First Day of School

Well my little girl is in the 2nd grade! I just can't believe how big she is getting! The worst part about it all is that she is officially too cool to pose for pictures for mom or even let me stand in line with her...boo hoo! I didn't think the day would come when mom was an embarrassment!
It was a rather difficult morning--nothing went right. I got up at 6 am so I could be ready for anything and still make it a wonderful morning for my kids because they are usually pretty crazy. While we were at breakfast the kids decided they wanted to ride bikes to school and I thought it was a great idea so I wouldn't have to fight with the traffic. But we needed to leave early so we had enough time to ride our bikes. Well Kai my independant child decided he didn't want to do anything I asked him to all morning...he usually does this when we are in a hurry. But Madelyn was so excited to get to school she got dressed and made her bed even before she came down for breakfast. I was very excited and hopeful that this would be her pattern for the 2nd grade--(just to let you know it only happened that first morning.:))
So we start riding our bikes after taking 5 extra minutes to pull them out of the depths of the garage. We were about 2 blocks away from the house when I was feeling extremely tired and thinking I was really out of shape--(but I work out every week??) I realized I had 2 flat tires!!
So we had to return home and throw everybody into the car and rush to school only to fight with all the other crazy people getting their kids to school! We had to park about a 1/2 mile away from the school and walk but it turned out to be a very nice walk. I was repenting for yelling at my kids all morning by letting them play along the way and we just took our time! It turned out to be a great morning with the exception of me getting my feelings hurt because Madelyn doesn't think I'm very cool anymore and wouldn't let me stand with her in line!

On the way back to the car we stopped at the playground and let Kai horse around! It's so fun to watch his little personality develop! I never get tired of spending time with them and watching them grow. It's such a bitter sweet thing to watch them grow up and outgrow you! :)
I guess that's what it's all about is getting them ready to be little adults all by themselves.

Blessings

We had Father's Blessings on Sunday night and it was so special! I love to see my husband use his Priesthood. I grew up with this tradition and it was very important for our family, but wasn't able to get blessings from my Dad through high school and I really missed them. It was probably when I needed them the most. I think it's a great way for our children to learn about the importance of the Priesthood, and to open the lines of communication with their Daddy. It was very comforting for me to know that I once again have the Priesthood in my home and can utilize it whenever we need it. What a blessing!

Jamie's good friends live down the street and their Dad isn't around, so we invited them over as well for father's blessings from James. We weren't sure if they would think we were weird, but they jumped on the offer and it was very special to have them participate in our family blessings. These boys were baptized about 2 years ago and have struggled alot in their lives. The younger one (who is actually the taller one) is Jamie's age and is quite the rebel. But ever since Jamie has befriended him he has really changed his life around. I remember the first Sunday he came to church since he'd been hanging out with Jamie......Jamie was teaching him about the responsibilities of the teachers with the Sacrament and walking him through it all. I was a very proud momma sitting in the congregation before church started watching my son teach another child of God. And felt very proud while I watched them both prepare it together and then pass it with the deacons. We've watched Josh make some good changes in his life and hope to continue to fellowship him and his brother.

Kai's Fashion Sense

Kai thought he was being so amazing one day when I told him to run upstairs and get dressed. Normally he whines a bit when he has to do anything by himself, so I was grateful that he was actually doing what he was asked. The night before I had cleaned out the boys' closet to get ready for school and had put down all of Malak's 3T clothes...and this is what they look like on Kai! He was so proud of himself for finding a "matching" outfit. In fact when he ran downstairs he was yelling, "Look Mom- I match!!" I couldn't stop laughing because he looked so hilarious! Then he insisted that these were his clothes!! "They were on my side of the closet!" Which is the absolute truth because I had forgot to move them. When I finally had him convinced that they were Malak's clothes-he started laughing and making funny poses for me!! What a hoot!

Malak's Best Friend

Yes, you guessed it---MAX! Malak beats up this dog incessantly--he tries all his new moves on the helpless dog. I am so grateful Max is so tolerant of him. Max is actually the best dog in the whole world. Kai was about this age when we got Max and Kai did the same thing to him. So he's been through 2 rough kids and come out alive. He is always willing to share in the happiness of our family and the chaos. I forget what a great dog he is until somebody comments on him or I see other pets and the way they act. I am very grateful for him. This was supposed to be about how adorable Malak was, but it's turned into a tribute to Maxy!

