Is July really almost over?

I can't believe it. School starts in 1 month. LESS than one month, actually.  The summer is flying by!  It seems like just yesterday we were sending Cade off to school for the last time as a 1st Grader....

We sent Cade to school with a gift of home-grown wisteria and tulips and a note to his wonderful, wonderful teacher that said:

"Teachers who inspire know that teaching is like cultivating a garden, and those who would have nothing to do with thorns must never attempt to gather flowers."  ~Author Unknown

...Walking him home from the bus stop for the last time as a 1st grader....

Time, will you please stop? My children are growing up way too fast. My only solace is that Cade is wearing the same shirt he wore on his first day of kindy, last day of kindy, and first day of first grade. We get great use out of our clothes around here. :)

Rain, Laundry, A New Desk

Today there was a glorious rainstorm. I loved it. It reminded me of the rainstorms in Virginia.

And even though this is waiting for me in the family room....

....I have my new little happy place:

Welcome to my new "branch office."  I found the perfect little desk today that serves these few but essential purposes in a central location in my home-- the kitchen area:
* fits this desk family calendar:




* room for a mini notebook for when we think of something that needs to be picked up at a store
* room for the cordless phone dock
* hold some pens and sharpees
* Laptop.


Period. That's really it.  My little "branch office" will be complete once I've hung a cork board covered in fabric or a darling little chalk board (something like this...

via etsy

via etsy

I've finally come around to the idea that a big, desk-like calendar just works so much better than my formerly used Lang Calendar. I love this one because it has enough room on each square for my things, everyone else's things, and a spot for meals when I meal plan. It's nice to have a spot for when random things hit me throughout the day like, Oh yeah, I need 3 bookends so I can finish putting these books away or Darn that fly! We need to get a fly swatter!  While my kitchen may not look like it's out of a magazine, it's so much nicer having this out in the open. I originally had the calendar on a little counter int he laundry room with the phone, but it didn't serve it's purpose because it wasn't accessible. I know as the years go by we are only going to get busier and the children need to be able to add to the calendar on their own. They can also add to the list in case they run out of something. I can just see Cade typing away at this little desk working on a book report or history paper...


The desk is an antique postal service desk, complete with a sticker with its serial number and a postal worker bumper sticker on the back. I found it at one of my favorite places--  Campus Craft and Floral shop in the bottom floor of the Wilk at BYU. That place is always selling something cute. I went there to pick up an umbrella and noticed this desk was actually for sale.  I do like antiques and things that look antique-ish, but even this one could use a paint job--- the "distressed" look of it is kind of overkill and stands out more than I want it to in the kitchen. So, I will probably be giving it a fresh coat of paint some time soon. There are no drawers. It's small, sturdy and nothing else can happen on this desk, and that is why I love it. It's mine, it's here, and set up.

Rain, laundry, and a new desk....it's been a good day.

So....what have the littles really been up to?

Cade:

- Creating art and displaying it. All over the place. I've had to bite my tongue and just let him create and showcase. It's cute, really, even if he uses up all the scotch tape. Hopefully soon we can get some cork installed on the insides of his closet and he can hang all he wants up inside there. I don't want to stifle creativity. Perhaps just stifle where he displays it.  He made a mural that was about 5 feet long and about 15 inches tall that he put at Ruby's eye level in his room. He made it so she would "have something to look at and enjoy." So sweet. For unknown reasons I saw it in the trash yesterday. Bummer. I was hoping to get a picture of it. I'm sure he'll have his 2nd edition mural up soon.

- Expanding Lego City. So much, in fact, that we are officially out of Legos.

- Tying shoes. At last! On May 28th... He was getting ready for his baseball game and put  his Nike's on and one of them needed to be tied. He'd mastered the art of keeping shoes tied and still getting them on his feet. Whenever he did this, it looked like he is dancing the minuet. I always teased him and ask him if he was. He happens to know what the minuet is because his 1st grade teacher taught it to him for a special presentation.I next had the thought, Whoah. he's 7, he's in first grade. he still doesn't tie his own shoes! I remember learning as a kindergartener at the kitchen table-- how could I not have taught my son yet?! Sure his tennis shoes are slip on and in the summer he lives in Crocs and even his church shoes are slip on, but COME ON! I mentioned to Cade we needed to have him tying his shoes before first grade was over. The next thing I knew, I came running to the kitchen to report he had figured it out all by himself. Just like that. It was a pretty cool moment to be honest.

