Trunk or Treat

We had our Trunk or Treat last week and I have yet to post pictures.  I love getting requests for this here blog so you have any please speak up...or if you read this at all you can speak up.  Lucky for you I really don't mind blogging to myself, hee-hee!  But Christina this is for you!

Miranda was a Candy Corn Witch, Haylie was a Butterfly Fairy Witch, Hannah was a Ladybug Witch and Lauren was...Tinkerbell?

 As you can see I had the dress idea in my mind and we went and bought fabric.  They chose their colors and after I was all done sewing they told me what they wanted to be.  I think Lauren said Mini Mouse.  So close?  Anyways the girls all loved their dresses and I had a blast making them.  While I didn't use a pattern I did use dresses that fit them to make a usable pattern.  All this for less than $30!

 Jackson was the most adorable Yoda.  Ideally he would have been strapped to Luke's (Logan) back but I ran out of time to create such a device.

 So we made do, here is Logan as Luke Skywalker from Degobah.  A stuffed Yoda is in his backpack.

 Please ignore me stuffing my face in the background.  If it makes it any better is was just a green salad and a roll.

And the full Candy corn witch, it was my favorite dress of the four...shockingly it was my last, so each dress improved.  And making a special guest appearance was Hunter my nephew...I mean Buzz Lightyear.  It was a fun night!

Slave Driver

For some reason the kids will not do chores but will randomly offer to do something.  I think the key to getting kids to do chores is to make it a privilege.  Needless to say my kids don't fall for that line very often.  So today when Hannah asked if she could do dishes I hesitated for about 1/millionth of a second and said sure, just the dishwasher stuff.  When I looked over at her I saw the cutest thing.  She had one glove on and was scrubbing away, Lauren just finished stirring up the clogged sink and Jackson was sucking on the "stirring" spoon.  As I vomited a little bit in my mouth, I quickly remove the two trouble makers then ran to get the camera.  It was way cute.

 

You can see the sink is kind of full.  Seriously the one glove thing cracks me up! She scrubbed and rinsed like a pro!

 

Although I know I have been gifted with genius children, I wanted to point out that the dishes were not perfect but I love the fact that she tried.

After the dishes were all clean I was talking to her and she said "Aren't you proud that I did the dishes all by myself?"  Why yes Hannah, I am very proud.  Proud enough to blog about it!  Here is her little exit interview!

An Interview with Hannah from April Jacobs on Vimeo.

Lonesome Dove

Every once in a while I will pay attention to the lyrics of a song, usually it is the music that catches my attention then I will start to pay attention.  Garth Brooks has a knack for story telling I would say.  One of my favorite songs in the car is In Lonesome Dove by Garth Brooks.

It starts out with a woman traveling in a wagon train that gets stranded.  A Texas lawman comes and rescues the wagon train and gets the train movin' she fell in love and stayed, in Lonesome Dove.  As a lawman he ended up dying after their first child was born.  This child grew up to be a lawman like his father.

This is the part that stood out to me and even brought out a little emotion:

Then one day word blew into town
It seemed the men that shot his father down
Had robbed a bank in Cherico
The only thing 'tween them and Mexico
Was Lonesome Dove

The shadows stretched across the land
As the shots rang out down the Rio Grande
And when the smoke had finally cleared the street
The man lay at the ranger's feet
But legend tells to this very day
That shots were comin' from an alleyway
Though no one knows who held the gun
There ain't no doubt if you ask someone
In Lonesome Dove 

The reason why I think it made me emotional was thinking about the love I have for my children.  While I don't even know how to shoot a gun (yes genius, I know you just pull the trigger! ; P).  You bet if it came to protecting my child I would do it.  While this woman had many reasons to hate this man, I can only imagine in her heart that she was not about to let this person ruin another precious life.

When it comes to raising our children today the world is down right scary.  It is so hard to let these precious children go out into the world where they have to learn, and I have to have faith that I am giving them the best foundation that I know how to give.  I have to watch at certain times as they are going to make choices that scare me to pieces.  Yet like this mother, I don't have to be right beside them I can try and protect them from a far.  In such a way that they aren't sure it was me, but they just know it was.  This is not to say I have that power on my own.  It would be through Heavenly Father answering the boat load of prayers I offer, pleading that I can be a good mom, that my children know how to choose right things, and most importantly they know without a doubt that I love them and I have their back any time it is needed.  How I love each and everyone of my kids and my husband as well.  I feel so fortunate to have so much love and laughter in my home.  If ever I received a blessing that mattered the most, this is it by far!

