Homecoming Princesses

Aren't they beautiful? Inside and out.

Sarah and Lizzy are sisters and best friends. I hope my girls are good buddies like these two when they are teenagers. And I hope my girls are as sweet and fun. One of the things I consider a huge blessing about being in young women's is that my little girls get to rub shoulders with the teenage girls I work with in church. They look up to my young women and want to be like them. They love having any of them come over for a visit or to babysit. They think it is funny that I have a "big" Sarah and a "big" Natalie" in young women's.

I would be so proud if my own girls turned out like the girls I get to be with at church. So I hope the fun, sweet, kind and hard working qualities I see in my young women rub off on and inspire my own little girls.

Another fun thing about my young women, like Sarah and Lizzy, is that I consider them my good friends, not just girls I happen to be a leader over. I really enjoy being around them and will always be their friends even when they graduate and move on. They are so sweet and actually consider me a friend as well. I appreciate that they don't just see me as an old lady that bosses them around. (o: Sarah and Lizzy often come to visit me when they have time. They even took the time to come and show me their beautiful dresses and hair on their way to the homecoming dance at school. That meant so much to me. Not only are they kind to me, but they are sweet to my girls, they visit some of the elderly people in the ward and genuinely love them, they are very ambitious and do great in school and they make good choices despite all the yucky things going on around them at school. I am proud of the way they are leading their lives already. They are going to do great things in life.

I am grateful for the high standards upheld by our church and that we try to live. (We are far from perfect, but we try.) I have seen first hand the wonderful results that can happen in teenager's lives if they catch the spirit of those high standards and live them with faith that they will be blessed for their strength. These girls know who they are and have a confidence that is rare in teen years. So many of the teenagers that surround them struggle with problems that come from poor choices - low self-esteem, relationship drama, pregnancy, selfishness, drug use, laziness and basically putting a HUGE emphasis on trying to fit in and impress their peers to make them feel important.

And the cool thing is that, just because many of my young women are genuinely good and aren't trying to impress everyone else - doesn't mean that they don't have a lot of friends. They are leaders and people are drawn to them. They are FUN and do crazy and funny things. They are definitely not boring. I feel honored to get to work with such great girls and hope that their awesome qualities will be passed on to my little girls.

Sarah's Prank Party

Look at all these cute girls. Sarah has such great friends. However, when you get 14 of them together (plus Nat and Angela) it's a little chaotic! But we had fun. (o: We had (from the bottom) Eliza, Sarah, Jensen, Phoenix, Monica, Mallory, Jenna, Alaina, Taylor, Hannah, Alisa, Eaden, Madeline, Natalie and Angela and Brianna came later. Sarah's so lucky to have so many good friends. I really like every single one of them.
And here was our big "Ta Da" prank cupcakes. I was so excited they turned out so good!
And they really tasted yummy too. The meatballs were cocoa pebbles made like Rice Krispie treats. My good friend Shannan let me use her nice frosting piping tools to make the frosting look like spaghetti. The red sauce was strawberry freezer jam and the Parmesan was grated white chocolate! I got this from my Cupcake! cookbook. The girls thought this was hilarious and some thought it looked so believable, they were hesitant or didn't eat the cupcakes at all!
Some other pranks that night were - handing out unsolvable mazes when they first arrived. Playing Pin the Tail on the Donkey and then declaring the winner, the one farthest away from the rump, eating gummy bugs, sending home a field trip permission form for a trip to outer space (a prank the kids could play on their parents when they got home). Sarah even set up a few pranks around the house, like putting a scrap of toilet paper in the toilet that had BOO! written in permanent marker. We put a Happy Easter sign on the door and other silly out of place decorations. It was a pretty fun theme to go with.

I got some pretty funny expressions from the girls as we played a funny prank-is game. I put gross feeling food items in paper sacks and had them try to guess which yucky ingredient it was for my Halloween brew. There were ears of newt (dried apricots), slug slime (cornstarch and water goo), eyeballs (peeled grapes), etc. This was a huge hit and pretty entertaining to watch the girls gross out as they very cautiously put their hand in the sacks. When Angela saw all their reactions she flat out refused to stick her hand in! (o:

Sarah wearing her silly glasses in an even sillier fashion.

I was so proud of Sarah for thinking of sweet Brianna when making her birthday invitations. This was totally Sarah, without any nudging from me. Brianna is in Sarah's primary class at church. She has autism, which was something Sarah wasn't very familiar with before she met Brianna a couple years ago. She now knows that just because Brianna can't communicate the same way as her doesn't mean that Sarah can't say hi or do nice things for her. She understands that when she says hi to Brianna at school, Brianna might not say hi back, but that it still makes her feel happy. I think Brianna had a fun time at the party. She loved wearing this funny headband that I let her borrow and looking at herself in the mirror. And she LOVED playing with the whoopee cushion that the girls each got for party favors along with wax mustaches and other silly things.

