Mothers

I know that it is past Mother's Day but I think that Mother's deserve our tribute every day.  I just came across this song and just had to share it. I am grateful for my mother and all other women who helped me become the woman and mother I am today.

Fun in the Sun

Yesterday I had the chance to look after my sister Rita's kids. We played outside in the sun. We picked up Mady and Bodi on our way to the house and they joined in the fun. What a fun day. We had pizza for dinner before Quinn picked up his kids. Here are some pictures. I promise Abby wasn't burned. I think it is the reflection from her bathing suit.

Avengers

Saturday afternoon I decided that my Mother's Day gift would be to take the whole family to see the Avengers.  Collin was so surprised.  Emily was proud of herself for keeping a secret.  We took the kids to the matinee as it is much cheaper.  Collin was a little restless through the middle of the movie.  He kept peering over the chairs to the people sitting below us.  They both LOVED the movie.  I loved the movie too.  Lots of fun.  Collin kept naming all the characters and impersonating them.  Very cute. 

Emily and her "new" bike

Saturday we went to Rita's house for a Scentsy party.  While we were there I received a phone call from my friend Marjanna who offered to give us a bike for Emily.  We picked it up on our walk home.  Emily was SOOOO excited.  She has wanted one for awhile.  It even came with training wheels.  She practiced for hours on Saturday in from of our house.  She doesn't have a helmet yet so that is all she is allowed to do.  She wanted Grandma Hull to see her new bike (because she was talking to her about it on the phone) so we quickly snapped these pictures Sunday and emailed them to her.  Emily was so excited to show Grandma how she can turn.  She said, "Grandma will be so proud of my turn."  I love it.  She was sad that there is no bike riding on the Sabbath but she had a count down till when she could take the bike out on Monday.  Rita has one for Collin so now we will just need to figure out how to get them for Landon and I on our limited budget.  :)  (Don't mind the missing doors that go in from of our laundry machines.  I had to take them off to paint the kitchen and haven't gotten around to putting them back up.)  Another great thing about these pictures is the dress Emily is wearing.  She wore it for Christmas when she was two.  It is a 4T.  It went down to her ankles.  She has gotten bigger but still loves her polka dot dress.  In another month or two it won't fit.  :)

Mother's Day 2012

Here are some pictures taken on Mother's Day.  I love my kids but Mother's Day does not have the greatest track record for us.  This year Collin decided to be extra sensitive so it was an interesting day.  :)  But overall I love my kids and the blessings they are to me.  :)I was using Collin's umbrella for an object lesson in my primary class so he decided to be Penguin in the picture.  He also chose his outfit.  Love the tie. :)

We walked by to say Happy Mother's day to Rita and I had Landon take a picture of us on my new to me phone I got for Mother's Day from my husband.

Fun Picture

Here is a picture of the "new" me.  :)  Landon took this last night and I thought I would post it.  I love being comfortable in my own body!

New family tradition

When I graduated from Utah State University my Grandma Knoll gave me a "graduation" owl. He wears a graduation cap that says 2002 on it. Emily found it the other day and has been carrying it around with her. She told me that it is her graduation owl and she thanked me for giving it to her. She had "graduation" pictures on Tuesday for preschool. She has a matching cap at school and wants the owl to go with her to her graduation ceremony next Friday. I told her how I had gotten it and she was excited that it was being passed on to her. Not that I had much choice. I told her when Landon graduates then she can pass it on to him. She looked at me and said, "dad already graduated. That is why he is a grownup and not a little boy." I love my daughter. Thanks Grandma for a great keepsake to pass around our family.

Funny kids

Emily says last night: "Mom remember how Grandma and Grandpa in Powell River have a farm."
A little confused I reminded her they didn't have a farm.
Emily replied the way you answer a person who has a hard time understanding someone, "MOM, they have a barn." (talking to me like I am and idiot.)
So mom and dad you have a farm because you have a barn.

During the regional broadcast Collin was looking at the screen and he says very excitedly, "Look it's Grandpa Palmer."
It took a minute for me to realize that the man had a round face and hairline like my father in law. Collin was a little sad when I said it wasn't grandpa. So Mel, Collin thinks you are a general authority. It was so cute how excited he was that Grandpa was on the screen. :)

