Yellow Belt, Here We Come!

After looking at these pictures, I realize that my camera really sucks!  It is funny that for so long technology was leading us to believe that smaller, more compact, was the best.  I can fit my camera in my pocket along with my cell phone.  But man, does it take terrible pictures.  I have my eye on the new Nikon N60.  Maybe Santa will feel sorry for me this year, we will have to see.  Anyway, the kids were so excited to advance to their yellow belts in Karate.  They practiced so hard to make sure that they were ready for their test and that they would pass with flying colors.  And they have their certificates and nice new shiny yellow belts to prove their accomplishments.
I couldn't resist taking a picture of them meditating.  Too bad I can't get them to meditate at home.  I could clean the house in no time if they would sit on the rug and veg.  

Karate anyone?

This is our new favorite sport.  Markus and Libby have been taking Karate for about a month now and they both absolute love it.  They were so excited when they received an invitation from their sensei to test for their yellow belt.  It was really cute to see them both so excited over their accomplishment.   Both of their tests are on Monday.  I will let you all know how it goes.

Before..................

Erik has delighted in Markus'  "hippy hair" for the last year or so.  Erik decided that Markus, once he received the priesthood at age 12, would no longer have the option of growing his hair out, was going to do it at age 6.  There were days where it was so cute, especially right after I washed it.  And there were days where it was very unrully.  It is hard enough to line 2 girls up in the mornings and do their hair, then to line up the boy to do the same.  Markus came home from school one day and said that kids at school were telling him to get a hair cut.  Once Erik realized Markus didn't like the long look anymore, he let Markus decided what he wanted to do; keep it long or cut it.  Markus decided...........
Short and spikey.  Much better.  Now at least we can rub his head for good luck.  So far, so good.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

The kids were so excited for Halloween, especially Alta.  She asked me everyday if it was time to wear her new princess dress.  She wanted to show all her friends.  I remember the day when my mom would take me to K-Mart and let me pick out my costume.  He was a plastic thing that you would put over your head that would hang like a dress and then it always came with a mask.  Or, we would find things around the house to make up our costume.  I laugh now that it is all about the costume and some of them have sure gotten pricey.  Alta chose sleeping beauty this year.  During preschool, they let them go outside on the playground to play and get out some wiggles.  Even princesses can drive a boat at recess.
During their presentation, Alta got the chance to taste the "witches brew".  She was soooo excited to participate, especially with her mommy there watching.  Lucky for her the brew, that was supposedly made of bat spit, crushed bones, and ghosts' breathe, was just rootbeer.
Markus chose a ninja while Libby was the infamous Hannah Montana.  We live in a neighborhood with lots of kids which equates to lots of candy.  Their buckets were overflowing,  much to my dental bill chagrin.  They had a great time trick or treating.  I constantly had to remind Markus to stop running.  He was 3 houses ahead of Alta and I.  Princesses can't run as fast as a Ninja and a rock star.

Our Baby is 3

 Alta has always been such a special part of our family.  Since we had alread had 1 girl and 1 boy, we decided to not found out what we were having when I was pregnant with Alta.  That was much easier said than done.  It was really hard to only buy yellow and green things.  As many of you know, I love clothes, and I was feeling very frustrated that I couldn't really go out and buy anything.   And to make matters worse, Erik and I had decided on a girls name, but had no idea what we would do if we had a boy.  Like my other 2 pregnancies, I had some high blood pressure issues.  Usually it happens around 37 weeks so the doctors say "great, let's have a baby today."  But,  I had issues with Alta at around 32 weeks so my doctor put me on bedrest.  That was so terrible.  I would lay around the house, not being able to clean or vacuum, and watch the house get messier and messier with a 5 and a 3 year old runny amuck.  That alone shot my blood pressure up, despite my resting.  I asked my doctor if I could continue to go to work if I took it easy.  My blood pressure seem to stabilize while I was at work, believe it or not.  But once again, to my delight, at 37 weeks it was so high that the doctor decided it was time.

I had my last child, Markus, cesarean and knew that the next child would be the same.  When the doctor said it was a girl, I was sooo relieved.  Alta has been the shining star if all of our lives.  She is extremely caring and kissable and loves to be around her family.  She especially loves to tag along with Libby and get into all her stuff while she is at school.  She seems to have inherited most of Markus' attributes; they are two peas in a pod.  

