BIG UPDATE - Summer 2012

I haven't blogged in forever. I still am pretty fed up with Blogger and frankly, Amar'e keeps me on my toes so much, I don't make the time. I will attempt here to at least give a summer update. I planned a summer routine and not suprisingly, we failed miserably at all of that. The boys have been cooped up because of the scorching heat. So, the have been inside the whole summer. We have taken them to the pool and the reservoir a few times. We have also had a few play dates with friends. The only reading Marce has done is during scripture study (almost every morning) and at night for about 10 minutes before bed (probably more of looking at the pictures)...I have made him do his Math program online called "ixl". So he is into the 1st grade curriculum already but we could have done a lot more of that. The boys have done their chores all summer long, that is something they will never get a break from :) Phoenix has joined the system and is now doing the dishes with Marcelus. When I feel he can do it on his own, they will switch off, but for now they do it together. He will probably not start sweeping until he is close to 5. As soon as their old enough to learn a chore, I put them on it. That is how it works. They get check marks for every chore they do (cleaning up toys is not a chore!) and when they reach $5 worth of chores I pay them. They then save up for toys or buy a candy when we go to the store.

Marcelus has NOT done any "Let's Play Music" this summer but I'm not too worried about him. He has a big year this year as he gets on the keyboard for the first time and has required practices 5 times a week. "Let's Play Music is an awesome 3 year pre-piano program he is in. He has looked at his materials for this semester and is so excited to get started. He starts this Tuesday, a week before school starts!

Phoenix has been doing so many head stands, I think I'm going to get him into tumbling/Gymnastics when he's a bit older! He's constantly on his head, and he's been at it for 2 years now! This coming year I will be working with Phoenix myself to prepare for Kindergarden, which he won't attend til next year. I'm going to take 30 minutes 2 days a week with him to work on Preschool stuff.

Amar'e is now 15 months and he is into everything. He is a devil and I hope he grows out of it all soon. We have to put our trash can up high, close all closet/bathroom doors cause he will get in the toilet, trash, toilet paper, ect...we have to tie up the fridge so he can't get in there. He gets into my cupboards, the TV stand, ect....He is nuts and I hope he's my only one this bad! He reminds me so much of his brother Marcelus! Amar'e goes into Nursery about Halloween time and I can't wait because if he hasn't fallen asleep by then there is hardly a chance of me attending RS.

The 2 older boys did swim lessons for a couple weeks. I don't know if they ever learn anything. We have tried to take them to the reservoir with just floaties to let them swim and learn. I want my kids to be excellent swimmers but it just seems to be so slow going. Marce is 6 1/2 but no where near being a good swimmer. I guess we'll just keep trying.

I have enjoyed going to RS and ward activites this summer. I love the ward. It's just full of the neatest people. We had pie and homemade ice cream at the park recently and we did a big tug of war. I love the RS meetings. I need to be able to get out on my own once in a while with no kids and just mingle with adults, so I love them!

Sharrid and I had the opportunity to go up to northern Utah in July. We stayed at my Aunt Theresa's house in Payson. We loved Theresa's house! It was so cozy and homey, and we love their company! They are so awesome. We loved their place and their little town. We were able to drive through the Alpine Loop which took my breath away. It was rainy and glistening and looked like The Sound of Music meets Swiss Family Robinson! We hiked across the east side of Mount Timpanogus about 3.5 miles to a huge waterfall called Stewart Falls. It was beautiful and definitely outdoorsy. You could not see one worldly thing as far as the eye can see. I felt like I was in one of those off roading car commercials...you know the ones where you are thinking..."yeah right, where are they?...who goes there?" They're out in the middle of no where but it's like unearthly beauty. I saw huge mountains covered in green across the way and a huge full rainbow on the way back. The weather was perfect of course...

Me and the boys were able to go to the family cabin for the 4th of July. I LOVED it! I was worried about having to chase after Ama're but he did so awesome and I was really able to have tons of fun and visit with my Aunts and Uncles who I adore, not to mention my grandparents. We spent a lot of time watching home videos which everybody loved. I brought up my collection. Grandma especially loved that. I scrubbed my grandma's feet which is kind of a tradition for us now. We played a lot of games as always and ate great food thanks to Debbie and Theresa! I tried to help in the kitchen but was kind of out of the loop. I did do the homemade ice cream that I brought the stuff up for. I was the only cousin with kids who came besides Kenneth and Alyna. My boys get along really good with his girls. They are close to the same ages so they loved playing together and I was so glad Kenneth and his family came!

I have been reading a lot of books lately. If you're on Goodreads, look me up! As of now I'm reading the last book in the Uglies series. I'm constantly reading something though. I've been happy to get a lot of reading done this year. I have a lot of books on my list so I gotta get through them.

