Four eyes times 2

Chloë was complaining about her eye hurting, so I took her to the eye doctor. Sure enough she needed glasses. She was SUPER excited to wear them. I think she likes the look and attention.  So fun. I am glad my kids had a good attitude about glasses. I'm hoping this will help Chloë's reading. I'm sure it will make it easier. Get reading has improved, and now she is going to take off.

Chloë says, " I can't wait to wear my glasses at school, but I have butterflies."  - using an Elvis Presley type voice. 

Year end party

It's here. Olivia will be graduating from elementary school this week. She has really worked hard. I think her most improved area is spelling. For years she has been working on being a better speller. This year she took studying serious and she earned an A the last 2 semesters. Her grade celebrated by going to the Fremont country club for a swim party. Here she is with Arie and Margaret.

Sam's buddies

One reason I love this elementary school is because the all the kids here are so kind. Sam has had this great group of friends. Benny is funny and likes anything he can build or fix, his mom lets him use all the power tools. Then Sam. Anjali is smarter than smart, but very kind. She is a leader- when the four of them did the science fair this year she managed the task, making spreadsheets of days available and jobs to do. Isabelle, Izzy, is crazy, wacky and lots of fun.  Those are the words Sam used to describe his friends.

The other good thing about his friends is that they are very flexible. He doesn't eat lunch with them because he wants to play ball with the boys. But when they are ready to play he takes off with them. 

Math year end review

Last night Olivia, Daniel and I had a talk about Olivia's math.  It seems she is doing very well.  She likes math and is happy she took the advanced math class.  She did talk to her teacher about which math class she should take next year.  It seems her teacher thinks she should not take the higher advanced math class. We looked at the flowchart given to us my the middle school teacher that explains the series of math classes.  In middle school there are 3 levels of math.  1)grade level 2) advanced 3) super advanced.  Olivia and her teacher feel she is not ready for super advanced.  It turns out we don't think she needs to do super advanced either.  Daniel didn't do the super advanced track and it worked out perfectly.  She will be ready for geometry Freshman year, algebra 2 soph, tri junior, and calc senior.  This will line her up for AP testing.  

I am so proud of Olivia. She was successful in math all by herself. Lay the beginning of the year she was not put in the advanced math class of 6th grade because her teacher did not think she was ready. After Daniel and I protested the principal reluctantly out her in the advanced math. Olivia agreed to the advantage so long as we did not pester her about the math. Fine with me! During the first semester she would ask Daniel questions, but as time went on she stopped asking for help. And now we see she did a great job all by herself. Which is wonderful. The math teacher informed me at the beginning of the year that most of the kids in her advanced math class go to after school and summer tutoring. I was worried Olivia would be able to keep up, but seems I am wrong. She is a super star!  Go! Olivia!!!

Lauren's swim class

Well it is almost summer and the kids are getting excited to go to Barbie's to swim. Only problem is that Barbie's pool, or I should say her whole house, is getting renovated. We won't be able to swim until August 1, but we'll want to be ready when the gorgeous pool opens. Lauren is taking swim lessons twice a week so she will be ready!

We might have found her sport

This is Olivia's first time playing volleyball. She was awesome. She has a very strong serve. The coach told her to serve behind the line when all the other kids had to serve in the middle of the court just to get the ball over the net.  She is fun to watch.

Memorial Day camping

We haven't been camping for so long as a family. So we decided to go to Lehi park this Memorial Day weekend, well Sunday night to Monday morning. It was fabulous. After church we packed up some basic needs and headed out. Of course since it was Sunday we were lacking a few things. So we stopped by the Miners to pick up a few odds and ends. We also left Quilla there for the night.

Once we arrived the girls got to work making a fire while the boys set up the tent. Setting up the tent was a big job because 2 or the 4 toda that hold the tent up were broken. Once the fire was started (thanks to some good firewood hunting) we went to check out the tent. The only way Sam and dad got the tent up was by tying it up to the trees all around. It was a work of art. We had a great time roasting marshmallows and playing with the fire while we waited for our peach cobbler to be ready.   The evening we perfect. 

