Runs in the Family

Little A got a hold of some of B's chap stick/lip gloss stuff she got at a birthday party and made a royal mess of herself. When I found her I couldn't help but laugh and laugh as my mind went back a few years to B enjoying lip gloss in much the same way.

B was a little upset upon return from school and news of her new chap stick and then I showed her around the same age doing the same thing only with her Aunt's lip gloss (her Aunt liked to spoil her). Cracks me up! btw, who in their right mind thinks green lip gloss is glamorous??

Little J's Bday!!

Well, our 'little man' is getting SOOO big!! My goodness how time flies! I have so many great memories of little J. He is a bundle of fun and is always going! Things I love most about him: his giggle--if you've heard any happy noises from him you'd know how this is first!, his laugh, his dimpled little smile, the way his eyes squint cuz his smile is so big with a hint of goofiness, his thoughtful personality, how he would do/give just about anything to make his little sister happy (at leat 95% of the time), his love of helping me around the house with everything, his fashion sense, snuggles in the morning, his love of learning and curiosity, how patient he is, his enthusiasm, how he loves things that are all boy--wheeled anything and everything, playing sports, tools, getting dirty--yet manages to be one of the most sensitive little boys I could even imagine. I love how he talks-- from his explanations of how things work to the way he phrases things and his understanding and use of intonation. I love, love, love my little bear!

Little J LOVED playing soccer

this fall and even got to

have his last game

quite close to

his bday!

His team

was his fave

color too! The other

pics are from his birthday

party, which we had a little early.

Fun Friday!

I just had to post this of B, the cutest little tree-hugger in the East. :)

What did we do with two extra days off school? Well, Thursday we bummed around the house and went to a friends' for a bit but Friday we went out and had us some fun all day long (even big J beat us home!). We loaded up, picnic and all, and went to a place called Insectropolis which is kinda like a zoo for creepy crawlies.

We had so much fun learning more about insects, arachnids and other creepy crawlies! How do I know the place is good? B remembered much of what we saw, touched, and experienced and learned some new things and so did I.

I could not believe the kids all touched everything they presented--a live Madagascar hissing cockroach, African Giant Millipede, Scorpion, and a tarantula. I almost passed on the tarantula but figured I may as well as who knows if I'd ever get the chance again.

We all had good time there and then headed over to the beach. Yes, the Jersey Shore in November is still open and quite uncrowded. In fact, we got front row (and Free) parking! Besides, how could I be 10 minutes from the beach on a sunny day and not go. It was a fantastic fall day--mid-50s and sunny, and miraculously little wind. The kids played in the sand for a while before heading down to the water to play their favorite game of trying to dodge the waves. We picked up a number of large shells and as the tide was going out the kids even crossed a small 'stream' out onto a sand bar and little J had a blast making the sea gulls fly as he ran toward them on it. The only thing we were missing was big J who had to work. :( But he sure enjoyed hearing the kids tell him all about their fun day! (Unfortunately, I didn't get any pics at the beach cuz I was holding a snug, sleeping little Bug):

Trekkin'

The beginning of our trek East was through no-man's land as we drove up to Casper, WY and saw close to one million Pronghorn along the way. Jealous? Thought so. Cuz, that's about all we saw while driving. Along the way we stopped to see Devil's Gate, WY which was pretty neat and they had a good little church station there and Independence Rock was right next door. That was a long day and luckily there was a little swim time after setting up camp. Then we were on further into the middle of nowhere to see Devil's Tower and we did a short hike around it, which was just over a mile I believe. It was way cool to see the 'potato mountain' that I learned about on "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". We learned about the main Indian legend regarding the unique rock formation and the science hypotheses behind it. Pretty sweet stuff. Another cool thing about Devil's Tower was that the campsite was super close to a large field which was Full of Prairie Dogs. I'd just been reading a book to the kids a few months back about Lewis and Clark and their discovery of Prairie Dogs so it was cool to see them in action. They are SO cute! There were also several deer to be seen when we went on a stroll there after dinner. We also saw the biggest, fattest, juiciest caterpillar in the world and were glad to catch sight of it before one of our shoes did. Seriously, I'll never forget how big it was. And it was beautifully colored. Awesome.

