Irma thoughts

Julia and her cousin started "ba la lay." Yes Julia screamed at first. But then she loved it. 

And I have seen posts of what are you glad you did/wish you did for the storm. Here's my boring list. I don't recommend reading it all except for mowing your lawn. 

Glad we have been advised by prophets to be prepared and we have church classes and support there to help remind us. Glad Steven mowed the lawn, makes raking much easier. Glad we trimmed our trees and cut the dead palm frawns and burned it all in the fire pit. (We burned our storm debris already too! It dries quickly.) Glad the kids have a sand box to make more sand bags which made the doors feel secure even though there was no flooding. Glad we (Steven) put all the deck tables and furniture in the garage. Glad we keep the cars at least half full and that we topped them off. Glad about having a portable fireproof safe where we had our passports, recent photos, and birth certificates etc in big zip locks. (The cash had been long gone. Wish we had not spent it!) We got some cash back to have some. Glad we had our 72 he kit and we had days to switch out the expired food. Glad for the opportunity to bake a cake and make a casserole in my sun oven ☀️. Glad we have a pool for cooling off and could have used it for toilets etc. Glad I have water stored for that though. Glad we cranked the air cooler in anticipation of loosing power and put extra chlorine in the pool. Glad the kids have a million flashlights and we keep lots of batteries. Thankful for car chargers. Glad for a hot pot so I could wash dishes with hot water (plugged into neighbor's generator for a while.) Suoer thankful we know and love our neighbors. Thankful I live near my non-evacuation zone parents!!! 💕 Glad we boarded windows. Our siding got dented! Glad we have a rake and trash bags and clippers and a chain saw and gloves. Glad we stocked up on ice and froze lots of containers of water as we ate our freezer food. Glad we had a cooler to transfer some things to my parents. Thankful to have a grill and a big tent and blow up mattress all for That first hot night. Glad we had big extension cords. Glad we are relatively healthy so we could help ourselves and others. Glad we unplugged everything. Glad photos are backed up. Thankful for that room A/C and generator from my parents. Not sure if we want one for ourselves. We may just prep the house, clear the fridge, and go in vacation next time! I did think CB radios or something would have been cool but only if all of my friends had them too. I was thinking I was glad we still have a potty chair in the give away pile because I would have taken it if we had driven away. Glad for our Yeti cups we were gifted for ice water in the car even after lots of yard work. Glad my mom made lots of ice and froze zip locks of it. I kinda want an ice maker now. Glad my husband got an extra day off to prepare our home and that he stayed up so I could "sleep when the wind blows." 

twitter miracle

The day Twitter (the bird Steven got for his birthday [month]) flew out our front door. 

A week ago, before Steven left for work, he warned the kids to be extra careful with Twitter because he knew we would have a lot of kids there that day. Twitter, formerly known as Little Donald Trump, had landed in our neighbor's yard a week or two before and after they tried to find the owners, we became its parents and Steven got him a cage etc. Because of how we acquired him, we know he is a flight risk, that's how he escaped before! Scroll through the stack of photos to see we had 9 kids over playing mostly in the front yard. When I was opening a baptism thank you card from my niece, somebody yelled "the BIRD!!" He had flown the coop. Gone. Over the house and near trees and out of sight. The mail dropped to the driveway. Dylan climbed on top of our fence and tried following him with his eyes. I climbed the back fence. Is "Prerty bird" he bird call for a house bird?? Dylan was whistling like for a lost dog. Gone. So many birds were chasing around. Gone. I had the kids except for Dylan go in to put swimsuits on. I cleaned bikes up a little. Devastated. Then the Holy Ghost who never fails me, made the impression on me to kneel and pray to find the lost bird. I knelt down at the dryer in the garage. Prayed, walked out and looked around. The look out, Dylan, spotted him! I took a photo. I had the prayer in my heart reaching out to Twitter. I had faith he would know it was home and he came to me! He landed on my head!! A miracle! Yes I said a thank you prayer. 

I love to see my kids see the temple

Julia's first trip to the Temple since she was in my big belly. #springbreak
She got dressed in a fancy purple dress from. @Corrie Crew so she could be like Sophia the First at the princess castle and even had me make her a crown. But when we were boarding the minivan, she had switched into another of Ivy's old dresses and insisted on a white one so she could go IN the temple. So we took both. She went in in her white one and went potty and saw the pretty paintings. We all did. (Not in white.) Then shThis is a "skate park" according to Yelp. Um, it's a sidewalk. We chose it because it is outside, had a playground, and was free. The Orlando Skate Park was not outside too, but the kids chose this one. Oops! Yes I updated yelp with photos.e changed so she could be a princess. She was sad she missed seeing Princess Sophia even though I told her that she was prettier and was the princess is this pretty castle. Oh. And she did NOT want to leave the temple. She wanted to hang out inside. Thinking back, maybe she wanted to wait for a princess. Oh well, she will have to keep going back to check!

I took the kids to a skate park afterwards there in Orlando. This is a "skate park" according to Yelp. Um, it's a sidewalk. We chose it because it is outside, had a playground, and was free. The Orlando Skate Park was outside too, but had paid admission and strict rules. The kids chose this one. Oops! Yes I updated yelp with photos. Julia had fun.

