Post-Christmas

Today we took the kids sledding. We really don't have that much snow this year; it's been almost two weeks since we got any but there is enough to sled on, even if it's a little icy. Henry loves sledding, even if the temperature is a balmy 13 degrees. William had to be coerced into going, but had a good time and ended up going down the hill a few times by himself. This was Tessa's first time sledding and she loved it. She went with Jay several times and then by herself on a cute little sled that our good friends the Robinsons (whom we met up at the park) let her borrow a bit; Tessa and their daughter Emily took turns riding on it. It was a fun day.

You can see that we don't have that much snow. It was just enough for sledding:

William's first solo ride. It took him a while to go down by himself:

Tessa would have stayed longer, but it was too cold:

I didn't get any pictures of Henry sledding; honestly he was just too quick for me. He was up and down the hill with his friend Kyle and I never caught him on camera.

We took more video than still pictures on Christmas morning, but here is a good one from Christmas Eve, with the kids all ready for bed in their new jammies:

Tonight Jay took Henry and William to the Jazz game down in Salt Lake City. Santa has brought tickets for the Wright boys to use for a few years now and it's become a fun tradition. Hopefully the Jazz will win and they will come home happy!

It's a Christmas Miracle!

We hope everyone had a nice Christmas. We sure have. It was cold but no crazy weather like last year's blizzard that resulted in our heat going out on Christmas night and a dicey drive for Jay when he took the boys to the Utah Jazz game the next day. The kids were up early but hopefully now they'll settle down and get back to a normal routine. They still have a week off school and we have lots of fun things planned to keep us busy, not to mention just hanging out and relaxing.

The kids had a nice day. They watched a movie and played with their toys. Henry spent some time learning the ins and outs of his new computer games. Nana, Aunt Laura, and Great-Nana came for lunch and a fun visit. But the Christmas Miracle occurred in the late afternoon. Tessa and William were having a little skirmish and William overreacted and shoved Tessa down because she was fooling around with his Bakugans. Jay took him aside and told him that Tessa just wanted to play and that it might help if he invited her to play. He did and my, oh my, what a difference. They played together for quite a while; I think William even let Tessa win a few times on whatever game they were playing. They even decided to play together tomorrow morning. But the funniest thing was their conversation. It started with William saying, "You know, Tessa, I'm starting to kind of like you." And it became a veritable lovefest after that, culminating in the following:



If you didn't get it, William was cutting up Tessa's food during dinner. And they were discussing how much they liked each other. Tessa even bestowed the title of "My Favorite Brother" on William, which is high praise indeed.

Of course all good things must come to an end. William decided to watch Henry play on the computer and Tessa didn't like it; she yelled up the stairs, "You're not my best brother anymore William!" Still, it was nice while it lasted.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Christmas Vacation

The kids are now out of school for Christmas vacation. Yay! I love having them home this time of year. It's such a fun time to hang out together and do fun activities. We haven't made cookies for Santa yet so that's definitely on our to-do list, probably for Thursday. After Christmas I promised them a movie (they've seen The Princess and the Frog so they want to see the upcoming Alvin and the Chipmunks; I wonder if anyone would notice if I took my iPod to listen to during the show) and I imagine we'll go shopping as well (since Granny is sending them cash to spend). William got a free kids meal at a local restaurant so maybe we'll have a fun lunch or dinner out. And it's just nice for them to have some time off - no homework, no rushing out the door for Henry in the morning.

In order to get to Christmas vacation, we had to get through the class Christmas parties. Tessa's preschool party was last week and she had fun. Unfortunately I had to choose between Henry and William for the Christmas party, since they were at the same time. I decided to do William's party and will do Henry's Valentine's party as a compromise. We had ten helpers there today and needed every one of them! It took two to read the stories and supervise a group, two to help decorate the treat, two to play "Don't Eat Santa" and three for the craft. That left me to float around and put out fires - cutting out extra snowman hats, helping put the treats in ziploc bags, giving hugs to a little boy who wanted his mom. All in a day's work for a kindergarten room mom.

Now I just need a hot bath and some ibuprofen to recover and rev up for the holiday festivities in the Wright household.

We hope everyone is having a wonderful and blessed holiday season. Merry Christmas!

Glee

Today was the Kindergarten Holiday Music program at William's school. Can you really go wrong when you put a bunch of 5 and 6 year old kids in front of their family and friends and have them sing? Of course not. It was pretty cute. They sang the exact same songs that Henry and his contemporaries sang a few years ago, but it never gets old. There were some old favorites, like "Jingle Bells" and some songs that I am not familiar with, like "Must Be Santa" and "Cactus Christmas Tree", although Jay remembers singing "Must Be Santa" when he was in kindergarten, so it is apparently pretty big in Utah.

After the program we went back to his classroom and he brought home quite a few holiday crafts, including the candy house that he made last week. It's a milk carton covered in thick, pasty frosting with candy decorations but William is quite proud of it (and rightfully so). He worked hard on it and had the icing all over his clothes to prove it. It now resides on the kitchen table with the gingerbread house that we decorated Monday night.

Here is a picture of William with his masterpiece:



The Christmas tree hat really completes the picture, don't you think?

Centerpiece

Family Home Evening topics in December are pretty easy to come by. There are always fun holiday activities to participate in; throw in a good conversation about the meaning of Christmas and you've got yourself a Family Night.

Last week we went shopping for Christmas gifts for two people that we picked off an "angel tree" and then had hot chocolate and treats at Starbucks. We thought about loading the kids in the car and looking at Christmas lights tonight, but I'm getting a cold and didn't feel like doing that, so we decorated our gingerbread house instead. Every year Nana Bunny gives us a gingerbread house kit. They aren't too hard to put together and the kids absolutely love decorating them. I usually make it our table centerpiece for the rest of the season.

This year the back of the house was much more festively decorated than the front - I'm not really sure why. But the kids had a lot of fun putting candy on the house and sneaking a few bits and pieces for themselves. We had brownies and hot chocolate afterwards. We also talked about why we really celebrate Christmas. The boys got it right, but Tessa yelled out that it was about decorating the tree. Sigh. She'll get it sometime. It's hard to concentrate on the spiritual when you've got a candy-covered gingerbread monstrosity in front of you.

Good News, Bad News

The good news is that it is finally above 20 degrees around here. The last five days or so have been brutally cold. We've been sub-zero in the morning (think -10 degrees) and have only warmed up into the lower teens during the day; mid-teens if we are lucky. According to the computer we are now at 29 degrees. Hey, we'll take it.

The bad news is that it's snowing. Again. It's been snowing steadily since about noon (luckily Henry and I went out this morning to run errands and do a bit of Christmas shopping) and there are no signs of it stopping. We actually have a Winter Storm Warning starting at midnight tonight and going until midnight tomorrow night, with anywhere from 4-10 inches of snow expected. I think we have at least 4 already, so I have little hope that we'll get away with less than 10 by tomorrow night.

