Seven is Awesome

The day after Aubrey's birthday and party we woke up to begin anew with birthday celebrations.  Joseph's birthday was actually on Sunday, but we did most of the celebrating on Friday and Saturday.

At school on Friday he shared Krispy Kreme donuts with his class.

The next morning Joseph received his breakfast in bed. He had put in his breakfast order weeks in advance and woke up about an hour before it was prepared. He waited patiently in his room until we had made his favorite muffins and prepared his tray (he also had requested strawberries and orange juice).

 

 

 Joseph opened a few gifts . . .

and set to work building his Lego set while I prepared for his party and Dan ran to the Republican Caucus.

A few hours later we took off to the party destination of Joseph's choice . . . nothing other than Chuck E. Cheese. A child's dream. A parent's nightmare.  What can I say?  He loved it.

 

We loaded up all the guests with tokens, and they were off happily playing games.  Dan was still at the Caucus (he arrived halfway through the party), so Bailey came along as my helper. She took most of the pictures.

After awhile we called everyone back to the party table for Chuck E. mayhem. Otherwise known as the "live show."  There is lots of yelling, chanting, loud music, dancing with a big mouse, the bestowal of a birthday crown, and birthday celebrating.

 And then there were awesome presents to open. Joseph invited these friends to his party: Alex and Chase Kartchner, Gabe Tobiasson, Matt Sjogren, Jack Surface, Robert Nava, and Ian Lay.

Joseph took a trip into the "Ticket Blaster", where the birthday kid is surrounded by thousands of tickets blowing through the air. The goal is to catch some of them, all which can be redeemed for super valuable Chuck E. Cheese prizes.  At the end of the blaster experience, Joseph had tickets sticking to him everywhere, including inside the safety goggles.

And we ate birthday cake, courtesy of Costco, and a chorus of "Happy Birthday". Look closely at the picture below - when the attention is focused on Joseph he sticks out his tongue.  I love it!

I particularly loved the way that the Chuck E. Cheese hostess taught the kids to bang their fists on the table and chant, "I want cake," "I want cake."  Charming!

 The kids thoroughly enjoyed every second of the frenetic action.

 
There are no pictures of the last hour of the party. That would be because Bailey and I (Dan had to leave early to pick up Aubrey from theater rehearsal - yes, he got off very easy on this party) had to wait in line for 25 minutes to help each of the 8 guests redeem their prize tickets for a receipt and then wait in line for another half an hour to cash in the receipts for prizes. It was . . . . not fun.

But Joseph had a great birthday. On his birthday we attended church and he was serenaded by the Primary.

After church he opened a few more presents from us.  A few drawing books, because he is big time into art and drawing things.

 New pjs to fit his super long legs.

 And a pirate ship!

Then he spent hours building the Lego sets he received for his birthday.  Dan was his slave on Sunday afternoon. He sat next to the birthday boy in our bonus room and helped him put together every single Lego creation.

We loved celebrating with our sweet, smart, kind, fun seven-year-old!

Aubrey is 12!

Oh, what a fun time we had celebrating Aubrey's 12th birthday. Her big day fell on a Friday and was jam packed with everything wonderful.  At the end of the day she sighed, "this was the best birthday ever."

The day began with breakfast in bed - crepes with whipped cream and powdered sugar and  bananas and peanut butter.

Dan was out of town, Bailey was already at Seminary, and Joseph was slow to awaken, so Aubrey and I had our own little celebration.  She opened a few presents . . . a book of Broadway sheet music and some Young Womens goodies.

Aubrey got ready for school and drove with me to drop off Joseph. Then we drove across town to pick up donuts from Krispy Kreme for Joseph's school class (to celebrate his bday) . Lucky Aubrey - she got her own hot donut, as well!

As I I dropped Aubrey at school, two of her friends met us and led her inside, where they had decorated her first class with birthday signs and decorations!  Below - one of the decorations which she brought home.  They welcomed her as the newest "tribute."  If you don't know what that means, then you seriously need to go and read Hunger Games!  (Hurry - the movie will be out next week.)

Next, I picked up Aubrey for a special birthday lunch ( this was about 1 1/2 hours after dropping her off at school. In between time I took the donuts to Joseph's school for his class bday treat and then helped in his classroom. Yes, it was a very busy day.).  We drove to Jamba Juice and had a simply splendid lunch of smoothie and homemade cheesy pretzel.  Yum!

Back to school for Aubrey, where by all accounts she had a wonderful day, with lots of attention and well wishes.

