Last Day of School!

It's the last day of school for Anna and Abby!!!! Yay! I'm really excited. I know some people think I'm nuts and I'm sure I'll be plenty ready for it to start again by the time the end of August rolls around, but for now hip hip hooray!

If Anna looks a little tired, it's because she stayed up til 11:00 last night working on cards and gifts for her teachers.

Anna is done with her 4th grade year. It was a great year for her. She had Mrs. Potter and Mrs. Ihrig who job share. They each taught every other day. I loved it because they were so organized and I feel like the teachers stay fresh and focused when they have some days off. Anna did a county report, a science project, a reflections project and published her own book this year. She got to visit the new State Capitol and get a special introduction from her senator Grandpa. Brennan got to with her and her class to Pioneer Village and rode the log flume. At the end of the year talent show she got up in front of her class all by herself and sang "Popular" from Wicked. Pretty brave! She got in trouble a few times for laughing too much. Her best friends in her class have been Sadie and Robin. All in all, a great 4th grade year! We're super proud of Anna for all her hard work and look forward to having her around this summer. We love Anna!

Abigail completed 1st grade. She had Miss Anderson this year and loved her so much. She was totally on top of things and so kind and good with all the kids. She picked Abby to go to "Lunch With The Mayor" which was a wonderful opportunity for Abby. Abby is my least quiet child at home, but in big groups she can sometimes get the most shy and intimidated. This year, she totally broke out of her quiet shell and has enjoyed some new found confidence. She has been extremely social this year and has made some really great friends. Her best friends in her class this year have been Paige and Tia. They are both in her class next year and her teacher next year is Chloe's Mom. We're so excited! Abby has really caught on to reading and loves it. She also is a really good speller and it's been fun to watch her progress so much this year. We're so proud of Abigail for all her hard work and are so excited to have her around this summer. We love Abby!

My Not So Favorite Part of Being a Mom

Yesterday afternoon Ben woke up from his nap with a really goopy eye. Shortly after that it began to look red. I called our pediatrician who called in some drops and it's looking MUCH better now, but this gives you an idea of what it did look like:



Yes, his face and hands are dirty, I do clean him but he's always dirty. He's smiling because he's holding a piece of gum for enduring his hated eye drops. It was breaking my heart watching my big blue-eyed boy walk around like this. He still really hates his drops and it is so sad and cute watching him run away with his chubby little hand covering his eye. Thankfully he is doing and looking much better now. We love Ben.

Poor little Natey banged his forehead on the corner of the bathroom counter tonight. It's really small, but he was bleeding and it is pretty open. Because it's so small we didn't do stitches but are wondering if we should? How do you know? Sigh. I'm so not medical. He came right out to show me and when I saw the blood I knew this would be traumatic. He told me he needed a napkin. I grabbed a paper towel and wet it. He said "No, Mom, don't get it wet!" I kept trying to tell him it would work better if it was wet and would help it not stick to his cut. He held his little hand out and in his bravest most adult voice said, "Mom, no I'm serious, I'm serious don't wet it!" Each time I tried to make my case he would just say "No, I'm serious" over and over. It made me want to laugh and cry at the same time. He is so amazingly stubborn. For now he is sleeping soundly. We love Nathan.

I know that these are not a huge deal, but I hate to see my kids in any kind of pain, and I hate that I feel so inept to help them and know what to do.

Family Festivities

We kicked off the weekend with Rex and Lucy coming to play Friday afternoon. They stayed really busy and really entertained. I honestly didn't see much of any of them but occasionally I would hear Lucy dramatically yelling "Muthuh!" (mother). Apparently she and Abby were involved in some kind of intense weird dramatic play. Super funny and cute.

Saturday my brother, Davis, flew in from New York and he and all of us who live around here went miniature golfing. I haven't done that for a very long time and I couldn't believe how much fun I had. Ben was totally into it, each time we'd move to the next hole he'd go place his ball by the hold and put it in over and over and over again. It was so cute to see his focus and kind of amazing golfing skills. Anna, Abby & Nate loved every minute too and all did really well. It was a really fun family activity. After our golfing fun we went to Mom and Dad's for dinner and some intense basketball standard assembling. It took 5 men, a suburban and a minivan and a LOT of time, but they did it. We also celebrated my nephew Abraham's 2nd birthday! Happy Birthday Abey!

