And, lo....

Tonight when we were reading scriptures at dinner (we usually do it at breakfast, but it has been a little bit off schedule during the break.), Ben decided to read the Christmas story in Luke. (Right now we are currently reading in Alma, which Livy calls Elmo. It is quite cute). As Ben started reading the first words of Luke 2:9- Brooke chimed in and recited almost the entire next 3 verses without any help.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. (10) And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. (11) For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

Ben and I just watched in amazement and smiling. Brooke was giddy that we were so excited. And then at the end she said, "And that's what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown." We all laughed. But deep down i almost wanted to cry because of all the things she can memorize and remember i am so glad she remembers those words so well, and i hope that they will always stick with her! Then she said, "That's what the Linus button says." I bought the Charlie Brown book at wal-mart two weeks ago and it is a favorite! (And deep down i was giddy that Brooke's teacher showed the movie Charlie Brown's Christmas at school last week-because obviously it does have the true meaning of Christmas in it!)

Christmas Cards

Why do Christmas card have to be such a task in our family. It seems every year some new obstacle happens to get them out. And every year i try to fix it so that it is easier the next year. Like last year I bought christmas letterhead right after christmas so it was done adn we had it. And I even put it in our christmas boxes so it was easy to find when it was time to print them. But of course, the letterhead didn't fit our letter. Then when i finally got to another store to get letterhead, they only had a few of the right sized envelopes, so i had to go to another store to get envelopes. And then when i finally go to print them, the totally ready and completed Christmas letter that was finished three days ago, just waiting to be printed, was deleted off Ben's computer. (when it backed up online, it tripled everything and ben cleared things out....and one thing happened to be our letter.) I just kept thinking, ARE YOU KIDDING ME! So not only am i always scrabbling to get them off before Christmas Eve, but i always run into some really frustrating obstacles.

But on a happy note, Ben entered ALL of our addresses into excel this year-so that will be super easy to update and print off of next year. And while i was 'venting' a bit and getting my frustrations out on this little blog post ben found one of the letters we had printed on the "last years clearance stationary that didn't work this year" in the recycle bin, so now i just have to re-type and not remember everything! Hallelujah, what a blessing. And it isn't even Christmas Eve and I am sending the cards off.

The Nutcracker

We went to the Nutcracker last night at Temple Hill. It was so awesome! Brooke loved it! Livy fell asleep halfway through the second half, but enjoyed it up until that point. The admission was free, and the show was absolutely AMAZING! It was so fun to see all the girls at the intermission twirling around on their toes and sashaying to and fro all around the lobby and outside. I'm so glad we got to go. And the Temple looked beautiful with all the lights. When we drove up there it was pouring rain and you couldn't even see the spires on the top of the Temple from the parking lot when we pulled in. But when we were leaving it was crystal clear. You could see all the way to San Fransisco and all the bridges. I highly recommend going up to the Oakland Temple, even if you aren't LDS, to see the Nativity and the Lights and there is a Reflections Exhibit in the Visitors Center that is supposed to be amazing. I just love the feeling on the Temple grounds, especially at Christmas.

Christmas Music

I have been spoiled growing up to have been in such a musically talented ward. (You would've thought by now it would have rubbed off on me, but sadly, no. Thankfully i have Ben to help our kids be musically talented). And especially at Christmas time, it has been such a treat! And today was no exception. Music at Christmas magnifies the Spirit so much. I am so thankful to people that put in the time and energy to always make the Sunday before Christmas so amazing. I was sitting in Sacrament meeting overflowing with with joy and peace. The music was so powerful. My friend Katie wrote the most beautiful Christmas song and 8 women sang it a cappella today. And the children's chorus was so good. And Robert Elliott's O'Holy Night was just incredible. But amidst the joy I also felt a twinge of sadness. Sadness that i hadn't invited everyone of my friends to bask in this amazing Spirit felt by music. Sad that the few i had invited weren't able to make it. But the joy and wonderment from the amazing songs definitely won out over that twinge of sadness.

Last Saturday we had an amazing ward Christmas Party as well. And again the talent was awesome. And it just makes me so grateful for people like Katie that put in the time to organize and plan such wonderful programs that magnify the feeling of the Christmas Spirit to the umpteenth power. Thank you Katie for sharing your talent and time. And thank you Carrie for having a children's chorus! It was awesome.

I am so grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ. And beautiful music helps me feel the power of His birth and his death deep in my soul.

Star of the Week

Brookelyn was chosen Star of the Week this past week. What a Gal!

I'd like to say (and think) it's because she is this spectacular student. Well rounded in every way. Helpful, kind, attentive, and respectful 1oo % of the time. And she probably is, at school. But then I learned that they were assigned which week they got to be star of the week. But i can still think what i want to about why she got it!

She was so excited to color her poster and fill in all the information! And what was even better is that she got to "present" her poster on wednesday. Just as I walked into the classroom. Ot was impecable timing. Couldn't have been more perfect. i volunteer on wednesday's in her class and thankfully I got there about 10 minutes early and just happen to see her. It was so great. She got to be up front on a big chair with her poster while the other kids were on the rug. She talked about everything on the poster and then everyone got to answer questions or make comments. And boy, oh boy, did she eat this up. If you can picture this...since i didn't have my camera (but who am i kidding, i never have my camera). She is sitting there on the chair with her legs crossed. This grin of pure joy. She was so proud to be able to be in charge. She got to remind the kids that if they wanted to make a comment they needed to raise their hands and she would call on them. It was hilarious! So great! She ate up all the compliments. They all said how they loved her drawings and colorings. And she just beamed. Her love language is definitely words of affirmation and physical touch. Man, i wish i had had a video camera. But i am just really grateful, i happened to be there to see it! Brooke, you are AWESOME!

I also got to teach Brookelyn's class PE. It was so much fun. I actually got to put into practice some of the great things i learned at BYU! We played some great tag games and then did lots of jumping and skipping over hula hoops. It was great. I loved it when the kids kept saying to each other, "That was so fun!" or "I loved the Cookie Monster game. Can we do that again?" I just kept them moving and smiling for 25 minutes and now they all love me! It really showed me again, that kids like to be physically active. And they all need more of it!

Then i got to teach the cub scouts volleyball that same day! Wow, that Master's degree in Sports Pedagogy came in handy. :). It was so funny to see the boys get so into it and competitive! I loved it.

It was a fun Wednesday! I am so grateful I get to be in Brooke's class and see her environment once a week. I am still trying to think of ways to be able to be in her class in first grade too....any ideas!

'Tis the Season

A Christ Centered Christmas. I think it is in the back of every one's minds every year. And every year i come up with a new idea or two on how I can bring Christ into the spirit of Christmas a little more. I feel it is commonplace now to hear the complaint about how Christmas is "glitzy" and more commercialized every year and our society always focuses on the getting and wanting more than the giving and loving. And yes that is a bit true, and i am a culprit of that complaint as well (especially when I think about Christmas decor being sold and advertised even before Halloween) But the past few days I have been thinking about the "Spirit of Christmas". There is a spirit of Christmas everywhere, even amongst the materialism and commercialization of it all. And that means that deep down people are more conscious of being kinder and nicer, people are recognizing the difference of this time of year. Because we celebrate the birth of Christ at this time, His love is felt by all even if they don't know that that is what it is.

Loved this little video clip. Click here for more video and ideas for a Christ centered Christmas.

Favorite Sayings Today

Me: "Brooke let me put some oil on your feet. There are some people who have been sick lately, so i want to make sure you don't get sick." (We usually put them on at night before bed, so she isn't used to it in the morning.)

