Run, Kick, Score

One Photo

I just wanted one photo of the kids with Morgan for Father's Day.  Augh - this was the best I could get! Don't you love how cute they are and how they can't smile at the same time!  Cracked me up!  I love them!

Family Day Saturday

We started our morning with an early "Father's Day" breakfast in bed.  The kids love to do that but with early church on Sunday it is just no that realistic so I decided we would do it on Saturday.  I would like to say Morgan was surprised but Manhattan had hinted towards it the night before by telling him to "sleep in a long time".  Subtlety is not a skill our children have mastered!  Due to church and Morgan having to work on Sunday we decided to celebrate Father's Day that day more or less.  First we honored another good man that touched our lives.

Maxwell & Marin waiting the leave for service and enjoying the scenery after the service was over!  What is with their smiles - nothing simple, always crazy!

 Many of you know that our neighbor, Stan passed away the day after Christmas (December 26, 2010) last year. His wife was left to make decisions on her own pertaining to his funeral etc.  She decided not to list an obituary or have a funeral.  We were sad to hear that was her decision because he deserved something.  Don't get me wrong, he drove me nuts many many days but he deserved a proper burial and a tribute to the man he was.  I have to admit that I have thought of him frequently as the weather has warmed up.  He used to be out by the fence or even walk over to watch as we planted our garden, filled the swimming pool, cleaned out the garage from winter, etc.  There was no one to  tell me that I should mow slower in the springtime or hang metal pie tins over our garden to keep away  the birds - yes I remember the advice but no I am not good and doing what I am told.

Last month, his wife was not doing well and she had to be moved to an assisted living home.  Stan's brother, his wife, and their family helped to make the burial service happen this last weekend.  It was very nice and simple.  There was quite a few people there - those that we had contacted (neighbors & past friends) and some family members.  I really enjoyed the simple service of dedicating the grave and giving honor to Stan.  We were the only ones there with little kids and of course they were a little wiggly during the service - we all were standing around the burial spot and urn.  In the end we decided that Stan would not have minded as he always enjoyed being out watching the kids play.  In the end, it was a beautiful day with a lovely service.  I am so glad that we had something to honor him.  As we left all I could think of was that he was a humble man, this was a humble service but that he deserved more recognition for the things he did for others.  I know that recognition is not everything especially as we leave this existence and join our Heavenly Father but I also hope that he smiles when I think of the good, bad, and crazy times of having him as a neighbor. Soon enough we will have a new neighbor to share the fence with and that could be worse!  :)

After the service, we ran home and changed our clothes, ran to Subway and had a picnic lunch.  It was wonderful time and really enjoyed the weather.  The kids were thrilled that I finally gave into their begging and mastered "underdog pushes" on the swings.  They love them and Morgan does them but I had refused - I have no skill and I would likely send them flying off the swings breaking a leg and worse crashing them into another unsuspecting child.  Oh well, they won and I am getting better and throwing them straight up and getting out of the way.  I do love the pure laughter I hear every time I do it!

We ended the day pulling together a ok spring photo (it is so much harder than it looks) and dinner with some new friends of the ward - we love new move ins in the ward - always fun! 

I LOVE my Zoo!

End of Spring

With every new season we take a family picture.  In our bathroom we have a four picture collage that has the most recent year of family pictures!

It is one week until the end of Spring and we finally got a half decent "Spring picture" in our shorts and t-shirts.  Oh well - Maybe on Saturday we will shoot for our summer shot!

Marin is cute!

My little Marin can be such a handful - you have no idea but she is so stinking cute!  This was taken after a special event at her preschool - she was so proud of it.  AS soon as I took the picture she washed it right off - I was SO shocked.  She said she knew it would get all messy when she ate her lunch. 

Happy Mother's Day To Me!

The morning started with sleeping in until 6:30 - sad but that is truly sleeping in at my house!  The kids &   Morgan had made a yummy breakfast - we have early church so it was all business eating in the kitchen but it was so nice to not be in charge!

