Loving You, Grandma Adele

My dear Grandma Dell passed away yesterday morning in the early hours.  Her name is really Adele, but I guess with children around, she just became GrandmaDell (one word). She had cancer and has been very weak for a few months. 

I will always remember how she called me "Milly, dear." I will remember her bright, shining face when she complimented me after a play or concert.  I will remember climbing the trees in her yard and admiring the flowers and painted decorations of plenty at her home.  In particular, I remember marveling at a twirling music box made of color-changing lights that looked like a tree (isn't it funny what we associate with our Grandparents?).  I will remember touring her beautiful garden (only now do I really recognize how magnificent it was).  I will remember eating her canned goods and the scratchy handwriting on the top of the jar that signified her work-- I will especially remember how my Dad cherished her culinary handiwork. I will remember her plentiful kisses on my cheek.

I fondly recall trips to her summer home, 'Twice Glad.'  She took us to the bumper boats, she took us to the playground down the road in her frilly pink golf cart, and we played hours of "Trouble" in between exploring the 'forest' near her house.

I am so grateful for the sacrifices she made as she raised 6 children- one of whom was my Dad.  Because of her service, I was blessed to learn from him as my father.  He was a great influence to me, particularly about how hard work is the only way to get things done right.  I know that those seeds were planted under her tutelage and love.

I love you Grandma.  I hope to reunite with you soon (not too soon for my kids sake, of course).

Open Gym/ Fashion Show/ Craft Fair at Davis's Gym on Saturday 17th

Davis's gym is hosting an awesome event this Saturday, July 17th @ 12- 5 PM.
The address is 601 West  900 South, Bountiful, UT (take the 500 S exit and turn right at the light, then go down to 900 S and turn right, gym is at the end of the road)

The team members with be doing an exhibition.  Davis is slotted to go @12:15.

This is what events are scheduled:

Live DJ
Balloon Animals
Bounce House
Face Painting
Concessions
Open Gym
Raffle Drawings ever 20 minutes.

Check out the website for the event here.

Two important announcements:

1)  Eliza has finally grown out of her size 8 shoes (I think she's been wearing this size for 2 years).

2) Reed started walking last week.

Thank you.

I interrupt this regularly scheduled program

. . . .to tell you about two things this week:

I gobbled up (and by that I mean I inhaled) these books:

The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (SO GOOD)

On the way home from church today, Davis asked, "Dad, did you see me making buggy eyes during my talk?"

"No," he said, "I thought your eyes looked normal."

"While I was talking about Jesus (he had a primary talk today), I just felt some tears coming to my eyes so I had to open them up really wide so no one would see the water."

"Oh, Davis, do you know why you felt like crying?"

"No," he answered.

"It was the Holy Ghost giving you a warm feeling about Jesus as you read those stories about him."

"Cool.  But why did the Holy Ghost make me cry?"

"Well, it was happy tears."

I told him later that when I feel the Holy Ghost I also feel like crying.

For the love of girls!

I don't blog much about Eliza.  She's my steady, lovely girl.  So responsible. Sometimes whiny (everyone needs a vice, right?).  But, overall, just a pleasure.  I am so glad I've got a girl because already we have some similar interests- shopping, So You Think You Can Dance, hair-doing, and nail painting to name a few.  I can count on her to be very responsible around the house and she has warned me at times if Reed is headed for the stairs or some other type of danger.

Today is a big day for her.  She's got TOP's testing for gymnastics.  She chose not to compete this year because she was nervous about it, so today will be the first day she puts on her uniform and shows some of her skills in font of anyone outside of her class.  When we got in the car after class last night, she informed me she had been told to eat a very healthy dinner ("like with tomatoes") and no junk food or sugar. I suggested we make a smoothie, eggs, and oatmeal for breakfast.  She thought that was a great idea.  Then she informed me she had been told to do some stretching before bed and in the morning.  True to her instructions, she diligently stretched for 30 minutes last night.

While I was blending up her smoothie this morning she reminded me not to add any sugar, but "fruit would be okay."  After she ate, she ran downstairs to do some more stretching.

Seriously, is she not just a mature little spirit trapped in a little girls body?   So proud of her.  I hope she is pleased with her performance today.

