Homecoming

So I did something that was a bit traumatic ... I went away for a big girls only weekend with friends (really it was just 24 hours). And Mike is the greatest Dad in the whole world. While my friends and I were getting massages and eating lunch at a kid-UNfriendly restaurant, Mike took all the girls to the Science Museum for 5 hours. They then ran errands, and he took them to dinner at a kid-friendly restaurant. Since the girls are not use to me being away from them for any period of time, bed time was a bit tough but he still managed.
When I came home the next day, Mike had flowers for me all around the house (which he kept spotless) and the girls had made signs that said how much they missed me. So Mike and the girls survived and even I survived (although poor Katie and Emily had to hear about the girls all weekend).
It was nice to go away for a "Mommy's playdate" (as the girls put it) but the best part was coming home.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Riles got so excited for St. Patricks' Day. She wore green everything: green shoes, pants, dress, even hair clip. She was so proud of herself. She looked so sad to hear that she has no Irish in her.
But the most exciting news of all was that there were real leprechauns at her school ... and they were so messy. They came the night before school and left little green footprints all around the school. They left their gold everywhere (gold glitter) and one manage to escape the leprechaun

trap the students made. His little hat got caught, however.

just a little update

Mike had to go to NYC for business recently on a weekend. We tagged along. Our good friends, the Welles, are such sports. We called to see if they wanted to go Manhattan with us the next morning. Without even blinking they said yes. So while Mike had his meeting, our girls and the Welles girls had fun at the Manhattan Children's Museum. "Hey do you think this helmet could protect me from Riles?"

Riles gets the best morning hair. Here is just another fine example.

Em keeps telling us that she doesn't want Hillary to be elected president because she wants to be the first "girl" president. Here she is with a picture that she drew of Mt. Rushmore. She likes to insert herself into the monument as the first "girl" president. Riles by the way says she is voting for Hillary! She says that Dante is and he knows because he is already 4. Oh' Riles!!
Sometimes these two really are best friends. Sometimes.

I am in love with the way Cakey walks. She walks belly first. She sticks out her baby Budda belly and charges full steam ahead. It is SO funny. She doesn't know how to stop yet. So she walks until she bangs into something or she falls. I am also including a picture of her cheeks. I love love love those cheeks.

Every snow storm Mike goes out to shovel the entire driveway in these pj bottoms. As soon as our girls and the neighbors see Mike out shoveling in those funny pants the children build their arsenal of snowballs and attack. Mike is totally outnumbered but has never lost! What a guy!! For the record, I actually like New England winters. I am use to them. I love them even. But even I am ready for this winter to be over. I don't think it is ever going to end. Riles has been sick lately (OK and maybe a bit grumpy). She fell asleep like this on the couch. I had to take a picture because she looked so peaceful and calm.

"Wow! Two grandmas!!, " an excited Riles yelled while seeing my mother and Jan at our home one day after school. This cheerful shout is often exclaimed when the girls come home from school. My mother and Grandma Jan (the best honorary grandma in the world) are often over. They love to visit with the girls and play games. The girls love the attention and love the love they give them. As much as we love Boston, these are the top two reasons why.

birthday tea party ...

For Em's birthday party this year she decided that she wanted a big girl tea party. We had so fun much even planning the party. The whole family got involved. I made pretty "grown up" invitations" on scalloped notecards (she picked out the notecards herself).
The party was so nice and definitely worth all the work. Riles decided she wants the same party idea for her birthday. When I explained to her that that may be hard since her best friend is a boy she said "he can have a Spiderman tea cup".
We had a craft table for the girls to decorate their gift bags. I am so sad that I forgot to get a picture of it, but for favors I made each girl two sets of bows for their hair and a personalized set of notecards. The logo that I used for the stationary for each girl, I also used for the lollipop bouquet.
Favorite foods: butterfly and heart shaped PB& J sandwiches, french toast, and fruit
Least favorite foods: chicken salad sandwiches on croissants"Tea" was apple cider and strawberry lemonade.
I had organized so many tea party games, like pin the tea cup on the saucer and

musical chairs but the all the girls preferred playing with Mike. It was so funny!! They thought that everything he did was so hilarious. They literally copied everything he did and chased him around. He was such a sport.

