Olivia is Ten!

Olivia is the best way to chase the after Christmas blues! She is the perfect kid to have after Christmas, she is not demanding  and she is an excellent gift receiver  She invited her girl cousins who live here to the movies and to a slumber party. We saw Hotel Tranylvania, afterward she said that was the best movie. They played games and watched TV. She loved it. Two days later Benjamin took her to buy a bike, two days. She didn't care that it was late she was so grateful to get one. I love that Olivia like to watch movies for her birthday it is the perfect way to relax after the sometimes stressful holiday season.

Love this girl! She is very smart and always impresses me with her vocabulary. She is beautiful, I love her little nose and perfect eyebrows. She is unpredictable, I can never guess what she will say, so consequently she is very fun to be around. She is motivating. when she is down she does not stay their long, she motivates herself and me to try to do/be better. Just last night something made her sad so she left the family room to go to her room. I went to check on her and she wasn't sulking she was making a 2013 resolution list. She inspires me. One of her best qualities is she forgives freely, she doesn't hold grudges she lets it go and moves on. A great quality in a friend and family member. I love you Olivia Jane you have been a joy from the start. You provide spice to the family and are a great help to me personally. Your momma Jane loves you more than words.

Holman 8 is great!

Holman turned 8. In our church that is when we feel children are accountable for knowing the difference between  right and wrong choices. Before 8 they are learning the difference and finding out the consequences of their choices, making mistakes as they go, not sins. But before 8 they are not sinning, they are learning. Benjamin was doing one of his daddy chats with Holman when he asked him who he would like to baptize him, Holman thought about it and asked who was eligible to preform that ordinance. Benjamin listed all the priesthood family members available and he thought about it and wanted his Uncle Danny. He asked Danny and Holman was very glad that he accepted. There were eight kids who got baptized the same day as Holman, lucky for Holman the Stake Baptism fell on his birthday December 1. Even more lucky his Katie Lady, Clark cousin and one of his favorite friends Lyndsay Mendell were apart of that baptism group. The Clark and Mendell and Howe kids all sang a musical number and I was asked to give a talk. I teach this age group at church so I was thrilled. The baptism's and blessings were all beautiful and we all had a giant family/friend dinner afterword. It was a great day. Benjamin performed the ordinance of Holman to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and he said he was really struck by the glimpse of what a fine man Holman would grow into. It was a beautiful day made better by the family and friends celebrating the same event in their families.

Holman I love you. You are such a good boy. You are helpful and HARDWORKING, and obedient  And you are crazy funny, you make us all roll with laughter with your witty remarks. I love holding your hands, they are little boy hands that I know will grow into man hands. You are an excellent big brother who looks out for your brother and sister. You have two older sisters who think you are handsome and fun. You are athletic, an excellent swimmer, I love to watch you win, I mean swim. I am so glad that I get to be your mom on this journey. I love you so very much.

Adrianna Joycee turns 3

My little Angel turned three on November 27, she is such a little joy. She loves all things pink, but when you ask her what her favorite color is she will say "I like all colors." She is very smart and has a great memory

This was a conversation we had at dinner with Adrianna just before her 3rd birthday.year old: "Anna what did you learn about at nursery today?" Anna: "We learned about animals." Dad: "Who made all the animals?" Anna: "Jesus did. I like palaeobatrachus" Dad: "Whats that? Anna: "An amphibian, a frog." We all stared blankly at Anna as Bella went to Google it, sure enough it is true. My daughter is a genius! Later she called in the kids to come look at her "conifer." She has a lit up Christmas tree in her room, which is a "cone bearing evergreen tree." Dinosaur train is really providing a top notch education. She loves all things dinosaur, dolls and princess. She is  her own lady she will love when she wants to love and get you to do things for her when she wants you to DO THINGS FOR HER! She is very independent, but thankfully loves to snuggles with her mommy and doggy. She loves her brothers and sisters severely, but in her way. She loves her "frankinblankie" her blanket has been patched up more times than any one blanket should. She is a little mother to all things smaller than her, she doesn't want to boss them but to truly love on them and be their nurse.

