It's a great life...

Halloween

2011-10-31T20:26:00.000-07:00

This year, I bought the costumes already made. I was going to make them myself but I took the easy way out and opted for the store-bought kind. On the bright side, Olivia and Henry got to be what they wanted. Olivia the Caterina (when cat becomes ballerina).

Henry the Ghostbuster guy (complete when an inflatable proton pack and an eyeliner mustache).

After going door to door begging for candy for an hour and a half this is what they came home with…

Olivia and her loot. My oh my, what to eat first?!

Henry and his spoils. Dad took them around so Henry gave him first pick.

Happy Halloween!

We love ...

2011-06-28T15:16:00.000-07:00

… Lake Tahoe and it’s finally warm enough that we can enjoy the beach. Our favorite is Sand Harbor. The kids would go every single day if I had the time to take them every day. They are happy for hours and hours up there. After a day of playing, we wrap it up with a beautiful sunset. It’s like heaven on earth. and yes, that's my kids still playing in the water :)

Mother knows best... really

2011-06-27T22:10:00.000-07:00

It seems like every time I tell Olivia to do or not do something she asks “Why?” Well, because mother knows best. It’s not that I’m smarter, it’s just that I’ve lived longer and know what will happen. But sometimes I get tired of her asking over and over again. When that happens, I let her make the mistake and decide for herself if it was worth it or not. So far, she eventually saw things the way I see them but last week my method hit a snag. She asked and asked and asked… and asked to go ride horses with Grandpa. The problem is that that she is terribly allergic to horses but I decided to let her go on a ride and then deal with the consequences. I’m not completely cold hearted, she went fully dosed with allergy medicine and Grandma gave as much as possible again after the ride, and the next day. But still, this is how she looked (and it didn’t feel any better than it looks)…

You would think that she would give up on horses but she decided it was worth the consequence (she was hurting but she was so happy) and she already begging Grandpa to take her riding again. Mother knows best... but she can only do so much!

Baseball

2011-06-20T19:45:00.000-07:00

Henry played baseball for the first time this year. He didn’t always hit the ball but when he did it was good and I’m proud of him for sticking with it. Getting ready to bat. Making sure he didn't hit a foul. Running to first base. Safe on first base. Catcher. 1st base. Pitcher (they have pitching machines in Minor B leagues but still have a player cover the position.) Notice the football helmet pitchers get to wear... Safety First :) In the end, he loved it. He learned a lot, like not being afraid of the ball (we’re still working on that a bit). He made new friends and he had lots of fun. I'm so proud of my Henry.

Teeth Update

2011-04-07T09:08:00.000-07:00

I’m often asked for an update on Henry’s shark teeth. Here it is. He is just fine. The second tooth did take its own sweet time to fall out. After a month or so, it eventually did, with a little help from dad as the darn tooth was barely hanging on. I’m not sure Henry remembers to push on the permanent teeth with his tongue but they seem to know what they’re supposed to do and are slowly moving into place. Phew!

Puppy Love

2011-03-08T20:44:00.000-08:00

Henry LOVES his aunt Coleen's dog, Nancy. And she loves him too. It's the cutest thing. When Coleen first got Nancy, I thought that he was holding her to make her stay with him and told him to let her go but she didn't, she just stayed with him. When we go over to grandma's, Henry and Nancy are usually to be found together. This is a picture Caroline took, when Tyler and I went France and Olivia and Henry stayed with Grandma and Grandpa. Henry's was doing homework and Nancy patiently watched over her little buddy. Can't you feel the love?

Is it normal?

2011-02-28T09:52:00.000-08:00

Well, if it’s not “normal” at least it’s very common, or so has the dentist assured me. Henry had been complaining that his teeth hurt for about a month now. When he first mentioned it I checked in his mouth and saw that his top 6-year- old molars where in and that the bottom ones where in the process of coming in. So I explained to him that teeth coming in hurt, I gave him some Motrin and called it good. Two weeks ago, after regular complaining, I checked again and this is what I saw… Yes, my first reaction was “what the…?” Tyler called his mother, who told him not to worry about it, that the baby teeth would eventually fall out. Well, I did worry and I searched the internet, because isn’t it what we all do in this day and age? After finding quite a few posts and still not entirely reassured, Henry’s baby teeth weren’t even loose, I called the dentist, who said… exactly the same thing; to have Henry wiggle the baby teeth and push with his tongue on the big ones and that the baby ones would fall out on their own. Well, He did wiggle them and finally last night one did fall out.

And the second one won’t be far behind. Now he needs to push on the adult teeth with his tongue to make sure that come where they should be.

Sledding Heaven

2011-02-22T09:24:00.000-08:00

A snow storm followed by a holiday makes for an extra fun sledding outing. It was beautiful outside and we decided that it would be a shame not to take advantage of the awesome sledding hills that we live so close to. We were right. We headed to the Tahoe Meadows and we had an amazing time.

Winter Fun

2011-02-19T20:14:00.000-08:00

Today the snow stopped falling and gave us hours of fun. For Olivia and Henry, it was fun playing in the snow and For Tyler and I, it was fun watching them having such a good time. They stayed in the snow for hours, literally. It was beautiful outside and the quantity of snow provided them with endless possibilities. They investigated the entire back yard. They chased each other. They made snow angels and then decide to bury each other in the snow. After being frozen and completely covered in snow, I thought they would come in but no they made snowmen, large and small.

They continued with a few hours of dressing up and being silly, coming up with hilarious scenarios. It was the perfect entertainment for me while ironing.

They finished their perfect day with a nice hot bath each (I’ll spare you the pictures). It was perfect for them because of all the fun they had and perfect for me because they didn’t argue once. They were best friends all day long.

Snow Day

2011-02-18T13:02:00.000-08:00

We got a call at 5:56 this morning. It scared the crap out of me but it was just an automated snow day call. So I went back to sleep happy that I wouldn’t have to get up early to do Olivia’s hair as today was supposed to be picture day. Olivia and I stayed in our jammies this morning and watched “Benny and Joon”. Henry’s priorities were different. He got decked out in his snow gear and went outside to play.

How is it that he can’t clean his room but that he has no problem clearing the snow off the entire play set?

Heaven

2011-01-27T16:12:00.001-08:00

One of the questions I’m most often asked is: What do you miss most about France? After saying that what I miss MOST is my family. I explain that I talk to them very often, which makes me miss them not quite so much, I tell them that food and especially cheese is what I miss most. So what makes French food different and better? It’s hard to explain. Except for the cheese, many of which you just can not find in the US, French food and American food basically use the same ingredients. French food might be a little saucier but most of all it’s the way it’s prepared and then presented. For lack of a better explanation, I will let you feast your eyes upon some of the amazing French food Tyler and I got to enjoy during our trip to Paris. Hmmm! Lobster and pear salad. My favorite dish this trip. Scallop souffle with a champagne sauce. Tyler's favorite dish this trip. John Dory (a fish) filet with topinambur ravioli and sauce. Topinambur is the tuber of the sunflower used as a root vegetable. Chicken breast with a turnip gratin and a truffle sauce. Goat cheese salad. Simple. Beautiful. Delicious. Duck confit. Cheese platter. Now this I truly miss. Coconut Bavarois with roasted pineapple and homemade Madagascar vanilla ice-cream. After a meal, the french usually enjoy a cup of coffee or herbal tea which is often accompanied by some mignardises (tiny, bite-sized desserts). I couldn't explain it better than these photos but as I said.... French food..... hmmmm.... heaven!

