Double Digits

We've reached the double digits in parenthood. :( That is how I honestly feel. I've been overwhelmed thinking back to our humble beginings with Charlotte and wish that somehow I could re-live all those precious times that flew by. Way to fast. The apartments, the different friends, my new mom friends, the playdates, story times, good and naughty phases. I wish I had it all on video, with music of course, that would give me a good excuse to cry.
So to celebrate. It was her year for a friend party. I'm thinking big, she's 10. Invite everyone you know. She was thinking small, 1 friend. We talked her into 4 but she wouldn't budge after that. Charlotte and her sweet friends and sister
Sugar always makes a party more fun and still more sugar
The milestone of ear piercing at the awaited age of 10. Both ears are pierced even though things got touchy after number 1. She wasn't sure if she could do it again, but we weren't leaving with one ear pierced I tell you.

Charlotte is such a fun girl, she can't be serious, she's spontaneous, and curious. She is an amazing reader and loved spending her her birthday in her room, alone, just reading. I'm pretty sure that was never on my birthday wish list as a kid, except it would be now. She's always the life of the party, up for a good time, and can stay up to all hours of the night. At times I've struggled trying to figure that kid out. I've made the mistake of trying to mold her into who I thought she should be which worked as well as fitting a square through a circle. I've since come to realize that she's the best just how she is, I love the things about her that make her unique. I'm going crazy thinking about her being 10 and that doubling that will be 20. The years go by to quick. That's sad.

Mason!

Mason had two fun filled days right in a row. On Monday, we started a Transitional Kindergarten program, and on Tuesday, his long awaited for birthday finally arrived. So this post is dedicated to him, my little guy, filled with stories and pictures galore.
Here he is all ready for school. These aren't the clothes he'd had picked out for weeks to wear on the first day, those ones were covered in his breakfast in the laundry room.
He loves coloring, and writing. We go through reams at record pace!

He's 5!!! We counted down for months anticipating the day.
The least healthy breakfast ever for the kid who enjoys the least healthy food more then anyone I know. I promise I only dip his fruit in chocolate on his birthday. The other day his tummy was hurting and I told him it was because he hadn't been eating good food, he told me it was my fault because all I do is feed him junk food. It's not the truth at all, even though he'd like it to be.
Lunch with dad at his school. He's wearing his birthday shirt and hat. The director of his school made him a big birthday hat. She asked for his favorite color - red, and his favorite animal-tiger.
We had a great day celebrating as a family with our favorite little man. His only complaint was the gift from Mallory that I found in the trash the next morning. He told me he threw it away because he didn't like it.
A few more Mason facts: He loves learning and taught himself how to read. His best friend is his dad and his best bud is Mallory. I know this because he just told me the other day, when I asked what I was he replied, "you're nothing". That's O.K. I think Chris and Mallory are pretty great myself.

Mason is our constant comic relief, always making us laugh. He's just so easy to love. I will miss his funny stories that get me through my sometime long days, like this one the other day.
Setting - leaving the public library
Mason- Was Mallory not listening to you in there?
Me- Yes, she wasn't listening, she was being a big stinker!! (this was after running around like crazy, hitting the help button in the elevator and existing out the emergency doors setting the alarm off) :(
Mason- you should take her to the kid shop
Me - What's the kid shop?
Mason- It's a place where you can take a kid if you don't want them anymore and then someone who does want a kid can come and take them home.

Always logical, always solving problems, a real chip off the old block. When you ask him what he wants to be when he grows up he'll tell you he wants to be an engineer "because they get free soda and donuts on Fridays". He also is considering becoming a paleontologist or if that doesn't work out a rock star.

Here is a recent letter that he wrote to Mallory.
"Dear Mal, I'm older then you. I love you Mal. I'm 5! Soon you can be 5 too. Mason
I guess he thinks being 5 is pretty great.

That time of year again

They are big and old and cute and I miss them when they're away.

I have friends who talk about freedom, eating bon-bons and watching soap opera's all day, but not me. Maybe someday.....when Mallory starts kindergarten, maybe I'll feel the same way, but for today I feel sad. I'll play with Mal non-stop and change her diaper I guess, since no one else is here to do it. Mr. school year robs me of my company, household energy, lazy mornings, big breakfasts and help around the house. I repeat, sad. So until June, all I can say is so long summer, I'll see you next time, I'll be right here waiting with open arms where I left you.