Adrianna your mommy loves you so much  and is so grateful to have your lively spirit in our home. You are smart, beautiful and fun. You maybe the youngest in our family but you act like your brothers and sisters are your same age only taller. You are so excited to become a sun beam and leave the nursery behind, we are excited with you and look forward to seeing you learn and grow even more. Much love my pretty little Adrianna, you complete us.

J and J

In our church we believe in personal revelation, that when you have a problem you can pray to your loving Heavenly Father and  He will answer your prayers. We also believe that the Prophet Joseph Smith was a young man who wanted to know what the course of his life should be, through prayer and personal revelation the restoration of Christ's church  was brought back to the earth. That through this process the Priesthood was returned to the earth. Each member of our church is entitled to receive a Patriarchal blessing by a priesthood leader who also can give us personal revelation through an inspired blessing meant just for us.

I was 19 when I received this special blessing of direction. A huge concern of mine was making sure my future children would be good people who could feel God's love for them in their life. In my blessing it advised me to pattern my parenting after my own parents. I thought that was great advice because I think they both  are amazing parents, as I have looked back on their parenting I have noticed many things that they "did right". These are 3 things that I want to emulate in my own parenting.

1) They were present. Every cross country race, basketball game (even when I sat the bench), drama play, choir performance, track race, you name it they were there. At least one parent was always present. Lindsey did soccer when I was on the basketball team and our games were on the same night they would rotate attending. My mom worked outside the home ever since I was little, but she was at the crossroads of our activities  Dad of course worked but always managed to get off work in time to hear the race gun for our meets. It was a sacrifice and I am sure not always convenient, but we knew we were their top priority.

2) They were active in the church. We always made it church, I honestly can't remember a time we didn't attend church on Sunday. I am sure we were occasionally sick but I cant remember.  Mom and Dad always had some sort of responsibility at church and they  went above and beyond to fulfill them. I think that their activity was the reason why in high school when we would have a sporting event in the afternoon and we would get done with them just before our youth group would meet that night, it was never a question if we would ditch, we wanted to go.

3) They allowed open communication with problems without judging. An example of this is when Lindsey and I were invited to spend the night at a friends house, when we got there we did not feel good the Dad was odd and the thought of staying was not appealing. So I turned to my friend and said hey its 8 pm my mom wanted me to call her. This is how the conversation went.

Me: Hi mom, you wanted me to call you?
Mom: What, whats going on? is everything ok?
Me: What? Why do you want us to go home? We just got here?
Mom: Honey you want to come home?
Me: Yes mom, I get it.
Mom: I am coming right now.
Me: Fine, we didn't know about that chore!We will be ready, this really sucks.

She picked us up and we were so relieved. She would tell us, I have no problem being the bad guy. She was great. I remember one time in high school I was "depressed" about something Dad took me for a ride to talk about things cause he noticed I was down, he cared enough to notice and act.

All parents worry if they did enough, I try to look back at all the great things my parents did and let go of things I wish they had done better. And as a parent now when I make mistakes I think wow this is probably how my parents felt too. When we show others mercy we receive mercy, maybe my kids will remember the positive things too :)

182nd

Well the 182nd Semiannual General Conference was the most memorable general conference ever! Before my twin took off to Scotland (yes Scotland) she and her kiddos came to visit. My nephew Preston declared that this would be the general conference where they announced that Tucson was getting a temple, he said it with such conviction that I found myself believing him.

Side note for my friends of other faiths: Our church holds a general meeting twice a year where we get to hear from the Prophet as well as the 12 apostles (think of the organization that the Savior had on the earth when he lived upon it). It is a time that LDS people look forward to, just as much as any Holiday. It is a two day conference where we get to hear from various leaders, women and men included. Many times if there is big news they announce it at these conferences. They broadcast it on cable, the internet and at most of the meeting houses.

When the Prophet first stood up to welcome everyone, I turned to my kids and said "remember Preston said this is the time we get a temple" and I really believed it. The Prophet said that there would be two new temples and said one will be built in Tucson, we couldn't stop screaming and dancing!!!! It was true we would get our very own temple in the Old Pueblo. Tears started to flow and didn't stop; it was incredible.