Ben and Abe

Abe enjoying his birthday treat

Rex and Nate

Sunday right after church we met up with my Mom's family at the cemetery. It was a beautiful night and it was really bitter sweet to see the relatively new graves of my two grandpas. Anna convinced herself and Abby that it was really gross and scary to walk through the cemetery on top of bodies. Sigh. Other than that, it was really nice. After the cemetery we went to my aunt's house for dinner and as usual had a good times with our cousins, aunts and uncles.

Nate and Abby

Josh, Davis, Abby, Anna, Melanie, Dale

Cute little Ben

Apparently my post all about Memorial Day jinxed it and we got rained out. :( However, don't think a little rain is going to make us cancel our beloved holiday festivities, we just didn't get to go to the park. Instead we congregated at my aunt's church for a yummy breakfast only to find out another family had it reserved for lunch so we then moved to another church gym. We adults played LOTS of great volleyball while the kids had all kinds of fun chasing each other. We then had some great burgers and hot dogs for a late lunch and then soccer and dodge ball with everybody.

Kids up to no good in the hall.

Around 6:00 we left the church. I kissed my little family goodbye and sent them home while I joined several of my aunts and cousin for a 4 hour movie version of Jane Eyre. One of my all-time favorite books that I had yet to see a movie do justice -- UNTIL, last night. Wow, so good! My wonderful aunt, Melanie, discovered this movie and got us organized to watch it last night. After the movie she did a drawing to see who got to keep the movie. I won!!!! I think soon I'll be having a little Jane Eyre party of my own. If that doesn't excite you, you're not invited.


We, like you if you're actually still reading, are pretty exhausted and Ben isn't feeling well, but it was worth it. We loved every minute!

Happy Memorial Day!

For as long as I can remember Memorial Day has been the ultimate holiday for me. I would like to tell you it's because of my overwhelming love for visiting graves of relatives. It's not, although I do enjoy that, the real reason is because it's just plain the most fun we have all year. Many, many moons ago my Grandpa happened upon a beautiful shady park in a beautiful little town and the local scout troop was cooking breakfast as a fundraiser. They stopped and ate and and played around and had so much fun they went back every year thereafter.

About 5 years ago or so we went up to discover the scout troop had abandoned their traditional breakfast. Since that year we now bring everything to cook our own. After breakfast we play kickball, softball, volleyball, steal the flag, soccer, ultimate frisbee, etc. My Grandpa always cooked (or supervised the cooking of) hotdogs for lunch. All of us bring snacks, balls, nets, mitts, games, water balloons, anything to occupy us all day long. We usually get there between 9 and 10 and leave sometime around 6:00 pm. There's a cute little fenced in playground with sand, swings and toys for the little kids and ball fields and miles of open grass for the rest of us. One of my uncles bravely takes all the kids (probably around 20?) across the street to the convenience store where they load up on the laffy taffy and bubblegum. If sports isn't your thing, you can lay around on blankets and chat and laugh in good company. It's honestly paradise.

Whenever a member of my family gets married we joke that the in-laws can have Christmas and Thanksgiving as long as we get Memorial Day. I realize this is kind of a random holiday to have such devotion to, but seriously -- it's the best. Sometimes it takes new spouses a year or two to truly appreciate the magic of Memorial Day, evidently we take ourselves a tinsy bit seriously when we play volleyball and some of them feel a little uncomfortable when they get run over or yelled at by an uncle or cousin who can't believe they didn't sacrifice their body for the ball.

This holiday perfectly represents my Grandpa. It's all about family, fun, and randomness. Last year Grandpa couldn't make it, his already ill health took a turn for the worse shortly before that day and on June 3rd he died. This will be the first year we celebrate this day since he died. It just won't be the same without Grandpa sitting in a camp chair with his hat on top of his head (rather than on it) wrapped up in blankets grabbing unsuspecting grand kids and great-grand kids with his cane.