Beautiful Spring Weekend

What a fabulous weekend!
Friday night we hung out at home as a family. It rained so the kids went out and jumped in mud puddles. Collin does not have rain boots so he was soaked. We went out and bought him some (and picked up needed groceries.) Emily and I potted a few pots for the front of the house. Just a laid back night.
Saturday we all slept in and the cleaned the house. It took a couple of hours but the house looked fabulous. I spent some time this week weeding out baby toys and unplayed with toys. The toy room feels much bigger. Emily and I mowed the lawn while Landon went to the store to get the gas and oil needed for our weed eater. Our lawn mower refuses to start so my friend Alicia was nice enough to let us use hers. Emily kept showing her muscles as she helped me push the mower. It was hilarious. When we took the mower back Alicia wasn't home so we just left it in the garage. Emily asked me if she could go in their house because she had never been inside before. She seemed confused when I told her that wasn't appropriate. We headed over to our friends Kim and Jason's beautiful home for a BBQ. They invited over some other families and we enjoyed good food and fun times. We had to run just before 7 because of the adult session of stake conference. We met our babysitter at our house and headed out. My sister Rita gave a beautiful talk. We sat with our friends Shane and Amber. Good company and fabulous talks. It doesn't get much better.
Sunday we slept in and went to the regional broadcast at the stake center. More wonderful talks. I love the spirit that comes from listening to general authorities. We were home by noon so I decided to make homemade chicken pot pie. I rebought my favorite cookbook (Pioneer Woman Cooks) as Naomi Inherited it when she got married. There is a great recipe in it for pot pie. I also made her recipe for chocolate sheet cake. So good. My mom called and we visited while I cooked. We decided to go out for a walk after dinner as we were more than stuffed. Rita let us borrow her jogging stroller so went went for a long walk. I wanted to drop off my friend Delilah's baby gift and she invited us to visit with them in their back yard. Her two youngest are Emily and Collin's age so they had a blast and it was fun to get to know her husband Dustin more.
They shared with us how excited they are for their baby boy Jasper to join their family in just a few weeks. They had been told that she would be unable to become pregnant and so they started fostering children. They have adopted 3 beautiful children all within two years. A miraculous story when you listen to them. Their youngest adopted child was two years old when she found out she was pregnant. She had a one percent chance of caring full term. Now they are two weeks away. Dustin shared with us how exciting it is that this will be the first child that they can love right away because he is theirs right away. He said that as hey have adopted their other children they loved them but tried not to get attached because they knew that until the papers are signed that the children could be taken. I had never thought about that before. It was wonderful to watch them interact as a family.
After leaving them we stopped by to say "congrats" to our friend Elizabeth who graduated this weekend from ISU. We ended up visiting with them for an hour while our kids played. It was a lot of fun. Collin fell asleep on the way home do Emily and I dropped Landon and Collin off before heading back to Rita's to drop off the stroller. A perfect spring evening. Only three more weeks until school is out and we can do this more often. So excited!

Finally!

I bought a cute pair of jeans from Buckle 1 year after I married Landon. I loved them. But by the time I had Emily they fit a little tight. Then after I had Emily I gave up ever fitting in them again. I was going to send them to the second hand store but a part of me just couldn't bear to do it. So they were packed away in a box. I didn't look at them again until we moved to Idaho. By that time I had Collin and I couldn't get them over my thighs. My sister, sister in laws, and good friends all seemed to lose their baby weight while mine seemed desperate to stay. Every January I dig out my exercise videos, drop a few pounds and think I am going to beat it this time. This last January was different. My friend Suzie had made me promise that after she had her son I would go to the exercise classes up at ISU with her. When she reminded me in December about my promise I was less than enthusiastic. But true to my word I went. Our friend Lorilee joined in and now I felt like I had to go because people were counting on me. After a doctor's appointment I had a goal weight set which was attainable and healthy. I started out strong as I was also having to report to my school nurse my progress due to a school district competition. By February I was a little discouraged as I had only lost 2 pounds. This was the smallest weight loss I have ever gotten in a month even though I was working out a 100 times harder, spent many sore days and was eating healthier. By the end of February I had not lost any more than those two pounds but I had gone down one pant size. March didn't see Any changes. By April I was discouraged. Then I went to see my little sister and she and my mom couldn't believe the changes. Everything had been gradual so I hadn't noticed losing the second pant size. No weight loss but I will take losing pant sizes. In the month of April I was able to lose 4 pounds due to cutting sugar out of my diet during the week. I am now 8 pounds from my goal. So tonight I decided to chance the pants from my past. They fit! My belly may hang over more than I'd like but they fit without me having to suck in, lay down, etc. It has been a long journey but because I have worked hard and it has been gradual with no dieting I hope thatI can maintain this. I just had to share because lately positive thoughts have had a hard time getting through the daily stresses. I am close to my goal and hope to meet it by the time I see my family in July. No pictures yet but soon we will get new family pictures and then I will post them. A big thanks tithe family and friends who have noticed the subtle changes and encouraged me not to give up. Thanks!

I picked up the book "Fearless" by Tim Lott at our school book fair.  It sounded like it would have an interesting storyline.  The book was predictable but thought provoking.  It was an easy read but left me thinking.  I found parallels to what is going on in the world today.  I cried through the ending. It reminded me of the innocent confidence our children place on us.  I highly recommend this book.  I am glad that I added it to my personal library.

Kids are so funny

We have had a great Easter weekend. I will write more about it later. I just wanted to record some funny things the kids said this weekend. Collin climbed in our bed this morning and said that a red spider was going to bite him and he would become spiderman. And then he told me Emily was going to bitten by a pink spider and she would become pink spiderman. And they would fight bad guys together. After watching the movie Hop Collin told us the Easter Bunnies poop jellybeans and pee frosting. We just laughed and laughed.
When got home from work on Friday Emily asked me to come and watch her exercise. She loves to watch me run on the elliptical or do sit ups etc. for 15 minutes she went through her version of my exercises plus a few of her own. (such as hanging upside down on the elliptical.) At the end she was panting and told me that now she was strong. It was really cute. I loved that she exercises to be strong. I try hard not to talk about wanting to lose weight in front of her. I always tell her that exercising makes me feel strong and healthy. I loved that she wanted to show me how she is getting strong.

