Throw back Wednesday

I found this email as I was cleaning my inbox of  OVER 5,000! Sheesh. I don't think I believed in deleting or putting things into folders in my early days of gmail. Now that's the first thing I teach my kids!

Anyway. This email was to all of Kevin's female cousins' wives, his grandma Janice, and Lyndi. So basically anyone from that side of the family that didn't live close. It was sent 02/06/07. I was pregnant with Tennyson.I'm also going to include the responses to the email.

 The pictures below were also attached. Enjoy!

Hi everyone,
     Since we don't see each other that often, I'm taking a page from Katie's book and sharing our news through email. I hope we can see each other soon!
We have two big announcements this month. On Jan. 25th we found out we are having a little boy! Karaia was a bit disappointed about not getting a sister. This pregnancy just isn't working out for her. No twins and no sister. But, she has thrown her sorrow into naming her new brother. The current frontrunner for her is Marvin..............which is really a step up since her first choice was Dinosaur Web. Beckham has refined his name choice to 
Buzzlightyear The Robot Daly. Kevin and I currently have no favorites. Or even a list for that matter. And on Jan 13th we bought a van. WeLOVE the extra room and that we can transport more than just our little family now. We bought a new 2006 Toyota Sienna.
   In Jan. we also took a trip to Bear Lake (in our new van with the extra room) and we went snowmobiling (no Emilie did not go) and extreme sledding. Karaia loved both and Beckham's pretty sure making a child participate in those kinds of activities can be categorized as abuse. The "hill" was about 1/4 mile long and VERY steep and fast. Karaia could not get enough of it. "I just like to scream on the way down", she told us. Beckham wouldn't even SIT on the sled...... even while it wasn't moving. Emilie finally put him on the sled kicking and screaming and just pulled him around awhile. He did eventually warm up to snowmobiling. And when we asked him later what his favorite part of the day was he said, "The snowman building ride".
    Speaking of funny things our kids say. Karaia was asking about baptism and she wanted to know if you got baptised with your clothes on because you go in the water. We told her yes, and explained how they are white because they symbolize being clean. Then Emilie said that when you come up out of the water all of your sins and mistakes are washed away. Karaia asked, "Do they go to the bottom?". To which Emilie explained, "No, you can't see them. It's kind of like a metaphor." There was a long pause from Karaia after which she finally announced, "Mom, I think you're speaking Spanish."
     Beckham's been learning what letters words start with and had quite the amusing if not confusing conversation with Kevin.
Beckham : "B is for me!"
Kevin: "I thought M was for me."
Beckham: "No, M is for mommy. D is for you!"
Kevin: "I thought Y was for you."
Beckham: "No! B is for me!"
 Aw the mind of a 2 year old :)

Love, Em

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Katie Longhurst	2/6/07

love it!  keep them coming. 

kade and i laughed so hard at beckham and kevins conversation, classic!

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Teresa Longhurst

Hi Emilie--I laughed out loud at your email.  Thanks for sending it to me.  We just bought a van too.  I keep telling myself over and over, "I can still be cool and drive a van!"

Hope to see you soon,

Teresa

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Janice Holmgre

Thank you.  I love getting these letters and pictures.  I copied the family one for the frig.  Love Grandma Janice

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Records and Mom's Surprise

Too much time has gone by since I've recorded my family's journey...and they've still grown and changed. Stinkers.

We are entering a new era around here and I'm feeling a bit nostalgic about the things I haven't written down. However, I can't change the past, so I'll reshape my future instead.

I don't know how often I'll write, or even if I'll keep this a public publication. Sometimes I really want to document the less than perfect parenting moments so my children will know it happens and how I learned and grew from it. I'm not sure that's something I need to world to know about though ;)

We went to Lagoon at the end of July. It was the first time our whole family was able to ride on just about every ride if we wanted to. It was also the first time we could send some of the kids to ride one ride while the rest of us stayed back to ride another. IT. WAS. MAGICAL.

I loved it. No one whined. Everyone communicated their needs and wants like human beings. They were grateful and plain ol' fun to be around. It made me so excited for this stage.

A few things I learned about my kids:

Sanders has turned into an Adrenalin junky, just like his sister. He would hardly go an any rides last year and this year he went on Cannibal at the ripe age of 6. He was in tears when he thought he might be too short and not able to ride it. Thankfully his hair topped him over ;) He thought it was the best!

