Sunday, June 6, 2010
May: by Becky
Bjorn and I have been spending our spare time cleaning up the garage. It will be nice when it’s finished – but it seems to be taking too long! We must not have much spare time! I stay plenty busy keeping the kids busy and Bjorn stays plenty busy working to pay for keeping the kids busy. We’ve enjoyed a few early mornings walking/jogging together before the kids wake up. I feel like the summer is already going by too quickly.
Ellie learned how to ride a bike this weekend! She’s still working on getting started by herself, but once she’s going she can go and go and almost steer straight - she can even stop with out crashing!!! She also surprised us this month by reading some simple books. She’s growing up fast! She had her preschool program and had to make up and sing her own rhyme to “I know an old lady.” She sang, “I know an old lady who swallowed a unicorn. She grew a horn when she swallowed a unicorn.” Now that the weather is nice, Ellie spends most of her time outside and I can’t seem to keep enough sunscreen on her fair skin.
Miriam graduated from kindergarten and did a fun program where she sang, “I want to be a part of it, FIRST GRADE! FIRST GRADE!” She’s done so well in school that her teacher said not to worry about bringing her in for an end-of-year assessment. Miriam started cartwheeling a lot when she was supposed to be playing soccer this spring, but after soccer season ended she kept doing cartwheels. She’s almost perfected her cartwheel. She’s also been learning to do flips and front hand springs on the tramp. The other day I put an old vinyl tablecloth at the bottom of the slide in the backyard and then turned the hose on at the top. Miriam said I was the greatest mom ever for doing that. She’s sure easy to please!
Enoch likes to quote Brian Reagen. His new favorite color is dandelion, because he says it is the color of the sun. He claims he doesn’t like to read, but after getting home from the library he sat down and read for two straight hours. He’s reading “Young Indiana Jones.” Enoch is taking care of the neighbors flowers and mail while they are gone, and on Saturday he picked 650 little tree sprouts that were growing up in their grass. He learned to mow the lawn and frequently asks if he can mow it again. He almost beat all of the older kids on a race around the block on his bike. That was before I told them NOT to race on their bikes because it’s too dangerous.
Natalie easily won the 50m and the 100m race at school again this year. She’s speedy and loves to race. In the district race next week she’ll have to race against the girls born in 1999 like her AND the girls born in 1998 – mostly 5th and 6th graders. She’ll be the youngest instead of the oldest - it will be a tough race! Natalie’s been making and selling bread around the neighborhood to earn money this summer – to pay for her Irish dancing.
Isaac also did great at his 6th grade track meet – taking 4th in the 100m. But unlike Natalie, he has an advantage in the district meet next week, being one of the older kids in the 1998-1999 category. The kids who beat him in the 6th grade meet were born in 1997. He’s looking forward to the next race! He’s been mowing lawns to earn money this summer and has learned that hard work really pays off, but he’s also fitting in plenty of playtime. Isaac has some great friends for which I’m very thankful. We finally fixed his bike tire – he and Auriana rode their bikes all over town the other day and had a great time together.
Auriana is enjoying a relaxing summer: reading, riding bikes, napping on the swing outside, and eating otter pops. She’s been cooking dinner for us for the past two weeks as part of a personal progress goal, and I’ll be so sad when she’s through with it. She is tending some kids once a week as a summer job – and she’s done a great job coming up with fun activities for them to do. She’s always volunteering to do the girls hair, which I appreciate very much!
Ellie learned how to ride a bike this weekend! She’s still working on getting started by herself, but once she’s going she can go and go and almost steer straight - she can even stop with out crashing!!! She also surprised us this month by reading some simple books. She’s growing up fast! She had her preschool program and had to make up and sing her own rhyme to “I know an old lady.” She sang, “I know an old lady who swallowed a unicorn. She grew a horn when she swallowed a unicorn.” Now that the weather is nice, Ellie spends most of her time outside and I can’t seem to keep enough sunscreen on her fair skin.
Miriam graduated from kindergarten and did a fun program where she sang, “I want to be a part of it, FIRST GRADE! FIRST GRADE!” She’s done so well in school that her teacher said not to worry about bringing her in for an end-of-year assessment. Miriam started cartwheeling a lot when she was supposed to be playing soccer this spring, but after soccer season ended she kept doing cartwheels. She’s almost perfected her cartwheel. She’s also been learning to do flips and front hand springs on the tramp. The other day I put an old vinyl tablecloth at the bottom of the slide in the backyard and then turned the hose on at the top. Miriam said I was the greatest mom ever for doing that. She’s sure easy to please!
