A Birthday Poem

La Jolla August 2009

Closer to 50 than 30

Today Steve (and Andy) turns 36 years
Luckily this milestone didn't bring many tears!
A day like any other with LOTS of work and meetings
But, he got a visit at work from his 4 girlie sweeties!

Cupcakes and balloons, out to lunch too
One year we skipped this and he said boo hoo!
Luckily this year the big girls have early release
So they got to come, the didn't have to beg and plead!

So what does it mean to be getting so old?
Grey hair and and sleepiness, so I am told!
But I think he feels the years coming on
He's been at the gym nightly - Run, Sammy, Run!

Steve, we love you. We think you're pretty swell.
You grill better than I do, you do a perfect medium, or medium well.
Thanks for being a fun Daddy-O,
To the beach, to the pool, to the park, you like to go!

On this your birthday we hope your wishes come true
You just got the promotion at work - could a raise comes thru too? (If you wish really hard...)
What more could you want? A happy, healthy, gospel centered family!
Thank you for honoring your Priesthood and leading with Integrity.

Happy Birthday - we love you!!

Love,

Meredith, Lindsay, Caroline, and Kate

On a lighter note....

Someone is learning to use a cup!
(Nice post nap hair, I must say.)

What else is the little Critter Fritter up to? Walking (at 16 months), cracked 20 lbs at her 16 mo. check up, "talks" on the phone (usually the remote control), emptying shoe baskets, unloading the bookshelf, unloading the refrigerator, you know, in general undoing everything around the house! She also does pretty fabulous impression of a lizard and has us praying several times a day, often several times during a meal, when she offers the queue of her folded arms.

On Monday night we were having FHE and it was kind of past bedtime. I said, just generally outloud, "Kate, you need to go to bed!" (Not like I was expecting her to follow my directions.) Well, she surprised all of us with a pause, looked my direction, and did an about face and toddled herself on down to her bedroom! We all just sat there stunned and Steve decided to follow her. When he got to her room he called and said I had to come and see. There was the little Critter Kate standing in her dark room, one hand on her crib, not sure what to do next!

She sure does keep us entertained and on our toes. Tonight she started kicking the soccer ball a little bit at Caroline's practice - just too cute for words! We have a little Leapfrog ABC's magnet toy that plays the ABC song when a button is pushed. The other day she was carrying it around on her shoulder next to her ear, boom box style.

Steve has been working late (alot) lately and he misses his time with Kate so much. The other night when he got home at 10:30 he went into her room and just watched her sleep. I would miss her too. I found out something else from Steve - he said that often if they have quiet cuddle time together, he calls her Katherine. Hmmmm....I have never called her Katherine, ever! Heck, I rarely call her Kate - why when I can call her Critter Fritter? We talked about that nickname at Mutual Wednesday night. We decided that basically I am calling her a squirrel donut.

Today I decided I needed to get her out to playgroup and go the park. I brought my camera to take pictures and everything. Forgot pictures. And, just as we were about to leave, I saw she was covered in ants! Yikes! Apparently she picked up a cheerio off the ground (from the spilled snacks) that was covered in ants! They were all over her hands, on her legs, in her shoes, and in her mouth and on her face! A couple other moms helped me douse her with water bottles, strip her naked and almost choke her to wash the ants out of her mouth. it was so sad!

On to the weekend...Friday playdates, Saturday brings soccer and Women's Conference and I think out for dessert with girlfriends after.

A Weeklong Experiment

I'm dying here!

For a week I have been collecting all the kiddo treasures I find around the house and it has now filled a laundry basket. These are things found stuffed into purses and then dumped out, random items left on the floor/sofa/table/etc. I am sure you get the idea. We have socks, dolls, purses, pencils/markers/all manner of art supplies, hair accessories, sunglasses, play phones, books, paddle balls, dress up gloves, notepads, barbie clothes, papers, mirrors, bath toys, jewelry and the list goes on and on.

What do I do? My big girls each have a shelving unit of their own. Their own jewelry boxes. Their own treasure boxes. Their own book shelves. Caroline is my mini-hoarder and stuffs purses with things to play. Then they get dumped out and I get piles of this above listed junk. Lindsay is a little better about keeping her shelves neat but I still find her things around the house. This basket alone demonstrates why I LOATHE birthday party loot bags! I end up with more of this kind of crud! If you kid ever comes to a birthday party at my house, they will get a feather boa or sunglasses or a coloring book and crayons - 1 "big" thing instead of a loot bag full of plastic junk. Not a fan.

I wish I could channel Maddy and be so awesome at purging my house of unnecessary items but it seems like this stuff multiplies and replenishes my house with what I lovingly refer to as "Chinese Junk" while we are sleeping.

I have already decided to throw out all Polly Pocket (and the like) accessories - the girls only dress them anyway. When I see Fast food toys I chuck them when they aren't looking. I recycle almost every school paper after a big high five on a job well done. Yet I still find this stuff everywhere.

Any ideas??????? Or at least, offer me some sympathy and empathy!

It's all about Caroline

Colorado July 2009

Or, as it seems, sometimes it isn't all about Caroline. I don't know if the curse of the second child is real or a made up urban legend to help us parents feel less guilty for not having enough baby pictures, for forgetting their first word or remembering their first step or even sometimes noticing that they have their own opinions and personality and are not carbon copies of their older siblings. Aunt Shelly is even the founding member of the Second Child Club, to which Molly and Neil are members, as is Caroline. To my credit, there were technical difficulties surrounding Caroline's newborn pictures so yes, there are very few. It was an accident. Also, from the time Caroline was 7 months until she was 17 months is a total blur. That is when my mom was diagnosed with her brain tumor and passed away. I feel lucky that we made it thru each day and usually had clean laundry, let alone documented what her first word or first steps. I do know her first tooth was about 8 months, I know she ate sand at the beach at 8 months, (when we had to get out of the neuro hospital for a little while and ran off to San Diego). I know she was a turtle for Halloween,I know she wasn't quite walking when my sister got married in January, when Caroline was 13 months old - her flower girl dress was floor length - a lot of fun with a non-walker! But honestly, I don't remember Caroline then and it makes me sad. But, a lot of circumstances that were beyond my control made it this way and I hope as she grows up she will forgive me.

