Dallin's take on the Book of Mormon

Dallin gave me a very informative account today of how Lehi and his family went to Venus. After about five minutes of discussion, I asked him where Venus was. He said it (with a duh, you're so stupid look) that it's right by the water! He continued on, irritated at my interruption, and continued with his description of Venus.

So, for those of you who don't know, Venus does not have a lot of food. You have to use a bow and arrow to hunt, and it's really hard to find the animals. You have to sleep in a tent because they don't build houses in Venus. Some of the people who live there are really mean and like to beat up their little brothers. Their dads get mad at them and tell them that's not nice and they have to say they are sorry. The nice brothers get really strong and have special powers (still not clear exactly what those powers are). People who go to Venus get lost a lot so they have to pray for directions.

After this wonderful version of Lehi's family journey in the WILDERNESS, I asked him if he meant to say wilderness, and he said, "Oh, yeah. That's what it was. But where's Venus? I want to go there on vacation."

I LOVE five year olds and their perspective!

Nicole's latest words and observations

Nicole is at the fun age where she is learning how to communicate, but doesn't always quite get the words right. Here are some of her newest comments and phrases.

"I like it when Sissy (Sierra) babysitters me."
"Mom, why is your tummy so high?" (Pointing to my chest)
"I just flurped." What's a flurp? "I don't know. I think I burped, but if might have been a fart."
"A froggy is a ball with the hiccups."

April sneezes lead to wheezes

It's April, and everybody has allergies. We're not sure what the culprit is, but it's something in our back yard and every body is sneezing, wheezing, coughing, and eyes are watering. Other than the minor health issues, we've enjoyed the few spring days that have come so far this year.

Here is our latest news:

• Thanks to my sister (thanks, Becky) we are now the proud owners of a trampoline. All five children have spent hours every day this week jumping. I love the fact they are outside, and REALLY like the way their appetites have magically risen. Dallin might actually pass Nicole in weight if he keeps eating like this!
• Sierra turned twelve this month. She had a "Twilight" themed birthday party complete with black and red decorations. I watched her friends with a twinge of sadness. My little girl has been replaced with a tall, thin, and very likeable young woman. Her "toys" now consist of Webkinz, so she can get online and build custom rooms for her pets. Her toys are steadily finding their way into Nicole's toy baskets. She loves going to Young Womens, and has lots of friends in our ward and neighborhood. She finished memorizing the Articles of Faith and will get her Faith in God in church in two weeks. We're proud of her hard work.
• Matthew is the fastest runner in his class and will be competing in a school wide track meet. He is very excited, and practices running after school. He's under the mistaken impression I'm still faster than him. I don't want to admit he'd beat me in any race, under any condition. It's fun to listen to Matthew talk about his life plans. At this point, he wants to be a professional athlete. He's leaning toward basketball, but knows he'll be really good in football, too (he's never played on a team). The thought of going to college and majoring in anything besides sports is horrifying to him.
• Scotty is slowly making friends, and is amazing in his ability to remember people's names. He is also talented at continuing to memorize all the basketball stats. He gave me a very detailed, persuasive argument about why the Lakers and the Cavaliers are going to the finals, and the Cavaliers are going to win. Not bad for a six-year old!
• Dallin is reading, and sounds out all the words he can find. That's fine, unless it's a naughty word on the wall! He told me yesterday that he has a secret to waking up. He blinks his eyes eleven times, and then his eyes don't want to close anymore. We just might try that tomorrow.
• Nicole loves preschool, and is a social butterfly. When she's not being social, she is a monster, so we're not sure if she's going to be popular or the school outcast. Maybe '4' will determine that. She does everything by herself, tortures her brothers by hitting them with any available object, charms her way into sleeping with her sister at night, and gives us her opinion on any and every subject.
• Matt is busy with the yard. He has plans made up that will take years to accomplish, but will someday be beautiful. He's currently getting ready to start our garden, which means he comes home with loads of dirt, compost, and other "necessary" ingredients for a garden. He's also enjoying lots of real estate activity. Hopefully, he'll have some closings soon.
• I've been busy with preschool. Next month I have three field trips, a graduation, and four class parties planned. Then, I have one weekend to finish preparing the next four weeks of teaching eight summer school sessions. To top it all off (as if that's not enough) I'm taking a CERT (community emergency response team) class through the city on Tuesday nights.

