I love the way Phoebe walks around snapping her fingers these days! She has so many wonderful ideas and she will talk about everything a mile a minute: stories about her day, ideas for a game we are about to start, her new plan to open a bakery right now, describing to me all the intricacies of the pirates we are fighting or the lava surrounding us, all while snapping her fingers again and again :)

Max made a goal a couple months ago to read the Book of Mormon. He is reading a chapter a day and he is already in Mosiah! I am so proud of him, I can hardly believe it. He is really taking it in too. He will find connections to things in our lives saying, “that reminds me of something I read the other day...” He has been so sweet and responsible in so many ways lately. He bares his testimony every month in church. He is always to proud to stand up and sometimes he can convince Sammy or Phoebe to go with him. Today he said, “last week when my brother was blessed, I looked around and almost all the adults in my family were crying. I am so grateful to be part of such a loving family and I know that families are the most important part of Heavenly Fathers plan” . He had me crying again. Tears of pride and love and gratitude. He’s a good boy for sure! Tonight we went to my parents house and we walked out the door and the. Max ran back and gave them both great big hugs. I’m not sure he’s ever done that before. All three of us were so happy and proud.

Leo’s baby blessing was just incredible last week. He was blessed the day after sweet a sophie was married so we had a lot of people there. In addition to all of his aunts and uncles and cousins, he had Reynaldo Jean-Luis, and Sophie’s new in laws there. I felt so grateful  for so much support, for so many people to love our boy. He is a sweetheart. I love him so much! When I first brought him home from the hospital, he would cry if someone else held him and would turn to find me if he heard my voice. As he’s gotten bigger, now he loves when his siblings hold him! He smiles so sweetly and is starting to coo. He is so sweet and precious!!

Esther loves cats. She pretends to be one pretty often. Esther is great at staying in character and if she is a princess, she will not respond until you call her princess instead of Esther. She adores Leo! She lives for baths. She would take ten a day if I let her, and she thinks she should be allowed to drink hot chocolate milk to replace every meal. She has horrible asthma and every time she gets sick we have a week of sleepless nights a mornings where I feel so grateful we lived through them.  Max and Sammy almost never have asthma anymore so I’m hopefully she will outgrow it too.  Esther loves nursery more than any of our kids. She could t wait to go each Sunday, but she also loved her first day of primary today. We have four kids in primary this year! She allows me to give her a hairdo only for church on sundays.

Sammy is on the sixth Harry Potter book and addicted. He has always got it and I have to take the book with me when I kiss him good night or he would stay up all night reading . He also lives going to grown up soccer with his daddy. He scores goals against the adults and they are always so surprised that he can hold his own and fight for the ball and score against grown ups. He is very loyal to his friends and he has a huge fun friend group. Sammy loves to make people laugh. He has a hundred different funny voices and I can hardly remember what his real voice sounds like. He adores the baby. He loves to use a silly voice and tell me that he is Leo’s daddy and I am just his babysitter. He can keep him happy for a very long time and he doesn’t get tired of holding him so he is a huge help to me. He can hold the baby while I make dinner or clean a room. He is helpful in many ways. Sammy is always willing to help me out. To ale out the garbage or put something away. I appreciate him so much!  He was very sick last week with a fever for 5 or 6 days. He had dark circles under his eyes and lost weight and just wanted to lay around. It broke my heart. I love my boy!

Royal Phoebe

A couple days ago Phoebe was explaining to me how the world runs. "I am Princess Bella and Esther is Princess Annalise. I think Max and Sammy can be knights and we just need some servants... I think you and Daddy are our servants!" That is about right :)

About a month ago, she came to the same conclusion. Every night I lay in between Phoebe and Esther and read them a book...or ten. Inevitably, halfway through someone will need a drink of water so we call Daddy and ask him to bring a cup. One day after Daddy yet again sweetly answered our plea, Phoebe looked cunningly at me and said, "I feel like Daddy is our servant, like whatever we ask him to do, he has to do it!"

