This and that

Megan has been busting her little bottom on a research project. She really tried hard to do the exact same thing that Rhett did last year. After some talking she found her cool thing to talk about. She got to display her work in the classroom on Monday. She was so proud of her work. She thought it was great that she figured out how to do the shadows on her lettering. Other than helping her find the information, she did it.

Emma is at such a fun age. She is now waving goodbye and hello. Her newest thing is to wave when it is time to go to bed. I would tell her to wave bye to Dad before putting her to bed. So tonight as we are walking toward her bedroom, she starts waving. Love it!

She took a bubble bath for the first time. Initially she was a little apprehensive about all those bubbles but then she was mad about being in there. I think it was just too different for her. I am sure we will try again.
She gets so excited to see Redge when he comes home. She just about jumps out of her chair (or where ever she is) when Redge come home. I sort of feel better when she does it for me when I have been gone. I guess I understand, I like the guy too!

Saturday I got done playing for our Stake's nativity celebration which is huge and involves the community. Wonderful event! Anyway, we play an assortment of Christmas pieces and a handful of Messiah pieces. Great opportunity for me to dust off the old violin. As I was in between the last few pieces, I look out at my cute family sitting there and Eli has his head cocked way back - totally asleep. When I came home, I said 'hey bud, I put you to sleep, huh.' He said 'no' then 'yes, but I am still tired, mom.' I thought it was cute!

What really touched me was when we were standing up after the last number and I looked down to seeing Redge getting emotional. It is moving to play these pieces and seeing his face, I knew it was moving for the audience. We must have done it well.

I remember taking Redge to a Messiah concert for the first time at Ricks... he grumbled quite a bit. I guess I have come a long ways with him!
It makes my day during this time of year when Rhett asks if I will play the violin, or the piano, when they are going to sleep. I guess I like music a bit...

This is cute Mr. Rhett with his decked out scout shirt. This is his last week as a cub scout... now we are onto Boy scouts! Redge is excited to get him started on his way toward an eagle!

Funny Eli

So I took Eli to an Allergy and Asthma place because he just always seems to look tired and acts like it is so hard to breath. Well he has a few allergies - knew that - but now they have a name. He has asthma, we are trying an inhaler and will return in a few weeks to the dr to talk more about that. But now my kids all think this is some great thing to broadcast to EVERYONE! ARG! They played at a friends house (just the boys) and the family said to Redge when they were picked up "So Eli is allergic to ..." Brother!
So I had to have the conversation that "you have had this all your life, it hasn't killed you yet" and "we don't need to be telling everyone about it" type of conversation. But his comment yesterday about made me crack up laughing... "So, mom, since I am sick and have to take medicine (inhaler), I shouldn't be going to church, right?"
I guess this is going to take a few more conversations to help his understanding what asthma is and that his isn't "sick" medicine. As the doctor was instructing us to dust/vacuum his room and have him not be in there while doing it and for an hour afterwards - I thought of telling the doctor "stop talking right now" because I can just see Eli's cogs a turning... "hmm this means I don't have to clean anymore, right." I guess I had better invest in a mask. No excuses!
Maybe it was better to not have a name for the allergies...

Halloween

After deliberating for a few weeks I decided last Monday to make the kids some costumes. I have never made them a costume before, I always bought them. All their previous costumes were just too small and I didn't have anything to throw together for them... so I caved! But I decided to go with something simple - capes.


Monday I drug the kids all to JoAnn's Fabric for two hours of deciding, debating, changing our minds, and then waiting for even longer in line! Ug! I spent too much, even on sale! The kids did awesome... well by the end they were walking Emma through the isles and Eli was jumping out and scaring her, making her giggle. I am quite sure they were sick of us by the time we exited the building! :)






I started on Eli's cape first because I knew I had all of the fabric I needed for his costume. I bought the end of the bolt for both Rhett and Megan's... I lucked out - just enough fabric for both of their capes. Eli was so cute when I finished his cape, he wore it from Tuesday on. This is his first 'non' hand-me-down costume - he was so excited about it. But then we went Trick-or-Treating and he wore it for about a 1/2 a block and was done wearing it. I am sure part of it was it was hot and humid. Welcome to North Carolina!
So Rhett was last to have his costume done and this is what he did for about the last hour of my finishing his cape. I finally gave him something to do because he was making me nervous having him sitting there!

