Can't Live with 'em, Can't Live without 'em!

Oh, these children!  I love them to pieces, but boy can they drive me crazy!  Grant- at a little over 2 1/2 just screamed out my name for the last 40 minutes.  I put him to bed and could tell he was trying to stall, but I had no idea it would go on that long.  He wanted his little flash light.  I said no; we were not going to search all over the house for it and it was time to sleep.  He wanted a book.  No, it is too dark.  I left.  He screamed.  I tried to take care an email for Emma's schooling.  The computer was slow and the combination of that and Grant screaming in the background about drove me batty.  I came back in.  He still wanted a book.  I said no, it was too dark.  I left.  He screamed, "Mommmmmayyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!" about a hundred times.  I tried to talk to my sister-in-law so I wouldn't just be focusing on the screaming.  I had a hard time doing it, but at least the time went a little faster (and I got to talk to my sister-in-law =) )I went in again.  He wanted his flashlight.  I said no.  I left.  He screamed.  I finished the dishes.  Finally, I decided I would lie down with him in my bed if I needed to.  I could not listen to the screaming any longer.  I went in.  He wanted his nose wiped and to be covered up and I haven't heard a peep from him since.  I guess he wore himself right out.  So, here I am writing a blog post instead of taking care of the millions of other things I should be doing. 
We have had a rough couple of days with the children.  They have been ornery and difficult.  In return, sadly, I have been ornery and difficult.  As Kenneth and I talked about it the other evening, after such a day, we realized we have both been so busy, that they probably just need time with us.  Time with us just to play with them and read to them.    My children are angels when I take the time out to just sit on the couch with them and read books.  Or when I get on all fours and chase them around the room.  Ah, time.  There is never enough. . .
One thing is certain.  They grow up way too fast.  Emma officially completes her Kindergarten year tomorrow.  I will have a first-grader!  I am so glad about our decision to homeschool at this time in our life.  There is not enough time to be carting her off to school each day and to have her miss out on playing with and being with her younger siblings.  Of course, there are those days mentioned above when I wish I had a moment's peace.  But, I wouldn't change a thing.  It's like they say, Can't Live with 'em, Can't Live without 'em!

Emma is six years old!!!!

My baby turned six years old this month!  Wow! How time flies!  We are so thankful to have Emma in our family.  She is such a sweet, intelligent, kind, good-hearted girl. 
On Emma's actual Birthday, we had Kenneth's brother, Jason, and his wife and 2 little girls visiting.  Emma was delighted to have them with us on her Birthday.  She kept me hopping in the kitchen all day.  She chose sweet potato waffles for breakfast with whipped cream, strawberries and bananas.  For lunch she requested grilled pizza- which we ate alfresco.  And finally, for dinner she chose Swedish Meatballs, which she has picked for every Birthday dinner since she was capable of picking.  (I actually made it for her 1st Birthday dinner too because it was one of the only dinners at the time that she liked.)  And for dessert, blessed child, she chose brownies.  I myself am not a cake lover, so I was very pleased to oblige in this. 
A couple of days before her birthday, her adopted Grandma, Miss Anita, gave her a little celebration at her house, complete with a HUGE 6 balloon, a big cookie cake decorated with horses on top, lunch of her choice and a stable for her horses to live in. 
Yesterday we had her party with her friends.  It was so pleasant.  We held it at the same park that we did last year and the weather was perfect.  So, yesterday marked the end of the official celebrations on her behalf.  We finally got around to the birthday interview today at dinner.  Sadly, I am having techinically difficulties and am not able to share any pictures with you all right now.  (Can you sense a trend around here!?!?!)  One day I will be up and running again and able to share all our fun happenings since Easter in pictures. 

For now, Here's is the Birthday Interview:

How old are you today?  6
What is your favorite animal?  A horse
What is your favorite color?  Purple and Pink
What is your favorite food?  Chicken Pot Pie
What is your favorite treat?  Chocolate
What is your favorite book?  Any book about animals (she means non-fiction)
What do you want to be when you grow up?  A regular person
What does that mean?  Be like you guys (talking about mom and dad)

Emma, do you want to have a job?  No.  Well, you mean like you had before you met Daddy?  (Yes).  I want to be a teacher in a school.

Who loves you the most?  Heavenly Father
What is your favorite part of the day?  Going places
Who is your best friend?  Clare and Natalie
What is your favorite activity, or thing to do?  Play games and play with toys.

What is your favorite song?  Mother, I Love You (the Primary children sang that in Sacrament Meeting today at Church)
If you could choose to go anywhere in the world, where would you choose to go to visit?  To Alyssa's house (her cousin who lives in Utah)
What kind of cake did you choose for your Birthday?  Cupcakes

What as your favorite thing you learned about this year?  About leopards
What did you learn about leopards?  They can climb a tree holding an animal that weighs more than they do.

What is something new you want to learn about this year?  Zebras

We did lots of things this year, visited lots of places, like the beach, the Wild Animal Park, Utah; what was your favorite?  the beach

What was your favorite part about your Birthday Party?  Playing with my friends.

What is your favorite scripture story?  The miracles of Jesus, actually, Noah.

What was your favorite part of school?  Miss Lorie visiting. 
Why was that your favorite part?  Because she brings us stuff.
(Miss Lorie is the Educational Specialist assigned to us from the Charter School.  We have a budget to spend on cirriculum and educational supplies from the Charter School and Lorie delivers these things to us when she comes for her monthly visit.  Many times it is art supplies, workbooks, puzzles, science projects, etc.)

Would you say you are more like Daddy, or more like Mommy?  Mommy.
Why?  Because I have kind of the same hair as mom. (I just cut my hair, so now we have similar lengths)

Laugh out loud

I love those moments when I laugh out loud at something the kids say or do. Just a minute ago, I was in the same room with Arianna (who was in a 'fort' in the corner). I was concentrating on something else, so I didn't understand her the first time she asked me the question. When I asked her what she said she repeated, "Mom are you going to whip me into a gallop?" I laughed out loud. She is such a crack up sometimes. (Can you tell we read a lot of books about horses?)

We are still alive. It' s been a long while since I've blogged. Ever since we got the new camera, I can't just upload pictures out in the kitchen, which is where I regularly use the computer; the camera software is on the computer in the office. For some reason, that really seems to stand in my way of blogging. But, we have had lots of great adventures and fun times- especially with a fabulous Easter weekend now behind us. I love Spring! Here in California where we live, I feel like we have been enjoying Spring since January. We started seeing the trees bloom then and we still get to see blooms and buds everyday. On Sunday, as I sang with and talked to the Nursery Children (18 months to 3 years) I told them that even the trees know that Jesus was resurrected! Seemingly they have been 'dead' all Winter, and in the Spring they burst forth with newness of life. There is no coincidence that Jesus was resurrected in the Spring of the year!
As the scriptures teach,
"All things denote there is a God; yea even the earth,
and all things that are upon the face of it" - Alma 30:44

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.