Sophie leads fhe

Yesterday I couldn't convince Sophie to come on a bike ride so I went on a ride to the airport .  I'm so out of shape-my back is sore now.  Then we ran errands until Troy came home.  We did a record fast trip to costco-20 minutes for a full load and a long line.  We pushed I too close.  Then we had tennis at 3:45 and got home around 5;30.  Sophie did an awesome job leading a fhe lesson on faith.  Mathew was making some really thoughtful comments.  It's hard to get much out of him about what goes on at school but. He said that kids were throwing a ball at a boy yesterday and he stepped in to stand up for the boy.  He said it was like a prompting to make a good choice. After the lesson her activity was to play "dead man" on the trampoline.  The kids LOVE it.

Last week Matt ordered a new net and new pad for the trampoline but after hours of putting them on we realized the pad was the wrong size and the net had a hole in it.  Hmmm.  Matt called and ordered another one.  

Everyone seems content at school.  Ellie is hard core with her homework--she's very organized and motivated.  Mathew is really on top of his assignments and excited about doing a good job.  Troy really likes "uncle Milburn".  It's such a long day, I just can't believe he can handle it.  Both Mathew and Troy are coming home reporting getting stickers for good behavior and so proud of it.  

Slow down

This morning I was telling Troy that he needed to do a better job wiping his bottom.  I told him that he really needs to slow down when he is going to the bathroom.  He was nodding his head thoughtfully and said "ok mom, I'll try, it's just that sometimes my peepee comes out fast". He was thinking I was telling him to slow down when he pees.

Troy has a lot of nick names right now.  Yesterday I added the "filibuster" because he will interrupt at anytime and is so long winded there is no way to get anything acomished when he has take. The floor.  One show chu, Bruno -his Italian personality, shirt fused and loving.  Tenacious -t. Tee-Roy ,  true.  Scoob

Today was stake conference.  The speakers were really great talks.  It's funny to be out of the stage where we are chasing kids around the chapel.

Chavo has not been getting as much attention these days.  We've been busy with Summer activities and it seems like he's left home a lot.  Ellie continues to dode on him though.  She loves to snuggle, brush, bathe him.  Her constant-"isn't chavo cute?!" remarks keeps everyone appreciating him.  Her positive energy is so strong.  I hope it never stops!

The wiggle

Friday Sophie and I loaded up our bikes and we went to San Francisco. There is a route called the wiggle where you meander through sf streets enjoying the sights.  You are supposed to end up at ocean beach but it was getting late so we had to cut it a little short.  It was a true adventure.  I not super comfortable in that Ind of urban riding so my heart was pounding half the time. We saw a lot of pretty buildings, a lot of homeless, passed out people(including one lady sleeping ?with her face down on the cement. One guy was passing another guy with a little dog and pretended the dog had bit him.  Sophie and I bother think it was a scamm but the guys was yelling so loud.

We made it through most of golden gate park but then rode back and drove to ocean beach to check out a restaurant called beach chalet.  A historic restaunt with a great view . We didn't have time to eat there but now that we've scoped it outsell have to come back.
It's so fun being able to hang out with Sophie-She's like having another adult...so mature and she's developed this fantastic sense of humor, keeps me laughing.  I am trying to soak her up as much as possible before school starts.

Play dates

True kids had  1/2 day of school. Troy had a play date with Vincent.  They have a great time .  Troy definitely likes to be I chargeable at this stage, Vince is ok with that.

Mathew had a play date with Kai .  They went swimming at his apartment complex.  Troy had tennis at 3:30, Ellie had tennis at 4;30 and Sophie had tennis at 5:15(she biked).  

We made coconut curry for dinner-I thought it was great. Mathew went to the tutor, miss candy at 6:15.  His homework has been to observe the moon --he has been so motivated. It's fun to watch him excited about school.

First bus day for Troy

Yesterday was the first day Troy took the bus.  He kept on saying that he wasn't sure he wanted to-that he would check it out first and let me know. There were so many kids, he just got swept into the bus  I couldn't see him through the window.  I guess he had no choice.  Ellie is so good with him, taking him by the hand and distracting him when he started feeling nervous.  When we were crossing the street, Troy asked "is uncle Milburn still going to be my teacher?".  Mathew perked up and said "Troy-do NOT call him uncle Milburn".

Mathew's friend Kai is now in 4th grade so he has a different time for lunch.  They really miss playing together so they try to make the most of their time on the bus and during the morning recess.  It sounds like at lunch Mathew is just shooting hoops on his own.

