It's the End of the World as We Know It (or at Least First Grade)

Yesterday was the last day of first grade for Emily. It's a pretty big day for a little person.

Last week, Emily's class put on their end of school plays. Chris and Jane and Grandma and Grandpa crammed themselves into a tiny room with dozens of other parents and families and were rewarded with plenty of entertainment.

This is Emily: Fresh out of first grade. (For some reason backpacks were strictly prohibited on the last day. Maybe to prevent the kids from smuggling in weapons.)

She has been working hard this year and so one of her many treasures to come home in the final days of school was a $25 Barnes and Noble gift card, which was rewarded to the two kids in each class to read the most words. She's very anxious to use it and asks at every break in conversation when we are going to Barnes and Noble. Soon, Emily, soon.

Finishing the first grade warrants a treat in the form of chocolate and dairy substance from everyone's favorite McRestaurant. 

And as an added bonus, yesterday was the first day of swimming lessons. Now I love going to swim lessons just about as much as I love going to the dentist. Maybe less. And it seems to be rubbing off on the kids.    

                         

Maybe it's the 85 degree heat and the 85% humidity in the swim area. Maybe it's the questionable pool deck that should have been replaced 20 years ago and cleaned regularly since. Maybe it's the urine smell. Maybe it's all those babies in the background excreting actual urine into the pool. I'm just not a fan. But the kids gotta learn to swim. 

Today was the first day of summer vacation. It's times like this when it's especially hard to be back at work. I remember all the park days and the running through the sprinkler and going to the spray park. It makes me sad. But I am happy that my kids are active and happy and outdoors all summer long. I was reminded of that today when I picked them up and they smelled like sunscreen and sweat and outside. A big part of me just wants to call off work for the summer so I can come home every day all sunscreeny and sweaty. But I know that's not a possibility, so I'm doing the best I can with what I've got and trying to enjoy summer evenings filled with chlorine, a preschooler who is suddenly petrified of the water, and a front seat view of the senior citizen's water exercise class. Because, believe it or not, someday these will be the good old days. 

Bubba's Boise Baptism

Sorry, Donovan, I know you've grown out of the nickname "Bubba", but who can resist such a lovely alliteration? Someone with more willpower than I have. That's who.

Last week we traveled to Boise for cousin Donovan's baptism. Since I have neither an endless supply of vacation leave nor an endless supply of sanity, we flew, rather than drove. It turns out that a preschooler with a prosthesis is a big risk when it comes to flying. They frequently carry bombs. Or so the security agents thought. Maybe next time we'll take it off before we get to the airport.

But we eventually arrived in one piece.

Ryan and Amity's ward just so happened to be putting on a 5k fun run that weekend, so we participated.

Emily ran in the 1 mile kids' race.

Chris won the 5k. I did not win. Not even close. But I will always be content to be an "also ran".

My kids spent the weekend tormenting this poor creature, which led to some pretty intense allergic reactions for Emily, which I was happy to treat with Benadryl at bedtime. 

We spent lots of fun time with cousins. 

It was a good experience overall.

Unfortunately, the camera seemed to get misplaced a lot, so this is about it for our trip. 

Next up... end of the school year which has unbelievably not happened yet thanks to 5 full or partial snow days in the last 6 weeks of school. 

A Springy Performance

This past weekend was one of the high points of the year. The annual spring dance recital captivated parents for three and a half hours on Friday.

Emily was a "goddess". This was much more exciting to her than last year, when she was "Pocahontas" and her outfit was brown. Everyone knows that the outfit is the most exciting part of the performance.

Emily had the opportunity to be in ballet with lots of great friends this year. Here she is with just a couple of them in the green room before the show. On a side note, Kaylee, (on the left) will be leaving our town soon and so this is their last recital together. Emily and Kaylee have been friends since birth and we are so sad to see her go.

I signed up to be "class Mom" (I thought it was "classy mom" and was really roped into it through false advertising) and sit in the balcony with the class while they were not performing. When you get together a baker's dozen kids with stage fright, it adds up to a lot of nervous bladders. I spent most of the first couple hours of the performance in the bathroom.