We've been blessed with a wonderful home, neighborhood, and a peaceful chapter in our hectic lives. The past year has flown by, school's almost out, and we're ready to plan our summer adventures.

More next month...

Spring time

It's that wonderful time of year when everything wakes up and shakes off the winter stupor that has been around for so long.

Our back yard is now level and ready to start a garden. The big question these days is what and how much to plant. Our camper is cleaned and ready for its first outing of the year (Moab, this weekend). The grass may actually turn green this week and the trees are definitely getting some buds. our doors and windows are open all afternoon to catch the breezez. I'm so glad we have screen to keep the recently revived flies out!

We spent Saturday afternoon playing at the park, trying to get a sunburn (it didn't work). I suddenly have dusty footprints instead of muddy. The number of friends calling to play has jumped exponentially.

Spring is my favorite time of year!

Basketball Memories

Yesterday I dragged all our children to Matthew's basketball game so we could be a supportive family (Ok, that's not quite true. I wanted see his game, and Sierra was gone so I couldn't leave Nicole).

Matt helped ref the game because Matthew's regular coach was gone for the long weekend. He found time, somehow, to leave work mid-day and be there. I don't think he's ever missed a game, and he works every Saturday!

I filmed the game for about 5 minutes before the battery died. Oops! The last 10 seconds showed Matthew making his first two points (out of 10) for the game! Someday, I'll take the five minutes needed to learn how to download that onto this blog.

As I sat on the bleachers I felt miserable because I have a kidney infection. Nicole and Dallin jumped all over me because brutalizing my body seems to be more fun than running, coloring, or anything else they can do in a gym. I watched Matt coaching the team from the sidelines as my sweet Matthew showed a lot of potential in his future basketball career. He is FAST, and he is short enough the other teams mistakenly overlook him. He uses that to his advantage. He can steal a ball and be well on his way to the basket before anyone knows what happened. He also has a lot of stamina. They play straight through with only a four minute break at half time. He rarely sits out.

Suddenly, a wave of reality hit me. I realized suddenly that Matthew is no longer a little boy. My adorable baby, and the monstrous 3-6 year old I thought would not live to seven is now a 10 year old boy who is growing up faster than I ever wanted him to. I see him every day, so I'm not sure how I've missed this, but I found myself crying in the middle of the game as I realized he will suddenly be leaving the house to go on a two-year mission. I need to prepare myself a little for that! It was a little embarrassing to have to wipe away the runaway tears in the middle of the basketball game, but absolutely necessary.

We have five children, but they are all still little in my eyes (except Sierra, who is only 1/4 inch shorter than me). They are growing up faster than I ever thought possible. And with every naughty deed, and every mess, I have two good memories of how sweet, innocent, and loving my children are. We joke about Life When Our Children Are Grown, but it has always seemed so far away I never thought about what it will really be like. No messes? Cooking for two? A quiet, clean house? I don't think, after eleven years of complaining, that I'm ready for that yet. I love Sierra's artistic endeavors placed all over the house, the smell, sound, and occasional destruction of boys and basketballs running back and forth through the house (that's a rule they consistently ignore!) and Nicole's constant chattering. Those five have given me so much more than they take, and I love each of them. They have truly made our lives complete.

So, I guess I'll have to maintain control of my emotions, get over my kidney infection quickly, and head outside to play basketball while I'm still tall enough to get the ball!

Fashion Show

Sierra took these. The dress was made out of a scarf, and it was tied with a hair clip. She's quite the designer! Nicole, naturally, posed while Sierra took about 20 pictures. Note the different designs of the "dress!"

Mystery solved

I've noticed this past week that my cans of soda seem to disappear rather quickly. I thought I needed to pay more attention and not drink them so fast. This morning, the mystery was solved.

I opened a new (and the last) can, took a sip, and set it on the countertop. Nicole immediately picked up the can, guzzled the ENTIRE can, belched loudly, and set it back onto the countertop. She looked at me very calmly and said, "That was really good, Mom." AND WALKED AWAY!

