Mel & Jade's Wedding!

"Well, it would hardly have been a serious engagement if it hadn't been called off at least once."  

(name the  play/movie)

Melanie and Jade were married on September 9, 2011 in the Oakland Temple.  

We are SO happy for them!

Okay these are the day before the wedding.  We have a tradition of doing the floral arrangements ourselves, and it is so much fun.  

Grandpa Packard, checking out the action.

This is Mom's best arrangement ever.  It was beautiful!

Sydney hangin' out with her great-grandpa.  She doesn't always go to new people happily, but Sydney sure liked Grandpa.

Waiting outside the temple for the bride and groom to come out.

All the nieces except Lilly.  We missed you, little Lilly!

R.J. Stone Grand-chillens, 

(except Colton, my cousin, who is an R.V.S. grand-child) from left to right:

Kyrie, Sydney, Jemma, Daphne, Hayden, Dallin, Colton, Gavin, Sean, Carter

Sydney didn't care much for her dashing Uncle Reed.  Probably because he was restricting her access to the water fountain.

Grammy & Grandpa Stone, Mel and Jade, Jade's Grandma (I'm sorry, I forgot her name, but she was such a sweet lady!) and Grandpa Packard.

Mom made this darling dress for Sydney.

I took about a b-jillion pictures of Sydney trying to reach into the water.  I thought it was so cute how I would put her feet back on the bench and just as soon as I let go, she'd start scrambling back up so she could touch the water.  And she just hung there dipping her hands for quite a long time.

The Bride and Groom.

The Oakland Temple

We had to get a shot in front of the temple we were married in 12 years ago.  I also have some family pictures in front of the temple that one of my sisters is supposed to be sending me . . . hint, hint.  :)

Jenny and Natalie both have cameras that are vastly superior to mine, and as a result I found myself taking less pictures this trip.  So girls, if any of these pictures look familiar to you, it's because I stole them from your blogs.  :)

Okay, do you see this temperature reading from our car?

That is how hot is was on our way to the family dinner for Mel and Jade.

By the end of the night, I felt like a cube of butter that had been left out at room temperature for a couple of days.  I think I probably looked like one too.  (Thank goodness none of the pictures are of me.)  But despite the heat, we had a great time together celebrating the marriage.

the flowers.

the cake.

the people.

The evidence of a good time was shown on Sydney's dress which bore strawberry stains, and a tear on her skirt.  And the humidity really curled her hair.

the brothers.

the sisters.

and . . . the pinata.

The pinatas were made-over by Melanie and Emma and they looked about as elegant as a pinata can ever look.  They were filled with delicious salt-water taffy (which Hayden left in his pocket and as a result they went through the wash, ruining some of our clothes.  [insert shaking fist here.]  But it turned out fine--the clothes were salvaged when we got back home and gave them a serious hot-water washing.)

Congratulations, Melanie and Jade!  

We love you guys and are so happy for you!

Needed: some extra arms.

Today at church Sydney was crawling all over me, Daphne was asking me about going up to bear her testimony, and Hayden kept digging in the bag at my feet for fruit snacks.  After Daphne and Dallin went up to bear their sweet testimonies, I was thinking of following their examples, and going up to bear mine.  But then Hayden came over and was being crazy and climbing on me, while Sydney was standing in the corner of the bench near the aisle right next to me.  I was trying to get Hayden in a better position in my lap so I could put my arm around Sydney but as I was moving Hayden, Sydney flipped right over the bench and landed on her face on the floor.  I quickly threw Hayden off my lap, scooped Sydney up and rushed out the door just as she caught her breath and started screaming.

I felt terrible that she fell off the bench when I was right next to her, and as I held her out in the halls,  I couldn't help thinking that that little scenario seemed like a metaphor for my life right now.  I feel like I am frantically rushing from one thing to another and while I'm trying to pay attention to one thing somebody or something else falls off the bench.  I just don't have enough arms to hold onto everyone and everything I need to hold on to.  I wish I had more hours in my day, or could survive on less sleep, or could grow a pair of extra arms.  I would look like a freak, but at least I could fold my blasted laundry twice as fast.

Still learning how to manage my time, I guess.

