it's a secret

Tomorrow is my birthday. I am not really excited or upset by it. Every year is a blessing. Really every day I wake up and have the day ahead of me I feel lucky for. In some ways I feel "old" and in others ways I can not believe I have a daughter who is married and all these kids and all this life lived already. Crazy!

Since I am the mom and the one who gets the mail I get to open cards and gifts as they come if I want. This week I have received several packages and it's been so fun. This morning is E's long day at preschool so with just Lucy as a helper I decided to take some of my gift cards and hit the stores.

First I had to go to DPS because I lost my license (again). Luckily the line was short, unluckily I forgot Lou's stroller and almost canceled the outing since I knew I'd have her free in the stores. We didn't cancel. Our first stop was SHHH! victoria's secret. I have never been fitted for an undergarment before but did today. We'll see if she really has a wonderful secret or not :) Then I went to Coldwater Creek and finally the book store. I got to carry Lucy and pkgs from place to place. It was raining but not hard and the temp was lovely. Lou was pretty good and we had a fun morning. Lucy found a little stuffed elephant in Barnes and Noble. I let her buy it and while she was sitting up on the counter "helping" me the man asked her if she was getting a new dog. She laughed and said "not dog" and then made a sound that could have been elephant. It is fun to see her sense of humour emerge.

We met DH for lunch at Panera Bread. I got something different than I usually do and was a little disappointed. Lucy fell asleep on the way home and now I have a few minutes to clean up and to try to avoid the temptation to read a new book!

the games we play

H's new fun past time is to play frog jacks. She is just getting the hang of it. I think she'll enjoy playing with friends.
This fun game is called wormy apples. All the kids love it, even Lucy. You spin the spinner and add or delete apples. The first person to empty theirs is the winner.

just for fun

You Are an Oatmeal Raisin Cookie

On the surface, you're a little plain - but you have many subtle dimensions to your personality. Sometimes you're down to earth and crunchy. Other times, you're sweet and a little gooey.

What Kind of Cookie Are You?

This was a surprise. Not my favorite cookie ever but still yummy.

sunday

The little girls wandering around the yard waiting for time to go to church. We start at 1:30 this year, which is a bit of an odd time I think.

The big girls enjoyed youth conference. J talked about it on her blog.

Papa and Grandma came over for dinner. We ate omelets with farm fresh eggs:)

After dinner we took a walk around the block and then came home and played mexican train.

S telling Papa about her weekend.

Me and S, everyone says we look a like. I don't know about that but she is a cutie so I wouldn't mind:)

sabbath morning

The girls came home last night so stinky and very happy. They had a wonderful time. I was in bed reading and they hopped on top of me. After I caught my breath and pushed them off my nostrils I asked how the conference was. (the last session is actually tonight)
They both said great and they had soooooo much fun. J then said she was too tired to talk, got up and grabbed a towel and promised a report in the a.m. S stayed a minute longer to tell me "the best story" but also said she was saving the rest for tomorrow. She said the best part was driving home on the bus. They were talking and kidding around and somehow got to singing. Soon the whole bus was singing hymns together with different kids calling out names when they finished one so they could start the next. They did this the whole rest of the ride home. When they got to the parking lot and started to get up and gather their stuff the bus driver stood up and yelled at them to sit down. He then said he'd had the worst week with lots of challenges and was feeling really down. Their singing touched him and he felt at peace. He thanked them.
The stunned kids gathered their stuff and left. Later S and her new friend, Ivan, said they thought someday missionaries might knock at his door and he would remember them and the feelings the hymns brought to him and maybe he'd listen. She was excited.
The girls are still sleeping so I haven't heard anything more.

