You win some and you lose some

Let me start by saying that I love Christmas. I love so many things about Christmas, and I will be sharing some of the things I love soon. But for now I will recount what happen yesterday morning. It’s not all bad, actually it started very nicely, but as always, you win some and you lose some.

It all started when the kids woke up and realized that there had been a major snowfall during the night. From that very second on, the only thing Henry had on his mind was playing in the snow. He begged and begged to walk to school until I relented. I admit that my car would probably not have made it to school as it was still snowing bit and the roads in the neighborhood had not been plowed but I want to make sure to point out that it was Henry idea in the first place, he wanted to go walk in the snow. So we bundled up (hats, gloves, and snow boots) and started for school. The kids had a great time running in the snow, throwing a few snowballs, making a couple of snow angels (you win some) until about a 50 yards from the school gates and Henry started screaming, I mean really screaming, people could probably hear him within a ½ mile radius. “You’re the meanest mom in the world! It was all your idea! And now I’m going to freeze to death!” So we went to the gates, I kissed Olivia goodbye and we went back home (about ⅓ of a mile) with Henry screaming the whole time (you lose some). I have to admit it was a little bit my fault; I hadn’t bought the kids good gloves yet, and the only ones we had that fit their growing hands were the wool ones that get soaked really fast when playing in the snow. I was very calm, I didn't respond to his accusations, I just grabbed his little hand and walked home. By the time we finally got home, Henry (who had taken his wet gloves off) was a sobbing, red-faced and red hands, with snot coming out of his nose mess. And then I did something only the meanest mom in the world would do: I took a picture of him.

After a few minutes in the warm house, Henry calmed down and told me I wasn’t the meanest mom in the world. He also said that he was sorry he lied because it had been his idea to walk to school in the snow. We hugged and I got him settled into a nice warm bath with tons of bubbles. After his bath and dressed in warm clothes, we sipped hot chocolate and Henry said: “I never want to walk to school in the snow ever again.” And halfway through the afternoon, he was ready to go out and play in the snow again. As soon as I get some chains on my tires, I’m going to go buy the kids snow suits and waterproof gloves.

The meaning of Christmas

Tonight, I attended a beautiful Christmas program. The program wasn’t about how today’s world sees Christmas. It wasn’t either about service or gift giving. It was about the women at Christ’s birth: Joseph’s mother, the inn-keeper’s wife, the shepherd’s wife, Elizabeth and Mary. It was about what these women saw and testified of. Some of the program was from the scriptures, some was what they might have thought, and all of it was wonderful. In the excitement of all the store-bought items we desire and the lights and the window fronts and streets, we tend to forget about the true light, the Savior. These women saw what was truly important; a son, a grandson, a second-cousin, a child, a savior. They saw Jesus as we all should see Him, as a child, then a man, who was born on this earth, lived, learned, loved all and ultimately gave His own life for us. Christmas is about remembering that He lived and how He lived His life. It’s about trying our best to pattern our own lives after the Savior’s. I love this picture of the child Jesus praying with his mother, Mary. It reminds me that, as a mother, the best way to emulate the Savior is to love and teach my children about Him. I love the Savior and my family. I love the spirit of Christmas that puts everything back in focus. As President Monson said during the Christmas devotional in 2006: "Most of all, let it be a time to remember the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds and the worship of the wise men." Merry Christmas!

Henry's birthday party

So here are the pictures from Henry’s birthday party (there aren't many because Tyler was still at work and I was busy running the party). This was the first time I attempted an at-home-themed birthday party. In the past we have been to the pool and (mostly) to the park but this year Henry really wanted a Star Wars party and since I had never thrown a birthday party for him (yep, all the previously mentioned birthday parties were Olivia’s), I decided to give him what he wanted. I think I did a pretty good job. I researched, came up with 5 games, and set up the house. I went to many, many stores and game up with items for the goodie bag. I ordered pizza and a star wars cake (I’m not that good) for the party and cupcakes for school. And the party went really well.

First, they went on a scavenger hunt in the back yard. I gave them a card with the pictures of 6 items and told them there was one of each item for every child, once they had found an item they had to find a different item. The items were: a light saber, pop rock candy, a darth vader yoyo, a star wars coloring book, a meteorite (a milkyway bar wrap in aluminum foil, and a star wars whistle. They had a great time looking for the item and then playing with their newly acquired light sabers.

For our second activity, we played “restore balance to the universe”, it’s a “pin the tail on the donkey” type game. There’s a poster of the universe with spaceships and planets, each with a different point value, you divide the kids into two teams, blindfold them and they score points for their team by trying to touch the planet/ship with the highest point value.

