have I ever mentioned my kids are cute?

I just love listening to them talk and pray because they often say the most interesting, cute things. A couple cute anecdotes from the last week or so.

Yesterday, Alfredo had to work so the girls only got to open their stockings, two gifts from friends and their Santa gift (which wasn't wrapped) in the morning. (About noon we went to my aunt's house and opened a couple gifts from them. But all of the gifts from Alfredo and I didn't get opened until about 5 PM last night. I'll post pictures of Christmas later.) Anyway, when Michelle saw that Santa had brought her a telescope and that she had some little things in her stocking, (mostly toothpaste, toothbrushes, and a couple small toys) she said, "Wow, Santa was so nice to us."

Last week, we were in the car and a song came on the radio that wasn't very good. Before I even had a chance to change the channel, Ella said, "That song is bad for Jesus." Michelle agreed and they told me that we can't listen to songs that "are bad for Jesus." Now sometimes they'll ask, "Is this song bad for Jesus or good for Jesus?" when a song comes on that they don't know.

Ella suddenly thinks lots of words are bad words. (She picked up the word "stupid" from some other kids and we've been trying to teach her not to say it. Now, when she gets mad she says, "You're meaner, meaner, macarener.") Last week we saw my dad and stepmom. My stepmom, Monica, said, "Oh my gosh." Ella said, "Ooh, Grandma said a bad word. I want to say that bad word like grandma. .... Oh my gosh." She also thinks heaven is a bad word (I'm guessing that both of these stem from talks we have had about how to use the Lord's name properly.) Also dumb, stupid, and probably others that are slipping my mind at the moment (which I agree... although I've realized that I often call inanimate objects stupid... such as my car when it broke down.)

And now my favorite story. Last week, Michelle wanted to wear one of my skirts and a pair of high heel shoes. She said, "I need them because I"m getting married." I asked who she was marrying and named some of her friends' names. She said, "No, I'm marrying Ella. But (and she puts up her index finger for emphasis), it's just for pretend. If I was getting married for real, I'd have to marry a boy. But I'm just pretending, so I can marry Ella."

Where do kids come up with these things? A couple days later, Alfredo asked her, "Why are you so beautiful?" She said, "Because I"m a girl. You're handsome because you're a boy. If you weren't a boy, you couldn't be married to mommy." My girls crack me up!

catchin up

I haven't posted for over a week. I've been on my Christmas break, so I have no excuses other than that I've been tired and just haven't done it.

Last Friday (Dec. 14) my car broke down. We had to have it towed from Provo to Salt Lake and then taken to a transmission repair shop. It required a new transmission and apparently the radiator was ruined as well. The ruined radiator might have led to the ruined transmission, although no one is sure. So, altogether, we paid nearly $3000 to have my car repaired. Not fun. The (only) upside is that since I was off work, I didn't need a vehicle. The downside was that I had several fun outings planned for the girls and I that we didn't go on. Fortunately, my friend Janene was kind enough to chauffeur us to several places during the week. Thanks, Nene! And my car was finished on Friday evening, so I have a working vehicle again.

My girls are darling as ever and I'll post again soon a couple of funny things they've said and done.

As for other news, we went to dinner with my dad and Monica last night at Buca di Beppo. It as yummy and drove around Temple Square admiring the lights.

photos

Here are just a couple photos of my girls in their Christmas dresses. Ella isn't much into cooperating when it comes to photo shoots lately, so they aren't great pictures of her. Ah well. She's beautiful regardless of her pose.

Top ten list

Top Ten Things I LIKE About Winter:

• Christmas: trees, decorations, gifts, lights, music, treats, and every thing else


• Building snowmen


• Seeing my children play in the snow


• Drinking hot chocolate


• Thanksgiving


• Christmas books/stories


• Curling up with a blanket and a good book (but I love this year round)


• Two weeks off for winter/Christmas break


• Holiday parties


• Did I mention Christmas? I love Christmas!!! It could make up it's own top ten list!

