The Aquarium

My mom is a jewel. Jed had a meeting up in Sandy one afternoon and so we took a Grandma field trip down to the aquarium. The girls loved it! We had a great time walking around and seeing all of the exhibits, the girls would literally leap from aquarium to aquarium to see the new things.


I think the thing they loved the most was touching the stingrays. Initially they weren't interested. Right as we got to the exhibit, they were getting ready to feed them and there were tons of people and I made the girls fold their arms so they weren't tempted to put them in the water. They lost interest quickly and so we traipsed over to see the seahorses, a few feet away. We then ventured back to the stingrays and it took a lot of coaxing to get the girls to be ready to leave, they loved it so much.


Bubba was so good in his stroller, as usual and I got very grossed out by the octopus. I wasn't a huge fan before, and then Pirates 2 came out and Davey Jones Locker pushed me over the edge with his octopus face. It makes me a little squeamish.


The girls were making their best attempts at pulling a fish face. I am so glad they didn't succeed!

The "H" word

Recently Ruby had two of her little friends over and they were in the basement when I heard someone shout the "naughty H word." I called the kids to come and have a chat with me (if they are at my house I figure I have every right to mother them.) Here is how our little chat went:

Me: I heard someone say a naughty word.
3 kids: we didn't say it.
Me: I heard someone say Hell and that isn't a word we use here. (figured I should clarify) I'm not mad and your not in trouble.
2 boys: It was Ruby!
Ruby: It wasn't me, it was ______.(this went back and forth)
Me: Since you can't tell me who said it, then I am going to let you go play. If I hear it again everyone will go home.

A little later Ruby sent everyone home so she could practice writing her name and other school prep as she calls it. When she came up stairs, I asked her if she said it, she had a very guilty look and nodded. I explained what they word meant in the context she used it and why we don't say it, I asked her where she heard it from. Turns out that she saw it at a friends when Star Wars is one. She told me Princess Leia says it and when she said it downstairs they were playing Star Wars and she was Leia.


A week later(tonight) we are reading scriptures and the "naughty H word" came up. I said it with abandon. And Ruby's jaw dropped and she just stared at me. I explained that it is a place, just like heaven is and if it is in the scriptures it is ok to say it. She closes her mouth and we get ready to proceed. I look at Emma to make sure she is ready to start and she looks at me and says "HELL" with the most pleased look on her face. She stretched and enunciated that word until she was out of breath. I laughed. I failed to mention to the girls that it is also ok to say Hell during or after childbirth. I will save that little lesson for later in life.

Say Cheese!

On Monday Ruby and I were eating lunch, and as she took a bite into her sandwich, she winced and told me her tooth hurt and it was bleeding. I looked in her mouth and saw that her tooth was wiggly and that she also had this massively huge beast tooth already coming in behind it. I had never seen that happen before so I was worried.

I called Teresa and when we chatted she assured me that it was normal and to just have Ruby wiggle her tooth and that her tongue would push the new tooth forward. Ruby gave her tooth a few wiggles and it came right out in her hand, it was definitely ready. She was so excited! She just had to go outside and inform the neighbors and friends of this new development. She would even call out the window to people passing by that her tooth fell out and she would be visited by the Tooth fairy.

That night we put her tooth in an envelope for safe keeping for the Tooth fairy. She was so meticulous about how it went under her pillow so that the Tooth fairy would be sure to see it. Come the Toothfairy did, and we told Ruby to put her money in her piggy bank so she could use it for a special treat. She wanted to put it in our vacation fund jar, she wants to go to Disneyland so badly. There was no persuading her to put it in her own bank.

All of this came unexpectedly for me, it may have been good for me to have a couple days to prepare for her loosing her tooth. She is growing so quickly. Perhaps it was best that it came out unexpectedly, less time for me to get nostalgic and sentimental. :)

Proof of existance and planking

Last Friday I had the opportunity to go back to Oakcrest for the evening. I my kind friend, Anna/Tyfoon was willing to go the distance to pick me up and my dear sister was willing to watch the troupe for the evening.


I had such a great time hanging out with Tyfoon, Biph, Zoogly ,Tonks, and also being up at camp. It was and will forever remain a special place to me. We got to watch the welcome video the girls made this year, it was amazing. The theme this year is Stand with the Savior. To me it was personal, and perhaps the answer to my prayers. I am grateful for opportunities that remind us of where we have been, and help us to get back to those places, or give us the courage to do the work to get back. I had a great time coming home and reading in my journal about that summer. It is a treasure to me and I know I wouldn't have remembered a 10th of it had I not written it down.

In honor of my family in Hawaii, because their pictures of their recent adventures in planking have brought Jed and I the giggles and mounds of admiration, I wanted to return such a gift and am pleased to present:

Planking Oakcrest style:




I have so much admiration for my nephew Ben who planked on a Razor scooter. I hope his internal organs are not in as much peril as mine are since this picture was taken. Planking is not as easy as it looks.

We attended our hometown parade on Saturday, the kids loved it, Eli hated the loud noises and would have been happier to have been able to sleep through the whole thing. He however crashed at the very end.

Emma loved being behind the camera and took multiple pictures of the paraders ankles and tires. That little girls makes her mama proud.





