The kids have been learning, playing, growing! I keep telling them there's going to be no more growing up around here because it seems like it's been happening way too fast. I'll create posts on each individual child soon.
They sure do love each other and take care of each other and it's fun to watch. When Cal's pushing buttons with Lucy, she'll let out a grunt and let him know to backoff. It's pretty funny! Cal specificially asks for Emma to help him do things now, and she's almost always willing. I love seeing them play together too. Sometimes, they get into brawls and I want to pull my hair out. Call me a naive mom, but I didn't think the sibling squabbles would happen this soon. So we're doing what we can to help them smooth out bumps when they happen, knowing that some fighting is normal, but they need to learn to deal with their emotions appropriately.
We've been participating in Playgroup a lot. I'm in charge of it in our ward, so we don't really have a choice, but we'd do it anyways though and it's been great. Here are the kids, ready to go for the Easter egg hunt. They've had a good time, and we've been glad to pick up our numbers a little bit.
Go Cal, go!
Little Lucy's piggytails.
Emma playing a game in the gym.
We have had playdates at the park, went to story time, made Gospel ABC books, mini manners picnic, had a "can" themed playgroup where we played games with tin cans, and made tissue paper tin can planters and planted wild flowers. Probably my favorite playgroup to date was the service project we did at Northpointe Retirement Center. We played parachutes with the residents, sang songs, and played Headbandz. It was so fun to see the kids and the elderly interact and I know we totally brightened their day!
Of course there has been preschool. Cal just loves it and Emma has fun being the junior teacher. She helps me a lot and feels so grown-up being able to teach the little ones. Every preschool, I do an art or craft, teach a song/dance/rhythm, do a science experiment, read a book, play a game, do something related to math, and snacks, of course. It's so fun to come up with the lesson plans. When I was younger, I wanted to be an elementary or early childhood education teacher. So I get to do it now and am liking it just as much as the kids.
E - Elephant masks! Peanuts, anyone?
H - Hat day...we tried on different hairs (wigs) and hats and did all kinds of fun H things.
Throwing the helicopters down to see them spin!
Emma loves getting together with her friends to play. We had a tea party with some of her friends from school. Brooklyn, Guiliana, Chloe and Emma. We had "tea" (purple Kool-Aid), fruit and veggie flowers, and crackers and cheese for a snack. Then we made crafts - candy flowers and flower necklaces. And then they just played outside (which several of the neighbors joined in the fun) and then decorated flower and butterfly sugar cookies. Emma had fun planning this and having them come over. She was a sweet little hostess!
We also have gone to some really fun birthay parties this spring, one for the "big" Lucy, one for Ayanna, and some other friends.
We've been enjoying the wild weather in these here parts. Look at this bowl of hail we collected! Yikes! And that was only part of it!
Here are the girls out dancing in the rain!
Soaked to the bone sopping wet!
Then we've been glad that Spring has come! It's been so nice we've been blowing bubbles, going for bike rides, running around, playing ball, and side walk chalk.
Lucy eating a graham cracker, or chalk, I'm not sure which she's getting more of in her mouth.
Cal loves being outdoors so much! During the winter, he'd go outside for a few minutes, but then leave the rest of us to go back inside because he got so cold! It got hard for him because he would get cabin fever inside and then get into trouble. But he's doing so much better now since he can run around outside.
We've got everything from snow, rain, hail, windy, and sunny and 86 degrees in weather up here lately! On a couple of nice sunny summer-feeling days, we pulled out the pool or the crazy daisy and hose and got wet. Lucy loved it, though she gets cold easily and liked soaking up the sun though on the deck.
Cal and Em in the pool, yea to summer being just around the corner!
Over a weekend in April, I went to Time Out for Women, sponsored by Deseret Book. My friend Sharon (see below) invited me, and I was a little hesitant, thinking it would be like a cheerleading session: "Rah rah rah, you're women, now go out there and serve. Yeaaaa!" But it was very spiritually uplifting and so worth going to! The theme was "Seek the Good" and some of the things that were said by the speakers and musicians were just what I needed to hear.
