Important to note

It is way too late, in fact it is Monday morning.  I have spent the last 4 hours making our preschool year book. Now I can check that off the list.  I'm excited to give them to my class and I  hope they know how much I love them, and will miss being their teacher.  Before I go to bed I had to post this picture of my girl. She had her baptismal interview with the bishop today, and she is ready to be baptised.  I'm so proud of this girl.  I'm amazed how caring and thoughtful she can be. She has a strong desire to do what is right and is so excited to be baptised.  I'm so lucky to be her mom.

P.S

P.S Max,
I guess you really were sick. I'm sorry that you threw up in your class.  I was happy to pick you up at 1:15.  You made it most the day, you got to play with your friends, and you were very proud of yourself for getting an other good report from the teacher.

P.S Friends,
You are all so very wonderful. Thank you for the encouragement.  I really find this all pretty funny. May we all be blessed with a Max in our lives to keep us creative, honest, patient and loving.  I would not have it any other way. Well may be without the pukes.

Letter to Max

Max Oh Max my second child,
 This morning you woke up and said that your tummy hurt again.  Sorry bud you stayed home yesterday form school.  I don't doubt that it hurt I just don't think staying home another day will help you get better.  I think that if you are busy at school you will be able to forget about it.  Max, I can understand that you did not want the mini bagel turkey and cheese sandwich that I made you for lunch.  However, throwing it the garbage hurt my feelings.  Taking out the watermelon I packed you was another tiny blow, but I know that you are building independence by making your own lunch and sometimes a cracker and pretzel lunch can be quite filling.  You know how to push my buttons, like by telling me with tear filled eyes that kids make fun of your bagel sandwich lunch, I'm not really sure on that one since is this the first time you have said anything. Son, I love you. You have been getting good reports at school for 2 weeks now.  Thank you, Thank you for trying so hard at school. 
Love you always,
Mom

That is how my morning went down, followed by lots of crying form the little brother b/c he could not go to school with the big kids. I have something to say to all those cute bento lunches.  My kids don't like you they would much rather have PB&J on wheat bread with no shapes. 

On Saturday

I have been waiting to put up this post because I was hoping to have some pictures to add but I don't so I will post it now and add pictures later.  (4/28 pictures are now added)
Let's start with Thursday. Mandy let me know that we probably were not going to run that night because her Grandma passed away and there were things that she need to get done to get ready for funeral in Ohio.  I tell you this because we were running together regularly so she could train for Pat's Run.  Since her grandmother passed away she would not be able to run the race on Saturday.  After an email to the race people they let her know that would not refund her money so I offered to run in her place.
Kevin and my nieces had signed up for Pat's Run in January so they were all going to run in it too.  I was just now joining the party. I had been running so I was ready.
Kevin story is a little different.  He was so excited about this years race but while training for it he would have an almost debilitating pain in his calf.  He would rest it and then try to run again and the same thing would happen.  Finally just days before the race he decided so buy some compression socks that other people said really helped them with the same kind of pain.  The socks really helped the pain but he hadn't been running very far or very fast. 
Come Saturday morning we are all ready to race.  Kevin, Pablo and my nieces are placed in corral 1. (if you want to know how that happened ask me in person)  I am in corral 10 and my buddy Emma decided that she would run with me.  The race begins.  Emma has picked up her running game since last year and right out of the gate she had a faster pace than me so she went for it and I would meet her at the finish line.  Long story short, I finished almost 7 minutes faster than last year.  I was a little disappointed that I ran a 10:30 mile. I really thought I was running a 10 min mile.  Now I have something to work on.  Kevin almost passed out the course because he is competitive, he pushes himself and he was not ready.  My nieces are super runners and both improved their times. 

