kindergarten girls

Today was another milestone, Ella's first field trip, to the Pumpkin Patch. I wasn't able to chaperon so it was an exercise in letting go and trusting the school. They returned her in good health, a little dustier and a lot more tired. She proudly brought home her pumpkin and we carved it up like a "vampire that looks sideways a little."
We had our dinner, our Monday night Family Home Evening and made it into the tub with relative ease, when someone new showed up.

I call her "CRAZY MAISY" she is the insane and giggly creature that seems to take over my daughters when they are too tired or have had too much going on to process (for example your first field trip day ever!)
Maisy may sound fun, but when she makes my oldest girl refuse to put her clothes on apres le tub, Maisy is not our friend.

Ella was being silly and lost her bedtime story because she didn't put on her PJ's, lest you think me inhumane, I gave her 3 warnings and the final one being that if I saw her run through the halls naked one more time she would not get a story that night. As you have already surmised, Crazy Maisy went streaking through the hall and the story was lost.

I am glad that my daughters cherish their bedtime stories, but from the reaction that came next, one would think Ella's entire future happiness had rested upon her hearing that story. She howled and railed, she cried and hyper-ventilated, she had to go to time-out to try to calm down but ended up in bigger trouble for yelling at us, her innocent parents.

40 minutes later, she finally calmed down enough to lay down and crash, dead to the world asleep.

Eddie asked me where she gets the hyperventilating thing from and I had to confess, she is a girl, our emotions and our bodies are very tightly connected.

I was once a kindergarten girl too I give you exhibit "A"

I look pretty sweet and innocent, I was pretty sweet and innocent. I had two evil older brothers who made it easy for me to be the sweet and innocent one in the family (at least until I became an evil older sister, sorry Mary)
I can only now appreciate what my Mom went through, she survived 6 kindergartners, half of them girls.
Of course I can also now appreciate the benefits of really knowing a five year old girl.

Picture day hit us a few weeks ago, My big girl had a hard time sleeping the night before picture day (lack of sleep and Ella are a little too common) She was so excited and nervous for her class picture to be taken, her mind was racing and she couldn't fall asleep.
The next morning she spent ten minutes looking in the mirror because her teacher told her to "practice your smile"
She didn't just admire herself, she practiced all kinds of smiles and examined the benefits of each. She wanted her dimple to show, but she didn't want to show too many teeth, and so on.

One of the joys of having this beautiful girl in my family was seeing her face when she saw this face:

The perfect school picture!

Protecting marriage part 2

For those of you who read my blog looking for cute pictures of the girls and anecdotes from my life, those posts will return, but I wanted to respond to some of the comments that have been made here on the blog and in emails others sent to me in regards to Prop 8.

I must confess I have been thinking about what to write for weeks now on the subject of Prop 8. It's not so much that I didn't know how I felt, but rather that I know how hurt and/or offended some people would be. I have had friends, close friends who are gay/lesbian since High School. I have loved these friends and felt sorrow for the struggles and conflicts they have had to experience because of their sexuality. I have been grateful for their friendships, valued their opinions, and enjoyed their presence in my life. I do not believe that because they are living a homosexual life that they are inherently evil or bad. I do not believe that they want less in life or that they feel any less deeply.

That said, I do believe that homosexual behavior is against the teachings of the Scriptures. I don't say this in a dismissive way, I'm not saying that just because it is a "sin" I'm against it and that is all there is to the issue. I am saying that I believe God gave us the commandments for our benefit and protection. I believe that sexuality is not the most important part of identity.

I am saying that I believe that God's plan for me started before this life and continues after it. I believe that marriage was created for the purpose of creating families. I believe that a man and woman are each given a definite role in marriage and that those roles were created by God for reasons. I believe that Marriage is not something humans have a right to re-define, in order to be all inclusive or to make things easier. I believe these things are true because I have read and studied the scriptures, prayed and meditated on my own, and I have lived 30+ years on the planet observing and interacting with families and individuals.

I grew up going to Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and believing in God and Christ, but please don't make the mistake of thinking I am simply a parrot or blind to the reality of the world.

I have chosen to live my life following the commandments of God as taught by Jesus Christ in the scriptures. This was a very deliberate choice made in my early twenties and reaffirmed on a daily basis, I knew in making this choice I would be giving some things up. There are friendships that would not last, and romances I would not undertake, experiences I would forgo because I believe that in sacrificing things that are nice, fun, and even some things that were fulfilling, I could achieve things that were even more important, including my marriage and family which I hold to be sacred. I believe that sacrifices are required of everyone in life.

I am not perfect and not without sin, I hate confrontation, I don't want to cast stones, but neither can I sit quietly while my beliefs are attacked by some and dismissed as uninformed or naive by others.

Protecting marriage.

Here in California we are currently getting ready to vote on something really important this year, Prop 8.

Prop 8 basically would add to the Constitution of the State of California the words

"Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."


It would not affect "Domestic Partnerships" or remove any priviledges which California has already granted to same sex couples, it simply states that the word marriage is preserved for the union man and woman. So what's the big deal? Why does it matter if gay couples want to be married? How does that affect me?


This is the big deal, marriage to me is not just a word to put on whatever floats your boat, Marriage is one of the most important gifts God has given me.


