Sick Winter

Eva just gave me this card:

"I had to stay home cuz I was sick. I did not like staying home."

Last week I woke up to this pop-popping sound. At first I thought is was Eva hiding by my bed making the noise somehow. Turns out it was Samuel wiggling his toe, he was thrilled with the noise it was making and said, "I sound like a horse!" I was grossed out because it was making something in his ankle pop everytime he did it. He then complained about his ankle hurting. Since my sister and my friend, Kristi, (two of the best moms I know) have both ignored their sons complaints when they had actual broken arms, I got all concerned and took him in to the doctor. Turns out it was nothing, it is just a freakish thing that Samuel can do with his foot.

So, today I was back at the doctor's office with Eva, who has croup. The doctor saw us and said, "What tricks are you guys going to show us today?" I asked him if I could get a punch card for all of my visits (he saw both kids with croup last month and, of course, the toe). He answered, "Yeah, like Cafe Rio, your 11th visit is free." Eva is sad that she couldn't go to preschool. She wasn't sad until she realized that she wasn't going to be able to ride in the car that she thinks is the best one in the carpool... a minivan with a tv and occasional snacks.

I hesitate to complain. Abbi, my sister in law, is very very sick right now. She has been in the hospital since the 18th with strep, pneumonia, and then ARDS. I feel so bad for her. For an update on her, check out her blog: http://www.doggyshow.blogspot.com/. Her husband, Ryan, has been updating it.

worth the hours

Went to this kid fair thing.

They had a photographer there that day that had photo shoots for 10 dollars. The nut I am, I waited in line for over an hour to get a picture of these kids.

They kept themselves busy with paper airplanes and dental floss. Yep, dental floss.

This mommy thinks it was totally worth the wait.

The photographer told Samuel to back up and Samuel just kept going and knocked down the 10 foot backdrop. Still worth it.

easter at grandmas and happy birthday to karl

Grandma Geddes had Easter goodies for the kids and Grandma Gutke set them up for the kids.

We also celebrated Karl's birthday.

Love this picture of Eva.

Easter Morning

We have a tradition of finding eggs from the Easter Bunny in our backyard on Easter Morning. This year the morning started off with Eva finding the bag of eggs that were supposed to be from the Easter Bunny. So, Eva and Sam watched out the back window as Karl hid the eggs. We ended up telling the kids that the Easter Bunny thought we were going to Logan so he hid the eggs up there.

I loved putting together their Easter outfits. My mom found a bed skirt at Dillards for a super mega bargain and I used it to make Eva's dress.

Karl was in charge of Samuel's hair. Notice Samuel's pink shirt. Samuel is all about blue. He likes blue everything and thinks that boys like blue and girls like pink. The week before Easter we were sitting in church and our friends walked in. Samuel says in a really loud voice and pointing to the dad, "He is wearing a pink shirt!" and then laughed a menacing laugh. He seemed to forget the whole thing when we put this shirt on him.

Easter Egg Hunt

Our city has an Easter egg hunt every year. This is the 3rd year that we have done it. The first year Eva and Sam didn't know what to do. The second year it seemed like a few people (mostly kids dragged by their really fast parents) got a ton of eggs and then the rest of the kids got nothing. This year they made a new rule, "No parents helping" and put out three times as many eggs.

A fire engine siren goes off and all these toddlers start running like crazy. The parents are all yelling at the kids to pick up eggs. Eva, Samuel and their friends just started running as fast as they could, passing up all the eggs in the mean time. They just had fun in all the chaos and trying to get as far as they could
Eva, Samuel and their friends Anna and Sara

The kids got their faces painted like bunnies.

Stages

Look at the pure joy on Samuel's face.

I love this stage... where the kid thinks you can't see them because they can't see you. Sometimes Eva will hide like in my room and then yell, "Dad! We're in the living room!" and then she can't figure out how we know where she really is. My favorite thing is that this innocence comes with believing that my kiss makes their injuries feel better. Sometimes Samuel will just run up to me crying and say, "Can you kiss it?" and point to somewhere. I will kiss it, he will stop crying, and run off and play like nothing happened. I will be so sad when my kids grow out of this stage.

