Sweet Esther is Sweet 16!!

Today is the day that our Esther turns 16!!  

And since this is the year of birthday videos, I've been pouring over her pictures.  So many great memories, I wish I could include them all but you'd be watching a day-long video. One thing that I notice is that she always has a smile on her face (with few exceptions).  She has always had a great love for life, wanting to be involved and part of the action.  

She's just a fun person to be around!

You'll see in the video that she had to wear a brace after birth to help her hips grow properly (hip dysplasia).  We thought it would delay her walking but to our surprise, she overcame her brace by crawling and walking in it, with gusto (all with a smile on her face).  

That grew into skipping everywhere!  Sooooo Esther!!

Her loving nature is contagious. With her being the oldest at home now, she and  I have become much closer.   I can always count on her for a hug and a kind word.  She has a great way of slowing me down when I'm stressed by telling me she loves me 

and wrapping her arms around me.  

I'm so grateful to be her mother!!

Happy Sweet 16 sweet Esther!!  

I love you!!

14 is beautiful!

I have been so privileged to have this sweet girl home with me every day this year.

Homeschooling can have it's drawbacks but it is wonderful way to

 get to know your kids better.

I've seen Esther mature more this year by stepping out of her

comfort zone and taking charge of her life's direction.

  I love our conversations about everyday things, her multiple

life goals (including being a ninja),

and deep inner insights.

On the one hand, it's hard to believe she's turned 14 because

she will always be that little girl skipping through the house.

But on the other hand, I'm totally enjoying this!

Happy Birthday Esther!

I love you!

A different kind of first day at school

Just like a lot of people today, I'm posting pictures of my kiddos first day of school.

Matthew 11th grade, Abby 3rd, and Esther 8th

Only 3 left at home!!! 

For the first time, we have more kids out of the house than in it!

Notice anything different?

Yep, Esther isn't donning a backpack ready to get in the car.

She's sitting at our kitchen table ready to do her schooling at home!

That's right, after 10 years of public school, we decided to venture back into the world of homeschooling.  I would love to have Matthew and Abby back home too but here in CA Matthew wouldn't be able to be on the Robotics team unless he was registered in the school district.  And Abby needs the attention at school for the time being.  I haven't ruled out bringing her home in the future.

I actually loved homeschooling all my kids before (9 years).  For multiple reasons, we put them all in public school and I spent several years trying to figure out what to do with myself while they were all gone.  Abby came along and solved that!

I must admit that I've been feeling a little nostalgic for the 'good ole days' but really excited for doing something new this time.  Esther is enrolled at a school in Utah called American Heritage School , with an LDS based curriculum.  I watched it from a distance when we home-schooled before and wished we lived close to it.  But now with technology, we have access via the internet.  She participates in class webinars and turns in her work online.  But best of all, she and I get to have discussions connecting  spiritual beliefs with academics.   I'm so excited for Esther to have this experience this year!!

1 week, 2 birthdays

I can't let the day finish without saying a final Happy Birthday to my sweetheart.  He told me a long time ago that he has never liked celebrating St Patrick's day for his birthday, so I've never used it as a theme.  The funny thing is that his assistant at work blew right past that request and decorated his office in green from top to bottom.  And being the good sport that he is, he came home wearing green beads and a leprechaun hat.  I guess it's easier to let go of old notions as you get older.

Happy Birthday dear!!  You're not just getting older, you're getting better!!

Love you!

And while we were in DC last week, I totally ignored blogging (actually it's been a month) which means that I missed sending out a birthday wish to our newest teenager.  Although texting, calling and celebrating happened, I need to include my love for Esther here in my digital "journal".  It's so hard to believe that Esther's 13!!  She's such a sweet girl who still gets giddy with excitement over the simple joys in life.  And ever since she was little, she's been a hugger.  I just hope as we continue down this new phase of life with the hugs in tact.

Happy Birthday sweet girl!!

Love you!