I have been pregnant and sick and then on bedrest the last week because of a subchorionic hemorrhage. My dear mother has saved our lives!!!!! She has been taking Phoebe to school or picking her up a lot and phoebe has been relishing every moment! She adores her Mimi more than anyone else in her life right now. If I talk to my mom on the phone Phoebe will say, "Don't talk to mom, talk to me!!!"She is so proud and excited every day to tell me about the special treat they picked up on the way home. I feel so so lucky to have that kind of a mom and it makes my mom heart so happy to see Phoebe loving her grandma so much :)

This girl spends about 50 percent of her time drawing or painting right now. She makes hundreds of pictures a week for so many people.

Phoebe fell and cut her lip. It was tiny but deep so she needed a stitch. The doctor said she had never seen a kid who handled a stitch more bravely. She hardly flinched. Then she was so very responsible about reminding me to put the ointment on the cut, several times a day for five days. It made my job so much easier!

When I was really sick, the girls watched Barbie of swan lake almost every day. Phoebe doesn't like it any more. This is a World Cup year and Javier is trying to watch every game. Most of the kids like it but Phoebe says soccer is Boring! She was arguing with javier the other day telling him so assuredly that he was definitely going to get bored of soccer from watching so much of it. To all his protest she just assured him that she knew he would just like she got bored of her Barbie movie :)

As she was saying the family prayer one night Phoebe prayed that Sammy wouldn't say the F-word or the B-word or the SH-word or the Q-word and she just went on and on and we all could not help but just be cracking up because of course Sammy has never said any of those words. It was cute!

Esther the puppy

Esther loves to be a princess during the day but at bedtime she is always a puppy. If I tell her , "Esther lay your head on the pillow," Or any such direction she will correct me, "You mean, Puppy, Go to seep!" I love my precious little puppy more than words can express!

I love the way Esther always speaks and moves with so much grace. It is almost funny because she is so little tiny, yet she behaves like a graceful mother, always so gentle and sophisticated. I bet she will always be like this. Like sleeping beauty blessed with grace at birth :)

The other night I was putting The girls to bed and Phoebe was already asleep. Why is it that at bedtime the kids are always at their very sweetest and funniest till I almost hate for them to fall asleep. Esther started saying, "look theres a monster! But I have powers to be-stwoy (destroy) the monster!! There is an alligator. The alligator is sweet and kind. The monster is scawy!!" I laughed and laughed! She told me all about how sweet the alligator is.

Esther is Phoebe's shadow right now. She just follows her all around and copies every single word and gesture. It is hilarious!
Phoebe, looking in the mirror: "Mommy you missed a spot with the sunscreen"
Esther, standing next to Phoebe but looking at the wall: "Mommy you missed a spot with the sunscreen"
They spend the other half of the time shrieking at each other. Esther is by far my easiest toddler but she definitely can hold her own with all the bigger kids too. Everything she says and does makes me laugh.

Esther is very socially mature. Without any reminder or just a gentle one she will ask nicely, or share voluntarily. She will ask me for permission to do things which always makes me laugh. I think a lot of this is her personality but I think some has come from so many interactions with Phoebe all her life. Im so happy that so far all our kids have a friend. I hope we can work that out for the new baby.

Esther told me tonight as I was changing her diaper, "Mommy, you are a good changer. Daddy is a bad changer, but he is a good boy. He is a a good Daddy for me!"

Esther noticed my eyebrows tonight and called them, "silly things" I told her she had eyebrows too and she was so funny trying to scrunch her eyebrows down and look up to see them.

a month later, eyebrows are Esther's favorite thing in the world. She loves to stroke her eyebrows or my eyebrows and she talks about them all the time.

The world cup

The world cup has been such a bonding experience for our family this year. True, I am bored out of my mind of soccer, but Javier and the boys have had so so much fun watching  every game together and talking about the games and the players and playing world cup soccer in the back yard. As much as I have hated it, I have actually loved every minute of this cuteness. Javier bought him and the kids Argentina jerseys and Sammy wore his every single day until Argentina was eliminated.The three of them have been going to Thursday night soccer at the church dressed as the argenina team. Then tonight the boys played soccer in the backyard for 90 minutes and came in the door with their arms around each others shoulders and Max said, "Sammy, Im glad you were born!" Best month ever!

 20 questions

Charity: Is he dead?

Javier: yes and no

Max: is he bald?

Javier: yes

Sammy: is it Voldemort?

Javier: don't guess so specific. Guess general

Phoebe: but I dont know anyone bald, General, and dead and not dead!

Esther's hands covered with cheeto dust

Me: are you ready to wash your hands?