Brooke's Response as I am rubbing oil on her feet."Mom, it is like a war between the bad germs and the oils." (i smile and chuckle inside) "So if i don't get sick, mom, that means the oils won."

It was very cute!

Livy squinting her really big smile and gritting her teeth and flexing really hard and she says, "LOOK AT MY KNUCKLES MOM!" I had to laugh so hard. Especially since she was only in her underwear while she was doing it. So now we refer to our muscles as our knuckles.

My mom was helping Livy in the bathroom. She kept asking Livy if she was finished. Livy sat there closing her eyes really tightly and not answering. Finally after a few times of asking, Livy responds, "Dwama (grandma), I'm hiding from you."

.... i so wish i would just come straight to the computer and jot down their funny sayings because there are lots of them throughout the day. And lots of times it is those moments that I am the most happy, enjoying the really fun moments of motherhood.

Another great saying I got from my friend at our Learning Circle. "I am happy everyday. I'm not happy every minute of the day. But I am happy everyday." Motherhood makes me happy everyday. And most minutes I am happy, but the moments when kids say funny things, it is not just happy-it's hilarious!

First hair cut

Jackson got his first hair cut today. (at 14 months) He loved it. Pretty much the total opposite reaction than livys experience. He is so darn cute. I didnt think he could get any cuter. But he did! (pictures courtesy of ben's iphone-gotta love that phone!)

Thankful Tree

Last night for Family Night we did our annual Thankful Tree. It is always a huge hit with Brooke. She loved writing things on the leaves and Livy especially loved gluing everything on...even if she did use the entire glue stick for three leaves, it was a joy. Brooke kept saying, "Mom, I just love this! I am so thankful for...." It is a great feeling to think that she enjoyed something so much that it might actually be sinking in.

Last night we also gave the girls awards. I am trying to do things to recognize the little things and praise my kids more. So Brooke got the Superstar Award! She was ecstatic. It was for her determination in making sure the toy room was clean and her room was picked up. And then even looking for other jobs to do. I love it when she gets in those helpful moods and says, "Mom, is there anything I can do to help you?" Love it!

Livy got the Princess Award for being so happy yesterday. She was very quick to say thank you for everything. And then saying "That was good manners, huh Mom."

Ben has been doing such an awesome job of being organized enough to remind me and talk about the FHE lesson on Sunday afternoon. Rather than scrambling to think about something on Monday evening. He is even so awesome that he has been planning the lessons lately! It is AWESOME to say the least!

But when we still have those times that we are scrambling I like to think of Elder Bednars words from a few conferences back.

Sometimes Sister Bednar and I wondered if our efforts to do these spiritually essential things were worthwhile. Now and then verses of scripture were read amid outbursts such as “He’s touching me!” “Make him stop looking at me!” “Mom, he’s breathing my air!” Sincere prayers occasionally were interrupted with giggling and poking. And with active, rambunctious boys, family home evening lessons did not always produce high levels of edification. At times Sister Bednar and I were exasperated because the righteous habits we worked so hard to foster did not seem to yield immediately the spiritual results we wanted and expected.

Today if you could ask our adult sons what they remember about family prayer, scripture study, and family home evening, I believe I know how they would answer. They likely would not identify a particular prayer or a specific instance of scripture study or an especially meaningful family home evening lesson as the defining moment in their spiritual development. What they would say they remember is that as a family we were consistent. (More Diligent and Concerned at Home. October 2009. click here)

Today I am thankful that we planned a Family Night Lesson that was so fun for the kids!

Music and Moods

Music helps moods. Music changes moods. I love that my girls can change their cranky/dramatic mood into cheery, goofy, fun girls by pushing the play button on the cd player (yes we still live in the dark ages and have a cd player). I love that Livy sticks out her tongue and moves her shoulders and hands. I love how Brooke tries all different moves. Even trying the "cabbage patch kid", or " the running man", or "the roger rabbit". You can't help but smile and have fun! Or I love it when their heads and shoulders bob or their legs move to "their beat" when they are sitting and coloring when fun music comes on.

I am grateful for fun music this morning!

I am also grateful for beautiful little children. even if they are a bit whiny and crabby when they wake up sometimes.

I'm grateful its Monday and we get to do Family Home Evening tonight and focus on more things that we are thankful for! I'm glad i get to teach my kids more specifically about the gift of gratitude!

Do you like Fremont....

What is better than 7 kids having a dance party in your kitchen/family room for an hour in the midst of eating lunch? Muddy kids running in and out of the house, playing "farm" in the mudhole in the backyard? Marble towers in the toy room and tag around the entire house, in the neighbors yard who is trying to mow his lawn and behind the shed and side yards?

Sure, i haven't gotten one thing on my to do list done. But I swept the floor, and cleaned up the books amidst the dance party. I reminisced how much fun it is to be a kid. And Ben and I had so much fun dancing with the kids!

And so when people ask me sometimes, Do you really like fremont? I am a little bit taken back. I like fremont. I like it because we live in an awesome neighborhood with lots of kids. We have incredible friends. We still go to Husky football games together. We play at the church parking lot (it is kind of like Parkmont park was, when I was a kid). We had movie night on the lawn with a big white sheet and projector with 6 families from our neighborhood on thursday. We have a lot of fun!!

So yes, i love fremont because my little life for my kids now, is how I remember childhood. Playing at each other's houses, playing in the yard with friends in the neighborhood, and lots of good friends that feel like family!

Life is good!

Dear Utah,

I hate you.

You take my dearest friends. I need them here in California.

Just in the last few months you stole Candice, then Stephanie and Melanie. And now Melissa.

I was so thankful when Melissa moved into the ward, because I knew we would raise our kids together and be such good friends. The kind of friends who could call each other in an instant to help when we were in a lurch. The kind of friends who are up to going to do anything without having to plan it days in advance. The kind of friends that had the same goals in mind: being good moms, being good friends and having fun while doing it.

And I was even more grateful because I knew she liked California, so we just knew they would stick around. And what was even better is that we had history together. And lets face it, history makes friendships run really deep, really fast. Those roots make it so strong.

And so Utah, I hate you even more because you will have another piece of my heart two states away from this too expensive place called the bay area.

Not Very Fondly,

Ashley

Intentions....

"The Road to Hell is Paved with good intentions."

I don't know where that quote came from, but every time I plan on doing something and then it falls through, I kind of give myself a little feel good talk and think, well at least I had good intentions. And then that quote creeps into my mind. And sometimes it makes me more motivated and others times I shrug my shoulders and say, "Well, I guess I know where I am going."

This week was one of those weeks I had great intentions. I intended to update this blog, since I don't keep any other journals lately. You know, update it all the way back to our summer break. With pictures and all. But then Ben's computer was stolen. (along with the window being smashed in, his projector and iPad and entire computer bag stolen and then his bag on fire in the next city over. Business cards spilled out with Ben's name and info and him getting called by the cops and accused of doing it...it is a great story, he will have to post about later) And that is where all of our pictures are stored. So he tried to upload the pictures from the online back-up (thankfully Ben was a genius and actually did that a few months back), this computer crashed...so i got discouraged and haven't even attempted to try to update this old blog here because I don't have the pictures. But, hey, I had good intentions.

I also had good intentions of making some great memories with the kids since Brooke had two days off. I thought and thought about what we should do. The tech museum (i had some discounted tickets), the beach, the tide-pools, biking in San Fran, just something really fun to get out of the sometimes-monotonous feeling routine of school. Well it proved to be all thoughts. All we did was go to the park. Which is always really fun, but my grand intentions ended up being just that, intentions.

