I found these pictures on my computer, and realized I hadn't shared these priceless treasures. Addie was over one day, my sister Katie's oldest daughter, and the girls decided to try out all of Line's Spy Gear she received as her Christmas present this year. Of course, you can't be a spy without dressing for the occasion. Because the girls' dance classes require black clothes, they had plenty of black to arm themselves with. Good thing I didn't let out the secret that I have black face paint. Who knows what would've come of that!

100th Day of Kindergarten!

Every school project we work on feels like such a triumph for me...even before Naki died. I feel like it's one of those things that somehow snuck by my notice when I decided I wanted to be a parent. Is it really necessary to have to also be in elementary school again? 6 times over? I dread all the school assignments the girlies come home with. But THESE ones, we really love doing. The kindergartners and 1st graders were assigned to make a poster for the 100th day of school with 100 of any item they wanted. Recently we'd resurrected an old gumball machine that either Line or Malia had received what seems like an eternity ago. It hadn't had gumballs in it forever, and when we finally bought the gumballs to put in it, when we loaded up the machine wouldn't you know the top part had cracked right down the middle and they all exploded and went everywhere. Oh joy. So, after a bit of superglue surgery, we've all been chomping on brightly colored gumballs around here. It seemed the perfect fit for Eli's poster idea. Here she is, the day she brought it into school.

Happy Birthdy Miss Eli-Bell! Naki and I just CAN NOT believe that this little munchkin, this girl who has challenged, taught, and loved us from day 1, has turned 6years old. She got to have her birthday donut before school and before the rest of the crazy busy day unfolded.

We were excited to get the day to have and enjoy Eli for ourselves, and decided to save her birthday party until later. Since she turned 4 Eli's known that she could get her ears pierced like her older sisters, but her fear outweighed her vanity every time she started considering it. So I was quite surprised when she approached me this year with the news that she had decided to get her ears pierced for her birthday. We'd recently discovered that Lose has a nickel allergy, which would explain the "weeping", or the stud sliding down through the lobe leaving the original piercing location, and burning of the skin where the ear is pierced, which just means that she has to have either super cheap plastic studded earrings or super expensive gold ones. Armed with this new info, Lose and Eli had discussed doing it together which helped Eli feel a bit stronger and braver I think, and it sounded like a good plan. So after school, and then after therapy, we headed out for an ear piercing adventure.

These pictures crack me up every single time I look at them. Since I was flying solo, trying to fill out forms, reassure a girlie that was freaking out a bit, pick out which studs to use, etc etc, I could not let Eva and Ane run loose in jewelry store, for heaven's sake. So I made them sit down, and someone was NOT happy about it. Really, really, not happy.


Lose went first, now quite the seasoned pro at this, it being her 4th time. I'm quite a bit embarrassed even admitting that I didn't figure out what was going on with her before now. Check out her pics...the girls and I laugh every time we look at them.




Now, for Eli's pics. You may think by looking at this first picture that she had just had them pierced from the look on her face. But actually, this is before she even sat in the chair.


Finally, she got in the chair and gathered her sisters all around her. One on each hand, and I think one on a leg or a foot or something. Combine that with me standing there with the camera, the two littles sitting right beside us on the floor, and it's hard to figure out how two employees also fit back into that little corner to do the actual piercing.


If you've never witnessed any of our little Eli's extreme moods, here's a small sample. Seconds earlier she'd been crying, and then this was the next pic I captured.




Here she is seconds after being brave while everyone was looking...

and then this is her seconds after when everyone turned away...

and then finally a couple of minutes later after she realized that she wasn't going to die after all.

Living with our Eli means there is never a dull moment, and that you just never know what emotion of hers you'll be experiencing from one minute to the next. And we love it!!! I'll admit, as a babe that quality of hers stressed the crap out of me. But it has become one of the things we love most about our Lesieli. Happy Birthday Eli!

Hymn 124

I have the worst memory. Ever. I hate that part of my brain that swears it's going to remember something, and then when I try and recall it, it has disappeared for good. So I started trying to make lists for myself in my phone of things I need to remember. One such list is a list of spiritual promptings I receive. I know that God speaks to me, and I hear Him, often. The problem is that after I've heard him, I then go on with my day, and when the end of the day rolls around all that He has said to me I have forgotten. How in the world am I supposed to grow and discover what He's trying to teach me if I never can remember what it was He said? The list has really helped me more than I thought it would. Now...if I can just remember to check it periodically!