Chris and Jane joined us at intermission (or half-time as Chris calls it). Part of the miracle of cell phones is that very small children don't have to sit through an entire dance recital because mom can text before intermission.

Emily really enjoyed dancing (as you can see in this picture of the curtain call - she is the far right "goddess"). The joy on her face is all the thanks we need for a years' worth of funding and transportation to dance class.

What makes it all worth it to Emily? The flowers. She would walk through fire for a bouquet of roses from daddy. Luckily, she won't have to.

The recital signaled the end of our craziest May days and I was finally able to get my garden done. Now I am hoping for a bit of a break before our next craziness starts because I am legitimately exhausted. Sometimes I wonder how soccer moms do it. I don't ever want to find out firsthand.

007

It's been almost a week since Emily turned 7 and I haven't blogged about it. That's because May in our house is sort of like finals week, but all month. More on that later. Anyway, if I can get my mind to remember the events of the last week, I'll release them to the blogosphere where they will be recorded for all time.

Emily's birthday extravaganza started last Friday with a bowling party. 

                                     

                                              

Followed by pizza. My folks made it to town for the last bit of the party. We are grateful for their help in serving all those hungry kiddos.

                                   

Followed by cupcakes which constituted Birthday Cake #1. (Keep track. There will be a quiz at the end.)

The bowling party was a blast and I'm happy we did it because Emily had fun and I didn't have to keep 15 kids busy for two hours with only my own meager mental resources. 

The next day was party #2 at my parents house with Birthday Cake #2.

The following week was the Real Birthday. More presents.

A brand new bike that matches her size.

It took a bit of getting used to, ending in a few crashes and an altercation at the park with a lippy teenager.

Super fancy dinner at Panda Express.

                                             

And Birthday Cake #3. 

Sometime during Emily's week of celebration came Mother's day. Poor Chris. He tries so hard to try and give me a break every year, but it never seems to work out. Part of me is looking forward to the days when Emily is embarrassed by parties and she just wants money for her birthday. A big part. But not as big as the part that is happy that Emily is part of our family. We love her and we think she gets better every year.

Happy Birthday Emily!

D.D.N.

Before Chris and I had kids, we were married for five and a half years. During the majority of this period of time, we were on the starving college student end of things, but we spent every Friday and Saturday night doing something fun. Sometimes it was walking to the video store (my kids will never know what this is) to rent a video. Sometimes it was a long walk around the neighborhood above our Osage Street apartment - the one where the Big Fancy Houses were. At the end of the walk, we would make a stop at the Big Fancy convenience store and buy a fairly average pack of M&M's before returning to the slums where we lived. When budget allowed, we would go see a movie and, after Chris had graduated, we would cut out early on a Friday afternoon and make a trip to the big city.

And then... there were children. I love my children dearly, but date night has become harder and harder to come by. We would love to have a sitter once a week, but once a month became all that was realistic. We missed our time together. That's when we "invented" D.D.N. It started out as Dessert Date Night, but it was shortened because A) We didn't want the kids to know we were having dessert without them and B) Dessert Date Night takes too long to say. 

D.D.N. is some sort of a dessert once a week after the kids go to bed. It's usually pretty random and decided on via I.M. depending on what we're in the mood for and how fat we feel that day. (On fat days, D.D.N. is a diet cherry limeade). 

In the middle of the winter this year, we decided that we wanted to do an extra-ambitious and extra-fun series of date nights. Now, because I am super secure with myself, I have no problem admitting that we love Harry Potter. When the Deathly Hallows book came out, I stood in line at midnight and bought two hardcover copies because neither one of us wanted to wait to read it second. This was during our days when we had a single, tiny income and it was hard to make ends meet. That's how much we love Harry Potter.

So, anyway, we decided to watch all eight movies and have Harry Potter themed desserts. And now you have to hear about it.

We started with rock cakes. These are really good. Kind of a cross between a cookie and a scone. 

Next we did pumpkin pasties. Delightful.