While printing out my sunday school lesson for this afternoon I spent a few minutes browsing blogs I haven't read before. I found one that looks interesting, I may go back. She is sponsoring a summer reading challenge. The idea is to read 3 books by southern authors. Sounds fun. Living in TX, but not being a native I am not really sure if I live in the south or not. It's certainly a lot more "southern" than CA. But I think TX is really it's own entity. Regardless I'm going to find three books and start in (as soon as I read the sequel to Twilight which we read for book club this month and I really liked, but I am saving #2 for my flight this next weekend so I will hopefully be so engrossed in it I will forget about using the power of my will to keep the plane airborne and maybe enjoy the flight). If you do too let me know. and the button is a link so go check her out if you want.

hail, hamahama, & handcarts

We slept safely last night. Which is a huge blessing. One I sometimes forget to be grateful for. Every morning that we wake up and have another day to live, and make choices and to be better people is a real blessing and shouldn't be taken for granted. Last night's storm did spawn some tornadoes, none of them were close to our home. The stake center had bigger hail, and was much closer to actual tornadoes. There were 60 cars in the parking lot that had hail damage. The girls had a lot of fun. This morning they had to be at the church at 7am ready for a 5 mile trek pulling handcarts. It was cold and windy today and I think they were in for an eye opening trek.

Today we had a primary activity for the littles. They enjoyed it and came home full of stories of how it went and what they did.

E had a soccer game. Papa and DH took him. They won and he scored. He came home happy about that.

After the activity the kids had their friends over to play for a couple hours. It was fun to watch them and see what they chose to do. Brother and his friend C, got out blankets and made a landscape. Then they jumped around pretending. They talked a lot to each other about what they were doing. "and then we...." . The girls went outside for awhile and then after lunch locked themselves in H's room and quietly played. The boys were anything but quiet. Both sets had a fun time.

Afterwards we cleaned up and Papa and Grandma came over. We all went to Joe's Crab Shack together and I had the yummiest shrimp with mango salsa. When dinner was done Papa and DH took the kids home and Mom and I went to a Pampered Chef party, that turned out to be canceled, which was fine.

Yesterday H started hula lessons. She and several of the little girls in the ward are doing the hula for our ward talent show at the end of the month. She is excited. I stayed to watch them and it was pretty funny. Their hamahamas were hysterical. I think they'll do a good job. Hopefully the whole activity will go well.

I "found" this cute pic on Wendy's site and wanted to use it too since I secretly wish I was her next door neighbor and we could go to mommy surf club together:)

Friday the 13th????

I dropped the girls off at the stake center and headed back towards home while the weather got worse and worse. We ended up driving threw sirens, hail and black skies. Unfortunately it's not the end of it for us yet.
Hopefully everyone will be safe.

water awearness

As a kid I never learned to be a good swimmer. I love to be out at the ocean, or by my pool. I am not a great swimmer however. When I had kids I, like most people I guess, had a list of things that were very important for me to make sure my kids could do. Swimming was way at the top of the list. I took everyone to lessons and no matter how much they cried or complained or were worried about it they learned to swim. Not Lucy but this is her year. They love the water and are little fish. And I am glad.

Today I randomly happened upon this blog and it made me pause and think. So go take a look, and then teach your kids to swim. And if they can't and you come to my pool expect me to be a swim-nazi and not let them in the gate without floaties.

grocery day

When Dani got a job downtown working at a fancy schmancy restaurant she had to memorize the menu, and what was in each dish, and how it was prepared, etc. I know this because I quizzed her.

I think Wal-mart should adopt a similar policy for their checkers. The checkers should take a produce test before being allowed to scan items. Produce because it doesn't have a bar code. Finding the bar code on boxes of soap, or pkgs of socks could be a separate quiz; but I digress.

I can not even count the number of times I have been asked "what is this?", only to have to answer zucchini or ginger root or artichoke. Thankfully I have never had to answer banana because I don't think I could stand it. I know not everyone eats vegetables and so could be stumped by some exotic specimen but I think if it's in your store maybe you should be familiar with it.

That said yesterday the kids were eating a before bed meal snack and I was reading from Highlights to them and we read about the pangolin. An animal I had never heard of. So, who am I to talk?

lists: not complete, off the top of my head, in no order

Some random things I love, dislike, look forward to. In no particular order.

