Playtime

A few things we've been up to...

Mr. A found Miss M's bow - clearly

Mr. A on his "motorcycle" as he calls it
Everyone say "cheese"

Working on "sitting" skills

Hangin' Out

Move over, boys. We've got ourselves a new "swinger" in town! Miss M has taken quite nicely to her new pastime - hanging (and gently rocking). (In case you're wondering, her shirt says "My Mummy Rocks" - how cool is that?)

Rocky Mountain High

I went to Utah for a few days to attend my dear friend, Suzanne's (from b-school), wedding.

Congrats, Suz! (Jess, Suz, me)

The picture doesn't do the mountains leaves justice but they did not disappoint

Some of "my" former "Young Women" - Kara, Lindsay, and Becca (great to see all of you)

I threw in a few other activities as well - eating at Cafe Rio (3 times - mmm); a shake at the Creamery; a visit to the BYU Candy Counter (for the first time in my life I did not buy one thing from there-yes, you should be impressed - very impressed. I certainly was.); a photo session for Miss M; and visits with great family & friends.

That's a BIG One!

So I'm frantically trying to get all of my computer work done before finishing my packing. Our office is below Mr. A's bedroom. I put him to bed at 7:23 pm. I hear his voice as I sit down at my desk. And, this is what I heard:

7:48 - "Wow! That's a BIG one!"
7:50 - "'Nother one"
7:52 - (more jabbering that I can't quite make out)
7:53 - "Oh. That little one."

At this point I'm intrigued. So, I walk upstairs, open his door, and see his little feet on the floor poking out from underneath the curtains. I thought, "Maybe he's looking at one of our neighbors and commenting." Mind you, it's dark outside.

I pull back the blinds and have this conversation:
Me: "Mr. A, what are you doing?"
Mr. A: "Oh, Mommy! Look! 'Nother BIG one!"

I look out and can only see the passing/blinking lights of airplanes in a night sky.

Me: "Do you mean the airplanes, Mr. A?"
Mr. A: "Ya, Mama! I see Daddy's hairpane"

At this point I'm practically in tears from the realization that he was postponing sleep to watch for his dad, but pull him out from behind the blinds and guide him to bed.

Mr. A: "Mama, I wanna see Daddy's hairpane more."
Me: "Tomorrow when you wake up, you can look for Daddy's airplane some more, ok?"
Mr. A: "Ok, mom. Where's Baby Sis?"
Me: "She's sleeping."
Mr. A: "OH! OK! Love you, Mom"
Me: "Love you, Mr. A."

I love Little People. I especially love MY little people. Sweet dreams to both of them. May visions of airplanes dance in Mr. A's head.

The Boys of Summer and Mastercard

Gas to visit your childhood home: $20

Breakfast at the Way Station: $15

Surfing on Venice Beach: $20

Lunch at In 'N Out (three times): $15

Tickets to the Dodgers games (2) in the all-you-can-eat section (with Dodger Dogs included):$50

A weekend with the boys (dad and the brothers), a walk down memory lane, and creating new memories: priceless

Miss M's Blessing

A few of you have asked about Miss M's blessing day.  I finally published the blog (and pictures) about it, but in the spirit of keeping things in chronological order, it really came up as the first posting in September.  Click here.  To see it directly.

Synergy

(A note to start: the formatting on this post is not cooperating with me and it's bugging me big time. Sorry for the lack of spaces. However, you get the idea...)

While out for a jog earlier this morning I rounded a cul-de-sac and stumbled upon a sight much like this one. I guess it's in the air (no pun intended). These birdies fleeing the coming cold for a warmer abode. Good for them. Can I do that too? Just for a few months? I don't mind the mild cold, but the bone-chilling, mind-numbing, teeth-hurting cold of late Dec/Jan/Feb is what gets me.

I digress.

This flock gave me cause to spend the remainder of my run analyzing why it is that these birds head for the warmer hills in such a beautiful formation. Wouldn't it be easier to just fly at their own pace and get there when they get there? And then I began to remember watching similar scenes as a little girl on the shores of the Peach Blossom Creek. And I remembered asking my sage grandfather why the geese fly like that. To which I remembered my grandfather teaching me that they do that for a very specific reason. I thought this Googled explanation explained it best (at least better than my ability to remember the exact words of my conversation with my grandfather):

"Canada geese fly in V formation for a very pragmatic reason: a flock of
geese flying in formation can move faster and maintain flight longer than any
one goose flying alone. Synergy is a law of nature."