One Sunday I was playing the piano in Relief Society, Hymn 124, Be Still My Soul. I remember while playing it that the words were especially calming to my soul that was at the time in upheaval, as it is again now. After I finished playing I wrote, "Read Hymn 124" on my list. Only now, tonight, did I sit down and read the words. They brought such peace to my mind, heart, and spirit, and I only wish I'd read them earlier. I think I may try and memorize them.

1. Be still, my soul: The Lord is on thy side;
With patience bear thy cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In ev'ry change he faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: Thy best, thy heav'nly Friend
Thru thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

2. Be still, my soul: Thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as he has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: The waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while he dwelt below.

3. Be still, my soul: The hour is hast'ning on
When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: When change and tears are past,
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

Despite my bitterness, resentment, fear, anger, dread, exhaustion, confusion, guilt, etc etc, I have to believe what this song teaches. Better yet, I have to believe what God's Spirit speaks to my heart when I read the words. I need to memorize it so that in my difficult moments, I can recite it to myself and balance out my negative thoughts with these sweet and calming positive ones.

What does it mean if you wake every morning dreading that day? And then it happens again the next day, and the next day, and the next, and the next?

What?

When winter hit, it put a damper in our routine of visiting Daddy's grave. So whenever we'd visit we started pulling the car to the side of the street closest to Naki's grave, and then we'd roll all the windows down. Each girl would then take a turn shouting out to Dad whatever they wanted to share with him that week. Nobody ever wanted to get out into the freezing cold, and quite frankly it wasn't really possible some times with the amount of snow we'd have to trudge through. It has been really cute to hear the things they've decided to share with Daddy that week, ranging from something they ate that week that they love, something important like accomplishments or birthdays, all the way to an argument they'd recently had with me or a sibling. It didn't matter what day we were there, as we were driving away Eva would always holler, "Love ya, big dadd-eh boot-eh" (or Big Daddy Bootie, but with an interesting accent). I'm not sure where it came from, this new nickname she'd created for Daddy, but it made her giggle to be able to call him that and it's stuck. In the last several weeks Ane has started saying that to Daddy, too. We saw this as pretty harmless, that is, until this past week at the grocery store.

We were paying the cashier, and the gentleman bagger was gushing over how big Ane's eyes were. Then he noticed Eva's, then Eli's, then Lose's, then Malia's, and then Line's. He couldn't believe all these beautiful girls all had such big beautiful eyes. I made the comment to him that they all had their Daddy's eyes, and that was where it got interesting. Somewhere in that conversation, Ane made a connection between his use of the word "Big" and my use of the word "Daddy". He made one more comment, looking straight into Boo's eyes, about her big eyes like her Daddy's, to which she replied without hesitancy, "You have a Big Dadd-eh Boot-eh". He went completely still, stopped bagging and stood at attention, and said "What?", only a little offended and a lot confused. There was no explaining, so we just all giggled and tried to not offend him even further. It was hilarious, and every time the girlies and I retell the story to each other we just laugh and laugh and laugh.

I am, in Malia's words, totally cheating with this blog entry today. It's actually Line's entry that she wrote for her blog, which is private, so I knew that many wouldn't get a chance to read it. I was so proud of her and all the other girlies today that I wanted to share it with the rest of you. Here is what she posted today:

Today we stayed home due to sickness, so we had church at home. I was responsible for the sharing time, and mom gave me a good idea that since we were studying charity that month, that I should use Dad's shoes to show how he was charitable in those shoes. So, I chose his worn-out BYU slippers,his gray sneakers, his cleats, and his church shoes. Everyone laughed at the sight of me in those shoes, but they had a good time trying to beat each other to the answer of how he was charitable, such as not being puffed up, or seeketh not his own. (These verses are in Moroni 7:45-47) Here is what I said for each shoe.

Slippers-When mom had just had a baby, dad would help us in the morning in his slippers. (Kind)

Church Shoes-Dad would always teach us important things such as being reverant and respecting people in his church shoes on Sunday. (Rejoiceth in the truth)

Cleats- Dad was always teaching us how to play sports patiently and giving us advice in his cleats. (Not easily provoked)

Sneakers- Even when he was tired, he got up and went to work for us in his sneakers.(Seeketh not her own)









Although in these pictures his shoes are way too big for me, it just goes to show that if we want to be like him charity-wise, we have big shoes to fill.