Things I like:

• artichokes, with mayo. The yummiest lunch ever.
• my suburban. Even though it gets awful gas mileage it has room for everyone and the kids love the TV. And I love the heated seats, surprise, who knew I would?
• reading. H and I are reading "the Wizard of Oz" together and it's very fun.
• the food channel. We just "discovered it" and it is so cool. I love Iron Chef, and Throw Down. Very fun.
• Amazing Race and Survivor
• warm weather
• doing art projects with the kiddos

• that S is an awesome cookie baker
• soft grass
• the smell of rain
• my "imaginary friends"
• my real friends
• freshly laundered clothes
• cooking on the grill
• eating at Joe's
• going to the zoo
• babies fresh from the tub and all jammied up
• coco cabana
• digital photos
• general conference
• chocolate
• teaching brother's preschool
• listening to my kids dreams and hopes
• cheerful yellow walls
• walking on wet sand

Things I don't like

• those little plastic beads that you melt into designs...and that I get to pick out of the carpet a lot lately
• over flowing laundry baskets
• the smell that gets on your hands when you pump gas
• nakie missy taking off her diapers every hour
• lima beans
• being stuck at the train tracks
• library fines
• planning ward parties
• a DVR that records part of a show ~argh

Things I am looking forward to

• dream Disney vacation (woo hoo!)
• seeing Dani and Greg next weekend. It'll be so fun to visit with them, to get my hair cut, to see MSV and to sleep in on Sunday (if they have church in the afternoon...I think they do, I hope they do.)
• brother's soccer game
• the girls going to youth conference this weekend~ I think they'll have a great time
• swim season
• going to the downtown arts festival

woman to woman

Lei and Morning Glory do this woman to woman thing that I always enjoy reading but haven't participated in yet. This week's topic I found very interesting. I think anyone who has more than one child probably has one that is more difficult than the others. Maybe even anyone who has any children at all :)

"Parenting or grandparenting children that have difficult personalities... be they temperamental children or children with legitimate issues like ADD, sensory dysfunction, or developmental delays. Share your hardships, share your successes. You mothers can vent away, and you grandmothers can encourage us to hang in there by sharing your past parenting/grandparenting challenges and strategies."

I have one daughter that is more difficult than the others. She is sweet and bright but STUBBORN and really gives us a run for our money.

While her older sisters were generally obedient, especially during those young years she challenges us and doesn't want to obey even if it's something that is good for her.

She gets hooked on TV or whatever she is doing and has a hard time switching gears.

She also is loud (talks loud, eats loudly, walks loudly, laughs loudly) and doesn't seem to have a good sense of personal space. She will walk into you, step on your toe, smash you with a shopping cart or talk in your face without seeming to realize that she is being intrusive.

So, how do we deal with it? With an extra measure of love, a huge internal sigh (sometimes), a gritting of our teeth (occasionally), and laughter ( more of that is needed).

She seems to need a lot of attention and a lot of physical activity to stay sane. We make an extra effort to plan one on one activities with her, or special activities for her to do with friends.

She doesn't like to sleep but if we can get her to bed early-ish she seems to do better.

Also as she grows she is getting easier.

She likes charts.

She has a special bond with Nana and Abba and sometimes when she is really worked up a phone call with them helps a lot.

We try and remember that if we can channel her energy and strengths to something positive she will grow up to be an awesome young woman. Like everyone she needs to feel accepted and loved. We try to see her talents and compliment her.

Our "difficult" one is like the other kids really, only more intense. She demands more of us.

I hope that she will find something that she is passionate about~ a hobby or activity or something and that finding that thing will give her some focus and help her mature.

We'll see. DH and I feel lucky and blessed to have a sweet family and the children we have. Including, and maybe in the end most especially, for the "difficult one".

Rangers Game

The crack of a bat, the smell of hot dogs in the air, fireworks lighting up the evening sky for every home run. These things were all new to us. We took our kids to their first pro baseball game last night. DH got free tickets for a Rangers game from a friend at work. (yeah for free!) We had a surprisingly fun time.

We were excited to go. We had planned to go with Papa and Grandma therefore planned on Tues night so they could go. Several of our friends went last night and today Grandma called and told us they couldn't go so we were a little bummed that we had missed going with our friends the night before. Despite that little disappointment we were psyched to go. I didn't know how the kids would do and we planned on leaving early. J did get to bring Emma, and she was happy about that.

First thing we did when we got our seats was to hop up and go buy $2 tee shirts. Then we got back to our seats and were there in time to hear the Star Spangled Banner sung.
The first guy up for the Rangers got a home run. There was fireworks and cheering.

