The Kid Update

Emma continues to really love being held by yours truly!! She is making progress in regards to letting me drop her off for babysitting, etc. to places she is familiar with but if I am in the room she wants to be in my arms.  She still really loves raspberries and puts them on the tip of her fingers (like olives) to consume them.  Her favorite hobby that she has taken up recently is coloring all over the floor, couch, her hand, you name it with any writing utensil she can find.  Markers, pens, crayons, etc.  She also loves sneaking into the toothbrush drawer upstairs and down and sucking on everyone's toothbrushes, (and the toothpaste tube for good measure) one after the other until I catch her.  She is just trying to do her part to keep Mr. Clean in business (since I have to use Magic erasers daily) and share any bad germs amongst the kids.  She is also getting very good at taking care of dolls and loves to push around the doll stroller.

Taking care of baby doll

Doing her own home decor: Markers all over everything

Emma with her fav: raspberries

Jonas is still really enjoying preschool and recently went on a field trip to the fire station.  As you can imagine, anything firefighter related now is so great in his book.  He also thinks he is SOOO big because he can go to sunbeams (at church he has graduated out of the nursery and goes to singing time and lessons with the older kids).  He looks so big and handsome to me and acts like he has been doing this his whole life.  His sunbeam teacher always has funny stories to share with me too.  For instance, one week she asked Jared excitedly "do you guys have an announcement?!" to which Jared said he didn't think so, why?  She told him that Jonas had been telling his whole class he was going to have a little brother.  Jared clarified that however much Jonas wanted a little brother it was far from the truth.  Jonas kept it up for a week, at least, telling me things like "oh, that toy is for my little brother" or pointing to a blank spot on his shirt that says "dad's little sidekick" with a picture of a dad dog and his son and saying "look! That's the little brother!" She said another week after she had taken them all for their bathroom trip that he came out of the stall and said "Guess what! I made a snowman with the bubbles from my pee!" she said it definitely provides her entertainment every week.

Driving the fire truck

Shooting the fire hose

Whole crew with the firemen

Jonas right after sunbeam class

Also, forget dinosaurs, because Jonas thinks Jared is the coolest thing to ever walk the earth.  I can be slaving over a dinner, set it all out and Jared walks in the door right before we eat but when we're all sitting down to eat Jonas will say "Wow! Dad, this looks like a good dinner, did you make it?" when he knows perfectly well that isn't the case.  Or, Jared will be carrying something upstairs (sometimes even with my help) and Jonas will say "Wow, dad! You are so cool and strong!"  Jonas is also getting really good at coloring with specific purpose and color choice and has cruised through almost an entire coloring book during sacrament meetings collectively over the last month.

I also told all the kids we really need to help Emma learn to talk by making a concerted effort to have her use her signs or words to ask for things instead of just screaming. Or if we see something that she is paying attention to or playing with, we should use the words (oh, is that your blanket?? is that Jonas?) Well, the other day I overheard Jonas and Emma in the toy room and Jonas is going "Yeah, Emma, is brother playing with sais? Can you say Sais, Emma?"  I didn't stop him because that's exactly what I had prompted them to do, but figured we would start with basic objects, not traditional Okinawan weapons used by Rafael, the ninja turtle.  It just cracked me up!


Lillian and Jocelyn have both started their dance class with their friends and have really been enjoying that every week along with Music Art and Drama friday at the presbyterian church.  They also really have been enjoying the rain we've been getting.

Enjoying our much needed rain

They get so excited to take their umbrellas to school if they see rain drops or put on their much neglected rain boots FINALLY!  Lillian also coordinated with a friend at school to participate in twin day. They both had their husky hats (Maddie convinced her mom to buy one after seeing Lillian wear hers to school this last fall).  So her mom went all out and got them these cute outfits.  They were very excited when I picked them up for a playdate following twin day.  Lillian is also beyond excited for her upcoming field trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  I will be going as a chaperone which should be fun (as long as I survive the bus ride)!  It will be fun to spend the day with her.  She has already planned what she will be taking for lunch that day:)  Oh the excitement of a bus ride and a field trip!!

