Elsa lost her tooth

On Monday, Elsa was in school when her first tooth finally fell out. It's been loose for quite some time and she hasn't let Clint or me touch it, so we figured that we would let it fall out on it's own and it did, right in the middle of reading time at school. That night she put it under her pillow (in the cute bag that I made her), and the tooth fairy actually remembered to come this time.(not like her brothers) She got 2 quarters.

She is such a cutie with her "one tooth missing" grin. I especially love the top one on the left. (Dwayne syndrome and all.) When Elsa was born her eyes always looked crossed when she looked in a certain direction. When she was about 18 months I took her to a specialist and he told me she had Type 2 Dwayne's Syndrome, where she can't move her left eye to the left. It just moves to the right and center then stops. She doesn't know any different because she's always had it. It used to freak me out when she'd look to the left, now I think it's adorable. She's adorable!

Calvin.....what a kid

(This is what he made for me for Mothers Day in school. Pretty cool huh?!)

You gotta love this kid. He can drive you crazy sometimes, but then totally surprise you just by being a sweetheart. This morning when I woke up, I came out to the kitchen and on the way I smelled good things being made in the kitchen and the table was all set. (I thought it was Mothers Day again). Clint was out in the living room going over some papers for his meetings at church and he told me that Calvin was in the kitchen making pancakes for me. I was really happy, to say the least. They were really fluffy and delicious bytheway. Then, later in the day, at church, he was so good and volunteered to say the prayer in his class, and read a scripture for sharing time. Then, we came home. I wanted to go over the boys Faith in God requirements, but Calvin had a different idea. After Clint came into the picture Calvin sat and listened as we learned about the Aaronic Priesthood. When we were done and for the rest of the day, Calvin wanted to play "speed" with anyone who would play with him. We taught him how to play today and he totally loves it and is getting really good. (He hasn't beat me yet though, so how good can he be, right? :) J/k. I love that kid. He's been a great sport about it, when he loses, he just says,"I want a rematch!" and laughs. Calvin is so good with his sisters too. Also earlier today he put up a sign for Elsa and Abby's room so they could have a store. He loves to play with them and help them whenever he can. He is also a great brother to Dallin. I could go on and on about him, but for now enjoy the pictures....look how much he has grown. I just measured him again and he grew 4 inches since November. Crazy!

Oh yeah! How can I forget? Calvin's 2nd grade class had flag ceremony on Friday and Calvin was so excited because he was going to help with one of the flags. He told me he was going to carry the blue flag. I said, "You mean the Nevada flag?" He excitedly said, "Yeah!" Well he did a great job and for some reason he carried the U.S. flag, but that's o.k. he still did awesome. His class sang"God bless America", which he had practice all week, and sounded great. He's such a great helper!Calvin loved Spiderman. This is him slinging his web while waiting in line at Disneyland.So strong!He was about 4 years oldFishing on the curb with Elsa and her "twin" Scott Keele
aka, he is a year older. 2004Pirate Calvin in 2004I love this picture
2004Look at Abby's hair. I'm so glad it's back!

New Mothers day post

I finally finished my Mothers Day happenings. You have to scroll down a bit to read it because I started it then saved it to finish it later, then put another post on and now my mothers day is ready and it was posted in the same order that I wrote it.
Also I wanted to tell anyone who is interested that I opened Elsa's blog up to anyone. So if you want to read how she is doing with her SM you can go there now. Have a great day!

For all you Mothers out there! I was checking my emails and this was one of them....

Moms are the Best!

Everyone knows who the really famous moms in the world are. But in the United States alone, there are more than 80 million regular moms doing the real work of motherhood day in and day out—without any of the fanfare or fawning press coverage.

We read that the average mom puts in a 13-hour day doing what she needs to do for her family, working paid and volunteer jobs, and doing family-related chores. That means more than a billion hours a day are spent every single day by moms taking care of the rest of us. Think about it. A billion hours a day. Even at a dollar an hour, that’s a lot of value.

But it’s the little things moms do that get us really choked up, especially when we think about that fact that these little scenes play out constantly in the lives of American families.

For example, one friend’s 2-year-old had been working really hard with the sidewalk chalk when big raindrops started to fall from the sky. The mom and her daughter dashed inside only to watch the masterpiece melt in the rain. The 2-year-old did what kids that age do—she melted down. And so her mom took her down to the laundry room, gave her more chalk, and let her recreate her masterpiece on the safe, dry walls, walls that had just been cleaned of fingerprints.

