Orlando

So last week after hem hawing all week and not sure whether we were going to make the trip, we headed to Orlando for Brandon and I to attend the temple. We had a great time. On Friday we went to po' man's Disney, Dowtown Disney. Cole loved the lego store, he and Laura spend a lot of time playing in their own little Lego land at home. Laura and Hannah enjoyed the princesses (fake, not live) and we left a little bit poorer, sweaty, tired, just like you do at the real Disney so not so bad :). Getting the kids to sleep in a strange place was miserable!, but we eventually all slept. I went to the temple early the next morning and then we all enjoyed the hotel pool by ourselves and had a blast. We played Cole's new game of chasing the kids around in the water. Threw Hannah back and forth, she loves that. Then it was Brandon's turn at the temple so the kids and I a picnic at the park down from the temple, went to the book store, went to Albertson's for the free cookie and a/c!!!! and then it was about time to pick up Brandon. All in all it was a good trip.

Whee!!

"How did they do that!?"


pretty neat


Laura to Cole "We could so do better than that"



Hannah - "I could have so much fun in there, but just like at home they keep me locked out".



"This is so cool"


After not much sleep, swimming, playing at the park
in the heat and not being able to go back to legoland, Cole had
had it, unfortunately this was at the temple, but Hannah's trying to help. Laura's hanging
in there, after all she did get to swim that very morning :).

While there were those moments, my experience on this trip in the temple and our experiences in general make it all worthwhile. I am so glad we weren't deterred from going. I wouldn't trade it and I hope the kids grow up knowing this and are able to have their own experiences that they wouldn't trade. Here's hoping and praying and living.

"Attend the temple. You will be blessed for so doing. Every man or woman who goes into the house of the Lord leaves there a better man or woman than he or she was when he or she entered the house of the Lord. The house of the Lord will have a refining effect upon you. It will cultivate unselfishness within your lives. It will build righteousness. It will impress upon you the importance of doing what you ought to do. Go to the house of the Lord." Presdient Hinckley

I believe this to be true, I didn't come out perfect, I really hope I came out a little better.

Summer school

So we started our home summer school last week. On the first day the kids were super excited, second, somewhat excited and then it kind of went down hill from there, but the important thing is we're still going. This past week Cole had a hard time joining us but he did after a couple of threats. So here's what we did....

I already knew that we would do devotional and exercise as we had started that before school officially begain. So Laura started the idea of getting in our recliner and driving to each venue..."church", gym, school. If Laura wasnt' so into the school thing I don't know if it would've lasted as long as it has. So we sing a couple of good morning songs, say the day, date and what they think the weather is going to be that day. We then read a story. Then we talk about our topic of the week. The first week was our senses, the first day was touch and I had them feel into a bag and tell me what was in it, and we went along like that each day with different senses. Then they're given their worksheets and it's free time until after lunch where I would read a chapter book out loud (this didn't last too long, we finished one book, but have yet to start another one, we will though) and we would do a craft later in the day. I topic this past week was ....surprice, United States. I've got to get on next week's!

so all told we spend a couple of hours working together and the rest was pretty much normal. I really think it helped give structure to our day and even when the kids didn't like it they liked it in the end.

Hannah is adorable doing the exercises and she's pretty good at counting to 10 and saying her abc's. She doesn't like "circle time" though, but she's getting there.

The week we start back at swimming lessons twice a week, so it'll change our school up a little bit. But so far so good.

Sleep

I love Brandon's post, esp. the first part, that's why I think he's a good writer!

So I pretty grumpy today due to lack of sleep, due to getting to bed too late. I think there are no morning people or night people, well there may be a litte of that going on, but I think we train our bodies either on accident or purpose and then think that's how we "are". If I get my behind in bed before 11:00 or even better before 10:00 I can pop out of bed the next morning, regardless of how many hours I've had to sleep. I think that even if you get the same amount and get to bed late and get up late, I'm dragging throughout the day. I could still be tired on less sleep, doing the early version but I feel better and am able to function and it's easier to be nice. So I'm vowing to get to bed earlier tonight. It's hard because that's the prime hours kid free, but it doesn't make the next day easier. I think Heavenly Father gives pretty good advice in early to bed, early to rise....now just need to follow it better!
Happy early dreams.

Dad Checks In

I was more than content checking the family blog occasionally, enjoying Jennifer's observations and humor. She eventually made me a contributor to the blog, but I ignored that in favor of continuing my role as a spectator. Then she had to go and make a bunch of ridiculous claims about me, and in true Jennifer fashion, fail to post a single nicety about herself. She has partially rectified the latter, but it is up to me to clarify information about us both.


First I'll dispute some (false) claims about me:

• I'm a "Financier." This is Jen's kind way of saying I'm a tightwad. She's kind--I'm accurate.
• "Father of the years past and years to come." This seems to put me on par with Father Time. If that was the case, I wouldn't be balding as I age.
• "Author." I'm pretty sure authors are required to write--at least occasionally--so I think I'm disqualified. I could make an incision with my pocket knife and poke around your abdomen a bit with a spoon, but that doesn't make me a surgeon.
• "His Worshipfulness." I'm not sure we're talking about the same kids. If somehow we are referring to the same children, there must be confusion regarding the definition of the word "worship." I'd be very happy with "Acknowledged by his children," and ecstatic with "Obeyed by his children."
• "Best boss." Is this a promotion or just a change in title?
• "Biscuit." I think most country folk would be more likely to drawl, "Looks ter me like yer scarecrow is gettin' a bit thin on top an' thick in 'is middle."

