Ainsleys Birthday

Ainsley had her 5th birthday the end of last month. I promised her a birthday part so we threw one together. It turned out to be quite fun. She wanted a swimming pool cake so she got one.

We had one boy we invited and he had no problem being the only boy. Didn't phase him a bit. The kids played pin the ponytail on the birthday girl, had hoola hoop contests, and water balloon tossing games. Ainsley got some fingernail polish and the girls wanted their nails painted. I said no, but Terry ended up giving them what they wanted. I think he painted all the kids toe nails. Then they had cake and ice cream. A fun time was had by all.

Dance Recital

Abby and Ainsley had a dance recital a few weeks ago. They both did great and it was fun to watch them on stage. Here are some pictures.


Abby with her teacher.

Ainsley with her teacher.

Sisters, Sisters, never were there such devoted sisters. . .

Taken when they did their class dance pictures. I wouldn't have bought any, but I knew the girl doing the pictures so she talked me into it. She got some cute ones of the two together.

Ainsley's Spiritual Experience

Ainsley is a funny child. She is the child who is always laughing about toots and she says the naughty words (not really naughty, but she isn't supposed to say them). She has decided that sounding out part of the word is okay and it isn't supposed to get her in trouble. So if she were mad at me she might say, "I h-h-h-a-a-t-t-t-e . . . (although we don't say that in our house except my kids have told me they do say it in their minds sometimes. :)WHAT?!

Anyway, the other day I was sitting with Ainsley talking to her and she was saying something and started talking about that word we are supposed to only say when we are reverant and it is "G-G-o. . .and she finally said it very quietly, "God." And then she quickly said very seriously with her hands on her heart, "I am really feeling the spirit." That struck my funny bone so much I burst out laughing, but quickly told her I was glad she was feeling the spirit.

Samisms

There are some things I have been thinking about lately that Sam does that make me smile. I just wanted to write them down so I will remember.

He often rests his chin in his hands when he is talking to me. It is so cute.

He is our little ghostbuster and runs around the house killing ghosts with his light saber. He has even used Thomas the Train to "scratch" them. He finds ghost under his lumpy sheets all the time.

When we are ready to have family prayer he often will get up and leave the room and come running in and slide into our family circle--like he is sliding into home base. It is funny looking.

He is OBSESSED with animals. He plays with little animal figures all day long. He loves to look at National Geographic for his bedtime stories. He loves the informational books like Readers Digest Nature Guide and I love hearing his little 3-year-old pronunciations of those big animal names--and he is pretty good at identifying a lot of them.

When he isn't throwing big temper tantrums, he is really excited and bubbly. Every time he comes out of nursery after church he comes literally bouncing and bounding down the hall yelling "Mom I had a good nursery!!!!"

I love hearing his little sweet voice singing "I love to see the temple" while he is laying on his bed.

He gets really mad if I clean his room for him. I mean he will have a meltdown if he comes in and finds I have made his bed for him. So if I want it done I say, "Sam I am going to clean your room." And he starts screaming saying "No! I am going to do it." And he gets it really clean!

He absolutely will not allow his hair to be spiked in any way. It has to be laying down flat against his head.

Anyway, those are the only ones I can think of right now and even though I DREAD his tantrums, I love his little sparkling personality.

Pinky Finger

A couple of Thursdays ago, I was in the kitchen starting dinner when I heard the door slam, followed by Isaac's cry. I ran downstairs to see what had happened, and saw him standing with his pinky finger shut in the hinge side of a door. Ouch!! I tried to open the door, but Abby had locked it on the other side. I started screaming in panic to open the door. She finally opened it and we got Isaacs little mangled finger out. It was so squished and deformed. I ran him upstairs and washed the oozing blood off. I couldn't think what to do because he was dripping blood everywhere and I couldn't set him down to get something to wrap his finger in. I guess I am not a good thinker under stress. I finally called Terry who was at work in the ER and told him what had happened. He said to bring him in. So I quickly asked a friend to watch all my kids and then put Isaac in the car and drove to the hospital. I hadn't been able to wrap his hand in anything because I didn't want to hurt him and a band aid wouldn't stick to his bloody finger. So I just let him drip blood all over himself on the way to the hospital.

On my drive there, I calmed down and started thinking he was probably fine and Terry would probably just put a band-aid on and I had totally overreacted. Isaac was happily sucking on his pacifier and didn't seem too bothered by his finger.

