Levi-isms

A year ago BJ and I were out with Levi at lunch.  We were at a place that served fry sauce (hooray) and Levi tried it for the first time.  His comment: "I taste Mayonnaise"  This was after I explained what fry sauce was.  (insert rolling eyes and laughter)  BJ and I laughed about that for a while and decided that we needed to write down the Levi-isms he comes up with.

His latest over the Christmas Break:

While watching a Christmas Movie: "I must be an adult, this is making me cry."

And the last, while talking about the ducks at the live nativity: "Ducks lay eggs?"

Oh, how I love the funny things he says.  And he enjoys being the center of attention when we talk about them and they become family jokes.

5 year Hiatus

Okay, I took a 5 year Hiatus.  Sorry.  I got busy . . . I have 5 kids . . . I forgot?  No excuse is good enough, so we are just jumping in where we are.

BJ, Chris and I on the Soccer Field.  We live here.

Levi is 16!!!  Yep 16.  Dating Age.  Ekkkkk.

Ellie just turned 14 and is amazing, beautiful and so much fun to be around.  We ran away to Kneaders for Lunch on her birthday.  Yum!!  Glad that girl has good taste and no longer opts for McDonald's for lunches with mom!

Sam loves life and is still crazy.  He just received his Star in Scouts.  So proud. He has been diagnosed with Common Variable Immune Deficiency which means he doesn't have much of an immune system.  He is now doing bi-monthly infusions, and is starting to feel better.

Grace is tall, gorgeous and growing up so fast.  She also loves ice cream so we get along fine.

Lia is still giggly, vivacious and fun.  She has decided she is Moana, and will answer to the name.
 

At Thanksgiving we got to see Flint, his sister Terina and her kids.  This little one is one of hers, no more for me thanks.  Yes, I know I wanted 11.  But I think I will be satisfied with the 5 God has blessed me with.  I'll just sneak babies from my friends to get my baby fix.  

First Day of School and a Cover-Up

I realized I hadn't posted the obligatory first day of school pictures.

Grace started first that morning at 7:45. This is her third year of pre-school at Cortina and she loves it. She has the best speech teacher for whom we are all grateful. Grace's speech is so much better this year. When she started at age 3 she could make a sound, either vowel or consonant but couldn't string sounds together. Miss Sarah (the famous speech teacher) knew Grace had it in her and set her goals high (with me seriously doubting such high goals). Ah . . . me of little faith. By the end of the year, Grace was not only stringing sounds together, we could understand words! Real words. Now Grace talks all the time (from not babbling at ALL as a baby, this is a big deal) and although we still can't understand every word, we can understand MOST of it. Thanks Miss Sarah, you rock!

The three oldest kids started school the same day, so excited about a new school.
Love the bunny ears guys!

With only small bumps in the road, the adjustment from the charter to the neighborhood school has been pretty smooth. The kids like their teachers and they are happy with their new friends. And I LOVE the commute. I can't wait for the weather to cool down so I can just send them on their way with bikes and scooters.

Now on to the cover-up. Levi decided a few years ago that he wanted to live in the woods, so I allowed him to draw and paint a Moose, a Bear and a hunter (along with a dozen trees and some stars) on the walls of his room.

Moose:

This was fine until Ellie and he changed rooms. Lucky for me, Ellie is a patient girl and didn't make me paint over the animals right away. It has taken me a year . . . yeah she is REALLY patient. I would have had nightmares with the hunter and his knife on my wall, and this bear growing at me.



Once I get all the girly stuff on the walls, I'll take an after picture. But I had to document Levi's creativity, talent and skills. Those are some mad skills Levi!

The Party

Lia and the family celebrated her birthday last Sunday. Of course she couldn't wait until evening to open her presents, so during breakfast we did this:


And this:

Cake, however, was taking it one step too far for breakfast, so we celebrated with dinner and decorating our own cupcakes. She wanted flowers on all of them, so I bought candy and everyone decorated their own. Cop-out, or smart Mom . . . Hmmm, you decide.




I see lots of happy faces.

Happy 4th Birthday Lia

So how did she get from this:


to this?


She was this little bundle of sweetness and yummy smells.


Now she is a confident, happy, outgoing girl.


So in keeping with tradition we are going to do Lia's favorites.

Favorite Color: Pink and Red
Favorite Food: "Carrots and Hot Dogs and Curly (?) Dogs and Pizza and that's all I want" She really did ask for hot dogs for her birthday dinner. She that's what were having.
Favorite Treat: Granola Bars (I have to say, just food, this girl loves to eat! Cheese, ice cream, carrots, whatever. She is not picky, she really just likes food!)
Favorite TV Show: Dora!
Favorite Movie: Strawberry Movie (I don't know either, I just go with the flow here.)
Favorite Activity: Karate (I am laughing! We have never done karate)
Favorite Friend: Holly, Grace (sister) and Sophie and Grace
Favorite Ice Cream: Cheerios Ice Cream (I didn't know they made this!)
Favorite Song: Raspberry Song. Me: "I've never heard that one." Lia: "It goes like this: Raspberries yummy, yum yum yum, Raspberries yummy, yum yum yum, sure been a hot day, I gonna eat some, I like raspberries, yum yum yum." (Impromptu song by Lia!)
What do you want to be when you grow up: "I want to be a Rock Star!!!" Well she did just make up the raspberry song!
What present do you want for your birthday? I want is a swimmer Barbie. Asking Mom, "What is it? Me: A mermaid? Lia: Yes, that!

