Jocilyn- I love the way you love your sisters! I love that you have a desire to make good choices and set a good example. You are my oldest baby, and I know sometimes I'm hard on you... but you take it in stride... usually. You are officially 9 1/2 as of my birthday.... how did you get to be so old? Hod did I get to be so old!?!?!? You have a zest for life. Where you use to love just being home with me, you are now finding that friends and play dates/study dates are FAR more fun! You are such a little hippie, you love peace signs and all things 70's and "girl power!"(although I don't know if you even know it was the 70's that you love!). You love to help me. You come into the kitchen and want to help cook, clean, set the table... but only on your terms... not always when asked. You are probably quite "normal" as far as almost 10 year olds go, you have quite a big attitude and sometimes it gets the better of you. I never understood what my mom meant by the "looks" I'd give her... well, I do now. You are often told to "fix your face." But the thing is this, I know it isn't you! I know that you are my girl who reminds the family that it's time for scripture study... you are the girl who says, "mom, I'll help Kenna w/ her homework today..." you are my girl who still has bad dreams and comes to snuggle with me in the middle of the night. I love to hear you laugh and play with your sisters. Right now (as I type) I can hear you making silly noises at Maesyn in the bath... You've been such a trooper through the move from Idaho to California. Most days you're good with it, but then there are the days when you feel angry that you had to leave your grandmas and grandpas, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends... you are a much loved girl~ and I"m so thrilled that I get to be your mom!!!
McKenna~ Oh my girl! You are so sweet! I love the size of your heart, you love so big. You are also a big help around the house. You can't wait to be 8, to get baptized and have your own "big" set of scriptures. You have started participating in family Scriptures by reading several verses, and I must say, I am impressed with your diligence in trying to sound out the big and strange words. You said to me the other day, "Mom, you know how I didn't want to go to first grade again? ... well, now I think it's ok, because I kinda know what work to expect." You are doing great this time! I think you were just a bit young last year- but you're on a roll now kiddo... just keep working at it and never give up. You are a tenacious little 7 year old- I doubt there is much that you could not do. The other morning we were late getting up for school (it was on purpose because Jocilyn had literally NOT slept the night before, so I was letting her sleep a bit and then ya'll went to school late) but you were so cute, you came bursting into my room and said, "MOM! We're late! It's so light outside, you forgot to wake us up!!" You keep me on track, don't you? Since moving, we've started calling GM's and GP's every Sunday night. You are the first kiddo on the phone and you disappear into your room for a long time, until finally you emerge and it's someone elses turn. Now that GM and GP Slade are on their mission, we'll have to call them much earlier in the day, or you'll keep them up past curfew with your lengthy convo!!! When you get something in your head you are like a dog with a bone! This week you have been hounding me for a little bag that will hold your scriptures. I told you that I was certain I didn't' have one that size. You then went and found a travel cosmetic bag that would be "perfect!" and all I've heard since is, "mom have you cleaned it out?..... mom, I don't want to make you mad, but did you do it yet? ummmm, mom, did you forget about the bag for me?" OH MY GOODNESS CHILD! Just go and do it!!! So you did, tonight you returned and reported that it fits 2 books of Mormon, my mini quad, and some other thing you put in there.... you're amazing. You hate, HATE your freckles... that's another thing you are hung up about right now. Also, you save money like nobody I know... but it also burns a hole in those little pockets of yours... I think you are like me- you like to know the money is there, spending it hurts a little, and so you really think before you buy... and that's ok. This week you made Jocilyn "earn" $3 from you for a book order... you paid her to get off the TV and play games with you.... you love your sister. Usually you two are best friends, but when you argue you do it up right! (I hate when you do that!) One more thing about my 7 1/2 year old... I think you are destined to be a dentist. You go after loose teeth like a bounty hunter after ... who knows what! Whenever you have a loose tooth you disappear into the bathroom for hours- not kidding.... later I find tons of little tissues and bowls/cups of water that you were using to methodically loosen and pull your teeth... then you put in your order for what color of pixie dust you want and wait for it to magically appear with $$$$... you are so fun- you make my life colorful and happy~ I just love your guts!
