Gonna miss these 3

David, Claire, and I are flying out this afternoon to go to General Conference.
I'm going to miss the other 3.
This is Elijah this morning before the crack of dawn. Eating his nutella waffles, doing math, and displaying his self portrait.

This is Sybil eating a payaso for breakfast a few days ago.

Only wholesome and hearty breakfasts are allowed in this house.

Playing in the rain a few minutes ago.

And I'll even miss this scowling face.

Another scowl, little miss Etelvina. 

Can you tell she spread her own butter and honey?

Confident Claire strikes again

Claire: Do you know the bad thing about being good at everything?
Me: No idea.
Claire: Everyone always thinks you're showing off.

Primary Program

 Today was the Primary Program at church. There were about 20 kids participating, but many of them aren't consistent church-goers and so didn't know the songs well.

Then there was this boy. 

This boy has 2 volumes: loud and louder

 Which serves him well when he sings. 

His singing is angelic.

He had a solo and it was the most beautiful thing I have ever heard.

I Will Follow God's Plan

My life is a gift; my life has a plan. 

My life has a purpose; in heav'n it began. 

My choice was to come to this lovely home on earth 

And seek for God's light to direct me from birth. 

I will follow God's plan for me, 

Holding fast to his word and his love. 

I will work, and I will pray; 

I will always walk in his way. 

Then I will be happy on earth 

And in my home above.

He was also the narrator and each time he appeared at the podium, somehow his hair got bigger and bigger. It may be time for a haircut.

If you're happy and you know it

David said that last post was too negative.
I really do love being a mother and I'm good at it more often than I'm not and probably more than I think.
I think.
David has definitely been my crutch through this crazy school experience. I'm really good at helping with the 30 daily math questions and David takes over when it comes to
remembering when tests are and
organizing the binders,
meeting with the teachers and
even the dean, and
pretty much everything else.

Another wonderful thing that happened last week was MEXICAN INDEPENDENCE DAY! David bought candies for the kids to bring to school and I printed out some pictures for Claire to present in class (Iris wasn't interested). Claire dressed in her Mexican flag dress and put the flag stripes on her cheeks.
That child enjoys attention.

David and I went to a Mexican party at the Phoenix City Hall where the Mexican Consul re-enacted the Grito and we ate mole, chiles en nogagas, and arroz con leche. I wore a "Mexican" outfit that was more flamenco-ish than Mexican. The skirt had beautiful movement to it, but it was a small and squeezed me like a sausage--
David, that's more factual than negative and you know it.

That's a handsome man I'm married to.

And since I'm being positive, here's an awesome tidbit from today:
after dropping the girls off at school, I remembered that I needed to buy a new toilet handle and decided to make a stop at the local hardware store on the way home. But when the van door slid open, there was a naked baby awaiting me. That naked baby attracted a lot of attention in the store as I contemplated with the sales associate why toilet handles aren't made of stronger stuff.

September: is it over yet?

One of my favorite comedians (I only have 2), Jim Gaffigan, said wisely,
"You know what it's like having a fourth kid?
Imagine you are drowning,
then someone hands you a baby."

That's me this month.
Elijah's school is kicking my butt. My mothering butt. Nothing like a ridiculous homework-load to help me realize my deficiencies.
Another Jim Gaffigan quote: "Most of the time, I feel entirely unqualified to be a parent. I call those times being awake."

Also, we have had living with us a young mother and her baby and her sister on the weekends, which makes life fun, but a whole lotta more hectic.

And then there has been disassembling and reassembling a pool filter with 275 lbs of sand, disassembling and reassembling the creepy crawly, painting the hall and a few dining room walls. And in a few days, the outside of our house will lose the maroon-ish 70s trim bc it's getting a fresh coat of paint (I hired help for that one).
Then there's the Costco membership which I'm still convinced is a life-sucker. Who wants to go to a store that's 20 minutes away each way, has a bumper-car parking lot, is always busy, and no matter how many hundreds of dollars you spend there (and it's always at least a few), you will still have to go to another grocery store that week to complete your shopping list. And you even have to pay to get in! For some reason we thought it was a good idea to join the club a week ago for the first time (in the USA) when David and I decided to go there on a date to buy a vacuum. That's when I realized I had been married for 13 years.

Let's do some re-capping.
David's birthday.
Claire's present was her finished book. She's been working on this for months, and been talking about it for over a year. It is Book 1 of the Super Sybil book series: The Farm. Elijah has too much homework to think about presents so I got Cherry Garcia Ben and Jerry's ice cream for David from him. Right around Elijah's birth was when Hunt offered us money to name a child "Cherry." Iris got him Chunky Monkey because she's his monkey. She also scavengered an assortment of odds and ends from around her room for him. I got him candy corn M&Ms and Sybil gave him a table dance.

Camp Lomia: Our ward campout.
It's nice to get out to where birds sing and time crawls. Listening to wind in the trees and eating blackberries as quickly as you can pick them.
It's a great coincidence that a friend we've known since our days in Michigan is now in our ward.
Craig and Iris looking at the butterflies drinking from puddles.

