A Fun Weekend

This was a great weekend! Friday, David took Robert with him on a scout campout and the girls and I put William to bed early and had fun eating junk food, catching up on American Idol and watching a movie. Then Saturday while David and Robert were packing up camp (in the rain hehehe!) we slept in until after 8 (practically unheard of in our house!) read, ate breakfast and sat around in our pj's. It was rejuvenating! Now I'm ready for another week of cooking, cleaning, laundry, taxiing, homework, etc, etc.

Bring it on!

Mission Accomplished

In may of 2009 our family set a goal of 100 service hours, and upon completion we were going to Disneyland!

I am happy to announce that last week WE DID DISNEY! We spent one day in CA Adventure and one in Disneyland. And to make it even better Grandma and Grandpa Force were able to come down from Utah and go with us!

I never seem to have enough time to work on pictures so I only have the ones from CA adventure ready. But, I have been so excited to post some from our trip you will just have to be satisfied with knowing that more will come....eventually.  (I am only posting a few of my fav's, we have TONS more! Someday, when I have time to improve my photoshop skills, I will start doing more collages. Until then, you just get one at a time.)

William LOVED seeing the characters!

Grandma and I took the boys on King Triton's Carousel while the others rode California Screamin'. 

 

It's Tough to be a Bug is one of our favorite things there. No matter how many times I see it, I still jump. It was especially fun watching Grandma and Grandpa experience it for the first time!

  

  

The swinging ferris wheel started to swing high just as grandpa took the picture! What a priceless moment captured!

  

 

We plan to set a new goal and continue with our service! Most of the things we did we would have done anyway, but it was good for the kids to see it and it helped motivate them to look for service opportunities. And when we went to work in an elderly's yard, instead of listening to, "Aww, do we have to?" We heard, "Yes! How many service hours will it be on our chart?"

Story time gone awry

What I normally leave story time with:

2 happy boys
2 completed crafts
stack of books

What I left story time with today:

2 crying boys
incomplete crafts
0 books...
and the beginnings of a headache

Why?

Robert had the wrong color of scissors. Oy vey.

Hey Mom, Do you think I can fit?

That's what Robert said as he looked at this little cubby in our entertainment center.

I don't remember my exact response, but it was probably something along the lines of, "no way, ya crazy kid."

Robert looked at it some more then said, "I bet I can.", emptying the cubby to make his attempt.

Sure enough he was right.

Thespians

Anna and Alahna tried out for parts in Lagooned, the play at David's highschool. We found out today that Anna got the part of Penny, a teenager who is performing on a cruise ship. It is not a huge role, but still a speaking part.

Alahna is going to be an island princess. We are not sure what that means or what she is going to do, but it sure sounds fun. What girl doesn't want to play the part of a princess!!

Anna just finished counting her lines and she has 16 spread throughout the play. As you can imagine, she is pretty excited!

safe side church

We have the safe side video where kids are taught to stay safe and strangers are referred to as "don't knows". 

And now that I have that out of the way I can tell you about Robert's adventure in sacrament meeting that still has me laughing.

He left right before church started to go get a drink. When he didn't come back I went to find him, slightly annoyed that I was missing the opening song because he was goofing off. After walking the hall twice, checking in classrooms, and even asking a young man from the other ward to please look in the men's restroom, I started to get a little worried and got David's attention. He left the meeting to help me look and after a couple more rounds, David finally saw a little blond head darting around a corner and gave chase. When he was caught he told Daddy,

"Everywhere I went there was don't knows, and I had to hide!"  

We couldn't be upset with him becasue he truly looked scared! Poor kid. We helped him get a drink and returned just in time for the sacrament to be blessed!

By the way, it is a great DVD, I highly recommend it to anyone with young children. I think we need to watch it again though, Robert seems a little confused!

A Letter to my Son

Dear Davie,

        It was six years ago today that we learned about anencephaly. We were given a choice that day. They said we didn't have to keep you, that we could end your life that day and just move on. They didn't know though. They didn't know that even though you had been in my womb only 14 weeks, I had already fallen in love with you. They didn't know that I loved you before I even knew you in my womb. I fell in love with you the day we decided to have another baby. They said we had a choice, but really there was no choice. I loved you too much for there to be a choice. We gave you the only things we could. We gave you love and life, and with that life you changed our lives forever. 

So, my little teddy bear, today I thank you for being my son. I thank you for letting me hear you cry and for looking into my eyes. I thank you for staying with me that night after your body quit working. Most of all I thank you for changing my life. Your life made me a stronger person. You taught me to slow down and to worry less about the things that don't really matter. You made me a better mother and wife and taught me to appreciate the little things. What we gave you is so small compared to what you gave us.  I know of only one way to thank you and that is to live the best I know how so I can be with you again. 