- Playing in baseball games. As of this past Saturday, the season is officially over. Not sure if I'll he'll do it again next year. His coach was great and I really enjoyed watching the games and how much each of the children progressed through the season. However Cade has expressed a lot of interest in doing swim team next year so I may put forth my efforts there and forget baseball.

- Learning about the Wild West. Cade is enrolled in a 10-day enrichment program at a local elementary school(his former school in Lindon, actually). He spends a few hours in the morning learning about life before the West was Won...or something like that. He comes home with the most clever/hilarious/interesting art projects. Yesterday he made a wanted poster with Savannah's name on it. From clay pots, to corn husk dolls, he's thoroughly enjoying himself. Today he got to take a train ride and he told me he saw a train robber. It was a pretend one, he reassured me. 

- Protecting Ruby. He's very aware of any potential dangers there might be and he makes sure she is safe. Sometimes he gets a little high strung about it, but I'm just glad he's on that end of the extreme.

- Losing more teeth! He lost one on July 2nd, at Melody's house the day of the Stadium of Fire. He was brave while Aunt Dee yanked it out. He was so thrilled. Ironically, Last year at Melody's before the Stadium of Fire, Jon pulled out a tooth for him.

- Reading. He's enjoying the Ramona series right now. He read all of the Magic Treehouse books, so he needed a new one. I'm hoping he'll get into the Little House series next.  

Savannah

- enjoying BYU preschool immensely. 

- wishing her hair would grow

- wishing she had more dresses in her closet

- wishing she had sparkly shoes

- wishing she didn't have to take naps

- loving helping in the kitchen preparing meals

- hating to clean up her room

- wanting a two wheeler

- smiling and bouncing around the house full throttle

- earning a bruise and scratch on a different limb each day from riding her scooter

- coloring

- leaving little "notes" for myself or Cade around the house with her new "S" pad Kyle brought her the last time he visited
- coming up with little games to play as a family

Ruby

- kissing

- clapping

- crawling all over the house. She loves to explore. Her favorite venues: the scale in my bathroom and the shower door.

- standing up on furniture

- laughing

- cooing that sweet squeaky coo

- hanging out in her crib sometimes bc mom hasn'r realized that she's awake. oops.

- being blonde and blue just like Cade. She's a clone of him.
-spitting baby food all over mom when she's actually dressed for the day in something not resembling a t-shirt and sweats.

Our Little Ruby

Do you have "stack" of unfinished blog posts? I do. This is one of them. I actually started it not long ago, and today is Ruby's Big 11 month birthday, so I am going to finish!

HAPPY 11 MONTH BIRTHDAY RUBY!!!

Each month my little sister posts updates on my niece, complete with weight, height, favorite foods, people and interests. Each month I read it I think "I should do that" but then another month goes by and I haven't.


But today is a new day!

Some tidbits about our little Ru.

Nicknames: Rube-a-dube, Dubes, Rubers, Ru

Favorite past times: crawling, standing in the crib, pulling herself up on any furniture to stand, playing with her big brother and sister, riding the "horse" on mommy's knee, being bonked on the head with a balloon, chewing on anything and everything, scratching things that make noise with her fingers.

EATING: Ruby caught on to nursing as soon as she came out of the womb.  Pumping and bottle feeding is my feeding method of choice. For me, that just works well. From about 2 weeks old, I was able to pump twice a day and have enough milk for  her.  I didn't pump exclusively. I also nursed when it was convenient and she did fine with both. Once I had my surgery though it was a definite struggle to keep my milk supply up, because my body was focusing all it's energy on my healing. But I prevailed, even after both surgeries and was able to continue nursing. And then I sabatoged myself by taking Sudafed when I had a cold and gone went my milk supply when she was 6 months old. Blast! She was fine and didn't care. I was the sad one.