Here is some more evidence of the innocence of this stage in life (not jus that Samuel gets so much joy from this swing at this park on any given day)... Can you see how Samuel has, "Sam" written on his shirt in red pen? She also "labeled" his pants. When I told her she shouldn't write on clothes, she said, "How did you know I did it?"

Summer Winter Summer Winter...

We thought that summer was here and pulled out all the ride on toys (yes, we only have two kids, but they had friends over). The next morning we were surprised with this. We keep getting teased with bits of nice weather and then we get dumped on.

can't forget march

Took the kids to Fat Cats for some bowling and games.

Went to a cute little cafe in Draper and Paula ordered a hot chocolate. Before we knew it, all the kids had their straws in the hot chocolate and it was gone.

Samuel made his own sandwich. So proud and surprisingly precise.

Living here, sometimes I forget my kids are half Japanese.

But I see them eat, and there is not question.

Natto, gyoza, miso soup, and seaweed.

Food aside. I love those faces.

One day I will be amazed that these three kids all fit in a cart like this.

Eva made this apron in school.

Visiting our friend Betty. She is so sweet and loves seeing the kids.

Like I was saying. I love those faces.

Eva is the next Stephen King

About a month ago, Eva came crying in the middle of the night scared of a nightmare that she just had. She was afraid to talk about but she said that there were "Aeralers." She later explained that "Aeralers" are things that look like real people but you know that they aren't real people because they make thinks float. She said in her dream she went in the kitchen to get a drink and there was an "Aeraler" in there. She knew that it wasn't a real person and that it was an "Aeraler" trying to trick her because the step stool was floating. She still talks about them. Here is a picture of Eva and Samuel dressing up in Karl's clothes. Eva said, "Samuel is a ghost and I am an Aeraler."

A Big Huge Thanks

These are my friends and I love them very much. We ironically call ourselves the "Pinks" after the Pink Ladies on the movie Grease. Ironic because we are nothing like the real Pink Ladies... we just watched that movie a thousand times in high school and dressed up like them for Halloween one year. So, here we are sixteen years and a total of 15 kids later at the park. T, who is not shown, is off being hip in Chicago. Each one of these girls are seriously neat people. In a world where so many people are making less an less sense to me, one of the highest compliments I can pay to anyone is that they make sense. These girls make some serious (but not always serious, of course) sense. I love it.

For my birthday this year they did the neatest and most thoughtful thing ever. 11 days before my birthday, Kristi shows up with a little gift (chocolate dipped pretzels... I love stuff dipped in chocolate) and a mysterious message about it being the "First day." Well, on the second day, Cyd shows up with a gift and a message about it being the "Second day." I finally caught on. I was excited because I knew that meant I was going to see my friends everyday until my birthday. See that super cute tray above and that cake stand (I love cake stands so so much)? Those were part of it. I got the neatest stuff... a handmade book, a candy shopping spree to Blockbuster, an inspirational book, an action B&W photo of me and my kids at the park, lunch at the super delicious Food for Thought in Draper...

So, instead of dreading the big day, I was looking forward to each day leading up to it. On the final day we had a fabulously girly lunch of a big salad and homemade bread at Kristi's. Kristi had this quilt that she made for me waiting. I am so blessed to have such good friends. On the side it is quilted, "Pookie, you are loved... Think Pink." I was so touched and got all teary and grateful.

Here are most of our kids, playing at the playground. I just kept thinking about the journey that we have been on as we sat and watched our kids play. I was grateful in high school, then in college, but who knew that I would be the most grateful for them 16 years later? If I had the skills I would bust out in some ballad that I wrote for you guys about how much you mean to me. But I don't, so I just chose to go on and on and on about you guys in my blog/new life.

a great way to celebrate

Lunch with friends. Lunch with THESE friends. I love it. I love them.

The Relief Society dinner is always around my birthday. This night is was on my birthday.

I thought the aprons were very cute and the dinner was lovely.