Ballet

Thomas and Spring take ballet on Friday afternoons. Shelly Waters, a sister in our ward, teaches the primary age kids once a week and then for the ward Christmas party they perform the Nutcracker. Sammy really enjoys practicing right along side the older kids as well. He is so funny with it. At ballet last week Mary decided to join in as well. She was so cute doing all the movements right along with everyone. She would pull up on her pants and squat. By the time we got the video rolling she had become more interested in the sticker on the ballet slipper of the girl next to her, though. I am so grateful for Shelly and her willingness to offer her time and talent to teach the children. Spring, especially, is really sad that we are moving and she won't be able to continue on with her ballet.

Pool Time

Thomas and Spring have been wanting to go swimming at the pool for a couple months now. It is difficult for me to take all 4 of them when Joel is working. So, whenever Aunt Alanna comes to visit we make at least one trip to the pool. I am so grateful for her help, willingness, and excitement to come with us. The kids had so much fun. We were surprised how long Sammy and Mary lasted at the pool. Spring is a fish and she loves to be in the deep water. Thomas is more cautious and just likes to have fun. He loves to play with Sammy and Mary. Alanna got him a snorkel and he had fun with that in the pool. Sammy is a daredevil, as always. He is very independent and wants to do everything the big kids are doing. Mary wasn't so sure of it at first; however, it didn't take her long to see how fun the water is. She thought she was a big kid too! She didn't even want us to hold on to her. It was a great afternoon. We came home and had homemade pizza and watched a movie before the kids fell asleep. They are already talking about going swimming again before Aunt Alanna goes home.

Fun in the Sun

We have been having fun outside with the kids. Sammy absolutely loves to be outside. He goes stir crazy if he is indoors for too long. We went outside for them to ride bikes and Spring wanted to raise her seat on her bike. Thomas wanted to raise the handlebars on his. They got out Dad's toolbox and went to work. It was fun to watch them fixing their bikes.

Unfortunately our swimming pool that we have been using the last 3 seasons finally gave way and would not hold air at all. The kids were so disappointed and Sammy kept asking me to put the pool up so he could go swimming. Aunt Alanna rescued them by taking Thomas to the store with her an coming home with a slip and slide. They have had so much fun with it. Sammy won't slide on it but he will walk all the way down to the end of it. Mary likes to play in the water that sprays up to wet the slide.

Thursday Fun with Aunt Alanna

It has been fun to have Aunt Alanna here to visit. The kids tell everyone they see about how their Aunt Alanna has come to visit and will be here for 10 days! Today she came to storytime with us. Then we had a picnic lunch at the park and played in the fountain for a while and then at the playground. Mary was a little braver in the fountain with Alanna helping her get used to it. She became quite the daredevil on the slide after Alanna helped her down the first time.

After naps we went bowling. It was a lot of fun. Joel had the top score followed by Thomas a few points behind. Thomas had 2 strikes in his game. It was a lot of fun. As usual, Sammy provided the additional free entertainment. He would bowl and then give us a high five regardless of whether any pins were knocked over. This was followed up by his karate chop kick and his little strut. We have no idea where this came from but he did it all afternoon and we just laughed!

Spring was really funny as she would set the ball on the ramp, back way up and run all the way to the ramp to push it down the ramp.

It has been a great day and now that the kids are asleep Joel, Alanna, and I will play cards.

Spring's Summer Dress

Spring loves to wear dresses and she asked Grandma Powell to make her a summer dress. Of course, Grandma agreed and sent it with Aunt Alanna. Spring loves it. When we took a picture of her in it today she had to wear her dress up heals with it! Thanks Grandma...it is perfect!

Where did Sammy go?

