Friday, August 29, 2008

Please Don't Go!




Dear Summer,

Why are you leaving so quickly? Please don't go. Oh, how I have enjoyed you being here; and I will sorely miss you when you are gone for good. These last couple of weeks I have felt the chill in the air each morning when I send Luke out of the door, and I just know you are going to be gone very soon. Here are just a few of the things I love about you...

I love celebrating the birth of our country and our state with parades, rodeos, fireworks, and BBQs. I love the long, warm, sunny days and the cool breezy evenings, when it is just cool enough to need a jacket. I love the wardrobe change from pants and sweaters to shorts and t-shirts (and those cute muscle shirts for the boys). I love flip-flops! I love the smell of fresh cut grass and newly blooming flowers. I love cooking hot dogs and roasting marshmallows on a sick over an open flame. I love the way the fields look with the evening sun shining through the spray of water from the big irrigating sprinklers. I love the the tall, fat rows of hay laying in the fields after it has been cut. I love vacations to the lake, family reunions, and all the time I get to spend with my family. I love my boys spending time at the cabin and fishing with Grandpa in the mountains. I love sending Noah out to farm and having him come back smelling like a farmer (grease, hay, and dogs). I love my boys learning how to help with the big cow round-up. I love sleeping with my window open. I love growing tomatoes, peas, corn, zucchini, and strawberries in my garden. I love EATING all the delicious things I grow in my garden. There is nothing like the taste of butter dripping off of fresh corn, salt and pepper on a summer tomato, peas right out of the pod, strawberries on EVERYTHING, and of course chocolate zucchini cake! I love the sound of the wind blowing through the leaves of the aspen trees outside my window. I love to see my boys enjoying some of the same things I did when I was a kid (sleeping on the tramp, running through the sprinklers, playing in the irrigation water, and climbing trees).

I know that fall must come, and then the snows of winter. But please don't stay away too long, June is far to late for you to come again.

A fond farewell,
Olivia

Sunday, August 24, 2008

First week of first grade follies




Back to school time! Luke and I have both been excited for school to start, and this week the wait was finally over. The week was so "eventful" that I thought it was worth a recap for all of our friends and family.

Monday: We started our first week with Back to School Night on Monday evening. We got to the school just in time to hear the principal give her "welcome" and school rules presentation. After that presentation the time had finally arrived go to the first grade area, find Luke's locker and classroom, and meet his new teacher. With great anticipation we found Luke's seat and met the students that sat at his table. Luke was very excited to see that one of his classmates from Kindergarten was sitting right next to him. I was less excited than Luke because it happened to be a girl that Luke said he thought was cute. I hoped this would not prove to be too much of a problem. Let's face it, Luke can be easily distracted by a cute face and a little conversation! There was a stack of papers on Luke desk that I was busily filling out while the teacher spoke to us all about the class responsibilities and rules. Luke was even given a "star student" train poster to complete as homework for the first week. Homework before school even started? Oh well, nothing like jumping right in with both feet.

Tuesday: The big day! Luke was up bright and early and we got dressed, ate breakfast, packed his lunch bag, and got out of the door early enough to take some pictures before the bus came. Luke jumped right on the bus and was gone. I could hardly wait until he got home so I could hear all about his day. He loves to talk and I just knew that he would have quite a story to tell upon arrival. I couldn't have been more wrong. When he got home I asked him to tell me all about his first day. He looked at me and said, "I really don't remember much." I tried to extract the details by asking if they read any books, did and worksheets, who he sat by on the bus and at lunch, what he did at recess, etc., etc. Luke simply grumbled something about not having a good remembering brain. What? I reminded him that he can talk to me for and HOUR about all that happened in this week's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle episode, so I knew that he tell me something about his day! Again more grumbling and claims of not remembering. I sent him to his bed to think about things and told him that I was going to ask him everyday about school, so he better try to remember things!