Mom

A dance, science fair, and Disney World

Recent goings on with my girls:

There was a "sweetheart" dance for parents and their kids over the weekend.  It was exciting until we realized it was only for elementary age.  That knocked out 3 of the 4 at home, although I'm pretty sure Bekah at 18 and Matthew at 15 were willing to pass on the opportunity.  Esther, 12, always loves being involved in everything and wanted to go but when we told her she couldn't attend but she could work at it, her enthusiasm fell flat.  So Abby and Dad got the night to themselves.

Abby lives for this kind of "Cinderella" stuff and had been talking about it for days.  The funny thing is that Joseph noticed while they were dancing and the little girls were dancing around each other, Abby was in her own world dancing to the images in her head.  Then while they were taking a break, she turned to her dad and said, "we can go now".  Really?!  The evening had met her quota of dinner, dancing and pictures with Dad, now she was ready to move on.  Dad's kind of girl!!

Part of the middle school curriculum here is that the kids have to do a science project.  Esther worked in a group on testing which gum was best to chew for better grades (it's a real thing!).  

Want to know the results so your kids get an extra leg up?  Mint.  Mint is the big winner!

Our Rachel is doing wonderfully as an intern working for Disney World Florida.

She wants us to visit her so bad to share its magic but we are having difficulty finding a way to do it.  So she did the next best thing and sent us a care package with gifts for everyone.

She gave me this adorable T-shirt that if you look closely you can see Minnie dragging Mickey through the park.  Whether she consciously meant it or not, it totally is representative of me and Joseph, although we're still working on getting him to smile like Mickey when he goes.

So cute!!!

Love you Rachel!!

1st day of school a day late

So summer is over, I'm walking, and life is slowly getting back to normal.  

I literally haven't blogged since I started walking.  Life just took over so that

whatever time I had on the computer I chose to work on my new passion of family history.

Yesterday was actually the first day of school for my kiddos.

But I don't know if it really counts if it's only 3 hours long (short).

Bekah and Matthew started early morning seminary (a church class) 

at 5:45 before heading to high school. 

Needless to say, I didn't see them cause I was still in bed counting Z's.  I leave it up to Dad

to make sure they get out the door.  Thank you Dad!!

My job is to help Esther and Abby.  Unfortunately, I totally forgot to

take pictures of both of them as they left, but I did remember to take a pic of Abby, 

our 2nd grader, at school before she went to class.

Abby's best friend.

This is our official 1st (2nd?) day of school picture I took this morning.

They are both getting so tall!!

What did I do today to "celebrate" while they were gone for a complete school day?

Rachel and I got pedicures and went to lunch.

Finally, my feet look good!

Now, maybe I should get the house looking good too!?

Esther's first horse show

Hey!  

Hay is for horses!

Ugh, bad joke, but our last week has been full of them (horses, that is).

Several of my kids have taken riding lessons, but this time, with Esther,

we've actually graduated to an actual horse show.

She has a wonderful teacher who is one of the most patient people I know.

With  her, Esther has learned a lot and grown in confidence leaps and bounds.

The horse she rode was "See Me Pass Quietly" or Cecil for short (where'd that come from?).

Below are a few of the many pictures I took of the day.

For two of the shows she wore this maroon outfit complete with chaps, rhinestones and a belt buckle all borrowed from her teacher who has collected them from past students.

This was one of my favorites of the day.  This horse had a beautiful tail, the saddle had silver trim, and his rider's costume was all sparkly.  They were in a more experiences class after Esther.  I think they won their class.

Esther's friends Kaylin and Hannah came and of course Abby was there.
Doesn't Esther look way older than her friends?

Her other two shows were more casual so a colorful blouse was in order.
In those shows she showed ranching skills like opening a gate and maneuvering between and over poles and such.

My mom got to come with us to help support Esther.
It was nice to have her there too.

It was a hot day so we kept cool in the shade.
Abby just played in the dirt all day.

We were nervous going into the day because it was our first show

and our teacher kept telling us she never started her students on this particular show.

So We were just looking to have fun and get some experience.

But lo and behold, Esther got a blue ribbon for all four classes she was in as well as

a $10 Amazon card for each one.  Score!