Maesyn- You are taking your role as a 2 year old very seriously... you're so good at it! You're the most adorable little monkey one minute and the next I'm yelling, "we don't bite/pinch!!" I have to make sure you are de-clawed on a daily basis because you're ridiculously mean with them. You say the cutest things... some of them I remember your sisters saying, sweet little things like, "hold you?" meaning of course that you want to be held, we love that. You also have taken to calling me "wee-hah" which means "sweetheart"... tonight I was moving clothes from the washer to the dryer and you sat on the floor and said, "good job, swee-hah... good job." You're my little cheerleader. You also call me "honey"... it's cute because you pause before you say it... for example you'll say, "I love you..... honey." For the last couple of weeks you mimic your dad and I... you have heard us say to each other, "I love you too much!" so now, you say (to any member of the family) "I love you...... tooooo much!" It's about the sweetest thing I could ever hear. You are sure a busy little bee... I have to keep the gate up to the kitchen because you've learned how to maneuver yourself into dangerous positions and into things you shouldn't be into. A few weeks ago- actually i think it was before Christmas, you turned the stove on.... we left the house and came back and the whole place smelled of gas... I could NOT figure it out... lo and behold- the knobs were turned... oh child. You love music... I swear you would dance to the beat of a dime in the dryer! You twirl yourself dizzy, stand on your head and put your hands behind your back (that one is pretty odd looking to tell you the truth!)... and boy how you love your sisters. A couple of nights ago all three of you were in the tub. I came in to wash hair and the scene was like something out of a mobster movie- and you were the "Boss!" You had a sister on either side of you and between them you stood. I said, "sit down." You looked at me for a split second and then seriously laughed your head off... it set your sisters in motion, so then every time you thought that something was funny, they would be your support laughers..... it was pretty cute... your shoulders just shook you were laughing so hard. You love, love nursery. Anytime you can go the church you are happy to be there, whether for church or with me to the office... you love it. I think you inherited some of the "gypsy" blood from my side of the family- you are always asking to go bye-bye... you got the wrong mom for that! You love getting sisters from school and daddy from the train. During our hours home in the day you are asking me every 5 minutes one of these two questions, "mommy, daddy come back?" or, "mommy, sisters come back?" you're satisfied once I tell you that yes, they are coming back after work/school... you love your family- and I just don't think we could love you any more- you tickle our innards... can't imagine life w/o you little one, thanks for comin' to our party!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
seems like a minute ago...
Today, as I sat waiting for Jocilyn after school, I started feeling a little lost. I called my mom, she can usually "find" me. However, today she and dad had just arrived in Indianapolis, IN and were looking for a place to live while on this mission- I quickly let her off the phone, because as everyone knows, Slade's frequently need more navigation than others in strange new places!!! (lots of great memories of being lost in "downtown" (that is to be said with a heavy Asian accent) lost in DC, Boston, Philly, Kansas City... you name it, we've found the ghetto of it!!) ..... (that section had entirely too many parenthesis... I do not follow the normal rules of grammar... in case you're "new" to me... ;-)) ... see? there I went again, whoops....
Anyway, so my mom was not going to be able to help me find myself this time... so as I continued to sit, I thought, "I feel quite isolated.... kind of alone... and really quite sad... why?" So I began to count my blessings, and the first one was that I am at least "isolated" with my husband and kids... so I sent Matthew a text simply saying, "I'm so glad you are here with me..." He very quickly called back and asked who was "there" with me (hahaha!) I just explained to him that there is no way I could be here, so far from family, without him. ... He pointed out that he is the reason that I am here in the first place- he was not following my "lostness."
It seems like yesterday that Matthew came home from work and asked me, "Hypothetically speaking, what do you think about Southern California?" I thought for a moment and told him that it was a lovely place to visit. Quickly he told me that he just wondered what I would say, it just so happened that the Director of the Burbank center was stepping down... hmmm... I then told him, "I'm sure if you expressed an interest in the position they would take you in an instant!" He said, "Naw..."
2 days later he came home and asked if I remembered what I'd said about the position being his if he wanted it... and now, here we are, living in Valencia, California... We fasted about it, and prayed about it..... we came out here at least 4-6 times looking for housing and finding the area we felt "right" about. In the whole transition there were 2 things that were in our every prayer: 1- please lead us to the right ward..... 2- please help us "land" in the right school ...
Prayers are answered. We are in such a great ward. I don't know if it is because we are having to "put ourselves out there" a little bit more since we have no other family out here... or if the ward is just that amazing (I think it's a combination of the two)... and the school is terriffic. McKenna is in 1st grade and I adore her teacher. I know I've posted about that before, but I am ever grateful for good teachers for my kids.
