Babies in Kindergarten

My Baby went to Kindergarten last week.

Not this baby. This is the "fake" baby that my daughter set out the night before when I told her to go lay out her clothes. Can we just take a moment to applaude creative, interesting kids? They make life a constant stream of adventures and surprises...around every corner. We did have to leave the tiara at home though...school rules....they don't match the uniform.

Ruffle socks? Check.

Cute, sturdy, Gymboree mary janes? Check.

Matching blue and white hair ribbons? Check.

Daughter who is so excited to start kindergarten that I was afraid she would spontaneously implode at any moment this summer? Check.

Finding her cubby...and admiring her teacher. She has waited long, long years to be in the "fancy" teacher's class. All her fancy dreams are coming true...look at the woman's shoes! I love this fancy teacher.

Do you remember the sheer exhiliration of having your own desk and pencil box with shiny new supplies?

She wasted no time and went right to work. On the way home that afternoon, she announced that the person who was supposed to sit next to her didn't come to school so she did their papers too! That is one lucky kid who sits next to the girl that will gladly do your work for you if you happen to be absent!

My friend and I stood in the back and cried some mom tears as we both watched our "babies" start kindergarten.

And I really did sob some tears...but not for the reason you think.

HB is the youngest in our little clan. And she has a mom who has been WAY too involved at the school. HB helped me set up a library. She has helped me volunteer in two kindergarten and first grade classrooms, one second grade classroom, and one third grade classroom. She has helped with class parties, enrichment activities, reading stories out loud to classes, and teaching art. She came with me when I was the parent volunteer coordinator. She has logged some serious volunteer hours at this school. She has been patient, supportive and excited.

But now it is HER turn.

Her turn to sit in the desk and open the new pencil box.

Her turn to be the student at the parties and enrichment activities.

Her turn to have mom come to her class and read books out loud.

It is finally her turn.

And I cried because I have never felt more joy in seeing one of my children so happy and content. HB loves to learn and read and count and play and be with friends and have recess. School makes her SO happy...and so it has not been hard to see her go.

Plus I have a new job at the elementary school and my office is just outside her kindergarten classroom door. That certainly helps.

My two boys also started school...and I'm positive we took some pictures...and I'm positive I will find them...someday.

For now, they are all happy and content. They have AMAZING teachers and instructors. They are learning music and Spanish and art. I work in the same school so I can look through the little windows on the door and see their little heads bent over their desks and blow them kisses.

I can also see when their name is on the board and leave them threatening little "mom" notes on post-it notes on their desks.

And so, ready or not, we have stepped into a new phase of life. All 3 kids are in school. I have gone back to work part-time. Life moves forward and just like my children, surprises me at what is around every new corner. Just the way it should be.

How To Celebrate 50 Years of Happy

I couldn't believe I was headed back to Idaho Falls, Idaho.

I attended 2 years of Ricks College and loved just about every moment. There were some moments at 7:00 a.m. when it was dark and very, very cold that I didn't love it but then I would turn off my alarm, curl up in my fuzzy blanket and by 10:00 a.m., I loved it again. When I left though, I thought I had said good-bye forever. I couldn't fathom why I would ever be back.

Apparently my imagination just wasn't big enough.

Several years later I would be headed back to Idaho to meet Chris' family. And I have to say I fell in love all over again. I am very, very lucky that I married into this family. They are amazing people that never fail to make me feel loved...and very happy.

This last month we all gathered together to celebrate the beginning of this family that happened 50 years ago. And gathering this family is no small feat...there are 9 children, 8 spouses, one boyfriend, and lots of grandchildren. One of the grandchildren was 4 weeks old, one sister-in-law had a C-section 4 weeks ago, another sister-in-law flew in from Guatemala, and we desperately missed our 5 missionary boys! (They are spread to the 4 corners...Phillipines, Japan, Romania, California, and soon to be France.)

 My wonderful in-laws who have raised 9 children. All 9 of their children have served full-time missions, graduated from college, many have obtained advanced degrees, all have been married in the temple, and each of them have amazing families. I wish these 2 would get that parenting manual written...

The family reunion began with a beautiful garden reception. My amazing sister assisted in much of the planning and all of the catering. It was elegant, delicious, and exquisitely lovely! The colors were yellow & white with a healthy sprinkling of yellow & white daisies...all memories from a wedding reception 50 years ago.

All the relatives came...even the really strange ones!

One of my uber talented sister-in-laws whipped up 2 beautiful yellow silk dresses for the 2 youngest girls...those dresses made them feel fancy and beautiful all night long!

Oh how I love that face!

The "big" girls all wore white dresses with yellow sashes. Oh how I adore these nieces of mine! They are the most beautiful, fun, creative, strong young women I know. I love each of them dearly.

I love their individual personalities and imaginations!

My nephews are equally handsome,charming, adventurous and creative. And believe it or not, nobody posed them for these pictures. I simply asked if I could take their picture and this is what I got! Aren't they clever?

It was the perfect way to begin a family celebration!