AGHHHH

2011-01-23T20:29:00.000-08:00

Let me first say that we had a lovely time in Paris. I was extremely glad that we had made it for my grandmother’s birthday dinner. I was going to spend some time with my family and I have to admit that at 35 I’m still a mommy’s-girl. Plus, I was ecstatic to spend some quality alone and uninterrupted time with Tyler. Our time in Paris was great. Now that I’ve said that the travel to and from France was a disaster. Out of 4 flights only 1 went well, sort of. Apparently, travel horror stories must be frequent with Delta because when I googled “Cancelled Flight” so that I could include a photo with this post, this is one of the first results I got: I was looking for a picture of a departure board with a cancelled flight on it. A picture like what we saw in Salt Lake but I couldn’t take a picture of because my camera was in my suitcase and Delta wouldn’t get our luggage for us. But I’m getting ahead of myself here. Let’s start at the beginning. Flight #1: Reno-SLC. We got there on time. We’d checked in online the day before and were under the impression that we would only have to drop off the suitcases at the counter, but no, we had to redo it all. Security wasn’t bad so we got to our gate and started to wait. When our flight time came and went, we were informed that our airplane was still in Salt Lake. Mechanical problems they said, we would have to wait. We were supposed to have a 5 ½ hours layover in Salt Lake so we didn’t stress out, but still, no one likes to wait for an airplane more than they thought they had too. We end up leaving Reno 3 hours late. Flight #2: SLC-Paris. Yes, it does sound nice not to have to stop anywhere and go straight from Salt Lake to Paris but it is a long flight, 10 ½ hours. They let us on the plane after another 2 ½ hour mechanical delay. When the problems, whatever they were, are fixed, the plane has to be de-iced. It takes 2 more hours. I’m starting to think that we are stuck in an evil de-icing cycle; is it taking so long because by the time they finish de-icing the plane, the part they started with has iced over again? Plus, we’re still stuck on the plane and the 10 ½ hours haven’t even started yet! We finally leave and the plane is half empty. Tyler and I have a row of three for the two of us. Nice. After we take off, I go to the restroom and realize the two rows in front of the restrooms are empty. I ask if I can lay down on one of them. They say yes. Awesome. I’m exhausted. I sleep for the next 10 hours. I would have slept more but Tyler wakes me up to tell me we’re almost there. I have to admit that it was a nice flight, being able to lie down and sleep all the way, but this is a negative post and I will spare none of the negative. We were late leaving and we are late getting to Paris, which means that by the time we reach my parents’ house, everybody is waiting for us and it’s time to sit down for New Year’s dinner. There’s no time to shower or even change and I feel disgusting, but at least, we’re there. Flight #3: Paris-SLC. This flight did leave on time. We were excited because the flight was supposed to be as full as the one going to Paris. Tyler and I were supposed to have an empty seat by us and we were very surprised to see not only the seat next to us but every single seat in the plane filled. We find out that there is a big storm in Atlanta and that Delta decided to put all the passengers on the flight to Atlanta whose final destination wasn’t Atlanta on our flight. Yep, our plane was bursting at the seams. The guy sitting next to Tyler was supposed to fly from Paris to Atlanta and then on to New Orleans but he landed in the seat next to us, aimed his cannon in our direction and proceeded to pass nasty gas the entire way. Luckily, we didn’t have any crying babies but we did have a guy trying to cough out his lungs. The guys coughed so loud and so often he would have made a TB patient proud. The flight was on time but the 13 hours on board were horrendous. I know I said it takes 10 ½ hours to go to Paris but it takes longer to go to the US. I was told it’s because of a combination of the routes that have to be taken and the air currents, I think it’s because people really want to go to France so they hurry as much as they can. Flight #4: SLC-Reno. We go to Salt Lake on time and go sit by the gate to wait for the last leg of our trip. We sit there for a couple of hours. Tyler is watching some Football game on the TV in our area and I have a really bad migraine. When I’m so nauseous that I can’t take it anymore I go to the restrooms. On the way there, I glance at the departure board and see that our flight is cancelled. You read right. CANCELLED. I go see Tyler and we’re pretty sure we haven’t heard any announcement about our flight being cancelled. We go to the counter and the lady tells us the plane we were supposed to take has mechanical problems. WHAT? AGAIN?!!! She then tells us that all the other flights are booked, we’ll have to fly the next morning but they’ll gladly put us up in a hotel. At this point some lady trying to be positive is really annoying and my migraine is getting worse, I keep getting sick and I have vertigo. I’m starting to get mean. Poor Tyler tries to find a way to get me home. He’s the only one trying to be helpful. We figure out that ALL the other flights are booked or gone already. ALL, meaning every airline except Southwest. They were willing to put us on any other airline but Southwest. They tell us that we can go on the Southwest flight if we want but we’ll have to pay for it ourselves. We ask if they’ll refund our SLC-Reno tickets and they tell us that our refund would be prorated from the total miles of our trip. Our refund would be $36 each. Well, a SLC-Reno ticket bought at the airport minutes before the flight is $287 (each), and we would have ended up paying $500 out of our own pocket. No, thank you very much. Even though we were willing to do anything (alright, except paying $500 more) to go home that night, even fly to Sacramento, rent a car and drive the 3 hours to our house, we were forced to wait for the next morning flight. They’re willing to get us a hotel but they can’t get our luggage. They say it’s for our own good, because Monday mornings are the busiest at the airport and we would have to get there way early to recheck our bags, but the real reason is that they were to lazy to even think about where our suitcases were right then. They don’t really care that my head is about to explode and all my medicine is in my bag because here, have this little overnight kit. The tooth brush only has 10 bristles and good luck brushing your teeth, twice, with so little toothpaste but you should still be grateful so spare us the attitude. I’m thinking it can’t get any worse. You’re thinking I’m making it up. WRONG. On both cases. Armed with our little overnight kits and our carry-ons we go outside to wait for the hotel shuttle. After a few minutes, A Delta worker comes and tells us that she’s very sorry but our hotel doesn’t have a shuttle service on the weekend. At this point I don’t even care anymore so we head over to the shuttle we were told would take us to our hotel. But we get to the shuttle counter and they tell us they (Express Shuttle) never go to our hotel since it has its own shuttle service. We tell them they don’t on the weekend, they tell us too bad and we trek back over to the Delta counter. I should say that the shuttles are on one side of the terminal and the Delta counter is on the other side, we could have been to the hotel by now except you can’t leave the airport on foot. Delta tells us our only option is to take a taxi but we’ll have to pay for it ourselves. I lose it. I’ll spare you the disturbing scene that followed, it suffices to say that Delta paid for the taxi and that we finally get to the hotel. We get to the hotel only to find out that they do have a shuttle service on the weekend. AGHHH!!!

They love us!

2011-01-19T10:27:00.000-08:00

Shortly after we got back from Paris, Henry asked me why we had to leave for 10 days. I explained about the time change and the long travel and how it didn’t make sense to go for just 3 days because most of it would be spent in the airplane. I left it at that. This, however didn’t seem to be the answer he was looking for because a couple of hours later he came back to me with “Did you leave for 10 days because it was your 10-year anniversary? When you’ll be married for 50 years will you go away for 50 days?” He’s obviously really been thinking about this. I explained that we would probably never leave for 50 days in a row but that if we did, he’d be 47 by our 50th anniversary and he wouldn’t need us or miss us by then. His answer melted my heart. “Of course I’ll miss you, I love you too much." And in the background I heard Olivia say "Yeah!" I love you too kiddos. I love you too.

