Every girl should have a sister that while visiting you for their Spring Break chooses to clean your garage while you're at work...not a small feat since I'd been told that it looked like the aftermath of Japan out there. Add to that the fact that all my children flock to her and choose staying with her to clean instead of coming in the car with me. Then the icing on the cake is when she took all the kiddos with her to Kangaroo Zoo for dinner and playing so that I could go through every container on the garage shelves to sort through them and find spaces for all of the items that were piling on the floor of the garage. What is your magic spell you've placed over all of us? We love you. Thanks for coming with some of your sweet kiddos and brightening our days. We miss you already.

Tonight I read this verse in the Book of Mormon, and it needs to be on a plaque somewhere in my house. It reads,

"And now we only wait to hear the joyful news declared unto us by the mouth of angels, of his coming; for the time cometh, we know not how soon. Would to God that it might be in my day; but let it be sooner or later, in it I will rejoice."
Alma 13:25

Would to God...

Line's before and after

Line was in definite need of a makeover. Her image was way out of date, and her hairstyle, glasses, and shirt choices were reminiscent of Rosa Parks...



So with the help of our favorite hairdresser, she worked her magic and now Line's a whole new girl, and loving it.



Seriously though, Line has been working for weeks on a school project about Rosa Parks. The conclusion of the project was her class "wax museum" this past Friday, where she dressed like Mrs. Rosa Parks and gave an oral report on her life. She of COURSE did a marvelous job. But the crazy part was how she kinda looked like her. I needed to take a pic.

The other pictures of her are of her new look. I let the girls know that I'd scheduled hair cuts and Line surprised us all by telling us that she wanted bangs. Ohh...bangs...all my girlies' dream hair cuts include bangs, and for me each hair cut that includes bangs means more teaching how to use blow dryers and flat irons, and more juggling all of our getting ready time in the morning, which I've been warned about for years would happen, having six girlies! But I am thrilled to see them figuring out some beauty tricks early, and these ones don't scorch the crap out of their hair, like their Auntie Ginny and I did on our poor poor bangs all those years ago. I can still remember the sound my hair would make as it was singeing and the steam coming out as I "curled" my bangs. I'll never forget the morning Mom threw away the curling iron because she was tired of us frying our hair. I think Ginny and I hyperventilated that morning, trying to figure out what to do with our poor hair without our precious curling iron.

Congrats on the great job at school and the new cute look. Love you Emeline.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

We all had such a fantastic day yesterday. The night before we all painted our nails green and decorated them with shamrocks and four leaf clovers. Before we went to bed we also had a fun time running through everyone's closets to see what St. Patrick's attire we had. The morning of we enjoyed some Lucky Charms with some green milk, munched on some nummy green shamrock rice crispie treats after school, and convinced our brains that green eggs still taste the same as yellow ones for dinner. But the best part was knowing that we feel the luckiest to have found our own personal pot of gold...each other. Hokey, I know. But the girlies and I honestly talked about that yesterday. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Oh, That Woh-man! (Closer lovers will know where that quote comes from)

We were in Sacrament Meeting today and things were surprisingly manageable for me as we sat there listening and singing. Through out the meeting, as usual, Eva would tap me and want to show or tell me something. Today she'd aggressively tap me while simulataneously saying something to get my attention. I'll admit that the first couple of times I didn't actually notice what she was saying. Then on the third or fourth time I wasn't sure but it sounded like she was saying, "Mormon". After trying to really decipher what it was she was saying, I realized she was saying, "Woh-man!" to get my attention. You should have seen the twinkle in her eye and heard her loud stomach chuckle when she knew I'd finally gotten her sarcasm. I LOVE glimpses like this of my Eva, the one that makes me laugh instead of cry.

Changes 3

Back when Eva was a baby I took a trip, just her and I, to see my some of my family in Idaho. While I was there I had a conversation with my sisters about eyebrow waxing/plucking/tweezing and what they thought about when it was appropriate for the girlies to start doing their eyebrows. The reason I was seeking other's advice on the matter was because one night as I was tucking Line and Malia into bed, Line asked me, "Mom, why do my eyebrow's look like a man's and yours don't?". We had a cute little conversation about the fact that mine used to look like two caterpillar's wrestling on my forehead, until I was introduced to my first pair of tweezers. I reassured her that when she was old enough, she too would own her very own pair. That day has finally come. It was part of the hair straightening day, and it was super fun to gather all of our waxing equipment around us in the kitchen after all the littles were in bed. (Thanks Canny for helping us pick out the right stuff.)

Oh my word. You should have seen us. It was so enjoyable for me to just banter back and forth with these two stinkers. Line was the most freaked about how much it would hurt and ended up being the most chill about it. Malia on the other hand, was the one who gave Line the hardest time about being nervous, and then ended up shedding a few tears during her turn...you can see her ducking her head at one point. The girls were each other's photographer.













These growing up moments surprise me. When these changes occur as a result of the girls growing up, I want so badly for Naki to be there to celebrate them with us. I crave being able to hear his voice teasing back to the girls and just being physically present. Although I am unable to adequately find the words that will express the feeling I have after we've completed an event that went smoothly and was cheerful, in this case the girls' first eyebrow waxing, I know that even though I didn't see him or hear him, he was an active participant. The times that I don't feel like this are the times when there is contention and when it seems like everyone is arguing and/or crying. In this case, it was just the weirdest experience, to know that even though we did something again without him, somehow we didn't. It doesn't even make sense to try and explain. I think part of it is feeling him through the girls and the things they say and the expressions on their faces as they say it, that I know he would so enjoy. Sometimes it really does feel like I didn't do it alone even though to the eye it appears that way.

Bathtub Buddies, Changes 3

With our insanely busy schedule, one of the changes that we've reinstituted around here is that many hands make light work. This isn't a new concept for us in our house, but it is definitely an absolutely necessary one that without, the girls and I wouldn't make it day to day. Before Daddy died it was just one we taught and practiced without needing it to work in order to survive. But now the need for us to all work as a team is even more essential than it was before. Naki and I have always believed that children are capable of hard work and it is in fact a tool we want them equipped with as people. Without the ability to work hard it is quite impossible to achieve much in this world. Unless you were our shadow 24 hours a day, it would be impossible to describe what these girls are capable of. They can do ALMOST as much as I can in the house, and soon the quality of their work will be up to par with the quality of an adult's. We've definitely learned that you work hard and then you play hard. The girls aren't always super thrilled about this new change, of course. What child would be? However, when their work is over and they can play, they have admittedly discovered that there is more pure enjoyment in being able to play, knowing it's extreme opposite in it's truest sense. I know that who they are as girlies is a foreshadowing of what kind of women warriors they will become.

The other night we rushed home to do a quick session of dinner and baths so that we could head out for round two of dance classes for the day. This isn't possible to accomplish without the girls being the bathers while I'm cooking dinner. There just isn't enough time for me to do both. I love hearing them in there, talking and playing with each other. It isn't always smooth sailing, but this particular night it was.





Babe...check out your fierce future women warriors. Aren't they just the bestest?