A Ballerina is Born

Today was Naomi's first day in ballet class. She has been so exited about this. It's a miracle that she slept at all last night.

There were only two other girls in her class today. It's a 3-5 year old class, and Naomi was clearly the oldest.

Her face, throughout the entire hour long class, said it all. She was born to be here. She has just been waiting for this moment. Finally, I put her where she belongs!

She plied, sashaed, and learned "first position". She dressed up like a Princess, wore a tiara, and pretended to ride pink pony's. And she smiled through the whole thing. A sweet, totally content, nothing-could-be-better kind of smile.

This girl was born to be a ballerina.

Here's a little video of her showing off some things she learned in her first class.

Sunday Tradition

Breakfast for dinner. I highly recommend it.

(Asher is officially a little boy. He would rather make a funny face for a picture than smile nicely.)

Minimal dishes, minimal prep time, nice filling carbs, what could be better? ...What's that? A pork roast, mashed potatoes, corn, and a fancy dessert? ... OK, sure, that would be better. But who do you think I am? My Mom? ... I wish.

Kid's Day 2009

Background:

Richard's brother, Gary, was always a kid at heart. He loved to have fun and was always smiling. After Gary passed away, at the young age of 31, the Worth family decided to honor him on his birthday by celebrating "Kid's Day". There are no rules, really, about how you celebrate Kid's Day. Just, have fun. Richard and I like to make it a day all about what the kids want. We don't say "no" to them, we feed them what they want when they want, we give them presents, etc. And we always try to ride a carousel because that was one of the things Gary liked to do. There is a great series of pictures of him riding the same carousel and doing the same pose (reaching up with one arm to try to grab a ring at the top of the carousel) at several different times in his life, young and older. You can learn more about Gary on his website.

We started our Kid's Day with some presents waiting for the kids and a healthy breakfast of Lucky Charms.

Here's Daddy prepping his new Nerf gun (the grown-ups get presents, too).

The boys quickly figured out that I wasn't going to say "no" to anything when I didn't yell at them for eating on the floor. Within seconds this had escalated to eating in the family room in front of the TV. And they ate Lucky Charms on the family room floor, while watching TV, for at least an hour after that. Refill after refill. (Tomorrow morning is going to be a battle after that one!)

Here's Naomi coloring with her new crayons.

Alex (the babysitter) and I took the kids to the pool in the morning. That was their request when given the options of zoo, aquarium, or pool. Have I mentioned how much I love Alex?

After the pool we went home for a healthy lunch of Kraft Mac N Cheese (at their request, of course) followed by naptime. I thought about letting Naomi and Asher skip naptime, but Mommy needs her sanity in order to make everyone's wishes come true all day long, right?

Here's the boys playing in the sandbox with their new "dumptwucks and diggews".

In the evening, Richard met us at the mall for a carousel ride and dinner.

Isaiah enjoys the carousel but always has a very serious look on his face while riding it. Like he needs to study it and absorb it all.

Here's a great shot of Naomi in a pose much like Gary's famous one.

Asher prefers to sit in this bench seat that just nicely rocks back and forth. Daddy joined him.

Then we ate a healthy dinner of "Fre fries chicken" with a side or two of chocolate milk. Here's one messy, happy face. (Isaiah actually threw up a little just after this. It was a classic parenting moment where Richard was rough housing and picked Isaiah up and flipped him around and just as I said "You're gonna make him throw up!", he spewed. But at least he was happy and bonding with his Dad, right?)

And here's the whole happy crew.

Then Richard took the kids home to bed while I got to stay at the mall and buy myself some Kid's Day presents. What do you think of my new shades? Too bug-ish? Too trendy? Yeah, I think so too. But they're fun. And Kid's Day is all about fun!

Summer / 2 year Giveaway WINNER!

drum roll please ...

The winner of the Summer/2 year giveaway is WENDY!! Congratulations, Wendy. Random.org chose lucky #13 for me. Send me your address and I'll send the necklace right on it's way. Wendy is my sister-in-law's sister so I'm happy to keep the necklace "in the family".

Thanks to everybody who joined in the fun. Here's to another 2 (or more!) years of blogging!

