Nanobot Turns Two

Can it really be two years? 

 Can so much time have passed since...?

or...?

and, well, while we're on the subject...

This little sweetheart has filled up any tiny gaps that could have possibly been left in our family.   She is snuggly and lovey.  She loves to hold my hand.  None of my kids have ever wanted to do that!  She is the glue that makes teenagers hang around when little kids need a PG movie or a slower walking pace.  She is our song in the morning, and the smiles around our table.  She is our reminder of a blessed life, and my encouragement to stay healthy and strong.  There isn't a person in our house that doesn't sing out "Naaaa-no-neeee!" when she bobbles into the room in her funny little way.

Yep, she's two.  Already.  It has gone by so fast.

All of the Littles and Middles helped make Natalie's cake.  Ellie and Tessa cut flowers and leaves, and Nat and Jonah basically just ate fondant.  She loved it so much, she sat for 2 hours just rolling and stamping the fondant.  At one moment I couldn't find the little bluebird I made, and then I noticed it tumbling around in her cute, pink mouth.

She loved every minute of her sweet little family party.  It was just us, and it was a ball.  We had taught her to blow out her candles earlier in the day, and she was great at it, but once that cake got in front of her she couldn't focus.  "Bunny!  Birdie!  Mousie!"

She didn't need any help opening her gifts, but because there have been four family birthdays in the last few months, she kept trying to deliver the gifts to everyone else in the room.

She got the bunny!

It went the way of the bluebird.

Poor, poor bunny.

It was exhausting, but she had a great day.

Little Natalie, I know you won't read this for many years, and I know by then you will have logged many tantrums and fibs, and many birthday candles, but I can only imagine loving you all the more.  I thank God every day for what you have brought to our family, and I wonder at the gift that we have been given in you.  There is a spirit of kindness and and generosity in you.  Your humor is a delight, and every time you announce, "I fah-ted!" you remind us all to lighten up.  You have full length conversations with yourself, and your dollies, and I love to listen in.  You are brave and bold.  You are lovingly aware of each one of us, and somehow you know us in a way that feels timeless.

Thank you for being on our family, sweet girl. 

I love you, Naa-no-nee.

Summer Kickoff 2015!

You may remember the ill-fated Ice Cream Party of 2014, wherein many tears were shed over un-earned toppings and sprinkles.  We had set up our end-of-the-school-year-ice-cream-party as one that was conditional upon the kids earning each part of their sundae by memorizing times-tables.  Ellie had particularly struggled with both the math memorization and the sad consequences of slow progress.  It was flat-out no-fun for anyone.

We have since learned that Ellie has several learning disabilities a blocked sensory gate that includes dyslexia, memorization problems and struggles with math concepts.  She also has an auditory processing component, and does not do well at all with instructions that are spoken.  Picture a bunch of items in a certain order on a conveyor belt being sent through a door, only to go to the other side to you where you find all of the items jumbled together in a big, indecipherable mess.  That is what it is like for her to follow verbal instructions.  Her testing has shed so much light on her questioning "What?"  in response to every direction.  What appeared to be lack of attention and laziness all this time had actually been a real learning problem. I feel so badly that we hadn't learned this all sooner in her life, and particularly bad when I reread last year's post.  I can see so easily how a child with a learning disorder can be so misunderstood.  All she needed was for someone to recognize her struggles. I am glad, at least, that I asked for more help from our Educational Supervisor through our charter.  She brought me testing materials and an at-home therapy program, and we haven't looked back.  Better late than never, right?

So last year's ice cream party was pretty much a set up for failure for Ellie.  

This year we held the party again, but this time it was not conditional on a one-size-fits-all requirement.  This time it was based solely on effort.  And I am pleased to announce that Ellie's efforts have been true.  She does her reading therapy diligently.  She reads endlessly, though she grows tired easily.  She has worked to memorize the Articles of Faith of our religion, and though she has made very slow progress, it is progress, and I am proud of her efforts.  She was able to relax knowing that she didn't have to attain a seemingly impossible goal, which also seemed to help a lot.

And she got an awesome sundae with ALL the fixin's.  

(And I pray I never make a mistake like that one again, but I know I probably will!  Parenting is so challenging!)

A while later we dove into summer!

Our sweet neighbor Betty and her family let my kids pee in their pool. 

I mean swim!  

