First Day of Kindergarten!

On July 25th Christian started his very first day of school!  I woke up that morning to the sound of someone clanking in the kitchen.  When I peeked downstairs this is what I found:

 

Christian was so excited for school he woke up, got dressed, made and ate his own breakfast and made his bed all before 7 am.  He was waiting to leave with his backpack and was pretty disappointed when I told him he’d have to wait for almost an hour before school.      He was a little annoyed at me making him pose in front of the house because he just wanted to go, go, go!     

This photo shows a little better all of the things he picked out for his school gear.  I was really surprised that he didn’t pick a cartoon bag, instead he picked his favorite color…so I guess he likes green better than cartoons.  He must have good taste. ;)  Isn’t he handsome?  Even with the sun in his eyes he’s darling. 

He kept walking ahead of us (Jared took the day off and we all walked him to school).

I thought is was so cute that they had the mascot waiting for the kids right at the front by the kindergarten playground.

  Christian with the principle who was there to greet the new kindergartners.

 

They let the parents walk their kindergartners in for the first time which I was really happy to do.  Christian posing outside his classroom!

 

Christian in his seat at the green table!  He was so happy to start school he kept asking why we were still there and I was taking pictures.

I am so happy that my big boy is excited about school.  This is his third week as I write this and he is still so happy to go see his friends and teacher and to learn and do new things.

Trip Down South

The Weekend before school started, we decided to head South and visit our cousins Ryan and Andy and their five children.  It was just a short trip where we drove up Friday night, stayed Saturday, went to church with them on Sunday and then left for home around 2 pm.

On Saturday we went to the San Xavier Mission.  It is a beautiful piece of workmanship and has been restored since I was there in the early 90’s.  The tour guide stated that this mission is known as the “Sistine Chapel of the United States” I think it’s because of the amount of workmanship that went into it and the style it is as well.  It’s no wonder that the Catholic church made such a huge impression on the Natives when this building had to have been so incredibly different and elaborate than anything else in their life experiences to that point.

The tour was very interesting and I’d love to go back and listen a little better.  It was so hot and stuffy inside that it was very difficult for Vivian and Christian to behave so we only made it about half-way through the tour.  It was much cooler outside than in.

Isn’t the workmanship amazing?

The rest of Saturday was basically spent hanging out at Ryan and Andy’s house.  They had an amazing monsoon with lots of lightening.  The not so awesome thing though is their house got hit so they had problems with their A/C, their phones and their oven not working after that. :(  Thankfully though, they were able to get their A/C back on later that night.

On Sunday we went to church with Ryan and Andy’s family at 7:30am.  I am so glad I visited their ward, the speakers/teachers in the classes said exactly what I needed to hear.  In sacrament meeting the speakers where a returned couple who had served in Ohio, I believe.  The husband’s talk in particular struck me when he mentioned that it’s our memories of places and “how things were” that distracts us to a point where it’s very difficult to accomplish things.  When we sit and stew about how things were it skews our perspective into thinking that we just want to go back instead of looking forward in our life.  I know this has been a major reason why I’ve been having a really hard time since we moved out here to the desert.  I keep remembering the last ward we lived in at the University married student housing and how though it wasn’t perfect, there were so many women that I could talk to and who would reach out with a hand of fellowship.  I really felt a sisterhood there.  All of the sisters in that ward were on the same page, for the most part, financially so that no one looked down or even up their noses at the “haves” and “have not’s”.   I felt needed there and in the ward that we lived in prior to that ward I felt needed as well. 

I think that the three basic requirements for humans to be happy in a situation is to feel 1. needed 2. wanted and 3. loved.   It is possible to survive a situation where one or the other of these factors is not present but it’s not necessarily pleasant.  I think that’s why President Hinckley said that members need a Calling (needed)  a Friend (wanted) and to be Nourished by the word of God (loved).  I’ve been so stuck and frustrated with my current ward and feeling the lack of these things because I was so blessed with them previously that I have been allowing myself to be side-tracked by the lack of fellowship I feel.  Instead I need to be the giver of these things and not expect others to give them to me.  It’s easier said than done, but I’m going to try.

