Mischief Leprechaun 2010

A leprechaun came to our house today

Even though we even set a trap.

Noah designed it and even put a sleeping potion in it so that he could not get out.

It looks a bit like a tent, I would think.

We put something green in it,  his frogee

and some golden coins and he even put straw in there to make him more comfortable.

The cups on top were for headlights

to attract him to the trap.  

Next year Noah says we need to put sticky tape all through the trap.

He snuck out of the trap and snuck to our fridge

and made our milk green.  

He is full of mischief this one.

He even drank one of our Sprites. 

Noah had to investigate and keep each of the footprints

so he came make a better plan for next year.  

I love this outfit on Sofia

It really is so fun to dress up a girl

and one that loves to be so pretty all the time.

I love having a daughter. 

And Irish blessing.....

May there always be work for your hands to do,

May your purse always hold a coin or two.

May the sun always shine on your window pane.

May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain.

May the hand of a friend always be near you.

May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

Lots of Happenings around Here

We have had some big things going on in our family and beyond.

Last Sunday, my father in law Heinz became Bishop of his ward.  The funny thing is that he joked about a month before that he wanted us all to show up on the day they called the bishop so they would think it was him.  When he told us in all seriousness that he was called as Bishop,  we did not believe in.  It took a couple of minutes for him to convince us that it was true. I could tell he was humbled and I know this will be an amazing experience for him and our family.  The ward will be blessed with him as their bishop.  He is one of the most genuinely concerned and generous people that I know.  It was an amazing experience seeing him set apart as bishop.  After he was sustained,  the mantle of bishop was laid out on his shoulders.  The entire family was there to support him.  A couple of the neighbors laughed and figured out what was happening.  The counselors were wise and inspired by the Lord.  I enjoyed visiting our old ward for a week and it confirmed to me that we really are in the right place for us right now.  Already I have seen many changes in Heinz and I know this will be an amazing experience for them.

This is my Fia,  one of my favorite pics of her

Virginia (my sister in law) is engaged to a cute boy named Mark.  He surprised Ginny this last Monday and came to visit her and get baptized.  It has been so so hard keeping this secret from her.  And she really had no idea that he was coming.  So it has been a really fun week.  Sofia has fallen a bit in love with "Her cute Monkey Mark" as she calls him.  He gave her a monkey for Christmas that has become her favorite. Ginny has a bit of competition.  We visited him on Tuesday to say hello and they watched Sofia for me as I went to an appt.  She  was super shy with him at first and love him by the end.  On thursday morn,  Sofia was so so sad.  When I asked her what was wrong she say "my see, my mark".  I was a nice mom and after we took Noah to school we stopped by to see "her Mark".  And when she saw him she hugged him with her head on his shoulder for a good 10 min.  I know she made Grandma Monika a bit jealous.

Yesterday afternoon we got to experience Mark's baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  He glowed with the spirit and it was a beautiful event.  The spirit was very strong.  I was coerced into leading the music and it had been so long since I had done it that I led wrong on the first song and by the closing song I had my groove back.  Kersten gave an amazing talk on Baptism.  It amazes me still to see my husbands talents.  He is a great speaker and had some beautiful insights.  Justin gave a talk about the Holy Ghost,  he is a convert and his perspective on the Holy Ghost was refreshing.  It was a beautiful program.  I know that Mark made a choice that will bring him eternal joy and happiness.  The spirit was amazing and strong during the entire day.  Afterwards the food was divine and it was so so fun to visit and be with each other.

Noah had his Kindergarten program on thursday.  All week Noah was so anxious for us to come.  And kept checking to make sure that both Mom and Dad were coming.  He told me numerous times that his program was going to be really cool and extra special.  I told him numerous times how excited I was to go. They had them do a workbook to show us what they had be learning.  The had a story they had written hanging up.  And afterwards they sang some songs for us.  They sang God Bless America with the sign language, they did the Pledge of Allegiance,  they sang a song about the days of the week and the months of the year,  a song about Peter the Penguin, the song You are my Sunshine and they did the Chicken Dance and then had to teach it to their parents.  It was really fun.  Noah may not have known all the words to every song but he was definitely the most enthusiastic of all the kids.  He kept looking for us and grinning. It was really special.  And just like the good mom that I am when I took out the camera the battery was dead.  Made me so sad.