I have some great things in store for tomorrow, and unless I make a list and narrow specifics down as to what I really want to get done, tomorrow again will pass by with just intentions instead of anything actually getting done.

And hopefully next week, I will record some of the things we have been up to.....or actually finish some of the trillions of posts I have in my draft box....and maybe they won't be just intentions.

Holiday Boutique

We are having a Holiday Boutique tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 6th, at my house! There will be designer hand-made crafts, blown glass, unique gifts, skin care baskets, candles, make-up, baby things and accessories and more. So stop on by! 10:30am-2:30pm

Sunrise

Brooke got up early this morning and helped me get the garbage cans out to the street. She loved helping (And i am glad she was there because we were racing to get them out to the curb in time.) We noticed the sun just coming up and the sky and clouds were just beautiful. So instead of rushing off to get showered before the other kids woke up and start the laundry. We got a blanket and a beach chair and I sat on the front porch holding her while watching the sky change brilliant colors. We talked about sunrises and sunsets, horizons, the sun and the earth and colors. It was so peaceful and joyful. It was a great teaching moment for the way the earth rotates, it was a great "mommy date", and it was a great time to reflect how much joy we find in the little things.

Thanks for waking up early with me today, Brooke.

Dance Party

Dance Party

Dance Parties lighten the mood. Especially at 8am, when everyone is a bit cranky and hasn't gotten enough sleep!!! We've been out of the habit for a while, but we definitely need to start doing them daily again. I'm on the lookout for a new mix of songs. Party in the USA is getting a little old after 8 million times. Any suggestions for good dance songs....

Happy Birthday Livia!!

The top three things I love about Livia!

1. I love how she dances! She did it so much while we were at Disneyland with all the music playing everywhere. And it is even better when she sings along. That girl loves to sing and dance! And rock back and forth on her feet! It is so cute.

2. I love how she talks. Her L's are a w sound, like Disneywand. Her C's are a t sound. She even has this high pitched voice that is so dang cute! I have been trying to catch it on video more. Sometimes I close my eyes and listen to a sentence and try to engrave it on my mind hoping I can replay it later in life. It is so precious!

3. I love her sayings. Her new favorite is "I wove it, mom!" or "I don't wove it." And my other favorite saying from the week is when she puts on her tiger mask for Halloween, she says "Rar! Did I stare you, Mom? You were stared!" I love it!

4. And since number 3 kind of falls under the #2 , I love her hugs. She often times will run up and throw her arms around me and squeeze my neck so hard! Its heaven!

Livy is three today! And she has been so excited about it for weeks leading up to her birthday. I think it had something to do with the fact that we went to disneyland this last week for her birthday! (We had to squeeze in one last trip while she was still free, since the rest of us have passes, and I have always wanted to go to Disneyland at Halloween! So we packed it in!) And she would be over the moon about it being her birthday today, but she woke up not feeling well. It was our primary program at church and we had two friends coming, so Ben and I decided we would take the kids to Sacrament and then bring Livy and Jackson home (Jackson had thrown up earlier in the morning. I thought it was because he had eaten too much...that kid chows. But now i think it is a bug.) Luckily i had taken Livy out to the Foyer because she wanted a drink of water. And I just held her out there, while our friends sat in there by themselves. I was feeling like a horrible "host". But thankfully i stayed out there and was near the bathroom, because she threw-up all over me. I bee-lined it to the restroom where she puked some more, i'll spare the details. So i stripped her down and cleaned everything up (which is not an easy task with soap and paper towels, I think the floor is still a little sudsy, but better soap than other liquid.) I walked home with her and held her on the couch.

A pretty yucky birthday if you ask me. Thankfully we celebrated a little in Disneyland though.

Happy Birthday Livy!

Won the Lottery

That's right! Front row tickets on Broadway for In The Heights with Jordan Sparks!

New York - A little taste

We are loving our trip in New York City! Here's a little taste of what we've been up to...more to come later.

The food here is amazing!!! Here is a local Indian Food place that was crazy good.



The highlight so far was a little trip to the top of the city in a secret building known only by the Eyre boys! Noah got us in, led us up an elevator, then took us past a secret door into the heating vents area, up some stairs, up some crazy outdoor ladders, and to a breathtaking view of Manhattan. Don't believe me? Check this out!





Will post more of our adventures later...stay tuned!

Whirlwind of a Day

5:50AM Jackson wakes up ready for the day

6:00AM Finally settle on the fact that he is not going back to sleep

6-6:30 play and cuddle with J. crawl, play catch, laugh, try to feed him breakfast

6:30-6:45 start cutting tomatoes to make Bruschetta for dinner tonight (have to use the tomatoes before I leave.)

6:45 Quickly shower while Ben can watch Jackson before he leaves

7:00 Ben leaves for work-Start making salad dressing for dinner-finish bruschetta, start making a smoothie and keep J happy. He didn't get enough sleep.

7:20 Jackson wakes up Livy by crawling in her room and laughing. She didn't get enough sleep.

7:30 Feed Jackson and Livy oatmeal.

7:45 Read books to Livy and Jackson

8:00 Get Livy dressed and try to put jackson down for a nap...no luck.

8:30 Try to pick up the house a little bit (it was so clean when we woke up and i am trying to keep it somewhat put together for company coming tonight.)

8:45 Finally finish making the smoothie, brush livy's hair, Brooke wakes up, a little bit on the cranky side because Livy and jackson woke her up by being really loud in the hallway.

9:00 nurse jackson and put him down for a nap

9:10 get Brooke some Breakfast that she will eat (I had already made her oatmeal, but she wouldn't eat it, because it was a different kind than I usually buy)

9:15 Kimberly comes over so I can zone her

9:20-11 Zone Kimberly with a few mishaps in between- Eliza and Livy dump half the bottle of elmers glue out on teh table, Livy totally gouched her finger with the scissors (there is a pretty big hole in her right pointer finger, yikes.) lots of crying and laughing from the kids. Thankfully Jackson slept through it and baby rachel was an angel, otherwise it could have been a very HARD hour and a half.

11:05-11:25 the usual scrambling to get shoes on, mouths fed, lunch packed and out the door so Brooke isn't late. Brooke had to change her shirt three times (she is really picky when it comes to how her clothes "feel") we had to tie and untie her shoe three times to fix her "sock"....that is the norm, and I really try to pad in extra time every morning and it always seems to go like this.

11:25 Wake Jackson up

11:32 Finally walk out the door to get Brooke to school

11:40 drop Brooke off at school.Livy goes down the slide a few times and insists that Jackson goes too, i finally give-in and we have a bit of a mishap with feet and arms getting stuck under kids, and lots of crying for both. Lovely.

11:55 10 minutes late for a Chiropractor appointment with two kids in tow again. Just as i lie down on the table to get adjusted, Livy informs me she needs to go to the bathroom. Get the key-take her potty. Come back and get adjusted while jackson pulls at my hair, livy hangs on the doorknob and opens and closes the door to the room. And Jackson still didn't get enough sleep. He is extra cranky today.

12:25 Go to the grocery store. Hurry through the isles, get everything I need in 25 minutes! That is a record. But still not quick enough for a perfect trip. The last 5 minutes and the whole time at the register Jackson had to be bounced and held and loved, and livy wants more treats. And her finger is hurting.