Jay took the kids to see The Princess and the Frog today. It's gotten really good reviews and since we have a daughter in prime-princess-loving mode, it was a no brainer. Jay took the boys along with promises of popcorn and soda and treats and everyone had a good time. I wanted to go, but figured my time would be better used wrapping Christmas presents. So from 2:30-4:30 I sat in the family room wrapping gifts. More good news - I'm pretty much done. Well, I am done with what I have. I have a couple of gifts to buy (William and Tessa need to get something for Henry and the kids need to get something for Jay) but they will be easy to wrap. Thank goodness Santa doesn't wrap gifts at our house or I would have had to send Jay out for another movie at some point.

We are enjoying the Christmas season. Snow this time of year is kind of pretty and fun since we aren't too tired of it yet. The forecast promises highs in the mid-30's next week, which will feel positively balmy after our recent frigid weather. Thank goodness we are stocked up on hot chocolate.

Weekend at William's

William had quite the weekend. The Tooth Fairy came to visit on Friday night and dropped off $5. Okay, I know the Tooth Fairy is kind of generous. But she doesn't give $5 per tooth - just $5 for the first lost tooth. It all started when Henry lost his first tooth. He was almost 7 when it happened and was very stressed about the fact that he was almost the last kid in his first grade class to lose a tooth. So the Tooth Fairy felt a little bad for him and overcompensated. Apparently she works on a sliding scale around here because Henry informed William that while he would get $5 for the first tooth, he would get $2 for a few teeth, then $1. Anyway, he was excited to have some spending money to fool around with. Coupled with the $2 bill that Aunt LeClaire and Uncle Heath sent for his birthday, he's got a few bucks to spend.

The whole Tooth Fairy visit started the weekend off with a bang. Saturday afternoon William had his first birthday party. Jay and I have decided that once the kids are in kindergarten we'll start letting them have little birthday parties that include friends from school, church and the neighborhood. William invited 8 kids and 6 of them were able to come. They had fun, I think. We made Yoda invitations that said, "Invited You Are....to William's 6th Birthday Party" and passed them out on Tuesday. Then we planned a few games - Star Wars Bingo, Pass the Thermal Detonator (basically we played Hot Potato, but we wrapped a baseball in aluminum foil and called it a thermal detonator) and Yoda Says. The kids were really sweet and gave him some fun presents. We had cake and ice cream. And they played for a bit before their parents came. It was only 1 1/2 hours long and it was a good amount of time. I always planned two hours for Henry's parties, but his are in the summer and we just put the kids outside with water toys and games and they play on their own. It was harder to plan an inside party - and we were definitely inside since it snowed all day long.

Anyway, here are some pictures from the party:

Blowing out the candles:

Opening presents from his friends:
Playing Star Wars Bingo:
The Star Wars Cake:
I wasn't that impressed with the cake. I looked all over town for a Star Wars cake and this was the only one I could find. The figures of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader had lightsabers that lit up, which was cute, but I wish I could have found a cake that was more fun. I'm not nearly creative enough to do one on my own and I didn't plan ahead enough to order some cake decorations that I could have used anyway. William seemed to like it, though, and I guess that is all that matters.

So William's big weekend is over and I admit I'm relieved. I'm a bit Star Wars'd out and ready to get down to the business of planning for Christmas.

Toothless

William lost his first tooth this evening. It's been loose for a while but you know how long these things can take. He came running downstairs after dinner with it in his hand, yelling, "my tooth, my tooth!" He's excited to get a visit from the tooth fairy tonight.

William's Birthday, brought to you by Star Wars

Today is William's 6th birthday. He had a nice day, I think. We let him open his presents before Jay and Henry left this morning. He received some Star Wars figures (Darth Maul and Young Obi-Wan Kenobi), a Lego Star Wars shirt, and Lego Star Wars - The Complete Saga computer game. I had something else planned as a bigger gift for him, but over the weekend the boys played and absolutely loved the Wii version of the Complete Saga (basically all 6 movies are included instead of just the original three) so I picked it up and will save the other gift for Christmas. He also got to open his gift from Grandma since it arrived in the mail today - a NY Yankees shirt.

As a result, we are now the proud owners of a new graphics card for our computer. We've never had any issues running computer programs or games before, but this computer game is new and requires more to run. Thanks to the Geek Squad at Best Buy, I was able to get a new one installed before the boys got home from school. Here they are enjoying the game:

He also took cupcakes to share with his kindergarten classmates and had Happy Birthday sang to him twice - at school and on the bus. We capped off the day by having dinner at A&W. As William said, "this is the best birthday ever!"

Happy Birthday, William. We love you!

Giving Thanks

As today is Thanksgiving, it seems appropriate to officially give thanks for all of the wonderful things that I have in my life. First, of course, is my family - I have a wonderful husband for whom I think thank my Heavenly Father every day for bringing into my life, three children who make me a better person and who I love more than I ever thought possible, and an extended family who loves and cares about us. I am thankful that Jay has a good job that he enjoys and that allows him to provide for our family. I'm thankful for good friends who make me laugh and help me get through the hard days that come around every so often. I'm thankful for good books and chocolate. And I'm thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the joy and purpose that it gives to my life.

I'd be even more thankful if some of you would take some of the leftover Thanksgiving treats off our hands. We had a wonderful dinner today (thanks Laura and Bunny!) but we have way too much pumpkin and caramel apple pie left over. I fear it's going to go to waste and our little family of five can't possibly make it through this much pie (not to mention the double batch of rolls and caramel popcorn that Jay made on Wednesday). So if you want some pie, come on over. We'll set you up!

We hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Picture Day

Every year on the day before Thanksgiving we get the kids pictures made; it's turned into kind of a Thanksgiving holiday tradition. The kids are out of school that day and Jay is typically off work, enjoying his yearly Thanksgiving Week vacation. So we make the first appointment of the day (10:00 am) and troup everyone down to the mall for a picture or two. After the pictures are made, Jay buys the kids a cookie and takes them home to change and I stay and make our purchases.

Here is the result of this years photo shoot:

They actual prints of the pictures look better than the online proofs because you can crop them and play around with the colors a bit; I like to do what they call a "dark vignette" color overlay because it makes the colors pop a bit. But you can get a general idea of how it turned out. It took quite a bit of time to get halfway decent pictures of William and Henry - they grimace more than they smile for pictures, which is too bad because William has quite a cute smile, dimples included, when he smiles naturally. Tessa was in her element, of course. She sat and smiled and smiled and did pretty much what she was supposed to do. She loved it.

As for Jay and I, at least we're done with the holiday photo shoot until next year. With all the complaining that goes on ("I don't want to wear a tie!" and "Don't use gel on my hair!" being the primary complaints from the boys) we can't do it more than once a year. Unless it's just Tessa. She'd have her picture made once a month if we let her.

...And He's Off

Jay is, that is. Off work. On vacation for a week. It's November 21st and he doesn't go back to work until Monday the 30th. Hooray! This year it's really good timing for his vacation; work has been crazy for a few weeks now and he's in need of a break.

