Consider the Lilies

Hiqo

2012-01-24T09:23:00.001-07:00

Parents

They are nice and kind

They care for me

They have a smile

They laugh at jokes

and are lots of fun

They love me so

and you should hear them

say good night

Skye Marie Seamons

Skye left us a little paper with a Hiqu (Haiku) that she had written. She didn't get the form totally correct but I thought they were sweet. The poems were also a much needed boost to my parenting confidence! Although I am left wondering why our good night is so memorable!

I May be Biased

2012-01-23T12:51:00.000-07:00

But I think Rachel is stunning. She is quickly growing into a beautiful young lady. I love my Rachel Bug (and I am so excited that she did her own hair one day last week! Hurrah!)!

I Hope You Don't End Up In

2012-01-06T08:44:00.000-07:00

It is always interesting to watch the creative games my children play. They love to play bank, store, library, church, and many other amazing games. One child in particular is the leader in these creative games. She frequently will label rooms "Rabbit Hill School" and "Preschool" (one time my parents got to stay in the preschool- I had forgotten to take down the sign). The other day I came across this sign and couldn't stop laughing as I imagined her sending someone to the:

Paperwhites

2011-12-12T09:44:00.001-07:00

This year I tried planting paperwhites. They have been such a bright part of some cold and hazy days! I think this will definitely need to be a winter tradition. Maybe I will try amaryllis next?!

Happy Monday

2011-11-21T08:40:00.001-07:00

I am excited for Thanksgiving this week! Aren't you?

Halloween

2011-11-05T20:57:00.003-06:00

We had the most beautiful Halloween this year. The weather was absolutely perfect. I had a great time taking Rachel, Skye, Adrie, Katie, and Nathan around our neighborhood. We didn't have a trunk or treat and so we stayed out a bit longer than we have in past years. I thought my children's costume choices were great.

Rachel was a Mistborn. I don't even know what that is (I know I should read the books!). The highlight of our night was when our primary president saw her and said "Oh, Rachel, you are a mistborn." Our president is apparently a big fan of the book.

Skye was Hermione. She is a perfect Hermione and she even borrowed our neighbor's kitten for a Crookshanks prop!

Adrie was Lucy from Narnia. Although we couldn't match the hair color, she did get her hair cut to match Lucy's style!

Katie was an Indian princess and looks very authentic with her blond hair and tennis shoes;-)

Nathan was a very cute elephant. He figured out trick r treating after the first house and was pretty serious about going to every possible house after that.

And Joseph? Joseph stayed home and passed out candy and had a few friends over to play the Wii! I guess he is too old for trick r treating!

Miss A

2011-10-28T12:47:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday to my energetic Miss A. Adrie has been counting down to her birthday for months! She wanted a doll cake with balloons and thanks to a current obsession with watching Cake Boss while I run on the treadmill, I decided to attempt covering the cake with fondant. It was easier than I thought, but we all quickly remembered that you don't eat fondant- it is nasty.

Adrie has so much energy for life. She loves to play with friends and direct her younger siblings;-) She has the most beautiful blue eyes. We love our sweet A.

Tears

2011-10-26T16:50:00.000-06:00

Revelations 7: 14-17

"These are they which came out of great tribulation

they shall hunger no more,

neither thirst any more

and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."

Allison, center in pink

It has been a year since my sweet niece died in an auto/bike accident. It has been a year of tears. They catch me at unexpected times. It has been a year of talking about things that you don't want to talk about (those sound like nice flowers for the cemetery, what are you going to do on her Birthday? etc). Because realistically, we would rather talk about how she is doing in school or how tall she is growing. It has also been a year of tender mercies. I feel even more strongly now than I did a year ago that even though our family is still hurting, Heavenly Father is aware of our pain and is blessing us through the love of family and friends.

Revelation 21:4 4

"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes;

and there shall be no more death,

neither sorrow, nor crying,

neither shall there be any more pain"

We Were Tired of Living in a House

2011-10-23T21:39:00.000-06:00

We were tired of living in a house.

So we packed a bag with sweaters

and socks, with mittens and earmuffs.

And we moved to a tree.

We were tired of living in a house.

So we packed our bags.

And we moved to a castle.

This weekend Paul and I were able to take a little anniversary trip to the Seattle area. We discovered some really amazing places to stay and visit. Some of the highlights of our trip included watching the salmon spawning near our tree house, visiting Chihuly's hot shop in the museum of glass, planting bulbs with my cousin in the rain, visiting the Market (without children!), and driving the Five Mile Drive in Point Defiance Park.

We had a few interesting/funny things happen on our trip. Years ago I bought a tree house book for Paul for Christmas. We have always loved this book. When we arrived at our tree house we discovered that it was built by the same man that wrote our much loved tree house book! The tree house was fabulous! It was like staying in a little luxury cabin 20 feet in the air. In the morning the branches outside our window had a little (and a not so little) bird hopping around. It was a very magical place.

We stayed in the castle on a Thursday night and were almost the only guests. The caretakers told us that we could explore the whole castle and we did, twice. It was amazing to see all the different rooms. I felt like Mary Lennox. In the morning we ate breakfast down in the grand dining room. There was a big long table and the two of us. It was like dining in a big old house in England minus the trip to England! One of the best parts of the castle was when we walked by the grand piano and there was a LDS hymn book sitting on top. It made us feel right at home.

It was so fun to come home. Nathan kept jumping up and down and yelling "My Daddy, my Daddy!" even though he was talking about me! It was nice to have a break, but equally nice to return to the busyness of our house.

Possibly the cutest thing ever

2011-10-18T21:27:00.001-06:00

I found this at the top of the stairs:

To Rebeca or Paul Seamons

Hogwarts

Yes, Paul and I just got our first owl. The envelope had a very official Hogwarts seal. The letter addressed the important issue of a Hermione costume for Skye. How can I resist someone who asks so nicely?! Now if I can figure out if I can get this owl to carry a howler to various children who may or may not have practiced their piano;-)

Speaking of Food

2011-10-13T12:02:00.004-06:00

Italian Nut Balls

I am really excited about a new project my family recently started! For years my sisters have compiled a "Tanner Family Cookbook." It has many of our heritage recipes as well as new favorites. We edit the cookbook every couple of years and it just keeps getting better. My sister Tiffany had a great idea to create a blog featuring all the recipes in our cookbook. It has been so fun to cook all my normal foods and get to share them on a blog!


Mandarin Sauce

Family Heritage Recipes

A few weeks ago I was able to visit my parents for a weekend. Several of my sisters were able to come and we had a great time talking talking talking, attending RS General Broadcast, laughing, cooking, sorting family pictures, and spending time together. My family is spread out all over the United States and so I treasure any time we get to be together. At one point I heard my Dad answer the phone and in response to someone asking what we were up to say something like "What do you think they are doing? They have been talking about food for hours!" We do love to cook and to talk about food. Some of us are more gourmet than others, but we all can cook a mean pancake from scratch:-) When my Grandma Beverly passed away several years ago, I was able to collect memories from all her Grandchildren. I was amazing about how many memories centered around food. Grandma was an amazing cook and I came to understand that her cooking was a reflection of her love and service to family. So I feel talking about food is really an expression of love (besides being really fun!).


Grandma Beverly

Grandma made this Chocolate Mousse cake for a dinner she hosted the night before my wedding. It not only tasted divine, but looked amazing. She had painted chocolate on leaves to garnish the cake.

New Friends

2011-10-11T11:11:00.002-06:00

Meet Dimitri and Snow. They are adding a lot of cheerful noise to our house. They sing loudest when one of the kids is crying. I worried they would escalate the noise level in our house, however I love the happy sound. We are working on a different spot for their cage- this area is much to accessible to little hands (laugh laugh because Nathan can get to just about any area in our house that he sets his mind on).

Priesthood Session Choir

2011-10-08T07:40:00.000-06:00

We were so excited last Sunday morning when we discovered that Priesthood session was available for viewing online. Besides some really great talks we were able to watch the music from this session. Paul made it on the camera (along with 350 close friends)! The best part was picking out people we know from the choir. When Paul pointed out one good friend it took me more than a minute to recognize him because he was missing his goatee!

Bittersweet

2011-10-03T12:38:00.000-06:00

I find that so much of my life if bittersweet (although I don't like that the word starts out with a negative word!). It is the best word I know to describe my feelings of watching my life pass by. I love to see my children grow, I don't mind getting older, and I like change (mostly). However, sometimes I want to just pause and tell my kids to stop growing taller, to stop needing new shoe sizes, to stop going to Jr High. It is such a mixture of joy in the moment and the little squeeze on my heart when I see my babies grow. This one is growing much too fast, yet he is so pleased with himself I can't help but love watching him:

Oh, What Do You Do in the Summertime?

2011-09-13T13:02:00.000-06:00


Sweet Skye after her baptism

We had a great summer! The first official day of summer was Skye's baptism. It was so fun because she got to share her baptism with two other friends from our ward.

Skye starting a race

This summer we had four children in swim team. I love swim team. We got up early (6:00) almost everyday of the summer but the kids had a great time. Adrie was the best to watch because a little 6 year old swimming across the pool is hilarious.

Darth Vader balloon in the background

We made it to the balloon festival in Provo. We wanted to take Nathan specifically because he loves balloons. Whenever he sees a balloon he yells "BALLOON!!!" at the top of his voice (which we think is brilliant and much better than yelling "DOG" or something when he sees a balloon). When we got to the field with all of the balloons he didn't even know what to do. He went totally silent and looked like this the whole time:

Note the half eaten Krispy Creme donut in his hand- he couldn't even eat!

I think it was a bit overwhelming for him. He didn't even smile!!

It is magical to see the balloons take off- I think we will definitely make this a tradition!

My favorite was the German Chocolate.

In August we celebrated 14 years of marriage! The best thing about having 6 kids is that you can totally justify buying 14 different cupcakes knowing that you won't need to eat them all! For our anniversary we went backpacking in the High Uintas with the kids. Yes. You did read that correctly. It was an adventure that I will post about another time. Let's just say that when we got home we looked at each other and said "OK, that doesn't even count for our anniversary this year."

Other highlights to our summer include:
Tennis lessons, golf lessons, piano, spending time with visiting family, Joseph's job at the Space Center, our trip to AZ (and my adventures driving on the Navajo Nation), Joseph and Rachel getting braces, 2 scout camps (Paul's first time not attending scout camp in 13 years) and randomly running into my parents at Granny's in Heber. Oh, and did I mention that Joseph earned a few merit badges this summer? (we are taking a month off from merit badges and can I say Hooray- I had merit badges on the brain this summer).

