Coming along...

Brooke is an extremely picky eater. Actually, she isn't that picky when it comes to "regular" food. She will eat noodles, cream of chicken casseroles, or lasagna like a champ. But since she is lactose intolerant and I am trying to cut back on the gluten intake, our meals are nothing of what she wants to eat. But we had a break through today. When I told her we were having rice noodles she didn't wine or complain. And I noticed. So at dinner I complimented her by telling Ben what a great job she did and told the story. She then said, "I really wanted to complain and tell you how much I didn't like them. But instead i just closed my mouth and swallowed the words." And then she demonstrated how big of a swallow it was. It was so cute and it made me so happy that we are actually having some break throughs! Hallelujah.

Made in China

Brooke was so excited when she was looking at her plastic sunglasses and gleefully yelled to Ben and I, "They're not made in China." Ben and I looked at each other and just started laughing. I asked, "Where is it made?" Brooke, "Taiwan." Ben chuckled and said, "Sorry to tell you Brooke, but Taiwan is basically the same as China."  I had no clue Brooke even realized where things were made. But now that she reads,  she really does read everything. And most things say, 'Made in China' somewhere on them. Maybe I should buy more things made in the USA and see if she notices. I should be doing more of that anyway.

Tooth Fairy

On the way home from the beach yesterday, Brooke was eating an apple and her tooth fell out. Of course, she wasn't able to hold onto it for too long before she dropped it somewhere in the car. We searched and searched, but couldn't find it. (I think it just blends in so well with all the other crumbs on the floor of that van. Sad, but true.) Thankfully she wasn't too distraught about it. She very confidently said, "I'll just write the tooth fairy a note." So she did. And I am so happy that the tooth fairy didn't forget this time. Whew! This morning when Brooke woke up and got the dollar from under the pillow she said the cutest thing.

Ben asked, "Did the tooth fairy write you a note about not having your tooth?"

Brooke, "No, Dad. If you loose the tooth you just write the tooth fairy a note. And then you think about really happy things so you dream good dreams and you are smiling in your sleep. And then the tooth fairy can see that you lost your tooth."

So cute!

Learning

Brooke taught me a great lesson this morning while we were making her lunch. Here is how it went,
"Mom ____ and ____ were making fun of me last time because I have peanut butter on my pancakes. They said its really gross and made faces."
Me:" What did you say?" But without letting her answer and kind of in a sarcastic voice I retorted with "Did you tell them that things they might eat are really gross?"
Brooke, "No, but it hurt my feelings."
Me, in a bit of a frustrated/mother hen protective voice, "Well, next time you tell them that " (but i didn't get to finish), because Brooke quickly cut me off with, "Mom, that's not what Jesus would do."
I stopped dead in my tracks- silently saying a prayer of gratitude that I have a daughter with such a kind heart that is teaching me so much about life.
And then said, "You're right. Maybe next time you could just tell them that it hurts your feeling when they make fun of you."

First Day of School

This year was definitely a better experience of the first day of school. It was so great to be at ourcommunity school with all of Brooke's friends. Although she was a bit nervous, she was also super excited. Maddie and Allison are both in her class. Ben came with me this year and it was so fun to walk to school as a family. I was able to hold back the tears just a little bit. They started to come and then I saw some friends and was able to hold back the flow. We all mingled at the playground for a few minutes talking and laughing and then on our way home someone decided to go to breakfast. It was so fun. So we dropped the kids off and then went to breakfast. Definitely a tradition for the years to come.
I know Brooke will love her teacher this year. (She was a teacher when i was there. Although i never had her.) She described herself to the kids as strict and silly today. Brooke said she is so nice. We are excited for this year! I can't believe she is in first grade.

Brooke's Dance Recital

It was a fun weekend of dance recitals. Brooke and Emma were in the same class, along with Nia. They performed a cute dance to the music "The Codfish Ball". Miss Gentry was her teacher this year. She has been there for over 40 years. She got sick at teh end of the year and was unable to come to classes and the recital at the end. She was still teaching dance at 88 years old.
It is always fun to watch Brooke at her dance recitals. It brings back memories of the excitement for dance recitals and getting all dressed up with the glitter and glitz.

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!)

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!

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.

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!

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!

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.

Funnies from Brooke

Brooke got a "tatoo" as her treat for being good at dinner in monterey. when i was taking it off for pre-school, i rubbed alcohol on it, she said, "owe, that feels like a shot." She ABSOLUTELY hates shots. But it might just be teh tingling of the alcohol they rub on before....



I was brushing her hair for pre-school and she says, "Mom, my tummy hurts. It must be all the sugar I at at the baptism still in there." Hey at least she realizes it does give her a tummy ache