 Olivia and Lyndon are our friends who have been staying with us. Sybil is a faithful disciple.

 GG bought the girls these matching dresses at least a few years ago. Ironically, Claire wore Iris' dress  and Iris wore Claire's. So, here's Claire in all her 4T glory:

 Made rockets

 And watched them shoot into the sky

 I don't have many pictures of David and Elijah because they came after school/work on Friday. They slept in a tent while the girls and I slept in a cabin. The girls claimed they had forgotten how to sleep in sleeping a tent. David threatened with, "I'll remember that." Which meant he let Elijah ride on the roof of the car around the camp until the girls' squealing made him give in and allow them to do the same.

Blackberry picking

This is the only food Sybil has ever eaten ravenously without stop. And, of course, it's the only food that has required a painful and slow process to give her.

Except maybe breastfeeding.

And some phone pics:
I gave up my Sunday nap a few weekends ago so someone else could nap.
But that was ok.
I kinda like her.

Claire wanted me to take a picture of her multitasking:

Drinking water. 

Hula hooping. 

Doing her homework. 

Not surprisingly, every problem she did while hula hooping was wrong. 

Claire asks me to take more pictures than anyone else. She wanted a picture of her Asian bun that she wore with her Chinese dress. Someone asked her if she was in a play that day. No, that's just how Claire rolls.

And finally, one morning Claire claimed she was going to eat the rest of the tortellini for breakfast (there were at least 2 cups). I told the meek eater that I didn't believe her. She insisted. And we made the bet. The loser would have to clean under her bed. That bed scares me. I paid her instead. 

She claimed her belly was fat afterward. I say, if you can still see the ribs, it's not fat.

The Black Plague

Beware of the black plague.
The malady attacks several times a day. In fact, no matter how much scrubbing and medicating is applied, it always creeps back, leaving what is known as the 5 o'clock shadow.

It is highly contagious.

Especially to walls.

Thankful journaling

2 weeks into the school year, or is it 3 now? 4?

We are all adjusting to Elijah's new homework schedule. By 8 or so he becomes exhausted and finds it difficult to swallow homework. Last night it was right around 9 that we finished. But we keep on trucking. Truthfully, the game is more about time management than homework load, although homework load is quite large too. Is pre-algebra normal for fifth grade? I can't remember that far back. Last week he caught a nasty parasite or something and was having severe stomach cramping. I was scared to death my nagging had finally given the poor boy an ulcer.

Another reason I haven't been blogging as I should is because I have this new app: the five minute journal. It sates my journaling thirst and forces me to write positive things, so even if I've been in a bad mood, I have to twist the nasty into beauty.
Backhanded gratitude.

A note from a few days ago, "I'm grateful God made babies so cute, because it sure is hard living with them." The Sybil is a little tyrant.
This morning she chased Iris around the house trying to draw on her. Iris wasn't amused. The world is Sybil's canvas. So are our walls, shelves, floors, books, and most recently, my missionary scriptures. At church, I noticed a large orange line going up my leg. No, it wasn't my fake tan cream. It was the Marker Tyrant. I find markers in about every corner of the house. She put some through the dishwasher cycle last week.

She looks innocent. It's a ruse.

Also on the app, you take a picture every day like this one from last week which was the most pleasant surprise I've ever gotten while doing laundry, besides the one time I found a flashlight that had been washed in Elijah's pants and still worked.

In case you didn't get that: "Claire pees in deb...from Iris."

This picture commemorates Claire's first pair of Madonna gloves that she bought with a gift card from her birthday. She also bought her first watch which died a few days later when it jumped into the pool while on her wrist.

Other thankful notes:

• "This is our first pet, Ticky the house cricket," the kids said. They created a complete habitat for him (Claire is convinced it's a boy). 
• Hearing Elijah's beautiful voice very clearly in the ward choir. 
• My dad telling my girls stories as we lay on my bed. 
• Secretly tickling Elle's feet with a pipe cleaner and laughing harder than she did. 
• Running next to my bike-riding girls. I used to have to wait for Iris, but now she waits for me. 
• After picking E up from school, instead of sitting in the front seat like usual, he crawled to the back seat and made Sybil giggle the whole way home. 
• I love the cold feeling on my legs and feet when I move them to another place between the sheets. 
• So grateful we changed soccer teams and practice is a few blocks away instead of in North Scottsdale. 
• Went for a run when it was way too hot, so I sat on a bench and enjoyed a few minutes with my baby. I'm grateful the sprinklers were on and that they were aimed at the sidewalks. 
• Swimming with my kids in our pool after school. 
• Peeking at David attempting to read to Sybil. She closed the book repetitively. 
• Using visualization in my prayer. I prayed for service opportunities and visualized what I should do. 
• David picked Elijah up from school so I could go to the gym with the girls. 
• Temple date with David tonight: doing family names. David taking the kids to get ice cream so I can take a nap. 
• A friend commented on the nice weather. It was 102. Arizonans. 
• And from this morning: Sybil's first puddle splashing experience