Hello!

I just wanted to take a minute to report on a wonderful Thanksgiving! My family--mom, dad, Zack, Alivia, Lindsey, Brian, and Coleson all came down here for the week. We had a great time just visiting, relaxing, eating, eating, eating, and watching the grandkids get spoiled. Most notable about the week is Willie's new scooter. He hasn't forgotten about it for even one second since he got it last Friday. He's got a cold now, so I didn't let him outside today to ride the scooter--which didn't go over real well! Grumpy, grumpy Willie.

Grumpy Gus, too. And Emmeline. They are all sick--a product of the weather turning cold, staying up late, getting up early, etc. Oh well. We took Benjamin to the doctor today to put ourselves at ease. This is the first cold he has had that hasn't turned immediately into bronchitis or worse. Woohoo! So we'll keep praying that he (as well as the other two) get better without complications this time. The kids also got flu shots today while at the doctor's office. You can imagine how that went over. And, one final note, Benjamin now weighs 22 lbs. That's two pounds in a month...and he's now surpassed Emmeline...she was 22 lbs. at one year.

Last night we put turned our small apartment into a winter wonderland for Family Home Evening. It looks fantastic--homemade foam nativity set and all! I just have to hang some lights outside and make Benjamin's Christmas stocking and we'll be set. Also, I found my Yankee Stadium tree ornament! That made my night. I found it in an obscure corner of a Christmas box. It was obviously the first thing I packed, duh, probably so I wouldn't lose it in last year's move! Anyway, it's in a prominent spot on our tree now. Well, everywhere is "prominent" on our tree, seeing as it's only three feet tall...but that's a topic for another day!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

What we're thankful for...

For Family Home Evening last night we made a list of the things we are thankful for.

Emmeline is thankful for her pony, her animals, the Scriptures, her Primary class, and preschool.

Joshua is thankful for cars, trucks, tractors, milk, and "tu-ee-i" (UTI).

Benjamin is thankful for food, table scraps, crumbs, morsels, and niblets.

Luke is thankful for Mexifornia, his job, the armed forces, Gina Bardoo, and the fact that DJ pays his rent on time.

Kirstin is thankful for this wonderful time of year, uninterrupted sleep, the Yankees, twinkies, Luker-Baduker, and the fact that Benjamin finally cut a tooth.

We are all grateful for each other and for the Gospel.

Oh, and turkey, mashed potatoes, and gravy....mmmmm...

Here's one I'll have to put in EmJ's journal!

Emmeline has a friend-boy here who is moving in a few days. On the way home from preschool the other day, he was upset because the other boys told him that they weren't his friends anymore because he was moving. Emmeline said, "It's okay, Chase, even though you're moving I'm still your friend." She's so sweet! Sweet enough that this boy wants to name his baby sister Emmeline! I love it. Perhaps EmJ would have come out of her shell anywhere, but meeting Chase seems to have been a big part of her transformation. For that reason, alone, I'm glad we moved here.

Turkey Head

Today as Luke was leaving I said, "Bye, sweetie!" Emmeline burst into tears and said, "Sweetie is the girl's name! 'See you later, turkeyhead,' is the boy's name!"

In other news, Benjamin had his 9 month checkup this week. He's 29 1/2 inches long and about 20 lbs. We weighed Joshua just for fun and he tipped the scales at a whopping 26 lbs!

And finally, the thermostat inside our house yesterday read 80 degrees. That's just not right. It's November.

Happy Halloween and Lots of Pictures!

Yay! Pictures for all of you finally! Happy Halloween! Here are my two cowboys! Scroll down for lots more pictures...dating way, way back. I'll try to stay on top of things from now on!

Happy Halloween Pictures!

Cinderella! Sorry about the sideways picture. See the next post for an explanation!
Cinderella and the distracted cowboy!
Cowboy and his sippy...at least it's not a binky!
Cinderella and her pal "Gus-Gus!"
Emmeline's first day of preschool.

Pictures!

Joshua's new tatoo!
While we were in San Diego, Benjamin got to go on a motorcycle ride!
Emmeline's first day of preschool (and Joshua's first day of pre-preschool!)
Joshua's tat again! Sorry, I forgot to rotate these pictures before transferring them to the portable hard drive. I'm not sure if Luke's computer has the tools to edit pictures, so for now enjoy them sideways!
This was the shot of Benjamin that ended up on the Diamond Vision at the San Diego Padres game last summer. Adorable!