Top Ten Things I DISLIKE About Winter:

• The cold weather


• Driving in the snow


• Having cold hands, ears, toes, etc.


• Chapped lips


• Dry hands/skin


• Driving in the snow


• Big gas bills


• Scraping snow/ice off my car and car windows


• Huge coats, scratchy sweaters (soft sweaters are fine... and I am grateful to have warm clothes, but I'd rather wear sandals than shoes any day.)


• Did I mention driving in the snow?

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

and feel like Christmas too! This is my favorite time of year. This past week has been so much fun (but very busy). This week we had our December Enrichment, a Young Women's planning meeting, our Young Women in Excellence program, our annual Woodstep Avenue Christmas party, and our friends' Dan and Heather's annual Christmas party. Busy. But wonderfully fun. I laughed so hard at our street party that my sides hurt and my head ached. We always have a white elephant gift exchange and it is hilarious every year. It's so fun that so many of the neighbors get together and have fun with each other. I love where I live.

It's also always fun to go to Dan and Heather's party and spend time with friends. We did a lot of laughing and joking there too. I've probably laughed more this week than I do in a normal month.

Last night/this morning, it snowed A LOT. (Many areas got 8 or more inches; I'd guess we got about six, but I'm not good at estimations like that.) So today, after Alfredo, the girls and I went to see Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (which was okay but not fabulous in my opinion), Michelle and I made a snowman. (Ella was taking a nap.) Above are some pics of the snowman.

more snow pics

As you can see in the pics, my girls like to use the snow shovel. They also tried, (with little success) to ride their trikes in the snow.

snow fall

Here are some fun photos from our playing in the huge snow fall yesterday morning.

Thanksgiving weekend

On Wednesday, we put up (most of) our Christmas decorations. Bryce and Sylas were over and helped us. It was funny to see the tree when Michelle, Ella, Bryce and Sylas were done. All of the decorations were in a circle around the middle third of the tree... right at their arm/eye level. No decorations were on the top third of the tree and only a few were on the bottom third.

We had a nice Thanksgiving Day. We went to Phil and Elaine's (my aunt and uncle.) Elaine made a delicious dinner. We played cards for awhile and the girls played happily with their dolls and toys. Then Alfredo joined us after work. That evening we went to Alfredo's aunt and uncle's Ana and Oswaldo and had another dinner. THe girls played happily with their cousins, Dayanara and Nayeli.

On Friday, I left to go shopping at 5 AM and returned home a little after 7. I am basically done with my Christmas shopping, except for Alfredo. He's always the hardest to buy for.

Yesterday, Alfredo watched the girls all day while I went to an all day scrap at Heartland Paper. It was from 10 AM to 10 PM. They serve lunch and dinner and have lots of prize drawings (I won twice... but sadly, I didn't get either of the two grand prizes... two different totes. One had $50 worth of products and the other had $100 worth of products.) I enjoyed talking to 3 women sitting next to me that came together. (I was alone, but that was okay.) The meals were yummy, the prizes were good, and I got a lot done. I am almost finished with my "Year in review album" which I have not kept up on this year. I also did a mini album with most of the wallet sized professional portraits we've had done of the girls. And I did 4 additional 12 x 12 pages as well. It was a lot of fun and I hope to do it again next time they have the all day crop (once every three months.)

Faith of children

I love this quote (I don't know who said it): Children are God's way of telling us that tomorrow is beautiful.

Sometimes I am so amazed and impressed by my children. Last night as Michelle said her prayers, she began to tell her Heavenly Father about her birds and how she first named them Shadow and Abby but then she decided to rename them because she didn't like their names. So she named them Annie and Max (after two of her friends.) She proceeded to talk to her Father in Heaven about her day. She sometimes says rote prayers, but she so often talks to Him as if He is her friend (which He is, but I'm impressed she realizes that at just 4 years of age). I'm impressed by how much she loves to pray, by her faith that her prayers will be answered and often by the things she says in her prayers.