Kindergarten Sight words

We are starting to work on sight words in the girls kindergarten class.  I made some really easy flash cards but wanted something a little nicer looking.  So I made up some flash cards.  I totally could have made them super cute, but I didn't...I guess functional is better than pretty right?

So here are the flash cards:
Sight Word Flash Cards

I also wanted to make a game so it would be a "break" from school so I made a very simple bingo game using the Kindergarten sight words.
Sight Word Bingo

For bingo, I made the call words, so you just need to cut them up and put them in a baggy to store.

There is no Tri

Well actually there is but there is only DO!  I did it.  I finished my very first Triathlon which consisted of a 400 yard swim, 11 mile bike ride and 5K run.  I had two friends do it last year, Hayley and Tara, they made it sound so liberating that I decided I wanted to do it this year.  Tara was due right before the Tri date and Hayley is very pregnant so neither were able to participate.  Hayley ended up getting a team together and did the swim at 6 months pregnant, still my idol.  Now since it is my blog I am going to turn  the time back over to ME! ; P  It was rough, but it was so worth it.  When I started training, I could swim, only breast stroke, in about 15 minutes.  I think our first bike ride was a little over an hour and the run...well I did a 5K in the late spring and it was 39 minutes.

My friend Teri and I trained pretty much 6 days a week starting in June.  It was lots of work and there were days that I just didn't want to but knowing that she is a stellar athlete I didn't want to stand her up.  We had lots of team members train with us too when they were available, Tara, Michelle, and Eve.  It was so much fun and made for lots of "girl time."

This is our team!  Moms Tri Hard!

The week before the Tri, I could swim 400 yards in under 10 minutes (9:41 I think was my fastest), Teri and I biked in 48 minutes.  And I ran a consistent 2.5 miles in 27 minutes.  I was so nervous the last couple days before.

Race Day:  We showed up at Teri's this morning at 5:40 to watch her very supportive husband load up all the bikes.  Our team was 11 people but 8 of us rode up together.  We had a veteran See Jane Runner, she brought gold tinsel to tie from her helmet and shared with us.  When we got there we were surprised to see that we had a rack reserved for us.  Wow, yes we are THAT special!  WE got things organized and then we made several trips to the bathroom.  Finally it was time to go.

THE SWIM:  The first 50 yards were ROUGH!  It was like I was going to drown.  You can't help but swim on top of people, so with some strokes I was hitting people in the bottom and then I was kicking people in the chest.  You can't really swim because there is absolutely no room.  Then we turned the corner and it got quite a bit better, even though it is not as luxurious as your own lane in a swimming pool.  As I turn the second buoy, I thought I wouldn't be able to make it with out resting, but I looked over and Tara was right next to me, I couldn't believe I kept up with her.  It helped me really dig in and give it all I had.  Then we had to run a bit to the transition area. My time was 10:14.6.

Transition 1: I sat down, put on my socks, who cares about sand, duck poop and mud, then my shorts, shirt and shoes.  Teri shared Shot Blocks, so I ate two of those, put on my helmet, grabbed my bike and was off!

THE BIKE:  This was by far the most fun part of the race, it went fairly smoothly, I felt like I was going pretty fast.  I had been riding on low tires, which Chris filled for me, so it really made a difference.  I passed a few people and was passed by plenty of people.  I did get stopped at a light, but after about 1 minute I was off again.  There was one point that I was feeling pretty good, laughing with one of the people I was going past.  We turned a corner and HOLY COW there was a big hill!  I made it up that and then I hit the money spot of the whole race, it was a long decline, I couldn't even peddle because I was moving so fast.  I didn't know it then, but at around mile10 I asked the guy that was helping with the race what mile it was he said "Don't know!"  Lot's of help, glad he was there.  The bike felt good, and I felt good with how it went. My time was 41:14.7

Transition 2: I dropped the bike, drank lots of water and grabbed some tunes, then I walked out while strapping on my arm band.  I get out and get the tunes moving.  On to the 5K!