Thus, the sum is greater than the whole of the parts. I like that. A lot. I want that for my wee ones. I want that for my friendships. I want that for my relationship with my DH and for my own little family.

This summer the kids got t-shirts indicating their Seamons "Team" number among the Seamons Grandkids. (We plan to do it for my side when we get a little larger). The point that we tried to make to these (currently) 17 team members and that we hope to make to our own kids when they are old enough, however, is that they are all part of a larger team where, if they all work together toward their common family goals, their sum will truly be greater than the whole of their own parts.

They will be in synergy.

Naturally.

Where's the Beef?

A beefing moment

See the love??

Mr. A L-O-V-E-S loves his Papa. And, I mean really loves. It's quite cute actually. He asks about his whereabouts on a daily basis, could point to California on the map, and always wants to give him a "beef." This is a tradition that Papa started with all of his grandsons and Mr. A has taken to it quite early on. When Nana & Papa were here visiting, Mr. A had regular "beef" sessions with Papa.

Lately, though, whenever Mr. A asks about Papa, he simply asks, "Mom, where's the Papa beef?"

We love you, Papa Beef!

I Luff You!

As DH was leaving for work today, Mr. A yelled over the bannister: "Bye, Dad! I LUUFFF YOU!"

And, as he watched him pull out of the driveway: "Bye, Dad! Have fun at the hairport!"

I love my Mr. A.

All Grown Up

All gussied up - he picked out his own shirt

His Spiderman backpack (the new one hasn't come yet)

Mr. A headed off to his first day of pre-school today. I thought I would lose it if he did but he didn't. We walked into his classroom (he was a little nervous) and said hi to his teachers and then looked at the toys he played with yesterday (at the Open House). I crouched down and told him I was going to leave him there but that I would be right back, that I loved him, and to have fun. I stood up, he reached his arms up to me, I crouched back down, he gave me a hug, and I said, "Bye, buddy! I love you!" And, off I went. I didn't hear any wailing (well, from his mouth, at least) or screaming behind me so I kept walking right on out the front door.

All morning long whenever the phone rang I thought it would be the school calling to tell me he had mis-behaved and I needed to come pick him up. Fortunately that call did not come, but I really did a lot of thinking about what kind of pre-schooler he'll be. Active? Most definitely. Energetic? Check. Obedient? Do they have time-out at pre-school? Chatty? I had a little inkling when, while picking Mr. A up, one of the other kids' dads commented, "He's a talker! We had a nice conversation with him!" Great.

I guess I should have known when, yesterday, at the Open House, the "conversation" went something like this:

Me: Mr. A, this is Miss Jen!

Mr. A (to Miss Jen): My daddy fyes hairpanes (he loses the l and adds an h)

Miss Jen (to me): Does he really?

Me: Yes.

Miss Jen (to Mr. A): Oh wow! Very cool.

Note to self: Must be careful about what we do at home lest it make it into the pre-school storytime.

Oy-Vay

I just spent a most glorious weekend (albeit "muito quente" - hot) with 3 of my favorite gals (oh, and my most favorite little gal, too - Miss M accompanied me) - the Minha Nossa Meninas - in the city that truly does not sleep - Las Vegas. What happened there should probably stay there (if only all that food we ate could have stayed there, too, instead of traveling home on my hips with me), but there are a few things I can share.

Leia (L1), Barbara, Libby (L2), and I served our Church missions in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, some 10 years (or so) ago - yikes! There weren't many American sisters serving in the mission so we had to stick together when the going got tough and the Cariocas tried to get testy with us! We managed to adopt Leia along the way when she married her American sweetheart and became one of us. Love it! Actually, B and I were companions in the MTC - 2 blissful months of learning a new language and trying not to put on too much weight from those Golden Grahams-crispy treats! L1 and L2 were companions right when L2 got to Brazil and started her mission. L1 was considered high-maintenance at one point so it was probably only natural that the 2 of them got to work on humbling one another!

Back to Vegas - 8 kids, 4 husbands, and 11 years after we all met, we finally all got together again. So happy we did. L2 is 8 months pregnant, my Miss M needed to tag along for sustenance's sake, and L1 and B were such great stroller-pushers, drink-getters, luggage-toters, and non-stop shoppers extraordinaire. We met up on Friday and hit the newest Cafe Rio establishment - manna from heaven, I like to call it. I think I ate my entire Pork Barbacoa salad in that one sitting. Mmm-mmm good.