So I walked into the ER feeling a little sheepish. Terry came out and looked at Isaacs finger and said, "Yep, thats a good one." So to make a long story shorter, Terry had to cut off Isaacs fingernail (it had been completely pulled out of the nailbed) and sew up a deep cut underneath where his nail had been. He had five stitches in that tiny little finger. They strapped Isaac in a little papoose board and he was sooooo mad. He finally wore himself out and fell asleep.

I have to admit that part way through I started feeling very sick. I didn't want to say anything, but I thought if I didn't then I might pass out. So I mentioned I didn't feel well. Terry just said, "Lay down." So I laid down next to Isaac for a few minutes till my lightheadedness and nausea had passed.

Isaac woke up when it was all over and I thought he wouldn't like Terry for a while. But he immediately wanted him to hold him. Since his finger has been taken care of he has hardly acknowlged his finger hurts, unless it gets bumped. What a tough little boy.

Easter

It has been so nice having Terry home this past week. He had five days off of work and I loved having a second parent around. On Wednesday Terry let me have a day away so I went to Rexburg and got a haircut, had lunch with Suzette at Applebees and I spent some money on decorations at the Rod and Vinyl store which I really love. I loved the conference talk on learning how to live within your means and not always getting what you want. So that talk haunted me a little as I was buying these things we definately don't need, but I wanted. However I love the result. Here is a photo. I bought the frames on the wall and the shelf beneath the temple picture.



The picture doesn't show the ribbon that I have put up that connects the frames so they look like they are hanging from ribbon. But you get the gist of it all.

Friday was Terry's birthday. He spent most of the day looking for a new bike (he is training for a sprint triathalon and decided his mountain bike just doesn't quite cut it) and he went in to help in Abby's class. That evening we decided to do a family outing so we all went to Craigos for dinner. My controlling nature came out again and I was going crazy seeing my kids constantly getting up and down and going to the food. I wanted them stationary. But in spite of that they loved eating there.





After dinner we went over to the Holt Arena for the Dodge National Rodeo. We weren't sure how the kids would do, but they loved it. Abby decided she really wants to be "one of those girls who rides horses". Ainsley watched in shock and awe the whole time. She was totally sober while she watched with wide eyes, but she said she liked it. Sam ended up putting his head down on the concrete stairs and laying there for most of the time. The whole experience was fun although we were a little disappointed not a single bullrider stayed on long enough to get a score.




And here is our Easter photo.

Made it!!!!

Terry went to Peru for twelve days on medical mission and I survived. I have basically been mothering alone for 3 weeks or more since he had to work a bunch before he left and wasn't home much and then since he came home he has been working again. WE haven't seen much of him but we are still glad he is back in the area. I was worried about how I would do while he was gone because I can start getting really irritable with the kids. But I prayed really hard that I could stay patient and calm with my kids and not feel I was ready to strangle them, and I ended up enduring well. :)

It helped that while Terry was gone we did some traveling of our own.

We took Terry to Salt Lake to catch his plane on Saturday and then on Monday--since my kids were out for spring break--we headed back down to Utah to visit my sister Jodi for a few days. The kids had fun playing with their cousins and I had fun visiting with Jodi. We had one outing where we went to BYU to the Bean Science Museum. I went there as a student and wasn't that impressed with it. But since I have spent hours and hours looking at animal books with Sam, I have developed a greater appreciation for wildlife. That museum was pretty cool and had tons of animals to look at. WE had 8 little kids 8 years and under with us and they were really well behaved. They all stuck together and they were so excited about what they were seeing.

After the museum we trekked across campus to the creamery for some ice cream. We all had a good time and Ellie was fascinated by all the college students going wherever they wanted to whenever they wanted to. She decided she would really like that. I love going back to BYU--although I hate the traffic.

After staying at Jodi's for a few days we came home for a night and then drove to Sugar City to stay with Sue for a night. Unfortunately Isaac got sick in the night and had a fever. I didn't have any medicine so I had to drive into Rexburg at 2 in the morning and look for a store that was open. I felt like a criminal being out at 2 in the morning because no one is out that late--except criminals :).

Anyway, after these travels we were ready to be back home and get back on schedule. Terry came home Wednesday and we were all so happy to see him. He had a good time in Peru, although he didn't get to help as many people as he had anticipated. Maybe next time.

Conference has been great the last two days. I have thought all the talks were good. I especially loved Elder Holland's. I hear a baby crying to that is all for now.