She is a true girly girl at heart and would wear her dress up clothes to bed, church and school if I would let her.  She constantly makes us laugh and loves to sing loudly.  

We love her so much and can't believe she is already 3 years old.  I shouldn't let her, but she loves to sleep with Libby.  Libby has a queen sized bed so she has plenty of room.  Sometimes I sneek into Libby's room at night just to watch my two little angles, snuggling together asleep.  Those moments make motherhood all worth it.  Happy Birthday Alta!

An Evening Out with Grandma

This is so not a great picture of me but I was really happy to have a picture of  my mom and my grandma; 3 generations.  I love living so close to my grandma and I am grateful for every moment that I get to spend with her.  I know that she won't be here forever.  She is 89 years old but doing pretty well.  Thank goodness for Vicky, my down-syndrome aunt.  She lives with my grandma and takes great care of her.

I also love it when my mom is in town.  The older I get the more that I hate that I don't live closer to my mom.  We have always been very close and I wish that I could just drive over to her house for a talk or go to lunch once a week.  I wish my kids could have sleepovers at "grandmas and grandpas", or help grandpa mow the lawn.  But, I am always happy to see her when I can and spend some time with her.  I love my mom.

It's All About Style, not Comfort

These are the choice of shoes that Alta has chosen to where whenever possible.  This morning while I was rushing her out the door so that she wouldn't be late for preschool, I told her to grab her shoes.  First she ran for her fleece lined crocs that made it through winter but didn't clean up well in the washing machine.  Once I told her those weren't appropriate for her "pretty princess dress" that she had chosen as her outfit, (we are all about dresses these days) I told her to grab her shoes by the front door.  To her delight she found her plastic dress up Cinderella shoes.  I could tell on her face that she was sooo excited to wear them.  I felt bad breaking her heart and telling her those wouldn't work either and then she opted for a pair of sandles that were conveniently located by the front door next to the dress up shoes.  But you bet, the moment we came home, she was done with practical and back into what fit her style.

The Joys and Not So Joys of Joy School

I was asked by a couple of girls in my ward if I would like to do Joy School with Alta.  Sounded like a great plan to me.  We have such a huge ward and I thought that it would be a great opportunity to meet some new ladies and for Alta to play with some other kids her age.  There are 7 kids involved,  all roughly the same ages give or take 3 months.  Alta LOVES it.  The first week I was asked to help out my friend who was in charge that week.  Man, was I tired.  7  2 year olds, all with different interests, different mannerisms and different running speeds.  I thought to myself, "What the heck have I done?"  Well, it has been about a month and it was nearing my week to be in charge.  I had so enjoyed dropping Alta off at someone else's house and picking her up 2 hours later, I didn't think I was too excited for my turn.  As you can see, it turned out pretty good.  I was happy that the majority of the kids loved to do dress-up.  I am the only mom with both girls and boys so we had clothes for everyone.   Alta was very excited for her "friends" to come to our house.
What would Joy School be with a bus ride (chair ride...the kids didn't know the difference).  Kids this age can be sooo much fun.  I wonder everyday where the time goes.  I have realized that I don't want to wonder anymore.  I want to cherish each day and then start over the next.

A Woman's Work is Never Done!

Alta may be angry at me someday for posting this picture on my blog but I couldn't resist.  Was she surfing the web, checking her email, updating her blog...?  How funny is this.  I know the life of a 2 year old can be pretty hectic and busy at times but to not take a break from her busy day and bring her princess computer with her to the bathroom was too much for me.  I love this little girl and all the new things she does everyday to make me smile.

Our own Movie Theatre....sort of

My neighbor Jen and I were talking one day while we were marveling at the grass that my neighborhood planners, after 8 months of living here, decided to plant instead of leaving it a big hole of dirt, how fun it would be to show a movie in the park.  We figured because the park had a graduated slope it would make awesome stadium seating.  With an idea of PVC and a white sheet for a screen, Jen's projector and Jumanji on sale at Target for $5.99, we devised a plan.  Jen and I  went around the neighborhood and invited our closest neighbors who have kids and told them to meet at the park Friday night.  After more thought, Jen and her husband remembered their friend who owned a 12 x 12 foot blow up screen.  And yes, they borrowed it.  It was the coolest thing.  