Ella has a cold. She's not terribly sick but she has a yucky cough so I thought it would not be wise to take her to church, especially nursery, and get all of the other kids sick. Sweet Ella cried and said she wanted to go to church. She didn't want to stay home but wanted to be at church and go to sacrament meeting. Michelle cried too, and said couldn't her sister please come to church with us. I realize that a big part of this was that Ella didn't want to be left home. But my girls also really love church. That makes me feel like I'm doing something right and reminds me of what sweet spirits they have.

argh! our burgeoning artist

So I think we have a little Picasso on our hands. Ella loves to color, paint, or play with Playdough. (So does Michelle.) The problem is that Ella's masterpieces are not limited to paper or coloring books. Last night, as I was cleaning the kitchen after dinner, she went into my office/computer room. She somehow found a maker (I've really tried to hide all markers other than the COlor Wonder ones.) and colored with black permanent marker all over the computer screen (and on several photographs). I nearly had a heart attack when I saw it. We've only had this computer for about four months. I first tried wiping it off with a damp cloth. No luck. Somehow I got the idea to try using a cloth with a little bit of rubbing alcohol on it and fortunately, that took the marker right off.

Then today, Ella found a different red permanent marker and colored all over the wall. Both markers have been disposed of and I've done another trip through my house trying to hide all markers, highlighters and such. Aargh! Most of the marker came off the wall, but we'll have to repaint because despite trying several things, nothing removed it all. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take pictures of either event until after the mess was cleaned up so I don't have photographic evidence.

babies

I have several friends expecting right now. One college roommate (Mel) just had a baby a week ago, a little girl named Audrey. Another college rooommate (Cyndie) is expecting in December (having a boy). The young women's president in our ward (I'm the first counselor serving with her) is due in February (having a girl).

And here's something fun. Two of my friends that are due in December have decided not to find out what they are having. One of the special ed teachers at my school (Mindy) is due in just a few more weeks. We are having a shower for her at work today. Another teacher who worked at my school for the past four years, but now works at Glendale Middle School (Stephanie), is also due in December. There is a shower for her this weekend, but unfortunately I can't make it. She asked everyone to choose a favorite book and write a note in it for her baby. What a fun and neat idea! I think it's kind of exciting that they decided not to find out whether they were having a boy or girl... but I don't think I could do it!!! :)

reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic

Michelle seems to suddenly be taking off with her 3 R's (especially the first two.) She suddenly wants to spell out with magnetic letters and write tons of words, especially names of everyone she knows. Until just a few weeks ago, the only word she ever wanted to write was her name. But now she wants to write everything (and does a pretty good job as long as I spell each word letter by letter. There are still some letters that she can't really write but fewer each day it seems.)

She also suddenly wants me to wait at the end of each page I read and if there are only a few words on the page, she wants to spell each word. For example, "P - e - e -k - a -b - o - o
G-i - r - a - f -f -e." She gets almost every letter right (except if they use funny type print such as this a or this g. I still have a couple of third graders who don't recognize a or g if in this funny typesetting.) She is a cutie! (But it makes story time last much longer. Last night Ella got bored and curled up and fell asleep before the stories were over.)

mispronunciations

I don't think these really qualify to become part of the "Dictionary of Panameno-isms" but I still think they are such cute mispronunciations.

Michelle and Ella both call hamburgers "hanbrigers". Michelle will tell me, "Mommy, hand me that lib please" (Meaning: Hand me that lid.)

photos

Here are photos of the girls on Halloween. Also two pictures of Michelle "being the teacher." (See the last post.)

odds and ends

I get to join a book club. I'm excited. I'm in one in my ward that is really informal. It is an enrichment activity and usually there are only four of us there. We have a great time though. But this book club is a little more formal (meets monthly and rotates from house to house.) I'm excited because as everyone knows I love to read and I love to talk about what I'm reading and I read 1-3 books each week. So this should be fun.

