Poor Grace

A convo between my friends Allison & Bator (a known amazing Thai cook) and my Grace...


Allison:  "How are you Grace?"

Grace:  "Very bad"

Allison:  "Why are you very bad?"

Grace:  "Because my mom says we're having leftovers for dinner and I can't handle it."



Bator:  "You can come to my house for dinner."


Grace:  "Ok.  I'll be there!"


P.S.  I'd take Bator's meal over mine any day!

Grace's heart update

Grace had her annual echo & EKG yesterday.  Preliminary results are good; no significant change in the amount of leakage of her valve and pressure on the right side of her heart.  We spoke with Dr. d about what comes next...  Grace will have an MRI in the next few months for more specific data and to compare it to her MRI from 3 years ago.  I looks like a surgical "fix" for her pulmonary valve will happen in a few years.  We don't want the right side of the heart to weaken too much in the interest of her long term health.  We don't want to do surgery too soon because she's still growing and we want as few invasive surgeries as possible.  It's such a blessing to have such good care at Children's.  Dr. d takes her time with us and has good conversations with Grace.  It's comforting to know that Grace is on the right treatment path for her heart.  Wesley was there today and had fun watching Christmas movies with Grace while she got her echo.

We picked up the kids, went out for pizza (realized from Wesley's nonstop chatter mocking us mocking him, that the pitcher of rootbeer must have been Barq's), came home and felt tired with relief and gladness (& the Barq's wearing off).  We all were so thankful for Grace's good news today.  We know that every good thing; any peace and every joy in our lives is because of the love and grace of our Saviour.

Merry Christmas!

Little surprises

I set up our Christmas advent calendar a couple days after Thanksgiving.  Grace immediately was on me to fill the cupboards.  I didn't get to it right away, and when I finally did on Dec. 1, I found little surprises behind each door... a pebble, a penny, a jingle bell, a mini eraser, etc.  I love the excitement the kids have for celebrating Christmas!

Back to School

Monday night we had a nice Back to School dinner:

Trader Joe's Tri Tip

Sweet Corn * Green Salad

Fresh Squeezed Lemonade

&

Boston Cream Pie

We had a short Family Home Evening: reviewed our new schedule and
Wayne gave ALL of our kids father's blessings since they will ALL be in school this year!  So, maybe it wasn't such a short FHE, but it was really nice, and I felt so much pride and joy for our children who are all simply amazing souls in my eyes.

This morning I got up early to take Christina to her bus stop.  Seminary doesn't start until next week, so we can "sleep in" until 6am this week.  Christina had a great 1st day and said, "I didn't get lost!"

Thomas has a great set of teachers this year.  They are the same teacher Christina had in 6th grade.  Mrs. E. has battled cancer and Thomas is so fortunate to have such a dedicated, marvelous teacher for math and science.  Thomas wanted a profile pic this a.m., to show how much he packed in his backpack.

Grace was hoping for a good first day; that she "wouldn't be nervous, scared, or throw up." All went well.

Caroline found her friends quickly at class line up in the a.m., but did look back to find me and give me a BIG wave as she went into school.  This was Caroline's first day of ALL day school since she just had 1/2 day Kindergarten.  I missed her!!!  For some reason that extra couple hours seemed like forever to me. 

Wesley's first day is coming soon.... unbelievable!

We love our grandparents!

sweet Caroline & grandma Ilene

We had such big, full days and evenings that Grace shed some tears of exhaustion at church on Sunday.  She was happy to find some true TLC from grandpa.  His hugs are about the best ever.

Big hugs for big boy, Wesley...

Wesley loved his walks with grandpa

Aprons from Ama, sewn with love

Ama & Caroline

Spa Party for Grace & Caroline

Grandma Ilene is a skincare professional. She's sold for Jafra Cosmetics for decades and knows her stuff. SO, one of the plans we made for her trip east was to throw a simple and sweet spa party for Grace & Caroline. The girls had fun having their "foot pamper," and Grace wanted cucumbers on her eyes, so Gma said, "well then we'll have to have a mask too." Perfect!

Grace's toes were TICKLISH!!!

Ama painted the girls' toes oh, so pretty....

Aunt Sherry worked her magic with personalized cakes for each girl. Her fondant is made of melted marshmallows.

Crystals hanging from the light fixture and strewn on the table were from Michael's, as was the glitter cardstock I used to make the chargers.

Goody bags were filled with mints, a personalized washcloth (thanks, Jan for embroidering those for me!), the headband the girls chose to wear for their facial, and peppermint patties.

My friend Lee made these cute scalloped tanks. The girls wore them right away.

Thanks, cousin Mattie for the nail polish!

Happy, Happy Birthday

to our "twinners" born exactly 2 years & 5 minutes apart!

