a fond farewell to kindergarten

(Grace and some of her friends building blocks on their school fieldtrip.)

Poor Grace. School is over for the year. She LOVES school. She thrives at school. She wants to go, every day. She cries real tears when there is a snow day. She is bummed that the weekend is coming. She says "thank you for going to school today" every night in her prayers. She also HATES change.

Now, truthfully, she did have a bit of anxiety at first this year. She was scared to ride the bus, and I think she worried about school too. She was diagnosed with some speech problems and had to go get extra help. There was something strange going on at the playground that she never would really tell me about. She developed a nail biting habit that was pretty bad. But, sometime around Christmas, she suddenly quit doing it one day and school has been a haven for her ever since.

This year, she made her first real friends. She has a few friends at church and a few at the barn, and she had a few little friends in pre-school, but she's never had true friends to play with on a regular basis. She's never had friends that she thinks about every day and who think about her. She's never done many playdates (partly due to her mother.) But, this year, she finally made some good friends, especially her friend Eamon. She and Eamon started the year making pictures for each other at school. Then they started playing at each other's houses. When Grace's dance teacher suddenly disappeared, she asked to go to karate with Eamon and they have been fast friends (and fellow warriors) ever since! I have to admit I also got a friend out of it. Eamon's mom, Annelie, is so cool and so nice. We've gotten along famously too.

(Grace and Eamon painting their own faces on the kindergarten field trip.)

Grace has also loved her kindergarten teacher. As a former teacher myself, I had to learn quickly to stand back and not judge my own child's teacher against my own teaching standards. At first, I had such an impulse to question so many things, especially after my first time volunteering in the class, but I really did swallow down the urge and stay away from it. (what do I know about teaching kindergarten anyway? I taught chemistry in a high school!) I remembered how much I valued parent trust in my own classroom and decided unless I had a glaring reason to interfere that I should just stay out of the way and support her in any way that I could. I'm so glad I did too. Even though I still might not agree with some of the classroom philosophy, (which might have more to do with the school and the town we live in than the teacher anyway), Grace's teacher turned out to be a really super fantastic kindergarten teacher. She was funny and serious and strict and easy-going at all the right places. She watched out for Grace and helped her through all the rough patches, and she advocated for her speech therapy and did everything she could to help Grace feel comfortable reading outloud (a real struggle for us.)

So, the last day of kindergarten was not bitter sweet. It was just plain bitter for her. She was the only one NOT celebrating the last day of school. All her other friends were totally happy. She doesn't want to change into a first grader. (although, she wants to keep going to school AND she wants to go ALL DAY.) She wants to be in kindergarten forever. She got off the bus on the last day and burst into tears. She sobbed for 45 minutes and then cried herself to sleep that night too.

(getting ready for the kindergarten song day celebration, 2 songs, 30 minutes!)

Well, like it or not, kindergarten IS over. I actually can't believe that summer has begun, finally, on JUNE 24th?! We don't have much of summer left and we would really like the sun to come out now, please?.

Daddy Rocks

We love you Daddy!

Keeping up...

It's already started and Grace is only in kindergarten - the keeping up with friends. I don't know why I didn't expect it yet, but I've been so surprised at how much Grace wants to be like her friends and do what they do and how much they compare with each other. I'm really thankful that Grace is friends with super nice kids who have great parents. I don't think anyone in her class is over-indulged (what do I know) but I know most of the parents from her class and they all seem pretty down to Earth, none show off at all, and none of them seem to care what others think too much.

Still, the kids get to school and they want to be like everyone else. I shouldn't be so surprised, who didn't want to be like everyone else at school when we were little? It started with simple things, like snacks. (reminds me of the scene in My Big Fat Greek Wedding when she wants to have the same kind of lunch as the cool girls.) Grace all of a sudden asked to take snack-pack puddings to class. She wanted to take a spork to eat them with too. Come to find out, this is what her friend Eamon brings for his snack. Fine with me. Eat all the pudding you want.