12:55 Stop at Bank and deposit checks

1:05 get home- only 5 minutes behind my goal time- unload groceries, try to feed Jackson some lunch.

1:30 try to put jackson and Livy down for naps...no luck on either one. So we read a few books and played in the toy room instead. Of course livy wanted to play marbles, so i was trying to play with her and keep jackson from eating them at the same time.

2:00 start getting nervous that I won't be able to finish dinner and clean up from this mornings art projects and get Brooke on time.

2:10 turn on wiggles for Jackson and Livy. Make two lasagnas (one nut, one regular) and try to give the kids some attention in between.

2:42 Leave to pick up Brooke. Livy falls asleep within 1 minute in the car

2:59 Park in the teacher's parking lot (Brooke always reminds me that this is a no-no.) Leave Livy in the van with the windows down.-don't worry I can see the van the entire time. The parking lot is right in front of brooke's room. There is only a fence in between-if you can call it a fence. Grab jackson

3:05 start home to race cleaning up the mess of a kitchen from my scramble to get dinner ready.

Leave livy in the car sleeping with the doors open. Jackson still didn't fall asleep.

3:45 Pack Brooke and jackson back in the car. Drop all the kids off at Donna's.

4:00 go to Volleyball Practice

5:40 Race and pick up the kids at Donna's

5:59 get home just in time for friends to come over for dinner at 6. I am so glad ben got home and put the Lasagna's in

Thankfully everyone was a little late. it bought me a little time

6:40 Enjoy a fun dinner with old friends outside on the patio. Meeting new friends (Nick's wife, Teal.) Telling stories, laughing and just having fun enjoying each other. Nick played the guitar and sang for the kids, and even played hide and seek with them.

9:45 finally get the kids in bed after a fun evening. Write on my blog and get motivated to pack for our trip to New York tomorrow!

It was a jam-packed day. But thankfully I have been implementing my mind organization for mom's, and I actually didn't feel stressed at all. I even felt like I got to enjoy my kids during the journey instead of being frustrated with them. It was a crazy day, but it was a great day!

10:08PM finish my blog post. sigh of relief that I actually recorded something

Playground fun

Ben got home early today. So I decided to make it a "mommy date" and pick Brooke up from school and run some errands with her. After school she asked if we could stay and play on the first graders playground. We sat down on the wood boundaries and she finished her snack. Then she started climbing on the jungle gym. And she turned around and said "Come on, Mom." So, instead of reading through her papers in her backpack. I climbed up to the top and swung around jumped off, and just plain-played with Brooke. It was so fun! I realized, i haven't done that stuff in so long. We played tic-tac-toe, we played hopscotch, we climbed some more. And then, just before we were going to leave, Brooke wanted to go on the monkey bars. So we headed to the other side of the playground. There were two boys sitting on top. Before we even got there the one boy (Olesis) said to me-"Look at me. I bet you can't get up here." I kind of ignored him at first, because I didn't think he would be talking to me...then he said it a few more times. And said in a very haughty (but playful) voice, "Look at how I can get up here." Brooke just looked at me and then started climbing up on top of the bars. After about the fourth time he said it, I thought-Come on, Ashley. You better be that cool mom. So I said, "Watch this." (And i could see brooke starting to smile) and i pulled myself on top of the monkey bars, without using the steps, and sat on top. He chuckled a bit and then said, "Wow." Then the other little boy said, "oh, yeah, watch this." And he hung upside down. So i hung upside down and stayed there for a bit, then I put my hands on the ground and went into a handstand (they were short monkey bars for 1st graders.) and got off that way. The boys and brooke were very impressed. I told brooke we had to go and I said goodbye to the boys. Brooke and I went over and did hopscotch one more time. Then we started walking toward the other playground to get out the gate. THe second little boy (i never got his name) walks up next to me and says, "Wanna race." I smiled and looked at Brooke and she smiled. Then i said back to the boy, "Sure. Ready set go." I ran side by side with him, then sped up at teh end (he was pretty fast for a first grader.) I touched the fence first. And said "Beat ya" And he said, "Wow. You are fast!" Brooke and I waived goodbye. And I held brooke's hand out the gate and to the car. I could tell that she thought i was a "cool" mom at that moment.

We then went to Michael's and she picked out a craft. I think she thought it was a pretty good mommy date. I thought it was awesome! It was so fun to climb and swing on a playground again. I definitely need to do it more often with her! It was also fun to show up some little boys!

Canning

I feel very domestic. In the past few weeks I have canned for the first time. It was actually a lot of fun. I canned tomatoes, twice. I tried to can salsa in the pressure canner. That one didn't turn out quite well. I made and canned applesauce and we are canning peaches later this week.

I feel very "domestic".

Thanks Jonna for all your help and advice. Its great to have neighbors that lend you all the cool tools to can and give you their old jars and even come over at 9 o'clock at night to help you with your applesauce, because you have no idea what in the heck you are doing!

And by the way, the applesauce turned out awesome!

Power of Moms

Ben surprised me and arranged for my friend and I to go to a retreat. A retreat all about being a great mom. Ben's cousin Saren started this website a while ago. It has been on my side bar for almost two years now, so if you have never clicked on it, I highly suggest it. Or just click here.

I learned so many great things to implement so I don't feel so overwhelmed, so tired, so "naggy", so inconsistent!! I learned about different love languages for my kids, tips for making our family economy and family legal system better. I met so many great moms that are just like me. Just like me, in that they are trying to be the best mother and wife they can be while enjoying it all.

Melissa and I had so much fun. Although there wasn't much relaxing around the pool and strolling on the beach, it was so rejuvenating!

This is where we stayed! Just the scenery was invigorating!

Some of the conference topics were:

Taking Care of the Person Inside the Mom

Finding the Time

Picking your Priorities

Family Systems

Love Languages

Mind Organizations for Moms

We are excited to start a learning circle every month with mothers here. A learning circle is just a group of moms getting together once a month and discussing an article about different aspects of motherhood. I know I emailed some of you awesome mothers about this a few months back, but if you are interested in participating in a learning circle leave a comment.

Thanks so much Ben for arranging everything! You are the BEST!

Vivid Memories

As of late I feel like I have enjoyed a little more the journey of motherhood. I think it has to do a little with Livy coming out of the "two's" stage. Sure, there are still tantrums and lots of screaming and drama. But i have really been able to soak in the little moments. Like today, going to the chiropractor. I couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear listening to their little conversation on coloring together and sharing a coloring book without fighting. It wasn't like they said anything hilarious, but they were so cute describing pictures to each other, showing each other hiding places on the way out to the car, getting excited about sitting next to each other in the car. It was great. Or little moments of listening to Brooke and Livy build towers together in the toy room, while trying to figure out ways not to let Jackson knock them down. I am continuously thinking, I need to go write that down. Or, I need to remember those conversations and joy in their voices. But when I sit down and rack my brain I can't remember the words, but I just feel the joy from those little moments.

I wish i could put a recording in my head of how cute Livy's little voice is. All of a sudden she has started talking like a little adolescent in her 2 year old accent.

I am enjoying Brooke's love for drawing and writing. (Even if it means stacks and stacks of papers that we can't throw away. And markers all over Livy-she has to do everything brooke does.) She just loves to sound out letters and write names and draw pictures.

Jackson is starting to copy everything you do . He loves to raise his hands in the air and shout for joy and he just started saying "dadda" (although he has no clue what it means). And of course, he is still our smiley little guy.

