Christine's Birthday!!!!

Christine turned 9 on September 1!  Here are 9 things we love about Christine:

1.  Mom- I love that Christine is always so nice to everyone.

2. Talia - she is kind to others and loves snuggling with me.

3. Taylor - She is crazy and playful.

4. Aubrey - she puts alot of effort into everything she does.

5.  Dad - She loves to climb in bed and snuggle with us.

6.  Mom - Christine is so nuturing.  She loves to take care of others and their needs.

7.  Aubrey - she likes to make others feel included.

8.  Talia - she loves animals...and video games.

9.  Dad - her new earrings match her pretty blue eyes.

Christine is a very tender-hearted little girl.  We call her Nini (knee-knee) because she couldn't pronounce her own name when she was little and that is how she said her own name.  She is the calmest daughter by far and it is often rereshing to have her calming presence in our home.  She is never too concerned about what others think of her, she is confident in who she is and what she likes and doesn't feel the need to follow the crowd.  She loves four square and plays it everyday at recess whether her friends do or not.  She is thoughtful of others and their needs and so sensitive to the spirit.  Her prayers are always so meaningful, I learn so much by listening to her tender, thoughtful words.  I am very grateful to have her as my daughter, I feel so blessed to be her mom.

Happy Happy Birthday Aubrey

For Aubrey's birthday today I thought instead of our usual birthday interview we would try something new.  Today our favorite household teenage turns 14!!!  She started high school and seminary...she is just so grown up!!  Here are 14 things we love about our 14 year old:

1.  Mom- I love that she cares so much about fashion and works hard to put cute outfits together complete with hair, makeup, and accessories.

2. Dad- two words.....band spats.

3. Christine- she works hard at her school work.

4. Taylor- even though we argue I can still come to her for advice.

5. Talia - she is funny

6. Mom - she loves doing chores......not really but she does them anyway usually without complaint.

7. Dad - the roads are safe for two more years.

8. Christine - she loves to read.

9. Taylor- she does her hair pretty for school, and lets me do her hair for her sometimes too

10. Talia - she is weird

11. Mom- she is a good cook and always wants to try making new things

12.  Dad - microwave eggs in a dish

13. Christine - loves to play guitar

14. Taylor - she plays fun songs on the piano (and in general is really talented with music)

We love you Aubrey!!!!!  We love that you push yourself with running and have improved so much.  We love that you are having so much fun with marching band (and look so stinking adorable in your uniform).  We love that you are excited about high school and seminary.  We love that you are a social buterfly!  We love having you as part of our family.  Happy birthday Aubrey!!!!

Catching up....Again

A brief recap of the last couple of months:
*Spring Break we colored Easter eggs (which I neglected to post pictures of for our anual contest)
*Took a trip to Niagra Falls.  The girls loved it!  I had a lengthy chat with Talia before we went that if she were to get in the water she would end up going over then edge and it wouldn't be fun. The highlight of the trip was taking the boat ride to the base of the falls.
* Chris totalled our other car.  Not our new van but our old van.   It really needed to be replaced anyway but now our insurance will be taking a hit.
*Taylor graduated from elementary school and is now headed to middle school! (YIKES!)
*Aubrey graduated from middle school and is now headed to high school!! (DOUBLE YIKES!)
*Christine moves up to fourth grade but will remain on her IEP.
*Talia moves up to first grade which means all my girls will be in school everyday all day.  What will I do with all my time?
*My sister Jenny is finally getting married! So we will be headed out to Salt Lake City this summer.   If anyone will be out that way in August let me know!!!
*Aburey and I just returned from Young Women's Camp.  It was a blast but I am still trying to recover from sleeping only 13 hours during the entire week.
* Went to see Rascal Flatts!  LOVED IT!
* Bought new trail running shoes with zero drop soles.  I have been running in my five-finger barefoot shoes for 3 1/2 years now and I love them but I wanted something in between.  I hate my old-school tennies but they were my only other option so I needed something for when my five fingers aren't quite what I am looking for.
* Today our family is begining a unprocessed food challenge.  100 days of unprocessed food.  Wish us luck!

Spring Break?

