I is a preschool graduate.

Its official. Mark survived two years of preschool, or rather preschool survived Mark. I do believe his teacher "Miss Mangum" kept a daily log of the things that come out of his mouth...because she was quite frankly astounded at Mark. I believe her exact words were "I have never had a child like Mark before." The last day of class as he was waiting for me to come and pick him up he turned to Miss Mangum and said "When I am a teenager I am going to wear mint deodorant." She was glad to know he was concerned about his personal hygiene.

Here is Mark standing in front of his self portrait.

Here is Mark with two of his preschool friends, as they are lined up for graduation.

You can't graduate unless you get a whole pile of stuff.

Alright on to Kindergarten, hope Canyon Crest is ready...

The Car.

The other "big" gift Katie received for her birthday from mommy and daddy was a car. This girl likes wheels almost as much as Mark.

Here she is checking it out, or a least looking at the picture, not having a full understanding yet of what is in the box.

Oh, yeah baby, it did not take us long to understand this toy.

She is nothing if not a safety girl. Here she is looking over her shoulder before backing up. Note the baby in the back.

We have the princess dress on, and we are going to the ball.

Finally, Mark and Lauren have learned how to play with the car too. Katie drives, Lauren rides and Mark pushes.


Now how long before someone gets hurt?

Feet

This semester in art class, Courtney's focus has been on "feet." She has done many an art project involving feet, including making a plaster cast of her own foot. The latest project involved my children's feet. Courtney painted their feet and then had them stand on a poster. The kids of course thought having their feet painted was all sorts of great fun that mommy would never let them do otherwise.....

Mark's color was blue.

Got to press down hard to make sure the paint transfers from the feet to the paper. (You see the small orange feet behind Mark's those are Katie's. It took both Courtney and me to get paint on her feet and her feet on the paper, hence no picture. )

Lauren, of course chose purple.

Again, must press hard.

Now it was time for Courtney's feet.

A lovely shade of green, don't you think?

She too had to press hard. But this project is not done yet.... Courtney has to make it "artsy, fartsy" our feet were only the beginning.

Jello.

Sixteen years ago I graduated from law school, (yikes, it does not seem like that long…) and I left Utah, specifically Provo, with a vow never to return. There was so much about Utah (i.e. Utah County) that I found strange, and so different from where I grew up, one of which being a love of Jell-O, specifically green Jell-O.

Now I have never been a particularly huge fan of Jell-O. However should I chose to consume said product, I prefer the Cherry or the Orange variety. The green or rather the Lime flavor is my least favorite. To be perfectly honest, I think Lime Jell-O smells like Pine Sol, and although I have never tasted Pine Sol, I suspect that if I were to consume the two side by side, it would be difficult, except for the texture, to tell the difference between the two.

Well seven years ago, with my pending return to Utah, (further proof you should never say never) I pondered my fate as it related to Jell-O. Would I be accepted into society if I refused to make and or consume that wiggly, jiggly product? Could I live in Utah and not be consumed by or consume its number one snack food? Can you go to a ward party and not partake? Can you been an effective leader in Relief Society if you refuse to serve green Jell-O at funeral dinners? What if, I did not have Jell-O in my food storage? Can you be refused a temple recommend if you have Jell-O issues? Does bearing your testimony require you to testify as to the extreme sacredness of Jell-O? Am I a pretender if I don’t love Jell-O, or just trying to hang on to that last remnant of my rebellious living in Idaho?

Then it came. Then I saw it. Then I had to. I received an email calling for green Jell-O. Lauren’s dance company was putting on a production of the Wizard of Oz. Lauren had one of the leads as Glenda the Good Witch. Some twisted soul, (a mother of another dancer), decided a wonderful post production treat for the dancers and their family would be small clear cups of green Jell-O with whipped cream on the top, representing the Emerald City. Could I, would I, be willing to make 30 cups of Jell-O? With a knot in my stomach I hit the reply button and said “yes.”

On Wednesday night at the dress rehearsal I picked up the cups that the Jell-O was to be prepared in. The mom coordinating the Jell-O effort thanked me for agreeing to help out. I responded “Up until today I have never in my life purchased green Jell-O.” She replied, “You must not be from Utah.” No I am not.

The Wizard of Oz.

Lauren's ballet teacher for the last five years has been Miss Amber. She started when she was three and now at eight she has officially graduated from Miss Amber, since Miss Amber specializes in "little" girls, and if you have seen any recent pictures of Lauren you realize "little" she is not.

Her final production was the Wizard of Oz. Lauren was cast as Glenda, the good witch. The music was wonderful and Lauren loved dancing to it so much we had many practice sessions at home, which significantly improved her performance on stage. I have to say I have never seen Lauren perform with such confidence.

Here she is on stage, right after Dorthy has landed in Oz. Lauren's costume was great, it was perfect for twirling, providing "flair." Now we are done with ballet, its on to ballroom dance! Tryouts for company are in August. I guess you know what we will be doing all summer!

