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What will be the first farm animal ed and alisha will get after moving to Texas?
Back to School | Posted by alisha on 05 Oct 2008The kids had a bad case of the silly willies today and as I was alone as kiem is now serving on the High Council- which means that he now does not attend our ward any more. So we had a silent wrestling match on the front row during sacrament meeting- as we were the only ones on the front row on account that we walked into church as the opening song was being sung- we ended up taking up about 3/4 of the row due to exploding and multipling of crayons that seemed to stretch on and on down the bench as the boys wiggled and squirmed and Sydney did her best to sing the songs when no songs were being sung and make the row behind us laugh out loud because of her smiles and her using me as a jungle gym.
We had a tender lesson on death in Relief Society, one member shared how after she lost her husband she wondered how she would raise her children and how she felt his protection over her during those years, and that he had been waiting for her on the other side to go to the temple and do their work- she and her husband were sealed last week in the temple. Another lady shared about losing her 21 year old son to cancer- and how we need to talk about those whom we have lost in the present- because all the great qualities they had in this life they still have.
After church I took the "silly willies" to the park to run "wind sprints" to hopefully wear them out and get them ready for father's blessings. Kiem came home from his day of meetings and gave blessings to the boys for the start of school, it was a tender time as they both felt the spirit and were comforted, I am grateful for the Comforter, to bless when I cannot and to help put my children's hands into the had of God- to trust that he has the power to help them even though they cannot see. I hope you are all well and are in my prayers, and thoughts constantly. I am really missing the great times we had together this summer and the memories of each of your dear faces keep me going forward, on the long days, when, I am tired and need more faith. Much love to all CarolineComments: Add | View (2)
Texas Part 2 | Posted by alisha on 05 Oct 2008No creature was stirring not even a mouse, that means a quite house and I can not sleep so I thought to add to my musings about our texas trip. You might remember the long hot sticky summers in Texas where the grass hoppers grew to be a good 3 inches long and how we would throw the unspecting hopper into the yellow and black spider web just for the sheer joy of seeing the attacking spider. I thinking to share some of my Texas heritage with my boys shared the story of the spider and red hornet wasp battle. The attacking spider and the red wasp fighting back.
Spiders and bugs, which I am not particularly fond of, are common favorites of most boys including mine (although the first few days there were squeals of terror when one would come near them). Once Jonah discovered the joy of catching them and keeping them our walks around the fishing pond were never the same. The first day they took their "habitat on the walk we came back with 20 rolly polly bugs, big and small. The next day it was a dragon fly and 2 centipedes that ran everywhere in the container. However when Jonah discovered spiders, the other bugs did not seem so exciting and from then on it was nothing but spiders. Wolf spiders to be exact. He caught 3 one day and took them over to Emily's when we went swiming, when he opened the lid to show Emily - the spider jumped as wolf spiders do but Emily jumped higher and squealed louder-rushing the tupperware container outside and offering to let them free in her garden.
Sadly, to Jonah the spider container was left at Emily's and so the next afternoon was spent searching and capturing spiders again 5 to be exact. From the extremely large to the very tiny their home became the 4 by 4 tupperware container with a few leaves. The next morning, there were only 3 and by the afternoon only one remained- the largest one(who ate the others) come to find out that spiders eat each other when they have no other bugs to eat.
Late one afternoon, the boys and I were playing in the front yard and I heard yelling mom come look at this black widow spider, to my knowledge they have never, read, seen etc anything about a black widow, so I go over thinking they do not know what they are talking about, however, with her back facing us you could see the hour glass, firery red. Quickly followed by the discussion of not sticking your hands in places where you can not see, and "please come away from there"
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Texas Part 1 | Posted by alisha on 20 Jul 2008So Thanks to Alisha I can now put things onto the family website- maybe my writing will improve here is part 1 of our month long trip to texas- hope you enjoy.
Having had our plans to move to Germany delayed and not wanting to miss the month trip planned to Texas (while Kiem would have been in Germany) and with some persuasion, the “children will get to know their cousins and grandparents” Kiem agreed to let us go.
Raechel and Wayne’s house
Having arrive late at night with LeeAnn and then stayed up in the early hours of the morning talking and laughing not to mention eating well more like me binging on the wonderful oatmeal chocolate cookies on a glass platter… the early morning chorus of hooray’s upon the discovery of the cousins brought a groggy awaking from a deep sleep.