Our church has 139 temples throughout the world, with 27 under construction (plus 2 more now!). With a world wide church I have always loved hearing plans of new temples to be built. I never thought that we needed to have a temple in Tucson, want/would love to have absolutely, but needed no. I have loved hearing the stories of sacrifice that people are willing to make in order to make it to one of these holy temples. When my sister Hillary lived in Moldova the saints there couldn't wait to make the journey out of their country to visit one of these Holy temples. Traveling to Mesa required no passport  or special permission it is a rather boring drive through the desert, but not costly and required no real sacrifice. When Arizona got its second temple in Snowflake I thought well it takes them twice as long to get to Mesa, they should get it over us. I must admit when Gilbert and North Phoenix got temples I was envious, so close to Mesa already! When Gila Valley got their temple, I was overjoyed for the surrounding communities, they prayed so hard to get one and they did. Benjamin and I got to give tours through that temple and we absolutely loved it. So with  5 Temples in Arizona I thought a Tucson temple was not in the near future, with Tucson being the second largest city,  I felt a little forgotten. When they announced Tucson I felt ........remembered

A temple is so sacred to LDS people, we believe that the family is the most sacred thing here on earth. In Mathew chapter 16 verse 19 it says, "And i will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." We believe that the keys of the kingdom are held by the priesthood, men in the church who are truly converted to the teachings of Jesus Christ and the gospel, that they have the power to bind on earth (a marriage ceremony)  and it shall be bound in heaven ( family relationships created here live on for eternity). 

This is a great link to learn more, if you want to learn more about something you go to the source and this is a great article from our church. 
http://www.lds.org/church/temples/frequently-asked-questions?lang=eng

Summer Wrap up, and Bratting

It is hard to believe that school is in full swing and it is only August 19th. I have three kids in elementary school now, their school started on August 2nd, yikes that's early. Bella is in her second year of middle school at Basis, she started a week later on the 9th.

This summer we were crazy and did two swim teams. Olivia started a year round swim team in December of last year and the other kids joined her in the spring. They still wanted to do swim team with their friends and cousins so they did the county league too. Don't judge me, it is hot in Tucson, what else should they be doing? An hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon and County swim team is just $20 per kid for the entire summer!

Now to bore you with highlights of my swimmers, this is mostly for me so that I will remember how awesome my kids are, and so that my kids can remember that for the summer, life revolved around them. One of my nephews calls bragging, bratting, that word seems more accurate. So sorry in advance.

Bella: In the year round league they drafted her from relay team B to compete in the realy team A, unfortunetly she had to swim anchor because the girl who was absent was anchor on the relay team, our team lost their lead before she entered the water and out of no where she kicked it in to high gear and ended up winning the race for her team, it was a great victory. But my highlight race for her was at the County Finals. She was swimming the Individual Medley and was exhausted she was on her breast stroke lap and I saw her visibly breakdown it looked like she was going to cry. I started yelling you can do it, don't give up! She saw me and I swear she got the eye of the Avatar, on her next pull up she was determined and focused she was neck and neck in 5th place, but once she locked in she ended up getting 3rd. It was the best 3rd place finish I have ever seen , one minute she was so low with doubt and the next she was determined. Later she said the look of urgency on my face made her focus, I knew she was so close to the end and I could see she wasn't as far back as she thought she was. It really is a metaphor for life.

Olivia: this girl has the most beautiful butterfly, every time she swims it I am in awe of her strength. The older kids on the team love to race her and she gives them a run for their money.The best thing about Olivia's races is her routine when she gets up on the block, She gets her goggles and scoops the water up with them, she drains them then spits and rubs them, then she flexes her guns when she stretches, it is almost better than her races. She too had some awesome victories and walked away with more metals than any one kid should :)

Holman: On the county team Holman was one of two 8 and under year old boys. So come relay time him and the other boy would swim two lengths of the pool. This little duo was so fast that the two of them broke the county record in the freestyle relay, they smoked um! He was also really good at the IM in one race he had finished his 100 before the other boys got to the 75. The best part of Holman swimming is his naturally bleached hair, luckily he doesn't know how handsome he is.

