The "perfect" Father's Day!

Our father's day began with a little one waking us up at 6:30AM (that's before my alarm even went off) but she was happy, so we let her get out of bed! Carissa helped her dad make breakfast, and when it was time to get ready for church, she did it without complaining. We were even on time! (which is really tough when you have to WALK across the street!)
When we got to church she sat reverently, folded her arms for the prayer (well I guess she did pitch a fit when she realized I had to lead the music..ya, forgot to prep her for that one! Totally MY fault!)

When it was time to go up and sing a little songs to all the dad's, she was a bit hesitant to go up front. But then she saw her friend, Tina, who we go visiting teaching to, and she marched right up to the front. She sang the first song that she knew, struggled with the second one (they all did actually) and then came back to the bench and gave her dad a big hug! It was the cutest thing EVER! Now some of you have seen something like this occur frequently in your own families, but this is the FIRST time she has done something outside her "comfort zone" without us dragging her!

We thought for sure our good luck was running out as it came time to head to primary. But we were wrong again. She surprised us by going into the primary room and sitting with her class, instead of with Andrew at the back of the room. Another class didn't have enough kids to do the opening exercises, so they asked Carissa if she would give the prayer. At first she told them no, but when it was time to do it, she walked right up to that pulpit, stepped up on the stool, and said that prayer! Everyone who has been working with her was totally in shock at this point!

But is it over yet....could we possibly make it through class too???? Andrew came and got me so we could switch off, but she walked right into the classroom, sat on the chair and didn't scream! We've been trying to do this since January!! This is some serious accomplishment! But just in case she decided she was "done" I remained in the hallway. Her teacher took the kids out to get drinks, she saw me, and when they finished, she went right back in! But I remained there, cause I just didn't believe that she really would stay. Toward the end of class, the door opened, she came out, and I told her that she needed to stay in class so that dad could come pick her up, and see her cute little tie that she made. And lo and behold, she said "OK" and walked back in!

When Andrew came to get her, she was so excited to show him what she had made in class. The presidency helped the kids make cute little "pockets" with little slips of paper inside telling what the child likes about their dad's. I've never really thought that the things that we do with her really make an impact on her, but I've been proven wrong!

(She was so proud to share her papers with the family!!)
Here are her answers:

You're the best dad because you: "play princess cards".

Thank you for always: "watching movies with me".

I love it when you: "cook me cup of noodles". (I have her convinced that I don't know how...simply cause I can't stand the smell of ramen noodles!)

You make me happy when you: "lay on the floor and I jump on your back"!!! (which she does EVERY time he lays on the floor!)

So funny to me that these little things are important to her! She really has such a great relationship with her dad, and they get along so great! I'm so lucky to have Andrew in my life, as he's been a great dad for almost 10 years!! What a lucky gal I am to have someone so involved in his kids' life, and is such a support to me! Thanks honey...you're the BEST!

And of course there's my dad that I am so grateful for! He's taught me so many things and has always been there to help when things were tough! Thanks Dad, for everything!

Christmas in June

We took the opportunity to go up to the traveling train tour for the new Disney movie opening in November. It was strange thinking of Christmas in June, but it was free, and something to do, so off we went.

Carissa wasn't so keen on the idea of going to see a train (not high on her priority list) and pretty much fought us the whole way. When we got there, and we finally found the end of the line (believe me...the line was L.O.N.G!) we were told the wait was 3 hours from that point, and then it takes about an hour to get through the exhibit. There was no way that Carissa was going to wait patiently for that long, and it was a good thing that Andrew was with us (it was just down the street from his office, so he took a "little" break!) so he very sly-like found a spot that we could slip into. That reduced our wait from about 3.5 hours down to 1.5 hours.........still that is a VERY long time to be stuck in line with a grumpy girl (and 2 less than enthusiastic teenagers!) And even with a bag of "bribe" M&M's, she still was a major grump!


