Girls

                                              A couple of darling divas!

Photos

A couple of my favorite photos of two of my favorite people.  I am starting to feel that yes, I really am going to miss these little kids days.

Nursery Rhymes

Beth has quite a few nursery rhymes which makes me happy and proud.  But, her version of Little Miss Muffet makes me smile a little wider.  "Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet, eating her poison ways."  Everyone should have to eat their own poison ways.

Beth and Andrew

I really feel very lucky that Beth and Andrew get along so well.  Neither one of them are hitters, and she plays the role of big sister and protecter very well.  Last night we were visiting with two other families.  When Beth's friend said she wanted to play something with Beth but not Andrew Beth said in a matter of fact manner  "If Andrew can't play, I'm not going to play."  And sat down to play with Andrew.  I was so proud of her.  I can trust her to look out for him and that's a great feeling.

Beth's First Day of First Grade

Beth was very excited for her first day of first grade.  She is going to be in Mrs. Allen's class with Lilly Saba one of her favorite friends.


Calls from Mother
Krista
Sonja

Text from Natalie

Unexpected invitation to lunch with Karen Colemere and her friend, Carmen

Beth started 1^st grade this week.  I told her that I was going

to miss her while she was gone all day.  On the morning of

her first day she prayed that I would not be lonely and that me and Andrew would find something fun to do.

Andrew and I went to a very fun music class at the library.  On our walk home from the library, we ran into Andrew’s best friend and his mom, they invited us to go to lunch.  Throughout the day four people called to check on me to see how I was doing with Beth being gone for the whole day.  I was definitely not lonely.  Beth’s prayer was answered and Andrew and I were blessed by her faith.

Sandwiches

Mom, "Why do they call them "girled cheese sandwiches?, they're for boys, too".

Swimming Lessons

Beth is finishing two weeks of swimming lessons today.   We go through the daily ritual of her saying she doesn't want to go and then once we get there she has a great time and is really progressing.  Yesterday though she told me--I don't like swimming lessons, I just pretend to be happy so the teacher doesn't get upset at me.  Oh really, so that bouncing around on the pool steps and chatting with your new friends is all part of a guise to stay out of trouble.

Prayer

Hearing my children pray brings joy to my soul.  Andrew is asking to get to be the one to say the blessing on the food.  With Beth gone to preschool this morning he got to be the one to bless breakfast.  I whispered words in his ear and after each whispered phrase he repeated the last word.  And he knows that "Amen" comes after "In the name of Jesus Christ..."  He is so precious.  These toddler days are hard for me, but include so many moments of joy.

Scoutarama

Spent a few hours at Scoutarama today.  The kids loved it.  It's a little exhausting to try to keep track of them in the huge event center with hundreds of other children.  They loved making paper bag puppets, folding origami volcanoes, knocking over Angry Birds cans, and playing miniature golf.  Not a bad deal for a $5.00 donation ticket entry.

Some Things I Don't Want to Forget

Andrew is a curious little boy. His new thing is to ask "What's that noise?" It has made me listen to the world around me much more carefully. The other day at breakfast he asked "What's that noise?" So I started to guess "Is it vroom vrooms (cars)?" "No" he said. "Is it a plane?"

"No, snow" he replies. It was snowing and apparently he has super sensitive hearing.

Sandwiches

"Why are they called "girled cheese" sandwiches 'cause they're also for boys, too?"  Beth aged 5.

Beth's Birthday

Our baby girl turned five. It's emotional for me because this is my last year with her at home before school starts.

Our Home

Around Thanksgiving time we were leaving church when I had the thought that we could move. When we bought our home I had planned on staying her for many years. Kevin had asked about my thoughts on moving before and I had said, no way. We love our ward, our neighbors, our location that is convenient for a lot of things that are important to us. I love my "just right" kitchen (it has room for everything I need and it has helped to restrain my desire to buy more gadgets that we don't really need.) We looked on our own for a while and then enlisted the help of realtor, Ken Bell, two days before Christmas. I thought it would take us months to find a new place that would feel right. After about two weeks of looking, we pulled up to a home on Carriage Chase Lane and I said, "This is it. I'm having deja vu." It is very important to me to feel that we are where we are supposed to be in a spiritual sense. We put an offer on that home a few days later. Found out there were multiple offers and had to pay more than we had hoped but didn't want to risk losing our opportunity to buy it.

This decision has been very difficult for me. At many times along the way I have thought. We can still pull out. Things are not final yet. I'll tell everyone I was just joking. But, it's almost as if we have been along for the ride as events have taken place.

Another big step was listing our current home. As soon as it became real several weeks ago that we would have to sell this home I kept dwelling on all the things I love about it and comparing it to our new home. I love my large counter to prepare food on, I love my large garden tub, I love having a linen closet, I love being close to Target and the freeway. We met with Ken Bell on Thursday afternoon and the home was listed on the internet by midday Friday. Pictures weren't even up yet and we had 10 days to post them so I figured I'd have plenty of time to prepare our home for showing. Not so. I got a call Friday morning that the first showing would be that afternoon between 4:30 and 5:30. PANIC. I called Kevin to have him come home to help. My dad has Fridays off so I called my mom and dad and recruited their help as well. We worked like crazy for the hours we had before the arrival of the lookers. Almost all the junk went to the garage so it looks terrible but I have to admit, the rest of the house looks and feels awesome. The first lookers came and went--phew. I was hoping we would then have the next day, Saturday, to get some more projects done and take a break. We got a phone call that night saying there were more lookers wanting to come the next morning between 10:30 and 11:30, no problem. We were all going to Ella's (Beth's friend from two doors south) baptism that Kevin was conducting so we wouldn't be home anyway.

Saturday morning dawned and Kevin got a message on his phone saying that there were two more requests for showing (1:30-2:30 and 3:30-4:30) so we ordered a pizza for lunch and luckily Riva let us hang out at her home for the hours that we didn't want to be around while people looked. Around 4:00 Ken called us to say we had an offer and more people wanting to look right then, and someone else wanting a second look at 7:00 that night so they could bring their sister and mom. WOW! We never expected it to be like this. We met Ken at our house at 4:00 to set up the key box and drove out of the driveway as the next lookers arrived.

The 7:00 appointment arrived closer to 8:00 because the wife's sister was receiving her endowment at the Jordan River temple, in preparation to be married on March 16th, so they coming straight from the 5:20 session. (Hurray, active members of the church just like our ward members have requested.) The wife's mom kept saying what a beautiful home we have. We really have loved it. They know we already have an offer so they have to submit an offer if they are ready, by noon on Monday.

Sunday arrives and the cute family who put the first offer on our home came to church. They have a three year old daughter, an almost two year old daughter and their last name is Taylor. They are such a cute family.

We have been praying that a family that are active members of the church who could contribute to our ward would buy our home. Our ward is small but filled with love. Our prayers have been heard and answered doubly. Both of these families seem great.

We will meet with Ken Bell this afternoon at 4:30 to review both offers. I have been nervous about this because I'm sure both families are hoping to live here but I have to put it in the Lord's hands.

The quick response to the listing of our home has made me realize that maybe it's not so much that we are needed in our new location as that someone else is needed here.

Beth's Style

Beth has a unique sense of style and I hope she always keeps it. She told me she was going to do her own hair for preschool and came back to show me what she had created. She attached five flower clips to a stretchy headband for this look.