Grace's Birthday

Grace 2004 - 5 years old

Grace turned 9 on April 28th. We celebrated her birthday this year at Boondocks on Saturday. She invited her friend Taylor to come with us and they enjoyed riding the bumper boats and playing Laser Tag. We went to DQ and had lots of ice cream afterwards. Monday after school we took her to the mall and she picked out some new Heelies, the American Girl books for her doll Kit, but her favorite was a new Webkinz dog. Her first wish for her birthday was to get a dog but I had to remind her we have a new baby and it will be a few years before we get a real dog.

Some things about Grace:

1. She is a very aggressive soccer player

2. She still enjoys drawing and being creative

3. She is a wonderful piano player

4. She has beautiful cursive handwriting

5. She enjoys reading books.

Five of her favorite things:

1. She loves ice cream (Chocolate and Mint Chocolate Chip)

2. She loves her pink blanket

3. She loves swimming

4. She loves to play on the computer

5. She loves Spaghetti and Lasagna

"Hold der Mommy"

EVERYTIME I go to change a diaper Claire gets the diaper for me and wants up on the bed. She gives Sophia kisses and lays down right by her. She then wants to "hold der Mommy". So I finally gave in and let her hold Sophia. Maybe I felt like Sophia is getting a little stronger with her head and can handle the torment that she gets with her adorable big sister.

"Mommy, my nose"

Claire went to a friends house today while I was at Kindergarten registration and when I picked her up she said "nose mommy". I responded "Yes, Claire that's your nose". As we got home she said it again and I once again responded "Yes, that's your nose". So when I finally put her down for a nap she said it one more time and I decided to look up her nose and found a green "thing" up her nose.
It looked like a pea, green and round, she had never put anything up her nose before so I was a little nervous to know how to get the pea out. So I tried pushing on her nose to hopefully smash it and then pull it out with tweezers. She started to cry so I tried to have her blow her nose, (Which she has never done before).
Long story short...she fell asleep on my bed so I decided to let her sleep awhile and try later. When she woke up I pulled her nose as open as I could and stuck the tweezers up there and pulled it out. It was NOT a "pea"...It was a bead, yes a green bead for a necklace. The funniest part was that about 30 minutes later a purple bead fell out of her nose. Crazy girl!

Weekend Fun

Let the fun begin by putting up the tramp with Dad. The kids have really enjoyed jumping and having Jared jump with them. Even Claire wants to get on and the other kids have to sit down and let her have a turn.
This last Sunday was Sophia's first time going to church. She was all smiles and was pretty good the whole time. Don't the girls look great? Who's missing...

CLAIRE...she was still napping and then joined the girls for the "girl" picture.

Simple things

My friend helped me remember that we need to stop and appreciate the simple things. She also helped me realize how important it is to scrapbook and journal our experiences.

Conference talk "Daughters of God" from Elder Ballard.

"The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make....I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. Thee is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set of a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less."
Anna Quindlen, Loud and Clear [2004], 10-11).

Soccer Tryouts

Grace had tryouts last night for the Boise Captial Soccer Club. She has reached the level and experience to move up to the U11 girls Select Team. She was asked to play a game and showing her skills while of course having FUN!! This is part of her Team Taylor and Hannah.
Grace will be turning 9 on April 28th. She has played soccer for 4 years and has been able to have the same coach (Coach Ellen) the whole time. Most of the same girls have been on her team and they have formed a great relationship with each other.

Uncle Daris and Aunt Sara

This past weekend Uncle Daris and Aunt Sara came to Boise to visit. It was a lot of fun having them come over. We went to Grace's soccer game and enjoyed a relaxing dinner at Goodwood and PF Changs during the weekend.

And of course the greatest gift to the Children was bringing PENNY!! The kids have been wanting a dog and I have told them not until the baby is four years old. So they enjoyed Penny all weekend. They took her for walks, gave her cheerios after she did tricks and chased her around the yard with a ball.
Saturday evening we went to our park just down from our house and let the kids run around.

Thanks Daris and Sara for a fun weekend.

Growing Big

Sophia - three weeks