I tried about 10 times to take a picture of the screen but in the dark, this is the best that I could do and I know that this picture doesn't do it justice.  It was so very cool.
Libby invited her best little friend Evan, not just because she always brings great treats.  Everyone grabbed blankets, pillows, popcorn, etc.  The night started out with a little Wii playing until it got dark enough and everyone had arrived.
Shortly before we started the show, this is what the grassy hill in front of my house looked like.  It was so awesome.  While we started out with maybe 6 families, many more walked by and many more stayed.  My husband and I talk everyday about how grateful we are for our neighborhood and all the friendly people that live here.  There aren't very many neighborhoods where people are constantly outside and where you feel like you are comfortable enough with people you don't know to join in on their party.  Jumanji was a hit.  We had made our own Daybreak Movie Theatre.  Thanks to Jen for arranging the best parts of it all...the screen, the projector, the Wii and Jumanji.  Ok she provided everything important but me. 

Party at Daybreak

When I step out my front door, this is my view.  We have a park for my front yard.  If you look real closely at the very end you can see the new Elementary School.  I can stand on my parch and watch the kids walk home.  We love our new neighborhood.  One of the benefits of this neighborhood is there is always stuff going on.  This weekend there was a little fundraising event in this park.  They just recently finished this park about a month ago.  Before that it was a big dirt hole.  We LOVE the grass.  You can't really tell in this picture but the hills are steep and the kids roll down them all day long.  In the winter time they make great tubing hills.   
There was a dunk tank where the kids could get themselves dunked.  Libby was very excited to get dunked.
And.....here she goes.
Markus go his chance too.  Here they are totally soaked but still smiling.  They did this about 3 more times too.
This is Markus and his little neighbor buddy Diego.  Oh, I mean Spiderman and Batman, the dynamic duo.  These 2 little boys play so well together.  In fact, usually you don't even know where they are they are so good together.  That is very unusual for a 5 and 6 year old.  Usually there is no question where they are and what they are doing.  Markus has always been a pretty easy going kid when it comes to playing with friends, especially if they like PS2 and Nintendo.

First Days of School

My kids all started school on different days so it has taken me a few to get these pictures posted.  Here are all 3 of the kids on Wednesday when Libby, Markus and Alta all had school.  Alta was sooo excited to go to school.  She cried on Monday when Libby went, she cried on Tuesday when Markus and Libby went to school.  She had been handing me her new school out fit everyday wanting to know if this was the day that she got to wear it.
This is Markus pouting on the ground.  I know that he will kill me someday for taking pictures of him being "naughty" but I couldn't resist.  This is him after I unzipped the pouch on his backpack to put him lunch money in it and found his Nintendo DS in there.  He didn't like the fact that I wouldn't let him take that to school.  He tried to blame it on Libby.   "She made me do it, Mommy" he said.  I wasn't buying it.
Here is Alta at Challenger Preschool.  I was hoping that she wouldn't be too timid to go to school.  She isn't normally afraid unless she can get something out of me for making her stay.  She has already learned to work me.  But she did great.  I am still working so since Markus is finally in school all day, YEAH!!!!!, I just have to worry about Alta.  I put her in a private school preschool about 5 minutes from my office 3 days a week.  Her Grandma will pick her up when she is done.  Tuesday and Thursday are Erik's days off and he will keep her when he can.  Happy day for me.  I have never been so not stressed about juggling my kids here and there.  They, at least, will hardly know that I am gone.  I will be home before Markus and Libby get home.
This is Libby on her first day of school.  She was very excited to see her friends again.   A little aprehensive too because she was going to a new school and wasn't sure which of her friends from her old school would be there.  It is kind of cute to see her nervous.  Even though it took her 30 seconds to find her friends and forget all about her worries.

Alta still hadn't started school yet.  This is Tuesday.  I am not too good about uploading my pictures in order.  Can you tell that Alta had dressed herself?  I had to laugh because when we walked the kids to school Alta had to bring her "packpack" too.  Today it was a bag left over from one of the kids' birthdays.  In it was a calculator, a stuffed seal and a gogurt.  She was all prepared.

This is what Erik and Alta did on Tuesday.  I was jealous.