Lake Tahoe

This is the first of a few slideshows to come from our past trips. I'll let the pictures tell the story.

Don't rain on my parade

Happy 4th of July!!!!

Our neighborhood has a big parade each 4th of July, all the kids get fancied up, decorate their bikes and cruise around. So we got fancy, painted faces, spruced up the bikes and tried to look especially patriotic because we are - I love love love America and celebrating the 4th of July. Then we got to the parade, then we got a good parking spot - instead of being thrilled we should have been suspicious. Normally you have to walk a mile just to get there. Then we heard the sad news - the parade was cancelled because of rain. So us and the other uninformed families let the kids cruise around the parking lot and throw candy at each other. Then we complained that the parade we worked so hard to get ready for was cancelled, then we saw the sky, then we heard thunder, then we hear Chris say "We have twenty seconds to get everything in the car before we get dumped on". That was our fourth of July. I know that was a lot of "then" usage and I'm pretty sure it wasn't grammatically accurate either. Sorry.






So we headed home, watched T.V. and ate the 4 big bags of candy that we didn't get to throw - all by ourselves - in our dry house.

Almost Wonderland

Chris took a few days off and we escaped to Grapevine, we hit the Great Wolf Lodge for a few days and then went over to the Gaylord for their Friday night festivities. It's all themed around Lewis Carroll's books. There's cards everywhere, life size chess pieces, and characters dressed up all around to please the older 3 and scare the littlest 1. We walked around the lobby, and then joined in the parade led by the Queen of Hearts which took us outside to the parking garage where we partied with the D.J., celebrated my adult hula hoop contest victory, and watched fireworks over Lake Grapevine.

Of course we have no pictures of the Great Wolf Lodge because we were submerged in water the whole time, I have to look into one of those fancy pant waterproof camera cases. Here are some pictures from the Gaylord.

Tea Time!!
The oversized flower was the scariest, and when he didn't fit out the front door to continue with the parade outside, nobody was happier then Mallory. This is Mal hiding. Mad Hatter with the kids sporting some of their own mad hats.

Is there anything trippier then Alice in Wonderland? I haven't read the book or seen the new movie, but seriously, the original.......a bit trippy.

Busted!!!

This probably shouldn't have made me so happy but it did. I was thrilled that Charlotte was practicing beautifully without complaining, working on her scales, and playing a few pieces. When I walked past the room this is what I found..

No wonder there was complaining she was happily reading away, what she loves to do best. I love Charlotte, such a clever kid.

School's Out Update

Bring on summer......
Mason, Mal and I awaiting the kids. Rozlyn was awarded the Rachel's Challenge Honor Award. It is awarded to one student per class who represents the 1.Power of Influence 2.Kindness 3.Dreaming Big and Setting Goals & 4.Accepting of Others. It really is who Rozlyn is, she was just born that way, I can't take any credit but my buttons were bursting anyway. A final hug for Rozlyn's teacher, Mrs. Levy, this lady is seriously amazing. Charlotte's teacher, Mrs. Love, was also wonderful. We luck out every year with the best teachers. We wasted no time grabbing some shaved ice, our first of many this summer.
I love summer. Sleeping in, yummy breakfasts, lots of pool, minimal schedule, shaved ice - lots of them, creating, reading, movies, etc. We have lots of activities awaiting us on the calender, the perfect blend of structure and relaxation. The kids and I also have some reading and math goals. Actually I didn't set any math goals for myself this summer, but I am reading the Book of Mormon in 60 days. You should join me.

Somebody in Idaho Loves Me

I've been feeling sick for a good week now. I'm so sick of it:( I posted a comment of Facebook, about missing Idaho. I wanted to surrender on adult responsibilities for one day, mostly to sleep the day away. So my thoughts went to Idaho....I love Idaho!!! I love telling people I'm from Idaho, I love the people in Idaho, I love the weather, I love the small townish feel. Within a few hours my sister replied with a comment to be checking my mailbox.
On Tuesday, still feeling sick, look what I found...... Love straight from Idaho, frooties, spud bars, huckleberry bars, potato peeler, beef jerkey shreds and more misc. Idaho stuff. I was oh so happy and felt oh so loved.
It was enough to almost make me feel better. I have the best sister! The best!
You can take the girl out of Idaho but you can't take the Idaho out of the girl.

