This week:
Miles's secret crush asked him if he was the one to deliver the Valentine's cookie to her. I told him beforehand he could deny it if he wanted and it would be okay. So he did. But I think his handwriting gave it away. I think he secretly wanted her to know it was him. I found out this week that after I tuck him in, he reads to Simone. They have finished several chapter books together, including the "Fantastic Mr. Fox." Fun to watch his basketball game Saturday. Jared took him and a few friends to the Lego Movie and Trafalga.
Elise skiied some double black diamond runs. Pretty good since she has only been skiing about 9 times including last year. She was invited to try out for a national lacrosse team. But she wants to focus on basketball. Bummer it is hard to let things like that go, but you can't do everything. She made truffles with some friends from her foods class. She had about 30 friends over on Friday night playing fugitive.
Monet is excited about Jr. High orientation. She is not sure if she wants to play an instrument or just stick with piano, which she is getting really good at. She tried out some new manicure styles that she liked with chevron stripes and gold accents. They are super cute. She is doing great skiing too and has done lots of blues and even a couple of black diamonds. She is excited that she's improved.
Simone is reading like crazy to try to win her read-a-thon. She is about halfway through Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and she started it yesterday. She is pretty fun to listen to. She gets her cast off next week. Hooray! She has been really excited about all the chicken eggs we are getting with this warmer weather.
Soren is loving the great park weather and walks in the stroller. He loved his honey dew melon and playing with his cousin Georgia last week. He loves his caterpillar book and the ones with the sound effects. Yesterday was "Where the Wild Things Are" and he wanted it again today, I think he liked it. The kids put up the pop up tent in his room and now he doesn't want to take it down.
Me: Hosted bunco. Planned a big glow volleyball night for the young women. Lots of young women planning meetings for missionary month. And had a leadership training at my house with about 50 people on Sunday. Finally decided to do some decorating and got my bookshelves somewhat done. Trying to get back my consistency with my workouts after being on vacation. I have no motivation to cook right now. I need to change that.
Jared: Lots of fun stuff happening with work. He is really excited about the people that are joining his team right now. It was fun to watch him coach Monet's team on Saturday. I know I'm biased but I think he is the best coach. Basketball is a lot more complex than I used to think. He is great at orchestrating the whole team. He is constantly telling the girls where they need to be and what plays to run from the sidelines. I think at this age it helps them to understand how to put everything together on the court. Monet has improved soooo much from last year. Miles and Simone decided to sleep in a fort under the stairs this week. So Jared always checks on them at night and didn't know they were sleeping in a fort. So he was looking everywhere for them and was freaking out when he looked in all the usual places and couldn't find either one and came and got me out of bed because he was so worried. Finally we found the fort. Phew.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
22 months
There should be a holiday celebrating the end of inversion season around here. Mid-October to Mid-February has long stretches of terrible air quality and having a return to crystal blue skies and sunshine feels so good. Everyone seems happier.
Today was a really nice day. Soren and I went to the stores like we normally do on Tuesdays. But afterwards we stopped by the park. He is so excited about bubbles and of course wants to do it all by himself.
He loves the slides especially. He also loves to jump off things.
Soren says so many words now I can't keep track of all the ones he knows. But I do love hearing him say new things. The other day he got hurt and I asked him if he was okay, and he said, "I'm fine, I'm okay." He also asks the other kids to turn on the electric piano and tells them, "I want to dance." The piano is going pretty much all the time. The other day we were walking across a parking lot and it started to rain/snow and he said, "It's raining!" I wondered how he knew that. I guess they just pick it up. It hasn't rained all that much since it has been winter for awhile so it surprised me.
Today he really wanted some grapes at Costco but he didn't know the word. As soon as he saw them he was going crazy so I lifted him out and had him show me what it was that he wanted. When grandma visited when we were in Hawaii he learned a lot of new fruits. Kiwi and lemon were a couple. He also loves honey dew melon and but shortens that one to "honey".
He loved that I had co-op and that friends came over last week. He gets really excited about having other kids over. If someone gets upset, he will pat their back and comfort them. But he is super possessive of his toys, which is pretty normal for his age.
Tonight I was tucking him in and I always rock him for a few minutes. He loves it and we sing songs. He started patting my arm. It was really sweet.