Girls with head wraps I brought back as souvenirs from Boston

Lilly and her friend on Twin Day

 Jocelyn had her 100 project due for school and although I was pretty convinced she'd be able to find something in my craft cupboard that would work, she was NOT convinced.  I told her I needed to run an errand to the $ store anyway so I would save it until after school and bring her along if she wanted to pick something from there.  She came up with the idea of a 100 piece jigsaw puzzle so with the help of some mod podge she put together her project.  She was thrilled.

Jocelyn 100 day project

Jocelyn with Mrs. Scampini

She also was recently "Star of the Week" in her classroom and got to put together this poster.  She is really sad because next week is her teacher's last week at school before she goes on maternity leave.  They will have a sub for the rest of the year and we will all miss having Mrs. Scampini.

Jocelyn with "star of the week" poster

Trips to the homeland

I feel so blessed to live only a couple hours from where my parents are living, which also happens to be the town I grew up in.  This allows for weekend trips, or occasions for me to take the kids single-handed on a trip while Jared is working hard either at the office or on a house project.  And, it allows them to come visit us when they are in between travels and responsibilities.  I'm not sure this will always be the case, so I try to enjoy it while I can.

At the beginning of the month I had the opportunity to take the kids on a quick trip up to my parent's house to attend the baptism of an acquaintance from high school.  She had been taking the missionary discussions at my parent's house along with other locations and I wanted to be there to support her on her special day when she decided to join the LDS church. I, unfortunately, didn't get any pictures that day for Shelley Davis's baptism, but we were glad to be there and see Grandpa & Nana for a quick trip.  The kids get so excited to see Luke (their dog) and pick carrots from the garden, have sugar cereals and tennis lessons, etc. 

We went again recently to spend our "winter break" with them.  We had a random week off of school and decided that was our budget destination since Jared has been swamped with work lately and I needed to sew some drapes with assistance from my mom.  My parents were so good to make it feel like a vacation for us amidst all the sewing projects I brought.  Grandpa generously took us all to the Lego Movie and the Train Museum in Old Sacramento.  We had heard such good reviews from the Lego movie that I think we were a little disappointed.  I think my kids were a little young and in between Grandpa, me, and Emma napping and Jonas declaring half-way through that "he just wanted to go home," we didn't have the smoothest experience!  It was still fun to go see what all the hype has been about.  And the train museum was a huge hit with ALL of us!  I forgot what a great museum it is. It had been 8 yrs since I had been and Jonas just ate it all up. 

Grandpa and Jonas at the train museum

Jonas and Lillian at the lego movie

At the Movie

3 older kids at the museum

I was able to go run some errands by myself or with just 1 kid a couple different times (What a concept!!).  Another night my mom stayed home and fed and bathed kids and sent me to use her spot for her Church Women's activity of making mozzarella cheese.  It was fun to learn a new skill and catch up with women that I knew when we lived there during law school.  My mom stayed up late with me to chat and work on sewing projects and guide my inexperienced hands while we watched Lincoln. She also watched the kids so I could go walking in the morning with only Emma and my former boss (what a treat to have a fabulous park and walking partner!!) 

My mom and I also braved IKEA one day with the kids (as I was on the search for several items for the house, which I didn't find).  We all had a lot of fun checking out the room set-ups and toys and going to the cafeteria for lunch (we totally scored because little did we know it was "kids eat free" day and we ordered all kids meals with a couple sides).  By the end of the 3 hr adventure it was too much of a good thing and we were lucky to make it out alive, but the girls keep talking about it and how much fun they had so that's good, I guess!

Braving Ikea

To encourage the kids to finish tasks and motivate Jonas to poop in the toilet instead of his nightly pull-up, I promised them walks around the block holding Luke's leash with just me and them.  You would have thought I was giving away winning lottery tickets!  They were so excited to have one-on-one time and feel big enough to "walk the dog." Luke was a very good sport to say the least :)

To finish off the week my parents kept the older two girls with them while I returned home with the younger two to attend book club, see my good friend Tami who was in town for the weekend, and work on some house projects with Jared (while we had only half the kids to care for).  The girls had a fabulous time and you could tell they felt so loved and cared for.  I was worried they would never want to come back home!  How could I top the fact that they could watch Olympic figure skating on Grandpa's TV, go out to lunch at Chili's, play tennis with Grandpa, read books non-stop with Nana, have playdates with Maggie's girls and request what they wanted for dinner?? 