Easter Tree

My mom used to read a book about an Easter Tree when I was just a kid. From that book she cooked the cookie in the story that had an egg in it and taught us how to hollow out eggs and paint them. Some of my favourite memories. I found the book the other day at Barnes and Noble's website. I bought it. It arrived yesterday. I had forgotten how beautiful the pictures are. I didn't remember that it talks about Dutch Easter traditions. Emily wanted me to read it to her right away! She loved the story and at the end she wanted to make our own Easter Tree. We went to Joann's to pick up a "tree" and some smaller decorative eggs so that I wouldn't have to paint too many. Emily stood next to me and directed me to what I was to paint. They are definitely not professional and not as nice as my moms but Emily declared them all beautiful and was so happy in the end. That just makes the whole thing worth it! Can you find the "C" and "E" eggs? They were Emily's idea. She painted the E herself with glitter paint so it is a little hard to read.

(The photo was taken on "my" new ipad. Our principal got them for us and I get to use it as long as I am employed here. :) It has been fun and my students are loving it today because I found some fun math apps.)

Techno Whiz?

If you want a picture of my son you better want to have a picture of the ipod or DS as well. He is a little addicted. We've started weaning him this week because we feel kind of bad about it. But it is so cute to hear him talk about the games he is playing. :) I downloaded cake and candy maker apps and Collin makes treats and then shares them with me. :)

(Do you like the Thor poster in the back I made for Collin's birthday? It stayed up for the rest of the month because Collin liked having it there and I was too lazy to take it down. It finally came down this last weekend. Oh and soon after this picture Collin finally got his hair cut. It was needed!)

New Books

I received a list of 21 fiction and non-fiction YA books from the Middle Level Conference. I have read a few books off of the list and I have not been disappointed. I thought I would put them in this blog to share them with my friends and families. The first three are the ones I have read. I have another two sitting by my bed. I put beside them if they are fiction and non-fiction. It is because of this list that I ended up reading The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznik. Awesome book.

1. Breaking Stalin's Nose by Eugene Yelchin - Fabulous book! Will be reading this with my students to help them have a better grasp on what it was like for people during Stalin's reign.
2. Under the Mesquite by Guadelupe Garcia McCall - The book was written in prose and I found it an emotional read. It is semi-autobiographical.
3. Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys - All I can say is WOW! This is a part of history that I sadly must say I did not know much about. That will be changing. So powerful.
4. Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos (semi autobiographical) Excited because I really like his other books.
5. Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai (semi-autobiographical)
6. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (so excited to read this because I loved her other books.) (fiction)
7. Wonderstruck by Brian Selznik (fiction)
8. The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen (fiction) -this won an award for fiction that moves forward the cause for special needs teens
9. Soldier Bear by Bibi Duman Tak - Fiction, Based on a true story from WWII
10. Hurricane Dancers: The First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck by Margarita Engle (Nonfiction in verse) She is from Cuba and all of her books are about Cuba's history
11. Heart & Soul: The Story of American and African Americans by Kadir Nelson (Non Fiction with beautiful paintings also done by the author)
12. Guyku: A Year of Haiku for Boys by Bob Raczka (So excited for this picture book. The pictures are adorable the the Haikus are hilarious)
13. Balloons over Broadway: The True Story of the Pupeteer of Macy's Parade by Melissa Sweet (Non Fiction Picture Book)
14. Black & White: The Confrontation between Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth and Eugene 'Bull' Connor by Lary Dane Brimmmer Excited to read this and his other "Birmingham Sunday"
15. Drawing From memory by Allen Say (Memoir/auto biographical) Picture Book
16. The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Advendture, Heroism & Treachery by Steve Sheinkin (Non Fiction written in the style of a Fiction book) The woman who recommended this book says that she and her husband couldn't put it down.
17. Energy Island: How One Community Harnessed the Wind and Changed their World by Allan Drummond (Non - Fiction Picture book)
18. Fatty Legs: A True Story by Christy Jordan-Fenton & Margaret Polikiak Fenton (Non Fiction story about Margaret Pokiak-Fenton's experience in a church run school in Aklavik, Canada)
19. Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom and Science by Marc Aronson & Marina Budhos (Non Fiction)
20. Wheels of Change: How Women rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way) by Sue Macy (Non Fiction) SO EXCITED!
21. Ubiquitous by Joyce Sidman (Non Fiction, picture book of poems about nature, organisms, plants and animals) Perfect book for boys.

The majority of these books are at the local public library so I will be able to borrow them. The others I will track down eventually. Since the first three books I have read and the two books I have read by authors mentioned here have been awesome I am excited to make my way through this list. I will let you know how Scorpio Races goes. :) Happy Reading!

