FALL FIELD TRIP

I got to go on Gage's first field trip ever. His kindergarten class loaded up the bus and we all went to Schnepf Farms. The kids got to pull plants that had harvested, go on a hayride, and play their little hearts out.

Skye, Ben, and Gage.

Gage's teacher, Miss Smith, is so great. I love her teaching style, the way she interacts with the kids, her humor. She and I have become good friends. We have a lot of the same philosophies on school, parenting, and life.

I had a great time being with Gage and he loved introducing me to all of his new friends. Gage adjusts really well to new things and new people. He has no trouble at all making friends.

THE SOUND OF MUSIC

So my DVR box recorded an episode of Oprah. I just about deleted because I don't watch Oprah anymore for LOTS of reasons and haven't for a long time. UNTIL....I read in the information box what the episode was about. Are you ready??? The entire cast of The Sound of Music was there for their first interview together since they promoted the movie back in 1965. This movie is my all-time favoritest favorite movie. I just can't describe how much I love this movie. And I know that I'm not alone in this sentiment. I LOVE it so much that Edelweiss is the first lullably I ever sing to my babies. I LOVE it so much that I watch it several times a year and make my hubby and kids watch it with me at least once during the holiday season. I LOVE it so much that I begged Rob to let us name one of our girls Liesl. (I love the name and the actress who played her is a spitting image of my mother at that age. Really. She's so beautiful, isn't she? So I love Liesl even more). I love the music, the message, the love story, the actors, the breathtaking scenery of the hills of Austria. Oh, and the MUSIC!! You simply cannot watch this movie without bursting into your best Julie Andrews voice (which for me is 75% falsetto). Rob and the kids laugh at me but I can't help myself.


But......then....I was reminded of something that I surely blocked out for survival purposes. You know how they say your brain protects you from danger and suffering?? Well, here it is: Julie Andrews can NO LONGER SING!!!! She had been performing for 20 months on Broadway and her vocal chords and muscles really took a beating. So she chose to have this surgery that was supposed to quickly repair and rejuvenate them and the surgery failed. This happened in 1997!! I suppose I already knew this. I guess in all the times I watch The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins (another fav) I never noticed that she doesn't sing anymore. What a tragedy. She was given this amazing gift that has touched so many people and it was literally ripped out of her. She suffered intense feelings of depression (as you can only imagine), but emerged from that with an unbelievably optimistic perspective. She quoted the movie, "When the Lord closes a door, somewhere He opens a window". She began to write children's books with her daughter and has since built a successful publishing company. Her daughter told her that she lost her voice to sing so that she could find this new voice that writes. If that isn't making sweet lemonade out of sour, rotten, bitter lemons, I don't know what is.


Amazing, amazing example. I suppose I should learn something from this. And I will someday. But today I am BITTER!!!




Oh, and one more thing. On the subject of movies, I am a little embarassed to admit that I watched The Lion King for the very first time today. (I really don't know what took me so long). But that movie has a powerful message in it also. What stood out to me was Mufasa's words to his son, Simba, who would be king. "You will never be alone" and "Remember. Remember who you are." Very profound.

HALLOWEEN FESTIVITIES 2010

All of the LaDuke cousins got together at Mother Nature's Farm in Gilbert to play. Our kids LOVE their cousins and have such a good time with them.

They have animals, hayrides, maze, bouncy-bounce, and pumpkin-decorating.

Paisley and Eden trying to find their way.

At Gage's school, they asked the kids to dress up as a character in a book. So we chose "Thing 2" from Dr. Suess. It was so cute. And I'm impressed that Gage is not too shy to wear it.

We went to a pumpkin lot near our house to pick out our pumpkins to carve and they had these cute ponies to ride.

Thing 2 was such a success for Gage, we thought it would be fun to dress the girls up for the ward party as Thing 1 & 2. They got so many compliments and were definitely the most original. The party also included a haunted house put on by the youth, and let me tell you, it was SCARY!!! Gage is still talking about how I got chased out of the tent by some scary guy with a chainsaw (aka Andrew Johansson).

Gage was Ironman - his favorite superhero at the moment.

REMEMBER, NO GROWING UP!!

I know I've said it before, but one of my all-time favorite movies is Hook, a twist on the classic, Peter Pan. I love the messages of this fairy tale: Never grow up, have fun, be silly, fantasy, imagination, keep your youthful spirit. This is how I feel about the kids. I don't want them to grow up. I want them to always be silly and use their imaginations to invent fantasy lands, pretend pirates and fairies. Sadly, no matter how hard I try, they are growing up right before my eyes. Sure, it's fun to see them reach milestones and learn new things, to see them do something on their own without your help.

But it is a bittersweet feeling. For every step they take toward independence is one step further away from Never Land.

I take Gage to school every morning and one day we got there early. I wanted him to just wait in the car with me and talk while we waited for the gate to open. But he had other ideas. "Mom, I'm a big boy now. I don't need you to wait here with me. I can do it."

Recently, the kids were watching a movie in the car - can't remember which one. Gage paused the movie and asked the girls, "Do you see how what she just said makes the other people sad? Well, that's what happens when we say mean things to each other. We make each other sad. So, let's try our hardest not to do that anymore, ok?" That is so Gage.

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.