At 4:00 p.m. I drove back to her school (which is in downtown Vancouver) and picked up Aubrey and two good friends for her birthday party.  Bailey tagged along for the festivities, as well.  We drove to Olive Garden for an early dinner - Aubrey's all-time-favorite-place-to-eat.  Double yum!

 We ate until we were completely stuffed, and Aubrey opened a few presents.

Bailey out-ate all of us (three bowls of Zupa Toscana soup, a plateful of fettucine alfredo, and lots of delectable breadsticks.)

  She was in agony for awhile, and uncharacteristically camera shy.

But, then, we were all pretty full by the end of the dinner.

We said no to dessert, but our nice waiter brought Aubrey a complimentary dessert cup anyway.

We left the restaurant and drove to the Dollar Store, where the girls each had $5 to spend on whatever wacky things they wanted.  Then we drove back to our house, rocking out to music all the way home.

We ate Aubrey's delicious ice cream cake (courtesy of Cold Stone Creamery).

 

Then Aubrey opened a few more gifts from us, including her very, very special gift . . .

A trip to Utah with me to celebrate her very important birthday!  (We were inspired by her cousin Brynlie's recent trip with Ali to see Wicked .)The week after her upcoming play we will fly to Utah for a few days. We will stay with G&G Springer and will spend our days doing everything Aubrey wants to do.  We have tickets to attend two plays at Hale Center Theater - Zorro and Xanadu. We also intend to shop, get our nails painted, spend time at a makeup counter, eat lots and lots of Cafe Rio and Zupas, and hang out with Aubrey's best friend Breanne.  We're so excited!

The day after Aubrey's birthday the girls from her church class came over when she was at rehearsal and decorated her bedroom door:

And on Sunday she made her big debut in Young Womens, after being escorted out of the Primary room by the entire Beehive class, walking on a red carpet while the Primary kids sang their final goodbye.

All in all, an amazing birthday for an amazing young woman!

Love Day 2012

Okay, so I'm playing catch up here. Apparently I never documented Valentines Day 2012.

The day started with love notes from Dan/Dad for everyone and special goodies for all:

Is there anything cuter than a 1st grade classroom party?  Seriously, so cute. I wish I could freeze Joseph at this age forever.  I helped with the classroom Valentines party and snapped a few shots of Joseph opening his valentines and playing games.

And then, the perfect end to our day celebrating love . . . we drove to Portland to attend Broadway's Beauty and the Beast.  We got dinner at the Quizno's across the street from Keller Auditorium and then enjoyed a fantastic performance. It was especially fun to watch the Broadway version because our very own Aubrey is debuting as Belle in the upcoming community performance of Beauty and the Beast! (Look closely below and you can see Dan in the reflection, taking our picture with my phone).

Finally, I want to document my own love letter to my sweetie.  It's good for my kids to read mushy things that I write about their Dad.  So, I am going to require them each to read the sentences below . . .

I feel so lucky to have married the most wonderful man in the world. Here are just a few things I love about Dan:

•  He is the most unselfish and family-centered man I know. Everything he does is for his family. I'm pretty sure he literally wakes up every morning and thinks about what he can do today to make me and the kids happy and comfortable.
• He has always, always supported me in anything I want to do or anything I feel is important. 
•  From the earliest days of our marriage he has always said, "what would you like me to make for dinner?"  Now, it would help if his repertoire expanded a little (one cannot live by bean burritos alone), but I appreciate the thought.
• He is insanely smart and good at math. This is good for many reasons, including the fact that our  kids have inherited from him their math smarts. And they can ask him for help when they are stuck on math homework. (They don't even bother asking me!)
•  He is the only accountant I know who is not only good at all the math-related stuff, but also has great people skills and a killer sense of humor.  Let's face it - my natural tendency is to be too uptight and driven. Dan has always been the perfect counter-balance for me, in that he has helped me learn to relax and have fun. "Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured" - that is Dan's motto and now a motto for our family.  Because of Dan's example, each of our kids is also witty and has a fabulous sense of humor.
• Over our 23 years of marriage he has also taught me that, although frugality is very important, it's okay to spend a little sometimes to make life easier or to have some fun (my natural tendency is to spend nothing, save everything, and deny myself of anything that costs money).
• He must be the only Dad around who is so up-to-date on the latest fun, enjoyable music. He also loves many other types of music, including Broadway musicals. Because of this, our kids have learned to really enjoy all kinds of music and also are great arbiters of appropriate music themselves.
• He is patient with me and always working together with me to improve our relationship.
• He is willing to travel to exotic places around the world with me someday, even though he would really rather be home than traveling.  He even bought me a book for my last birthday, 501 Must-
  See-Destinations, and we are circling the places we want to visit.
• His desire is always to do whatever the Lord would have Him do. He happily serves wherever he is called.

