You are my Sunshine...

Every night I have a routine that I run through with Piper. I ask her to tell me one thing that she is grateful for. Side note: The only limitation I lay down is, she can't name anything she owns. I ask her what song she wants me to sing to her. Then, we have prayer together. Every time it gets to the song choice it is a very long drawn out decision. Which I find very funny because she asks for the same song every night, You are my Sunshine. 

So last night I say, "What song would you like me to sing to you?" She gathers all her stuffed animals on her bed and says, "Wait, let me ask my posse." She then pocceds to ask her posse of stuffed animals which song they would like to hear. Who has a posse at six? How does she even know what that word means? Should I be concerned my daughter is having a two way conversation with her stuffed animals? After much deliberation the song chosen is, you guessed it, You are my Sunshine. Kids, you can't help but love them!

Tid bits...

Bianca had her first soccer game of the spring season. Last Saturday I sat and watched her team score 8-0. Way to go Bianca! True to form, nothing got past her defense line. Bianca shuts it down every time. Her team scored all 8 goals in the first half of the game and nothing after that. So at least the other team was able to hold them the second half. Some of the Moms were making comments that our defense was just to good to get past to score, so good job girls.

Lexus wrote an excellent poem at school last week. I thought it was a little window into her soul.

I am not poem

I am not just a graceful dancer.

I am a wisp of smoke, my thin tendrils moving through the air.

I may look like a shy goody two-shoes, but I'm an old spirit 

with crooked fingers and knees from years of battle.

I'm a bottle of emotions tucked away inside, hidden behind a hard heart.

I don't like warm embraces or compliments of beauty or talent.

I'm all about hard work and faith.

You see a girl but really…

I am forever.

Last and certainly not least Piper said this to me this morning: "Mom, Dad goes to work everyday and he has a really hard job. Mom, your job is to have fun. Your job is easy pee zee." so I have decided in the morning when she asks me to make her breakfast to tell her, sorry that is not in my job description. I would not have fun doing that.

R-

People are so weird...

True Story

I am at our local grocery store today buying a few groceries with Piper. A man behind me has three items. I say to him: "Would you like to go ahead of us? I am not in a hurry." He says: "No that is ok. I am looking at your Red Vines trying to decide if I should get some for myself. I love licorice." I smile and say: "We love licorice too, Red Vines are ok but black licorice is my favorite." Then with a straight face with no expression other than disgust he says: "Well, I did notice you are wearing black from head to toe, heck even your shoes are black." Then he turned around and walked away.

If you are thinking he left to go get some licorice you are sadly mistaken. There was a display of Red Vines in front of us in the check stand isle. Who knew, the reason I wear black is because I love black licorice. Or maybe I love black licorice because I wear so much black.

Bedtime

Since Piper was a baby bedtime has always been a special time between Piper and I. Very rarely does anyone else put her to bed. I sing to her, prayer with her, and often have a Q & A with her about life and religion. Mostly, we sit and giggle and are silly. Last night I was putting her to bed and asked her why she likes me putting her to bed so much. Her reply was priceless: "Because Mom you have soft skin, you are always warm, and you smell good." Well there you have it...

Time Flies...

Wow...we are halfway through summer and we are having a great time. I can't believe it has been since Easter from my last post, what a slacker. I have been super busy. We have had Lacrosse camp for a week. Piano recitals, dance recitals, school play, and 5th grade send off.

Red played in sacrament meeting. LuLu sung a duet in sacrament meeting. PeiWei is singing at the top of her lungs the Selena Gomez song "Love you like a love song" during her nap.

CRW is waiting to hear whether he has a job at the end of August. You have to love the construction business. I have been and survived Girls Camp for a week as the Assistant Stake Camp Director. I now am in the Relief Society Presidency along with my Stake calling, good times, good times.

Myself and the two older girls are sporting new haircuts. CRW has boycott hair cuts and really needs one. PeiWei cries every time she sees a girls with long "Rapunzel" hair because her hair is still growing at a snails pace and she wants long cute hair. Been to the beach/coast twice. Floated down a river several times. Had six sleep overs. Went sailing on a 27 ft sail boat. Saw fireworks over the river down at the waterfront for the fourth of July. Had BBQ's with friends. Went school shopping for clothes. Went to the new Harry Potter movie. Planning a two week trip to California and the girls just said "we haven't done a lot of things this summer yet" Are you kidding me!

