September 25th

September 25th is an important day to me.  It's the day my two favorite men were born--Ben and my Dad.  Ben's Grandpa and our nephew also share the birthday so it's a popular day to be born in our family.  While we were building the house, Ben and I weren't always exactly what Mr. Ryder would call "sympatico" with one another.  I may or may not have chucked him a store bought cinnamon roll (his choice of b-day cake) with a muttered "Happy Birthday" last year.  Pretty lame, I know.  I wanted to make up for it this year so I enlisted my master party planner, Samara, to help.  This is the list she came up with/dictated to me.

Does she know her dad or what?  Samara woke up at 5:15 AM, tiptoed into the room and said, "Mom, I tiptoed in so I wouldn't wake Dad up.  Can we decorate the house now?"  I stalled her for an hour while I smiled about her excitement and thoughtfulness in my half-sleep.  I'm happy to report that we did everything on the list except the Piñata and the Spiderman on the web.  We substituted that for a Spiderman-themed breakfast in bed.  And the book Ben got/wanted was a novel not about Spiderman.  But that's only because he already owns all the Spiderman comics.  

Notice the couch in the background.  Samara cleaned the "carpet room", aka family room, while I cleaned the kitchen.  She even draped the blanket over the couch and lined all the pillows up neatly on it.  She was so proud to show that off when he got home.  Lizzie, well she gives him a present everyday of the year, because whenever she sees anything to do with Spiderman she says, "That's Daddy Spiderman".  And that makes Ben more proud than anything else.  Basically, he's taught her everything she needs to know.

The students, who work in his lab, gifted him the Flash t-shirt.  And our niece got him an Avatar t-shirt.  In case you didn't notice, he's a pretty big superhero fan.  

When Ben blew out the candle, Samara whispered in my ear, "I know what he wished for.  He wants every birthday to be just like this one."  Tears.

I would actually love to learn the art of cake making someday.  I really admire that talent/skill and love seeing friends' creative cakes.  For now though, it's a good thing Ben is easy to please and all he wants are cinnamon rolls.  Plus these are homemade AND they were nicely handed to him this year.

Now, for my dad's party.

 

One of the things I love most about living here again is being able to visit my Dad's grave.  It helps me feel closer to him.  My Dad loved fruit.  Loved it.  After Ben and I got married, we'd often find a fruit salad or peeled and sliced fresh peaches on our doorstep, when we got home from school/ work.    Every year since I can remember, My dad would buy 20+ green river watermelons (the best kind in UT) and then have us kids take them around to neighbors and tell them that we grew them in our garden.  Our garden was a slab or concrete so I thought all the neighbors knew that this was just my dad being his quirky self.  Until one day (I was adult at this point), I ran into a neighbor who told me how much she missed getting one of my dad's garden watermelons each year.   Dear me!  I chuckled and told her that we never grew a single melon in our garden because we didn't have one.  I knew her pretty well so we both got a good laugh out of it.  

 I loved the Buddhist custom that I saw throughout SE Asia of leaving out fruit as an offering/gift for ancestors.  I decided if it's good enough for them and has been practiced for centuries then it's good enough for me.  Last summer, we were passing through the city of Green River on our way home from Colorado, so I, of course, had to stop and pick one up for my dad.  That started a little tradition of taking his favorite fruits to the cemetery when they are in season.  I know when my dad sees it from heaven, he lets out his hearty belly laugh that I miss so much and says, "Oh Cherylkins.  Love ya.  Love ya.  Love ya.  Squeeze ya.  Squeeze ya.  Squeeze ya.  Miss ya.  Miss ya.  Miss ya."  Those aren't typos.  When my dad really meant something he repeated it three times. :) 

I won't lie and say that I don't feel sorry for myself sometimes because he is not around to shower the girls with affection and attention.  He would have been tickled listening to me go on and on about all the clever and darling things they do and say.  And how he would have teased them.  I know they would have begged to go to his house all the time.

 Jei-Jei, which do you think makes it faster to heaven, balloons or fruit??

The Moment When...

...you realize exactly how annoying you are behind the camera.

Samara's camera had been forgotten in the backpack for a month or so.  When I pulled the phone out for a charge this morning, she was thrilled to use it again.  

This morning, we were saying goodbye to Ben as he rode off to work on his bike and talking about how I was going on a bike ride in the evening.  Samara suddenly announced that she NEEDED a picture of me on my bike.  Four minutes later, I realized just how she feels when I take her picture.