In Sunday school I really enjoyed how the brother who gave the lesson (the same lesson actually I had in Sunday school the week before but totally different) about the Savior’s crucifixion and how Peter denies Christ three times.  The week before the person giving the lesson kept talking about how Peter failed and we all fail and then Peter became better because of that….etc.   But this teacher brought up a point of view that I’ve wondered at many times that when Christ told Peter that he should deny Him three times, what he was really was doing was giving Peter instructions that he needed to deny Him three times.  Because where and when Peter denied Christ, Peter may not have been able to complete his own mission if he hadn’t.  Perhaps when Christ looked at Peter as He was marched through the courtyard it wasn’t a look of “How could you?” it was more a look of “Yes, I understand”.  Who really knows the thoughts of another’s heart anyway? and there is so much that is lost in translation as well as body language.

In Relief Society, I had the most refreshing experience because though I sat down and no one knew me, someone sat down on either side of me and introduced themselves and would comment to me during the lesson.  It was lovely.  I haven’t felt so included in a meeting for quite a while.  I realize that the saying “the church is true, even if it’s members aren’t” really is what I need to remember.  Those who are too busy caring how they look or how their behavior is looked upon or that they are too caught up in their own world to be friends to others who may not be like them or look like them or have the same income as them, really need help and understanding and I need to be more patient with them and just be friendly.  If they never choose to be friendly with me and get to know me, then that is their loss.  I am really grateful that I got to get away and just visit a different ward and experience  the sisterhood in their ward.

It was also nice to have church so early so that we could get the kids there on time and then have some time to play and/or visit with cousins afterwards.      Harley, Christian and Max Harley and Christian with Ryan in the background 

Ryan, Christian and Vivian hanging out in their loft.

We were pretty reluctant to leave, we had such a pleasant trip visiting with our cousins (even with our lightening adventures).  But we headed home around 2pm and got home in about an hour and a half.   I was happy that Vivian took a nice nap in the car on the way home.   

Christian before he fell asleep ;)

My view of Jared on the way home.

I’m so glad that we got a chance to get away and enjoy visiting with family.  Thank you Ryan and Andy for putting us up, the delicious meals, the good conversation, and a super fun, and relaxing trip!

A boy and a girl…

On the Friday before Christian was to start school I had to go to central Phoenix and take my sewing machine in to be looked at (since luckily it’s still under warranty from the place I bought it from).  So we made a day of it and I took the kids to the Bernina store, went to breakfast at the Wildflower bakery and then we went and visited my friend Christina.  It was so fun to see her and see how her little Maren has grown.  Isn’t she adorable?

      

Vivian thought so too and wanted to hold her a lot.  Maren wasn’t too sure about this arrangement as you can tell from the photos…

          We lined the kids up on the sofa and laughed and laughed about how we both have a boy and a girl and how our own children look like clones of each other.  It cracks me up because in my own family everyone looked different and in Jared’s family everyone looks so different from each other.  Here are a few of photos of our cute kids (since we couldn’t get them to all smile in the same photo):              

Aren’t these kids cute?  I just can’t help loving them!  Thanks Christina for letting us come and hang out!  It was great to see you again!

Growing up is…fun to do!

Because I’m cheap, I did “Preschool” at our house with a scholastic curriculum book that said “Preschool” last year.  Christian finished that book some time right before our move in November so I got him a “Kindergarten” curriculum book to do at home.  He was really interested at first but was having a difficult time being motivated to actually finish the last 30 pages or so by the time summer rolled around.  I challenged him to finish it before school started and we would take him out to wherever he wanted as a reward.  So just in the nick of time he finished his book so that he could go out to eat at his favorite place “Chick Fila” (the one’s here have a play area like some McDonalds’) on the Thursday before school started.  Here’s my proud boy showing off this nice fat book he’s worked through! 

I’m so proud of him for completing this book because when we bought it, I wasn’t sure he could get through it.  Now he’s starting to be able to read (which isn’t always the best thing since I can’t spell things to Jared when I don’t want Christian to know…).  But I’m excited that my little guy is growing.