Then, it moved onto little toys and things. All the boys she plays with like Star Wars and legos and pokemon. Guess what Grace likes? Star Wars and legos and pokemon. She has been a trend-setter herself though. I don't know it from her end, but I always have parents telling me how much their kids like Grace and that they wish they could "be like Grace Chapman" or do something because "Grace does it." There are definitely things about Grace that she comes up with first, so I'm not worried that she's a total follower either.

So, that brings us to our big day yesterday. After much waiting and saving and earning, Grace bought herself a Nintendo DSi. Because "everyone else has one." It's kind of true. The list of kids who have one pretty much covers the whole class - girls and boys. I guess Santa should have brought one of those instead of the ipod (which she does love too.) But, we didn't realize until the end of the school year that this was the "must-have toy for kindergarten and beyond. "

The DSi is not your dad's game boy folks. The gaming systems these days blow me away. It's basically an entire computer complete with wi fi connection, camera, and tons of other stuff (I thought you just put in a game cartridge and played Mario on Nintendo... shows you what I know!) These little things are also pretty spendy. There was no way I was going to go out and blow nearly $200 on a toy just because everyone else has one and she wants one.

So, David and I saw a golden opportunity to have Grace really work towards and earn something big for herself. She's been getting allowance since school started. She is actually pretty good at saving her money for stuff she wants. She saved for 4 months for a wii game she desperately wanted last year. However, how long are you supposed to make a 6 year old girl wait to earn something like this? At her allowance rate, it would take her about a year and a half to earn it. That's 1/4 of her life so far. Seems like too long to wait for a toy that she's excited to play with current friends. David didn't have to wait 1/4 of his life to buy the iphone he's getting tomorrow!

So, I told her I'd help her. I would donate a big chunk (still less than half the money) if she'd pay the rest. She already had about 1/4 of the cost saved, so the earning actually wouldn't take too long if she'd just be patient, collect a few months worth of allowance, and do a few things that I've been desperately wanting her to do, but she refuses to do (buckle herself in the car to name one.)

She started her saving and earning. She got a bonus for trying hard and learning to ride her bike on 2 wheels, she got little check marks for buckling herself in the car which added up to a few bucks in the end after months of doing it. She was about 4 bucks short yesterday when we started shopping online to see how much the system was really going to cost. So, for her last effort to earn her last few dollars, she cleaned up a TERRBILY messy playroom that was entirely made by her sister. I figured if she could clean up the mess that Hattie and friend made, we'd spot her the rest and let her get the system before school ended. (Yes folks, it's June 17th and she's still in SCHOOL! Last day next week!)

I have to admit. I am pretty impressed with how patient Grace has been to get this toy and how willing she was to pay for it herself as much as possible and basically do anything I asked if it meant another notch on her earning chart. There were many times in past weeks when she wanted to buy this or that and I reminded her that she'd have to hand over some DS savings for it and she instantly changed her mind.

She handed over all her dough last night, shook the last coins out of her piggy bank, and went to the store with her dad. She came home with a slick, blue, game thingy and is pretty darn happy about it. (too bad Hattie can't have one - she's pretty GREEN with envy.) David is worried that Grace will just turn around and want another expensive thing and I won't be able to help her like I did with this one. But, I think she's pretty content for now and I also think she realizes how much money it really did cost. Hopefully that will help her realize that not everything wanted can be bought, especially, not right away. Now, she's saving her money anyway for games! This could occupy her for quite a while. now...how do you tell her she's been playing it too long and needs to put it away! (actually, she's been good about that so far too.)

Good job Grace! I am so excited that you did such a good job saving your money and bought something you REALLY wanted with it.

Potty Party!

We had a huge celebration yesterday. Hattie is nearly, almost, just so close, to being completely potty trained. I don't know why my kids have been so tough to convince to use the potty, but Hattie took quite a long time too.

Much in the same way we tried to bribe Grace with a coveted toy, I took Harriet to the Paper Store about 2 months ago, maybe 3, to pick out something she really wanted as a bribe for the potty. She chose a baby doll, of course. We brought it home and put it on top of the fridge as the grand prize when she finally mastered the subject.