We made it to church and I got to sit up front - I was asked to give a talk.  They asked me to speak on the importance of motherhood - really you ask a mother of young kids about the importance of motherhood.  Don't get me wrong, I know it is important but it is exhausting!  I joked with my friend that I was renaming my talk - "Just say no to Motherhood!"  All joking aside - I am grateful I gave this talk - I needed the topic - it changed to the importance of womanhood and I focused on the need for women to remember their divine nature of women that we are daughters of God before all of our jobs in life - moms, daughters, wives, daughters etc.  If we are not happy and aware of our own divine nature we will not be successful in all of our jobs!

After church it was a yummy lunch & naptime!  Is a nap always my wish for Mother's Day now - how lame and so wonderful!  Anyways - Manhattan and Morgan planned a fabulous Mother's Day "mission" as we call them in our house.  I had to find the different clues - solve the riddles and keep moving.  While I was hunting I picked up some cool gifts - a car wash gift card, a Barnes and Nobles gift card for my Nook, and some yummy Ben & Jerry's ice cream.  It was a lot of fun!  Here are some pictures of the hunt - it really was super fun!  Hattie was so proud of the great clues, hiding places, and prizes!  Kudos to Morgan for really including her and going through so much work for me!

Morgan and the kids even whipped up a super yummy dinner of some of my favorite!  I had a wonderful Mother's Day!  My real concern now is how to I match this for Father's Day!

I love my family - a terrific Saturday!

I had a fabulous weekend - it was all about being with my family and it was fabulous!  We don't get too many weekends just to be together.  So Saturday morning while I was getting a toe cure with my friend Lindsey (we were taking a girl break) Morgan and the kids went and totally cleaned out my car (yes, vacuum, windows, wash etc) - my wish for Mother's Day!  We met up and I took Maxwell home for a nap and they headed to Home Depot to make a Mother's Day gift - forgot to get a picture of the finished product - they painted them too!  They were green on the bottom and Hattie painted her flower orange and Marin chose a red flower.  I love them - I had to plant the flowers outside already so I need to get some houseplants to put in them now!

After Home Depot we gathered again at the house and Marin told me what they made all the time saying it was a secret.  She cracks us up when it comes to "secrets".  We loaded everyone up again stopped at Subway, got some yummy lunch and drove into Michigan for a nice picnic (sounds far away I know but it is about five minutes to the border so not as big of a deal as it sounds!  After some lunch we went geo-caching.  It has been a long time since we did some geo-caching and it is so wonderful to be outside in the warm air!  We forgot our camera so these are all from Morgan's phone - not bad at all!  My favorite pictures were from the last geo-cache that Maxwell & I missed.  Marin, Manhattan, and Morgan went to find the geo-cache and were drenched in rain - it was quite the storm.  The girls will tell a harrowing tale of climbing over a small creek, on a log, and digging for the geo-cache all while being rained on.  By the time they got back to the car they were soaked but laughing.  It was really rainy!  I have to get those pictures off Morgan's camera - I love them!

Next up - a fabulous Mother's Day!

Team Dynamo

Soccer season has arrived!  Marin really wanted to play so we hooked her and her friend Reed up with the YMCA Pre-K team.  What a hoot!  The first practice was on Tuesday but it was cancelled due to rain.  Tonight was their first game - neither of them had any clue what was going on!  They are by far the two youngest and smallest on the team and they are so similar so that was funny.  They tried to run after the ball but it was kind of a lost cause since the bigger and older kids pretty much had the ball all time.  Marin loved the running but everytime they stopped she would run over to us and ask if it was time to play at the playground.  They swapped kids in and out and the game only lasted 30 minutes.  As you can see with the above action shots it was a pretty crazy paced game.

We had a hard time keeping Maxwell off the field - he got right into the game at least twice.  We were smart and brought a ball for him but he wanted to be in the real action!  :)

They both loved their shirts - bright orange - perfect for the park.  No comments on the hair (forgot to brush it as we ran out the door), her crazy plaid pants (Morgan dressed her & the shirt under her team shirt matched), or her lack of shin guards (it is just 6 practices, 6 games - she will be fine), but do notice her UMBRO soccer cleats - she loves them.  I scored them at a resale store for $10 which seemed like a lot but they were $25 new so oh well!  Their coach is nice, poor guy spent tonight just trying to remember their names.  It will get better and as long as they enjoy it - who cares.

