My Little Hero

Kellen just completed swimming lessons. Unfortunately, I don't have a single picture or video. Such a shame, because he was so cute. Anyone who knows Kellen might expect that he loved the lessons, but it was quite the contrary. He was terrified. While most of the group was having a great time splashing and umping, Kellen was the kid carrying on and clinging to his teachers neck. The lessons were given by my friend Tina, who serves in the Primary with me. She gave the lessons at her parents private pool. She kept the groups nice and small with only four kids. Each group would go for forty minutes, then they were allowed to run and play in the beautiful backyard, complete with trampoline and swing set. I'm so glad we went that route (even though it cost a little more than lessons at the community pool) because without the promise of playing there afterward, I don't think I could have coaxed Kellen into participating. Not only that, but Tina was excellent with Kellen. She let him hang onto her for the whole lesson and made him feel comfortable. At the same time, she remained firm enough that he knew when she counted to three he had better hold his breath, kick his feet, etc. He was so scared, and I wanted to rescue him, but Tina assured me that if I would let her take over he would get it. So I always watched from a distance, behind some trees where he couldn't look to me for help. Each day seemed about the same, with very slight improvement. So many times he would go under and come up crying because the water had gone up his nose.Tina told him to yell, "No no, water! You stay out of my nose!" and then showed him again and again how to blow bubbles. He liked the yelling at the water part, and I think it made him feel brave enough to keep trying. She would stand about five feet away from the wall and make him swim to it. I'll never forget seeing his panicked little hands groping for that wall. I felt soooo bad for him, but trusted Tina. By day three, I was wondering if it was all in vain, and if I had just been torturing him for nothing.
Finally, on day four he swam to the wall without water going up his nose. Yea! That's all it took. Just one success and he was willing to try again and again. I'm not saying he wasn't scared, he totally was, but that's what was so cute. I could see a look of determination come across his face. He would bravely gather all the courage he could muster and try again. I was so proud of him! I don't think I would have been any prouder if he had been the best swimmer in the class. Kellen is a stubborn kid, but I can see that it will be of value to him if he will use to press on, even when he is afraid.
His new favorite game is to give Taylor, Jane, and I swimming lessons... in our living room. The carpet is the water and the couches are the walls of the pool. I think he prefers that kind of swimming, but hey, it's a good start! He definitely knows the basics! Hooray for K!

Summer Evening (Get ready for some pics!)

I love those Cheeks!

Playing with the ants.

"Cheeeeese!"

My Boyz

Jane looooves Kellen, and he is so sweet to her.

Cuteness!

Such a happy girl.

Reaching for bark pieces--- one of her favorite snacks.

She loves the flowers. Here she is smiling at the big, yellow Lilies.

Mommies Rascal

A New Love

We never thought that we would love gardening so much, but Tay and I have turned into a couple of old geezers, sitting out in the yard every night, looking at the flowers. Our parents gave us some starts and we bought a few things ourselves, and we've just become addicted. We get excited about each new bloom.

I think there is something spiritual about planting things and watching them grow through each stage. A tiny seed, a sprout, a small bud, and finally a beautiful bloom, basking in it's beauty for the sole purpose of making us happy. Just another manifestation of God's love for us.

Here are some of my favorites:

Companiala (No idea how to spell this!)
Tay's Dad gave us this. I love the color!

I don't even know what these ones are called, but aren't they cool? A co-worker gave Taylor a box full of bulbs last year and we planted them, but nothing happened. I guess we did it too late. Well, we dug them up, stored them in the garage all year, and planted earlier this time. I'm sure glad we didn't give up on them, because they have been so fun to watch. You can't really tell from the picture, but they are about 4 feet tall right now, and still shooting up. The leaves are about as big as my head. They look like they belong in the rain forest, but they don't seem to mind this Idaho dry heat.

This amazing Asiatic Lily was just one tiny little stem last year, and now it's HUGE, and so hardy. I love how bright it is. Definitely and eye catcher.

Zinnias
Aren't they cute?

Can't remember what these are called (some kind of Daisy)
They came from T's Parent's yard

Of coarse, there's my Petunias. Aren't they awesome? I lvoe the smell of Petunias, especially after they've just been watered. It takes me back to Disney Land, standing in line for Magic Mountain, smelling the water and heat and flowers. Mmmmmmm.

The Park

Kellen and his friend, Nate. Kellen calls him Mate.
G'day, Mate! :)

AGAIN, can't rotate picture. So sorry! I still had to post this one. I just love the joy on Kellen's face. He always reminds me to appreciate the small things in life.