Our other bribe has been boxes of chocolate balls from Idylwilde. They sell these really yummy chocolates wrapped up like all kinds of things. I bought a box thinking that I would give Hattie one chocolate ball each time she thought about, sat on, tried to go, or actually went, pee pee in the potty. Unfortunately, Hattie won't stand for just one chocolate, so she goes through 2 every time and then of course we have to give one to Grace too. We've been through more boxes than I can count. These little things are pretty expensive! Still, when you're trying for THIS goal, you're willing to write a blank check if they'll just do it!

The baby sat on top of the fridge the whole time. Hattie wanted it so bad, but she was totally set against any discussion of going poop on the potty. I decided after so many months that if she would just do it once, I'd give her the baby.

We've strangely had 3 days at home with virtually no where to go this week, so I took the opportunity to really practice this potty stuff. Yesterday it paid off big time. Harriet, completely on her own, decided to tell me that she needed to poop in the potty and totally did it! HOORAY!!!

Now, we're going to be gone to a million places today...we'll see how this big girl Hattie does...

Reading Atlas

I'm not sure why I force myself to squeeze in time for reading these days. It's definitely a struggle, and I'm always feeling guilty that I read my book assignments for book group, but I still struggle to open the scriptures. I guess it's because my book club reading provides 2 escapes - the escape to another world while you read, and the escape to book club every month to see my friends and eat great food! But, then, at least I'm reading something and I really spend very little time watching TV, so at least that seems worthwhile.

I try to keep my reading projects updated on the side of our blog. I belong to Good Reads because of a friend who signed me up, but I have yet to post anything on it. I rarely talk about things I've read on the internet, but I have to say something about the book I finished last night.

First of all, I feel that it was a monumental accomplishment for me to finish this book. Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand, is 1069 pages long. And we're talking 1069 pages of teeny, tiny, dense font, with NO white space, chapter separators, or anything. One chapter ends in the middle of the page, and the next one begins on the very next line. If it was printed the way most novels are printed, it would easily be a 2000 page book. I know you can cruise through 600 pages of a Harry Potter or a Twilight in a day, but this book is not that way. Ayn Rand does not waste ONE word. You cannot skip a word, a sentence, a paragraph, or a page. Every single thing is important. Her writing is immaculate. She is truly a master.

We started reading it a year ago as a book group project in an effort to read "a major classic." We intended to read it "on the side" for a year while continuing to do another, easier read, each month for our monthly meeting. I did start out reading it "on the side", but this thing is so massive and requires so much attention that you can't really read it on the side. I got through a couple hundred pages and didn't get back to it for several months. Then, when we decided on a date to discuss it, I did start reading it more and more. It seemed like I was "half way done" for absolutely weeks. It wasn't until we devoted this last month, to ONLY this book, that I was able to finish it. And, let me just say, that many other areas of life have been put on hold so that I could finish it. It feels like I have had this book in my hand for the whole month. I take it everywhere I go trying to get one more page read wherever I am.

Well, I did it. I finished last night! I have never read anything like this before. I feel like I did when I finished Harriet's Christmas stocking. I really thought it might not happen, but I did it! (book group is tonight!)

If you have never read it or have never heard of Ayn Rand, she was a Russian-born woman who immigrated to the US in the 1920's seeking a better life. She was a student of philosophy and has developed her own brand of philosophy - "objectivism." Her views are pretty controversial and as I started to read, I wasn't sure if I could really buy into them, but in the end, her entire message is to live by truth and virtue, use your brain, seek for real happiness, stick to your values at all cost, and accept nothing else. How can you argue with that, really? Her opinions are extremely complex and so interesting and thought provoking. It is going to provide for a super cool discussion at book group tonight.

I have loved reading this book. It is a story about a woman who runs a transcontinental railroad in an era of giant industrial successes dominated by men. As I started reading the book, I thought of my daughter, Grace (who used to tell us she wanted to be a choo choo train driver and has the largest train collection of any girl I know.) Dagny Taggart and Grace have so many of the same characteristics. I could totally see Grace in as an adult in the descriptions of Dagny with her long skinny body, blonde hair, love of railroads, fierce personality, and black and white value system. Not that I wish for Grace to do EVERYTHING Dagny does, but if Grace turns out to be that kind of person, there wouldn't be a prouder mother than me.