THE RUN:  This is the death of me.  I was able to run 2.5 miles on a flat fairly smooth track.  This was a WHOLE LOT different.  It was a trail run, with at least four pretty good sized hills.  My goal was to run the whole thing.  I will be lucky if I finished this in 40 minutes.  It was the worst part for me.  The one good part about the run is that this is where a lot of my age group passed me up.  I didn't think I would be able to keep up but I did.  I do know now that I need to train a lot harder for the run.  My time was 37:26.6.  I walked more than I would have liked, but I beat my last time by 2 minutes, and that was flat and this was hills.

This picture is actually running from the last minute bathroom stop heading in to the race.  My almost across the finish line picture looks like I wet my pants and is not at all flattering.

Behind every good (the loosest sense of the word) athlete is a great cheering section and I found that I have the biggest and best one ever.  The kids hung around for over four hours from beginning to end.  Jeremy was awesome keeping them all safe and together and taking pictures. It was so awesome to see them at various points in the race and hear them cheer "Go April."  Not only my family but the families of the other team mates as well.  I think that doing this with a fabulous and admirable group of ladies made the experience awesome.  It was incredible, I can't wait to do it again next year with even more friends!

My goal was to do it in under 1:45. And I did better than I planned!  My overall time including transition was 1:34:35.9.  I can't wait for next year because I know I can do better!

I have a testimony...

I love my little girl, even when her choices bring me to tears of being overwhelmed.  As I was sharing of her latest shenanigans it I thought, with out a doubt I have a testimony that our Father in Heaven loves each and everyone of us.  He wants us to be the best we can be.  I know that he will give us weaknesses, and challenges, but he will give us strengths to overcome those weaknesses.  It may seem I am totally going out in left field relating these two but as I sat and thought about it I knew my Father in Heaven loves Lauren.  If he didn't he wouldn't have made her so darn adorable with a pretty awesome personality.  If it wasn't for these qualities I am not sure I would be able to count to ten in those moments when counting is that last thing I really WANT to do!

She is the proof that He exists and loves us too!  She nearly gave me a heart attack at church be escaping or so I thought.  I was circling the building with another mom looking for her with Jackson in tow.  Luckily it all turned out well but this girl is something else.  I was trying to keep my emotions in check and explaining to a friend what happened.  "It's Lauren, it is ALWAYS Lauren.  I love her, she is awesome, but she may do me in!"  She said "Hasn't your mom ever said 'I hope you get one just like you?'"  With all honestly and to the best of my rose colored remembrance I said "No, I actually don't think she has, I was a good kid until the end of high school!"  So maybe Lauren is my reward for an amazing childhood?!  She then reminded me not too long ago when I worried because she wasn't walking or talking heading into her 18th month.  Now I realize she was just studying extra hard so she could get great use of these skills now!

I took a Time Out!

Yesterday I left for an overnight trip to Sacramento with just a couple of girl friends and one preciously adorable baby boy.  We attended a woman's conference called Time Out for Women.  It is an inspirational conference geared to uplift and encourage woman.  There were so many fabulous speakers, but I wanted to focus on one in particular.  Her name is Mariama Kallon

She is from Africa.  She told us of her horrific past that involves so many kinds of awful memories for her, yet she still has an amazing outlook.  It was such a shock to hear these experiences and realize they happened in 1998-1999.  We are so blessed and protected here in the United States, I get so wrapped up in little things like 6 kids in 2 bedrooms.  After listening to her stories I can't complain about anything!

She just happened to come into contact with a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and was introduced to the church.  She was so funny she explained that for the services she was used to, they were loud, there was dancing, lots of talking...so she was very surprised when she attended the LDS church for the first time.  It was quiet, the music was soft, everything was strange for her.  Eventually she was baptized and became a member of this church.  She eventually wanted to "be with the white man and wear that black tag" (aka missionaries).  There were a few others that got called on missions about the same time.  They all got sent to various places in Africa, she on the other hand got sent to Salt Lake City, UT, Temple Square.

When she left on her mission she had the clothes on her back and a very simple hygiene kit (that was provided by the LDS church Humanitarian Aid).  Her family was all gone (right before leaving they found a nephew and a step sister who were still alive).  The statement that caught my attention was when she said "Why would I need anything else, I have my best friend here in the scriptures!"  That struck me.  What if we all felt that way?  The way we feel about a best friend, the person who will give great advice, who is consistent, who is always reliable and readily available.  Who tells us we are loved so much.  It was so appearant that to her the scriptures fullfilled all of the above.  I couldn't help but have a pang of guilt and jealousy that I have never thought of the scriptures that way.  I know in all things it really is about how you personally choose to view life, but I know from this day I want to view the scriptures in that same way.  I have all the best friend I need in the scriptures.  That makes everyone else just a super big bonus!