I also have been Netflixing movies but I don't get through those super fast. I enjoy the option to watch something though if I'm not going to read. One of my favorite things to do is play "Ticket to Ride" on my iPad. I didn't like the game at first, but gradually "got" why it's good. I love it now and playing it on the iPad is even funner than playing the real board. You can play with people that are right there with you (friends), you can play solo against computer players or a combination of friends and computer players. You can also play online with real people that you don't know and chat with them at the same time. I love all the options. It is definitely my "go to" game right now and I also usually play few games before bed to unwind. I absolutely LOVE it! I have added the European board and the USA expansions. They have the Switzerland board available as well as the Asian boards available. It costs like $5 bucks, but it's seriously the best $5 I've spent! Now, if only Settlers of Catan would get with the program and create an app! Marcelus learned the iPad version very quickly. He's such a smarty! He's getting better at reading the city names and they highlight your routes for you. Now he loves to go to grandma's and play the real board game. He's pretty good and usually smokes on on collecting the most tickets! It's fun to finally be able to play a game with my kid that's not a "kids game". Leave it to Marce!

That has kind of been our summer in a nut shell! Can't wait for the routine and structure that school will bring!

THIS is my Grandpa!

Tibi's Graduation

Let me just say that this was an emotional night for everyone. I don't know why for the others, but for me it was all about Tibi. I was not thinking about myself and that ten years ago I graduated. I was 12 or so when Tibi was born. I guess it is true that women tend their children like they would a garden. They take great care in it. And the harder you tend it and work it, the more you will produce. And it will be good, and you will take great pride in it. My older sisters and I took care of Tibi right along with my mother. We changed her, rocked her, held her, fed her, and played with her. I'm old enough to remember Tibi's 3 year old voice, and her cry. She had the same haircut for probably 3 or 4 years. I remember how fast she was as she ran through the house. I remember how high she could jump. She was so enthusiastic! I remember when she went down the stairs in her walker and how scared we were for her. I remember rocking her through her night time break downs. I remember carrying her into my mom when she'd wake up in the middle of the night. I remember filling up her little formula bottles.

I think I know why her graduation was so emotional for me. I felt like Tibi was my own child graduating because of all the things I did for her when she was younger. I felt like I was watching my own child graduate because I'd been old enough to watch her grow up from start to finish. We call Tibi and Landon "the babies" because they were babies together, but also because they were both all of our babies, not just mom's.

We sit on the bleachers and watch Landon a lot, with his sports, with his music. And I love that, but it was so special to sit there and watch Tibi, and celebrate and honor her for all the things she's done in High School. It was definitely her night. It was a big deal watching the first of "the babies" graduate. We missed Michaela and it hardly felt right without her just because of the relationship Michaela has with Tibi and Landon.

Tibi and friend, Alexa. Tibi and friend, Kaylee. Tibi and friend, Brandon. Tibi and Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Hardy. Tibi and family friend, Parker Chappell. I don't think anyone hugged more than Tibi and Landon on this night. They held on for dear life and broke my heart to pieces. Tibi and Colton, HS sweethearts... Tibi and best friend since birth, Mady. Me and Tibi! One thing that I wasn't sure about at first but quickly realized is that Graduation on the field is AWESOME! There are only 2 things that I thought weren't better than the way I graduated in the Gym. The band used to play the song live in the Gym. On the field they have a recorded song, but it sounds great and clear, so it really is good. The second thing is that we walked in together with the boys giving us an arm more than they did. We got to go up on the stage and walk down with a boy arm in arm. Tibi's class walked in front of the stage to collect their diplomas and didn't have much interaction with the boys. Overall, the field graduation was better though. I loved that everybody had an awesome seat. I also loved the space that we all had on the football field afterwards to take pictures and hug and talk. It was so fun that they played music on the big speakers after the ceremony was over, right after tha fight song! It made it feel complete and fun and gave it an exciting party atmosphere!

I'm so proud of Tibi and I'll miss her so much when she goes up to Idaho for College!

Kindergarten Graduation

It's summer! Wow, a school year gone by, and our first in this house. Marcelus graduated from Kindergarten and that means we've almost been in the valley for a year! Time is gonna really start flying! Marcelus had Mrs. Cameron this year! My sister Tibi had Mrs. Cameron for 2nd grade years ago. Mrs. Cameron is going to be teaching 1st grade next year so Marcelus has a chance to have Mrs. Cameron for two years in a row, so we'll see come August.

On the last week of school the kids had a program to perform for us parents and a slide show of pictures from the year to show us. Marce is right under the big tree.