The book goes through the struggle of Dagny and her industrial friends, as the entire country is brought to complete ruin by the corruption and shady values of the national leadership, and describes how they rise above it. Even though the book was published in 1957, it eerily mirrors things that are currently happening in the United States with all the government bailouts, sinking economy, and standards that seem good one day but are so bad the next. It feels like it should be required reading for every citizen of our nation right now. People are starting to realize it, I think. Sales of Atlas Shrugged have tripled in sales this year.

The woman who suggested it for our book group has read it 3 times. I couldn't believe that when I heard it. I couldn't imagine devoting that much time to one book. It took so long just to do it once. But, then, on Sunday, I heard that her husband, our stake president, has read it 10 times! He used to have the goal to read it once every single year, it was that important to him. Now I see why.

I'm really glad I did get through it. I highly recommend it. It makes me want to read more of Ayn Rand's stuff, although, I think I need to let my brain rest for a while. I need a good fluffy, summer, sit on the beach, and veg out book!

Master of the Bike

I learned a valuable lesson from Grace last Sunday. I have been trying to teach Grace to ride her bike over the last month after finally getting fed up with training wheels. I never used training wheels and after my experience with Grace, I don't think I will use them with Hattie.

While Grace is still young, I was starting to think that she would never master her bike. Being the cyclist that I am, I was getting a little frustrated with Grace's slow progress and I'm sure that caused some of the problems as Grace and I were not happy with each other after some of our practice sessions.

Anyway, about a month ago I was finally fed up with training wheels. Much to Grace's chagrin (and plenty of tears) I took off the training wheels after a particularly difficult practice session. After we both calmed down, we spoke about things and Grace made the goal of wanting to be able to ride her bike by Memorial Day. We started going to large and empty parking lots to practice and I would run behind her with one hand on each of her shoulders. I found this to be the most effective technique as I could put pressure on her when she started to lean and she learned to correct her balance and relieve the pressure.

We made some good progress, but Grace was still lacking confidence. Last Sunday I got home late from church and I was in no mood to go out in our driveway and practice with Grace. However, Grace realized that it was her last day to master her bike to reach her goal. I tried to tell her that it was OK, we could practice the next day and it wasn't a big deal if she didn't master her bike by Memorial Day. This did not sit well with Grace. She told me that she had set a goal, and it was important to keep it. She was right. She reminded me that it is important to stay true to your goals and so I went outside with her. Within 10 minutes she was riding by herself. Now, after almost a week she is becoming quite the little cyclist. It won't be long before we start doing some rail trails and other fun rides together.

Good job Grace, and thanks for reminding me of important things.

too much fun, or just too much?

I haven't updated our blog in a couple weeks because we have simply been too busy to report on what it is we're doing. People who facebook me know what I'm up to, but the Grandmas are probably suffering for some details and some pics.

I can't decide if we've been having too much fun or if things have just been too much. I had such a tumultuous, long, dark, winter that "May" must have sounded nice and relaxed. The birthdays would be over, the weather would be better, I would be feeling better, kids wouldn't be sick anymore, right? I don't know what I was thinking when I registered Grace for swimming and riding lessons and Hattie for swimming too (at a different pool on a different day!), on top of Grace's ongoing karate class. I also somehow scheduled every single doctor/dentist check up for the girls this month. The kids have also been playing quite a bit with friends (well, quite a bit for my standards) It's been crazy. On top of it, I've been really feeling badly that I haven't taken my kids on any big outings for a long time and so I planned a big trip to Boston for us last Friday when Grace had a day off from school, right before we spent the whole weekend getting our yard and house ready to host a Memorial Day BBQ yesterday. Plus, I refuse to give up "having a life" so I continue to go to dinner group, book group (keeping up with reading too!), attending special events, even went out to dinner with David last week. I feel like I'm coming close to the phrase "running to stand still." I can't keep up with my work at the barn (which is much heavier this time of year), RS stuff, and YouthLINC tasks, let alone the regular mundane sorts of things around the house.