Mathew's birthday was Sunday.  We made a plants vs zombies cake.  I bought some action figures at the toy store and then Ellie supplemented by  making other characters with oven-bake clay.  Matt helped me make the fondant Saturday night.  the dough was so tough it broke my mixer.  Matt cut out chinese characters that said Mathew is 8.  It definitely did not look store bought but it was cool.  Mathew had said he wanted pistachio icecream.  The only pistachio smart and final had was this enormous bucket for $17.  I couldn't resist and bought it.  We will have icecream coming out of our ears! The Johnsons came over for dinner..they brought burgers and hot dogs to grill.  I had some iron on transfers so we made the boys "I love brains" shirts since they love plants vs zombies.  The boys have been here for the summer but will go back to LA this week.  The boys have really connected this summer, playing hide and seek, slip and slide etc.  I'm sad to see them leave.

Mathew got a new bike..it's almost the same size as Matt's.  It makes me nervous as he stretches so far to get to the pedals but I guess he'll grow into it.  He is so in love with it, everyday, he gets home and rushes to get on.  The only thing he'd asked for was a pitcher plant.  We found a nice one at home depot for 11 dollars and he loves it.  He is maturing so fast.  He is a complete joy to be around.  I got to spend one on one time with him while Ellie was at surf camp and Sophie was at tennis camp.  He has opened up so much and is so sweet with me.

Mathew said they had some Chinese quizes and he got 100% on writing his characters and has been helping others with theirs.  What a difference it has made to his confidence to be caught up in Chinese, he's doing great.

Happy Halloween

I think this was the funnest Halloween I've ever had. To be honest, Matt and I are pretty lazy when it comes to holidays--we do the bare minimum for the kids sake but don't put forth the efforts necessary to make things extra special. Our kids make up for our lack of enthusiasm and it was so fun to watch them in action.

Ellie has been obsessed with Harry Potter for about 6 months now so she's been planning her Hermoine outfit for a while. Then, a few months ago, when we decided one day to actually brush Mathew's hair, we discovered that he looked a lot like the Harry Potter villain, Draco Malfoy. Sophie wanted to be princess Leah but changed her mind at the last minute and went for the BYU cheerleader outfit. I found monkey hats at Micheal's so I wore Troy in the baby carrier and we were monkeys.

It was delightful to watch the excitement during trick-or-treating. Watching Mathew was like watching the tigger movie in fast forward. His little feet were moving so fast and there a little spring in his step. After every house he would yell "They gave me candy!!" as if it were the first time. His bucket was full but he wouldn't let anyone touch it.

Half way through the night, when he was on a major sugar high, he started saying he was super-Mathew and was flying around with his cape. He had all of us laughing so hard.

The next morning was Ellie's birthday. She got a pocket knife and a "fur real" toy duck. She is one of those kids that really loves her toys and it's so fun to watch her bond with them.

Troy's about to walk and is transforming before our eyes. Yesterday he started waving and he is climbing up the gate I use as a play pin. He plays games with us and his hair is starting to grow so sometimes I don't even recognize him. Can I slow down the clock?

The next week everyone got sick. Luckily it was a mild strain of the flu but still noses were dripping all over and everyone was running to the bathroom all the time. I kept the girls home 2 days and had all 4 kids needing my constant attention. The stomach flu with a recently-trained toddler gives a little extra adventure to the house. In fact, I even went and bought a pregnancy test because I kept on thinking that everything was smelling really bad in the house and I must be pregnant. But sure enough, the house really was just smelling extra bad.

Potty training, Sleep training and cross-training

I've been recently mourning the fact that I haven't been blogging in so long. If I don't write things down, it's almost as if they never happened. The kids have been asking me to tell them stories about when they were little but I'm surprised at how little I remember--how much gets lost.

The last few months I've been focusing on getting some fundamentals in place--Establishing schedules, routines, potty training Mathew and trying get in shape. Now that Troy's sleeping through the night, Mathew's peeing in the Potty and I've lost 40 pounds, I'm ready to begin documenting my life at some level again.

Yesterday was a true testament to how quickly kids grow up. Mathew made a huge leap in his drawing. For weeks he has sat at the table drawing lines and circles--spending 20+ minutes on his works of art and proudly replacing anything on the fridge with his work. Yesterday, his lines and circles turned into recognizable apple trees. Troy started doing patty-cake and pointing to his nose on demand. He looks at me with such intense eyes, just begging me to teach him a new trick.

We went to San Diego last weekend and stayed with my sister, Julia, and her family. We were able to use our free Sea World passes and went to the beach. The kids played in the ocean for 3 hours straight. Very fun.

Mathew loves dinosaurs but has his own version of their names: Rock-osaurus, Dino-saurus (my personal favorite), Broccolli-saurus (he corrects us when we say Brachiosaurus). There are more but I haven't fully decipered them yet. I caught Mathew standing on a ladder, with his pants at his ankles, trying to pee into the washing machine with a load of freshly-washed clothes. He still has that mischievious streak in him but at the same time is so loving. There isn't an hour that goes by in the day that he doesn't say "I wov you mommy" or give me a hug. So it all evens out in the end.