Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Another successful Halloween has come and gone. We went for simplicity with Kristen's costume. We figured since she would be wearing a jacket anyway that we'd just draw whiskers on her face. I know, we can be lame like that. Misha was a cowboy and rocked it. Amy loved the witch hat that I sewed lots of yarn hair on. In fact, she wore it for days before Halloween just because she liked the feeling of having long hair.
Thursday, 18 October, 2007
Chris celebrated another birthday. They just keep coming.
Chris and Amy returned Tuesday night from visiting Grandma Andrews in Mount Shasta California. They left Friday afternoon after school. Amy was so excited about the whole trip. The night before we made a list of last-minute things she would need to do in the morning before going to school. She would only need to get up a couple of minutes earlier than normal, but who do I see peaking around the door in my exercise room at 5:30 in the morning? Excited or what? I sent her back to bed but I don’t really think she listened.
Thursday night after Chris and Amy returned from visiting Grandma Andrews, everyone was soundly asleep until all of a sudden Chris was out of bed like a light and racing off to Kristen’s room. His jumping out of bed woke me up but it took me a couple of seconds to realize what was happening when I heard Kristen throwing up. Chris can hear barfing from a mile away, I swear. When I got to her room, the bed was covered in barf, and the poor little thing was still throwing up. That was the beginning of such a fun night. She continued to throw up all night long. I made her a bed on my side of the bed in our room and tried to sleep. That’s mostly impossible when you are wakened every 15 to 20 minutes to the sound of barfing.
Chris and I were so exhausted the next day. However I still had to get the other two up and ready for school. As I was in the bathroom talking to Amy, Misha walked in and went straight for the garbage can and threw up. Great. She put on a good show though and tried to eat breakfast. Her class was scheduled to go on its first field trip—on the school bus—and it was “free dress day” (meaning no uniform). She did not want to miss. She said she was feeling fine now. So against my better judgment, I let her get ready to go to school. We went first to pick up the carpool kids. As we were driving down the street, I happened to look in the rear view mirror and noticed Misha with her cheeks puffed out trying not to barf. I quickly pulled over to the side of the road and yelled, “Let her out!” Whew. She made it out the door. I brought her back home and she and Kristen barfed throughout the day. Misha was smart enough to not drink too much, but Kristen couldn’t be reasoned with and every time she had a drink of Gatorade, it came right back up. You try arguing with a sick two-year old who wants a drink!
I had a fun weekend planned and Chris was kind enough to stay with the girls and their barfing. I had registered for an event called “Time Out for Women”. It was held Friday evening and Saturday and the Denver Merchandise Mart. It was an inspirational weekend of music and speakers. I needed the uplift and by the time I got home Saturday afternoon, both girls were feeling better and were outside helping Chris in the backyard.
Chris left for San Antonio on Sunday morning for a quick interview with USAA on Monday morning. Our lives are in an upheaval right now making decisions about the future for his work and our family. Chris applied for a job months ago and then forgot about it. USAA called him out of the blue and asked if he would be willing to interview. The position is a perfect fit for him and his MQ skills. It would just be in San Antonio.
Brad came to visit this past weekend to celebrate his birthday on Halloween and to have some time away. I always enjoy having him come. It isn’t a lot of stress. He doesn’t mind fixing his own breakfast and lunch since we are pretty informal here. It is nice to have him around to talk to. Sadly, Kristen got a cold while he was here and now I am sick as well. I hope that it won’t last long. She hasn’t been too bad with hers, but I definitely will be taking a nap this afternoon. I have been sneezing all morning long though and she keeps saying, “bless you”.
I attended parent-teacher conference for Amy and Misha a couple of weeks ago. They are both doing great in school. In fact, both are on the honor roll and Misha was given the citizenship award in her class. I am proud of both of them.
Chris and Amy returned Tuesday night from visiting Grandma Andrews in Mount Shasta California. They left Friday afternoon after school. Amy was so excited about the whole trip. The night before we made a list of last-minute things she would need to do in the morning before going to school. She would only need to get up a couple of minutes earlier than normal, but who do I see peaking around the door in my exercise room at 5:30 in the morning? Excited or what? I sent her back to bed but I don’t really think she listened.