France

2011-01-17T11:08:00.000-08:00

Now that we have been back for a week exactly, I guess I should post about Tyler and my trip to France. I was good and it was bad. Today, I’ll focus on the good. We had two main reasons to go. First, it was my paternal grandmother’s 90th. Her four sons, two of their spouses, her five grandchildren (all girls), all their spouses, and 6 of her 8 great-grandchildren got together to celebrate with her. We were missing Mary (Jacques’s companion), Rosy (Gerard’s Companion), Olivia and Henry. I learned that my dad and his brothers hadn’t been all together at once since some 32 years ago, so to have them all together made the night pretty special for my grandmother. We also got to spend some time with my maternal grandparents who are nearing their mid-80s. Second, we went by ourselves to celebrate our 10th anniversary. We had never left the children for more than 2 days and it was kind of hard to be far from them for 10 days (make that 11 days, but I’ll get back to that when I post about the bad.) However, it was great to be just us and to simply enjoy each other’s company. It might be corny to say but I love my husband more and more with time and I’m pretty sure he feels the same way. In a nutshell, it was a great trip to Paris to celebrate long full lives and my marriage to my best friend and the love of my life.

So Proud

2010-12-07T14:42:00.000-08:00

Olivia is in 3rd grade which means that she now gets letter grades. Going from 2nd to 3rd grade is hard. As mentioned before, you now get actual grades, there’s a lot less play and you have to be a lot more responsible. You basically have to function with a totally different frame of mind, and when you’re 8 (and you’re Olivia) switching from the 2nd grade to the 3rd grade mind set is hard. Well, it may have been hard but she made the principal’s honor roll for the first term. I’m so proud of what she has accomplished.

Falcons

2010-10-09T10:23:00.000-07:00

After a long absence from the blogging world, I’ll spare you the normal excuse, well, normal for me. Life just isn’t always fun. But we still have been doing loads of fun things and over the next several days, I’ll try to catch up in no specific order. Henry wants me to start with him because he is super proud to be playing flag football this fall. The practices started about a month ago and this morning was his third game. His league is sponsored by the NFL and each team (4 in Henry’s age group) got to choose which NFL team they would be called after. Henry’s team chose the Falcons. To say the truth, Henry couldn’t care less about Atlanta or the actual NFL team but I have been reading The Candy Shop War by Brandon Mull and the main kids in the book belong to a really cool secret club called the Blue Falcons. So the Falcons it is. Now back to flag football. As you may imagine, 5 and 6 year-olds are not the best coordinated, focused or skilled, which makes for really fun games to watch. But the best part is how much the kids love it. Henry would go to practice every day if he could. And even though he likes winning, he doesn’t care if his team loses, he just likes playing. He loves this pictures his dad took of him this morning, and I have to say, I do to.

Frog Lake

2010-07-17T11:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, the kids and I went on a beautiful hike with some friends. We basically made it a day trip. We left Carson Valley around 10, started the hike around 10:30.

We had brought swimwear so once we got to the lake we stayed for a couple of hours. We had lunch and we played. I personally didn’t get in the lake; I was satisfied with supervising and visiting with my friends. The kids however had a grand time playing in the water and in the beautiful nature around the lake. They were especially thrilled when they noticed a nice slope still covered in snow. If you know Henry, you can guess what happened next. Yep, he decided he would sled it on his bottom in his swim trunks and all the kids decided to do like him. They really did have a grand time. They played hard and each now gladly bears a “wound” to prove it.

I gave Olivia and her friend Madison a small camera. Here are some of the pictures they took.

Thank you Heather for showing us such an amazing place.

Vive la France… et Joyeux Anniversaire Papa!

2010-07-14T09:31:00.000-07:00

Today is Bastille Day; a day to celebrate France and being French because let’s face it; it’s a great place, with great people and great food. It’s also my dad’s birthday. I think it’d be awesome to have fireworks and a parade every year for my birthday. Joyeux Anniversaire Papa! Je t’aime de tout mon Coeur.

Death Ride

2010-07-10T21:29:00.001-07:00

It is done. After months of training and of hanging out with his cycling buddies, Tyler completed the Death Ride today. That’s right all 129 miles, 5 passes and 15,000 feet of climbing. Can you tell I’m proud? Well, I’m very proud and he’s pooped!

His day started at 3:45 am when he met up with Clay, Callis and Joseph, his riding guys. He started the ride at 4:50 am from Turtle Rock Park in Markleeville, CA and up Monitor Pass to 395 by Lake Topaz. At 395, he turned around and went back over Monitor Pass. Then it was up Ebbetts Pass, turn around and back over Ebbetts Pass. After the second time over Ebbetts, they came by Turtle Rock Park on the way to Carson Pass and then back to Turtle Rock Park. Yep. 129 miles. 5 passes. 15,000 feet of climbing. I’m tired just typing it out. Tyler finished at 3:45 pm. Just under 11 hours including all the hydration breaks, potty breaks and lunch.

The kids, Tyler’s parents and I went to the finish line to see him finish. We are all so proud of him.

Tyler coming up to the finish line.

Olivia and Henry running to their father.

The 5 stickers on Tyler’s number. He got a sticker at each completed pass.

Tyler’s face crusted with salt because of all the sweating. Disgusting but part of the experience.

Tyler after we got home. Pooped.

Dance Recital

2010-06-20T15:13:00.000-07:00

Friday night was Olivia’s dance recital. She worked really hard and practiced a lot. Last week’s schedule was dance, dance, dance and…more dance. Grandpa and Grandma came. So did Aunt Amber. Thank you so much. She had a great time. If she was nervous, she didn’t show it at all. She loved her costumes and all the attention. Dad got her roses and Amber got her lilies. Every time she walks by her flowers (and I do believe she walks by them a lot on purpose) she is reminded of what a great time she had and she says “I love dance recitals”. The recital was a no photography or videography zone, so I didn’t get many pictures. This is the picture I purchased from her studio (I got the digital file which allows me to do what I want with the picture!)

My point exactly….

2010-06-16T21:53:00.000-07:00

On Monday, as we were driving to Olivia’s dress rehearsal, Henry kept pestering me for sips of my diet Coke. As a general rule, Tyler and I only let the kids drink soda occasionally and never with caffeine. Henry, however, has somehow developed a great liking for Dr. Pepper, which he manages to con his grandfather into getting him, and on the rare occasion I have a caffeinated soda he begs for sips. So when he begged on Monday, I told him he couldn’t have any soda because I didn’t want him to be addicted to caffeine and that caffeine was not good for a growing child. His answer, made in a loud dramatic voice was: “Don’t say I’m addicted to caffeine because I want Dr. Pepper ALL THE TIME.” The emphasis on “all the time” was made by Henry himself. I rest my case.

Tyler is 32

2010-06-05T21:28:00.000-07:00

Today was Tyler’s birthday. I think he had a good time. He left this morning to go on a bike ride. He rode 68 miles and did 3 mountain passes. He liked that. After a couple of phone calls bringing birthday wished he opened his presents. There weren’t many presents (he’s saving up for a new bike) but he did get the new Brazil soccer jersey (merci Papa et Maman). He likes that. The kids and I decided to get him a “Sushi kit” and all the ingredients to make sushi tonight. He seemed to like that. After going to help a couple of families move, we went sushi-grade fish shopping and started making dinner. It was fun and really good. He really did like that. Happy birthday Tyler!

Summer vacation here we come!