It was fun to be out and enjoying the evening and the good memories of my soccer years - thanks Mom & Dad for being my coach a lot of times.  We got to spend the evening with our friends the Davis' and the ice cream afterwards made it all worth it!


Looking forward to team picture day next Thursday!  :)

Happy Easter!

The Talent Show - April 15, 2011

ur school had a talent show last week - Larchmont Has Talent!"  Manhattan decided to do some Irish Dancing for it and she did a fabulous job!  If you watch the video - you will see how serious she is but she loved it.  I am so amazed how brave she is - I would never at her age down something like that.  She was great!  When the music kicked on the audience went loud clapping!  That made it even more fun - her smile at the end said it all!

We had some fun acts - dancing, gymnastics, praise dancing, singing, poetry reading, and really silly stand up comedy - it was pretty amazing all these kids brave enough and willing to share!  I am so proud of all of them - they are amazing!

  
It was a lot of fun - I helped out the craziness and it was crazy stressful but really amazing and fun in the end!  

Minor Procedure - Major Drama

Drama for this Mama!  Maxwell had to have a minor "surgery" to clear his left eye tear duct canals.  It was no big deal.  He was doing fabulous - survived a change in morning routine with no milk or breakfast, took a nap in the car along the way, made it to the appt, and got checked in.,  Morgan took him back and changed into some fun yellow scrubs (wish I could have kept them).  He looked so little in them.  I did not get any great pictures but they were cute.  The surgery staff even had a cute little bear for him.  He was all ready to go - of course he did not know he was "going" anywhere.  The doctors spoke with us some to make sure we had no questions and then the nurse came and got him.  Our doctor even marked his eye - totally wanted a picture of that - so funny - you can barely see it! 

The next part - I was not prepared for this - I thought we would stay with him until he fell asleep.  When they took him back between the double - my heart broke! We gave him a kiss goodbye and he was fine until they turned the corner and he screamed, not a mad scream but a scared sad scream and I about cried.  I know, I know.  I have complete confidence in the nurses (one of which Morgan knew) and the doctor but he was so little and he was scared.  It was heartbreaking.  I am sure he was a maniac until they had him under because he can get a little worked up when he is upset.   Morgan and I went out to the waiting room - he was so calm!  Thank heavens for Morgan.

It was a super fast procedure (total 45 minutes away from us) that was halfway successful - he may need something else done to open his lower left tear duct canal. We will see about that later!  After the doctor spoke to us we waited and they called us back to be with him.  The nurse says to me, "do you have a cup or something?  He is a little upset?"  No kidding - I could hear him hollering as soon as the door swung open - we could not get to him fast enough.  When he saw us he went even more crazy.  After some milk & juice he calmed down just in time to throw up everything all over both of us.  The nurses got me some clean scrubs and Morgan changed Maxwell into his own clothes - finally he was calm. 

All the way home Morgan and I tried to get him to smile at us - no luck - he knew what we had done and he was irritated at us!  We pulled through the pharmacy drive in and he threw up again.  Back at home, we took baths and got into clean clothes.  About this time, Maxwell perked up and was no worse off.  As I called my friend to check on Marin he was jumping on the couch!  :)

We picked up Marin a little while later - our friends, the Empies bought him a Sports balloon and made cookies for him!  He was so happy!  He still is trying to eat while holding his ball balloon this afternoon!

All I can say is that it was not horrible but I am not looking forward to ever doing that again.  How my friends have survived when their children have had multiple surgeries that are life threatening and totally scary.  I admit to being a complete ninny when it comes to my kids!  So to all my friends that have children that have had multiple life saving surgeries (Miss Margaret Susan)  - I always had respect for you but now I honor you as "tough as nails, and calm as the sea".  You are amazing!

A Blessing?

