Happy Sunday

Evelyn quote of the day

We hosted a game night with Seth and some friends.  There were enough of us that we split into two groups.  Evelyn was sitting next to me while playing Curses.  She heard someone saying, "Fabulous!" and she sat there copying her in that little voice of hers.  "Fabulous! Fabulous!"  After I giggled about it a little bit she told me, "Only I can say cute and adorable things."  I beg to differ, but I won't deny that she's cute and adorable.

Sick kiddos

Yesterday Evelyn gave a talk in Primary.  Seth woke up with throw up all over his bed and him, so Jer stayed home from sacrament meeting with him.  I helped Evelyn give her cute talk on how we serve God by obeying mom and drinking cocoa with our brothers and sisters.  Before her talk she kept saying, "Mom, my tummy hurts."  So she gave her talk and I took her home so that we could be with baby while Jer came to Young Mens.  She had a rough day. 

Today, Seth woke up in throw up again and then in poop after his nap.  At least I know he's been bathed today... all three of the older kids said their tummies hurt so they all stayed home from school.  Ada and Evelyn slept a lot.  Sam followed me around the house asking when I could play games with him.  (I was trying to do all the extra laundry and dishes that sickies have made).  I finally played Pay Day with him and he was happy from then on.  Evelyn surprised me.  The kids wanted me to read them Harry Potter (2), so we cuddled up on the couch and read.  Afterwards, the kids grabbed their own books and started reading.  Evelyn grabbed one of the beginning reader books, sat up on my lap and started reading it to me.  I thought she'd take forever to teach to read because of the way she potty trained, and the way she refuses to let me teach her letters and sounds.  Apparently she's good at seeing a word that has been read to her and knows what it is.  We're still going to have to teach her how to sound out letters and words, but she gave me a shock.  It was really cute.  The kids were bummed that it snowed and I made them stay inside though.

We finally have our new fence up.  I'm so glad to be done with that.  Jer's not quite done, but soon.  His next step is to repair the sprinkler lines that were broken when they were digging.  He can't really do that until Spring anyways so he'll get a reprieve. I've started helping at the school 2 times a week in both of the kids classes.  I was helping readers in Sam's class and noticed that one of the boys was falling behind (I met his parents.  They only speak Spanish at home, nothing wrong with that but it's probably why he's struggling with reading in English.) and another girl that I think is dyslexic.  She reads the middle or last syllable first unless she looks at the word then covers her eyes to say it then moves on to the next word the same way.  I offered to come in and work extra time with these two.  Ada's teacher heard that I was helping readers in the other class and asked if I could help with a couple in hers... so off I go.  Evelyn helps keep baby busy by throwing a ball up and down the hallway.  It's cute to hear them giggle and run back and forth after it.

Sam's salad

 

With Ggma Robertson encouraging him from the side.... :)

Isabelle's baptism

Baby kept trying to steal Ggma's cheetos.

Ward Family pictures

I love seeing these guys.  We have a lot in common, and Julie's very forgiving when I'm flaky and stressed out.  This was our 20 min, weird lighting photo shoot. 

Family Pictures 2015

So the baby started crying after one pose, so we really only got about 5 minutes of pictures... but at least they're recent and thank you Julie for helping out with them!

The only baby only picture and he wouldn't let me put him down.  You can see my nose in the corner...

Naoki

Naoki came with us to church.  We aren't allowed to try to teach him anything religious, so I sat back ready to answer questions.  It was fun to watch him take a hymn book and his translator and go to work.  I saw him discreetly wipe a tear away, but he had a hard time being there for three hours.  Apparently he doesn't have a church that he attends at home.  After that we packed everyone up and headed up to squaw peak and for a glance at Bridal Veil falls.  It was pretty windy and cold, so we only stayed long enough to take pictures, hike around a little and Julie and Mike Ward came up and we shot each others family pictures again.  The Wards came over for dinner and games after.  Naoki looked a little overwhelmed by all the people, but he had seconds at dinner and enjoyed our game.  We played King of Tokyo and we were laughing that you don't mess with the Japanese when it comes to Tokyo.  Monday I took him to Canyon View to shadow a student for the day and then off to the Scera Shell to play chess and eat donuts. 

Tuesday we played Ping-Pong, exchanged gifts and wished him well for the rest of his trip this morning.  I enjoy hosting these boys, but it's hard to say goodbye.

Evelyn said that she was the horse... I think she watched Harry Potter with Sam or something.

Seth kept carrying these around.  So cute.

Shopping on Saturday

These guys were awesome!  Frying pan and smolder.