2010-06-03T22:32:00.000-07:00

Summer vacation started today. It was a very good day, full of excitement. We started with Henry’s kindergarten graduation. The cake says Tyler because everyone always forgets that he goes by his middle name. He wanted to dress-up nice, he was so proud and so serious. He barely cracked a smile, he was so cute.

The ceremony itself was short and sweet, just the way I like it.

Then we had water day (for the rest of the morning) with the rest of the school. The firemen came with their truck and watered the kids. There were multiple other games, some involving water, some not. The kids had a blast and would not stay put, so I had a really hard time taking pictures of them.

Henry is really excited to be in 1^st grade next year and what he’s most excited about is hot lunch and eating in the cafeteria. So I thought I would treat him to a mother/son date of hot lunch at the cafeteria. He was in heaven.

After, came a necessary quiet time for mom. After all the excitement, a migraine set in and I figured I should take something and go hide in a dark and quiet place (a.k.a. under a blanket and wearing earplugs) until the medicine kicked in. A couple of hours and a little tidying later we went to (what could be better?)… the McDonald’s play place. We had dinner (even caramel sundaes) and we played, well they played and I read.

But the fun was not over yet; we finally rented the tooth fairy movie, went home, popped some popcorn and watched what turned out to be a cute movie. We enjoyed despite Henry comment as the end credits started to roll. He said: “This should have been R-rated, there was way too much kissing.” There really wasn’t :).

Now, the kids are tucked in, I took another migraine pill and I’m going to sleep all this excitement away. We truly had a great day.

Too many hand-me-downs?

2010-05-17T11:14:00.001-07:00

Disclaimer: Until the end of the school year, Henry is still me little buddy. Meaning that he doesn’t have school in the morning and has to tag along with me and for that simple reason, I have more to post about Henry. Once they both go to school all day, the ratio should even out.

A couple of Fridays ago, I decided to take them to the Swim Center. The kids were super hyper, the weather was not great and Tyler had had a really busy week and needed a little peace and quiet. So I thought, I would wear my ear plugs and let them wear themselves out. Plus, Friday is family night at the swim center and everyone gets in for $1. It was a win-win situation. So I announced that they needed to get ready, that we were going to the swim center and they squealed and ran to get ready (this is one of the few instances were they have ne problem obeying right away.) A few seconds later Henry came back to me and said, dead serious, holding one of Tyler’s swim trunks in front of him: “Mom, I don’t think these fit me yet.” He wasn’t kidding either; he really thought that the huge swim trunks were his!

Sorry, I didn’t get a spur of the moment picture. You’ll have to settle for this reenactment. See the size of those trunks? How could he even think they were his?

Still alive...

2010-05-16T21:47:00.000-07:00

We're still alive. I'm just a little (well, more than a little) overwhelmed trying to deal with headaches and migraines. Coping with the medication that really isn't helping as much as I'd like it to but isn't sparing me the nasty side effects (like all the weight it's making me gain no matter what I do and the crazy moods). And if that was all... there's the end of the school year, all the testing I help with at the school and the end of school year outings and projects that I can't say no to. Ah, the stress! And that bring me back to migraines and headaches. Alright, I done complaining... for now... I promise that I have plenty to post about, with all the projects and outings, and I promise I'll TRY to post it soon.

Cute

2010-04-06T22:45:00.000-07:00

This morning, Henry and I were watching the Extreme Home Makeover episode from last Sunday while I was folding laundry and ironing. Before I go any further in this story, I admit that I usually get misty-eyed at least once during each episode. Now, back to the story. At one point in the show, Henry looked at me and asked “Are you crying?” I answered that yes I was chocked up because the family’s baby had died and pointed out to him that he was crying too. His response was: “I’m not crying! I’m sweating out of my eyes.”

Sleepover

2010-03-25T20:21:00.000-07:00

So I haven’t been detailing what we have been up to, well mostly what Tyler and the kids have been up to. I’m on an other medication (added to the other one) for a little over a month, my migraines and headaches are much better but I’m dead tired all the time and I sleep I’m not kidding around 12 hours a day and sometimes more. I pretty much go to bed at the same time the kids do and Tyler wakes me up before he leaves for work (I have the best husband in the world!). Not the life but the neurologist said he would keep me on the medicine for 4 months migraine/headache free and then wean me off and I’ve decided being a zombie for the next few months is worse getting rid of the migraines and headaches. Anyhow, now that my health is out of the way, a lot has been going on around here.

First and foremost, Olivia went to her first sleepover that was not at a family member’s house.

I was very worried because we all know that Olivia is not a great sleeper. She has nightmares most nights, wakes up screaming and is afraid to go back to sleep. Plus, she has started to sleepwalk. It is pretty funny but not the best for sleepovers. However, I know her friend’s mother and after discussing my dilemma with her, we decided that we would give it a try. Olivia had an awesome time and slept great. Anna, I may have to send her to your house more often!

You should have seen her getting ready for the sleep over, she was so happy. Definitely a moment to remember.

F.R.O.G.

2010-02-23T08:53:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday our ward had their baptism preview. I had never heard of a baptism preview, and I’ve been in Primary for the most part of the last ten years, but I’m glad we had one. It was great. Olivia’s teacher, the CTR 7 teacher, was in charge and she did an awesome job. She explained about baptism. She didn’t dwell on the spiritual part, she left that for the bishop, but went through all the other little details (i.e. what will you wear, where is the font, what could/should happen during the baptism meeting…) She had the bishop, the cub scout leader and the activity days leader talked about all the fun things they will do with them once they turn 8. At the end of the meeting she presented each child turning 8 this year with a frog she made. She explained what F.R.O.G. stands for (Forever Remember Our God). She explained that after they get baptized everything counts but also that they can count on Heavenly Father to always be there for them. The frog is to remind the children that Heavenly Father is always watching and loves them. She even added a ribbon on the right side of the frog to remind them to always choose the right.

Olivia loves her frog and she's excited that she’ll be baptized this summer.

Looks like a 7 year-old

2010-02-01T20:02:00.000-08:00

She might talk like a teenager but she definitely looks like a 7 year-old. Nothing says 7 like missing teeth and she has a few of those. Yesterday, Tyler finally pulled the top one free after letting it dangle by a thread, literally-it was really gross, for a couple of weeks. There was a lot of screaming, howling, giggling (from Henry) and attempted biting. Now, if you listened to Olivia’s version of the story, Dad pulled a tooth that wasn’t even ready to come out with pliers. For the record, the tooth had been ready to come out for weeks and the pliers were necessary because her teeth are tiny and Tyler’s fingers are huge. He wanted to get a good grip so that it would be fast and painless. Now, the tooth is finally out and…. she definitely looks like a 7 year-old!

7 going on 16

2010-01-29T10:07:00.001-08:00

Lately Olivia has been acting like a teenager. I remember teenage years so I will admit that it’s not full- blown teenage attitude yet but still very similar. She doesn’t want me to do her hair anymore because I do “baby hair”, meaning she won’t sport pigtails, braids (especially if there are two of them) and any colored barrettes (instead she wears my brown and black ones.) It’s kind of cute that she cares so much but isn’t she two young to want to look “cool”?

The teenage thing isn’t in the looks only but definitely in the attitude and language. Last Saturday I went to Gymboree to spend a gift certificate I had and was about to expire. The kids didn’t really need anything but I figured it was free money anyway. So I went to the store and found what I knew Henry wanted right away. I couldn’t make up my mind for Olivia. It was between a cute summer dress and an equally cute puffer vest. So I decided to call her and her ask what she would prefer. Here is the conversation we had:

Me: Olivia, it’s mommy, I’m at Gymboree and I was wondering if you’d rather me get you a dress or a puffy jacket with no sleeves.