I miss Grandpa so much and it will be so sad not to have him there this year, but I will forever be grateful for this particular tradition he started. We'll be thinking of him. Happy Memorial Day!

Update

We've had fun busy times lately. Monday night started out with a really spontaneous party with some of my cousins at our house. It was so much fun, happy birthday, Mandolin! Tuesday night was a Daddy/Daughter Night for our Activity Day Girls (my church calling). It ended up being such a good time. We ate and then had all the girls and their Dads play partner kick-ball. They had to link arms and stay that way as they ran the bases after one of them kicked. The bases each had a bucket of water that the girls had to stick their hand in to be safe. It was so much fun to see the cute Dads and the girls loving every minute of their time together. Brennan and I were particularly impressed with Anna, of course, as she kind of dragged Brennan along (she's fast) and then practically threw herself into one of the buckets to make it to 1st base safely. She's got some spunk!

Friday night we went to a neighbor's house for a yummy dinner and an NBA playoff game. Saturday evening we got to attend my little cousin, Noah's, baptism. He is one of the cutest little boys on the earth. He has the Opie Taylor thing going on and was grinning ear to ear with one big new tooth. So cute.

Saturday night Jamie (Brennan's Mom) came up for a wonderful visit for a few days. She left this morning and we so loved having her here!

Sunday we popped in on my parents and had a fun visit with them and a few of my siblings and families. Their yard is amazing and the kids had a blast playing in their water feature.

Monday Jamie was kind enough to watch the boys and let me grocery shop ALL BY MYSELF. I also stopped at the nursery and bought some flowers. I got one flower bed planted and can't wait to get it all done and have a pretty yard! That night we joined some of my family for a hike through a breathtaking mountain forest. Good times.

Anna has discovered Nancy Drew books and spends all her time devouring them. She also loves being outside and begs to eat every meal out there. We love Anna.

Abby spends every available second playing with friends, riding her bike and begging for otter pops. We love Abby.

Nate spends his days asking questions about Star Wars and riding his bike. The kids were fighting over a key chain that Brennan got in a golf tournament. Brennan explained that they didn't want it because it had a beer logo on it. Nate said, "I bet we can buy a good one with a picture of Jesus on it, or Yoda." We love Nate.

Ben spends all his time getting black eyes. One of them he banged on some steps at the park, the other happened this morning as he ran and tripped into the corner of the wall. We love Ben.

Nate's Triumph

Thursday was Nate's last day of preschool!! We are so proud of him for all the progress he made this year. You may remember that preschool was a source of very great trauma for him and me. Each time I dropped him off for the first few months he would cry and cry and beg and plead me not to leave him. As soon as I left he would calm right down and by the time I picked him up he was always so excited and happy. Because of that, we stuck it out and little by little he conquered his fear. We talked about David and Goliath and that that nervous feeling he got each time I was going to leave him was his Goliath. He was so brave and cute about reminding himself he could be like David and like David prayed for help. Gradually he totally overcame it. The rest of the year he happily kissed me goodbye each time I dropped him off. So you see the completion of this school year for him is a huge accomplishment and we're so grateful for answers to prayers and proud of Nate. We love Natey!!!!

Nate getting his certificate

Nate and his amazing teachers!

Below is a short video clip of a song that they sang at the program. There's a part where he kind of cracks up that I have watched 15,379 times because it's so cute to me.


Untitled from Andrea W. on Vimeo.

Tag - Six Random Facts About Me

Finally getting to Liza's tag. Six random facts about me:

1. I'm so not an organized person EXCEPT about my social agenda. When there is something fun on the line I will spend untold hours making charts, spreadsheets, phone calls, sending emails, talking to anyone who will listen in anticipation. I can't seem to find time to mop the floor or even find the mop for that matter, but need help figuring out what to do for Memorial Day? I'm your gal! I wonder if I'm an extrovert.

2. That said, I'm so not the Amy, with the great spread of pewter serving dishes and a food-storage room full of fun dishes. Or Macy who makes everything pretty and festive. I feel like kind of a man in this regard, while I do notice and appreciate those pretty touches it's kind of an afterthought for me. Thank goodness I can call Macy to plan my food whenever it's my turn to host book club.