At about 6.5 months I started Ruby on rice cereal. I may be considered a bit freakishly conservative with when I start my children on solids. I just really don't want my kids to suffer from allergies if it's in my power at all.  Allergies terrify me-- mostly because they are such a foreign concept. I've never dealt with them nor have any of my siblings.  I read years ago that there was a correlation between when solids were introduced to the child and allergies. The sooner babies were introduced to solids, the more likely they were to develop allergies. So a good week or two after their 6 month birthday I finally get around to doing it.  At 11 months she still eats baby cereal and every pureed form of fruits or veggies. She's also in a love affair with Kix, which just started Saturday. I'm also slow at introducing my kids to "real people food" -- nothing I'm proud of. It's something I should work on!


SLEEPING? The night before her 2 week check up, Ruby slept for a 7 hour stretch. I sheepishly asked the doctor if it was okay that I didn't wake her. I felt so guilty because I didn't even wake up! I slept right through the feeding. My doctor smiled and said it was no big deal. She was healthy, gaining weight, as long as she made up for it during the day, it was okay. 8 hours would be pushing it, but 6-7 was fine. I breathed a sigh of relief.  I don't recall her doing it again for a while so I had to go back in my e-mails and from about 6wks months old she was doing a 7 or 8 hour stretch.


When she was 4 or 5 months, we put her in the guest bedroom downstairs to cry through the night (the more children I have, the harder it is for me to hear them cry) to eliminate her early morning feeding. That one night cured her! She sleeps from about 7 to 7 now and takes 2 naps during the day.


She had to be swaddled to fall asleep until she was almost 7 months old. I had such a hard time finding a babysitter for her because we needed one that could swaddle her well if she was going to sleep. Once she grew out of the swaddling, she resembled Savannah in her need for no distractions in order to fall asleep. So--- we have resorted to the Cave Method. The Cave Method is putting her down in a pack n play to sleep with a dark sheet draped over 3 sides (don't want to cover all sides, gotta let the girl breathe!) of the crib. She requires her pacifier and silky blanket and she talks herself to sleep. So, although she has a perfectly good crib in her room, she sleeps in her pack n play. She's on such a great schedule I really don't care about it.
I think the day after I wrote this, the cave method had to be retired. Ruby can now stand up in her pack 'n play and pull the sheet off and have a hay day. We tried her crib {imagine that. A baby sleeping in her actual crib in her vey own bedroom. What a concept!} for a few days, but she was taking so long to wind down.  Her bedroom is in some serious need for black out shades, but in the mean time, I'm choosing to be impatient. I know after a few weeks of crib life in her bedroom, she'd get the idea that it's NOT playtime. But I don't want a few painful weeks. So, I developed the Modified Cave Method. She now sleeps down in the guest bedroom in the pack n play. It gets nice and dark down there, kind of like a cave, minus the sheet over the crib. She continues to go down pretty well. She cries for a few minutes and falls asleep.


Rolling over: Uhhh???? I swore I was going to remember, but alas, I don't. I think around 6 or 7 months. She was old. Definitely wasn't in any hurry to get around. (i was thrilled with it). She reminds me a lot of Cade-- he was about 7 months when he rolled over for the first time and started crawling at 10 months. He wasn't in any hurry to get into things. Savvy on the other hand was an expert crawler at 6 months. They both walked the week after their 1st birthdays. Go figure!  We'll see if Ruby will follow suit or start her own tradition.


Crawling: 9ish months.  Kyle came home for a weekend and basically "taught" her. It seems every time he comes home, she learns a new trick.


Other Tricks: Kyle just "taught" her how to clap and kiss-- the adorable open mouth ones. They are her favorites now. She claps all day long and gets the biggest kick out of it. Sometimes when she is being held and doesn't have access to one of her hands, she smacks herself in the face. It's a little disturbing to watch her do it over and over again. I give her access to her other hand and then she realizes "ah, yes. That's what I've been trying to do!"