There were so many messages that I wish I could have recorded them all.  It is such an awesome event, especially when you are surrounded by fabulous women, who are just as imperfect as I am.

I found this little clip of her speaking.  It definitely doesn't do her story justice but you will for sure see the joy that radiates from her!

CD Federal Rocks!

Every year CD Federal Credit Union does a membership drive.  It is an opportunity to reach out and gain new members as well as current members to come together.  They do a new theme and this year was no different.  It was a street fair theme.  They had carnival games,

 a petting zoo,

face painting, raffle prizes, snow cone machine and a chance to go into a cash cube to grab as much money as you can.  Oh and the best part, I didn't have to cook dinner because it was free too.  Catered by Lumpy's Diner in Antioch.  Woot! Woot! 

And the even more best part is the Dunk Tank!  Every year we get the opportunity to dunk Jeremy.  Last year his mom hit the target (She's got a mean arm) and got him good.  This year we almost missed him.  He stayed a couple minutes longer so the kids could push the button and watch him splash.  Following Jeremy were 3 other board members, one super crazy one wore his Superman costume.  It was fantastic!

It is always fun and games at the carnival but we seem to have left out a carnival must...vomit.  Yes let me repeat vomit!  Everything was going swell then I look at Lauren and notice her shirt was all wet.  She had just had dinner so I though she spilled her drink on her.  Then she lets it fly luckily outside the petting zoo.  I rush her to the bushes where she proceeds to empty more contents.  She seemed to be finished and so we were trying to find the best escape route.  Turns out she was not done.  Jeremy had to figure out how to clean up and I had to walk around the block to get the car, while juggling prizes and balloon animal and gather my little chicklets tomake a quick getaway.  I have no problems saying ti was a fluke and most likely related to the petting zoo, but I am a little biased that way. 

I actually think the CU should pay us for making the experience even more real! ; )  I love our Credit Union!

Being left behind.

As I have mentioned before, the battery died on my camera on the first day of school.  I was so bummed.  Luckily I travel in a pack so was able to have a friend capture the moments.  I hadn't gotten her pictures yet and the girls looked so cute so I thought I would do a retake.  Here they are holding hands.  I am so glad they like each other so much.

 

Haylie is in the orange and Hannah is in the green.

 

Everyday we watch this view.  Look how cute these four girls are.  They walk to the Kindergarten line together holding hands.  I keep saying this view is what they show in movies!

 

Lauren tries everyday to go with the big girls.  She loves and adores each of them.  It almost broke my heart when I looked up and saw her watching the girls walk away.

 

Then it got worse when she covered her face.

 It is never any fun to be left behind and my little independent, needs nobody, cute as pie little girl is no different.

 Isn't she a little pathetic?  The next day it was even more heartbreaking when everyone was kissing me good-bye, she came up and kissed me too and tried to run off with the girls.  She will probably come up with many different ways to run off with the girls before the year is over!  It is hard to believe she still has two more years, before she gets to be like everyone else.  I am in no hurry though because I love having my baby girl home with me.

The first day of school

...two weeks ago.  Going back to school is actually a time I look forward to, I will miss the fun laid back times of the summer, but I am a person who does not follow a schedule AT ALL unless I have to, so when school comes around I pretty much need to be on top of things.

The first day of school was so much fun.  Haylie and Hannah started kindergarten, and boy oh boy where they more than excited.  They have two really good girl friends, one that we have been walking to and from school with for a year (she has an older brother) and the other parks by our house and the four girls walk in together.  It is one of those sites that are PRICELESS!

Here is how it went down on our first day, we were done and ready on time, that included breakfast showers, lunch/snacks!  Lauren was following everyone around asking where her school bad is, where her school lunch is, it was pretty pathetic.


We went out front and Jeremy went to take a couple of pictures and shockingly enough the batteries were dead, which reminded me that I saw that bizarre red flashy battery thingy the other day, it didn't register until then!  Luckily our neighborhood friend was better prepared.

Logan, second grade, Miranda, 4th grade and Austin 3rd grade.

