I start giving them some of that freedom now so that they can test the things that I’ve told them to do that they’ll realise, sooner rather than later, how much I’m trying to help them.  Who knows, prayer can go a long way in closing that gap from reality to perfection!!!

SWIMMING

We are swimming fiends around here!  Well, I guess I should say that my children are swimming fiends.  We’ve been waiting for the perfect time to go swimming and now with school winding down and the weather increasing in temperature it seems as good a time as any.

For most of the morning I sat under the canopy and read while Joseph and Jacob swam together.  Having them take those swimming lessons during spring break was the best thing ever because not only is Joseph swimming without floatation devices most of the time but Jacob is actually willing to get in the water, something he never did last summer.  I got a great deal of reading done but then it just got too hot and I had to jump in there with them 🙂 .  You know it’s too hot when your phone has a temperature warning on it and won’t let you access anything until it’s cooled off!!!

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These two are getting closer and closer every day.  Sure they still fight every now and then, I’m starting to think that’s a fact of life I’ll never get away from, but you can tell that they truly love each other!  Joseph is really stepping into the big brother role nicely.  He warns, and teaches Jacob all the time.  Granted I’d prefer if he’d keep the arm-pit gas noises to himself but I guess that’s what big brothers are there for.  They teach you good things and real annoying things too 🙂 .  They were playing some game in the pool and they kept calling back and forth to one another “Big Brother!” or “Little Brother!”  It was sweet!

Private Lessons

I have wanted Benjamin to get a couple private lessons from some of the amazing instructors for a while.  I wanted to make sure he got the most out of his sessions so I made sure that we slowly acclimated him to the boxing world.  He’s had his headgear for a few weeks now so I thought this week would be a good chance to get some one-in-one time.  He seems to really gravitate to two of the instructors.  One, as good as he is, is Russian and is a bit hard to understand with his accent.  The other, you’d never think he’d be good with kids but he talks in a way that Benjamin understands.  I saw him respond well to him and so I set up his lesson with him.

Todd really worked on him “circling around” his opponent.  When someone’s coming at you it’s hard to just step out-of-the-way.  You have to stay on your toes and circle around to try to find an opening.  It was really good to see Todd teach him something and then look back a few minutes later and see that he was actually putting it together.

By the end of the hour lesson Benjamin was hitting harder, able to avoid getting hit more, and protecting his face so much better.

I love that Todd was so willing to do a one-on-one with Benjamin.  He said at the end of the session that he really wanted to work more with Benjamin.  He said that he really enjoyed working with him and seeing how much he was into it.

Our Last Field Day at Ries

Today was Field Day at the school!  We look forward to this day right after the new year 🙂 .  Jacob and Joseph didn’t have school until late afternoon so they got to go watch Benjamin and Emma play all the field games.

Now, imagine trying to cheer, take pictures, and keep a positive attitude in 106 degree weather and NO water games!!!  They had great games but none of them had any water!!!  I was baffled and I think the kids were a little disappointed when they didn’t see anyone getting wet.  Instead, all the kids waisted their much-needed drinking water on splashing each other to stay cool.

It was a bit different but it was still successful.  The P.E. coach focused more on actual physical activities which was a great source of exercise for the kids.

You had your sac races…

        

… your soccer dribbling…

… your jump-up-and-down-goal-making…

… your hula hooping (of which Emma was amazingly skilled at)…

… your three-legged racing…

… and a little of your goofing around while standing in line 🙂 …

Jacob and Joseph proved smarter than all the rest of us and hid out on the covered playground equipment!  They would run back and forth between me watching the kids and the shade.  They had the entire area to themselves so it turned out pretty nice!

 

They did come out of hiding when it was time for a water break.  Ice cold water and otter-pops will do that to you!

        

Even though the temperatures were scalding and the kids were bright red from the heat you could see smiles every where you looked!  Benjamin and his friends, Oscar and Garrett, sat in the shade and talked while Emma and her BFF, Drew, stood in line for water balloons!

I know I had mentioned that there were no water activities but there was one time when water balloons appeared.  The P.E. teacher threw them at random to the kids at the water station.  Unfortunately, when Emma’s class had their turn at the station there were no ottor-pops left.

That seemed a little unfair, especially having to deal with being the last class to the water station so Mr. G split the class in two lines, facing each other.  He gave one half a water balloon and they passed them back and forth trying not to make them pop.  It didn’t take too long before all the balloons were popped and the kids were happy as can be.

