Video

Want to see a silly but fun Halloween video? Go
here. Thanks for the idea Aly! Too cute.

A Halloween Tradition

Saturday we participated in what has become a Halloween tradition for our family. We went to Boo at the Zoo. It was so much fun. It didn't seem as crowded this year (I'm not sure if it really wasn't, or if that was just my perception.) The weather was nice...cool but not really cold. Many of the animals were up and more active than they often are in the summer. Of course, there was trick or treating for the kids and Michelle especially enjoyed seeing everyone else's costumes. She saw two other brides. Ella wanted to be Hannah Montana this year, and while that was a very popular costume last year when Michelle was Hannah Montana, it didn't seem popular this year at all.


And of course, there are a lot of adorable baby animals at the zoo now. We have been meaning to go to the zoo to see baby Zuri, the elephant, for a month now. But between work and other activities and illnesses, it just hasn't happened. So we finally got to see her. We all fell in love! She is so sweet and it was so fun to watch her follow her mom around. The tiger cubs were all curled up together in a ball and were also cute. And the giraffe and the monkeys were great too. It was one of our best days at the zoo ever...and we've had a lot of great days there!

Family History Journal.... A Favorite Childhood Game

I had lots of favorite games as a child. My grandma watched us while my parents worked and she had a swimming pool (I grew up in sunny Phoenix.). We spent many hours swimming, floating in the pool, playing "Marco Polo". When my grandpa was home, he would swim with us and pretend to be a "Drain Monster" and chase us around the pool. We swam nearly every day.

I loved to play hide-n-seek and tag with my two best friends, Joshua and Brandon. It was very sad when Brandon moved away in third grade.

At school, I loved to jump rope. I jumped rope nearly every day at recess and lunch. We would sing little chants and I was pretty good. In fourth grade, Cabbage Patch Kids were all the rage. I remember several of my friends and I made a little club. We would all bring our Cabbage Patch Kids and play with them at lunch.

We also played games as a family. As a young kid, I know we played Connect Four a lot. As we got older, we played a lot of Boggle. I'm sure we played other games as well, but those are the two that I remember playing the most often.

I don't know if these last two count as "games" but they figure prominently in my memories of playing as a child, so I'm going to include them. My sisters and I had a ton of Barbies. Probably more than 50. And tons of Barbie clothes. We spent hours dressing the Barbies and playing with them. Also, we had paperdolls. Some were store bought, but often my grandma would draw a paper doll and cut it out for us. I don't really remember spending much time playing with the actual paper dolls, but we spent countless hours with my grandma designing new clothes for them, drawing the clothes, coloring them and cutting them out. My grandma was really quite talented.

**If you'd like to participate in the Family History Journal, head over to Evette's.

Arizona

Our trip to Arizona was great! Ella felt somewhat better for the flight down there, and we made it safely and without problems. We had a wonderful time with my family. We had loads of fun and did plenty of sweating (can you believe it was about 100 degrees this weekend!)

The highlights of our trip:
playing the piano...with grandma, with aunt Suzy and just by themselves (Michelle learned a couple of songs while we were there...I wish I had a piano for her to practice on...and if we lived in AZ, her aunt Suzy could give her lessons... oh, well, maybe in a year or two...we can get a piano, not move to AZ)

getting our faces decorated by Aunt Suzy with face paint and stickers that grandma bought



spending time with Grandma, Grandpa, Suzy... lots of reading, cuddling, playing, helping Grandma plant a garden, and so on

attending my 15 year high school reunion. It was fun to see so many people and see their families and to get updates on what people are doing now. I think we've turned out quite well as a class, and I loved seeing old friends.



Going to the Mesa Temple and taking a few photos






Going to the Phoenix zoo and seeing all the animals there...It is HUGE! We saw less than half of it in 2 hours, but after 2 hours, everyone was hot and tired.

While at the zoo, and many places, I pointed out all the cool cactus and other plants that are native to Arizona that my children don't often see.



Attending my cousin's wedding reception... and seeing lots of extended family that I rarely get to see since I live in Utah. My cousin's daughter Ari is just a couple of months older than Michelle and Michelle, Ari, and Ella had so much fun playing and dancing together at the reception. I loved visiting with my Aunt Jane and Aunt Julia and Uncle Karl and my cousin Amy. I can't believe Amy's daughter Lauren is almost 13. The last time I saw her she was maybe Ella's age. And, of course,I am very happy for my cousin Michael and his new wife Katie!

Uh-Oh!

