San Jose

Grant was out in the backyard with Kenneth this evening and in telling Kenneth about the day he mentioned, "San Jose came today." Kenneth said, "What?" Grant repeated what he said and then Kenneth realized what he was talking about: JOSE, the 'gardener' was here today to mow the lawn. Grant is convinced his name is San Jose. He cracks us up. (San Jose is the next city South of us. We are in the San Jose Stake. We regularly shop and attend preschool in San Jose. It's amazing what they pick up and how they use the knowledge.)

Oh- speaking about misusing knowledge- in an adorable way- I made naan (Indian flat bread) for dinner the other night and Grant said he was going to eat his 'flatbed truck'. The kid eats, drinks, and sleeps cars, I tell you.

Spring, School and Some Good News!

Hello everyone!! How's that for happiness! I love her smile. I got a new camera for Christmas and I have been playing around with it a little. I really want to learn.

Here is some more playing around that I did:

These gorgeous blumes are in my own backyard. Yes, it has been Spring around here for a while. There were already blooming trees in January. It is very strange for this Up-State New Yorker (yes, I consider myself to be such). But, I will enjoy the beauty while it is to be seen February or not!

We also planted another round of seeds in our garden (by we I mean Kenneth, of course).

Here are the peas up. Yum.

Homeschooling is still going well. I can't imagine Emma leaving us everyday! We'd miss her too much! It is an interesting process, this homeschooling. I really have no idea what I am doing. At the beginning, I tried to make it somewhat like the Kindergarten class I worked in. But, Emma resisted almost any structured learning time I would try to do. So, I pretty much let her do what she wants. This morning the girls chose on their own to do this:

Arianna and Grant are so proud of themselves when they point our California.

Upon completion, they rolled around on the ground. Why? I do not know. After they did it together, Emma did the puzzle again on her own. She told me she did it without even looking at the box. How's that for a geography lesson?

Emma is a great reader now and reads aloud for about 1 hour everyday- plus what I read to her. I figure for this age, that is enough. We talk a lot about everything. I really believe that Emma learns a lot just from everyday life. We also have a great library and make regular trips.

We are also thankful for good friends that we have kindergarten co-op with and meet once a week to learn Science, History, Music and Art. It is great. And of course, Park days with friends are the icing on the cake.

Life is good. And now for the good news. . . The PET Scan showed nothing to worry about. It was completely clean!! Hooray!!! Kenneth is feeling great! How thankful we are.

Off the Cuff

Do you ever spend way too much time trying to think of an appropriate title for your blog post, or think of creative ways to combine all the happenings as of late into one neat tidy flowing blog post? I spend way too much of my brain energy on this sort of thing. I need to be more 'off the cuff' about it all sometimes. Maybe that way I would actually record more of the adorable and hilarious things my children say and do that make motherhood oh so worth it.

Tonight we happened to go out to dinner with some friends. (Which is very rare for us) Before we went I got down on the kids' level and tried to prep them. I tried to remind them what we should and should not do in a restaurant. I must say they did quite well. I was pleasantly surprised. When I was talking to Grant about it I asked him what he would like to eat at the restaurant. He replied, "Something good for my belly." (Can you tell we talk about what kinds of foods are good for our bodies?) I asked him what kind of food. He got the cutest little smile on his face and said, "corn." What a funny little guy. At the restaurant when we were asking the kids what they wanted to eat from the menu he did it again- whipped out that cute little smile and just said, "corn." He ended up having the largest pancake I have ever seen with scrambled eggs and 2 strips of bacon. . . and he was in heaven.

Arianna chowed down her fish sticks (not sure what possessed her to order those. We don't eat them at our house and maybe she has had them once or twice at Grandma's.) But she gobbled them up like crazy, then ate some french fries. Then we reminded her to listen to her belly and stop when she was full. She stopped for a while and colored and worked on the activities on the blessed children's paper they give out (I was so thankful for that paper tonight- the girls were completely occupied and happy for an hour!) Then she took a break from her coloring, picked up the large leaf of romaine lettuce that was on her plate as a garnish and proceeded to gobble the entire thing up- with no dip or dressing. I must admit I was bursting with pride that my barely 4 year old would do such a thing!!!!

So, there you have it. My off the cuff musings for the evening. As for some real news, Kenneth is having a PET scan on Wednesday. He finally met with his Oncologist on Tuesday and he feels he should have one done to be safe. Kenneth has been feeling great lately, so we hope and pray that it is clean and that this is simply a precautionary measure and will not disclose more cancer. We know that the Lord is looking out for us. I don't believe it to be merely coincidental that Kenneth was asked to speak in church on Sunday on the topic of 'Facing the Future with Faith'.