Today we are celebrating Kersten's Grandpa F or Opa Rolf's 80 birthday.  We are having dinner at Kerst's Aunt Judith's house and Noah excitedly exclaims that we are having a Family ReUnion because all of us will be there and Daddy's cousin's too.  He has been expressing a desire to go to a family reunion where he can play with lots and lots of cousins.  So he is super excited.

Hangover

I woke up this morning with a major hangover.
Or what I imagine a hangover must feel like.
I never have had a real one.
But I had a friend back at diabetic camp tell me that going low
as in (low blood sugar) is a lot like getting drunk
as is going high as in (high blood sugar) is a lot like getting high.
The loss of control of your emotions and some of your faculties.
My head is pounding and my limbs are loose and my head is in a fog.
I just want to go back to sleep.
Luckily I have a girl who is snuggling and making out with my face
and then a boy that keeps fainting because his girls look so pretty today.
I drank my first jolt of caffeine, my beloved Diet Coke.
And took a very hot shower and realized why lots of people do that to feel better.
Shower time is thinking time.  One of the rare times I am by myself.
Even if a little girl is knocking on the door trying to get in.

I don't drink but in this case I wished that the hangover was because of that
Instead of my reality,
Sometimes living with this disease is just a bit
overwhelming, defeating, frustrating and scary.
I don't define myself by my disease,  but it seems to creep up everywhere.
It creeps into what I eat,  it is such a divine part of it.
It creeps into my fun, my work, my showers, my time
and it creeps and tries to destroy my relationships.
It seems to be a theme with the people I love most.
A wise professional once told me that have a chronic disease
give people a lot of power.
Even if that power is making the people that you love, feel powerless.
Powerless to help, to feel or to live for you.
I have a very powerful promise from my Heavenly Father.
My bishop gave me a blessing when I got my new calling.
And in it I was promised that my children would be cared for when I was having a bad day.
I have seen that promised fulfilled 3 times now and more in little ways
since that blessing a month and a half ago.
How comforting this has been.

I know this is part of my life.
And will be until the day I depart from this earth.
I hate, (a very strong word)  how it infects me and the people I love.
I need to learn how to incorporate it instead of fight against it.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

I finished this book this morning and it has been awhile since a book touched me so deeply on so many levels.  I was recommended this book by a man that has the rare ability to discern the beauty in all things.  I opened the first pages with great anticipation.  As those who know me well,  Know that I am a really fast reader.  I also retain a lot of what I read for a long time.  With this book it was the rare exception that I relished every single written word on the page.  It is a bit sentimental but that is part of who I am at the core.  I love connections that continue from the past to now to the future.

This book is set right after Pearl Harbor in the city of Seattle,  where a young Chinese boy, Henry, meets a young Japanese Girl, Keiko, at an all white school that they attend.  I love the poignant innocent friendship they have and the love and compassion they show for each other.  This book is told by a 50+ year old second generation Chinese-American. It is told in two different time periods, and flows back and forth between the 1940's to 1986 seamlessly. It is  also the story of the other relationships that the boy has: his Chinese parents, a local black jazz musician, and later with his own son and son's fiance.   It talked about the attitudes and superstitions of that time when the world was at war.  The realities of what happened to the different cultures and races of people.  The picture of the time was painted so well and beautifully that it felt at times that you could smell the salt from the sea and feel the humidity of the air.  The emotions of the young are so volatile and consuming that if you have every loved, lost, found, suffered, and found such amazing joy in a friend that you could feel it all right there.  

I did catch a couple of nuances that could not be,  for example the internet was not around in 1986 and neither were digital CD's.  But I am willing to forgive that because from the first page you are already rooting for Henry and wanting to know more.  The characters and story are just brilliant, captivating and entirely lovely.

Handling it like a man

I was accused today of handling this problem like a man.

With a smile and a chuckle immediately following that statement.

You see I want to fix it.  

I want concrete things to do so that I know I am doing my part.  

And with this it seems like there are solid things I can do to make it better. 

I you see,  well it is obvious.

that I am a woman.  

I want to handle things like a woman.

With emotions and listening and understanding. 

and then follow through with change and evolve into something better.

Although I do wish that these small and crazy problems 

in a relationship would just go away.

