There is a teenager in the house!!

DANGER! DANGER! There is a teenager in the vicinity. Please keep your comments to yourself, do not enter the domain or habitat of said teenager, and be on the lookout for eyes rolling, attitude flaunting, and drama creating behavior.

I think that should be a sign in our house.

Okay, not really. Okay, most of it not really.

Emma actually is pretty mild mannered. In fact, she is one sharp cookie. Our little 13-year-old is in fact, pretty dang sweet. A few updated facts about Emma?

• She is the most considerate kid I know - leaving notes for her siblings or parents to tell them they are loved and appreciated.


• She is very bright - at present a straight "A" student - and often we don't find out about how well she is doing until other parents tell us (i.e., "I heard Emma has the top score in her math class - that's great!" My response: "Huh???")


• She has a great voice and loves to sing.


• She loves to play the piano for us and play hymns on Sunday mornings. It really helps to set the entire tone for the morning.


• She loves playing soccer - she loves practices, she loves the games, and she is very competitive in soccer - just like her dad!


• She is not afraid to try anything and everything. She blows me away at how she is willing to try anything new!


• She is in her second year of Beehives and is almost done with her Personal Progress.


• She LOVES Jack. Good thing, too. Her love of Jack has saved him on many occasions.


• She takes the longest showers - seriously. We can get the remaining five of us showered in other bathrooms before she is out of hers.


• She is VERY responsible. I NEVER have to ask her about homework, soccer stuff, misc. activities, etc. The only thing I have to get on her case about is cleaning her room - and I must say that if that is the worst thing I have to nag her about, then I am one lucky mom!

Now don't get me wrong, she can roll her eyes like nobody's business, but the truth of the matter is, she is one sweet girl. I actually LOVE hanging out with her. I wasn't sure how I would feel about my first baby growing up, but she is so amazing and we are enjoying her so much that we seem to be doing okay with this transition. :) I make no guarantees as to how I will respond as she as she continues to grow up way too quickly, but for now we will just enjoy this amazing teenager of ours!

Happy birthday, teenager!

Spring Break 2010

The cousins in Toon Town

It has been gray here. Very gray. Cold and gray. Depressing, cold, and gray. That is why I could barely control my excitement when we decided to go to Disneyland for spring break. I was excited. The kids couldn't control their excitement. Ted was supportive. (It isn't that he doesn't like Disneyland, it is just that when he thinks of a vacation he thinks of a place that is quiet, serene, and as sparsely populated as possible. That is to say, he thinks of an environment that is essentially the opposite of Disneyland. That being said, he was a GREAT sport and even, I daresay, excited about taking the kids to Disneyland, and jealous that we went out ahead of him.)

We met my two sisters and my parents. The kids were in heaven. My family is so dang fun to be around. Tessa loved it. She was just tall enough to go on most of the rides (with the help of a specific pare of sandals). She even went on Tower of Terror, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, and the Matterhorn - and the Matterhorn and Splash Mountain were her favorites. We did the Fantasy Land rides - but every time Tessa got off she would say, "Now are we doing the mad bear ride? Let's go do that." (Translation: Now are we doing the Matterhorn with the angry ice monster?) Sam loved the jedi training and made himself a double light saber - (yes, we have one already here that he got for Christmas, but he MADE this one!) Lincoln and Emma both loved going off with the older cousins and riding the big roller coasters - especially since Ted and I are a bit more squeamish these days.

Tessa in Tarzan's Treehouse.

My sisters and the kids on Splash Mountain. This is where Lara insisted that she had her arms up the whole time - she is in the pink shirt. I'll let the photo do the talking. :)

Channelling their inner princesses! Tessa already had the dress on which didin't hurt.

Everyone got along well despite the different opinions as to which University to support!

Sam at Jedi Training. I think he about died when he saw Darth Vader come out - he was in HEAVEN!!!

Outside Tower of Terror - Yep, Tessa rode it bravely.

Taking a break after California Screamin' (no, Tessa didn't ride it - she/mom opted for the carousel next door.)