Just before they all fell asleep in the back seat of the car, Esther said,

"I want to do that again!"

Esther's 12, Adam's married, and Joseph brought all his friends home

The price for not recording our life on a regular basis is a

blog post chalk full.  I won't go in order because I want to start with 

Esther's 12th birthday which we just finished celebrating.

In our family, as it is with a lot of LDS (Mormon) families, 12 is a big year for our children.

They get more responsibilities and more privileges.

Esther's birthday was on Wed which happens to be our church youth night.

I tried to play with her excitement by teasing she couldn't go because she was born too late in the day.    She believed me for a second but since I can't lie very well, 

she quickly started to smile again.

Then today, the whole Young Women's organization went to the Primary room to escort her from the children's area to her new class with the teenagers.

She really hit it big that she also got to go to a fireside tonight to listen to Peter Vidmar, Olympic Gold Medalist.  Her comment afterwards speaks volumes about 

this being a new world for her, "he spoke a long time."

Another rite of passage was getting her ears pierced.  She actually handled it better than I thought she would.  But it all pales in comparison to the iPhone that Dad got her.

I couldn't fit it in the collage below, but you should see the face Bekah is making.

Matthew immediately texted the other kids that Esther got a phone, an iPhone to boot!

Our phones quickly started lighting up with shocked texts from the older kids.

They are in awe that the phone age has been lowered yet again.

Now going back a couple of weeks, Joseph and I flew to Salt Lake to take part in our nephew Adam's wedding.  His sister Mary had just been married in December and I posted about it here.

We were more than willing to go back for such a happy occasion.

It was a lovely ceremony, one of which was the best I've ever been too.

The sealing was done by Elder Backman, an emeritus general authority or leader of the church.

Before he married them, he gave them some sound advice.

If it were possible I would have had a pad of paper and a pencil taking down everything 

he said.  We were all truly inspired to go home and recommit daily to our spouse.

Adam and his bride Mimi were just as cute as could be.

It was also great to spend time with our college kids and my family.

The last event that happened actually coincided with Esther's birthday.

Joseph brought all (or most) of his friends home to spend spring break in California.

They were all in our house!

I thought we might have to use a tent in the back yard, but college kids are pliable

so the boys were willing to sleep on couches and the floor.

They were wonderful guests and quite entertaining.  

I didn't get much sleep cause I just wanted to stay up and listen to their laughter.

By the end of the week they were calling us "Mom" and "Dad".   So cute! 

I certainly felt honored and would have them back any time.

The end of summer

I bet you were wondering if I was ever coming back.  These last days of summer have been busy.  Mostly just trying to enjoy what freedom from schedules we have left.  Honestly though, I am just a teensy weensy bit excited for some structure to bring everything back into balance.

Well of course, to end the summer, we had to go to Disney.  Our friend Natalie came too.

I know you've seen just about all you could see of us at the "happiest place on earth", but this picture below is a first.  We went to meet the "lost friends".  You know, the characters from movies without a princess, because "the ladies" tend to monopolize all the attention.

We not only got to see a lot of characters, we were surprised to see Tarzan in his real skin

and not some fake foam shirt with painted muscles (I don't think the girls were too disappointed).

What is Disney coming to?

Next, an afternoon at the beach was in order.

They say that this time of year, the water is actually warm.

I beg to differ.

The cold water still doesn't seem to bother the kids much.

Finally, the first day of school came on Tues.

Bekah and Matthew left before I could get a picture but the girls were all smiles.

 There are four 1st grade classes this year, so they had to shuffle the teachers.

Abby now has Mrs. Donahoe who was Esther's 5th grade social science teacher last year.

It should be a good year!

This is Abby on her first day of school . . .

 and this is Abby on what should be her second day of school.

I guess she became allergic to structure.

Our king shrunk

Now that we have a king sized bed, I thought it wouldn't hurt to let the girls take Dad's spot while he was gone out of town.  Abby did it the first night by herself, but Esther, who can't be left out of anything, wanted to share too.  So I figured the bed would be big enough for the three of us for the last couple of nights.