With the help of my neighbor who I hired to help with kids/painting one day, Jared and I were able to paint the laundry room, bathroom, prep the sun room with taping and primer, paint one of the bedrooms, fix the baseboard in the kitchen, paint other touch up spots and put in new bathroom fixtures, and some new window treatments.  So exciting to make more progress on the house!  Jared built the window cornices for me and helped me cover them after I threatened to do them myself, but he did get a pneumatic staple gun out of the deal so it's all good :)  I was grateful for his help.  I sewed two sets of drapes like the ones below for the connecting Fam room and Dining room.

laundry room with new paint and fixtures

Bathroom

office window treatments

Kitchen window treatments

Thanks to my parents for all their support and assistance for the week.

Keep On Keepin' On

A unique component of our church is that every member has a "calling" or opportunity to serve in various capacities to help run the programs within the church.  Both Jared and I have served in a lot of different ways at different times in our lives.  Right now (for the past couple years) Jared has been serving in the Boy Scouts program for the young men (first 11 year old scouts, and most recently called as Scoutmaster and counselor in the Young Men's program).  I have been serving as 1st Counselor in the Women's program (Relief Society) to help facilitate the activities for women ages 18 and up.   These are both somewhat consuming (time and energy wise) as we attend presidency meetings, work on schedules, planning or facilitating.  On any given week Jared is attending scouts for the evening or a camp out and I have a meeting or activity of some sort on another evening so we are grateful when we can both be home together!  We both assist in the Sunday meetings with teaching lessons, conducting meetings, running programs, etc.  I am not saying this to boast, just to record for journal efforts what we do!  Although it can be consuming, we are both grateful we have the ability and willingness to serve and I know the blessings can be felt from giving our time for these.  Plus, in some regards, I feel like we are paying it forward for when some other leader is taking time away from his family to help Jonas in Boy Scouts or planning activities that I will attend.  Jared is an amazing leader and seems to find a good balance between teaching the boys and letting them have fun.  He puts up with the antics of 11 and 12 year old boys which I honestly have little patience for and he uses his organizational skills to achieve the ranks and merit badges needed to progress toward their Eagles.

I sincerely love this aspect of our church because it presents the opportunity to work with and get to know people we wouldn't otherwise associate with.  Whether the age or demographic differences, or personality differences...there is so much to learn from working with someone it is difficult to work with and a lot to learn from people who have different points of view or more wisdom and experience.    I, for one, feel like I have been given this great opportunity to learn while serving alongside all of the people I have served with throughout my life.

Here are a few recent pictures of us in our callings.  It seems so everyday-ish that I often forget to document or take pictures of these things.  Jared recently had the opportunity to take his scouts for an overnighter on the USS hornet.   From the aircraft carrier museum website, this is a quick summary of what he took the boys to experience:
The aircraft carrier USS Hornet is a national treasure, having participated in two of the greatest events of the 20th century — World War II and the Apollo 11 manned space mission when the first humans in the history of mankind set foot upon the moon.

In October 1998, the ship was opened to the public as a museum moored at the former Naval Air Station Alameda (currently known as Alameda Point) on San Francisco Bay.

At the end of January I, along with those on my activity committee, planned a dinner and activity for all the women in our ward.  We made the dinner (Cafe Rio salads), helped put together decor (with the help of table hostesses we had asked to participate) and did publicity, etc to get everyone there (all within a tight budget!).  It seemed like a successful activity and now I'm in the thick of planning a Visiting Teaching Conference for all the ladies next week.  We also have monthly activities that we facilitate on a smaller level.  Like I said, it can be tiring, but all for a good purpose. As you can see from the picture below, whatever baby I have at the time (first Jonas, now Emma) is an honorary member of the presidency as they attend meetings, etc. and the other women are honorary grandmas to them.  Holding them while I attend to responsibilities, bringing them special snacks to keep them happy while we deliver to less active sisters, etc. Last year for Lillian's birthday she said she told me she wanted a butterfly birthday and then named off a few friends her age then told me she also wanted Nan there (the one holding emma). Nan was so flattered and spoiled her with gifts on her special day.  The kids ask "are your relief society ladies coming over?" if I tell them I have a meeting and were so nervous when the secretary was switched around last year and we had a new lady join the presidency.  Again, I feel honored to be serving with these ladies and glad to serve the Lord as I fulfill my duties in my calling.

At our January Activity

The women I serve with currently