Since it was Mom's birthday (the orange date on the photos is 6 days off), the kids treated me to food from my favorite restaurant, "Donalds"!
OK, so it's Kellen's favorite, and I payed, but it was still thoughtfull, right?

Jane loved the swings!

Hodge-Podge

So, I was trying to be tricky, and post old things in the right order, but of coarse, I messed it all up some how, so bare with me! I think there are dates on most of the photos, and as you can see, these next several posts are in no particular order. Keep scrolling down, because you wont be up to speed until you get to my birthday celebration.

These are for you, Grandma and Grammy!

Best Buddies

My mischief makers.

baby Jane loves to suck on her bottom lip. I call it the Jenny face,
cause it looks just like pictures of Aunt Jenny as a baby. See it, Jenn?

"I'm so glad when Daddy comes home, glad as I can be!
Clap my hands, and shout for joy, and climb up on his knee!"

Spiderman and Princess - Best Buddies, even in sleep. :)

General Conference

(Sorry, I'm not smart enough to figure out how to rotate the picture once I've posted it. I'll have to ask Tay!)
While watching conference, Kellen must have been hearing a lot about families, because he brought his framed photo of the Huish Family down from his room, climbed to the upper portion of the refrigerator to pull down some more photos, and made this little collage. He even pulled down some snow flakes that he knew Aunt Jenny made. After he had pulled this all together he came and said he needed to show me something. He pointed to his masterpiece and said, "Ta da!" He then took a few steps back, folded his arms, and with a satisfied grin, said, "My famwee." He must have been actually listening to conference, which is not something I expected form my busy little three year old. It just goes to show, that our kids really do pay attention!

We got the blocks out to build a Temple.

Pretty cool, huh?

Kellen, then decided he wanted to eat in the Baby chair, and fell asleep before he could finish his PB&J. In this picture he looks like my little baby again. Sigh..

Conference turned out to be a very sweet time for the whole family. The kids were so calm, and we were actually able to listen to the beautiful messages. I'm sad it is over. It always gives me such a peacful feeling of home, no matter where I am. I think it must be the familiar voices of many of our apostles, who have been around since I was little.
Elder Holland's talk was especially touching. He spoke of the Saviour's Atonemnent. If you don't remember it, go back and read it, or listen to it on the internet. It is absolutely beautiful.

Play-Doh

Kellen loves play- doh!
(Sorry, can't get picture to rotate. Just tilt your head!:))

Here is Mommies beautiful butterfly. Amazing, right?

Here is Kellen's manly butterfly. I guess he decided it was looking to girlish,
because all of the sudden he grabbed two big globs of dough, slopped them on and exclaimed, "Der! Mama, yer bur-fy is reeee priddy! Kawin's bur-fy is COOL!"

Indeed, Kawin! :)

Big Boy Bike

Kellen has been wanting a "big boy bike" for a while now, but we were waiting for a good price. After a bit of shopping, we finally came home with this one. It says Rocket on the side, or "WOCKIT!", as Kell would say. He's just loving it. He rode it last night, and woke up asking to ride some more. We went for a leisurely Sunday stroll, and I let Kellen ride, thinking he'd be slow. Well, the "leisurely stroll" turned in to a wicked speed walk, cause he can cruise! He thought he was pretty hot stuff, and of coarse Jane was impressed with him, as usual. :)

Backtracking

We all had colds in May, and just felt yucky! I left Tay with the kids while I went to my primary meeting, and this is how I found them when I returned. Notice Jane, fast asleep, sitting up, with milk all over her chin! My poor babies!

Wackiest Birthday Ever!

I have the craziest hubby in the world!
Last week he told me that he would be out of town for a business trip on my birthday, today, so we would do something fun on Saturday. That is all he said so I was expecting to go out to eat or something like that. Well, Saturday came and we spent it just like we always do, cleaning the house, working in the yard, and playing with the kids. At six o'clock, just as I was beginning to get really curious, some friends showed up at the door, and then some more, and some more, and some more! All of them with presents, which totally embarrassed me. I took Taylor aside to chastise him about having people bring me gifts, like I was turning 7 years old, and he said, "Only the best for you, Honey!" He said it with a funny twinkle in his eye, so I knew something was up.
After the guests had all arrived he brought out a big Costco Carrot cake. (Yummo!) He then proceeded to embarrass me by showing our friends pictures of me as a kid! (I don't know what possessed him to do all of this! Tay is a weirdo, what can I say? :)) After some cake and laughing at pics of me in my 80's awesomeness, it was time for presents. Here is a picture of my fabulous loot!

(coming tomorrow! Technical difficulties!)

