Monday, August 29, 2011

A surprise visit from Mom and Dad!


Really made my heart sing!! What better thing than an unexpected drop-in, Mom and Dad from Michigan. They had decided to go an hour or more out of their way to drop in for lunch with my sister Kristi and I (Kristi in pic with Mom, Dad, and Littles) this day on their way to Kari's (3 more hours to go). One hour with Mom and Dad always does fill our buckets! (and our bellies! I was laughing at Clara's belly in this pic!)

Happy days!!!

A few friends make it worth the race!

Emily hates track. hates it. hasn't wanted to do it the last two years. but she does. why?

Because of Anna. Anna at least likes track a little, though she doesn't like the stress of the races. She pushes herself so hard at them! How can the shortest one on the track come in as one of the top 3? pushing... really hard. Emily hates coming in just behind her.

Why does Anna do track? Something so hard and constantly stretching? Because of her friends, one of those being big brother Isaac, who always talks her into it.

I guess friends make it all worth it in the end.

So here is a pic of Isaac and Anna and Emily with some of their friends, enjoying track. ;)






Sunday, August 28, 2011

Dancing Doll

I must admit one of the most darling things to witness as a Mom is a little girls love of dance! It seems the fountain of love, laughter, joy, and movement well right up in them and the desire to dance erupts! Zoie Grace wanted to DANCE!

She'd been asking for a while. And quite opposite from my oldest girls, who were enrolled at age 3 just for fun (by a Mom full of zest and a little more time), Gracie had to keep asking and asking and asking. Finally, Mom bravely took on one more 'class'.

This only got the ball rolling - Katey wanted to dance and Esther Bethie too. Soon I was at the dance studio every Monday afternoon for a couple of hours and Wednesday too. And Zoie danced! And Katey.. and Esther... and, I must admit, my heart too!

Could anything be quite as cute as Zoie's still-baby-looking body with a teeny bit of pigeon toe doing leaps through the air? Could anything be quite as breathtaking as Esther's surprised grace, her body just that much older and stronger and leaner than her sisters, as she posed a beautiful pirouette? And no achievement could be quite as exciting to Katey as she conquered her first back-bend and practiced cart- wheels to perfection!

So I loved the show and brought Emily and Anna along to see the 'pre-recital' performance on the last day of dance class (no recital for us, they are always on Sunday here) to celebrate the girls growth. Can't you see Emily's dancing smile?!

"JUST DANCE!!!! I hope you DANCE!!!!"



Thursday, August 25, 2011

Seminary Graduation!!!











Wow, what a TREMENDOUS year of JOY and LEARNING!!!! It has been REMARKABLE!!! Here are some pics of graduation night. We had 15 enrolled in early morning seminary for our class this year, 11 met the requirement of 80% attendance or better to get their certificate from the Church Education System for studying The Doctrine and Covenants book of scripture. I am SO PROUD of these beautiful youth!!! 6 am every school day at our house. What an extraordinary team we had this year with Sister Leggeiri coming from the East to teach Tuesdays and Brother Hill driving daily and picking up anyone who needed a ride along the way!!! And I am so proud of my husband and me too - we did it! - our first year of early morning seminary! Breakfasts and lessons ready to go each day!! We had SO MANY rich blessings come our way!

(As a post note in august I can tell you we have only two that graduated from their four years last year and 7 new ones coming - at least!!! We are SO EXCITED!!!!! Old Testament here we come!!!)

JUMP into FUN with a Party for Four!




















Emily and Anna, our now FIFTEEN year old twins, and their good friends Phoebe and Paige all celebrate B-days the same week of May! Had to celebrate in a very big way!! JUMP!!!!!!!!!!


One of the advantages of a smaller High School would be more mingling amongst all the grades. We have found there are no lines between grades at Loyalsock. One of the best blessings of the year for Emily and Anna were finding best friends in these two senior girls who literally took these twin freshman under their wings. We will miss you Robyn and Stephanie!!! Off to fly at college!!!

Wicked Whoopies!


What a THANKYOU!! Wow, from a wonderful friend. Makes me want to be Wickedly good at being grateful too. THANK YOU GLORIA!!!

How fun that when the kids saw the box, but couldn't open it yet because Mom wasn't home from picking kids up from lessons yet, they googled 'wicked whoopies' to find out what these were. :) And an old friend popped up on the screen! Come to find out one of their good friends from NH has an aunt who started creating WICKED WHOOPIES!! (and posed for one of the advertisements.) I think you'd better all take a try!!!

WIIIICCCCKKKKEEEEEDDDDDD!!!!!!

New kittens!



Now we know why every barn has a cat. yes, the rat. The nicest, cleanest, safest way to keep them out would be the cat. And so the girls are thrilled for here are their 2 new barn cats. Almost too cute for a barn but barn cats nonetheless. Now rats, SCAT!

Trying to save somebunny...


Missy brought us a bunny. A very, tiny, baby one, not even a week old we estimated. But we had to try. We read up on baby bunnies, got a bottle, goats milk and such, enjoyed little bunny for a few days but found the forecast to be true. As we had read online and heard and studied, we learned baby bunnies just cannot live without a Mommy. She is the only one, this early in life, that can give them what they need.

Sadly, our poor bunny passed away despite our tender, careful care. But she did leave an important lesson behind. Everybunny needs a Mommy.

Little ones only get what they need to survive and thrive from Mom those first few years. I would be the first to attest to that after studying child and human development and observing many different preschool and daycare settings. Nobody loves or cares for your baby like you do. Nobody can nurture or offer the security, consistency, LOVE, learning, happiness, and joy to your child that you can. Most especially day cares. Too many children for too few under-qualified and even under-experienced caregivers. A combination that creates suffering. The worst was witnessing how the children said they missed their mothers (most often and sometimes dads), how often they cried they wanted to go home, or wished the day was over - no way to spend childhood - in longing for love from their parents. So mothers remember - it is so easy to forget - to survive this life and to thrive, every child NEEDS their Mom, most especially early on.




Notice anything special about this picture?



Yes, my Honey is in it, but do you like the ties? ;)

Pres. Leggeiri gave the stake presidencies these ties for Christmas.

What a wonderful way to show 'oneness of heart', men!

Suessical the Musical! Cast Party our house!

















I was super impressed, I must admit, when my 4 oldest children, by their own motivation and without help of a single adult, (Dad was out of town & I busy with other things) cleaned the whole basement from it's winter collecting, which included setting up 2 separate family room areas with TV and WII, along with a stage complete with dressing room, lights, and mic; put the trampoline after winter storage; put up the zip line that we hadn't taken out of the box for a year; and made sure the rest the house was straight. Wow! With that much work done the cast is welcome any time!

Greatest part is that all the work was worth it! What a Party!!! What FFFUUUUNNNN!!!! Compliments to the cast! They were SUPERB!!! Not only on stage but as guests afterwards! Way to SHINE!!!