It's been five or six years since we started the tradition of Jay taking the week of Thanksgiving off and we love it. We get alot done during this week - holiday pictures for the kids, holiday decorating, baking and making caramel popcorn are all on the agenda for the week.

We're hosting Thanksgiving for a small contingent of the Wright family this year and we're excited. Jay spent part of the day making a shopping list and looking up recipes and planning our part of the menu. I need to go shopping with him, though - Jay can be a bit of an impulse buyer when it comes to food; if he goes alone, who knows what he'll buy!

Things should be pretty relaxed around our house for the next little while. It's about time.

Lesson Learned

Tessa got a haircut today. She got one last week as well, but it wasn't very good and was very uneven. So I tried to "fix" it and, well, yeah. She got another cut today. It's fine - a bit shorter than I would like it but really, she's 3. With judicious use of hair bows, clippies and headbands, she'll look just fine.

I don't know what I was thinking when I got the scissors out. Last time I tried to "trim" Tessa's hair was two summers ago. A simple bang trim with a wiggly two year old turned into me deciding to just grow her bangs out, since I had to pull them off her face anyway as they were so short they looked silly. Oh well. Let's hope I really learned my lesson this time.

Here she is after we got home. The stylist actually did some messy ponytails with her hair, which looked really cute on her but was a nightmare to get out when it was bathtime. I'm not sure if I'll be duplicating this look or not:












Here is the back of the messy ponytail look. As cute as it was, the tangles caused lots of tears.












On a separate note, my sister LeClaire turned 40 today. Happy Birthday, LeClaire!

Tap, Tap, Tap

Now that Tessa is potty trained, including during the night, we occasionally have to get up during the night to help her in the bathroom. She doesn't just creep into our bedroom in the dark, whispering that she needs to go potty. She typically turns on the light in her bedroom, comes into our room, walks over to me (always me, even though Jay sleeps on the side of the bed closer to the door) and taps me with her finger. At least once a week I wake up to Tessa lurking in the shadows, tapping me to wake me up. It usually scares me so I jerk awake and stumble out of bed to help Tessa do her bathroom business and get back in bed. Still, at least she's waking up and going during the night if she needs to, which is better than wetting the bed. It works.

And I apparently spoke too soon regarding our health. Henry came home from school yesterday with a fever. No cough, no sore throat, no stomach ache, no stuffy nose - just a fever. And he's still got a fever so he's home from school today. Something tells me he'll be feeling fine right around lunchtime and will drive me crazy all afternoon. Because that's the kind of autumn it's been around here.

Routine...Finally!

We have finally kicked the illness that has been plaguing our poor little family. The stomach flu is history and the kids are all back at school and getting their appetites back. It's a good thing - everyone was starting to go stir crazy and it's good to be back to our normal routine.

We're kind of in the lull before the storm that is the holidays. Halloween is over, aside from residual candy left floating around, and there are still two weeks until Thanksgiving break. The weather is cooling down but it's still OK for playing outside. I'm starting to plan for Christmas shopping and getting ready for the craziness that can be Christmas.

But we're all finally well again. Life is good.

Hmph

So November isn't going as swimmingly as I had hoped. We are still battling this stomach flu off and on. Jay and Henry both stayed home on Monday and then William was home on Tuesday. Thursday morning my mom immunity wore off and I was sick all day and Henry was home again, just not feeling that great. William and Jay finally seem to be 100% and Henry is back at school today and seems to be fine. I'm feeling lots better and kind of just holding my breath - any minute now I expect Tessa to start with a stomach ache.

I have wiped down every surface of the house with Clorox wipes more times than I can count - remote controls, light switches, door handles. The windows are open to air out the house. And still it continues to cause us some issues.

Whatever happened to the 24 hour stomach flu?

October - Going Out With a Bleh!

October hasn't been a healthy month for us in 2009. The kids all had the flu early in the month and we were just getting back into a routine when, bam - hello, stomach virus. William started throwing up early Thursday morning and was home from school Thursday and Friday. Unfortunately this meant that he missed the Kindergarten Halloween Carnival. Poor kid. He felt much better by late Friday but then Henry was up pretty much all night with it on Friday night and Jay got sick late Saturday afternoon.

That pretty much decimated our typical trick or treating ranks, as our "Jay takes the kids trick-or-treating while Rhonda hangs out and reads a book while dispensing candy to the neighborhood kids" tradition didn't quite work out the way it usually does. Instead we put a candy bowl out on the front porch and I took William (the Jedi Knight) and Tessa (Snow White) trick or treating instead. We had fun and came home with lots of candy and treats to share with Henry when he is feeling better.

Luckily we did make it to the ward Fall Festival on Wednesday night before the plague, I mean the stomach flu, struck. So you can see Henry in his Yankee gear and Tessa in her unlayered Snow White look, complete with matching Snow White shoes.

I normally love the month of October, but this year I'm not sad to it go.

Bring on November!

Autumn in Cache Valley

It's been a busy and fun fall so far. Here are a few pictures:

We always love to go to the Pumpkin Walk held in the neighboring town of North Logan. The boys were thrilled to see that there were some Star Wars displays this year:


Tessa liked the princess cutouts.


We always carve our pumpkins on the Monday night before Halloween for Family Home Evening. This year we grew some big, big pumpkins in our garden and they turned out great (the pumpkins, not the picture):


A few weekends ago I attended a Super Saturday at church. I made a Family Home Evening Game for us to play (unfortunately we've had to shelve it because although the kids love playing it, Tessa gets hysterical when she doesn't win) and a nativity set for the Christmas season. I also learned how to decorate Halloween cupcakes:


And yes, I did all of those, even the werewolf. Try and pick yourself up off the floor; it wasn't as hard as it looks.

And finally, this was the scene outside our house today.


Yep, it isn't October unless we've had the first snowfall of the year. The snow looks lovely with the twinkling Halloween lights, don't you think? Thank goodness it will melt in a day or two. Halloween isn't as fun if you have to pick your way through the snowdrifts while trick or treating.

So About Those Dance Lessons...

For a while now Tessa has been interested in dancing. It really started last fall when I enrolled her in a tumbling class that met once a week. It was a mom and me kind of thing and she really enjoyed it. Some of the other little girls took dance lessons as well and she began talking about starting ballet classes. I told her that she had to be a big girl potty-wise before she could take dance lessons and that was kind of the end of it, although she did twirl around practicing her ballet moves fairly often.

Fast forward to this week, when another package from Grandma came in the mail. The boys received baseball cards, which are always a huge hit, and Tessa got a ballerina's outfit. Not just a leotard and tights, but a full on costume with sequins and a big, fluffy tutu. She wore it all day on Tuesday, except to preschool (I had to draw the line somewhere). She watched TV in it. She played on the computer in it. She ate dinner (carefully) in it. She loves it.