Olivia: What kind of dress?

Me: A summer dress, it’s really cute, it’s… (and I describe the dress)

Olivia (very nonchalantly): I’ll take the sweater.

Me: You mean the puffy vest with no sleeves?

Olivia: Yeah, whatever!

I’m not sure if I should see the humor in the situation or if I should be worried. It was quite funny so for now, I’ll laugh.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

2010-01-28T10:12:00.000-08:00

Olivia is mostly sweet, loving, caring, helpful… Henry not so much. I mean has his sweet moments but lately they have been overshadowed but the dread of Mr. Hyde imminent reappearance. They are moments when I can see the cute little boy who would come to me every 5 minutes asking for “love” (a hug), who would play sweetly for hours in a corner, and smiled all the time but mostly I hear “No!” “I don’t want to!” “Why?” “You’re the meanest mommy in the world” “Why do I have to do everything!”… ... And right when I’m about to lose it, he comes and gives me a hug or says “I’m sorry mommy, I love”. I love the sweet moments, and I cherish them but let’s face it, nowadays there’s a lot more whining and crying than anything else.

New Beginnings...

2010-01-21T19:46:00.001-08:00

So I haven’t been posting anything. I said I would write about what I like about Christmas and I never got around to it. Maybe next year. December was an incredibly busy month and I (and things I like to do) definitely got put on the back burner. It doesn’t mean I didn’t have a good Christmas or that I didn’t do anything fun; I had great times with family, I did do a few knitting projects as Christmas gifts and I had the best time making a family tree for Tyler’s parents (now I want to make one for me and my parents). I am ready, what am I saying, I can’t wait for a new year, for new projects, new goals…

You win some and you lose some

2009-12-08T15:35:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-02T21:17:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-24T16:35:00.001-08:00

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

2009-11-16T21:03:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-28T21:03:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-10-20T21:01:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-10-15T18:35:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-10-08T19:46:00.001-07:00

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

2009-10-01T20:21:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-28T10:17:00.001-07:00

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

2009-09-26T10:14:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-15T23:51:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-07-14T20:23:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-03T14:35:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-22T17:35:00.000-07:00

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!"

2009-05-01T09:23:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-13T13:24:00.001-07:00

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.

2009-04-13T13:23:00.001-07:00

Egg drop

2009-04-09T15:13:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-07T19:26:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-29T00:50:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-27T16:26:00.001-07:00

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

2009-03-23T22:11:00.000-07:00

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!

Bath time sibling rivalry and silliness

2009-03-10T22:21:00.000-07:00

Almost every time Henry is in the bath he’ll call for me to come see him and I find him in a version of a bubble bath beard. I try to be enthusiastic every time even though bubble bath beards all tend to look the same and every few month I even take a picture because I do like to see him so pleased with himself. (The picture below was taken in September of last year.) But this last time I was in for a surprise and he was more than pleased with himself. He had used Dora’s lifejacket as goggles and thought he was extremely clever. It was definitely worth a picture. I love when my kids use their imagination, come up with a new silliness and are so pleased with it.

Of course, as competitive as she is, Olivia had to top her brother’s bath time performance and decided that adding the colander, which I use as a bath-toys-catcher, as a hat would be perfect. I have really cute kids!

Olivia's first lost tooth

2009-02-18T20:23:00.000-08:00

Tonight Olivia lost her first baby tooth. Here is the story. About three weeks ago Olivia announced that one of her teeth was wiggly. She had already announced such a thing several times and I don’t check for wiggly teeth or look at them (if I can avoid it) when people wiggle them, it really grosses me out, so we waited for dad to come home and sure enough, her first baby tooth was almost ready to go. For the past three weeks, she has had several moods: the it-hurts-when-I-eat-I-want-it-out-now mood, the no-don’t-get-it-out-it’s-going-to-hurt-too-much mood, the alright-do-it-now-no-don’t (and burst into tears) mood. Well we didn’t have to yank it out after all. After bedtime prayer tonight, Olivia laid on her back on the carpet and for some reason Henry decided to sit on her face. It all went really fast, I’m not really sure what happened exactly. I told Henry to get off his sister’s face and when she sat up she was crying so I told Tyler that it was probably her wiggly tooth that got hurt and right when I said that she pulled the tooth out of her mouth. I thought I had a great first lost baby tooth story: I lost mine when I bit into a hard caramel (Carambar for you French ones), but her story is way better. “How did you lose your first baby tooth?”, “My brother sat on my face.” You can’t beat that!

Make over

2009-02-16T17:32:00.001-08:00

Today is Presidents Day and it’s snowing/raining, meaning there is no school and the kids are desperately trying to keep busy indoors. If there was some kind of indoor play area not too far I probably would have taken them but there isn’t and they have gotten pretty good at entertaining themselves. Here is the perfect example: Olivia asked me if she could use make-up. I told her she could, not noticing that she hadn’t asked if she could wear make-up. 30 minutes later both Olivia and Henry came out of the bathroom completely made over. Olivia had brushed Henry's hair and given him a 5 o’clock shadow! I love that my kids have such a great imagination.

Henry-ism

2009-02-14T13:23:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Henry finally realized his lifelong buddy Rocco was no longer in his pen. He simply asked “where’s Rocco” to which I replied “he was old and he died.” I’ll spare you the “how did he die” and the “where is his body” part of the conversation but after a very thoughtful moment Henry asked “so Rocco is in heaven?” and I answered “yes” because I like to think that my favorite pets will be there waiting for me and because the discussion of whether animals do go to heaven or not might be a little too deep for a five-year-old. After my affirmation, Henry thought some more and then asked “what is Heavenly Father doing with him?” I wasn’t sure what he meant so I asked him “what do you mean?” and Henry simply answered “do you think Heavenly Father is riding him?”

I love Henry. I love that he is a loving little boy. He has his less positive moments like every other child but I love to hear him call me and say that he needs love (his way of asking for a hug) and at the end of the day what he does best is love; He loves people, he loves animals and he loves things and places. And we love him!

Just for you

2009-02-06T11:28:00.000-08:00

this will be fun. thanks Merideth!

okay so the first 5 people to respond to this post will receive something made by me to you. my choice. made especially for you. of course there are some restrictions and limitations: 1 i make no guarantees that you will like what i make! 2 what i create will be just for you. 3 it will be done sometime this year. 4 you have no clue what it will be... it may be a story. it may be poetry or an article on properly cleaning your face before a masque. i may draw or paint something. i may bake something and mail it to you. who knows? not you, thats for sure. 5 i reserve the right to do something extremely strange. the catch? oh the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on their blog. the first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did will win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me!! oh and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!!

For the love of fridays

2009-01-30T20:17:00.000-08:00

This week I LOVE love and especially the love we have for each other as a family, the love we feel as parents for our children. The children are not always easy to deal with (today, Henry dump his entire cup of apple juice in his sister’s mac’n’cheese and Olivia blamed her brother for all the dirty handprints on the clean mirror, good thing their handprints are so different) but at the end of the day and many many times throughout the day we LOVE them to pieces. We LOVE them for all the cute little things they say and do. We LOVE them for caring and being helpful. We LOVE them for loving and forgiving. We LOVE them for being so smart and so clueless at the same time. They are so many ways we LOVE them. These pictures of Tyler dancing with the kiddos were taken at friends’ wedding (thanks Zack and Jocelyn for sending the pictures our way). Can’t you feel the LOVE?