3. I like to think I'm a fairly open, tolerant person. I can be pretty non-judgmental and even kind of naively see the good in the worst of people UNLESS someone commits the cardinal sin of not trying at all to contribute to a conversation or gathering of some kind. Now I certainly don't mind people who are quiet, as long as I feel like they're engaged in someway. It's just those people who show no interest whatsoever that make me CRAZY. Rob a bank? No problem. Every word out of your mouth a lie? Come on over. A few murders in your past? Stay for dinner. Feeling bored and haven't laughed at one dang funny comment? GET OUT OF MY HOUSE! (I realize that I may have a problem, and yes I'm exaggerating a tinsy bit.)

4. I have a really weird and totally inconsistent little old lady streak of prudishness in me. There are many words that everyone in my generation uses that I simply cannot say. For example, "This really s_ _ _ _! or "That really p_ _ _ _ _ me off!" I HATE those words. (If you use those words, don't worry I won't judge you I recognize not everyone has a victorian woman possessing their body on random occasions.) There are a lot of words I can't say which makes it extremely difficult when I have to call the pediatrician because of intestinal difficulties in one my children or a rash in an unmentionable area.

5. I have the most uncool taste in music. Few things make me happier than singing along to Neil Diamond, Bette Midler, John Denver, Newsies and cheesy old showtunes. Oh and I'm TERRIBLE at remembering lyrics, so I sing the same line over and over again.

6. One unfulfilled dream of mine is to play "Lilly" in the musical "Secret Garden." I tried out once at a local theatre and got a call-back but didn't make it. Now I'm getting too old, sigh. Maybe in my next life.

I feel like Rebecca, Macy, Bobbi, Shauna, Shannon, Kelly and Amy need to play along and anyone else so inclined.

Happy Mothers' Day to Me!

My mothers' day festivities began yesterday. Brennan sent me off for a pedicure with my Mom, my sister and sister-in-law. It was so much fun. It was my Mom's first time and was highly entertaining. Her massage chair was either not working correctly or my Mom had somehow put it on some really weird setting because the whole time we sat talking she was like being punched forward. She just smiled and chatted through it. Then when her pedicurist (is that what they're called?) was working on her feet with a pumice thing my mom kept yanking her foot away and giggling because it was tickling her. So funny. After our pedicures we went to bakery for a yummy treat and more chatting. It was such a great little outing to be with some of my favorite girls and get pretty feet. Later that night Brennan and I went out with our super fun friends, the Beechers. It was a great day!

Eliza, Mom, Me, and Macy

After sleeping in this morning I was was the happy recipient of my favorite breakfast in bed from my kids. Then I was showered with gifts. Here they are:

A portrait of me by Anna, isn't she good?

This sweet poem was on the back. She also added "Thank you for all you do for us. I really appreciate it! I love you very much." Then in small print "and when I say you're rude, I don't mean it."

This darling card is from Abby. Each of the flowers come out and have something she'll do for me on it. They say, "Make my bed." "Get dressed faster." "Do my chorse (chores)." "Claen my room." So cute!

This was Abby's gift. Her teacher took the photo and then Abby painted the frame. I love it!

Nate gave me this beautiful plant which he decorated in preschool.

Ben didn't make me anything but he has been singing this lately and a mother just can't ask for anything more.

Happy Birthday Benny Style from Andrea W. on Vimeo.

Happy Mothers' Day!

The only good quality photos I have of my two Moms were portraits taken with their spouses, so not only do you get these two beautiful ladies, but as a bonus you get my Dads too.

I love my Mom. She constantly amazes me with her insight and ability to serve everyone around her in the most sincerely selfless way. She takes her role as mother and grandma so seriously and from an early age I was aware of what a privilege she felt it was to have and raise her children. I always looked forward to being a Mom because of how much she enjoyed it. I honestly could not ask for a better example of a person, wife and Mother.

I love Jamie. She raised Brennan and his brother, Brett, as a single-parent. I can't imagine how difficult that would be, but she did it wonderfully. She worked so hard, but still managed to put her boys first. Brennan is extremely loyal and grateful to his Mom for all she sacrificed for him. So am I. She's such a warm, bubbly fun and good person. She's a fabulous grandma and has been nothing but kind and supportive of me. I couldn't have a better Mother-in-law and friend.