I'm just waiting for her to remember that A-she really loves twirling around like a dancer, B-she is potty trained and C-Mom and Dad promised her ballet lessons once she was potty trained. So far she hasn't made the connection. But since it's been scientifically proven that small children are smarter than both parents combined in cases like this, I realize that it's just a matter of time. Until then, it looks like every day is dress up day at the Wright household.

Fall Accessories

Tessa is really into choosing her own clothes for the day. She sits in the rocking chair in her room every morning as I show her her clothing options. On a good day, she says "Yes" to the first outfit that I show her. On a normal day we go through her entire wardrobe before finding something that meets her approval. I suppose I should find this tedious, but it's just such a novelty for me to have a child who actually cares about what she wears that I find it fun in a weird way. The boys squawk if they are forced to wear anything without a number or sports logo or picture on it and William often manages to pick a shirt/pants combination that just doesn't match. You'd think I'd learn my lesson and only buy him blue jeans.

Today's outfit was especially fun because Tessa has fall/Halloween accessories to wear. You can't really see the bracelet that matches the necklace she is wearing or the pumpkin hair clip in the picture, but trust me, she was looking quite coordinated today.

My favorite thing, though, is the enthusiasm that she has for her outfits and the complete lack of enthusiasm that the boys show her in return. She got right in William's face and waved her arm in front on him to show him her bracelet, saying, "Look at my Halloween bracelet, William. Do you like it?" He groaned and said, half-heartedly, "sure, Tessa." Then he ran back upstairs to find a pair of pants that actually match his shirt of the day.

Later, when I asked him if he wanted me to find a Halloween themed shirt for him, he looked horrified. Just checking.

Why Do I....

...obsessively check Jay's flight status any time he is travelling? He's on his way to New York City tonight (I'm trying to control my jealousy) and I keep checking to see where his plane is. Oh, look, they're over Iowa now.

...let my kids talk me into playing Lego Star Wars with them? I mean, really? Aren't there better ways for a 41 year old woman to spend her time?

...have such a hard time sticking to my treadmill routine? I mean, I absolutely love the way I feel after I exercise. I only hate the process during the first 10 minutes or so - once I hit my stride I'm good to go. So why do I let other things distract me from being healthier?

...still look at Disneyland websites? We won't be going back there for a few years yet I still check those websites fairly regularly. Why can't I let it go?

...procrastinate so much? Tessa's baby book isn't even halfway complete. Don't even get me started on photo albums for the past two years. I love having those things to look at but I don't make the time I need to complete them.

If you have the answer to the above questions, let me know. I'm too busy to come up with reasonable answers myself. I've got to make sure that Jay's flight is safely over Illinois.

Flu, Flu, Go Away

We've been stricken by the flu. By "we", I mean "the kids". It started last Friday. Henry was grumpy, which isn't that unusual but he seemed particularly ornery. I noticed that he looked a bit flushed and found out that he was running a fever. He was feverish all day Saturday and a little Sunday, but was good to go back to school on Monday and has never looked back. William started with his fever on Sunday and has run a fever every single day since then. Poor kid. He doesn't seem that sick, actually, and his fever comes down with ibuprofen so he feels OK most of the time. He's incredibly tired though and just can't seem to shake it all the way. He has missed four days of school so far and I'm guessing he'll miss tomorrow as well. He may not have a fever, but he just looks hammered so a little rest and recovery time is definitely needed. Tessa seems less affected. She's run a low grade fever off and on since Sunday and is a little hoarse and whiney. Not too bad, but she's missed preschool all week because it just seemed better to keep her home. So far Jay and I have been spared, thank goodness.

If you have any healthy vibes to spare, feel free to send them our way. You can address them specifically to William, who seems to need the most help kicking this virus. He has a speaking part in the Primary Children's Sacrament Meeting Presentation on Sunday and has worked hard to memorize it, so I'd hate for him to miss it.

I haven't had the kids specifically tested for the "flu" - it just seems like a waste of time and money to be honest. We can manage their symptoms at home and I'm certainly not going to take them to the doctor and expose them to every other sick kid in Cache Valley just to be told that they have the flu and there isn't anything that they can do but wait it out. So wait it out we will. It's a good thing we stocked up on popsicles when they were on clearance last month.

Twelve Years and Counting....

Today Jay and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary. We were married October 11, 1997 in the Salt Lake LDS Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah. We honeymooned in New Orleans, one of our favorite cities in the world, and had wedding receptions at Caffe Molise in Salt Lake City (the restaurant where we had our first date) and in Birmingham.

In some ways it doesn't seem like we've been married for twelve years and in some ways it seems longer than that, if it makes any sense. We've had our share of sorrows and had more than our share of joys. But we are happy together and love each other more than we did when we got married, so I think we're doing OK. We had planned to go out to dinner on Saturday night to celebrate - we even had a babysitter booked and Jay spent the week perusing menus online - but the kids were sick (coughs, fever, probably the flu) so we had to cancel. Instead we got takeout and watched a rental DVD. It really doesn't matter what we did to celebrate, anyway, as long as we were together.

I don't have a recent picture of us together and I haven't converted our wedding pictures and earlier photos to digital yet. That's something to add to the to-do list, I suppose. But in the past twelve years, this is what we've accomplished:


Not too shabby.

The Logic of Children

Am I the only mom who takes advantage of the fact that her kids logical reasoning skills are not fully developed? Seriously, sometimes it seems so easy to "trick" my kids into doing what I want them to do that it's scary.

Tessa is a good example. She's three, which is an age I find difficult. She often says "no" to pretty much any question that I ask her. "Tessa, are you ready to get dressed?" and "Tessa, do you need to go the the bathroom?" are regularly answered by "No." Even when I don't phrase things in the form a question, as in "OK, Tessa, it's time to get dressed" she'll say "No" and run away hiding. However, if I say (in practically the same breath) "I'll race you upstairs", she's up and running upstairs as fast as she can move. Then it's easy to get her to get dressed. As long as it's a race, I can get her to do pretty much anything (put on her shoes, go potty - the list is endless).

William is the same way. He has started asking to take what he calls "early baths". Normally his bath time is 7:45, which leads to him getting into bed around 8:00 pm. But he'll ask to take a bath soon after Tessa is done, like at 7:20 or so, and ask if he can "stay up until 8:00", like for some reason he's pulling one over on me and getting to stay up later than normal. But it's a pretty small thing that he asks and it makes him happy - as long as he's bathed and in bed around 8 pm, I don't really care what the order is, you know? But I feel a little guilty, like I should let him know that he's really not staying up any later.

Tessa I don't feel guilty about, though. Whatever gets me through the day with her is a valid parenting technique in my book. It's a good thing she's so cute (in the picture she's holding her princess music player - Bibbiddi Bobbidi Boo just never gets old).