To calm things down, we then played a couple of games of star wars bingo. This was definitely the favorite activity, they could have played bingo until the parents came to collect them but I had one more game I wanted them to play.

For the last game (and this is when I remembered to take pictures), I had wrapped a volleyball in aluminum foil and drawn the death star unto it and we used it to play hot potato. It was great.

I had planned on a fifth game but decided to bypass it and instead went straight to opening presents. I had said no presents but do parents ever listen? No! Henry scored big time. Thanks everybody! The kids wanted to play some more but it was getting close to the end of the party and we still had pizza and cake to eat. It was tiring but very fun, especially for the children. I’ll do it again.

Henry’s cake.

This last photo is of the kids watching a star wars the clone wars episode (which I had previously DVR-ed) while waiting for their parents to pick them up. By that time they were well fed and exhausted. The perfect ending to a near perfect party.

Henry is 6

My sweet boy is now six. I would post photos but I have not wanted to figure out how to plug the card reader back into the computer, I'd rather be knitting instead, so you'll get pictures and birthday details later.

Henry has been testing the limits lately. So much so that I've noticed that Olivia started saying "my patience is running out!", mmmm, that sounds familiar. I know it’s just a phase, every child tests the limits at one point or another... The good thing is that he still has many adorable moments. Tonight I was making dinner; he came to me, hugged my leg and said: "I'm going to be a good boy for you. I'm going to sit at the table, be quiet and practice my little (understand lower case) letters." How sweet is that? I love you Henry, no matter what! Note: The picture is obviously not recent, I told you, I'd rather be knitting :)

Pumpkin Patch

Last Friday we made our annual pilgrimage to the Bishop Pumpkin Patch in Wheatland, California. It is one of our favorite because of the great time we spend with cousins, aunts, and grandma, and because it celebrates all that we love about fall (baked goods included).

Olivia and Henry love to run through the pumpkins and find the perfect one. Every year it takes longer than the year before. I think they simply have too much fun and cannot bear to end the hunt for the greatest pumpkin.

See what I mean about too much fun?

We have our annual measuring (this one is way more fun the one at the doctor’s office).

Our cousin bonding time…

…and the sassy time too.

And let’s not forget the cutest petting zoo ever. It comes with brushes to groom the goats and they love it. They being both types of kids (the children and the goats, hehe).

Feeling Better!

Olivia has had the flu, yeah the pig kind, and our household has been, well, not fun. Not fun because Olivia has been miserable (and making others miserable too) and because Henry, the germophobe, loses it when she gets within 5 feet of him. He is convinced that he's going to get it too (he's not, he was vaccinated). However, today Olivia is feeling much better. This afternoon I found her reading in her room so I told her that if she wanted to I had a job for her to do. She asked, "Does it pay?" "I said sure I'll pay you a dollar if you go put Daddy's shoes back on the shoe rack." She went into our closet, came back out with her little fist on her hip and said “Actually, that will be 2 dollars!" She is feeling much MUCH better!

Way to take a stand!

As some of you may know, I am Henry's Kindergarten room mom. I'm in his class every day, helping, and this is what I witnessed today.

Mr. Lang (standing by the dry-erase board, while all the students are seated at their desk): "Boys and girls, listen to Mr. Lang because he's the most important person in the world." Reagan (a little girl in the class): "Mr. Lang isn't the most important person in the world. Santa Claus is the most important person in the world!" Henry (not missing a beat): "Santa Claus isn't the most important person in the world. Jesus is! And Heavenly Father too!" I love how children just blurt out what they think and I love that Henry thinks Jesus and Heavenly Father are the most important people in the world. They are. Now, should I tell him about Santa Claus?

I made croissants!

I shouldn’t pat myself on the back and brag about it too but I’m going to anyway. I’m breaking the no bragging rule because I’m excited, happy and so is my tummy.

Every one that knows me knows that my weakness is French pastries. I have been known to make a HUGE detour to get one of these little goodies. I like to buy them but I also enjoy making them. I had been looking for a good recipe for croissant, a good one but not a crazy hard one that took three days from start to finish, and I found it. It wasn’t super easy, I was making croissants after, but it was definitely doable and absolutely delicious. I loved the smell in my kitchen (let me correct that- in my house) as they were baking. I’m not Martha Stewart but I sure felt like one when I make these and I can’t wait to make them again. (I’ll be glad to share the recipe if anyone out there wants it.)