The summer was way too short. I was sad to see it end, but I must admit I was happy to see this bunch walk out the door the first day of school.

OK, maybe Nathan didn't head to school. All the kids started new schools: Joseph in Jr High (sigh, gasp, shudder), Rachel, Skye, Adrie at a school in Cedar Hills (they changed our boundaries for our magnet ALL site which doesn't mean anything to most people but to us= new school).

This year we are trying to simplify. We are doing limited extra classes and activities. I am guarding my days (Katie learns to read this year and I am very very excited to focus on her during Nathan's nap time- because there is not much better than spending time with a four year old).

I realized that we took a lot of pictures with our phones this summer (ohhh look how techy we are!). But now I have to figure out how to get the pictures off our phones. Sigh.

Reluctant Blogger x6

2011-09-13T11:56:00.001-06:00

I am a reluctant blogger. Meaning I have a love/hate relationship with blogging. I love following family and friend's blog- to see how their children grow and all the interesting things they do. I love to see all the incredible things that people do. I love improving my life because of something I read or see on a blog. But I don't love the time commitment, the way my brain will take an experience and think "Oh, I can blog about that," and the feelings of inadequacy I have when I see the shiny happy pictures on blogs (you know what I mean- these pictures of beautiful homes, beautiful children, beautiful mothers- while I can personally count 21 things on the floor of my laundry room that don't belong;-). And I won't even start in on the complexities of finding a voice to my blog (am I witty or profound or journaling- I know I think WAY to much about things like this). This summer I took a break from blogging- and it wasn't even a planned break- I just didn't blog and I was fine with that.

Then a few weeks ago (maybe a month?!) I was talking to a dear Aunt at a family reunion and she mentioned that she loved reading all the family blogs and that she knew my children through my blog. I have been thinking about our little conversation and I am ready to blog again. My family is spread all over the United States and this is one way that we stay close.

Besides, so many things make me happy and I love to share:

Copy Cat

2011-06-01T11:47:00.005-06:00

I am a copy cat. The benefit I see from being a copy cat is that you appear much more talented than you actually are!

We have two birthdays in May- Skye and Nathan. Skye wanted a chocolate, vanilla, strawberry cake this year.
I was excited to try out a cake that I had seen several times online. I saw it here originally, then my sister posted her beautiful cake here. Another sister showed me that color mist works wonders.

Skye's cake was fun to make and I learned a few things along the way. My flowers turned out better when the frosting was chilled (not too cold to work with, but still a little more set up). I also learned that the flowers are not as easy as they look. There is definitely a learning curve. Luckily I made so much cake that I had leftover batter that I made into cupcakes. The cupcakes were my trial run, but I was still learning when I started on the cake.

Happy 8th Birthday to my sweet Skye. What would we ever do without you?

For Mom

2011-05-16T11:43:00.003-06:00

Three

2011-05-16T08:57:00.003-06:00

I found a piece of paper with several poems on it and tracked down the author. Here are three poems from Joseph for your reading pleasure:

Communicating,
sharing thoughts and ideas,
a book is a jewel.

Heavy eyes fall down,
a long tunnel to the deep
sleep is great bliss.

Now walking forward
what is this? an iron bar?
Ouch! and then blackness.

I guess we have a family of poets. Maybe we should start monthly readings or a poetry club?!

Easter

2011-05-06T14:10:00.004-06:00

I always want nice Easter pictures, but I usually end up with pictures like these. I hope these girls love each other this much their whole life.

We Made It!

2011-05-06T13:05:00.007-06:00

In April we took a family vacation to FL. I must admit we had a lot of anxiety leading up to this trip. The thought of flying with six children and then driving all over FL and GA seemed a little scary. It was an amazing trip. We got to see so many beautiful and wonderful things. Paul got to show us a lot of his mission areas. We got to spend a long time with my brother and his family. I don't usually do travel log posts, but I wanted to share FL with you. We would go again in a heartbeat.

First an explanation- we tend to think a family vacation is not complete unless you drive at least 1000 miles. True to form, when we turned in our rental car, the attendant went to write down our mileage and then had to ask us if it was accurate. I guess most people don't consider driving over 1500 miles as a vacation!

So here is our itinerary:
Day 1: fly SLC to Orlando
Day 2: drive to St Augustine, spend time at Crescent Beach, Drive to Savannah
Day 3: Savannah, Fort Jackson, Tybee Island, Paul's mission, Drive to Waycross
Day 4: Okefenokee Swamp, drive to Gainesville, strawberry farms, Museum on UF campus
Day 5: Church in Gainesville, walk on campus to see alligators and bats
Day 6: Drive to Sanibel Island
Day 7: Fall in love with Sanibel Island
Day 8: Drive to Everglades, FL Keys
Day 9: Key Biscayne near Miami, Drive to Orlando
Day 10: Fly home

Brothers in the Atlantic Ocean (this was my first time seeing the Atlantic Ocean!)
I don't know why we didn't have the kids change into swimming suits! I said "Let's just go stick our feet in the ocean and we will only wade a little. Yeah right!
Walking over the moat to Fort Jackson.

Alligators and Okefenokee Swamp. This is the picture that our kids will hold against us when we are old- "Mom and Dad said- "go stand right there next to the alligator and we will take your picture!""

This cute boy thinks he is in Heaven!
Sunset on Sanibel Island

Sanibel Island is known for its shells. The kids were afraid we weren't going to find any shells.

We did.
Cleaning shells to ship home.
Nathan kept watching the ocean upside down. It was hilarious.
Pretty much how we spent our days on Sanibel.
Rachel with a new friend.
Joseph piloting the air boat through the Everglades. He thought he was cool until he saw our boat:

So excited!

2011-04-26T17:05:00.003-06:00

My sister Mindy is an artist. I am always amazed with the beautiful creative projects she creates (doll houses, superhero capes, cakes, etc). Several years ago she started designing paper dolls. I love the dolls she designs! One year they saved me at Christmas time when I could not figure out a single thing to get for Rachel. Rachel loves her paper dolls. She got to color them, cut them out, and still enjoys playing with them. I knew Mindy had been working on creating a blog to showcase her dolls. However, life took a tragic turn with the death of my niece Allison. So I was so very happy today to get an email announcing her Heritage Paper Doll Blog. Check it out and be sure to read her first few posts!

Heritage Paper Dolls

Potential

2011-03-23T10:51:00.003-06:00

Last Sunday our Bishop announced a special adult stake meeting for this coming Sunday night. There have been confirmed rumors for a few months that our ward will split (at Stake Conference the Stake President said that they would be forming a new ward sometime this year). Now the rumors will be a reality this Sunday. Potentially four things could happen:
Our ward could remain largely intact
Our ward could be drastically divided and we would remain with our current Bishop
Our ward could be drastically divided and we would get a new Bishop
Some other option that we can't even imagine

There. I should be right with at least one of those options;-)

Although I know perfectly well what's going to happen's going to happen, ("Just make sure it doesn't happen to you." Name THAT movie if you can!) I found myself awake last night thinking about change. Specifically the fact that by Sunday night both Paul and I could be released from our callings. I think I have always assumed that Paul would get called right back as Scoutmaster (you don't take a good Scoutmaster for granted). But last night I faced the idea that he has been in the calling for 8 years and maybe someone will think it is time for a change (insert laughter here- I know this is a long shot but it could happen).

The thing that surprised me was not how happy I was, but how sad. As time consuming and challenging as being a Scoutmaster is (or on my part the Scoutmaster's wife), Paul has loved the calling. I especially have loved the last three months when Joseph has finally been able to go camping with Paul.

So, Sunday night we might both be out of callings (I will mourn my calling- RS 4th Sunday teacher- which I have only had for 5 months) or just as likely, we may still have our same callings. Or quite possibly (as my Mom suggested) Paul will be called again as Scoutmaster but start his 10 year (tenure)over in the new ward!

We are excited and sad and a lot of other emotions. If it is time for the Scoutmaster portion of our life to be over (for a time- I have a feeling this is a calling that will haunt me for many years) we will happily hand over the trailer, the canoes, the cook stoves, the leftover equipment, the full cupboard of records, the troopmaster login, the blue cards, the merit badge books . . . Hmmm maybe I won't be as sad about the change as I think;-)

Across the Counter

2011-03-21T11:57:00.002-06:00

Everyday I face these three across the kitchen counter. They like to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, ramen, apples, bananas, and cinnamon toast. Today two of them chose leftover pizza.
I grew up in a family with all blue eyes- which I loved. However, I must admit I also love the mixture in my little family. Paul has hazel, I have blue, Joseph has hazel (bright green when he is mad), Rachel has hazel (bright green when she cries), Skye has hazel, Adrie has blue, Katie has blue, and Nathan has brown. For the record, I don't really know what color eyes Paul, JT, Rachel, and Skye have- I just use hazel to describe their brown/green/ gold/ chameleon eyes.

Tooth

2011-02-06T14:34:00.003-07:00

Today after a very warm, long (it was two hours of course but somehow seemed much longer) Stake Conference, we declared that EVERYONE needed a nap. A few minutes into our nap (5/6 children are asleep [insert heavenly music]) Adrie's little face appeared at the side of our bed "My TOOTH!" Her bottom tooth finally came out. She is so excited: Her first tooth! She is much too excited to sleep and I don't often get to spend one on one time with the children so now we will go make lemon bars together. You should hear her laugh when she read that last sentence! ("Now I get two exciting things!!" said Adrie")PS
Happy Birthday Mindy!
Happy Birthday Robin! (Adrie picked out her dress all by herself and I thought it was a great choice for today!)
(Adrie: "Now I'm so excited because two birthdays, I lost my tooth, and lemon bars- four things to be excited about!")

Reflections on a Birthday

2011-01-21T13:42:00.004-07:00

Skye, Rachel, Allison, Johanna

Today is my niece Allison's 12th Birthday. When I think of a twelve year old, I picture a child standing on the edge of childhood- not quite a teenager, not quite a child. There are so many possibilities, so much excitement. This will be how I picture Allison- her life paused.

The last few months have been hard. They have been a time of mourning. I have felt sadness and a little shock at the way time marches on. Clothes get dirty, dinner needs to be cooked, children go to bed and suddenly it has been nearly three months since the sad night in October when we lost Allison.