Tennyson, like me, has a strong sense of survival when it comes to amusement rides. He opted not to try Cannibal, but declared his favorite rides to be Wicked, Colossus, the White Roller Coaster, and Wild Mouse. Which is a far cry from refusing to go on ANY daring rides at all last year.

Beckham, has learned that he traditionally feels flutters and anxiety before the big rides, but if he powers through those hurtles, he LOVES those big rides. His strong sense of mortality and his need for the rush and, to be completely honest, a good story to tell, fight with each other. He's learning to trust the statistics that most people simply do not actually die on roller coasters. It's been fun to see him work through this process and not let fear keep him from doing things he loves.

Karaia is CRAZY! The bigger, the faster, the higher is all the better in her book. She reminds me a lot of her Uncle Landon who does big adrenaline rush things because 1. It sounds fun. 2. The payoff of fun is so much better than wondering what it would have been like if he'd done it. It's just not worth staying up at night wondering about that stuff I guess.

Kevin loves a good roller coaster too and thankfully thinks the same amusement park rides karaia likes are pretty awesome.

I went on Wicked for the first time this year. I used to be SO afraid of roller coasters and never once felt like I was missing out when I politely, but firmly, kept my feet planted to ground while others strangely rushed off smiling to be nearly killed. Something changed this year. I found myself thinking, "I could probably do that without hyperventilating".

When my family rushed off to ride Colossus, I found myself sitting next to Wicked with these thoughts. Next thing I knew I was in line, BY MYSELF. Then, without any warning whatsoever, I found that I had willingly buckled my seat belt on the ride.

 Just as I clicked the belt, my phone started ringing. It was Kevin. My family was wondering why I wasn't predictably waiting on the ground for them. The kids joked, "What if Mom comes walking out of the Wicked exit?" To which Kevin nearly forgot how to breath because of the laughing. He has known me for 18 years and that scenario was 99.9% unlikely to EVER happen.

Except it did. It was perfect. Like you'd expect to see in a movie. The kid's mouths broke out into HUGE smiles and they all rushed over with lots of whooping and screams of delight giving me big hugs and high fives. Kevin's jaw dropped and his feet became glued to the ground. Where were the prank cameras? There is no WAY this just happened. But I saw the twinkle in his stunned eyes.

Perfection.

The kids begged me to go on it with them. So we all went, as a family, together.

 The beginning of the end of our time with the kids home is so bitter sweet.

Mr. T is 6

Tennyson turned six today!

He has been so excited.

I felt really bad though because I ordered his presents online, well in advance I thought, but by the time they shipped everything told me they wouldn't get here until Tuesday.

I explained the situation to Tennyson and he was so understanding. I told him I'd make him a super big breakfast of whatever he wanted. Eggs, hash browns, sausage, bacon, toast, and Orange juice was the order. Done and Done.

I kept asking him if he was really going to be ok with no presents to open on his special day. He kept telling me yes and wanted to know why I kept asking him. SUCH a great kid!

So we stuffed him for breakfast and then got to working on installing the slide on the deck. I know I am painfully behind on updates, but taking a break from blogging was a necessary insanity saver. I'm learning my boundaries and that I don't have do do everything. Anyway, the slide. And since It was his birthday, Tennyson didn't have to do any chores today. AND because mom was feeling super guilty about no presents and being so busy on such a special day he got to play as much wii as he could even imagine in the morning.

But the magical part was during all of the this Tennyson's presents arrived!!!!!!!!!! But he didn't know it and the slide was only hanging on by a few bolts and couldn't be left at the moment so we had to wait to tell him. 

We stopped working on deck stuff around 1:30 and took everyone out to Tennyson's restaurant of choice, Chuck o' Rama. (we still didn't have time for presents yet) Everyone makes fun of that place, but we love it. The kids don't have to wait to be served and the is something everyone likes.

At 3:00 we went over to Kevin's parents home to help put back together a playhouse that had been blown over in the big wind storm a year ago. We worked until about 6 and then headed to an Elder's Quorum BBQ. We stayed until 9 and then headed home.

I wish I would have had a camera in my eyes when we told Tennyson his presents had come. Pure joy!