Esther: no, I'll just eat them

When mommy and daddy were hugging each other, Sammy stood right next to us and said"... hm... usually there's a kiss..." so we kissed and he said, " oh there it is" and walked away

Phoebe and Esther and I love to sing together. I taught the girls rounds, row row row your boat, white coral bells, and frere Jacques. Phoebe can hold her own when I sing at a different time and Esther can keep the melody if she is singing them. Both the girls have such beautiful voices! I love it when my children sing!! I think that is my very favorite thing in the world! 

Esther on the night we brought Leo home. Mommy, I am quiet, but baby Leo isn’t quiet.

Phoebe is opening “Phoebe’s Bakeria” and she is full of ideas all day long. She said, “Mom, I need a logo”. She also said, “mom what if I make a crown for me to wear and then it wouldn’t be like 😠”I’m the boss, you have to do what I say”. It would be like’😊I’m the queen boss and you have to do what I say. See it’s much better isn’t it?”

Javier (paused a movie about New York) “ I used to work in this building”

Esther: yeah, me too

Reading Esther a book about jungle animals there was a tiger and it’s cub

Esther: (over the moon excited) mommy, could we have a yellow kitty like that in our family...and a tiger like that!

Phoebe quizzing Max on math and trying to think of a really hard problem: let’s say you have 80 hundred bears and they each have 80 hundred dogs...”

Charity: moana could you please lay down?

Esther:( putting her hand over her heart) it would be my honor

Esther found a spider: look it’s a daddy with long legs

All the kids were selling cinnamon rolls on the corner. They were calling all the cars to stop and buy some but one passed by. Phoebe said “ why didn’t he stop? We were being so cute!”

On Mother’s Day Sammy served me ten peanuts in creatively delivered courses like a lego car driving them to me or blowing them out a straw saying. “Peanut number 1 is served.” 

Javier,after his surgery, drinking apple juice” just so you know I’m not a kid”

Phoebe to her piano teacher: I’m going to have groot gamora and Harry Potter on my birthday cake! 

Piano teacher: that’s fancy!

Phoebe: it’s not fancy it’s deathly. I like stuff that is deadly and violent and grousome!

When Mimi and grandpa went to Hong Kong Phoebe kept mixing it up with Wakonda

Phoebe: guess which ones worse, heaven or hell?

Esther, yelling at Daddy, because he told Phoebe she couldn’t have a hamster “ but, daddy, hamsters are birds and if you buy them from the store they aren’t real!!”

Esther (running and out of breath): mommy! I’m so sorry!! When I was outside I accidentally started throwing rocks at Phoebe!

Me: did you say sorry?

Esther: I accidentally didn’t

Then she ran to give hugs and say the nicest apology

Phoebe: I wonder if everybody else feels jealous that they aren’t as pretty as me

Esther: hey mommy, um, Phoebe, you know that girl? Like she’s a part of our family? Well she lost a battery...

If she could be any animal Phoebe wants to be a princess

Phoebes birthday

Today I am sublimely happy :) I don't feel that way every day so I want to bottle up this moment for a rainy day.

Yesterday we had Phoebes 5th Birthday party. She wanted a fairy party and she wanted to invite all of her cousins. She has been planning this party for months! One idea she had was to invite poor kids. She decided she would give all the poor kids toys and all their moms money. I am so proud of my big hearted girl! We decided we would do some service instead so I brought her with me to the stake humanitarian day and she wrote valentines for veterans. She was so excited to be able to serve :) She is a special girl for sure.

I was worried that the bigger kids in the family would make fun of the fairy theme and that Phoebe would feel bad but it was just beautiful. Max and Sammy got really excited while we were setting it up and decided to dress like bees. Max, Sammy, Phoebe, and Esther played bees and fairies all day yesterday. They had so much fun and set up games and made plans for how they would greet the guests and bring them to the fairy queen. It was so cute. The cousins wore fairy wings and danced and called Phoebe "Pixie bell" and were just so kind. They all brought little presents and cards. While I was having so much fun making the cake and decorating, my mommy heart was just bursting with happiness to see them all playing so well together and imagining and having so much fun.

The party was so much fun. Everything turned out beautifully. The family stayed late and we enjoyed being together and this morning Phoebe said, "My party was the best day ever" so that was good reward :) Now this morning again all the kids are playing together and laughing and running around the house. I am so grateful for each dear child. I feel so so lucky!