Samara: "Ok, Mom.  I need you on your bike and Lizzie to be on mine."  

Lizzie: "No, I'm not do-ing on da bike.  I wanna sit on mama's lap."  

Samara: Sighing "Fine.  She can stay on your lap but I'm getting one of her dolls to go on it."

Me:  "I don't think her doll will be able to sit up on the bike. " 

Samara: "Then I'll just have to use the scooter."  Gets the doll and comes back.  "Now, make a face like you are scared because you can't find the doll.  Uh.  I am going to be LATE for school.  Lizzie, can't you just do what I ask?   Do this with your mouth.  Demonstrates the circle.  Fine.  I got it."

Samara: "Ok, we need one more with the umbrella.  Mom, my bike is falling.  Can you hold it up with your leg?  Hum...that's good.  Mom, you can just set the umbrella down and we'll go to school now."

When Samara saw this picture uploaded she commented, "Uh.  You are covering Lizzie's face with your hand."  Oops! Sorry, Kiddo.  It's really frustrating when someone does that.

The stroller, bike pump, and balloon were also strategically placed.  The rake and lawnmower weren't. She's very much a beginner in photoshop though so she hasn't learned how to remove unwanted items from the picture yet.  We aren't going over that until Grade One.

Lizzie is also a fan of being in charge of the camera.  She asks several times a day for "more cheese", which means she wants me to hand her my phone and turn the camera on.  I have a really awesome phone that is taped together and the picture quality is astonishing.  No smart phone for me until 1) I drop my phone less than 3 times a day and 2) The phone is no longer Lizzie's favorite throw toy.

Kindergarten

Kindergarten.  A big milestone that came too fast.

Samara has newly painted toes

for her new school shoes.

 Good thing we put off buying a backpack because only tote bags are allowed in Kindergarten.  Her teacher seems great.  She's making new friends.  There is even a little girl in the class named Samaya.  What are the odds of that?

Samara started pre-school 3 days fresh off the plane from Singapore and didn't bat an eyelash.  But she's worried more this year and definitely had an adjustment period.  But I can tell by the happy smile that greets me when I pick her up, that she is settling nicely into school.

I have to admit that even though we've been going through the routine for weeks now, I get choked up every day when I squeeze her hand to say goodbye and watch her walk into the classroom.  And Lizzie never forgets to do their little fingershake.  I told Samara I was sad she was all grown up already.  She corrected me, "Um.  I'm not all grown up.  There are still two more steps before that, teenager and adult."  Phew!  I still have some time.

She is excited about the new family member that will join us this school year.  That's baby brother "swaddled" in my arms.  I really like that I am taller than Ben.  I was going to include this picture in the last post but my brain is on a 24-hr time delay.

News

Click on the picture to see the announcement

Bouncing baby boy Bikman will be joining the 'lot of us' on February 15th--there are some benefits to scheduling a c-section. :)  We've had a boy name picked out since we got engaged and we are 90% sure we will use it.

Ben and I were surprised when the u/s tech said, "that is definitely a boy!" but we are both thrilled.  Samara can't wait.  Lizzie says, "No baby, mama.  No baby!" when you ask her about it.  She loves babies so I'm sure she will come around.  The other day she told me her two baby dolls, "are hav-bing a sword fight."  She needs a little brother. :)

Oh, Canada!

I'm going to back post this to June to keep dates straight.  I worked on a few photo books over the summer and it was SO much nicer when I had a blog post to use for pictures and details.  Makes it worth it for me to go back and do old posts.

We made a trip up to Ben's hometown in Alberta over Memorial Day.  We had planned to visit his home sometime in the summer, but Ben was asked to be the guest of honor/speaker at his high school's graduation.

Ben did a great job!  It was so neat to see the quaint and intimate graduation ceremony.  The graduation ceremony is so different when your graduating class is 24 kids!  I certainly did not grow up in a booming metropolis but my high school had more students than there are people in his town. 

Because every other person in town was at the graduation, we solicited my nephew's babysitting services so I could go hear Ben's speech.

I think things went pretty well, don't you? 

