Creating Memories On Memorial Day

We had a really nice Memorial Day. We began the day with a hike. Great suggestion Hillmans! (On a side note I think I would love to begin every holiday or holiday weekend with a hike). :)

It was pretty warm, but that did not stop the kids from running the trail. I'm always conflicted between my feelings of concern and admiration. Concern- to far ahead without adult supervision-getting overheated-tripping over rocks which can lead to cracked skulls, a body inlaid with cactus and other things. The other part of me loves to see their determination and adventurous side take over and their ability to hurdle boulders, ignoring adverse elements all in the name of keeping up with the older cousins. My kids LOVE their cousins. If their is any mention of getting together with the COUSINS. The rest of the world falls away and that is all that matters. After the hike, we had a BBQ, and had a nice, simple memorial program where we shared stories and information about out ancestors, some of which served in our military. We sang patriotic songs together, which in and of it's self brings such a special sense of unity and gratitude. We ended the evening with ICE CREAM.

This is what sheer exhaustion coupled with a spike in blood sugar does to little bodies...

We had such a great time!

Sick Kids and Cereal Bliss

Noah has been sick pretty much all week. He did make it to Water Day but missed the last two days of school and a couple parties. Yesterday, he slept for most of the day and didn't want to eat. I have to admit in a small way when the family gets sick it's not all bad-the upside is our schedule gets wiped clean. Nothing to do but sit around read, watch movies and get better. BUT I really hate it when they feel so bad they don't want to eat, and they start shrinking right before my eyes. Then I start to worry.



Last night I finally got out to do a little supplemental grocery shopping, and went a little crazy. I passed down the cereal aisle-and I got hooked. $1.77-$2.00 for cereal-I checked the ounces-everything seemed normal-then I put 7 boxes in my cart. My justification for bulk purchases are always-food storage. I'm not crazy, I'm being prepared. Noah was super happy this morning. In fact he lined all the boxes up on the counter to pick which one he would like this morning. Cookie Crisp won out. He is officially on the mend.



Cookie Crisp-I would have never bought that a few years ago. Funny how perspective can change over time.



Toy guns, sugar spiked cereal and video games-my 20 something self would not be so happy with my 30 something self. That's her problem, she had some growing up to do. I had this very conversation with my best friend I grew up with. We came to the conclusion that in actuality our teenage/twenty year old selves would be pretty impressed how it all turned out thus far.

Incidentally-I dedicate this song to my 20 something self- I still love The Cure...

-Mel

The weekend began Friday night with a family date to the movie theatre to watch Prince Caspian. We all loved it. Noah gets so involved in the movie and it's still hard for him to separate himself from it. He needs to know what is going to happen and why it's happening-or why the characters are making the choices they are-and why don't they make a better-smarter choices etc... It's allot of "Shh-just watch...it's okay...you'll find out soon...."We had a good time discussing the movie afterward over dinner and pre-birthday dessert at Chili's. Noah was thrilled that he was sung to even if it was two full days before he actually turned six.

Saturday I began the morning with another photo shoot. That was fun! Hard to go wrong with super cute kids.

Then I was off with Hannah to her rehearsal. The theme for this year's dance recital was Lullaby on Broadway. This is Hannah's last year with this particular dance group. We are not sure if we want to continue. There is a ballet school that would give her more in the way of technique and provide her opportunities to perform in Nutcracker with a local professional company. We'll see... She loves piano and art-really wants to take up sewing. It's hard because though she loves dance, I'm not sure if it's as worthwhile a use of her time as some other things would be. We keep saying one more year... I think this was it though. Here are clips from her performance.

Sunday morning began with Noah bounding into our room grinning from ear to ear-"It's my birthday, it's my birthday!" Jared had already left for the morning but would be back around ten. So Noah would have to wait for his present. It was worth waiting for...

Now see, I have to admit I struggled with this. I originally wanted to go for the Leap Frog portable video game system. He would love it AND it's educational. Jared looked at me and said-"Well, does everything need to be educational? I think he would like the Game Boy more." I knew he was right. I convinced myself that there was something to be said about figuring out a game, developing strategy, unlocking mysteries. Probably because I'm reading Ender's Game... So I caved, and found a used one at Play n' Trade. SCORE! Here is what Noah thought:

That evening we had family over for dinner and cake to celebrate Noah's birthday. We had allot of fun, and Noah said it was even better than having a friend party.

I CAN'T BELIEVE HE IS 6!!!! I know he's going to start losing his beautiful teeth soon. That will be a sad day in the Green home... He has had a great year. He has loved kindergarten. He learned to read and ride a bike. He is constantly figuring out patterns in numbers and just about anything around him. He is a little swimmer and really wants to join the swim team this summer. He wants to practice swimming the length of a regulation size pool, to get ready for tryouts. We began last Friday. He does pretty good. I love to see his determination.

I began my morning today at 5:00am with a sunrise photo shoot, and Noah woke up with a fever and a cough... He has since broken his fever, Water Day is tomorrow at school, I'm sure he has been saying a fair amount of prayers. He was very dissapointed to miss Field Day today. Luckily he had his Game Boy to console him...