We quickly leave the race to get ready for Lilly's birthday present from Amber. She was taking us to the Rapunzel play at Hale theater with her and Becca. The play was cute Lilly loved it.  The theater even recognized kids with birthdays with a little toy and getting sung to on stage.  After the play we had girls lunch at Liberty Market.  I'm so glad that we went I loved it I knew I would.  Lilly not so much.  I should have made her get the pizza, I think she would have been happier. 
Then it was home to rest for the rest of the evening. We were all tired from a party the night before and getting up before 6 am. We did do a few chores before we went to bed, like clean up from the party and wash the car.  It was a full, fun and busy day. I really like when Saturdays are like that.

8 is Great

8 years ago from Friday I became a mother for the first time to my Lilly Lou.  We are so blessed to have her in our family. To celebrate this wonderful kid we spoiled her. Why not you only have a birthday once a year.  In our house we wake the kids up in the morning by singing happy birthday.  Lilly was so excited this year that she woke up so early that she beat me up.  When it was time to wake her up she thoughtfully pretended to be sleeping while we sang to her.  She opened up a new Little Mermaid barbie and her own set of scriptures from Nana and Papa.  For breakfast she had her tower of 8 doughnuts.   

 On Friday night she had a little party with her friends.  We made bracelets, played games, danced, and had spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.  The pictures I took for her party didn't turn out very well which is always disappointing for me. I snapped this shot of her and birthday twin. They were born on the same day,  they are in the same class at school and will be baptised on the same day. Very exciting for these two.

 Lilly wanted cupcakes. My friend made the cutest cupcake toppers. They are butterflies Lilly's theme for this year.  All the girls loved them.  Thank you Lynn. Oh and not to forget that I borrowed the cupcake tree  to make the cupcakes festive.  I have such great friends that will help me out. 

Here are the silly girls together. Lilly is so blessed to have these cute girls as her friends.  Oh 10 girls in a house is lots of fun and lots of silly, and lots of noise.  

Exploring

Yesterday I planed a fun day of exploring for my preschool class at the Riparian.  I had made each of the kids a list of things there were to find while we were on our nature hike.  I love seeing kids with clipboards.  They were busy doing some serious exploring and discovering.  All of them were able to complete our walk with few complaints. 

 Here is my class.  Just like my kids it is impossible to get a picture of all them them looking at the camera and smiling.

 I can't believe that they year is almost over.  They are so ready for kindergarten.  It's always bitter sweet for me. I'm happy to see them grow, learn and develop into thoughtful, and curious  little people.  But I will miss them.  Oh I would love to send this picture to these kids when they graduate from high school. 

Let's Go Fly a Kite

We have been enjoying amazing weather the past few days.  We are trying to be outside as much as possible because  I know that our nice days are numbered soon we will  be in the 100's.  It was nice and breezy today and I overheard someone at school saying that they were going to fly kites.  Flying kites PERFECT. I told the kids I wanted to get them a surprise, so we hoped in the car and bought 2 kites.  Kevin got home early and we went to the park to try them out.

Max said "mom, that was fun not the funniest thing but it was fun.  Can we fly kites tomorrow?"  Mission accomplished. 

12 on 12

Did you remember?  I sure did. I love the 12th. 
Here is our normal, ordinary day. 

1.  6 am wake up.  Well I hit snooze maybe once.
2.  Lilly requested pig tails today.  I'm so glad that she has hair, but it is getting thin again.  I'm hoping for regrowth like last time.
3.  Riding bikes to school today. We had delightful weather.
4.  Luke dumping his milk out on the table.  He dose this almost every time I leave the room. Little stinker.
5.  I got to take flowers home from R.S Tuesday. I love having fresh flowers on my table.
6.  Preschool kids were cracking me up today.  Having fun playing their number game.
7.  I spent sometime in photo shop while Luke was down for a nap.  It's a present I'm super excited to give.
8.  Luke was so excited to have Lilly and Max home from school.  He climbed on her lap while she did her homework.  Lilly is so sweet to him.
9.  Max is doing so well with his reading.
10. I love to see their backpacks and they remembered to hang them up.
11.Daddy brought home ice cream for desert, and Max thought he would be funny and wear Lilly's pajamas. 
12.  Bedtime. Time to jump on Daddy!