Jacob and Joseph had found a spot on the ground to camp out on.  I threw a balloon right in front of them so that they would get good and wet and all I got in reaction was these amazingly cute smiles!  I guess having cold water thrown at you doesn’t matter after you reach a certain point.

It was another successful Field Day for all the kids,teachers, and families that came to help out.  Now, bring on the last week of school!!!

Peacock FHE

We’ve had company all weekend long.  It wasn’t until this evening that we had to take Jared back to the airport.  On the way back home Papa called to tell me that they (Nana, Tata, Brandon, Kyrina, and Brayden) were headed over to see the peacocks.  I didn’t feel like putting the kids to bed and being alone in the house so I thought it would be fun to be around family.

We’ve been to see the peacocks a lot since we moved here.  It doesn’t ever seem to get old for the kids.  I think they love seeing the animals and showing others.  This time it was Brayden who got the overly helpful company of my children 🙂 .  I don’t think he minded at all!  In fact, I think he really likes it when there are more children around.  It’ll be so nice when his little brother/sister comes in October!!!  I’m sure he’ll rise to the occasion and be a big help for his mamma.

After spending a great deal of time chasing after the peacocks and coming alarmingly close to actually catching one, we followed some horses over to the corral.  We sat and watched for a while.  It was funny to watch all the kids migrate over to where Papa was.  He’s just that good with the kids that they love him to death.  Even these little friends of Brayden’s just gravitate and feel comfortable around him.  That’s the way my dad has always been and I love watching his circle of friends (even though they’re under the age of 5) grow and grow!!!

The people riding the horses let us come over and pet them for a bit.  The kids were a bit apprehensive but excited to try.  It looked like Benjamin was putting the horse to sleep at one point.  It was kind of interesting.  Jacob, however, would have nothing to do with them.  Sure he’d look at them and even say hi to them but have him try to pet one and he just flipped out.  Until Papa asked him.  Jacob was still nervous but he at least tried and found that it wasn’t such a bad thing.  Papa can get them to do anything!!!  We might have to keep that channel open for future use.

It was a wonderful way to spend our Memorial Day evening!  Family and friends!!!

    

Sunny Sunday

It was a busy, busy Sunday and made a little more hectic by the phone call I got about 30 minutes before we were supposed to leave.  I got a call from our Primary presidency asking if I’d be willing to teach Jacob’s Sunbeam class.  They only needed me during the second hour of church which worked with me needing to go to YW third hour.

I love that you can look up everything you need to know on lds.org.  I simply looked up what lesson was scheduled for today, read through everything, and quickly made some handouts for the kids.  Since the lesson was on “I am thankful for my ears” I thought it would be fun to make a headband with ears attached for each kid to wear.  I quickly drew some ears freehand and left it blank so the kids could color theirs.  We glued them onto the headbands and then went outside for a little walk and listened to all the different things that we could hear with our ears.

      

It was so much fun being in Jacob’s class!  I forgot how much fun Sunbeams can be.  I think it was about 10 years ago when I was a Sunbeam teacher.  Granted there were only 2 in my class, but it was super fun teaching them and watching them grow and learn.  I’m glad I got to spend some more time with my little angel!

Emma Presents Flat Stanley

Emma did her Flat Stanley presentation today.  She was so excited last night and read over her story several times.  When it came time for her to get up in front of the class, you could tell she had turned real serious and maybe even a little nervous.  She read speedy fast!  I guess that’s partly my fault because I know what a great reader she is so I thought by making her presentation more as if she were reading a book that she would be less nervous.  I guess it worked , a little too well 🙂 .  She ran through that thing faster than we could get through the pictures.

One of the fun things about the whole time in her class was the question and comment time at the end of her presentation.  It was sweet to hear the kids give comments and it was nice to hear any questions that they might have had.  This was a perfect way for her to get out of her comfort zone and work on her nerves.  I don’t want her to get crazy nervous like I do if I have to speak publicly and I think more things like this will really help her!

         

The Stanley cookies were a big hit too.  I’m glad I had enough time to finish icing them this morning.  It took a little longer than I thought to frost 30 sugar cookies, but they were incredibly yummy (as evidenced by the 4 cookies left on the tray when I left)!!!

P.S. I didn’t realise that my camera only recorded in 5 minute increments so there’s a little gap between the first video and the second, and the second and the third.  I’ll have to figure that out!