Don't Carpe Diem

I wanted to share an article I read recently. It made me laugh. It made me cry. It made me laugh at motherhood and cry with joy that these beautiful children are mine. Read it! You'll love it! Here it is.
The article talks about 2 different types of time. Chronos time- the hard, slow-passing time- regular time. And then there is Kairos time. This is God's time. It's those moments when time seems to stop for a moment and you feel such joy. 'My cup runneth o'er' moments. I love those moments. Like when Emma, on her own accord, takes the 2 little ones to the couch and reads to them. Like when Grant gives me a big slobbery kiss and looks me right in the eyes to say he loves me.
Then there's Chronos time. It has taken a month to recover from Christmas vacation. The time just seemed to drag. I couldn't seem to be able to get anything done. I just barely took the Christmas decorations down last week. I finally posted about Christmas (find the post here.) And really, the only reason I was able to accomplish all that is because I had sick children and so we weren't able to attend pre-school and kindergarten co-op last week and I allowed the kids to watch movies all day!
One of the highlights of January was going to see the Peking Acrobats at UC Berkeley. We attended a special school performance during the day. The kids loved it! (Notice Arianna wanting to be an acrobat in her Birthday interview) They were amazing!!
If you are interested, look at these images of the acrobats. Simply amazing!
I also managed to post about the rest of Arianna's Birthday celebration. Go here to see that- just one post ago. You've got to check out her cake!

Well it's final- I think I am finally caught up!! Now if only I could keep up with everything else in my life!!!!

Here are some pictures of our last few weeks:



Kiddos helping to wash teh van after our long car trip.

Grant and Daddy. Those outfits weren't planned. I promise. (Aren't they adorable!)


Here are the girls practicing acrobatics.

Emma tumbling- just like the acrobats.

Arianna's Birthday, Part Two

Arianna may have decided not to have a party, but really, she essentially ended up with 3 parties! We celebrated here at home (breakfast and lunch). Then, in the afternoon, Kenneth and I abandoned the Birthday girl (and the other 2 as well) and went to see the U.S. National Ladies Ice Skating Championships. They were watched by good friends of ours who have 5 children. We brought over cupcakes and a gift and she had a little party with them! Then, on Monday, we went to visit Miss Anita (our adopted Grandma out here) and she threw a little party for Arianna. Good times all around!
Here are the pictures:
We had caterpillars for breakfast, what else for lunch than a crab?!?! Arianna and the other two were delighted. Arianna requested peanut butter and jelly and frozen peas for lunch (she sure does makes it easy on me) so I figured I could at least make that somewhat exciting. I saw this idea in Family Fun magazine. They made them with croissants, but I didn't have them and, of course, thought to do this last minute, so this is what I came up with!
Here they are with their crabs.

Then came the main event, the cake. Kenneth came up with this set up. Pretty cheesy, but pretty darn cool for a 4 year old! It was kind of selfish of me, too. I wanted to make a particular chocolate cake recipe, which Kenneth tells me is really a brownie (no wonder I like it so well!) You bake it in a loaf pan and then it sinks as it cools, so it does not have a shape condusive to frosting. Plus, I didn't want frosting anyway. So I had to come up with a way to serve it with the whipped cream and raspberries. So, I just cut it in chunks and made a volcano. Voila!

And boy was it delicious!

Arianna loved it! The first thing she did was remove the dinosaurs from the habitat and share with her siblings. One for each of them. So sweet. (No, it is not always so blissful.)

Opening gifts at home after lunch.

In the afternoon/evening, Kenenth and I enjoyed being at the U.S. National Ladies Ice Skating Championships. Kenneth got tickets from work. It was such fun! And nice to be on a date together! One of the highlights of the evening, was Michelle Kwan being inducted into the National Ice Skating Hall of Fame. Pretty cool. Kristi Yamaguchi and Brian Boitano were also there.Here is Michelle Kwan on the big screen.

There is Ashley Wagner taking her victory lap before being awarded as Champion.

Kenneth and me with the Four Champions in the background.

And finally, some pictures of Monday's celebration with Miss Anita: Arianna delighted with Miss Anita's dinosaur brownies powdered with 'snow'.

Yum!

The party

Arianna having fun with her gifts from Miss Anita. Thanks, Anita!

It's all dinosaurs all the time around here nowadays. They even separate the little ones into piles: babies and food! They get that some of them are carnivorous. However, I also saw them setting up the babies to nurse from the mommy. I tried to explain that dinosaurs were not mammals, but they didn't want to hear it. Oh well.