We all walked to school it looked something like this:

Then before we sent the girls off we got one last picture.

Riley Jo, Hannah, Haylie and Brooke our kindergartners!

And because Lauren was so left out we took one more.  She thinks she is a big girl now and doesn't understand why she isn't going with them.

I am TIRED!

This is not a complaint just airing my thoughts.  What do you do as a stay at home mom, when you really want to be involved at school with the parent club and in the classroom, at church not only in your calling but help others as well, exercise, craft, help throw celebrations, take care of your kids...I am exhausted and I haven't even done anything yet.  In fact my next goal is to clean my house so it will be ready in the morning for a baby shower.  None of the jobs I take on are overwhelming, and if I were an organized individual it would not be an issue.  I am a procrastinator, and a little on the lazy side too.  This is NOT humility speaking it is fact.  Will anyone who comes to my house please give me a "True Dat!" (Tara that was for you!)  My house is not clean, infact it is rarely picked up with the exception of the 10 minutes before Jeremy gets home until I am left alone with the children again the next morning.

Again I am starting to get stuck in the rut that I hear my self repeating the phrase "If I can just get through this week."  On my list of commitments, there is not one thing I want to scratch off or feel I need to scratch off.  I am very fortunate to have friends who are willing to swap sitting with me so I can be available for my kids at school (I love my friends!)  I am grateful for a husband that would prefer the house be clean, the laundry done and dinner on the table when he walks in the door, but roles up his sleeves, takes a deep breath and gets to work...some more.  I have help, I am not doing this alone.  But man I am exhausted.  I am absolutely positive this has nothing to do with staying up until 2:00am having a great time chatting it up with some friends!

A Wonderful Saturday

It was a wonderful day for me, not so much for Jeremy.  He worked really hard cleaning up the garage.  While I read the piles of old letters that I wrote him starting in high school, then moving on to college, while he was on his mission, then after I said good bye as he moved to Utah to go to school fully expecting to get a letter saying he met his future bride.

I loved reading the letters and seeing how he has always been my best friend.  There were letters telling him about relationships, problems at home, stressful days at work, questions of my future.  I just couldn't help reading it and know that we were supposed to be together.

One of my favorite lines was when he was on his mission and getting close to coming home.  I was asking about his plans and I said something like this "You'll come home, go to college, get married and have a million kids. You always have goals and you always achieve them!"  When I read it I thought how funny that it was me he had about a million kids with.  Another line was saying that the girl who finally gets her hands on him would be extremely lucky.  Again, who knew it would be me.  To this day I still love him and feel so blessed to be married to a great man.

Also in the box was a key chain that contained these two pictures.  They were taken when we started dating in December of '98, the second time is how I refer to it, since we dated in high school too.

So young huh?  He looks a little more tired now and I a little more round, but we are still this much in love!

Creative Cousins

It seems like the last little bit we have not seen the cousins very much so we were especially surprised when we got the call asking if Gwen and Spencer could come over for a little bit.  Of course we are always willing to have some fun with them.  LA is just too far away!

As the girls were sitting around wondering what to do I asked if they wanted to sew something.  Being that they are both new to the craft I tried to think of something that would be easy, and cute.  So we decided to make monsters, well sort of.  Using the craft stash from Grandma June, the girls picked out this super cute fabric.  I gave them paper to draw the shape of their monster, creating a pattern.  Next they got to cut them out.

Putting right sides together they sewed the pieces together.  Gwen said that sewing was a lot easier than she thought.

Miranda on the other and said she thought it was harder.  Both girls quickly got the hang of it, although applying the correct pressure on the pedal was the hardest part.

Then they turned them and stuffed them.

Next came the hand stitching.  They stitched the  hole closed, then sewed on buttons for eyes.  Grandma June had the biggest button collection.

Then they cut out mouths and sewed them on to the face of their monster.  Meanwhile a little monster who will remain nameless, let her own creative juices flow.  

This is powdered sugar.  The funny thing is when I saw the bag on the counter last night, I thought 'I should put this away.'  Then about 15 minutes before this discovery, I thought 'where is Lauren?'  Too bad I have yet to act on those promptings.  One of these days Heavenly Father will get through to me!

 The mouth got a little skewed but I think she did a great job for it being her first sewing project!  I didn't get a picture of Gwen's before she left, but it was equally as cute!