There have been a few decisions in my life where my mom "warned" me that I would need to know that I'd received an answer from Heavenly Father so that in difficult times I could look back and say, "I am where I need to be... He led me here in answer to prayer..." This is one of those times.
I feel this entry is quite scatter-brained- but we had a great holiday season. It started with Lynn and Jake coming out for the week of Halloween... we were able to spend some great time with them and loved every minute that they were here. We knew that in November we would see the Chesleys... and we did!! They came and stayed with us for about a week. We all cozied in to our 3 bedroom apt and had ourselves a right good time!!! I loved every minute- at their parting I felt eased by my knowledge that I would see them and my parents in December when we would travel back to Idaho for Christmas.... which we did. Again, the time was full of family and friends, Marie Rich even made an appearance for several days!!! It was wonderful and I should have "soaked up" more of it... because I'm already "out" and I miss my family. I think I could handle all of those other times because I had an idea of when I'd see one, or all, of them again... this time I do not know when I'll see them again. Mom and dad, are of course, gone for a year on their 2nd mission- I'm so proud of them- but I miss them and am selfish in that i want them here for me.....I am a selfish girl.
I'm a girl... no, I think I have to say that I am a woman. Although that is the strangest concept to me... I will be 37 this month... 37... I sure thought I would have it "together" by now! ... but I do not. I still think to myself, "someday, when I grow up, I'll __________, or I'll have __________, or I'll do ___________, or I'll know _________.... or at the very least I'll be better about ___________. Well, 37 is here... and I'm not, I don't, I can't, and I still need to ________________ better, more often, less selfishly, more diligently, etc, etc...... I don't know when a person ever figures out life, if one who reads this has done it, please, comment... I'd love to know what you know! But until then, I'm going to end my rantings for the night and let you stop (if you haven't already) looking for the point to this whole entry.
But to first finish what I started... it seems like only a minute ago that:
-I chased after my brother wielding a jump rope... hoping to land one good shot...
-I turned my little blonde sister's hair green... I don't even remember what we were going for!
-I babysat for the Pickup's and watched "Hunter" on TV every Friday night, followed by Cheers
if they were late...
-I stepped on my first airplane, it was PSA, and I was traveling with my Grandma Coy and
Grandpa Cub to San Francisco to see my Aunt Kathy and her family...
-I bought my first car
- wrecked my first car (actually those are in reverse order, I wrecked the car mom and dad gave
me and so I HAD to buy the next one!
-I could eat like crud, and not have it permanently affix itself to my body...
-I married my sweetheart
- I had my first child
-I had my 2nd child
-I lost my first child
-We decided to leave AZ for ID with great ambition to start our own business (w/ Travis & Marie)
-We were real "up-and-comers" in the fencing biz... go big, or don't go.....
-We went big
-I lost my 2nd child
-We lost big in business when we weren't paid for work we'd done...
-My in-laws lived with us for a year...
-I had my 3rd child, my 3rd of 3 beautiful girls, wonderful blessings, great responsibilities
-Matthew asked me what I thought of So. Cal...
-i judged women for being a g-5/p-2 ... why wouldn't they "want" the other 2? why weren't
they careful... I was so naive...
-I passed the N-CLEX and became an RN... it's just now 15 years... I never would've imagined
-my babies were all babies... still cooing, and nursing... still learning that their fingers and toes
belonged to them... still sleeping close to my heart in my bed...
- so many things seem like just a minute ago... a million of them have run through my mind since I started writing this entry... "just a minute ago..."
Anyway, so my mom was not going to be able to help me find myself this time... so as I continued to sit, I thought, "I feel quite isolated.... kind of alone... and really quite sad... why?" So I began to count my blessings, and the first one was that I am at least "isolated" with my husband and kids... so I sent Matthew a text simply saying, "I'm so glad you are here with me..." He very quickly called back and asked who was "there" with me (hahaha!) I just explained to him that there is no way I could be here, so far from family, without him. ... He pointed out that he is the reason that I am here in the first place- he was not following my "lostness."
It seems like yesterday that Matthew came home from work and asked me, "Hypothetically speaking, what do you think about Southern California?" I thought for a moment and told him that it was a lovely place to visit. Quickly he told me that he just wondered what I would say, it just so happened that the Director of the Burbank center was stepping down... hmmm... I then told him, "I'm sure if you expressed an interest in the position they would take you in an instant!" He said, "Naw..."