I took these pictures because this is Malak's favorite thing to do--sit at the top of the stairs with Max and play with him. He lays on him or walks on him or just sits there and hits him until I can intervene. Gotta love those boys!!

Family Home Evening

Last week we decided to have our lesson on Sunday because Jamie couldn't be with us on Monday night, and do an activity on Monday night. Our lesson went well, Jamie actually taught the lesson and we enjoyed it very much.

Monday was the fun part! We stopped by Jersey Mikes and got sandwiches for dinner and went to the park right by our house to have a picnic. I have to say keeping Malak from crawling all over our food was the challenge of the night, but the food was delicious-even with a little dirt in it. After dinner the kids wanted to feed the ducks, so they used their leftovers to fatten up the duckies!! It was so cute to watch Madelyn and Kai work together to get the ducks close by. Sometimes they can really impress me with their love for each other, but most of the time I am having to put them in their separate corners. Maddy is such a "mother" to Kai and he just wants to be left alone! But for some reason it was working that night and I was counting my blessings!

I was quite surprised at Malak...he hated the slide! He cried every time I put him up there to slide down. I guess that tells you how many times I've taken the poor kid to the park!! But on the brighter side he didn't want to get out of the swing. James would make funny faces at him and he would just giggle every time he got close to James. I have to remember to take advantage of all these fun memories to be made!!!

Recommitted

We have recommited ourselves to having Family Home Evening on monday nights. We have been such slackers over the summer with 2 kids gone and Abuela here, we 've been in vacation mode. We can really see the toll it's taken on our family, though. James and I both agree that it's so important to do things as a family and create memories as well as teach our children how important it is to get along. They seem to fight all the time since we've been so lazy and I can't deal with it anymore. So, it's time to invite the Spirit back into our home and be kind to one another. We were sitting in church last fast and testimony meeting and Maddy asked me what a testimony was. Duh!! What a great mommy I am that my almost ready to get baptized child doesn't know what a testimony is....I realized I had a lot of work to do!! So, I am focusing on teaching our children basic principles that we usually take for granted that they should already know or that they should have learned in Primary. I realize as well that it's not anybody else's job to teach my children the gospel. It rests on my and my husbands shoulders...the guilt is setting in. But there is always repentance and we are committed to being better parents!!

These pictures are of Madelyn giving the lesson on Sunday night about consequences. She took the time on Sunday morning to cut out the things she needed for her lesson, color them and laminate them. We learned about the "I Want" monster and how to STAD...which means Stop, Think, Ask and Do. We have to learn that each thing we do comes with a consequence. My consequence of not having regular family home evenings is my children not understanding the things they should. I will work harder!! Jamie picked the songs for the meeting and Kai was in charge of the dessert. They are all excited during the week for FHE and Kai keeps asking me, "When do I have to do that dessert thing again?" It's cute.

Rock Stars

Jamie is such a rock star. His friend Addy was having her 14th birthday party and wanted Jamie to play at her party. Andrew and Jamie got together to practice a few times and this was the result. They played 4 songs that Jamie wrote. I think they cowrote maybe one of them, but I'm amazed at the talent that my son has. He must get it from me....HA! His mother is actually very musically inclined and his grandfather is an amazing musician. I'm so glad that it has been passed down to him. I have had to learn how to appreciate it because I really don't have any musical abilities. He really wants to go to a college that he can continues studying music and we are excited about that. We want him to earn a degree in something that he can make a living doing but we also want him to explore his talents and enjoy music in college too.

His friend Andrew is a great person to play music with and they are both very talented. It has been great for me to see this relationship be rebuilt because it was very strained for a while. Jamie actually got kicked out of the band that he was in with Andrew and all of his closest friends. It was very hard for all of the boys to move on and forgive. It was probably even harder for me because I just wanted to protect Jamie from the isolation that he was feeling. It was a very good lesson for all of us to go through and I've realized that we all have to forgive. So them playing together for Addy's party was very special.