Once he came out of his room he did provide a few scant details about what he had done at school. During our conversation about lunch I realized we had a problem. If you know Luke, you know that he is possibly the SLOWEST eater around. He told me that after he finished his lunch he asked a girl (later details emerged that it was the principal) what he should. She told him to put his lunch bag in his locker and go out to recess. With lunch bag put away, he headed outside only to find that he was the only first-grader out there. A few minutes later his teacher came out to find him because he was suppose to be in class! He had taken so much time to eat that recess was over and class had already begun. Great, now the teacher must think he is a total space cadet. I did my best to nicely encourage Luke to eat lunch a little faster and pay attention to the kids around him to see when all the other kids in his class were finished eating. Okay, not the best first day, but I was sure that Luke would be able to make up for his first day error and prove to be the model student I know his is.

Wednesday: Surprisingly I miss Luke while he is at school. Even though I still have two at home I was really looking forward to Luke coming home so I could talk to him about his day. He came busting through the door and this time was able to have a conversation about school without being sent to time out to think. Class, lunch, bus rides, recess, and even P.E. All seems to have gone without a hitch. A little while later I got a phone call to inform me that during recess Luke has been spotted holding hands and kissing a girl! Actually the girl was said to have kissed Luke, but one way or the other supposedly kissing had occurred. Although I didn't really think this escapade sounded like something Luke would do, I called him in for questioning. He denied all of the allegations, but confessed to chasing the said girl around during recess (his favorite activity). I decided to take his word for it because I really don't think that Luke would be holding hand and kissing girls. He is pretty shy (as he always tells me).

I decided to get his old yearbook out and look up the girl who was involved in the recess incident and found her to be pretty cute (a little red-head), so if it is true at least he has good taste. Luke then started looking through his yearbook to see the pictures of the kids who are in his class. I looked over at him and found that he was kissing someone's picture! I asked him who he was kissing and he told me...Mrs. Schumann, his teacher. Again, good taste. She is a cute, skinny, mid-twenties, little thing.

Thursday: After another busy morning of getting ready for school while taking care of all the kids I sent Luke out the door just in time to catch the bus, or so I thought. I watched out of the window for the bus to pass, and never saw it go by. I walked out of the driveway and found Luke still standing there waiting for the bus that we obviously missed. I quickly threw clothes on myself and Noah (sorry Eli you got to go in pajamas) and jumped in the car to get Luke to school in time. Note to self; the bus comes earlier than the "schedule" they sent home said it would.

I was lounging on the bed with Noah and Eli around the time that Luke should have been getting home, when I looked at the clock and made a mental note that he was 8 minutes later than he was the day before. It was time to feed Eli so I sat down and fed him and waited for Luke to come home. When I was finished feeding the baby and Luke still wasn't home I started to get concerned. I called Billie Jo to ask her if she thought I should be worried and she said I should call the district office and have them radio the bus to see if he was on it. I decided that before I made the phone call I could walk over to the neighbor's house to see if he went there to play instead of coming home. No one was even home at the neighbor's house and I started to get more and more worried about where Luke could be. As I was walking down their driveway I saw a bus finally come pulling up. Luke got off, but I noticed that there weren't any other kids on the bus. I hurried to the bus and found out that Luke had gotten on the wrong bus at the school and so he had to stay on the bus until the route was finished and the driver could bring him home. I figure that Luke would be pretty upset by this, so when I talked to him about what happened I tried to be as nice as possible as I explained the importance of paying attention to what bus he was getting on. Luke swears that he was standing in the right line by some of his friend that ride his bus, but somehow he ended up on the wrong bus. In his defense, the bus driver of the WRONG bus was his driver last year so he probably didn't think anything of it when he got on and saw her in the driver's seat. By the end of our conversation Luke was crying and informed me that he needed some time alone. Didn't he just have quite a long bus ride alone? Oh well. I let him lay on my bed and watch some cartoons, which seemed to make everything better.

Friday: Our last chance to have a day without any problems. As I was reading through Luke's planner I saw that for homework his "star student" train poster was due. Oops. Someone's parents forgot to even bring it home on Back to School Night. I quickly wrote a note to Luke's teacher explaining why Luke didn't have his FIRST assignment completed! So much for being the model student. It was just a small glitch, and considering the week we had just had I figured it could've been much worse. What an eventful week of first grade. I hope the next 9 months are a little less "eventful".

