Family Time

After Jenna's soccer game, the girls and I went to Target to pick up a few things.  Two requests from the girls were for a bubble blower and a large ball from the ball bin.  They were so tickled to add these things to our cart.  When we got home, we promptly tested out the bubble blower which worked most excellently.  Kelly set up the volleyball net, and we used the big ball to play some funky 'volleyball.'  I love these times with our kids.  My own memories of my parents playing with us are few, but they are imprinted in my brain because they were fun.  Playing a game around the table, taking a walk or going on a vacation with my family was super special.  My girls get time with their mom and dad every week if not every day.  Will they remember the moments as special, unique moments?  Will they assume that's how it is in every family?  Or will they know, as we hope they do, that they were loved and cherished and thoroughly enjoyed by their mom and dad?  I hope above all else that the last question will be a resounding yes because we absolutely cherish and enjoy these girls beyond what words can express.

Soccer & Friends

 Jenna's friend, MacKenzie, came to her soccer game today with Sarah, their mutual friend.  It was so cute to see them so excited to be with each other.  Ava and Grace V. joined in for a picture too.  The girls were all students at Moiola together before the school was closed.  It's so great that many of the girls from Moiola are on the soccer team together even though Jenna has been separated from them at school.  

Seeds and Spring

 3•15•13  Planting grass seeds in containers; Jenna names her Eggbert

 3•20•13  First day of Spring, and the first day our grass seed sprouted

3•20•13  Jenna makes a spring lamb and a egg-shaped marshmallow pop at Activity Days

St. Patrick's Day & Gratitude

The best we could get going for Saint Patrick's Day was two of us wearing some green to church.  I know, right?  I think the Sunday holiday just threw me, and I came up a little short this year.  Oh well.  Heather did back us a cake after church, all by herself, and she decorated it for St. Patrick's Day.  We called it good.  Thanks Heather!

For family night, which we've been doing on Sunday because of Monday night sports, I taught a lesson about gratitude based on Henry B. Eyring's talk, "The Choice to Be Grateful."  He challenged the youth to make a list of 100 things they were grateful for and suggested they accomplish this by using ten categories with ten items in each.  We got out our white board and used categories I had pre-chosen.  Everyone was having fun shouting out their items, and our list filled up in no time.  In December, I had made Gratitude Journals for my girls, but they didn't really take off with the concept right away.  We re-intoduced them pointing out that if we could think of 100 items in one sitting, five a day should be a piece of cake.  I got out the Gratitude Journal I had started in 2008 and read an entry which they enjoyed hearing.  The lesson was a success.  Heather doesn't enjoy writing as much, but she used drawings and speech bubbles for her first entry.  Jenna did the five items and elaborated on two which we had talked about doing if you feel like it.  Her entry astounded me (she wanted me to read it).  I love it when the kids catch on and run with it!

Soccer & Volleyball

 Divide and conquer today! Kelly and Heather were off at 6:00AM and heading out to Mount SAC, and Jenna and I headed to the hills in Newport Beach for a 9:00AM soccer game.  It was cold and foggy outside!  We were done in time to dash up to Heather's second and third games.  We love watching our kids' sporting events.  I love taking pictures, but Jenna's game was a little foggy.  Heather caught me shooting at her game and performed accordingly.  Then she got back to business.

Why I Love Heather

There are many reasons why I love Heather, but here are just a few.  Heather is happy 99.9% of the time.  She does not complain, she smiles and laughs easily, and she bounces around the house doing whatever it is (playing or working) with a happy attitude.  The other thing I love is her sense of humor. She is gifted when it comes to the deeper meaning in literature and in life, but she can be simply silly at any given moment which keeps us smiling.

The top picture shows Heather eating breakfast on a tournament morning...it's really early in the morning, it's cold, and she's happy.  The bottom picture shows some notes I found on my desk while cleaning it off today.  Heather uses our office computer to play games, and apparently she has time to artistically practice her name writing or see humor in the to-do list I left lying there.

I love this girl.

Why I Love Jenna

There are many reasons why I love Jenna, but here are two.  First, she loves to display her work.  In the top picture you see a picture of the Super Shaggy Sandwich she made for lunch on Sunday (3/10) along with her white grape juice spritzer and herself eating her creation.  She sat down in the living room and said, "Mom! Where's your camera? You need to Pin this!"  She meant put it on Instagram, but it was very cute.  She photographed her sandwich, drink and had me take her photo all so we could share it via public media.  She is kind of artistic this way, and I love it.

Another thing I love about Jenna is just when you can't figure out if she's taking information in in general, she notices a detail that lets me know she notices a lot.  On March 13, she noticed that our oven clock read 3:13 PM, and she exclaimed, "It's 3:13 on 3-13!"  We tried to photograph the oven clock, but it switched over to 3:14, so we quick grabbed a screen shot of the calendar on my phone.  This isn't the first time she has noticed detail and frequently notices things from a witty play-on-words in an advertisement to sunsets she runs to tell me about because she knows I'll love them.

I love this girl.