Today we ridiculously windy weather, that cause a lot of dust to be flying around and cool weather, so after watching Delphia and Josie this morning the girls had their friends over and created their own ballet class. It is pretty evident Ruby takes her dancing very seriously and that she would love taking a dance class. It was wonderful entertainment for a day that kept us in the house.

Remember us?

I'm sure that if my girls read my blog and knew that I had been failing to write about their important happenings they would be highly upset and sit down with me and have a chat about such disappointments.

So in hopes of appeasing them, and just remembering really sweet things about them, I will make a very humble attempt.

Ruby:

-Ruby is friends with everyone, or at least wants to be. Even if she has met you and doesn't remember your name she will say something endearing like "I'll see you tomorrow friend, maybe we can play."

-She does wonderful impressions of characters she has seen in movies and on T.V. My personal favorite currently is her Mother Goffel impersonation.


-Ruby is my most willing helper.

-She likes to climb up on the counter and help me with supper, and pretend she is the mom and will talk in an accent that I can't place and call me dear, and ask me to get things for her.

-She is good at bringing my emotions to the surface when she shares scripture stories during sharing time. She remembers them so well and is excellent at telling them.

-On Mother's day I was telling the girls things that I thought was special about them at the dinner table, as I was naming things off about Ruby I mentioned two things and smiled at her. She smiled back at me and said in a sing song voice. "Your forgetting something!" Love her.


Emma:

-She doesn't like to go bed early anymore and we have moved their bed time back but it now makes Emma sleepy during the day. I went to check on her and she was out cold. Later she came up stairs and I asked how her nap was, she scowled at me and said " I wasn't napping I was watching Cyberchase." She was out for quite a while. :)


-Emma is very particular about her name and likes to be called Emma and that is it. We of course enjoy calling her various things, and she hates it. We recently found a name other than Emma she likes to be called which happens to be princess. Occasionally we will just call her Emma and then she will cut us off and say "I like it when you call me princess too."

-Emma is only 3 and a 1/2, but she thinks she is a big girl. She runs around with Ruby and her friends and they treat her as an equal. It is going to be an interesting transition when Ruby starts school this fall.

-Princess lives in dresses, and has a particular fondness of dresses that spin.(big skirts that twirl.)


-Emma absolutely adores her primary teacher, and gets upset if he isn't there. There have been times that she has slipped out of the primary room to find him. I went to catch up with her and right at the moment I caught up with her she spotted Brother B. to her great delight. She shouted out in the hallway "Brother B! I was looking for you everywhere.

Eli:

-Is constant movement. He is almost impossible to photograph, due to his need for activity. Just when I think he is going to hold still he bounces up on his bum and lunges for the camera.

-He absolutely hates sippy cups of any kind.

-He is able to get finger foods into his mouth. Which I like much better than him picking it up, smiling and dropping it over the side of his high chair.

-He loves to squawk and show off his mouthful of teeth.


-Last week at church he was cruising along the bench and he came upon Emma's ankle and bit her. After we consoled her I turned to Jed and said "It brings a whole new meaning to ankle biters doesn't it?"



This is one of my favorite pictures, the quality isn't great, but it speaks volumes about how cute these two are together. I love when they make each other laugh. Such special little ladies.

Bubba's Party

We celebrated Eli's birthday the Saturday after his real one. It was spring break, and it was so nice of everyone to come even when they had the kids home.

Eli was a little more less cooperative because he was so tired. We had a lot of fun and Eli got spoiled. It was a great afternoon. Josie celebrated her birthday the same day but they had separate parties it worked out really well.

Bubby loved the cake. I think he got more on his face than he did in his mouth. He sure had a good time though.

Baby how you've grown!

A year ago tommorow, we welcomed Eli into our family. He came when he was good and ready, and after all of the waiting, it was incredible to hold him in my arms. We had a little boy! We love him so much. During this past year there have been many sleepless nights and worry, and certain points that I felt that my heart was going to break because I didn't want Eli to have to go through the challenges he has been given, and wondering if he would be ok.

All along the way we have been blessed with Eli's sweet smile, patient endurance with all of his tests and health concerns, and the brightest little spirit. He has taught me about life, and how to go through hard things with a smile on my face and faith in my heart that Heavenly Father is in the details, and is mindful of us.

We have been blessed with family, friends and skilled medical professionals that have made some very difficult periods bearable, by giving us a shoulder to cry on, or gentle words of encouragement and advice and on how to best meet Eli's needs.

What an incredible year it has been watching our "little" guy grow. Eli is a miracle to me, I am so thankful that he was sent to our family. He has brought us so much happiness. The girls adore him and love to make him laugh. He has the most happy laugh. I love this beautiful boy, and his sweet nature.

What a joy it is going to be to watch this little man grow as the years go by. It is so fun to hear him say "mom" or "ma ma" or "mam-mam" those words are so precious to me. I love seeing him cruises around the furniture, pull himself up to things, or hear him squawk for another bite of what we are having for dinner. He has such a bright future, and I have every reason that he will be able to live a normal life just like any other child.

HaPpY BiRtHdAy Bubba! We love you so much!