Well, then we were getting deeper into nowhere and saw Mt. Rushmore, which was way cool and they have an amazing museum there to learn about the idea and making of the faces. If you go I recommend the informational movie they have. I never knew the main guy in charge of the sculpture was a member of the LDS church, Gutzon Borglum. Way cool. Then we happened upon the 2nd longest cave in the world, Jewel Cave, SD. We went on a 1 1/2 hour cave tour and saw the longest piece of bacon ever. Like 26 feet long or something. Incredible! The picture above of little J squeezing through the concrete block is what you have to be able to get through to go on one of the more serious spelunking expeditions.

Well, as if we couldn't get further out of touch with civilization we went through Badlands. Man, they were BAD. Nothing but cute little prairie dogs, big horn sheep, Buffalo and fossils. We were lucky and caught a large majority of a ranger lesson about different fossils found in the area. We were glad not to become such, as we had plenty of water and didn't stick around terribly long. The large bison in the above picture was actually scratching his tummy on those wooden posts. So funny. Oh, and we were setting up camp in the dark there and got freaked out seeing a HUGE spider. I so do not like setting up camp in the dark. The rest of our journey, other than Ohio (below), is unfilmed cuz it was mostly driving and hanging out with friends in Iowa. We were happy both cars, all 5 of us and our stuff all made it safe and sound. Housing when we got here was a miracle and friends were most helpful. Yay for wonderful adventures!!

Super Fly

Big J's parents definitely spoiled us this past summer! They were gracious enough to sponsor us for a couple months while we were in Utah and we all had a blast, as you can see from the pics! We paid back as we could and did a family project of thoroughly cleaning out their garage and getting a few organizational items to put in it as well. We all had fun working together on that and surprising Grandpa and Grandma when they got back from Europe. We also helped out with Great Grandma's yard sale (I believe this is my 4th to help with and J's 6th or 7th), which is always fun.

It was SO fun to have Grandparents, Great-grandparents, Aunts, Uncles (even one who flew in from Cali just to chill with us for a week he had off school!), Brothers, Sisters, doggies, cousins, and friends to see and hang out with over the summer!! And a wedding (my bro)! We barely kept up with Big J's super-active, super-fun mother and enjoyed having Big J around 4 days a week to make up for 7.5 months missing him (when he wasn't climbing or golfing that is). SO many great memories!! Thanks all!

Ohio

We've been having Tons of fun in Ohio with Big J's sister and brother-in-law! They are one of our last stops before heading back into school life. I have yet to post many pics from our Utah stay but my computer hasn't been liking blogger much this summer so I got frustrating wasting time trying to add stuff and thus have been pretty silent. (obviously I'm going in backward order and will post more from earlier days later)

Kiddies loving kittens!!! Little J would be loving them too but he gets to coughing pretty bad when in the 'kitty room'--even with meds. They are adorable kittens!

These were all taken in a small, but beautiful botanical garden close by. We also went to the art museum the same day and saw some pretty awesome stuff from Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh, Matisse, Renoir, and more.

We went out to Kirtland! The temple was so beautiful and quite a work of skillful art. It was really cool to be inside where so much church history took place.


Close to the temple is an area that has many original or replica buildings from the Kirtland era and it was interesting to tour them. I found the ashery and sawmill particularly interesting as well as this Newel K. Whitney store that is about 85% original. Way cool!

We now own......

a MiniVAN!!!