Parkin and Anna were awesome travelers form car to practice and practice to the car. I am still not over Parkin going to Kindergarten he is such a love that I miss during the day, this week he has been calling me his beloved, ahhh...At least I have Anna who sometimes wants to cuddle. She has been doing so well this year in school, she really has not been the little kid at preschool but rather just a preschool kid.

This year I have three preschool classes with a total of 32 students! With about half my students being military I know that number will change with people moving and transferring, but for now it is busy. The kids are great and the parents are amazing and I am so lucky to be able to teach from my home, making extra money and being able to accomplish some financial goals.

Benjamin is busy too with being called as the Bishop of our congregation at church. He says its still so new, he doesn't know what to be overwhelmed with.

5 alive

Oh my Parky shark. My little man finally turned 5 and will be off to kindergarten in the fall. He has been the best sidekick at preschool. This year I had 4 classes. So every other day was a repeat from the day before. Do you think parkin would mind? No he would act surprised and happily redo the activity he did the day before, sometimes raising his hand to explain something he remembered form the day before. Parkin is a lady killer, they all wanted to marry him at some time, some days he would make them so happy when he said he would marry them and other days he would say no and they were left wondering what went wrong. But everyday for me he would give the most powerful hugs and kisses. benjamin and I always tell him that he has special powers. parkin always says no I dont. we explain to him that his hugs take away any bad mood, he really does have the ability to make you feel so loved and important. His smile really makes you want to smile too. Parkin is smart and quick, he recognises patterns and retains information. He is funny and his laugh is contageose. His little sister Adrianna thinks he is the coolest thing ever and Parkin trys his best to live up to her idea that he is a hero. When I unload the car and unlock the house parkin never leaves anna alone in the car, he will stay by her side untill I come to get her. This is a job that he came up with. Parkin is a leader, a fun leader that other kids want to follow.

 I teach two preschools if I invited all his friends the house would be packed, so for his birthday we invited cousin Collin, Desmond and Daniel (and of course Adriana too). These guys are his best friends anyway. I took them to McDonald's which was the most exciting thing on the planet. Then we went to see a kids movie at the cheap seats, the show was weird but the kids didn't mind. We went back to our house an opened presents and the kids played for a while till I took them home. It was a great no fuss party.

Parkin I love your kisses and hugs you melt my heart. Your happy attitide is so refreshing and everyone that comes to know you wants to benefit from your dispostion. Kindergarten is getting one great boy!! I love you son XXXXX000000.

Eleven is one more than 10

I dont know why we get so excited about birthdays around here. I proably could "blame" it on my mother because she would throw the most exciting parties that had the best themes. I think she did it to make us feel special and maybe they were over the top because there were two of us celebrating. Bella plans her parties months in advance they alwyas seem to be a big deal and this year was no different.

This year we thought it might be nice to invite everyone who already knows each other, so we invited just class mates. she invited six friends from her 5th grade class. The girls get a long really well so it was really nice. We had a cupcake decorating party. Here is where it gets over the top. Bella and I made aprons for all the girls plus her and Olivia and we made close to 100 cupcakes. We made a ton of icing and bought several icing applicators. It was nuts, Bella had a great ime and that is all that matters. Because Bella's birthday is not near christmas I could find her pictures easily.

Bella means beautiful and that is what she is. She is so kind to everyone, she looks out for the friendless and helps little children when ever she can. She was voted "most outgoing 5th grade girl" in her middle school. she is smart and beyond that she is a hard worker. She attends Basis middle school in tucson, their highschool is the #1 charter school in the nation, it is ranked in the top 5 schools in the nation from many publications. The school's motto is we think the average student can accomplish great things if you challenge them. Bella takes latin, classics, geograophy, kempo, algerbra, language arts, music, art etc. She has averaged an A in each of these subjects this year. Bella has risen to this currciculm, she is smart and beautiful, but more than that she is fun! She makes me laugh with her funny dance moves or a witty remark. Did I mention she is old enough to babysit?! we are so grateful she is in our family! I love you Bella Jules, you are our jewel!