That I could fix it.

And go on my merry way with everyone feeling better.  

Does it really matter where and what we hang on the walls?

It should feel like our house right?

Silly silly and I know we all know it.

The real problem is that,

 I want it to be hung my way. 

Car Games

Noah and I like to play a lot of games in the car.  Noah is very very creative with these.  So I wanted to document these fun adventures we have daily

OCEAN

We pretend we are in a submarine.  And all of the other cars are sea animals.  And we see how many we can find.

For example
Black cars and trucks = Swordfish
White cars and trucks= Sharks
Blue Cars = Dolphins
Little Red Cars = Crabs
Big Red Cars = Lobsters
A Bus = Stingrays
Gray or Silver Cars = Silver fish or a school of fish
Orange Cars = Clown fish
Brown Cars = Puffer Fish
Yellow Cars = Piranhas
Semi Trucks = Whales


There are variations of this game.  For example we will play Star Wars Ocean
where we are fighting some of the bad guys in the ocean and we have to get out and swim and fight

Big delivery trucks = Goober Fish
And other various Star Wars sea animals that he makes up and otherwise.  It is super fun you should play it

FLAG HUNTING

One of Noah's various professions is Flag Hunting.  If you ask him he will tell you it is a really hard job.  Just last week Sofia and I are now flag hunters in training.  We search for Flags on our way to any location.  You win the most if you find a really big American flag and it is waving in the wind.  You also can count construction flags, our state flags or any flags that announce a car sale or apartments for rent.  We count how many we can find.  Noah always finds them faster and says that I will get better and better as I practice my flag hunting.

HE IS A WARRIOR

If he is not in the mood for ocean or flag hunting we are always playing some kind of game.  We play Star Wars all the time but he will mix it with other games too.

Star Wars/Mario-  We can be in a Car from Mario Cart and we are saving Princess Peach.  He is Anakin and I am Princess Daisy and Sofia goes back and forth between Princess Leia and Yoshi.

Halo 3-  He is Master Chief, Dad is an Arbitor, Sofia is Cortana and I am Commander Keys.  He remembers all the names of the vehicles and weapons which are numerous and I can't remember, things like Warthogs, Mongoose and we fight the bad guys Aliens Grunts, Jackels, Brutes, Hunters and Elites.  And yes,  my husband plays video games with my son.

Call of Duty-  He loves playing army.  So he plays either Captain Price or Soap.  And he is fighting at first he called them the "Rush mans"  but now he says the Russians.  But only the bad guy Russians because Russians can be good guys too.  He is a smart boy.  And this is basically like playing war.

In all of these games I am usually just the driving and I call for back up if we get over run by the bad guys.  I also sometimes push the buttons to man the guns.  I feel honored that he even wants me to play with him all the time.  I love watching how the game evolve and he changes them to work for where he wants the game to go.  For example sometimes he is Good guy Darth Vader or a Good Guy Elite.  So that he can play the character he wants to play and still be the good guy and save everyone.

Interviews

What's your name:   Noah Lawrence F
How old are you? 5
What grade are you in: kindergarten
What's your teacher's name? Miss Emily
What is your favorite thing to do in school?  Recess
What is your favorite thing to learn in school? I don't know yet
What's your favorite thing to eat? pancakes and cookies
Who's your best friend? Heber, Dylan, Josh, Spencer and Lily
What's your favorite thing to do? Play Star Wars
What's something you're good at? play video games
What's something you've done that you're proud of? proud of making my turkey
What's your favorite color? blue
What do you want to be when you grow up? Dad, policeman, eye doctor and ocean photographer
What is your favorite book? Star Wars 
What's something you like to do with your family? Family Night

What's your name:   fia
How old are you? a collar (color)
What grade are you in: no
What's your teacher's name? mine horsey
What's your favorite thing to eat? fish ish
Who's your best friend?  nah pink
What's your favorite thing to do?  ply bebe, mommy
What's something you're good at? color picture, peese picture
What's something you've done that you're proud of?  shoes
What's your favorite color?  pink
What do you want to be when you grow up? mine colors picture
What is your favorite book? princess pink
What's something you like to do with your family?  rosies (ring around the rosies)


Thanks Carrie and Emily for the ideas.  So so much fun