I hoped I'd never say those words, but alas American and 10K more just told me otherwise. (I had my heart set on a Yukon)



We tried out several van models--our favorites being thr Odyssey and a newer Nissan Quest. But, we love our current Honda so much that this one just felt like home. So, here is our new, sweet ride:

The Power of a Thank You

My mornings always begin early these days. Usually between 6 or 6:30am or so with usually little A or little J waking up ready for the day or ready for some snuggles back to sleep. And I'm always 'on duty' with Big J gone. Today I heard an unfamiliar whimpering around 6:15. I thought it was little J with a rumbly tumbly and was suprised to check and see him sound asleep. I thought perhaps he went back to sleep when I heard it again, coming from B's room. I peeked in and she was sad and crying. She'd had a bad dream. I knew it was too late in the morning for her to fall back asleep again and felt she needed some love. I climbed in bed with her to give her some snuggles and she welcomed it. After a little talking we fell silent as I think I was dozing and then I heard her soft, sweet little voice. "Mommy, I love you. Thanks for helping me feel better." My frustration at my constant lack of sleep melted and I was glad I could give her a moment to appreciate me and that she expressed it. As moms we are always doing, always on the go, always thinking ahead, always giving, yet sweet moments like these are treasured away for me and for her. No matter the age our children will be I hope I can offer them solace with the only rewards being appreciation for one another.

Our little B at just over 2 years old, still just as sweet a sleeper now

An excerpt from one of the first books I read to B, and a gift from a wise great grandparent of hers, when she was far to little to understand anything more than my voice. We would lie on our backs together (she did not like her tummy) and I would hold it up and sing/read it while she looked on with wide eyes.

I'll love you forever,

I'll like you for always,

As long as I'm living my baby you'll be.

Robert Munsch

April Haps

April has been quite a month!

We took big J to the airport for the last and final trip to Eastern Europe. Before he left we took a boat tour highlighting the water side of Seattle and, of course, picked up his Visa. Then there was Easter, a Renaissance Festival the next weekend, and then most recently we visited the Apple Blossom festivities including parades and a mini train ride. And little A got her first real haircut and is more and more darling every day. Things continue to go pretty well and life is fun. We all miss 'Daddy' and celebrate today being 'hump' day when we have only 33 days until we get to hug him again. Life is full of challenges, as everyone knows, and success comes through willing to do, willing to learn and willing to give. We all hope to succeed through this difficult year. A positive attitude goes such a long way and we've learned a lot about trying to keep that attitude prevelant. And thank goodness for modern technologies that allow us to speak with and see Daddy. He misses us dearly and know it is most hard on him. He's been a trooper, and if you know him you would know that he has had hardly a complaint and has gotten SO much work done and sightseeing to make the trips worth it. Thanks to those of you who've been supportive through this.

BaCK post

ok, so I don't want you guys to miss B's birthday post. I began it before J's update so that's how it posted it too. Scroll down! :)

Update on little Bear

So, as an update with little J about his corn allergy I'm happy to say his
legs have all but cleared up!!! He stopped eating corn, dry cereal, yogurt, popcorn and I've recently opted for 100% maple syrup for pancakes and such and either limit or don't allow products with a corn substance in the first several ingredients. It's amazing how many things have high fructose corn syrup in them. It's about as bad as a soy allergy--which oddly enough he has tested positive to though fortunately we have yet to discover symtoms of it so it may not be as bad as the test says. His corn allergy could always get worse and we'd have to limit other things as well but I'm feeling good on it so far! I feel like a detective though. A lot of work goes into this process--putting clues together, reading very carefully everything we feed him, extra care while eating out, trying to cause as little phsycological letdown as possible to him while restricting so many things from him, research on what to do about each specific allergy, new recipes, experimentation, how to properly handle a reaction, what to do for emergencies, always carrying his Epi-Pen, reading books on allergies, extra Dr. appointments, added lotions/creams to his skin etc., etc. etc.! And I think he's not even an 'extreme' case. But he does have many allergies to constantly worry over. Thankfully his personality could not be better suited for it. Whew! Today as we made no-egg Sugar Cookies, he excitedly told Grandpa that "Mom is making no egg cookies for me so I can have them! And they don't have any egg!" Makes a mom feel good ya know?!

Happy Birthday B!!

Yes, this is dedicated to B but I thought seeing as she was SO excited to make a cake for her Daddy--almost a month after his bday due to travel--before any birthday celebrations for her began that I'd post it. Here we're having one of his favorites, Fruit Cocktail Cake. Soooo good! (this whole entry is about a month late too.....)