Wide Open Spaces

We rearranged things in our family room a bit today to accomodate our new couch. We've been wanting a new one for a while for a couple of reasons. The main reason is that the furniture that we had there had basically gotten beaten up - it wasn't the best quality to begin with and after many years of service (8 years for the love seat and 15 years for the chair) and three kids, they looked pretty bad. We also didn't like that we didn't have room for our entire family to sit and watch TV or just hang out. So we bought a new sofa today. It looks nice - it's black leather and we can all sit on it at the same time if we squeeze. Jay can even stretch out all the way, as you can see in the picture. It's quite a bit bigger than the love seat, so we decided not to get a chair; we might supplement with some big pillows or a bean bag chair or something for extra floor seating. But for now we're good.

It's amazing how much roomier the family room looks now because we don't have the chair angled in toward the TV anymore. The black color looks nice as well; it blends with the area rug that we have and with the other colors in the room. We really liked a dark walnut color, but it was quite a bit more expensive so we went with black. We figure black will be fairly versatile for future changes that we want to make to the room as well.

After our foray to the furniture store we took the kids to Sizzler for lunch. William and Henry both had coupons since I joined the PTA at both their schools so we thought we'd take advantage of the free kid's meals. I love their cheese toast; Jay jokes that they should have a cheese toast meal deal just for me. Our waitress was nice and brought us enough cheese toast for several families. I tipped her $5.

The Harvest

Last night for Family Home Evening we cleaned out the garden. A big winter-type storm is supposed to blow in tonight, dropping temperatures drastically, so we figured we should get everything out that we didn't want to lose.

We were mostly done anyway. We haven't had corn or onions for a while. I don't know why we bother with the carrots - they don't seem to get that big and then we've wasted a whole row of the garden with them. But we did pick two grocery sacks full of tomatoes and about three sacks of peppers. We left the pumpkins, since they like the cold, and will pull them up in a week or two as we are decorating for Halloween.

I don't think we'll do as many tomatoes next year (we had 5 plants). We like having fresh tomatoes for salads and salsa and whatever, but we just ended up so many tomatoes by early September that we ended up giving quite a few away so that they wouldn't go to waste. I did, with substantial help from my friend Nicole, can 6 quarts of tomatoes, but it seems like a whole lot of trouble that doesn't save you that much money, since you can buy tomatoes fairly cheap if you catch a sale. Maybe I'll change my mind - we'll see how much we use this winter. We want to do more onions next year and maybe try some beans and lettuce. But for now, gardening season is over.

The Sam Books

I just realized that I haven't blogged all week. I wish it was because I've been so incredibly busy doing something important like finishing Tessa's baby book, but it's not. All my free time has been taken over by Lego Star Wars. OK, not really. But Henry and William both like me to play with them sometimes and the next thing I know, it's an hour later. Plus, not that much has been going on. Jay has been incredibly busy at work, so I've been on evening duty by myself and by the time everyone is in bed, I'm tired.

William's kindergarten class had a Family Stories and Snacks day on Thursday. All the kids introduced their families by displaying a family banner, we ate doughnuts, and saw a magic show. It was cute and fun and I did take the camera but never took it out of my purse.

William has hit a milestone that is noteworthy, however. He has started bringing home books to read. We call these The Sam Books. They are short little books with a few words that he is supposed to read three times to either Jay or I. We sign a paper stating that he's mastered the book and he brings home the next one in the series. They are silly little books but perfect for kids who are beginning to read. Henry brought home the same books in kindergarten, although he didn't start reading until after Christmas of his kindergarten year. William has been sounding out simple words for a while now, though, so it doesn't surprise me that he has started officially reading.

My favorite thing about reading these books with him are his expressions of exclamation points. He is reading along very nicely and calmly and all of the sudden bellows "Sam! Sam!", as if Sam the lion is standing across the street and he's very earnestly trying to get his attention. It's cute and fun and nice that he's started reading.

Somebody Stop Me

The boys have been anxiously awaiting their copy of the Lego Star Wars computer game. It was $19.99 on Amazon, so I told them if they agreed to forgo their October allowance (they'll still pay tithing and get their savings, just not their $5 spending money) I would pay for the rest of the game. They mulled it over and decided a fun computer game would be worth missing a month of buying baseball cards, so we ordered it. And it arrived on Friday.

It's a fun game. I like it because both kids can play at the same time. Henry is a little impatient with William ("William, quit shooting me!") but they do OK playing it together.

Unfortunately I am becoming a little too interested in it. I spent 40 minutes tonight playing with Henry and trying to unlock another level. Part of me wants to keep playing once he's in bed, but I will resist. It reminds me of a Tonka truck game that William got for his 4th birthday. He could do the game fine, but all the free play areas had to be unlocked by completing the other areas and some of them were a little too hard for him. I distinctly remember spending hours on that stupid game, trying to unlock the free play areas for William to play. He would ask me every morning if I'd done it and look at me with keen disappointment when if I said no. It took more time than I care to admit, but I finally did it. Then he lost interest in the game and in construction trucks in general. Of course he did.

Anyway, I need to find something else to occupy my time. I already finished reading Dan Brown's newest book, The Lost Symbol (a good read, by the way). I guess I could work on Tessa's baby book. {cough, cough}. Anything to keep me away from Lego Star Wars.

Let's Hear it for the Boys!

Kids can be hard. And sometimes as a parent you wonder if the lessons that are really important are sinking in. It's nice to have solid evidence that maybe, just maybe, you're doing an OK job with them.

Today I had a PTA Meeting at Henry's school. After a quick snack, I let Henry take William and Tessa out to play in the playground. Unfortunately, they got locked out of the school (oops) and were let back in by a teacher, thank goodness. Anyway, while I was busy with my meeting, Tessa apparently confided in Henry that she needed to go to the bathroom. And, being the good big brother that he is, he took her. To the bathroom. By himself. He can be incredibly helpful sometimes and today was one of those times. Thanks, Henry!

William had good news to report as well. Today he helped a girl in class. She sits at his table and spilled her crayons all over the floor. He decided to be a good friend and got up and helped her clean them up. He's been listening during our nightly scripture study,apparently - the other night we had a scripture about setting a good example and the ways that we can help people in our lives. Jay and I specifically brought up ways that the boys could be good examples at school - helping someone who has dropped something or fallen, sharing, inviting someone new to play with them at recess. William said that "he felt happy" when he helped his new friend. What a good boy!

It almost makes me forget about all the arguing about baseball cards, the tackling in the living room, and the karate chops that went on around the house this evening. Almost.

School Days

Why is it that the only one of my children who is enthusiastic about doing homework is the only one who is not required to do any?

Henry treats homework with polite indifference. It's almost beneath him to sit down and do his homework, but he does it to keep the peace. William is slowly adopting a better attitude about homework. The key word is slowly. Jay and/or I still have to sit with him every second and monitor what he's doing, but he doesn't whine quite as much about practicing his handwriting. His favorite thing to do for homework is cut out letters of the alphabet, put tape on the letters, and go around the house looking for items that begin with said letter. My favorite was the day he had to find something starting with the letter B - he taped a piece of paper on Henry (for boy and brother). The hardest so far was O - we finally settled on orange juice, the "on" light switch, and an "open" door. We thought of alot of O words, just none that were on hand and ready to label. Too bad we got rid of our pet octopus.