Manhattan has had glasses for over a year and she has done an amazing job taking care of them.  On Monday morning as she was putting them on the arm came out.  She was so apologetic  - no big deal.  Morgan took them by the glasses place and they glued them in no big deal.  So . . .   then that night Hattie and Marin were playing in the gym during our school's PTO meeting (being monitored by Morgan).  She and her friend Drew were tossing the gym balls when she was knocked in the head by a ball.  Her glasses were broken again and tangled in her hair. She was so upset - Drew was devastated.  Manhattan has some battle scars but she was fine.  Still, many tears were shed by both kids with tons of apologies.  They both felt SO bad. 

All Morgan and I could say was "oh well, accidents happen."  Both of the kids felt so bad.  Of course, we assured the other parents that it was no big deal - since it wasn't.  I am grateful that they both were concerned about how much it would cost to get the glasses fixed, whether we would be mad, etc. but it was so not important.  My whole thought that night and still today is "you and Drew are way more important than any pair of glasses."  We would never put a glasses or the money before you two.  We have become friends with Drew's parents and we truly love and admire them - we would never let something like a silly accident cause a problem!  Luckily we had her old pair - she can't see as well but she can see.  So now we wait for a new pair on order and the backup pairs we ordered online! 

Sometimes a little accident like this is a good way to let your kids now that they are more important than other things that weigh us down in life like finances or time.  They are WAY more important!  So you could say it was a BLESSING!

Marin's Spring Program

Last week Marin had her spring program at her preschool.  I tried to film it but it was a little crazy and Maxwell wanted to run off the whole time!  She was pretty cute - she was so proud that she knew the whole song/dance.  It was more of a dance along something about a bean bag dance.  I think all the kids were a little nervous but it was fun anyways.  After the program we enjoyed yummy brownies and punch as well as an art show of the classrooms!

Manhattan's Finished Project

We are so proud of her - Manhattan has been diligently working on this crosstitch.  She decided to learn how to crosstitch as part of her Faith In God award.  She did a butterfly with yarn and moved on to a real crosstitch project.  She has worked on this for just under a month and she did a fabulous job!  She was so determined to finish this crosstitch for her BFF, Lauren.  She did an amazing job - we are always so amazed at her desire to work hard and do it well!  Great job Hattie Girl!

Yummy Cookies

Sometimes you just have to bake and decorate!  After a uplifting day of General Conference we did a little cookie decorating.  I made bunnies and chicks sugar cookies but there was no real reason except the girls  wanted to try out the cookie decorating kit Grandma Annie bought them!  It went well - Maxwell screamed until we just gave him a plain cookie - he had no patience for waiting for the girls to decorate one for him.  The girls loved it - Manhattan tried to make a fancy bunny design - Marin just piled it on and I do mean piled it on!  After I took this picture of her I saw the frosting sliding down!  She is so 3!

Hope that summer will come!

Corn!!!  I love going to the grocery store right now - strawberries and grapes are on sale and so yummy!  Yesterday I went and they had CORN!  Yeah - there is hope that summer will be here!

Maxwell had never really had corn on the cob or if he did he forgot.  We tried and he just shook his head no, then I ate some and put it to his mouth - he tried a bite and said no.  After a couple attempts at biting it himself he got it and  then he ate the whole thing plus Marin's that she was too full to eat!

I love it!  I can't wait to go to the store for some more soon!

Home Depot Saturdays

This morning Marin and I went to Home Depot for a little crafting!  I love Home Depot Kids Saturdays!  It was pretty fun - she was so excited!  She made a little basket - they even had easter grass and eggs with jelly beans in them.  She is so funny!  I am grateful she came out with me for errands this morning and we ended up at Home Depot - it was fun just to be with her!

We even were able to bring home basket kits for Maxwell & Manhattan.  Maxwell got his first Home Depot apron - he loves it!  Marin found the tool kit and he was one happy boy!  Some super cute picture of him!  Notice his shoes - they are lovely Tinkerbell shoes - Maxwell wears everyone's shoes - today it was Marin's!