And to change gears…I thought I show some funny photos of Vivian’s favorite thing to do in my (very messy at the moment) closet.  Trying on daddy’s shoes! :) 

       

When the house is a little too quiet…

One morning, in the middle of July, I was cleaning and I realized that I hadn’t heard the kids for a while.  So as a cautious and somewhat seasoned mother, I tipped toed upstairs to see what the kids were up to and this is what I found…  Christian and Vivian having a picnic upstairs on his bedroom floor with pretend food!  It was so cute and I was so relieved to find them playing quietly with each other without squabbling, I had to document it. ;)

Vivian was so cute holding her “sandwich” just like she was a regular sandwich eater.   I know it’s a bunch of pictures, but these are just priceless to me to see how sweetly they were playing together.

I just love these two little munchkins!  They bring so much extra sparkle to my life.  I’m so blessed to have them!

July Temple Picnic

For the third Sunday in July, Christian was asked to give a talk in primary about “The Temple; The House of the Lord”  we decided that the best research he could do to figure out what to say would be to actually go to the temple and visit at the visitor’s center.  So the same day I borrowed the car to get Vivian immunized, I packed a lunch before picking up Jared and after picking him up, we headed east to the Mesa Temple.  After a nice picnic, I pulled out the camera to try to capture my cute kids who ended up being very uncooperative. 

Vivian kept running away and though I did get a couple of good photos, they were a pure accident on her count.

Here’s a basic example of how the kids acted the whole time…crazy!  I think the heat makes pretty headstrong kids!

 

The rule of the evening is only one person would cooperate at a time…

Or none… :)

I thought Christian’s smile was really cute in this photo even though it wasn’t in focus…

It was fun just letting the kids run around in the beautiful garden (which ours is not at the moment with the heat and all our sprinkler problems).  I love being able to go to the temple and enjoy a well-tended garden…even in Arizona in July!

  

Christian is such a sweet big boy.  I can’t believe he’s gotten so old and smart!  He’s so much fun to be with and I love experiencing his games with him, because that’s what they are, an experience.  He has such a crazy, fun, interesting, imagination that the things he comes up with to play are hilarious and usually fraught with danger.  It really cracks me up that all his bad guys “repent” at the end of his games too!  LOL!

  By the time we left it was pretty dark.  Here’s the view of the temple from where we parked.  I love how it looks with the moon overhead.

Our New German Friends

The first week of July, a friend of Jared’s Parent’s came from Germany with her son to visit her daughter who was to have a baby and is living in Phoenix right now.  Her other daughter had also come down from St. George with her two little ones to visit with everyone too.  It’s pretty ironic because the daughter living in the valley is the same one who came over to our apartment at the U of U student housing to borrow my printer so that she could print out her resume before going to an interview, and now she’s living in Mesa because her husband (who she met shortly after the first time I met her) is studying to be an Audiologist at ASU.  Oh the irony.  I met with them on Tuesday the 5th, the same day as the insane dust storm in here that made it so we didn’t get home until about 10 p.m..  I took them to a music store which was the boy Andre’s greatest desire.  I invited them to dinner the following Saturday which was the 9th of July.  The baby had been born the night before so it worked out well to have the rest of the family over at our house while she was still in the hospital.

We had a fantastic time with them.  I had to laugh when Andre kept going back for more food and would exclaim over and over “I never knew American food could be so good!”  It was a boost to my ego to say the least.  We also served them strawberry shortcake for dessert which I had bought so that I wouldn’t heat up the house by making a dessert.  They kept acting really worried about the shortcake but thankfully they really enjoyed it and finished all that there was left.  I had forgotten from German class that German’s generally don’t eat too many sweet desserts. :)  Vivian was very interested in the baby who was about 3 months old.  They had to strap him in because she kept trying to take him out of his car seat.  She really likes babies….

After dinner, we had a really fun time playing “Headbands” if you haven’t played this game you might want to look into it.  It’s our favorite game to play with Christian because it doesn’t take reading but it’s not a “go around the board” game.  It’s kind of like 20 questions but more fun.  The only problem is that Christian will sometimes ask if he’s the thing that someone else is, especially me.  :)  We had such a blast, I’m so glad we got to meet this fun family!