Today the clouds decided to snow; a sudden change from the unseasonably warm weather that lasted through most of March and into the very beginning of April. The girls are all home for Spring Break and I tried to get them to go play outside but they wanted nothing to do with the cold.  Instead they declared it National Sisters Day which of course means staying inside, wearing pajamas, fixing each others hair, watching tv, building forts, having a dance party, lots of giggling, story telling, and junk food (eaten inside the fort).  Aubrey, however, wanted nothing to do with it.  Instead she put on a gray pea-coat and aqua Fedora, grabbed Chris's old trombone, and went outside to sit under a tree by the road to play a B-flat scale over and over again looking like a homeless jazz musician playing the blues on a sad cold day.  I have no idea where this persona of hers came from.  At least she is entertained. 

This Week in the Life of Talia

Talia had her friend over one day this week and they had a couple of very funny conversations.  I heard them arguing about the meaning of Easter so I decided to intervene. 
Mom:  Talia, what is the problem?
Talia:  Lauren doesn't know what Easter means.
Lauren: Yes I do!
Talia: NO!  I told her it was when Jesus was resurrected but.....
Lauren: ....but that's not what my dad said!
Mom:  Ok, Lauren.  What did your dad say?
Lauren:  He told me Easter is about how after Jesus died he came back to life again.
Mom:  [Totally smiling] You are both right.  Coming back to life again after death is what resurrection means.
*I did explain resurrection to them in greater detail so that they did not think it meant you would be back to your everyday life walking around and going to school.  Talia is quite a daredevil and I didn't want her to think this meant she was like a cat with nine lives.  Sometimes I think she needs to wear full body armor at all times.  One day I need to do a post just about the stunts she performs on her bike, one of these days she will give me a heart attack - one of us is destined to die from her fearlessness.

Later that day the girls are at the table coloring and somehow a conversation about Hello Kitty came up.  I only overheard part of the conversation.
Talia:  But Hello Kitty's real name is just Hell.  O is like her middle name and her last name is Kitty.
Lauren:  Talia! That can't be her real name!
Talia:  Yes, it is!  Her name is Hell [long pause] O. Kitty
Lauren:  But Talia that's not a name that's the H-word.  It's really bad and you are not supposed to say it.
Talia:  Why would that be a bad word?  It's just her name.
Mom:  Hey Talia her name is really Hello, you know like you are saying hi to someone.  And saying hell really isn't nice.  It can be a bad word.
Talia: Oh.  I always thought her name was Hell. [shrugs then goes back to coloring]

Talia brought home her behavior report from school from last week.  It showed that she had been punished by having to move her car to the red light and the note from the teacher simply said "restroom trouble."  I looked at Talia and asked if I even wanted to know what that meant.  She rolled her eyes at me and said, "Mom, I was just sitting on the sink.   It's not like it was a big deal.  I wasn't actually sitting in the sink."

We flip-flop playdates with her friend Lauren and late last week it was Talia's turn to play at Lauren's house. The two of them were playing a game where you pick a card from a pile and it has an action on it ex: Clap your hands, Twirl in a circle etc.  There is both a picture and the words telling you what to do.  You look at the card and do what is says/shows.  The purpose of the game is to teach you to read.  When I went to pick Talia up, Lauren came running up to me to show me a card from the game. Giggling she said,"look at the card that Talia picked!"  I looked at it and didn't understand why it was funny and I gave her a puzzled look.  "I dared her to do it and she did.  Actually we both did it." Lauren explained but I still didn't understand.  "What do you mean?" I asked her.  Lauren continued, "It says get naked so we did!  But we kept our panties on."  Then the girls both erupt with giggles.  I look at the card and point to the picture of the boy without his shirt on blinking as water is being splashed at him, "You guys this card says blink your eyes!  Not get naked!"  I explained. 

Another day this week we attended a baptism and afterwards we stayed for refreshments.  Talia was wandering around socializing and I wasn't too concerned about her because she was staying in the same room as everyone else so at least I could see her.  A man that we attend church with came up to me and said he had to tell me what Talia had said to him .....comments like this always make me nervous.  This man has red hair so he said to her "We have the same hair."  To which Talia replied, "Yours is a little lighter than mine."  He went along with her, "Yes and its a little shorter than yours too."  Talia agreed, "Yes, and yours is starting to fall out and mine isn't."  This conversation was being retold to me with a group of other people around.  One of the ladies listening heard me apologize and stopped me, "Don't apologize," she laughed, "we all know Talia and anyone that enters into a conversation with her knows what they are getting themselves into."  Terrific.  Now you have all been warned.