Nine is sublime!

** Still loking for Birthday photos arggg

Olivia turned 9 on December 26 and these last couple of months have really been amazing for her. She has accomplished so much these last 5 months. About a month before she turned 9 we set a family goal to fast for Olivia so that she would have the courage and determination to stop sucking her thumb, as far as habits go this is a very tough one to break!! When Olivia was born she had a hicky on her wrist of where she sucked in the womb, a habit she had before she was born, we even have sonogram pictures documenting this! So for a month we would pray at every family prayer and every personal prayer for this goal. Then when the fast Sunday approached we all new what was on our families thoughts. Sunday came and went with no real change. Then the following Tuesday on the way to piano lessons I saw Olivia about to put her thumb in her mouth, she paused and then put her thumb down. I knew at that exact moment that she was ready! I told her Olivia do you feel that in the air? She said what mom? I said it is something amazing you are done sucking, this is it! And to celebrate we need a reward, I will take you out to get a pedicure and you need something else, what should it be? She said I would like to wear mascara to church for a month. I said done! With the help of the family prayers and the strength she got from the Holy Ghost she did it!! All before she turned nine! My sister Lindsey told me that amazing things happen after kids get baptized and they have the Holy Ghost to help them always, she was right, we consider it to be a great miracle in our family.

For her birthday we had her best friend from school over, friends from church and her some of her cousins over for a cookies and a hot chocolate party. This was the first year we had her birthday before Christmas. Usually her birthdays consist of a family gathering, I mean it is Christmas time after all. She always gets a cake and presents but usually we don't invite friends because it is family time. So she was so excited to have friends. We made a ton of sugar cookies and icing. We ate pizza and decorated cookies. Then we took beanie caps and decorated them with felt flowers and buttons. The girls were very creative. We played holiday music and served the hot coco in tea cups and talked in British accents. It was a very fun all girl event.

Olivia amazes me. She is confident, independent, helpful, nurturing and so very smart. One of her best qualities is she forgives freely and doesn't hold grudges. She is beautiful inside and out. When she sets a goal she goes for it and tries her very best. I never can predict what Olivia will say or how she will react she is unique, we call her our spice, she adds flavor to an otherwise boring day. I love you Livvey Jane and consider you to be a young woman of great strength and courage. Love and Hugs always.xxx000xoo0

Seven is heaven

**I know this is way late, but I wrote this post back in December but was waiting to post it with his birthday photos, which I cant seem to locate on the computer. If I am to catch up on my kids birthdays I must publish their birthdays with different pictures.


H-Man turned seven December 1st. He wanted a dog themed birthday party,which I have done before but wanted to make unique for him. I got doggy bowels at the dollar store, one for each guest. I made chocolate cupcakes and put it in the the bowl and covered it with "puppy chow" the rice cereal that is covered in peanut butter and chocolate and then sprinkled in powdered sugar. I t was adorable, if I do say so myself. Holman still uses his dog bowl for cereal. He had a good group of friends come, he is a shy guy at school but has made some really close friendships with neighbors, class mates and church friends.

Holman is my sweetheart. He is responsible and really looks after his siblings, he loves Adrianna and is always helping her, he does this even though she doesn't always show her appreciation :) He is an excellent big brother to Parkin and even will pick a fight with older kids if he thinks his older sisters are not being treated well.

Holman from birth you have been easy going. My only kid not to require a binky or suck on your fingers, you were just chill. That is how you are now, you are incredibly funny not in a showy way, you wait for the best timing and say your comments sudaley and then we all bust up laughing over your wit. Just last week we had cut up cucumbers for dinner as a side dish, after dinner you quietly grabbed two and laid on the couch, put on each eye and just laid there with your hands behind your head all zen like. I love you son so very much and I think the world of you and look forward to watching you grow.