Random things that make us smile

We all have busy lives and we can get stuck on the busy-ness, and if your life is like mine, chaos. Even though I wouldn't change my crazy life for any other, i find it easy to get fixated on the negative. (We were almost late today, why can't my kids pick up after themselves, I really don't have enough hours in one day...you get the picture). That is why I love little random things that make me smile and remind me that life is great, no matter how stressed I get. As I mentioned in a previous post we walk to and from school as often as we can and on our way we see the "flower dog". He (or she, we've only seen its head) is always there, checking out the kids walking to or from school. We love this dog. Olivia and Henry go and pet it. I smile and I think "Isn't life great?"

Life after summer vacation

All summer long, I was heard saying that I would be as busy once the school year started, that everything would settle down and that I would have more time. Well, I lied. I’m busier than ever (mostly by choice) and dead tired but We are having some really good times.

Now you might ask why I am so busy. As every parent of school age children knows, school means homework. If you have a child like Olivia, it can be a treat. If you have children like Henry it can be a chore. But no matter how they feel about homework (I’m talking about Henry here), they both love going to school. Both were super excited to go back to school. Olivia’s second grade experience was all she expected and patiently awaited. Henry’s start was a little rougher. He too was excited about school but at the end of the first he explained: “Olivia’s a liar! School isn’t even fun! All we do is, work, work, work, study, study, study!” The following two weeks were kind of tough, he didn’t want to go but I’m glad to say that he now goes without too much complaining.

Olivia on her first day of second grade. 08/19/09.

Henry on his first day of kindergarten. 08/19/09.

This is what I see every day as we walk to school, two adorable children who can’t wait to get there. I love my kids!

Lily's Baptism and Zuma Beach

This is the first of a few catch-up posts. The said posts will be of a few fun things we enjoyed, in no particular order, since I last updated. After a couple of missed posts I got overwhelmed and simply did nothing about it. Hopefully this will get me going again. First, our trip to SoCal. We went down for Lily’s baptism. Unfortunately, our camera decided to quit working before we could get pictures with Wade (Tyler’s brother), Merideth and their children, Lily, Taylor, Luke and Crew, and I was thus unable to document what a wonderful time we had them. These are cousins my kids love and constantly ask why the just can’t move to Nevada. Thanks Wade and Merideth for a great weekend.

The camera did work on the first day and immortalized a family favorite, the beach. Zuma beach to be exact. A favorite of cousin Hunter and now one of ours.

I’m more of a sit-on-the-beach-and-enjoy-the-sun-and-the-atmosphere kind of girl and Olivia seems to take partly after me. The two of us had some quality conversations and lots of giggles.

This is the only picture where I could get Henry to stop long enough to pose. He stopped moving for something like 2 seconds. He takes after his father. The beach is a magical place. While there, Olivia and Henry simply enjoyed each other’s company, there was no bickering, no name calling, just peace and laughs. I was in heaven. We were all in heaven.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Thanks to Amber, Tyler’s older sister, who told us Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was fine for our children and warned us of one possible nightmare inducing scene, we decided to go for it and we loved it. Grandma came with us and she loved it too. It was definitely different from the previous movies as this movie truly is a PG movie. It was funny, more emotionally developed than the previous movies (understand a lot of kissing teenagers and teen angst) and simply a very entertaining movie. Henry, as the boy he is, would not close his eyes when the above mentioned scene came on (and was delighted to see lots of Golums) but would hide his face in my side for all the kissing. It was very funny. Olivia was giggling a lot. It’s fun to see how her sense of humor is maturing and how she understands so much more. She doesn’t just laugh because everyone in the theater is laughing anymore, she laughs because she gets it. My little girl is getting so big. All this to say that if you like Harry Potter, we highly recommend this movie. As Henry said on the way to the car, “this movie is good enough to buy.”

Happy Bastille Day!

I am proud to be an American….but I am also very proud of my origins. I love France. I love the diversity of its beautiful landscapes. I love its history, even the gruesome parts because they needed to happen to make France what it is today. I love its culture, the literature, the arts (yes all of them, some of my favorite composers, musicians, painters, writers, cinematographers, actors are French) and of course I love its food, oh French food. When people ask me to describe French food I really have a difficult time, after all Americans and French basically use the same ingredients but I have come up with a description that I think explains it all: French food is simpler yet more delicate and decadent at the same time.

I want to thank my friend Jennifer for posting a Bastille Day entry on her blog and prompting me to stop the craziness of the day to think about my heritage and how much I appreciate it. To all those who don’t love France, its people, culture and food, I say: Give us a try and you might very well change your mind.