Our Baton Girl

A month ago Emily was able to pick a treasure from the treasure chest at preschool for her good behavior. She picked out a baton. It was glittery and all that goodness. She has LOVED it. Somehow she and her friend caused a crack in the handle and so it leaks water and glitter. I have been unable to find the tape to close it up so the baton has been up so that I don't worry about the mess. Tonight I came home from the crazy day trip to Boise to find both of my kids asleep. Emily was in her supergirl costume from Halloween. As I moved her upstairs she woke a little and started talking in her sleep. She asked for her baton. Since it still doesn't have tape on it I was worried about what to do. Luckily Emily fell right back asleep. But I glanced at her sparkly pink supergirl outfit and at the glittery baton and I thought what a funny girl she is. She will be able to twirl her baton in her glittery pink outfit. So funny!

Dinner Invitations

It is the running joke in our ward to see how long you can go before getting an invite to dinner at the Palmer house. :) I don't mind. I do like inviting people over. I took advice from my mom when I first moved here. If I wanted to have friends I would have to make the first move. I couldn't sit around and wait for people to initiate. I needed to be the first. It was hard the first year. I felt I spent a lot of time inviting but many didn't come and there wasn't much reciprocation. Then Lorilee moved into my ward last August. By the end of September we were good friends. I had met alot of people in the ward but it wasn't until Lorilee moved in that I started to make friendships. I don't know if it was the security of her friendship or just timing but things began to change. I had stopped inviting people over as often after we got back from Canada. I was just too tired and overwhelmed. But starting in October I started up again. Landon was a wonderful supportive husband who allowed me to invite random people over all the time. And I have now had two people say the same thing after I have invited them over. One was after I had invited Sara, her husband and her adorable son Charlie over for dinner. (Think Ice Age baby and you know what Charlie looks like.) As they were leaving that night she said, "Now I feel like we are apart of the ward. We have friends." Today I invited the Kavans over for dinner. They sit in front of us in primary. Today I thought she might be pregnant but didn't want to ask. I did ask a member of the primary presidency and she didn't know. We laugh all the time with them. I have been meaning to ask them over for awhile. After primary I mentioned that I was sorry the invitation was coming after being in the ward for so long but I was wondering if they wanted to come for dinner. (They moved into the ward in June right after they got married. He is just finishing his counselling degree and she is finishing her social worker internship.) Heidi is usually really quiet but she quickly said, "Yes! What can I bring?" I explained that Landon was leaving after church for three days but what day after Wednesday would work for them. They said next Sunday so we set the date. He then said, "Do you guys actually want to be friends with us? Its felt like all people do is call and ask us to do something and we don't know anyone. We thought that Heidi being pregnant would get us an in since everyone is pregnant." They hadn't had anyone in the ward to share their news with. And she is almost 20 weeks along! I assured them we did really want to be there friends and they will find that lots of other do to. I am so glad that I took my mom's advice and reached out first. I have made many friends and have helped others make connections and friendships. I am not saying this because I think I am better than others I am far from perfect at this. I just want to make sure that I can remember the advice when I start to feel lonely and to pass it on to my kids. The next family on my list is a new family to our ward that is a blended family with 8 kids. Both came to the marriage with 4 kids each (between the ages of 11 and 3). They both have custody so it makes for a full house. His name is Jon so Landon always forgets her name because he wants to call her Kate. Landon even agreed to me inviting them over. Now that is a miracle. :)

Friday and Saturday

On Friday I headed to Idaho Falls for the Idaho Middle Level Conference. It was AWESOME! It was probably one of the best conferences I have ever gone to. I am a better educator because of what I learned. Lots of laughter and lots of great ideas. Not going to bore anyone but it was a lot of fun. Jack Berkemeyer was the keynote and he had me laughing the whole time. He really helped put into perspective what it is to be a middle level teacher. I found out about a great site called whole brain teaching. It has been around for awhile but I wish I had known about it 10 years ago when I first started teaching. It is awesome. Rita was fabulous and took our kids for Friday night so Landon could come stay with me in Idaho Falls. He was leaving for the annual three day fishing trip with his dad and brother on Sunday so it was nice to get some time together before he left. We got some shopping done and had a great dinner together. I am so grateful he is my husband. The conference ended on Saturday at 11:30. We headed back to Pocatello, picked up the kids, bathed the kids, did some grocery shopping, and watched Hugo after a brilliant dinner made by Landon. We will miss him while he is gone but it was a really nice weekend.

Our Little Man

I picked up some new church clothes for Collin. He was loving them this morning. Landon took the pictures on his phone. He forgot to send me the one of Collin playing on the ipod touch. It was priceless. Check out our little man! (I am setting up a hair appointment for Collin as his hair has gotten out of control!)