The last few weeks I have felt more joy in these little moments, constantly wishing I could bottle up the sounds and mental pictures to save. Hoping that I can open the jar and listen to and watch those moments when these little kids leave for jr. high or college. I find myself trying to engrave the tiny moments in my mind, hoping that I will find some of those images as vivid memories in future years.

Although it is still petty chaotic around here, and i never finish all that I set out to do, I am enjoying it none the less. It really is a journey. And I am learning that sometimes we are better travelers than other times. And for now, while I feel like I am a good traveler, I want to remember it!

Food Inc.

Can you say gross. Ben and I watched the first half of the movie Food, Inc. last night. WOW! I mean, i knew there were a lot of added chemicals and things in our food, but wowzers. Its no wonder we have so many health problems and ailments. I highly recommend watching it just for the information, but beware, it makes you really think about things that are in our food. Especially meat. As I laid there trying to fall asleep last night, i kept thinking i wanted to throw up. And i kept thinking about how much I wanted to change to make sure my children aren't affected by all the chemicals and hormones. If you want something to make you think, watch it! Our family has been trying to change our eating habits for the past 2 years, and it is a journey. A few steps forward, one step back. But watching this makes me want to be more committed to making changes that really are beneficial.

I'm a little nervous about what the next half of the movie will make me think about!

Watch it and let me know what you think.

Post edit: Ben and I just finished watching the rest of Food Inc. I loved it! I highly recommend it.

Big girl

I forgot to add one of my favorite quotes from last week on the last post. After Brooke's first day of kindergarten, we headed over to the pool with all the kids. It was so hot last week! There was a boy there that was probably 3rd or 4th grade. They were all playing games and as Brooke explained it she was on Markus' team. But the other boy wanted to change teams....and told us the long version of the story and then i just had to laugh so hard inside when she said, "And mom, can you believe it. He pointed to me and said, I want that little girl on my team. (and VERY matter-of-factly) I am not a little girl. I am in Kindergarten."

It was so cute!

Little Moments

Jackson isn't much of a talker. In fact I was a bit worried about his development a while back, but he babbles off and on now. But, I really want to engrave on my memory his smile and fast, loud breathing and how he starts kicking his legs that makes his whole body rock when he gets excited about something. Like when he is sitting in the high chair, and I pull out another food item he likes. Or last night when I was holding him while we were trying to get everyone in bed and I walked in the bathroom to get something and he did his little excitement dance with legs kicking and I realized he wanted to brush his teeth. As soon as I picked up the toothpaste his whole body was rocking from his legs kicking that I almost dropped him.

Livy has been practicing her manners all the time. It is so cute! She ALWAYS says thank you mom. Like yesterday at the labor day picnic, I got her a new hot dog because the other one fell on teh ground. As soon as I handed it to her, she said "dant you, mom." Or when i got her a drink at Calvin's birthday party yesterday, she immediately said, "That was so nice of you mom." And it is so cute when it is for small things. When I opened the door for her the other day, as she walked in she said, "dant you for opening the door for me, mom." Or "dant you for detting me milk, mom." It is so cute.

Another cute face of hers I never want to forget is how she cocks her head to the side and squints really hard and holds out her hand to the side and says something like, "don't you think, mom." Or "dants a good idea huh, mom."

I really love when Livy does her intense really loud "hu" in the back of the car while sitting in the car seat if she seems to think we forgot something, or if jackson is getting into something he isn't supposed to (like her towers she was building.)

I want to remember how when Livy gets really excited, especially about little things, like a cupcake or going to the park, she does her really loud "hu" and smiles and squints her eyes and shakes her hands a little with excitement. (I have to get that one on video. It is priceless.)

I hope i remember how persistent Livy is in asking every, every, every day at least 25 times. "You want to play mobbles wid me?" or "Mom, you want to play block wid me?"

I also want to remember how Livy calls any other women or girl that she doesn't really know "that Momma." For example, when Charity was here for a little while and she hadn't figured out her name yet she would say, "Dat Momma will play beads wid me, mom."

Kindergarten

Today was Brooke's first day of kindergarten. I cried. I didn't think i would. But when i got to the car, the tears all came. Actually I started to tear up when I was walking to the street to get to the car and then Livy threw herself on the ground and cried because she was too hot to walk she said. So the crying emotions stopped and i thought I would be okay. But as soon as I put jackson and livy in the car I started to cry. I think it's totally normal. I know she will do great. She was ready to go, although I am thinking some of the sadness/hesitation is because of the STUPID lottery and Brooke didn't get in to Parkmont. I try not to think about the fact that other kids are playing with all the furniture in the kindergarten rooms that my dad built, or the fact that my grandpa donated the land, or that my dad remodeled and built them three different libraries. But those thoughts are kind of always there. And I know its not the end of world that Brooke is at a different school than her friends, or that I have to drive her to a school out of our neighborhood, when I could walk her to parkmont. But it still hurts to think about it sometimes.

I know Brooke will do Awesome and Ms. Du, her teacher, seems great. She is from Taiwan, so I know her and Ben will have a lot to talk about. Maloney is a much smaller school and I think we will like it. When Brooke walked into the classroom it was the first time I have seen her really apprehensive and a little nervous. She has always been so excited about school. We went to the meet and greet yesterday to meet Ms. Du and some of the kids and I showed Brooke where she would sit, and we colored a little bit. But she still didn't seem really comfortable. I think that was the hardest part for me. We pumped her up about Maloney and tried really hard to not to talk about how stupid it was that she didn't get into parkmont when she was around. She will do great!

We tried to think of some fun traditions for the beginning of school. Ben gave Brooke a father's blessing on Monday night for part of family home evening. That brought back a lot of memories from when I was a child. We thought of going out to dinner, or making a cake and having a party. I knew Brooke was excited about her clothes grandma had gotten her, so we decided to do a "fashion show. Well after lots of tears, we did a little one. And then had ice cream sundays. I think that tradition will be better next year. And I am thinking some of the tears and frustrations the last two nights are just Brooke being nervous and not knowing how to explain it.

I know this will be a great year for Brooke! I am so glad she has a good teacher! And who knows, maybe we will like Maloney better than Parkmont!

Portland and Washington

Well, these were supposed to go at the end. But what better way to start a post than with this handsome little man!

I decided last minute to go with my parents to Portland/Washington for the weekend for a family reunion/Auntie Edie's 90th birthday and to hang out with Jason and Courtney. I am SOOOO glad I did! It was so great. i took jackson with me and we had a great time. it was only a little over 48 hours, but we packed a lot in. I was actually supposed to come home sunday evening, but we were having such a great time, my mom changed my flight and I cam home monday morning.

We got in late friday night. So we spent saturday hanging out in the morning at Jason and Courtneys. They are the best hosts. I should say everyone else was hanging out. I slept all morning. Jackson didn't sleep at all the first night, so at 7am my mom took him for me and I got to sleep for 3 hours. It was heavenly! Then we headed down to Vancouver to the Farmers Market! We finally made it there after a few stops to some shops that were going out of business. One was a high end baby store! The ergo carrier was less than what I was trying to pay on craigslist and it was brand new!! I love good deals. The Market was very fun. Great food and lots of fun vendors to walk around and look at. The guys met up with us there after doing guy stuff (shooting). And we went to dinner at Joes Crab Shack right on the columbian river. It was beautiful. We sat outside and admired the setting and all the boats! And enjoyed YUMMY CRAB!

