Super Stars!!

Brielle's kindergarten program was on Friday. She was really excited to perform. Surprise, surprise. All the kids filed onto stage beaming, smiling and waving at their parents. It was adorable. They sang their little hearts out to show all they had learned in school this year. 



 I especially liked when they really started moving and grooving. Brie got into it. I love her face in this pic.

 Brielle and her kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Genesi.

 Brie and her best buddy, Emily. Emily lives just up the street. They play together all the time, we carpool together and they are in class together. A perfect match.

 So proud of our graduating kindergartener.

 We took Brie (and everyone) to a special lunch at Normandie Bakery after her performance. It was amazing. So many beautiful and delicious desserts. Scott and I shared the best bowl of French Onion Soup I've ever had and right in the middle of that yum-o soup the crown the dentist put on my tooth the day before came off. Ouch.

Now this big, bad 6 year old is off to first grade at a new school next year. She will start Spanish Immersion in the fall with a teacher they hired from Spain. Her parents are over the top excited for her and this new adventure to learn a new language and about a different culture. Congrats Brie!

Poop and Puke

The question, "What's that smell?", makes me a bit nervous lately. Why? Because I am dealing with the puke and poop of my offspring all the time. I know. It's gross, but I'm used to it. 

POOP

The other day I was sitting on the couch nursing Kate. Zachary came running in with the most excited voice telling me with all kinds of enthusiasm that he had gone pee in the toilet!!!!! He wanted me to come see. Quick! Yahoo! Really? That is awesome!!! I put Kate down to follow him to see how well he had done. I looked down to see I was following a little two year old boy with no diaper on and poop smeared ALL OVER his legs, bum and feet. We get to the bathroom to see more poo ALL OVER the wall, toilet seat, toilet and I'm still hoping that was all. WOW! He was so excited to show me, yelling, "In the toilet! In the toilet!" Well, at least he tried.

(FYI: The brown on the floor is part of the rug.)

PUKE
This girl is a different story. She looks so sweet and cute and innocent . . . .

But she has spit up bubbling up out of her mouth all day long. Her clothes are covered in puke. My clothes are covered in puke. I've just learned to accept the white puddle on my shoulder. It won't last long. She has spit up on her swing, her bed, her play mat, every blanket, every couch, every floor and on a couple of people at church. Always spewing up spit up. It never bothers her, it just kind of spills up and out of her mouth . . . constantly.

One Jessica Sue Allred can give a personal testimonial to both the puke and the poop at our house from hands on experience. I'm sure she would agree that all I've said here is totally and completely true. Hopefully she and everyone else will still want to step foot in our house again.

Candy Land

 Today was Ava's preschool program. It was ADORABLE. Ava has been quite excited for the program and has been practicing her part. She wouldn't practice singing any songs though, because she wanted them to be a surprise for us. I did catch her singing "Lollipop, lollipop, oh lolly lolly lolly, lollipop . . . " a few times.

The kids sang cute songs and even told some laffy taffy jokes. Ava gets sooooooo shy in her preschool class. She is very quiet. Totally different than the Ava we hear at home. She was a little nervous up there and seemed to mouth the words to the songs, but still looked so cute.

 This is how she looked a lot of the time.

 She did do her speaking part just perfect. Brave, brave girl.

 We loved it all and were excited to see her be so happy with her preschool friends and about her big performance.

 Ava LOVES her teacher Ms. Chris, just like Brie did.

Zachary was very pleased with his visit to preschool when the refreshment bar FULL of candy was opened up to him afterward.

 Ava and her preschool best friends - Kaylee and Danika.

 Brielle didn't get to go to the program because she was in school (even with all of her begging and pleading). So we promised to record every minute. We came home and watched the whole program over again and even brought her a cup full of candy.

 Kate wasn't so sure about seeing it all a second time around.

Ava did a wonderful job and had a fun day. Love that girly!