Mel Hammel

(I swiped the above picture from his daughter's facebook page. I hope that is okay Sally. I just loved how he is singing and smiling. Just the way I will always remember him.)
My Great Uncle, Melvin Charles Hammel passed away today at the age of 88. My dad called me today to let me know. I am so glad I picked up my phone even if it meant I had to leave a meeting. To hear my dad give me the news was the strength I needed to make it through the rest of the day. Uncle Mel became a surrogate grandfather to me after both of my grandfathers passed away when I was 4. He told me a couple of years ago that he felt that the best gift he could give to his best friend Ray (my dad's father) was to look after his family. And he did. Uncle Mel and Aunt Rita are in many of my childhood memories. They came up from California to visit us in BC and Alberta. They even visited me when I was at Utah State University. They were welcoming to my husband at every family reunion. Landon loved sitting and listening to Mel tell stories. I will always remember his voice when he sang. I could listen to him sing for hours or just tell stories. This last November on Veterans Day I felt strongly to write him a letter thanking him for the service he gave during WWII. I talked about what a great influence he was in my life and that I would pass that knowledge on to my children. My parents were able to visit with Mel and Rita a few weeks ago. They went down and spent a week with them. I talked to my dad after the visit and he talked about how wonderful the trip was. How Mel and Rita sat and told stories about my grandparents, their lives, the war, everything. He told me that Mel mentioned how my letter had made him happy because he worries that people will forget the sacrifices made. I am grateful my parents were able to make it down to spend time making a few more memories. Life is so precious and fragile. I know that Mel is up in heaven causing havoc and singing his heart out; waiting somewhat patiently for his wife to join him. I am grateful for the knowledge that I will see him again one day. Thank-you Uncle Mel for your love, your example, and your generosity. My life is better because you have been in it.

Mel and Rita

One of the greatest Love Stories ever and its REAL

The New Teacher

My car made really funny sounds pulling into work yesterday morning. I was really worried about it so I called Landon and asked him to take a look sometime during the day. Halfway through 5th period he came out with the kids. Collin had fallen asleep so he slept on the floor of my classroom (not very comfortable) on top of my jacket. Emily loves coming here and know the routine. She grabbed some change from my wallet and headed down to the vending machine to get cheese and crackers. She is hilarious about having to get food when she comes to visit me. She loves our cafeteria and was sad that we had already had lunch. I had a meeting during 6th hour so the kids were left in my room. I showed Emily where I was for my meeting so she could find me. I found her skipping up and down the hallways just for fun. :) When I got back to my room I found that she had filled in my homeroom's job chart with times copied off the bell schedule. She had also written letters on my board. She told me that she was being a teacher to all the students in my classroom. She asked me to take my seat. She "introduced" me to a few of the students. She got down my globe and started showing "us" different places. She pointed at the Atlantic Ocean and said, "It has an A, a T, and an L and says it is a river." She gave me a stern look when I corrected her and said Atlantic Ocean. When we went to leave she showed me that she had been hiding the letters to her name in the letters she had written on the board. Can you find them? :) She asked if she could stay with me until I was finished with homework lab. She was so excited to spend time with me. Collin was sad to have missed time in my class. He loves it too. On the way home I asked Emily if she was going to become a teacher. She said, "No, I am going to be a dentist and poke needles in people." :) No idea where that came from. (PS Landon took my car across the street to Les Schwab due to the sound came from my wheel well. They rotated the tires and couldn't find anything wrong. Car is running great now. No idea what was going on.) The pictures aren't great because I took them on my cell phone which is old. :)

What is up with us???

Not been very good lately at keeping up with my blog. Life has been coming at us fast and I feel like most days I am just treading water. I hope to be better at this as I keep these as our family journal. So many fun and funny things have been going on and I don't want to forget them. Such as:

The Thor's Hammer Incident
My hammer had gone missing on Friday. I used it to hammer in a nail in the kids room, put it down for a minute and when I turned back to pick it up it was missing. Emily was the only one in the room and she swore she didn't have it. I figured it would come up and forgot about it. On Sunday morning I was getting the kids ready for church (as Landon was down in Utah with family). I had asked Collin a bazillion times to get his shoes on. He was running around as the Hulk. (Wish I'd known that it was a forshadowing for Church) I finally got him into his room and asked him to get his shoes out of the pile in his closet. He looks at me with his hands on his hips and said, "This is a job for Four's (Thor's) hammer!" He goes into the pile of shoes and comes out holding my hammer. I grabbed it from him and doubled over in laughter. That kid cracks me up!

The Family Picture Incidents
Emily is quite a little artist. A few weeks ago in church she drew a family picture. I need to take a picture of it and post it. While she was working on it she asked me for Landon and my "numbers". That is her way of asking you how old you are. I passed on the information which she promptly put on our shirts. She then added hers and Collin's "numbers". I went back to listening to the speaker. Next thing I know she proudly hands me the picture. I see fabulous pictures of each member of our family. Plus three more kids. Yep, three. According to Emily she has a sister Kate who is 5 (from the number on her shirt), a brother named Hashmakaka who is 2 and a baby brother who has no name that is 1. I found out the names when I asked her who the other 3 family members are. This picture was not a one time occurance. My friend subbed for Emily's primary teacher at church and had them draw pictures of their families. Emily drew our family and three more kids. I think she is trying to give me a message. Too bad I'm not listening. (The name Hashmakaka is a running joke between Emily and her dad. It is the name of a camel in a Christmas book my grandmother gave us.)