Who would have thought. . . . .

. . . . .that it was just one year ago today that I gave birth on my bathroom floor???  Not in a million years could you have convinced me that this experience would be part of my life experience.  But, it is.

Thankfully, a year later, Reed seems to be happy and healthy.  We tried really hard to feed him cake tonight, but he just wasn't interested- too tired.  D stuffed the icing into his face and instead of making him interested in the sugar, it made him mad. . . That's what happens when you get a really short nap in the car.  Oh, the joys of being a fourth child who has to be toted around to all the other kids' activities. . . .what a trooper.

As if on cue, today he stood for about 10 seconds unaided, so, I'm thinking that walking will be coming very soon.  In the meantime, he cruises along furniture and walls like a pro and he is fast, FAST on all fours.

Fun facts about this little munchkin:

• He took to his jumper around 3 months old, and hasn't stopped jumping since.  He is known for jumping up and down in people's arms when he's really excited, and I've almost dropped him a time or two.
• I think he willed his teeth to grow so he could eat dinner with us.  He got his first tooth (bottom right) at 6 months and the bottom left one came 2 weeks later.  Since then, he's sprouted 4 on top.
• He is stubborn.  Yesterday in the grocery store he pushed the cart up 2 aisles. I am not kidding.  Every time I tried to lift him up, he started screaming.  Fortunately for him, I wasn't in a hurry (trying to kill 2 hours during one of Davis's classes) so he got to push to his heart's content.  My only job was directing the cart on path when it veered right or left.  We got a lot of funny looks from people who thought it was hilarious to see such a little guy pushing such a big object. His feet and knees were black when we went home.
• He waves 'bye-bye' like a champ when prompted.  He barks/squeels when he sees dogs.
• He loves tub-time.
• He is so friendly.  He frequently reaches out to neighbors and even strangers so they will hold him. This is quite the hit with old ladies in the grocery store (sometimes I'm afraid to give him up if the lady is really frail looking).
• He's starting to imitate sounds like 'mamamamama', 'dadadada' and 'poopoopoo')(this one is a hit with the other kids) 'yi yuh, yi yuh' (Eliza).  I'm not sure if he's attached meanings to these words yet.
• He definitely knows his name and responds with a head turn when you yell out, "Reed!" 
• He loves to throw balls already.  Fetch is a great game for him too.  Who needs a dog, when you've got a 1-year-old?

You say tomato, I say tomato

I got in an argument with Eliza today about the title of her book.  She insisted it was about a 'bal-let' fairy, while I tried to convince her it is pronounced, 'bal-lay.'  I even tried to take her to dictionary.com and show her a pronounciation guide, but she was still not convinced.

What does this say about me?

I have often told friends I feel like I have a choice child who doesn't have a creative bone in his body.  He never had an imaginary friend.  He never even wanted to make toy airplanes fly or matchbox cars drive through the house. He's bright and does great in school.   He also seems to be generally well liked by his peers, and well, I think he's pretty fun too.  BUT-- the kids has NO creativity.

What does it say about the state of my desperation to get this kids away from video games if I took him to the toy store and told him to pick out any legos he wanted, but he couldn't play any Wii until they were built?  He got greedy, but now I am happy because he's been 'forced' to play legos for two days now. . . . .

TMI?

Davis just told me, "My second favorite hobby is going to the bathroom."

"Going to the bathroom is not a hobby."

Davis, "What is a hobby then?"

(in case you wanted to know his first favorite hobby is riding his bike)

Lost, but Found

When I took Roger to the library today he was most excited to ride the elevator.  We returned our books and he beelined to the elevator.  It was open.  He jumped in.  Then the doors closed before I could get in.  I could hear him saying, "Mom, where are you?" as he went downstairs.  Remarkably, he remained calm and I instructed him from the other side of the doors to stay downstairs and wait for me to come down after him. I got on and made my way down.  When the doors opened he had a worried look, but seemed okay.

The incident was quickly forgotten by me as we looked at and read books. But when we were ready to leave he asked, "Can we go on the elevator?"

"Sure," I said.

"Yeah! (pause) Don't lose me, otay?" he says as he is running toward the elevator.