I love you, Dan!

Remembering MLK . . . . . and living in Harry Potter land

Joseph has really been impressed by stories about Martin Luther King, Jr.  He thinks Martin was a really cool guy who did good stuff (his words). In 1st grade they did a unit last month all about Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement. I loved his sweet observations on how MLK, Jr. helped all people be free, the way that Jesus wants us to be.

These are some things he made in school:

"

"I have a dream that I can make new friends and play with them because I am very nice."

 I have a dream . . .

• To be a good friend
• To be like him
• That every day is a sunny day
• To go to college

In other Joseph news, he is obsessed with Harry Potter.  He wants to talk about the intricacies of the world of Hogwarts, muggles, and wizards every day. And into the night, until we tell him to shush. We are reading him the books, and he is mesmerized. Right now we are about a quarter of the way through the second book. When he finishes a book he is allowed to watch the movie.  He already realizes that he has an impending problem . . . pretty soon the movies becomes PG-13 (and the books should probably have a similar warning starting at about book 4), so he won't be able to watch/read them for a few more years. We'll deal with that crisis when we get to it.  This is his latest improvised Harry Potter costume:

And, finally, The-Boy-Who-Wants-To-Eat-Almost-Nothing has a favorite type of muffins - Betty Crocker Cinnamon Streusel .  He would eat them every day if I let him. He is not allowed to have them every day, but we do make them at least once a week. In fact, he has learned to make them himself!  I came downstairs one day and he and a friend had mixed up the muffins and just needed me to bake them. I try to not to think too much about how not-very-healthy these muffins are. They certainly are delicious.

I love the photo bomb in the background, Bailey!

Green Eggs and Ham

Let's see . . . what would be the ultimate nightmare for a child with sensory food issues?  A kid who is hypersensitive to the look, smell, taste, texture of food.  How about a breakfast of green eggs and ham to commemorate Dr. Seuss' birthday?

Last Monday Dan and I both attended a special breakfast at Joseph's school for all 1st graders. The kids read Dr. Seuss books in the classroom (Joseph loved this),

then proceeded to the cafeteria and received a "Cat in the Hat" hat (loved this also),

and then received a plate of breakfast food, including very green eggs resting on a slice of ham (definitely not okay with this).

Prior to the breakfast Joseph and I had talked about it. He likes ham, so he felt like he would be fine with eating the ham. Until he saw that the green scrambled eggs were pretty much covering the slice of ham. We quickly extricated the ham piece and shook off the offending green pieces, but the damage was done. His face was about as green as the eggs. 

The rest of the breakfast he looked pained, tormented, terrified, and close to tears.  He didn't even want to eat the fruit roll-up or orange juice included with the meal.  All in all, it was a very touching parent/child experience.  Okay, so I lied. It was pretty much torture for all of us. But we played our parts well enough and helped him get through it.

Luckily, after awhile it was time to head back to the classroom for more Dr. Seuss-themed fun.

This is the paper he filled out in class about the experience. 

 

Notice his emphatic circling of the "no" on "did you like it."  

And his answer to "What did you learn from the book Green Eggs and Ham" - "try things before you say you don't like it.  That sounds an awful lot like what we learn over and over in occupational therapy.  Easier said than done, for sure.

The Lord's plan of compensation

As I shared in the last post, life is busy right now. So busy that some days I find myself breathing shallowly and feeling anxious as I try to fit in everything that I need to do in a day.

I have discovered a secret that is really working for me.

I love to read scriptures - but scripture reading was falling low on my list of "to-dos."  I usually got around to my own reading just before bed. And we all know how productive and inspiring that is . . . reading just enough to not feel guilty, hoping that something will inspire me while I'm sleeping.

Lately I've been carving out some scripture time in the morning, just after I finish all my get-the-kids-to-school duties but before I begin my so-many-things-to-do-today duties.  I turn on some of my favorite classical music and read about a chapter.  More or less.  Enough to feel a moment of inspiration. I've been trying to write my thoughts down in a scripture journal, but sometimes I forget.

This is by far my favorite classical piece - the second movement of Symphony No. 5 by Tchaikovsky.  I remember listening to Tchaikovsky with my Dad when I was a kid, so I always had a soft spot in my heart for the composer. My college roommate introduced me to this piece, and it really spoke to me.  I think that the opening part of this movement sounds like a heartfelt prayer.  And, later in the music I think the Lord's answer comes and both "voices" (the one praying and the Lord) continue to have a conversation.   Click this link to hear the music.   The guy directing the orchestra looks a little intense, so if he is distracting close your eyes and listen to the music. Maybe you will hear a different interpretation of the piece?