Yup, these are my presents! Tay told everyone to get me a gag gift so, I've got some Groucho Marx Glasses, three sets of gag teeth, a lovely pair of panties -- size 14 (although they look more like size XXXXL, two punching balloons, two plastic switch-blade knife thingies, a disk gun, a fuzzy jumping spider, some green putty, and a SpongeBob SquarePants paddle-ball. Can it get any better?
Actually it can, because two friends didn't get the gag gift memo, so I also ended up with two bows for Jane, some yummy, home-canned peaches, some cute decorations for my home, and... drum roll please... Tay bought me an ipod! A cute little pink shuffle! What a guy!
After cake we decided to go sing for my neighbor who was also having a birthday. We all put on the gag teeth, the panties (two of us in one pair!), and the glasses-- I brought my fiddle, and we showed up on her doorstep. She got a good laugh.
After that we all headed to Red Robin to share some fancy burgers and fries. (I know, dinner after dessert!? But it was that kind of day!) The Red Robin crew made me stand up, holding a spoon in the air with balloons floating around me while they sang! By now, nothing could embarrass me, so I just smiled and danced.
After Red Robin (yes there is more) we all came home for a wild round of Imaginif.
What a wild and crazy day! I'm not sure why Taylor chose my 28th to go all out, we usually just do something small, like a date night. Actually, that's the way I prefer it, but it was fun to change it up and be surprised like that.
Thanks, Tay! It's fun to be married to a nut like you! You'll always be able to keep me laughing! Also thanks to all my awesome friends! It's great to know that we've come to an area where the people are just as crazy as we are! ;) You are all the best, and we love you!

PS: Taylor's turning 30 in September, so I've reeeeally gotta go all out! Any ideas?

Play Time

GRRRRR!!!!!

Taylor woke me up this morning with a weird question...

"Marie, did you move your snow skis?"

"My snow skis? Huh? What?" (for a second I thought I was still dreaming. It's been in the 90's lately, so why was Tay asking me about my skis?)

"Did you move them?"

"No, why?"

"Cause they're gone. They were right inside the garage door, and now they are gone."

Yup! That's right! We've been robbed! Some not-so-nice-person (I can think of lots of names I would rather use right now, but I'd better not) came and swiped them right out from under me while I snoozed in my bed! I am so mad! I mean, who does that?!

I feel so violated! How can someone just take something that does not belong to them and still sleep at night... or even look themselves in the mirror? I know I never could!

We filed a police report, and apparently someone just around the corner from us was robbed last night as well. I hope it was just a random act of teenage stupidity, and not some adult pro that's scoping out the neighborhood.

The worst part is the wondering. I'm all shook up now, and I don't feel so safe anymore. What if they had come into our house? I actually woke Tay last night at around 2 AM because I thought I heard something. But lets face it! I'm a perinoid mom and I hear EVERYTHING (remember my super human hearing?), so it's no surprise that Tay didn't worry when I said I heard a noise. I say it almost nightly! At first I was bummed that I didn't make Tay go down and check things out, or do it myself for that matter. On second thought though, maybe it's a blessing in disguise. Maybe the phsyco had a gun... who knows?

Our bikes were untouched, which is wierd cause we have nice bikes. I'm guessing it's because our "3 car garage" barely fits our van and Honda, so the bikes were squeezed in behind the car. This has always been an annoyance to me, but now I'm grateful because it kept them safe.

Anyway, just thought I'd share that fun piece of info with you.

GRRRRRRR!!!!! Deep breaths, Marie... inhale.... exhale.... inhale.... exhale....

The Big Show and the "BWUB!"

Well, we had our spring Musettes concerts yesterday (One in the afternoon, and one in the evening). It was a lot of fun performing and spending the day with all the girls. The show was titled Welcome to the 60's. I so wish I had some pics because we looked smok'in with our 60's hair and makeup, fake eyelashes and all. We had a pretty good turn out, and I think a lot of faithful Musette supporters where excited to see the corner the group has turned, with all the fun choreography and costuming.

I won the first place scholarship for a year of voice lessons with the teacher of my choice, compliments of the Musettes! SWEET! As grateful as I am to win, it was totally embarrassing because they announced it during intermission, starting with the second runner-up. Only the presidency knew who the judges had picked, and when they called our names we had to step down and accept a certificate and bouquet. I felt like I was in a pageant or something, and I was supposed to say, "Oh, Thank you! Thank you! Meee?! Thank you! Sniff, sniff..." AWKWARD!
I may have to travel down to Boise for a really good teacher, but that's OK. I just can't wait to work at it again!

