quote for the day

i was upstairs changing max when i heard kai yell from downstairs,

"mom! don't you think i in my sketchers and sadie in her puma's should have a race? because i'm not sure what shoe is fastest."

if you know kai, this was a big concern to him. he loves his shoes. his nikes broke, i mean completely fell apart, and he told me (with the saddest face and beginning to cry) to only garage sale one and he could just keep the other to look at.

sadie ann

when sadie was a baby, dave said, "no barbies." i guess he once heard a barbie say, "math is hard" and from then on dave thought barbies were not for his little girl. granted, the no barbie thing only lasted until her second birthday when dave's sisters surprised sadie with a gift which she opened and yelled, "barbie!" dave and i didn't think she knew that word or would be so excited about getting one. Even though she has had a barbie or two or ten, sadie is still a little smarty, well big smarty and just plain big (fifth grade-crazy!) and getting all grown up.

sadie was talking about her primary class yesterday. her teacher was showing them a map and sadie asked her teacher why they never show the north pole on maps. her teacher's response was that the north pole isn't worth showing because nothing is there. this bothered sadie and she tolds us at dinner, "what about arctic foxes....and polar bears? " she went on to tell us about the forest in the arctic region and all the oxygen that it produces.

sadie has always been a thinker and i love this about her. she was about three and i pointed to the night sky and told her to make a wish on the first star. she said, "that's not a star mom, it's a planet."

sadie loves being by family and really liked ogden so moving here was rough for her. it was an eye opening experience for her to come to a school where she is the only lds kid in her class. i'm grateful for this challenge and to watch her grow and show tremendous courage. i'm also grateful to a loving heavenly father who has blessed her so much. she has had so many positive opportunities since we have lived here. recently she tested into tag, her teacher invited her to be on the odyssey of the mind team, she won her school science fair with her 'sledding into science' project. she went on to region and won the 'most creative' award. she sang in the school talent show and still teachers come up to her and tell her they cry when they think about it. she played her first season of soccer and received the most improved player award. she chose to talk to her friends about her values like not swearing and being modest. she invited some of her friends to activity days.

moving here has given her the chance to really think a lot about what she believes. she bore her testimony in church yesterday and it is neat to see that she knows who she is and that she knows why she is here. it is fun to see her shine. i continue to be amazed at what a capable, creative, lovely girl she is. i'm glad she is excited about learning and being involved. i really feel privileged to be her mom. plus, she is just so fun to be with.

fyi..the song 'this is me' on our songlist is sadie's favorite song and pretty much her theme song for this school year. i love to hear her sing it while she is showering.

JOSHUA KAI

yesterday was kai's first day of preschool. he was excited to start school but i think more excited for the candy poster he knew was coming (a candy poster is our tradition for the first day of school). he reminded me he was having a first day of school and, "i should get one of those."

kai likes learning and he LOVES "candy, candy, candy, candy". the other day in the car i was telling the kids the poem, 'girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice' and kai insisted that he was made of sugar, spice, and sprinkles and some peanut butter. I think he is probably right.

his first day was almost a breeze. with his favorite yellow and green adidas on and his red dragon in his backpack, he was ready. he had a great first day-- the only twist was he told his teacher to call him joshua.

(this is a picture of kai with his first electric guitar. one time i was telling him what a great missionary he would be and he told me, "i'm not going to be a missionary i'm going to be an electric guitar player.")

we are grateful for kai's personality and how much he adds to our family. whenever i tell kai he is cute he says, "i'm not cute! i'm coool." and so it is.

happy birthday!