Dear Isaac, You're almost 9!

Dear Isaac,
     You're almost 9 years old! You're an awesome little kid. Well you're not that little. You're about the same height as your big brother Dylan. People ask me if you two are twins sometimes. You two do a lot of things together like go to the same school, both play soccer (but on different teams finally,) both have soccer practice 2 nights/week at the same fields, both have viola lessons at the same time, have piano lessons along with Tyler, and share a room with Dylan. You also share some clothes. You both like the soccer jerseys including the Rowdies jerseys Aunt Hollie made you boys.

You got baptized a year ago and continue to go to church. Last Sunday your Sunday School teacher told me that you have thoughtful answers and didn't participate in the disruptive behaviors of a couple of others. You know when to be crazy silly fun and when to be calm and respectful. You also gave a talk in primary last Sunday and I didn't help you at all except to hold your visual aids. You delivered it from memory!

     When my friend Shalynna asked Julia who her best friend was, she said you! I think you might be her favorite brother. You read to her, play with her, let her climb in your bed and play with stuffed animals with her.

     You like to eat and are okay with being a messy eater. I don't like to sit across from you unless I'm in the mood to laugh at your silly faces and messy hands. You are independent so you make your own lunch. You like healthy foods, but enjoy getting to eat snacks and treats when you get the chance. One day, I had to take you in to my work and there was a bag of assorted Hershey's miniature candy bars from a patient. Dr. Phane had told you and Dylan that you could have some. Dylan's pile of wrappers was small, yours was quite large! You're a growing boy. The other day, you were blowing your nose going through boxes and boxes of Kleenex at Grandma's house. She reported that you might have a cold, but still have your appetite. When we got home after Church, you ate like 3 lunches all at once! You're still growing!

on a mommy date, grilled cheese donut sandwich

after a viola performance

     You like Cub Scouts. You started about a year ago when you turned 8. You had been going as a tag-along since Dad is the cub master, so it was an easy transition.

 You like animals and are good at finding them and bringing them to me. Sometimes I'm grossed out and make you leave, but other times I take a photo. You're good at letting others see what you have.

 You are good at skim boarding and boogie boarding, and you sometimes skim on a boogie board or boogie on a skim board. You sometimes pull Julia on your boogie board too. You love the beach and could stay there all day with your friends.

 Your best friend is Noah. He's been your bud since before you two were born. Everything's better when he's involved. You did Vacation Bible School together and are on the same soccer team too. I think you and he have always been on the same soccer and football teams.

 You love to have fun and I absolutely love your laughing smile. You don't like me to get it on camera much though, so that's annoying for me. You do silly faces instead usually. But that real smile - it's the BEST! I love how you can hang out with people of all ages. You really do have fun with uncles, grandparents, little kids, kids in other grades etc. I think that's important to be able to be friends with lots of people.

 You're brave. You have tried roller coasters and surprisingly don't like them. But you're up for almost any other adventure and dive right in! You're not afraid to bite off more than you can chew. (Literally with food AND figuratively with things like starting a huge puzzle.)

Running the Oral Cancer 5K

1st time riding the go carts at the Grand Prix 

Hatching a baby Alligator

JustServe.org clean up

finished puzzle

 You like school and have great friends there. It is wonderful that you can have some of the same friends you've had since Kindergarten, both boys and girls. You're good at helping teach them the many skills you have such as working the rainbow loom, computer/ipad games, finger tricks, climbing skills, soccer fun, etc. You play hard and work hard. You have a ton of homework and it's hard to fit it in when you have so many other activities and want to be able to find time to go outside when it's day light then read when you come in. You do well in school and like your wonderful teacher, Ms. Perdisatt. She and your other teachers and coaches help you thrive by understanding how you think and work. I told you that your report card said you're excellent in everything except for handwriting, because I think you need to care about that!

 We had passes to Busch Gardens this year and you got to go with just Daddy once and with the family more. You like the climbing areas the best - and not just the designated climbing areas either!

     You're a climber. Anyone who knows you probably knows that. You climb the walls, the trees, poles, barricaides, the house, whatever. You're a little monkey!

This year you boys decided to transform our tree into a colorful climbing swinging base. You borrowed tools and old Tae Kwon Do belts and have the time of your lives out there.

 We went to Washington D.C. and you climbed so many stairs and trees and scurried up so many walls and structures and we walked for days. You didn't complain once. At the end of the day you mentioned that the escalators were your favorite parts because your feet were tired. Ha! We would've never known. You had a good attitude and it really helped our whole family.

You're really into scooters now. You and Dylan have been playing in our driveway with the other Dylan who lives across the street. I have taken you to two skate parks and you now would like to go every Friday after school. You watch YouTube videos on how to do tricks on the scooters then go outside and try them. You want a new scooter and a ramp for your birthday. We'll see...

 I love you my silly sweet smart soccer-loving Isaac! You're a leader who plays by the rules while thinking outside the box. You're creative and successful already and I'm happy to be in your family.
love, Mom