libby's first Kiwanis performance

Libby sang In My Own Little Corner yesterday for the kiwanis and did great! It was in a non-competetive class so she wasn't officially ranked but her comments were 100% positive- not a single suggestion to work on and she was so proud of herself!

yearly update...

Its sad that birthday season is what has finally reminded me to post again!  I need to be better at keeping a better record of these precious years - I stopped scrap booking to blog but then I just have been really bad at blogging regularly.  So heres about a years worth of random stuff - most of which has happened int he last week or so and is fresh in my mind.  So first, Happy birthday Cadie and Libby!  We had such a fun time at your parties this year!  Libby had a slumber party with some of her closest friends: Amy, Mya, Aliya, Naomi, Isabella and Solene. (and of course they all included Cadie!)  They were all so polite and happy and good - I only had to give them what for a few times around midnight to get them to finally go to sleep!  We had fun playing flashlight hide and seek in the dark, painting nails and doing glitter tattoos, we made glow in the dark pillowcases with fabric paint and watched wreck it ralph.  We had waffles bacon and eggs for breakfast and then it was on to Cadie's party - she wanted a fiesta as she still remembers how much fun mexico was last year!  We had 12 of her closest friends over: Hanna, Josie, Ainsley and Alfie  from school and Ashley and Averi from church, Summer and Corbin, Elena and Mya and Monet.  Cadie spent most of her time with her friend Alfie  - her teacher told me that almost every day she hears Alfie come into the classroom and walk over to Cadie and say "you look beautiful today."  Cadie introduced me to him as her special friend and proceeded to hold his hand or hug him or sit beside him the rest of the party. (should I be worried??)  Again, everyone was happy and helpful and had a great time.  I was lucky my mom came to help out with Cadie's party as corey was working and Elise came to help me set up for Libby's party as Corey was working :)

 

(Fist pump at the top of the hill!)

We have had a fun birthday week - Corey took some time off so we went to Banff - hot springs and Eddie burger and just hung out together which was so nice.  We also took the kids skiing for the first time - again my parents helped out a lot - they came and sat in the lodge (and cheered for us at the bunny hill!)   so the kids could take turns skiing with us.  I thought the kids would have been tired after one run but they all did really well.  Libby especially wasn't feeling great but she persevered and kept trying and trying until she got it.  Cadie puked in the car on the way to the ski hill but it was a wonderful thing because we finally figured out (after numerous motion sickness experiences without ANY warning at all from her) that when she says "I'm hungry" in the car it actually means "I am going to throw up all over Libby"But once we got her cleaned up (ha she only had underwear on under her snowsuit as her clothing was soiled!!) she had a blast on the ski hill.  She's fearless that girl and a ball of energy - after her first run with me she said I want to try it on my own now and a few runs later she asked if she could go on the chair lift!  My mom tried to talk me out of it but I'm a little bit of a daredevil too so I took her anyway and the first couple runs from the chairlift were awesome!  

They we tried to show Daddy that she could go on the chairlift so he came on chair right behind us and we were a little distracted and she is so short I thought she was all the way on the chair and so did the attendant but after the chair started picking up speed and we were already quite high in the air she started slipping - I dropped my mitts and poles to catch her and thankfully I was able to grab her and hoist her back on the chair!  Corey saw the whole thing from behind us and wasn't super happy :)  Other than that our first ski trip was awesome!  What else this year?  The kids are doing great at school - especially with all the adjustments of having new teachers - both girls have had 2 teachers  this year - maternity leave and class sizes too big.  David is also doing well - Corey and I have noticed he has been stuttering a lot lately but hopefully that is just a phase he will grow out of?  He is starting to read - he can read small words like cat and sit etc, and he can play the piano beautifully and sight read easy music but he is still not fully potty trained.  I am getting terrified for kindergarten next year.  The specialists that we have been going to have not been very helpful at all...  But he is my baby and the sweetest boy in the world - he's still a mama's boy and will protect me to the death (seriously, corey just has to look at me wrong or if the girls try to poke my neck he freaks out at them) BUT he's starting to warm up to his dad!
I've had fun going on a few field trips with the kids lately: skating and to the science center!

