Quick Update--okay, not so quick update

I got the girls to bed early and Dante is gone and I was sitting here not really wanting to do anything and not wanting to go to bed too early, and I thought that I would take the time to update the blog.

Dante is on his way home at this very moment. He went with his Nana to Utah for the weekend to attend his dad's graduation. I think that he might be a bit homesick, though, because he decided that he wanted to come straight home instead of staying at Nana's. Which is okay with me, because I miss him. Dante is such a sweet kid. The morning of the day he was to leave, last Wednesday, Dante was up early, and he wrote a note for me and left it on me while I was sleeping so that I got to wake up to a sweet note from him. It said, "I love you!" and had a picture of the two of us hugging. He often helps the girls get lunch while I am busy. One day, after getting Emily's hotdog out of the microwave and cutting it up for her while I was downstairs doing the laundry, he told me that he wanted to let me do my work . I really think that Dante is going to grow up to be a thoughtful man.

Dante's reading skills continue to amaze me. We will sit down for a new reading lesson, and he'll breeze right through most of the words. He also loves to get emails, so feel free to send him one at dlpimental@gmail.com. Did I mention that I took him out of school? He was feeling lost in the crowd and missing me (by the time he got home, it was lunch, baby nap, and my schoolwork), and I was planning to bring him home for homeschooling in the fall, anyway, so I decided that it was more important for him to spend time with his family. Dante absolutely loves to ride his bike whenever we can, and I try to at least ride them to the library every week. I think it might be time soon to get him a bigger one. He keeps telling me to raise his seat, and it has just about run out of a stem!

Dante got back . . . was it an hour ago? He has been non-stop talking and "What did you do fun?" and worrying about his balloon and showing me his McDonald's toys. I am so glad that we are close. It could be so easy to say, "Be quiet and go to bed!" But I really enjoy talking to him. He said that he got to take the shoulder boards off his dad's uniform and put on new ones, and he took his hat off and put it own head, just like his dad told him to, and everyone laughed and he felt silly. Then he put a new one on his dad. But the ceremony was boring ;) At the university graduation, there were lots and lots of people in robes with "square hats." He also got to meet his dad's fiancee, Jessica, and her family. She's nice, and he had fun because he got to watch a movie. He just got done leaving notes for Constance before laying down to bed. Goodnight, my son!

Constance has missed her brother. When she talked to him on the phone, she spent most of the time giggling because she was so excited. Lately, we have really started working on her letters, choosing one and spending the week learning its sound and playing I Spy to find it in books and on boxes and things. She has also started "writing." When writing her own name, she usually gets a c, an o, and a t at least. Poor thing, she has such a long name to learn! She can draw very nice stick men and really could spend hours drawing. She could spend even longer cutting paper. Just cutting. I currently have a bunch of little pieces of paper all over my bedroom floor, courtesy of Miss Constance. She also focuses really well, which means it is usually hard to get her attention.

Constance has become so affectionate. She loves hugs and kisses, and she loves to have me play with her hair and trace my fingers on her face. She has gone up to people she has only briefly seen before and gives them big hugs before running off and continuing her play. She takes them completely by surprise! She is constantly asking to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house. She loves them, and she loves the animals and all the fun things to do. She went fishing with them and brought home quite a whopper! Then when I pulled it out of the oven and showed it to her, she said, "My fish!" and was very proud to get to eat her fish. She has also started to follow Dante's example and tries to help Emily. Oh, and she still does Ariana's superhero smile. "Ding!"

I know that I've talked about Emily a lot before, so I'll try to be brief. She is just such a hoot! First of all, she finally got her tooth, you know, the one on the top that was taking forever to come in. And now she has couple of molars halfway and at least two more in front that will be here soon. She looks so funny when she makes her squinty eyes and her funny, toothy (if that's possible) grin. She thinks that she is SO funny when she sticks toothbrushes that aren't her own in her mouth, waits till I'm looking, and then runs away for me to catch her. She'll do the same with the fride. Wait for me to pay attention, open the door and look at me, then slam it shut and run away at the first movement I make to get her. She also likes to "help" me by getting the juice out when she's thirsty. That's normally not a big deal, except when it's in a pitcher and she carries it horizontally. And then we have an orange floor. Mostly lately I've been tickled by her talking. She'll just look at whoever she talking to, very seriously, and talk, "Yahyahyah," on and on, pointing and telling stories. Even when she got hurt, she tells me all about it. Some words are more purposeful and clearer: "ee" for please, "ay oo" for thank you, both while making the signs, "gah gog" for hot dog. And then there's always, "MUM! MUM!"