We checked into our chi-chi Planet Hollywood hotel room (could the music in the check-in area have been any louder?) and settled in for a nice long catch-up session. I'm fairly confident Miss M and I were the first ones to doze off but I lasted until about 3 AM my time. Not bad, right?

Saturday took us out and about...

First stop - Coca Cola World - who doesn't need a nice, cold fountain-poured Caffeine Free Diet Coke? (It's the only way I'll drink it)

...and then on to M&M World - Peanut Butter was the consensus fave
...we walked and shopped until we almost dropped - the view from our hotel room
...and what would this Menina reunion be without some Brazilian churrasco? This waiter was from Rio, the abacaxe (L1, did I spell that right?) was to die for, and our rule was Portuguese-only speaking before, during, and after dinner - hilarious.
...and one final toast (Guarana, of course) to great friends, otimo experiencias no Brasil, recipe-swapping tales, child-raising stories, and more great times ahead in the not-as-distant future.
Amo voces, meninas! Ja sinto sua faulta - de mais. Fazemos isso de novo bem logo! Beijos e abracos...

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 7. 7. 8. 9. 10!

During my feeble exercise attempts Mr. A was being so supportive and doing my sit-ups with me.  When I started counting out loud, he decided to join me for a set.  And wouldn't you know, he laid right down on that ground next to me, lifted his legs in the air (I was doing the reverse ones), and started counting out loud too? And, wouldn't you know that when I started what I thought was my last set (my legs were in a most painful state - what with those 3 lb weights on the ends of them), my sweet little Mr. A repeated the number seven 3 times?  Ouch.  And when he finally got to ten he shouted, "Yaaaay, MOOOMM!!"  Still ouch-in', but not as much.  

I'm Home, I'm Safe, I'm Alive

I really just wanted an excuse to use that line from one of the all-time great movies - "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." Remember when Helen Hunt was dragging SJP into her house after SJP had gotten the word from her brother on the walkie-talkie hidden in the bushes that she had been busted for sneaking out? That was the line HH gave to SJP's militaristic parents.

Anyway, had a most amazing time in Vegas with the other members of the Minha Nossa Meninas (I just decided to name us that - what do you guys think?) - we all served our missions together in Rio and it's been way too long since we've all been together in one place. More to come (with pictures) soon. I got home late and had to cuddle with my DH while he slept (and left again this AM) and then I got to cuddle with my Mr. A this morning.  Love that kid and love that smile.  In the meantime, though, I really am home, safe, and alive.

She's Gone

Lola Fely left our house today and Mr. A's response sums it up perfectly. Upon waking from his nap and asking immediately, "Mom, where's Lola Fely?" when I told him she had left he replied, "Noooooo!!!!" I echo those sentiments. Thank you for coming, Lola Fely. You bless our lives always and we miss you already. Come back real soon!

A Blessed Weekend

In the LDS faith, fathers who can do so are given the opportunity to "bless" their children shortly after they are born - a blessing typically entails a "naming" portion where the name is bestowed upon the baby (preferably the one they were given at birth, but apparently there have been times it's changed - not at our house) and a blessing for the future/wishes for life are imparted. We had family come to town to celebrate with us and we're so grateful they did. Not only did they celebrate, they also pitched in and helped with meals, baby-holding, Mr. A-entertaining, etc. It was heavenly.

So, DH gave Miss M a sweet blessing this weekend. A few of the things he mentioned:

-all about love

-a good example to other family members

-so blessed to have been born in this age of technology (don't ask)

- develop a testimony of the gospel that will strengthen her and carry her to the altars of the temple where she will get to marry her eternal companion and raise a righteous family

- stay close to her family who loves her so much - they will be her strength throughout her life

Additionally, one of the gentlemen in the circle for the blessing told me later that he "peeked" during the blessing and saw Miss M just staring up, wide-eyed, at her dad. Let the love affair begin.

(Sorry for all of the pictures. Too many to not post and I still haven't taken the time to download Picasa on my computer to make cute collages - someday.)

Post-blessing token shot

Mom and Me (her skinny genes skipped me and went straight to my sister, Alexis. Thanks.)

Jen-Jen and Me (doesn't she look hot?!   Ahhh- to have your wedding be just weeks away)

Mr. A and his Nana

A most protective older brother...

...and a very sweet one, too

The dad and the new gal in his life

The Little Lady of the Day

Mr. A and his BG

Auntie Alice and Miss M

Isn't she so yummy?!

The Mom and the M-ster

So very happy