We had a Cupcake Cake. Each girl decorated their own cupcake. We also made so many other traditional tea party desserts (thankfully my friend Becky came over the night before and end up helping bake) that most girls were too full too eat cupcakes so we sent them home with their cupcakes.

What a fun party. Her friends are so sweet. They were so excited to be at a real tea party. Most importantly, she and her little sister really loved it. And that is worth cooking until 1:30 a.m..

IT'S VALENTINES DAY

AND

I LOVE DINA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I decided to break my long-standing no blogging policy in honor of Dina, the best wife and mother I could ever imagine. If you've spent any time at all on our blog, its pretty easy to tell that she is amazing. I can't even begin to describe how lucky I am. Unfortunately, I am also at work, as usual, so I really can't begin to describe how lucky I am. Let's just say that Dina is smart, beautiful, patient, fun and beautiful, and that I love her more than anything.

Happy Birthday Em!

Em just had her birthday. We just love that sweet girl. I remember praying and praying that Mike and I would have a baby. When I kiss her goodnight I still whisper to her that she was worth the wait.
I feel like I have already learned more from her than I could ever teach her. I really am a much better person because of her.
She is so kind. I have never met anyone more kind than she is. She has always had this amazing ability to find other children in her classroom that need special attention and be their friend. In all reviews at school, the teachers always say that she has a unique talent of making other feel accepted.
She is also so obedient and intelligent. She never ever wants to let Mike and me down. It is so sweet. She is very determined and dedicated in everything she tries. This girl loves LOVES to learn. She has this great wonderment for all things science.

But mostly I love the way she loves. She loves completely and is loyal. She lets the people she loves know that they are loved and important to her. Yesterday during tennis lessons, every time she had a great hit she would run over to me and kiss me and say “that was for you, Mom.”
We love you, Em!
I really really like these girls of ours.
Now, if only I can get them to share and stop being so competitive with each other!! But, other than that …

mash potatoes bad guys and pensive love

" Daddy, I'm not gonna eat my mash potatoes. They look like bad guys."
~ from Riles (who normally loves mash potatoes, as long as they are shaped like fish or other non-combative shapes)

"Mommy, I just don't know why I love you so much. I weally don't." ~ a very contemplative and somewhat confused Riles.

President Hinckley

I just love this picture of President Hinckley. It is exactly as I will remember him: with his beloved Marjorie, smiling, and laughing with the youth whom he is so loved.
The girls were so sweet when we told them of his passing. Emerson simply said "I am so sad. I really love him" and Rileigh said "Oh, he was a gweat pwophet".

Here are some quotes from him for our girls for the future:

To the YW:
"When you save a girl, you save generations. I see this as the one bright shinning hope in the world."

"You are young enough that the future world of which you dream still lies ahead of you. Each is a child of God. Each of you is a creature of Divinity. You are literally a daughter of the Almighty. There is no limit to your potential. If you will take control of your lives, the future is filled with opportunity and gladness. You cannot afford to waste your talents or your time. Great opportunities lie ahead of you. "

"You need never feel inferior. You need never feel that you were born without talents or without opportunities to give them expression. Cultivate whatever talents you have, and they will grow and refine and become an expression of your true self appreciated by others.”

“Reach out to help one another. All of us need help from time to time. We need encouragement. We need friends who will stand by us through thick or thin. I ask each of you to be that kind of friend.”

To us:
“You have nothing in this world more precious than your children. When you grow old, when your hair turns white and your body grows weary, when you are prone to sit in a rocker and meditate on the things of life, nothing will be so important as the question of how your children turned out.”

“People wonder what we do for our women. I tell you what we do: we get out of their way and look with wonder at what they are accomplishing.”

in honor of Marie ...