Welcome Home

Alright, back on the blogging horse! I do realize that it has been quite a while since our last update but we have had a busy last few weeks. First, school ended and we moved to beautiful (and I’m not being sarcastic here) Gardnerville, NV. We’re renting a cute little house with a big backyard. The backyard is more dirt (or mud) than grass but it has a play set, lots of room for Olivia and Henry to run and Tyler planted a small vegetable garden (we’re about to harvest our first tomatoes, yeah!).

We stayed with boxes and furniture-not-yet-put-together everywhere for a long time. I am proud to announce that the furniture is now put together but sad to admit I am still working on some of the boxes. It might take a while. A few weeks back I decided that I would not stress about getting the house perfectly together but go with the flow; we’ve been up to the lake quite a few times, to the pool (for swimming lessons or just for fun), to the many parks of the area and even to the zoo in Sacramento. I’ll blog about all that later and the boxes will most likely have to wait until later as well.

The putting-the-furniture-together allowed Henry to have his first ER trip and his first stitches. That was quite an experience; Henry was screaming because he didn’t want stitches and Olivia was in hysterics because there was so much blood. It was a great evening, although I wouldn’t recommend it to the faint of heart.

Well, we’re home and we’re enjoying the summer, or at least trying to survive it in one piece!

Reality check

We’re still alive but busy packing (for me) and with a new job (for Tyler). But, really quickly, I have to share a little conversation I had with Henry on the way back from Fernley where we purchased some packing supplies (yep, there’s nothing in Lovelock!) Henry: Have I been good enough today? Me: What do you mean? Henry: Am I going to heaven or to hell? I’m a little shocked but I give him a little lesson on the atonement: Jesus died on the cross so that if we try hard enough to be good, get baptized… then we can go to heaven even though we’re not perfect. Then Henry says: Dad’s going to heaven because he’s really cool. Me: I agree. Dad is a very good person. Henry: Are you going to heaven with Dad? So Dad goes to heaven but Mom, according to Henry that’s not so sure. I guess I’ll have try harder to keep my temper in check (even if Henry is unpacking a box I just finished), try harder to be nice (even if Henry has been pestering his sister all day long and my patience is running out), try harder to be cheerful (even though I’m really tired because I pack all day and watch and feed and entertain children all day long)… But those are only excuses, Henry really is a good boy, he just has his moments like all kids do and packing and moving has never brought the best out of a five-year-old. So, I will try harder so that Henry will think I’m as cool as Dad (and so that I’ll go to heaven.) This is an old photo of Henry (23 months) that I found while going through pictures and since this entry really is about Henry (or one of his many Henry-isms) I decided to post this super cute picture of baby Henry.

"Look twin eggs!"

This morning, as I was making breakfast, Henry was supervising the making of his morning meal’s favorite part: the eggs. As I broke the second egg into the pan, Henry exclaimed “look twins!” and sure enough there were two yolks in a single egg. It was pretty cool but what was even better was Henry’s reaction. He marveled at the novelty of the sight and the idea that chickens too could have twins. He was excited to have a new found piece of knowledge. He was anxious to share his discovery, right after “look twins!” he said “you have to take a picture” and then he ran to share the news with his dad. The “twins” definitely made his day and I came to the realization that children are often happier than adults because they take time to wonder at little things. Adults, and by adults I mean me, often tend to worry only about the big things; a clean house, balanced meals, church callings fulfilled, paperwork done….but children take time to notice that the blossoms on one specific tree are purple whereas the other trees have pink blossoms (I hadn’t noticed), they notice if the register lady gave me a Canadian dime (a novelty), they notice if some child on the way to school looks sad (I noticed we were running late), they notice if I haven’t told them I loved them today (I probably notice that I still had a floor to mop, or some ironing to do, or a phone call to make). I am grateful that my children remind me that to be truly happy I need to stop and smell the roses.

Sorry about the fuzzy picture. The hot pan kept fogging up the camera lens and I didn't have time to focus. This is the best shot I got.

Easter Fun

We had a great Easter this year. Tyler went on a great bike ride with Leif. Christelle had lots of retail therapy which produce lots of new clothes for the kids. Olivia and Henry got lots of playtime with cousins and a great Easter egg hunt. Thanks to all those who helped us achieve a great weekend.

