Brielle is one!!!

One year ago, I was in the hospital, holding my baby girl (and maybe shedding some happy tears).  Shawn went home to take care of the kids, and I was alone with my sweet, newborn.  (and I was extremely tired!)  All day long today, I have been remembering what I was doing one year ago.  I remember waking up, taking a shower, wondering when I'd have that baby... I remember reading the scriptures, praying (that someday this baby would come), and feeling that kick that broke my water.  I remembered calling my sub, sending the kids off to school and telling them that I was just too tired to go to school (not wanting to get their hopes up), and riding to the hospital.  I remember checking in while Shawn went to set up a patient (the registration nurse couldn't believe that he just dropped me off! What if I delivered before he came back! Yea right!).  I remember watching the baby story while I was in labor, and I remember getting that epidural and thinking that I had not felt that good for 9 long months!  And I remember when our Brielle was born, and how sweet and perfect and beautiful she was.  I remember the kids coming to meet her, and then Shawn took them home.
Thinking back over the last year, I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for teaching me about what was important in such a tender way.  In the last year, I have been able to cook and clean for my family, spend time with my children, serve in callings, and take care of the newest addition to our family.  I've also been able to take a few classes and help Shawn with his.
I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for giving me just what I needed and reminding me of what was important.  Happy birthday Brielle!  We love you so much!

Basketball season 2013

I don't know what my hang up was, but I did not sign Bryson up for basketball this year. I think football just wore me out! But, this great team asked Bryson to join their team half way through the year. Bryson didn't play a ton in the games (because he was the eight man and came on late in the season), but he learned a lot and I even caught him doing a fancy behind-the-back dribble in one of the games.
What I'm most proud of, though, isn't how he played the game, but how he treated his teammates, coaches, and opponents. I observed him being respectful to others both on and off the court. AND, (this is what makes me spread out my feathers a little) both his coaches and a few other parents told me how impressed they were by his positive attitude, even when I wasn't there. I love getting good reports about my kids! Makes me feel like I'm doing something right at home! :)
So... Good game, Bryson! You learned that it isn't whether you win or loose, but how you act when you play the game that counts.

Oreo stats.

This may be the only way I get through my statistics class! But, I passed the first class and I've only got two more to go!

Cutler is SIX!!

Cutler told me a while ago that if you didn't have cake with candles on your birthday and if nobody sang happy birthday, then you wouldn't turn a year older. I am definitely going to try it sometime, but Cutler wasn't going to let that happen to him! He made sure that it was all there…presents, cake, candles, people… the kid's a sucker for traditions.
He wanted a pine wood derby for his birthday party... So this is what we came up with...

Happy birthday Cutler! We love you!

Book Review - The Shanghai Girls and Finding Joy

I read both of these books by Lisa See recently. While the fictional story is captivating and entertaining, the factual Chinese history in the novels is eye opening. I have not studied Chinese history or culture... Just that they have a communist government and that they celebrate Chinese New Year and use chop sticks. But these novels brought up and shed light on many Chinese traditions and some interesting history. I've never been able to understand communism and why people would allow for that kind of life, but through the experience of The Shanghai sisters, I understood how extreme poverty and class separation led them to accept it.
See did an exceptional job at showing Chinese history and culture in both China and in the United States through the World War II era and afterward.
Shanghai Girls and its sequel Finding Joy are both great reads with themes of perseverance, love, sacrifice, motherhood and family relationships. I would recommend it to anybody interested in Chinese history or not! So, go ahead, dive in, and tell me what you think!

Science Fair

I am not a huge fan of science fair projects. In fact, they stress me out. It's not that I don't love science and discovery and learning with my kids. It's just that the project always ends up being more of my project than the kid's!

We did have fun with this one though, and we finished before the copy shop closed so we could print some color pictures for her poster. Thankfully only one child wanted to (was required to) participate. Jenika (I) explored the surface tension on different kinds of milk and the effect of dish soap on them. She had fun with the stop watch and the food coloring, and she managed to learn some science in between.

Book Review - Letters for Emily

Letters for Emily is the second novel written by Cameron Wright.  I love the way he writes, and he is a clean and thoughtful author.  I really enjoyed this novel.  Letters for Emily is fiction, but based upon a real person who wrote letters and poetry for his children and grandchildren.  It's about an old, grouchy man, diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, who writes letters for his granddaughter, Emily about life, finance, love, flossing, and everything in between.  The story addresses marriage, divorce, growing old, death, mental illness, respect, children, and honesty.  It's kind of a page turner, and keeps the reader guessing.  You'll find that in the end,  after all the puzzles are pieced together, you will want to read it again... now that you understand all the background and details.  Letter's to Emily is a good, fast, worthwhile read for young adults and adults.  I give it 4 stars.    

Walking!!!

I can't believe that this girl is walking already!  Besides getting into everything, and keeping her mother up all. night. long., Brielle is a perfect and happy baby.  She is 10 months now, and we just love her.  And when I say we, I mean everyone.  She is never alone, and always has an audience and someone to entertain her.  We all just adore her, and can't imagine life without her!

Birthday Girls!

The first birthdays of the year are the best!  Jenika was the best birthday present I've ever gotten, and I'm thrilled that I get to share my birthiday with her every year!  It really is a great thing to have a birthday buddy.  She certainly feels pretty special that she gets to share a day with her mom.  This year, we went ice skating!  Mel and Jo and their family came with us, and then they came to our house for some birthday pie. (That's right.. Jenika LOVES pie, so we had birthday pie instead of cake.)  It was a great day, and we are now both one year older.  Looking for many more birthdays to celebrate together!

Becoming a record keeper

Wow!  It's been a long time!  It's the time of year for resolutions, and of coarse, I plan to write on my blog more often.  My family is growing before my eyes, and I haven't been diligent in taking time to reflect upon our days and record the small and big things that we do and accomplish.  I know that this is important, and that it is an important service that I need to provide for my family, so, I want to become a record keeper, like Nephi, and I know that the steps to becoming something are to first believe (I totally believe in record keeping), do (that's my plan), and then become.    Feel free to read along and make comments as I go. :)