Back to School│Nothing is as constant as change.

There is a common theme for this season of my life: "it all goes by so fast".  

I find it ironic that, my every day endeavor to help my children become independent, is the very thing that breaks my heart in so many ways.  Back to school always brings me to the realization that my children are becoming independent.  The process of watching them become independent is one of the most rewarding experiences, but that only means that they are growing up and someday they will have their own lives, aside from this life that we are now experiencing together.  

Not long ago, I read somewhere that this mother, saw her time with her children at home, in summers.  This means that I have 11 summers with Brielle at home and 12 with Braden; before they go on missions, start college, etc, etc...and this life as I know it now, will be over.  

One of my all time favorite talks by President Monson comes to mind, he says: 

"If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will-to your surprise-miss them profoundly." 

This is what this mortal life is for.  I understand and I accept it.  But I can't help this feeling of 'loss', that I feel when I see my children start each new school year.  It is another summer gone of the life, I know now. 

At the same time, I celebrate their progress and I can't help but feel excited for them and proud of them.  

I officially have a first and second grader...and for the first time they BOTH started school on the same day!   

Braden was beyond excited to be starting school the same day as Brielle.  

This little boy is becoming a big boy and I couldn't be happier for him. 

He was looking forward to having lunch in the cafeteria with "all the big kids".   

Brielle was also excited!

These two, (as I have mentioned in an earlier post) fight like there's no tomorrow! 

But I know they love each other deep down inside.  

Ada is one of Brielle's favorite little friends, she is in first grade in Braden's class. 

I had to sneak in a picture of me and them.  

Back to school dinners are such a good tradition, I decided to start it, this year.  

I think it sets a tone for the year and it sets some expectations for the children, which I think is of positive influence. 

Our theme for this year is "BE TRUE".  I saw this on Pinterest, and I could have picked any theme I wanted, but I feel like it fit right into our family situation, so I went along with it. 

We talked about not only being true, as in being honest and telling the truth, but also in being true to who we are.  It seems like the world is always trying to influence who we are, setting standards on who we should be and how we should look and how we should talk.  Children are easily influenced by the friends and people around them and I want Brielle, Braden and Brooke to not be afraid to be themselves and stand for what they know is right.   

Each of my children is unique and I want to celebrate that, as Dr. Seuss would say:

"Today you are you, that is truer than true.  

There is no one alive who is youer than you."

Braden requested salmon and that is what we had.  

Our fancy menu consisted of: wild rice, salmon and a yummy salad.  

We even took out our fancy cups. 

As sad as it makes me to see these children grow up so quickly, I also love moving forward and watching them learn new things! 

Here is to another school year!

...and I can't deny that I LOVE having two kids in school all day! I LOVE it! Maybe now I will be able to blog more frequently!...except I think it is time to potty train Brooke...:) 

Brooke turned 2.

Brooke is at the cutest stage right now.  

That little girl, brings so much joy to our family!

It is hard to believe she turned two years old on the 15th, last month.  

She fits right into our family and we are all in love with her. 

We had to party Elmo style! All of the work to put a party together was absolutely worth it, when she came out to the patio and excitedly exclaimed, 'Elmo PARTY!!!' It made all of it worth it!!!!! 

She was so joyous about her party.  

She LOVED her Elmo party and it totally made my day that she was that happy about it. 

She noticed the balloons and kept saying, 'pretty ballons!'. 

Thank goodness for free printables and photoshop! 

I found the little signs on Pinterest and I thought they were so cute.  

My friend, Heidi, had an Elmo cake pan, so it worked out perfectly...and she was even awesome enough to come decorate it for me.  She is such a great friend and an amazing, talented cook and baker! 

It turned out perfect! 

After all the preparation, we enjoyed a fun party! 

So grateful to have these great people around us. 

Brookie Kate is two now! 

How did that happen?

I love her messy face from her Elmo cake!

She was so into opening her presents this year! 

So grateful for friends and family that made her birthday so special!

She LOVED all of her presents!