Egg drop

Every year, during the week before Easter Sunday, the first graders at Lovelock elementary do an egg drop. Each child has to put a raw egg in a ziploc and then package it the way they want as long as the finished package will not exceed 7x7x7. The package doesn’t have to be square; it just cannot be longer than 7 inches in any place. The goal is for the egg to be intact after it as been chucked in the air from the announcer box and landed on the track around the football field (the track is gravel and not that even, we’re a small town after all). Olivia and Tyler worked really hard on the thing. The ziplocked egg was wrapped in toilet paper and then placed in a bigger zippy. This second zippy was wrapped in more toilet paper (almost a whole roll to be exact) and then the whole thing was covered in duct tape. They had built a prototype and thrown it and that one had survived, so they were pretty pleased with their design. However there was one downside to their design, the package looked like a soccer ball and of course Henry had to kick it around this morning. He knew he wasn’t supposed to touch it, but he’s 5 and a boy, he couldn’t help it. (For those of you who want to know, he got in big trouble. 25 minutes in the naughty corner with a promise that he was going to bed first and that if the egg was broken Daddy would probably want a say in some more punishment.) Anyway, the egg made it fine, Olivia was ecstatic and Henry very relieved. The principal tossing Olivia's egg.

Olivia's teacher, Mrs. Fecht, opening Olivia's package.

Olivia's victory face.

I have asked Olivia’s teacher why they do an egg drop and she said it’s to introduce the kids to physics. Olivia thinks that they do an egg drop because it’s fun to play with eggs!

Girly Girl

Olivia is a girly girl, she’s always been. She loves to dress up (dresses, skirt and “up shoes” being her favorites). She loves to have her nails painted, to wear makeup and of course to have her hair done. Whoever is willing to do her hair is her hero of the moment. For all the reason mentioned above, today she came home from school very excited and announced that tomorrow is Hollywood day at school. She now “has to” dress up, paint her nails and get her hair done. She was/is ( as the nails are now painted and the rollers are in) in heaven.When I was putting the rollers in her hair (which she likes to sleep in!), I remembered I had a similar picture somewhere. I love my o so predictable girly girl.

First sunburn of the year

Yeah, summer is coming! Today (yesterday really since it is now past midnight) was a great sunny day so while Olivia was at a birthday party, I decided to wait for her in the car (with the doors open) so that I could enjoy the day and work in peace and quiet on the baby blanket I’m knitting for my sister’s soon-to-come baby boy. I had a great time and when we got home, Olivia looked at me and said “your arm is all red.” Yep, only the arm on the door side, with a nice farmer tan line and two white marks, one where my watch was and one where my arm was bent due to the knitting. Very glamorous…but who cares, as long as warm weather is just around the corner!

Dear Mom and Dad...I mean Tooth Fairy

As you may know, on February 18th Olivia lost her first baby tooth, but what you probably don’t know is that she has been very vocal about the fact the she, being a big knowledgeable girl, doesn’t believe in the tooth fairy (Santa Claus, Sure, but the tooth fairy… come on!) So the tooth fairy didn’t leave anything under her pillow; she can’t if she doesn’t exist (this really made sense to me at the time). Olivia didn’t say anything so I figured I was in the clear, until a few days ago. I was ready to get into bed when I found a note on my pillow that instructed me to go look under Olivia’s pillow and this is what I found under there: There wasn't anything in the envelope but the back of it told us she knew exactly what she wanted put in the said envelope.

She knew what she wanted and she got it. Tyler and I talked and we decided that it really wasn’t about the Tooth Fairy, believing in her or not, it’s about a little girl losing her first tooth and parents giving her a little money but really saying “Good job you’re becoming a big girl”. She got $5 and it the morning we got the biggest hugs. It was $5 well spent!

Kites

For FHE today, the kids (and Tyler) flew kites for the first time this year. It’s so funny to watch them fly their kites. I for one think that after 5 minutes it’s kind of boring but the kids could do it for hours on end (if it hadn’t gotten so cold), they run, they laugh, they (try to) make cool tricks with their kites or they simply lay down on the grass and admire the picture on the kite. It is so cool to be entertained and to love something so simple and cheap ($3 at Wal-Mart). Tonight there was no fancy game technology, no TV, no bundles of money for an enjoyable time simply the great outdoors, a kite and a little imagination. We heard no whining, only giggles, oohs and ahhs. They had the time of their lives. The kites in action.

Olivia admiring her kite.

As you can see her kite-flying pose hasn't changed much between 2005 and 2009.

Henry loving every minute of it.

Olivia's Barbie kite.

Henry's Spiderman (what else?) kite.

Both my precious kids flying their kites. Isn't great when the outdoors and simple things like kites have as much appeal as the Wii or TV? I love it!