33...that is a lot of fire! my sister and i always call each other and share funnies for the day, silly things our kids say. her boys were asked the question, "what do you want to be when you grow up?" one said, "a helicopter." the other said, "still toby with no job." i guess turning 33 means i must be all grown up and what am i? i am just plain lucky. i think i have the most thoughtful husband around with which makes turning 33 all good. (one of the cakes dave made me)

(my birthday stash)

birthday treats:

-breakfast in bed with kai
-my favorite flowers
-waking up to a birthday stash
-deluxe bingo set from abe
-a cake buffet made by dave
(dave invited friends over for cake and ice cream but all we had was wheat flour so we ended up with some interestingly, healthy cakes and yummy root beer floats...it was a treat just watching him bake)
-new kitchen rug and dishes (these were very exciting gifts, which proves i am old)
-a break from cleaning bathrooms
(house keeper for three months)

really, the best gift was seeing all the effort dave put into making it a good day for me. he is definitely a keeper... and so is the housekeeper. she came yesterday and it was fabulous! thanks dave, i heart you.... a yot!

Spike

my brother rob lives in phoenix which has been nice because we have been able to hang out with his family a little more since moving to AZ. they came to visit for a day and it was great fun.

the highlight was this horned lizard the kids caught in our yard. you can kind of see it in the left corner. sadie wanted to name it horny but after some explanation they decided spike was a better choice.

we gave the kids their choice of where to spend the afternoon and they chose the pet store. it is a fun pet store, the most fun part is we get to hold the animals and then leave them there. last time we were there the worker told abe he could pet a starfish and when he stuck his little finger in the aquarium, out of nowhere a big fish zoomed up and bit him-attaching so when abe pulled his finger out, out came the fish, flying through the air. we don't pet the fish anymore but sadie and abe and their cousin kari had a great time holding the puppies.

we ended the day at our house with a bbq, a little wii tournament and hanging out. it was great to have company. also, spike was a great addition to the family for a few days. the kids liked watching him eat insects and i liked watching dave walk around the neighborhood with a jar, looking at the ground, searching for ants.

Camper of the Week!

abe attended his first college basketball camp and at the end of the week received the "CAMPER OF THE WEEK" award. the head coach of NAU basketball team awarded abe with a huge gym bag, a lunch box, a basketball card and key chain.

this is a picture of the coach that worked with abe all week. He said abe was a great kid (but i already knew this). abe really loves basketball. in fact, for mother's day he was convinced that WNBA cards would be the perfect gift for me and was pretty sad when dave didn't go for it. abe had a great week and was excited to be camper of the week. way to go ABE! we are proud of you and your hard work!

kai's big birthday

kai had his BIG 4 year old birthday party today. sad to say that this was his first friend party ever, but happy to say it was BIG.

i think that if myndie had to find a job, she would become a birthday planning consultant/coordinator. kai wanted to have a batman party (as is evident with the numerous images). the party started with a story of batman's mission fighting against the supervillains and keeping the world safe. suddenly, the pesky riddler left a clue that it was his intent to steal all of kai's presents. all of the superkids were enlisted to defeat the riddler and protect the presents.


the riddler's first plan was to engulf the presents in bubbles, but the superkids were able to pop both the bubbles on the ground and those floating through the air.

(the entire patio was covered in bubble wrap)

he next tried to defeat the kids by hurling hot lava (anything with hot lava is an instant hit) balls, but the kids were able to kick them all away.


next, a giant bat swooped down to get the presents (which in reality makes no sense at all, because a batman bat would presumably be with the good guys--but it worked all the same), but the kids again prevailed and shattered the swooping bat, which upon bursting was discovered to contain high caloric energy supplies.

for the final challenge, the riddler him(her)self appeared and attempted to carry off the loot, but heroically the krazy bat string put an end to that, the presents were saved, and goodness prevailed.

the final challange actually became the penultimate as another soon arose. i forgot to pick up candles, so the penguin decided to burn down the GIANT gothum city (made of rice crispy treats and erected at 2:30 am--the photo does not due justice to its enormity). four matches were embedded within the gothic building and set ablaze, but batman ultimately saved the day with his wind power, bringing peace and stability to gothum city once again. it was short lived though. moments later the entire city was devoured by the same superkids who had previously sworn to protect it.




happy birthday BIG KAI!