Congrats to Marce and I know he'll do great in 1st grade!!

T-Ball Team Photos

Marce's last T-Ball game was today! This season went by fast. This is the last week of school also and I can't believe Marce will only be in 1st grade this next year. He always seems so much older to me but I'm grateful he's not! I still have so many things to teach him. He will be excited to eat lunch at school with his Clone Wars lunch box! The boys are all signed up for swim lessons and we plan on doing a lot of swimming this summer! It's very important to me that my kids learn how to swim right and have plenty of experiences. I never was good swimming underwater or with breath control but I am an excellent above water swimmer. I can tread water for a really long time. The most important thing is that they can keep themselves safe in the water. So far they are signed up for one session but I think we will be adding to that throughout the summer. On our Summer Schedule we have Math (Marce's online program), reading, and a bit of writing. We have iPad education, and the Friend magazine. Nintendo days are Wednesday and Saturday. We have WORK, new chores to be taught and added. We are teaching Phoenix how to unload the dishes. I'm hoping he has it down by the end of the summer because I want to get Marce started on the washing part. Both boys are not just going to be putting their clothes away, but they will learn how to sort and fold all the clothes. I know I can do this one much faster than them but I have to make myself teach them to do it. So they will have more chores added this summer. I am planning on planting a winter garden with a friend and they will be helping with that as well. I want my kids to know something about gardening and growing. Making our own things, being self reliant. I'm going to have them help me with some dinners and learn some things about cooking and the kitchen. We're going to also bake some goodies and of course bread! They LOVE to help in the kitchen and I feel like summer is the perfect time to let them! I'm also going to teach the kids to play more games. We don't play our games nearly as much as we should. We have plenty of games they can play and we're breaking them out this summer and playing together. Summer is also the time to play with those toys you don't get out every day, like Play Doh, Easy Bake Oven, and little Lego sets...we're going to play a little with these kinds of things. We plan on spending a good amount of time at the Logandale pool so it looks like our summer is jam packed! We haven't planned any trips or anything so we'll play it by ear on that I guess. We hope you all have a fun and safe summer!

Phoenix' Birthday Party!

This year for both boys we just had a family party. For Phoenix' party we had brownies and home made vanilla ice cream.

Phoenix loved all of his presents! Tibi and Lan got him this Mario Brothers DVD show. It has 2 discs and tons of episodes and both boys have loved watching these! Grandma and Grandpa gave him 2 water guns. He and Marce play with all the neighborhood kids with these. Nathaniel contributed water balloons and they had themselves a really fun time the other day! They also gave him a new train he didn't have, Henry! Phoenix still loves the Thomas and Friends trains! Shar and I gave him 2 Cars 2 look and find books. They are kind of like Where's Waldo, but easier and in the theme of Cars 2. One is actually Mater's Tall Tales. They love both and they have been choosing them every night for reading in bed just before I tuck them in. We also got him Guido and Luigi. He has never had some of the cars from the original movie and these are 2 he never had but wanted. He's very happy to have them now.

Candids With Captions

I LOVE to see that Marce has taken after his mom in song writing. He sits down at the piano once in a while and makes up his own music. For 6 years old, it's not bad! I can't wait til he gets on the keys next year in his pre-piano program "Let's Play Music". Here he is below at his recital. These were my Mothers Day gifts. I seriously wasn't expecting anything so I was surprised. The M&M's are long gone but I'm trying to keep my flower alive! I love the flower. I love that he got me something I can plant rather than just a vase of flowers that will die. I like that much better. This is what I am currently reading. I hate to take a break from my easy fiction reads but this is so much more rewarding. It's very long so it'll take a while but I am already learning so much from my family history. I love it. I love rehashing stuff I know and learning things for the first time even better. I'm possibly the first person to have and read a copy of this so I consider it a treasure for sure. I hope to have it done sometime in July. I am still getting compliments about the Moapa Valley Arts Counsel talent show. I'm thinking "How many people were in that auditorium?" because they just keep coming and I love 'em. In early May, I performed a dance with 7 other HS girls to "The Race Is On" from Starlight Express that I choreographed. It was fun to dabble in choreography, something I've never really done before. People seem to be as impressed with the choreography as they are with the dancing we did. I for one loved the choreography but had no idea it would be received so well. I loved working with those HS girls, they were fantastic! Sorry about the blurry shots. He doesn't exactly stand still and I've been left to my iPad for a camera for now. He looks SO much like Marcelus did! This face has Marce written all over it. I have pics of Marce at this age making this same face. Marce's features weren't quite as "black" as Amar'e's but they do look a lot alike. They both have Daddy's eyes. Amar'e's lips might be bigger.