Happy Fourth Birthday, Arianna!

Arianna is four years old today! We can hardly believe it! She is such a smart, beautiful, funny, happy little girl.
She was so excited for her Birthday she was up at 5:45 am. I said "Happy Birthday" to her first thing and she said, "I am going to love this day!" She was so delighted to see the Birthday sign and balloons and presents.
I wanted to write just a little bit about Arianna. She was such a good baby; always so happy, a great sleeper, and always able to soothe herself with her beloved thumb.

The day she was born.

She has always adored her big sister (and vice-verse) and they are the best of friends. They hardly know what to do with themselves if the other one is gone!

Emma looking in on her new little sister.

They love playing together!

Here are the two of them together just last month.

Arianna on her 1st Birthday

Arianna on her 2nd Birthday

Arianna's 3rd Birthday!

Arianna 3 1/2 year old- this picture is so Arianna.

For Kenneth's Birthday, in November, Arianna decided she was going to stop sucking her thumb during the day. We were so proud of her! We are amazed at her will to do something once she sets her mind to it. She still sucked at night time though, and when asked when she was going to stop sucking at night she would say, "when I am a mom." Needless to say, we thought the night-time thumb sucking would continue for a very long time! But, she again decided on her own last week that she was going to stop at night time. We helped her remember during the night for the first few days by putting a mitten on the hand she usually sucks on, but now, she will tell us in the morning that she just forgot to suck in the night! What a relief to us that she is done with that! Her determination and will are truly amazing - something we pray will be a huge strength to her throughout her life.

Arianna decided she did not want a big party with friends, so we are celebrating at home with just the five of us. She really prefers to just spend time with her closest friends - her family. We had a special Birthday Breakfast today and opened a couple of presents this morning. We will do some more celebrating at lunch time.

Here is her Birthday Interview:

How old are you today? "4"

What is your favorite animal? "Dinosaur"

What is your favorite color? "Black" (last year it was yellow- the pendulum doth swing, eh? We're hoping it's black because of her favorite black dance outfit she loves to wear lately!)

What is your favorite food? "Cake"

What is your favorite treat? "Brownie, actually, ice-cream"

What kind of ice-cream? "Umm, mint"

What is your favorite book? "When the bug went Kah-choo"

What do you want to be when you grow up? "An acrobat! Um, actually a farmer - because I want to live on a farm. Because I want to ride a horse - a black horse."

Who loves you the most? "Ah Daddy" {Mom's disclaimer- Dad was the one asking the question, otherwise she would have said me!}
Emma "That's not right. There is someone else that loves you even more."
Arianna "Um, Mommy."
Emma "No!"
Arianna "Grandpa Pilz?"
Emma "No, not someone who died." Then (whispering in Arianna's ear) "There is someone who loves you even more"
Arianna "Jesus"
Emma "Yes, that's right!"
Note: This exchange was quite comical - we're going to have to start videoing these interviews.

Arianna "This is taking too long."

What is your favorite time of the day? "When I can open my presents"
Mom "What about a normal day?"
Arianna "No, let's not talk about that."
Note: At this point, Arianna is really ready to move on and eat or open presents.

What is your favorite activity? "Playing Candy Land with you, Daddy."

Arianna "This is taking too long."

So, Arianna, since you are 4 years old and you stopped sucking your thumb, how do you feel? "Happy! I want you to take a picture of my thumb!"

Not sure how long it will take for the callus to go away, but at least the crack that was in it a week ago is healing!

Here are the pictures of the morning celebration:
Breakfast: Cinnamon rolls, scrambled eggs (we add flaxseed meal, in case you are wondering why they look funny), and a special Birthday Caterpillar who decided to visit.

Grant and Arianna couldn't wait to eat the raspberries!

Cinderella and carriage from mom and dad. Can you tell she was delighted?! After she opened it she said, "I love it! You got me just what I wanted!"

Pajamas from Grandma Pilz

We'll post pictures from the rest of the day later, but we wanted everyone to know earlier in the day that it's Arianna's Birthday!!!!

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

I told Emma this morning that we were going to the temple tomorrow. A few minutes later she returned with her favorite dress stating that is what she wanted to wear tomorrow to the temple. I explained that she wasn't going inside the temple and that I wanted her to wear something warm that she could play on the near-by playground in. She burst into tears and blurted out,

"It's not fair you get to be beautifuller than me!!! You get to wear something pretty and I don't!!"

Despite the fact that she was really upset, I couldn't help but laugh. Little does she know that I (and believe it or not already her 3 year old little sister) envy her hair. She is more beautiful than I any day of the week. . .