Lia makes us laugh, that is for sure. She is the perfect last child to our family; she always happy and cheerful, she loves to help everyone, she makes us all laugh because of her sense of humor.

Lia, we love you!

More to come later with pictures of the "Flower Party" she wanted today.

Utah Trip

We just got back from our annual trip to Utah to see the cousins, Grandparents, Aunties, Uncles and the cooler weather. We went to Lagoon, hiked the Y, ate lots of JCW burgers (why won't you come to AZ!), played laser tag (a lot), had our now 2nd annual Birth Parent BBQ (thanks to those who could come), played in pool, went to Seven Peaks and just hung out! We loved Utah's weather and fabulous family and friends that we miss so much.

I was a little delinquent on the camera action this year but I do have a few pics of the fun.

Our hike to the Y was fabulous.
This was the only time I was ahead of the pack, I had to take a picture to prove it!


We made it. Those are smiles of relief! We didn't bring the Little's (Lia and Grace). We were glad we didn't on some of those steep switchbacks. Grandma and Grandpa stayed behinds and played with them and Dallas.

Ellie on the trail, see she really did enjoy it. Although she did end up like this on the way down.

Uncle Brett thought she looked better as a backpack. "Uncle Stinky" strikes again.

We then hit a BYU favorite: J Dawgs! Yum, thanks Cathie for this tip. Don't know if it was the hiking or the special sauce they use, but those are the best hot dogs I have ever had. We will come again next year, sweaty and hungry!

The kids then wanted to go to BYU's Creamery, so we let them talk us into it. How could we not! That ice cream is delicious.

That same evening was our Birth Parent dinner. I have a few of my favorite photos below. Are we not sooooo blessed to have such a large family? Lots of moms, dads, grandparents and siblings. This group is fun and loud and crazy and I feel so blessed to be a part of it. These fabulous people trusted BJ and I with the Most Precious of gifts, family. Thank you to all of you for your love, trust and continued friendship. We feel our children are so blessed to have such a loving extended family.

Ellie and Christy. Can you see the resemblance?

Grandma Elizabeth and Grandpa Saul came again and we got to meet Christy's brothers and sister. Thanks for coming!

Sher and Grandma Lauralie and Grandpa Gary. Lance, thanks for bringing your family, we love to see them grow. Grace snuck in for a photo op too.

I love watching Sher and Levi together. I see his smile in her face. It makes ME smile.

Look at those beautiful women! Can you see the family resemblance. Now you all know where Lia gets her good looks from. Leilani and Aunt Tasha are so beautiful, I'm so glad Lia will look like you two!

Sienna, Lia and Jada

Alex and Lia

Look at that gorgeous group!

My favorite picture of the night was Lia, Jada and Rosy making their funny faces at me! So cute!

Easter, and fun stuff

Okay, I didn't blog for three weeks and I've had a couple birth parents contact me about updates and how our kids are doing. I need to make up for those weeks and all the fun things we did so bear with me, this will be a long post.

Grace and neighbors waiting for the "Go" signal.

Easter! My fabulous neighbors put on their usual block Easter party with an egg hunt, bouncies, cotton candy, snow cones, potluck lunch with fried chicken (and my neighbor Kitty's rolls that she is FAMOUS around here for) and lots of talking and fun. I got to hunt with Grace this year and had so much fun watching her find her eggs. She was so excited about it.
Grandma and Grandpa were here and help Lia find her eggs. The ants got a few, but mostly the kids found them before the ants did.

Posing for the camera.



Ellie enjoying her second or third snow cone.

Candy, candy, candy.

Grace enjoying the cotton candy. The neighbors that manned the cotton candy and snow cones are two recently returned military guys. We are glad they are home safe. They both looked like cotton candy after they were done, that stuff gets everywhere!
Besides all the candy the Easter Bunny brought, he always brings new swim suits. Lia and Ellie show off their suits with Berkley, our neighborhood friend.

I know Sam and Levi were there, although Levi announced this year he is too old to hunt for eggs. At least he is too old when his friends can see him participating. That didn't seem to stop him in the privacy of his own home. Sam was too busy bouncing and running with friends to sit still for a picture. The amount of sugar that day was amazing.

Swimming in now in full swings since we have gotten the temperature up. We've had a couple of 100 degree days already (yuck). Lia and Grace took their first round of swim lessons and had such a great time.

Lia and Grace with their class and two teachers.

Lia getting ready to jump to Miss Marci! She is fearless and totally loves the pool.

Lia swimming to the side. Yes, Miss Marci does let go and let her swim all by herself!
What a big girl.

Grace was too fast of a jumper for me to get a picture of her.
I had to catch her after her jump.

Levi has been enjoying using his reading time to read to Lia and Grace. Lia does well with a book or two then decides things are getting a little boring. This is what happened one afternoon after a long session of reading. Maybe the view was better from up there.

Read 'em Cowboy.

Sam was in church the other day waiting for Junior Primary to end so he could go in. I guess he had been well behaved that day because one of his teacher's asked him: "Sam, why are you such a good boy." Sam answered: "Because they give me a pill for that." All the teachers had to turn away to keep their laughter from showing. Ah, Sam. You truly make us laugh.

And lest you think our life is sweetness and roses all the time, let me leave you with a reality check of shopping with two toddlers. Walmart + no nap = fun for Mom.