Since Sammy started climbing out of his crib and we had to move him into a bed it has become a little more difficult at nightime. His naptimes are usually great and he goes right to sleep; however, at night he likes to play with Thomas. Thomas is such a good sport and tries so hard to ignore his gestures and not play into Sammy's antics. Sammy just loves to be silly and have fun so if he has an audience he will perform. Well, this evening I had all the kids in bed and was working on my talk for Sunday. (With my new stake calling I speak on a monthly basis with the high councilman at different wards.) Sammy continued coming out with all sorts of excuses why he couldn't sleep. I would help him with it and he would lay down only to come out again a few minutes later. He usually ends up on Thomas' bed with Thomas. Well, he came out to tell me that "Ta-Ta sleep my bed." Thomas had gotten tired of Sammy bugging him and moved to Sammy's little toddler bed and was fast asleep. Well, now Sammy wanted to be on his bed with Thomas but there is no room for that!

I told Sammy he could sleep on Thomas' bed or on the floor. He decided on the floor. He didn't come out again so I enjoyed the quiet as I worked more on my talk. A few minutes ago I decided to go in and check on them and couldn't find Sammy anywhere. I checked the girls' room, our room, the bathroom and couldn't find him. I started to panic when I had the thought to check in the boys' room once more. I walked in and looked under Thomas' bed and saw this....

I just hope he remembers where he is when he tries to get up in the morning!

Swimming Fun

It is again really hot and we decided to put the pool up for the kids this morning. They have spent much of the day in it. This afternoon I went out with them and Mary came too. She usually just stands at the edge of the pool because she really doesn't like to get in. Well, after a few minutes of watching and clapping for the kids she decided she was ready to join in on the fun. So, I just took off her shorts and she went in with her diaper and shirt. She LOVED it. She laughed and splashed and had a great time. It didn't even bother her when she would get pushed over by Sammy. They all had a great time. Sammy loves his goggles and kept saying, "Mom, cheese with my goggles." He wanted me to take pictures of him with his goggles on!

House Hunting Trip

Joel and I had a very successful week in Lemoore looking for a new place. We found a great home that is within walking distance to the school and to the church building. It is also about 3 miles from Joel's work so he plans to ride his bike to work quite often. Even if he drives, he will drive less in a month in Lemoore than he does in a week here. We are very excited for this, especially with gas prices the way they are. The neighborhood is very quiet and we met some of the neighbors. There is an older Filipino couple next door that Joel really enjoyed meeting and speaking with. We think the kids will really enjoy the neighborhood.

They will be attending Cinnamon Elementary and their mascot will be the Eagles. Thomas is so excited to be able to ride his bike to school. This is the newest school in the district and we have heard nothing but good about this and all the other schools in the town.

We were even able to meet some of the members of the ward as well and they seem so kind. Now I am just beginning to pack little by little each day. We really like the small town and are looking forward to this next step in our life.

Family Trip to Lemoore

Joel received a great promotion at work which will require us to relocate to a different facility with Leprino Foods. We will be moving to Lemoore, California sometime in July. This is about 2 1/2 hours south of where we are now. Although it is going to be difficult to leave our life and friends here, we are so excited for this new opportunity. Thomas has been having an especially difficult time with the news of moving. We decided to take the kids to Lemoore yesterday since Joel had the day off of work. We wanted them to see the area and have an idea of where we were going. Joel and I will be going next week to visit and find a house, etc. The company pays for all our expenses in doing so. We will probably go for about 4 days. We had a good time yesterday with the kids and I think it helped them get excited for some things as well.

Lemoore is a small town of about 20,000. It is so little and Joel will only be minutes from work which we are really looking forward to. The kids were excited when we found a water park similar to the ones we go to here. We had brought their suits so they enjoyed some time playing in the water. At first they were disappointed in the size of it but it didn't take long for them to forget that and have so much fun playing. We reminded them that it didn't have to be big because there are not a lot of people living in the town. All in all we had a great day together. We are now busily trying to take care of all we can early so it is not so hectic the closer it gets.