His material was a pain - it has a metallic something to it and it totally dulled one of my needles and it kept jamming! It took longer just because of that! I think it turned out pretty cool though!









Megan's material was gorgeous and totally looked awesome on her! Isn't she a doll! We had a hard time deciding on Amadala or Leia. I landed on Amadala because of the flashy cape color. Did we do okay?













I told Eli to pose like he was in character. Isn't he cute. I looked at all of them and can't believe how grown up they all look.

We had a fun time with Halloween this year.





No, I didn't dress Emma up... but she enjoyed the stroller ride immensely! If I wasn't moving along fast enough she would rock forward and back like she was trying to propel the stroller forward herself. Here is her latest trick that she likes to do... Can you eat your toes?

Annie

Hey sister... so I thought I would add my little tribute to you as it is your birthday today. I just tried to steal some good pictures from your website like I did of Krista but no luck... so you have to do with the one that I have! I guess this is what you get for not doing the sisters pictures like I said! HAHA! (bossy little person that I am!)

I think we have solved all the world's problems in a few of our long phone calls over the years. Remember traipsing about Vegas when you lived down there? Do you remember driving from Boise to Rupert - I swear you drove us home and it was a whirlwind of a drive. Forget worrying if there are any cops around! Speaking of flying in from Vegas - I think we picked you up in SL too and you got to help watch Rhett and Megan for me while we went to Ty and Kyla's wedding. hmmm I think I still owe you some major babysitting...
I remember Mr. Hansen telling me one day in High School that you had told him how bugged you were that I had a boyfriend or something. I just remember laughing that you would divulge information to our orchestra teacher. And especially him - he was so annoying! hmm maybe he was trying to help save our relationship! I will try to think that way.
ahhh remember all the letters back and forth on your mission. I looked forward to your emails so much. It was hard for me to not talk to you over the phone. We really do accomplish much during our phone conversations... now you just need a decent phone so that my old ears can hear you better, eh!
I know that I can take you clothes shopping with me because you will be honest if the clothes are totally ugly. I think I rely on you too much to tell me how to be stylish. I am a lost cause there!
Since you and your other half (the other allens') have moved I guess we will look back on our three years there and wish for it again. We had such fun game nights and sitting around the living room to talk for hours! I wonder if we will ever live close again. It just isn't like the old days where you get married and move down the road from each other. *sigh* oh well, I guess we have many more phone calls to look forward too.
Thanks for being a fun sister that makes me laugh when things are hard, for being my interior decorator and photographer, and of course thanks for being a friend and sister!
Oh and just look at this birthday as the best one yet... you never age after this... Always will be 29! Happy Birthday Annie!

Stairs

Emma is so funny. I showed her how to navigate the stairs one day and then last week Redge decided to show her too... well little stinker picked right up on how to do it. Eli and I were cheering her on and so she had to stop and congratulate herself too! She is a lot scary on how to start down them because she stands at the top of the stairs (still a LOT wobbly standing on her feet!) and she will cry/scream. It is like she is saying 'okay mom, show me how to get started! Pay attention!' She still hasn't figured out that she needs to start down backwards. I remember this being the hardest part for all the kids. This is her standing in all her cuteness at the top! So we decided to go for a walk this week and saw a couple of deer on the bike path. They didn't dart off until we were fairly close to them. I had my camera in the stroller too... duh, pictures don't take themselves! This is one of the boys. It was fun to try and keep Eli from running. Notice the cast is off... Dr said to not fall on it for two weeks (ie no sports, biking, etc). So poor boy is doing pretty good about being careful. I am noticing now that he sure falls a lot!

hmm maybe now...

finally got it...