Well, . . . now I remember why we don't let the kids sleep with us.  Notice that nice big space on the right?    As the night went on, it shrunk. Abby couldn't stay still and she kept kicking the covers off.  Last night she even tried to use me as her pillow, twice!  I just pushed her off and tried to stay on my edge of the bed which is exactly the place I was trying to avoid when we bought a bigger bed.  But, even though I may be lacking in some shut eye, the girls loved it.  Thankfully, for my sake, Dad's home now.

glasses free!

Oh my goodness!  We just got back from the eye doctor and after 45 minutes of trying, Esther finally put contacts in her eyes.  I was so close to calling it quits and wait for a few months before trying it again, but she was determined to keep trying.  Once we were successful, the technician then told her she had to take one out.  Believe me, none of us wanted to do it but that's the only way she could prove she was capable.  Taking it out was almost as bad as putting it in.  She was so scared of pinching her eye.  The only way she could do it was when I took a firm hold on her upper lid.  After it was out, of course she then had to put it back in, but thankfully it only took a couple of minutes the second time.  Whew!!

She is so excited to have contacts now!  But it looks like this is going to be a team effort for a while.

3 graduates in a week and 1 on the way

Schools out!!

And we have 3 new graduates!

The first was Matthew on Wednesday afternoon.

We weren't sure what to expect since we've not been to many large middle

school graduations.  Most of them in the past were in gyms and very simple.

But here, nothing is simple and there isn't anything big enough for the large crowd that comes. So

we sat in rented chairs on the soccer field behind the school.  The biggest

question was what to wear.  You would think that June would mean summer dresses and 

strappy shoes but the "marine layer" had been bringing breezes off the ocean 

and fog blocking the sunshine.  

Well, we should have worn parkas because by the end of the ceremony we were popsicles.

I guess you have to be raised here to enjoy it because there actually were ladies without sleeves

and girls in mini-skirts.  Crazy!!

But since we are wimps and just live down the street, we sent Rachel home to get blankets. 

Doesn't Matthew look sharp!!  He's such a great kid!!

The next morning was Esther's "graduation".  

We used to just get our report card saying that we could go to middle school, but today

the kids get certificates and a special ceremony.

We were more than happy to honor our Esther's accomplishments

Thankfully, it was all inside!

Then later that day we attended Rachel's big day.  

As you can imagine she's been so excited for this.  You could just see the stress of school melt

away as the day got closer.  I loved seeing her smiley and laughing out loud.

As for the rest of us, we went a little better prepared with warmer clothes and blankets.

Nevertheless, Abby thought she was dying and became a puddle of tears.

So after Rachel walked, we took shelter at ground level by the bleachers.

I have such wonderful kids!

We've had a wonderful week with family around

and celebrating the kids accomplishing their goals.

I know it should be old hat having a child graduate from high school

and plan on leaving home especially since I've done it 3 times already.

But part of me feels kind of weird.

Our house is going to be so different without Rachel.

We get a taste of it this week because she's flown across country to visit her old friends

in North Carolina for a week.  They are all going to the beach there to celebrate

their graduation.  It sure is comforting to have faith in your children to go places,

but it's not comforting to think of all the crazy people they may come in contact with.

But I guess if my Joseph can go to China, and Sarah can go to Europe (in the fall), then I

guess Rachel can go to NC.

Graduation #4 is coming soon.  In July, Sarah will be our first college graduate!

It's hard to believe but she will be done!

More on that later this summer . . . 

Off to bed I go so that I be prepared for our plumbing to be fixed in the morning

4 toilets - 3 toilets + 15 people = Aaahhhhh!!!!!

My own Carrie Underwood

My children never cease to amaze me.

Our pretty girl Esther MC'd with a few of her friends at her school's talent show.

I thought I had her figured out to be shy and the last person to stand in front of a crowd (besides Jacob).

But I guess I was wrong because she was willing and eager to do it.