My car which used to be able to run on a tank of gas for 2-3 weeks is now going through a tank a week, or more. At the end of the day I wonder if any of it was worth the trouble or the expense, or if we would have been better off staying at home. I am a home-body. I feel best if I've been home for at least most of the day (although I do like to get out here and there.) I hate feeling like we're only home to change clothes, sleep, and maybe eat. But, at the same time I feel super lucky and blessed to be able to go and do all that we do and that my kids can have all these experiences. I guess there's a balance in the middle somewhere, but I think I missed the middle spot this month. Hopefully June will bring us back to the middle after some of these lessons are over and we don't have to go to so many appointments. School doesn't get out until June 25th in these parts, so we're still nowhere close to "summer vacation!"

Here's some of what we've been up to: (more on flickr)

(Hattie sitting by the pool at her first swim lesson.)

(Grace riding Tink at her first "real" riding lesson!)(Hattie hanging out with Wesley during Grace's riding lesson.)(the girls all ready to go to their friends' "Pirate/Princess birthday party"!)(trying out the "hand bikes" at the Boston Children's Museum - using "kid power" to generate enough electricity to run some moving parts up above.)

(Katie Clifford and myself, meeting up in Boston to see each other for the FIRST time in 15 years! And, as she stated, it felt like only 15 minutes had gone by... we picked right up where we left off, it was awesome.)(watching giant fish, sharks, rays, sea turtles, and about a thousand other kinds of sea creatures in the enormous tank at The New England Aquarium.)(just outside The New England Aquarium on the Wharf)

(Grace and her best friend, Eamon, on one of their many recent playdates.)

snakes and (bugs) and puppy dog tails...

No, we're not announcing a baby boy. I have 2 little girls who care more about the snake in the garden than they do about sugar, spice or anything "nice."

This is just a bunch of random stuff rattling around in my brain, but the first thing is that I NEVER thought I would welcome a snake into my yard as much as I did this one. I don't hate snakes and I don't run screaming, but I don't love them either. I could never watch "Snakes on a Plane", I'd have nightmares forever. Still, after the INUNDATION with black flies and now mosquitoes in our yard, the snake was a welcome, quiet, and unbothersome guest.

I am really about to lose it with these black flies. I don't even remember them being here the first 2 years we lived here. (I think the first year I didn't go outside in my yard because I was always at the barn during the day in the spring, and the second year, I just seriously didn't leave my house for a whole year with baby Hattie.) The third year, last spring, I did notice the flies. I didn't know what they were, but one day I took Harriet outside and she just started crying for no reason. I could see little flies buzzing around, but in my experience, little flies are usually harmless. (I would run from a giant horse fly though.) I took Hattie inside and to my horror found about 12 blood-red bites all over her body. The flies had gone inside her clothes and bitten her all over. They do draw blood and leave a blood blister that develops into a huge lumpy red welt with a crusty sore. I called the doctor and they said she'd be fine. Great. After a few days, I didn't see anymore flies. The neighbors said that once the dragon flies come out, they eat the black flies and it's over in a week. Ok, I could deal with that.

THIS spring, oh my gosh, these flies have been here over a month. They are vicious. They are repelled by nothing. We have had weeks of absolutely gorgeous weather and I've stayed inside almost the whole time. EVERY time I go outside - even just to get in the car, one of us is bitten. Harriet's entire hairline on her head is so covered by fly bites that it has made her lymph nodes swell up into huge marbles all over her neck. It's disgusting! I used to think the mosquitoes were bad. Well, at least you can wear OFF for them and swat at them! Dragon flies where ARE you?