Soccer pictures... a little late

2009-01-27T21:07:00.001-08:00

So these are soccer photos that were taken last November but I had to scan them and I couldn't do it on my own so my mother-in-law was kind enough to do it for me. What can I say, technology and I are not friends! But finally here are the pictures: Olivia striking a pose!

Olivia's team

Henry. We got him to smile by telling him that Josie-a little girl who likes him-was around the corner, his reaction was hilarious!

Henry's team

They spent more time playing with their friends than playing soccer but they had a great time and they want to play again next year. We'll see what happens then.

for the love of fridays

2009-01-23T21:17:00.000-08:00

My sister-in-law, Merideth, has been doing a regular post she calls “for the love of fridays”. In these posts, she describes things that she loves and that she is grateful for. I love the idea of expressing what I love and appreciate and I’m going to give it a try. Today, I LOVE my friends and one in particular. A friend who knew Tyler was out of town most of the week and that he would not come back until late tonight so she called me and invited Olivia, Henry and me to come have dinner with her and her family. We had a great time, a good dinner and lots of laughs. The “big people” played skip-bo (Tyler ended up joining us towards the end of the evening) and the little kids played well together. I’m not only GRATEFUL for a good evening but for a friend who knew I was in need of big people company and was willing to be that company. I LOVE my friends and I LOVE card games (any games actually.)

PSG

2009-01-12T21:03:00.000-08:00

As mentioned in the Christmas post, while in France we got to go to a PSG (Paris Saint-Germain, the Paris soccer team in the French ligue 1). I’m not a soccer fan but as many of you know, Tyler is a die-hard fan and the PSG is the French team he has chosen to support. He hasn’t been lucky with his teams lately, the NY Yankees, the PSG, the Chicago Bears are not doing so well…or so I understand because when he watch the games I’m usually doing something else, unless it’s the super bowl or a BYU football game. Anyways, when Tyler decides to support a team it’s for real and he had been dying to see the PSG live but we never went to France during the soccer season, until three weeks ago. My father was kind enough to take us to a game (my sister, Roselle, got to come too), Tyler was in heaven and I have to admit that it was pretty fun. The atmosphere was crazy. I’ve been MLB games, to NBA games, college football (and BYU vs. Utah can get a little crazy) but I hadn’t really seen crazy until this game. The PSG stadium, le Parc des Princes, hold 48,000 people that night there were 45,000 people, all chanting, beating on drums dancing, lighting flares, you read me right, LIGHTING FLARES! And it was fun. We got to see Guillaume Hoarau (number 9, the blue jersey on the left side of the picture) a rising French soccer star Tyler has been following.

There was a lot of action for a final 2-2. It should have been 3-2 for the PSG, Tyler can tell you all about that.

And even I enjoyed myself. I really did have a good time, I didn’t just enjoy watch Tyler have a great time.

And now that Tyler has a PSG jersey with Hoarau’s name, number and all the official patches, he truly is a happy camper.

Christmas

2009-01-08T20:34:00.000-08:00

A Couple of weeks late, here is our Christmas rundown. We went to France for the holidays, we also got a new TV and Santa brought a Wii so we weren’t expecting anything for us adults and explained to the kids that it’s not the quantity of presents that matter but the quality. We also tried, as we do each year, to focus on the birth of Jesus and family. But we were wrong and we were spoiled. Here’s a few of our favorite things. It was impossible to choose just one per person. Coleen, Olivia and Henry in their (by chance) matching Christmas jammies.

Olivia’s favorite gift: her robe (she’d been asking for one for years, and she’s only 6, seriously) and her PetShop things.

Henry’s favorite gift: a transformer sword. A transformer and a sword put together, and it makes battle sound, Henry is in heaven.

Daddy’s favorite gift: Guitar Hero for the Wii or a PSG jersey, and the PSG soccer game he got to go to. It’s a toss-up.

Mommy’s favorite gift: a WiiFit. I’m hurting in places I didn’t even know existed. My body is screaming a loud “I’m supposed to do what?”. I’m loving it but no pictures allowed at this point!

Thanks everybody for a wonderful Christmas. We loved all your gifts and we especially loved spending time with you.

Paris - City of lights, City of my heart

2009-01-06T14:10:00.000-08:00

I have quite a bit of catching up to do. Life has been busy, which means not as many pictures as there should be to represent all that has happened recently and also, I was away from my computer and a QWERTY keyboard—typing in France takes me for EVER! So here goes with the catching up. Today: Paris. Paris has to be my favorite city. I love that it is familiar to me but that it can always be rediscovered, either through the eyes of someone you take around or through the many changing aspect of Paris (the new exhibits, the new colors of the lights of the Eiffel Tower, the different vendors in the markets…). Each and every time, I love Paris. Here are a few pictures (Tyler did take a lot of pictures of the city but never with anyone we know in it.) The Sacré Cœur - Climbing up the step is a workout but definitely worth it, especially when you reward yourself afterwards with lunch "Place du Tertre".

The Arc de Triomphe - One of the many symbols of Paris, one that usually means shopping on the Champs-Elysées.

The Eiffel Tower - Growing up I used to run up the stairs screaming out the numbers of the steps. I'm not running anymore, I'm not screaming either.

The Panthéon - This used to be a church "Sainte Geneviève" if my memory serves me well. But now it's a place for art and famous people (Victor Hugo, Pierre Curry among them) to be buried.

Notre-Dame - We love to go there, the place is magnificent.

So Gullible….So Adorable!

2008-12-11T22:10:00.001-08:00

Something the kids said this morning during breakfast brought back to my mind an incident from a few nights ago. I can’t reveal what they said this morning, not just yet as it would ruin the story. So our story starts a few nights ago at dinnertime when Olivia tells us, dead serious, that she can count to twelve in sign language. I’m really impressed because I know that they use their fingers in a way that doesn’t make sense to hearing people, and I’ve never been able to memorize numbers in sign language. Tyler asks her to show us and she starts… she puts her right hand out palm up and leaves it there, then she puts her left hand out palm up and leaves it there, then she flips her right hand palm down and leaves it there.... Tyler and I start to smile… then she flips her left hand palm down and leaves it there… the smile is getting bigger… then she puts her right hand behind her head….we’re such naughty parents, we loose it, we’re laughing so hard I’m crying and my sweet little girl lowers her head and pouts, she’s embarrassed because we’re laughing at her. Tyler asks her who taught her how to “count in sign language” and she says someone at school but she won’t tells us who, what’s for sure is that they got her good. Tyler explains that we’re not laughing at her, that she’s not counting in sign language but doing the Macarena, and it’s the dance that's funny, but she doesn’t believe us and is still embarrassed. We try to apologize and make her feel better, we even show her people dancing the Macarena on YouTube but we hurt her feelings and I feel bad so I just hold her while Henry is now dancing the Macarena and it's not helping. The evening goes on, life goes on and I forget about the incident... until this morning when Olivia says “I did the Macarena for Henry yesterday”, and Henry adds “she does the Macarena for me because I don’t laugh at her.” It makes me feel terrible that I hurt her feelings but you’ve got to admit that it was really funny.