The Graduate

Watch out world, Mason's on his way, seriously.
My little guy has graduated from preschool. He did awesome walking in, shaking hands, accepting his diploma, posing for pictures, singing his songs and ringing his hand bells. He was so serious during the presentation, so unlike Mason, I guess he's really growing up.
small but mighty
This is a picture of him with Ms. Janee. Everyday she would send home comments about his day. One of my favorites was the day that Mason said "I don't want to subtract, that's to easy, I want to do times".

Piano Recital

This piano recital did not go down as I had planned. The timeline leading up to the event is as follows:
1985-Rainie starts piano
1988-Rainie convinces mom to let her quit
1997-Rainie takes college piano class and try's to get her groove back
1998-Rainie falls in love with an amazing piano player
1999-2008-Rainie wishes that she would have never quit the piano
2009-Charlotte (daughter #1) begs her mom to let her quit piano, because it's torture, Rainie makes her a promise that when she can play better then her (me) then she can quit
2010-Rainie doesn't want Charlotte to quit so Rainie better take more lessons Month before the "big" recital - Rainie masters her piece, memorizes it and all, yahoo!
Recital Eve - Mom has a bad dream, the kind that you think is really true and then you wake up and you're so relieved, that I couldn't play my piece at the recital
Recital - Sometimes dreams come true, even when they're really bad:(
I have no idea what happened but I couldn't play, I was sooooooo scared. How can someone so un-shy be so afraid to do something in front of people. Something that 30 other kids under 10 years old have no problem doing. Why does my body start shaking out of control? Why am I doing this at age 31? So the problem was that I was concentrating so hard on trying to make my legs and fingers stop shaking that I couldn't keep track of where I was, I think I played the same line 3 times and then I called it good(or really really bad) and finished. Who needs to hear the 2nd page anyway? I was so deflated. That my sob story.
The girls on the other hand were awesome. I love how they are both progressing along. Rozlyn just started a few months ago and Charlotte, is doing great. I love to hear her practice(I don't always love getting her to practice) and remember back when she was just thunking keys.

technical difficulties loading Rozlyn and I, maybe later.

Lost Pines

Thursday we packed up abandoned home duties and took off for a weekend getaway to a little place called Lost Pines.
......and enjoyed alot of this!

Some friends and I went back in March to run the Zooma Women's race and I knew that I had to bring the hubby and kids back to experience it for themselves. We parked our car on Thursday afternoon and didn't get back in it until we had to drive home last night. Our days were filled with pool, sun, water slide, lazy river, tractor rides, s'mores by the fire, longhorns, giant huge fuzzy caterpillars, glutenous amounts of food, dessert buffets, movies on the lawn, bike rides, friends, tether ball (somewhere over the past 20 years I've lost my skills), very little sleep, and each other. Happy times!
Tractor ride.
We learned that farmers put straw in their mouths when they need to think.
This was my favorite family pictures because not one person is looking. Typical of the Grahamtastics.
The one pictures where we are all looking just happens to have a shirtless dude in the background.
Ready for "Wizard of Oz" to begin on the lawn.
This is what we look like before we head out for the day.
Mal's ready to cruise.
I really heart a good cowboy.

Sadly we have no water shots which really was the highlight, cameras, water, and four kids floating away in the river don't go together. Especially for Mallory the fearless.......that girl might be part fish.

Saturday mornings at our house

Saturday mornings look a little something like this Pancake breakfast, pajamas, 6 bed heads and some Neil Diamond karaoke. Soon this will be every day, if summer could just hurry.

The lighting in the video is all crazy because I was standing directly under a big light.
Also FYI, kids will eat any amount of fruits or vegetables if you put them on a stick. Kabobs are a new family favorite, and the sticks serve so many functions, weapons, wands, guitars, microphones.
The fun is endless Saturday afternoon and Saturday night wasn't to shabby either, a movie with the kids, Costco, soccer games, take n bake pizza, good weather, a fun babysitter and a really fun date with my favorite person.