She and her friend decorating--aka playing "keep the balloon off the ground" and "stick the balloon to the wall"

The Candyland Cake

B with the friends who could make it to her party--strep was unfortunately going around, again, and several kids missed because of it. She was glad that 3 of her best friends could make it.

What Candyland party would be complete without a pinata?



The First bite of the cupcake is traditionally taken by the birthday child.


(The teacher is a sub for anyone curious)

After the party we went on a walk down to the lake just a hop, skip, and jump away!

B was excited for her new 'do'. and no, I didn't tell her it was how Jeniffer Aniston did hers for whatever recent award ceremony and I thought it looked super cool.

I think as kids get older their accomplishments are harder to see and decipher. B has definitely changed in the last year, for the better of course. We have been working a bit on communication and she is coming along well in that regard, most of the time. Her reading is really taking off as of late and she read the scripture for Primary by herself for the first time just today. She continues to be positive, sometimes with a gentle shove and sometimes on her own. She also continues to love the outdoors and we hope that doesn't change. She's had several firsts still: fishing, ice skating, skiing, day camp, Kindergarten and succesfully making whole new group of friends, sledding on an inner tube (twice! it's MUCH faster), doing the hike up to Timp Caves, touching the chains (getting to the top) on an outdoor rock climbing adventure, going in the LDS Conference center in SLC and doing the roof tour, visiting and hiking and swimming in Freeeezing water in Glacier National Park, gymnastics class, learning to read, counting to 100+, taking lunch to school, is taking up piano and much more I'm sure I'm neglecting. She is so giving and thoughtful for the majority of time and she is always telling me how she is helping out her friends at school when they get hurt or are sad. She continues to be helpful around the house and enjoys playing with her bestest best friends: her brother, sister and mommy and daddy. She never seems to mind that little J also plays with her friends when they come over and he's always included. She has also made a huge breakthrough. She will finally play by herself sometimes!! Unless you have had a child constantly in need of attention you will have no idea what this means to us. Our other two children have this down beautifully on their own, it's just in their personality. She can be a leader and a follower, loves art, music, dance, riding bikes, going on adventures, animals, helping others, gymnastics, coloring, spending time outdoors and having something to look forward to. She is growing tremendously in the gospel knowledge aspect, impressing her teachers and grandma and grandpa alike and we hope her testimony is becomming truly heartfelt as she navigates through new emotions, new atmospheres and new challenges of deciding between right and wrong as well as deciding exactly what IS right and wrong as it is no longer so clear sometimes. As we did our traditional Easter story with the 12 eggs that tell the story of Jesus Christs' resurrection it was evident that she has quite a good memory and knows the story well. She is Very good about doing her morning responsibilities and helping with whatever chore we are in need of getting done. We love our little Nani!!!

Time for no diapers?

So, 6 years into parenthood has given me 6 years of nonstop diapering experience, not to mention babysitting before parenthood. Now, my littlest is deciding she'd like to be like big sis and big bro. I have often gone in search of her when I suddenly don't hear her anymore--a tale tale sign of her either being extremely adorable or making mischief. Lately when I go on these searches I often have found her taking off her diaper and getting up onto the toilet. Yes, I believe I've mentioned she is an assertive girl and that goes for potty-training herself as well. She has quite the way of getting up onto the potty, with or without a stool and likes to do it herself. She's: been successful in going several times, has peed right in front of the toilet after taking off her diaper while just staring into the toilet with fascination and has also peed on the step stool while washing hands right after an unsuccessful toilet time. The other day tops all. I realize she's been quiet for several minutes and go in search wondering what she's up to. I hear nothing and head upstairs. Still nothing. Then I hear some tiny noises coming from big sisters' room. I open the door to find her sitting on the floor with her pants and diaper next to her trying desperately to put on B's underpants that she got out of the drawer. I laughed hysterically before getting her put back together and suggested we get some for her next time at the store. She gave a very enthusiastic, "YEH!" (Secretly I hope she holds off until after our next few moves in the next 6 months. But, try telling her that would likely land me one of her adorable scowls of disapproval.)