Daphne's Baptism

Daphne was baptized yesterday.  She got to share her special day with two of her good friends, Rachel and Kirra, and the three of them all looked radiant.  Arthur baptized and confirmed her and there was a beautiful spirit present.  Daphne requested that Nona make her baptism dress months ago, and it was beautiful!  Thanks for making it, Mom.  She felt like a princess.  Daphne, Kirra and Rachel sang "My Baptism Day" together after they were baptized.  They sang like angels and remembered every word.  We are so proud of Daphne for making the choice to follow Jesus' example and be baptized.  There are so many blessings that she will receive as she tries every day to keep her baptismal covenants.  We love you Daphne!

Birthdays

In our family, we only do big parties when you turn 5, 8, 12, and 16.  I just thought I'd make that clear so you don't look at these pictures and think Daphne is the favorite child.  It just so happened that she turned eight this year, which means she got to have a "friend" party.   She chose to have a Harry Potter birthday, and we all had some fun planning it.  I think the boys were just as excited for her party as she was.

Here is Hayden studiously working on the word search.  Ha!  That funny boy doesn't know how to read yet, but he was definitely circling letters in that word search.

Wand-Making

Dallin dressed as Snape was our Potion's master.

All of our secret ingredients were edible, but not necessarily tasty when they were combined.

The girls told me that the "Love Potion" was particularly nasty.

At the end, everyone got to go shopping at "Honeyduke's Sweet Shoppe." 

Hayden had been waiting all weekend to get his hands on one of these giant lollipops! 

We are so blessed to have Daphne in our family.  She is a wonderful big sister who has fun playing with everyone in the family, no matter their age.  She can often be found lugging her baby sister around,  helps her get dressed and even changes her diapers sometimes.  She loves playing with friends, drawing, or doing other crafts, and loves looking at pictures of our family.  When she earns screen time, she like to get onto iphoto and just look at all the pictures.  She is a wonderful singer, and writes cute creative stories.  She's currently working on a story called, 

"The three tiny seahorses, and the Ginormica, Evil, Shark!"  

Happy Birthday, Sweet Daphne!  We love you!

Sean turned 6 this year, which is not a "friend party" year.  

He took it pretty well. 

Here he is with his favorite present; Hagrid's Hut Lego Set.

All the kids have spent most of their free time yesterday and today working on constructing it.

Sean is a happy boy who is usually a peacemaker in our family.  When Hayden was wearing one of Sean's favorite shirts today, Sean said, "It's okay, Hayden.  You can keep it.  But just for today.  I want it back tomorrow."  Sean is enjoying school so far, at least I think he is.  He doesn't remember much of anything that he did by the time he gets home, but he's happy when he leaves and happy when he comes home, so that makes me happy too.  Sean is thoughtful--he doesn't always jump right into the action.  He listens and processes and then when you least expect it he'll ask a really good question.  And he sees things just a little differently than most of the rest of us, so I love his unique and fresh perspective on things.  We just love this guy!

Happy Birthday Sean! 

August Quotes

Me:  Hayden, do you hear all the birds outside?

Hayden:  Yep.  They are thinging a thong for uth.

Hayden:  Does Daddy have magic?

Me:  (thinking this could a great teaching opportunity) Well, he doesn't have magic, but he does hold the Priesthood, which is the power of God.

Hayden:  Oh.   . . .  Well, look at my toes, Mom!  (They were sticking through the holes of the afghan laying over our laps.  so much for the teaching opportunity.)

Dallin: When you're young, you're fun.  But when you get old, you get boring.  Sadly, most of our Aunts and Uncles are leaving the fun stage.  (to Daphne)  We're the last of our kind.

Daphne:  Yeah, Dallin!  You invite Cole over and I'll invite Kirra over, and you two annoy us the best you can!

Upon finding a few of my kids stripped down and jumping on the bed in Daphne's room,  I proceeded to give them the "it's not appropriate to play without your clothes on" lecture and tell them that our private parts are special and need to be covered by our clothes.   Daphne chimed in, "Yeah, they are special.  We shouldn't treat them like vermin."  To which Sean, (who, by the way, was wearing Daphne's pink ballet tutu) responded, "Who's Vermin?"  Never mind, Sean, just KEEP YOUR UNDERWEAR ON!