What a cutie. (o:

Party animals. I think Mo* had them dancing around after the Mad Gab game. He's always the life of the party!

Alaina is always so cute with Angela.

Notice the "4" candle on the cake. The pranks we thought of were endless... (o:

Mallory really got into the "prank" theme and put her present in this big huge box. Inside at the very bottom was a little envelope with some money. (o: This was so hilarious to all the girls and a very creative prank idea. And ironically, the box itself ended up being a big hit. Natalie and Angela were inside the box with crayons and decorating the inside it before the party was even over. That box was entertaining for the girls for days after. (o:

I think Sarah had a good time. I was totally exhausted at the end of that night after the OMSI field trip, violin lessons and the party with 15 girls running around. Sarah, if this isn't evidence that you are loved, I don't know what is. (o: Happy Birthday sweetie.

A close up of one of the cupcakes. Pretty funny eh?

OMSI Field Trip

The day of Sarah's birthday party, her whole third grade went on a field trip to OMSI.

I knew it would be a little crazy going on a field trip all day right before her big party, but really wanted to go with her. She had been struggling with her nausea and I wanted to be able to help her if it hit on the field trip and she needed a snack before lunch. We had a great time in the Chemistry lab - that was my favorite part. The IMAX bug movie we watched was pretty incredible too. I was able to have Sarah sneak some trail mix mid-morning to avoid her "funny feeling" and she had a great day.

I have to say, though, the rest of the field trip - besides those two things I mentioned above - was pretty stressful. It is really hard to keep track of 5 kids at OMSI! Especially when two of them like to wander off because they get distracted by all the interesting things to see. (o: There are so many exhibits all over, it is an easy place to lose someone. I spent most of the time running around, calling names and counting. Many of the other parents were doing the same thing and we just had to laugh. It was not relaxing!

And the bus ride . . . oh man. The ride to OMSI was miserable. I didn't get to sit by Sarah - I sat in the back by about 7 of the loudest boys on the planet who were trying to shoot the evil transformers driving behind us. (o: I should have been grateful, I'm sure it would have been a bummer to get blown up by a bad transformer guy. Instead I kept shushing their efforts to rid the world of evil mechanical villians.

It was stuffy and stinky and so incredibly loud. It was raining, so we couldn't open the windows and I was right by the heater and felt like I couldn't breathe. And all those boys in the stuffy bus emit some pretty smelly smells. The things I do for my child. I texted Bob* an S.O.S. signal, but he couldn't save me. (o: He was in a boring meeting with some annoying bigger boys, but I would have done anything to switch places with him in that moment. That is a rare occurrence. If the bus ride had been any longer I think I would have melted into a blubbering puddle of goo.

Eva, Monica's mom, is a good friend and I always enjoy getting to hang out with her when I can. We didn't get much time to hang out as we were chasing kids, but since the chemistry room had four walls to contain our kids, we got to relax for a moment. Don't we look awesome?

Happy 9th Birthday Sarah!

I often get the girls a balloon for their birthdays. Angela and I found this eyeball since it was Halloween-time and knew it was just quirky and funny enough that Sarah would LOVE it. She was so excited when we walked in the lunchroom. She loves funny stuff like this. And all the kids in her class were loving it too. They would try to avoid its gaze as it floated around in circles (like the eye on Lord of the Rings) or make jokes like, "Sarah's got her eye on me!" and add "Get it?"

What in the world?

I say this every year for every one of my girls' birthdays. How did this happen? How do I have a 9 year old? This parenthood thing is going way to fast for my taste. I always feel a little panicky like, "Okay I better really start doing all the things I know I should before it's too late." There's not much time to teach Sarah everything I want to teach her. Unfortunately, a lot of the things I want to teach her are things I need to do by example and I have a lot of flaws. But so far, Sarah is turning out pretty great despite my weaknesses.

Despite the fact that I hate seeing my baby grow up and get ever closer to spreading her wings, I am really enjoying the age that Sarah is at. She is a lot of fun and constantly making me laugh. And when she sees that she's really said or done something that crack me up, she gets this twinkle in her eye of pure joy. She loves to be funny. (o: Sarah is a prankster and the party theme she picked for her party that I'll write about later was so perfect. Every day she is sneaking behind me trying to surprise me with a little tap on the back and a loud "BOO!" because I am so jumpy. She loves to make up her own jokes, write silly stories, and do little pranks around the house. For instance, on my Personal Progress whiteboard - where I keep track of goals I am working on (which hasn't been updated since the summer), Sarah added her own note, "I must feed Sarah brownies." which I discovered later. (o: Sarah still enjoys playing with her sisters, but usually in a leading role now. As the teacher, reading them a book, folding origami shapes for them, etc. She is very sweet with them about 70% of the time. The rest of the time she is annoyed. (o: She insists on her own space more these days and can get a little snippy.