Another friend, who’s going through all sorts of sad times with her extended family, has a tradition of baking her kids any kind of birthday cake they want. This year she set aside her troubles and made a giant rainbow explosion of a cake—just as her daughter hoped for, because moms don’t let their own broken hearts get in the way of their kids’ dreams.

You probably have memories of your own mom reading stories to you at night, or digging through the trash can for your retainer, or of the time she drove you all over town looking for just the right kind of soccer shoes. And if you’re a mom, you’ve probably done these things yourself.

And if that’s the case, you probably shrug and say it’s all in a day’s work. But it’s more than that. It’s a lot more than that. It’s the kind of work that makes everything possible for the people who will one day be running the world. It’s the kind of work that makes all the difference for us when we need it most.

Here’s to all those moms out there making the future great, one small, quiet act at a time. We owe you more than you could ever know.

--Martha Brockenbrough

Mothers Day

Today was a pretty good day. I went to church and was able to go to relief society because the Young Women took over our primary classes. The bishop had tiles made for all the women 18 years and older that said "Find joy in the journey", unfortunately by the time I got back to the back where the Young Men were handing them out, they were all gone. So the Relief Society president asked who didn't get one and I raised my high so the lady sitting in the same row who took 4 tiles would see that some women did not get one. (she didn't do anything). Oh well, she must have 3 less-active women that she visit teaches or something. Anyway, I'll get one eventually. There was a cute little family that brought roses made of velvet and also chocolates and were passing them out to all the women because they were grateful to everyone for treating them kindly when they started coming to our ward. Their kids are adorable, ages 5, 8, &10. When we got home, Calvin made me a sandwich and Abby made me one too.(I think she did because Calvin did). So sweet! Then, the kids let me take a nap. (I slept for about 2 hours, I must've needed it). Then, Clint and the boys cooked hotdogs and hamburgers on the grill and the boys did everything so I didn't have to lift a finger. Then, they cleaned it all up. Then, the kids and I played t.v. tag out back, then we had ice cream. It was a good Mothers day for me.Aren't they so cute?!Thanks to Abby we have this picture to remember Mom playing T.V. tag

Elsa's art work

Dallin is 10 years old. When Clint and I got home from our trek, it was Dallin's birthday. So Grandma had made a cake and Dallin wanted to go to Cici's Pizza, so we went, then came home and opened presents and ate cake. It was a nice evening. As you can see, he got some nice things. Especially the clothes from Aunt Lisa which were sorely needed. (Can you believe he's wearing a size 12, in length. He totally has to wear a belt.) She also gave him a game called Pictureka. Anyway, he also got a little guitar hero game and a book of magic tricks which he loves from Aunt Danielle, and Stephani, and Uncle Anthony. And a harmonica and book to teach him how to play and money for his account from Grandma and Papa. A Fly fusion pentop computer from his favorite parents. (He's been asking for it since it came out about a year ago.) Also a spygear game and Webelos stuff for scouts. He loves being in scouts and is doing so well in it. He's a good looking kid, isn't he?!

Easter at last

.....Yes I'm finally writing about our Easter. Well, Grandma and Papa were still here Easter morning so we had a nice breakfast and Easter egg hunt. Then, we all went to church and then Grandma and Papa left to go home and we had a nice rest of the day. Here are some pictures to enjoy.....Abby had a hard morning that day. She didn't want to put on her shoes. (Lately she does not like to wear shoes, and if she has to go anywhere then she will wear flip flops. She drives me crazy at times.) Well, I don't think flip flops are suitable for church so Sundays are stressful trying to get Abby ready. This Sunday, I told her she could not hunt easter eggs if she did not wear her NEW EASTER sunday shoes. (When I was a girl and my mom bought me new shoes or anything, I would look forward to wearing them.) As you can see from the photo above, she did not like that idea, yet she still did not want to wear her shoes. (And, NO, her shoes aren't too small, or hurt in any way. I checked that already to rule out actual pain or irritability. I think it is just a phase or a control issue.) Anyway, as you can see in the next photo, she didn't have her shoes on and did not participate in the hunt. When she saw all the fun she was missing, she hurried and put on her shoes and by the time she got back outside all the eggs were found, so her nice brothers and sister hid some of the eggs they found so she could find some and have some fun too. We were proud of our children that day. I think they had more fun hiding them than finding them. I'm also proud to say that Abby kept her shoes on all through church. Yeah! Abby has her shoes on!