She Forgot A Picture

The entry immediately following this post was a paid advertisement by the Cyrus for Best Dad of the Year campaign. Get your votes in now! Sorry Bishop, Kendall, and any other dad who reads this! Let's see if you can top those accolades!

Thanks Annie, you are the best friend I could ever have!

Cyrus (I'm not sure how she forgot to include my magazine cover shot!)

Cyrus

Cyrus likes to fool around with with photo booth on my computer.






Well, third year is about to begin and I am so nervous...I am not looking forward to the long days and the long nights of night clinic. There are a lot of reasons I am worried about it, but the biggest one is that Cyrus is the person that keeps me sane. Ok sometimes, he drives me insane, but mostly he keeps me sane and happy. Here is a list of reasons why Cyrus is the best:

*He makes me laugh every day. He does the funniest things, from professor imitations to Sam voice-overs that make me laugh.
*He is so sweet with his daughters. He handles them remarkably well and they have some of the funniest and sweetest talks in the world.
*He does the dishes every day.
*He cleans the house (because I am a mess).
*He helps me do things that are good--the other week I was going to go to the temple in the evening and the you wouldn't believe what a rotten day I had--Katie got poison oak, Sam got his shots and was cranky, we ran out of milk because someone spilled almost a whole gallon, and then right when I was going to get ready, the toilet flooded and water was all the way out on the carpet. There was no dinner, the kids were all in need of a bath, Katie was itchy and Sam was crying plus my temple dress was wrinkled. When Cyrus got home, I informed him I wasn't going. He didn't tell me I had to go but just asked me why. As I told him reasons he gave me ways he would take care of it--he'd give Sam tylenol, rub Katie's itches with Calamine, clean up the bathroom, and order pizza, oh yes and he reminded me I could just rent a dress. I had a beautiful and peaceful evening after a horrid day, all because Cyrus put in a little extra effort.
*He loves to have fun!
*He knows more about the gospel than anyone I know.
*He always remembers scriptures.
*He can fix my computer, no matter what Sam or Katie manage to do to it.

Hannah's cake

This morning Hannah announced that she was going to make a cake by herself today. That is just Hannah's sort of thing...she just decides she can do things and goes for it. Well, we negotiated it, and she made the cake and I put it in the oven. She only needed help learning how to measure amounts but she did great! It tasted great and she learned something new (oh, and she was super sweet and let her sisters help her too!)

Carolyn's baptism invitations

Carolyn really wanted to invite some of her friends to her baptism so we made these fun little invitations for them, I think they are cute!!! I hope some of her friends come! She is such a sweetheart and we are so excited for her baptism...although she shed a few tears over having to have a Bishop's interview. She is scared to death of that. I think she will be ok though.

Stinky Bird

Tonight, while we were cleaning the kitchen, Katie was being silly about something and Cyrus said "Holy Cow! The coo coo bird really isn't extinct! I have one living in my house!" Of course she countered with, "No Dad! YOU are the coo coo bird." Then Cyrus said, "Bah, you are a coo coo bird, and I am going to call the Bureau of Extinct Birds and tell them Coo Coos are not really extinct, and I have one living at my house." Katie then said, "No, YOU are the stinky bird." It kind of stuck. All night daddy was the stinky bird!

Ring Around the Rosie

One night Sam was in with the girls and all of a sudden I heard:

Ring around the rosie,
Pocket full of posies.
Ashes, ashes we all fall down.

Followed by an insane amount of laughter. I went in and the girls were teaching Sam "Ring Around the Rosie." He loved it!!! Those sweet girls probably played that game with him 15 or 20 times. He clapped after each time and laughed and laughed. That boy sure loves his girls!!!!!!!

Oh What Do You Do In The Summertime?

Thursday one of my neighbors asked me if my kids were doing any camps this summer...for me that was a loaded question. I have debated the whole time I have been here whether or not I should send my girls to some kind of camp. Its sort of an everybody's doing it kind of thing for me. I always wonder if I am depriving them of something by not sending them to camp. So here is the story of me and activities:

There was a time that I wasn't going to have my children do anything besides school until they were 8 because that would provide me the most opportunity to make sure they understood the gospel and were ready once they were accountable. Well, then we moved and to meet kids we did ballet (this was in Utah, only Katie does ballet here), then a friend asked us to do swimming lessons with them, so I did. Next thing you know I decided they could really benefit from the discipline that piano would teach them so they started piano with Candace. Soon, I started to notice what great swimmers all of my girl's friends were, so I asked their moms what they were doing and next thing you know we started swim team...do you see how it has just been a slippery slope for me? Actually, I really don't regret any of our activities and think the girls lives have been enriched from each one. My new litmus test for activities is whether it is something that is benefitting them or if it is just a time filler. We don't do any time-fillers.