Enoch likes to quote Brian Reagen. His new favorite color is dandelion, because he says it is the color of the sun. He claims he doesn’t like to read, but after getting home from the library he sat down and read for two straight hours. He’s reading “Young Indiana Jones.” Enoch is taking care of the neighbors flowers and mail while they are gone, and on Saturday he picked 650 little tree sprouts that were growing up in their grass. He learned to mow the lawn and frequently asks if he can mow it again. He almost beat all of the older kids on a race around the block on his bike. That was before I told them NOT to race on their bikes because it’s too dangerous.
Natalie easily won the 50m and the 100m race at school again this year. She’s speedy and loves to race. In the district race next week she’ll have to race against the girls born in 1999 like her AND the girls born in 1998 – mostly 5th and 6th graders. She’ll be the youngest instead of the oldest - it will be a tough race! Natalie’s been making and selling bread around the neighborhood to earn money this summer – to pay for her Irish dancing.
Isaac also did great at his 6th grade track meet – taking 4th in the 100m. But unlike Natalie, he has an advantage in the district meet next week, being one of the older kids in the 1998-1999 category. The kids who beat him in the 6th grade meet were born in 1997. He’s looking forward to the next race! He’s been mowing lawns to earn money this summer and has learned that hard work really pays off, but he’s also fitting in plenty of playtime. Isaac has some great friends for which I’m very thankful. We finally fixed his bike tire – he and Auriana rode their bikes all over town the other day and had a great time together.
Auriana is enjoying a relaxing summer: reading, riding bikes, napping on the swing outside, and eating otter pops. She’s been cooking dinner for us for the past two weeks as part of a personal progress goal, and I’ll be so sad when she’s through with it. She is tending some kids once a week as a summer job – and she’s done a great job coming up with fun activities for them to do. She’s always volunteering to do the girls hair, which I appreciate very much!
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Happy Mother's Day!!!
I'm so grateful for my own mother, but also for all of these mothers that love my children as their own! A neighbor/friend of mine wrote a song and made it into a video - click on the link at right to enjoy it for Mother's Day
Sunday, May 2, 2010
April 2010: by Bjorn
Auriana went with her choir group to Lagoon yesterday. They performed in the morning at a nearby high school and then enjoyed a rainy day at Lagoon before the awards ceremony at 5 pm where they were awarded first place for both their Concert Choir and Show Choir. Based on our previous experience with each of our children at the Carnival that comes to town each summer, we didn’t think Auriana would go on many of the rides, but she surprised us by reporting that she went on the Wild Mouse five times, the big white rollercoaster twice, the Tidal Wave, and several other rides that I honestly thought she would never go on. So maybe it is just an age thing and there may be hope for Disneyland after all.
Isaac is getting ready for track to start and is having great experiences with Scouts. He just earned his Star rank and will be a Life before we know it. Right now he’s at a meeting fulfilling his Quartermaster responsibilities in preparing for a campout next weekend. He’s also Quartermaster for his patrol in the troop that will be going to the National Jamboree, so he’s responsible to gather, clean up, label, etc. all the equipment for that trip. I’m glad he’s having these opportunities to teach him responsibility and leadership. We were recently talking about how he could earn some money for the summer and he decided he wanted to mow lawns (like his dad). So Becky made him some cards and I went with him around the neighborhood. He ended up securing two jobs for now, which seems just right to begin with. He has been very responsible in calling each of them to let them know when he’s coming (or not coming because of rain), and is improving his communication and business skills in the process.
Natalie is loving school, Irish dance, and soccer. She scored a goal in her very first game this season – kicked from midway between the goal and mid-field. I took her last night to a practice session with a coach that is putting together an accelerated (club) team for her age group here in Spanish Fork. This coach had come to a couple of our games and noticed how good Natalie is, and personally requested that she come. We’re not quite sure yet what we’re going to do since it is quite a big commitment of time and money, but we know that Natalie – and each of our children – can excel at whatever they put their efforts to, its just up to us as parents to determine when to hold back and when to push forward. Natalie is willing to do things to earn money to help pay for extra activities like that, which pleases me. We have talked about a few different things she could do this summer, such as baking bread and selling it. Again, its rewarding to see your children maturing and accepting responsibility with enthusiasm.
Enoch is loving soccer as well. He’s the tallest kid on his team and has used his strong leg to make a bunch of great plays including a couple of goals. He recently played his guitar for the 1st grade talent show and impressed many of his friends. Becky and I increasingly notice his musical abilities with the piano, guitar, and vocally. It will be interesting to see where that natural talent takes him. Enoch wishes he could be baptized right now, but understands that he needs to wait until he’s eight. We have made a goal as a family to read the Book of Mormon before he gets baptized. Becky made up a daily schedule and so far we’re on track.
Miriam just participated in a fun kindergarten program about going to the zoo. She was a dancing bear. On Wednesday they went to the zoo even though it was raining. Becky and Ellie joined them and they had a fun time. Miriam’s favorite part was seeing the giraffes. Miriam is enjoying soccer too, and is also a budding musician.