I really believe that the Lord has a plan of compensation. When I give time to Him before everything else intrudes, He helps me complete everything I need to do more efficiently, and my mood is much improved. The day just goes better, despite all odds. Like King Benjamin taught in Mosiah 2, when I have faith and do what the Lord asks me to do, "he doth immediately bless (me)."  I am always amazed at how immediate and how rich the Lord's blessings are. 

Life as we know it right now

Someday down the road our house will be (sadly) very quiet. The kids will be grown, and Dan and I will find other things to keep us busy.  At that time, if I have any brain cells remaining after raising four children, I might reflect back on the busy days of child rearing. But maybe I will forget what made it so busy at the different stages.

When our kids were young I thought life couldn't be any busier. And it was physically exhausting, what with the lack of sleep, constant diaper changing, nursing, toddler food prep, potty training, etc., etc.  Very busy.  I wasn't good about keeping a journal during this phase of my life, and I wish I had. It would fascinating now to read about what a "normal" day was like then. As it is, I just vaguely remember being busy and tired, but still really enjoying my kids as little tikes.

Now I find myself in a new phase of life and it is busy in a different way. The kids take care of most of their own physical needs and I get much more sleep at night, even with early awakening to get Bailey off to Seminary.  But, now the chauffeuring duties are paramount, the schedules are complicated, and the emotional needs are increased.  Because our kids are so spread out - 13 years from oldest to youngest, we have kids in all different developmental stages.  So I have to be "on my game" to handle 1st grade through teenage challenges at any time.

So, for the purposes of my own family history, I am going to make a record of a current weekly schedule.  I'm going to use this week as an example, and I'm not going to include everything that gets done during the day when the kids are at school. Let's just say that when everyone leaves in the morning I feel like I'm at the starting line of a race . . . ready, set, go!  There are certain things, like getting the house under control, planning dinner, errands, preparation for church callings, managing bills and personal finance, emails, service to friends and ward members, etc., which have to be completed by the time everyone comes home. That is my self-imposed deadline, because once kids are home we are running around and busy until bedtime. 

Warning - this will not be interesting to anyone other than my future self, so feel free to stop reading at the point.

Monday 

5:45 - Wake up to help Bailey get breakfast and visit with her before she leaves to Seminary
7:00 - Wake up Aubrey and Joseph - breakfast and lunch prep, etc.
8:15 - Dan takes Joseph to school
8:50 - Take Aubrey to the bus stop
9:00 - Green Eggs and Ham breakfast with Joseph at the elementary school.
11:00 - Back to the school to help the teacher
From the to do list during the day - list 50 items on ebay, emails about the upcoming end of soccer season party, emails about my book club,emails about the Wicked tickets we are coordinating
2:30 - Bailey comes home
2:45 - Drop Bailey off at piano
2:50 - Pick up Joseph, run back home to get the piano books Bailey forgot, feed Joseph a snack in the car, and help him do homework until his piano lesson
3:15 - Joseph starts piano, run Bailey home and try to finish making dinner (rolls and black bean soup)
3:45 - Pick up Joseph from piano, drive to Aubrey's middle school across town to pick her up.
4:15 - Pick up Wendy's for Aubrey for dinner, because she needed to go to theater practice until 8:30 p.m.
4:30 - Take Aubrey to theater - wait 45 minutes for the director to show up (they were supposed to be putting a brunette rinse in her hair and doing makeup in preparation for publicity shots for Beauty and the Beast.)
5:15 - Run back home and (with Bailey's help) get the house cleaned up for company.  Finish dinner, eat, and prepare a FHE lesson.
6:30 - A new family in the ward with two small children comes over for FHE and to visit.  Eat leftover bday cake for dessert
8:30 - Pick up Aubrey from theater, fill the car up with gas, run to the grocery store to get supplies for luncheon the next day.
9:00 - read Harry Potter to Joseph, scriptures, prayers.
10:30 - Fall asleep after watching lots of political primary  info on TV