One funny moment: I made little bottles of pixie dust for everyone to take home. Phoebe was so so excited about it, then after she passed them all around she came to me with a crestfallen look and said, "Mommy, the pixie dust just did nothing! David put it on his head and he didn't even fly!" A minute later they all decided it made them faster though and now she's excited about it again :)

Phoebe decided she wants to learn to ride a bike when she's four. I started teaching her today and we worked for an hour then the rest of the day she begged me to teach her more.

Whenever anyone says "dance" or "ballet" both Esther and Phoebe will begin to pirouette, jump, lift one leg gracefully into the air, and twirl like the beautiful angels they are. It is my favorite!

We are getting a puppy. He is going to be called Wally and he is adorable. Max and Sammy and I are all reading books about puppy training and generally getting very very excited! The last time we went to visit him, Sammy got down into puppy stance and played with Wally, and snuggled him close as much as Wally would let him. It warmed my mommy heart to see him having so much fun.

Max has become absolutely obsessed with swimming. He loves it! He did swim team this summer and was just adorable. His first day of practice he could only swim about 5 feet before having to stop and rest on the the lane dividers. He came home crying and so tired. He hated swim team. By the third day everything had changed. He talked about swim team all day and in his prayers he thanked the Lord for giving him the chance to do it. He couldn't wait for practice each day. In the beginning he took about twice as long to finish each race as the others but he never got discouraged or wanted to give up. He liked it that when he was coming in last the whole crowd would cheer for him. Then he got so excited to see how much his time improved each race. He went from swimming the 50 meter front crawl in 2 minutes to swimming it in 1 minute. It was absolutely thrilling to watch! He won the most improved award from his team. Since then, We have been going to the Y before school and he will swim laps with Javier and I. He went from being able to swim about 5 feet at the beginning of the summer to swimming laps for an hour for pure enjoyment in one summer. I am so proud!

In this same summer Sammy has gone from swimming back and forth between parents to being able to swim the whole length of the pool confidently. He is so determined! As soon as he saw Max doing it he knew he had to learn too :)

Phoebe has made huge progress this summer too. She has learned to swim the width of the pool and has decided she is the best swimmer ever. She hates to be helped or worse yet to be made to wear a floatie.

Esther has a ballerina Penguin which has been her security object for a while. She calls it "Baby" and loves it very much. The other day at the grocery store we found a little 2 inch stuffed penguin and she loved it so much I bought it. She has been carrying it around and delightedly squealing, "Penguin!" whenever I look at her. She is so adorable I just have to pick her up and smother her with kisses. She is talking so much! She loves to pray and can say a good prayer without any help. It is short, but complete. I think she must be as brilliant as all the other kids and I just feel so blessed that we have four such brilliant children.

 Phoebe put on  plastic tiara just before we left for the store and said "mom, do you think everyone at Walmart will bow down at my feet?"

Phoebe: my toe is 13 years long!"

Phoebe: ( jumping up and down) I love decorating cookies with grandma!

Esther: ( also jumping up and down) I love  decorating grandma!

Phoebe: there's my buddy the fly!

The kids were telling scary stories about ghosts and Esther said :gasp! A goat!

 

Phoebe: "I have a goal that whoever is a bad guy I will kick and punch!"

Sammy: Pickle pants! I jinxed you Max

Max: no you didn't! I said Ma-chicken and you  said Ma-jinx

Esther sucking her meatball like a popsicle. Charity: Can you eat it? 

Esther: No I not eat It I just look at it

Javier: sammy did you cover your eyes during the scary parts?

Sammy: only when they were kissing

Mommy: when I was growing up most of my siblings had their birthdays in the same month

Phoebe! Hey!!! In our family all of our birthdays are in the same year!!

Air museummcminville Oregon

Sammys( pointing at Javier and himself):just so you know...sonomos hombros 

Max and Sammy tied a jump rope to both of their legs and then started running around so they would both fall every couple seconds. After about 20 minutes of this and constant cries of pain, Max: should we take it off now?” Sammy: “No! We have to stand it...like Men!”