It's hard to get mad when you're laughing.

Real life

Sometimes I look around and think, "This is about as real as life gets." Good or bad, happy or sad, it's my life.

I taught school for 4 hours this morning, and I am SORE! We talked about opposites. I had three classes standing, sitting, jumping in/out, etc. My poor legs are jello-y.

So after preschool, I stood carefully in the kitchen to do the dishes and try to bend as little as possible. Nicole (not surprisingly) managed to take off all her clothes. She ran in circles, held an apple, and yelled indiscriminate sentences. Dallin, meanwhile, sat at the table drawing yet another picture of the Hulk while he sang a 4-year old version of Jingle Bells. You know the one, "Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg..." He sang quite exuberantly until I finally asked him to stop.

Sierra began practicing her latest piano piece as I was about halfway through the dishes. It sounded great, but added to the general noise. She eventually stopped, came into the kitchen, and asked if 1) she could make some pancakes, 2) if I could take her to the store to buy a Webkinz and 3) if I could show her how to play a new Solitaire game.

Matthew eventually joined in by bouncing a ball down the hallway (strictly forbidden) to find out when I could take him to his friend's house for a sleepover. He also needed help untying a knot in his basketball shoes. I reminded him he needed to take a shower and CHANGE HIS PANTS. He has a favorite pair he would wear every day if I didn't keep on top of him.
Matthew reappeared 15 minutes later, clean, but still wearing those darn pants. I sent him upstairs to re-dress.

Scotty kind of meandered in and out of the kitchen. He wanted a snack, then a cough drop, and then told me about Paul Milsap's latest statistics (a Jazz player, in case you don't know). He also asked if he could have a turn on the computer and happily disappeared to check the latest sports statistics (his favorite website).

With the dishes almost finished, Sierra announced that the pancakes were ready. She made about two dozen, so the kids all sat and ate an early dinner. Yippee ! I didn't have to cook! They happily pulled heaps of pancakes onto their plates and smothered them with pancakes. More dishes. Sigh.

Matt called during the chaos and said traffic was stopped and he was going to be late making it home. The good news? He wants to take me out to dinner and to see a movie.

And so the night has continued. I'm writing this holding a now sleeping Nicole who is wearing adorable pink penguin pajamas. Sierra and Matt went to the store for her new Webkinz, and Matthew keeps checking the clock to see how late it is because he wants to leave. Scotty and Dallin are playing/arguing over a computer game.

The kitchen now has a sinkful of sticky pancakes dishes, which are realistically going to sit there until tomorrow morning.

These days are busy, tiresome, and will end all too soon.

Have I ever mentioned that I love having children? That I love watching tv while I do the dishes, or that Sierra makes the best pancakes I've ever eaten? And the best part - I get to spend the entire evening, alone, with Matt.

Yes, life is good.

Preschool Program

As many of you know, I am now teaching preschool. These are some pictures of the program (thanks, Michelle!) we held last month. The program was held in the cultural hall of a nearby church. I thought putting up 150 chairs was overkill, but over 200 people showed up! I had a moment of panic as I realized I had to talk to these people, and if something went horribly wrong, it was being recorded by several dozen people! The fear was quickly replaced with an overwhelming feeling of awe. One year ago I told Matt I wanted to start a preschool and get back into teaching. Preschool was launched with the goal of having two classes, and it has now mushroomed to four! As I looked through the packed room, and at my sweet little kids, I realized this is truly a dream come true. Here are three from myoldest class, waiting for the program to start. They were so excited!

The podium made for some interesting moments as we stood to say our parts. We were fortunate enough to not have anyone fall off!

Two of the classes had speaking parts. They recited "The Night Before Christmas." This is Jessica, who decided to give me a hug as she said her part. What a sweetie!

We sang "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". These two (Aeryn and Krystal) posed with their reindeer antlers on.

Here we are singing the 5 days of Christmas. That's a silly song I made up about what their teacher gave to them. We stopped at five because, well, I couldn't think of ways to make up words for the rest of the song. They wouldn't remember it, anyway!

Here's Nicole saying her part: "The stockings were hung by the chimney with care in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there."

So now you all know why we had so much trouble getting the Christmas cards out this year!