Tuesday

5:45 - up with Bailey - breakfast, prayer, off to Seminary
7:00 - kids up and ready for school.  Food challenge with Joseph (in preparation for the afternoon's OT). Today's challenge was touching, smelling, licking, and then trying a bite of cinnamon bread.  Marginally successful.
8:15/8:30 - Joseph and Aubrey to school
9:00 - my Zumba exercise class
11:00 - prepare salad, put rolls on plate
11:30 - to the school to help a friend's daughter with something
12:00 - birthday luncheon for a friend, bring rolls and salad
2:30 - Bailey comes home
2:50 - Pick up Joseph, drive across town to Occupational Therapy appointment.  Pick up frozen yogurt on the way for Bailey, Joseph, and myself.
3:30 - While Joseph is in OT, run errands with Bailey (fabric store to get ribbons she can wear in her hair)
4:30 - OT done, feed Joseph snacks in the car on the way to baseball practice 
5:00 - Leave Joseph at baseball, drop by a friend's to pick up the book club book, take it to another friend's house, drop Bailey off at home, return to watch the baseball practice in the cold.
6:00 - home from baseball, dinner, check on Aubrey's homework
6:40 - take Aubrey to dress fitting appointment for her Beauty and the Beast ball gown.
9:00 - home - kids finish homework (oops - no piano practice happened today and I never checked on kid's chore completion), read Harry Potter to Joseph, scriptures, prayers.
10:00 - most of the kids are asleep
10:10 - We are asleep

Wednesday
5:45 - Up with Bailey - breakfast/prayer/off to Seminary
7:00 - Kids up and ready
8:15/8:45 - Joseph and Aubrey to school
Home to pay bills, clean up, communicate with the woman who is picking up the table we just sold on craigslist.
2:30 - Bailey home
2:50 - Pick up Joseph
3:15 - Joseph swim lesson
4:45 - Aubrey home from school
5:00 - Take Aubrey to piano lesson, pick up Joseph's friend so we can drive him to soccer
5:30 - Pick up Aubrey from piano
5:40 - Dan drives Joseph and two friends to soccer practice across town
6:40 - Drop Bailey and Aubrey off at Young Womens.
7-9 pm. Stake YW Meeting.
9:30 - Read Harry Potter to Joseph, help Aubrey finish homework, scriptures, prayers, bed.

Thursday

5:45 - Up with Bailey - breakfast/prayer/off to Seminary
7:00 - Kids up and ready
8:15/8:45 - Joseph and Aubrey to school
10:00 - Zumba exercise class
12:00 - Dad calls for weekly phone appointment
2:30 - Bailey home from school
2:50 - Pick up Joseph from school
4:45 - Aubrey home from school.  Leave to take Joseph to baseball practice.
5:00 - Return home to help Aubrey get dinner and prepare for theater.
5:30 - Drop off Aubrey at theater.
6:00 - Pick up Joseph from baseball. Meet up with my friend Kathy in a parking lot to transfer her two boys to my car.  Drive all three boys to their last indoor soccer game.
6:30 - 7:30 - Soccer Game
7:30 - 9:00 - Dan help paint some of the sets for Aubrey's play/Parent Meeting for the play at 8 p.m.
8:30 - Pick up Aubrey from theater
9:00 - Harry Potter, homework, scriptures, piano?, prayers, bed

Friday

5:45 - Up with Bailey/off to Seminary
7:00 - Kids up and ready
8:30 - Take Joseph to school, help in Joseph's classroom (Aubrey comes along until her bus arrives at 9 a.m.)  Help until 10:00 a.m.
10:30 - Run home to meet up with the family who is picking up our kitchen table.
11:00 - Drive across town to get allergy shot.  Do a few errands while there - Costco, groceries, Target.
2:30 - Bailey gets home
2:50 - Pick up Joseph and a friend (for a playdate)
4:45 - Aubrey gets home
5:00 - Drive into Portland to pick up our new kitchen table
6:00 - Dinner out with the family to celebrate last week's birthdays


It is a crazy schedule. We are constantly evaluating and re-evaluating what is important to leave in the schedule and what can be removed. For instance, as of this week we are cutting out Joseph's swim lesson (he has had a once a week private lesson since last summer, at the suggestion of his OT.  It has been so helpful, but it can go on hold right now). And soccer ends this week - hooray!  But baseball games start next week!  And Aubrey's play is in full-gear mode, right up until the end of March.

It is a busy stage. But it is a happy stage of life. Our kids are awesome and involved in good activities.  Hopefully we will remain sane as we manage their schedules and all the other important to-dos that fill up a day. Hopefully we won't forget the really important things as we rush from one place to another all day.  That is my goal and my prayer every single day.  I love this quote from Elder Uchtdorf.  I just printed it out to post on my wall, to help me maintain focus.

"Strength comes not from frantic activity but from being settled on a firm foundation of truth and light. It comes from placing our attention and efforts on the basics of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. It comes from paying attention to the divine things that matter most."