The thinks we can think......

Okay, so I'm SURE this is a 'you had to be there moment' to truly be as funny as it is to me but I want to remember it. Here's the scene: B and little J are doing their current versions of hand stands (B's actually getting to be pretty good and can take a few 'hand steps') and little A is watching them with fascination. Then she promptly gets up with enthusiam and all the vigor of her mind envisioning she too can do it because it just looks so darn fun and attempts a hand stand as well. Splat. COMPLETELY flat. It could've just as well been a board falling over she was so flat. Didn't bend a single thing. I have never seen a kid fall with such confidence that they could do what no other 21 month old has done before!! I really wish I had it on video because words just don't do justice. Oh the joys of parenthood!!!

Blue Daddy

OK, so I know kids say funny things sometimes, so maybe one of you could help me out. Little A is very into saying "Blue Daddy". There does not appear to be any certain circumstance or situation in which she says it either. Sometimes when she's upset, sometimes while playing and sometimes just randomly while in her own little world. Any guesses from an outside party?? I for one have no clue.

Also wanted to post this cute pic of little J. I was finishing an email to big J when he came in told me he wanted to play a game. I told him I was almost done and to pick out which one he wanted to play. I came downstairs to find this:

Uber cute.

Little J came up with this creation:

It's a ham and cheese quesadilla roll-up that he LOVES to dip in applesauce. Go figure. Don't be surprised if you see it on kid menus around the nation shortly......

A Major Award

B was awarded an Achievement in Writing certificate today at an assembly at the elementary school. All the kids from her grade also presented a song and dance they had been working on about "I Care" words and cooperation. It was adorable! Congrats B!!!

She is going to miss this school and her teacher VERY much. We've both been really impressed with everyone who helps her learn--from librarians to PE teachers and paras (playground helpers) to literacy assistants they've all been so fabulous. And there's SO many great kids in her class. I've loved going in to help when I can!

Little Mouses Big Valentine

This kid LOVES to read! He and little A have made up a new game--taking turns sitting on mommy's lap to read a book. They could spend a good, long while doing this even being remarkably patient in waiting for their turn. It's so great! Little J has been very interested in his big sister learning to read and has his own way of reading. I'll read a book a few times and then he will sit down and tell the story and 'read'. He's quite good at it too. This kid has got a sharp little mind!! Just watch and see how adorable he is! He's reading a Valentine book we got at the library about a little mouse who makes a very big Valentine that none of his friends' want. A hawk picks him up and after a ways drops him into a pile of leaves where he finds a new friend, Gloria, and together they get scissors and cut the Valentine into a lot of little Valentine's and the little mouse saves the nicest one for Gloria. (I was upset the camera ran out of memory before he finished. :( But, it's still so cute!)

It is done!

So, as an update: a couple weeks ago B was asking how the Easter bunny comes to visit us (like Santa comes down the chimney, what does the Easter bunny do?). So, I took the opportunity to spill the beans, if you will, on all things traditional and fiction. She took it just fine and didn't seem shaken up in the least. Little J was alongside us and so he heard too, though I'm not sure he can quite catch on to what all this talk of Santa and the Easter bunny is. I felt so much relief that we were no longer passively allowing her be lead to believe these characters are real. Thanks for your comments and encouragement!!!!