This exercise is what has inspired Tessa to start doing homework. She loves to follow William around as he labels household items with the letter of the day. Jay made her an additional copy of the letters and she did the same thing. But she took it further. She spent at least half an hour glueing shapes that Jay cut out for her onto a random piece of paper. She cried when it was William's turn to use the safety scissors. She actually begged for more homework, so I googled "preschool writing practice" and printed off a few pages with colors and numbers on them. She proceeded to massacre them with her scissors.

Is this a girl thing or a youngest child thing? Maybe both. I guess it's too much to hope that this fondness for homework carries over for a few more years.

Eeyore Goes to Kindergarten

As you can see, William is learning quite alot at kindergarten. He came home today with a lovely creation called "Life Cycle of a Butterfly", made of pasta. That project is exhibit A as to why I could never be a kindergarten teacher. I'm not nearly creative enough to come up with cute little projects like that. And it worked - William explained the basic lifecycle of a butterfly to a T.

I wish I could say that he's enjoying kindergarten more. He's struggling a bit with his transition. The first full week of school found him practically in tears as he got on the bus because he was going to miss me so much (his words). He was jealous of Tessa because she got to stay home with me more. He pretended that I was there to make himself feel better. Sigh. Its a good thing that he had two years of preschool; I shudder to think of the transition if this was his first experience away from me. I tried to explain that, if you count school (4 hours door to door) and sleeping (11 hours), we still have a whopping 9 hours to spend together every day. It is apparently not enough for William, the homebody.

I think he does OK once he's there. But it's hard to tell. We give him lots and lots and lots of positive reinforcement, but it's hard. He whines about homework. He doesn't like practicing his writing because "I'm not good at it" and "it's hard". The week after next I'll actually be volunteering in his classroom on Tuesday afternoons and I'll be interested to see how he interacts with everyone. I'm guessing he enjoys himself more than he lets on.

This is all new to us, because Henry was Mr. Gung-ho about school from day one. He has, on more than one occasion, cried when he had to stay home from school due to illness. He enjoys school and always has. So I'm not sure what to say to William when he says, "I don't think I want to go to school today." I usually mutter something about how school is what you do when you are a big kid and it's like his job and sometimes we have to do things that we aren't excited about but we do them anyway and school is SO MUCH FUN! Hopefully it will start to sink in. Soon. Someone please say it'll be soon.

On a positive note, Tessa seems to be (and I hesitate to say it because I really don't want to jinx it) potty trained. She hasn't had an accident in quite a while and is in underwear full time, even when we leave the house. She tells us when she needs to go and insists on going by herself, which is a nice change from our little Eeyore, who insisted on having company for months after he learned how to do his business like a big boy. She is even waking up dry most mornings but I still have two packages of princess pullups so I imagine we'll keep her in her "nighttime underwear" for a bit longer, just to avoid accidents. But she's doing great! And we're glad and so proud of her. I guess girls really are easier to potty train. Thank goodness. I don't think I had another months-long saga of accidents and tears in me.

A Long Time Ago, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away....

...a great adventure took place. Cue the Star Wars theme. Grab the popcorn and get ready for a fun movie.

Tonight we introduced the kids to Star Wars. The original. The movie that came out in 1977 and that I saw at least 10 times that summer (the summer I was 8). I loved that movie so much. I remember thinking what a dreamboat Han Solo was and holding my breath as Luke destroyed the Death Star. Good times, I tell you.

Henry started asking if he could watch Star Wars last week. Apparently he has been playing the Lego Star Wars computer game at a friends house and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I have the original movies on VHS tape (we still have lots of those around here) and we figured why not? There's nothing objectionable about them. They are fun. And there's something for everyone; even Tessa got on board after Henry told her that there was a princess in the movie.

They loved it! And Jay and I enjoyed it more than I thought we would, after all these years. We quoted dialogue to each other and laughed at some of the cheesiness of it all. William kept saying, "I love this movie", mainly after the battle scenes, and "This is just like Star Tours", a ride that they rode twice at Disneyland.

The only problem was that, from the computer game, Henry is aware of all kinds of stuff that comes up later - like Yoda and the Ewoks. So it looks like viewings of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi are in our future.

I think we need to stock up on popcorn.

Rocket Man

During the month of August, Henry's Cub Scout pack (do they call them packs?) made rockets. He was quite excited about it. It took him two weeks to actually fashion the rocket and get it ready to launch. Last night was the big night. All the Cub Scouts (8, 9, and 10 year olds) launched their rockets. The results were mixed. Most of them did well - a few even flew past the big field behind our church into a neighbor's yard. A few crashed and burned on takeoff (luckily those kids had pretty good senses of humor about it). Henry's was about in the middle - it flew well into the field but not the farthest. He was happy and he and William had fun running after the rocket as it was launched.

You would have thought that Henry was a NASA engineer launching a manned expedition to another planet the way he approached this activity. Yesterday morning he informed me that he was planning to take it easy at recess today because he expected to be running pretty far to fetch his rocket after its launch. He invited the entire neighborhood, I think. Every person he saw received a "come on over to the church for rockets" talk. It was pretty funny. But he and other boys seemed to have fun, which of course is what the whole thing was about anyway.

A Child's Prayer

Jay and I are trying very hard to teach our children how to pray. We pray as a family each morning and before meals and the kids say their prayers at night before they go to bed. We try to remind them to give some thought to their prayers; we ask them to think of two things that they are thankful for and two things to ask for help with in each prayer. Some days are better than others, especially with the boys. They seem to rush through their prayers. But Tessa seems to be getting it, as evidenced by her prayer last night for Family Home Evening:

"Heavenly Father, thank you for today.
Thank you for my toy. Thank you for my poo-poo."

Can you tell we're potty training? Sigh.

It's actually going really well. The first two days were a bit rough, but she only had two accidents on Sunday and none since then. She did her first poop in the potty on Monday and earned a trip to Shopko to pick out a new toy (hence the "thank you for my toy" in her prayer). Hopefully she can make it the 2+ hours through preschool today without an accident, but I'll put a Pullup over her underwear just in case.

She even stayed dry through the night last night and went to the bathroom this morning when she got up. It's progress and we're happy about it. Once she is fully potty trained, we'll officially put the baby days behind us, for better or worse. I guess since we won't have to fork out money for diapers/wipes/Pullups anymore for the first time in over 8 years, that would definitely fall in the "for better" category.

The Raven

No, I haven't suddenly become a fan of Edgar Allen Poe.

Yesterday we had a huge raven (pictured above) flying around the neighborhood. We often see hawks diving for what we assume are mice and voles in the fields around our house, but never a raven. And this raven wasn't just flying around. It was flying from rooftop to fence to rooftop and flying really, really low. It landed on the stairs of the deck where Tessa has preschool and scared the kids half to death while they were playing outside. When I met William and Henry at the bus stop, I watched it chase a few kids down the sidewalk. So my friend Nicole called Animal Control.