Recently my sister Amy sent an email where she shared some thoughts on grief. Her description really struck home to me and I would like to share a few portions of her letter (with her permission):

It darkens. I have lost the ford.
There is a change on all things made.
The rocks have evil faces, Lord,
And I am [sore] afraid.
(Hilaire Belloc, with alteration by Elder Holland)


"Grief is a huge thing, it isn’t something we can fix by talking at it. It isn’t a pothole that we can repave with a sixty-pound sack of asphalt, although people sure like to try. To carry the image in the Belloc poem forward, I think that grief is instead like walking across a river at a ford, and all of a sudden the bottom drops out and you go under and you find yourself swimming, struggling through deep and turbulent water, trying to keep from drowning. There is barely any energy for anything but trying to keep your head above the water. You know that you are wearing a life jacket, but even with a life jacket, the dark, rushing river takes every bit of effort you have. After awhile, maybe months, maybe years, you start to notice that there are rocky footholds every now and then and eventually you find your footing again, but you find that you are crossing the river at a different ford, one that is much deeper than the one you were used to. The whole landscape is different. 

I’m sure I could develop the image further, but I will end my comments on that subject here except to note that the one part I didn’t mention are the people who are wading on the edge of the river, who are also struggling with the current, but who aren’t in as deep, who are calling out words of encouragement and can sometimes point out a foothold."

So on this day, that should be a day of celebration, I would like to send my love and support to my sister and her family. Even though we are not in as deep, we mourn with you.

Happy Birthday, sweet niece, until we meet again.

What Questions Do You Have?

2011-01-14T08:51:00.004-07:00

This morning (at 7:00) Rachel came into to kitchen and as she wrapped her sandwich for her lunch she said "Mom . . ."
I was expecting:

Where is the peanut butter?
Can I have those leftover Oreos for my treat?
Can I have yogurt with my toast?

Instead she said:

"Mom, in the scriptures and and church history, sometimes the men can have more than one wife. Can the wife ever have more than one husband?"

She continued "And why can only men hold the priesthood? And why do only the men hold leadership positions in our church?"

And that is what I faced at 7:00 this morning, before my brain could even figure out why it was awake.

I had all the answers (at least my own answers- I am sure that she will find the answers to those questions on her own as she learns and grows).

I am at peace and happy and know my answers to be the truth for me. It was a good reminder that I do love my answers/my testimony.

It was a better reminder that I love this girl and her questions. She has always been a challenge to me and yet everyday I am in awe of her. She has a grown up spirit in that little body.

PS Does your house ever look like a bomb just went off and you can't quite figure out how they do it? Especially the little one who is personally trying to polish off a 10 lb bag of semi sweet chocolate chips despite my best efforts to hide the bag and distract the child. Chocolate chips in warm little chubby baby hands and walls are not a good combination.

What do you get?

2011-01-08T09:17:00.003-07:00

When Katie opens the refrigerator and lets Nathan help himself to a snack?

Yum. Yum.
There is nothing like skipping the baking stage and going straight for a stick of butter to fulfill your calorie needs.
And doesn't he look so pleased with himself?
And would you like to try and take a stick of butter from an 18 month old?

Should I Be Concerned?

2010-12-06T17:00:00.002-07:00

I heard this conversation in the car today:

Rachel: We all do different things.
Joseph is a poet.
I read books.
Skye is a storyteller.
And . . .

Adrie: I am the girl that goes to parties.

Yes

2010-11-19T08:20:00.000-07:00

Why yes, my child does dress herself. Why do you ask?

Mourning

2010-10-29T07:38:00.003-06:00

Malachi 3:10
Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

Standing in my sister's kitchen, holding a pot of soup. There is not a place to put the soup. Every inch of the counter (and table and stove) is covered in love.

The same love we feel from an extended family who have cried with us and offered support. Love from our neighbors who show up with flowers (and much needed black eyeliner for the school Halloween parade).

Love and prayers that balance out the pain of loss. The pain we feel for the loss of a child that we wanted to see grow old. The pain we feel for a 16 year old boy whose life was also changed in an instant.

We have been doing hard things here. Things that I wish no parent (or aunt or grandparent) should do. And even though it does not help much with today (or the nights- those are bad), we do know where Allison is and we know we will be reunited.

"For the love of the Son of God pierces all darkness, softens all sorrow and gladdens every heart." -Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf

PS My brother Jared put words to all of our feelings:
Mourning a Loss

Yes, you can decorate a few cookies.

2010-10-24T20:43:00.002-06:00

I was decorating these cookies and Rachel and Skye asked if they could help. I helped them frost a few and then turned to wash some dishes while they decorated. When I finally looked at the cookies I had to laugh- can you tell which ones they decorated? If you were a child, which cookie would you want?!!

A Fun Letter

2010-10-20T08:41:00.002-06:00

I got this email this morning from Japan:
Dear Mr and Mrs Seamons

Hello!! Thank you your message.

If possible I want to have a barbecue with you.

And If possible I want to see a starry sky in your city.

I hope to see you soon, thank you. ( ^O^ ) from Nobutaka

Next week we will welcome our Japanese exchange student. It has been an amazing experience the last few years. This year we will be able to share Adrie's Birthday and Halloween with our student! I think Halloween will be a confusing experience- try explaining the concept of Halloween to someone that doesn't speak English!! As a note, many of the students are excited to see stars- in Japan there is too much light and they don't see many stars. I think we can manage both a barbecue and some stars.

PS The image is Nara, the home of our student.

Please excuse my absence:

2010-10-06T14:40:00.003-06:00

I am spending a lot of time making sure this child doesn't hurt himself.

PS Nathan's picture shot by my friend Nichole.

Harvest

2010-09-08T16:39:00.003-06:00

I went out to pick my tomatoes today. I thought I would get about two dozen. They were hiding- and this is what I picked:
Now I will need to figure out what to do with them! Salsa, spaghetti sauce, juice? No matter what I decide, it looks like I will be busy tomorrow.

Miss A, First Day

2010-09-01T09:26:00.004-06:00

She has been waiting, Oh so long, and not very patiently for the first day. It is finally here and I am wondering (once again) where my sweet baby went. We will miss her brilliant energy- but not too much since she will be home in 2.5 hours!!!

To My Husband Near our 13th Anniversary (an odd number)

2010-08-28T15:42:00.002-06:00

I have always thought that we are equally yoked-
A good team.
You build and I paint.
You dig and I plant.
You trim and I mow.
You listen and I talk.
You carry and I bear.

I am learning that we are not equally yoked.

Not equally yoked, but willing to slow down, or speed up, or pull
To stay yoked.

Falling in Love

2010-07-29T15:04:00.002-06:00

Is it possible to fall in love with someone everyday? Each day a little more deeply? I feel this way with Nathan (and with all my babies). Nathan decided to walk a few days ago (he has had the process down for awhile- he has just not been motivated to switch over from crawling).

Whenever I see Nathan walking around the house- in that funny baby way- I just want to pick him up and give him a big squeeze and a kiss (and I often do).

I have fallen for him. Hook. Line. And Sinker.

Volunteers

2010-07-25T20:14:00.003-06:00

Vol-un-teer: A person who voluntarily (unconstrained by interference) undertakes or expresses a willingness to undertake a service.

My favorite part of yard work is the element of surprise. There are many unpleasant surprises (snail shells, morning glory, and wasp nests), but there are also many pleasant ones. Every year I am amazed at the ability of the Earth to renew itself- in the spring I love to walk around my yard and see all the plants returning.
However much I enjoy all my returning plants (daffodils, roses, raspberries) and their wonders, the plants I really enjoy are the ones that surprise me. They are the plants that I did not plan on. The plants that although I may have at some time planted the mother plant somewhere in my yard- I really can't figure out how a seed made it way across the yard. They are my volunteer plants.

This year I have some really spectacular volunteer plants. Snapdragons, hollyhock, and columbine are a few volunteers that I enjoy. I always appreciate when anything beautiful grows without any effort on my part! I love my volunteers!

The word volunteer is such a positive, warm, fuzzy word. A person that will give up their time to help other people! or an organization! or save the whales! However, I have noticed that the definition of the word is changing. Phrases like "mandatory volunteer time" and "court ordered volunteer" are becoming common. I don't know if the semantics of volunteer are changing, but most of those phrases sound like an oxymoron. This summer we have had several interesting experiences with "volunteering."

Joseph is on the swim team this summer. It has been a fantastic experience for him and we will definitely be doing it again. They have a really strange approach to parent volunteers. At the very first meeting the coaches said there was a mandatory volunteer time per family to help with the swim meets. Now that swim season is almost over, the coaches are sending out threatening letters "volunteer or we will fine you for your lack of volunteer hours." I am not quite sure how they plan on collecting the fine. Although we will put in our total volunteer hours (and we actually enjoy helping!), I am a little perplexed why they feel the need to be so threatening. I certainly don't feel like a volunteer- at least by my definition!

Joseph has been working on his Citizenship in the Community merit badge. The one requirement keeping him from finishing the merit badge is the "8 hours of volunteer time for a non profit organization." He is 6 hours into the volunteer time and I am finding it is like pulling teeth to get him to finish. Do you remember when you were little and you were about to do your job (empty the dishwasher or sweep the floor) and then your Mom or Dad said "Becky do your job" and suddenly all the fun went out doing the job? This is the feeling I am getting with Joseph except I am on the parent side. He actually enjoys the volunteer time, but being told to do something almost always takes the personal satisfaction out of the activity. "So stop telling him to do the volunteer time," you say. Aye, there's the rub. If I stop nagging- I mean reminding he may just never finish the merit badge, get his Eagle, get into college, get a job, and be a productive member of society. I jest. However, I do feel like I am walking the fine line between nagging and helping my child reach his potential through a productive activity.

So here's a few questions!

Do you feel less inclined to volunteer when the work is required?
Does anyone have a great method to get a 11 year old scout to be self motivated in scouting or anything for that matter?

Family Reunion

2010-07-18T15:02:00.003-06:00

What Happens When You Spend a Week With 42 of Your Nearest and Dearest Family Members:

It was a lovely week. I think we all may be a little tired and in need of a nap!!

My New Best Friend or Maybe My Worst Enemy

2010-07-06T17:56:00.002-06:00

Sorry for the blurry (stolen from the Internet) image!!

I bought one of these a few weeks ago. A lady in my ward brought her steam cleaner when we were cleaning the church a few months ago and I was impressed with the way it cleaned the grout between the tiles in the entrance. After potty training 3 children in this house, no matter how much I clean the grout in the bathrooms I still wonder if it would be better to tear it out and start over.

Along comes Mr. Steam Cleaner.

Grout in bathrooms. Check
Crayon off the wall. Check
Scary stuff dried on the wall. Check
Exterior of refrigerator. Check

I should love it, right?!

Except that I really don't enjoy cleaning that much (does anyone?!). I love to dejunk. I love a clean house. But the everyday wipe the counter for the three millionth time does not inspire me. I would much rather be reading a book or digging in the dirt. When we moved into this house someone told me that I would be a slave to my baseboards and crown molding: "You are going to spend your life cleaning that crown molding!" However, I haven't been a slave at all. On the contrary, I have largely ignored all my molding except for the few times a year I do really, really deep cleanings (are you horrified?!).