He also will say, "hi" to everyone at the store when he is in the mood and waves his hand. And he says "sorry" all the time. Sometimes he hits me on purpose and says "sorry" afterwards. He also really loves to say, "go away!" and I'm afraid he may have learned that from me. Lol.
We've been introducing him to Disney movies more and more. We got a new car and it has a DVD player in it (finally!) and he loves that. He really likes the "Happy" song from Despicable Me 2 and sings along with it. He loves Nemo especially. If the kids ask him what his name is, he says, "Bruce" and they think that is super funny.
Soren still loves anything with a lid. He loves to open things and to unscrew stuff. He also loves buttons and snaps. He tries to snap up his clothes but gets a little frustrated when it doesn't work.
A few weeks ago Miles got a new toy helicopter. Soren loves helicopters and he was totally enthralled by Miles's remote helicopter and it was this instant brotherly bond flying that helicopter together. Soren also really loves Miles's toy robot. Jared found it at a garage sale last year and it is really cool. If Soren is upset the robot is always a great distraction.
I love this sweet little toddler of mine. It is so fun to have him in our family. Everyone loves to talk about all the cute things he does each day. Toddlers are comic relief.
Today was a really nice day. Soren and I went to the stores like we normally do on Tuesdays. But afterwards we stopped by the park. He is so excited about bubbles and of course wants to do it all by himself.
He loves the slides especially. He also loves to jump off things.
Soren says so many words now I can't keep track of all the ones he knows. But I do love hearing him say new things. The other day he got hurt and I asked him if he was okay, and he said, "I'm fine, I'm okay." He also asks the other kids to turn on the electric piano and tells them, "I want to dance." The piano is going pretty much all the time. The other day we were walking across a parking lot and it started to rain/snow and he said, "It's raining!" I wondered how he knew that. I guess they just pick it up. It hasn't rained all that much since it has been winter for awhile so it surprised me.
Today he really wanted some grapes at Costco but he didn't know the word. As soon as he saw them he was going crazy so I lifted him out and had him show me what it was that he wanted. When grandma visited when we were in Hawaii he learned a lot of new fruits. Kiwi and lemon were a couple. He also loves honey dew melon and but shortens that one to "honey".
He loved that I had co-op and that friends came over last week. He gets really excited about having other kids over. If someone gets upset, he will pat their back and comfort them. But he is super possessive of his toys, which is pretty normal for his age.
Tonight I was tucking him in and I always rock him for a few minutes. He loves it and we sing songs. He started patting my arm. It was really sweet.
He also will say, "hi" to everyone at the store when he is in the mood and waves his hand. And he says "sorry" all the time. Sometimes he hits me on purpose and says "sorry" afterwards. He also really loves to say, "go away!" and I'm afraid he may have learned that from me. Lol.
We've been introducing him to Disney movies more and more. We got a new car and it has a DVD player in it (finally!) and he loves that. He really likes the "Happy" song from Despicable Me 2 and sings along with it. He loves Nemo especially. If the kids ask him what his name is, he says, "Bruce" and they think that is super funny.
Soren still loves anything with a lid. He loves to open things and to unscrew stuff. He also loves buttons and snaps. He tries to snap up his clothes but gets a little frustrated when it doesn't work.
A few weeks ago Miles got a new toy helicopter. Soren loves helicopters and he was totally enthralled by Miles's remote helicopter and it was this instant brotherly bond flying that helicopter together. Soren also really loves Miles's toy robot. Jared found it at a garage sale last year and it is really cool. If Soren is upset the robot is always a great distraction.
I love this sweet little toddler of mine. It is so fun to have him in our family. Everyone loves to talk about all the cute things he does each day. Toddlers are comic relief.
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Winter Basketball Wrap Up
Yesterday was Monet's last game. They played an amazing game! They lost to the highest seed. But they played great and almost had it. The team they played was undefeated. In fact, they had never even been behind the entire season. We played them at the beginning of the season and we lost by 20. This time we were up almost the whole game and lost it in basically one minute with a couple of fast breaks they had.
So it was great to see how much we improved. I think next year we'll beat them. Our girls started out the season pretty soft and not really understanding how to press. We figured out how to beat their press and played great defense so it was really hard for them to score.
They had a little point guard who ran circles around us last time and Monet totally shut her down. Yeah Monet!