May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favor

Thursday, to celebrate my friend's birthday, a few of my friends and I went to see the midnight showing of The Hunger Games.  We were just about the only adults in the theater.  I forgot my glasses (I actually never wear them but they usually come in handy while watching a movie) so I had to have my friend read to me whenever Katiniss got a note from a sponsor.  I think my friend especially loved whispering "You call that a kiss?" to me.  Despite our old age we managed to stay awake!  I really liked the movie, it was worth only getting two hours of sleep.

Friday night Chris came home with tickets to a 7pm showing so I got to watch it again. I think I liked it even more the second time!!!  There were little details here and there that were not the same as the book but I would say my only complaint: I wish there had been just a little bit more clarity about how Peeta's (I love that his dad is a baker and he is named after bread) feelings for Katiniss were real and I really like the conversation they have at the end of the book where Katniss becomes aware that his feelings are real...... I would have liked to watch that scene.  Wasn't sure going into the movie how I felt about the casting but in the end I felt that every actor totally captured the essence of their character.  (Love Lenny Kravitz!!!) 

While I wish there had been just a little bit more development with the Peeta-Katniss-Gale love triangle I have to give props to the director for not turning the cave into a make out session.  I was nervous that there would be too much kissing and then I wouldn't want my girls to see the flick at all.  But thankfully the cave scene when Peeta is healing from his leg wound was not portrayed that way.

Saturday Aubrey went to a Hunger Games party and movie showing.  They all had homemade matching tye-dye shirts that said Hunger Games on the fron and had quotes from the book written on the back.  I gave Aubrey and her friend Katniss hair dos to wear to the theater (which was apparently a big hit).

Yesterday my girls all wore Hunger Games inspired hairdos.  Aubrey and Christine had the diagonal dutch braid that Katniss wears throughout the movie.  Taylor had the Katniss Reaping Day double-dutch-braid twisted together in the back.  Talia had the Foxface double messy buns.  They looked so cute....and I forgot to take a picture.

Taylor turns 11 on Wednesday and all she wants for her birthday is to see The Hunger Games so Wednesday night she and I are headed to the theater (again).  We'll see if I still like it after three showings!!!

Ode to the Theater

How has it taken me so long to discover musical theater???  I have always loved watching it but until this year I had never really participated and now I wonder how my life was ever complete without it.

As a family we participated in The Wizard of Oz at the elementary school.  My friend and I directed the play.  I was the music and choreography director plus wrote a scene to add to the play in order to accommodate all the students that showed up to audition (85 performers, 8 backstage crew, 2 middle school helpers, 4 high school helpers).  Christine was a munchkin.  Talia was a dancing poppy.  Aubrey helped with backstage management of the munchkins.  And Taylor was Dorothy.  Oh and Chris played the part of supportive-parent-audience-member (a vital role for all).  We began rehearsals in January and had a four performance run of the show in the begining of March. 

Then there was the middle school play two weeks later (with a run of 5 shows).  Somehow I managed to get sucked into making some simple props, running to a few craft stores, and of course I ended up doing hair and some makeup.  Aubrey played the part of one of the three little pigs and a fairy.  She was a bit upset about being a pig until I explained that she was probably picked because she is sooooo skinny.  It would be cruel to cast someone with even a slight weight problem as a pig in a middle school play.  So instead of a fat pig she played a 5'4" 95 pound pig with pink face paint that caused her skin to break out in eczema.

The girls were fantastic!!!  They all stepped outside of their comfort zone and they all shined.  Live theater is always entertaining because you never know what to expect.  But live theater with children takes this all to a new level.  The other director and I worked like crazy and laughed our heads off through every performance.  I can't wait to do it again next year.  Chris, however, is grateful that I don't have any really major projects lined up real soon.........at least none that he is aware of :) 

Some of Our Recent Craziness

The Wednesday night before Christmas Chris was headed to the gym, but never made it. He was less than a mile from our home when the accident happened. Someone had hit a deer on the main road by our house and an emergency vehicle was waiting by the animal to prevent another driver from hitting it as well. Chris turned onto the road and was speeding up to the speed limit (55) and glanced out the window at the accident. Simultaneously, the teenage driver in front of him thought that it would be a brilliant plan to completely stop in the middle of the road to get a good view of the dead deer. When Chris glanced back up at the road he knew there was no time to stop. He tried to slow down and swerve as far to the side as possible before the impact. The other car flew all the way across all five lanes, off the road, and up into the woods on the other side where he hit a tree. Thankfully and miraculously everyone was ok!

A police officer brought Chris home. He was very shaken up but otherwise fine. He told me he couldn't believe he was able to walk away, the car was completely totalled.

