Flipping, Flopping, and Academic Achievement

Sammie has worked and worked and taught herself how to to back flips, front flips, back walk overs, and front walkovers on the trampoline.  I asked her if she wants to do gymnastics again and she said, "no, I just like to do this for fun."  Sounds good to me.

She has also worked and worked to receive and award for the quarter for Academic Achievement and was also on the Principal's List.  This girl knows how to get things done when she gets going.  I love her quiet way of making things happen for herself.

New Floors!

I can't seem to keep up with this little blog, but I have some things I wanted to write about.  We  got new floors!  I have been wanting new floors since we moved into our house 6 1/2 years ago.  It was finally time.
The day that the contractor came to pull the old floor out, I noticed that my kitchen floor was looking a little rippled and a dark spot was forming.  I thought, I guess we will see what is going on today when they pull the floors up.  When they got to the kitchen, half the kitchen floor was soaked with water underneath.  The pad was completely soaked and moldy.  Our refrigerator waterline hose had a small hole in it that had slowly leaked over several months.
I was so glad that we were already taking care of the flooring, otherwise we would have found ourselves in an unexpected water mess and no floors.  There was a reason I suddenly felt that we needed to just make this happen.  Luckily the only thing that was ruined was the flooring and padding that we were pulling out.  Whew!
I love how the new floors look.  My house looks bigger and just feels softer and more welcoming to me.  I never liked the two different wood floors and the kitchen floor was not installed properly and we were having some issues with it.  Anyway,  it all looks lovely and I am enjoying feeling like my house is new again.  I love seeing these changes.  As our family is growing up, I'm trying to make the spaces in our house work for us.  Our life was so different when we first moved into this house and I look forward to more years here.

Here are some before pictures because I love Before and Afters:

And here are the Afters!

Sammie's Oil Pastels

Sammie had been asking for oil pastels.  She had some sort of vision in her mind of what she would create with them and really, really, wanted some of her own.  She got some for Christmas and started experimenting.  We will name these, "The Dog Series in Oil Pastels."  She works hard on these and there are lots more but these are a few I have photos of.  She just teaches herself and gets them just how she wants them.  She has so many areas in her life that she uses her creativity.  I love looking at these.  I will flip open her little sketch pad and just take a peek and these beautiful little creations.

Happy 11th Birthday, Sammie!

Yesterday I was running errands to make preparations for Sammie's birthday.  I looked over at the passenger seat and saw this; Sammie's birthday cake and her lunch that I was going to bring to her at school.  I then felt such a warm feeling.  My kids' birthdays are always a time when I reflect on them individually and I just feel so good.  They are wonderful people, making good choices, and learning and growing.  It was a simple celebration but she was beyond excited to get a mini ipad and some clothes and a book.
Sammie is talented, smart, kind, and loyal.  I love her thoughtful nature.  It is such a gift to our family.  She is so good at improving her talents and doing her best in her own quiet way.   11 looks good on this girl!

Abby and Her Pals

Abby loves her friends.  She really, really loves her friends.  If there is something going on for a friend she wants to be there for them.  Her two friends, Mia and Giada were baptized in the last few weeks and she was so excited to go and be with her friends on their special day.  I had a hard time getting her to leave afterwards.  Abby is a great friend.  She writes notes to her friends, knows when their birthdays are, picks out BFF necklaces, plans play dates with them, and loves to be there for them.  She is such a social girl and we love all of her ideas and how she likes to make things happen.  She keeps me on my toes for sure.  She is excited to go to even more baptisms and parties this year, and is already planning her own which isn't until May, but I found the party plan list and the baptism invite list. ;)

 

Happy New Year 2017!

It's been awhile....but Happy New Year!  We celebrated the New Year with a trip to see my family in Folsom.  The girls were eager to leave since we had been so housebound over the Christmas holiday because of the flu.  I had such a happy moment when Abby and Sammie were running around at the park.  They had been so so sick and it was such a blessing to see them laughing and running. I didn't take many photos but Abby captured a few silly ones.  I love seeing things through her perspective.

Tyler and Brittany blessed their new baby girl, Bridgette.  She is a doll.  The girls loved being with family... and not being sick anymore.  We had a dance party on New Year's Eve and played games with cousins.  The disco ball was a hit.
I am looking forward to this year.  Last year had its ups and downs, but overall was really great.  I learned some great things and I found lots of energy at the end of the year.  I still have lots of ups and downs with my health, but my path feels more clear.

Christmas Celebrations

Our Christmas was wonderful as always, but it was full of unexpected sickness.  Joey was still recovering, Abby seemed to be on the mend and then took a turn for the worst.  Then it hit Sammie on Christmas Day.  Jackie and Jerry came too, and they both were sick when they came.  Mike and Erna joined us and were completely healthy, but came down with it too a few days after they left.  It was the flu and it was so very not fun.  Olivia and I managed to not get it, although she did end up with pink eye because Grandpa brought it with him.
I have to admit I was very stressed.  I was trying to stay healthy, take care of the sick people, and trying to keep things cleaned up so that the healthy people wouldn't get sick.  I was feeling very cramped, so cramped that I was envisioning adding onto my house to have more space.  I think I was about ready to call a contractor.
I loved being with everyone in spite of being sick.  Joey made a delicious lasagna dinner for Christmas day and I made our very favorite spinach artichoke dip to much on Christmas Eve.  These little traditions make the holidays memorable.

I remember laying out by the Christmas tree after everyone had gone to bed and I just sunk into the silence and peace.  The tree looked so pretty, and the presents so sparkly, and I was reminded of the simple reason we celebrate Christmas.  I knew my family was going to be fine, we just had to get through this.  I was grateful that I had felt pretty well most of the month and that I was able to accomplish so much.

Christmas dinner was delicious and we had moments of feeling ok because of the Tylenol.  The girls loved their gifts.  They don't really have a favorite, but Santa sure had fun collecting all of the things that my girls love.
Olivia got a lapdesk to draw on and to do her homework in her bedroom, a felt letter board to put up quotes on her wall because she loves quotes and words, a book to read, and some cute clothes.
Sammie got a beanbag chair that looks like a dog, a book to read, a sewing basket full of all of the things needed to sew, and a comfy sporty outfit.
Abby got a big bean bag chair that looks like a cat, some books, a comfy sporty outfit, and a doll bed.
Their grandparents brought wonderful gifts as well and know just what they love.

We also have an elderly neighbor and his wife passed away just a few months ago.  This was his first Christmas without her.  He has been so sad.  I wanted to have my family help someone this Christmas and my neighbor kept coming to mind.  We don't know him that well, but he has always been very friendly and the neighbors on the other side of his house know him a little too.  We worked things out with them and together we bought a couple of gifts and went in the pouring down rain a couple of days before Christmas and knocked on our neighbor's door.  He was very touched by the gifts and the songs we sang.  He misses his wife so much and he doesn't have any family.  It was such a small gesture really, but I could feel the sweet feeling of the spirit as we brought a little bit of Christmas cheer to our neighbor.