Ellie is still loving pre-school and is about as smart as they come. Yesterday she and Miriam were in the bathroom just giggling their heads off – you know the little chipmunk laugh that Auriana also had. I was in my office working and couldn’t help but chuckle to myself at that contagious sound. Sometimes I think how nice it would be if my life were that simple. Recently Ellie has decided that she’s afraid of the wind. We were at a soccer game and it was really windy and Ellie got so distressed that Becky had to take her to the car to get out of the wind. Today she didn’t want to go to Church because she had noticed it was windy outside. Hopefully it’s a short-lived stage because after all, we do live in Spanish Fork – you know, the place with those huge wind turbines…
Isaac is getting ready for track to start and is having great experiences with Scouts. He just earned his Star rank and will be a Life before we know it. Right now he’s at a meeting fulfilling his Quartermaster responsibilities in preparing for a campout next weekend. He’s also Quartermaster for his patrol in the troop that will be going to the National Jamboree, so he’s responsible to gather, clean up, label, etc. all the equipment for that trip. I’m glad he’s having these opportunities to teach him responsibility and leadership. We were recently talking about how he could earn some money for the summer and he decided he wanted to mow lawns (like his dad). So Becky made him some cards and I went with him around the neighborhood. He ended up securing two jobs for now, which seems just right to begin with. He has been very responsible in calling each of them to let them know when he’s coming (or not coming because of rain), and is improving his communication and business skills in the process.
Natalie is loving school, Irish dance, and soccer. She scored a goal in her very first game this season – kicked from midway between the goal and mid-field. I took her last night to a practice session with a coach that is putting together an accelerated (club) team for her age group here in Spanish Fork. This coach had come to a couple of our games and noticed how good Natalie is, and personally requested that she come. We’re not quite sure yet what we’re going to do since it is quite a big commitment of time and money, but we know that Natalie – and each of our children – can excel at whatever they put their efforts to, its just up to us as parents to determine when to hold back and when to push forward. Natalie is willing to do things to earn money to help pay for extra activities like that, which pleases me. We have talked about a few different things she could do this summer, such as baking bread and selling it. Again, its rewarding to see your children maturing and accepting responsibility with enthusiasm.
Enoch is loving soccer as well. He’s the tallest kid on his team and has used his strong leg to make a bunch of great plays including a couple of goals. He recently played his guitar for the 1st grade talent show and impressed many of his friends. Becky and I increasingly notice his musical abilities with the piano, guitar, and vocally. It will be interesting to see where that natural talent takes him. Enoch wishes he could be baptized right now, but understands that he needs to wait until he’s eight. We have made a goal as a family to read the Book of Mormon before he gets baptized. Becky made up a daily schedule and so far we’re on track.
Miriam just participated in a fun kindergarten program about going to the zoo. She was a dancing bear. On Wednesday they went to the zoo even though it was raining. Becky and Ellie joined them and they had a fun time. Miriam’s favorite part was seeing the giraffes. Miriam is enjoying soccer too, and is also a budding musician.
Ellie is still loving pre-school and is about as smart as they come. Yesterday she and Miriam were in the bathroom just giggling their heads off – you know the little chipmunk laugh that Auriana also had. I was in my office working and couldn’t help but chuckle to myself at that contagious sound. Sometimes I think how nice it would be if my life were that simple. Recently Ellie has decided that she’s afraid of the wind. We were at a soccer game and it was really windy and Ellie got so distressed that Becky had to take her to the car to get out of the wind. Today she didn’t want to go to Church because she had noticed it was windy outside. Hopefully it’s a short-lived stage because after all, we do live in Spanish Fork – you know, the place with those huge wind turbines…
Monday, April 5, 2010
MARCH 2010: by the KIDS
Happy April! Miriam enjoyed playing in a foot of SNOW this morning for her birthday! We really enjoyed EASTER and CONFERENCE and FAMILY over the weekend. Here is a report from each of the kids.
Ellie
I love my family and that I’ve been playing with my sisters. We’n playing legos – me and Enoch and Miriam. We got pizza to bring home to eat. We see grandma and grandpa again. I see my other grandma and grandpa again. At school, I have been reading and playing and playing on the computers and then when will it be my birthday again? And, I like to play with Enoch and Miriam and I love Miriam and Enoch and Daddy and Mommy and Natalie and Auriana and Isaac and Berry and I love to go to Barry’s to eat and I love GUM. I love to count. I love to write. And I love to play. And that’s all!