"Say Mary"

Sammy calls Mary 'He-La' and we have no idea where this came from. The funny thing is that it has really started to stick with all of us and we find ourselves calling her this sometimes. Today Joel has been really working with Sammy to say 'Mary.' Sammy would say the sounds of her name but when asked to say Mary he would respond, "He-La.' Well, then the kids started to laugh so he thought he was so funny. Tonight when we started to video him, this is what we got. He is such a clown and life is always fun and silly when he is around! We sure love our little Sammy.

Amy's Wedding Reception

Following the soccer tournament we headed to the Sacramento area for Amy's wedding reception. It was fun to visit with family before the reception. We went to Chuck and Lanea's house for a few hours and the kids had so much fun playing with cousins. Spring is always in her glory when she gets to play with all her cousins because there are so many girls. They all played dress up for quite some time. The other girls were dressed like princesses and Spring was dressed like a pioneer girl. The other girls would say, "Maid, come here and do my hair please." She loved it. Thomas is outnumbered with all the girls. Brandon is his cousin and he is 12 years old. The only other boys there were younger than Sammy. He had fun playing in the pool with Nathan and Brandon, however. Then we headed to the reception that was held behind a church building. There was a nice pavilion and beautiful grassy and wooded area. The kids were all in their glory being able to spend so much time outside. Thomas asked the people working in the kitchen if he could help. He worked the entire time. He never stopped. At the end of the reception we were told by numerous people how impressed they were at his work ethic. They said they had never seen a child so young that was so intent on completing any task given to them immediately and perfectly. Thomas really is such a good worker and loves to help others. He was so happy that he got to help. Sammy just loved playing in the dirt. His poor head got burned pretty bad as he was outside all day and we didn't think of sunscreen. Mary's little cheeks got pretty red too. They were so good all day. It was a wonderful day spent together. We didn't get home until about midnight as we stayed to help clean up afterwards but the kids were asleep within minutes of pulling out of the parking lot. How grateful I am for family and the peace that comes from my testimony of eternal families.

Soccer Champions

Thomas had his soccer tournament this morning. It was a single elimination tournament and they won their first game 4-1. They played immediately following that game for the championship and won 7-4. He played goalie the entire first game and almost all of the second game. The kids were so excited. His team doesn't have any subs so all the kids had to play 2 games in a row. They were tired but they did so well and were so happy. We had a team BBQ at the park following the last game and Joel presented the team with their medals for the season. It was a fun season. We are so glad we decided to play in this league as it is much shorter. We look forward to more relaxing evenings now that we don't need to run off to soccer practice. These are such great opportunities for our children to learn and have fun and at the same time it is great to have time to just enjoy being home together.

Baby Beethoven

This afternoon we looked over to see Mary all by herself playing the piano. She was so intent on what she was doing. We wanted to be sure to catch some of it on video. She loves to 'help' Thomas when he is practicing so I guess she just seized the moment when the piano was unoccupied. Excuse the mess in the background. The kids made a huge fort this morning and have been playing in it all day so we hadn't cleaned it up yet.

Sleeping Boys

Well, the time finally came tonight when Sammy decided to climb out of his crib. He really likes his crib and we have actually been worried that we may have to buy a 3rd crib for our new one if he wasn't ready to get out of his crib. Well, he came walking out of his room to me this evening with a big smile on his face saying, "I up Mommy." Thomas was following after telling me he had climbed out all by himself. I put him back in and a few minutes later he was out again with big smiles. He was so proud of his accomplishment. When we went back to his room he wanted to sleep with Thomas on his bed. Thomas thought that was a great idea. They looked cute reading books together. A while later Sammy came out again with a pillowcase and handed it to me. I followed him back to see him climb on top of a now sleeping Thomas, turn on the light by the bed, and tell me he was going to read. I told him he needed to stay in bed. A while later I went back to check on him and found he and Thomas sound asleep together. I guess he won't mind if we take the crib down now and put him in his big boy bed. That may be a weekend project for us!