Animal Control in Hyde Park is Rocky (also pictured above). I assumed that since The Raven was just sitting around that it would be fairly easy to catch. I was thinking he'd throw a net over it or something and take it away. But no. Rocky spent well over an hour and a half trying to coax The Raven onto his gloved hand. He fed it water and some kind of food. He recited poetry to it (yep, you guess it, "The Raven"). He even, if my ears didn't deceive me, whistle "Yankee Doodle Dandy" to it as he was trying to entice it to come sit in his patrol vehicle.

Anyway, he had no luck, since he refused to actually force it to come along with him. He left it overnight, saying that he'd be back tomorrow and try to tranquilize it or something. And all the neighborhood kids, mine included, asked to be driven to school today. Henry was afraid that The Raven would swoop down on him as he waited for the bus. We actually had to come up with a contingency plan, as in, "OK, Henry, if you see The Raven, come home. Yes, bring your backpack. I'll drive you to school. Otherwise you should be OK." Rocky had told us that if The Raven came at us, to stand still. I'm still laughing at that one. I don't think I'd be able to stand still, much less expect my 8 year old son to do so.

Rocky came by today about 3:30 pm. He was looking for his buddy, The Raven. He seemed genuinely disappointed that he was gone. And he had grapes in his truck - another peace offering, I assume.

Also, Tessa cracked me up yesterday as we were reading a storybook. We were talking about The Hunchback of Notre Dame and she kept calling it The Crunchback of Motor Fame.

Nevermore.

Riding the Bus

I just put William on the Kindergarten Bus. I'm not teary like I was on Henry's first day of Kindergarten. I'm more excited, because William is so ready to start his public school career. His backpack was full (too full, actually, but he just had some supplies to take on the first day), he had on his North Park Knights t-shirt, and was ready to go!

He did great on his kindergarten assessment earlier this week. His teacher asked him to count as high as he could and when he finally got to 100, he took a big breath and said, "can I stop now?" He's getting close to reading and I'm excited for him to be able to read to himself - that was a big step for Henry in kindergarten. His handwriting isn't the best yet, but that will improve with time.

I met Henry's teacher last night for the first time. He really likes her. When I introduced myself, she said, "He's a chatty one." Sigh. He's not disrespectful at all, thank goodness - he just likes to visit with his friends. So I'm sending him with lots of books to read when he finishes his assignments early and has a little time to spare. He took my copy of Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone today - that will at least keep him busy. We looked for some more books for him to read at the library today - I found a few new series books that he might like. It's a constant challenge with Henry - to find books that challenge him in reading but that still have age appropriate material for him. The first few Harry Potter books are OK, and then we'll go from there.

Tessa goes to preschool in a bit and then I'm free until 2:45! I actually have plans to help a friend with her pre-Calculus, but it's kid free helping. There won't be kids fighting or pestering or calling names this afternoon. I think I could get used to this.

Edited to add: I got Tessa off to preschool and ran something back to the library and to get Smoothie King for a quick late lunch and found myself crying. They are all growing up and as much fun as it is to see them try new things, it's hard to know that they don't need you as much anymore. I'm such a sap.

The Preschool Princess

Today was Tessa's first day of preschool. She has been excited to start school this year. We found a cute princess-themed backpack at Family Dollar a few weeks ago and snapped it up. So far she's kept her stickers and "scrapbooks" in it, but today she got to take it to school.

Her preschool teacher is a good friend of mine. Tessa plays really well with her daughter and has a pretty high comfort level going to their house, so I wasn't worried about her crying when I dropped her off. Before we left, she said, "Mama, I'm going to miss you." But I told her that I'd be back as soon as school was over to get her and she perked right up. It's strange that Tessa is getting ready to bop on off to preschool, because as a baby and young toddler she was incredibly clingy and didn't want to be out of my sight. She's always been a mama's girl but it's nice to see her show some readiness to branch out a bit. She was a little quiet when she first got there, according to her teacher, but she warmed up nicely. She was excited to see me when I picked her up and seems excited to go back on Thursday.

She practiced saying, "hi, my name is Tessa. What's your name?" all day. She wants to make new friends and have fun, which is just perfect because that's all I really want her to do in preschool. She'll learn alot, but at her age it's more about learning social dynamics and being around other kids.

Anyway, my baby started preschool today. And liked it. It was a good day.

Tales of a Third Grade Something

Today is Henry's first day of school. He was very, very excited. So excited that he put his backpack on about 7:30 and wore it around the house until I finally let him leave for the bus stop at 8:00 am. Not 7:59 - 8:00. Because it's only the first day of school and he's already trying to leave earlier and earlier so he can be first in line at the bus stop. I'm glad that I don't have to bribe and cajole and threaten to get him out the door, but I think leaving at 8:00 am - a full 20 minutes before the bus comes, when it only takes him about 5 minutes to walk (or run) to the bus stop - is reasonable.

He goes to a new school this year. Last year his school was for grades K-2, so he's off to the grade 3-5 elementary school. He is, in general, a good student so I expect him to have a good year this year. I haven't met his teacher yet, but Back to School Night for his school is next Wednesday night so I'll meet her then.

Last night was William's Back to School Night and we met his kindergarten teacher for the first time. She seems really nice. Actually, I've never met a kindergarten teacher who doesn't seem really nice. Beyond introducing myself and William to her last night, I haven't talked to her yet as there were too many people clamoring for her attention last night, but I will when I take William back for his kindergarten assessment on Monday afternoon.

The house seems quieter this morning. Henry isn't popping up to ask me if he can have a snack or call a friend or ride his bike around the block. In another week, William will be gone every afternoon. And Tessa will have two afternoons a week of preschool. I'm excited about having a little time to myself, but it's bittersweet somehow. I didn't think I was the kind of person to get teary-eyed as my kids start school and become more independent and just don't need me as much as they used to. But apparently I am. Who knew?

I think I need to get out more.

The Dog Days of Summer

As much as we looked forward to summer, we've officially hit the time of the year where we just want fall to come. It's hot and the kids are starting to get antsy about back to school. I won't say they are bored, but the activities that kept them busy two months ago don't hold the same allure. So we eat alot of popsicles, watch videos and/or TV during the hot part of the day, and wonder when the weather will cool down.

The irony is that this summer hasn't been very hot. It didn't get hot at all until July and the weather, in general, has been quite pleasant. One of the advantages to living in Cache Valley is that, even when the days are in the upper 90's, the nights cool down quite nicely - typically in the upper 50's or lower 60's. Very comfortable. But August is always a time to look forward to autumn, which is my favorite time of the year.

School is starting on August 20th for Henry, so one week from today. Tessa had her preschool Open House last night and starts on the 25th. And William just got his letter about kindergarten - the name of his teacher, the time for his assessment, etc. He's excited and I'm excited for him. His Back to School Night is next Wednesday but he doesn't start kindergarten until the 27th. I think it will work out for me to help out in his classroom during the week, thanks to Tessa's Tuesday/Thursday preschool schedule. I hope so.

