September 2020

 Esther hoarding random things like strunchies toys books and makeup under her pillow or carrying them around in bags or purses or boxes.

Esther crying during the Coronavirus, “I miss Hallie!!” Me: oh Esther I’m so sorry! What do you miss most about Hallie? Esther: “she has such fun toys!!” Then bursting into fresh sobs

My thoughts whenever I see someone during the pandemic. “They are standing so close. How do I casually back away from them without giving offense? Do they think I am paranoid for wearing a mask? Many of the things they are saying are untrue. Do they hate me for believing in the pandemic

Phoebe: I know how to make a sparkler in the wilderness. First take a stick, a long one. And then put on a hot dog. And then burn it on fire!

Me: hmm what would be a good natural consequence for this?

Max: you know whenever you say natural consequences we are like “woohoo! We’re not getting punished!”

Sammy: so naturally we’re getting punished?

October

Max bore his testimony on Sunday and said, “ I have recently finished reading the Book of Mormon and now I have a goal to read the New Testament and what ihave learned from this is that i know that Jesus lived and that he still lives now and that he loves me!”

Phoebe was having bad anxiety about school. She would cry worrying about forgetting something or being late and getting in trouble. We started talking about anxiety and teaching her some strategies and she is doing so much better! I am so glad! 

Leo 15 months

Leo makes us all laugh so much everyday. We watched the Hurd’s chickens a couple weeks ago and he learned to say “chicken” it’s so cute! He puts everyone’s shoes on all day and we hear him clunking around in my huge shoes or sometimes two bowls on his feet or a roll of duct tape 😂.One reason he’s so anxious to always wear shoes is that he wants to be outside all day long. Once he gets out there he toddles all around then yard, sometimes playing with the girls, or the boys or the dog, but his favorite is to sit in the middle of a vegetable bed and dig with his little shovel. He could play there  happily for an hour. It is the cutest thing!

Leo loves music and he loves to dance. As soon as he hears a melody he starts spinning and dancing and he gets so happy! Ever since he was a tiny baby, Esther could calm him down when he was upset by singing him the song,”when the duck walked up to the lemonade stand” no matter how hard he is screaming, he will stop and listen to her when she starts singing. Leo sings himself now too! The first thing I heard him sing was the unknown voice riff from frozen 2. It is the cutest thing!! On Sunday for our first week of home church because of the Coronavirus Leo was singing along with the hymn. Oh sweet boy!

Leo loves soccer! A week after he learned to walk he was kicking a ball around and now a couple months later he has already got some pretty amazing ball control! He is not very interested in most toys but he loves to kick a ball around the house or yard.

The other day Javier called his mom and as soon as Leo heard the telltale ringing of the phone he es n as fast as his cute little legs could carry him into the room and started jabbering nonstop to the phone. We laughed so hard!

Leos asthma this winter has been almost completely better. I’m still giving him a little inhaled steroid when he is sick but he hasn’t really had any trouble. I’m so grateful! Esther has also had a wonderful winter for asthma with very few and mild flares.

Leo is a lover. When I lay him down for a nap he will wrap his arms around my neck and lay his head on my shoulder and fall asleep within 5 minutes. It is the sweetest moment each day, I love it! He loves to give big squeeze hugs around the neck at other times in the day too.

Wally is Leo’s doggy twin. Those two love each other so much! Leo doesn’t mind a bit that Wally playfully bites him and Wally doesn’t mind a bit that Leo pulls his hair. They get so excited to see each other and they play all day.

Samuel almost ten

Sammy is in a very cute age! He has a very strict and boring teacher this year which has been a real trial for him but I am so proud him for making the best of this year and finding joy in a lot of new and unexpected places.

Last October Sammy decided to audition for his school play and he didn’t do it half heartedly at all. He didn’t know which part they would ask him to read for so he practiced all of them, memorized all of them and practiced making them each his own. I wasn’t a bit surprised when they gave him the part of Seaman the dog with most of the funny lines and a solo. If hard work and talent can win a part then Sammy definitely deserved it :)

Actors class started in December and it became a lifeline for Sammy. He was miserably bored in his class, dreading each day, but he has looked forward to actors class. He lives joking with the other actors, being famous, and of course acting and singing are his favorite things!