Sarah is at an age where fairness is a HUGE deal. Everything should be equal - at least when it's something she is missing out on. (o: There are many injustices in her world these days. Like when I try to make her eat healthy things. The other day we had a standoff over grapes. She refused to eat them, I refused to back down. 2 1/2 hours later (of doing nothing because she wasn't excused from the table) she ate her grapes. Then promptly after she was excused I received a paper airplane note that let me know, "You are mean." (o: It was kind of cute, actually. We made up and I explained why I was being so stubborn - the "I love you and want you to be healthy and strong" speech. I think she still thought it was unjust, but she was able to move on and stop being mad.

Sarah is a very sweet girl and has lots of friends because she is just a lot of fun. She is thoughtful and tries to be kind and loves to be good for her teachers at school and church. I really enjoy being with her. I loved the times in Disneyland when it was just the two of us. She is my good buddy and we have some pretty good talks now that she is old enough to understand more about life. I love the way she really thinks about things and asks really deep questions. She is a smart cookie.

I love you Sarah!

What better way to celebrate your birthday then to visit the pediatrician? Why not? We first met Karen back when Sarah was first born. She's been our pediatrician since I became a mom and has always lent an empathetic ear and shared good advice through our various illnesses and check ups.

I've mentioned in other posts, Sarah's bout of nausea that has been getting worse and seemed to peak on the morning of her birthday. I was so sad that she couldn't even be happy on the morning of her birthday because she didn't feel well and scheduled a checkup that day. She felt much better after Dr. H. talked with her about some changes she could try with the way she eats. It has helped and the vicious cycle of nausea and anxiety has significantly dropped since then. Thanks Dr. H!

Sarah talking to Grandma P. about her day.

Presents! Sarah's favorite part of her birthday.

SpongeBob and Legos - the perfect combination for this 9 year old. She and daddy had this completely built by the next night. Since then she has performed several entertaining episodes using this set.

Sarah requested edemame and Swedish meatballs for her birthday dinner. I know it's lame, but I didn't make her a cake because we just had cupcakes for Twilight's celebration and we were making more for her friend party. So she got a candle in her meatball! (O:

Sarah loves everything Roald Dahl (author of several books including Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Twits, etc.) She loves this movie Angela gave her. It's pretty cute and we highly recommend it, but watch out if your kids scare easily because Ms. Trenchbowl (not sure if I spelled that right) is a bit scary to little ones. We all think she's hilarious though. Our favorite line is when a little girl at her school says, "I know how to spell Difficulty with a poem Mrs. Honey taught us. Mrs. D, Mrs. I, Mrs. F-F-I, Mrs. C, Mrs. U, Mrs. L-T-Y." Then Mrs. Trenchbowl replies with an angry snarl, "Why are all these women married?" he he - makes us laugh every time.

This is Sarah's invitation she made for her friend birthday party. A Party Full of Pranks! I originally had it typed up as a Prank Party, but Hal* pointed out that it might confuse people into thinking the whole party and invitation were just a prank. (o:

When the girls opened their card, this little spider popped out at them. (o:

A New Garden Favorite

These are our beautiful Autumn Gold raspberries. We are still getting them! We got a TON this year. Not sure what happened to the red respberries I supposedly planted in between these, but hey - these seem a little sweeter to me, so I wasn't too sad.

As usual, we also had tomatoes, zuchinni, lettuce, peppers, basil, cucumbers, blueberries and cilantro. We also tried cauliflower this year which did well. We had Asian pears coming out of our ears and could not keep up with them. For some reason our green beans never worked (how do you mess those up?) And the grapes I feel terrible about never getting to harvest. We were out of town around the time they ripened. I always do overkill on our garden and can't keep up when things get busy, but our garden makes me so happy. Natalie and Bert *LOVE our harvest too. I hope someday Sarah and Angela will appreciate all the yummy things we grow right in our backyard. If we could find a hot dog bush, we'd be in business!

What-Matters-Most

I have been MIA for a while - with things that don't really matter AND things that "Matter Most". I found this wonderful video with wise words from our prophet on lds.org today and it really hit home. Sometimes I get a little side tracked with things that don't "matter most" and I want to apologize to all those out there - friends and family - whom I love dearly, but haven't shown it as much as I could because I was too busy with less important things. A dear friend of mine lost her mother unexpectedly just last week and she has been on my mind a lot. My heart has ached for her and I've thought a lot about what she must be going through right now and how I would feel to lose someone so close to me. Life is so precious and so fragile. I hope to try and be better to show my love those around me (and those faraway) while I can because we just don't know how much time we have here together. Love you all...

What-Matters-Most

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