Here are some quotes from this year from all 3 kids: ( I was really bad at writing them down this time :(
I have been getting up early to do some house work before the kids wake up so one morning I had put some waffles in the toaster when I heard david waking up - I quickly ran back to bed because he likes to snuggle with me first thing in the morning (you will remember it takes David awhile to wake up after a nap - same thing in the mornings he can be a bit of a bear until he's all the way awake) so I was back under the covers by the time he came into my room and after he snuggled in he heard the pop of the toaster being done.  He tensed up and asked: "Is Daddy home?" I replied "He's at the gym" after a thoughtful pause he said " Humph, well he must be really loud at the gym for us to be able to hear him all the way from home.  That or we have ghostes."
As we drove over a texas cattle gate:
Libby: "What was that sound!?"
Cadie: "Uhh, I think that was just our car farting!"  (I hate it when they use that word!)

Cadie: "Victoria invited me over to her house to play!" (a new friend from school)
Libby: "Oh.  Well if she has an old woman at her house there will probably be an attic.  You should ask if you can play in her attic.  There will be lots of cool old lady stuff up there."

Cadie: "Mom, this is a list of all the people I'm falling in love with.  Daniel, Uncle Jay, President Monson and Captain America." (see why I'm not overly worried about Alfie?)

Cadie: "MOM.  When I get back to the table I expect that onion to be GONE!"

David: "Hey!  Remember when we had fun doing that stuff last-er-day?"

Cadie: "I know I'm a little bit weird but I actually like mom AND my dad!" (libby always claims to like dad and David likes mom)

Libby: "I keep thinking of buts.  NO!  not those kind of BUTTS!!"

Cadie: "We don't even want you in our family anymore, mom."
me: "WHAT!!  But I care for you!"
Libby: "I only care for your neck..."  (she likes to poke my neck...)

Libby is turning 8 in a few days but her sweet primary president has already given her her faith in God book that she is so eager to work on we have already completed 5 goals and it's not even her birthday yet!  One of the goals she chose was to write a poem about a principle of the gospel or about Heavenly Father's creations.  She took that a little literally and wrote (a not very accurate poem) about creation.  (to the tune of the 12 days of christmas)  straight from her journal: (although I've edited spelling)
On the first day on earth my God created for me: ground and some plants.
On the second day on earth my God created for me: water and some fish.
On the third day on earth my God created for me: darkness and lightness, sky and sun.
On the fourth day on earth my God created for me: moon and the stars and clouds.
On the fifth day on earth my God created for me: animals and colours.
On the sixth day on earth my God created for me: friends and family and love!
On the seventh day on earth He rested reverently and sleeped the end.

One of my pet peeves is that our kids have too many toys.  I don't really like clutter so much and I love dejunking but we are so so so blessed to have so many kind and generous people in our lives who give us wonderful things - like toys - that my spoiled (they're really not that bad) kids play with for one day and then not ever ever again.  To illustrate this I picked a random day during christmas holidays - after christmas but before school resumed to write down what my kids did all day.  Shortly after receiving tons of cool new toys.  Here is the list:
fortune telling.  (a game they made up using a glass of water)
kittens. (a common game in our house using only a towel and bowls of very spillable milk)
magic rocks. (the rocks were my couch cushions. Apparently you had to jump on the magic rocks)
Green monster.  (the monster would eat anything green - to be fair this game did involve a few green toys)
Babies. (another common game - bus as usual Cadie was the baby and Libby the mom - no toys)
frog orphans. (I didn't even really get this one... but there were definitely no toys involved)
shark bite: (chasing each other around the house - beds/chairs are safe - ie. out of the water, the shark did use one of my rubber spatulas, but alas, no toys.)
Poor David - the girls are usually pretty good at including him in their games but whenever they don't want him to play but know that they still have to be kind and inclusive they always make him the mailman.  Unfortunately we actually had a random mailman in many of the aforementioned games.  If he didn't like being the mailman so much I would take issue with this but he seems OK with it?!
So even though I'm not fully supportive of this is knew I didn't want any more toys in my house so cadie got a video game for her birthday and Libby is getting an ipod.  I know.

Can you tell which snowman is who?  The one with broccolli on it's head is obviously David with his spiky hair! :)

Libby enjoying what was supposed to be asian sweet potato noodles in the odd form of a sandwich.

David and I like to throw around the football sometimes - when we're not playing cars or bad guys.  Poor sweet david told me the other day that I am his best friend.  When we play football he's made up a rule that you have to say something weird before you throw the ball.  If the other person catches it you keep saying the thing until they miss.  You gotta see it in action to get it I think...  So this video (sorry you can see my pile of CLEAN laundry) is funny mostly because david has no clue what he's saying - he learned this song at a friend's house which I was not so happy about and after this phrase was repeated at my house a few times I found an lds copy of the video edited with those words to say "hey modest lady" but it never did catch on...  To this day my kids think "saxy lady" is referring to a saxaphone-like woman...