Ok, so maybe this wasn't while he was babysitting.  I ran over to watch Ben speak and was only gone for about 30 minutes.  Lizzie was asleep and he called me 4 times to ask questions and didn't let Samara leave his side.  I think he will make a fine babysitter. :)

Our friend, Jody, who introduced Ben and I, lives in Stirling.  We were able to spend time with her darling family.  The home lots in Stirling are huge.   I think Samara had heard Ben talking about wanting a bigger lot and how much land costs because she was amazed at their yard.  Their lot is over an acre and is awesome.  Samara exclaimed, "You have an actual meadow for your backyard.  I can't believe it.  How do you have enough money for a meadow?"

Her kids are wonderful and my girls had the best time with them.  

Jody even babysat for us so we could attend the Cardston Temple.  I have never been and loved this temple.  It's very unique and beautiful.

 Of course, we had to visit Grandma Sheila who works at the town library.  We loved spending time in the children's section named after Ben's mom.

 

We spent a day at Waterton--the Canadian side of Glacier National Park.  Waterton is stunning.  You go from totally flat farmland to pairies to rolling hills to towering peaks.   The drive there shows nature at its finest.

It was so strange to go on a holiday and be COLD!  We haven't had that for a while and were a bit underprepared...err FREEZING! 

 But we are never too cold for ice cream! 

We were able to spend time with Ben's grandparents.  We haven't seen them for years and it was wonderful to visit with them.

We also took the opportunity to have family photos done by my uber talented sister-in-law, Shanna.  She is the master of posing.  We started at 6 PM, Lizzie's bedtime.  You do what you gotta do but bedtime is not the optimal time for a photo shoot.

Lizzie was crazy!  In fact, they both were.  See Lizzie trying to eat Samara.  Clark (the baby-sitter) was trying to earn money for a new video game so he took some candids with the iPad.  He's very affordable--$0.50 per image.

Edited ones are $1.

 He also does videos ($1.50), which are so fun to have.  Sometimes when you look at all the nice finished images you forgot how NOT FUN having your photos taken was.  But these help us remember not to do family pictures too often. 

Here are the favorites from the shoot: 

 This nose crinkle is my favorite expression!

Maybe baby brother will look like this in a few years.  Isn't Ben's mop of red hair darling?  

A Big Map and a Book

I loved majoring in Geography and when I'd tell someone that I was majoring in Geography, I'd typically get one of two responses.  First, "Oh, you study rocks.  How interesting."  Geography.  Geology.  They sort of sound the same, I guess.  Or "So you study maps?  You must know where every country on the map is."  Geography is more than just maps!  Geography is ecology, anthropology, and history all bundled in one discipline.  There are many sub-disciplines too: cultural, physical, environmental, political, economic, demographics, etc.  That map question got pretty old when I'd hear it over and over again.  But I do actually love maps.  And I wish I knew where every country was and that I could visit them all too!  While we were building, I decided I wanted a big map wall and it's finally up.  I may be a "geography nerd" but I feel gleefully happy every time I look at my map. :)

I saw a tutorial for these mini-polaroid magnets.  Tiny pictures are ridiculously cute, aren't they?  My map isn't magnetic so my plan is to mount the pictures on foamboard and use a paper tape to attach them to the places we've been.   First, I want to get caught up on photobooks though.  *sigh*  Why do they take me so long to finish?  Lizzie's first year book (click on lower right corner of book below to flip the pages) probably took me 2,033 hours.  And now she's almost two and Samara needs one for last year and I want to make several of our time and travel oversees.  Because why take so many millions of photos if they just sit on my hard drive?  Anyone want to help me get caught up?

Spring

Spring is so splendid!  I forgot about all the trees magically turning green and the flowers blooming.  The weather is perfection.  And Easter is a favorite holiday of mine too.  Christ's resurrection truly is a blessing and miracle.

Easter Morning

 Someone would not sit still so I asked her to fold her arms.

But she crinkles her darling little nose all on her own.  

Thank you Shanna for the family photo!

Then on to round two.  Someone was very hungry and that is a state you NEVER want her to be in.  And don't ever take the bag of crackers away from her.  Ever.

And thanks to Aunt Shanna for this darling one as well.

 My pretty paper umbrellas got ripped.  If anyone wants to bring me some more from Singapore, I'll pay you back AND love you forever.  :)

I would have posted these when it actually was springtime but I don't like the new "blogger".  It doesn't support my browser.  There are new buttons and a different layout.  I'm slow adapting to change!