So, a little, cute, non-poisonous snake who actually might EAT some of these bugs? You are welcome at my house! That's the other thing, in 4 years, I have NEVER seen a snake in my yard. When we moved here, I thought for sure there would be snakes all over with all of the water around. My neighbor who has lived here for 50 years said she's never had a snake in her yard until this spring? What is UP with the animals this spring? Global warming? Armageddon? I am at war, that's for sure.

The snake has wandered off now, but he stayed in one spot in our garden for a couple of days. The girls went outside to check on him (her?) often. Grace named it "Garter of the Garden" or "Guarder of the Garden." We're sure it was eating some of our froggies and hopefully some mice. We hope it didn't eat "Peeper", a frog who also resides in our rock wall.

Onto the puppy dog part. Today is May 13th. Grace has decided to officially name May 13th "Pet Day." She has planned a celebration for days to have with her dogs. She is so funny about stuff like this. It started when we were talking about Mother's Day and thought that pets need a special day too (I'm sure someone has come up with some lame day where you're supposed to shop at PetSmart for an official Pet Day, but I don't know when that is.)

So, Happy Pet Day to all. Give your doggie or kittie or whatever you keep in a cage an extra treat today and play with them more than normal.

shiner

It's a good thing that we took pictures of the girls LAST week. Now, before I say more, I'll do what the school does when they call the house. When you see the school caller id on the phone and you know your kid is at school, you panic before you even answer. They know this, so the second you say hello, whomever is calling immediately says "Grace is ok, this is not an emergency call." Whew, ok, you can keep listening and, now you can keep reading. Grace is ok.

Yesterday Grace had one of her worst childhood injuries. Next to the burn when she was two, this one probably ranks second. Nothing life-threatening, nothing that even took us to the emergency room. Still, enough to make your stomach fall flat. (I know - some of you are moms of wild little boys who are on a first-name basis with the staff at your local emergency room and you'll think this is totally wimpy, but, it was really scary for us!)

This is actually the second time I have seen a close friend of mine covered in Grace's blood. No one is really sure what happened. Grace won't say and no one else really saw, but it basically boils down to kids running wild in the gym after church while parents clean up and a 12 year old boy's head colliding forcefully with Grace's nose - right between the eyes.

I had just left her in the gym, maybe not even a minute had gone by when a lady came up to me and said "Sister Chapman, Grace is in the kitchen with a bloody nose and she needs you." She didn't say how or why, so I thought she must just have a regular bloody nose. I walked to the kitchen and as I came in the door, I saw Bret Bahe (yes, the very same Bret who photographed the girls last week!) standing there with his white shirt totally splashed and covered with blood. Then I saw Grace sobbing while David had a wet paper towel held up to her nose. Grace was covered in blood from head to toe too. Her new favorite blue dress that she wore for the first time yesterday, her white sweater and even her white shoes were all splattered (someone asked me later about the floor of the gym, didn't even think to go check it...)

It took a while to get the bleeding to stop and about 3 hours to get the crying to stop and an hour to get the blood out of the clothes (yes! saved the blue dress!) She was so traumatized. She doesn't deal well with getting hurt or any sort of attention that is out of the ordinary and she's been that way ever since she was burned as a toddler. Thankfully, we have a few in our ward who are physicians and they come in handy often. Dr. Hangen looked at her nose and assured us that it wasn't broken and there wasn't a laceration inside, so we decided not to take her to the ER. Otherwise, I'm sure I would have done just that.

Anyway, I mentioned that this was the second time I have seen a close friend covered in her blood. The first was actually just after she was born. I feel like it's a journaling opportunity since we didn't have a blog back then. When I saw Bret's white blood-stained shirt yesterday I had an instant flashback to the day Grace was born. I had a close friend, Sara, who was a labor and delivery nurse come to the hospital with me that day. She helped me deliver Grace naturally and was there when she was born. Just after Grace came out, before I even saw her myself, before they let David cut the cord, I saw my friend Sara get totally sprayed and covered with blood. She was also wearing a white shirt that day. Now, I know that child birth is not a tidy business and since it was my first, I didn't know what to expect. However, no one had told me to expect this kind of carnage.

