Mother's Day 2014

Just a quick picture with my little ones before church on Mother's Day.  Isaiah was sad because he knew he would have to sing with the Primary during Sacrament Meeting.

I've spent the last year working a lot on my physical health, so I thought it would be neat to do a before-and-after style picture to show the dramatic transformation.  Oh, wait....I look exactly the same.  Except more wrinkly now.  *sigh* oh well, I FEEL better and that's what matters, right?  Right?  Also, I think it's fun to do the picture on this chair every year; I picked out this chair and I love it, and I also think a couple of decades from now it will look super dated and hideous.  Perfect.

Evolution of a smile

 Here's the latest version of Isaiah's smile.  If you've forgotten the story, read this post 

A big pre-op smile!

 I love this picture.  It's shortly after they gave him the first fall-asleep medicine; right after I snapped it I had to drop the phone to catch him as he fell face-first to the ground while laughing (him, not me) (well, first him, and then me).

 Frozen was the movie he got to watch.  He can probably not imagine what it was like to go to the dentist before there were TV's mounted in every ceiling; the same movie was playing for him in the procedure room, but he was far too out of it by that point to care.


I thought it was sweet how they tucked him in a soft blanket.  But just for a second until I saw how tightly they swaddled him and I realized it was to keep his arms pinned down.  Fair enough.

The first post-op picture so that we could text daddy.  

And a collage to show the various stages:

PS--extra credit for anyone who can guess how many teeth I'VE had pulled!

School Carnival

 We've been trying to find opportunities for Isaiah to be in the elementary school he'll be attending this fall, so when we heard about their spring carnival we were all over it.  Here he is, ready to test his strength.

The kids ahead of him were having a hard time landing the frog on the target, so I was looking forward to this as an opportunity for him to practice working through a frustrating task.  His frog hit the target on the first swing.  Growth opportunity missed.  But also a crying fit missed, so I was okay with that.

 

The booth worker guy was super good with the kids and in the end helped Eliza's frog to the target so that she could win a prize too.

 Okay, so I just couldn't believe she made it up this inflated rock wall thingy!  There was a huge line for the obstacle course and she wanted to try it even though I told her it might be too hard.  She got to this part and asked for help (I followed along beside her in case she got stuck because otherwise the worker lady wasn't going to let her go because it would clog up the whole thing).  I told her if I helped her, it would be to help her out of the obstacle (not to the top of the wall) and that she wouldn't be able to continue on.  So she grabbed the rope and hauled herself up since her legs weren't long enough to go from step to step like the bigger kids did.  She might be little, but she's no quitter!

Here's Eliza Mae trying cotton candy for the first time.  She likes it!  Oh wait, no she doesn't.  She ended up spitting it out and having me carry it around the rest of the night.  But the pictures are cute, misleading but cute.

A double standard

I've always thought it would be hard for kids of unmarried parents to remember the different rules at each parent's house.  And then there are my kids, who have to remember the different rules for each parent at the SAME house.  One of us is much more safety/neatness/quiet-oriented than the other.  So there are some things the kids are allowed to do, but only when daddy isn't home.  Daddy is aware of these things (or if he wasn't before, he is now) and so far the arrangement is working.  I predict the arrangement will work up until a serious injury occurs and my more relaxed approach comes under fire.  Until then, there are just some things we don't do when daddy is home.  It's not that mom's rules are right, or that dad's rules are right, it's just that we each have rules and they happen to be different.  Different people like different things; different people are annoyed by different things, and we respect that.

(This is a recliner.  That means if Eliza were to fall, the force of it could cause the chair to recline, which could cause Isaiah to fall.  Very dangerous, I imagine...but when it happened in reality no one got hurt and lots of giggles were had.  Someone even said "good thing daddy didn't see that!" and it wasn't me.)

Oh, and by the way, the kids have plenty of fun with daddy, lest this post make him seem like a fuddy-duddy, it's just that they have more of their dangerous/messy/louder fun with mommy.  We make a well-balanced pair.

Life is random

 And so are my posts.  I learned to french braid as a kid and then my friend Carolyn gave me a refresher course recently.  Now that Eliza is growing out her bangs, braids are a good way to keep that long hair out of her eyes.  Does this picture seem like I'm just totally showing off my braiding skills?  Because that's what I'm doing.  Oh, and also, look at her lashes, lucky girl!

 Sometimes special events at the library are super crowded, so I made sure we showed up early for the special showing of Frozen.  Guess that one wasn't as popular as I expected.

This is why I can't keep up on dishes.  When Jerel serves leftovers, it takes three times as many bowls as necessary.  Pictured here are the storage bowl (microwave safe; pretty enough to eat out of), the heating bowl (which was for some reason deemed unsuitable for eating out of), and the eating bowl (which is no more eat-out-of-able than the first two bowls.)  Just saying.  Just to be clear, I am not one of those wives who is always complaining that her husband doesn't help out, and then complaining even more when he does.  I am just one of those wives who can't keep up on the dishes.

Pre-Preschool

 Eliza has a late birthday so she still has another two years before Kindergarten.  She was always jealous when Isaiah got to go to preschool last year (we did a home-based co-op for his first year) so I decided to organize a once-a-week pre-preschool for her.   It was sort of like a playgroup with a circle time.  I mean, I tried to do all sorts of instruction but it was tough, especially since we started the year with SEVEN two-year-olds.  Here's my friend Lindsay teaching recently; she is from my old ward so she took her teaching turns at my house so that the other moms wouldn't have to drive all the way to Hillsboro.  Lindsay's daughter Ellie is just a week older than Eliza, and Lindsay did a great job teaching with Ellie being somewhat clingy--not to mention she had her two younger kids with her as well!

Here is Eliza with her friend Eleanor.  Eleanor is in our ward and apparently she and her twin brother Thomas are sort of obsessed with Eliza; when they get to church they have to look around until they see her, and they talk about her all the time and such.  They are good kids and easy to be with.  They are about 4 months younger than Eliza, so they aren't in the same class at church, but they were all in nursery together until the end of last year.

 This day at the park was hilarious.  Lindsay had this great game planned for the kids and they just weren't up for it.  It was like the story of my life--planning fabulous things that end up flopping--but it was happening to someone else, which  made it much more entertaining.  In the end, they had fun playing at the playground while Lindsay and I chatted about how annoying it is that they don't have the attention spans of adults!

 This fall we are putting Eliza in a "real" preschool just down the street from us.  I'm not super impressed by it like I was with Isaiah's school, but it's right around the corner and half the price!  With Isaiah in afternoon kindergarten, the drop off and pick up times will be tight, so proximity was key.

 For the days Lindsay taught at my house, Isaiah usually joined in for at least part of preschool.  Here he is at the park with Eliza's class, along with his friend Carter who lives right by the park.

Love this picture of Ellie!

 

 Here's Lindsay helping Isaac (her middle child) balance his scale.

Isaac, Ellie, Eliza, Eleanor, and Thomas.  Izzy is hiding behind the living room curtains.

Sports. Sort of.

 Isaiah's gotten interested in sports lately, which has been fun.  I bought a few types of balls and such and he has lots of fun playing.  I try to put Jerel in charge of it so that he can learn skills aside from just granny shots.  He also likes to watch sports occasionally and I'm proud to report that unless a favorite team is playing, he chooses who to cheer for based on what color uniform he likes the best.