- Seek the good - in yourself, others, opportunities and in what you have.
- John Bytheway- You become what you surround (or marinate) yourself with. People, media choices. "You are the average of the 5 people you hang out with" - Jim Rohn. Christ should be our main focus. "Let go of the lower and seek the higher." -Spencer W. Kimball. Move on and fogive. Sacrament is the key. Fill your mind and heart with Christ. Be an uplifting influence for others.
- Brad Wilcox - What's in a name? I've taken upon myself the name of Christ. Am I living like Him? Do ALL things in his name. Remember Savior means God is help. Am I helping others? Life springs from Christ. There is power in kowing the names of Christ and knowing He knows ours. He isn't just bringing us home, he's changing us so we'll be at home.
- Dallyn Bales Vales - As we teach others of Christ, we are liften. I need to bear my testimony more often.
- Chris Williams - "Let it go". Christ heals and helps us to put off the natural man. But we need FAITH first. Repentance is a fresh view of others, ourselves nad God. Buck up, fresh courage take. DOn't look at others and what they have, be grateful for waht I have. We already have it all.
- Hillary Weeks - For eternity, we'll know our kids as adults, but for now, I get to enjoy them as children. Extraordinary mooments happen during ordinary days. I'll miss these days. Do I take advantage of my thoughts? I need to focus more on Christ more. He can make more of my life than I can alone! Thoughts lead to accomplishment. Positive and good thoughts allow the Spirit to be present. Billionclicks.org. Focus on being.
- Kris Belcher - Hav ehte Lord with me in my motherhood experience. Get in the Living Water. Let Him Cleanse me. How to be a good mother? The answers are in the Book of Mormon. Feast on teh words of Christ. Listen. Don't give up! Have a good attitude and sense of humor.
- Michael Wilcox - Search, lay hold and cleave unto good things. "This is a day leftover from Eden." - L.M. Montgomery. Preserve the good things in each other. Emulate the lives of the good - from the scriptures, around me, people from history. We seek after good things -- in literature, art music, best books, more. Be a vessel of refinement. Give thanks in all for the good. Heavenly Father speaks to me in a way I understand and that is so personal.
- Merilee Boyack - CPR = Caring plus response. Be with and love others and serve. It just takes a split second to show tiny moments of love. Just 5 seconds a day. The Lord wants us to serve so we know how to love. 1. Open your eyes to see. Look to and talk to others. 2. Open your hearts to feel. Don't be overwhelmed, just do what you can. 3. Take action - your way. Pray as to know how. Include my kids in service more. Lead others in making a difference and invite, organize good things. "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." -Ghandi. Spread his love moment by moment.
- Emily Watts - We learn a lot more from questions than answers. HOly Ghost helps guide us. 1. Sometimes good needs a catalyst. What can I do to be a catalyst for good? 2. God doesn't always reside in your comfort zone. How can I reach outside of my comfort zone? 3. Good often appears in disguise. What good might be hidden in this trial? 4. Good takes patience. Psalm 84: 11-12. He will make it up to you. How can I increase my trust in the Lord" how can I bless someone's life today?
While I was away at Time Out, Dave had fun with the kids. They played in the morning, he took them to Zips drive-in, and then got ready to go to the Crimson and Gray WSU spring football scrimmage. Go Cougs! The kids had the best time with Daddy watching football together! Dave got them all dressed up in their WSU garb! He even put temp tattoos on their cheeks, ha ha. And he remembered to take pictures - I think he did a great job playing Mr. Mom and am so grateful that I can leave the kids with him and not worry about anything! He's the best!
We went to the Lilac Days parade and festivities. Here they are waiting for it to begin, so excited for our first parade in Spokane.