At Home

Lilly stayed home from school on Monday. She was complaining of a sore throat on Saturday and then again on Sunday morning.  She perked up by mid day on both days but Sunday she actually fell asleep in the afternoon and had a small fever in the evening.  I took her to the doctor on Monday morning and he confirmed my suspicion of strep throat.  So for the first time in my 8 years of being a mother I bought the pink medicine.  I know just cursed myself, but we have never had an ear infection or strep before.  The only thing we have gotten is pink eye, colds and flu.  Not a bad sick record if you ask me.  As a side note the doctor that we saw I will never see again if I can avoid it.  The whole time he called me Mommy and referred to me as Mommy many times. Like "Mommy, has she had any cough or running nose?" or "Mommy, has she had a fever?"  Anyway it drove me nuts.

Lilly was super excited that she was feeling better today because she was invited to go to activity days a week early.  They will be singing in church the Sunday after she turns 8 so she was invited to practice with them so she can sing too.  Oh, I can't believe that this sweet girl will be 8 in a week. 

Easter Saturday and Sunday

Happy Easter.  John and Shannyn invited us up for a little egg hunt on Saturday.  I love spending time with them and the cousins have a good time together.  You would think that living only an hour away from each other that we would get together often but we don't, not often enough.  So thank you for being wonderful hosts and feeding us yummy won tons and fried rice. Oh and yes thank you for introducing us to fruit slush. We will be having that a lot this summer.  What would be a family gathering without pictures?  The kids love to play in their bounce house. John was nice enough to pose for me.

Lilly is moving quickly to find eggs and Max is checking out what prizes his eggs hold.

 Both Luke and Sam got in the game and picked up every egg they could see.  Jack opening his loot.

Sunday, church is at 8 am. On those years the Easter bunny comes while we are at church.  Well in the middle of sacrament meeting. Lilly starts to look sick and Luke's nose is just dripping with snot.  We needed to get home and not give everyone our germs.  When we got home we were able to run the kids upstairs and set up baskets and hide eggs downstairs.  Then they all ran down to find a chocolate bunny and volume 2 of  "HE MAN" from the Easter bunny.  (yes my kids are really into He Man).  Then they found our hidden eggs. It all happened fast. We rested most the day and talked about why we celebrate Easter.  They were able to tell me about the Savior and then I was able to share my testimony with them,  that I know the Savior lives, he is real, he loves us and our greatest joy is found in following his example and teachings.  It was a lovely Sunday. Complete with an egg salad sandwich for lunch.  Wonderful.

Good Friday

Our Good Friday was good. I thought about having all of us do extra chores at home. But I decided lets just make it a fun day.  I feel like we don't have enough of them.  Days where I show my kids that they are what matters most. Dishes can wait, landry can always be folded later, but soon they will think I'm not cool and their friends know more than me.  So that is what we did we spent time together.  We started of by visiting the Riparian preserve.  We all had a good little walk, we saw lots of animals, plants a pretty flowers.  The weather was nice not too hot. 

As a treat we got Happy Meals for lunch.  The kids were so happy and declared it the best day ever.  I really love to hear those words.  When Luke went down for a nap we dyed our Easter eggs.  Maybe next year I will let Luke in on the fun but for this year it was perfect for Lilly and Max to work on their creations.

We then headed out to borrow our friends pool and have our first swim of 2012.  Lilly and Max remembered how to swim and Luke loves the water.  He loves it a little too much he just wants to jump and a play and chase the big kids.  He was hard to hold on to but he was happy.

Finally at the end of the night to treat myself for being a "Super Mom" and a "Yes Mom", Kevin and I went out on a date to dinner with Amber and Pablo.   Friday was good.