New trick

Emma has a new trick she can do. She started one day right next to me and now has obviously gained a lot of confidence in herself. She is quite delighted with herself. I felt quite resourceful getting my camera in time to catch her in action! I was watching our cute little neighbor girl so you can hear her in the background; as well as a quick flash as she dances in front of the camera. She is always quick to pick out Emma in a crowd. I hear her often across the chapel! Enjoy! Okay so the video must be too large. I totally caught Emma standing up in the middle of the floor. She would just stand up and look around like 'look at me - how cool I am' and then she would lower herself down just to stand up again. It is a great clip. Sorry I am so technology lacking! maybe I will surprise you and still get it up! HAHA!

Krista

So, I had another minute to do some more birthday renditions for you! hehee! I was thinking, yes I know, scary for me to be thinking... I had this moment of remembering your homecoming from the hospital. You were a cute little chubby cheeked baby with thick, black hair. I am sure you can envision me - we have way too many of my not-so-cuteness at that stage in my life! I am thinking of the picture that dad took of Amy Olsen holding you and me looking at you. hmmm remember?!!? Anyway that was my first memory of my little Krista sista. Then we jump ahead to your very cute toddler years. I remember you running around with Ann and Amy Malan. You were a little gang always in each others company... then you came home one day with cutting your pony tail off. You wanted to be like Ann and Amy and have short hair too. I guess this would be the start of your hairdressing days too.

Funny things that we remember about each other, huh! I am sure I can keep going but I think you would want me to skip my memories of your teenage years! HAHA!
But now I have a great sister that I feel like I can call and bug anytime. I can cry on her shoulder and she will cry with me. I wish I could be as stylish as you are... I laugh looking over pictures of me and I am always behind on the fashions! It has been fun to 'reaquaint' myself with you as you have gotten married and had kids. Our lives seemed to have more parallels and things in common as we get older so we could bond in different ways than just being siblings!

I loved having the chance to babysit your kids so I could get to know them better. I love that Hadlie wants to play Barbies with Megan on the webcam! (And that you will let her!) I love how relaxed you are at being a mom. (I wish I had a little more of that in me!) I love that I can call and bug you about my ugly hair and you always make me feel like I have a 'pretty face shape that I can do anything with' (I think you are just being kind!) I love that you are so calm. I swear I am the tazmanian devil and you are all calm and seemingly unruffled!
I love that our kids play together good and they want to be friends. (So much that they both get hurt on the same day too, right!)

Thanks for being a great sister. I hope you have a wonderful day today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Rhett

Rhett has had a fun season swimming! Check out a few clips from our last meet. He won all of his heats but one (and it was his least favorite stroke - breast stroke!). And he was most certainly not the last in that heat either! He was within 2 seconds of the leaders (in his age group). We tracked his progress to show how well he did over the season... he improved all of his strokes by at least 3-5 seconds and his best improvement was the butterfly with a huge 8 second improvement over the season! Sorry about the sideways video... Redge must have thought we could rotate it! Oops... watch how fast he is with the freestyle and then the butterfly!

First day of school - 2009

First Day of school (a few weeks ago - I'm a little slow) - Aren't these kids cute.

Handsome Eli -first grader!

Rhett - Big Fifth grader... Mr. Safety Patrol man! (hmm took this one and the one of Megan later...)

Megan and her friend Destiny. Isn't Megan a doll?!?

Eli was playing with Emma and a classroom bear (not shown)that we had for the weekend. This was part of his play - pushing Emma around the room in the bucket. He had her giggling and smiling. This was a great accomplishment since she was pushing her teeth in and was a grumpy bear! So any distraction was welcome!