I've already vented my frustrations to most of you about the voucher issue. I am so frustrated by the whole thing. My friend just heard yesterday that about $7 million has been spent (combined between the two sides-pro and con) advertising and sending out propaganda. I can't wait until the election. After talking to my dad this weekend about it, he said he wished I was speaking against vouchers and that he'd been planning to vote for them and I pretty much had convinced him to vote against them. I sat down to write out my thoughts because they keep circling in my head and I wrote 3 pages!! I guess I have some pretty strong opinions about the issue!

Halloween is over now, and I go back to work in just a couple more days. I had a great break but it is over too soon! :)

Today I helped out in Michelle's preschool class. It was fun to be able to see what she does in preschool and be able to be a parent volunteer and be on the "other side" for once. What I thought was especially cute was that her friend Bryce came over to play this afternoon after school. Michelle said let's play school and told Brycie, "Sit criss cross apple sauce and I will read you a story." So she proceeded to "read" him a story... holding just like a teacher would as he sat on the floor. Then she told him to be the calendar helper and Ella to be the line leader. Ella kind of floated in and out of the playing. But Brycie was so obedient and Michelle was just like a miniature teacher... Janene says they play this at her house all the time and Michelle is ALWAYS the teacher.

Almost a Christian

Last Sunday, in Sunday School, we read in Acts 26:26-28 where King Agrippa (after Paul has testified to him) says, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." The Sunday School teacher then read a great quote, that I'm 99% sure she said was from President Harold B. Lee. I've tried to find it and actually found a similar quote given by President Faust back in 1979. Essentially, in both, they caution us to not be like King Agrippa and be "almost a Christian." Do Here are President Faust's words:

"Almost. What a heartbreaking sound is the word “almost”! Almost some of our good members keep the Word of Wisdom, or just about go to priesthood meeting and sacrament meeting, or almost hold family home evening. Some of us almost but not quite—pay our tithing.
Since the time of the Savior there have been those who believed, but for social pressures have been fearful of standing up and being counted as believers." (in Canadian Area Conference, 1979).

The quote our Sunday school teacher read asked, Do we almost ponder the scriptures or almost do our visiting teaching or almost go to the temple regularly? This has really caused me to reflect over the past week. I do have a testimony of Christ. I do consider myself a Christian. Yet, I know that sometimes, it is easy for me to get busy and put off doing things that are important but not pressing. I am sometimes guilty of these sins of omission as Elder Maxwell often referred to them. I'm usually not doing things that are bad, but I am not always doing the things that are best.

I went to a fireside about a month ago where Alex Boye' spoke. He is an amazing and talented singer. The spirit was strong and it was an amazing meeting. Anyway, he said, "We can only become like that which we know about and think about." In other words, if I want to be like the prophets or like Christ, I need to faithfully study the scriptures, think about their words, and come to know my Savior personally. In John 17:3 it says, "And this is life eternal, that they (ME!) might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." I want eternal life!

more fall fun

So, my sister, Suzy has been here visiting this weekend. Hurray! The girls have been vying for her attention and so happy to have her here. Me too! It's been fun to talk and play our favorite card game, Split, and visit with each other. Sadly, she leaves to return to Phoenix tomorrow afternoon. We'll miss her.





Saturday morning, I took Michelle, Ella and our neighbor Kodi to the zoo for "Boo at the Zoo". Every year, they have a Saturday where kids get to dress up and trick or treat at the zoo. (Businesses from Salt Lake hand out candy at tables set up around the zoo, and get free publicity for doing so). My girls woke up way too early, and there were so many people there this year. It was crowded last year, but I think it was worse this year. But I noticed that it got a little better at the end, just before we went home. Note to self: If we are crazy enough to go again next year, go in the early afternoon instead of the morning. Ella was tired and a little cranky for about half of the time. Michelle and Kodi liked it though.