So glad Penny and Jana and her family were able to come! Love these ladies! 

I'd say it was a successful party! 

I loved making my Brookie feel loved and special.  

She brightens my days with her sweetness and cute little sense of humor. 

At two years old:

She loves to get tickled and I love her laugh! 

She is talking so much.  

I love watching her interact with Brielle and Braden. 

She loves to dance and shake her booty! 

She has quite the appetite. 

She loves to cuddle.  

She loves puddles and water. 

She could stay in the bathtub all day long, if I'd let her. 

She LOVES to talk to Siri on Scott's iphone, when she hears the beep, she says, 'siiiriii!!! hiiii siiiri!!' It is one of the funniest things I have ever witnessed. 

She loves Elmo, she grabs my phone and says, "Elmo's world' 

If you ask her, what color is this?, she says purple.  All the colors are purple. 

She continues to love books.  

I remember vividly the day she was born.  We didn't know what we were having.  When they said, 'it's a girl!' I wasn't surprised, somehow I knew she was a little girl.  I remember looking at her for the first time, inspecting every nook and cranny of her tiny little 7 pound 11 ounce body.  I counted for 10 little fingers and 10 little toes.  She had the most amazing cheeks I had ever seen in a newborn.  She was so easy to love. I knew from the beginning that it all goes by so quickly, especially that first and second month, when they are cuddly and so sleepy.  I had no problem waking up in the middle of the night to nurse her.  I enjoyed it.  I was so much more ready to give of me with Brooke.  I knew what I was doing.  I didn't have to go to work with her, I was home with her, no late night grading, no lesson planning, no dropping her off at babysitters, I was there.  I am grateful.  Brielle and Braden have had no problem loving their little sister from the beginning...and Scott...a day doesn't go by that Scott doesn't say how much he loves this baby.  

We are just not complete without our Brookie.

She fits right into our family.  

She makes us all happy!...

well...except when she throws those tantrums!

and she sure knows how to throw them!!!   

Happy 2nd Birthday Brooke!!!

Our Summer Days│Part IV

This summer flew by.  It was a fun, relaxing one.  I promised Brielle and Braden that they could do one summer camp each this summer.  Brielle chose a hip hop camp and Braden did a camp at Wheeler Farm. 

Brielle LOVED her hip hop class and they had a recital at the end of the week with all the parents.  Dance always built some sort of confidence in me, I think it does the same for Brielle.  She loves to shine and it is good for her to experience something different.  

I didn't get any pictures of Braden during his camp, but he said he enjoyed riding the horses, riding the wagon, making crafts and milking the cows.  

I have been struggling so much lately with these two kids, I'm trying to foster confidence and self-worth in each of them; and making them realize that they are their own person with their individual talents and strengths.  There is no need to compete or compare.  They are both so competitive with each other, it often results in a lot of fighting! It has been driving me crazy.  I must confess, that I have been feeling so inept, not knowing how to handle this sibling rivalry.  All of these different stages, leave me feeling so inadequate sometimes.  

I hope this incessant fighting stage ends soon, otherwise I may just go crazy! :)

******

We went to Silver Lake with the Clarkes on a Saturday morning.  It was such a nice morning to go up to the mountains.  Silver Lake is one of my favorite hikes here and it was the first time the Clarkes had gone.  

Brielle loves Ada and Penny.  They are such good little friends.  I'm grateful when my kids find kind friends and that is how these girls are.  

Kyle and Heidi are so fun to be around and it's always fun to spend time with them. 

******

Lanie and Grandpa Clay came for a few days last month.  Brielle was missing Lanie and since Brielle has learned to text on my phone, she is in constant communication with Lanie.  (Thank goodness Lanie is such a good sport about all the texting!) One day, Brielle invited Lanie to come for a few days.  I, of course, was thrilled to have them stay with us.  