Monday, August 18, 2008

My happy little guy

I can't believe that Elijah is 2 months old today. It has gone really fast and I have enjoyed every minute of him. He is such a happy little baby, he is always smiling and making cute little noises to "talk" when you pay attention to him. He is so easy and happy, it makes me think I can do this a dozen more times (not really, but you get the idea). I seriously love this little guy and can't believe how big he is getting already. I just hope that his easy-going personality continues into his toddlerhood and more!
4 weeks


6 weeks

6 weeks

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Am I really the mom?


Every once in a while it hits me that I am a 31 year old mother of three. I know, I know, this shouldn't really be a shock to me, but every once in a while it is. I don't know if anyone else has ever had this strange sensation/realization like I have but here is how it goes... The other night Luke woke up sick and crying because of an infected lymph node. It was 3:30 am and I had been in bed for about one hour since feeding Elijah and getting back to sleep. After giving Luke some medicine (actually Rick got up to give him the medicine) I stayed on the couch consoling Luke and tickling his back until he could go back to sleep. While I was sitting there at 4:00 am comforting my sick little boy, the sensation/realization came on... I am the mom, this is my 6-year-old, when he cries he cries for me, I have brought three children into this world, I am no longer a responsibility free youngster! When did this happen? Each day passes, some exciting some not, and time slowly creeps up on me. I just know that one day I am going to be sitting in Sacrament meeting watching one of my sons pass the sacrament and I will get the same feeling. Or, maybe it will be when I hug a son goodbye as he leaves on a mission. It could be in the temple when I see my child get sealed and I become a mother-in-law. I can see it happening the first time I hold a grandchild in my arms and enjoy a newborn baby without doing the work of getting it here. At all of these times I won't know how time has gotten me where I am, but I will be happy that it has.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Bear Lake Vacation

Playing in the sand, sunbathing, tubing and wake boarding behind the boat, jet skiing, golfing, scrapbooking, eating, pedicures, hiking in Minnetonka Cave, and having guitar hero, karaoke, and dance dance revolution competitions...what a great vacation! We spent the last week with my family staying at Bear Lake and enjoying every minute of our little escape. It was great to have most of my family (even Grandpa Bisel stayed with us Sunday evening) together at different times during the week. I wish everyone could've been there the whole time. Here is a little taste of our wonderful week.

The kids has so much fun at the beach. The water on the north side is really shallow for a long distance so the water stays nice and warm. They played for HOURS everyday and would've stayed longer if we let them.

The first day on the boat the kids got dumped off the tube twice and therefore thought that it was a terrible experience. A couple of days later I forced my boys back out there so they wouldn't end things on a bad note. Noah still wasn't too much of a tubing fan, but Luke really enjoyed it.


Although Luke hates when I make him stop playing and pose for my pictures, he was a good sport. I thought that I did a great job of keeping sunscreen on the boys so they wouldn't get burned, but I found out I missed a spot...their bums. Right above their swimming suits got a little burned from them bending over and digging in the sand and exposing a little more skin than I realized.



Noah absolutely loved our time at the beach. He spent hours everyday digging in the sand and playing in the water. I would take him to the beach everyday if we lived near one! I was amazed at how long he would play and be good because nothing else holds his attention that long.



Elijah got his turn dipping his toes in the water. He was such a good beach bum, he just stayed under the canopy and slept and ate! I didn't know that a baby would be so good for 4-6 hours a day at the beach. He is such a delight.


I realize that because I take most of the pictures we almost never get any of us, so I dragged Rick into the water to get a picture. Good thing it was taken so far away because I wouldn't suggest having your picture taken in a bathing suit 6 weeks after having a baby.


I just HAD to put this picture in (sorry Chels) because it shows how the adults spent their time every evening. I am playing guitar hero, Max is singing karaoke, and Chelsea is doing dance dance revolution. Okay, Chelsea and I are just posing for the picture while Max (and Rick) sing, but I wanted to get all three together. I can't believe how much fun we had. Just for the record, Chelsea dominated DDR, Rick was the best at guitar hero, and the girls KILLED the boys at karaoke.

Thanks so much to mom and dad for getting the rooms for us and allowing us to have such a great family vacation. We loved it so much we are already planning next year. Thanks to my sisters for being my best friends. Thanks to our husbands for allowing us to spend every waking minute together! Family is the best. If we can survive a week on vacation together, we can survive anything.