Weather Perfection

Today was 85 degrees and sunny here. That is what I call a perfect Summer day. Just cool enough to be not miserable in the shade and just hot enough to play in the pool. Our babysitter, Alex, came over this morning so I got errands run without kids. The kids played outside with her so they were good and tired for naptime. Then when the kids woke up they wanted to go straight back outside. I sat in the shade in my fabulously equipped backyard and just enjoyed the day. Watched my children play together. Swatted at flies and nats. And read a book. It was great! An easy dinner, some rough-housing with Dad, and it'll be bedtime. *Ahhhhh*

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We're gearing up for a big Worth holiday. This Thursday is Kid's Day for us. We let the kids choose the activities and food, we give them presents, we act like kids ourselves. Wanna celebrate with us? It's surprisingly liberating to have a day when you don't have to say "no" to your kids. It's nice to buy them a present just for fun. Go ahead, break all "the parenting rules" for one day.

Summer / 2 year Giveaway

*****THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!******

It is officially Summer! The calendar says so, even if the weather still says "Spring". That's something worth celebrating! But on top of that, I just realized that my 2 year anniversary of blogging came and went without my notice. Two solid years of blogging is also something worth celebrating. ...More reminiscences about that later. For now, let's get on to the giveaway!

I'm giving away one of my favorite necklaces that I've ever made. I call it my Blackbird Fly necklace. It is not the actual necklace below, but one made just like it. (My camera battery is dead right now so I can't take a picture of the new one.)

To win the necklace, just comment on this post before Thursday, June 25 at 8 am. Anyone in the USA can win. Good luck!

So, about this two years of blogging. That's a long time! Our family sure has changed since then. When I started this blog I was still in the midst of the baby-fog that came with Isaiah's birth. Now I'm starting to feel like I've got it together more than I have in years (must be time to have another baby, right?). Our family went from this:

to this.

I'm so thankful I have this blog as a journal of our growing family. But I'm also so thankful for the bond it has created with my family and friends near and far. It's been great to get to know all of you in this way.

If you're interested in a trip down memory lane, here are a few of my favorite posts, in order from oldest to newest.

Fun In the Sun

Not Good Enough

Saturday's Fence Blitz

Graffiti

Sippy Cup Management

Grammar (be sure to read the comments on this one)

Smallest of Vacations

Richard and I just had loads of fun for about 10 minutes dreaming together (over IM) about little mini-weekend-vacations we could take this weekend. Ocean City, MD. Baltimore. Annapolis. Downtown DC. etc. All these places within a couple hours drive that we've never been to (or rarely).

Then Richard declared that he couldn't really do any of those things because of all the work he needs to do and the fact that he teaches on Sunday and we have a little friend coming over tomorrow for 7 hours of babysitting starting at 7 am.

Total downer!

So then Richard declared that he was leaving work immediately (at 3pm!) and we are going on a picnic at a park nearby. We'll buy Boston Market on the way, bring the bikes, and just play. Wa-who!!

Total upper!

***Update***
Total downer. When we got to the park we realized that all the rain had made it one big puddle. So we ate our picnic, threw a few sticks in the high river and then came back home for some bike riding in the cul de sac. But, as an Upper, the ice cream truck came by and we got popsicles. So, it all turns out in the end!

Attitude

I am in need of an attitude adjustment these days. I'm sure I'll get over it soon, but in the meantime I'm grumpy. I tell you only in way of explaining why I haven't been very bloggy lately.

Asher needs an attitude adjustment, too. He just came stomping up the stairs from the basement, slammed the door, and declared "I just not playing downstairs any more. I angry!"

Isaiah needs a nap more than an attitude adjustment. He was woken up early today by Asher's need for an attitude adjustment (Asher was screaming and banging the wall during naptime).

Naomi needs... some peace from her brothers. Poor girl.

Richard needs a break from work. He's been working 20 extra hours per week for about 4 weeks now. One more week to go.

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If I'm making a "wish list" of everything everybody needs around here, I'd like to add that Richard and I need a week in Hawaii together with no children. Just putting it out there for the world to see.