Two weeks later when we went to get our personal things from the wreckage yard and I saw the car for the first time, I became very emotional. It was sobering to walk by smashed cars and realize that there was no way some of the passengers survived. And seeing how damaged Chris's car was, was very upsetting.....it could have been a really terrible Christmas.

We bought our Pontiac brand new 12 years ago (our first major purchase in our marriage) and drove it over 209,000 miles. It has been back and forth across the country several times and served as our only car until our third daughter was a year old. But I was never more thankful for it than I was Wednesday night December 21st when it saved Chris's life. After all those years and miles when it was truly put to the test every safety feature worked exactly the way it was designed to. The airbags opened. The front end crushed properly absorbing the impact. And the safety belts tightened and held him in place. I cannot effectively express my gratitude.

_________________________________________

Annie
 (I CAN'T GET THIS VIDEO TO POST! ANYONE KNOW HOW?)

This maybe five minute video is my musical thearter debut I have several lines and a couple of solos in the song in this scene. I am the homeless women with the short black hair and hat in the center of the stage stirring a pot and looking quite large in my enormous coat (for some reason my dad wasn't sure which person was me). I was cast as a member of the ensemble so I appear in the play as a homeless person, a nurse maid, and a servant. I had five costume changes and a few lines.

Auditions were in August. Rehearsal began at the beginning of September. 4 or 5 nights a week for 3-4 hours. By late October we were there 5 nights a week for at least 4 hours with a few 5-7 hour rehearsal and a 9 hour rehearsal. We ran a dozen shows throughout the month of November ending just before Thanksgiving. (I was also working as a nanny for some friends in November so I was gone 8-4 then leaving at 6 for the play some nights, plus putting on our school Fall Festival that month and church responsibilities.... I was way over extended!!! And I loved every second of all of it!) Needless to say I could not have done this when I had super little kids. Aubrey and Taylor were a huge help and Chris was completely supportive. The only non-supportive comment he made was during the weekend of the Fall Festival - which was opening weekend for the play and we had had 10 straight days of rehearsal and I had just begun the nanny gig- he said "maybe in the future you should pick one project at a time." He had a very valid point. I decided not to mention any of my already scheduled future projects until this was over.


This video is a scene that I filled in for. One night a member of the cast was ill so 10 minutes before the show began I volunteered to cover for her in this scene. There were only two singing lines and I already knew them because I am on the stage for the rest of the song. So I was feeling fine about it until the girl playing Annie asked me "Tanya, do you know all her lines?" Uh-oh. "She has lines?! Does she have very many?" Annie's eyes got really big. I panicked. "Can someone find me a script?" Everyone in the dressing room ran the lines with me and I thought I had it down. But then on stage I forgot my first line! Someone whispered it to me and I was fine after that. I filled in again the next night and was fine. I rushed a couple of lines but at least I remembered them all! This is the video from my second night filling in. Enjoy!

Talia Turns Six

I have been the worst blogger ever! Life just gets crazy and maybe someday I will have time to blog about all that craziness but for the time being this post is all about Talia. She keeps my life interesting and entertaining to say the least. This is her first year of school and I am not sure if kindergarten will ever be the same for her teachers. Back in October I had a parent teacher conference (typically they meet with each parent at the first grading period and then on an as needed basis after that). Here is how it went:

Mrs. R: Talia has been doing really well but I do have a couple of concerns. [This is when I start to think ok here we go] My first concern is her speech.
[I give a slightly puzzled look. Talia has an extremely small speech impediment. At the beginning of the year I signed a form giving my consent for her to meet with the speech therapist but I hardly consider her speech a major issue. The biggest problem is some beginning sounds like the letter J which comes out as a "sh" sound].

Me: I thought she was meeting with the therapist. What seems to be the problem?

Mrs. R: Well sometimes it becomes disruptive in class. [She seems hesitant to say this and I
feel even more confused. How is her speech disruptive? What does that even mean?]

Me: I guess I don't really understand what you mean.

Mrs. R: Well she has a hard time saying Jett's name and he gets really upset and then they get
into an argument in the middle of class. I had to put them at separate tables. [I decide I need to talk to Talia about this when I get home]

Me: Is there something I can do at home to work on it?

Mrs. R: No I just wanted to be aware of it. And there is also the issue of befriending the other kids in class.

Me: What do you mean? Is she being mean to other kids?