In the morning we had eggs, bacon and hot cocoa. I volunteered to clean up camp while Daniel took the kids on a hike to the swing. I really enjoyed the peace and quiet of nature. One thing I really love is to poke at the fire. It was wonderful to poke at the fire and enjoy the stillness of the forest. 

Busy weekend

At the end of Sam's soccer season in November he was asked to participate in the AYSO select team.  The Mountain View team played on Sunday, so Sam decided not to participate.  It seemed the director really wanted Sam to play so he suggested Sam try out for the Cupertino league.  They don't play on Sunday. Daniel was an assistant coach, which was nice for me because that meant I didn't have to worry about driving to or from practice.  So Sam and his team had a great season.  In fact they made it into the tournament.  So here we are on the day of the tournament.  Sam is as chilled as can be.  I think he must be envisioning himself in goal stopping strong kicks or running down the line to score a goal.  


The didn't end up wining the tournament, but it was a good experience for him.



It has been a busy weekend. Before the soccer tournament Sam and Daniel went on the father son camp out. They had a great time. Daniel and I were both excited about the thought of the father son camp out this year because our new ward is much smaller. So the camp out will be more intimate.  I didn't get any pictures of the camp out.

I did however get a picture of half of the little treasure Daniel brought home. After Daniel and I said our nightly prayer he asked me to look at his arm. I could not believe what I was looking at. It was a TICK!!!!!  After reading some tips on the internet I took some tweezers and a try to pull it out.  I was pulling REALLY HARD!!    I mean really really hard.

Of course when I pulled so hard the body finally broke off.  Above you can see the head and 2 arms still in Daniel.  The only thing to do was text my friend Cara, she is a nurse. Sine it was really late we asked her to come take a look at it after church tomorrow.   When she came and analyzed the situation it was clear to her she was going to have to dig deep into Daniel's arm to get the whole head out.  She put some lidocaine on it the area and dug a hole around and under the head to pull it out.  

Yeah!!! Thank you!  Nice wound, but no tick.
Below is the little monster.  We saved it in case Daniel starts feeling ill in a few weeks.  

What's for breakfast

Lately Daniel and I have been "better" parents.  We wake up most mornings and make fresh hot pancakes. I found a yummy recipe. All white flour, but must be better than cereal. Especially when Daniel add a beautiful over easy egg.  Olivia won't eat an egg made by anyone but dad. She says his eggs are the best!  

Hot cakes:

2 cups flour

2 cups milk

3 eggs

1 tablespoon baking powder 

1/3 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup melted butter 

Mix and pour. 

Delish !!

One other reason I love making Hot Cakes is because of the nice griddle that came with my fancy stove. It is a heavy plate that sits on top of two gas burners. It makes the best pancakes and is so easy to clean. 

Climb every mountain

We have been looking for the perfect sport for Chloë to do. She did soccer for 2 seasons. That sport had too much running. She was good on the defensive, but definitely too much running.  Last fall Chloë took a tap class during the school year. She was pretty good, but it was just not her thing. Then last spring I heard about a rock climbing class. I told Chloë about it and she thought that sounded like great fun. So I signed her up and away she went. Every Tuesday for 6 weeks Chloë took a 2 hour rock climbing class. She was pretty good and enjoyed rock climbing. She just wished she had more chances to climb. She only got a couple turns each week. So if she wants to per su rock climbing we will have to take her on our own.

Here is Chloë after a class.  She needed to borrow a pair of shorts and look which shorts she picked out!  

..... Mountain view high school. Go Spartans!

I was thinking I would like to learn how to repel with Daniel.  I thought that would be a fun date. Daniel wasn't too interested, but I will try again later.  If we get into it we could bring Chloë here to practice. For now Chloë has decided to put off her endevers to be a professional rock climber. Who knows what she will end up doing this fall for exercise! 