So, I had a possible breakthrough on our little J the other night and I'm so excited to share that I thought I'd just post it. Some of you know he's had itchy legs since he was about 1 1/2 years old. They've been off and on and go from not bothering him at all to so itchy he wakes up with red scratches all over his lower legs. It kills me to see him suffer without knowing a cause and thus a remedy. Well, we've had him tested several times now and have tried several things but his itchies have persisted. Recently he began to get them on his wrists, neck and shoulders as well. Finally, a couple nights ago he was having a fit of the itchies and I prayed harder than ever before for the Lord to give us the insight and information we needed to help him as the allergists and various Dr's we've seen have avoided my questions of it saying he's allergic to so many things it's nearly impossible to know what's causing it. Well, after praying I didn't feel like I'd received an answer yet, still, until I went downstairs and got on the computer. And for some reason I thought, hmmm, what about corn? The Dr.'s/allergists we've seen have mentioned almost nothing of the corn allergy that he has tested positive for the last two times so I'd previously dismissed it, focusing on his various other allergies and asthma. It appears so innocent, doesn't it. I thought back to what'd he had to eat earlier in the day and he'd had several foods containing corn that day. I googled 'corn allergies' and found an excellent website devoted to those with corn allergies. The woman had only a corn allergy and talked of unexplained rashes, stomach aches, migranes, sinus infections, asthma, etc. and they were all linked finally to her corn allergy. I was beginning to get excited of finally finding a cure to his itchies! Then, I thought of his trip to the ER last fall. He'd talked of stomach pains and I saw how intense they were for a few brief moments before they appeared to pass. The two Dr's we saw both explained them away saying it was just associated with his rapid breathing but their answers didn't satisfy me. I looked at the dates more closely. The night he started his rapid breathing he'd had corn bread for the first time. Corn bread I had specifically made egg-free for him so he could eat it at a ward party. That may explain why after a day of as intense as I could get nebulizer treatments did almost nothing to slow his breathing. This woman on the website said her asthma was directly related to her corn allergy. Then I clicked on her 'what to be wary of' list and got scared. The list has to be about 80 ingredients long, including such common things as popcorn, vanilla, confectioner's sugar, high fructose corn syrup, corn flour, bleached flour, brown sugar, various topical products such as lotions and on and on and on. Her allergy is quite sensitive and we hope little J's is not that sensitive. But, if it is she listed recipes, links and corn-free products available. An answer to prayer or coincidence? To me, there's no question. It all seems to add up.

Now, I say all this in hopes of lifting spirits.

*Prayer works, even if it takes a while (this is not the first time I've prayed for an answer on his itchies).

*The internet is amazing! There's so much filth and trash on it but there's also so much good and there's no way I could have all this information SO rapidly at the touch of my hands without the internet. *And people who have had discoveries and done research on these topics are so incredibly helpful--much more so than a Dr. who can't possibly empathize or specialize like one who's had the difficulty. I'll be forever grateful to the woman who shared about her experience, and the many others I've found since.

*Anyone who has had to see one of their children suffer so much and know it will continue can have hope for some relief.

Our bodies are incredibly complex. In talking with B about helping us help little J I mentioned how our little buddy is just the same person as he's always been. She wants to help her little brother. She's even gone to such lengths in the past as not having particular candies or cookies, knowing he can't have them. It gives her a chance to show herself how thoughtful she is and how we are all different and we can support one another in our trials. It has shown little J that everyone is different but yet still a wonderful child of God and that his life is no less important than one who is allergy-free. He can prove excellent skills of self-control and thoughtfulness as well. He's mentioned several times that we can have toast for breakfast and eggs for B. And I get to learn about new ways of doing things, new recipes and inter-personal relations skills as I try to help B understand how important it is not to make little J feel any less important or left out and help little J understand that he truly is no less important and that he can be happy with what his body allows him to do. I'm truly grateful for the resources we are provided with to help us on this journey we so frivolously call life--a great miracle of our God and mankind.

Pocketsies

Little A has discovered pockets. She was pretty ecstatic about her new discovery! :)

The Focus

The excitement

The All-out giddiness

I Want my Baby back......

.......baby back, baby back. Yes, Big J is off on a Grand Adventure in the Ukraine--his 2nd of 3 extended stays in Eastern Europe. We hope the trip proves worthy, so far it's proved to be a trial for him. He came super close to missing his flight from Paris because of a semi-short layover mixed with an airport amidst construction and having to be shuttled to a distant terminal, didn't have luggage his first 1 1/2 days or so, has a bit of a crazy doting landlady, has had terrible jet lag and hasn't been able to get to the information he wants as of yet in the archives. On top of that he misses us terribly and the feeling is mutual. One never quite realizes the gem one has until it is gone. These are a few of my favorite things about my man:

Kisses and hugs and cuddles on couches,

Help with the kiddos, dinner and dishes,

Smiling so cutely with that 'fake' dimple and long eyelashes,

Never complaining, cursing or shaming,

Always thinking of those creative ideas,

Playing piano and goofing off with family,

Ping pong-ing and sporting (he's good at all and great at most),

Yet serious too,

Yes, Big J is the best honey bunches.