So all in all we are so blessed with good health and wonderful kids and an awesome supportive family. Happy birthdays my sweet girls!

fashion shoot

Yesterday I spent the most wonderful day at the temple.  It felt like such a privilege to get to serve there.    I had originally been asked by my bishop to be a tour guide so I had been stressing about the responsibility of that, knowing that I can't "talk good" at the best of times and almost always say the wrong thing.  As the time came closer I was switched to food prep: sitting in the kitchen at the chapel across the way from the temple, putting cookies into little baggies for the guests to enjoy.  Even though this job was less stress I felt like I had somehow let the Lord down - I started asking myself if I had done something wrong, was I perhaps not worthy to serve in the temple, etc.  It was a very positive, humbling experience for me and I was able to re-commit myself to living the gospel as best as I can knowing that I never want to feel that way when I eventually stand before my Saviour!  My job was switched yet again to be an usher.  There are many ushers serving each day and they assign you a post randomly.  About half are in the chapel some are outside and some get to serve in the temple.  Most in the temple stand along various corridors smiling and pointing which way the tours are to go.  I was super lucky.  Not only was I actually in the temple but I was on the busiest day of the open house and I got placed at the best place for me (who can't handle sitting still and doing nothing) where I was responsible for helping people on and off the elevator, finding their tour groups, directing tour hosts who were bottlenecked because of the heavy volume, etc. - I was actually really busy!  And I was also at a place where the tours were always forced to stop and wait and most of the tour guides were used to giving the tour in an hour or so but because it was so backed up tours were taking 2 hours and some of the guides were running out of things to say!  Many of the guests started talking to me and asking me questions and I was even able to bear my testimony to a few people and I was able to talk to many.  I don't think many other ushers had the opportunity to do that!  At the end of the shift the temple was closing for the day and I was able to join with the last group going through which was made up of other volunteers - it was so nice to go through the tour again without any rush.  But the best surprise of all was when I came home to a messy house!  Seriously, I love a messy house when my husband has been watching the kids because that means they have been playing.  I would much rather have a messy house than a clean one (because that means they have been watching movies all day...)  Corey set up a photo shoot for the kids.  Dug up the box of costumes from the basement and set up an actual photo place thing in our living room that looked all professional and I guess the kids had a blast dressing up and posing.  Here is a brief sampling of their fun.  (apparently Libby's photos all have a story to go along with them - I wasn't able to post all of hers up here but she is so creative - I love how if you look at her pics all in a row you can see what the story is!)

david's 4

Happy Birthday David!  We are so happy to have you in our family!  You had a fun birthday and you are a fun little guy!  You are very independent - sometimes I can't find you because you often go off to play by yourself and don't always respond when I call your name!  You love to play ball, hockey, frisbee, anu sport really.  You also LOVE your bad guys and super heros.  Your favorite show is avengers cartoons and you especially love iron man and tell everyone you are going to marry bumble bee girl when you grow up.  (wasp)  You are kind and considerate and you really love your family - especially mom and your sisters!  You are a hard worker and good at goal setting - already!  You set a goal for yourself to get better at talking as you struggled with speaking for quite a while.  You practiced hard everyday and you are now fluent and easy to understand.  We are so proud of you!  For your party we had a super hero theme - mom set up a treasure hunt kind of thing where you and your friends were told that bad guys had come and we needed some heros to help rescue people.  You had to go to train to become heros and you earned your capes and masks that mom made.  And swords!


Then you had to rescue stuffed kittens from our tree - climb a ladder and everything!  You had to rescue batman from the freezer - a freeze ray had turned him into a giant ice cube.  THere were heros in a pool, pirates upstairs, and iron man sleeping on a bed and games to play.  You had a great time and I think your friends did, too!

good days

We all really enjoyed conference this year. (We all being the kids and i as Corey was working all weekend). I wasn't expecting to be able to get much out of it until I read it later as that has been my story the past 7 years :) But this year was awesome - I didn't try to force them into too much - we watched the 10:00 sessions on sat and sun. and my kids were surprisingly into it - and not just because of the candy incentives - they all 3 snuggled up on my lap in front of the computer and yes there was the occasional wiggle and whisper but they were just so good! They recognized pres. monson, uchtdorf, and eyring and enjoyed the talks. When Cadie was listening to pres monson she said "I think I'm falling in love with that guy!" When David saw a picture of a sick newborn all hooked up to tubes he said "wow, a space baby!"

