LAST SWIM OF 2010

We moved to this HUGE, and I mean HUGE house on Higley and Williamsfield to accommodate Rob's internet business/warehouse, which also helped us to save some money. This was difficult, particularly for me, to leave our home, our neighborhood, etc., but we still get to stay in our ward. This is the first swim at this new house, but the LAST swim of 2010. We had a visit from Aaron, Ann (his fabulous new wife), Annaliese and Lily, and Ann's fabulous kids, Kennan and Kai.
The kids were in heaven swimming with their cousins.

Bella with Annaliese.

Gage and Lily.

Uncle Trevor playing with the kids, as usual. He is so fun with the kids.

BELLY BELL, SWEET PEA

This picture captures Bella perfectly. She is silly, happy, dancing, goofy, and beautiful.

There's a park by our house that is full of dandelions. We love to pick them and make wishes. Each of the kids wishes they could fly.

Bella's wishes: I wish I could be a princess. I wish I could go ice skating. I wish I could have a loose tooth.

Bella is the sweetest, kindest, most affectionate little girl. She'll come up and put her hands on your face and tell you how pretty you look today, or that she loves you, or that she likes what you're wearing. She is always complimenting others. She lights up a room with her smile and laughter. She is such a good listener, usually doing something the FIRST time I ask and doing it with a smile. She is pure, innocent, and good.

Without fail, everytime we're in the car, she'll say:

"Careful not to hit those trees. Careful not to hit that sign!! Careful not to get in a crash!! Put your seatbelt on!!"

I overheard this:

Gage: Bella, stop acting like a 2-year-old.

Bella: I am NOT acting like a 2-year-old. I am 3!!!! I am acting like a 3-year-old!!!

LESSON LEARNED

We have friends who are going through a very difficult time with one of their kids. They live across the street from us so I grabbed some of their laundry and brought it home to do. Rob was out of town and when he got back, we wanted to just stop over to give them hugs and give them their clean laundry. We put the kids in bed and waited about an hour to make sure they were asleep. We brought the dogs in and locked all the doors.

Well, our stop-by turned into being invited in and we ended up staying about 40 minutes. Several times, Rob got up and opened the front door just to make sure everything was alright. As we were walking home, we talked about how awful it would be if the kids had woken up. As we approached our driveway, the garage door began to open and we saw three sets of bare feet, and then terrified faces accompanied by loud crying. It was the worst feeling, quickly putting together in our minds that they must have woken up and were looking for us, so scared. It went from bad to worse when Gage told us that they had searched all over for us and were walking to the Johansson's house because he had called 9-1-1 and noone answered. I ran in the house and grabbed the nearest phone and hit redial to see how much time we had before they came to take our children away. Huge relief came when I saw 9-9-1-1. They thought someone had taken us and we were never coming back.

Bella was the first to wake up and when she couldn't find us, she woke up Gage and Paisley. I can just imagine how awful they felt going from room to room and calling out for us.

Gage was the real hero. I am so impressed at how he was taking care of his sisters and the situation. He first tried calling for help and when that didn't work he was going to walk himself and his sisters down to the neighbor's house for help. We praised him for all of this and apologized to all of them profusely. We are still paying the price for that. Every night, one or all of them will yell out, "Mom! Dad!" from their beds about 15 minutes after going to bed. When we answer they say, "Just checking!".

Needless to say, we will never do that again.

BEDTIME RITUALS

Like most kids, ours LOVE the bedtime ritual. They usually are the exact same every night, but every once in a while there will be a little change in the song or something. Well, recently we have been getting visits from some pretty funny characters. Sleep Genie, the kids' favorite, has a towel on his head and talks with an Indian accent about how special the kids are and how important it is to go to sleep. Farmer John, who sounds eerily like former President George W. Bush, tells them about how fun it is to live on a farm and do all the hard work and chores. I keep meaning to get pictures of these visits, but they're just to funny to miss a moment.

We begin by having a race up the stairs, then brushing teeth and going to the bathroom. Whoever gets done first, while still doing a good job, gets to pick the first book. We then read three or four books. Then we kneel down in a circle for family prayer, followed by family hug which they all practically knock me over for. Then we do family kiss, which is hilarious.

The girls always want a story about Princess Bellarina, Princess Paisleyanna, and Prince Gage who live in a castle. They don't care what they do in the story as long as I get the names right.