Friday night, Michelle and Ella and I went to the Red Butte Garden for their Halloween lights and activities. This, I thought, was well worth it. The gardens are beautiful and have been decorated with lights. They had a magic show that had Michelle in stitches. She thought the magician was so funny (and he was... I was laughing too.) They had a station where you colored elf masks, another area to paint pumpkins, another to make glow in the dark wands, and another to make music with gourds, drums, etc. They had storytelling and a haunted forest. Then if you stop at all the booths along the way you get a prize (a pretty decent one too.) I will definitely do this again. Michelle, especially, enjoyed the activities. It seemed to be fun for the whole family. I didn't dress my kids up (didn't know to) but most people did. Yet another chance for the kids to wear their costumes! Seriously, my kids are getting some wear out of their costumes this year.

(FYI: Top 2 pictures are at Red Butte; the third picture is a slightly unhappy Ella as a giraffe and Kodi dressed as Violet from the Incredibles at Boo at the Zoo.)

trunk or treat

Here are the photos from the preschool trunk or treat.

Fall Fun

We are having so much fun while I am on my break! There are so many fun things to do right before Halloween. On Monday night, we all went to Gardner Village. They have a little petting zoo and the girls got to ride a pony and pet all the animals. Then we had dinner at Archibald's. Finally, we walked around Gardner Village and saw the Halloween decorations and went on a horse-drawn carriage ride with a witch. We got to be part of a rat chorus. The girls had a lot of fun.

Yesterday, Michelle had preschool. They got to wear their Halloween costumes to school. Michelle is Snow White this year. Michelle picked out the costume. As I was helping her get ready yesterday, I realized that she actually really looks like Snow White with her short, dark hair. During the last 15 minutes, the students came out and sang to the parents. Then they had a little trunk or treat.

great deals

I love to find bargains. The girls and I went to Sears today. I was looking at their clothes in the clearance racks and found a bunch of shirts and shorts for $2.50 and $2.99. So I bought them for the girls for next summer. Well, when I checked out, everything was 50% off of the clearance price! So I got like $12 items for $38 (and that included two regular priced items that were a total of $20 for just those two.) Two of the items were only $.59! Can't beat that. I figure I"m heading to another Sears tomorrow and see if they have great deals like that too!

no more school

I'm on break, Hurray! Hurrah! It is our fall break and I am off for the next two weeks. I am thrilled. I have all types of plans for the girls and I. So many fun things to do with Halloween next week. And time to catch up on some scrapping and get a little rest. And the really great things is that there are only like 22 days of work between now and Christmas break! (The bad news is that means that I have a lot to teach my students in the next 22 work days.)

So I think we've told most people, but we are sending in an application in the next couple of weeks for Michelle to attend a charter school. I feel just a teensy weensy bit weird since I'm a public school teacher and a public school defender. I'm honestly not doing it to keep her out of public school. But this year a charter school opened up around the corner from the school where I work. It is a dual immersion school. So in every class, half of the students are native Spanish speakers and half are native English speakers. For half the day, they have a Spanish speaking teacher and half the day they have an English speaking teacher. Dual immersion programs are considered to be the best way to educate kids to be bilingual and biliterate. Currently, my district has one dual immersion school (the only one in the state of Utah until this year with the new charter school). So our plan was to send our kids to that school. But while it is in my district, it isn't that close to my school and would be tricky getting my kids to and from there. But this school is literally two blocks from my school, so it would be perfect. Alfredo has always spoken to the girls in Spanish. But we want them to be able to read and write in Spanish, not just speak it. So this would be perfect. Charter schools do not charge tuition. Unlike private schools, they are overseen by the state board of education. Two of the teachers at the charter school are teachers I've worked with previously and respect. It seems ideal. The charter school has a lottery system, so there's no guarantee that Michelle will get in. But I'm hoping that by applying early, it will increase the likelihood.

photos of Alfredo's surprise party

This is Alfredo's friend, Ross, from work and his family, Alyshia, Amy and Phoebe. We've all become good friends. Several other friends/family came to the party (Janene and Chris; Dan and Heather; pictured below, as well as Phil and Elaine and Conrad and Shannon). My girls loved the cake as you can see from the pictures. Michelle got a kick out of her blue mouth and tongue.