Emmeline's First Talk

Yesterday, Emmeline gave her first talk in Primary. She did such a good job! We've been working all week to memorize her talk about following the Prophet. She told about how she read the entire Book of Mormon last year and talked about how our family was blessed for following President Hinckley's counsel. She has really blossomed since moving here and I am loving it!

Last night I finally downloaded pictures onto a portable hard drive, so tonight, when I have a few minutes, I'll post Halloween pictures, first day of school, etc, etc! Hooray! Finally!

And if I can figure it out, I have some video clips of Benjamin army crawling for goodies (he plays fetch), and the kids tormenting him.

Oh gross...Luke just came in the door caked in mud. He's been outside honing his Turkey Bowl skills with the neighborhood kids. Looks like they got him...lovely...I need to go do laundry I guess!

Primary Program

I have only a minute to post, but I wanted to report that Emmeline did FANTASTIC in the Primary Program last Sunday. They have practiced three times. The first time she cried, the second time she refused to talk, but with no tears. The third time she said her part with some cajoling. When it came time to go up to the front for the program she got teary eyed and had me walk her to her seat. As soon as she got there, though, she stood up with the whole primary and said the first part (that they say all together). She sang the first song, then marched up to that microphone, grabbed it, and yelled her part! It was awesome. Luke and I were laughing and crying because we were so happy for her, and it was so cute how she yelled. She sang every song--most while picking her nose, flirting with he kid next to her, or examining the scab on her elbow--and said the last part loud and clear (with the whole primary). She was fabulous! I am so proud of her (to the tune of a huge bag of bribery candy)!

On Sunday I got called as the Primary pianist. It's one of my dream church callings. I'm thrilled!

I've got to go...nap time has officially ended.

Thus we see...

In the Book of Mormon, there are many vital points following the phrase, "Thus we see..." So, without going into gory detail, here's the vital point I learned today. "Thus we see" that a boy named Willie should never be left alone with an art box full of GLITTER and his little brother.

Today I felt like the dentist on Finding Nemo, "All the animals have gone mad!"

But, for good news, for about two hours today every stitch of laundry in this house was clean, folded, and put away. I think that's the first time since having Benjamin that has happened. Then Willie spilled his milkshake and the dirty laundry began again...

We had an enjoyable time at the Pumpkin Farm yesterday. The kids were adorable holding baby chickens, ducklings, rabbits, and goats. Joshua loved the tractor ride, and Emmeline took a million years selecting just the perfect pumpkin. Turtle Grandma came with us and was a huge help as usual with the kids!

Benjamin is keeping us in stitches lately with his antics. He has figured out the fine art of getting Willie in trouble, which just makes me laugh. He can crawl now, but prefers the army crawl and has calluses on his big toes to prove it. He and Luke have growling matches at the dinner table, and he can find the ON button to the most annoying, loud toy we have...ughh. My favorite, though, is "So big!" When I ask him how big he is, he gets all excited like, "I know I'm supposed to do something now, but what?" He claps, waves, flaps, and finally puts one fist in the air. It's the progression of all his "tricks" until he finds the right one. It's hilarious. Oh, he also doesn't like green beans. A killer because that's the ONLY vegetable the others will consistently eat (the others being EmJ, Willie, AND Luke!). Benjamin will eat anything else that you offer him though, including GLITTER!

And that's it.

Next Year?!

A frequent bedtime story around here is "Casey At the Bat." Lately, Luke's been changing the words to, "...the mighty A-Rod had struck out!" Bummer. Maybe next year. Hmmm...

I don't really have much to talk about today, but it's been a while since I've posted, so I wanted to let you all know that we're still alive and well. The house is very quiet for a change, which is very strange, but very nice. Joshua is at playgroup (he screamed bloody murder when I dropped him off, so I'm waiting by the phone for the "come and get this child" call!), Benjamin is asleep, and Emmeline went to the gym with Luke. Silence. Beautiful.

Last night we delivered Halloween treats to some friends and neighbors for Family Home Evening. We're trying to woo people into being our friends with my excellent baking abilities. Now that I'm thinking about it, that's probably why we have no friends yet...

Tomorrow, Emmeline's preschool is taking a trip to the pumpkin farm. I think I'm as excited as she is. She keeps asking if she can wear her Halloween costume to school. NO! I'm going to burn that Cinderella dress on November 1st!

Well, that's about it from us. I'm going to go clean this house and listen to the ball game while I have two free hands and some peace and quiet!