Tennyson is such a bounce back kid. He sure has his emotional, irrational, moments, but when it really matters he is so good to see the big picture and go with the flow. His eyes and smile and giggle kill me. He is so kind to his siblings and rarely selfish. He is an excellent reader now and I love, love, LOVE his inventor's brain. He comes up with the best ideas!

I am so lucky I get to be his mom!

The definition

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

I'm so grateful Tennyson and I had a wonderful day yesterday because today was exactly the reason Heavenly Father gives you good days so you have a little reserve to pull from. Tennyson is still learning to listen to his body and take the appropriate measures when it tells him to. (Yes, I know this is potentially embarrassing for him and I realize my blog is public AND I also print my blog into a book for my children to read. But guess what, this is my real life and it isn't always pretty and quite often things are embarrassing. I have no wish to scar my children, but I do wish to document what our life was really like. The good, the great, the awful, the embarrassing, the wonderful, the silly, the unhappy, the joyful, all of it. I want it all down where we can remember it and grow from it. )

Anyway, off my soap box now.

Tennyson is working on stuff and today seemed to be one of those days he decided not to work so hard on it. Sigh. He will be in first grade in a few months. It's a concern. Mostly because he really is SUCH a great kid. His giggle is amazing and infectious. He is so independent and gets things done when he sets his mind to it. He has an incredible mind for inventions. He is a wonderful friend. Even when we are super frustrated with each other and I don't like the choices he's made and he doesn't like the consequences he's earned, that I'm enforcing, he still will curl in my arms for a hug if I offer it. I try to offer it when I am most mad so I can remember he is still little and we are both still learning.

But nothing seems to be helping the learning in this area. Day after day, multiple times a day. Night has it's own set of things we deal with, but I'm not worried about that. Sometimes a body just needs to grow more to be able to handle the night. But the day? Yeah, that one should be handled. already.

I really have no idea what to do. It doesn't seem to matter what he is or isn't doing at the time his body tells him it is time to move! It's frustrating and I worry it will affect how he thinks about himself. I want him to focus on the good. Are you kidding? I want to focus on the good, but it's tremendously hard when his behaviors require multiple consequences for the SAME behavior during one day.

Sigh.

I've got to change the way I'm doing things. I'm just not sure what. 

Someday, Tennyson. You can do this!!!! Go Mr. T!

To completely change subjects, my dear friend, Jo'ell, had some complications shortly after delivering a baby yesterday. It was pretty scary stuff most of the day today and I asked the kids to include her in all of their prayers. Later in the day the kids asked me how she was doing.

"Well, she was bleeding a lot and they couldn't get it to stop so they had to do surgery to stop it."

Rolling his eyes and shaking his head, Sanders piped up in the background, "No, no, no. They should have just used a band aid!"

Ah kids. I would never trade this job for anything! No matter what.

T time and a dress

Mr. T doesn't have school for the next few days because of kindergarten testing. Everyone else has a regular schedule which means I get some one on one time with the middle child-sh. It doesn't happen nearly as much as I'd like.

I took him to the gym with me today. They have a little room for the kiddos to play in. It has a big window that the kids can see what we are doing and we can check on them. We were doing back squats today and were supposed to go as heavy as safely possible. The first set I did (we were supposed to do 4 in a set on the back squats because they were supposed to be very heavy, then jump into 12 front squats ahap with the barbell and then 25 squat box jumps. That would complete a set and we had to do 3 sets) I had 65 lbs on my back. But there was this other bar all set up that I could see out of the corner of my eye. It looked heavy. WAY too heavy for me. But I thought for my second set, why not. I'll just try and if I have to bail, I'll bail.

I stepped up to the rack, got under the bar, lifted it off it's rest with my back just below my shoulders, went down into my squat---below parallel---and found myself on my way back to standing. I did it! Then I finished the other 3!!!

When I grabbed Tennyson after I had finished I said, "Guess how much weight I just did a back squat with?!? 115 lbs!!!"

With HUGE eyes he said, " Wow.......was the bar all bendy on the ends? Because in cartoons, when it's really heavy, it's bendy on the ends."

Love that kid.

Then we went shopping for some new flip flops for him. Turns out we hit a good sale and ended up getting a bunch for everyone. He LOVED helping me chose just the right ones for each kid.

It was so much fun to be with him. We have our not so great moments together and it was just so nice to refill our cups with positive interaction.

My mom bought some of my fabric and made herself a dress. She made up the pattern and it is awesome!