Esther: Max for your birthday I will give you a metal sword if you promise now to wack anybody with it

Phoebe: one time David told me I could brag about something but I didn’t do it because I didn’t know what brag means

 Olivia: Phoebe I bet all the boys at preschool like you.

Phoebe: when I smile, my eyes sparkle and my hair shines but nobody notices

Phoebe: mom the pixie dust just did nothing :( David put it on and he didn't even fly!

Esther, whenever she asks to do something and I say no, instead of crying and throwing a tantrum she will get a big dimply smile on her face and say excitedly ," Maybe tomorrow I can!"

Esther" Who gave me my arm? Who gave me my nose? Who gave me my eyes?"

Charity: look Esther, it's a bear!

Esther, looking at a bear at the zoo,"um it must be a doggy"

Max and Sammy made special cards for all their cousins on National Rubber Ducky day.

Esther Bit one of two water balls that Sammy had and he still gave her the second one saying, "I'll give you another chance Essy, but don't bite it this time"

Sammy made Phoebe a stress ball for her birthday out of a balloon filled with flour.

Phoebe: Mommy, when you die, Daddy will be my wife.
We spent a week explaining why she couldn't marry Daddy and finally she agreed.
Phoebe: Okay I'll marry Rocco when he grows up to be a man

The other day in church Phoebe was asking all of her cousins what their favorite animal was and drawing them for each of them.

Max has been researching the empire state building for challenge. He is supposed to make a travel brochure. Today he came up to Natalie and said, "I heard you are going to New York City. When you go I am going to make you a travel brochure and you can take it with you." Isn't that so thoughtful?

Also Max and I filled out a personality test for him. He is an ITP right now. I thought it was so much fun to see how self aware he is.

Sammy loves dancing. The other night we did salsa dancing for family home evening and he loved being my partner! He learned the steps and had so much fun twirling me. He was so proud of himself and so was I!

Phoebe and Libby were playing one day and Libby came down and said she didn't want to play house anymore. Phoebe tried everything to try to talk her into playing again with no avail. Finally after several minutes Phoebe hung her little sad head and said, "Okay Libby...you can be the mommy." Then Libby said " yay!"and they went back up to play.

When they dug the pit for our new house Javier was showing it to Phoebe:
Javier: this is going to be our house Phoebe, what do you think?
Phoebe: Its pretty. I can sleep there.

Its a good thing Sammy isn't a real wizard because ever since he bought a wand in Harry Potter land this summer he has been running all around our house shouting "Avada Kedavra!!!" at everyone.

Phoebe's most favoritest  game is "Neighbor" where she pretends that she is my neighbor and she has her own children. This game is my favorite too. She is so hilariously spot on in her assessments of how mothers talk to each other. The other night while I was putting Esther to bed she came into our room with a baby doll and a pikachu stuffed animal and started talking to me. "Oh my baby did not want to eat dinner tonight (sigh). She just kept screaming for a treat. So I told her she couldn't have a treat. She hadded to eat her chicken!" This was especially funny because we had just finished dinner and as in all other nights she had refused to eat her dinner and made a big deal about it. Then she said, " And I just don't know what to do with Pikachu! She won't ever let me do her hair. But I want to put pigtails so I just have to do it anyway." I was laughing so hard! This was an especially funny time but actually we play neighbor all day every day. She makes up names for all of us and it is so fun and funny!

Sammy also loves to play wolf. He snaps and growls and jumps on us and scratches us. Yesterday we were playing and I said, "Maybe Esther can tame Sammy. Sing Esther!" Esther immediately started singing the sweetest little baby song. One of the sweetest memories of my life. Then Sammy settled down in right in front of her face and smiled up at her, completely tamed.

We were playing 20 questions and it was Phoebe's turn
Is it an animal?
Yes
Is it a pet?
yes
Is it a Guinea Pig?
Then she got impatient and told us, "It is my cutest little Hyena!"


Phoebe and Libby were playing one say and Libby came down and said she didn't want to play house anymore. Phoebe tried everything to try to talk her into playing again with no avail. Finally after several minutes Phoebe hung her little said head and said, "Okay Libby...you can be the mommy." Then Libby said " yay!"and they went back up to play.

When they dug the pit for our new house Javier was showing it to Phoebe:
Javier: /this is going to be our house Phoebe, what do you think?
Phoebe: Its pretty. I can sleep there.