The whole game was very fun and exciting. The Rangers won 12 to 9. The kids had so much fun watching the dot race, seeing the fireworks, cheering, dancing, hoping to see DH and I kiss on the screen. It was very entertaining.






Lucy was a little wiggly but we traded off keeping her busy and she actually did pretty well.
I brought snacks, and crayons and paper to draw on, drinks, the works. We used it all.

I got to visit the bathroom about 6 times with different kids.

On the last inning the Rangers were ahead 12 to 6 and so we headed out. When we got down to the bottom we decided to look at the field one more time closer up. Then we saw that the Devil Rays had scored while we were walking down, twice. We then watched them score again.. it was such a surprise. Fortunately it ended well :)

We walked out to the car and the minute we were inside and closed the doors it started to rain. Perfect timing!

I was surprised we stayed the whole time and that we had so much fun.

The End

the fun continues

Grandma's neighborhood had an Easter egg hunt today. She invited us to go with her. They had a bouncy house, tons of eggs and snacks. It was very fun. We were the first ones there so the kids got to jump for awhile by themselves. That was nice because Lucy didn't get knocked over. Soon there were lots of kiddos there. Our kids are very friendly and make friends where ever they go. Soon they were running around and playing with the other kids.

They got more candy and even though we had to wear jackets it was still festive and fun.

Happy Easter!

Easter morning started early. The littles came into our room with treats from the Easter Bunny, which they then ate on our heads. They were excited to get chocolate and little treats. The big girls chose to sleep in and look at their treats later. They were also happy to get chocolate, but it is fast Sunday so they had to wait to indulge. They both got Disney tees for our DDV coming up and were excited!






We spent the morning hanging out. I worked on my lesson. H and J and I watched a fun show on the food network about Easter candy. We got some stuff ready for dinner.

Then it was time to go to church. It was very nice to have fast Sunday on Easter. I felt like the feeling at church was very reverent and it was nice to be with our friends and to worship together.




After church I took some pictures of the kids in the Easter best. They were hungry and goofy but tried to cooperate.




Are we crazy dog people or what?

J played her violin for Papa.

After dinner our friends came over and we had dessert together. It was fun to visit with them. The kidlets played games on the wood, we ate and ate and talked and talked.

Happy Easter!!!

hunting for eggs

We had invited several families over today for an egg hunt and dinner. It turned out to be a busy day for several and then a lot of people have been sick so we had some last minute sickies as well.
Heather and Zach came and Rachel and Robin and Haylee. They also brought their neighbor's twins.
We had a fun time. We visited while dinner was cooking.
The kids had a great time hunting. It was cold outside and we bounced around trying to keep warm. The babies didn't seem to mind and once they figured out that they were looking for plastic eggs filled with c.a.n.d.y.! they got into it.

Here are Zach and brother checking the back of the truck for treats. E loves to play with big boys and had a great time with Z. They played x-box, which was a real treat since we've had it unplugged and under the bed for the last two months.








Lou raced around and got lots of eggs. At first she had to run back and show me each one but soon she just went for it :)


Fun picture with DH's reflection in one of the metallic eggs.



Grandma made kulich and paska. I remember Baba Katya making that every Easter when I was a child. We always went to San Fransisco for holidays and for summers when I was small. We stayed with Baba Olya and Deda. I think mom really liked to spend time with her family and of course it was fun for us kids too. Alec and I had our beds in Baba Olya's room and she would talk to us when we were going to sleep. When Michael got older he joined us in her room too. Baba Katya lived with them and my uncle and his family lived close by, as well as lots of extended family. It was fun to have holidays with them, to spend time in Golden Gate park, and to play in the back yard and when we were older to play on the roof.
It was fun for mom to make it for us this year. The kids all liked the paska a lot. I am glad they get to spend time with their grandparents and to get to know them well.

egg coloring

Today was egg dyeing day. I missed my good friend Sheila today. She often dyed eggs with us because her hubby was allergic to eggs so we did the dirty work at my house. And because it was a lot of fun.

it's snowing!...

the day before Easter. Admittedly it's just a flurry but it's darn cold.