The Girls Night/Couple Night Incidents
A few weekends ago I really wanted a date night. After talking with Landon we decided to invite a few of our friends to come out with us to dinner and a movie. The Johnsons and the Dances came out to dinner with us. (We got a joint babysitter for all of our kids as we are the only ones who get babysitters on a regular basis). After dinner Landon and I joined the Higbees at Sherlock Holmes. Lots of fun!
Last weekend was my friend Lorilee's birthday. She wanted to have a girls night and a night where her thre closest friends plus their spouse's got together to play games. So Friday night after our ward potluck and the Elders Quorum moved a family I had 13 ladies over to my house for a girls night. We sat around and chatted, giggled, laughed, played games and had lots of fun. For many of the people it was the first time they had hung out together. We all made plans to do it again. Landon is actually encouraging me to do it. He thinks that it was good for all of us. My friend Alicia's husband Blake came over to keep Landon company. Good food and good company equals success.
On Saturday Landon headed down to Utah for some time with his brother and parents. The Johnson's and Dance's came to our house that night for cake, ice cream and games. We hung out for a couple of hours. It was lots of fun even though I did miss Landon. All of our kids played nicely together so fun was had by all. I ordered the cake from a local bakery owned by some of our friends. It was SOOOOO good. We were sad that the Moores couldn't make it as their daughter suddenly was very sick to her stomach.

The Changing Majors Incident
A few weeks into the semester Landon had a life changing experience and coupled with some excellent advice from a school counsellor Landon took a leap of faith and changed majors. I can't remember the name of the program but he will be able to do x-rays, ultrasounds, etc. IT is a bachelor program and ISU has a really great, well rounded program. It only puts him back a year and he is so excited to complete the program. And we are excited for him to. He dropped all but one class and will be going full time this summer.

I will leave this long post now but expect more in the future, especially if I get around to downloading some pictures from my camera. :)

Are you excited???

I sure am!

Scaring Landon

Last week I scared Landon. Like really scared him. I actually made him scream. :)

I had fallen asleep but didn't realize I was sleeping. I thought I was laying in my bed almost asleep and through half closed eyes I "looked" and thought someone was standing over me. I screamed. In real life I sat straight up and screamed. Which made Landon sit up in bed and scream because he had been asleep and had no idea why I was screaming. When he realized what had happened he started to laugh. I on the other hand was still trying to calm down. He laughed and laughed and laughed. Afterwards he told me to never do that again. :) Like I did it on purpose. :)

Courage

I have taught alot of kids in my career. There are many that have touched my life in wonderful ways. There is one student (and his family) that I always looked up to. He was never in any of my classes (actually he is gifted) but I had the chance to be around him at school. I was able to help support him and a group at school (with their parents) fundraise to go to an international competition. He was always so positive. He had survived a tumor behind his eye when he was a child, even granted a wish from the Make a Wish Foundation. He had beat the tumor and was a great kid to be around. His parents were so friendly and kind. I recently found out that he had been diagnosed with another brain tumor. He is a freshman this year in high school. The town has been supporting fundraisers to help with costs. He made the following video to let those who didn't know him get to know him. Being far away, it was nice to hear and see him again. It brought tears to my eyes to watch him laugh, joke, sing and say thank-you. I just wanted to share a video that helped me put life into perspective. Watch, and let it change you. I know that I am going to work at being more positive and happy. And if you want you can donate at Scotia Bank to help him out.

Jasper's Video

Emmy turns 5!