No one said anything or explained it so I thought, wow, it must be worse than I had imagined and didn't think anything else of it. A few days later, Sara called to tell me what really happened. She said that just after Grace was born, her umbilical cord ruptured and the artery burst all over Sara. It is NOT how things normally happen, and it was a very dangerous scenario. The reason no one said anything was because my OB doctor had delivered a baby just 2 weeks prior who had died of the very same freak occurrance. She was so distraught that it had happened again that she soundlessly and quickly worked to take care of it and couldn't bring herself to tell me since everything turned out ok. If the cord had ruptured in utero, one or both of us could easily have died. Luckily that wasn't the case and we felt like it was a huge miracle and a total gift that Grace was safely out when it happened.

Still, I have this image of Sara and now of Bret standing near me where I can't see Grace yet and they are covered in Grace's blood. It's an image I don't care to repeat a third time, please! I am so grateful, though, that Bret was there and that he is a close enough friend that Grace trusted him to grab her and pick her up and help her. Thanks for being there for us Bret. We owe you a white shirt and probably a plate of cookies too.

As for Grace's shiner, a picture really doesn't show it very well. It's just starting to turn green and the swelling is nice and even. But, she's going to have 2 black eyes this week, that's for sure. Look at last week's pictures instead :-)

Photo Shoot

Our friend, Bret Bahe, is setting up a new photography business. He just did a photo shoot of my kids this week. I'm doing 3 cheers for Bret! If you live in our area, you should TOTALLY use him if you have a special photography project to do. Everything he does is top quality, actual photography. None of the mall-type pictures, and nothing is photo-shopped in afterwards. The pictures are exactly as they were taken. He does amazing things with lighting and all the photos are just natural shots of the girls - nothing canned. Look at how the faces just pop out of the picture.

I'm totally thankful to Bret for taking such beautiful pictures of my girls. Hattie was a tough customer though. She would NOT cooperate and give her million dollar smile. Her assortment of scowls and "crusty" faces are actually pretty hilarious. In any case, he definitely captured her personality, the little stinker.
He took 182 shots, so this is just a tiny sample.

Happy 3rd Birthday Harriet!

Oh my little Hattie. You have changed our lives, that is for sure. You are 3 years old today! Wow, where did those 3 years go? Oh, that's right, I remember... you are a busy girl and you keep the rest of us even busier.

Dear Harriet,

These are the things that I love about you:

*you always give me a giant kiss and a "huv" (hug/love) whenever I go somewhere (you give them to Daddy and Gracie too)
*you have been talking about your birthday being next since Grace had hers and you have taken it quite seriously.
*you are a very good pretend mommy. you love your baby dolls and you take very good care of them. you never leave Blue Baby unattended.
*you love your "banket" so much. even though it looks and feels like an old matted bathroom rug, you snuggle with it all day long.
*you are a gorgeous little girl. we thought you were a cute baby, but you have grown up into an absolutely beautiful kid.
*your long blond curly goldilocks hair and the fact that you also love the story of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears.
*you are my second daughter, but my first who loves pink, princesses, dolls, pretty clothes, and pretty shoes, and putting on makeup. (I still wish you would let me do your hair though.)
*you are completely, undeniably, independent
*you love your "cass" at church and can't wait to go every week
*you love your sister "Gace" and want to do everything like she does
*you want to go to school so bad that I had to sign you up for pre-school a year earlier than I would have liked. you talk about going to school "like Gace" all the time
*you try to spell and ask me how to spell H or O or M. I wish I knew how to spell a letter my dear.
*you can write a perfect H and are trying all the time to write your own name
*you say the absolute best prayers of anyone I have ever heard. you always think about your whole day and say how thankful you are for all the good things and you always ask for blessings too.
*you love your Grandmas and don't mind showing it. they are so grateful since Grace is so stingy with Grandma love.
*you always want to go outside.
These are the things that your Daddy and I will laugh about when you are older, but sometimes have a hard time laughing about right now:
*you scream any time for anything. (is this so that you can be heard over Grace's incessant talking?)
*you have an extremely obsessive/compulsive personality. you have to have every star and planet aligned at night to go to bed, among other things. your list of "must-have's" is very long. last night was the first hot night of the season, but you still insisted on wearing long jammies, with socks, with all of your winter blankets still on your bed and screamed at Grace to shut the window! (don't worry - I rescued your hot little body after you fell asleep, funny girl.)
* you - draw - on - every - thing. mommy could write a book about how to get marker, crayon, pen, and chapstick out of or off of anything.
*you won't let Grace look out your window in the car.
*you listen to the same song every time in the car and it has to be done before anyone else gets a song.
Today, we had the absolute best, most fun, family party for you. You are definitely a princess and you asked for a pink princess party. Grace is a reluctant princess, but even you have brought out the princess in your sister and got her to wear a crown, you even got Daddy to wear a crown. You are too funny!Even Gracie liked your princess cake...