So back to camp. Everyone I know (except dental students) send their kids to camp. But, I don't. It is not because we can't afford it. We could make it work. It is not because I don't like them, I think some of them would be fun and interesting. And its not because I am fundamentally against them, I'm not. The truth is, we have so much fun in the summer. During school there is constantly homework and piano practice and play dates and school stuff. Summer is the only time we get together. I love watching my girls run up the street with the neighbors, shouting their big plans for the day. I love seeing six little girls sitting under the tree eating popsicles, I love seeing an entire chalk town appear in my driveway with my little ladies admiring all their hard work. I love seeing my girls catch every variety of bugs and try to make them a home in some kind of crazy container. I love summer. I love wading in the creek with my kids, trying to catch fish, throwing rocks and hunting for craw-daddy. I love seeing my monkeys climb a tree and going on a bike ride to buy an ice cream. I can't share my girls (or my boy of course) with camp. Summer just isn't long enough.

Uh Oh

We are in trouble. Carolyn loves Brendan. The kind of second grade love where he chases her exclusively at recess and she kicks him. Carolyn's friend Haley loves him too. Every time she comes home from school its BRENDAN BRENDAN BRENDAN...yesterday she told me that he loves her too. He told her so.

I haven't really worried about all this love stuff. Carolyn has always been a little boy-crazy and quite honestly, chasing boys is quite normal. I have taken all this growing up in stride...let me tell you about it...to begin with, the other day at the bus stop my friend, Kathy (Haley's mom), informed me that she had read that tweens (the thing between being a kid and being a teen) begins at age 8. I sort of laughed with her and we worried very little. We talked about their beginning interest in clothes and music and how they actually want to take baths when they get dirty. Honestly, some parts of being a tween are a step in the right direction. Then Kathy and I reverted to our usual talk about matters like how in the world to get sand box stains out of socks. Then when Haley was bringing Brendan home for a play date, Kathy joked that Haley was hoping to pick out china patterns that afternoon. We laughed with Brendan's mom till our sides hurt. When Brendan was the only boy invited to Carolyn's birthday, we laughed (again with Brendan's mom) that he would even think of going to a girl only party, let alone revel in the attention like he did.

But today it got serious. Brendan is having his birthday party and wanted to go to the movies. His mom asked him who he wanted to invite and he said, Carolyn and Haley. She got him to invite a couple of boys too, but it seems my little lady will be headed to the movies with her new love. Cyrus wonders if he should go and sit in the back to make sure that BOY doesn't try any cool second-grader moves out on Carolyn. Really, Brendan's mom is a great lady and has assured me that the kids will be well watched over. I know she wil have fun. She has some good friends here The sad part is it feeling like my little girl is all grown up. She isn't suppose to go to the movies with friends, she is suppose to go with mom and dad. She isn't suppose to want to marry Brendan, she is suppose to want to live with mom and dad forever. Why do my babies have to grow up?

Piano Teacher Extraordinaire

The other day, I accidentally clicked on Candance's sister's blog and up came all of these glorious pictures of Candace. I chose my favorite and stole it!! Sorry Candace, I just couldn't resist!


My girls have the absolute best piano teacher in the world. Candace Drew is her name. Some of you may have heard of her. She deserves a gold medal for how wonderful a piano teacher she is. Just today, Hannah was being a PILL. I would have sent her to her room--she was telling Candace not to talk and wasn't trying hard and was just being super-over-the-top-silly, but through it all Candace maintained her Job-like patience. And when Candace stepped away and I told Hannah that she was being disrespectful of Candace, she straitened right up--she loves Candace and didn't even know she was being rude. Both girls adore her.

Patience is not Candace's only virtue--she is also fun. The girls love piano lessons!!! She taught the girls to play the piano upside-down and she made them love reading music and really has given them the best musical foundation I could ask for my six and seven year olds. She is the best. And she is moving to Arizona. Darn that dental school!!!!!

The saddest part about having Candace for a piano teacher is that no one will ever match up. I know this because she is the best. I will hold all other teachers to her standard and will spend the rest of my days complaining how that teacher is just not as good as Candace!!!

Marinwood Park

Sam is bad at swim team (really I am kidding--of course he's too cute to be bad!!!). He spends the whole time trying to get into the pool. He lays down on his tummy and tries and tries to scoot in. So, instead of spending the whole 45 minutes wrestling him and having him throw a fit every time I stop him from jumping in, we spend the time at the park. Sam loves it there. He climbs right up and goes down the big slide. He loves to swing HIGH and tries to climb up the slide just like his Katie. It is fun every day and every day he cries and cries when it is time to leave. It is one of my favorite times of the day...a time when I can just play with my kids!!!


I just put this picture in because its so darn cute.