Max: Mommy, check the news for tomorrow

Sammy: "Please bless that all the people in the world will have a good night except the people in China cuz their night's almost over"

Phoebe: I'm not a kid. I am Bebe Uh-cheli

Esther has started saying Blah-blah-blah and rocking back and forth on her knees and just getting all around the floor without quite crawling. She smiles and laughs and sleeps in my arms still always. We weed the garden together and cook dinner together. She is my little buddy and I feel like I'm missing my arm if someone else asks to hold her and generally she does too by the way she sobs when someone else holds her, although not always. She LOVES her uncles and aunts and her siblings and Grandma and Dadu. She has loved all the solid food I've given her, including salmon tonight. She loves to bob her head up and down in a very exaggerated way and it is so cute and funny! She is a delight in every way!

Grandma had to go to the hospital on Monday. She was fine but we were very worried in the beginning. I gathered all the kids around me to pray. Sammy offered it and said, " Please bless Grandma that she won't die and that she'll have the best day ever!" Then Javier came home and Esther and I went to hospital to be with Grandma. As soon as she saw Esther she perked right up. She kept saying, "just let me see Esther. I swear she is the best medicine!" And when I told her about Sammy's sweet prayer she laughed out loud and looked like her old self. I love my grandma! I was so glad she was okay!

Phoebe HATES it when Javier leaves for work! She will sometimes cry for an hour and get angry saying, "I DONT WANT DADDY TO LEAVE!!" She really wants to Marry Daddy and she doesn't like to be told she can't :) Phoebe is so funny right now! Everything she says is so incredibly cute. I wish I could remember more and just bottle up these moments.

Phoebe loves a show called Daniel Tiger where they teach these great little one line songs about emotions. Phoebe goes around all day singing, "You can be a good helper in your family" You can imagine when she sings that to me as I'm setting the table or making cookies or cleaning the bathroom it is so cute that no matter how inconvenient it may be to include my sweet three year old I always say yes :) My favorite is when I start to get Mad and Phoebe will quietly start singing, "When you feel so mad that you want to roar, take a deep breath and count to four" Or when I ask her to go get a diaper for Esther, she'll trundle up the stairs singing, "Everybody's job is Important! We all help...in different ways!" I love that girl! She is a good little coach for me and she's learning so much herself! Im so proud of her!

Sammy is such a sweetheart. He has been so helpful. Whenever I need something done I know if I ask him he will say yes and do it right away.

Max has become quite the incredible helper too! He has learned to do his and Sammy's laundry all by himself, start to finish. He has also made dinner all by himself a couple of times now, really good food too like homemade macaroni and cheese. I am so proud of him as I see him developing these skills for life!

Phoebe tells the best stories! They are super elaborate and go on for like a half hour. Max will sometimes roll his eyes when I'm listening to one of Phoebe's stories and say, "Mom, you know Phoebe's stories last forever!" But they are really fun. She will get wide eyes and whisper during the most intense parts and do fun voices. She finds little ways to build the suspense. I know she is a genius to have such a long attention span not to mention the elaborate plots :)

Max got his hands on a rubix cube the other day and worked on it for a good hour. He got one whole side and the first row of all the next sides done, then kept on working it, sometimes ruining his work to try a new combination. I was so proud of him. I would never have the courage to wreck something I had worked so hard on even if I wanted to try solving it further. He is such a creative and courageous boy! Also his attention span! Incredible!!

I have been taking the boys to a counselor the last couple months. First we were mainly talking about Anger and Sammy and how I could be a more effective parent when he gets angry. I learned so much and Sammy did too. My biggest takeaway was that when Sweet Sammy gets angry it is as unpleasant for him as it is for me. He wants so much to be the best son/brother/person in the world and sometimes that is just too much. The message that I need to send when he gets mad is," You feel angry. It doesn't feel good. I love you and I will be here for you. You can work through this and feel happy again. I believe in you." It is incredible how much this simple schema shift has changed our whole family dynamic. I wish someone had helped me understand that 7 years ago!
Now we are learning about Inattention and Max. I am excited to learn how to be a more effective parent here too so that he can feel more successful. As we were talking to the counselor I am always worried that the boys will feel picked on. On the one hand, I really believe we can improve our lives by learning better strategies. On the other hand, I am so worried about the kids feeling like there is something wrong with them. We got in the car after our last session and I asked the boys, specifically Max, if he felt picked on. I made sure to tell him that every single person has weaknesses and we all are trying to learn all we can so we can make our weaknesses strong and that if we trust in God he will help us. I am proud of him because he really understands this. He doesn't get down about it at least not that I can see. I think it helps that I really have the same problem and I told him that. I talked to Sammy about how proud I am of him for learning more effective ways to handle anger and how much he has improved. Hopefully my kids understand when I tell them that we will never expect them to be perfect and that weaknesses don't make them bad, just human. I am still learning this concept myself. I feel like it is important to write this story. It is different from what I usually put in here. For me at least this has been more of a worry than the fun things I usually write about but I am proud of the way my kids have responded to this test. They are such good kids.