After all the trouble you had blowing out candles at your parties in SLC, you blew these three out in one whiff right away. I hope you get your wish!I certainly got my wish.
Happy Birthday Princess Hattie!
Mommy loves you.

two homes

Every time I come "home" from a trip to Utah I feel like I blog the same old boring stuff - it boils down to a log of what we did while we visited family. Basically, that's all we do is visit family and I go see a few friends. It's actually not boring at all. We love it and that's the whole point of why I do it. But, I was trying to think of a new way to talk about our trip this time. So, I thought of a few conversations I had with friends regarding the differences between my two "homes."

The difference between Utah and Massachusetts:

In Utah, you say:
*swimmun' suit (thanks for a good laugh Adrienne!)
*grocery cart
*garbage can
*purse

In Massachusetts, you say:
*bathing suit (who wears a suit to take a bath?)
*carriage (I thought this was what you put a baby in - not groceries)
*rubbish barrel
*pocket book (not sure what a pocket book is - it doesn't fit in your pocket and it doesn't look like a book.)

In Utah, I have my "hometown", most of my family and lots of old friends who are as much a part of my life now as they were when I lived there (thanks to technology and lots of travel.)

In Mass, I have my immediate family, my actual home, and a growing number of new friends who are becoming more important to me all the time.

In Utah, I can see horizon to horizon, look at the mountains all day, and swat at a mosquito maybe once every 2 years.

In Mass, I can only see the sky if I look straight up (sometimes not even then), and if I go outside right now, I will swat at a mosquito, maybe every 12 seconds, but I can look out my front windows and see the peaceful river anytime I want and I have tons of wildlife and adopted pet creatures outside every door. It's like that scene in Snow White.

I feel like I have 2 homes which is more than some people can say. I guess I'm lucky. David has said in the past that he doesn't feel like either place really feels like home and that he is homeless and transient. I don't know which is worse - to be torn when you are one place or another, or to not care about being either place. David used to get really mad at me when I would say "going home to Utah." He wanted me to think of our new home as my home. Why can't I have 2?

As Pumbaa says on the Lion King, "home is where your rump rests." I guess that will have to be good enough for now. We make our home wherever we land. Bloom where you're planted? All that stuff.

Here's a sample of the 343 pictures I took (in 1 week?) I'll put a bunch on flickr too when I get a minute.

(cousins in their swimmun' suits!)(aunt Lis and baby Kate at the zoo)(all dressed up for church)

(Hattie with aunt Jess just after she got her first hair cut - yes, her first!)

(two little monkeys jumpin' on the tramp - we spent about half the trip doing this.)
(uncle Randy is the biggest monkey by far)
(Hattie waited all winter to hold baby Kate again. Looks like we almost waited too long!)(Hattie celebrated her 3rd birthday twice in Salt Lake. Mo Deb got her the coolest castle cake ever.)
(fun morning w/grandpa Lyle)(party at the Chapman's - 3 candles on 3 cakes for a 3 year old!)

(beach ball in the Chapman hot tub)
(the grand tradition of playing and playing and playing with grandpa Earl and Christine)
all the girls and their "babies" (well - except aunt Jess couldn't fit her two 100 pound dogs on the plane to get them in the picture!)