R-

Easter Weekend

Well we enjoyed a great weekend full of sun, 74 degree weather, and egg hunts on Saturday. A wonderful day at church on Sunday, celebrating Christ and the Atonement he provided. And my honey had his 39Th Birthday on Easter what a great weekend. Hope you all enjoyed your Easter weekend as much as we did. And Happy Birthday Honey may we share many more together. Thank You for being an amazing Husband, Father, and friend.

R-

Happy Birthday to You!

Happy Birthday PeiWei !!!

We had a great Day celebrating PeiWei's birthday. Since she is a St. Patrick's Day baby and her birthday was in the middle of the week we told her that her birthday was on Saturday. The Sunday before her birthday we celebrated with CRW's extended family. She was excited all week for her birthday she asked everyday if that day was her birthday. We kept telling her no, on Saturday. She would then say "Oh-on Saturday."

Now that she is three she is being even funnier than usual. We were in a parking garage the other day and parked next to a Mercedes two door sport car. She looks over at the car and says "Oh, Mommy that car is fast!" I ask her how she knows it is fast, she looks at me like I am an idiot and says, because...it is red. Duh- Then we get in the elevator that she calls the alligator. She has a Disney Sleeping Beauty dress on complete with sparkly wand in hand and tiara. A woman in the "alligator" says, "are you a princess?" PeiWei says, "No, I'm a Piper." Then this morning the kids are home for spring break and LuLu comes in and says "Mother, can you cut my bagel?" PeiWei then says "She's not Mother she's Mommy." The final funny thing she said last week went something like this. She is playing house with her cousin Jack. She puts both hands on her hips and says, "sweetheart it is time to go!" her cousin thinking he has to leave literally says "No, stay here!"

Thanks for the laughs, good times, and having so much fun together.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETHEART!

Love - Mommy

Paulette H. Burt "Just Peachy" Paulette Humphries Burt passed away February 19, 2011 from complications of cancer. She died peacefully at her home in East Mill Creek.Paulette was born September 28, 1946 to Ray Bleak and Charlotte Blake Humphries. She has eight wonderful sisters and enjoyed their friendship and sister parties throughout her life. She graduated from Granger High School and attended Utah State University. Served a mission for the LDS Church in the Pacific Northwest Mission. In 1968 she married her sweetheart, Paul Curtis Burt, in the Salt Lake Temple and later raised their five children. She was active in the LDS Church and she and Paul were serving a service mission to the Utah State Prison. Paulette was a natural people person who always looked for the best in others and readily accepted them free from judgment. She had a sincere desire to see others succeed and rooted for the under-dog. Those that knew her best have lost their best life-cheerleader. She made friends wherever she went and took interest in people others often overlooked, such as housekeeping staff at the hospital and cashiers at the grocery store. Paulette maintained a positive outlook throughout her battles with cancer and was a source of love and light to all those around her. She made us laugh when we wanted to cry and reminded us daily of the love of our Savior, Jesus Christ. She loved being with her family, reading and listening to loud music. She was a hoot to be around and kept young by constantly talking on her cell phone and texting. It brought a smile to our face every time we heard Lady Gaga as her ring tone. She is preceded in death by her beloved parents and granddaughter. She is survived by her husband, Paul; five children: Pam, Todd (Dawn), Rachel (Christopher), Nathan (Sarah), Jessica (Tim); 14 grandchildren; eight sisters. She will be greatly missed by all who were within her influence. We look forward to when we will see her again. Funeral services will be held Friday, February 25, 2011, 12:00 noon at the East Millcreek 2nd Ward, 3750 South Hillside Lane (2600 E.) where viewings will be held Thursday, 6-8 p.m. and Friday, 11-11:45 a.m. Interment, Murray City Cemetery. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the American Cancer Society .