Now, the bar has been raised by this simple little machine. I started to clean my baseboards today. I was amazed (or horrified) how dirty they were and how much better they look. So I spent a large part of the day crawling around cleaning baseboards. I love it- areas that have bothered me and that I always ignore are now looking the way I would like.

But I am left wondering. Was I better off living in ignorance? Now I am spotting so many places that I can clean so perfectly and I am faced with a choice: to ignore (and feel guilty because I have seen the higher road) or to be a slave to my baseboards.

PS I think I need to get out of the house. Did I just write a whole post about my steam cleaner? ;-)

PPS No, I did not pay that much for the steam cleaner!!

Just to Make Your Day

2010-06-10T23:37:00.003-06:00

This makes up for a lot of the hard parts of being a parent:
He may be the cutest baby ever.

Happy Birthday Skye!

2010-06-07T07:07:00.004-06:00

Our sweet Skye turned 7! Here are some interesting facts about Skye:
*Skye can climb anything (you can often find her up our Sycamore, on top of the playset, or climbing the basketball standard).
*Skye has a loving heart. She is my biggest helper and takes better care of Nathan than I do;-)
*Skye is an artist.
*Skye is joyful.

A few weeks ago Skye wrote several poems. They have great illustrations, but I thought I would just share the text.

The Lemenad

How much
is that lemenad.

I hope it is a nekl.
Yes it is
Then here
it is.

The Shoe Stor

I want hiy hels.
no you can't.
I want sparkly shoes.
no you can't.
I want flip flops.
no you can't.
I want sandls.
no you can't.
I want snekers.
yes you can.

Qwelts (Quilts)

Qwelts Qwelts
Why do I have to
have Qwelts?
They make me
ich
They make me
Snes.
So why
do we have
to have qwelts.

The Old Old Hat

Why do i have
to were that
old old hat
Isn't it old?
I no but your
school is having a
old old hat party.

My Baby

Your having
a baby. you can't
you can't. you will
ferget about me
no I won't.

Flower in the Garden

I have to plant
flowers in the
garden. Planting
stuf is so much
fun.

Amerjensy Exit (Emergency Exit)

Where is a amerjensy
exit? There is
a fire so where
is the amerjensy
exit?

I wish I could include the art for this poem. It shows a streak of black humor. There is a picture of an emergency exit with a big fire blocking the door. When I asked her to explain her picture she said "I wanted to make it funny."

Did I mention she is prolific?

Note: Skye is reading this post as I write and is quite pleased that she is now published on the web:-) I asked her about the meaning of her poems (My baby is quite disturbing!) and she said "I just make them up."

Deep Thoughts By Rachel

2010-06-03T14:10:00.003-06:00

Rachel has been saying the funniest things lately. I can tell she is thinking very hard about many different topics. Some of the questions she asks are just hilarious. The hardest part is that I can't laugh because they are serious questions!

This morning:
"Mom, if you were a living piece of bread what would you do if someone was going to make toast?"

Happy Birthday Baby!

2010-05-23T19:43:00.003-06:00

Nathan is one! I remember holding him when he was tiny and new and knowing that before I knew it he would be turning one. Sure enough, here we are a year later! Nathan is a sweet boy. We had fun celebrating his Birthday, although I don't think Nate knew what to think of everything!

Joseph Concerto

2010-05-14T15:57:00.003-06:00

Joseph and Rachel took part in a Concerto festival in early May. It was really fun to see them both do so well on their songs. Joseph was selected to perform at a concert a few days after the festival and he did great! Even though it is hard to tell- there are two pianos performing- Joseph's amazing teacher is on the other piano. I will post Rachel's performance soon- but I thought one was enough today!!

Note: This post took me forever to publish because I couldn't figure out how to resize my video.

Nathan

2010-05-14T15:19:00.003-06:00

This is Nathan's newest trick. He has been standing on his own for a week or so. I haven't been able to catch a picture of him standing because he always starts crawling towards me when I have the camera. I had to bribe him with a cracker to get this picture. He is so very proud of himself.

Nathan got tubes in his ears this week. He has been battling ear infections and fluid in his ears for the last two months and so we decided to go ahead with the process. It is too early to tell if it will help. Many people say "Oh, but he is such a happy baby- I would never know he is sick." He is a very happy baby during the day- not so much at night! Hopefully this will help our nights be a little better!

A Funny Duck

2010-04-23T14:19:00.004-06:00

Little Miss A has an amazing zest for life. Her sparkly personality matches her bright blue eyes. The other day we went to visit the Salt Lake City Cemetery and stopped by President Hinckley's grave. She was thrilled to be there and wanted to have her picture taken. It was a nice little trip.

I love my girls and I am glad that they are becoming good friends that take care of each other. Yesterday the girls were playing out back after dinner. I was cleaning up the kitchen when I heard them SCREAMING. Which is not unusual. However, the screaming was approaching the house and I was hearing the word "blood" (that will get your heart going) so I started running out back. Once I realized that nothing serious had happened the scene was quite comical.

Adrie had bumped her nose on Rachel's knee and her nose was bleeding. All four girls were running for the house screaming "Don't get the BLOOD on your shirt! Bend over so the BLOOD doesn't get on your shirt" Yes, in the midst of crisis, my girls are mainly concerned with preserving fashion. I guess we will work on how to administer first aid in a crisis;-)

As Much as I Love Costco

2010-04-16T12:07:00.002-06:00

I joke that every piece of furniture and art in my house came from Costco. While this isn't strictly true (we shop at IKEA too!), it is pretty accurate. I won't bore you with a long discourse on why I don't like furniture stores and why I don't really enjoy decorating. At this stage in my life, I am extremely practical when it comes to home decorating. Decorating, (unless it is forced- a child needs a bed or that blank wall is driving me insane) doesn't even make my to do list. However, recently I came across this wonderful little business:

I must admit that I am in love. When I found out they are a local company I was ecstatic! I have already told Paul that nothing short of a natural disaster will keep me from their spring sale. Now I just need to figure out if I need any furniture;-)

Disneyland and Beyond

2010-04-14T13:58:00.003-06:00

Last week we went on a family vacation to Southern California. We went to Disneyland, the San Diego Zoo, and Sea World. It was a fun trip, although Paul and I may need to go on vacation to recover! I have great memories of Disneyland. We went a couple of times when I was young and it was always so much fun. My family would sometimes wear matching shirts.
Here we are in matching BYU sweatshirts- I was about 15. We are in the line for the newly opened Star Tours (you can barely see me looking thrilled in the back- I was thrilled- but I was also 15!). I remember that after waiting 1.5 hours (ahh, the days of Disneyland without fast pass!), the ride made me violently sick. The memory is strong enough that I "let" Paul take the kids on Star Tours while I waited with the baby;-)Following tradition, I found matching shirts for our children. I quickly discovered that even at Disneyland 6 children stand out. Furthermore, 6 children in matching shirts really stand out! However, it was easy to keep track of the children and I figured that if someone got lost we would know exactly what they were wearing (luckily we didn't need to test this theory!). This is a picture I took of the children waiting to leave the hotel in the morning. They are watching TV- can you tell?! The title for the picture is "One of these things is not like the other" (click on the picture and you will understand why!).

We let Joseph carry the camera for most of the Zoo and Sea World. We ended up with a lot of pictures of animals. However, the pictures were not of zoo animals; we now have 527 pictures of every duck and sparrow living in the San Diego zoo;-)This is Shamu. Hi Shamu. Joseph did not zoom in to take this picture because we were sitting very, very, very close to Shamu. Paul saved us good seats for the show. We got wet. Very, very, very wet. And by the way, in case you have forgotten like we did, Orca live in the ocean- the water is cold and salty;-) I don't think any of our children will ever forget the experience, although some of them may need to attend therapy later in life!We decided to visit Sequoia National Park on the way home. After visiting Disneyland with 5 million other people, it was good to get back to nature and do some tree hugging- literally.
Just as a note, the man in blue was more intrigued by our family than the tree. Another man was so intrigued that he felt the need to take a picture of our family (you can see the camera on the right side of the picture)!
This is Adrie minutes after she threw up on our drive down the mountain from visiting the Sequoias. She and Katie are proving once again that 9/10 children are perfectly happy playing in a pile of dirt.

Ditto!

2010-04-01T09:07:00.003-06:00

Except the joke is on us! Even though I knew the storm was coming, it still is painful to see this out the front and back doors. The part that doesn't show in the picture is that it is still snowing- sideways (extreme wind!).

Note: This is my post from last year. Does it always snow April 1?!!!! Does anyone have any good jokes planned today? I forgot to make my classic "cardboard down the middle of pancakes" this morning and so I am scrambling for a good joke.

Easter and a Birthday

2010-03-30T20:30:00.003-06:00

We celebrated Easter early this year. This may be last time the girls get matching dresses (unless I buckle down and sew them myself!) because Rachel is wearing the top size they sell at Costco! Our sweet Katie turned three. She makes us laugh everyday. Is there anything better than a three year old? She had the best time blowing out the candle on her cake:

Heaven

2010-03-24T12:32:00.003-06:00

But I Don't Want to Take a Nap!

2010-03-16T14:34:00.003-06:00

I just found one very tired little girl asleep, waiting for laundry to finish (she wanted to help me load it into the dryer). Why don't they believe me when I say a nap would make them feel so much better?!

Mikarose giveaway at Nurture Mama!

2010-03-08T09:41:00.003-07:00

Check out this very cool giveaway at Nurture Mama! I love the Mikarose dresses! All their little girl dresses are on clearance right now.
Where was this dress when I needed a nice, modest, black dress a few years ago?

Definitely a Creamy Girl

2010-03-06T20:06:00.002-07:00

Skye: Do you like creamy or chunky peanut butter?
Me: I like chunky peanut butter.

Looong Pause

Skye: Well, people can be different and you can still be friends.

A Few Pictures

2010-02-28T14:21:00.006-07:00

Rachel turned 9! She went with the wedding cake theme my girls seem to be choosing, but I said "no!" to white flowers and a statue on top- she can wait a long time for that! I copied a great cake I saw here (thanks Jenifer!). Rachel is an obedient child. Who can ask for anything else?!

Yesterday was beautiful! I took advantage of the great weather and finished my canning from last summer;-) I had our raspberries frozen just waiting to become jam. I also decided to try out grapefruit jam (thanks to my sister who brought us back some yummy grapefruit from her trip home to AZ). The grapefruit jam tastes remarkably like . . . grapefruit jam!