Playoffs start tomorrow!!!!

Well, Benjamin just had his 6 month check-up and shots (2 months late!) He recieved a clean bill of health. We really like our new doctor so far (and he even speaks English, what a treat!). Benjamin weighed in at 19 lbs and 29 inches. He's in only the 22% for weight (I'm actually suprised he's as light as he is), but he's in the 93% for height. I haven't yet looked in the baby books to compare the boys, but I think that Willie was about 19 lbs at a year, maybe a little less.

One more fun thing to note. This weekend it has finally turned to fall here in Sacramento!!! I actually crawled UNDER the covers to go to bed last night! We still have our windows open 24/7, but it's pleasant, not hot anymore. Thank goodness!

Puke and Crawling

Good news and yucky news.

Benjamin is an official mover. He does more of a fish flop than an actual crawl, but it's worthy of a blog, a journal entry, some pictures, and an update in the baby book!

Joshua has a bug or something. I think we went through every blanket and towel and sheet in the house last night. Gross. He seems a little bit better this morning, though, so hopefully it has run it's course.

That's it. We can't get the wireless internet to work in our apartment for some reason, so the computer with all the pictures is out of comission. So, still no pictures, but we'll continue working on the problem. Bye, now!

No Idea!

Many of you will remember that when Emmeline was a baby her favorite phrase was, "No idea!" (pronounced "no 'dea"). Well, we haven't heard the phrase in a while until today on the way home from church. As we summitted on the way home, Luke was going off about how all the speakers in stake conference had gone over leaving no time for the Stake President, how he couldn't hear anything because we had to sit in the back, etc. Once he was done with his tirade he asked EmJ what she learned in church and she said clearly, with attitude, "I have no-o idea!" It was hysterical and totally fit the moment. Ironically, Willie's favorite phrase right now is, "I don't know." That's helpful. Did you hit your brother? I don't know. Do you need a diaper change? I don't know. Can you count to ten for me? I don't know.

One other humorous story, that perfectly illustrates the great "country" we live in. Emmeline and Joshua were playing outside at the park with Joshua's pop gun (and about three other kids). I could see the kids from the window, as could the parents of all the other kids. Anyway, I'm sitting at my window laughing at the kids playing Mcgyver or something, and all of a sudden the apartment security man speeds up in his golf cart yelling to "put the gun down!" My kids, of course, clammed up, but one of the other girls held up the gun to show him it was just a toy.

Now, I have no problem with building security looking out for my kids. Awesome. I do have a problem with the fact that somebody finked on my kids. Somebody too nosy to mind their own business and too cowardly to take any responsibility. Don't you think that if you saw kids that you thought were playing with a gun you would get that gun from them as soon as possible? In this case, all you had to do was watch or listen for two seconds to know they did NOT have a gun.

Grrrr. I was going to go off about personal responsibility, with words like liberal and moron mixed in, but that wouldn't be very nice. I'm no good at articulating myself anyway. It just really bothered me that this happened and that the motivation of the "finker" was all wrong. Besides, it's probably the same person that tattle-tales when the kids ride their bikes out there. Grrrr.

Finally, we've been teaching the kids how to spell. Next time you see them, ask them how to spell Success...they'll say "W-O-R-K." We're working on Problems..."L-I-B-E-R-A-L."

Well, now I feel sufficiently guilty for chewing out the world. We're not always this cynical! I promise that the next post will be good and uplifting!

Preschool

So, I'm sitting here eating stale peanut butter sandwiches and trying to catch my breath. Five four year olds? Three hours? No problem, right? Yikes! Today was MY first day of preschool. Emmeline started preschool about a month ago. We do it with the other kids at church and rotate the preschool from house to house--so this week is my week. I enjoyed today, and I'm sure I'll enjoy Wednesday, but I'm sure glad I only have school at my house every fifth week! Today confirmed what I already knew--kids intimidate me, and they smell fear! Give me a bunch of high schoolers and I'm good, preschoolers, not so good. One of the activities we did, however, was making letters with our bodies (hold your arms out to make a T, etc), and I really enjoyed that. I think on Wednesday I'll pull out a mat and teach them how to do cartwheels. I can handle cartwheels. Maybe I should just designate myself the P.E. teacher...no shapes or letters or singing at my house.

It was really interesting to see EmJ in her domain. She let everybody know the rules of the house and the best hiding spots for hide and seek. It suprised me how vocal she was, since she never usually says a word in primary or preschool. Usually she also just sits back and watches, doesn't participate at all, but in our house she opened up a little bit more.