Kellen is using all kinds of new words these days, and is quite the conversationalist. :)
On Friday he woke up with a bloody nose which he brought dripping into our bed (lovely). I was in a crazy hurry for my dress rehearsal that day, so I quickly took the spray'n'wash to the comforter and hoped it would work. Later that day, when we were all home, Kellen gasped at the sight of the blood and declared, "Wook, Mom and Dad! Bwub!" We laughed because his face was so serious and he kept talking about the "bwub" on the bed. (I'm happy to report that my comforter is now bwub-free!)
He's really into letters and the sounds they make, and he can talk about it forever. He's finally got the 'J' sound down for Jane, which actually breaks my heart. I'll miss him calling her Shane. :(
We'll be driving in the car and he'll say, "Mom, what sound does Jane make?"
I then must make the J sound.
He then patronizes me with the usual, "Gooo job, Mom! Dats reeee great!"
"Thanks, Kell!"
"Yeh-wehcom, Mom!"
Then we do it all again.
I love my little Pal!

We're Back!

I haven't been posting lately. The hard drive on our little laptop crashed, so I didn't have access to the computer for a little while. I must say it was kind of nice in some ways. I seemed to accomplish more random things that I might not have gotten to if I'd had the computer to fall back on. Still, I missed reading about all of you. It's been so nice to be in touch.
For those of you who actually read, here's a little update...
Taylor has been working to get the yard in. We are hoping to get grass and a fence out back ASAP. It will be so awesome to have a safe place for Kellen to run free while I stay inside getting stuff done. Plus, we can have friends over for food and games and the kids can just go wild. I'm also hoping for a garden this summer. Lots to do! We'll see! Tay has been awesome. He put the whole sprinkler system in all by himself with no experience to help him. It was a huge undertaking, and I so appreciate all of his hard work! Thanks, Babe!
I've actually been doing a lot with music lately, which has been nice. I sing with an all female choir called Musettes. At first I wasn't so sure about the group. It's a show choir... yeah... not really my thing. I just really wanted to get involved in something musical again and this opportunity presented itself. Despite my initial doubts, I have been pleasantly surprised. The ladies are all so fun, the music is a blast, and yes, I'm even getting into the dancing a little bit! I know I look absolutely ridiculous, but I don't care! Recently the Musettes had a panel of prestigious judges come to listen to us inividually for evaluations and an opportunity to win voice lessons. I haven't found out the results yet, but the experience of auditioning was fabulous. It felt just like old times. Even my singing felt smooth and easy, which shocked me. A tender mercy from the Lord, I think.
I've also started up teaching again. Voice mostly, but also five piano students, and soon I'll have several violin students, so I've worked up quite the clientele! The hard part is getting really organized, which I must do to make it work! I've been hesitant about teaching for some time. It seemed too hard to balance once Kellen came along, but things are so different now. I'm ready to take on more and it actually makes me feel more balanced. Taylor teases me because a lot of my students don't actually pay me... with money. One family offers babysitting, which rocks because it's a family with four girls, all home-schooled, so I have free sitting any time! One friend is going to start bringing me dinners in exchange for violin lessons. Another is helping me coupon in exchange for voice lessons! Cool stuff! It's like the law of consecration, right?
Kellen has been such a good boy lately. He tells me he "wuvs" me several times a day, and I never tire of hearing it. He has such a great sense of humor and a happy demeanor. I don't know what I'd do without my little Buddie to keep me laughing! His newest phrase is, "Mom, I so hungwee!" He says it all day long! This is coming from the kid we would call "Anorexic Boy", so he must be having a serious growth spurt. The best part is that he's eating a much better variety of foods. I'd been told that kids go through picky stages (Kellen's "stage" lasting two, out of his three years of life!), and that I just needed to continue offering those "yucky" foods. I did as I was told, and I'm so glad! It's like all at once he likes everything we put in front of him! His latest discovery is strawberries! How he ever disliked them is beyond me, but it's all good now!
Jane will not be so picky, I think. She is already showing way more interest in food than Kellen ever did! She gets all excited at dinner time, kicking her feet and breathing fast, hoping she'll get a taste. Thanks to Daddy, she usually does! It reminds me of a puppy, plaintive eyes and all. She's not even six months old yet, and has already been sitting up on her own for about 7 weeks. It must be all the chub giving her extra support! :) She coos and squeals and giggles all day long. My heart does flips just thinking about her. She's such a sweetheart, and never gives us any trouble. She's truly an angel.
So, there's a "little" update! Feel free to go take a nap now! ;)

Jane's New Toy

THANKS, Aunt Tara, for all the great stuff you sent us! We LOVE hand-me-downs! Jane loves her toy saucer, which is awesome for Mommy!

I couldn't get a smile out of her, but these pictures are still cute. She gets so serious every time she sees the camera.

"What are you doing, Mom?"