Aubrey's Gymnastic Debut

One of Aubrey's favorite teenagers in the ward is Anne Stephenson. I took Aubrey to see Anne compete in a Miss Teen Spokane pageant. The,talent Anne performed was gymnastics. Aubrey thought that was the coolest thing ever, Gymnastics in a show! From then on she has asked to do gymnastics. She has done them before and had lost interest, but seeing Anne renewed her enthusiasm. So this summer I signed each of the kids up for a "camp". Garrett was golf, Aubrey Gymnastics and Dalyn, swimming lessons. At the end of Aubrey's week long Gymnastics camp she was able to be participate in a show. What joy and excitement, a show!!!! However, with all that excitement came nerves. Aubrey was so nervous she hardly slept the 2 nights before. She is so interesting that way, she loves people and doesn't have a shy bone in her body until it comes to performing! So she fretted about this show for days and when the day finally arrived she was nervous but excited. True to form, she did wonderfully and performed each of the choreographed moves with care. We were so proud of her! She is a light and a joy to everyone around her. People love Aubrey because Aubrey loves people. She has so much love to give!

Gotta love kids!

So, I have been trying to capture all the funny phrases my kids have been saying over the past few days so that I can record them for future giggles.

This evening: Aubrey (with Dalyn trailing behind) comes in and asks, "Mom, Octopusses are animals right"
Mom: "Yup, you're right" Aubrey gives smug look to Dalyn
Dalyn: "Nu Uh, they are not animals"
Mom: " So what are they Dalyn?"
Dalyn: "They are really bad guy swimming things"

We were driving the other day and I was listening to Dalyn and Aubrey's conversation in the back seat (gotta love those moments).
Dalyn: "Aubrey don't you really, really wish you were me"
Aubrey: "Yes, I really wish I could be you!"
Dalyn: (A bit surprised she agreed with him) "Why do you want to be me Aubrey?"
Aubrey: "Cuz then I don't ever have to have a baby in my tummy!"

Summer time visiting teaching appointments can be a bit taxing, especially when I totally forget that I am supposed to be there and have brought nothing interesting for the kids to do when I visit a home with no other kids their age! Yup, you guessed it, happened last week. So after a very BRIEF visit, with me intervening in several "discussions" between my kids and re-directing Aubrey from exploring the entire house (she just decides to take off looking to see if they have any sort of fun animals to play with) we end the visit with a prayer. I offer the prayer and ask that the women we visit will be able to "juggle" the many demands she has in her life at the moment. As we are leaving Garrett says to me..."Mom is she going to learn how to juggle?" We all got a good laugh and it was a learning opportunity for me to teach Garrett about analogy. I am glad he was listening!

Last Sunday Garrett's primary teacher Sis Batt came up to Scott and said, "Garrett sure made a funny comment in class today!" She asked the question, when does the Holy Ghost come and Garrett responded, "after lunch". They all got a good laugh at that one. So Scott told Garrett what the teacher had said and we all laughed at Garrett's "funny". That night after Garrett went to bed I heard him crying as if his heart would break. I asked him what was wrong and through broken sobs he said, "I wasn't meaning to be funny today". My hearted ached for my little misunderstood boy even as I tried to hide a small smile. "What did you mean to say?" I asked. He responded that the teacher had told them the Holy Ghost comes during our quiet times and then asked when would be a good time to have quiet time. Garrett responded, "after lunch" because that is always when we have nap time or quiet time. It all made perfect sense to him and I felt so bad for my little boy who felt he was being laughed at! Luckily Dad came in and when he heard the story he was able to make Garrett feel so much better by telling him that he gets laughed at all the time when he says things, even when he doesn't mean to be funny. Hooray for Daddy! Garrett's sniffles quieted and he was able to go to sleep knowing that he was just like Daddy, a great thing to be!

One more memory to record. The other day I again had the great opportunity to listen in on my boys as they were cleaning up their room. Dalyn was sad because he could not find a toy he was looking for. Garrett says, "Dalyn you know how you can find it? All you have to do is pray to Heavenly Father for help and he will help you to find your toy." That is what I love about having kids. They teach eachother so so much!