We had the missionaries over for dinner tonight, and Sean was asking them all kinds of questions.  He said, "So are you guys brothers, or just friends?"  Elder Lamb said, "We are friends. In fact, we are companions which means we are friends that hang out together every day, all day long and even share a bedroom."  I told Sean, "When you go on a mission,  you always have a friend with you--kind of like the buddy system."  He took a little while to process it, and then said, "Well, when I go on a mission, I want my buddy to be Ray or Kade."  Later he asked the missionaries, "So what do missionaries do?  Just go have dinner at people's houses?" At first the Elder started joking around and saying, "Yeah, we just go eat at people's houses, and take long naps, and play video games . . ."  I had to intervene since Sean's eyes were really starting to light up.  I said, "No way do they play video games.  Missionaries are NOT allowed to play video games or they get in trouble."  Arthur said, "Yeah, they get a spankin'."  Sean asked, "A spankin' from Jesus?"


Then the Elder told him how it really is, that they wake up at 6 every morning and exercise for an hour and then they shower and get ready for the day and then they do an hour of personal study and 2 hours of companion study (theirs is a little extra since his companion is new to the field) and that was about the point where Sean lost interest.  But I have to hand it to him--those were pretty good questions he was asking.

Dallin:  At recess, Amanda Dubois and her cronies captured Cole, but he refused to look into her eyes because they are freaky.

Hayden:  What bus do I ride to school?  I am THO EXCITED TO GO TO ThCHOOL TOMORROW!

Arthur:  It is stinky in here.  It smells like stinky feet.

Sean:  (sniff, sniff)  It's me!

This morning I lost my temper with Hayden because he spilled a container of strawberry sauce all over the floor.  It seems like a little thing, but I got to bed too late last night, and as a result, my fuse was shorter this morning.  I guess I should preface this by saying that I have been working really hard to not yell at my kids, lately.  And I've been really successful for about a month at making sure I measure my responses before I just react to whatever situations arise each day.  Well, today (again, I'm blaming the lack of sleep,) I was yelling at him (shame on me) that he can't just go digging through the fridge on his own, he needs to ask for help, and why was he just standing there watching me clean up?  Why didn't he at least say, "I"m sorry" ?  He continued to stand there and look at me, surprised at my reaction, and then said, "But, Mom, I'm only three." 

Back to School

Well it's here again.  The start of another school year.  Dallin is in 4th Grade, Daphne is in "2.5" grade here at home, and Sean has started Kindergarten.  The start of school always makes me feel a little nostalgic.  I was surprised when tears sprang to my eyes as I waved goodbye to Dallin on his first day of school.  You'd think after five years of 1st-days-of-school, that I wouldn't be as emotional, but, sure enough,  I just couldn't even help it.  

And I cried on Thursday, Sean's first day of kindergarten, because Kindergarten is such a huge step. Because now I am only part of Sean's day for a little while in the morning, and from 4-8 p.m.  That doesn't seem like very much.

And I've cried just every few days in my efforts to do homeschooling with Daphne.  We thought and prayed over that decision for months, and I feel like it's the right thing to do, but I still feel conflicted about it because I'm unsure of my own abilities to meet her academic needs and to fill the needs of our family too.  This is an entirely different balancing act altogether.  I have to give myself a little pep talk every morning before the kids wake up.   

Dallin's First Day Back

He was thrilled to find out that three of his favorite friends are in his class this year!

What a party!

Dallin with his teacher Ms. Fortescue

Sean's First Day of Kindergarten:

We walked him down to the bus stop to catch the bus.    

Here's all the kids, and Dallin's friend, Cole who lives down the street.  

Hayden was so excited for Sean.  

Sean walked onto that bus like a pro, and didn't even look back.  I tried to find him in the window to wave, but couldn't see him.

And then I hopped in the car and drove down to make sure he got in his line for class, and get pictures of him walking off with his teacher.  I LOVE his teacher, Ms. Phillips.  She is so much fun, and Sean is excited to go to class every day.  (so far.  :)

There he goes.  Off to his first day of school ever, and there I go with the tears again, A friend asked me if I was going to the "Tea for Tears" in the multi-purpose room but I told her, "Actually, I just like to cry by myself."  

Homeschool with Daphne:

Friday-Field-trip Day!

We went to the Rio Grande Nature Center for our Field trip last Friday.

Julianne and her kids came with us.  It was kind-of hot and muggy, and it took us forever to find the river was which was as disappointing as it usually is. (No scary homeless guys this time, though)

But we did see some cool turtles in the wildlife viewing area attached to the visitor's center, and some hummingbirds, and had a fun time walking around eating snacks.

So there we go.  The first week of first days of school is done, and we're off for another whirlwind school year.  277 days until Summer Break 2012.