Te Amo Bebe! Ya lublu tebya Liubovnik!

And then I don't feel so bad cuz I've got it pretty good to have him forever.

Musings of a Teaching Moment?

OK, So, now that Christmas is over and decor is just about down--except for that 'holiday' stuff that's fun to leave up until thoughts of Valentines appear--let's have a little chat. So, Big J was feeling a bit, guilty perhaps, about leading our children to believe in Santa Claus and I feel much the same way. Now, mind you, he and I are just fine with the Santa tradition and have 'Santa' bring stockings and a small gift in the stocking. We make sure we are NEVER the first ones to mention his name and keep to tradition without overemphasizing his visit but rather emphasizing the birth of our Savior. Speaking of which, this srikes a funny feeling because we believe in Jesus Christ and therefore celebrating Christmas involves a fictional character and a non-fictional character. To us, this is confusing to a 5-year old. Our little 5 1/2er has been (re)learning the latter part of 2008 the difference between fiction and non-fiction. If we lead her to believe there really IS a Santa then logically she will likely question the other character in the Christmas season. Now, this is good because we think she should have her own beliefs and testimony yet at age 5 one may have a hard time telling the difference between truth and fiction--man, don't we all sometimes. Anyhoo, so while in his "thinking spot" Big J came up with what I consider a fantastic idea. B knows there is no Easter Bunny (we think)--we hide the eggs and Big J did get to BE the Easter Bunny for W-M one year and have pics that B has seen. So, his idea: a conversation begins about the Easter bunny coming and how we know he's not real.....just like Santa. The frill of Christmas is over, the truth is already known about the Easter Bunny and she's hearing it from the people she (hopefully) trusts most plus we're no longer 'lying' to our little girl to go along with ever-growing commercialism. We can explain how we don't need to argue over his existence with those who care to but that it's a tradition we like to celebrate because it's fun, not to mention everywhere, but Santa is fiction. Thoughts??

Little Miss Adventure Winter Fun!

Our sweet B continues to amaze us with her positive attitude when new adventures arise. She and her daddy went on an ice skating date to celebrate him coming home from 3 months gone and they had the time of their lives. And daddy got to see first hand that the older boys are quite taken with his little girl--a couple kids from her bus were there at the same time and were holding her hand to help her skate, helping her up when she fell and helping her off the ice as well as showing off their skills. I was glad to hear how gentlemanly they behaved! Boy do we have our work cut out for us when she's a teenager. Yipes!

Can you believe this girl?! Here's yet another adventure our little B turning big B aced within an hour. Sure she's not ready for black diamond runs, but for the little time Daddy, Grandpa and me spent explaining and practicing she 'so totally rocked' dude! (yes, Finding Nemo is one of my favorite quotable movies) I was again amazed at her positive attitude through the falls, which there were few, and quick learning. If you look close enough I'm in the background in blue, not doing as badly as I thought--must be kinda like riding a bike more than I thought--and Daddy is somehow skiing backwards while filming. Yeh, we know where the talent in this family comes from.........

Ya see what I mean, this girl is adventuresome! We just hope we can help teach her to find her limits! This is at a good friends' house in Utah while on vacation. We, the boys mostly really, made a fun tubing/sledding hill that spanned three small hills to make for quite the ride. B was probably less scared than me of going into the trees. She did fine on this run videoed, but on one not on video (unfortunately) she smacked a tree head-on while on a sled and it ran half way up the scrub oak with her in it. She of course spilled a little and got up laughing and was ready to go at it again! Amazing.