Sammy cares for Esther so sweetly. I will set her down sometimes in her excersaucer and it never fails that the next time I turn around she'll be gone and Sammy will have her all snuggled up in his arms and he will be cooing to her and playing with her and making her laugh. He is so incredibly responsible with her. She loves it when he holds her because he really supports her perfectly and does it just right. He loves her so much! He is always telling me how much he loves his little sister. He is a sweetheart in so many ways. Today he told me that when he learns how to drive he will drive Phoebe to school for me :)

Sammy woke up with bedhead yesterday with hair sticking up on either side of his head. HE thought it looked like wolf ears and he was so excited he went around howling the rest of the day. It was so cute!

Phoebe:When my pet hyena died, I cried and cried about my hyena"

Max loves to talk like Jar Jar Binks like "Meesa hungry!" and after his little friends baptism, "Yousa Baptized!"

I've always felt that Max was a righteous little soul and it is certainly no different now. He is so well prepared for his baptism. He wanted to read the whole book of mormon before his baptism and we are about half way through Alma. He understands it and is really paying attention and following along. Sammy is too! They know so many stories and doctrines they just make me so proud! Even Phoebe has picked up on a few things. She is always talking saying, "Alma was a wicked priest and then he repented and turned into a missionary!" And the other day she was talking about a wicked witch but kept calling her a wicked priest. That was pretty cute!

Esther learned how to say, "Dadadadada!" and she is so proud of her little self. Whenever someone  says, "Say Mama, Esther, " she will get a great big grin on her face and yell, "DADADADADADA!!" I love it! Also she loves to give us all the biggest two toothiest grin whenever we look her way.

Esther is independent! She let me feed her baby food for maybe a month before she decided to take over. One night she refused to eat if the spoon was in my hand but once she got it from me she eat the food off, then when I tried to take it from her to refill it she started screaming at the top of her voice until I gave it back. She makes a disastrous mess but she can feed herself like a big girl :) Now I just feed her chunks of soft food and she eats like a pro, almost anything!

Sammy told me, "Maybe Victoria invited me to her party because I'm in love with her." (Mommy's eyebrows get surprised) "I'm also in love with Peanut and Alexis" (Mommy' eyebrows get more surprised and I said, "I thought just yesterday you said you have a crush on Savannah?" ) "I do!
but a crush is different. Then today he told us he is also in love with Maya at church. What a cute little ladies man!

I made Sammy make thank you cards for all his friends who came to his birthday party. They were so sweet! While he was writing to his friends, "Phoebe sat down to make "invitations" for all her friends. Then without me even noticing se put them in her backpack and brought it with us when we went to see Sammys adorable kindergarten program. It was halfway through when I noticed Phoebe had been passing out her invitations to all the little kids and babies sitting around us. She is such a funny girl!

Phoebe: Whats your name
Mommy:Margie, whats your name?
Phoebe: Sheshe...WHats your baby name?
Mommy: Selena
Phoebe (whispering): Now ask me whats my baby name
Mommy: whats your baby name?
Phoebe: Little happy bomb bomb
Mommy:Little happy bomb bomb???
Phoebe( her voice getting all excited and gravelly and her face scrunched up): Her gets all the bombs and throws them at the bad guys!!! (Then running back to her game with her baby held high in the air, "I'm going to kill you to deff!!!!"

Louisiana

We really had a great trip!

Mardi Gras was so much more fun than we anticipated! The kids had so so much fun and so did we :)

I said "Max come kiss Snow white!"  HE was completely disgusted but cute Phoebe said, "I will!"