P. S.  Chloë would like me to add that she is taking an art class starting at the beginning of the summer. 

Too everyone who helped us get here

Daniel and his mom decided that Daniel and I should go to Vegas to celebrate of 15 wedding anniversary. I liked the idea of a weekend away, but Vegas is a little overwhelming for me. So the idea got put off. Then a few days before our anniversary we decided to go to my mom's beach house in San Diego. We scheduled the apartment (thank you Mom), made plane reservations for Ann to come babysit (thank you Ann) and reservations for us to fly to San Diego (thank you Daniel and Lindsay).

I was so excited for the trip.  But it didn't get started on the right foot. As we were waiting for the plane to take off I remembered that I forgot the keys to the beach house!!!!!!  How could I?? This is the second or third time I have done this. So I called my mom to see what options we had. Luckily my mom had given keys to a management company. So while we were flying to San Diego my mom called the apartment manager and she met us at the building with a set of keys. Oh man, I sure know how to take make life exciting!!!  

One thing I learned from this experience is how lucky I am to have my mom and Daniel. Not because my mom bailed me out for the millionth time, but because both were very kind to me when I told them I forgot the keys....again. Neither of them said anything unkind or made sound effects implying their disgust. They both started helping me think of a way to resolve this situation.  So thank you.  

Once we made it into the beach house we set up our belongings and headed out for dinner. We spent Saturday walking around Balboa park. I decided to take a million pictures of Daniel and I. Here are a few of my favorites. 

I'm serious. I like this one because it will help me remember how youthful my hands were when I was young. :). 

We were sort of hungry by late Saturday but not too hungry. I decided I really wanted some onion rings. So we stopped at a Tomy Roma's. We had a yummy dinner of onion rings and root beer. Yuck!  But it was delicious. 

It was a wonderful weekend. Thanks to everyone who contributed, including the apartment manager!

9 months and waiting

Lauren and I met this cute girl Katie and her dad at a pre kindergarten summer picnic. Her dad was really excited for our girls to get together. The only problem is that her parents work so she is at daycare until 6pm. Then they are ready to play at the park at 7. Lauren goes to bed around 7:30.  Finally after the entire school year we got these girls together. They played all afternoon and then we went to the Paddington Bear movie. The movie was a little strange. The kids girls were a little scared. Katie went and sat by Olivia so she could explain the movie to Katie. After the movie Daniel met us at the Hobbie's restaurant. We had dinner and hot cocoa. It was a fun day. 

The next weekend the girls go together with Katie's dad and they went rock climbing at Planet Granite. 

I hope they will be in the same class next year. So sweet!

What I see when I open my eyes

Every morning I open my eyes to this:

And this:

And there are more pieces of art that Lauren didn't take pictures of. Every now and again one of the girls add a new piece of art to my wall. I just love seeing what they have come up with. I am going to be sad when they grow out of this cute artwork stage of life. Olivia's art sure has changed. She has drawn some beautiful pieces of art now that she is older. So I guess I shouldn't be too sad. I guess life and art will just get better!

Moving day

I cant believe we did it! We bought a house.... well i bought a house with Daniel's money.   We have been looking for 10 months and we found the perfect house..... small but perfect.  

Halloween

This Halloween was a busy one.  It was even hard to get a picture with everyone together. This year our costumes did not go together with a theme but they were very nostalgic.   Chloë wore one of my old costumes and Lauren was Buzz Lightyear. I will have to post a picture of all 4 kids wearing Buzz Lightyear for Halloween.

It had to happen

Lauren was playing at Bubb school and tripped and fell flat on her forehead.  Off to urgent care we went! 5 stitches later we were fine.  I finally had to go to urgent care to get stitches for one of the kids.  Lauren was very brave the entire time.  The only time she cried was right after her fall.  The doctors were wonderful.   They put a some liquid on the skin to numb the area before they put the anesthetic on before they stitch the area- so NO pain is ever felt.  I love modern medicine.  And yes she will have a scar! 

More pumpkin patch pictures