But who are we kidding?  No matter how many times I remind him, do you really think Jonah tells me every time he has to go?  That means getting out into the nippley air and walking all the way to our house to peel off last summer's hand-me-down orange shark trunks to piddle, and then somehow squeegie them back on again.  I question the boy's urinary integrity.  

Then there is Natalie.

I mean, just look at that face. 

 I think she's doin' her bizness right there!  

Thank the heavens above for chlorine!

(Swim diapers are made by, and bought by, adults in denial, choosing to ignore the reality that a wet swim diaper CANNOT and DOES NOT catch or hold a single drop of of pee.  It is more like a strainer.  I'm pretty confident it would hold little brown floaters and sinkers, but that's about it).

(I think I just successfully got us uninvited to Betty's pool in the future.  If you're reading, Betty, I'm just kidding!  My kids would NEVER do such a thing!  (I hope!) We love you!!!!)

My friend Ellen once told me that each member of a family plays a roll, and one of the rolls is "mascot".  Yup.  That's Nanobot.  She was never not in someone's arms while at the pool.  She was passed from Ellie, to the boys, to daddy, all evening long.

Oh,

 to be so adored.

All in all we had a splashingly great summer kickoff!  And there's more to come!  Once I get you passed all of the back-logged birthday and graduation posts, you will get to hear about our Now-In-Progress family vacation to a fabulous location, which includes sand, water and lots of sunblock.  

To be continued!

Rockin' It at the Beach - A Family Photo Album

We had the awesome opportunity a few weeks ago to visit my brother Zack and his family at their new beach-town home, to attend their son Arron's baptism.  Zack lives 5 hours away (5 1/3 if you miss your turn, thus causing you to miss the baptism as well.  Oh, well, we got there for the closing prayer!).

Besides being my sister-in-law, Julean was my favorite missionary companion in Costa Rica.  She jokes when I am introduced as Zack's sister, saying "She was mine first!"  I like to think that my mission call to that far away tropical land had something to do with bringing the two of them together, but I know, of course, that God didn't need my help.

Aaron is a sweet little guy, and I still can't believe he's 8.  Zack and the family had moved across the country for several years, and so Aaron became suspended in my mind at about age 3.  We are so glad to have them back!  5 hours is peanuts compared to 2,700 miles!  Heck, it's like we're next door neighbors!

Zack loves the ocean, so after church on Sunday we ate a lovely lunch and then drove to the beach.  Since Sundays are our Sabbath, we don't engage in typical recreation on those days.  The kids understood we wouldn't be swimming or playing ball, but we enjoyed a relaxed rest on the sand looking for cool rocks and beach glass.

Uncle Zack has stories galore, and knows everything about everything when it comes to animals, rocks, and, well... everything.

A family that blinks together, stays together!  (I can't prove it, but I am pretty sure that Noah is blinking behind those shades!)

Guy created an installation art piece.  

He calls it "Rocks on the Rocks".  

This kid cracks me up.  

I think Jason is the Ellie (read "clown") of their family.

No wonder they chose to hang out together.

He can't read, but he did stay off the fence. 

 Love the forced smile. 

 Hey, these days I'll take what I can get from him.

Mmmmmm....

Love these two.

Honey I shrunk the Nephew!

Zack was trying to demonstrate "Horses in a field" with Julean, wherein two horses stand nearly touching, necks crossing, and somewhat oblivious to each other.  She couldn't stop laughing long enough to join him.  I was busy trying not to piddle myself.  I love seeing how much fun these two have together.

I wonder why on earth they would want to come back here to California....?

Ta-da! 

 That was it.  The end. 

 Fun over...till next time!

(The salmon start running here in Sacramento in July, Zack!)

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!

Don't know why this picture didn't show up in the last post.  Perhaps it was too glorious to behold!  I am pretty lame with heavy power tools.  They get away from me.  Someday I will cut off some toes, I am sure.  But I had to show the final product of the last post.  The heavenly gleam is from a chorus of angels declaring the fabulousness of our handiwork.

AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Good Fences

A strange bike showed up in our back yard.  It was our neighbor's bike, but they hadn't put it there.  In fact, neighbor Denise had been leaving that morning and seen a guy in a hoodie putting the bike in our yard, and assumed it was Ethan.  Ethan was with me on the way to school, and no one had been home at the time.  Along with the bike we found a single shoe on the ground.  Which made it go from weird to a little Twilight Zone.