Tents.

One of the gifts Katie received for her birthday was a PINK princess tent. Mark has long had a Thomas the Tank Engine tent, which has been the source of much strife, as Katie has wanted to play in the Thomas tent, and Mark as been unwilling to have his tent defiled by his little sister. So it was time Katie had a tent of her own.

As you can see this is quite the tent. Not only does it have a tunnel to crawl through, it also has a draw bridge.

Addie and McKenzie were over for Katie's birthday party, and all four girls were having a fabulous time crawling in and out of the tent. Mark, seeing the action, sought to join in and was promptly rebuked by Katie who told him in no uncertain terms was HE to enter HER tent. (Apparently Mark rebuked her entry into his tent one too many times)

So what did my every enterprising son do? Of course out came Thomas to compete with the Princesses. It was a duel of the tents.

Mark is at the window of the princess tent, informing all princesses inside that Thomas can't get through because the Princess tent is on the track, and needs to be moved immediately as to not upset Sir Topham Hatt's arrangements. Sir Topham Hatt gets very cross when engines don't run on schedule.


Humm....not exactly how I though the princess tent would resolve the tent issue....

Still tickling those ivorys.

Although it may seem from all my blog posts that Lauren's sole activity is dance, that is not the case. She is still taking piano lessons, and is progressing nicely. A sure sign that her musical talent does not stem forth from my DNA.

Saturday, in addition to Katie's birthday party, Lauren had a piano recital.

She was outstanding, managed to hit every note, and look stylish to boot. Too bad Katie's conduct during the recital was not as well polished. Katie had ants in her pants and was not interested in the least at sitting still. Finally she had to be removed for the peace, quite and comfort of those left enjoying (or perhaps tolerating) the recital.

I'm Two, thank you very much. (part two)

My lunch was delicious, my cupcake yummy, but now it was time to move on to the best part of birthdays, PRESENTS! New toys, new games, new swag! And if I am lucky something that will make Mark jealous.....

I started with a present from Grandma Linda, after all she give the best stuff!

I was not disappointed in my present from grandma, it was a princess dress, which of course I HAD to put on before I would continue with any further present opening. I finally agreed to take the dress off after I opened this package, which was an apron from Aunt Arianne, which of course I had to put on. (Mommy will post a whole separate blog post about the cuteness of my new apron!)

Look new summer PJ's so I can stay cool and comfy, plus no feet in these PJ's. After all I am TWO, which is a little to big for those silly footed PJ's that babies wear.

On to the next present. It was a little larger than anything else I had opened. I had to request a little help.

Mark to the rescue. He helped me make quick work of all that wrapping paper so I could get to the good stuff. A PINK TENT, with princesses no less. First words out of my mouth upon seeing such a well chosen and thought out present, "Princess!" I then proceeded to point to each princess and repeat the word princess. I am still a girl of few words, but I sure know a princess when I see one. Isn't it good to know that by two years of age, Disney's marketing machine has all ready make their imprint on my small but developing brain?

I'm Two, thank you very much. (part one)

As part of my streak of two year old Independence I have hijacked mommy's blog to tell you all about my birthday. After all who knows more about my birthday than me, and I am not sure mommy can be trusted to accurately tell the story, she sooooo seems to exaggerate and over do things....

The birthday presents. Mommy wrapped them in my favorite color PINK.

The birthday cake. I requested cupcakes, its the "in vogue" thing you know. And I am nothing if not stylish. Mommy decorated them to look like flowers.

The birthday lunch. In keeping with my sophisticated taste, I had chicken salad on a croissant, with fresh strawberries, and pasta salad. Yummm. The croissant and pasta salad were my favorite.

Moi, the birthday girl, complete with candle lit cupcake.

I gave the two thumbs up to my cupcake it was delicious.

Tomorrow, part two, THE PRESENTS.

Lagoon

Yep, its that time of year again, Lagoon time. We are HUGE fans of Lagoon. With the craziness of last summer the kids did not get too much Lagoon time, in fact we did not even purchase season passes, and believe me, the kids let us know that failure to purchase season passes was simply not acceptable.

So this year season passes were purchased. We like the season pass, because two trips to Lagoon pay for the pass, and our kids are so young that spending ALL day there is not a pleasant experience. With the season passes we can go, spend 2-3 hours, leave and not feel obligated to stay longer to get our "monies" worth.

Our biggest concern this year was "Would Mark be tall enough to ride the FUN rides?" In order to increase his height we talked him into wearing a cowboy hat. It gave him a good extra inch and a half, however he still was short about three inches from that 48 inch requirement. However we found several rides the limit was 42 inches if you were accompanied by an adult.