Gage wants me to read to him in his room a few pages from Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I don't care for this book at all. The main character is rude, sassy, and lazy. So I change most of what it really reads to something more desirable. Lately, Gage has been on a kick at bedtime. He wants me to rock him like I used to, then tuck him in, and sing him three songs in an exact order: Here Comes The Oxcart, I Am Like A Star, and I Love to See The Temple (both verses). It's so sweet.

Once I was telling him a bedtime story and trying to mix it up a bit. I tried to be mysterious and scary and said "once upon a time" in a scary voice. He laughed and said, "Very clever, Mom. Very clever."

SOMETHING TO PONDER

A while back, there was an activity at one of our extra church meetings that encouraged us to ask daily, "DID GOD SEND A MESSAGE THAT WAS JUST FOR ME? DID I SEE HIS HAND IN MY LIFE OR THE LIVES OF MY CHILDREN?" and to write down our thoughts. This was an especially difficult challenge for me. I struggle with recognizing the difference between the Spirit telling me something or me making it up in my own mind. However, I jotted down some things and here they are:

I was prompted to stop and play with my children when I had a mile-long list of things to do.

Gage said a prayer asking for help at his first soccer practice to not be nervous and not cry and to try his best – he had confidence and did great.

I prayed to know how to be the mother my children needed, and today was more joyful. I felt more patience and more love.

Paisley is starting to communicate a little better instead of the grunting/whining. She says, “hot”, points to the fridge when she’s hungry or thirsty, etc. Makes the day better. Went to TJ Maxx with three grumpy kids and was very patient and didn’t lose control even once.

While reading a post from one of my favorite blogs, she was talking about how her infertile body became pregnant again. I suddenly got chills and goosebumps that started at my head and moved down to my toes. Why? What does that mean?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRANDPA POWERS!

Grandpa Powers turned 82 and we had a party for him! All of the Powers Family and the Rice Family (cousins) came. It was fun to catch up with everyone and see all those cousins that we only see every couple of years. In fact, the last time we saw them was at Grandpa Powers' 80th birthday party.

These kiddos sure love their Grandpa and they mean so much to him.

A rare picture of Rob with his Dad. We need more of these.

Grandpa Powers is a former sergeant in the Army, but you'd never know it. He is so sweet and cuddly. He is very sensitive and wears his heart on his sleeve. He gets so lonely still without Una and longs to be with her. But we are happy to still have this time with him and were glad to celebrate his birthday.

LISTENING AND RESPECT

Gage goes to World Tae Kwon Do Center with Grand Master Hong. The two things he teaches most are listening to and respecting your parents. He has such a way of making all the kids love him, yet respect him fully at the same time. They don't dare disrespect him, and yet he is also very kind and loving. Gage really likes it and I think it's really good for him. Grand Master Won Ki Hong is from Korea and has a very thick accent. It took Gage some time to adjust to it and understand what he was saying. He and his wife (who works the desk) love Gage. They always comment on how he's so smart and "like an old man". Recently, Grand Master has been getting after Gage to not be so serious and to smile more. It's funny because he's not like that anywhere else but there. In this picture is one of Gage's favorite friends, Yi Geon Pak. He is also Korean and has such good form and technique. He's a good friend to Gage, always encouraging him.

On this night, Gage was testing for his green belt. He always gets very nervous on testing nights because it is very formal and serious, even more so than his regular classes, and there are a lot of people there. The first part of his testing is sparring, where they partner up and spar each other. That's what Gage gets most excited about. At the end of the skills test, Grand Master will ask each student various questions, all different. For Gage, he asked him about his family and if he is kind to his sisters, even when they bug him. He also asked him to demonstrate how he responds when his mother calls him. He even asked me to play my role, and then let Gage respond. Gage did it, but it really embarassed him and as soon as Grand Master moved on to the next student, I saw Gage wiping tears away.

Growing up, my brothers went to a wrestling studio under Mu Chang. He was a Korean man who taught my brothers innumerable things. He became a close family friend and I remember once when I was very young that about four or five of his friends/family came from Korea to stay with us for a few days. That was really neat. As it turns out, Grand Master is a very good friend of Mu Chang's and really enjoyed talking with Dad about it when he came to watch Gage once. I am hopeful that Gage will learn the same principles and qualities that my brothers did. Confidence, self-discipline, respect, honesty, integrity, sportsmanship, hard-work and fun.