Second, I'll have to explain a few of the fine things about Jen that she's too humble to mention herself:

• She's devoted. Every day she remains committed to me, our family, and covenants she has made with God. Certainly it would be easier to let at least one of these go--just for a little while until [fill in the blank]. But she doesn't.
• She's self-aware. She's mindful of both of her shortcomings, and she works to overcome them.
• She is the expert on our children. I am pleasantly surprised at least once a week at how well she knows, how much she knows, and how deeply she understands each of our children. These are surpassed only by her love for them.
• SAHM. I just learned the acronym (and probably got it wrong as well), but I suspect this audience knows what I mean anyway. I'm good for a few hours. I could make it though a few days if I had to. But every day, all the time? Nu-uh.
• 10,000 acts of quiet service. I don't even notice most of them, and of the ones I do notice, I only manage to mention a few. But while I'm thinking of zeros and ones and databases and servers, she's thinking of me. That, frankly, is fantastic.

There's more of course, but I'm not too good with the food metaphors (and I'm paranoid at what you all might read into them!). Bottom line is I think I'll keep her--as long as she tones down the ridiculous things she posts here about me!

Now back to Hanna Nanna

She is so sweet, although she has gotten to the toddler tantrums at times, but she tries really hard to be patient. When I'm going to work or aerobics and she knows I'm leaving she tries to put on a good face and say bye mommy. She talks more than all of us put together. She can say clearly....
Cole
apple
caillou
up high
baby
guys, wait

not so clearly
where are you?
here i am
there it is
balloon
play
jackson

and lots more those are just the ones I can think of. She is not a sweet eater. She will eat ice cream sometimes, froot loops, and chocolate is okay to her, but she prefers spaghetti, broccoli, green beans, cheese. It is hard to find foods for her in the morning. She loves Cole and Laura.

She started to count. Today she was tryting to discipline Laura by counting .... uunnn, tooo, dree, adda (laura). So cute

Oh and side note tonight, Laura was sent to bed and was sad and Cole said. It give me a bad feeling when Laura is sad, I don't like it when she cries. awwwwwwwwww. So sweet. And Cole was having a hard time earlier today and Laura was doing everything she could to help him out. Oh and I have to blog about our summer home school. I'll do another post.

for the fans :)

So here's me in a nutshell, by request :). I'll skip the labels like with the rest of the fam cause it's hard enought to think of stuff for yourself.

I'm a good speller
I remember telephone numbers from the 80s
I adore my family
I try to be charitable/think of others
if I'm in the right mood I'm a hard worker (not afraid to get dirty)
I love to laugh
I play with the kids
I love word games/puzzles
and games in general
I'm pretty competitive
I'm a fairly decent cook, as the years have gone by
I helped produce some magnificent people
I married well
thanks for thinking of me, as with most of my posts I start on one thought and drift off. The previous post started off with wanting to update Hannah's growing up and I thought of the other kid's stuff that I haven't updated and then it made me think of the qualities each child received from Brandon....and here we are. This is good though, the whole point of the blog is to eventually make it into a book for the good ole posterity and they'll want to know where the craziness came from. :)

Our kids in a nutshell of sorts

Cole

Future Donald Trump (minus the attitude I hope, and with how much he thinks about money I'll be shocked if this isn't true)

Game inventor

Animal advocate

Math whiz (the dude can do math faster in his head than I can on paper...seriously)

Youngest author we know (if you need a copy of the limited edition of Monster World by our house renowned author, Cole E. Porter, we can hook you up)

Lego builder

Comic

Laura

Super pretend play girl (aka Miss Ma'am)

Care taker (if ever I wasn't around, she'd take care of things)

Miss Independent (if she needs it done she can get it done)

Dot-to-dot-er (our printer can't keep up with her)

Ballerina girl (self taught)

Fish out of water (literally)

Our street's and possibly others', winner of most freakishly strong (for being an eloquent yet lanky) five year old

Hannah

Youngest salsa lover we know

Belly button enthusiast

Ball player

Balloon spotter/cheerleader

Cat feeder (she feeds our cat)

Milkaholic (we're looking for a 12 step program, even a good thing can be a bad thing)

Greatest sleeper we know almost two years running (minus that first night home from the hospital)

We love them so much and love that they are so different, it is truly a treasure to be their parents!

And who could forget about the man who makes it all possible (cause all good things in our children stem from him) (jk, Brandon, I know you hate that stuff...even though it's true)

Brandon

Financier (it's where Cole gets it from)

Father of the years past and years to come

Author (one day there will be a novel published by him, I've no doubt!)

Most patient person I know (with people anyway, with inanimate objects that he's trying to repair is another story :), people are more important anyways)

Worshipped by his children

and his wife!

Hard worker

Best "boss" a girl could have at home or otherwise, hasn't fired me once (and I probably would have)

Computer guru

Most thorough person I've ever known

So soppable with a biscuit! (that's country slang for seriously hot)

Best stay-at-home mom supporter..hands down!

Completely and utterly the best thing that has happened to my life winner!