The first "BIG" ride Mark went on was The Bat. It is a roller coaster type ride. As he was standing in line with Rick and Lauren he was watching the other riders on the ride and told Rick that he was not so sure he wanted to go on this ride. Rick said "Lauren will go on any ride. She's a Terrorist. Without missing a beat Mark replied "Well, I'm terrorized." Being the mean parents that we are Rick put Mark on the ride. Mark screamed with delight during the entire ride, got off and told Rick he was going on this ride again. So Mark got his first taste of the "BIG" rides and he is now hooked.

He did a good job of assuming the "cowboy" persona, and kept saying "Howdy partner"

Katie, less than happy about "stroller" jail.

First ride of the day, the helicopters.

Next ride, the cars.

Mark insisted on this ride he be allowed to drive alone.

We had never been on this airplane ride before. It can get quite wild, with airplanes going in all sorts of directions. However the pilot in daddy could not help but keep the airplane going straight, and had to assume control from Mark who of course wanted the wild ride. Daddy just can't help himself. He might have had a nervous break down if had had let the plane go wild....

Katie and I were on the other side of the fence watching Daddy, Mark and Lauren on the airplanes. Katie was pretty upset there was the metal fence barrier between herself and her cherished loved ones.

She attempted to climb the fence with limited success. Oh its tough to be two....

All and all a great evening at Lagoon, and I suspect there will be a few more to follow this summer......

Humm....it seems a little to quiet....

On Wednesday it seemed a little quiet in the basement. I went downstairs and this is what I found. Katie peacefully sleeping in the bean bag. I guess a girl can only take so much play before those batteries need to be recharged, after all its hard work to be a two year old who believes she is in charge of a a mom, a dad, a sister and a brother.

Are you getting married?

Are you getting married? If so you might receive one of these wonderful cards from me.

Whipped Cream.

Yeah, he is all BOY. He loves whip cream, straight from the pressurized can, right into his mouth.

Or a moustache is not bad either.

Too much law = creativity.

Creativity is just in my DNA, I can't deny it, so I have to give in. The funny thing about my creativity, is it must be in balance with the other parts of my life. I first discovered this in law school. After a grueling week of studying the law, on the weekends I would have to engage in some creative project, usually sewing, to bring all the forces in my life back into balance. I also noticed it when I was prosecuting full-time, again on the weekends I had this uncontrollable desire to be creative, and it was usually expressed in the form of decorating my house.

Well currently my life has been out of balance. With the economy tanking, my case load has risen dramatically. I was feeling out of balance. Now I know I already do a lot of creative projects, but I was feeling the desire to do even MORE creative projects. And my sewing machine was calling. I decided to make Lauren some cute skirts to wear for the summer. This is the first skirt.

Every Friday night Lauren has a "stay up" late night where she gets to hang with mommy after everyone else has gone to bed. We have been working on skirts for the last few Fridays, getting them all cut out and prepared to sew. Not only I have been able to "feed" the creative beast within, but I have also learned a lot about the second grade from talking to Lauren while I sew, reminding me its good to have balance in your life.

Mother's Day!

Mother's Day. For me it is a bigger deal than my birthday. My birthday is a day on the calendar. I really did not have much to do with my birthday, my parents were more responsible for that than me..... Now Mother's Day on the other hand is a different story.... I chose to be a mother.

After my mother died, Mother's Day was a painful reminder of what I had lost, but once Lauren entered my life, Mother's Day took on a whole new meaning. I did not think about what I lost anymore, I thought about what I gained. The opportunity to be a mother to this wonderful little girl, who I thought was the cutest thing I had ever seen in my life. A sediment I shared when both Mark and Katie entered my life.

That being said, being a mom is HARD work, and there is no "snooze" button. I EARN Mother's Day. Which is why I expect on Mother's Day to be pampered and told how wonderful I am. This year did not disappoint.

These were the flowers Rick and Lauren picked out for me.

Lauren brought this letter home from school for me. Although she does say in the letter "Even though you can be mean sometimes I will always love you." Ouch! I am trying to decided if I should be complimented or insulted?

Rick made my favorite dessert, homemade angel food cake.

Trust me on this, once you have had homemade angel food cake, the mix or the store purchased cake taste like cardboard.

Homemade angel food cake, = Yummy!

At Church the primary kids sang two songs, and gave these cute little bouquets of flowers to their mothers.

In our ward, rather than the traditional potted plant, the brethren have become enlighten and pass out chocolates to the mothers. Several years ago it was suggested in Ward Council, by a brother, that we break from the tradition of chocolate and try something different....not really sure if that gentlemen has recovered from the verbal tongue lashing he received by the women in the room. It was made very clear to the men in the ward, the women wanted chocolate, and anything less would result in a revolt, something that should be avoided on Mother's Day.

Finally, a new purse. Rick took Lauren shopping on Saturday to help pick out a gift that I would love and adore. This is what I unwrapped on Sunday, and I LOVE it! It is going to be the perfect purse for the summer, and is sure to contain all sorts of necessary things, like fruit snacks, diapers, wipes, pacifiers, random small toys, and if I am lucky, a tube of lipstick.

Its good to be the mom!