Megan was trying to share her cat with Emma to cheer her. She was in a lot of pain. I think we medicated her for about a week! Notice the pillow - she was learning how to sit up and would fall back on the hard floor... I swear we gave her brain damage from all the thumps! Now she is paranoid to fall from standing next to furniture.

Rhett was so good to hold her while I made dinner. She was just clinging to him. She just wanted to be held.

This is what happens when Mom ignores Emma - She falls asleep on the floor from crying. Poor neglected baby.

Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde... both bottom teeth broke through and now she is crawling everywhere... including the stairs. She was quite charming for the camera!

This is Megan's teacher... she loves her. I can't believe the power that a role model can have on kids. Megan adores this lady. We will miss her.

This is Megan's friend, Samantha. They were dressed so cute for their presentation yesterday. They did a play about Pecos Bill and slue Sue. Megan was Sue. It was very cute.

I brought Megan home yesterday after the play (before school was out) and she kept begging me to watch a show with her. So after playing around on the camera (last one is Megan's work)... and then having her practice and do some jobs - I let her watch a movie and I finally got some jobs done. I guess she thinks I sit around watching movies all day! We are done with the school year on Tuesday and then after a week break we jump into our next year. We will be on the plane in a month to come home for our vacation.
I guess having school during the summer is beneficial... especially if the teachers don't assign homework. I like them having a schedule - I just don't like to do the homework in the night. That is the dreaded part... UGH! I haven't put any pressure on them to accomplish much and so I guess we are getting in our summer break in our little way.

Today

I went into check on Emma (she was supposed to be napping) and this is what I found her doing. This was a first and since then she has started pulling herself up our legs or anything she is close to.

She was upset that I turned around and walked out of the room to grab the camera.

She is really close to crawling. She is still rocking and then falling forward. I am now having to pull things out of her hands! She especially likes the hair, ARG! I guess I have to start doing floors daily! Yuck!

Here is Rhett waiting for his turn at the 'practice' swim meet. He was very insistent that the Red/Black meet was just a practice. I guess we have now entered into the 'we don't know anything' category.


His first meet is Tuesday night. I have to figure out where Garner is... I don't even know how long it takes to get there! I am hoping that we can even get there. Megan is sick, Redge is out of town, I have to volunteer at it with all the kids in tow. Oh boy!


'Swimmers get ready' (I wish you could see him jump in - smooth little bug!) He tells me that the backstroke is not his favorite but he really likes to do the butterfly. He is fastest at the freestyle. hmm I guess I don't know anything, since when did they change it from the crawl stroke.

Here is my Hard workin' man. Isn't he cute! He is getting big. We went to the library and checked out some books. Eli normally gets Curious George but this time he found Junie B. Jones. I guess his teacher must be reading them some Junie B. Jones books. He was so excited he read a book in about a days time. I kept asking him questions about the book to see if he was actually reading them and retaining it! He was!

Megan came home from school on Friday. She was the 14th child absent for that day because of this same sickness that is running rampant through the classroom. Good Heavens, when do we close the class for a few days to get rid of the bug! So because Megan's Birthday is Monday we let her open a present on Saturday and again today. I was grasping, trying to find something to help her in her misery! So, I guess I will dote on her poor sick body tomorrow!

She is showing off her new pjs and necklace.
Arg! Time to quit, Emma just faceplanted into my computer!

Emma - 7 months

She is on her knees!


Since Redge was out of town last week, Emma started experimenting with getting up on her knees. She was so cute doing it. One time we watched her on her hands and knees and she was looking down at her knees like she was saying 'hmmm what about that!' She will get on all fours and then rock a little. It is so cute to watch. I guess I had better start thinking about babyproofing my house. I have been warning the boys about legos... I guess now I am going to have to get serious!
On the flipside, her gums have just changed... hmmm teething is finally starting too.