Monet, Elise and Miles have all been waking up at 5 am to practice basketball at the church with some of our friends. It has helped them improve a lot just in the past few weeks.
Monet scored 6 of our 11 points this game and swished both freethrows.
Miles had some great dribbling action and some crossovers in his game. He is hustling and rebounding and scoring a ton of points. We are excited to have him try out for the AAU team this year.
Elise's team had a disappointing end to the season. They did so well in the fall. But most of the girls are 8th graders. In our area, 8th graders can't play on the Jr. High teams yet, but they can be "managers" which means they practice with the team and go to all the games and keep stats at the games. Each Jr. High team has up to three managers. The only problem with this is their team has girls from 2 different Jr. Highs. They are so busy with practices after school with the Jr High teams, it left them with very little time for their team to practice as its own little unit. Several girls are not managers at all and they had very few practices at all the entire season. Anyway, it was good for Elise in some respects. She had a ton of practice time. But it was hard to double up teams and games. It was a huge time commitment and frustrating to have to just watch. She is excited to try out for the high school team next year, or play on the Jr. High team. Anyway, they ended up losing several games by one or two points. They had some great competition.
Jared got kicked out of one of the games. LOL. It was actually pretty hilarious. He was encouraging one of our girls when a ref came over and ejected him. Apparently the ref thought Jared made a derogatory comment about him. Which Jared would never do. He might argue a call, but he isn't going to call them names or anything. Jared was so angry! We had driven almost an hour to watch this game and we all knew he didn't do anything and this little ref was trying to make him miss his daughters game. So he left but sneaked back in and watched from the sidelines. Afterwards he tried to explain to the ref that he would never call names, etc and that he knows it is a hard job, etc. and that little punk ref wouldn't even hear it. He still insisted Jared called him a name but he couldn't even tell us what he thought Jared said.
So it was great to see how much we improved. I think next year we'll beat them. Our girls started out the season pretty soft and not really understanding how to press. We figured out how to beat their press and played great defense so it was really hard for them to score.
They had a little point guard who ran circles around us last time and Monet totally shut her down. Yeah Monet!
Monet, Elise and Miles have all been waking up at 5 am to practice basketball at the church with some of our friends. It has helped them improve a lot just in the past few weeks.
Monet scored 6 of our 11 points this game and swished both freethrows.
Miles had some great dribbling action and some crossovers in his game. He is hustling and rebounding and scoring a ton of points. We are excited to have him try out for the AAU team this year.
Elise's team had a disappointing end to the season. They did so well in the fall. But most of the girls are 8th graders. In our area, 8th graders can't play on the Jr. High teams yet, but they can be "managers" which means they practice with the team and go to all the games and keep stats at the games. Each Jr. High team has up to three managers. The only problem with this is their team has girls from 2 different Jr. Highs. They are so busy with practices after school with the Jr High teams, it left them with very little time for their team to practice as its own little unit. Several girls are not managers at all and they had very few practices at all the entire season. Anyway, it was good for Elise in some respects. She had a ton of practice time. But it was hard to double up teams and games. It was a huge time commitment and frustrating to have to just watch. She is excited to try out for the high school team next year, or play on the Jr. High team. Anyway, they ended up losing several games by one or two points. They had some great competition.
Jared got kicked out of one of the games. LOL. It was actually pretty hilarious. He was encouraging one of our girls when a ref came over and ejected him. Apparently the ref thought Jared made a derogatory comment about him. Which Jared would never do. He might argue a call, but he isn't going to call them names or anything. Jared was so angry! We had driven almost an hour to watch this game and we all knew he didn't do anything and this little ref was trying to make him miss his daughters game. So he left but sneaked back in and watched from the sidelines. Afterwards he tried to explain to the ref that he would never call names, etc and that he knows it is a hard job, etc. and that little punk ref wouldn't even hear it. He still insisted Jared called him a name but he couldn't even tell us what he thought Jared said.