When we got to the point where we could see the train, she started to get excited, but still needed some reassuring from us. (And we didn't really know if there was going to be anything in there that would hold her interest) Here's the side of the Amtrak train....it was HUGE!


Like I said, strange to think "Christmas" in June, especially when I saw the "carolers" dressed in the full authentic Christmas Carol costumes

(they had to be ROASTING....the sun was out after hiding for several days, and both Nikelle and I got sunburned...but that doesn't reaquire much sun. But it was warmer than it's been for weeks!)

When we got inside the train exhibit, they had displays of the types of costumes that people would have worn around the time this story was written. And they had on display some authentic Charles Dickens literature. It was neat to see the bindings, and worn pages.

Then the next section had the models that they used to film the animation. This is the model of Big Ben.


Then we walked to the next car. It had a bunch of equipment that they used to do the animation motion capture. They film in a room with mirrors so that the movements are captured from all angles. Carissa discovered the mirrors and began doing her cute little "I'm a pretty princess" dance. And I discovered my worst nightmare......

FOUR of her!!! Can you imagine that??? I think I'll stick with ONE for right now. She was so captivated with the mirrors, and she held up the line for a couple of minutes. Then when other kids wanted to look at themselves, she was back to the grumpy girl!!!

It was a fun little road trip. If you want to check out the other stops along the way, here's the website.

Muddy Fun

Now that the kids are out of school, they are looking for things to entertain themselves. Nikelle asked to go out on a bike ride with her friend Jasmine the other day. Well considering all the rain that we've had the past 2 weeks, this really shouldn't have come as much of a surprise, but they came back coated with MUD! They insisted that I take a picture of them, and in the process of "cleaning" they managed to have a pretty fun water fight!
This is what happens when you go through mud about 8 inches deep!

It always gets messier before it gets better!!

Once the hose came out, and they had gotten a "little" wet....she started eyeing the next culprit! Donavan was outside cleaning out the car, getting it all pretty. Look at the serious contemplation going on in her face! I shudder to think what the next picture would have looked like if she had doused him!!

Then the water fight began. They both were fighting for the power of the hose!



Jasmine overcomes the hose....she wins the "power"!





OH the joys of childhood! Now if it wasn't still so dang cold, we could have all joined in. Carissa was extremely dissapointed when I wouldn't let her join in with the hose! But she did manage to splash around in the water run off!

Finally happened + Rainstorm

Well, after being a mom for over 17 years, and never having a child that was ultra naughty, Carissa has finally labled the "naughty" one! My big kids never thought to cut their own hair or any one else's (thank goodness!), they never tried coloring on walls or furniture. And within about a month, my little "Princess Monster" (as we have lovingly nicknamed her) has done both.

She was making some art work, and insisted on using her "safety" scissors. Then she dissapeared behind the chair, and the next thing I knew, she came out with a chunk of her hair. Thankfully it wasn't the bangs, since those are always pinned back. But it was a nice chunk out of the side. And thank goodness her hair grows really fast, and when I take her in for her next cut, it will almost be the right length.

Now as far as the walls go. I am still very fortunate. Since she didn't actually color on the wall. But the TV cabinet wasn't so lucky! I guess she's been working on this little masterpiece for a bit now!

When I found it today, it had a mixture of black crayon, pencil and some nice red going on there! Good thing I had a small piece of Magic 'Eraser left over! For some reason this child is fascinated with cutting things (knives too...she always wants to help empty the dishwasher and asks if she can do the butter knives.....at least she's not asking for the steak knives!)

Even though she is by far my naughtiest child EVER....she immediately put herself in time out, and then came and apologized to me while I was cleaning it up!

And maybe the reason for the coloring, is that the weather lately has been so unpredictable! The other night we were all set to grill some chicken as soon as Andrew got home. It was drizzling a little bit, so we weren't too worried. We just put the grill at the edge of the garage, and it's usually fine, as long as it's not blowing south. By the time we got the grill hot enough, the rain was coming down in a fast and furious downpour! And since Carissa wanted to be with her dad, we got her all dressed up in her rainboots, coat and umbrella.