La Jolla August 2009

However, I will take the (unfortunate) credit for struggling to recognize and embrace Caroline's own personality traits, her likes and dislikes, her strengths, and her weaknesses - weaknesses that are truly hers and not just things she is not as good at as her sister. Does that make sense? I often say "Lindsay has it all together, Caroline puts everything together or can't get it together." Layers of mismatched clothes, inappropriate accessories for the activity, and she really prefers her hair down and unbrushed. We struggle to do hair daily. (It was awesome when teaching Art Masterpiece to her class yesterday my teching partner/friend asked if I ever brush her hair...believe me, I tried.) Steve and I have talked a lot about encouraging Caroline and finding special things for her - time to spend with her, to notice when she speaks up and does a good thing, when she is a good helper, and to really take the time to realize that just because she does something different than her sister doesn't make it wrong.

Roller Skating school fundraiser with friends from school September 2009

In trying to make the best choices for each of my children and our family as a whole, I picked up the book, The Time Starved Family. I have been wanting to read and find the magic answer to helping over scheduled families find their way and decide what is and what isn't important to maintain quality family time and progress and grow together, not just ping-pong from activity to activity. Here is where Caroline fits in. It is the start of Fall soccer season. Practice actually started last week and the first games are today. I have struggled with deciding if we needed to add soccer back into our schedule. I mean, I adore the sport. Played all growing up. Steve enjoys it with the girls - I think he was worried it was going to be always dance with the girls and soccer is his sport thing with them. But I didn't want to add one more thing. As it is, M-W we have dance, gymnastics (twice), activity days, and I have mutual. I have already had to say no playdates M-W; we are too busy. And the girls wanted soccer too. Oh boy. The thought of having to be in one more place just about put me over the edge so I delayed registration. A lot. But in thinking about it, I realized that Caroline needs her special thing, her activity that makes her feel important, her opportunity to shine! And soccer is it. She never stops talking about how soccer is her favorite sport. We call her Sporty Spice for a reason. She is adorable in her own little unkempt pigpen way and I love that and wouldn't trade her for the world. Lindsay will not be playing soccer. I know she is disappointed but with all else she has going on I think she gets that it is for the best. The coach as invited her to "assist" at practices and I think that helps fill that void for her.

First game of the Fall Soccer Season September 2009

Now go, my little soccer player - run and kick and score a goal or two - this is your season to shine!!

Huh? Midway, Utah?

We needed a little getaway - it has been 2 years since we have gone on a trip without the kiddos and was time again for sure! We were iffy if we would even go at all and if you know us well, you know that advance planning is not our strongest suit. I know a lot of you would cringe at not having a vacation etched in stone on a calendar a year in advance but I guess we like to live on the edge and see where the wind will take us! (Two years ago we had a flight into Oakland, CA and a flight home 9 days later out of John Wayne in OC and a first night's hotel and a rental car...and a laptop with tripadvisor.com as our trusty companion.) What also helped make this a "winging it" vacay was the guest passes for US Airways that Danika offered to us - thanks for the hook up!

This time we took a friend's suggestion (Maddy - thanks!) to try Midway, Utah. We were already considering Park City - the ski capital of the world but a gem of a summer destination as well. Midway is a charming little mountain village about 20 minutes from Park City in the Heber Valley. It is designed in a Swiss/European style - almost every building has the cute charming look of a European Mountain Village. Using our trusty friend tripadvisor.com we found the #1 rated Bed & Breakfast in the area, Invited Inn, and booked a 4 night stay. Their motto is to spoil you rotten and they weren't kidding! We arrived and were greeted by Bill who took our luggage and gave us slippers to use for our stay. We were shown around the lovely home. 3 out of 4 nights we were the only guests there so we were truly pampered. Multi-course breakfasts each day were Belgian Waffles, French Toast, German Pancakes, and Eggs Benedict. We lost count at how many kinds of fruit we were served each morning. Additionally we had the best hot chocolate and flavored milk steamers - so delish! It was truly a no lunch breakfast and literally we did not eat lunch a single day we were there. We only snacked on (the cutest little) apples picked from the tree out front. Additionally, they had one of those never ending cookie platters, fresh popped popcorn every night and afternoon hors devours with smoothies and Italian sodas. Yup - we were spoiled indeed. I am going to have to say - a nice fully appointed hotel is great but there is something extra special about a B&B. Try it sometime.

We spent our days relaxing, hiking, eating amazing dinners, getting massages at The Homestead Spa (which is housed in an original 1886 building), shopping, relaxing some more, zip-line riding/alpine sliding/apine coastering in Park City, snorkeled in The Crater, and more eating - in and around Midway, Park City and Sundance. The only disappointing thing was the disappearing blue sky while we were there - Utah was quickly being overcome with smoke from fires in Southern Utah and probably LA too. But we did notice a few leaves starting to turn - so pretty since we don't get to see leaves turn color until, say February, if at all around here!

If you are our friend in Utah and are disappointed we didn't come see you, don't worry - we didn't see anyone. ;)

I would totally go again. It was truly memorable. A great big thank you to Molly who watched my kids while she was dealing with THIS and thanks also to Maddy who helped Molly help me by also taking a turn with the big girls. I love you ladies like crazy!