 Didn't she do a great job?! She even added pockets! And there is piping all over the place. Such great little details to have.

She ran right over as soon as she was finished. Such a fun memory to have together. She wants me to take more pictures when she has her hair done and make-up on. I will, but I think she looks pretty cute as is.

Thank you, Mom, you did an incredible job!

Miracle at the turtle

Our regional stake center is often called the Turtle. So named because it is built as a circle with a few rectangles coming off of it.

We had regional stake conference today. Basically, it's a two hour long sacrament meeting without taking the sacrament. For the last 10 years our (read Kevin and Emilie) goal has been to see how long we can wrestle the children while pretending to hear even one word of the speakers.

Well, today, my friends, I heard them all. Every word. All two hours worth.

I was in shock!

This, this is why we are doing adding to our family. It is so wonderful to be able to go to church for the intended purpose as opposed to teaching the children the appropriate behavior during such meetings.

HALLELUJAH!

I really do have wonderful kids. They are so smart, funny, and mostly well behaved. Some more than others ;)

Tonight Tennyson asked Kevin, "Is glad more than happy or is happy more than glad?"

Pretty deep thought for a 5 year old.

For the record, I think happy is more than glad, but Google says there is no difference in intensity.

My current phrase to tell the children when they start whining/arguing with me is, "Ooooooh, I hear you. You want me to wrestle you by your eyebrows. "

It catches them off guard and it's easier to get them back on track without too much contention.

I will be using this one until it's last leg.

Anything to keep the whining at bay. 

Faces

 Sanders had to get shots today at his well check up. I told him we were going to go get ice cream because he'd been so brave.

"I wasn't brave. I cried."

"But you didn't wiggle or try and stop the nurse from giving you your shots. You can cry and still be brave. You still let them give them to you.  That is very brave!"

These faces kill me! 
 

He LOVES stickers. More specifically he loves stickers on his face.  Particularly stickers you find on fruit. This is a very typical, daily, look for Sanders :)

Look at how long Karaia's Hair is! She is a doll.

My sweet Tennyson. We have either really amazing days or days where, to coin a phrase I heard my cousin use, we learn a LOT from each other. 

Isn't that the best way you've ever heard to say that?

I wish I had a picture of Beckham today. He was running around so much we barely saw each other.

The older two didn't actually get home from school until after 8:00 pm. They came home just before 4pm. Long enough to grab a quick snack and change into soccer stuff, then they were off to activity days (Karaia) or soccer (Beckham).

I picked Karaia up from Activity days to drive her to her soccer game on our way to Tennyson's soccer game. When her game ended after 7pm, she had piano starting at 7:30pm. Kevin picked her up after her lesson and took her grocery shopping with him. They got home just before 9pm.

Meanwhile, after Beckham's soccer game he had just enough time to shove a hot dog in his face and then change for scouts. They went hiking. Poor little guys legs were killing him by the time he got home around 8:15.

This was all after Karaia and Beckham got to go to the Rec Center and swim for a few hours for a field trip!

We are so ready for the non-schedule of summer!

Impulsive memory loss

  Thank you everyone who commented  on yesterday's  post.  Thank you for lending me your strength to lean on until I found my own again.   Today was a billion time better.   So thank you! 

Recently, there have been a few situations where very reliable adults have shared things Tennyson has done. Things that aren't huge deals, but need to be attended to so he can learn from them.

Each time, when I question Tennyson about the events he is honestly, truly shocked and confused by what I am telling him he did.

He really doesn't remember.

I talked with his kindergarten teacher and it seems to get that sometimes he is just so impulsive that he neither thinks about it before hand and afterwards it's like it never happened.
Sadly, some of his behavior comes across as a kid who just doesn't care. And it makes me sad to think of people thinking that about him...not to say he doesn't have some of that in him, but maybe not as much as was thought.

He doesn't have problems concentrating. He is self disciplined with homework and always gets it done right when he gets home with out any reminders from me. But when he gets a thought in his head it is really hard to detail him and have him change course.

I'm still trying to figure out if this is a medical, personality, or stage thing.

Fingers crossed for it being a stage.

On a side note, no wonder trying to alter unwanted behaviors hasn't been working. He doesn't remember doing most of them.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry about that...

He better grow up to be the amazing person I see inside! We are more than making our payments now.

