My Magnum Opus

I have been reading Charlotte's Web with the girls. I know I must have read it at some point in my life, but I really didn't remember much of it. What a well-written, beautiful story! Tonight I read the chapter wherein Charlotte completed her "magnum opus", her great work, her egg sac. I controlled my emotions, but I felt the tears coming into my eyes because I also feel like my three beautiful children are my "magnum opus". I haven't really done anything amazing in my life- except be the mother to these three. I try a little harder each day to be better at it. Some days I am. Some days I fail miserably. I need to always remember how precious they are and how lucky I am to have them. And continue to improve.

What are the three little angels up to, you ask? Well, Grant is forever amazing me with how much of a BOY he is! He is often saying, "fight!" and scrunching up his face and trying to battle with someone- be it me or one of the girls. It is really quite funny. . .except that it also isn't! Where does he get this stuff?! On that note, for the last few weeks we have been singing, "To Be a Pioneer" in preparation for Pioneer Day, which just passed. (I am the Music Leader in Primary and the children sang that song in sacrament meeting on Sunday. So, we have been singing it a lot at home as well) Anyway, every time we sing that song the one word that Grant picks out is 'conquer'. When he hears it he repeats it out loud like he thinks it's the coolest word ever. What a funny kid. Another bit of 'boy' evidence: Kenneth and I were cutting his hair the other day and he really had a hard time with it. It had been a couple months since we last cut it and he did not want those clippers coming near his head. It wasn't until the noise of the clippers reminded him of a car that he allowed them to come near his head. The rest of the haircut we talked about what kind of car or truck was now driving all over his head. Funny little man.
The girls are doing great. Emma is reading so well. She amazes me every day. She wants to read every square in Old Testament Stories every night and does pretty well. (to keep Arianna's sanity I read every other one- she doesn't like Emma to read them!) Arianna is getting better and better at writing. She is even asking to write words. She will tell me a word she wants to write and I will tell her the letters and she writes them. I was amazed at how good she is getting at forming the letters. Some of her words she chose to write last night included: apple sauce, cat, dog, elephant, table, man flower, and truck. The girls spend a lot of time at their little table writing and drawing.

Here are some recent drawings by the girls:
The first one is obviously by Arianna. As you can see she is getting much better at her name.

This one is Emma's

In other news, I cut my hair off a week and a half ago. It is now just below my chin. I really like it. I like it a lot more on days when I do it, but alas, I can't seem to get around to it everyday. Oh well. For anyone who knew me way back then, it is the same haircut I had right when I got back from my mission, when Katrina was married. Don't have any pictures of me yet- you'll see one soon.

I have also been busy with the garden. I was able to pick and can 7 quarts of green beans that we grew! I had no idea I would be able to get that many from our little garden and I was overjoyed by it! The girls helped me cut the beans. It was neat to sit around the table together preserving food. I hope it is a foreshadowing of many more years ahead!


We also had a lovely day at the beach last week with my college roommate, Holly, and her family. It was such fun to be together again. The kids had so much fun together! Sadly, I never took a picture of Holly and me together. Holly, what were we thinking?

The five little monkeys playing in the sand

The girls and C collecting seagull feathers

Arianna and Emma and the feather collections

So, life is good. We are very happy here. We have stopped looking for a house altogether. We hear talk of the housing market continuing to fall another 20 % and it just doesn't make sense to buy right now. This home has been very good for us. Which reminds me, it is awesome to live on a Cul de Sac with little children!!! We finally got helmets for the girls, which means they can ride out front instead of just on the back patio. They love it! (And they look so grown up to me!)