Sometime in February as soon as it was t bitter cold Sammy climbed a big tree in the park on the way home from school. It’s a least 30 to 50 feet high and ever since then Sammy has climbed it every day with a friend he made climbing that tree. He looks forward to it and comes home excited and proud every day :)

Tonight March 2 was the program and Sammy was amazing! He was hilarious!! He took that part and made it so much more funny than it was in Maxs year. His song was awesome! He looked over at where we were sitting a couple times, so happy and proud, not quite too big for a little wave. Esther kept saying over and over “There’s Sammy!!!!!” And every time he came on stage Phoebe would say,  “yay!! The main actors!!” Leo clapped his hands and danced through the program and as for me, well I knew I should be finding my friends kids so I could  tell them what a great job they did but I couldn’t take my eyes off of my Sammy and I could feel my face just beaming through the whole performance. I’m so proud!

Leos first 7 months

Leo is such a smiley, happy baby. He loves to crawl around the floor at lightning speed. He gets so happy when he makes eye contact with someone. When someone hugs him he hugs back and he laughs when people squeeze him. He eats everything

He loves books. I read to him every night and Phoebe who is getting good at reading these days will read book after book to him while he chews on the pages. He loves being sung to.

He is a very chubby little baby with lots of fat rolls and a sweet double chin. And he is very active. He already started pulling up and he likes to stand with just a little support. He has loved jumping ever since he was about 4 months old. When I hold him, he jumps and climbs on me, and throws himself back. That combined with his weight makes my arms feel like jelly every day.

He is our best sleeper so far and has been since he got healthy. This winter, starting when he was only about 2 months old he had a very sick spell. He and the rest of our family got illness after illness and Leo started in from that young age with terrible asthma. That was a difficult time for me because he needed so much medicine, antibiotics, nebulizer treatments around the clock, steroids and he hated it all so much. I felt like I was torturing him and it was so sad to make him cry. Often I would cry right along with him while I was giving him his meds. By four months he started to be much healthier, and when he has been sick he has hated the treatments less so it hasn't been bad since then.

Leo’s first words

at about 8 months Leo started saying repeated sounds. The first sound he made was “bla bla bla” from his car seat, then “ba ba ba” which his brothers are claiming as bubu” and saying his first word was brother but I don’t think he was really saying it intentionally, next da dada” which was similar. I don’t think he was particularly saying anything. Then about two months later he said 6 real words on the same day :) the first one predictably was dog. He adores Wally so much! He laughs whenever he gets close to him and his favorite game is tug o war with Wally. He will grab Wallys chew snake and pull it around while Wally tried to get it and just laugh his head off. Sometime he chews on it too :) well a few minutes later he said ball while he chased one around, then he said “Hi” as he was waving to me :) he said dada for real, then “ma” for mommy. Then the next morning we were at Mimi’s house and I was pointing up at her saying “Mimi, Leo, see Mimi!” And Leo reached his arms toward Boo in the other direction and shrieked, “ Mimi!!”

Leo is the most easy baby. He is so happy all day just playing quietly and crawling all around the floor and examining all the things he finds :) he adores his siblings and they are amazing helping him and playing with him and making sure he is safe. He LOVES balls! He will just follow one all over the floor throwing it or pushing it or kicking it if someone helps him stand and be so very happy.

He loves to make a lot of noise too. Sometimes he is so loud at church that i have to go outside the building. He was growling loudly at church the other day and a little two year old said to his mommy, “ that baby isn’t very nice” I thought that was so funny because of course Leo was just grinning ear to ear as happy as could be.

He’s an angel! I love his chubby little cheeks and his sweet little happy squeals more than I could say.   He hates having his diaper changed, wakes up in the night but that’s probably because I still feed him to sleep. I love having a baby so much! Leo fills my days with happy :) but I am really tired. I would love to get a good night sleep sometime but I don’t want to wish away a minute of this time.

Galileo Ivan Buchelis birth story

Leos story starts when I was sick and pregnant with Esther actually. The spirit was with me so strongly through that time and it told me, "you can do this, and you can do it again!" Then after Esther was born we were so overwhelmed with our kids and we had our two boys and two girls. It made a lot of sense to be done but I started to get this feeling again that we weren't done. I kept feeling that if we had another child that he or she would be a great blessing to us and that if we didn't have them we would be missing that great blessing that God was ready to give us. Still it was scary. We were maxed out. We waited. We had a beautiful confirmation one day in the temple and then a couple months later, I heard an actual voice in the temple saying, "Mommy, please don't forget me." With tears streaming down my face I knew then that I didn't want to wait another minute for this sweet baby. Once we got on board and started trying it took us a long time. Almost 9 months before I was finally pregnant.