Liberty's 7

Happy birthday Libby-lou! I can't believe how grown-up you are getting - and I love it! Today at bedtime Cadie got an (itsy-bitsy) paper cut while I was reading books and thought she could tough it out but tender-hearted you ran and got her a band-aid and kissed her until she felt better! You are capable and responsible - often getting your brother and sister breakfast or snacks and often bathing them and helping David get changed. I love your work ethic and it's paying off - especially you working so hard on your piano and singing - you are pretty amazing! Your writing has improved immensely this year and you are still a phenomenal reader. I've really enjoyed reading page by page with you lately as I know you are past the level where you need me to read with you but I just love spending time with you! You are honest and very good at being in charge of things. You are very creative and it only takes you seconds to organize everyone and have them playing some new make believe game. You are actually really funny - like for real. I thought it was hilarious when you stood perfectly still at Ikea the other day and when I asked you what you were doing you exclaimed with a giggle - I'm the statue of Liberty! I know we sometimes need to have chats about your behaviour but I also know that you always try to choose the right. You are very good at sharing and always take care to save some of whatever you have been given in goodie bags or at school for your brother and sister - and often Dad and I, too!

Your birthday party this year was a mexican fiesta - chosen after the wonderful time we had in mexico! You invited tons of friends and got tons of presents. Next year I think we will tone it down a bit as some of the birthday guests didn't like the craziness level and the noise was a bit much. Everyone seemed to like the pinata and fancy drinks though!

Here are some of the cute and funny things you have said this year:

me: "Libby, why did you knock? This is your house - you can just walk right in!"

Libby: "I didn't want you to think I was a robber." ~6

Libby: "Mom, at school today I learned that Russians wear coconuts in their hair instead of bows."

me: "really?

Libby: "no. I actually just made that up."~6

Cadie: " " (perfectly silent)

Libby: "SHHHHH, Cadie, we're trying to watch the car channel!" (looking out the front window at the road) ~6

Libby: "Mom, when I grow up to be a mom I think you'll turn into a GRANDMA...WOW!" ~6

Libby: "Mom, sometimes I just think you're an animal talking and I get confused..." ~6

Libby: "MOM! Guess what? When I dropped my toast I thought it would land on it's front and get me all sticky but MOM, guess what?! It did a whole flip, a FLIP, mom, and landed on it's BUTT and I didn't even get dirty!" ~6

Libby: "Some people love things more than anything." ~6

Libby" Hey MOM, you and daddy must be best friends - you work well together." ~6

Libby: "MOM, you're so stinky, when you cry, pee comes out of your eyes!" ~6

Libby: (while learning the grumpy old troll on the piano) "Hey! This song reminds me of something! (I was totally thinking the grumpy old troll from Dora the Explorer) Grumpy Old MOM!" ~6

Libby: "Hey Cadie, do you know what fish is made from? (meaning fish and chips) Chicken." ~6

Libby: "Mom, I don't mean to be rude but you do look a little fat. Kind of half-way between a cow and half-way between a horse. Sorry." ~6

Libby: (during a dinner she disliked) "oooooooooh"

me: "what?"

Libby: "I'm a ghost. You didn't take good enough care of me and so I died." ~6

BUBBLE-BEARD (aka Cadie Wilson)

Happy Birthday sweet 5 yr old! You still look 3, you are kind and sweet and obedient! You are full of excitement over most things (although a little attitude is developing...) except vegetables - or well food in general - no wonder you're so small! You love playing make believe games and play really well with your younger brother, older sister and well pretty much anyone. When walking to the park earlier this year, David dropped his lollipop into the dirt and without missing a beat you immediately popped yours out of your mouth and said "it's OK David, you can have mine... wow, it feels so good when I do nice things!" You're still completely obsessed with babies. You can read better than most grade 1 kids and you play the piano and sing like a rock star. You dislike crafts and still can barely write your own name and I'm hoping you can master how to properly hold a pencil before kindergarten! You quit gymnastics and ballet classes this year because the only part you liked about either was the social aspect. You love primary and your little preschool class - you have the sweetest little class of 7 girls from church who you adore. Every time you wash your hands you take the time to give yourself a beard of soap bubbles which you proudly show me before wiping it off to go play. (not joking, this happens at least 4 or 5 times a day) You are a goof and a giggle monster but you are one of the kindest most considerate people I know - often giving friends or siblings the toy or treat that you want most for yourself to them. I love you Cadie!