2 days later he came home and asked if I remembered what I'd said about the position being his if he wanted it... and now, here we are, living in Valencia, California... We fasted about it, and prayed about it..... we came out here at least 4-6 times looking for housing and finding the area we felt "right" about. In the whole transition there were 2 things that were in our every prayer: 1- please lead us to the right ward..... 2- please help us "land" in the right school ...
Prayers are answered. We are in such a great ward. I don't know if it is because we are having to "put ourselves out there" a little bit more since we have no other family out here... or if the ward is just that amazing (I think it's a combination of the two)... and the school is terriffic. McKenna is in 1st grade and I adore her teacher. I know I've posted about that before, but I am ever grateful for good teachers for my kids.
There have been a few decisions in my life where my mom "warned" me that I would need to know that I'd received an answer from Heavenly Father so that in difficult times I could look back and say, "I am where I need to be... He led me here in answer to prayer..." This is one of those times.
I feel this entry is quite scatter-brained- but we had a great holiday season. It started with Lynn and Jake coming out for the week of Halloween... we were able to spend some great time with them and loved every minute that they were here. We knew that in November we would see the Chesleys... and we did!! They came and stayed with us for about a week. We all cozied in to our 3 bedroom apt and had ourselves a right good time!!! I loved every minute- at their parting I felt eased by my knowledge that I would see them and my parents in December when we would travel back to Idaho for Christmas.... which we did. Again, the time was full of family and friends, Marie Rich even made an appearance for several days!!! It was wonderful and I should have "soaked up" more of it... because I'm already "out" and I miss my family. I think I could handle all of those other times because I had an idea of when I'd see one, or all, of them again... this time I do not know when I'll see them again. Mom and dad, are of course, gone for a year on their 2nd mission- I'm so proud of them- but I miss them and am selfish in that i want them here for me.....I am a selfish girl.
I'm a girl... no, I think I have to say that I am a woman. Although that is the strangest concept to me... I will be 37 this month... 37... I sure thought I would have it "together" by now! ... but I do not. I still think to myself, "someday, when I grow up, I'll __________, or I'll have __________, or I'll do ___________, or I'll know _________.... or at the very least I'll be better about ___________. Well, 37 is here... and I'm not, I don't, I can't, and I still need to ________________ better, more often, less selfishly, more diligently, etc, etc...... I don't know when a person ever figures out life, if one who reads this has done it, please, comment... I'd love to know what you know! But until then, I'm going to end my rantings for the night and let you stop (if you haven't already) looking for the point to this whole entry.
But to first finish what I started... it seems like only a minute ago that:
-I chased after my brother wielding a jump rope... hoping to land one good shot...
-I turned my little blonde sister's hair green... I don't even remember what we were going for!
-I babysat for the Pickup's and watched "Hunter" on TV every Friday night, followed by Cheers
if they were late...
-I stepped on my first airplane, it was PSA, and I was traveling with my Grandma Coy and
Grandpa Cub to San Francisco to see my Aunt Kathy and her family...
-I bought my first car
- wrecked my first car (actually those are in reverse order, I wrecked the car mom and dad gave
me and so I HAD to buy the next one!
-I could eat like crud, and not have it permanently affix itself to my body...
-I married my sweetheart
- I had my first child
-I had my 2nd child
-I lost my first child
-We decided to leave AZ for ID with great ambition to start our own business (w/ Travis & Marie)
-We were real "up-and-comers" in the fencing biz... go big, or don't go.....
-We went big
-I lost my 2nd child
-We lost big in business when we weren't paid for work we'd done...
-My in-laws lived with us for a year...
-I had my 3rd child, my 3rd of 3 beautiful girls, wonderful blessings, great responsibilities
-Matthew asked me what I thought of So. Cal...
-i judged women for being a g-5/p-2 ... why wouldn't they "want" the other 2? why weren't
they careful... I was so naive...
-I passed the N-CLEX and became an RN... it's just now 15 years... I never would've imagined
-my babies were all babies... still cooing, and nursing... still learning that their fingers and toes
belonged to them... still sleeping close to my heart in my bed...
- so many things seem like just a minute ago... a million of them have run through my mind since I started writing this entry... "just a minute ago..."
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