I believe that God is a loving Father who has a plan for us, He wants the best for us, the most happiness possible. He has given us His son Jesus Christ as an example of perfection and asks us to follow that example and try to perfect ourselves. God gave us marriage as an example of perfection as well, the very best circumstance for happiness.
1 Corinthians 11:11 "Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. "


I'm not saying I have a perfect marriage, or that I have ever even seen one, I am saying that God knows the greatest happiness we can achieve comes from our family relationships and that the best circumstances for those relationships to grow in, is a marriage. A marriage where a man and a woman come together in love, respect, and commitment, to make a family, to have children and to raise them, all in a partnership with God.

Neither gender can reproduce on it's own, both are required to produce children and I believe that both are needed to raise children. Obviously this doesn't always work out, but that doesn't mean it isn't the best way for families to grow.


To me, marriage is like a Diamond. As I understand it, carbon molecules are exposed to pressure, heat, and passage of time, and the miracle is that rather than be destroyed, a thing of great value and beauty is produced. Diamonds are not just sparkly things, they are strong and used right they can cut through substances otherwise impenetrable.
Married couples are exposed to great pressures and trials too, and like Diamonds, we can produce relationships that will get us through things that would otherwise trap or cripple us.


So I value my marriage, at 7 years I think we are still very much in the formative stage but have already made it a thing of beauty and strength. My goal is to have a diamond like marriage, clear and pure of flaw or defect, strong enough to cut through any obstacle.


I ask you to consider the effect on the value of a diamond if any clear looking gemstone were allowed to be labeled "diamond"

Yes, real diamonds would not change in their chemical composition, they would still retain their properties, but they would lose the value they had. Diamonds would no longer be something one could rely on as being strong and durable, but simply as something shiny.

I think this has already started to happen to marriage, high divorce rates, abusive or neglectful spouses, and infidelity have cheapened what marriage means to many people. Society as a whole is not doing enough to value the importance of family and as a result we are seeing greater trials and hardships.


When I teach my children about marriage, I want them to know that God has something great in store for them. I hope that they will strive to have a true marriage, where each individual overcomes selfish desires to make the family something great. I don't want schools to teach my children that any relationship can be called a marriage.

I hope that marriage and family can again become something it once was, the most valuable thing in our lives, worth more than careers or passions, not just a relationship begun with a party. I want marriage to mean what it should, not just a contract signed by two people, but a covenant with God to create a family.

I can't control the rest of the world, and I don't want to, Free Agency is another of God's greatest gifts to us, His children. But I would be remiss if I didn't take the opportunity this November to say that I believe in the sacred nature of marriage and that I want my state to uphold the bare minimum of standards, by defining valid marriage as "between a man and a woman"

I hope that you'll join me by voting Yes on 8.

Contagious!

I have alluded to recent illness but felt it was time to come clean, we had the dreaded "Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease" Actually only Liana had it this time, perfectly timed to miss her 2nd Tap class, her regular dental check-up, the first week of pre-school, and 2 weeks of church.
As we were biding our time indoors, not exposing our secret illness to others, I had a lot of time to reflect, if not a lot of time to write it down, and so, here are a few thoughts I came up with.

1-Sometimes you just have to quarantine yourselves, for the good of all.
2-Sometimes you have to break your quarantine so you and your children don't go crazy!
3-If you are breaking quarantine go to the grocery store that is farthest away from your home, this way you not only get a longer break from being cooped up, but you also avoid seeing people from your play group/ward/school/etc. who know you have the dreaded disease.
4-If you see someone you know at the farthest away grocery store, try not to let them see you, if they do, nod politely but do not engage in conversation - Remember, plausible deniability is your friend, and the less details the better. All it takes is one person saying that they saw you "spreading the plague" and you will be blamed for whole outbreak, even if your child was the last one to get it.
5 - Do not tell people who don't have children the name of the disease your child has. trust me, you say "Hand, Foot and Mouth" they hear "Hoof and Mouth" and you are never invited to another BBQ again.
- and finally,
6 - If you don't like what your pediatrician says is the correct amount of time to wait before rejoining the populace, ask your friends what their doctor/advice nurse said and choose your favorite answer.

Country Bumpkin Pumpkins

Well, it is October, and Fall has come to Southern California, we had 104 degree weather last week, and down into the sixties last weekend. The cool was short lived, but it was perfectly timed for a trip to the pumpkin patch with Eddie's work. We climbed the "Hay Castle" and took the above shown picture before heading off to the patch.

The girls were delighted to get a free ride
Especially since their favorite pack animal was pulling the load
The girls started with the thought that we should get the biggest pumpkin we could find, then we told them they could pick their own so they decided to find the smallest pumpkins they could, so that they could pick and carry it on their own.

Nina decided not to go with this one, but she was happy to sit in the mud while we took her picture with it.

Ella searched high and low and in and out of the vines
Liana got a little help wrestling the little pumpkin of her choice
and seemed very satisfied with the results!
Part of the festivities included painting your own pumpkins, and here are our results

It should come to no one's surprise that Ella won the prize for the "most creative" pumpkin (far right) Not only did she paint "bloody teeth and blue spit, and a purple ghost!" but she also painted actual leaves and used them as stamps on the reverse side.

I've not posted in a while because we have had colds and stuff, so I thought this little photographic essay might be a nice way to say Happy Fall Ya'll