      

I still miss you and what might have been had you lived, but I look forward to holding you and looking into your eyes again. I will keep moving on the best I can knowing that you are watching and waiting.  Today, for you, I will hug your brothers and sisters a little longer and take a break from the chores to spend more time with them. I will be the mother I promised you I would be the day we laid your body in the ground. Today, for me, I will let myself shed some tears, hold your bear and look at your pictures. And then tomorrow, when I get busy and maybe lose my temper with your brothers or forget to tell your sisters the good things they've done, please forgive me. For though you have taught me much, I still have a lot to learn. Please know that I try every day to live like the person you deserve as a mother, but most days, I fear, I fall short. I will always love you and remember you.

                                                                                                            

Love,

Mommy

   

The medical group wins. For now.

30 frustrating minutes at the MRI lab.

a happy meal.

5 hours in the car.

1 hour at the children's hospital to see the neurosurgeon.

$4 for parking.

Traffic, traffic, traffic.

I think that sums up mine and Robert's day today.

Dr. Krieger, Robert's neurosurgeon, had requested a full spinal MRI at the Children's hospital with sedation. After battling with the medical group again, we gave in and just did a partial spine at a local imaging center.  The MRI, in the words of Dr. Krieger, ".. was horrible. Crappy." But he was able to see that the syrinx is still there and hasn't changed substantially in size. If it has changed a little in size he couldn't tell due to the poor quality of the MRI. So, in a year Robert will have another MRI, and it WILL be a full spine with sedation at the children's hospital. We will now be filing official complaints and changing medical groups. If that means finding a new pediatrician, then I guess we will be saying goodbye to dear Doc Sharma, who we have been seeing for over 7 years now.

A humorous moment of the day.... Before the MRI we had given Robert a sedative, chloral hydrate, prescribed by the pediatrician. It did nothing for Robert. He tried his hardest to stay still, but he is a very active 4 year old. He moved without even knowing he was moving. After the MRI the tech said to me, "if they send you back you might want to think about getting him a sedative, like chloral hydrate, or something."  I just laughed.

In the end, we survived the day, Robert is doing GREAT, and all is well.

A Happy Valentine

I hope everyone felt loved today! David and I don't really celebrate Valentines Day as a couple, but we try to do some fun things for the kids. This morning we had pink heart shaped pancakes and the kids had some special valentines to open and then after dinner we had this yummy jello dessert. Robert saw it in the Family Fun magazine and could not stop talking about it. He carried it around for several days looking at it with wide eyes and a watering mouth. Now, how could I resist that.... Anyway, it was fun to make and turned out cute.  I think it would be neat to do for the 4th of July with red and blue jello and cut into stars! So fun!

Sharing

Today, during sacrament meeting William took a handful of bread (without me realizing it) as the tray was passed then shared them with the entire family. Little piece by little piece, and with every piece he gave away he said, "you welbum", with a big ol' grin!  He was so proud of himself.

Next week I'll pay more attention and make sure he only gets one piece of bread, but this week it was just too cute.

Slumber Partying

 

We are overprotective parents and have a "no sleepover" rule, but every once in a while the kids request a "slumber party". Last weekend was one of these parties. It consisted of dancing, Sorry Sliders, rodent races (with zhu zhu hamsters), story telling, and finally crashing together on the floor.  No parents are allowed in these parties and they all have a great time, especially the boys who are usually not permitted in the girls room.  

I love these moments. They make motherhood all worth while. It will be a sad day when they outgrow these kinds of things.

7 Years

I took some pictures for some friends last week. Their handsome little guy just turned 7!  Here are some of my favorites....

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

Thank you for letting me do your pictures!

Ms. Veruca Salt

Lat week Alahna played Veruca Salt in the 2nd grade production of "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" She did great and we were very proud of her. The pictures are lousy, but given the circumstances, it was the best I could do.

 

Veruca with her golden ticket

 

Standing with Mr. Salt and the girl who chews bubble gum (her name has suddenly slipped my mind)

 

And my favorite, Veruca running off stage to get a squirrel!

2 years ago Anna played the same role, and I think we must have the 2 best Veruca's ever. Although, having them both play the same part has caused our first real experience with sibling rivalry.

Our dear friend, the nebulizer

It has been a while since we have had to use it, but this is how Robert spent a good chunk of time last week. He refuses to put his mouth on the mouthpiece, because he hates the way it tastes.