General Relief Society Meeting

Last night I went with my mom and sisters to the General Relief Society Meeting. We go every year. It is one of my favorite traditions. We always go out to dinner before and then just go to whichever one of our stake centers is closest to the restaurant. We have a great time together.

I loved the conference last night. Here were the highlights for me:

• Sister Allred’s Costa Rica temple excursion story (a much need guilt trip for me).
  


• Bryton’s toy BlackBerry going off in Holly’s purse. We were all looking around trying to figure out who was not turning their cell phone off before we realized where the noise was coming from. Oops.
  


• President Uchtdorf’s talk. He was funny and shared some great insights. I’m excited to read his talk again.

The Office

Here’s to NBC and DVRs.

Preschool

This was my first week to teach preschool. I had a great time. The girls are so cute and have such fun personalities. The theme this week was “Our Five Senses.” We played lots of sensory guessing games, did art projects, and had yummy treats. Abby’s nap didn’t last through our story and song (the first 10 minutes) on day one, so I decided that from now on she can just join in the fun on the weeks that we have preschool at our house. She seemed pretty mad today when I was reading her book to everyone and not just to her, but other than that she did great.

I didn’t take many pictures (it is tricky to be the teacher and the photographer when you have six 3 and 4 year olds in the house), but here are a few:

Elise’s class - Cecily, Kylie, Megan, Natalie, Elise and Addy

Kool-Aid Watercolors - I was so relieved that we made it through this activity with no one staining their clothes!

Popcorn and “I Spy”

Elise is a bit of a perfectionist. She didn’t have enough time to finish everything during preschool, so as soon as everyone left she was back at the table gluing down any loose corners and drawing the wings on the rest of her bees.

Soccer, Celebrity Paparazzi, Football, and Watermelon

Today was Ben’s first soccer game since his team had a bye last week. Like Emily, he is showing great improvement over last year. His team is working on the whole concept of playing positions. He seems to be getting the hang of it. It is fun to see him progressing.

The most exciting thing at Emily’s game was seeing “Uncle Oscar.” Nate and I have been watching Arrested Development on DVD and both of us cracked up when we saw Oscar Bluth’s look alike watching the game next to us.

I took the three oldest kids to watch Jacob’s football game. Nate stayed home with Abby so she could get a nap. The kids mostly just played in the long jump sandpit with their cousins, but I had fun watching the game. Jacob is a little all-star. He scored the first touchdown of the game and had several great tackles. Sitting through the 3rd sporting event of the day made me kind of hope that my kids aren’t really into sports. If they take after me and Nate, multiple athletic events in a weekend should not be a long term problem.

The other excitement of the day was when Nate cut into the free watermelon that he got yesterday. There was a quality Harry Potter lightning scar right in the middle of the melon. In Nate’s words “it’s not as cool as finding Jesus in your toast,” but it was cool enough that we took a picture.

Things I am Thankful For

Lately, I’ve been trying to focus on seeing the bright side and being grateful. Yesterday was a long day, but I caught myself several times thinking “I’m so thankful for _____.” So, I thought I would do a little photo blog of the things that made life a little easier for me yesterday.

Clockwise: 1) Disposable is nice. 2) I won’t go into all of the gory details, but again, disposable is nice. 3) Sanity and adult conversation in a nice little package. Thank you iPod and Dennis Prager. 4) This carpet cleaner has been a lifesaver. I hope it can stay tucked away in its rightful place in the garage for a long time. 5) Hot, running water and a heavy duty washing machine. 6) Leather! I wouldn’t even want to think about cleaning upholstered couches.

I don’t have pictures, but I am also thankful for two fabulous neighbors/friends that got everything and everyone where they need to be so I wouldn’t have to leave the house on Emily’s sick day. And, of course, for the best husband in the whole wide world who does more than his fair share and doesn’t complain.

Elise's First Day of School

This makes three weeks in a row that we have had a first day of school in this house. Elise started preschool today. This year we are doing a little neighborhood preschool. There are six little girls in her class and each mom takes a turn being the teacher for a week. They are all cute girls and have fun, talented, capable moms. I think it is going to be a great experience for her and for me.

Today they talked about birthdays and she came home with all kinds of spoils in her backpack. She got to wrap a present all by herself. She was so proud of it and excited to open it. So far, preschool is a hit. She told me all about it. Her favorite part was playing outside . . . “they have a trampoline AND a swing set!” (So do we, but apparently ours is not as cool as theirs.)