Adrie catches some air!We had our annual sledding party in Logan a few weeks ago. It was so much fun and I actually got to go sledding for the first time in years!

Last of all, Katie tried on Skye's ski helmet. I thought she was quite cute sporting her blueberry mustache.

No More Legos on the Floor

2010-02-17T15:22:00.002-07:00

Up in the Air

2010-02-14T20:34:00.001-07:00

Up in the air, Junior Bird Man!
Up in the air, upside down!
Up in the air, Junior Bird Man!
Keep your little feet off the ground!
Up in the air, Junior Bird Man. Uggg.
Up in the air, upside down. Groan.
Up in the air, Junior Bird Man. Uggg Groan Uggg.
Keep your not so little feet off the ground. Thud.

Nap time Blues

2010-02-10T13:30:00.002-07:00

It is nap time. Which usually means a little quiet time for me. Time for a break so my mind can calm down before everyone gets home from school. Not recently.

In room #1 we have:

Katie thinks she is quite grown up and has stopped taking naps. I still put her in bed, but usually find her reading books and playing an hour later. Quiet time is still good right?!

In room #2 we have:

Nathan (watch out he bites!) can officially sit up on his own. Which means when I lay him down for a nap, he sits up. Then he plays because he is sitting up. Hmmm. At least he is always happy to see me. It looks like it is time to lower the mattress on the crib also! Where does time go?

I can't understand this aversion to naps. I would love one;-)

A Cute Story

2010-01-27T10:10:00.003-07:00

I enjoy reading Skye's stories. She is quite creative. She is spelling phonetically which somehow makes the stories even better. Here is a story that she brought home the other day.

The toking cran by Skye
Wons their theved a cran. Evryday the cran wood get pekt up and got shotr and shortr.
Evry day his fase wood get madr and madr entoo wan day he skrim stop! the end.

Translation:
The Talking Crayon by Skye
Once their lived a crayon. Everyday the crayon would get picked up and got shorter and shorter. Every day his face would get madder and madder until one day he screamed stop! The end.

Books for Boys

2010-01-22T15:39:00.005-07:00

One of my greatest joys in life is seeing my children learn to love reading. Currently, I have two children completely addicted to reading, one mostly addicted to reading, one learning to read, one that sleeps with a bed full of books, and one that eats books. I grew up with books as good friends. At college, I worked in the HBLL (Harold B. Lee Library) and it was one of my greatest joys to go to work each day surrounded by books. I enjoy finding books for my own library collection (library sales, thrift stores, Scholastic orders- I am not picky as long as they are in decent shape and readable!). I felt fairly confident that I would always be able to hand my children a book and say "Here, read this, you will like it." I felt that way, that is, until Joseph began to read.
For some strange reason Joseph doesn't dig Little House on the Prairie, A Girl of the Limberlost, or Anne of Green Gables. Even some of the books that I thought all boys would love (Kildee House, Rascal, Wolves of Willoughby Chase), he doesn't really enjoy. At one point, desperate to find new books for him, I searched the Internet for Books for Boys lists. I found some good ideas- but not too many. So here is my own Books for Boys list. If anyone has any other great book ideas, please leave them in the comments! I am always searching for new books- because Pride and Prejudice just doesn't cut it with Joseph!

A Long Note: This list includes books that Joseph has read and LOVED. However, I felt the need to add a couple of my own suggestions because I think that other boys may enjoy the books (i.e. Lloyd Alexander Books- so far Joseph doesn't seem to enjoy them, but I think they are great fun!). Additionally, these books are not in any specific order. Hopefully I can get around to organizing the list by age, but for now, this list is random. Also, I may not list all the books by a specific author (like Andrew Clements- he has many, many books that Joseph loves), I will just list the author. Lastly, you may notice that this list is mostly missing a huge group of books that boys love- nonfiction. It was a book about sharks that sparked Joseph's love for reading. It is a huge category and deserves a list of its own. This list is obviously just a beginning. There are many good books for boys. We are still discovering, but here is a start!

Susan Cooper (The Boggart plus The Dark is Rising)
Lloyd Alexander (All)
Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Andrew Lost by JC Greenburg
Magic Tree House by Mary Pope Osborne
Narnia by CS Lewis
Harry Potter by JK Rowling
Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
Gregor the Overlander by Susan Collins (of Hunger Games fame- I don't think JT is quite ready for Hunger Games!)
Eragon by Christopher Paolini
Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald
Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
Of Mice and Magic by David Farland
Hardy Boys by Franklin W. Dixon
Redwall by Brian Jacques
Warriors Series by Erin Hunter (Joseph says "I think these are for girls because boys don't generally read about cats. Maybe dogs, but not cats." He may be right because he only read a few, but Rachel loves them)
The Princess Bride by William Goldman (also try The Silent Gondoliers)
Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan
Boy Scout Field Book (newly revised and both Joseph and Paul say it is "AWESOME")
Dangerous Book for Boys by Conn Iggulden
Alex Rider by Anthony Horowitz
Blood on the River by Elisa Lynn Carbone
Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley
Roald Dahl
Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls (Also Where the Red Fern Grows)
Frankenstein by Mary Shelly
Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo
While Mrs. Coverlett Was Away by Mary Nash
John Bellairs (read with caution- pretty spooky!)
Bartemaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud (JT hasn't read yet)
Danny Dunn by Jay Williams
Encyclopedia Brown by Donald J Sobel
Sideway Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar (plus his other books like Holes)
Asterix by Rene Goscinny
Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
Ben and Me by Robert Lawson (many other books also!)
The White Mountains by John Christopher
Kidnapped by Robert Lewis Stevenson
Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs (JT hasn't read, but I remember my brothers loving them)
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien
Ralph S. Mouse by Beverly Cleary (All of her books)
Star Wars by Jude Watson
Brighty of Grand Canyon by Marguerite Henry (all her horse books are great)
Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
Soup by Robert Newton Peck
Andrew Clements (books for young readers like Frindle and older readers also)
James Howe
Gordon Korman (started writing books at age twelve and is still writing- very fun!)
Ghost Who Went to School by Judith Spearing
Cricket in Times Square by George Seldon
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
Call of the Wild by Jack London
War of the Worlds by HG Wells
Freddy the Detective by Walter R Brooks
Twisted Tales From Shakespeare by Richard Willard Armour
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
The Three Investigators by Robert Arthur and MV Carey
Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
Daniel Pinkwater

This list is dedicated to two books that I got Joseph for Christmas: The Mysterious Benedict Society and Gregor the Overlander. I am always a little hesitant to buy books for Joseph without his stamp of approval first. I found these books listed on an Amazon list and decided to try them. Joseph finished reading The Mysterious Benedict Society and came and told me it was "AWESOME"- high praise from him for a book- generally the only way I know if he likes a book is if he reads it twice. I just finished reading The Mysterious Benedict Society (three books in the series) and I concur, they are awesome. He had the same response for Gregor the Overlander. Hooray for good book choices for Christmas!

Austria Ad Campaign

2010-01-21T09:50:00.001-07:00

Dear Austria,

Do you need a new cover girl for your tourism ad campaign? I might have located a good model.
Adrie decided to wear my dirndl today. This dirndl was a gift from my Tanner grandparents after one of their trips to Europe. It was one of my favorite dresses to wear as a little girl. On another note, Twilight move over. We have our own version and he is much better looking than Edward.
Nathan is making small attempts at eating real food (as opposed to baby puree) and his two favorite things are cucumbers and green beans. The cucumbers make sense because of the cool relief they offer his gums (3 out of 4 top teeth are in!), but the green beans? I think they are just fun to play with.

At Last!

2010-01-15T16:44:00.004-07:00

When Paul became Scoutmaster Joseph looked like this:
I remember thinking how many years it would be until Joseph would be a scout. At the time it seemed completely crazy to think that Paul would still be Scoutmaster that many years down the road. Bwahahah Bwahaha little did we know! Today is a very long awaited day for Joseph (and me!). The scouts just left on Klondike (our 11 year olds go on a few campouts with the scouts) and Joseph WENT WITH THEM. I hope they don't freeze. Most of all I hope that I am not sending my next boy off with my still Scoutmaster husband- twelve years from now!

Finally a Quiet Day

2010-01-09T09:47:00.002-07:00

I have been meaning to post for ages but I keep waiting for a quiet day. Today Paul took the three oldest children skiing and so it is relatively quiet. Our holiday season was lovely. The children woke up at 5:55 on Christmas morning. They all came and got in bed with us for a little while before we went out to open presents.The day after Christmas we headed home to Mesa. It was so nice to be home and visit with family. The weather didn't hurt either! We were able to go for a hike in the desert and despite Rachel's hysteria about cholla, we avoided any cactus spines!Now we are back to normal life- school, work, church, scouts. Speaking of scouts, Joseph turned 11 (we celebrate his birthday in June) and is now officially in scouts!

We have been enjoying these eyes:
Nathan weighed in at 20 lbs at his 6 month Dr visit. He is a sweet boy who may someday sleep through the night. We have done sleep training twice with him and each time something (new teeth, a cold, etc) has thrown him (and us) back into old habits. Yesterday the first of his top four teeth broke through the gums. Hopefully we can push through the next few days of sleep deprivation, err I mean sleep training and get back on a good schedule.
Skye lost her first tooth! She is thrilled beyond words (although once she started talking, she spoke with a great lisp!) because she has been waiting forever to lose a tooth. I personally mourn the loss of baby teeth because with our lovely dental genetics it means the children move into the awkward stage between cute baby teeth and orthodontics;-)

This morning I came into my room to find this:
Katie was playing the mother and had tucked a long row of "babies" into bed. Nathan will certainly never be bored in this family- maybe tortured but never bored.

Low Country Boil

2009-12-20T16:22:00.004-07:00

Friday we hosted Paul's family Christmas party. It is one of our favorite traditions! Every year we choose a different nationality of food to serve. This year we traveled to the exotic deep south USA (OK, OK, so it isn't a different nationality, but I couldn't come up with the right word to use: genre of food, type of food?). In the past we have served: Mexican, Italian, French, Chilean, Chinese, Greek, Hawaiian, and a few others. This year we did a low country boil (among other things). Basically you boil a bunch of food in a big pot, drain off the water, and dump the food on a table covered with newspaper. Then everyone can pick out the food that they want and you sit around and eat. The kids were very impressed with the crabs. It was a great night!