Friends

Although the little boys and I spend a lot of time with each other I mostly find them like this;

Lost in some fantasy world. The most perfect of companions. 

This particular world was being conquered by Sanders' toxic throw-up.

Boys are very different from girls. 

 Tyler Russon came over tonight to help move a lot of the boards from the garage to the backyard. We finally get to construct things tomorrow!

Most of my day was spent with errands. Either on the phone or from one place to the next. Only part of our order, that was supposed to come in last Friday, but ended up being back ordered until this Friday came in. Everything but the Trex post skirts. 

After we felt like this meant we needed to wait a whole other week before we could do any work. You can't work backwards and the skirts are one of the first things to go on. But then after some measuring and discussing we decided that skirts on the support posts would actually hang over the cement post foundations and look a little silly. In the end, it turned out to be a very good thing in a huge, giant disguise. 

We spent the evening moving boards. THANK YOU, TYLER! Removing the stairs, and cleaning up the joists.

As the sun was setting we were all still outside finishing a bunch of last minute item in preparation. All of the sudden, Sanders stood up from the sand box and said, "Mom. I am tired." He asked to be put to bed. 

He's such a sweet kid. 

Thankfully, our hard work paid off and we are all ready for tomorrow.

But don't think for a second that deck is all we have planned. Oh no, my friend, we are going to also squeeze in two soccer games, a soccer practice, a baby shower,  and a piano performance. As well as tearing off brick, installing a new ledger board, installing brackets, new joists, scabbing new boards onto existing joists, install support posts, and building a new header. 

Lots of great memories to be made tomorrow!

Pictureless day

There were two, not the usual three, soccer games today from 5:00pm to 6:00pm.

Good thing, because Karaia and Beckham had a choir concert starting at 6:30pm.

Their mother did not take one single picture of any of the three events.

You really can't be too mad at her. Sanders was really patient attending all these events that he doesn't get to participate in until the last 10 minutes of each event. She tries very hard to keep him entertained while watching and supporting the other kids. Throwing picture taking into that mix felt like too much of a challenge tonight. Thank goodness for Kevin and her mom at the choir concert! Mom's entertainment was starting to lose it's effect.

The kids did great and we feel really blessed they get to have so many fun things in their life.

After the concert I took Tennyson out for ice cream because he scored a goal during his soccer game. This is a very big deal for him seeing that last year he thought watching his shadow as he ran around on the field was a much more productive use of his time that paying any attention to the ball.

He is getting to be a very good player. He can anticipate where the ball will be headed and try to position himself accordingly.

We had a wonderful time and ate our dessert before out dinner! I tried to get him to open up to me when it was just the two of us. We have a unique relationship and his choices don't always allow for a lot of positive bonding. Something we are both working on. We adore each other and I think this little rough patch makes both our hearts ache a lot.

I asked him what he thought of the new chore chart.

"I like it!"

"What do you like best about it?"

"Well, see, I really like jobs more than I like playing."

Believe me when I tell you, It's a good thing he told me!

Progress

I springafied (totally a word...that I just made up) one of my flower beds today. AKA removed any signs of winter and weeds. It's been gnawing at me. It took me about 3 hours. I was being really picky.  Such a nice feeling to have it done!

I got all the trimming I need for Karaia's Easter dress. Holy cow, it's a surreal experience to be making something with your fabric. Crazy cool, but surreal. I still can't believe this is my life. When I was at the cutting counter at Joann's the lady asked me what I was going to use the trim on. I said, "Actually, I am making my daughter an Easter dress using fabric that I designed." And the thing is, that whole sentence is true. I know. It's weird.

We finally, read Tennyson, changed our chalk board sign in the front. Sander's bunny hat gave me a perfect excuse to document it. OH, and Sanders was too cute for words in his hat. (the sign reads it's Spreeg---It's Spring---I love phonic spelling! Also, he did bring the eraser out with him. I'm not sure why he just crossed out, "Let" and left the snow flakes, but who am I to argue with art?)

Tennyson decided today was the day to learn how to skate. That kid was pro.tec.ted! Knee pads, elbow pads, gloves, and a helmet. He loved it.

I told him, "You are going to fall. It's probably going to hurt, but I've given you as much protection as I can. You will be ok, just get up and try again."

I wonder if that's the last bit of advice Heavenly Father gave us before we came to Earth?