That was the night of Mormon Prom and I had to drive, so Joseph stayed behind to

watch Esther "impersonate" Carrie Underwood (ya know, the country singer).

Her friend, who is shorter than her wanted to be Taylor Swift.

I think the casting was a little off, but both girls did a great job.

The horse torch is passed yet again

 I finally did my research and found someone to teach Esther to ride.

She's been taking lessons for about a month now.  She is catching on quite well.

It brings back so many memories of my childhood since I was a major horse freak.

I even had one through my teenage years.  But then came a car.  I couldn't exactly ride my horse to school (if only I could).  Then came kids and they became my new obsession. 

Horses just lurked in the background enough for me to pass a little of it on to them.

But I love just walking into a barn with the many smells that come with it.

Yes, I love the smell of a barn.  Horse people know what I'm talking about.  I love the dust on my shoes, the sound of horses chewing hay, and the inquisitive look they give over their door when you walk in.  

Abby loves to come too so she can pet Bud.

Our last day with Sarah

Of course we needed to go to the beach one more time so Sarah could get her fix before heading back to land-locked Idaho.  It was a beautiful day, the water was cooold, and we found a baby seal separated from it's mom.
Matthew ran to tell the lifeguards (cause that's what they tell us to do here in CA) but he told us that it was normal and to not go near it.  We couldn't go near it if we wanted because he would get nervous and head for the water.  So since he looked tired, we stayed away.  Everyone that walked past us on the path stopped to look too.  There's something exciting about seeing a Sea World creature out in the wild.  Somehow it made him more real.

Rachel and Bekah were in "need" of shoes for Mormon Prom, so I took all the girls to DSW while Dad took Matthew to a movie.  It was great having a "girls night out" with my lovelies!
While the four "older girls" (me included) were trying on shoes, Esther and Abby were having their own fashion show.
As soon as they would put on a hat, scarf and grab a purse, they would strut their stuff towards the closest mirror totally oblivious of all the other customers. Priceless!
On the way home, we played guess that song then made my van into the "swagger wagon" when Sarah put her favorite rap song on  high volume, rolled down all the windows, and we all danced (well, as much as you can in a car).
We were all laughing and singing.  It's too bad there wasn't a Main St that we could cruise.  We didn't impress any of the people on our quiet little hill.
Great night!

Turning 11 today!!

This tall beauty is turning 11 today!  I can't believe how fast they years have flown by.

She is so excited for her birthday that she has been reminding us every day.  

Esther has been a blessing in our home bringing enthusiasm at every turn.  She still skips everywhere she goes.  And much to the concern of her siblings, she has grown taller than Matthew and will soon be passing her 16 yr-old sister Bekah.  Chances are she might even be taller than Rachel.

Although she doesn't read my blog now, maybe she will someday.

I love you Esther and am so grateful for these years of being your mother.

Happy Birthday!!

kid happenings

Lots has been going on with the kids lately.

We are very fortunate to have really good schools for our kids.

Recently, the elementary school the girls attend, was able to communicate with the astronauts on the space shuttle.  Very few schools were chosen and ours was the only one in LA.  Pretty cool!

Then the 5th graders had a special social studies project concerning the birth of our nation.

The kids were put into teams, given parts to memorize, and game rules.

Me and other parents watched as they acted out their parts and cheered for their team as they answered questions.  The kids had a great time.

There were extra points for dressing colonial.

 Me, Rachel and Bekah had New Beginnings for the Young Women's organization at church.

 Jacob had his first baptism on his mission.

I'm still waiting for a picture, so this will have to do.

You have to look really close because you can barely see Jacob in the back.

This picture was taken on the missionaries "preparation" day.

Basically it's a day to do everyday things like laundry and ultimate frisbee.

Looks like their laundry is done!

Joseph's acapella   group is getting more requests to perform.

Don't they look sharp?

And just tonight, Rachel had her opening night for her last high school musical called "Curtains".

Although I think they should have rated the play PG-13, it

was performed well and Rachel was fabulous!

  She was also supported by her friends from church.