My only concern is Tessa. She's used to having William to kick around during the day, so she might be a little lost when he's gone every afternoon. Plus she seems to think that she's going to be riding a pink school bus to preschool. Let's forget the fact that they don't make pink school busses and her preschool is just around the corner, so I imagine we'll walk when the weather is nice. Hopefully her princess backpack will distract her.

Forever 29

Today is my birthday. Not my 29th birthday, my 41st. Apparently the theme of the day in our house was Forever 29, since it was on my cake and William kept saying, "you don't look a day over 29". Don't worry, I don't have any illusions of looking 29. I'm nothing if not realistic.

Besides, I don't think I'd want to go back and be younger. I was 29 when I got married and had my kids at 32 (almost 33), 35 and 37. Since I'm really enjoying our little family, I'd hate to be 29 again and miss out on the fun we have with our children. My 30's were good to me, but (as Jay likes to point out) everyone turns 40 eventually. And he's right.

Actually turning 41 hasn't bothered me. I do sometimes think, "gosh, I'm in my 40's now", but most of the time it's not the number that causes me to really consider that I'm fast approaching, if not already in, my middle age. It's the fact that my 20th high school reunion happened 3 years ago (for the record, I didn't go because for some odd reason they had it in April and I was very very pregnant with Tessa). It's the fact that they play 80's music on the oldies stations. It's the fact that I can actually say to my kids, "I didn't even have a computer growing up" and be telling the truth. That kind of stuff makes me feel old.

Still, it's not all bad. I got cake today. A day with cake is never, ever a bad day.

Retail Therapy

I'm a shopper. It doesn't really matter what I'm shopping for - I just enjoy it. So this weekend was like nirvana for me. I took off with two good friends from Cache Valley and went shopping. We left Friday evening and hit the Target in Layton first - it's a real novelty for us since we don't have a Target here. We had a great time - they actually had to kick us out at 10 pm. After that we headed down to Salt Lake City and stayed overnight so we could get a jump on the shopping festivities Saturday. We went to Gateway, had lunch, and drove to Park City. With the help of some good sales and the judicious use of coupons (thanks to Kim, who provided us with some great deals), we had quite the successful trip. We bought mostly clothes for the kids, although I did hit the Harry and David outlet store for some White Chocolate Macadamia Moose Munch for Jay as well.

We had so much fun! It's always fun to get away for a bit and if shopping is involved, all the better. I missed my family, though, and was glad to get back home on Saturday evening. Whoever said that absence makes the heart grow fonder was really onto something.

I'm actually feeling a bit shopped out at the moment, but that's OK. The kids have clothes for fall and even a few for next spring (thanks to summer clearance sales). By the time the Christmas holidays roll around, I should be ready for another round of retail therapy.

Bobcats and Wolves and Bears, Oh My!

Look at my cute little Cub Scout. He was so excited to attend his first activity this morning. They went to the fair and saw all kinds of animals. I'm not exactly sure what they were supposed to be learning, but Henry mentioned something about goats. And ice cream. Good times.

I have to admit I'm not the most scout-friendly mom out there. I think scouting is great, really I do, but I don't see the "big deal" that some people make out of it. I think boys can grow up to be good, even great, men regardless of their level of advancement in scouting. It is pretty well organized in our church, however, and they do regular activities for the boys starting at age 8, so it's kind of a no-brainer. As long as he enjoys it, I'm good.

I was nervous, however, about putting the badges on his uniform. I don't own a sewing machine and while I can make pillowcases for my children for Christmas with lots and lots and lots of supervision (thanks, Melissa!), that's about it. Lucky for me, some enterprising soul invented something called Badge Magic. It's an adhesive that you can use to stick the badges on the uniform. It's really, really sticky (and it messed up my scissors) but it was so much easier than buying thread and conning someone (probably my good and patient friend Melissa again) into letting me borrow their sewing machine over and over and over again. If I knew the person who invented Badge Magic, I'd send them a thank you note. Seriously.

On a side note, Tessa has started saying "Oh my goodness gracious" whenever she is surprised or excited about something. It's kind of cute, but I really couldn't figure out where she picked it up. Until today. She went to the store with me and would not stop talking. She rattled on about cheese and crackers and all kind of things and was asking me a question about fruit snacks and I said, "Goodness gracious, Tessa, I just don't know." So I guess she gets it from me. That and a love of chocolate. I've done my motherly duty, I suppose.

Our Trip to the Zoo

On Monday we had to drive down to Salt Lake City and drop Aunt LeClaire at the University of Utah for a weeklong seminar that she is taking. Since we were there anyway, we decided to take a trip to the Hogle Zoo. The kids have already been once this summer, but it was a cool and rainy day and their day was cut short by a rain shower and they didn't get to see everything that they wanted. We got to see a brand-new baby giraffe - the zoo attendant said it was only three days old! We rode the train and the new carousel and had a fun lunch at the zoo. The only downside was the heat - it was 90 degrees already when we arrived at 10:30 am. But we managed to keep cool by staying the shade, drinking lots of water, and walking through the water mister stations that they have set up all over the zoo. It was a fun day!

The kids loved pushing the big, crazy ball around and around. Plus it was cool and wet:
Tessa's reaction to the reptile house:
If you look closely, you can see the baby giraffe behind the kids:

Posing on the elephant's trunk:

Baptism

This past Saturday Henry was baptized. In our church (we are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) we don't baptize children until they are eight years old. He was able to learn about the gospel and what our Heavenly Father wants us to do in this life and was excited to be baptized. He and Jay both looked so handsome dressed in white.

He was nervous, of course. Mainly because of the "baptism by immersion" part - he's not too keen about going under water. But it was just for a second and he (and Jay) did great. Before they baptized him they invited all the smaller children to come up and sit on the floor in front of the baptismal font so that they could see what was going on. Our little nephew Boston said, "he's taking a bath", which was really cute and a pretty apt description.

After his baptism we had our extended family over for lunch. It was fun to get together and celebrate such an important event. We are so proud of Henry for choosing to baptized. We love him so much!

Happy Birthday, Henry!

Today is Henry's 8th Birthday. He's been looking forward to this day for a long, long time. Henry is the kind of kid who wakes up at 3 am on Christmas morning and can't go back to sleep. If something exciting is coming up, he tends to obsess over it. This morning he was up some time in the 5 o'clock hour and never went back to sleep. Sigh. Hopefully he'll go to bed early tonight and be well rested for tomorrow, since it's a big day as well with his baptism.

Anyway, he's had a great day. He got a bike from Jay and I, some books from William and Tessa and a basketball from Grandma, who flew in yesterday afternoon for a week-long visit. He had a birthday party today with some friends from church and school and had a blast - we had a Slip N' Slide, a blow up swimming pool, snowcones, cake and ice cream. He's still enjoying the wonderful gifts from the Wright side of the family, with whom we celebrated last week.

Henry is such a great kid. He's exuberence for life in general is contagious and we love having him as a part of our family. We love you Henry! Happy Birthday!