Joyful Moments

A book I read once talked about letting the small joyful moments of motherhood carry us through the many less-than-joyful times. I loved that piece of wisdom and find it to be so true. The reality of being a stay-at-home Mom is a lot of laundry, picking-up, carpooling, refereeing fights, etc. Even though the majority of my time is probably actually spent on the things I find un-enjoyable and hard I am amazed how far one little moment of pure joy and love can carry me through many hours and even days of the challenging stuff.

One such moment happened just a few minutes ago. As I was chasing Ben down to put him down for his nap I got a bad case of the hiccups. While I carried him into his room hiccups were sort of exploding from me which was the funniest thing on earth to him. He started laughing so hard which of course made me laugh hard. I hiccuped and giggled all through the songs we always sing at nap time and he snuggled into me laughing the whole time. Pure joy. That should last me for a while.

Reality Check

Tonight as I made dinner I kept having that feeling that I was missing something. I paused and then laughed at my needless worry. I was totally on top of things today. I smiled as I thought of all that I had accomplished today. I went grocery shopping (with a 2 year and 4 year old in tow), cleaned my house (you know the dreaded Monday morning clean), worked on my church calling, prepared for Family Home Evening, did my little transcribing job, kept to my healthy eating plan, etc. Here I was even getting dinner underway early so we could go work in the yard tonight. We had our lesson, played our game and then I served a lovely tuna casserole (food snobs, don't judge me it's economical, nutritous and my kids love it). As I dished up the first plate that missing something feeling came into focus and I was quickly humbled. I can't even remember to put tuna in tuna casserole. Bon-bons and soaps tomorrow.

Weekend Update

Yay for a fun weekend. Boo for a stupid camera that I can't get to upload to my computer. As I fiddled with it I "formatted" my memory card. Evidently "format" means "completely and irrevocably erase every single photo". Fortunately there were only a few that I didn't have on my computer, but there were some really cute ones of Abby's soccer team on their final day and the kids up at a resort where we were visiting Brennan's parents. Grrr. I finally managed to upload a few photos from a little walk to our river in our mountains yesterday.

It was so beautiful yesterday so we took the opportunity to wander up through our mountains. It was so much fun and so good to be together in such amazing surroundings.

Anna always totally gets the beauty. She loves to find a little scenic spot and just sit and soak it in. She also gets a huge kick out of the littler kids and was giggling at their antics. Brennan, Anna and I were all throwing rocks trying to hit a specific rock across the river. She is really coordinated and loves to compete and do well. She's so growing up. We love Anna.

Abby was cracking us up. She is such a funny unpredictable whirl-wind of contradictions. Of all the kids she gets the most worked up and anxious about things we would never anticipate being scary, but then sometimes she just gets in these reckless wild moods and will do anything without a hesitation. She was the first to attempt to cross the freezing cold river. The current was pretty strong in one spot and really slippery so she didn't make it all the way. She was by far the wettest of us all. She was throwing rocks and it was giving me a heart attack because when she threw you never knew if it was going to go behind her, to either side or actually go some distance in front of her. She needs to work on her aim! We love Abby.

Nate has shed some of his cautiousness, but I would never call him reckless. He did agree to our traditional head-in-the-river. The last photo shows that ritual being carried out on Abby. For some reason that's what we do each time we go up there. Nate mostly loves throwing rocks into the water. On the way back home he literally could not take more than 2 steps without stopping to pick up a rock or twig to throw. He's such a boy. We love Nate.

Ben would not talk to, look at or just generally be bothered by anyone. He was so totally focused on throwing rocks into the river. Unlike Abby, he always managed to get his into the water. He was so incredibly zoned in to his occupation we had to keep a large radius around him clear because he wasn't about to let a sibling standing in his way stop him from throwing. We love Ben.

On our way home we saw a little dead bird. We, of course, had to mourn the loss of this bird that we never knew. After a proper amount of remorse we were finally able to journey on back home. Such a great day with all my favorite people. We are so lucky to be able to walk to that kind of setting.