And Bedtime And Naptime

I can't help but agree with the sentiments in this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I8FCgaoaG8

And just in case you want some more, try this one too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6ujADXp0dM&feature=related

Senior Gifts

Tonight is our Ward's Senior Graduation Party. The Young Women were in charge of the party this year, so I've been a big part of the planning. One of my big jobs was to get the Senior Gifts. Not an easy task. But the task was made much harder by a $5 per gift budget. Seriously?!? $5?!? What can you get that's memorable, and a boy or girl gift for just $5?!?

My idea was to do a little gathering of small gifts and put clever tags on them with helpful hints for college-dom or adult life. Like a Snicker's bar with a tag that says "Satisfy your hunger by feasting on the scriptures" or a compass that says "To help you stay on the right path" or a bar of soap that says "To help you stay clean and pure".

Here is the staging.
These little birds were my big bargain find. On clearance for just $1! They're so cute, I even bought one for myself!

A view into a finished basket. I attached all the little tags with ribbon.

And the finished products. I made 5 of these total. Between the shopping, coming up with the clever sayings, writing and tying the tags, and putting it all together, this was a pretty time consuming project.

I admit, I'm not actually all that happy with how these turned out. I think they look a bit like piles of junk. Hopefully at least the girls will appreciate the cutesy-ness of it. $5 is just not enough! I am pretty happy with the bargains I found though. These buckets, with all 8 things inside, I managed to put together for just $5.86 each.

So why am I sharing this with you if I don't even like them? Mostly just because I spent pretty much my whole day on them. Between this and writing "spotlights" for each Senior based on the questionnaire's we had the parents fill out, I haven't done much else today. Good thing our babysitter, Alex, was here today. Without her, I don't think I could have gotten it all done.

Mega Giveaways

Great giveaways, and lots of um, are going on over at Tip Junkie this week. She just changed her site to a .com so she's having a Going Dot Com Birthday Bash. Be sure to check it out!

http://www.tipjunkie.com/

(Aw, man! Now I have to change her address in my Reader!)

Weekend Update: With Nancy Worth!

5 points to you if you got the SNL reference there.

This weekend we got Naomi a new bike! She was sorely in need since the old bike she had been using only responding to her pushing on the pedals about half the time. It was frustrating for her and she could hardly make it around the cul de sac, let alone with any sort of speed. We figured it was about time for her to take the training wheels off, but there's no way she was gonna be able to do it on the old bike.

Now the only problem is that she isn't use to a bike that lets her go fast! She rides around in a somewhat kamikaze style. She never had to use the brakes before since the old bike never went fast enough to need them. But I'm sure she'll get the hang of it soon. ... At least I hope so. For all of our sakes!

**Poor deprived girl. We wouldn't let her get a pink bike since this bike will need to be passed down to her brothers soon enough. Note the purple streamers that the nice bike-store guy put on there for her to help her feel a little more girly. And a new, matching, purple helmet.**

Below is Asher on the "old bike". Note his frustrated face - because this bike really should just be put in the trash but ... it just seems like a waste.

And here is Isaiah on the good ol' Radio Flyer trike.

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I guess this wasn't really this weekend, but...

I took Isaiah in for his assessment with the Speech and Developmental specialists this morning. They declared him the cutest, sweetest, and non-developmentally delayed, boy ever. He performed beautifully and had them wrapped around his tiny, chubby fingers. He sat nicely in his chair, answered their questions with points and grunts, followed directions... all they could want. ...Except for talk. It was declared that he is certainly not at all developmentally delayed, but that his speech is definitely delayed for whatever reason. So now there are several more hoops to jump through before the actual "speech therapy" starts. They told me that he probably wouldn't actually make it into a therapy session until October because of all the things that have to happen first! Sheesh! But it's a County/State program, so it's free.

I feel good about how the appointment went. I'm relieved that they saw what a smart boy he is and that they didn't bug me about the "second language" that is spoken in our home (Richard speaks Portuguese to them for like maybe 1 minute of each day total). I'll go ahead and jump through their hoops because I want Isaiah to have a good, firm start to his education. They have these programs for a reason!