Usually the kids get along so well. We finally got the trampoline up, and they love it. Even Emily can get on and off by herself if the stroller is by it. And I feel pretty secure with them playing on it with its awesome safety "enclosure." Dante and Constance, lucky kids, got loft beds from a friend; loft beds are like bunkbeds without the bottom bunk, or like a really tall regular bed, so that you can put dressers or desks or whatever underneath. They got these cool beds--and they rarely sleep in them! I almost wish that we had kept the bunk beds, but these are such space savers, and they'll learn to appreciate them. Dante and Constance usually sleep together under Constance's bed. Dante adores Dante and enjoys having the company, and Dante just wants someone else to sleep with. At least this way it isn't always me.

Well, for Easter, Grandma and Grandpa came out for a little while and helped us color Easter eggs. I don't know how I could have done it by myself! Even Emily got to color them, but who needs a spoon? She used her hands. And even tasted them. Yum! The older kids were excited when we figured out the crayon trick, and we had some rather cool eggs! We also recently tried to make taffy. I bought a candy thermometer and everything, but apparently I cooked it a bit too long. It was too hard to pull but too chewy to really eat. I'd like to try again. Sometime.

We have family home evening almost every Monday, learning about Jesus and his gospel, playing games, reading, and eating treats. We read scriptures every day. Dante would be happy doing that all day. He loves the stories and he loves talking about Christ. Constance always lets us know that Jesus is her friend. We have also instigated Friday family movie night, which usually includes pizza and popcorn, too.

We are getting into our routines, and I am learning to enjoy the happy moments.

Fall in Washington, Changes in Life

The last few months has seen a lot of grief and a lot of joy for our family. We will never fully recover from the breach we have suffered, at least not in this life. But we have made other major changes that I believe will be important for us to cope. We are meeting our challenges head on and making plans to improve our future.

The kids and I are staying with family in Kent. Leanne, Jeremy, and their five girls have been very kind in opening their home to us. All of the kids have become good friends; Kaedria, Leanne and Jeremy’s youngest who is four, calls Emily her sister. My kids love Aunt Leanne, and they love to wrestle with Uncle Jeremy, even Emily. School finally began in September after a two week teacher’s strike. The kids are trying to enjoy their time outside as much as they can before it gets too cold—which will be soon. It is definitely Autumn.

Dante is enjoying Kindergarten. Of course, he wishes that he could stay home and play video games all day, but life is tough. It is good for him to make friends and play, and even though he is more advanced than the other kids, doing easy stuff will help him get comfortable in a classroom setting. Plus, we are still doing some stuff at home in the mornings. At home, Dante seems a bit frustrated with being one of the younger kids (even though he’s the oldest in his family) and being bossed around by five or six people other than his own mom. He has enjoyed the bonding time with Jeremy, though, watching him play video games and boxing in the garage. It’s a new experience for Jeremy to have another male in the house. Dante is growing up way too fast.

Constance is probably giving me the hardest time. She can be so sweet and cute and funny at times, and at others so frustrating. She is having a hard time using her words, and she isn’t too fond of sharing. Constance has discovered Dora and Diego and can’t get enough of them. She is learning her letters and loves counting. She also loves playing with her little dolls and animals and dressing up.

Emily keeps changing. It is so fun to see her personality emerge as she gets older and learns how to express herself. She is walking pretty well, now. She was walking along the other day, and she would stop occasionally to clap for herself. Emily is also climbing, like on the baby gate. She loves pressing buttons, especially on the TV and surround sound. She enjoys playing peek-a-boo and waving goodbye and squealing. Being the youngest of eight, she has to make herself heard. She still only has two teeth, though. It’s weird!

In order to better prepare to support my little family, I have transferred to WGU (Western Governors University), which is an online, fully-accredited university. I will be taking classes in Early Childhood Education, and I will graduate with my teaching certificate. I hope to open up a preschool or a private elementary school (birth through 3rd grade) out of my home. That way I can still teach my kids, as I’ve been planning to do, and take on enough students to support us. I am hoping to graduate in about a year. I also volunteer in Dante’s classroom once a week. It has been fun getting to know his teacher and the other kids in his class. I have been getting involved in the PTA and am actually the chair of an art competition. It isn’t much work, but it should be rewarding.