Emily came into our room this mornig at 8 am to let us know that it was her birthday. She kept casually looking at her presents next to the bed. I told her we needed to wait until Collin was up. I asked if she wanted to hear the story of how she got her name. She listened carefully through the whole story. She was so excited. THen she told me she wanted to get her "baby" book. It was a freebie online book I made that has about 10 pages and covers the first year of her life. She love it! Landon, Emiy and I went page by page and Landon and I would tell her the stories behind the pictures. She has heard them all a million times but was excited to hear them again. Collin came wandering in and so we opened gifts. The lalaloopsy little sister that she wanted for her birthday finally showed up in a store a week ago and it was on sale. We had already bought her presents so I grabbed her birthday money from Grandma and Grandpa Hull and Matt's family and bought it for her from them. She had been snooping in my room the night before and found it so she wasn't surprised but was super excited. Next was the lalaloopsy from her dad, a lalaloopsy costume from me and a lalaloopsy purse with chapstcks from Collin. I quickly got ready so that I could finish all the last minute preparations for her party at 10:30 am. Landon helped out too so it went really fast. My brother Matt called and Emily talked with him and his kids on speaker phone. Then I got to chat with my brother for awhile. A big thanks to the moms who stayed behind to help out with the 20 kids running around my house. (Thanks Lorilee, Janie, Suzie, Kierra and Cami). Also a big thank-you to Emily's regular babysitter who came because Emily invited her and helped out with the cupcake decorating. The party was a huge success. Only two kids did not come. For future reference the kids who came were: Cassie, Maggie, Zerric, Audrey, Dreyden, Isaac, Annabelle, Caden (and his baby sister), Madi, Bodi, Berkley, Hallie, Carter, Caleb (and Emmett for half an hour), Abby, Anna, Emma, Stella, and my two kids. Emily invited her friends and their younger siblings. I divided the kids into four groups and they rotated through the activities. (Yes I am a school teacher.) One was "Pin the Eye/Eye Patch on the Lalaloopsy". Emily and I had made them a week before when she had come to work with me. Hilarious results. (All I will say is Zerric takes after his dad) Another activity was decorating a cupcake and then picking a lalaloopsy pencil topper to go on top. Then they got to take the topper home. The third activity was a modified basketball. They used the lalaloopsy pets I had made and tried to "shoot" them into the laundry basket on the other side of the room. The fourth activity was to play in the toy room. They stayed at each activity for 10 minutes. Then they all went down to the play room while the moms and Kestrel got the finger food on the table. Then the kids ate picnic style on the living room floor. Afterwards we opened presents (Emily was spoiled.) The lalaloopsy ferris wheel stole the day. (Thank-you Caden!) We blew out the candles and handed out button sugar cookies to everyone. Everyone then headed home with a pencil, pencil topper, colouring book (lalaloopsy for girls, individualized Story Studio for boys) and a lalaloopsy pet. Great time was had by all! Kaylene and Cami stayed behind to help clean up. It was nice to visit with them. Emily received two more phone calls in the afternoon from my dad (who shares her birthday) and from Aunt Nomi. Emily is feeling very spoiled. :) We are waiting for the arrival of my inlaws. A great birthday!

We are so blest to have Emily in our lives. We love her and the joy she shares with us. She is loving and kind. She thinks of those around her. She is so smart and I can't believe the growth that she has made this last year. She is so excited to go to "big kids" school. I grateful for the blessing she is to us. We Love our Emmy!

The slideshow of her birthday is below!

Free picture slideshow generated with Smilebox

Love my Kids

Emily
- Emily and I had doctor appointments last Wednesday and Emily has to have her last immunization shot before school. We had talked about it on the way there and the nurse talked to her as well. She dutifully went through her well child checkup and sat back down. The doctor and I talked as he went through the priliminary questions for my yearly check up (since I was a new patient to him.) Emily politely asked me to let the doctor know she was ready for her needle. I passed on the message and he went out to get the nurse. She came in and Emily climbed up on the table. The shot went into her thigh. I was hugging her which stopped her from sitting up when the shot went in. Emily instantly started to cry. I handed her the sucker from the nurse. She put it into her mouth and stopped crying within seconds. On the way home she told me that the nurse gave her a shot so the disgusting flu virus would not get her sick. I explained it wasn't for the flu virus but that now she can go to the big kid school in September. She then informed me that the shot hurts a little but big kids know that suckers take the pain away and so now it doesn't hurt.

- Emily has trouble calming down once she has become upset. (Just like her mother.) So for the fast 3 years she and I have been working on calm down strategies. It can take almost half an hour to calm her down and it can test my patience. The other night I was in bed and could hear Emily crying. I asked what was wrong and she told me she didn't want me to go downstairs but to stay upstairs. I informed her that I was in bed and planned to stay there (which is upstairs.) Suddenly she is in my room and sobbing. Almost hysterical. She gasping told me that she wanted a drink. I told her that I wasn't getting her a drink until she had calmed down and was back in bed. (I know, mean mom.) She headed back to bed and this is what I heard:
"It's ok Emmy. You can do it. Deep breath. Stop crying. *sob*sob* Deep breath. In through your nose and out your mouth. Blow through a straw. You can do it Emmy. That's it! That's it! Deep breath. You can do it Emmy!"
Over and over she repeated these type of statements. I actually started to giggle. (I know, mean mom) I was so proud of her though. It took less than 5 minutes for her to calm herself down. I told her how wonderful she was and gave her the cup. :) Love my little girl!

Collin
- He has taken some steps backward in his toilet training. He sleeps with a diaper at night because he is not able to make it through the night dry. The other night when I was cleaning a poopy diaper he told me that when he is big and strong like Emily that he will use the potty again. I told him it wasn't an option and that he was strong enough now. He thought about it and said maybe. I love him but there are days..... :)

- Every night before Collin goes to bed he tells me he loves me. It never gets old.