The next day, the whole family gathered again to eat lots of leftovers and to witness the blessing of my newest nephew.

Monday morning, the family took off for the next portion of the family reunion...the part that involved climbing, hiking, swimming, swinging, lounging, eating, and playing. We drove to an amazing place in Utah and began a non-stop, fun filled, no sleep 4 days of adventure!

Here is hoping for 50 more years of this kind of happy!

Thank you for an amazing week! Let's do it again real soon...

On The Road Again

Last week was the annual "priesthood" campout for our ward...a time when all the boys and men gather in the woods to eat food they don't get fed at home, light fires and play games that only make sense if you possess the male gene. Because HB and I don't like hot dogs, fires, boy games, bugs, or sleeping outside (and we weren't invited!), we decided to hit the road again for an adventure of our own. This time, we headed south.

Carrie and Todd were gracious enough to invite us on their weekend jaunt to Las Vegas where 1 fabulous sister, 1 adorable niece, 1 creative birthday boy nephew, 1 hard workin' brother-in-law, and 1 cupcake delicious baby were having a birthday party/baby blessing. HB and I don't care for campouts but we are all over a party!!! I'd say we were experts...

We left on Friday and drove to Todd's parent's home where we were graciously welcomed and ushered into our sleeping quarters complete with cozy, soft bed and chocolates on the pillow. HB is a nightmare to sleep with...she talks and thrashes...but the accomodations and company were spectacular. I was even served a big, lovely sausage with eggs, orange juice, and amish bread for breakfast. I will definitely be making another reservation there soon!!

Saturday morning we headed to Vegas where we spent a good portion of the day loving on all these wonderful people who live there. That afternoon, we sent the grown ups off for pedicures and the kids and I headed off to Roberts Craft store in search of "robot" making materiasl. We stocked up on stickers, paint, pom-pom balls, glitter pipe cleaners and other robot-esque items. We then headed home to start making our diaper box robots. Now here comes the real adventure...

I consider myself a fairly competent adult. I have been the oldest child of 7, posses a degree in elementary education and a graduate degree in administration. I have taught school, primary, and managed to keep 3 children alive. So I boldly took our boxes and bowls of paint out onto the back patio and the 5 year old, 4 year old, and 2 year old began painting their boxes in shades of green, pink and orange. While we were painting, my husband called to ask me a quick question. I literally stepped right inside the sliding glass door to look something up on the computer...I was 2 feet away...my attention was diverted for maybe 60 seconds...and when I looked back outside, chaos had come to play. They weren't just finger painting, they were body rolling in the paint. It was in their hair, on their clothes, on their underwear, and all over their skin. It was plastered and baking to the white stucco patio in the hot Vegas sun. It was on the ground, sides, and railings. There were tiny pink footprints from the door into the bathroom. The sink was covered, the wall, the door knobs. I'm  not kidding when I say it was not a second longer than 60 seconds. It was unreal!

It was the biggest mess I've ever seen made...especially in 60 little seconds.

I panicked...after gathering some photo documentation, I grabbed the first child and dropped them into the king size bathtub in the master bathroom. I gave a firm, "Don't you move from here!" and ran back to grab child number 2 then 3. The water was flowing freely and greenly in the bathtub. They were giggling and laughing and I was muttering words under my breath that I didn't know I knew. I scrubbed and scrubbed and to my horror, the green paint was not washing off my niece and nephew. All I could think about was the baby blessing scheduled to take place the next day...with all the relatives and in-laws and extended family...and my sister's children were stained green. Little "Wicked" anyone?

I called my sister at one point to try and tell her what had happened but I was laughing so hard I couldn't talk. They had little green hands and feet...and there was pink paint in their hair. My sisters rushed home and Carrie saved the day by managing to get all that paint off the back patio. Hurray for sisters!!! It was such a memorable event. I completely lost control with 3 little kids and 3 jars of paint. We kept finding paint in the strangest places the rest of the day.

But the kids cranked out some amazing robot costumes...

And later that night there was Cafe Rio, a trip to Target, and children who were TOTALLY fake sleeping to try and convince the adults that sleeping in the same room was a good idea.

This is what was really going on in that room...

Lots of giggling...just the way a cousin sleepover should be.

The next morning there were 2 birthday boys fake sleeping waiting for breakfast in bed and presents. (I didn't appreciate until now how much fake sleeping we did on this trip!)

Cubby and Todd share the same birthday! It was a day of celebrations...and robots. Cubby had chosen robots as his birthday theme...and we made sure they were everywhere.

This was my favorite birthday moment...I think Boo was still a wee bit tired. She just there as wrapping paper flew all around her.

Can you believe I'm related to people that can whip together a cake like this???

I was in charge of hanging the robot garland.

Babs came with her festive bow...

and then when the party was really raging, she pulled out her bull hat?!

Oh how I love these babies!!

HB and I fell in love all over again...MR was amazing. Absolutely amazing!

There is nothing in the world that I love more than being a wife, mother, sister, aunt, & daughter. Thank you to all the people in my life who give me the opportunity to fill these roles. It is pure joy!