The best we can tell, some guy was going from house to house after everyone was at work and sneaking into back yards, stealing what he could.  When he found the bike and took it, he had no idea that that was the moment Denise would come out of her house to take her teen daughter to school.  The back tire on the bike was flat, so this guy couldn't just hop on and take off.  He must have ducked behind our garage and pushed open our floppy, broken, held-shut-by-a-bucket-o'-bricks-and-a-trash-can gate.  He stashed the bike.  Since we were gone, who knows how long he was back there and what else he might have been doing.  It gives me the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it.  

It was creepy.  There have been strangers in our yard before, using it as a shortcut through the block.  We've had our cars broken into, and even had a car stolen right out of the driveway.  But having a bike-snatcher use our yard as a stash is freaky on a whole new level.  I didn't like the thought of him casually coming back to retrieve his loot.

We took the bike back next door and propped a huge old couch against the gate to get us through the night, then the next day I had the boys demo the gate.  We built the new fence and gate that day and got a sturdy lock.  I had every child help in some way.  Natalie was the project forewoman, and expert holder of screws.  It's really my thing to make sure my girls get the same opportunities to use power tools and help with big projects.  

I guess I should thank the bike-snatcher.  He lit a fire under our tails to get that horrible fence and gate fixed.  I wonder if there is anything he could do that would force us to paint the house.

Ellie and Dad

One more!

Hangin' with my sib!

Something Great (times two)

We decided to celebrate 

Adam's great job qualifying for the finals in track.  

And to celebrate Guy's awesome nomination for Teacher of the Year.  

We chose not to wait until after the track finals.  Adam did a great job on his qualifiers.  It was tempting to wait until he had his very last race to see how well he did, but then we realized that we were missing an opportunity to enjoy the "Here and Now".  His success in the qualifiers would be diminished by waiting, win or lose in the final race.

And the same for Guy.  His nomination was special all on it's own.  It was a red letter day, just because it was.

It reminded me of the talk by Dieder F. Uchdorf where he reminds us to "Forget not... to Be Happy Now".

 "If we spend our days waiting for fabulous roses, we could miss the beauty and wonder of the tiny forget-me-nots that are all around us.

This is not to say that we should abandon hope or temper our goals. Never stop striving for the best that is within you. Never stop hoping for all of the righteous desires of your heart. But don’t close your eyes and hearts to the simple and elegant beauties of each day’s ordinary moments that make up a rich, well-lived life.

The happiest people I know are not those who find their golden ticket; they are those who, while in pursuit of worthy goals, discover and treasure the beauty and sweetness of the everyday moments. They are the ones who, thread by daily thread, weave a tapestry ofgratitude and wonder throughout their lives. These are they who are truly happy."

Also, ice cream definitely helps!

Mother's Day

It's been a while since I've done a foodie post!
My Honny made me an awesome Mother's Day dinner and we ate it outside, which is my favorite!  

The breeze was breezy and the sun was only blaring in our eyes for the first hour or so.  Guy made stuffed chicken breasts with a bacon cream sauce and rosemary roasted yams, with a yummy cheesecake topped in chocolate ganche and raspberry sauce for dessert.

It was all amazing.  

The breeze created a windchime symphony, and my kids did not fight once!  It's the second time this week.  Somebody pinch me, please.  No!  Wait!  Don't do that.  I'll wake up and they'll start fighting again.  

The Littles brought me flowers one at a time throughout the night, and I received about 12 glittery handmade cards and pictures.

My day was already going great because I got to take a nap.  

(No, the boys are not reading the bible.  I have a phone ban at the table, but this was before dinner, so they feel like it's okay to be anti-social.)

I was gifted with bird feeders and clay, but my favorite came from Guy: Fourth of July Banners like the ones they hang at City Hall in The Music Man.  They are so cool.

Also, he found a Donkey Tail succulent plant for me.  It is a throwback from my childhood.  When we were kids, my dad had several of them, and we evil children would rip off the plump little leaves and throw them at each other by the handful.

When I told my kids my evil-children story, they gasped!  "That's terrible!!!" they all agreed.  I have done a lot of things wrong in my parenting, but I know that at least in the plant department, I have raised my children right.  They respect botanicals.

I am blessed.  Six kids is a lot.  Overwhelming at times, like today at the library.  Not recommended.  But I am blessed to share my life with these small and not so small humans.  Motherhood is so hard.  Most of the time I feel like I'm making this up as I go along, but when I am smart, I seek answers through prayer instead.  On my best day I couldn't come close to God's Plan for my family.

Who better to learn from than a loving Parent.