Lanie brought some early birthday presents for Brooke.  She made that cute Elmo quilt for Brooke and got her a talking Elmo! Brooke was in heaven.  That little girl is obsessed with Elmo.  For the first almost two years of her life, she has had no interest in watching any television...but one morning I was in desperate need of a shower and she wasn't letting me.  So, I said, "how about you watch Elmo?" I put it on and she actually sat down and watched it for 15 minutes.  I was able to shower in peace! But I started this obsession and now all she thinks about, is Elmo!

Thank you Lanie, for your thoughtful gifts.  She LOVES her blankie and talking Elmo! 

We spent some fun days with Clay and Lanie here.  

It was so nice to see Clay doing so well after his back surgery. 

Scott had an easy rotation while they were here, he actually had the weekend off! so he was able to join us in our activities. 

I gave Lanie a few options and she chose to go to Temple Square.  

It is so beautiful there and it had been a while since we had all gone there, so it was the perfect outing, except it was kind of a hot day.  

We were able to listen to an organ recital played by Clay Christiansen, the Tabernacle Choir organist. 

It was amazing!!! He is one talented organist.  We just happen to be there at the right time for his presentation.  I guess, these organ recitals happen everyday in the Tabernacle.  It was perfect timing.  

Then, we headed to see the Christus at the Visitor Center.  There is a Christus in the Washington D.C Temple Visitor Center but the kids hadn't seen the one here in Salt Lake, so I was glad that we were all there together. 

Love these kids! 

Clay treated us all to lunch at Brio Tuscan Grill, which is one of our favorite restaurants.  

It was so yummy! 

We were so glad to have spent such a fun few days with Lanie and Clay.

It is always nice to see family, our kids sure LOVED having you here and Scott and I did too! 

We LOVE visitors! Thanks for coming to see us!   

Documenting│Our Tiny Little Backyard

If there is one thing Scott and I have been looking forward to, 

since we've had children is having a backyard. 

Our backyard is small and it was definitely not in good shape when we moved in.  

The previous tenants had lived in this place for 16 years and it was not well kept.  

I remember walking into the yard and envisioning what it could look like, 

it had potential, although it is small.

We have done what we could with what we have...and I can say that now I actually enjoy spending time out there.  

We have enjoyed gardening so much, as I have mentioned in prior posts.  It has been a fun activity to do with Scott and the kids.  Scott has especially worked hard, he is the landscaper.  He built a sandbox for the kids, which they love and play there all the time.  It was a lot of work and the sand was not cheap but it was definitely worth it. 

These pictures were taken a few weeks ago, now our peach tree is full of 'almost' ripen fruit.  

Our pumpkin was thriving when I took these pictures, it got some sort of powdery mildew on all the leaves and I didn't take care of it quickly so I had to cut most of the leaves.  The plant is still alive though.  We have two pumpkins and hopefully we'll start getting more.  This gardening thing is learning process. 

When we moved in there was basically no grass, and under the deck was a nasty mess.  Scott put some mulch under there and sodded part of the yard.  Now we have grass, the sprinkler system is messed up so if we forget to water we get some brown patches, but for the most part we are trying hard to keep that grass alive! 

Any kind of landscape that you see Scott has done.  He is so good at it and I'm glad I have him to make things happen.  

I have to say that our tomato plants have done so well.  I can't believe we pulled it off.  

We have been thoroughly enjoying our tomatoes.  

We've had a good crop of zucchini as well, I don't know what to do with it all! 

I have to shred a whole bunch of it and freeze it!

We've gotten a few cucumbers, jalapeños and green and red peppers.  

My flowers haven't done as well as I had hoped.  I did everything from seed and I think next year I'm just buying starters.  We planted cosmos and they have grown more than we had expected, like 7 to 8 feel tall.  I didn't expect them to grow this tall.  So I think I'm planting something else next year. 

It is a nice feeling knowing that we've worked hard to make this space a livable, usable space.  I actually have loved working on beautifying our tiny little backyard.  I feel productive and it is therapeutic being out there trying to keep everything alive.  It's my time, to be with me and my thoughts, when I do it alone...or be with Scott and share our hard work together.