Summertime

Summertime is always such a busy time of year for me. It seems to get busier every year as my kids get older. This summer Trevor is doing piano and gymnastics. Justin is going to physical therapy 3 times a week until next week (I hope!!!). Natalie goes to dance 2 hours a day 4 days a week. She really needs to have a place where she can interact with other little girls. It has made a huge difference in her attitude... for the better. Drew is the only one not in a structured activity. He keeps us really busy, though. He is doing his best to make us laugh as often as possible. Each week we get together with friends, try to swim at least once a week, and then the normal everyday stuff. I actually think my house is dirtier in the summer since we have friends over more often, and 2 boys who are home more often than during the school year.

Kent had a business trip this week. We started a tradition during one of his business trips a few months ago, and we decided to continue it last night. We got ready for bed, said our nightly prayers, and then sat down to play Hot Potato. I know, it sounds so dorky, but it's really fun. We get everyone involved, and we all have to say something when we pass the ball. We always start with saying "Hot Potato!" and then we move on to other subjects. We did colors, foods, countries in Central America (I had to correct a few mispronunciations) and then cars. I need to brush up on that last one. After we did those subjects we moved on to songs. We just sang kids songs that they learned in either church or preschool. To end it all last night we each took a turn saying something nice about each person. We started with the youngest, and then went in ascending order for comments about each person. The only rules were that it had to be something nice/kind, and it had to be about the person/their character/talents/etc., not their possessions. Everyone said something nice, and it totally brightened each child's face to hear their siblings and mom say something nice about them. Who wouldn't want praise for the things that they do? It helps the other kids learn to appreciate the unique qualities of each individual, and all day today the kids got along better than usual. It was great!

Michelle's Wedding

Kent and I left on Thursday night for San Francisco. We wanted to go to Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf on Friday morning since we couldn't get tickets to Alcatraz. We spent a couple of hours there then went to SFO to get Amy and my mom. We went back with them so they could get lunch and we could do some shopping. Amy actually at at the Crab Restaurant. Amy, like a good girl, thinks seafood is disgusting, which it is, so I was shocked when she told me that they were eating there. We were able to see it from those places so that was pretty cool. All of my siblings (Michelle- the bride, Amy, Christine, Allan and Katie) and our parents were there.
We got to go to Michael's parents' house in Berkeley for a dinner on Friday, the night before the wedding, and it was fun to meet his parents, brothers and friends. The next morning the 5 sisters went to breakfast at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, then 3 of us went to get pedicures. The ladies there seemed to like me quite a bit, and they started right away on my manicure. I was mostly done with my mani when they took Amy to the chair to start her pedi, and then about 10 minutes after that they took Katie and put her in her chair. She sat there for 35 minutes before they started on hers. In the meantime I got a manicure, pedicure and my eyebrows waxed. I finished about 5-10 minutes after the other two who only got pedicures. I thought it was pretty funny! Amy and Katie weren't quite as amused, though!
After that we went back to the hotels to change and fix our hair again, then drove out to Sonoma. Michelle was getting ready, and after everyone arrived we went outside for the ceremony.
Michelle looked beautiful, and her fiance Michael looked handsome, and they looked so happy. They had a minister who really got animated and put on quite a show for everyone who was there. We had a delicious dinner afterwards, and Katie was absolutely sure that a piece of lettuce was actually a squished spider. She managed to convince a couple of people that it was a spider, but it was a piece of lettuce! (You know I'm right, Katie!) After the ceremony we drove back to our hotels, and saw a wildfire in the Napa area. We saw it on the news this morning, and it was serious enough that they were starting to evacuate homes, and one building had burned down. I took pictures, but they didn't turn out well.
This morning (Sunday) we went to the Marriott and got my mom and 2 of my sisters and drove to the airport. On the way we finally saw the fog. Apparently they had a heat wave... temperatures were in the whopping upper 90's. (I thought it felt great, though, because it's 20+ degrees hotter here!) I guess that caused the fog to stay away until today when the temperatures dropped.

I love my kids

I love my kids. I am oftentimes reminded at the oddest times just exactly why I love them. Today we were out running errands, and Trevor was the sweetest boy. He is probably my most emotional, sensitive child. Today he was so helpful, and wanted to help me get everything done. Then later in the evening he came up to me and gave me a hug and kiss and said, "Mom, you're the best mom in the world. I love you so much." He went to Kent next and said, "Dad, you're a great dad. I love you so much." So sweet.
Justin is always so willing to help out. He gets his jobs done usually before I even wake up, he helps me get the kids ready when we need to go somewhere, he helps me feed them breakfast, and he's just an all-around great kid. He plays with his younger siblings' friends to make sure that they feel welcome. He's also currently begging me to have "at least 1 or 2 more kids." That's not going to happen, but it's so nice to know that he loves his brothers and sister enough that he would want even more of them!
Natalie... what can I say about my little drama queen? She is my constant shadow. She wants me to hold her all the time. She wants to run all of my errands with me. Recently she has become very aware of her appearance. She wants to make sure her hair is done, and wants me to let her wear makeup every day. She loves makeup so much, in fact, that she has begun to "borrow" my MAC lipstick, my body spray, lip glosses and makeup brushes. They always somehow end up in her room, but "(she) didn't put them there." I think we're going to have to get her some of her own makeup on her birthday.
Drew... so cute. He's upstairs right now tyring to get me to come upstairs to lie down with him. I had to stop doing that 2 years ago because otherwise he wouldn't go to bed. He's very upset that he's done with swimming lessons, and wants me to make phone calls right now, at almost 2 in the morning to sign him up again. Since I won't do that he's upset with me. But he's my little snuggle bug, and I am enjoying it for as long as I can.

Reading

I read all the time. I love it. I read a book a day when I can. I always have. I read the entire Nancy Drew series in 2nd grade, the Hardy Boys series in 3rd grade, and then started branching out from there. I started writing a collection of illustrated short stories in 3rd grade. I started writing my first novel in 5th grade. I still have it somewhere.
Justin has not developed my love of reading. Justin has never enjoyed reading. He does it only because he has to, and he's not happy about doing it. Recently he decided it's time to start to enjoy reading. We found an author that he loved so he read all of the books by this author that he could find. He really started to have fun. Then he finished those books, and was unsure what to read next. He talked to Kent about this, and Kent tried to help him find a book he would enjoy reading. A few days after this talk Justin told me about his desire to enjoy reading, and his discussion with Kent. Come to find out he totally conned Kent into buying him I Am Legend. Now, I'm all for Justin finding a book that he can enjoy reading, but I do not think that this is the book. I wouldn't let him see the movie because I think it would scare him half to death. I can only imagine the book is going to be a thing of nightmares for him. I told him this, but he just turned to me with "the look" and said, "Mom, I'm not a baby. I'm going to be 12 this year. I think I can handle it."
So, I'm going to let him read this book, and hope that he enjoys it and doesn't have nightmares about it. If he learns to love reading great. If not, well, we'll try again. I want to keep the momentum building, and really hope that I can help him learn to love reading.