Our friend, Marie, recently reminded me that she met two of our three daughters the day they were born. She and her husband, Richy, held our daughters before everyone but Mike and me. I recently found some photos of Emerson and Rileigh when they were younger. People are always telling us that Kate looks different than her sisters. We think she looks just like her sisters. Below are our three daughters at the same age. Can you guess the girl?

little ladies ...

For primary, the girls had to fill a spotlight form. While I was making dinner Mike and the girls filled out their forms. Mike came in to show me their forms, in particular the question pertaining to their hero. They both had the same hero. I was so touched.

(Here are their answers. I cropped most the form) Emerson's is the first and Rileigh's is the second.)

I hope they always feel this way. I seriously sometimes worry though. I am a pretty strict Mom. Emerson was doing impressions of Mike and me a little while ago. When she imitated me her voice went into a falsetto and she said "Remember, I always want you to be little ladies. That is most important." Mike just laughed. I am ALWAYS reminding the girls to be "little ladies".

Parenting is such a fine line. I watch parents who are too lenient with rowdy children and I just cringe. But then I watch parents who are too strict (although there seems to be few of them) and I cringe.

You only get one chance to do this. I have lately been asking parents of youth (parents of young women in particular) that I admire for parenting tips. All their daughters are polite, kind, not boy crazy (that is huge for me, you can like boys but do let it become an obsession), and intelligent. The type of girls that excel in many areas. Their parents are always happy to share, but each has a different method. I have noticed, though, two strong reoccurring themes: the youth that I admired most had parents who set very strong limits. And the young women I admire most play sports. I think studies may be correct about the correlation between sports and teen girls' self-esteem.

So if anyone has any great parenting books to recommend I would love some. I really want to get mothering right. You cannot go back and change it if you don't.

Happy Birthday, Kate!!

Yesterday was Kate’s first birthday.I cannot believe that we have had Kate for a year now. She has been such a source of joy and happiness for our whole family this past year.
I remember when Kate was two weeks old. I was up with her during her night feedings (I have never once let Mike get up with our daughters when they were babies at night. I love that special alone time and get quite possessive of it). I remember looking down at her little face and it was so familiar to me. And I was so surprised by how familiar this new little face was to me. It was so tender for me to realize that you could show me all the babies in the world with their similar delicate and precious features and I would know my brand new child. Even though I had only known her for two weeks. Even after just two weeks I knew her cry and smell and her sweet wide eyes. I knew that she was mine and I was hers. I couldn’t remember life without her.
I am so grateful for that sweet baby. I love the way she hugs so tightly when you wake her up from her nap. I love the little smile she gets when you say her name. I love to hold her up to the bay windows and watch her watch the world so intently. I love her baby laugh. It is deep and all consuming like her daddy’s. I love to watch her play with her sisters. She adores her big sisters. I especially love the way Emerson and Rileigh love Kate. It is amazing that that little 18 pound person can bring so much joy into our lives. I am excited and sad for all the changes the next year will bring. I just wish these girls of mine would stop growing up so quickly. It doesn’t seem fair.

Happy First Birthday, Kate!! We love you, CupKate.

Emersonism

Tonight I was reading to the girls in the Book of Mormon the story of Lehi and the Liahona. Emerson turned to me very excitedly and said "Mom, the Liahona is a GPS".
She may just be as profound as the man she is named after. I just love her!

I Like Mike

OK I need to remember tomorrow to get a gratitude journal so that I do not have to keep using this blog for one. But for today I am grateful for Mike. Mike has decided to help me with this contest. So he will be doing everything that I am (except the no soda part, he's a diet pepsi ADDICT - yes, dear, you need help). Last night he came home from work and worked out with me, read scriptures with me, and even wrote a little something in an old journal of his ( a few of the requirements for this contest).

I really love Mike. This year marks 12 years together. I have to say, for people who were so independent before we met we really are the most co-dependent couple I know. Mike is truly my best friend. I am not going to gush as to all the reason why I love him. But I really really do. We are always so supportive of one another and we love to help one another. We really like each other and we hate to be apart, even for a day. And the one thing that I recently noticed is that we still make each other laugh. Alot. And I love that man's laugh.