The kids with Lily. She is such a doll and her and Cal have fun together and she just idolizes Emma.
Nice face!
My cousin Alex is in the Mead High marching band. He plays trombone, and they sounded great!
Lucy liked the licorice the best and all of the music, she enjoyed bouncing to the beat.
Emma and Cal thought it was cool that many of the servicemen and women would come give them high-fives.
The kids had their last sleepover with the cousins. We've had a lot of fun ones, and since they're moving, this might be the last one. We had an ice-cream themed sleepover. We made homeade ice-cream, did some ice-cream activities and a craft. The kids stayed up until 3 a.m.! Those crazies!
We will miss them so much! We have a great time being silly together!
Are they cute or what?
The girls with their ice-cream necklaces, the boys made magnets.
We went to an event at Daddy's school for the end of the year party. They had blow-up toys and Lucy was intrigued by them! The other kids had such a good time of course as well!
As for me, I've been keeping busy with kids, calling, cleaning, kids, cleaning, calling, playing, gardening, reading, scrapbooking, and a little crafting here and there. I've had a ton of baby showers lately and have been making these cute onsie dresses or faux vests to give away as gifts. One day I had two! So it's been fun to sew so much!
Pairing them up with some cute socks or a headband - what a fun gift!
And the faux vest for a little handsome devil. Isn't it cute? Sorry I'm not a great photographer. They look cuter in person. I've been having such a fun time creating with my sewing machine!
We went out to dinner with the Gertches and the Bowmans (the guys go to school with Dave) for an end-of-school party/Jeff's birthday. We went to Wolf Lodge in Couer d'Alene. It looks like a dive but was amazing! It was super expensive too (there goes our food budget for the month), but so worth it! It was fun to be with them as well and we had a great night visiting and laughing and stuffing our faces. Jeff and Maria are leaving to Seattle soon where Jeff got a job and we're super excited for them! We will miss them though.
We also had a Fiesta at our house for Cinco de Mayo. The kids and I made mini chili pinatas out of toilet paper tubes and tissue paper, paper roses, and then for dinner we had Ryerse beef and chicken tacos, salads and tostadas, creamy bean dip and chips, stawberry lemonade, and for dessert, chocolate tuxedo cake with Mexican flags on top to make it festive. We had the Gertches and the Bowmans over, as well as the Elders serving in our ward. It was so much fun, but of course I forgot to take pictures of everything after the fun all began! But at least I got a few of the decorations.
We had Mother's Day of course and it was a fantastic one! The Bennetts invited us over for a breakfast. They made yummy stuffed french toast. That was so nice of them and they're so much fun! For preschool, I was in charge of the Mother's Day gifts. This is what we did. I think they turned out pretty cute and have this poem I love by L.M. Montgomery, one of my favorite authors, entitled "Home is Her Kingdom".
For the Grandma's, we gave them these awesome butterflies in jars. Then the kids used their handprints and we made painted butterfly cards. I think they liked them, but not as much as we love our Grandmas!
This is a picture Emma drew of us. So cute! (:
This is what went along with it.
Emma also made a lady bug magnet for me. Cute idea!
Dave gave me the cutest card that said "I may not always know what goes together, But I know we do!" And he wrote notes on the inside and back of course. What a sweet boy! He also gave me a cute decorative lamp!
Then on Mother's Day, Suz and I and the kids (both husbandless and fatherless) went to the park to have a picnic and play. It was nice to be together but poor Mo got sick!
I made these cute and very easy circle skirts for my girls and Morgan and thought they turned out well. The girls looked so stylin' wearing them all to church together! I also made jammie pants for the boys that have monster trucks on them.
Grammie came in town to stay for a week. Here's a picture of all us girls, all in black, white and pink! It's been good to have her up here! We have gotten together several times and Grammie's been doing good. I love her!