Celebrating Motherhood

Sometimes I laugh at myself for thinking “as soon as this week is over, life will settle down.” It never really happens. I guess it is just part of the fun of being a mom. Since I am awake at 5 a.m., I thought I would blog some of the fun stuff that is filling up this week’s to-do list.

I am up so early today because Emily came in at 4:49 to tell us she had just thrown up. I was exceedingly grateful that Nate was still home and equally grateful that we own a carpet cleaner! As much as I love my kids and want to take care of them when they are sick, I do not have a strong stomach when it comes to the sight and smells of puke . . . especially when I am just waking up. I always feel blessed when Nate is home to handle the initial cleanup. Today was supposed to be Emily’s “Star Student” day at school, so she is a little bummed about missing it. Hopefully it will be a short lived illness.

Yesterday, Elise and Abby had check-ups with their pediatrician (unless you ask Elise – she insists that she went to the dentist). They are both healthy and well. Abby is still skirting the bottom of the charts on height and weight. She hasn’t cleared the 20 pound mark yet, and the doctor predicted that unless she has a growth spurt, she will probably top out at about 5’1”. I guess the red hair isn’t the only thing she got from Grandma Reatha.

There are lots of other random things that are keeping life busy and exciting this week. Elise starts preschool today (I’m crossing my fingers that she won’t catch Emily’s sickness). Ben has his first soccer practice tonight. His coach this year was his first grade teacher. He is super excited about that. Tomorrow is his second piano lesson since our summer hiatus. He complained about starting again, but he came home from school yesterday and headed straight to the piano to play through his songs. Then, last night when he was practicing with Nate, he didn’t want to stop . . . “It is just so fun to play the piano.” I’m not planning on that lasting too long, but we’ll take it while it lasts.

The rest of the week is filled with laundry, errands, yard work, cleaning, helping with homework, and all the other little tasks that fall to the mom of four young kids. I’m trying hard to enjoy the ride and not delude myself into thinking that life will settle down next week.

Happy Birthday Elise!

We had another fun birthday celebration yesterday. Elise turned 4 years old. After seeing Emily open her presents Thursday night, it was a very long wait for Elise until it was her turn. She told us about 173 times that she wanted a training wheel bike. On Friday, I found her out in the garage trying to stack things high enough to reach the key to the shed so she could see if we were hiding a bike in there (she was on to us). Luckily, her birthday fell on a Saturday this year, so she could open her presents first thing in the morning. Elise got basically the same gifts as Emily . . . except for size and color. One of these years that will have to change, but for now it works great.

After presents and breakfast (Nate’s famous crepes), Emily had her first soccer game of the season. We came home for lunch (we told Elise that she could pick anything she wanted . . . she chose Kraft Macaroni and Cheese) and then headed off to the zoo. We were partly glad that our plan had fallen through on Thursday so that we would have more time to spend there. Seeing the parking lot filled with the cars of 4,000 other people who thought a day at the zoo sounded fun made us a little weary. It was certainly crowded, but we had a good time. Elise seemed the least excited about the animals. She kept asking “when do we get to go to the park?” and “when are we going home?” Of course as we were leaving she said that she loved it, but her favorite part was playing on the playground. Her favorite animal was the white crocodile because he winked at us and she was pretty sure that meant that he was saying “Happy Birthday” to her.

We hadn’t planned on it, but we ended up staying until closing time. That made for another late night. We picked up some food at Wendy’s so we could have a quick dinner and then the kids went out to play so I could hurry and decorate Elise’s cake (nothing like the last minute). After some still frozen cake (oops) and ice cream, we just had time for a quick clean up and a story and then it was off to bed.

Some days I think it is fun that we have three birthdays in six days, but by the end of the week I am always pretty worn out. We have had a great time, but I must admit that I’m glad that I have a four month break until it is Ben’s birthday and I’m looking forward to a “normal” week next week.

We have a birthday tradition of tying balloons onto the kids bed (one for each year) while they are sleeping. It is fun for them to wake up and immediately know that it is their special day.

We finally let Elise look in the shed.

Elise on her new bike.

Emily was a very timid soccer player last year. She would get close to the ball, but didn’t want to actually kick it. It looks like that stage might be over. She was right in the thick of things most of the time in her first game this year.

The kids got to touch an armadillo . . .

. . . and a red tailed boa constrictor.

Ben insisted that we take pictures on every animal statue at the zoo.

We got to see all of the giraffes up close and personal.

The gorilla walked right up to us. It is cool to have a great ape two feet away from you.

On the train.