ruby

On Tuesday, Ella said to me, "I want ruby. I want a ruby." I didn't know what she meant. I don't like jewelry much and certainly don't have any rubies in my home. And where would she have heard about rubies, anyway? But she pulled me to the kitchen counter and started pointing. Turns out, she wanted root beer. We had a party for Alfredo last weekend and had a 2 liter bottle of rootbeer left over and it was on the counter. I'd given her a tiny bit the night before (her first taste of rootbeer... Alfredo thinks root beer tastes like medicine and we don't drink much soda, so we rarely have root beer in the house.) She obviously likes root beer and wanted some more.

Spooky Saturday

In honor of the upcoming Halloween holiday, and because I'm having such fun posting and I'm not sleepy yet, I thought I'd post a couple of flashback photos of the girls on Halloween two years ago. This year Ella will actually use the giraffe costume that Michelle is wearing in the photo. Ella was about 6 or 7 months old and was a turtle. Michelle was 2 1/2. Sorry that I can't figure out how to turn the photos so they aren't sideways.

Spanish

Alfredo speaks in Spanish to the girls. We hope that they will be truly bilingual when they grow up. However, they are definitely exposed to more English than Spanish and English is their more dominant language. We think both of our girls are smart and beautiful, but Ella seems to have a real talent for learning language. She was putting 2-3 words together at about 15 months and now speaks in complete sentences most of the time. She often uses words that surprise us.

On Friday, Alfredo took the girls to the mall and to McDonalds for lunch. They drove past a large building and Alfredo pointed to it and told them to look at "el edificio grande". Ella immediately repeated "edificio". Michelle tried to say "edificio" but didn't pronounce it quite right so Alfredo repeated it again and told her to try it again. After a couple tries, she got frustrated and told Alfredo to "stop talking that made up language and speak a real language."

Later on Friday, Alfredo used the word "righteousness". Michelle said, "Daddy, I told you that I don't speak Spanish. Talk with real words... in English." :)

Michelle speaks/understands more Spanish than she lets on. And she can roll her rrr's like no other. In fact, as a baby/toddler, I could always tell if it was Michelle crying even from another room because she did this cute trilling of her r's when she cried. She's lost that cry now that she is older, but she can still roll her rrr's as well as any native Spanish speaker. Mirielle, with all her ability to learn vocabulary, can not roll her rrr's at all.

Dictionary of Panameno-isms, Part 2

Ella Bo Bella: Our nickname for Mirielle or Ella. I sing a little song, "Ella, ella, bo bella fee fi fo fella, ella." Actually you can use any name and keep the first sound the same but change just the end of a couple parts. Anyway, Ella and Michelle love this song and used to make me sing it over and over with everyone's name that they knew. So we started calling Mirielle Ella (since Michelle couldn't pronounce Mirielle when she was only 2) and then Ella bo Bella. Even Bryce and Sylas call her Ella Bo Bella.

Kodi Bankerhead: Kodi Bankhead is a friend of Michelle's and one of our neighbors. She is an adorable blond haired five year old and the daughter of our good friends Dan and Heather. Well I don't know why Ella started saying their name as "Bankerhead" but it sure made Kodi mad one day when Ella kept saying, "Come here, Kodi Bankerhead." She wasn't doing it to be mean or tease Kodi. But now Michelle and Ella both talk about Kodi Bankerhead and the Bankerhead family. Maybe it's because Michelle learned a song in school called "My Mother is a Baker" which she sings, "My mommy is a banker." Who knows? Sorry, Kodi! :)

Paci (pa see): The nickname "Binky" for pacifier has never made sense to me. Who came up with that? How do you get "binky" from pacifier? Anyway, we never called it a binky. We always called it a pacifier and that got shortened to "paci" instead. Ella never liked having a paci, but Michelle loved hers until she was nearly 3. She still refers to them as pacis when she sees other kids with them. (The picture above was taken when Michelle was not quite 3 and shows her "paci" and her "siccy pup" and her grandma.)