Teeth: Her first two bottom came in at 5 months. Now her top two and bottom four are in. She will gnaw on anything she can put in her mouth. She deliriously enjoys having her teeth brushed with this and we always play a little game each night with it. After I'm done brushing her teeth, she bites down on my finger. I fake an "ow!" and she laughs and does it again. I could play this game all night with her.


Other observations:   She prefers me (mama), but I think a lot of that is just circumstantial. Between my foot surgery and Kyle traveling, she has seen an  awful lot of me in the last 11 months. She is VERY well cared for by Cade and Savannah and they both crave playing with her. Today, in fact, Savannah reported, "Mom, I haven't had my special play time with Ruby yet. Can I please dance with her now?" Yes, now that Ruby can "stand" Savannah likes to pull hold her hands and sway Ruby's body side to side to the music. Ruby squeals and loves it, but it's hard to watch. I"m waiting for the day when Sav lets go accidentally and then.....


Temperament: Stranger anxiety? Affirmative. Our other two would go to anyone at any time. Ruby is more cautious and if I'm around she's usually not too excited for someone else to hold her. If she's hungry or tired, don't mess with her. But, she is a pretty content child otherwise. She isn't too demanding and pretty happy. I'd say she's a mix of Cade and Savvy as far as personalities go. She has Cade's more mellow nature and Savvy's cheerfulness. Ruby smiles a lot and loves to laugh, but she's also relatively low-maintenance and easily soothed. The nurse who took care of her the night after I delivered her told me this. I wasn't sure if it would really be the case, after all-- babies change so much. But she was indeed right. Ruby is a good baby who is easily soothed.


Someone asked me the other day how Ruby compared to my other children in regards to "easy" or "hard." I think all 3 of my children have been the same. I can't say one baby was more difficult than the other. It has more been the circumstances going on around the time of their birth that has made the transition in motherhood either more or less difficult, not the child. With Cade, him being our first was number one difficulty. We were both in college, transient, and didn't know what we were doing. With Sav, we weren't transient, but had a great deal of responsibility between Kyle's growing business and my calling. Ruby, we had just moved and were trying to get settled. I had foot surgery, and my mother-in-law became very ill and passed away. All very different experiences, each tricky in their own right, but none because of the child. I feel blessed to be able to stay home and watch each of my children grow, learn and discover the wonders life has to offer. 


I've made an earnest effort to cherish and soak in the small moments with Ruby now that I am fully aware how fast time flies with little ones.  
She really is our precious gem. 


Even when she makes her sour face.

If my phone could talk

...it would probably say things like...

"Costco parking lot + sudden torrential rain pour = 3 shivering, soaked wee ones by the time we got inside the store. Good thing we needed to get towels there anyway."

"We seem to spend a great deal of time here at the baseball diamond cheering Cade on. He does make an awesome catcher. Check out his form!"

"Who would think a dainty, tutu-wearing girl would prefer to spend her time at Cade's riveting baseball games by playing in the dirt?"

"Here is Michelle forcing her children to earn their keep. There's a slight chance she was just allowing her children to seize the opportunity of having all the Parade of Homes traffic from the patrons checking out the house next door.But just a slight chance."

"Definitely looks like forced labor to me."

"Savannah had a go at the cookie sales the next day. They opted to simplify the cookie stand with a smaller table after Ruby got a hold of the first sign. Cade came to the rescue and made this one. "

"Sometimes Michelle has to get clever when she needs to get ready for church and the baby wants a bottle NOW but absolutely refuses to hold it on her own, despite her being plenty old enough to do so..."

"Sav could hardly contain her excitement at the sight of this float at the Orem Freedom? Days parade. Who knows what it's representing. Sparkly candy and a girl with pig tails hanging out the back? Definitely her kind of parade float!"

"Just before going to a princess-themed birthday party, Savannah demanded a photo op with these guys outside Smith's grocery store. Old friends maybe?"

"Sometimes Savannah just shocks us. Like this time. Her friends stopped by and one of them was riding this. She asked if she could please have a turn..."