Michelle is feeling all better, but Ella threw up 10 minutes ago. I am flying by myself with 3 kids tomorrow. Please let the vomiting STOP! Right now! Say a prayer for us please.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Alfredo's birthday was yesterday. His office took him to Rodizio Grill for lunch and bought him a cake from Gourmandise Bakery. We were planning to go out, but since Michelle was sick, plans were changed. So we had dinner at home as a family and then he opened gifts. Ella had drawn him a picture and signed her name.

Michelle wrote him a precious note: "We love you Dad. Happy Bryth.Day We wonch you to have a good BrythDay. You are in hire (here...she'd drawn a picture of her and her dad). from Michelle

What was lost, now is found.

Gabrielle had been playing with my purse on Sunday. I took it away from her. On Monday, I went shopping and realized my license and a few other items were not in my purse. Fortunately, the stores I went to were very kind and still let me buy things...it helps that I know my license number and expiration date. Anyway, yesterday was a crazy day. Michelle was very sick. Vomiting and so tired. Plus, I HAD to find my license. The girls and I are flying to Arizona tomorrow. I cleaned nine or ten drawers, 4 closets, and searched everywhere I could think of for my license. This morning, I decided there were about 4 more spots to look. I cleaned out my car (on the off chance that it had fallen out of my purse into my car) and searched a few more places. The last place I could think of to look was to search the diaper bag. If it wasn't there, I figured I had to go to the DMV (and then I was trying to decide...do I take 3 kids, one of whom is still a little sick? Do I find someone to watch them? Who? What to do....). I had just about given up hope, when I searched the last pocket, and there it was along with everything else that Gabby had absconded with... Thank goodness! What an answer to prayer!!! Now I can worry about packing our suitcases and not about spending who knows how long at the DMV.

friends

It is so nice to have friends. I have done several posts on how grateful I am for friends...friends at work, friends in my neighborhood, my college roommates that I am still close to (not geographically, but emotionally). It is especially nice to have friends that both you and your spouse like, and your kids like their kids and play well together. Harder to find, but an added bonus if you do. Alfredo has been at his "new" job for a little over a year now. Alfredo learned about the job from an "old" friend named Leo. We have become good friends with his boss Jeremy and Jeremy's family. Recently, we have been spending about every other weekend with Jeremy's family and Leo's family. We do dinner at one of our homes (added bonus: so far the men have cooked! barbecues, Indian take out one time, Argentinian food, Alfredo's yummy tacos, etc.) and then talk and laugh and visit while the kids run wild and play. It is so nice to have friends and to have such fun together. We are so blessed.

random photos of our week

My girls love to play with each other. Yesterday they were giving each other "horsie" rides. The crazy thing is that even though Michelle and Ella are 2 years apart, they weigh almost the same amount. So I'm surprised that either one of them can give the other a horsie ride. The rides didn't last long, but had them both giggling.





I know I have said it before, but Gabrielle is growing up way too fast. She is starting to really play. In this picture, she is pretending to drink a doll's bottle. Yesterday, she was playing chase with her big sisters. They would run to my bedroom and hide and she would run as fast as her little legs would carry her after them. Then when she found them, they would say boo and she would laugh and laugh. Then they would run to the living room and hide behind the couch. She would toddle right after them and laugh and laugh when she found them. I can't believe that she is already playing chase with her sisters!

She also loves to play hide n seek. She hides in the same two places, but she is absolutely delighted when you find her!!! And she likes for you to hide (in easy to find places) and she laughs so hard when she finds you. What happened to my tiny baby? Who took her away and put a toddler in her place?


On Saturday night, the girls were having trouble falling asleep. I had lots of laundry to fold and put away and wanted them to sleep, so I finally said they could go to my bed to sleep. They climbed in and were asleep quickly. When I came in a little later to carry them to their beds, this is what I found:

Good thing they had bathed so Michelle's feet were clean!

Ella wants to be like her big sister. She loves doing homework and writing. This was her attempt to write sister. Look closely. The letters are all out of order, but she has a backward s, a forward s, an i, a t, an e, and her attempt at an r. Not bad for 4 years old. (I spelled sister for her.) She can write her name and is learning to write the other letters. (Although I should mention that when she writes a capital E, she puts about 5 lines going across instead of 3.)