I've Been Tagged

Thanks Jeanney! I had to laugh at your tag... all those memories! We really were crazy weren't we? Those were fun times and fun memories

10 years ago: I was married, going to Lewis and Clark in Portland Oregon for my Master's in Counseling Psychology and working at Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon in the Drug Education Program

5 years ago: Living in Charlotte, NC with 2 kids, Garrett and Aubrey and my wonderful hubby Scott. Started running with a group of women (haven't stopped since, well unless I was pregnant).

5 months ago: 4 months pregnant with #4 (only 3 weeks to go hooray!) Went on a trip to San Diego with a group of wonderful girlfriends. Had my 34th birthday. Where has time gone?

5 things on my list of things to do tomorrow

1. Read to my kids: do their summer workbooks with them

2. Go swimming and have a great afternoon at the pool

3. Remember how wonderful my kids and husband are and remind myself of how blessed I am! smile and laugh!

4. Swim while Dalyn is at swim lessons

5. Make the time to read my scriptures

5 bad habits

1. Grazing when I am stressed out or bored (something sweet, something salty, hmmm maybe one more sweet, ooh now I need something salty, etc. etc. etc!)

2. Talking way too much when I am disciplining my kids (Think of Charlie Brown, "Wah, Wah, Wah Wah")

3. IMPATIENCE with my kids and raising my voice

4. Getting defensive when my husband offers an alternate point of view. My way or the Highway baby =). Trying to be better at that!

5. Forgetting to hang up the phone in it's cradle then having to run all over the house looking for it when it rings.

5 places I've lived

1. California: Torrance, Anaheim

2. Provo, UT

3. Portland, OR
4. Charlotte, NC

5. Spokane, WA

5 things people don't know about me

1. I studied coral reefs in Fiji on an Earthwatch scholarship my Junior year in High School

2. I played volleyball at Cypress Jr College

3. I secretly wish I could sing

4. I jumped off the same pier as Jeanney Phipps (see her blog for the details). The only thing I will add is that it was at night and way too far out from the shore to be safe. There is a reason it is illegal! Yes we were fully dressed and had to change behind a towel behind our parked cars, I don't know what into, I can't remember!

5. I once drove a SAAB through the California/Utah dessert going 120 mph. That was crazy too! I was actually a pretty responsible kid, although you'd never guess it after these two confessions!

I'm tagging: Mindy, Cassi, Scott, Nicole not sure who else has access to my blog, hopefully not many =). If you read this consider yourself tagged.

Funny Phrases

Aubrey: " Mom, I need to take my liver (sliver) out, where's the thing we take our livers out with?"

Dalyn: Saying the prayer in Primary opening exercises "Please help I go to Disneyland, Please help I go to Grandma and Grandpa's house, Please help I listen to Mommy and Daddy and do what they say, in the name...."

Garrett: a few years ago when he was just starting to read. There was a restaurant called Pho Spokane, he said, "Mommy I want to go eat at Poo Spaghetti".

Mommy You're Pretty, Daddy You're Cool

Dalyn is our little sweetheart. Nothing seems to bother him (well except his shoes and clothes, drives me a little crazy sometimes). He got stung by a bee at the park a couple of years ago and made a funny face and said, "ouch". When he got his shots his brother and sister had to leave the room, but he watched the whole thing and just said, "ouch, that weally hurt". So he is a tough little guy and sometimes I wonder if he is as tuned in emotionally to what is happening in the family as Garrett and Aubrey. I have come to discover that he is very aware of what is happening, he just chooses to deal with it differently. For example, when he sees me getting upset or loosing my patience he says, "Mommy, you are pretty". Sometimes he will just blurt out, "Daddy you are cool" and give us his sweet little smile. It makes my day! We parents need those little boosts. We are so lucky to have such sweet kids. (this picture was taken at Easter, these were their Easter clothes, aren't they cute!)