Miriam
Tomorrow is my birthday and I’m going turn six. It’s going to be a family party. I play soccer and Lucy and Kate are girls from my Kindergarten class and they are on my team. I had a Easter birthday party. I invited all my favorite friends – Kelly, Lauren, Carmen, Sarah, Kate, Lucy, Adelaide, Ellie, Isaac, Natalie, Enoch, and Auriana. We had an Easter egg hunt and we played musical eggs. We colored a white egg like an Easter egg. We made baskets and we ate cupcakes. My favorite part of the party was opening presents. I loved my party.
Enoch
I started soccer practice and I got prongs and I’m going to Washington and Boise and it will be fun and Miriam’s birthday is tomorrow. I had a fun Easter and fun conference and we went to PPT for Isaac’s birthday. I did a front flip into this big foam pit and there were two Olympic trampolines and I went JUMP JUMP and landed on a pad. The end. That’s my story.
Natalie
The soccer games that I’ve had – we tied the 1st one and won the 2nd. For Easter I got some Prismacolor colored pencils and some min-gel pens. I did a recital for Irish dance and each class got to choreograph a dance and the one that we did, we wore crazy socks for it. At school we’re starting to train for the Hershey track meet. I ran the 50 meter in 8.45 seconds and the 100 meter in 16 point something seconds.
Isaac
Well, I got new track shoes and at school we did the timings for the Hershey track meet and I got the best time in the whole entire school: 14.11 seconds and I feel pretty good about that. I got ordained a deacon. I passed the sacrament and I only messed up twice. I got a really nice brown suit, it’s really warm and it has a ton of pockets.
Auriana
I had a Concert Choir/Show choir concert last Thursday and it was really fun. The Concert Choir one was at 7:00, then I got to go eat, and came back for the Show Choir one at 8:00. On May 1st, we are taking our show to Lagoon and performing in a festival and getting judged. I am really excited! For Easter I got 3 pairs of pants, a really cool mechanical pencil, a new hairbrush, 2 plastic Easter eggs filled with jelly beans, and a chocolate bunny. Right now we are on Spring Break, and I am looking forward to sleeping in a little bit.
Ellie
I love my family and that I’ve been playing with my sisters. We’n playing legos – me and Enoch and Miriam. We got pizza to bring home to eat. We see grandma and grandpa again. I see my other grandma and grandpa again. At school, I have been reading and playing and playing on the computers and then when will it be my birthday again? And, I like to play with Enoch and Miriam and I love Miriam and Enoch and Daddy and Mommy and Natalie and Auriana and Isaac and Berry and I love to go to Barry’s to eat and I love GUM. I love to count. I love to write. And I love to play. And that’s all!
Miriam
Tomorrow is my birthday and I’m going turn six. It’s going to be a family party. I play soccer and Lucy and Kate are girls from my Kindergarten class and they are on my team. I had a Easter birthday party. I invited all my favorite friends – Kelly, Lauren, Carmen, Sarah, Kate, Lucy, Adelaide, Ellie, Isaac, Natalie, Enoch, and Auriana. We had an Easter egg hunt and we played musical eggs. We colored a white egg like an Easter egg. We made baskets and we ate cupcakes. My favorite part of the party was opening presents. I loved my party.
Enoch
I started soccer practice and I got prongs and I’m going to Washington and Boise and it will be fun and Miriam’s birthday is tomorrow. I had a fun Easter and fun conference and we went to PPT for Isaac’s birthday. I did a front flip into this big foam pit and there were two Olympic trampolines and I went JUMP JUMP and landed on a pad. The end. That’s my story.
Natalie
The soccer games that I’ve had – we tied the 1st one and won the 2nd. For Easter I got some Prismacolor colored pencils and some min-gel pens. I did a recital for Irish dance and each class got to choreograph a dance and the one that we did, we wore crazy socks for it. At school we’re starting to train for the Hershey track meet. I ran the 50 meter in 8.45 seconds and the 100 meter in 16 point something seconds.
Isaac
Well, I got new track shoes and at school we did the timings for the Hershey track meet and I got the best time in the whole entire school: 14.11 seconds and I feel pretty good about that. I got ordained a deacon. I passed the sacrament and I only messed up twice. I got a really nice brown suit, it’s really warm and it has a ton of pockets.
Auriana
I had a Concert Choir/Show choir concert last Thursday and it was really fun. The Concert Choir one was at 7:00, then I got to go eat, and came back for the Show Choir one at 8:00. On May 1st, we are taking our show to Lagoon and performing in a festival and getting judged. I am really excited! For Easter I got 3 pairs of pants, a really cool mechanical pencil, a new hairbrush, 2 plastic Easter eggs filled with jelly beans, and a chocolate bunny. Right now we are on Spring Break, and I am looking forward to sleeping in a little bit.
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August: by Bjorn
Well, the 3 younger kids are off to their first day of school! Can't believe Miriam's in high school! We did father's blessings...