When we got home we hurriedly got excited for Easter and decorated Easter eggs. (You know the kids are all exhausted when Tessa decides to just sit and watch everyone color eggs.)

The next morning they all had enough energy to run around and search for eggs and their Easter baskets. (We only had to gently encourage Emma to wake up in the morning.) What a great ending to a great week!

The only thing we missed here was cold, rainy, snowy, gray weather. Man I love spring break!!!

Pinewood Derby 2010

Man, Lincoln never disappoints us. This year they were following the actual weight rules, so we were ready to fashion a serious sports car for competition. Lincoln had a different idea, though.

This year he wanted to construct a brick. He wanted it to look like a brick, say "Brick Corp." on it, and it was going to be cool. He loved it. The other kids loved it. And surprisingly, it actually won several races.

When Ted heard that he wasn't needed for hours of sanding, weighing, gluing, and whatever you do with a typical pinewood derby car he knew he had struck gold. He simply grabbed Lincoln in a bear hug saying, "I love you, Lincoln!!"

Lest you fear that Ted is being deprived of the typical pinewood derby experience, put your mind at ease. Sammy will have nothing to do with these "out of the box" concepts. His will be a race car through and through upon which you can spend hours and hours of work. :)

Don't try this at home.....

Don't worry. She isn't really about to fall out of the car. This is her showing me who is boss...and it isn't me.

I think I broke the ultimate code of motherhood (according to Tessa) and didn't provide her a drink within the allotted .02 seconds after said request, so she is mad. Really mad. Mad enough to show me that she is going to throw a huge tantrum. Mad enough to know that I was worried about her hurting herself and so she kept pushing herself further out of the car (and yes, I did take her out of the car and shut the door, but she got back in the car just to demonstrate how mad she was). The more I worried about her falling out and hurting herself, the more she responded by pushing herself further out of the car, so I went and got the camera instead.

The "terrible twos" have nothing on the "tantrum threes."

Now don't get me wrong - most of the time she is a happy and sweet girl. However, there are moments where a terrible monster takes over her body and leaves us searching for the phone number of an exorcist.

I guess I have two options: Work on my reflexes so I can more adeptly respond to her majesty's wishes, or learn to love photos of tantrums.

What can I say...I love tantrum photos.

Sammy is SEVEN!!

Sweet Sammy. Sammy is seriously the sweetest, most supportive, sincere, smiley kid ever. (Mrs. Nelson would be so proud with my use of alliteration!) Seriously though - he wakes up happy and stays that way most of the day. Don't get me wrong, when he gets upset he usually lets us know by saying "You're the worst mom in the world." But, he quickly gets over it.

His birthday landed on a Saturday this year, so we really debated just going out to dinner for his birthday dinner. However, he really had his mind set on what he wanted for dinner: Shepherd's Pie. No, I'm not kidding. Shepherd's pie, Caesar salad, and fruit cocktail. We did try to talk him into steak or salmon - even pizza - but we had Shepherd's pie.

For his birthday he had only one request: Anything Star Wars. So he got Star Wars coloring items, a Star Wars ship, Star Wars figures, and a soccer ball.

This year Sam gets birthday party, but he decided to have an unbirthday party this summer so we can do some outside activities.

My favorite moment came when he saw his birthday cake. Nothing fancy, but his name was written on it and when he saw it he said, "Hey, Mom! My name is written just like Star Wars!!!" Not too bad for the worst mom in the world. :)

Happy Birthday sweet seven-year-old!!!

Tessa turns three!

At our house we have birthdays every month beginning in November clear to March, and it has been making Tessa crazy that none of those birthdays were hers. So on the eve of her birthday was she ever ready. She had been talking about everything that she wanted: pretty much everything she saw on TV which ranged from Bendaroos to chia pets - SHE WANTED IT!

She had the birthday cake planned - princess, pink, and a million candles.

She had her outfit planned - her princess dress.

She had her day full of activities planned including swim lessons, and she was going to swim like a fish.

She had her dinner planned: candy and milk.

She was so excited! Her day was going to be perfect. She even had me practice singing "Happy Birthday to Tessa" so that I would be sure to get it right.

The big day finally came.