Surprise!

Today is Alfredo's birthday. So last night I took him to dinner and planned a surprise party for him. Our friends Chris and Janene helped out. Janene watched the girls while we went to dinner. Chris went to our house and set up the party and let everyone in. Then we picked the girls up and went home where everyone shouted surprise and nearly scared poor Ella to death. It actually worked and Alfredo was actually surprised by it all. Only a couple minor hitches. I had a headache all day and came home from work not feeling great. I decided to lay down for a few minutes. I told Alfredo to make sure I was up in 15-20 minutes. Instead, I slept for an hour. We were supposed to leave for dinner at 5, but didn't drop the girls off at Janene's until quarter till six. So our guests had to sit around waiting for us for over an hour. Thanks everyone!!! Hope you talked and laughed and had an okay time without us!!! We love you guys!

I took some photos which I would post except I'm having some technical difficulties. I used my digital camera at a young womens activity a few weeks ago and I must have traded cords with someone because suddenly my cord doesn't fit in my camera's USB port. OOPS! Hopefully, I can get my real cord back tomorrow and post some photos. I will never claim to be the most tech-savvy person... obviously if I switched cords 3 or 4 weeks ago and I'm just now noticing!! Silly me.

conference

I love watching conference. I was upstairs finishing up the breakfast dishes when the first session started on Saturday morning. Michelle started calling, "Mommy, mommy President Hinckley is on." I told her I would be right down. She told me to hurry so I didn't miss him. When I came down, she scolded me, "Mommy, you missed President Hinckley talking." (I missed his welcome to conference/announcement of opening song/prayer; not an actual talk.)

My favorite moment had to be when Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin was speaking. He began shaking as he spoke. Elder Nelson came up and stood beside him and supported him as he continued giving a beautiful talk about service and love. And then several apostles helped him back to his seat. Somehow, to me, this testified of the truthfulness of the gospel as much as any of the talks. The love that these men have for each other is evident; they show that love by their words and just as much by their deeds. I want to be more like these great men... to notice when others need help and to give that aid without being asked. To just notice what others need and to then do it.

Confession time, though. Ella woke up about 15 minutes before the Saturday afternoon session ended. She usually wakes up fairly happy from naps, but on Saturday she was crying and crying. Then Michelle called to me. She was in the office and had gotten into my scrapbooking stamp pads and had stamped her chest and stomach and had gotten ink on the carpet. She knows not to play with the stamp pads and knew she was in trouble. She started to cry. I yelled at her and completely lost my temper with her. I ended up turning the last ten minutes off because both girls were crying and I couldn't hear and I was so frustrated. Here I was, listening to conference and I am losing my temper. I'm so not to "perfection" yet. Oops. The rest of the day/weekend went much better and considering how young my girls are, they did a good job of playing quietly and half listening to conference. They noticed anytime someone said "Jesus" or "Joseph Smith" or "temple" or "President Hinckley". They are good girls.

Dictionary of Panameno-isms

Siccy pup: This is what Michelle calls sippy cups. It's one of the few mispronunciations/baby talk type words she still has and I'm in no hurry for her to lose it. I find Ella, and even myself at times, referring to sippy cups as siccipups.

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star: Otherwise known as "Carl's Junior." It has a star on the sign, and so Michelle began calling it "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" at least a year and a half ago.

More to follow in the future... I want to remember the cute things they say.

who will be my hubby?

So, last Friday, Alfredo was home with the girls. For some reason, Alfredo told the girls that some day they would grow up and get married. Ella said, "I will marry you Daddy." Isn't that sweet?

When Alfredo told me that on Friday evening after work, I asked Michelle who would be her husband. She said, "I want Daddy to be my husband." I told her that Daddy is my husband and asked who else she wanted to marry. She said, "Only Daddy." Then both girls said, "Daddy is my husband. Daddy is my husband." I asked Michelle if she wanted to marry her best friend, Brycie. She said no. Maybe his brother Sylas. Too cute.