Alright. I've sufficiently caught my breath. It's time to go clean up and get ready to do it again in a few days.

Proof that kids listen to what you say...

It's been so long since I've been on here that I had to look up my password today. To all of you religious bloggers (who need to get a life) I apologize! I decided today that if I wait for the move to be "complete" and the house to be "perfect", then I will never get anything done, ever. So, tonight I'll humor you with a story...and maybe one day I'll be able to post pictures and updates of everything that's been happening in the last few months.

Today, EmJ came up the stairs and noticed that Luke had moved one of her toys out of it's place. Here's the exchange:

EmJ: What happened here?
Luke: Sorry, I accidentally moved it.
EmJ: Do you think it's just going to crawl back on it's own?
Luke: I forgot to put it back.
EmJ: Do you think it's going to crawl back?
Luke: I'll put it away.
EmJ: I'll just do it.

One more thing...We have stairs! An upstairs and a downstairs!! You wouldn't believe how much more space we feel like we have in this new townhome, simply because of the stairs. It's wonderful!

We're Back!

Just a quick note to say that we've returned safely to our homeland--Mexifornia. We were greeted with a heat wave...how nice! NOT! The temperature in our car read 113 degrees in Woodland, so the 103 degrees in San Jose seemed like a relief. At 9 pm, it was still 101 degrees. We got home and ran straight to the pool for a night swim...finally, something cool.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll get a minute to post some pictures and write a little bit!

One more post from San Diego

We went to the Padres game last Saturday night, and Benjamin got on the big screen!!! He drooled for the "smile cam" on the diamond vision--so cute!

That's it. I just wanted to share that fun news!

San Diego

So here we are in beautiful San Diego! Luke, Benjamin, and I are here for Luke's "National Sales Meeting." Emmeline and Joshua are staying with the Grandmas and Grandpas, and are probably having more fun than us!

Because Benjamin is here, I'm not allowed to attend any of the UTI events, but I'm not complaining. On Thursday I read an entire book and watched a lot of baseball. On Friday I made 46 greeting cards, one scrapbook layout, worked out, shopped, half of another book, and put down a pint of cookies and cream ice cream!

Our hotel is connected to Petco Park, where the Padres play, and has a gorgeous view (I'll post pictures later) of the ocean. On both Thursday and Friday night, we got to see firework shows out over the water. Luke and I are on the 21st floor of the hotel, so the 'works were pretty much eye level and amazing!

I did get to attend the awards ceremony last night. Luke recieved, among other things, his "2-year service" award. We get an engraved glass plaque when we get home...don't be jealous Mom A, I'm sure it's not as cool as your 30th Anniversary one! Oh brother! Why can't they give us gift certificates for movies or food or money or something USEFUL!

Has anyone ever had "tres leche" cake? Oh my gross! It tastes like they accidentally dropped the cake in some dirty dishwater before serving it. I guess that's why I had to get that pint of ice cream last night!

Tonight we're heading off to the Padres game! Yipee! I can't wait to hear about all the fun things EmJ and Willie are doing with Gma and Gpa...and I'll post lots of pictures when we get home!

Dirty Fingerprints...

On my windows and sliding glass door, on my counters, sinks, and walls, and two black feetprints on the bottom shelf of my fridge?!

Benjamin had his 4 month checkup today. He weighed in at 16 lbs and 26 inches. His heart murmur appears to be gone, and we haven't had any asthma issues for at least a month! This child also did not cry as they gave him four vaccinations. Wow.

Willie let me know today that, "fan finger chop!" At least he gets the message!

We went to the Oakland Zoo on Tuesday. Besides being murderously hot, we had a great time. Willie loved the "openants" (elephants), and EmJ loved all the animals from Madagascar--the zebras, lion, giraffes, and hippos. Luke loved the alligators, and I loved the shade!

Last night, EmJ and I had a sleepover. I asked her what she wanted to do at it and she said, "Just sleep!" So we did. Luke had a rough night, though, getting Willie to fall asleep without EmJ!

It was 103 degrees here today. Yikes! That's too hot even to scrapbook...so I sat around looking at the Stampin' Up! catalog, saying things like, "Stop fighting or go to bed!" and "If you're hungry, get yourself some crackers!" I'm so mean, and it's so hot that I don't hardly care!

That's it. I'm going to reclaim my spot in front of the fan.