Our Christmas tree

2008-12-10T13:23:00.000-08:00

We didn’t get a real tree this year, but used the artificial one we had in storage. Dad set up the tree, strung the lights and the garlands and the rest of us had carte blanche with the ornaments. I think it turned out pretty good. The decision to use the “fake tree” came after we realized that since we’d be gone on Christmas day anyway and that we wouldn’t be able to water the tree for more than 2 weeks, we didn’t want to come home to a dead, fire-hazard tree at the beginning of January. Ideally, I’d prefer a real tree but it’s just not practical this year and this is a good tree that is serving its purpose. Plus, we light a Christmas tree scented candle by it so that we can have the smell of the season and not just the look of the season. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Our new family picture

2008-12-07T14:08:00.001-08:00

We finally had our family picture taken this weekend. It was supposed to be done 2 months ago, but things kept getting in the way. So Saturday afternoon, Tyler’s mom took our picture. She’s got Olivia so well trained that she didn’t have to tell Olivia how to pose. I think we have a model in the making. Henry was a little more difficult. He’s such a goof ball that he couldn’t stay still more than a split second at a time. Good thing Grandma is such an awesome photographer. When all is said and done, we are very pleased with this year’s portraits. Thanks Grandma!

Happy Birthday Henry

2008-11-19T20:36:00.000-08:00

...and Grandma and me! November is a busy month we had a birthday dinner for all three birthdays at Grandma's and we made Henry's actual birthday as special as we could. First it was a happy coincidence that the 13th was "Donuts with Dads" (the school invites all the kids and their fathers for a donut breakfast at 7:30.) After school, he got to watch a movie with Dad and for dinner he wanted to go out to sushi so we went to Sushimoto in Fernley. O yeah and before we left for dinner, he got to open even more presents... pretty special day for a special boy.

Halloween Part 2

2008-11-02T21:39:00.000-08:00

We had a great Halloween. Because Halloween was on Friday, it also happened to be Nevada Day (or Nevada's birthday as Olivia has been saying and she walked around most of the day singing or humming "Happy Birthday"). We had Nevada day off (even though Henry was positive we got the day off for Halloween) and did fun Halloween related activities, including carving our pumpkins and baking treats, as the excitement for the night to come kept escalading... it's fun to bake and do crafts but apparently it's way more fun to walk around town in a costume and receive candy from everybody. My cute children:

Olivia as the most adorable Little Mermaid ever and Henry as the silliest, goofiest Red Dino Power Ranger.

While I stayed home handing out candy and making Caramel Corn, Tyler took them trick-or-treat. He walked them into the ground, for which Henry complained until he got home and surveyed his loot, both were extremely satisfied with their "harvest". We finished the evening at Judge's house for more fun and candy, and the realization for me that it's only the beginning of 2 months of fun and food!

Halloween Part 1

2008-10-30T16:40:00.000-07:00

Thanks to School Halloween parties, we had some more baking fun. Both Olivia and Henry had signed up to bring cupcakes (they love to bake and decorate cupcakes) and so we looked for a fun new Halloween cupcake. The one- eyed monster is the one both wanted to bring to their party, and I have to say that they turned out pretty good. Alright, so this blog entry is going to be a little about me... a couple of days ago, Henry and I were walking around in Safeway and Henry was still wearing his plastic vampire teeth, like he had been doing since he got them as a prize at the elementary school Fall Festival (at first, it was hard to understand him, but you get used to it.) Out of the blue, Henry asks me "Do you like me now?" I'm a little surprised by the question but I answer "Henry, I always love you!" To this he replies "No, I mean, do you like me now that I'm a vampire... you like vampires..." I guess I've read the twilight books too much before their bedtime and watched the movie trailer one to many times!

Another Henry moment: This morning at breakfast, Olivia asked Henry what he wanted to be next Halloween and he answered without hesitation "a crystal shrimp!" He meant a Sushi Roll like the one Amber is making Mitchell this Halloween (Amber and Mitchell came to Lovelock to watch our Primary program last Sunday and showed us pictures of the costume. It's awesome. I got this picture from the Family Fun magazine which is where Amber got her inspiration.) For those who do not know, Henry loves sushi, even the raw stuff, but his very favorite is the crystal shrimp rolls.

So excited for Twilight

2008-10-28T21:00:00.000-07:00

It seems that lately this blog has been more about me than the kids... not to worry I will soon blog about them again but I couldn't pass this. I found the clip on MSN and I love it... enjoy!

I've been tagged...

2008-10-26T20:30:00.000-07:00

8 T.V Shows I love to Watch: I don’t watch all of them but I wish I had time… 1. Lost 2. The Office 3. Ghost whisperer 4. Medium 5. House 6. Numbers 7. Criminal Minds 8. My Own Worst Enemy

8 Favorite Restaurants: 1. Chili Pepper (Thai restaurant in Reno) 2. P.F. Chang’s 3. Sushi Time 4. Cheesecake Factory 5. Bajio 6. Ciao (too bad they aren’t there anymore) 7. Famous Daves 8. Panera

8 Things that Happened Yesterday: 1. I did laundry (didn’t get to the ironing though) 2. I straightened the house. 3. I made more pumpkin bread. 4. I took Olivia and Henry to a birthday party. 5. I took Olivia and Henry to the elementary school Fall Festival. 6. I cleaned the bathroom and moped the kitchen. 7. Tyler and I went to a “game night”, we played battle of the sexes. The ladies won! It was also a congratulation party for Tyler and his friend Bryce who have just passed the Nevada Bar Exam. 8. I went to bed with a migraine.

8 Things I'm Looking Forward to: 1. A Sunday afternnon nap. 2. Some quiet time to finally read the book club book. 3. Halloween…and the candy witch to take most of the candy away so I don’t have time to get into it! 4. My birthday…I can’t wait to see what the kids will do this year. 5. The Twilight Movie!! I loved the books and I get to go see it with my girlfriends. 6. Going to France for Christmas. I haven’t been there for Christmas since 99. 7. Going to Disneyland Paris at least 3 times in the two weeks will be in France. 8. Catching up on my scrapbooking.

8 Things on My Wish List: 1. A weekend all to myself. It wouldn’t have to be a weekend any two days would do. 2. A weekend with just my husband and I. 3. New dishes. 4. Children who never fight. 5. More time in a day. 6. To know more about computers. 7. More patience. 8. More understanding.

8 People I Tag: 1. Florine R. 2. Heidi G. 3. Merideth A. 4. Alicia L. 5. Coleen A. 6. Emeline T. 7. Christine A. 8. Lauren A.

California

2008-10-21T21:09:00.000-07:00

We went to L.A. for a wedding but we couldn't pass the beach. We love the beach and decided to go check out Malibu. We couldn't get there until Sunday and still managed to have a grand time without swimming (although Henry got awfully close and didn't seem to mind that he was fully dressed, including his blanky he uses as a cape.)

Olivia preferred to stay as dry as possible and found plenty to amuse herself away from the water.

And finally a picture from the wedding feature Zack, Jocelyn, the groomsmen and the bridesmaids. It was a beautiful wedding. We got to see many friends and family at the wedding and reception.

But best of all, we stayed with Craig and Jennifer (Tyler's uncle and aunt) and their family and got to spend time with Wade and Merideth who blessed their precious baby boy Crew Benson Altom.

Only in Lovelock

2008-10-08T22:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I went to our little Safeway to buy milk and eggs. As often, there was no skim milk on the shelves but we were out so I found someone and asked them to check if they had some in the back. The woman was gone for about 10 minutes (and I’m not exaggerating) when she came back to tell me she couldn’t see any skim milk but she would go check with ______ (I can’t remember her name) because she “worked in dairy”. The two of them had been gone a few minutes when they came back and the one who “worked in dairy” said “I’m sorry I don’t have any skim milk, all I have is fat free, 1% and 2%”. I could have said something really mean but all I said is “I’ll take 2 gallons of the fat free.” I kept my rude and sarcastic comments for Tyler when I got home. I have to give it to those two ladies; the jug does say Fat Free and not Skim. I know it's hard to tell but I'm really not a good photographer and I couldn't get the camera to get a clearer picture of the label.