Kite Flyng

We celebrate Mother's Day on Saturday because, quite honestly, Sunday isn't very relaxing. In fact it is probably the farthest thing from relaxing that there is on the earth.

So, anyway, yesterday after the swim meet and after I hit a few yard sales, we celebrated the big day. Cyrus bought me some new pretty plates (my old pretty plates have been slowly broken till we have only a few left). Cyrus made a nice dinner and the girls got all dressed up to eat. We had a good dinner and then went to the park to fly kites. We had so much fun flying the kites. It was perfect and wonderful!!!

It took a while to get the kites up. Daddy did the hard work while mom and the girls played, played, played...and Sammy wandered around.






Finally we got the kites up and we all had a turn flying them. It is amazing how fun kites are for everyone from babies to old ladies like me!






Katie got all tangled up.



The kites sometimes crashed and we had to start over...



But we had so much fun and the kids were so cute, it almost brought me to tears but I laughed instead :). It really was a perfect Mother's day.

Time-Trials and the Aqua-Thon

This week was a busy week for swim team. We, of course, had practice; and, there was a swim team barbeque. However, the funnest part of the week was the aqua-thon. The girls hopped in the water and swam as many laps as they could swim in 45 minutes. Hannah swam 30 laps and Carolyn swam a whopping 52 laps. I was amazed! Last year, Carolyn was struggling to get across the deep-end so she could qualify to jump off the diving board; and, Hannah wouldn't budge from the corner of the pool for fear of sinking. Yet, this year they swim like little fish and they are loving it!

Saturday was the girls' first swim meet of the season. It was actually only "time trials," but they set everything up like a real meet, and they let the kids race. It was SO COLD! That was hard for our little "comfort-lovers," but, all-in-all, it was a good learning experience the girls. Carolyn won her heat for the backstroke. She swam her little heart out. She is such a hard worker and a really great swimmer. I was so happy to see her enjoy herself. Hannah was scared out of her mind and cried the whole way across the pool during the freestyle. She was so brave and decided she would try again for the backstroke (her best stroke). She was so happy when her sweet coach Jason, yelled, "Go Banana!!" as she got in the water. She just loves him, and that little bit of encouragement made her feel like she could do another meet. Jason and Kent (the coaches) really epitomize what swimming coaches should be. I am so glad we did swim team!!

Our Frozen Little Water Devils




Carolyn Prepared to Start off The Starting Blocks





Hannah Doesn't Like The Blocks, But She is A Great Diver





The Girls Back-Stroking: Carolyn is Wearing the Cap (Hannah Hates Swim Caps).




Keeping Warm with Our Sweet Neighbor Haley...One of the Nicest Girls We've Ever Met.

Good thing...

Its a good thing Daddy's going to be a dentist. If you have ever really looked at Cyrus' teeth, they are kind of squarish--because he was missing some perminant teeth as a child and they pulled out the baby teeth and put giant crowns to fill the spaces. Well now, Carolyn doesn't have three of her lateral incisors. My husband tells me #7,10, and 26. I took her to the dental school but they failed to tell me that. I hate the Pedo clinic (just as a side note). Anyway, this weekend Hannah lost her lateral baby teeth and Carolyn just sobbed. Hannah has lost more teeth than her and it just isn't ok so Cyrus started wondering why they were so late and he pulled her chart. There it was, no laterals. He came home and gave her $3.00 since the tooth fairy wouldn't be giving her any money for those teeth since they wouldn't be coming out.

ßo Carolyn's teeth are odd. One of them is fused to the tooth beside it so it will come out and she will have to have a space until she is 18 and get an implant (its a bottom one so not so bad). The worst part of it for her that everyone in her class has lost at least six teeth and she has only lost five and there isn't any hope of her losing anymore for quite a while. I think she is over it now. Now we just have to wait for Hannah to finish losing hers so Carolyn doesn't have the constant reminder...

Our Little Hockey Player

Notice the million bruises on his noggin?

Sammy is crazy. 100% nutso! He runs around the house with no regard for walls or doors or corners or tables. That kid wacks his head every single day...besides that he falls down and skins his knees, lives outside so he is covered in bits and dirt, resembles Curious George in the sheer number of things he gets into, acts like we are killing him when we try to sit in church, and all in all acts like A BOY!!!

Sam's current favorite activity is dancing and stomping his feet with his sisters. He tries really hard to jump but that just tuns into a crazy march. We have a family song it goes "We love Carolyn and Sammy, We love Hannah and Katie, We love Mama and Daddy, we are a happy family." If Sam is ever sad, we'll sing that song, and he'll smile big and bust out his dance moves (complete with foot stomping and turning around over and over). Man, we love that kid.

Some of Sam's cool dance moves...like the crap in the background? My house is usually immaculate. This day must have been an exception.