Selander Surprise

Erik misses Chad so much that we had to rent a look alike.  :)

Farewell

Obviously, the moving van says someone is moving.  Glad to say that it isn't us, but say to say that it was time for Rochelle to move on to her next adventure in life.  I didn't cry too much saying goodbye this time.  When she went on her mission I was almost inconsolable.  I was such a baby.  I think it was because I knew everything that was going to happen.  Watch the movie, hug goodbye and then watch her go out the doors while we exit another.  Terrible!!!  They are moving to Michigan so her husband can attend Law School.  They will be there for 3 years.  I am just excited for a new place to visit with a free hotel stay.
They were a little anxious about taking a 3 month old on a 3 day journey.  My kids were so sad to see Jude go.  They love him so much and ask me everyday when he is coming over.  I will miss having them so close.
This picture breaks my heart but it is priceless. 
Rochelle actually liked driving the moving van.  I think if the price of diesel gas wasn't so high, she might just keep it.  They liked being as high as a semi on the road.
Honestly, I get more teary eyed looking at these pictures now than I did taking them.  It is always sad to let people go.  I sit around (via cell phone of course) and talk with my sisters and complain all the time how none of us live by each other.  I was happy to have Rochelle here close for a while.  I don't think that we will every live by each other ever in our lives.  We were raised with no cousins around and I fear my children will have the same.  We have been trying to convince my dad to buy land somewhere big enough for us all to build houses on.  He isn't convinced yet.....either are our husbands!

Mormon Fear Factor

We were asked to participate in the First Annual Daybreak 14th Ward Fear Factor.  I teased Markus all the way to the park that he was going to have to eat worms.  He was a little upset about that and about the fact that he wouldn't wake up when I asked him too and so he didn't have time to eat breakfast.  He loves to eat breakfast.  We recruited a young couple in our ward since Alta was too small to play, not that she didn't try.  

Task #1:  Momma bird and Baby Bird:  you must dig through a pie plate of whipped cream, search for worms (gummi of course) and drop into open baby birds's mouth.

Oh yes, here is our happy family, before the fun began.

Task #2:  Pucker Up:  drink 4 shot cups of lemon juice.

Great Face Erik, but we still lost this event.

Event #3  Beard 'o Fruit Loops:  self explanatory
We lost this event too, but we were close.

Task #4  Bucket of Snakes:  my favorite, not just because I won!

We ended up winning 2nd place, lost to the neighbors.  It really was a fun event.

Indecisive

Before anyone laughs at how many times I have changed my blog layout in the last month...at least it is easier to change than my furniture arrangements.  Believe me, I have tried that too.  I just can't decide whether I want frilly or no frills.  We are going to try frilly for a while and see what happens.  For anyone that has known me since Jr. High, I change arrangements often.  Don't want to get too bored.

Wet and (very) Wild

Front Row:  Alexis (Jason's step daughter), Alta and Libby  Back Row:  Nick (Jason's step son), Hunter (Jason's son) and Markus.  This is the gang on the way to Raging Waters in California. Were we going to be in for a surprise when we got there.  Kristine and I somehow got nominated to plan our family vacations.  Every else just goes along for the ride.  We are getting larger and larger each year so I decided an agenda would be best.  I also decided that 4 days at the beach was plenty so why not add a day at one of the largest water parks in the U.S.  I didn't realize that this water park would cram half of California into it.  It was packed!!!!!  It had 12 different waterslides and 3 different areas for the kids to play in and a million visitors. (give or take a few)  Erik and I spent the first hour looking for a place to put our stuff while the rest of the family was working their way to the park.  I was angry, to say the least, Erik was angry, it was 95 degrees and we stood there in utter dismay on where the heck we were going to sit.  After some coaxing to the water park staff by Erik, we decided a $95 cabana was our best bet.  I had to put the price in there because it sort of made me want to throw up!   What kind of structure with 4 posts and a mosquito net costs $95 dollars a day.  Only in California.  It turned out to be the best money we could have spent despite my disgust.

The kids had sooooo much fun.  My kids are like fishes.  They could possibly spend the rest of their lives in the water.  As you will soon see, Alta does whatever Markus does.  Markus slides down the slide with his hands on his head.....
Alta goes down the slide with her hands on her head.
Remember when you were little and you would flip her hair on your head like you were princess leah?  Markus can do that too...... haha.  This is Markus, Hunter and Alta.