Jonah, Caleb, Collin, Hallie, Lenae, Maddie, began the non- stop playing. (Sydney loved being constantly carried around by Lenae, and Maddie). We went swimming at the mini water park (yes- water slides to the delight of Jonah and Caleb) in walking distance from the house and later Robin and Jeremy arrived for the day with Sable, Valiant, Cannon and Emma. Ben and Cami with Carter, Eve, and Olivia came up from (NASA) to go to dinner with everyone. Raechel had gotten 2 babysitters for the 11 children, babies went with us, and we went to dinner, since finals were on Monday the sitters had to go home early so Raechel and I went back early from dinner.
The next days were spent at swim lessons at the YMCA, in the morning for my kids and Hallie, and afternoon for Maddie, Lenae, and Collin. Raechel and I worked out at the gym the first day but abandoned the effort, upon learning that the parent “must be present to take children to the potty, should the need arise” usually it is the urgent yell of the almost too late- I HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM- followed by the mad dash, and fumbling to pull down the pants… for boys it is the exploding spray followed by the “AIM at the HOLE”.
On Thursday we loaded up the Suburban to the maximum capacity and headed to Conroe for Blueberry picking. We arrived at around ten and saw the already weary mothers with buckets and children in tow trudging back from the blueberry farm. The man handing out buckets informed us that most of the berries were picked and we could go wherever we could to find berries. We headed out to the farthest part of the farm hoping to find some berries to fill the 8 buckets each person carried. We chose a row that had almost disappeared because the branches so were so close together, and began down the row. We began to hear the squeals of delight, “found the biggest berry ever”. For an hour we filled our buckets as fast as we could, pulling down the taller branches so the children could reach and helping them get up under the trees to get the “big” ones that were hard to get to. Until at last, the children were so hot and tired we too began trudging, well, some trudged and some got carried back from the farthest point in orchard, to the weighing station. At the station we took bids on how many pounds of blueberries we got. None of us were right, 16 pounds of blueberries in 60 minutes pretty good considering the little ones tasted quite a few. By the weighing station stood a snow cone stand, which considering the constant stream of sweat dripping down our red faces, how could we say no to cool refreshment. Remember the eight different requests for flavors became quite the feat because tigers blood, cherry and strawberry were all dark red …
NASA space center
Space the final frontier. Houston, we have a problem. Jonah, Caleb, Carter, Collin have disappeared into the multi-level maze, with multiple exits and a jungle of day campers. Ben, Raechel, Cami and I with the babies Eve and Hallie cramed into the suburban to begin our tour with Ben of Mission Control at the NASA Space Center. Ben favored us with lots of trivia and the children ran back and forth, down the hallways laughing, and giggling as if we had given them the greatest gift of all—a long hall. Eve won the contest for the cutest quip- unhappy that she was no longer allowed to run the halls and being unhappily carried by me, I tried to play the game of what animal do you like, " Do you like giraffe's -No, Elephants, No, Dolphin's NO- you get the picture- finally after about the 20th animal- Eve do you like the word no? A Triumpht YES!! Then I being the parent that I am "I'm so glad to have found something you like." to which to Quote JUNIE B. JONES KINDERGARTENER(Books we read at Raechel) She did a "Huffy". After NASA we went back to Ben and Cami's for Pizza and some good laughs with box cake from Cami- what a great time.
Swimming at Emily
The glories of a saltwater pool, nothing is more refreshing than a cool pool on a hot humid day. Every Tuesday we went out to Emily’s house to swim. We took the tollway because while it cost 4 dollars each way, it saved us 20 minutes of driving each way, a dollar every five minutes of road- whoever came up with the idea that we should pay taxes which pay for roads and then pay again every time we drive on them (forever) brilliantly duped us. Jonah and Caleb after swimming for 2 hours and eating usually macoroni and cheese and watching a movie with Cameron. Movie ending we would settle back in the car for the 40 minute (tollway) ride home exhausted and happy. 2 minutes into the ride a glance in the rear view mirror would reveal the bobbing heads (commonly known to parents whose children sleep in the car. Upon arriving home I would carry all three children sleeping children into Grandma’s up the stairs to the tree house room.Comments: Add | View (2)
Journey to Phoenix | Posted by caroline on 14 Jun 2005We will be leaving on Friday for Phoenix, to take a look around.Comments: Add
We've been trained | Posted by caroline on 14 Jun 2005I highly recommend the training by Ed Hewett, it was great and now you can see my children.Comments: Add
Page Last modified: October 05 2008.