I decided cauldron cakes (which were not described in detail in the books) were like black bottom cupcakes. Except for that I used a cake that wasn't dense enough and ended up with white bottom cupcakes. Oh well.

Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Bean. I would rather eat uncooked entrails than repeat this experience. 

Licorice wands (Okay, so this is just licorice, but if I dipped it in white chocolate, it would have just looked like a magician's wand - not a wizard's wand. I'm really going for authenticity here). 

Treacle tart. This one was a delicious surprise - sweet, citrus-y, amazing. 

Chocolate Frogs. Ron was right. The cards are the best part. 

And, last but not least, butterbeer. It goes down so smooth, you don't even notice it has a zillion calories. 

Our Harry Potter D.D.N's have been some of my favorites. Are Chris and I huge, giant geeks? Yeah, pretty much. That's why we enjoy each other's company so much. All I need to be completely content is Chris and enough spare change in the couch cushions for two packs of M&M's. 

Jumping Back into Life - Ears First

Who doesn't enjoy a lovely Easter celebration?

This year, Easter had special meaning as we remembered Grandma Carol. It was wonderful to go from mourning to celebration because that is really what Easter is all about. 

Since we had been out of town almost all week, our celebration was small and simple this year. Nevertheless, we still managed to fit it all in. 

We dyed eggs.

We layed out the obligatory Easter loot.

And the girls came down in the morning, delighted to find that it had rained candy in the night.

Notice how they went straight to the bunnies. There's a reason for that. Mama don't buy no Palmer bunnies. That is 7 oz. of Lindor chocolate right there. 

Even though it was just the two girls, we had a low key egg hunt. (Or as low key as Jane and Emily get.)

Both girls were pleased with their haul. I was pleased to be able to spend some time in the sunshine.

And then, finally, the girls got to put on their Easter dresses and go to church. Emily's dress represents hours of shopping and what seemed like thousands of dresses tried on in the fitting room. My mom says it's payback for my girlhood days. I say that she can take Emily next year.

We had the usual Easter dinner - ham, potatoes and key lime pie. (And this is where anyone who's not Chris stops reading because my blog just graduated to super boring.)

I must add how lovely it was to do something so normal. To remember that life goes on even after tragedy. No matter how bleak things may seem, renewal is always just around the corner. I love Easter.

A Rememberance

Last week Chris' mom finally ended her long struggle and returned home. We are grateful that she is no longer in pain, but we will miss her. This Easter, we are grateful to have the knowledge that Christ conquered death and that Grandma Carol will too.

Chris and I spent several days going through pictures of her and creating a memorial slide show (which I won't attach here, since it is close to 20 minutes in length, but please feel free to ask for a copy if you want one). It was both wonderful and sad to spend this time remembering her.

As we started to go through her pictures, it really stood out how beautiful Carol was throughout her life. It's easy to see where Chris gets his looks from, as well as where my children get their flowing blond locks.

No wonder Carol was always happiest when spending time with her grandchildren. She was so proud of them. Coworkers and friends who had never met Emily and Jane instantly recognized them at the funeral. Partly because her house and work space were covered with pictures of them and partly because the family resemblance is so strong.  (I, on the other hand sometimes am asked if I'm my children's aunt). 

Carol worked for many years as a reference librarian. She loved books. Every Christmas and every birthday, she would either deliver or send a bag of carefully selected books for the kids. She made it a point to research the highest rated children's books and to get recommendations from her librarian friends before giving the kids books. We will miss her wonderful selections and treasure all the stories she's shared.

I don't remember Carol ever being prouder than when Emily began reading to her. She has passed on a love of reading to our kids. Emily can often be found well past bedtime with her book light on, absorbed in a book. 

Carol was a great mom to Chris and his brother, Brian, teaching them all the important things: Love the Lord, honor your elders, get a good education, and always put family above all else. 

Carol was fortunate to have Walter by her side through it all. He has been her husband and companion for 44 years and in the last 6 months, he has spent nearly every waking minute with her, easing her pain, providing care, and being her tireless companion.

Carol will always be loved, remembered and missed. We look forward to the day when we will see her again.