"And off she went. No prior two-wheeler experience at all. Go Sav!"

"One morning a few weeks ago Michelle noticed in Savannah's room a huge clump of hair on the floor next to the bed. It looked as though Savannah had cleaned out Mommy's hair brush and saved the hair ball. Turns out after a series of clever interviews conducted by Michelle, Sav had gone to bed with tangly hair and proceeded to spend the next several minutes (hours?) 'combing' out her hair with her fingers, thinning out her hair to the point that she almost had no hair on her left side. Michelle had to change the direction of Sav's part so it looks like she has some hair. She finally decided to take her to the salon to get it evened out a bit. At the ripe age of 4, this is Savannah's first official paid-for hair cut. About 2 minutes into it she began asking the hairstylist if she was done yet."

"Personally I feel that it's rather indulgent to provide your 4-year-old with her own motorcycle, but what do I know?"

"One day Michelle felt the need for some retail therapy. She came home with an outfit, put it on,and sent this picture to Kyle with the message, 'Thanks so much for the outfit, sweetie!' Nice of her to give credit where it's due."

"All of the important moments in their lives captured thanks to yours truly. Sigh, what would they do without me?"

{All pictures courtesy of Glenda, Michelle's trusty cell phone}

Who's Yo Daddy?

How's that for a clever Father's Day title? I find when I am just playing catchup on the blog, the literary merit of my writing drops significantly and I score a zero in the "uses interesting detail" category.  So  I thought I'd try and stretch my brain for a second and come up with something hilarious.


I bet you're in hysterics on the floor right now.


Kyle called me around 10pm the night before father's day frustrated and deflated. True to form, his connecting flight from Chicago Midway was delayed.  I can count on 3 hands how many times we've flown in and out of Chicago, and I can count on one hand how many times our flight has been on time. Although this was not exactly a surprise to Kyle, he was really irritated. I, on the other hand breathed a sigh of relief that I'd have more time to finish cleaning and readying the house for his arrival. After all, I have to keep up the charade that I hold it all together just fine with him gone. So, while Kyle was irritated and probably looking for some sympathy and understanding, I told him to enjoy himself and go to the bookstore and pick out a book to read and hurried off the phone so I could get back to work. Meanwhile, I was wondering to myself, what is so terrible about sitting by yourself in an airport for a few hours? It's personally one of my favorite pastimes.


Just as I finished cleaning our bathroom a little after 2am I looked up to see Kyle's reflection in the mirror. It scared the tar out of me. Oh it was great to have him home!


Sunday after church we drove up to my folk's place and had a delicious Father's Day dinner/ Birthday Celebration for Little Lukey who turned 3. After dinner on our way out, the kids were really curious about the truck under the tarp parked in my parents' driveway. My Dad was so sweet to indulge them and they had a grand time checking out Great Grandpa Rex's '53 chevy Ford. Savannah was hilarous, demanding I get in the back while she pretending to drive me places.


I'd really like to get some professional pictures of the kids with this red vintage beauty. Those would be some beautiful photos. I got a little misty-eyed seeing my kids pretend to drive the truck and thought of my favorite Daddy-song of all time, "Drive" by Alan Jackson. In hindsight I think this was the perfect thing to do on Father's Day, bringing all the generations together reminscing of dads. It was perfect.

Kyle's father's Day gifts were really appropriate and "fatherly" this year. Nope, not ties nor socks.


These were from each of the kids:

And this was from me. Of course. Cause I know how to light his fire. Hehe....

 Getting excited for the pending sugar high. YEEAHHHHH!!!!!

p.s. love savvy's boots

 Rather anticlimactic, but we're rewinding here a second.... This is getting the fire going:

Lovely Monday evening in Happy Valley. Can you believe how lush and green everything is? You'd never guess we lived in the desert. Life is good when Dad is home.