Iron On Transfer Fun

Last Saturday Rita called to let me know that Cassie wanted to have a playdate with Emily but that she was sick and would be unable to have her come over. I was excited to offer to have Cassie and Maggie come over to my house for the playdate. Rita does a lot for us and I wish I could do more for her. The girls came over and my kids were really excited. I had to run out to the store so Landon babysat the kids. My friend Lorilee came with me as I searched for the last things I needed for Emily's birthday party. I decided to pick up some white tanktops to do a craft with the kids when I got back. I had thought that Collin wouldn't be interested so I only grabbed a package of three. The girls gathered around the laptop to tell me what they wanted on their shirts. Cassie - Barbie Princess Charm School, Emily - Lalaloopsy, Maggie - Disney Princesses. None of these came as a surprise to me. Collin thought it was cool so he asked for Spiderman. I printed them as 5x7 onto Iron on Transfer paper. I couldn't find a blank t-shirt for Collin so his Spiderman has not found a home yet. Each girl helped me prep their shirt and iron the transfer on. They were so excited to finish them. It was a lot of fun. :) The photo was taken on my cell phone because I forgot to take the picture before I took the girls home. So it is not the best picture. :)

Collin and his Pound Puppy

Santa came to visit my parents house a few days before Christmas. He skyped with Collin and Emily and told them that he had brought stuffed animals for them but he would send them home with Aunt Rita. My kids were so excited. When Collin received his new puppy he was so excited. His mom was excited that it was a pound puppy. :) Collin showed it to his dad who told him that he would have to make sure to take good care of his new friend. Collin has taken this job very seriously. His puppy goes everywhere with him. (Accompanied by either Batman or Spiderman) Every night he curls up with him under his arm to go to sleep. It is really cute. Last night we all curled up on our new couch (another post topic) to watch an episode of the BBC Planet Earth. (My Christmas present) Collin does not usually join us as Emily and Landon take the show very seriously and Collin likes to chat during shows. :) Collin came downstairs with his puppy and crawled up next to me. He told me his puppy was cold and wanted to snuggle with mommy. We grabbed a blanket and Emily, Collin, the pound puppy and I snuggled up under it. Collin patiently explained to me the proper way to pet his puppy. "Pet him softly. Not like this." And he proceeded to mimic smacking the puppy. I agreed that was a good idea and so the two of us sat and petted his puppy. More than once he reminded me to be soft. At times he would instruct me to scratch the puppy's head. He told me that puppies like us to be soft and so do cats. He told me if you aren't soft with cats they scratch you. (He would know.) Then he whispered into the puppy's ear. Then very softly he said, "I wuv you puppy." Then he looked up at me and said, "I wuv you mommy. You wuv me and wuv you. I wuv daddy too." I will admit I teared up. The dad had been a little frustrating at work and so to have my little boy repeat this sentence three times touched my heart. I WUV being a mom!

New Years Resolutions

Basically I didn't make any. They are the same every year. Instead I decided to just start living the way I should. Thanks to some encouragement from two wonderful friends I have gotten up at 5:30 am every morning this week and worked out up at the university at some aerobic classes that start at 6am. I am sore but feeling great. I had forgotten how much exercise makes my day go so much better. I better lose these last 10 pounds but even if I don't it is nice to start my day off exercising with two wonderful people. :) Peer pressure can be a good thing. Five days a week. And if I leave 15 minutes early (so I get a 45 minute workout) I have enough time to go home, get dressed, put on makeup and make it to carpool by 7:05.So I am having a good start to a year that I haven't set any goals for. Who would have thought?!

Emily's Dance Recital Part 2

Emily's Medal. She wrote her name on the back.
Emily was done having her picture taken. This was after tap and receiving her medal.



Isabel, Emily, Caitlyn, and Cassie

Cassie and Emily

On our way! This was the best I could get with her hair done and makeup. Can you see her 1 inch long chunk of bangs?

Emily is on the right and Cassie on the left. For your information. The little girls in black are in their first year of dance. They get to gether to go in a circle and the little girls wouldn't turn. Eventually the older girls (in white) get them to twirl. Sadly I missed the last 20 seconds of their dance as my memory card filled up. Oops.

Emily's Dance Recital

Emily's dance recital was last night. Since Emily cut her bangs off a few days ago (another story) I creatively did her hair for the night. The teacher had asked for two pony tails and lots of volume and curl. I accomplished volume and pulled back with two bobby pins. But she looked very pretty. I was impressed that she sat there long enough to do her hair and her makeup. She is growing up so fast. We arrived a half an hour early, as requested by the teacher. When we got there we discovered that Emily's dance class was number 34 and 38 out of 40 dance numbers. Usually they are in the first 15. Landon headed home due to the large number of people crammed in and his growing claustrophobia. Emily, Collin and I sat with Cassie, Russell, Maggie and Rita's in laws. Rita wasn't able to be there due to prior commitments until just before Cassie and Emily went on. Nic and Tyson had to leave for an hour for Tyson's basketball practice. Maggie was really cute during her dance number. Emily and Cassie were really well behaved while we waited. Collin not so much. He wanted to be in bed. He survived the night due to the grace of God. :) Landon was on his way to the recital when I called frantic that I had forgotten Emily's tap costume. He turned around, picked it up, and made it back in time to watch the last 40 sec of Emily's ballet number. I videotaped it for him. :) There tap number was to "Animal Crackers" sung by Shirley Temple. She held a stuffed animal during it. Soooo cute. Emily did such a wonderful job. She will be with a different dance teacher this next session for tap and ballet. It was sad to say good bye to Caitlyn. I have included the videos and few pictures. They give out medals to all the performers if you are still there at the end of the recital. This was the first time Emily has ever gotten a medal. She was so proud of her self. Enjoy!