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| Tight D Monet! |
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| The other team was good but Kristen didn't let them push her around too much. They tried. |
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| The vinyl silhouettes on the walls really bug |
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| Taking it down, at this age dribbling without looking down is pretty good |
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| Miles getting ready to take the shot |
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| Little coach |
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| little point guards face off |
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| Hey get your arm out of there |
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| Jared is comforting Monet after she was bumped by the other girls over the backcourt line the second time. She was a little peeved, even though that was probably pretty good strategy by the other team |
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| Lots of arms in there |
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| swish |
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| Another swish |
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| Elise can jump and it doesn't hurt to have a 5'11" wingspan either |
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| Tipped it to Brooke |
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| get back get back |
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Family Valentine's
We do a family Valentine's around here.
This year the kids did the Doritos bag Valentine's from Pinterest. It was cute and easy. They all did the same one. It was pretty cheap too.
Only problem is that Doritos are like crack for me. I can't stop eating them. Thankfully we needed almost all the little bags so I couldn't eat too many.
The night before Valentine's we delivered secret Valentine's big heart cookies from Great Harvest.
Simone walked right up to the door and handed hers to her Valentine Max. She is so not shy. It was cute! Max's mom thought that was pretty adorable and even wrote about it in her journal.
Miles was stealthy about his. He dropped it off at the doorstep and ran. He told me his secret valentine had no idea it was him
Elise and Monet did the same with theirs, but they didn't even want to approach the door. So Miles did it for them.
Then on Friday we went to Monet's Valentine's Dance, and after the kids came home from school we did a little candlelight dinner. It was fun. Soren was pretty excited about the bubbles he got. My favorite part is writing a letter to each of my kids and Jared. I saw that Elise had kept hers from years past and that made me happy.
Isn't Valentine's the best holiday? What could be better than a holiday just for telling those you love how you feel about them. I think it is awesome.
This year the kids did the Doritos bag Valentine's from Pinterest. It was cute and easy. They all did the same one. It was pretty cheap too.
Only problem is that Doritos are like crack for me. I can't stop eating them. Thankfully we needed almost all the little bags so I couldn't eat too many.
The night before Valentine's we delivered secret Valentine's big heart cookies from Great Harvest.
Simone walked right up to the door and handed hers to her Valentine Max. She is so not shy. It was cute! Max's mom thought that was pretty adorable and even wrote about it in her journal.
Miles was stealthy about his. He dropped it off at the doorstep and ran. He told me his secret valentine had no idea it was him
Elise and Monet did the same with theirs, but they didn't even want to approach the door. So Miles did it for them.
Then on Friday we went to Monet's Valentine's Dance, and after the kids came home from school we did a little candlelight dinner. It was fun. Soren was pretty excited about the bubbles he got. My favorite part is writing a letter to each of my kids and Jared. I saw that Elise had kept hers from years past and that made me happy.
Isn't Valentine's the best holiday? What could be better than a holiday just for telling those you love how you feel about them. I think it is awesome.
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I got these beautiful flowers that remind me of Hawaii! |
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| My cutie Valentine |
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| Helping me sweep |
Monet's Valentine's Dance
At school for 6th grade they do a Valentine's Dance. For several weeks they have been practicing different types of dances. Line dances, waltz, jitterbug, etc.
Monet was on the decorating committee and had a good time helping to make banners. Each kid also make one of the heart wreaths strung across the gym. It was really decked out. I was impressed.
She and I got manicures the night before. Monet loves manicures like no one I know. She LOVES them. And I found this cute little dress at Ross. I think it is darling.
They invite the parents and they have a dance for the dads and daughters and moms and sons. It was so cute and really a fun event. It was cute to see them all dressed up.
I think I had a dance in 6th grade too. We even used dance cards. I remember one of the boys asking to be on my dance card at recess and I was so flattered. ;)
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Monet was on the decorating committee and had a good time helping to make banners. Each kid also make one of the heart wreaths strung across the gym. It was really decked out. I was impressed.
She and I got manicures the night before. Monet loves manicures like no one I know. She LOVES them. And I found this cute little dress at Ross. I think it is darling.
They invite the parents and they have a dance for the dads and daughters and moms and sons. It was so cute and really a fun event. It was cute to see them all dressed up.
I think I had a dance in 6th grade too. We even used dance cards. I remember one of the boys asking to be on my dance card at recess and I was so flattered. ;)
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| Monet thought it would be funny to do a rainbow unicorn valentines box. She made seven compartments and shared it with her friends. It was pretty funny and cute, but the head which was her part got decapitated in the car ride to school. Oops. |
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