Caramel Apples

2008-09-25T09:46:00.000-07:00

One of the things we did this month to enjoy the season is make mini caramel apples. We found the idea in the Family Fun magazine, and the kids have a great time the whole way through (from the time we make them to the time we eat them). A lot of our during–the-week activities only include Henry and me because they’re a way to keep Henry busy until Olivia gets home from school, but there are a few activities (like this one) when Olivia will not be excluded (they’re either too cool or too delicious, plus we do like to do things with her too), so we did this one together. Olivia and I get to cut out the “mini apples” with the melon baller, and then I let both the kids stick in the popsicle sticks and roll the apples in the yummy stuff. The batch we made last night was to take to Henry’s preschool, but we still enjoyed a few and plan on making a few more batches including one to take to Olivia’s class next week.

Where but o where does time go?

2008-09-21T20:39:00.000-07:00

So, what do I do with all the time I have on my hands? I mean, don’t I have all the time in the world now that Olivia is in school all day (from 8 to 2:45), and that Henry has preschool Monday through Thursday from 8:15 to 10:45? At least that’s what people seem to be implying. Well, frankly no, I don’t have all the time in the world. Actually I seem to have less time than last year. It’s true that it’s nice to be by myself for a couple of hours in the morning (by the time I get home after dropping Henry off it’s 8:30 and I have to leave to go get him shortly after 10:30). During these two hours I jog on the treadmill (or speedwalk if I feel like reading at the same time) then I read my scriptures and then I indulge in a peaceful (no bickering children right behind the shower curtain) longer-than-usual shower. I cherish these two hours because after that Henry comes home and the daily complaint begins: “When is Olivia coming home? I’m bored!” No matter what I do with him, it’s the same complaint: “When is Olivia coming home? I’m bored!” So I’m busier than ever trying to find “cool” things for us to do. On Friday I made 4 fresh batches of homemade play dough (our old batches had been dried up for a while so I figured it would feel like a new activity again, and I was right). So to all those who ask what stay-at-home moms do with all their free time, I say, what free time? But we are loving every minute of it. The fruit of my labor: fresh play dough

Olivia following her inspiration

Henry during a creative spell

A smiley face by Olivia

A lizard created by Henry

Henry plays soccer too

2008-09-17T19:09:00.000-07:00

So now Henry is on a soccer team also: the Mustangs. I kept finding excuses for not letting him do soccer this year but it was just so that I didn’t have to have soccer practices and games every night between him and Olivia. I was just being selfish. And Henry loves it. He did pretty well for his age. He’s no Ronaldo but then again no one is at his level, it’s pretty funny watching a bunch of 4-year-olds “playing soccer”. The main thing is that he had a great time. He is on the same team as Joseph, one of his two best friends, and Joseph’s mom, Leslie, is the coach, he couldn’t ask for a better team.

An athletic Dad and two very easily amused children

2008-09-14T19:24:00.000-07:00

It was a normal Saturday morning. I had gotten the kids their breakfast and gone to le living room to pickup toys when I heard them both busting up. The biggest belly laugh. I was intrigued (and a little nervous that they night be having a food fight I have to admit) so I went to see what was going on. But there was no misbehaving there were laughing at their Dad. He was getting ready to go a bike ride and was wearing a jersey that has pockets on the back. In the pockets, he has stuffed power bars, a Gatorade bottle, and his bike tool kit and apparently it looked hilarious to the kids because they were rolling. I had to laugh too, their laugh was infectious.

Go Sharks!

2008-09-07T18:14:00.000-07:00

Olivia started soccer practice this week. Shelby Jo's Dad is the coach and Dad is the assistant coach. They had a lot of fun at their first practice and they decided to call their team the “Sharks”. We don’t know why since Lovelock doesn’t have any large body of water or sharks anywhere close but all but one agreed, they wanted to be called the Sharks. And there is no changing 6-year–old minds. Now the Sharks will practice for a couple more weeks and they will start playing other local teams. It should be fun.

Preschool Starts Again

2008-09-02T09:26:00.001-07:00

Henry could not wait for preschool to start again. Preschool is part of the elementary school here in town but for some reason it didn't start until a week after everyone else. He was so excited this morning that he was up before 7 (and remember, he’s the one who like to sleep in ‘til 10) asking “Is it time to go to school yet?”. Henry loves School. He loves his teacher (Miss Brooks, same as last year) and he loves to play and learn with his friends. They do all the normal stuff, like letters and numbers but they also learn about, to mention a few, the sky, things that grow (they grew green beans last year), and bugs (they watched ladybugs eggs hatch, butterflies come out their cocoons). Compared to school staying home with Mom is BORING! I try to make it interesting but apparently Miss Brooks is a lot cooler than me. Preschool is only 2½hours a day Monday through Thursday. But it seems to be enough to make it tolerable for him to be “Mommy’s little buddy” (Olivia’s term) for the rest of the time.

First Grade

2008-08-27T09:20:00.000-07:00

Olivia is in first grade. I can't believe it. I'm really not sure how I feel about it. I mean, I'm happy school is in again, the kids need it and I need it to be sane but first grade means that my baby isn't a baby anymore. But Olivia is so excited about it that I have to admit that it makes it easier on me. I'm happy that she's so happy. Last night, we asked her what she was most excited about and she said: lunch in the big lunchroom and the four recesses, go figure! I know she'll do great.

Gymnastics

2008-03-09T19:42:00.001-07:00

Since the beginning of the year Olivia and Henry had been taking gymnastics lessons. They both enjoyed going to the classes and were doing very well learning new "tricks". Then came recital night. Olivia did great and hammed it up as much as she could but Henry either crawled or scooted across the stage instead of doing his part and then begged for his mommy once on the other side. It was hilarious.

The Decorated Tree

2008-01-05T20:20:00.001-08:00

O Christmas Tree

This is the tree once decorated. It looked like we had a lot more ornaments on a regular sized tree. Next year, we'll have to downgrade the tree size or upgrade the ornament collection.

2008-01-05T19:43:00.000-08:00

Our Beautifully HUGE Christmas Tree

This year, we cut our own Christmas tree. We left early in the morning, all bundled up, and drove for about an hour and a half. We weren't on our own; a few other families went with us. Wwe carpooled while Judge Wagner was driving the truck we would use to bring the trees back to civilization. When we left, I noticed that most of the mothers weren't coming but I didn't dwell on this fact. Halfway through the drive there, the whiny "Are we there yet?" made me think: "Smart ladies." A few more "Are we there yet?" later; we got out of the cars and started looking for our perfect Christmas tree. We found ours fairly fast but we needed to find ten trees before the hunt was over. Looking for a tree is fun, cutting the tree down, not so much. It's hard for the person cutting it, and long for the person waiting for the tree to be cut (very very long if that person is a child). Ten trees and millions of whiny demands later ("I'm hungry, I need something to eat", "I'm cold, can I have your coat to sit on?", "I'm bored, when can we go home?" over and over...), I'm thinking those ladies back home are really, really smart but we have found the perfect tree. We're thinking the tree will fit perfectly in the corner of our living room. Well, the tree is perfect, but not in the corner, as it takes up most of our living room.