I'm Nancy Worth. Goodnight!

(Again. The SNL reference.)

Worth It moment

I was unloading the dishwasher while the boys watched TV. I was clinking the silverware into their slots when Asher turns around and very calmly says, "Mom?" I say "Yes, Asher?" He replies, "Can you please stop dat?" ... "Sure, Asher."

And that is one of those moments that makes those other moments forgettable. He is learning manners after all! He isn't pure terrorist! Sometimes he's an angelic little choir boy with a halo and fluffy white wings. Bless his sweet little soul!

Serendipity

So last Sunday was a pretty bad church-going experience for our family. Both of the boys were just kind of out of control. They're always pretty bad - but this was worse than usual. Naomi actually sat in the chapel by herself for most of it while Richard and I took a "divide and conquer" stance with the boys.

At one point, after taking Asher out, sitting with him in a classroom until he calmed down, making him recite our 3 rules for Sacrament meeting, and getting a drink, we had to wait a minute to go back into the chapel because someone was in the middle of their talk. We sat in the foyer in a chair next to a woman who was not in our Ward. I assumed she was from the Singles Ward who's meetings overlap with ours.

She started flirting with Asher a little bit and asking me how old he was, etc. It came out that she was a part-time college student who makes money on the side by babysitting. I said "I've been looking for somebody to help me out a little this Summer - just a couple hours a couple of days a week". She said "I've been looking for a job just like that!"

And that, my friends, is serendipity. A fortunate discovery by accident.

Today was Alex's first day. I think she played every game we own with the kids in the 2 hours she was here. And while she played with them, she helped them clean up after themselves. And while they did that, I cleaned the house, grocery shopped (alone!!), and heaved huge happy sighs of contentment. ... I feel another one coming on right now just thinking about it.

Thank you, Serendipity!

Hand Sucker

Isaiah is quickly building the habit of sucking on his hand. Yep - his hand. The whole thing. He starts on just a couple of fingers, then sucks a little more in, and more, and before you know it, the whole hand is in there. It's mostly when he's watching TV or being read a book. I haven't actually seen him sleeping with his hand in his mouth yet - but I'm sure it's only a matter of time. I guess maybe it was a little too early to take away his pacifier - but I'm not about to give it back now!

I had a thought the other day that I should just keep putting hand sanitizer on Isaiah's hands all day because that stuff tastes just plain nasty. But Richard quickly pointed out that it is also like 90% alcohol - so that might not be the way to go.

So I give this to you, genius readers of my blog, any ideas?

What They're Up To

I enjoyed my sister's post on what each of her kids is up to so much that I decided to copy her idea.

Naomi

Now that Naomi is done with Preschool, she's ready to ride the bus. She's so excited about it that she's loosing sleep over it already. Too bad that she has to wait three months still for school to start. The other night she came down after she'd been put to bed already and said, "Mom, since I'm so excited about riding the school bus, shouldn't we just go ahead and do it tomorrow?"

Her excitement for the school bus is only surpassed by her excitement for ballet class. Fortunately, she only has to wait a couple more weeks before her ballet class starts. She is already prancing around in full Ballerina paraphernalia 24/7 just to be sure she's ready.

She still draws all the time and happily spend 2 hours every afternoon in her bedroom alone doing so. She even goes up there in the mornings sometimes because she'd rather draw than watch TV. She and I are working on writing and illustrating a book which I will then use MyPublisher or something to turn into a real book. It's a deep and compelling story about a Princess, a Soldier, and a ball -which costs a quarter to get into. I can't wait to show it to you.

Asher

Asher is talking up a storm. And he has some great, entertaining things to say. Just 10 minutes ago he said to me "Mom. I decided that I saw a garbage truck." No, there was no garbage truck in sight. I think he was just experimenting with the word "decided".

He also recently started telling stories. His stories usually go something like this, "Once, there was a airplane. And it was flying. And it CRASHED! And that's the end." Sometimes it's a car, but it's basically the same each time. But it's so cute to see his little brain making up these stories.