Dinosaurs in Disneyland

2009-12-17T07:39:00.003-07:00

Last night I had a dream (I remember my dreams almost all the time- but they are not meaningful dreams- they are just weird). We were at Disneyland. I just had Katie and Adrie and we were watching some kind of show (it actually looked like Shamu at Sea World- but we were at Disneyland- you know how that kind of thing makes sense in dreams!). There was an announcement that a dinosaur was attacking Disneyland. I could see this huge T-rex walking around coming our way. In the panic, I lost track of Katie. So then it turned into one of those nightmares where you are searching for your baby. Luckily, that part of the dream was really short- I ran around a corner and found Katie. Some nice food vendor had seen her crying and given her TWO snow cones. I thought "Oh no, oh no! There is a dinosaur attacking Disneyland, we need to run, and my two year old is eating snow cones- she can't run and eat snow cones and if I take the snow cones from her, she will throw a fit." I was paralyzed by the knowledge that if I took the snow cones from her she would start screaming- the boneless, collapse on ground screaming. Then I woke up.

As I told Paul my dream, he laughed and said "Funny how you are more scared of the two year old tantrum then the dinosaur!"

Maybe I do have meaningful dreams after all;-)

Snow plus very cold weather

2009-12-12T10:30:00.002-07:00

We have had some snow and very cold weather. When I went outside this week I found that the snow was just drifts of snowflakes. Although I don't like the cold, this AZ girl is always amazed at the beauty of the snow. (And, OK, my pictures aren't that great of the snow flakes. If you click on the picture, you may be able to see them better. I am still figuring out this blogging thing)

Apron Instructions

2009-12-01T13:15:00.006-07:00

We made these cute aprons for Super Saturday. I meant to post these intructions a long time ago, but you know how life is!!! Also, I hope the changing cloth doesn't confuse you- the pictures we taken over the course of several aprons!

Materials List:

Two fabric materials: one for the apron square and pocket; another material for the ties, triangle, and pocket. Prewash and iron cloth before cutting.

1: 23 inch square cloth. If the cloth has a specific direction (like a stripe), cut on the bias.

2: Two pockets: One of each fabric 6½ inch by 10 inch, two corners cut off at a 45-degree angle to make a point

3: 3 inch wide ties: two 42 inch strips and two 21 inch strips

4: 2 ½ inch wide ties: two 20 inch strips

5: One small triangle: about 8 inches on the short sides

6: Two buttons

7: Thread

Apron Instructions:

All seams are sewn at ½ inch.

1. Fold under raw edge of long side of small triangle piece about 3/8 inch and iron. Top stitch along folded edge.

2. With right sides together, place small triangle piece onto main apron square, matching a corner. If your cloth has a stripe or obvious direction, make sure that the triangle is on the corner that you want as the top of the apron. Sew along two outer edges of small triangle. Turn right side out to form a corner and iron. Fold flap down and iron leaving 3/4 to 1 inch of triangle on back side. This will be the top of your apron.

3. To hem top two edges of apron, turn under raw edge 1/4 of an inch, and then fold and iron again to create a finished edge. Ease in where the hem meets the small triangle at the top. Topstitch the whole length of the edge, stopping just before the folded flap.

Showing how to ease the hem near the small triangle at the top.

Hemming the raw edge.

4. For neck ties, use the two 2 ½ inch wide pieces. Fold in half lengthwise, with right sides together. Sew along the long edge and across one end. Turn right side out. Repeat with the other piece. Iron both ties.

5. Tuck raw edge of each necktie under triangle flap on the back side, with one on each side of the triangle near the hems. Then fold the ties up again so neckties are up. Pin in place. Turn the apron over and sew straps on under the flap on the front. Once both neckties are tacked on, topstitch under the fold to reinforce the straps along the top of the apron.

6. Find four strips that are 3 inches wide. These will be the trim on the bottom of the apron as well as the waist ties. Sew one short piece to the end of one long piece. Repeat for other tie. We suggest sewing each short and long strip together the same way you make a quilt binding to prevent bulkiness.

7. Fold the end of one of the strips in half lengthwise and iron to find the center. Then iron each top corner to that middle iron mark folding it down to triangles on each side. Use the ironing line as your guide for sewing the strips together. Place right sides of the two strips together and sew 1/4 inch below the ironing lines, starting and stopping 1/4 inch from the edge of the strips. Trim the fabric off the corners and tip and turn with right sides out. Press seams together to make a pointed right angle corner.

This is a drawing of how to make a nice miter corner for your apron binding. It may seem confusing, but if you follow the pictures, it is actually pretty easy.

This is a picture of the two pieces of cloth sewn together. Note the ironing lines (they give you a guideline while you are sewing). Also note that you start sewing 1/4 inch from the edge.

This is the same cloth with the edges trimmed off. It is ready to be turned right side out and pressed.

You are basically making your own casing. Usually you sew down one edge of the casing and then hand stitch down the other edge, but I am too lazy. I just sew it all at once and make sure that I catch both sides of the casing. Note how I turned the edges in 1/8 inch to finish the raw edge. It is a bit of ironing, but the sewing goes really fast.

8. Turn under the raw edges of both sides of the ties under 3/8 inch and iron. Place bottom of apron inside the ties matching up the corner at the bottom. Pin. Start at the corner and topstitch making sure to catch the backside also all the way to the end of the tie. As you reach the end of the tie, fold in the end and topstich to create a finished look. Repeat on other tie.

At this point I have sewn one side of the binding on. The other side is pinned and ready for sewing.

9. Pocket. Sew two pocket pieces with right sides together, making sure to leave a 3 inch gap unsewn. Turn pocket so right sides are out and iron flat. Fold top of pocket down and iron. Place on apron at desired spot. Topstitch onto apron on three sides leaving top open.

10. Sew buttons in middle of flap on pocket and on the center of the flap at the top of the apron. (Note: We used covered buttons. You can find them in the notions department at craft stores [ I found them at Walmart]. They are really easy and turn out so cute!)

Two Sweet Girls

2009-11-28T21:18:00.005-07:00

I think my girls have the prettiest hair. They have been growing it out for several years. With four girls, I spend a lot of time doing hair. I enjoy long hair because I can do fun braids and many different styles. I also like short hair because it is easy to wash and style. I guess I am not too picky about long or short hair;-) The girls like long hair, but their hair was getting too long. As Rachel put it "every morning I wake up with brambles in my hair." I told them that they could either get a trim, or we could cut it really short. Rachel has donated her hair before to Locks of Love and she and Skye decided to donate again.

I think they look great!

Spreading a Bit of Christmas Cheer

2009-11-28T19:26:00.004-07:00

For a Webelos Art Activity Badge requirement, Joseph needed to draw several pictures on the computer. He called me to come see his latest creation.

(Please click on the picture to enlarge. I can't figure out why it is coming out so blurry.)

Haaaaa haaaa haaaa haaaa heeee heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee heee ha ahahahahahah

To my credit I didn't laugh until I left the room- thus protecting his fragile child ego.

It has been a cheery start to the season.

Only Momma

2009-11-16T17:10:00.005-07:00

Katie has a new phrase:

We hear this a lot. Especially when she is caught in the act. Here are a few things that Only Momma can do:

Wear makeup
Pick up Nathan
Crack eggs
Feed Nathan
Pour milk for cereal
Carry Nathan
Flip pancakes
Get Nathan out of his crib

I might get frustrated except she is too cute. She looks at me with those big eyes and says "Only Mommma!"

Halloween and a Birthday!

2009-11-01T15:43:00.005-07:00

This week we celebrated little Miss A's birthday. She is a joyful child and according to Rachel, has "the prettiest color of eyes in our family." She wanted a wedding cake (to match the one at Paul's sister's wedding). I didn't attempt a wedding cake, but this one was easy and turned out pretty cute!

We also had a great Halloween. After a freezing week, the weather mellowed a little and we had one of the most perfect Halloween days that I can remember. Don't all Dads carve pumpkins with power tools?

Our little bunny was happy to have his hat off!

This year we had a secret service man, a Hogwarts student, a 1950's girl, a Belle, a bumble bee and a bunny.

Our ward does a trunk r treat and this is Paul's spooky trunk. The older children got to go out trick or treating with a very cool witch and a very hip disco man. Paul and I had a treat because we got to stay home and pass out candy together (thanks Suz and James!!).

Ryota

2009-11-01T14:46:00.006-07:00

Ryota expereinces an American Birthday party

This last week we hosted a Japanese exchange student. This is our second year hosting a student and it is a great experience. I must admit it is a bit out of our comfort zone to have a complete stranger come stay with us, but we have had so much fun with these exchange student. These boys come from a prestigious private school in Nara, Japan. There are about 250 boys that come over for their "graduation from eighth grade" trip. They spend a week in Utah and then travel on to southern Utah and CA. The main point of the trip is for them to experience American culture, practice their English, and specifically see how a typical American family functions (ha ha more on that later;-). The boys are all very smart, very polite, and very normal 14-15 year old boys. The main question I hear about this program is why they would come to UT? Once you start thinking about the requirements, you find the answer: where else can you find 250 host families within a 20 miles radius of an University (that has a large supply of students that speak Japanese)? Furthermore, each family must have a boy in the home between 8-18 years old. Utah Valley is a perfect match! However, I do question whether the boys will really experience true American culture! After their week in America, most of the boys will think that all Americans: drive big cars, have lots of children, and pray a lot.

Last year our student spoke perfect English- we had a great time talking about everything from the driving age in the US to WWII. This year our student Ryota, spoke very little English, but was so much fun. We got along doing a lot of sign language and smiling. He had a wonderful time with the children (he is an only child and so 6 kids was a big change for him) and they love him. Eleven other families in our neighborhood also hosted and it was nice to be able to share carpool duties (yeah, try and explain carpool to someone that doesn't speak English and doesn't even understand that there are other students staying right next door!).

Paul teaches the boys a little Scout pioneering.

Dessert was an expereince. I made apple crisp and served ice cream. American food is way too sweet for most of the Japanese. The boys were polite and tried the food. A few of them liked it. Most of them will be grateful to go home and eat normal food again!

Kanji anyone?

2009-11-01T11:36:00.005-07:00

Our Japanese exchange student (post to follow about our fun week!) gave us these really beautiful Kanji characters. I wanted to frame them and put them up, but I don't know what they mean. We tried to ask our student, but his English was pretty minimal! Before I hang them in the house, I would prefer knowing they say something like "Family" or "Happiness" instead of "Brown Dog." So, does anyone know Kanji (hint hint Tiffany;-)? Can you translate?!

Two Chompers

2009-10-25T20:59:00.002-06:00

I may stop nursing.

Isn't this the best little chair?

A Walk in Bryce

2009-10-22T12:36:00.003-06:00

Last weekend we were here. There are many beautiful places in the world, but I don't know that anything quite measures up to Southern Utah. I may be a little biased;-)
We had a great time, despite missing the memo about who can visit Bryce. Apparently to visit, you need to fit one of three categories: slightly older couple (no children), young REI yuppie person (no children), or person from another country (no children). We stood out with our group.All the children did really well hiking although Katie spent a lot of time doing this:

"Pick me up Dad!"