Backyard Campout

Thomas and Spring had big plans for their first day of summer vacation today. This morning they had fun playing rescue heroes with Sammy and Mary. The kids were so cute together. Sammy has really been intrigued with the firestation lately and will play with it for hours at a time. They also worked on their "schoolwork" for the summer. I talked with Thomas and Spring and they decided what they wanted to work on for the summer. Thomas already memorized 15 state capitals in less than 10 minutes. He was happy to have Dad test him when he got home from work. Spring is doing so well with her sight words as well. Then we went to the library to sign them up for the summer reading program. While the younger 2 were enjoying the toddler laptime storytime, Thomas and Spring found books for the summer reading program and read books with each other. They completed the first stage of the program while we were still at the library. Then we played at the park afterwards before coming home for lunch.

After naps today the kids had fun playing together more. Sammy was just so excited all day that "Ta-Ta" was home the entire day. We had an early FHE lesson before dinner about baptism with a really cool object lesson. Then we had dinner and headed to soccer practice. Thomas was in charge of the activity for FHE and he decided he wanted to ride bikes to soccer practice and then play at the park after and enjoy the brownies Spring made for treats while we were at the park. It was really fun.

When we got home it was time for bed. Thomas and Spring asked if they could have a sleepover in the backyard. So, after we put Sammy and Mary down we all went and set up the tent in the backyard. They had fun reading books together and playing before deciding it was time to go to sleep. It is so fun to see the excitement they get from simple things.

Stake Conference Weekend

This has been a wonderful weekend for Joel and I and our family. Friday evening we had stake temple night which began with an amazing chapel session. We are so grateful we were able to attend the temple together for this wonderful evening. The instruction and revelation received while in the temple is unparalleled. We always come home feeling so rejuvenated and blessed by the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Saturday afternoon Joel was able to attend the Priesthood Leadership Session of Stake Conference. While he was on his way back home the kids and I left to pick up another babysitter for them that evening so Joel and I could attend the Adult Session of Stake Conference. That was another amazing meeting. The Spirit was so strong as we were taught of truth and how we could help strengthen our family. After I took the babysitter home we made dinner together and enjoyed the time to reflect with each other on the wonderful messages we heard. We also talked about grateful we are that we both feel it is important to attend the temple and these meetings together. We joked about how much money we paid in babysitters in just these two days but that soon turned serious as we reflected on the great blessings we receive because of our willingness and desire to be obedient. We thought of how much we had grown and how much closer we are as a couple and to our Father in Heaven when we choose to use these opportunities as our 'date nights.' We are blessed tenfold in comparison to the monetary sacrifice for a babysitter.

Then we had our concluding session of Stake Conference this morning. We have always made it a priority to get to conference early so we can sit in the chapel near the front in order to help make it easier for our children to be reverent and listen during conference. This means we arrive an hour prior to the meeting time. We are so blessed to have obedient children. They were all so reverent and quiet during the entire time. That is 3 long hours of sitting and they were stellar. We are so grateful for their obedience as they allowed us to enjoy the talks and the Spirit of the meeting. Thomas and Spring were very excited to discover the opening hymn was "We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet" and the intermediate hymn was "I Know That My Redeemer Lives." They both, excitedly, told us they knew those songs and sang along with the congregation. Following the meeting an older couple that had been on the pew with us thanked the children for being so wonderful during the entire meeting.

I was sustained today as well in my new calling as the 2nd Counselor in the Stake Primary Presidency. I was humbled by the response of so many people following the meeting as they came to talk to me. A few different people commented on how difficult it would be for our family to have Joel as YM President and myself a Stake Calling with such young children. There were a few who said, "How's that going to work?" We simply replied that we were raised that we accept any call that is extended to us. We know that when we are willing to serve and do so with diligence, we are greatly blessed by our Father in Heaven. He makes up for our shortcomings and our family is better off. I know this to be true. I have seen multiple blessings in our lives as we have humbly served. I am humbled and grateful for this new opportunity.