Dear Mom,

You are an amazing woman and mother. I love you more than words can say. You always taught me through your example how to have true "Christ like love" for those I come in contact with. You told me to never judge, you said "I have no idea what that person has been through or where they are coming from". You said never take myself to seriously, remember to laugh and have fun. You reminded me to enjoy every moment of motherhood because they grow up so fast. You were always there to tell me I could do it, that I was a strong, independent woman. Thank You for being the best Mom for me. Thank You for all the countless hours of free babysitting for my babies. Thank You for never giving up on me. Thank You for supporting my decisions even when you were disappointed with them. Thank You for believing in me and fighting for me when I needed a barracuda in my corner. I can't wait until we can sit down together again and have our talks. I will miss you horribly. I love you Mom!

Where did I go wrong?

I have failed as a Mother. I have ruined my children! This is something that happened yesterday morning. Looking back I can laugh and thought you all might find it funny too. However, I have failed as a Mother. So this is the situation. The kids are getting ready for school and there are no clean cereal bowls in the cupboard. I have dinner bowls that we use for dishes with sauce. These bowls used to be our cereal bowls but the kids found them to hard to eat cereal out of so we no longer use them for cereal. These bowls are in the cupboard and all the bowls we use for cereal are either dirty in the dishwasher or dirty in the sink. As a disclaimer I have had sick kids so the dishes have piled up. I also forgot to start the dishwasher the night before so they are still dirty in the dish washer the next morning.

So Red comes and wakes me up and says Mom I need some help downstairs. Did I mention I had a sick kid and was up all night i.e. why I am still in bed at 7:00 a.m. in the morning. Anyway so I go downstairs and ask the girls what the problem is. They both say there aren't any clean bowls to eat breakfast in. Me, thinking I am the best mother ever, decided what a great teaching moment this might be. Feeling very proud of myself, I say to the girls, "Well what could you do to solve that problem." They both look dumbfounded at me, and say "I dunno." So I say "What about grab one out of the dishwasher." "But, Mom those bowls are dirty." So I say, "Well what's another solution," I get "I dunno" again. So I suggest "How about getting one of the other bowls in the cupboard we use for serving pasta." "But, Mom that isn't a cereal bowl." Heaven forbid! So I say "So what could you do." Lulu says "I dunno maybe use my hand to eat the cereal and pour a glass of milk to wash it down with." Red says "No I woke up Mom to wash me a bowl." I need to add she is so proud of herself at this point for giving the "Right Answer" she is Chester cat smiling at her sister. At this point I am laughing and say, "girls had it never occurred to you to wash a bowl yourself." They both say "No." They look at me with a blank stare and act as if I am speaking a foreign language. I then suggest they come to the sink and wash a bowl. Lulu then says "No that is to much work I will just eat a Pop Tart." Where did I go wrong?

Before and after - Red has a new hair cut

Kids say the darnest things...

So this morning I am watching cartoons with PeiWei and she says this to me, "Mama, that cat is so ridiculous." Where did she hear that, is that a normal thing for a two year old to say?

Then Red relays this story to me after school on Friday. This kid has some serious guts. She sits at a table made up of six desks. All boys except for Red. This particular group of kids use the lord's name in vain often. Red had had enough of it and asked the kids to stop saying that. Another kid says, "why, it isn't a swear word." Then another kid says, "kids that go to church don't say that." The first kid asks "why" again. Red says because it is a sacred word and that they should have more respect for Heavenly Father. The second kid says "Oh, i'm sorry I didn't know." Red says "if you are sorry you should repent and pray for forgiveness." Then he says laughing "I don't know how to pray." She then tells him she will teach him. Maybe we should be less afraid of sharing our beliefs and stand up for what we know to be right.

We put 300 sack lunches together for the homeless at our church this weekend. Lulu said this to me " Mom I wish we could do this every week, then there would be no one hungry."

The Beach

So I thought I would share a funny thing that happened a couple of days ago that made me laugh. PeiWei is obsessed with the beach. Every morning when I go into her room to get her out of her crib she looks up into my eyes and says, "Mama, we go the beach?" I always tell her "not today we can go another day." This day was like any other day however, when we got to the grocery store she looked at me with her most disgruntled face and said, "Mama, this not the beach" I laughed and said you are right this is not the beach. Maybe she will grow up to live on the beach someday.