Independence Day

Recipe for a delightful, relaxing 4th of July Holiday: Have no plans. Then, let the rest happen..... ____________________________________________ I think what I loved the most about this holiday is how unstressed I was but how much fun I had. I truly enjoyed myself. Because everything that happened was rather impromptu, there was no time to plan, or stress over planning. No time to scrub the house to make it perfect, just enough time to move a pile of junk from one spot to the next to accommodate more guests. It was great! I have to admit, there was a moment in which I thought "oh, if I had known we'd be eating here on the 4th, I would have laid out my red and white runner and bought some blue hydrangeas to put in a white vase and it would have looked so darling.... but then I snapped out of it and made a mental note to do it for next year. Maybe. Breakfast: My dad announced before going to bed that he was going to do breakfast and asked for the nearest grocery store. He headed there first thing in the morning and was busy stiring and mixing with Savvy at his side. I still have the most adorable picture in my head of Savannah in her jammies with her crazy hair standing on the chair she pushed up against the stove, also wearing her very own little apron, helping my dad cook. He was so sweet and patient with her, and indulged her in all her many requests to "stir this" or "pour that". We ate his famous buttermilk caramel syrup with french toast, hashbrowns, sausage and juice. Entertainment: For about half a second I entertained the thought of going to 7 Peaks, but then I thought about all the people who may have the same idea and suggested we stay and have the kids swim at my place. And swim they did. For 4 hours EASILY! We had to peel and pry them from the water for burgers. Which brings me to the next part of the afternoon: Lunch: All I did was arrange the backyard furniture and throw some grapes on the table and provide some condiments I had on hand. Jon manned the burgers, melody sliced the tomatoes, Someone provided chips and salsa and guacamole, and Dad mixed some drinks. More Entertainment: More swimming. Our little Ruby surprised me. Most afternoons when we swim, she either hangs out on my lap or in the exersaucer. Or, she is sleeping when we swim. This day she was squealing and fussing and was not too thrilled about being in the saucer. So, I changed her diaper, fed her some lunch, and thought that might make her happy. Once I brought her outside again by the pool, she was getting fiesty and wasn't happy. Finally, I picked up on the idea that maybe perhaps she was interested in getting in on the pool action. So I figured dipping her toes in the water would quench her curiosity and the temperature of the water would squelch any desire she had of getting in. What happened? She LOVED it. She wanted her entire BODY in the water. So I obliged and put her in her suit and in we went. The pool wasn't freezing, but it wasn't warm either. She hardly gasped played contentedly until she was blue and shivering 30 minutes later. And even then she didn't want to get out of the water. I was so expecting that one day I'd have to drag her to the water to enjoy herself, but this child dragged me out to the pool! Dessert: Melody brought some fixins for Patriotic Shortcake (Strawberries, blueberries and whipped cream of course!) It touched my heart she gave half of hers to Cade because he wanted seconds. :) Post Dessert: Nap. After dessert we bid farewell to family and I put the kids down for a late nap at 5pm, hoping this would help them enjoy the fireworks better. I took a nap myself. AT 8:20 I woke up to the phone ringing--- couldn't believe I slept that long. Even more, I couldn't believe my kids were STILL sleeping. I woke them up and we drove an entire 3 blocks away to see some amazing neighborhood fireworks. There was a huge spread of food and even a neighbor making snow cones for the kids! So sweet. Fireworks: Again, Ruby shocked me. I thought she would scream and cry in fear over the noise and the sight of fireworks. Not so. So long as I was holding her, she was happy to be watching them. They startled her a bit, but not enough to upset her. It was pretty cute. The fireworks show was great. Finally at 10:30 we headed home and tucked ourselves in bed. It was a great day.

The many tries to get a perfect shot of the cousins in their patriotic cuteness. I think they are all perfect, really.

"I testify to you that God's hand has been in our destiny. I testify that freedom as we know it today is being threatened as never before in our history. I further witness that this land—the Americas—must be protected, its Constitution upheld, for this is a land foreordained to be the Zion of our God. He expects us as members of the Church and bearers of His priesthood to do all we can to preserve our liberty.

--Ezra Taft Benson, "A Witness and a Warning,", Ensign, Nov. 1979, 31