This is the First Time in My Whole Life!

Allana likes to point out "firsts" to me. "Mom! This is Gideon's first time to the library!" or "Mom this is our my first time coming to this park when I am 5..."

Here is another first... Allana riding a 2-wheeler bike with no help or training wheels. This video clip is after practicing on the bike less than 5 minutes. She already has the balance down from riding her Strider Bike.

Ahoy Matey! Captain Allana be turnin' five

Andy turned the whole living room into a pirate ship with cardboard from Sears Outlet and some masking tape. It was so much fun! Corinne is already planning her pirate party when she turns five.

Happy Fall

With the craziness of volleyball season I feel like we have not been at home on a Saturday in ages. It was fun to spend some time out in the yard today.

Be Yourself

Tonight Andy was holding Corinne. She was resting her head on his shoulder and he began asking her what she wants to be when she grows up:

"Corinne, what are you going to be when you grow up? The president of the United States? or maybe a doctor? Or what about a..."

"No dad! I going to be Corinne!" (almost with tears in her eyes and in her cute high pitched voice)

Don't we all wish that we were happy with just wanting to be ourselves?

Allana's First Talk

Today Allana gave her first talk. She is 4 1/2 and didn't even need my help. She got up to the microphone with a beaming smile and a 3x5 index card with some picture reminders of her talk (and a few words). She did beautifully:

"Jesus Christ is the Savior and he is a God of miracles. My cousin Keith was in an accident and he was hurt really badly. The priesthood gave him a blessing. The doctors said it was a miracle that Keith was still alive. I know that Jesus blesses us....blesses us with miracles. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

I wish I had her speaking abilities! The greatest part about watching the sunbeams do the opening exercises is how huge their smile is when they are finished. You can tell that they are extremely pleased with themselves because of what they have just accomplished. After I give a talk I am relieved to be finished, but I probably spend the most time analyzing what I could have done better. How nice would it be for us to actually give ourselves a pat on the back and just to be content and happy with knowing we did our very best?

To add even more awe to how well she did... she was up until past midnight last night because she helped us clean-up from the reception. What a trooper. Here is the clean-up crew from Kristie's reception last night:

Be the Music

Andy is getting t-shirts printed for his ballroom company with a logo that developed toward the end of the year: "Be the Music". I think these pictures outside of a restaurant in Nephi, Utah on our way home from volleyball camp in St. George are great examples of being the music (not to mention that the girls have been giggling endlessly when they look at them).

Awwwww. Aren't we cute? We hardly ever actually sit next to each other in the car anymore. One of us usually sits back with the kids, so we have to cherish these moments.

You're getting so big!

I just stepped on the scale to weigh myself. Allana walked up looked at the numbers on the scale and then looked up at me and said, "Wow! Oh my gosh! You are getting so big, Mom!"

"Mom, you're the best mom ever!"

Tonight as Allana was getting ready for bed she looked at me with eyes full of admiration and said, "Mom, you're the best mom ever!" I just smiled and told her goodnight. I should have asked her why I am the best mom ever tonight. Usually it is because I let her stay up really late or eat some sort of sweets that I usually don't give her. I guess it doesn't really matter as long as I keep on striving to be the best mom ever in her eyes.

One-on-One

It looks like Gideon is just as shocked as I am that time is flying by so quickly! Gideon is almost 15 weeks old. I feel like I never see Andy even though we are finally making time to go on a date about one time a week. When we had just 2 kids I didn't really feel like we needed to go out alone together very often. Now with 3 kids we really do need the time away.

We have also started something for one-on-one time with the kids. 4 nights a week while the other people in the household clean-up from dinner Andy or I have one-on-one time with one of the kids. Last night it was Allana's turn to spend time one-on-one with me during dinner clean-up. We worked together on getting the storage area cleaned up so we can make it into a work space for me and a play space for the kids. Allana spent most of the time looking at old pictures and asking me about them. It is really fun to be alone with just one of the kids. It makes it a lot easier to get to know them individually. I guess that is kind of why we need prayer so much. Our relationship is more personal with Heavenly Father if we spend that one-on-one time talking with him.

"I just need more practice."

Today as we were leaving the library I had to feel a twinge of triumph as I heard Allana in the back seat attempting to blow up a balloon. After a few unsuccessful attempts she said in a rather cheerful voice, "It's okay Corinne. I just need more practice."

I hope that sticks with her, because even now working with high school students in the arena of volleyball it is very common for me to see girls who are afraid to try things because of the fear of failure. If we were perfect from the beginning what would be the point? I've been trying to teach Allana that making mistakes is part of learning. If we never make mistakes than we probably aren't taking the risks we should be to learn.

Anyway, I was happy to hear that some of the things I am teaching her are sticking with her. Being a mom is the best! :)