I was not as sick and miserable with Leo as I was with the girls but I was still pretty much incapacitated. Then just as it was starting to get better one night I was walking around and suddenly there was a gush of blood. after calling the nurse she assured us that it was probably fine and to come in the next day. They did an ultrasound and it turned out I had a very large subchorionic hemorrhage. The dr said there was about a 50% chance the baby would live. For two weeks I stayed on bedrest. So many dear friends brought us meals and came to talk with me. I felt so grateful. Especially my dear mom did so much for me and my kids through this pregnancy. It changed everything. It made everything bearable. She picked up Phoebe from preschool a million times and brought us meals and was just an angel! I wasn't really afraid through this time because I had felt so strongly that we needed to have this baby, I just knew it was in the Lords hands. We were so blessed and I got better :)

About 20 weeks in my autoimmune disorder started acting up pretty badly. I was sleeping ten hours every night and then requiring sometimes two or three long naps during the day just to make it through. In spite of all this sleep, I was exhausted every minute of the day. This sounds so dramatic and I hate to say it, but honestly I think what I was feeling is the tiredness people must feel when they are about to die. I could barely put one foot in front of the other and something like going grocery shopping might as well have been climbing mount everest. As soon as the kids fell asleep at night I would fall into bed and sleep through all of the noise and wake ups of the night like a dead person. Sometimes a small task like getting all the kids into the car would make me sit down and cry, just because I couldn't figure out how to find the strength to do it. I was too tired to smile and certainly too tired to talk at all.

On top of all this I was made of pain. Every joint in my body and all of my muscles hurt so badly and it didn't go away after a couple hours. In the beginning I was just experiencing tiredness, but if I only got 8 hours of sleep instead of ten, the pain was unbearable. After awhile I was so tired and sick I couldn't imagine that I would live through the pregnancy

Finally I was able to get on a low dose of steroids and everything got so much better. My third trimester felt like a piece of cake compared to the second. I could think clearly again and one short nap would get me through each day :)I was able to walk the kids to school. That description of the pain was written after I started the steroids though. The really crazy part about it was the fog. It was like I just wasn't really awake for months. I couldn't describe what I was experiencing until after i started feeling better.

In a way this was a blessing. I felt like this pregnancy went by like a dream. so quickly that I hardly noticed the hard parts. I think it was really a blessing. It was like God knew what a frightening thing it was for me to get pregnant with my disease and all the crazy of our lives and he truly blessed that faith. I felt his spirit with me throughout the pregnancy and I felt that he was pleased with me in spite of how short I was falling in everything. Im spite of needing so much help just to take care of my family. I felt very happy even in the midst of the fog and pain. I knew that I was doing the most important thing I could be doing. I felt heroic but mostly I could see with my eyes how God was filling the gaps.

Finally we got to the end. The last few weeks I started to lose my mind like always but it was also easier in a way this time because I knew I was not really myself and that it was normal to feel a little crazy during that part. I went to hospital with a false alarm once and then finally the day before Leos scheduled induction I went back to the hospital only to have my labor stop almost completely just as it was progressing rapidly. The dr was an angel and he let me stay and gave me some pitocin. I didn't want to use an epidural because I had had reactions to it during my previous three births. Instead I used Nitrous Oxide and it worked beautifully for all but the last hour of the labor. During the last hour the pain got so bad I couldn't even breathe the nitrous oxide anymore. I felt like I was being ripped apart. I had no idea how bad pain could be before this labor. If I ever have a baby again I will sign up for the epidural so happily. As I was screaming in pain, I finally got a spinal block for maybe the last contraction before pushing and the relief was immediate. 

The pain was so intense that I dont think I could have pushed without the epidural. 

 It’s been a wonderful busy September, salsa dancing has become our new favorite family hobby.  Leo will reach into anyone’s bowl for a handful of food if it’s in his reach. We had the opportunity to help clean the church. Sammy spent a day catching frogs. They all dote on baby brother and make sure he is tough and wild enough to be a Bucheli. Soccer and piano for three kids. Dance class for one. Scouts, choir, homework, it never ends. We fall into bed each night only to wake up three or four times in the night before we start all over again the next day but this is a wonderfully fun time! I’m exhausted but I also wish this time could last forever.

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.