R-

Bro - Your Video . . .

Bro this is what I was able to put together with the footage that I had. - CRW

Red's Soccer Highlights I

Red had a soccer game today and we are sharing her highlights. She played back defense for this game (in the rain), and saved her team in the last few minutes of the game by blocking a-would-be goal. Her defense (last clip) kept the game a tie at 3-3; way to go Red! -CRW

Sorry Mom

I was supposed to be in UT this weekend to visit my family and go to a funeral on CRW's side of the family but, I got sick. When I say sick I mean the sickest I have ever been in my life!! It lasted about two days and I am still trying to get my strength back. I took PeiWei to the park tonight and met up with a friend I had over on Sunday for dessert. She said, "Wow, you have lost weight" and I said, "You just saw me on Sunday, I couldn't have lost that much". She said you look like you have been really sick your skin has a funny color. I thought, I was just starting to feel better now I guess I need to look better too. I would not recommend getting the stomach flu as a weight loss program. Well because it is horrible! The memorial for CRW's Dad went well and I am glad to have it behind us. It was a very hard day. More difficult than I was prepared for. My heart broke for the kids, they let all of their emotions finally come to the surface. It is hard as a Mom to see your kids that upset and know that their is nothing you can do except let time take it's course.

On a happy note LuLu is rocking the Jazz and Hip Hop dance class. Her teacher told her to get more attitude and confidence. I thought why am I paying someone to give my kid permission to have more attitude. She loves it and is having fun and is really good.

Red had another soccer game today and the most perfect fall day ever. We had sunshine and 80

degree weather for the game. Her team tied 3-3. A parent in front of me said it's nice to see an aggressive player. Red stole the ball clean three times from three different players. She also did a drop kick well whatever that means.

PeiWei is her adorable self, she learned to sing a new song. I will try it get it on camera and post the best of... PeiWei tomorrow. That clip of PeiWei is for you Mom and Dad.

R-

School Begins...

Last week was the first week of school. The girls really like their new classes and teachers. I love their school and they have really good friends in their lives. We are getting ready to have CRW's father's memorial and it will be nice to have that behind us.

Last week LuLu was chosen to be the MC for the first school assembly. She had fun doing it and was good at it according to the teacher. She wants to try out for the school play so fingers crossed she gets the role she wants.

Red played in her first soccer game of the season. Her team won 5 - 0 they dominated the whole game. I actually wanted the other team to score at least one goal. Red has never played soccer before so go Red! She came really close to scoring two goals so I hope she is able to experience that at least once this season.

PeiWei is talking up a storm as usual however, now we can understand her. She is one sweet kid and I love having her around with me all day.

News...

Well, after going to Utah this summer for five weeks, to be with my Mom who was recently diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer we have returned back home. Only to bear bad news to our friends. CRW's dad passed away in our home last week due to complications of Pancreatic Cancer. We will miss him and it was a great adventure to have him live with us the last 19 months in our home. We love him very much and it doesn't seem real yet. He passed away very peacefully with CRW and I at his side. We will be having a memorial in his honor to celebrate his life this September 18th. I am calling all friends and ideas to let me know what that might look like. Any ideas on inexpensive table center pieces and how to run the thing? CRW has a lot on his plate and I told him I would plan and run the event. We had a beautiful four days mourning and celebrating Greg and we feel we had a great memorial with his brothers that flew in to say goodbye. However, there are many people and family that did not get that chance and so that is why I would like to plan a nice event. Please Help!

R-

Beach

Beaches can be very unforgiving. The remains of the 100 year old shipwreck is a testament to the dangers beaches pose to those who don't respect the relationship of nature's oceans and their eternal conflict where they collide with earth . . . or more likely, my daughter was just looking for some sympathy. -CRW

Lulu's Jazz Dance Piece

Lulu races to stardom in her recent jazz routine. Check it out . . -CRW

Red's Piano Recital . . .

Red has worked hard practicing piano this last school year for the first time, so without any further explanation I present - Red, playing 'By the Brook'.