A real mother's day

I thought in honor of Mother's Day I would record a real life day for this mother. This was last Monday. A typical Monday. A real mother's day. I think I'd like to remember what just a regular day at home is like. We aren't always at the zoo, at Disneyland or at a party, you know. So today went like this (other days of course also include dance class, preschool, homework and play dates):

I stayed up until midnight last night finishing a blog post so that I can keep up to date on our blog journal. I woke up at 2 am to feed Kate. She woke up again at 5 am and wasn't going back to sleep so I took her downstairs to "hang out" for awhile. We went back to bed at 6:20 am, but had to be up for the day at 7:20 am.

I went into Brielle's room to wake her up to get ready for school. Usually all the kids are already up and are downstairs watching "Curious George" until I come down, so this was different to have everyone still asleep. She did not want to wake up, but with some coaxing from me and some whining from her we made it down the stairs for breakfast. There was more whining when I told her the Grape Nuts were all gone. She has Grape Nuts every morning and did not want something different. Ava showed up downstairs smiling and already dressed for the day. Wow. I got both of the girls a peice of wheat toast, half a banana and a cup of milk for breakfast. They ate, Brie got dressed, we did their hair, got shoes and bag and we were ready. I loaded all the kids in the van. Kate was crying. We drove down to the Winns to pick them up for school. We dropped all the girls off at elementary school and then me, Ava, Zachary and Kate headed back home.

At home I nursed Kate then cleaned up the kitchen while I ate some cereal for breakfast. I got Zachary his breakfast and his milk. I loaded the washing machine with the first of probably six loads of laundry. I changed a very full and very poopy diaper of Zachary's. So gross. Kate spit up all over my shoulder and then I got her to sleep and laid her down in her bed. I was working against the clock then, trying to get as much done before Kate woke up and Brie got home. I got out the vaccuum and picked up toys while I vaccuummed the whole house. I went to change the laundry from the washer to the dryer and then went upstairs to take a shower. Kate was still asleep. Phew. I get a shower.

Brielle came home and I talked to her about her day at school. She told me about a field trip coming up and a movie they are making. Very exciting. I made everyone a lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches, sliced kiwi and a cheese stick. They ate while I fed Kate again. They all then headed outside to ride scooters around while I ate my own lunch and Kate kicked around on the couch next to me. While I ate I made a list of what meals I would do for dinner this week and what I need at the grocery store for them. I changed the laundry again.

It was time for Zachary's nap. He loves taking a nap. I called everyone in and put Zach in his bed. He snuggled right into his new spider man sleeping bag from Grandma Sue and was very happy. The girls went downstairs to watch Nick Jr. with a snack for nap time. Perfect. Kate was asleep, Zach was asleep and now I got to take a nap too. I went upstairs to find Kate wide awake and kicking around. Not asleep. Sooooo, we came back downstairs for me to hold her while I looked at online classifieds for a piano.

Kate was drowzy again so this was my chance to put her down to sleep and go to sleep myself for as long as I might get until someone needed me. I don't know how long it was, maybe 30 minutes, but it was great. It was time to feed Kate again. She then sat in my lap smiling up at me while I read some write ups about being an LDS single woman from some friends in Boston. Very interesting. These really got me thinking. I also played with Kate's feet while I read and . . . . . she laughed for the very first time. Really. It was so exciting. Such a wonderful sound.

I got up to have my afternoon Diet Pepsi and counted out 6 Triscut crackers (because I'm doing Weight Watchers again) while I put away all the dishes, started the dish washer and once again made my way to the dryer to unload it and reload the washing machine. The girls turned off their show to start their jobs for the day - Ava cleaned the upstairs bathroom and Brie cleaned the playroom. We also woke a sleepy Zachy up from his nap.