XO,

dad, mom, Nina, Bub & Wes

Heaven on Earth- Grace's Baptism

Grace was baptized on Saturday, August 7th, 2010 in Northborough, MA. Grace's friend, Josh was baptized that evening as well, and it was truly a blessed event. Ama traveled from UT, Aunt Sherry, Michael & Kathryn drove from KY, Uncle Matt, Aunt Heather & their kids flew in from FL. Friends came from the Arlington Ward, and my heart was FULL to overflowing to have my father there. He and Grandma Ilene flew from CA to be there for Grace. Schedules were altered & sacrifices were made by many in order to attend, and loving, helping hands were there in abundance to make the baptism a beautiful experience. Grace was so happy to have so many friends and family at her baptism.

Early that day, as I thought of my mom and of her promise to be there at special events such as this, I felt her overwhelming pride and joy for me as her daughter, and for fulfilling my stewardship as a mother in helping Grace be ready for baptism. I'll never forget that priceless feeling. I know loved ones who have passed on who are looking out for us were there to celebrate Grace & Josh's baptisms.

Grace was so happy to be baptized. Her already joyful disposition was absolutely beaming when she came out of the water. She has thought a lot about her confirmation; her many "missions to fulfill" & "glorious opportunities" that will come through her obedience and ability to follow the Spirit. We've talked about Grandpa Ellsworth's talk on baptism- how we can say we believe, but we make covenants like baptism to show we truly believe, and to show our love for Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ. The yellow blanket that Grace's former primary teacher, Sister Hutchins made for Grace will always remind her of the blessing of the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I feel so honored to be Grace's mother---one of my greatest joys is helping Grace recognize the Spirit in her life.

Each baptism gift, tangible or not, meant so much to Grace. This birthday really was set apart and made special by Grace's dear family and friends who support her in her eternal progression.

I fasted and prayed that Grace's baptism would be an experience she would always treasure; that the Spirit would be there in abundance....my prayers were answered as our little corner of the Vineyard in Massachusetts felt like heaven on earth.

Aunt Sherry, Grace & mom just after Grace's baptism....JOY!

There WILL be fun in heaven!

Mixed in with our family- To the left: cousins Michael & Kathryn & Aunt Sherrill Moody, Center: Ama

Right of center: Grandpa Ellsworth & Grandma Ilene

To the right: Uncle Matt, Aunt Heather, cousins Mattie (left of Grace) & Reddin Menzie

....more pics to come!

Meeting Marmee

One of Grace's favorite books last summer was Little Women, and since then the girls and I have watched Little Women (1949 & 1994) more times than I can count. We rewind the Alcott sisters' play in the parlor..."Rodrigo, Rodrigo, Save me!" ....over and over and over.

Such a great story.

So...on this beautiful 72 degree, sunny spring day, Caroline and Grace rode along with me to Concord to visit the Louisa May Alcott Orchard House. It's open for tours during it's current restoration.

We took the last "Live History Tour" of the day. Marmee Alcott met us at the door and took us through the house while sharing stories of her family. They moved 29 times before settling in Concord! I was so impressed with how much of the Orchard house is original from the Alcott family. Marmee told us of parallels and differences between the Alcott family and the March family Louisa wrote about in Little Women (for example: names were changed, Louisa--aka. "Jo" never married, and Laurie was fictitious as well). We walked through the parlor where the March/Alcott sisters did their fun plays written by Louisa/Jo. We loved May's blue bedroom with her sketches on the walls. I was impressed with how hands-on Mr. Amos Alcott was with his girls' education. He was unusual for his time. Each of the Alcott daughters were encouraged to embrace and develop their unique talents. May's artwork was displayed all through the house as were Louisa's books. Anna was involved in theatre & Beth played the piano. Each member of the family worked hard and contributed to the family's well-being.

Learning from Marmee was a treat and the hour seemed to fly by. There were about 6 kids around Grace & Caroline's ages and they all were asking & answering questions and enjoyed the tour from start to finish. This was a truly enjoyable historical tour.

Some Louisa May Alcott quotes....

• Help one another is part of the religion of our sisterhood.
• Many argue; not many converse.
• Let my name stand among those who are willing to bear ridicule and reproach for the truth's sake, and so earn some right to rejoice when the victory is won.

Concord is such a nice New England town. Going 30 mph, I snapped some pictures of gorgeous Concord architecture as we drove home.

FUN day!

The Amaranth Enchantment

A Book Chat [Report] by Grace, age 7

Title: The Amaranth Enchantment

Author: Julie Berry

This story is about a girl named Lucinda who gets a magical gem from the Amaranth Witch. Then, a boy named Peter steals it from her. When she comes empty-handed to the witch's house she has a hard task to accomplish. Will she complete the task and get the gem back?