Sunday we headed to Lake Oswego after Sacrament Meeting to go to Auntie Edie's party! She looked beautiful! She is the most upbeat, positive, happy person. I think i have seen Auntie Edie probably 12 times my whole life, but she makes you feel like you have been best friends for life. She is one of those people that makes you feel so important. She remembers everything about you and is always so happy to see you! I hope I can be as amazing as her and look as good as her when I am 90. She is definitely the glue that keeps the family together. It was great to see my dad get together with his cousins who he hasn't see since he was a kid. I got to meet some relatives I had never met. And it was so fun to get caught up with the Norris girls. We had some fun vacations with them as a family when we were young. After the party, we stopped by Bryn and Sue's in Portland and met their new little girl Beatrice. It is always good to see family. I am so grateful my grandma smith and grandma hester instilled the importance of family into all of us from the very beginning.

We headed back to the Bodily's for some awesome food! (Sounds funny to write "the bodily's" when it isn't my parents. Jason and Taylor are the only boys with the last name bodily in our family. And Jason is about to have his fourth, and final, girl. So the pressure is on for Taylor and Carly to have a boy so this branch of the family tree doesn't totally die!) We had halibut and salmon from the alaska trip. It was so good!

Courtney was so great to take pictures of Jackson in her studio that evening.

Here are some of my favorite. She is amazing.

Ben was awesome, as always, at home. He even taught my sunday school class for me and the house was clean when I got home. What a guy! It was a great trip and I am so glad I got to go. Thanks Mom!

Beach Boardwalk

We Won!!

We are over the moon excited about our winnings!! We won the "basket" (which is more like an entire table) of fruits and vegetables and goodies at the fremont farmers market today!
We loved the farmers market before, and now we love it even more! For anyone that hasn't been there, it is on the street between Taco Bell and the train station on fremont blvd, until 1pm every saturday. My girls love the "outing". They sometimes have a band playing. They have great kettle corn (which was also included in the winnings) and awesome cheesecake brownies- the girls get to split one brownie and eat it on the lawn and then snack on the great strawberries. But best of all, ALL of their produce is way cheaper than the grocery store, grown locally, pretty much all organic...and even better is that they have samples of all of it out on the tables. So my kids will try all kinds of different fruits and then we can buy what we like. I highly recommend it!
Check out all the great stuff! courtesy of ben's iphon and blogger app.





(Thanks Ben for making friends with Neil!)

Pictures

I have been really horrible about getting pictures of Livy and Jackson. But I am determined to be better about it. One night when Ben was gone last week, I was getting into bed and I started looking at all the framed pictures on my dresser. The ones of Livy are when she was 6 or 7 months old. I started really looking at her and trying to remember her at that age. And I felt like I couldn't. Thankfully I have a great friend, Donna. She is so amazing with my kids. (Again, one of the many benefits of coaching. Meeting awesome people.) When Livy was young, she watched Brooke and Livy a lot. Her and her girls watched them for 9 days when we went on a cruise. And she took lots of pictures of them. I am so thankful. Because that night when I felt like I couldn't really remember livy, I went to the family room and I pulled out two small albums that Donna had given me. They were all the pictures she had taken of my girls. I loved it.
But it also made me think about my ability to keep a "journal" or "baby book" of my kids. So I am more determined to get regular pictures-even if they aren't that great and put them in an album. It is not going to be a beautiful scrapbooked album. Just an album that I can slide an 8x10 into and put the date and age of my kids. That is something I can do.
So I started today. I went and got pictures at JCPenney (love the 3.99 coupons and free sitting fee). It was such an enjoyable experience compared to 10 months ago with just livy and jackson. Last time we went Livy cried the whole time and we didn't get one picture. Jackson (he was only 6 weeks old) as always was a champ, not crying, but no smiling either. This time the kids did great, for the first round of all three of them together. But, the photographer didn't get one good picture of all three of them...but I didn't care. At least I have an 8x10 to put in that album. Brooke and Jackson were awesome, but Livy wouldn't do any of her just by herself. But she has some pretty cute "cheesy" smiles when it was all three kids. I'm patting myself on the back for getting them all there. They all looked adorable. And I am not worrying about the fact that there isn't one of them all looking and smiling. (Instead I ordered one small picture of all three of them and I am going to put it together and write...this is real life. We rarely get all of them being good at the same time.)

Music to My Ears

Hallelujah! Jackson is really BABBLING. I know it doesn't sound like much, but i am really grateful that he has started making some sort of sounds besides rasberries and crying and a few mmmmms here and there. Deep down I always knew he would be fine, but sometimes i still worried. And he started crawling last week and stands on his own for about 10 seconds. Hooray!

Livy

Livy is getting REALLY, REALLY cute. We are starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel with her crying antics and lots of tantrums. They still happen, a lot, but not quite as frequent.

Some of my favorite sayings from her lately are-

"Mom, you ont to play mobbles wit me?" She asks at least 4 times an hour. And I am trying really hard to do it at least twice a day.

"Mom, yook at my iding pace." translation: Mom, look at my hiding place.

"I win."

"Book (and sometimes it is more like: Ook), yook at me. Yook at ME!"

"I want a tippy tup." (Sippy cup) And then she laughed at herself and said, "I talded it a tippy tup." (But she always calls it a tippy tup.)

She looks so, so, so adorable with her hair cut! It even makes her tantrums look even cuter. I'll have to post pictures sometime.

Chapters of our lives...

One of my most favorite chapters of my life has officially closed, at least for now. And its hard sometimes. Its nice sometimes. But mostly, its a little strange. Yesterday was the start of volleyball tryouts at Washington. It was SUPER nice not being stressed out about planning tryouts, scheduling the gym, finalizing tournament stuff, counting gear, fixing nets, finding babysitters, making sure i don't kill the girls in conditioning because most of them didn't work out very hard over the summer, dealing with parents, answering more questions, explainging rules to parents, trying to find a balance between kids that give excuses and kids that really have a valid excuse, finding more babysitters, kicking other kids out of the gym, locking up, giving punishments so kids will work hard, etc. And although it was a relief not stressing over those things and more, it is really hard to know that I won't be the one to help high school girls gain confidence by accomplishing HARD things (believe me, a lot of my practices are HARD.) It is hard that i won't be getting thank yous from parents telling me I helped change their girls life by showing them attention and kindness. Its hard to not be teaching girls volleyball skills and seeing such a amazing improvement over such a small amount of time.

It makes me sad to think about all the awesome relationships I have built from volleyball and all the great friends and people you interact with on a daily basis and to know that i won't have all those interactions anymore. And it is really hard to not be doing something you know you are really good at. Because, lets just face it, the title of mom doesn't get you a lot of accolades and certificates, or even thank yous most of the time. But, as hard as it is-I know this is the right thing for me. I really don't know how I could've done it. I definitely don't know how I did it last year.

And maybe i'll get to coach my girls or boy later on down the road. For now, I know that my kids and my husband need my time. Even if coaching volleyball is a really hard thing to give up.