Hannah realized tonight that she can look through the Children's Song Book and can play. She began with Choose The Right Way. It was pretty neat to see her expression when she realized how much she could read and figure out. We were having FHE and were getting the words wrong, so she went and got the song book out. We began singing again and her whole face lit up and she said-"I wonder if I can play this?" and she did. She tried a few more some she was able to, others were to difficult. After that I looked for Primer level sheet music of Primary songs and found this http://www.laytonmusic.com/primary.htm. I received much thanks in the way of hugs and "Thank you mom! Thank you mom!" I then had to peel her away from the piano for bed.

I am tired...Time for bed.

-Mel

Faves Of The Week

These are my favorite pics of the week.

Dissapointment Trumped by a Great Day

Well, we're not pregnant anymore. Thursday was a hard and disappointing day, I'll leave it at that. As disappointed as we all are, the past couple days have brought quite a bit of joy to all of us. Jared is back on surgery once a week. The surgeon he is working with is a very proactive teacher. Jared was handed the scalpel and told-cut. As you can imagine he had a great start to his Friday. It was fun to hear him so excited. Later that evening he met up with Noah at the Fathers and Son camp out. They had a blast, rockets, paintball and quads. Oh My! He didn't bring the camera...so no pictures. Hannah was my assistant during an evening photo shoot and did a marvelous job portraying dolphins and butterfly's behind me to get the giggles and attention of two little girls. After the shoot we went out to dinner together feasted on chicken Parmesan and sucked down a very yummy orange Italian soda. We woke up this morning at 5:00 and drove down to Tubac for another photoshoot at a Golf Resort out there. Golf Resort does not accurately describe this property. Think picturesque Spanish Colonial Village with fountains, flowers, huge trees,(weeping willows, cotton woods...)The Golf course was rolling hills with cows and their calf's laying around or snacking on the beautiful, lush grass that made up the course. Did I mention the ponds? Hannah again was a great assistant. After the shoot we explored the town of Tubac together. We had breakfast and waited for the shops to open. Then we had fun looking through all the jewelry and art galleries. In one shop Hannah was given a really cute glass pendant. It has a purple flower blown into the glass. I'll have to get a picture of it. She could have stayed there all day. Jewelry and art galleries-need I say more. We had a terrific Mother Daughter day together. I love these moments we get to share together. It was a pretty special day. Jared and Noah brought home flowers, then we all got ready and went to a family party hosted by the dentists family who is responsible for all the photography work I've been getting. In fact the mornings shoot was of one of his office staff and her family. We're sad not to be expecting anymore and it's hard not to feel a little foolish for announcing it so early in the first place. It was nice to feel that joy and excitement though and wonderful seeing how much Hannah and Noah were excited. They have taken the news in stride-I'm very grateful for that. Hopefully there is nothing wrong and we'll have news to share again in the months ahead. More time to prepare I suppose.

Love, Mel

Baby!

Jared and I both decided we wanted to share our news and excitement-even though it's really early. I have been dreaming that I was pregnant, rubbing my belly, and fantasizing about car seats and pint sized diapers. So...we took a test last night and we're pregnant! We took another test this morning-and yep! still pregnant!! We brought the kids in bed with us this morning and shared our news. They were very excited-and inquisitive-especially Noah. Throughout the morning we heard almost every sentence prefaced with-" I have a really good question Mom" ,(or Dad depending on who was readily available). My favorite of the morning went something like this:

Noah: Mom, I have a really good question for you.
Me: Yes, Noah.
Noah: How does a test tell you if your going to have a baby?
Me: Well, if a plus sign comes up it means I am, if a minus sign comes up, it means I'm not.
Noah: Can I see it?
Me: umm okay. ( yes I actually fished it out of the trash for him to see).
Noah:(BIG SMILE) Oh! I get it-you rub it on your belly and it tells you.

Now I could have smiled and left it at this-but I can't willingly allow my child to be ignorant even if it's really cute.

Me: Actually....

Yes-that's right,I just laid it all out there for him. I explained that our urine can tell us many things about are body-hormones, sugar levels, proteins, and that this particular test picks up certain hormones that you have when your pregnant. Then I asked him not to share that bit of information with his school mates. Somethings are better left discussed in our home...

Jared fixed us a really great breakfast, and we had a wonderful morning together basking in the knowledge that a new little one will be joining our family. Hannah kept giving me hugs all morning long, and Noah let out random bursts of "Woo-hoo-I can't wait to tell everyone at school!", and, "So when I'm 20 the baby will be 14. WOW!!! When the baby is 6, I'll be twelve. WOW! Giggle Giggle. We have had a very fun morning.

After the kids and Jared were off I finished framing some pictures for a client and helped her figure out how and where to hang them. That was really fun! Then, had lunch with a couple
friends.

On a side note-since I was whining about it earlier-everyone has been really happy with thier pictures. The Moellers ordered over 20, and repeatedly asked if they were paying me enough. I feel comfortable with that. That's how I like it. It's funny-I originally thought that people would be happy with a CD. Super inexpensive to order your own prints. I'm finding that people are more than happy to pay me to just take care of it all. At this point, I'm more than happy to do it. It's been a great learning experience so far.

Now it's time to pick up Hannah and Noah!


Love, Mel