Fortunately for her, Paul is a sucker for those big blue eyes and carried her most of the way. BTW, she has been eating licorice and is not bleeding terribly.
At one point we came across a mini Bryce Canyon where people had built all these little cairns. We added our own to the collection.
I particularly loved these trees growing out of the canyon. I also love the colors of the rocks. I told Adrie "These are perfect rocks for you because they are your favorite color!" She said "Mom, pink is not my favorite color anymore. I like blue. And periwinkle. But I still like these rocks."

Nathan was quite worn out from all the walking he did.

A Bubble

2009-10-14T21:51:00.004-06:00

Little Miss A loves gum. A pack of gum is not safe in our house. I completely understand the dangers of children chewing gum (gum in hair, gum in carpet, gum in sister's hair, gum in stomach for seven years;-). However, for my children to stop chewing gum, I would need to stop chewing gum first. It is a habit I picked up in Jr High and have never stopped. I try to keep my chewing within socially acceptable bounds (I understand that many people argue that any gum chewing is not socially acceptable). I do find it funny that my children will copy many of my less desirable behaviors and not pick up on the nice ones- like washing dishes- I do it all the time, but none of my children feel a great need to copy this behavior. I think I will call it: Selective Mimicry.

I love to watch my children's obsessions with learning certain things like whistling, cartwheels, handstands, stacking dominoes, etc. They are persistent in attaining these important skills. In their eyes, the ability to blow bubbles ranks among the top desirable talents. They ask me countless questions about how to do it, they practice whenever they get their little mouths on gum, and until recently, none of them had achieved the feat.

In our family "first to blow a bubble race," Adrie has blown away the competition.

Amazon Women

2009-10-04T12:34:00.003-06:00

Last night I was able to get together with my best friends from AZ. We grew up together and have some fantastic memories. One of our YW advisors always called us the three Amazon Women because of our love of all things adventurous. I don't have any pictures of us hiking or rappelling, but I do have a picture of us on the first day of our senior year.One memory we discussed was a conversation we had about 15 years ago while walking home from church. We were dreaming and planning as teenage girls do, and decided to predict what our futures held. It was fun to look back over the last few years and see how those predictions played out. We didn't predict the next 10 years, but hopefully we will be able to get together to discuss them anyway!

I love you girls!

2009-09-27T20:39:00.006-06:00

Today in Relief Society the teacher taught Elder Uchtdorf's talk The Influence of Righteous Women from the Sept 2009 Ensign. She asked the class to share personal stories about women who have influenced their life. I didn't share my story in class, but I wanted to share it here.

Elder Uchtdorf states:

"The scriptures give us names of several women who have blessed individuals and generations with their spiritual gifts. Eve, the mother of all living; Sarah; Rebekah; Rachel; Martha; Elisabeth; and Mary, the mother of our Savior, will always be honored and remembered. The scriptures also mention women whose names are unknown to us but who bless our lives through their examples and teachings, like the woman of Samaria whom Jesus met at the well of Sychar (see John 4), the ideal wife and mother described inProverbs 31, and the faithful woman who was made whole just by touching the Savior’s clothes (see Mark 5:25-34).

As we look at the history of this earth and at the history of the restored Church of Jesus Christ, it becomes obvious that women hold a special place in our Father’s plan for the eternal happiness and well-being of His children.

I hope that my dear sisters throughout the world—grandmothers, mothers, aunts, and friends—never underestimate the power of their influence for good, especially in the lives of our precious children and youth!"

A week or so ago I had a hard morning with the children. After the older children got off to school, I sat down in my room feeling overwhelmed. Actually I was a little more than overwhelmed. Have you ever had one of those mornings where everything just seems to weigh down your spirit? As I thought about my children, about the state of my house, about the weeds in the backyard, about projects left undone; my list of "abouts" kept getting longer and my heart kept getting heavier. I had a little pity party with myself and shed quite a few tears. Then, because I have been taught what to do when I am feeling down, I knelt and said a little selfish prayer: "Heavenly Father, I know I need to count my blessings, I know I need to get to work, I know I need to serve someone else, but I am just sad. I feel alone. I know this is not generally the way things work, but if possible, could I have someone let me know that they are thinking about me today?" Then I stood up and went to work.

A few hours later the phone rang. I started laughing when I saw the caller ID "Jackson White" (my Mom's cell phone). Mom, "Hi, I have been thinking about you all morning and just wanted to call to see how you were doing."

I am grateful for a Mother who is an instrument in the Lord's hands. I am grateful for a Heavenly Father that answers even selfish prayers.

Does your ward do Super Saturday?!

2009-09-20T19:28:00.004-06:00

As part of my ward's Enrichment committee, I am gearing up for Super Saturday. I must admit I have mixed feelings about Super Saturday. On the one hand it is a ton of work for the committee and sometimes I find myself asking "Does anyone really care about all this stuff?" However, somewhere along the way (usually on the day of the activity) I find myself realizing that it is a great time for women to get together to learn, to create, and to build friendship. At that point, the day is worth it. This year we are keeping our projects simple and so I am really excited about the day (I am not cutting a single piece of wood;-). We even created a little blog to display our items:

http://mm1enrichment.blogspot.com/

The other picture

2009-09-13T17:37:00.005-06:00

We did get some good pictures of Nathan. The photographer took this picture about thirty seconds before the frown picture. She took the picture thinking he was going to smile again, but I guess he had other ideas. He went right back to being happy after the frown!
One night this week we had a really busy night. I was gone at a meeting and Paul was trying to get ready for Scouts. Nathan wasn't too happy, so Paul asked Skye to help entertain him. How do you entertain a fussy baby? Skye wrapped various parts of her body in diapers and did little dances for Nathan. Of course. It kept him entertained for quite awhile and also entertained me when I got home!
I have been busy getting ready for Super Saturday. I am not in charge this year, but I still get to help on a couple of fun projects! I worked on this apron while Paul was on Scout campout this weekend. I think it turned out great and it was really easy!

Skye has also been praying very hard each night that "Satan will repent and start to be good." One night I thought "Oh wouldn't that be so nice. I can just imagine the headlines: "Satan Repents. End of Temptation."" I don't know if it will do much good to pray for Satan, but I do love Skye's empathy- she feels really badly that he can't have a body.

On a final note, one of the kids brought home a chant from school. Has anyone ever done a study to show how the same jokes/ chants/ songs are passed down through generations of children? They always seem to hit the same age group- for instance, I think all Kindergartners come home and tell the "Are you afraid of a man this big?" joke. I don't think anything can prepare you for the part of parenting that includes listening to the same phrase over two hundred times in two days (all four girls singing it constantly):

I like bananas, coconuts and grapes!
That's why they call me Tarzan of the apes!

Ha. Now it is stuck in your head too. Just don't teach it to your children.

Heart breaking

2009-09-04T21:18:00.003-06:00

I got Nathan's pictures taken today. Every time I see this picture I just want to pick him up and give him a big kiss. It also makes us laugh.
Sweet boy. Does it make anyone else feel like coming over to give him a squeeze- or is it just a mother thing?!

Seattle in no particular order

2009-09-02T09:57:00.008-06:00

We heart Seattle.
We heart salmon ladders.

We heart Snoqualmie Falls.
We heart camping in the rain.

We heart hanging out in the Montesano, WA library while our brakes were getting fixed.
We heart tide pools.

We heart this really weird lava flow in OR as we were driving home.

We heart the Peter Iredale.

We heart the OR coast. Can we go back soon?!

An End

2009-08-24T13:15:00.001-06:00

This made me sad this morning. Nathan slept in his crib in the room across the hall last night. This morning as I started pushing the bassinet down the hall to the laundry room (to take it apart and wash it before I return it to storage), I got a little sad thinking about how fast babies grow. However, this soon cheered me up:

That boy is catching flies with that mouth!

12 years and counting!

2009-08-15T15:19:00.004-06:00

Do you hear me,
I'm talking to you
Across the water, across the deep blue ocean
Under the open sky, oh my, baby I'm trying

Boy I hear you, in my dreams
I feel your whisper across the sea
I keep you with me in my heart
You make it easier when life gets hard

I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again

They don't know how long it takes
Waiting for a love like this
Every time we say goodbye
I wish we had one more kiss
I'll wait for you I promise you, I will

I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
Lucky we're in love every way
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed
Lucky to be coming home someday

And so I'm sailing through the sea
To an island where we'll meet
You'll hear the music fill the air
I'll put a flower in your hair

Though the breezes through trees
Move so pretty you're all I see
As the world keeps spinning round
You hold me, right here, right now

I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
I'm lucky we're in love every way
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed
Lucky to be coming home someday
(Lucky Jason Mraz, Colbie Caillat)

You know you kids are watching too much TV when:

2009-07-29T19:48:00.003-06:00

Today as we were climbing into the car after swimming lessons, Adrie wrapped her towel around her head and said (in her funny squeaky voice): "I am Darth Sidious!" Who is Darth Sidious? What happened to watching Sleeping Beauty? Why does my 4 year old think she is a Dark Lord of the Sith (see, I figured out who he is thanks to google)?
Along with letting my kids watch Star Wars excessively, I have also been growing this Buddha. Apparently, he only eats cream. I warned Paul that he will need to figure something out this Sunday when he blesses Nathan- the classic baby in the center on the circle resting gently on everyone's hands is not going to fly. I am reminded of those object lessons where they have you hold a jug of milk straight out in front (I can't remember the point of the lesson) and not even the strongest person can do it for very long. That will be Paul on Sunday. It will either be the shortest blessing ever or he will need to hold him in the classic baby next to chest hold (which we prefer anyway- holding a baby out straight in front of you and bouncing them just screams startle reflex to me!) Also, if you are wondering why the picture of Nathan is slightly blurry, no, I am not trying to go for the soft focus look. I realized after I loaded the pictures that someone attacked the lens of the camera with a very grubby finger. Three guesses who it was and the first two don't count.

For those of you that couldn't make it . . .

2009-07-26T14:16:00.005-06:00

Busy Times

2009-07-23T22:06:00.003-06:00

The last few weeks have been pretty busy. I am afraid I have neglected this blog and my email. After the wedding Saturday (yea Suzanne and James!), I will get back in the swing of things!

For now, I just wanted to send a sweet little smile to all of you! I present Nathan, the neckless wonder. Don't you just want to kiss those cute cheeks? I do!