Brooke's First Talk

Brooke gave her first talk in primary today. She was so cute up there. She insisted that she wanted her dad to help her. (Thankfully he got back from Alaska last night to help her). They asked her to speak about a Miracle Jesus performed while He was on the earth. So I asked her what her favorite miracle was that Jesus performed. She said very matter of factly, "When Jesus Parted the red sea for Moses and when He turned the water to blood." I was a little impressed adn a little bit shocked. Then I explained that we needed to talk about a story of Jesus when he was on the earth. She very quickly said, "My favorite story is about John the Baptist and Jesus." I probed her with a few questions about that, then I said lets think of some other stories of the miracles Jesus did while he lived on the earth. I got out the New Testament reader (it was great for her to see the pictures, too) and we went through all the stories of Jesus healing the sick, raising the dead, healing the blind, and many, many more. She picked out her favorite as Jesus feeding 5,000 with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. It was a great oppurtunity for us to get into the scriptures other than bedtime reading. And I was really impressed with all she knew about each story. I am truly grateful for awesome primary teachers and leaders that help teach my children the important role of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
This was her talk, or what she was going to say. A few times, when Ben would tell her what to say-she turned her head and would whisper to him, "I don't want to say that part." She is definitely a girl that knows what she wants.
Jesus performed many miracles while He was on the earth. One of my favorite stories of Jesus was when He fed 5,000 men with only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. This story is in Matthew 14. A lot of people followed Jesus out to a desert that was far away from houses and villages. Jesus healed many of the people that were sick that followed Him. He loved them and taught them. When it was time to eat, they did not have food. There was only a little bread and fish. Jesus looked to Heaven and blessed and broke the bread. Even after everyone ate, there was still 12 baskets of food left. This miracle shows us that Jesus can help us when we need him.

Outings

We went to shadow cliffs today. It was WONDERFUL! It was not crowded at all. The kids stayed in the water for four straight hours. I took Emma and Kora with us. Livy and Kora were like 2 peas in a pod building sand castles. I wish i had had a camera to capture how cute they were from playing in the sand together, sitting on their towel sharing food and holding each other's hand in the water. Markus, Zack, Brooke and Emma played in the water the ENTIRE time. (and brooke's face got sunburned for the first time this summer....it is really red. I feel so bad.) Jackson slept for a couple hours and was again the best baby even when he wasn't sleeping. And Kori and I just hung out and talked! The weather was awesome, not too hot, not too cold!! Man, I love days like that.

After we dropped off Emma and Kora at their homes I headed to the post office to send some packages I had been trying to send. I had actually been to the post office three days in a row to try to send them, but becasue of kid mishaps and cutting it too close to the time before it closed, i was unsuccessful. So i was determined to get them off today. And I did, but for the five minutes we were there the kids were crazy. hanging on doors. trying to open doors that were locked. crying about wanting to color on all the papers...man oh man, it was crazy. On my way out, this sweet black lady looks at me -as I was trying to cajole Livy from having to try and close the door that is closing automatically (slowly) with the handicap button that was pressed, calling to Brooke not to run across the street and then telling her not to tease her sister (after she comes back from the street and instantly starts tugging and teasing LIvy) all the while trying to hold this tank of a baby who is wiggling so much in my arms with a wallet and keys in the other hand- and she says, "Can you just imagine, my mom had four girls. Wow I don't know how she did it." I smiled and tried to chuckle. AH.

I don't know why I agreed, but brooke was begging to go to the library, so we headed over to the library. Now let me just preface, that I have kind of boy-cotted the main library for a while because I feel like my kids get so excited and run everywhere and it always seems that we have a mishap of somesort, and most of all-all the ladies that I have come into contact there are totally rude. So we always go to the niles library. Lyla is so nice, it is one room and they always help you with things. The downfall is that it is only open on tuesdays and today was wednesday.

As soon as we walked into the doors Brooke starts running and livy starts yelling after her that she wants to win and is crying about it. This is in the entry way of all stone and this curved/circular ceiling that echoes so bad! (If I was smart i would've grabbed the girls and headed out-but I want to promote reading... and the girls were excited about getting new DVDs). I try to jog after the livy and grab her hand and try to cover her mouth to get her to stop screaming and call after brooke to come back immediately. I have a little talk to them about absolutely NO RUNNING in the library. And then Livy needs to go to the bathroom. (and i was too lazy to get the stroller out of the car.great. holding jackson, while helping livy go to the bathroom. no wonder why my back is killing.) we finally finish in the bathroom, but only after brooke left the restroom and i had to leave livy yelling on the toilet to tell her to come back and after we had to dry our hands with every single air dryer.
We go through the doors to the front desk and livy finds a "hiding place" between the middle desk and the glass doors and insists that i come back to look at it (again stone floors and a 2 year old with a loud voice.) I finally give her the reassurance that it is a cool hiding place and start going again. We head to the childrens area down a long hall and of course the girls start running to the dvd collection. After 5 minutes of fighting over which 5 dvds they are taking home-I make an executive decision of which movies we will take home(which of course neither one is happy about). We get to the book area pick out a few books, of course with some fight that they both want 5 more books and both of them want to hold jackson at the same time and both of them want to carry the dvds....of course, never in a library voice.
We start back down the long hallway to check out, and of course livy starts running. Brooke is calling after her that we aren't supposed to run, but livy doesn't listen and goes past the check out desk and calling to brooke that she is going to win (they both are always wanting to be first to everything lately.) Brooke seizes the oppurtunity to really "win" and turns and starts to run out the "in" entrance. I am balancing jackson and 10 books trying to think of how to gets brookes attention to not go out the entrance with th e dvds in her hand we haven't checked out yet (all i need is the alarms going off) and get livy to come back from down the wrong hallway in the split second that Brooke slips. Hands go flailing, shoe goes flying, you hear dvds crashing. I am just cringing inside hoping Brooke isn't hurt too bad, but really hoping that she doesn't start her blood curdling, dramatic scream...I calmly set my books down on the counter go over and help brooke up (after a nice man has already started collecting all the dvds and a nice librarian (imagine that one) is trying to help her up.) I give her a hug and try to press her face into my stomach a little bit because she hasn't taken much of a breath from the crying and I am still on the cringing awaiting her scream. Thankfully the cry isn't too loud. I check to make sure she is okay, thank the man for the dvds, scan quickly for where Livy has gone and then not-so-nicely ask brooke what i told her at the very beginning of the trip into the library...NO RUNNING! We walk around the middle desk to where i left the books. Livy thankfully follows. And start checking out books. Brooke has stopped crying (thankfully she didn't get too hurt-becasue it looked pretty bad when she went down.), but now her and livy are arguing over who gets to put the books and dvds under the scanner and pushing each other to stand on the stool. And of course they are speaking in the soft library tones, right. :) And all the while jackson is just taking it all in, man he is a great kid-but my back is killing me and my arm is ready to fall off from how heavy he is by this point.
After a few times helping me with the check out process, I yip at livy and brooke to step back and let me finish. I am just wanting to get out of there so quickly. Well as soon as Livy stepped away from the desk, I wanted to retract that last statement. She starts calling to brooke to come to her hiding place she found on the way in and then gets distracted as she walks through the sensors by how cool they look , to her they are the perfect ladders and trys climbing up them. Ahh-again, I yip at her to get down. And immediately brooke sticks her arm out and hits Livy and says "you're it." ARE YOU KIDDING ME? and livy starts running. I yell at them to stop (at least this yell is a soft yell.) and try to quickly finish the check out process. And wouldn't you know it as I walk through those sensors balancing jackson on one hip, 10 books in the other and trying to put my library card back in my pocket...that dang alarm goes off. I have to tell brooke and livy to come back, because they have already RUN out the doors. The lady rescans them, quickly-thankfully. And we finally head out the door. And of course livy runs out the door and starts running the opposite direction.
We finally get to the car- and I give them the worst lecture about how we will never get to go back to the library again. Poor Brooke is almost in tears, I think she still was a little hurt from the fall, and needed a little extra love from me when I picked her up-but didn't get it and is now feeling bad about not following the rules (she is my rule follower) and of course livy is totally oblivious to the fact that I am ticked at her. Brooke sadly tells me that she wishes daddy were here and i answer back in a short-sarcastic voice, "Me, too." Livy asks for some snack and I snap back with a NO. And now we have a screamer in the car. Jackson, all the while is just chilin' (and breaking my back).
We get in the car and we are not even to the first stop light and Brooke is asleep. Now I feel really bad because I realize she is so exhausted. And Livy is still crying, but she can't remember why....