The kids loved playing at the park. Abby is currently a huge fan of slides and went up and down the big snake slide lots and lots of times.

It was a very long day/week. This is what happened whenever we were in the car for more than 10 minutes.

Elise loved her hastily prepared cake. I’m becoming a big fan of toys on cakes. It makes decorating easy and the kids love it.

Happy Birthday Emily!

Emily turned 6 years old yesterday. It was a crazy busy day, but we had lots of fun. We went in the morning to get her birthday treat. We had to go to two different stores and both times the girls wanted to ride in the little car shopping carts. They managed to squeeze three little bums into the “made-for-two” seat so no one would be left out. They sure looked cute.

While Emily was at school, Elise helped me decorate her cake and I wrapped her presents (nothing like the last minute). Emily wanted to go to the zoo for her birthday. We were great with that since we have a Tracy Aviary pass that lets us get into the zoo free on the first Thursday of the month. So, Nate got home and we drove down to pick up the kids at school. We drove all the way to Salt Lake to discover that the zoo was closed. I guess they close for half a day once a year . . . just our luck that it happened to be on Emily’s birthday. She was disappointed, but dealt with it well. The guy from the zoo gave us free pass to use another day and Emily decided we could go to the aviary and Liberty Park instead. We had fun seeing all of the birds and then I walked over to the park with the kids while Nate ran to Arby’s to get some food. Dinner turned out to be a little more eventful than we had anticipated when a swarm of hornets started dive-bombing our roast beef sandwiches. Ben FREAKED out and chucked his sandwich. We gathered everything up and moved our picnic to the van. Once we cut off all the places where “the hornets were eating my sandwich” for Emily, everyone was happy.

Emily finally got to open her presents when we got home at 8:00. She has always been a fairly emotionless gift receiver, but not this year. Either we did lots better at getting her what she wanted, or she has gotten lots better at showing her excitement. After a little spin on her new bike, we had some cake and ice-cream, and then it was off to bed. It was a great day.

Bummer!

These baby birds were a highlight of our trip to the aviary. Their nest was right next to the bathrooms. We got to see their mom fly up and feed them and then watched one of them hang his little bum over the edge of the nest and poop on the ground. The kids were thrilled about that.

The kids loved feeding the ducks and watching the pelicans. It was amazing to watch the pelicans' bills stretch out when they dipped them in the water.

Emily taking her new bike for a test drive.

Emily was quite pleased with her Littlest Pet Shop cake.

Everyone wanted to play with the Pet Playhouse from Grandma Reatha.

Abby's New Favorite Pastime

Abby has been in love with shoes for a while, but she just recently discovered our supply of plastic princess shoes. She wears them all day long and has gotten really good at running around in them. I love the little clicking/flipping sound they make when she takes off.

Abby’s other new favorite is reading books. I was feeling bad a couple of months ago when I realized how little I have read to her compared to my other kids. Since then, we have made a point of reading a book every day. Her attention span has grown by leaps and bounds and I love the one-on-one time with her.

Emily's First Day of School

Emily started kindergarten today. She has been very ready for a very long time and was really excited for the day to finally get here. I offered to drive her down to the school, but she wanted to ride the bus. It was fun to see my little girl climbing right up those steps with no hesitation and no looking back. She sure has grown up! I was glad that Ben was there to ride home with her (whether she needed it or not). She loved the first day. Her favorite thing was “when the gingerbread man ran away.” Kindergarten is great!

Emily ready for school. Okay, so I picked a bad spot and she has major shadow issues on her face, but she is still a cutie. Someday I will be a good photographer.

Waiting for the bus with the other kids from our neighborhood

Her first time on the school bus. She has been looking forward to it for years.

Getting home

It is kind of crazy to have two kids in school. Elise fell asleep watching a movie while Abby was taking her nap. It was the quietest hour the house has seen in a really long time.

Happy Birthday to Me

If I had to use one word to characterize this birthday, it would be FOOD. Nate told me, as he was serving up breakfast, that “calories don’t count on your birthday.” I sure hope that he was right, because we had lots of fabulous (and fattening) food all day. It was a fairly low key day. We went to lunch at Sizzler and then mostly just hung out around the house. We played some more ping pong, watched a movie, tried out “Dance Dance Revolution”, hung some blinds, and ate. It was great to have Nate home all day and to have nothing to do. That is what I consider a perfect day. Mother Nature even cooperated and served up some more stormy weather in the morning. I loved that!

This is my reaction to getting blinds for the playroom. I must be getting old if I get this excited over gifts from a home improvement store.