To My Mom - Happy Mothers Day

I wish I were a great writer and could make some great eloquent speech to my mom but you will have to endure my lack of talent in this area!!
I was listening to the speaker today in Sacrament Meeting and was reminded of the wonderful things that my mom taught me. The speaker was telling about how her mom was her art teacher and how she instilled in her the love of art. So my mind wandered for a moment to my mom and the great loves that she instilled in me. I love to read because of my mother. She will pick out a book and share her favorites with us. I remember the first 'church' novel that she suggested. 'Charley' by Jack Weyland. I was hooked!
Another great love that my mom instilled in me is the love of music. I will always wish to be better than I am at playing my instruments but I am still able to practice - so it might take me a long time but I am going to improve!! We watched a link that Chad and Annie had posted on their blog of Jon Schmidt playing the piano. Oh I can't even tell you the emotions that brought to my heart. It was the same feeling of watching Jenny Oaks Baker play her violin. I could almost cry listening to these types of music. It literally sings to my soul. I could put my mom right in that category of listening to her play the piano and just wanting to cry from the joy of hearing such beauty! Thank you mom for sharing your talent and, yes, making me practice and stick with my instruments!!

My mom also instilled in my the ability and love of (should I say eating first? HAH)making good food. I do love to eat the creations that I come up with but I love to make yummy food. I always do better with a little inspiration first - cookbooks, children, restaurants, sister-in-laws (hmm and even sometimes my sisters HAHA!) - all great sources!
I also learned to love to work from her. She is the hardest worker that I know. She loves to putter in the dirt... hmm why do we like to pull those darn weeds. It really is therapeutic. My kids would not agree yet but they are learning to love work as well. There is nothing like putting in a hard day of working and looking at what you accomplished. I love to look at my lawn, house, laundry whatever I have attacked with vengeance and see the neat 'done' look. Thanks for passing this legacy onto your grand kids! (Even Rhett would agree with this!)

Love you Mom!

Beach Pictures

I just wanted to share a few of our pictures from our trip to Oak Island last week. We had a fun relaxing time playing on the beach and being tourists. As a way of explaining a few picures... We went to a plantation where they have a large garden. Next trip we will actually tour the gardens but because the kids were so tired from exploring the battleship in Wilmington we decided it was too much for that day. But on the way into the plantation we were facinated by the bogs. So I took a picture of the swampy area that had a sign telling us not to stop, not get out of the car, and not to feed the animals. On the way back out... we saw why, there were probably 15 aligators in that area. I think we were going to quickly to notice them the first time but then we were studying the waters once we spotted our first alligator! The picture with lots of mud is one of the smaller alligators... we saw some smaller (maybe a foot in length.) And we saw a very large one... not the one pictured - but just as big. The large guy we saw by the side of the road in a different area. The large alligator was meandering slowly through the water. We stopped to watch him for a minute and Rhett thought he was so cool - he wanted to get out of the car to get a closer look. hmmm wonder what that gator would have done with my big Rhett?!! He still wonders why I didn't let him out. hmmm...The rest of the pictures of the kids playing on the beach, burying each other, etc. We had an enjoyable time... very relaxing to listen the the waves beat on the shore and just enjoy the sunshine!

Random pictures

I was telling Brian (brother) about the pine straw that we use here. He asked what it was so I took a picture of it spread in the flowerbed in front. I think 'straw' is because it is bailed like straw. I guess I am getting aclimatized when pine straw is a normal term to me.
Megan used the blocks to form her dollhouse walls. I really wish I had a dollhouse for her but I guess I don't need to wish anymore...and she can remodel anytime!

I really thought I was being cool to do Megan's hair this way. Thought I would share my great talents!!HAHA! (I think this one goes back to braiding the horses tails, right Krista? Do you remember doing this so they would have long tails for the horseshow?)

Emma totally loves her jumper - she really can fly in it! What is funny is how many shots it took to get this one with her smiling. Everytime I tried to take the picture she would frown. I think she saw the red eye light and then would frown at the light...