My computer has been out of commission for two days. Since Thursday night. It's been torture :) Last night was the first chance I had to be back on line. I was too tired to post though.

Thursday night DH and I went on a date. We had wanted to see "Amazing Grace". It wasn't playing in our town but it was about 30 minutes away and it was leaving on Friday. I think it's still in Dallas. It was well worth the effort. We got lost going to the theater (of course) but found it on time to see the show (miraculously). We sat through all the previews and then they started "Dead Silence" , which was the show that was supposed to play at the next time slot. There was an uproar in the theater. People who are going to see Amazing Grace are not the same crowd who want to see DS. Probably 6-8 people jumped up to go complain and they quickly switched it. Luckily for us they gave everyone free passes to come back another time.
We both loved the movie. I didn't even know the name Wm Wilberforce before, however now he's a hero. He was a tireless abolitionist who worked for years to end slavery in England. I won't give away the plot but what really impressed me is this group of people who had nothing personal to gain, spent all this time and effort on a cause that was just. They were good Christian men and had a burning desire to do what was right. We left feeling uplifted and grateful.

The plaza where the movie theater was is so nice. It's open with a fountain in the middle, and lots of upscale shops and restaurants. We walked around a little just to see what was there. Found a place to stop for a very yummy burger. Went to the bookstore (natch) and the came home. It was late.

And I had to get up early to go exercise (groan). I think we're getting stronger (yeah!) but not thinner (darn).

Yesterday S and H had dental appointments. S's went well. H's was a disaster. She needs two crowns and a root canal. This will be her second of each. I don't know why she has such trouble with her teeth. She has the same oral care the rest of us do. I guess it's no candy, and brushing 3x a day for her now. We do sometimes miss a brushing because she is stubborn or late but I am still so shocked. Her two front teeth are getting banged up. They both have little nicks in them. The dentist feels it's because of her overbite. They are right out there as big targets. We had D do braces young and then she had to do it again (which is twice the expense and the pain). At that time we decided to wait for subsequent kids, so J and S waited and they both had braces that were much quicker and only once. I am thinking we may have to revisit that policy for H, or she may not have anything left to straighten.

We then spent the day doing errands and cleaning, and going to mom's in the evening to get stuff out of her house. DH spent the whole day in the yard, digging a trench, moving dirt around. When we finally got home and got the kids tucked into bed at almost 10pm, we were ready to collapse into bed ourselves.

This morning we have a soccer game and tonight we have some friends coming over to Easter Egg hunt and have dinner. It'll be a small group. And cold. But hopefully we'll have a nice time.

Spring Party

Today was H's spring party. E and Lucy and I went. It was a lot of fun. They had an Easter Egg hunt on the lawn. The eggs were numbered 1-12 and they had to find them in order.
Then they had grilled cheese sandwiches and treats in the classroom.

H enjoyed showing her brother and sister to her friends, they enjoyed sitting at her desk and eating goodies.



H and her friends Lindsey and Alexa.


Showing off her finds!

shopping fun

I needed to go out to Cabela's today. Dad came with me. If you have never been there it's like a museum/dream store for big boys. E loves it there. We had a fun time looking at the giant catfish, the stuffed animals, the cool guns and the fishing poles. We walked in the tents, sat in the chairs, sampled the candy and climbed on the boats. Very fun. They have a restaurant inside and Papa treated us to buffalo burgers. I was very excited to try it and it was good but gamey. I think I prefer cow.

Brother loves all things manly. The shotguns were way too big for him though. I asked him if I could take a shot, he said yes and I hit the target...which helped his score and thrilled him. Then he wanted me to take the rest of his shots as well. I did three more (and hit all three times) but then I had him finish. It's not about the score...right ;)

One year ago today....

Happy Blogiversary!

It's been one year today since I started my blog. It's been very fun. I started because my sister Anna did and I thought it would be a great way to journal. It's turned out not to be so much a journal because it's more public than I expected but it is a fun travel log through our days. I have a horrible memory, which is a bad quality in a mom...but I guess a good one in a wife :) so its been really fun to look back and see what I recorded. I have been surprised to make "online friends" ~an unexpected bonus to the blog-experience. And it's a great way to keep in touch with family.