I liked it when Lucinda comes to the witch's house and sees that the house is familiar to her.

I would recommend this book to a friend because it is really awesome & it talks about friendship and not giving up.

Mommy notes & Literature for all ages

• Wesley is progressing with his speech development. Sheila, his speech therapist, works with him once a week and noted last week that it seems as though Wes has had a "word explosion" in his brain. The struggle is getting those words out. We see progress every day and Wes loves "playing" with Sheila. He about melts her heart with his "gank you"-s & "you welcome." Wes' buddy G. might as well be his other speech therapist. He's a month older than Wes and he is a great talker, so Wesley learns a lot from G. during their weekly play dates. They have lots of fun playing cars, setting up chairs for a train ride, picnics in the family room, and literally running around in circles.
• Wesley is a budding chef. I walked in the kitchen this morning to see that he helped himself to the food the big kids left out after making their school lunches. He made himself a PB & C sandwich: peanut butter & baby carrots. I asked Wesley if it was yummy (he had taken one bite) and he said, "No."
• Wesley love anything we read to him, but has had lots of fun with word and ASL flash cards like THESE.

• Sweet Caroline is loving Kindergarten. She's always, always, always taking nice notes, apples, and trinkets to her teachers. She loves it when they write back. Something that stuck out to me at Caroline's last teacher's conference....Mrs. K said that if there's a child who is having a hard day, she knows that she can ask Caroline to sit by them and Caroline will befriend them as naturally and sincerely as she would any of the other children in the class. She's a friend to everyone.

• Yesterday I sent Caroline to her room to clean it, although it's at a point where I need to help. After about 1/2 hour I went to check on her progress and she was sound asleep in bed. I was a bit jealous.
• Caroline & I just read the book, A Bad Case of Stripes. This book gets a BIG thumbs up from Caroline!

• Grace got a great start on her classes' reading challenge at school. The girl loves to read. The challenge with kids who are advanced readers is finding age appropriate reading material. Her more recent recommendations: Romona the Brave, Hoot, & Scat.

Yesterday's silly conversation while Grace sat on my lap, we were hugging & cheek-to-cheek:

Grace: Mom, I love you more than a pig loves mud.

Wayne: Grace, some advice...don't compare you mom to a pig.

Grace: Mom, I love you more than a hippo in a tutu! (giggles all around while Wayne is shaking his head)

Grace: Fine. I love you more than Daddy. (more LAUGHTER!)

• Thomas...I loved the drive to NY with Thomas last weekend. I loved seeing him have fun once we got there, and exploring the frozen stream, just me and him. But as we drove there and back (4 hours each way), it was so nice to just talk & not be interrupted. It's hard to make 1-1 time happen, but it's always SO nice when we do.
• Thomas took 1st place by a slim margin in his last Pinewood Derby. I'll post pics soon. He had a blast with his pals at Cubs and will go to Regionals soon.
• I was asked to come in after school to help Thomas organize his desk and locker- apparently the kids, including Thomas, have organizational issues. When I got there the teacher said that when Thomas remembered I was coming, he grabbed all of his loose papers and threw them in recycling. NOT the best system, Thomas! :) I helped Thomas fine tune the good progress he had already made & agreed he'd do a desk check each Friday before coming home, so his desk is always nice and neat on Monday morning.
• Thomas is reading The Series of Unfortunate Events. He also recently read and enjoyed, The Great Brain which fostered some priceless discussion, and The Book of Three.
• Thomas was recently recognized by his teachers in a school assembly for his achievement in writing. He has a courageous, straight forward writing style that makes me smile. He shared with me an idea he has for a book he wants to write. I hope he writes it someday because it sounds AWESOME! (I'd say that even if he wasn't my son)

• Christina has 5 more months of Jr High! What?! She's doing really well in school, and doing what it takes to get good marks in Chinese. Wayne and I have been no help with her Chinese homework, so she's really had to self-motivate, and I think that's helped her take initiative and responsibility for her own work, success & missteps in her other classes. She's a great, positive student. Some of her writing has been honestly compelling. It's wonderful to see her hard work reep real talent.

• I think the sky would have to be falling for Christina to miss a Young Women's activity, or church for that matter. She's got amazing leaders and friends, and she is working hard on her own with her personal progress in YW. I will forever be grateful for the faithful trail she's blazing for her sisters.
• Nina recently read, Lovely Bones (too dark for her at the beginning), and A Northern Light, which she liked a bit more. An avid reader, Christina recently started keeping a "reading journal" using the little 4"x6" book, What I Read.

Feeling Blessed,

PHOTOS by MACY ROBISON PHOTOGRAPHY