#RelationshipGoals

Also, I need to stop watching Road to Avonlea and go to bed.

Welp, I managed to miss a few days in a row. We had a busy weekend. Henry had a soccer game in the morning. His team, The Quakes (he absolutely hates their team name for some reason and will only kind of mumble it when they do their team cheer) is tearing it up in the league. This more than likely means they'll be going to the Turkey Tournament or maybe it's commissioners tournament? I dunno, in November. Part of me thinks it's cool because I'll get to see him playing in the same tournaments I did as a kid, the other part thinks it just means an extended soccer season, wah.

After the game we took care of some things at home then traveled to Riverside for our nephew, Max's, 5th birthday party. 

 The kids had a lot of fun. It was great they came all the way from Utah so we could all celebrate together.


Sunday Johann had the teacher council meetings to run and I had subbing in Primary, and Thea girl had her first talk in primary to give. It took a while to get started, first she didn't want the mic, then she wanted me to repeat what she said into my ear, but then we got going and she did great.

Then we traveled back to Riverside to spend some more time with the family.

Finally a picture that Henry drew of a tardigrade wearing a birthday hat, because it makes me happy.

Blob

The weather was wonderful today and between that and having less on my mind to immediately get done I felt like a really content blob. It was the feeling I use to get after finishing a semester at school, where I didn't feel guilty taking a day to be in my pjs and only do a little here and there.

I hung out with Thea and Leo and watched Halloween Boo Fest. 

Then we went outside to water the plants and play, and Thea helped me sweep the patio with all the pine needles from yesterday's intense wind. 

Leo is getting more into playing with toys and it's pretty darn cute. Henry wasn't as in to action figure type stuff, but Leo seems to like all of that. 

The best part of all is finishing dishes after lunch and knowing I'm done with all of that until tomorrow because we're eating out. Henry had a birthday party where they were going to In-N-Out, so we thought it was *only fair* to take the little kids to get some too...we may have also had some. 

Now Johann's getting Henry from the birthday party and Leo is trying to convince me to play the xylophone with him while Thea, our early to bedder is sleeping away. Usually Leo is down by now but he had a late nap, so here we are. 

All in all, a good Friday. 

Willfulness, Wonderfulness, and Wizardry

Oh Leo, he's starting to have more and more opinions; lately it's been about his clothing. For instances, today he needed to wear two shirts. 

Oh Thea, it's hard when you don't want your lunch to "copy" your brothers and then realize you can't make your own lunch when your mom refuses to help you, then she feels bad and helps you but she helps you not in the way you want. Life is hard. 

 But then you have them all watching a youtube dance channel together in what is such an adorable sight that you might die from it. So much cute. 

And lastly my sister in law reminded me today that I haven't done any of the cool stuff on Pottermore so as a reward for myself for finishing up my last bigger church assignment for a while I took all the tests. Fun stuff. 

Thank Heaven for days that are getting to be cool enough in the afternoon after school so that I can say, "GO OUTSIDE AND PLAY!" 

 Found Leo like this last night. He likes rocking in the chair at night and fell asleep then slipped off part way. 

 We had a busy morning with school drop-off, preschool, visiting teaching and Sammy tending. My mom sometimes leaves treats for the kids at the house for them to find when we go there to see Sammy and these "mini" ice cream bars did not disappoint the kids for sure. 

 Henry had his after dinner, as seen behind Leo who made us put his pjs on this way so you could see the superman S on them and he was running around flexing saying, "ooopa mahn!!!" 

We also had Henry's soccer practice today and it was actually overcast and moist and windy. Felt so good! I also got to chat with a lady from our stake who's daughter's practice is at the same time. 

Baby Steps

I really want to start blogging again but it seems so overwhelming because I've missed so much. The most difficult part is getting the pictures together because our hard drive is full and moving things to the external drive and then back is a hassle. I know, my lazy is showing.
 I realize we're not going to remember half of the things about Thea we do of Henry, and ever less than half of what we remember about Thea for Leo. With that in mind I'm challenging myself to do a post a day while I work on catching up, just to get into the swing of things. Sometimes it might just be a picture a quick sentence, but hopefully it'll help me.

Today we dropped Henry at school, Johann went to work, Thea, Leo and I got ready and went to visit my old college roommate, friend and her family since they were in town briefly visiting family. The kids played well together while we chatted. It's always nice to find a way to keep up those ties.

Then we went and did our daily Mon-Fri visit to check-in on and feed my brother's dog/puppy, Sammy.

Home for lunch with Johann, Leo down for a quick nap, then school pick up.

My visiting teachers came over then we piled into the van to have family home evening, ie family business and a quick lesson about how we can help our family and what we would like to feel supported and loved in our family. Henry said help with his homework; Thea said to not delete her Geodude on pokemon go (Henry threatened this earlier); Leo said "sammy," and "church."