Mrs. R: No, but I did have a parent call and tell me that their child was told they can only sit by Talia in the cafeteria on Tuesdays. [I actually have to try not to laugh at this point]

Me: Well that is my fault. You see Talia came home from school one day and told me that a few of the kids were fighting over who could sit by her in the cafeteria so I told her that she could have them take turns. Some kids can sit by her on Tuesday and some can sit by her on Thursday. I really had no idea that this would cause problems.

Mrs. R: Well I would just like to see her branch out. She has her little cliche of girls that she plays with and they really just sort of stick together.

Me: Are they mean to other kids?

Mrs. R: No.

Me: Do the rest of the kids in the class all play with everyone? [I truly don't have a problem with her having a few close friends as long as she isn't mean to other kids. I actually think that it is fairly normal.]

Mrs. R: No. But she did make some of the other girls upset one day because she crawled through the bathroom on the floor under the stalls locking all the doors so no one could get in to use the toilets.

Me: Did you have her flip her card or move her car? Because I never heard about it. [They have some weird version of flipping their cards its a car and a traffic light....I don't really get it.]

Mrs. R: No, but I decided that there can't be so many girls in the bathroom at once and I don't let her go in without supervision any more.

Later at home I ask Talia about her teacher's remarks.

Me: Hey, Talia, were you climbing on the bathroom floor at school?

Talia: Did Mrs. R tell you that?

Me: Yes.

Talia: Then ya. I guess I did.

Me: Do you know how dirty that is? [Because while what she did was really naughty I am truly horrified by the germ factor]

Talia: I used the hand sanitizer in my locker when I got out of the bathroom.

Me: Are you going to do it again?

Talia: No mom. [Her tone sounds like her eyes were rolling] Mrs. R already talked to me about it.

Me: Mrs. R also said something about you arguing with Jett?

Talia: [getting very passionate and animated she tells me what happened] Every time I say his name he says "My name's not Shett my name is Shett!" Then I say I know I said "Shett" and he says not Shett, Shett! And then he's yelling and Mrs. R makes us sit back down at the table. And now she moved him to a different table and I am not allowed to pick him to be my partner for things. [It's all I can do to keep from laughing. Now I understand the disruption. Their shouting match sounds awfully close to profane. Who ever would have thought that her minor speech impediment would cause such a raucous? What are the odds of a boy named Jett being in her class? And as terrible as it is I am constantly trying to find ways to make her say Jett because she is blissfully ignorant to the humor and it makes me laugh every time]

More Talia stories:

* Christine and Talia choreographed a dance routine to a song that plays on their toy keyboard. I asked why their choreography included crying to which Christine replied "because this song is called the blues." I was impressed that she had some understanding of what that meant. Then they went off into the other room and I heard Talia say "Hey Christine, is there a song on there called The Reds? 'Cause I like that color better."

* Talia's gym teacher is set to retire at the end of the year. He stopped me after school last week to tell me what Talia had done in class that day. They were playing a game called Jaws where the kids line up against the gym wall and some of the kids had to run across the gym on cue and try not to get tagged. Towards the end of the game only five kids remained on the wall. Talia was one of them. The teacher said "Ok everyone left, go!" Four of the kids ran across the gym. But Talia remained on the wall. "Hey Headrick! Why didn't you go?" Talia looked at him as if it was obvious. "Because I'm right!" He said he just laughed. He said in all his years of teaching he's never had a kid say that. Now every time he sees her he says "Hey Headrick, you're right!"

* At church we are giving out packs of Mentos to the kids as a birthday gift this year. Talia is the first birthday of the year and was really excited to get her Mentos but she didn't seem have to them when we got home. I asked her where they went and she said she ate them all. "In your class?" I asked. "No, in the Primary room. Because if you don't hurry and eat them all before class everyone asks if they can have one. I didn't want to share so I shoved them all in my mouth at once and at them as fast as I could." She demonstrated by shoving invisible candy into her mouth and puffing her cheeks out.

* We watched Soul-Surfer and half way through the movie she asked me when the girl's arm would start to grow back.

* On her birthday we went to watch Chris play basketball at the middle school. I let her run around on the stage and didn't worry too much about her. After his game (which he won) I discovered that Talia had been defacing the middle school desks by smashing glue stick all over the surface. I had to borrow a razor, cleaner, and paper towels from the janitor to clean it off...which took at least 15 minutes. The janitor was not amused.

* While Talia would still really really like to be a teenager when she grows up she is now also considering becoming a ninja. It's a toss up.

She is a blast and EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Is an adventure! I sure love my little girl.