I talked to Jessica for a while on the phone while folding laundry. The girls were at the kitchen table drawing pictures for flyers for their upcoming parade that they will be performing up and down the street. Yes, their very own parade that they are planning. I then started making dinner, had three pots going on the stove while holding and bouncing a crying baby Kate. Scott came home just in time to hold her while I put dinner on the table. We ate and then had all kids put on pajamas and then head into the family room to sit down for Family Home Evening. They wiggled, they made faces, they talked, they fought, they cried, they kind of listened through a lesson on the scriptures and then reading the New Testament Stories book. We sang our closing song, said a family prayer and then started with Ava off to bed while Scott went to Costco. I put Ava to bed as I rocked Kate to sleep in my arms. I went to change the laundry again and clean up the kitchen from dinner. While I was cleaning up Zachary and Brielle were playing "house". Zach is the Dad (in Scott's shoes) "going to work" and Brie has a baby that she rocked to sleep. The room is a mess from their "house".

After the kitchen was cleaned up, I sat down with Brielle (rocking Kate again, who woke up) to read. I read a chapter in her book to her and she had to read a chapter in a simpler book to me. Zachary read "Itsy Bitsy Spider" to himself. I put Brie to bed and "Diego" on for Zachary. Scott came home. I put Kate down in bed for the night and left him Zachary to put to bed. I left to Walmart for grocery shopping at 9:30pm. I thought, "I've turned into my mother." I hate going shopping at night, but it is now necessary. I got home with $200 worth of groceries at about 11pm. It is finally now all put away. Scott had been folding laundry while I was gone and there are piles of clean clothes covering the floor. Kate will wake up soon to eat and then . . . . . . I can go to bed.

I'm so very grateful for every bit of this life as a mother I've been blessed with.

Vamos A La Playa

As I mentioned, when we left Bakersfield for a few days in L.A., we stayed in the temple apartments. This was lovely. What a place to live for a few days. Scott and I were both able to do sessions and other work in the temple. Even though we have temples very close to us at home, this made it so easy to get to. And living in an apartment is much better for our family now than a hotel room. It was a wonderful.

Same tree we took our wedding pictures at - a lot can happen in 8 years!

Only thing that wasn't wonderful was that we didn't bring utensils. We got to the apartment tired and hungry and this kid wanted his mac n' cheese. I searched for anything to act as a spoon and ended up with the plastic connector thing on the lemon juice bottles. It worked.

 In pajamas and ready for bed.

Because it was cloudy and chilly on our first "beach day" we went over to The Grove - a fancy shopping center that Laura loves. Brie and Ava loved it too because we found The American Girl Doll store there. Wow. They were quite impressed and now have their complete Christmas list planned out for Santa.

Most exciting to Scott and I was that we came upon a new found treasure called "The Farmers Market". It was awesome. We can't wait to go back. There was every kind of food imaginable offered outdoors at umbrella covered little tables. Our kind of place - we will be back.

The last day before we started our drive home I was walking over to the temple and saw the clouds clear and the sun come out. So afterwards we packed up and went to the beach. We had a windy, but sunny day playing in the sand and water.

Started off with a little Diddy Riese for lunch. Delicious. . . . and then again for snack and late night snack and then lunch the next day. Their cookies are soooooo good. Yes, I am doing Weight Watchers, thank you.

 Beach dude.

 Building a sand castle  . . . that Zachary just waited anxiously to stomp on.

 Loving the sun.

 Buried alive.

Zachary attempted to bury Brie like daddy did. Ended up with him just throwing sand on her face over and over. Fun in the sun!

 Ava, once again, did not like the beach at all. There was just too much sand for her. It got in her eyes and mouth and she spent a lot of the time completely covered and huddled under a towel to avoid it all. Until "Lady" the lady bug came along. She loved this bug and was so happy that Lady never left her. We thought Lady must have really loved her too. Until she started saying things like, "Lady has crumpled up legs." and "Lady's wing is broken." Well, it gave her something to do at the beach.

 My beach fun was spent just trying to keep Kate out of the wind, sun and sand. Oh and taking the pictures.

 Ended it all with dinner at Bubba Gumps and then started our drive to St. George at 7pm. It was all worth it. It was a good day.

 After sleeping at Grandma's house in St. George, we continued on the next morning to home. This is how things go for the youngest of four I guess. She was crying and fussing, but we were packing up. You can see the little tear in her eye. Poor baby. We were all glad to be home again later that day.