Asher is so happy to spend time in the backyard. He could literally spend all day out there by himself and be a happy boy (as long as I brought him snacks occasionally). Some days he prefers the sandbox, some days the swing. But either way, he's a very content boy. Which is wonderful for me to see, because "content" is not something I see on him very often.

Isaiah

Isaiah has a 5 word vocabulary. Mama, Da Da, uh uh (as in "no"), uh huh (as in "yes"), and most recently added uh oh. He has an appointment with a Speech Therapist and Child Development Specialist next week, but I'm pretty confident they're just going to confirm that he's a genius who just doesn't feel the need to speak yet.

Isaiah builds amazing block towers. He completely understands all the stuff we talk about. And he manages to get his point across pretty clearly even with a limited vocabulary. He loves to watch the other kids play but is more happy to be at Mommy's feet. Isaiah is also a big fan of snack time. He likes a nice mix of Goldfish, stick pretzels, and fruit snacks - which is a quite a feat since I refuse to give multiple things for the same "snack time". ...But somehow he always manages to get all of what he wants. See what I mean about his getting his point across clearly?

Wet N Wild ... at church?

Yep. For real. Wet and wild at church. Or at least, in the parking lot. Our Ward has a tradition of doing this every year. Bounce houses, water, water guns, water slides, a picnic, etc. It's always a blast. We got there early enough this year that our little kids could get some big-kid-free time in one of the bounce houses, which was great.

The highlight for Isaiah was these cute dogs.
Here he and I are sitting at the bottom of the big slide in one bounce house.

Here's Isaiah and his buddy, James, climbing up the slide. I think it was easy for them because they were so light - but it really was VERY slippery!

Naomi is so cute.

Here's Richard going down the big slide with all the kids. We all had a blast.

Asher had a tendency to take out several kids every time he slid down.

Daddy and Isaiah go down while Asher goes up.

And then free lunch. What could be better?

It wasn't the warmest day - but at least it's a change from the past week of rain that we've had. A great way to spend a Saturday.

Tonight Richard and I are going out to see the newest X-Men movie. The kids are as excited about having this particular babysitter as we are about our date. They really love her - because she loves them back!

sigh of relief

*sigh of relief* I love the internet. Email. Blogs. Available answers to random questions.

Long story, but our internet was mistakenly cut off Tuesday morning. And they couldn't come fix it until today. And the phone is connected to the internet, so no phone either! I was completely cut off from the world! How on earth do Mom's do it (without going insane) without feeling a little connected each day? I use to watch the news every morning to get that feeling of connection. But now I email/blog/etc. ... It's good to be back.

I can't even think of anything to say now...I'm just relieved to be back.

The View From the Trenches

My MIL loaned me a book (A Mother's Book of Secrets) that had me crying in my Cheerios this morning. The author was talking about how sometimes you are so deep in the trenches of Mommy-hood that you can't see out the sides because it's too deep, and you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel either. I think every Mother can understand that. Lately, I feel like I've been in a fog of "me, me, me". I had some "me time" scheduled (my trip to Utah) and then I had to take more to recover from my D&C. Now it's time to return to my Mommy trench. But I also think I need to peek out of this trench, reassess my location, and start heading toward the destination again. In the meantime, there's some things that you reader's missed while I was too deep into myself and my woes.

The kids have discovered the fun of wrestling. I know... it was inevitable. I'm really just relieved that Isaiah is old enough to join in the fun without feeling he's being attacked (too much).

Richard took the kids to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum last week (one of the days that I was recovering). Some cute pics from that:

On Memorial Day, we wanted to play in our new pool. But it was only like 75. So we hooked the hose up to the kitchen sink, ran it out the window, and filled up the pool with warm water. The kids and Richard had a great time while I supervised. This year's pool is pretty groovy. It has a deeper end, then a slide into a shallow end. It's a hit!

(I guess I have these sets of pictures out of order, because you can tell the boy's got haircuts inbetween the pool day and the Air & Space Museum day. Oh well.)

I love being a Mother. And I'm usually pretty happy to just stay in the trench, keep my head down, and carry on. But I guess a location-check is always a good thing. To keep us on track toward Happy-Healthy-Older-Children-ville.