So we are all getting settled in our new home and into our routines. We have a lot of fun things planned. As long as the passes are okay, we will go to the Tri-Cities for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I also hope to visit once a month. Dante has invited a few new friends to celebrate his birthday on Halloween. Dante had a field trip last week, and has another one planned to the zoo in the spring. Things will be busy, but I think that we will be able to make time to stay close as a family. And as always, we are happy for any mail, email, or calls to keep in touch.

Here Comes Summer!

Leroy has been a very busy fellow in Egypt. We finally got to talk for a few minutes today. He really enjoys the food, though his body is still adjusting to it, and he has had the best pizza he ever tasted. Last week he went to Cairo to see the pyramids and the mummies. A friend that he was traveling with nearly broke her leg when her camel slipped and fell on top of her. Pres. Obama will be visiting Egypt and apparently he is popular over there. Leroy has been having some trouble with the internet, so we still don’t have any more pictures. Hopefully more will be coming soon. Dante misses his dad so much! And every time Constance sees a bike rider, she thinks it’s her dad. Five more weeks to go! Hopefully we’ll get more pictures soon. He was able to call Danica on her birthday, and it really made her day.

I'm a little frustrated with 24 Hour Fitness right now. I am going to have to start paying for child care starting Monday. Anyway, I'm making a little more progress with my schoolwork, though I’ve been having problems printing the assignments out. I also went to a book club on Wednesday. We discussed Daughters of God by Elder Ballard. There were only two other women there, but it was fun. And we did it outside because it was SO NICE! I can use the fresh air, too.



Dante and I went to The Jungle Book this Friday at The Children's Theatre downtown. It was good for us to get out together. The garden is doing wonderfully. I picked my first few weeds this week. The peas are growing like weeds, the tomato plants are beautiful, I harvested our spinach for the first time today, and a bunch of the plants that I recently planted (pumpkin, sunflower, and some spices) are coming up. I am REALLY enjoying my garden. We harvested our first spinach, and it was so funny to see the kids eat the spinach. Constance would just grab a leaf, dip it in ranch, and nibble away. We also got our caterpillars last Saturday. They turned into chrysalids pretty much right away and they should emerge any day. Some of them started shaking while I transferred them to the butterfly garden. It rather startled me! We also got our tadpoles yesterday and got them all set up. Dante and Constance have really been enjoying the critters. We went to This Is the Place Heritage Park last Monday for Baby Animal Days, where the kids got to pet and hold baby animals and ride on horses and trains.



Danica is out of school already, and she is now nine years old. My how she has grown! She should be with us at the end of June.

Dante’s piano recital on the 18th went okay. He played great, but I was very exhausted dealing with the kids. I've been enjoying a bit of a break from practice and stuff. Dante also had his karate award ceremony on Wednesday, moving up to Yellow Belt, Second Class. He's really been giving me a hard time getting anything done, but we’re working on that. He really is a funny kid and the girls love him. We listened to some Bill Cosby today, and Dante loved it. Constance would laugh just because Dante was.

Constance is such a cute girl. When she isn't screaming or ignoring me, she really makes me smile. She loves playing with Dante, even wrestling, and he is such a good big brother most of te time. She loves the ants, and she is always telling me about their tunnels. She also spends most of her time outside playing with ants. Yikes! Still not potty-trained, though. I've been procrastinating, because I really really really don't want to do that!

Emily, though. Sheesh! She loves to move. She first started inch-worming. She would pull her knees up so that she would be on hands and knees, then lay down on her belly, kind of pushing herself forward with her arms, then pull her legs up again on her hands and knees. Wednesday she actually start scooting a bit, pulling herself forward with her arms. And today she took her first crawl steps. She didn’t go far, but she did it. She can get where she wants to go now, as long as it isn't too far away! She'll be crawling full time soon. She is just the most beautiful baby. She loves to squeal and grunt, and she is such a good eater. She gets frustrated if she sees us eating and she isn’t.

Happy Mother's Day!

I thought today would be a perfect day to update our family news. I actually have time right now since the boys are making breakfast for a change. The awful spring semester is finally over. We have had a nice couple days with Leroy actually home. The kids have loved having father again. Unfortunately, Leroy leaves for Alexandria tomorrow for seven weeks. Dante has been studying Ancient Egypt in history, so he is excited to know where his dad is going. He’s also sad that he doesn’t get to go.