She was so excited to go out and play in the rain......until she realized how hard it was raining! But it was a fun 40 seconds anyway!

Youth Temple Celebration

My big kids had the privilege of being involved in the cultural celebration for the temple to be dedicated in the very near future. They practiced for months to prepare and were very excited to participate in this once in a lifetime opportunity.

Our stake was given the Polynesian theme, so the girls did a hula and stick dance, and the boys got to take out their aggression while they did the Hakka! They had so much fun learning these dances. So much that Donavan would practice in the kitchen....and then would be embarrassed when I caught him! But after practice one night, he came home with his "war face" on. Unfortunately someone in the higher ups decided that they didn't want to take the chance of having "unauthentic" looking markings, or somehow have gang signs on their faces, so they were unable to paint their faces for the performance. But just use your imagination and pretend all the boys were painted something like this!

I never got any pictures of either of the kids in their costumes that night, because there was NO way I was able to find them with 7000 kids in there!!

But the highlight for Donavan was auditioning for the brass ensemble. He was able to participate for both temple celebrations. So basically that meant additional rehearsals, and memorizing the music. But in the end it was awesome!! The music that was composed was all amazing! And when the brass kicked off the whole show, it was so powerful!
So I took these pictures at the first dress rehearsal that was at the conf center. This is the whole group of 25 kids.

Then in this picture, you can see Donavan walking through the corridor to get to the little window (see where the arrow is pointing...)

they had to climb through the little window there, and stand out on that scaffolding platform, which was covered in black for the performance. They had one scaffolding on each side and then had 5 herald trumpets standing on center stage. They sounded really amazing!

What an amazing experience for the kids!
Here's a link to some pictures of the actual celebration.
http://www.ldsmag.com/churchupdate/090602mountain.html

I'm hoping it will be broadcast at some point, for those that were unable to attend, because it was a beautiful and amazing celebration.

Preschool Graduation

Last week marked the end of the preschool year for Carissa. They celebrated by having a "park day". We ate lunch at the park and played! She was having a great time until it was time for "organized games", and then she didn't want to participate. But the big event was the actual graduation that took place later that night. We arrived at the library, and she was excited to see her friends.

She even allowed her teacher to place the little hat on her head.

Then she danced in the isles while her other classmates got their hats on.

Then it was time to walk in as a class, and that's where she fell apart. She didn't want to walk with them. She didn't want to stand in the front. She didn't want to sing any songs......

UNTIL.....

the magic song! Then she ran up to join her class. She sang her song, jumped when she was supposed to jump, and sang at the top of her volume (which we all know is REALLY loud!)

And after that, she was happy. She sang the rest of the songs, even improvised some dancing between them!

And here she is with her official graduation diploma!

Wow, what a year. She has learned so much! We look forward to another year of preschool with the same teacher! Now let's just hope next fall I won't have to stay there every day!

Summer preview!

I go a couple of weeks between blog posts and suddenly I have a ton of stuff going on! Guess it's just the busy spring creeping out of the sleepy winter! But we sure have been enjoying the sunshine lately. It's been a bit cold still, but chilly is still better than snowing anyday!

So as the weather has warmed up, our grass was finally starting to grow, and it was quite long in places!! So Carissa decided that she needed to "mow" if for her dad. Hey, with a "mower" like this, maybe we don't need a big mower!!


And I have a feeling we'll be seeing a ton of this in the coming days! She's starting to get fancy on her scooter, and it just cracks me up! Check out her leg in the back. Very fancy!


Hope everyone is having a great spring. I'm sure it's gonna turn to summer before we know it. And I'm looking forward to it. Now if Carissa and I can get over the colds we picked up....I'd be lovin' spring a bit more!