As for Dave, he finished up his first year of Grad school. This is how you'd find him almost every day...working on homework on the computer. One night, he stayed up all night to pull of a perfect paper/project/presentation - yep, he got 102 percent on it, so even better than perfect! I just kept waking up thinking the lights would be turned off downstairs and he'd be alseep, but everytime I checked, he was still awake and working away. That's one of many things I love about him, he just doesn't settle for mediocre. He does the best job possible and I'm proud of him for being that way!
This was the day after he stayed up all night. I think he finally went to bed at 12:30 p.m.! Poor Dave!
This grad school stuff is serious business! I've helped where I can to help him type up his law case briefs, proofread and edit papers, look over presentations, and helped with other things, like presentations. Meet Rooty, the tooth puppet he used to help teach his lean management class about Root Analysis. And then we made cookies to help teach the Fish Bone Diagram. I was joking with him to make sure he was in gradschool, not grade school. But I guess he got rave reviews from the teacher, who recorded his presentation. He's gotten great comments from his teachers the whole year about his great presentation skills and his knack for things within hospital Administration.
So Dave was awarded the Paper of the Year award among his cohorts! He was given this nice framed certificate as well as a $2,000 towards a lein certificate course next year. He's already done the lean management one this semester, and will do the green and black belts in the fall or spring. He's been working hard for that in addition to school. He's been doing lean (process improvement) projects for the CHAS clinics up here to get that certificate and help improve things at CHAS. But I'm really so darn excited that his hard work is paying off, he's doing just so great in school I'm thrilled!
Then, after a week of enjoying not having school, we spent lots of time together as a family. We flew kites together, went to the mall, went to the park, had a picnic, went swimming, and did some other fun things together. It was so nice not have to stress about school and to just be together! Then, he had to leave to go to U of U Hospital to begin his internship down there. Before he left, we had a brunch with a cowboy theme to send him off. The signs say "Happy trails to "U", until we meet again." We made some fun things for him with the cowboy theme had fun being together one last morning and then drove him out to the airport.
Cal and Emma helped Daddy get his stuff together and ready, though they weren't ready to say goodbye. They all started bawling pretty soon after we dropped him off. I think Dave was bawling the worst!
Saying goodbye to Lucy!
Emma helping carry daddy's luggage for him. I love you, Dad!
It was so very hard to say goodbye to Dave but we need to stay up here to let Emma finish up a little more school. Dave left this lamp and said to turn on the candle when we missed him and felt lonely. So there have been those nights when we have. Or we wrap the kids in the Wazzu blanket and say it's like Daddy giving them a hug. Or we rehearse one of our memorized scriptures (we've started memorizing scriptures together, which has been such a blessing for us) together to give us comfort. It's been two full weeks and a day now since he's been gone and we've been missing him like crazy! I've been holding myself together pretty well, but anytime we Skype with Dave, he gets so emotional and tries to be tough but has tears streaming down his cheeks, such a sweet man! The kids have had several breakdowns. ): They miss Daddy so much and just want Daddy. And I know where they're coming from! It was so hard to let go of his last hug and kisses, but at least there is an end in sight and we will see him soon! I'm just happy for reminders around the house - like the notes he left on the dry erase board and cards and this lamp that we do light up when we miss him.
So I've had two weeks pulling things off by myself, and I've been grateful for friends, family and neighbors who care. It's made this ordeal a whole lot easier! It's hard being alone, hats off to single mothers everywhere! As for Dave, he's loving his internship and I guess is buddy buddy with some big whigs at the Hospital now! The C.F.O. has his cell number and has been calling him and he's been getting rides in the higher-up peoples fancy cars, he he! He's doing a project there with a board to figure out the actual cost of healthcare in a university type setting, vs. private health care and non-for-profit, etc. So it should be a great experience! We're just excited to be together again, not just through the computer, though we are grateful for that techonlogy which makes that possible! Until then, we'll keep the light on and look forward to seeing him soon! So now we're kind of caught up, at least for the moment!
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