She didn't get to wear her princess dress (at least not yet). She had to settle on a pink sweatshirt instead.

Instead of going to Disneyland to meet the princesses she had to go to the gym with mom. She did get to go to swim lessons, but instead of swimming like a fish she squealed like a pig, and not a happy squeal. This was a "this person is trying to drown me!" sort of a scream. It wasn't pretty.

Sadly, she didn't get any Bendaroos or chia pets. Instead she got a doll bed, some doll clothes, a cute bag, and bubbles. She also got a toy cell phone and she did enjoy pointing out to Lincoln that she got a cell phone before him.

For dinner she had yet another disappointment - chicken tacos (hey - if nobody makes a specific request then I go to one of my fallback dinners!).

Despite the fact that the day didn't follow her plan she had a great time. We sang Happy Birthday at least 30 times.

( Sorry for the picture, Emma)

As for her cake: it may not have been princessy or pink, but it WAS covered with candy and she ate it with milk!

Happy birthday, Tessa!

2010 Snapshot

So I saw a friend do this on her blog, and I thought it was a very clever way to capture the memory of what life is like right now (since this is the ONLY form of scrapbooking I do!!). Here is a brief snapshot of what life is like right now:

• We are finally a diaper free family. I would say that I don't have to clean up messes anymore, but we still have a dog.
• We are finally all skiing now. Tessa can go down by herself, but the fact that she doesn't left versus right makes it hard to tell her which way to turn. She does know "pizza" and "french fries" though!
• Emma is amazingly diligent about getting all of her schoolwork done on her own. I never even ask about her homework because she just takes care of it herself. She is a great student with the grades to show it. (hopefully this will continue!!)
• Lincoln is a great student but hates homework. His philosophy is to do it as quickly as is humanly possible. Lucky for us he loves to read, so when he is reluctant to do homework we can threaten to take away reading time and this motivates him to get it done.
• Sam wakes up happy every day. He is dressed, room cleaned, and ready to leave for school before he even comes downstairs.
• Lincoln will contemplate getting out of bed by the time Sam is eating breakfast.
• Tessa loves to play with Jack and pretends he is Bolt and that she is Penny.
• Tessa hates nursery at church.
• Tessa loves the 11-year-old boys class at church (the one Ted teaches).
• Emma loves cooking - especially Sunday mornings.
• Lincoln decided his new motto was going to be "A day without reading is a day wasted," and now his entire class says it too.
• Sam loves anything and everything Star Wars. You can never have too many light sabers or clone helmets.
• Ted gets up between 5:30 and 5:45 every day to work out.
• Although I do get up early, I wait until the last possible second to finally exit the warmth of my bed. I love sleep.
• I love that we do "Best and Worst" at dinnertime each night. It's the only time I hear about some aspects of my kids' lives!
• Every Sunday we take turns picking which family activity we will do together. The hands down favorite is playing Peas in a Pod in the dark.
• I love a dance aerobics class at the gym - and although I love it, I realize I was never meant to be a dancer. :)
• Emma throws all clothes in the wash to avoid having to put them away. The boys never think to wash anything.
• Tessa has to eat off of pink dishes only.
• Our kids will only eat Caesar salad.
• I threaten to get rid of the dog at least once a day.
• I have decided that the kids will now fold their own laundry. For years I have believed that if I folded their clothes they would keep them neatly in their drawers. This has NEVER been the case. From here on out they fold their own clothes. If they won't keep them folded in their drawers then why am I wasting my time?
• I love vacuuming.
• Tessa loves vacuuming with me.
• I love photographing my kids. I could wallpaper my house with their photos. I love seeing their personalities shining through candid photos.
• Emma has been swimming twice a week through the winter, and now all the kids are swimming until soccer starts.
• Tessa just started swim lessons this week. Each session I find myself calculating how much it cost to pay for her to sit on the side of the pool with her feet dangling in the water. That is all she will do.

I find myself wondering how much will change by next year's snapshot. I hope that by next year at this time Jack will be a trained and happy part of our family. I also hope Tessa will have actually gotten in the pool for swim lessons. Hey, it never hurts to dream, right?