Turn on the jets

The girlies participated in the world's cutest school fundraiser today. I'm the least enthusiastic parent ever about fundraisers but their enthusiasm for their "Boosterthon Fun Run" was too contagious to resist. Check out the link for the basics. The staff was amazing in getting the kids excited. Everyday they'd come home with that's days incentive....get two pledges and win a rocket, the class with the most states pledged wins something else, etc. etc. After much persuasion I did allow them to call a few family members, (sorry but thanks for making their day, they were so super excited to be the first students with a pledge from Idaho and check it off the school state map). They had a script that they read over the phone, with blanks to fill in the persons name. Rozlyn was so entertaining to listen to, she might have a future in sales
... "Stewart, I have a question for you...will you pledge me a dollar amount for every lap I run.......Stewart, thank you for helping me reach my goal"
I don't know why it made me so giggly. Perhaps that no matter how hard she tried and practiced she could never say Boosterthon Fun Run, the closest she got was Boomsterthon.
"Stewart, I'm calling to tell you about a cool new program at our school called the Boomsterthon...they'll set up the Boomstertown speedway..."
Mason, Mallory and I provided the cheerleading and the girls ran their hearts out, in their new fancy Boosterthon T-shirts. They each ran 2 miles (32+ laps). Roz loved the water station, I think she made a stop every lap, and Charlotte loved running with her friends even if it meant stopping or running in the wrong direction to meet back up with them. Here are some pics from the event.
Go Roz Go!
Charlotte running. Mason lending support, thanks heavens for hand sanitizer because that little guy was giving out high fives to everyone who passed by.
Finished! The 3rd graders ran last in the day and all they had left were x-large shirts, so she's kind of swimming in hers.
One last highlight of the day. Rozlyn's class won the most pledges for the school which meant that their teacher got to throw a pie in the coordinators face. That was fun, but even better was how excited Mason was to watch it. I finally found something to motivate him (Chores, eating dinner, ditching pull-ups), I'm ready to make a chart, and Chris better prepare for pie in the face (if my plan works). Mason is super excited about the idea.

Mother's Day

I'm campaigning to add a few more of these holidays onto the calendar. I love a day (or weekend) to be pampered, to sleep in, to indulge on delicious food and the list goes on.
There was so much anticipation leading up to a lazy Sunday, last night I asked Chris how long he thought I could sleep in. His guess was 8:00am, I thought he totally under estimated me. I can't remember the last time I could do this, years probably. But with 1:00 church and no meetings, it was heaven. I only made it until 7:45am, not very good. Maybe I was just to excited.
Since I got to sit in bed with all this time I was able to read back on some past journal entries and I came across this gem, which totally made me laugh, and I found all ironic because it was the start of my life as a mother.
July 9, 2010. "The news is in - Chris and I found out I was pregnant on July 7 at the Plymouth Truck Stop. We were on our way to my family reunion in Crystal Springs. I begged for a pregnancy test and Chris finally agreed by making me agree to a verbal contract. I had to promise not to cry either way."
and that's how motherhood began for me. The truck stop bit made me laugh, could I seriously not wait for cleaner circumstances, I hate gas station bathrooms, but no I really couldn't wait. I remember. I didn't remember the contract, but that made me laugh even harder. Poor Chris, he's always been really afraid of girls crying.
Back to 2010. As the day went on I got the usual showering of homemade gifts and cards from school. My favorite laughs came from the card that said "You are so so special because you're my mom"....and the best was the classic "fill in the blanks" they fill out at school, where the teacher is privileged to see what a crappy mom you are by your kids answers. I'm sure they have some sort of correlation with CPS. Fill in the blank #11 was "My mom has a funny habit of....screaming"
Awesome, and just for your info my I look really good in shirts and pants, my favorite food is baked ziti and tomato soup, my favorite vacation is going to Idaho, I look really funny when I get out of the shower just to name a few more.
and now back 10 years again, 2000 at the truck stop... I really couldn't wait to be a mom, I had no idea what I was getting myself into, how hard the work would be, how tired I would be, how uncapable I would feel, how kids could be more stubborn then me, how many nights I'd serve cold cereal for dinner, how dirty my house would get, how many prayers I would say, how many times I would cry and how many times I would laugh til my belly hurt. I wouldn't have it any other way
 

(This is as good as a timer shot gets with 4 kids)
I'm one lucky mom, in so many ways, x4.