Malak's Baby

Malak has decided that he likes baby dolls. Madelyn was sitting on the couch with her Baby Alive and Malak came right next to her and sat down and stole her baby from her. It was the funniest thing I have seen. He was kissing the doll and holding her so well. Maddy tried to take it away from him a couple of times, and he freaked!! It was so cute to see my baby holding another baby. Reality set in that he really is our last one and he's going to be spoiled rotten. Why are the last ones always spoiled?? Maddy is such a good big sister and really helps me alot with Malak. She's very mothering to him and always wants to help. I know I can trust her to be kind and nice to Malak and she takes great pride being the big sister. Now how can I get her to act that way with Kai....??

Weekend in St. George

Well last weekend we got to drive up to St. George to pick up Kai!! I was wondering if I would ever get my little boy back! I can't even express how much I missed his little face. I was talking to him on the phone one night while he was at Grandma's and I told him that I couldn't wait to hug him and squeeze him and kiss him...and he said, "Mom, I just can't wait to see your face." Ohhhh, how cute is he??

We drove up on Friday night after I got off work and got there in enough time to talk and catch up a little bit. Kai and Grandma were sitting outside reading a book waiting for us to get there. As soon as we pulled up in the driveway, I rushed out of the car to grab him and hold on tight!! He had grown so much--it was awful. He can't go again that long...I wouldn't survive it a second time.

We really enjoyed the weekend with Carl and Danielle and Grandma and Kieth. The boys woke up early to go fishing and they got back around 11, which was our clue (the girls) to go shopping!! We went to Tai Pan and Interior Elements and all the fun places that Las Vegas doesn't have. We all helped each other pick out things and had so much fun!! I was reminded that I was in St. George every time we went into a store and people stared at me. What? I just have a blonde mohawk on top of my head....I think it's cute. I asked Danielle if she was embarrassed to be with me and being the wonderful sister-in-law that she is--she said, "I don't even notice it." We were in Wal-Mart and a kid came around the corner right towards us and as soon as he saw me he says really loud, "Whoa!!" I just chuckled. Nothing like shocking people!! I love it!

One of the funniest parts of the weekend was putting Malak and McKay in the same room to sleep. The first night they had a match to see who could scream louder...I 'm not sure who won. We all stood outside their door and cracked up listening to them. It took them about a half an hour to calm down and get to sleep. It was funny. They did much better the second night together. I'm excited about them growing up together. They are going to be best buds!!

We had a great time with our family and love hanging out with them.

Last Day of School

These are actually picture of her first day of school starting the 1st grade. Look at how each of my kids has changed. It's fun to look back...

Hooray---Maddy's done with the 1st grade!! She did so amazing this year with her school. Her teacher's name was Miss Batista. There were only 4 girls in her class at the beginning of the year and then they lost one so there were only 3. There were 12 boys!!

One of her favorite things about first grade was eating lunch on the cafeteria--we battled every day on whether she would eat the junk at school or take a lunch. We balanced it pretty well. Who makes the menus at school anyway?? Chicken nuggets, pizza, junk, junk and more junk!! I let her eat school lunchh once a week and she had to pack her own lunch the other days. She loved to carpool with her friends, too. She's been lucky to find great friends. And I think she might even like boys now...I've found a few notes that say, "I love Andres." Or whoever it is that week...ugh!!

The last week of school they had Camp Learned-a-lot. It was fun for them to remember all the fun things they learned. At the awards ceremony Madelyn recieved 2 awards. Citizenship and A Honor Roll. I was very proud of her for her accomplishments. We have a very smart girl on our hands who I hope will apply herself just as much in the 2nd grade. We are enjoying our last few days off before we go back to school on Monday. She only had 2 weeks off before 2nd grade starts!

Malak's Follow-up

Well I had to take Malak back to the doctor a couple of weeks ago to check on his little tongue--I know it's been a while but I'm trying to catch everybody up on our life so bear with me. I took him in for his appointment and couldn't get over how cute he was acting! Thank goodness I had my camera! We were in the waiting room and office longer than we even saw the doctor. He came in, looked under his tongue and said, "oh, it looks great! You're done." And left the room. Okay--I guess we'll leave then....talk about bedside manner---he has none!! The only reason we go to this doctor is because he is the best in town, but he should really get some classes on personality! I'm so grateful that this is all over with. I can already hear sounds that he wasn't making before and am positive that this won't affect him over the long run. He won't have any speech delays or anything else.