Life According to A: Take 2

2009-07-09T20:10:00.005-06:00

I like to record funny things the kids say (let's face it, sometimes the cute things they say may be the only funny thing that happens all day!!). Little Miss A keeps cracking me up with her words and sometimes wisdom. So although I just posted about her funny words, this was our conversation tonight:

A: "When is gymnastics?"
Me: "Tuesday."
A: "Is that the next day?"
Me "No, we have to have Friday, Saturday . . ."
A: Blank Stare
Me: "You know, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday (singing the song)."
A: "And then it just goes over and over until you DIE?!!!"

Pretty much yes;-)

2009-07-07T08:12:00.003-06:00

This morning Adrie and I were discussing her jobs for the day.

Me: "A, what jobs do you have?"
A: "My room is dirty, I need to clean it."
Me: "It's dirty? You just cleaned it last night!"
A (with a huge smile): "I know, it's a miracle!"

I love four year old's observations- they have a good grasp on language but sometimes don't quite get the usage right!

RIP Crabapple

2009-06-28T16:06:00.003-06:00

I love our trees. We have planted 19 trees around our yard (2 crabapple, 2 flowering cherry, 2 paperbark maple, 2 zelcova, 2 magnolia, sycamore, nectarine, pluot, peach, cherry, autumn blaze maple, apricot, apple, ginkgo- in case you were wondering!). This weekend we were able to plant a new tree. Although we love planting trees, this was a bittersweet planting. For the last two year we have treated our little Bechtel crabapple for Fire Blight- a really sad tree disease. We hoped it would pull through (two other trees that we also treated are doing a lot better). Unfortunately, this summer it became apparent that the crabapple was losing the battle. So yesterday we went tree shopping and decided to get a Linden. We look forward to the shade this tree will offer our front yard!
This week we also celebrated Joseph's 1/2 birthday. When I asked what kind of cake Joseph wanted, he said "Be creative! How about something like an eagle swooping down catching a rabbit." Ummm yeah. We settled on a tiger.
Last of all I wanted to give a shout out to my cute nephew Ethan who was seen sporting the same outfit as Nathan! It is fun to have matching cousins even if they live so very far apart. And while we are pointing out similarities, both Nathan and Ethan were born on the 19th (one in May, one in June) and both boys have one brother and four sisters!

Reasoning with a two year old

2009-06-25T08:33:00.005-06:00

The other day Paul watched as I tried to reason with Katie. Katie had found the shirt that she wanted to wear and she wanted to wear it NOW. I was trying to convince her to stay in her pajamas for breakfast.

"Katie, wait to get dressed because you don't want to get your clothes dirty at breakfast. If you get dressed now, your pretty shirt will be all dirty and you won't be able to wear it today."

Paul laughed and said "Hmmm, reasoning with a two year old?"

I know it is pointless. Two year olds are not capable of much reason (10 year olds are not capable of much reason). I still try- maybe just once the two year old will look up at me and say "Oh, Mom, that makes so much sense! I think I will stop throwing a fit and go sit quietly and eat my lunch."

Everyday I relearn that children are . . . well, they are children. They don't think like us, they don't do things the way we think or would like them to do. The fact that they are children is what makes them so challenging and also so wonderful.

Here are a few case studies I have experienced in the last week.

*This morning Katie came to find me with something pinched in her fingers that she wanted to give to me. I held out my hand and she dropped a spider in it. I don't mind spiders, but there is something about having one (slightly smashed but still moving) dropped in your hand.

*The child (who will remain nameless) that forgot to wear underwear one day last week.

*As we stood in the rain at the Children's Parade, Rachel turned to me and said "Why are all the raindrops only falling on me?!!!"

Even with daily examples that children are in their own little world, I still find myself frequently asking them: "Why would you do that?"

They always just look up at me with a blank stare. So much for reasoning with a two year old!

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-21T21:20:00.005-06:00

We really enjoyed the little creative gifts the children made for Paul this Father's Day.
This is a Father's Day Dragon from Skye. We don't know why Father's Day is associated with dragons- but it is a nice art project.
Joseph made Paul a name plate for his office (thanks to a Mom who can use a compound miter saw). This fulfilled the Webelos Craftsman activity badge requirement 2.
Skye made this card. It reads: "Happy Fathers Day Roses are red Violets are blue and they smell like you" Although we are not sure what that means, we are still laughing.

And our favorite- the little card that Katie brought home from Nursery. She colored it herself. We laughed at the cute picture and then laughed even harder when we read the words inside:
"I'm so glad when Daddy comes home . . ."

Yep. That is one happy child.

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful Fathers in our life!

Strawberry Days

2009-06-20T12:13:00.003-06:00

One of the best parts about living in Pleasant Grove is Strawberry Days. For a week each summer, PG has a big celebration for the city. This celebration started in the early 1900's when PG was mostly farmland. Most of that farmland was strawberry fields. Now the strawberry fields are filled with houses, but we still celebrate Strawberry Days! As a note we do have a nice patch of strawberries out back and the kids picked the first ones this week.

This year we are only attending a few of the Strawberry Days events. We are missing the rodeo, the fair downtown, and many other events. We did make it to the children's parade and the Grand Parade this morning. A huge difference this summer is that it has been raining everyday. So the kids marched in the rain on Wednesday and we watched the parade in the rain today. They were still both really fun. The kids especially enjoyed the parade this morning- they got lots and lots of candy.

Waiting for candy.

Skye really raked in the free handouts. Maybe it was her cute smile!

Skye waiting for candy- next to the gutters full of rain water.

Katie watching the parade in the rain.

Marching in the Children's Parade.

That's What Makes the World go Round

2009-06-17T13:32:00.003-06:00

That's What Makes the World go Round
From "The Sword in the Stone"
Composed by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman

Left and right
Like day and night
That's what makes the world go round
In and out
Thin and stout
That's what makes the world go round

For every up there is a down
For every square there is a round
For every high there is a low
For every to there is a fro
To and fro
Stop and go
That's what makes the world go round

In one of my college classes we talked about interactions between parents and children. The basic premise of the discussion was that for every negative interaction you have with a child, you would need a certain number of positive interactions to balance out the impact of the negative. The professor made the point that negative interactions are so powerful that it takes multiple positive interactions to compensate. I thought I would apply this concept to my day today.

A trip to Walmart with six kids.

Now for the balance:

Skye is my little mother. She will sit next to Nathan and wait for him to wake up. Then she will pick him up and love him. I love her caring heart.

I love my new shoes! They are so comfortable and I couldn't resist the orange.
Baby Nathan always tips the scale on the happiness side.
This rose just bloomed in my back yard.

Katie's hair always makes me smile. I love her curls!

PS In all fairness to my children, you must know that they were remarkably well behaved at Walmart. It is just the sheer effort of moving six bodies through the store that causes my brain to shut down. Moving them through Stuff Mart is torture because there are so many things that I need to say no about (no, we can't ride the horse, no we can't get that toy, no, you can't go play on the handheld games in the electronic department, no, we are not buying baby food for Nathan, no, you can't ride in the cart, no you don't need a new toothbrush, etc).

Body Space

2009-06-04T21:05:00.002-06:00

One of the aspects of motherhood that I did not consider before I embarked on the adventure was the total loss of body space. I remember the first few months after Joseph was born I had to adjust to the constant contact with another little person. It was not a bad adjustment- there is nothing sweeter than a little baby curled up on your shoulder. I think I assumed that as the children got older, I would regain my space and privacy. However, instead of just one baby on my lap or two small children following me, I find myself with one baby on my lap and five other children camped out very close. I am flattered with my celebrity status in our family. I know it will pass and soon the children may not want to follow me constantly around the house. So even though the lack of personal space can be overwhelming at times, I really do treasure this time. A typical morning for me looks a lot like this:
Note: These pictures were taken while the older three were in school- now I usually have at least two more children in the mix!

Katie and Adrie get ready to help with Nathan's bath.
Next we all need to watch the baby get dressed!

It is a good thing I have a footstool for everyone to sit on while I rock the baby;-)

First Celebrity Dies of Swine Flu

2009-05-31T14:41:00.002-06:00

And we all know who the carrier is.

I know this is probably old- but it made me laugh and laugh!

A Picture Post

2009-05-31T13:06:00.004-06:00

The last few weeks have been busy! School finished on Friday and I feel like I can breathe a sigh of relief and relax (ha ha ha). You may ask what we have been doing the last two weeks? Here are a few pictures with the highlights:Baby Nathan (as he is called by the kids) keeps getting cuter- when babies are born they are the most beautiful little people ever- then when you look back at newborn pictures you realize how very red, swollen and blotchy they look! They are so cute, but look a lot better after a week!

Brothers at last!

Skye's favorite past time is holding Nathan. We are still working on her technique!

Just because she may be the cutest child ever.
We were feeling sad because our yard is mostly done, so we decided to tear it up again. Paul rented this little tractor and he and Joseph spent a Saturday digging a pit for our trampoline.

The pit. Yesterday Paul finished a few layers of the retaining wall (this picture shows the foundation for the wall). All the dirt in the middle will be used for back fill or removed (just in case you were wondering how we were actually going to jump on the trampoline with all that dirt;-).
One of our favorite people got engaged! We are very excited and I think the girls ask her several times a day if they get to see her wedding dress.
I didn't make a cake for Skye this year (go figure!) but she was excited because Grandma took her to Costco and let her pick out the cake. She wanted blue and purple flowers- luckily my Mom knew to write "lavender" for the purple ones otherwise we would still be brushing the dye off our teeth!
My first outing with the baby was to Rachel and Skye's Dance Festival. Each grade learns and performs a dance. It is pretty fun to watch all the kids dance. Nathan slept through the performance in the Baby Bjorn.

Tomorrow we officially start summer. We will do swimming lessons, the summer reading program at the library, chess club for Joseph, and gymnastics at the Rec center for the girls, along with our normal summer jobs. I need to get the kid's job chart organized and up on the fridge! I love the summertime!

Awaiting new hard drive

2009-05-27T20:32:00.002-06:00

Today a friend said "I saw the first little post about Nathan, but nothing since, did I miss anything?" I would love to post more pictures (especially since Skye thinks that EVERY time she holds the baby she needs her picture taken) but sadly, while we were in the hospital our hard drive crashed (it had been acting weird for a few days). Luckily Paul was able to retrieve everything we had done since our last backup. We are awaiting a new hard drive and so I have been in computer limbo- sometimes I can use Paul's computer, sometimes I can use the temporary system he set up, but most of the time I have been just ignoring all technology.

I have been having too much fun holding the new baby to miss the computer! Hopefully we will be up and running in a few days and I can post more about Nathan, Skye's birthday (with her awesome Costco cake with blue and purple flowers!), and end of school activities! Thanks for all the calls and notes!