Then we got to costco where we had dinner, and went to get waffles for my nephew's upcoming birthday party this weekend. He's having a waffle bar and breakfast Minecraft party. I'm all for any reason to eat more breakfast. Then we came home, read a book and bed time.

Things I want to remember about today:
Leo is still hilarious about putting on his hat and backpack before he goes anywhere. The last time we were at someone's house he was loading up his backpack with their daughter's toys. We figured this must be why he brings it everywhere. Today he managed to not pillage anything at our visiting friend's house so I have hope. :-)

Thea is really, really in to Pokemon Go. The funniest thing is she is always talking about "involving" her Pokemon instead of "evolving" them. I couldn't help myself as asked her today what types of things she was thinking-some after school groups or sports groups. She wasn't impressed.

Henry is still my sensitive kid, but he is also funny, and insightful, and I appreciate having someone else in the house who's brain goes to the literal/silly conclusion for fun. For example, Johann said tonight during FHE that he would like us to all be put down to bed on time. Henry immediately conjured up a picture of me rocking Johann in a chair, singing lullabies, ie getting him put down to bed.

Well, I think that's about all!

Henry's Baptism

June 4th, 2016 Henry was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

Henry and Johann had a little practice session a few days before his baptism. All the kids wanted a turn after they saw Henry doing it. 

Leading up to the baptism was more stressful than I should have let it be, but once it finally came, even with the hiccups, it was a sweet day seeing this little boy surrounded by loving friends and family who will support him on his journey back to his Heavenly Father. We certainly love, and are thankful to have this boy in our family.

Memorial Day Visit

Yesterday we headed to Riverside to see my sister in law who had just arrived from Utah for a visit, which meant we got to meet our newest nephew, 2 month old Miles. Oh my goodness, is he so cuddly and sweet! I even got to rock him while he took a little nap. A little baby asleep in your arms is the sweetest. Max and the kids also had fun playing in the spa and running around. It was a nice visit, getting to have the cousins together. I'm glad we'll get to see them again later in the week :) 

Must Be Summer

Swimming lessons have begun. 

End of 2nd Grade

First and last day of the 2015-2016 school year. Henry doesn't seem as drastically changed as Thea and Leo. Originally I was trying to just get a picture of Henry but when the other two saw him stand against the wall for a picture they lined up right next to him. Oh, now you all like taking pictures for me? 

We ended our year by going to a park play day for our charter school. They brought popsicles and cookies and the kids all played, and I even got some information from other homeschool moms about lessons, and groups etc. I'm not very good at making homeschool friends for the kids so I made a goal to at least make one today and I did! I remember being surprised about how nice the kids of all ages played together so well at the park day last year and that continues to be true. I love seeing the older kids helping and the younger kids following direction from them. Leo mostly hung out with me or Thea. A girl a little older than Thea took her under her wing and they played pretend puppies, while Henry shifted from one group of boys to another until he found a some siblings and their friends and played with them, then requested we all do another park day soon. A good end to the 'formal' homeschool year. 

A Golden Time

I was realizing today that we've hit a golden time in our family life. We're in our own home. Johann has a job close to the house that enables him to come home for lunch frequently. I'm able and want to stay home with the kids. When our kids aren't with us, they're with extended family, but mostly they're with us, and they still want it to be that way. They still want us to read to them, hold them, hug them, and tell us about their lives. There are also times they fight and drive us nuts. The house isn't as put together as I'd like it, and we can feel short on time, money, or sleep, but we worry about that stuff enough, and let it get in the way of realizing that all those times we talked about and dreamed of having our own little family within four walls, growing together-it's happening. For however long it can last, I am grateful.

Spring Break 16

Day 1: Ikea

Day 2: Sleep, Zootopia, catching up, Henry to piano and soccer, and mommy and Thea time.

Day 3:Donuts and the Natural History Museum

 sorry Johann, it was the best one of the kids. 

(Gone with the Wind dress they randomly have. I was so excited!)

Leo's first trip the NHM

 His second trip, just under two years later. 

 My favorite part, learning about the desert tortoise. Also learned squirrels are not native but were brought as pets, and possums were brought as food. mmm. 

Day 4: Pasadena's huge fancy park and the Huntington Library 

 Henry carrying around Johann's binoculars, not a purse. He's quirky, but not that quirky.

Remember this cute picture from a year or so ago? We thought we'd give it another try...

...

 ...

 ...

 Yeah, didn't happen.

Day 5: Checking out trails in Yucaipa, lunch at the park and the downtown Yucaipa antique shops.

 In this area we saw an owl and hawk fighting it out over territory. It was pretty intense, especially to see an owl during the day. The owl won. 

Weekend: Conference, and resting before heading back to day to day life.

It looks like Elder Oaks doesn't think Thea's Capt America costume and cowboy hat are a good match.