I was originally planning to do some traveling while Leroy was gone but have decided it would be better not to. Instead, we are keeping ourselves busy with school, classes, gardening, and with raising critters. We are all signed up for swimming lessons, including me and Emily. We (I) have been busy with our garden plot done the square-foot way. It looks promising! For school, Dante is learning about the animal kingdom, so we are doing some science projects with insects. We have already gotten an ant farm, which the kids are fascinated with. We will also be hatching praying mantises, raising butterflies from caterpillars, and watching tadpoles turn into frogs. Leroy returns on Independence Day and Danica will come shortly afterward for a fun summer of piano classes and Lagoon trips (hopefully). We shouldn’t have a problem keeping busy!

This last semester for Leroy was very difficult. He was usually gone from morning to night and always had projects and assignments to complete. He was also in charge of editing the Navy newsletter “Soundings” that goes out at the end of every school year. Leroy still hasn’t had a chance to internalize the fact that he will soon be on the other side of the world. Watch out Egypt! We recorded Leroy reading some books last night so that the kids can still be read to by their daddy, even when he is gone. The second half of the summer should be more relaxing even though he still has to take classes. Only one more year until he graduates—May 2010.

After a very successful—and very brief—run doing schoolwork, my classes have come to a standstill. Now that the garden is started and the house is clean (and I won’t have anyone to share my evenings with), hopefully I can return my attention to studying the Bible as literature. I have come to realize just how much I enjoy writing. I wish I had more time to write what I want to write! Hopefully I can focus on that more once I get my degree. There’s not much else exciting happening with me except the kids. I was having a difficult time coping with kids and housework and not having Leroy around, but I think I have a handle on things again. It should be easier when Leroy leaves, as odd as that sounds. It is easier for me to keep to a schedule when I don’t have to worry about his. Not that it is better than having my husband around, but I should be able to cope fine. I got a book this morning for Mother’s Day—Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Honestly. Yeah, I don’t know. If you ask me, it’s sacrilege.

Danica will be nine at the end of the month. My, how time flies! She was having a tough time at school, but seems to be doing much better since switching schools. With Leroy gone during the first half of the summer, Danica will be joining us for the second part. I hope to sign her up for swim lessons and also piano lessons. It should be fun!

Dante has picked up quite an attitude. He has reached that age where he is always right, unless one of his friends tells him otherwise. I am trying to remember that independence is good and that I need to learn to direct him without ordering him around. It’s difficult! However, Dante continues to amaze me with his school. He continues to do very well in reading and writing, and has begun history and science. We just planted some carnivorous plants and look forward to the fascinating job of raising them—the Venus Flytrap, some Sundews, and soon several Pitcher plants. I have also heard some good things about the elementary school in our district, so I signed Dante up for half-day kindergarten in the fall to supplement his homeschooling. I think he will enjoy it, and it will hopefully give me some more time to focus on my own schoolwork. I was rather shocked at what little they tested on for the placement test. “He did great! He knows his colors and his letters, both upper and lower case!” Well, duh. He can read! Dante has his piano recital in just over a week, at which he and I will play a duet. For the summer, Dante will be taking group lessons instead of private lessons to change up the routine a bit.

My little princess is definitely two. Constance can be so darn cute and yet so darn infuriating. She is asserting her independence, to my eternal frustration. However, she still makes me laugh. She likes to put her belt around her animals and take them for walks, and she took her balloon for walk this morning. Constance can count to ten now and she is interested in learning her colors and letters. She is also getting better at coloring, almost as good as Dante, I’d say. She is finally trying to stay within the lines. It’s really cute. I really think she would enjoy a dance or movement class and am trying to find one that will work for us. I am really excited for her swim lessons, especially since she missed out last year when we thought she broke her toe. Yeah for water!

Miss Emily is growing up way too fast! She will be six months old this month, and she’s only about 13 pounds. However, she is sitting up pretty well, she prefers being on her tummy, and she is now pushing herself up on her hands and knees a bit. She likes to shake her head, and she loves to jump. Emily also loves other babies. She is the sweetest, funniest girl, and she is so petite! She looks like Dante did when he was two months old. Before he got fat ;) I am thoroughly enjoying sleeping at night.

So despite some difficult times past, present, and future, we are doing pretty well and I think we will survive through the summer. I wish you all the best, and remember that we could always use your prayers!

Have a happy Mother's Day!