But I reminded myself that Shadow cliffs was a great day. The post office and library outings were only an hour of that day.

Teeth

Jackson's teeth finally broke through!!! HURRAY! All four on the top! I actually noticed it at the Zoo while I was changing his diaper. Poor thing has been a horrible sleeper ever since we started traveling July 1st. I kept trying to let him cry it out the last 5 days we have been home...but he wasn't having it. And my heart just melts when that little guy cries. And now i feel bad because i think it was his teeth bothering him. So here's to hoping that he will start sleeping better now!

We had a great day at the zoo! Brooke loved hanging out with Makenzie, Kora and Maddie and Lizzie. And livy loves to tag along with all the big kids.

I took the girls and jackson for frozen yogurt this afternoon for bribery. They had to be good at the post office, and they were. It was so fun to have a mommy date with all of them and not feel rushed anywhere. They laughed and made jackson laugh and made "creations" out of their cones and ice cream. We had the whole place to ourselves and just enjoyed it. It was a good day! Even with a few tantrums.

Hair Cuts or Hairs cut....whichever you prefer

All three of us girls got our hair cut today. It was about time. Mine was totally dead. It hadn't been cut for 18 months. Katie came to the house and it was great. Although i think she got a kick out of the chaos. It was one of those mornings...we'll put it lightly. Lots of crying, lots of whining and a little too much drama for any normal person.
Brooke cut off about 7 inches. It is just above her shoulders. She kept saying, "Mom, I want it just like Hazel's hair." I convinced her to go longer than Hazels, just because I wanted to be able to put it in a pony tail.
It was Livy's big day for her 1st hair cut. She wanted Brooke to go first. I could tell she was a little apprehensive, but I thought that by seeing Brooke love it so much would put her at ease. Well I definitely thought wrong. She screamed and cried and didn't want anything to do with it. She finally gave into the bribe of having a HUGE bottle lollipop (I actually stole it from brooke. It was the ONLY piece of candy we had...) and she had to sit on my lap the whole time. And even then she wasn't happy. So i didn't get any video of it (Ben has the regular camera in alaska, so i only have video). She looks soooo cute with her little "bob" and wispy bangs. And I love feeling like my hair is healthy!
And-it is so awesome to have someone come to the house and do all of us at once!

Lovin summer nights

Sitting in our new backyard sunday night. Watching the beautiful sky and listening to the kids cry, play, cry, play while they are supposed to be sleeping in their room. Ben and I both decided it is way better sitting outside, enjoying the air and listening to them cry and ask for everything under the sun, than trying to get things done inside while listening to their every word.

Monday night before we headed over to swim with the Adam Eyre clan, we had dinner out on the "patio". I just loaded everyone's plates and served it outside. It was so great!

We had a short family home evening lesson in the car on the way to swim, and then had another Family home Evening in the hot tub with all three families. The kids loved that. (Adam and Kimberly's friends from Arizona were visiting.) It was a fun memorie of songs, prayers and lessons in the hot tub.

Brooke still LOVES jumping off the diving board and now Livy has joined her. Thank goodness we are doing swim lessons right now. Livy has no fear (that is a good thing and a bad thing, right.

Swimsuit and Boots

Gotta love this girl's style.

Sunsets and Magic

I surprised Brooke and took her to Kimberly and Rachel's baby shower. She was in HEAVEN. She loves babies, loves parties, and loves to see her cousin Madeline. She played with Madeline, held baby rachel and ate "real ice-cream." (She is lactose intolerant, so at home we have coconut bliss ice cream- its really good, but has limited flavors. And of course there were lots of toppings for her to choose from.) On the way home the sunset was just gorgeous! Just seeing it made the feeling of summer rush through my veins. Brooke and I looked in awe adn Brooke said, "Mom, I wish i had one of those pink clouds for my pillow." and "Jesus really loves us to give us beautiful things." It was so fun. It turned out to be a fantastic mommy/daughter date.

Ben is so amazing at capturing the kids attention for small things, by making them so fun. Lately, all the stories he tells and the things he does has to do with magic it seams. He tells the Magic Fruit Tree stories every night. Brooke and Livy tell me all about them the next day. I just am so amazed at Brooke's ability to remember every (and I mean every) little detail of things. She has an incredible memory. Today the magic trick was turning starburst colors. Luke was over playing and he wanted orange, ben showed him that he only had red and pink....but with a few magic words and some special rubbing of the wrists- wala-Luke got an orange starburst. The littlest things, make kids eyes light up and give them so much joy! And I think Brooke REALLY believes that her dad is magic. He always uses his magic to find lost toys, help livy and brooke play and tell cool stories.

Ben, you are one awesome dad!

Cute Sayings

After asking Brooke and Livy to clean the toy room for the umpteenth time...Brooke walks into the kitchen and says, "Mom, could you just do the Mary Poppins snapping thing?" Me: "What snapping thing?" Brooke, "You know to help us clean up. Just try it!" So I tried. Thankfully, Brooke wasn't too disappointed that i don't have magical powers. I think deep down, she knows it isn't real, but is still hoping.

Driving home yesterday from picking up MaKenzie, Brooke was telling makenzie all about pre-school graduation. And then she says, "And Luke was in my school. I was so happy he was there. You know the very first time I saw him it made me so happy." So I guess it was love at first sight.

Livy's common sayings, "Mom, you get me fud. (food)" "I tant tantates. (I want pancakes) Widt suwip n de tide. (with syrup on the side.) "I wun miul" (I want milk)

End of School Week

It was a busy, fun week last week.

Tuesday was the end of the year party for Brooke's pre-school. We had a potluck at ardenwood farms. I love the farm and I loved, loved, loved that preschool for Brooke. They are just so great!

I started doing volleyball lessons at city beach again, so I had those on tuesday as well. Wednesday night was pre-school graduation. Again, so cute. (We didn't get to go to the U2 concert because Bono had back surgery. So they postponed it until next year, it was nice to not have to rush from the graduation-but we'll be excited for a fun concert next year.)

Thursday was private lessons, zoning and play dates.

Friday was the first day of Summer beach day!! I love the beach. i love that my kids love the beach. And I love that we have so many fun friends in our ward that go to the beach. I am soaking in the fun with so many great people around! And I can't wait to go to the beach again. We rushed home for ward temple night. All but three couples there, were also at the beach.

Saturday we went hiking at sunol, tried to clean up a bit....and then went to Toy Story 3 at the drive-ins. We wanted to hike to "little yosemite", but didn't quite make it. So we had a picnic lunch by the little river and the kids played in the water. It was so fun to be out in nature with the kids and watching them enjoy the simplest pleasures.
We left early for the movie and "tailgated" and played games with the Becks adn Droubays. It was so much fun. Definitely something to do again this summer!

Sunday we had baby Rachel's blessing, a nice father's day dinner and a walk to the garden. Then Ryan and Melissa came over for cake. It was a jam packed weekend of fun.

And now it is on to recovery.

Trying to catch up with laundry, clean bedrooms, cars, put the backyard together, and try to make our front yard look half-way decent.

Brookie's Dance Recital

Taylor & Carly's Wedding