Your birthday party this year was of course a baby party. You LOVED it and have already asked for another baby party next year... You invited all of your preschool friends and they were each asked to bring a baby. A REAL baby. (I'm nuts, I know...) We played pin the soother on the baby and baby freeze dance - which was seriously like a mosh pit full of babies and every time the music stopped everyone cried! You were in heaven. There ended up being 21 people there including some of the parents and yet you were still asking me why couldn't we have invited baby Channing? And baby Kiara? And baby Lucas? You seriously remember every baby you have ever met by name and love them all. You once told me you were going to have a million-thousand-hundred babies. And I believed you.

Here are some of the cute and funny things you have said this year:

Cadie: "Sometimes it's nice to have short legs because then people carry you." ~4

Cadie: "That baby over there is a girl baby. I can tell because it has eyelashes." ~4

Cadie: "Awww! Look, Mommy! That baby over there is cuter than a DUCK!" ~4

Cadie: "HEY MOMMY! THere's some guys out here workin' on our house!" (we had our roof done after the hail storm)

me: "Oh really?" (they came and went without warning for a few weeks)

Cadie: "Yup, and I just told them we'd make them some chocolate cookies." ~4

Uncle Trevor: (after seeing Cadie for the first time in months) "Cadie! How did your hair get so long?"

Cadie: "It's cuz I dip it in water every time I have a bath." ~4

Cadie: "HEY MOMMY! Do you see any hair in my nose?"

me: "uh, nope"

Cadie: "That's cuz I haven't growed up yet!" ~4

me: (In a high-pitched mimicking tone trying to get her to say thank you after bringing her a delicious snack to the table) "oh thank you mommy, you're the best mommy in the whole world"

Cadie: "Oh no, I'm so sorry mommy, I still love you but you're really not the best mommy in the whole world - Mya's mommy is. She lets her kids play in their garage." ~4

Cadie: "C'mere David, I want to teach you a song. Now sit down. Repeat after me: Mommy is a lit-tle bit hor-rible because she makes the worst-est juice" ~4

Cadie: "HEY MOMMY! Look, MOM! There's a REAL astronaut - LOOK for REAL mom, a REAL astronaut who's probably going to the moon RIGHT NOW!! (shouted as a motorcyclist was walking away from his hidden from view bike with his helmet still on) ~4

me: "Cadie, you really shouldn't be jumping on the trampoline right now - did you remember that it's the sabbath day?"

Cadie: "It's OK mom, I already checked with Heavenly Father. This is exactly what God wants me to do!" ~4

Cadie: "Uhhhh, what's on this weird stick? CORN?" (buds) ~4

Cadie: "HEY MOMMY! Right now I'm having a baby."

me: "Oh? I hope it doesn't hurt."

Cadie: "HAHAHAHA, no, momma, you crack me up - it's not a monster baby at all, it's a GIRL baby." ~4

Cadie: "Can I please have some more milk?"

me: "finish what you have in your glass already first"

Cadie: "NOOO!! I'll punch you in the face!" ~4 (see what I mean about attitude?)

Cadie: "MOMMY!!!! My poo-bum hurts REALLY bad when I push my fingers up my poo-bum like this - OWWWWW" ~4 (sorry if this is offensive to anyone! I really debated whether or not to include this but I haven't been so good at keeping a journal lately and i don't want to lose this incase I need to blackmail her as a teenager!)

Cadie: "When I grow up to be a mom and have kids then I will be the boss of them!" ~4

Cadie: "Hey mommy, where's your chocolate pudding?"

me: "I didn't get any"

Cadie: "OH NO!! Here, mommy, you can have mine." ~4

Cadie: (while playing make-believe with David - who always wants to play bad guys. Cadie tries to humour him even though she really wants to play babies.) "Come on sweetheart, I'm your bad-guy mom. I'm so bad I do lots of bad things... like take ropes off of things...and put them on other things..." ~4

me "eesh, I think someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning..."

Cadie: "NO I DIDN'T! I DIDN'T EVEN SLEEP UNDER MY BED AT ALL EVER!" ~4

Dad: "So at conference we will hear-

Cadie: "THE PROPHET, PRESIDENT MONSON!"

Dad: "And he will teach us about -

Cadie: "BONES!" ~4

Cadie: "Oh Jay, (one of her uncles who she has a crush on) I'm so glad we got to spend this time together. Too bad I didn't get to spend that much time with you though." ~4