drumming

On Wednesday, we had a good citizenship reward at school. This one was so, incredibly cool. We had a drum circle. They brought African drums into our auditorium and each of our students got to sit next to one and play. The leader taught us a little about the drums and about drumming and then would show us a pattern and have the kids copy it. After awhile, he also called on kids to do their own pattern and everyone else would copy it. It was a lot of fun (the teachers got to do it right along with the kids). It was so neat to see the children working together, following directions and having fun. But it was also fascinating. Most of the kids were able to repeat the patterns, but for some it was very difficult. And what was so interesting about it was that there was an incredibly high correlation between the kids that struggled with drumming and those that struggle with reading. (And it wasn't just in 3rd grade that we noticed this. Our counselor, who arranged the activity, noticed this across the grade levels.) One of our first grade teachers has said for several years that she does a lot of singing and clapping in first grade. She has noticed that the kids that can learn the songs and clap in rhythm are usually the ones that learn to read most quickly. What does that mean? I don't know for sure. But perhaps having opportunities to sing, dance, listen to music while young helps children develop rhythm and rhythm is related to reading, particularly reading fluently. Perhaps the push to focus entirely on reading and writing and math in elementary school is really doing a huge disservice to our children (Okay not perhaps... it IS!) Our district music teacher (who works at several schools) does music therapy. She has taught kids with severe learning disabities and mental disabilities to read music, and some of them have learned to read afterward. Very interesting.

Saying I Love You

One way I try to be a good mother is to tell my kids often that I love them. I want them to know that, no matter what, they are special and unique and loved. So, I try to say I love you multiple times each day and in different ways.

Here are a few of the ways we say I love you:
*Say, "I love you!" (Okay, that is the standard way, but it is still important!)

*Say, "Who is my favorite (6,4, or 1) year old girl?" To which they answer, "ME!" Well, except Gabby. :)

*Sometimes we'll say how much we love each other. I love you to the moon and the stars and back. I love you more than a dog loves bones. I love you to heaven and back. and so on...

*We cuddle each night to read stories. I often read stories that talk about families and love. Right now, we have a book called, "Did I tell you I love you today?"

*I give thanks for them in prayers.

*I take them places that are fun for them, and I tell them that I'm doing it because I love them.

*When I get angry and lose my temper (which I try hard not to do, but it does happen!), I apologize and hug them and tell them I'm sorry and that I love them.

There are probably other things that I do, but these are just a few things I do to let my kids know that I love them. So, my kids know that they are loved and that I think they are beautiful, smart, kind and special. That is my Proud Mommy Moment. If you would like to share something you are doing well or any things you do to help your kids that are working, we would all love to read them. Head on over to Shannon's(now monthly meme) to participate!<

Oh, that's cold!

On Saturday, in between sessions of conference, we drove up into the canyons for a picnic and to see the fall leaves. They hadn't totally changed yet, but it was still beautiful. And wonderful to smell the fresh air. Michelle and Gabrielle absolutely loved it. Ella was just getting over being sick and was still feeling tired and a little lethargic. But it was especially fun to watch Gabrielle stick her hands and then feet into the river. It was COLD! But she giggled and did it again...and then again.





I absolutely LOVE this photo of Gabby! And the one below with Michelle's grin.

Wild and Wonderful

Today, we headed to Hunter Library for one of their fun, free programs. Today's program was Wild and Wonderful. The presenter told a story about a bearded dragon who was 3 years old. He decided to go on an adventure, so he climbed in a boat and sailed on the ocean. He met many friends along his way, as he searched to find his way back home. Among his friends were Coco, the Cockatoo, a marmot, a skunk, a boa, a tortoise, and a hedgehog.

 

The kids were enthralled with both the story and the animals. Well, all except Gabrielle, who spent most of the hour emptying my purse over and over.



After the program was over, the children were allowed to come and touch the bearded dragons, the hedgehog and the tortoise. Michelle bravely touched everything but the poky little hedgehog. She wanted to touch the boa, but the presenter didn't take him out. Ella, on the other hand, enjoyed the show, but was tired and wanted to go home and take a nap (after checking out more books, of course, she insisted we needed more...not true, but I'm glad she loves books!).



I liked the program, because it weaved in lots of facts about the animals into the story. For example, it taught the kids that marmots are herbivores and they live underground and they have one who watches and lets the others know when there is danger. Skunks and bearded dragons are both insectivores, and boas are carnivores that only need to eat about once a month.

I asked the girls what their favorite animals were.
Gabrielle said the bird. (Okay, so she didn't actually tell me she liked the bird. But it was the only one that really caught her attention. She said, "Wow!" several times while the bird was out.)

Ella said she liked the cockatoo, because it pooped and because it could talk. It was pretty funny. It also played "hide n seek" by hiding its head under its feathers.

Michelle liked the snake. Why? Because it goes "Ssss" with its tongue. And she said to add, "And I liked the turtle because it pooped." (Not sure what kids' fascination with poop is but okay.....)

A fun, interesting, learning experience for all of us.