Thursday night after Chris and Amy returned from visiting Grandma Andrews, everyone was soundly asleep until all of a sudden Chris was out of bed like a light and racing off to Kristen’s room. His jumping out of bed woke me up but it took me a couple of seconds to realize what was happening when I heard Kristen throwing up. Chris can hear barfing from a mile away, I swear. When I got to her room, the bed was covered in barf, and the poor little thing was still throwing up. That was the beginning of such a fun night. She continued to throw up all night long. I made her a bed on my side of the bed in our room and tried to sleep. That’s mostly impossible when you are wakened every 15 to 20 minutes to the sound of barfing.
Chris and I were so exhausted the next day. However I still had to get the other two up and ready for school. As I was in the bathroom talking to Amy, Misha walked in and went straight for the garbage can and threw up. Great. She put on a good show though and tried to eat breakfast. Her class was scheduled to go on its first field trip—on the school bus—and it was “free dress day” (meaning no uniform). She did not want to miss. She said she was feeling fine now. So against my better judgment, I let her get ready to go to school. We went first to pick up the carpool kids. As we were driving down the street, I happened to look in the rear view mirror and noticed Misha with her cheeks puffed out trying not to barf. I quickly pulled over to the side of the road and yelled, “Let her out!” Whew. She made it out the door. I brought her back home and she and Kristen barfed throughout the day. Misha was smart enough to not drink too much, but Kristen couldn’t be reasoned with and every time she had a drink of Gatorade, it came right back up. You try arguing with a sick two-year old who wants a drink!
I had a fun weekend planned and Chris was kind enough to stay with the girls and their barfing. I had registered for an event called “Time Out for Women”. It was held Friday evening and Saturday and the Denver Merchandise Mart. It was an inspirational weekend of music and speakers. I needed the uplift and by the time I got home Saturday afternoon, both girls were feeling better and were outside helping Chris in the backyard.
Chris left for San Antonio on Sunday morning for a quick interview with USAA on Monday morning. Our lives are in an upheaval right now making decisions about the future for his work and our family. Chris applied for a job months ago and then forgot about it. USAA called him out of the blue and asked if he would be willing to interview. The position is a perfect fit for him and his MQ skills. It would just be in San Antonio.
Brad came to visit this past weekend to celebrate his birthday on Halloween and to have some time away. I always enjoy having him come. It isn’t a lot of stress. He doesn’t mind fixing his own breakfast and lunch since we are pretty informal here. It is nice to have him around to talk to. Sadly, Kristen got a cold while he was here and now I am sick as well. I hope that it won’t last long. She hasn’t been too bad with hers, but I definitely will be taking a nap this afternoon. I have been sneezing all morning long though and she keeps saying, “bless you”.
I attended parent-teacher conference for Amy and Misha a couple of weeks ago. They are both doing great in school. In fact, both are on the honor roll and Misha was given the citizenship award in her class. I am proud of both of them.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Kristen has some of the best manners for a two-year old. She will often say “please” when she wants something and it is so cute to hear her say “Thank you Mommy” without having to prompt her. She may be in the middle of the “terrible twos”, but she is sure a little sweetheart too.
She has a new little friend, Bella, she likes to play with. Kristen hasn’t had too much interaction with other kids her age except at church. This is a good opportunity to improve her social interaction skills, add to her speech, catch on to the idea of using the potty, and learn to share. She just thinks it is fun to have Bella come to our house or to go and play at Bella’s house. Bella’s mom, Tirsa, enjoys a little quiet time when we trade off.
Amy and Misha are both doing well in school. While Kristen played at Bella’s yesterday, I went to volunteer at the school in Amy’s room. Misha had a substitute teacher. She had enough challenges dealing with students and didn’t need to find things for a parent to do. So, I helped straighten up Amy’s room and then stayed with her while she ate lunch. The little boy next to me was rather annoying and kept patting me on the shoulder to talk to me about video games—with his mouth full of course. I kept thinking, “Please don’t spit that food on me.”
She has a new little friend, Bella, she likes to play with. Kristen hasn’t had too much interaction with other kids her age except at church. This is a good opportunity to improve her social interaction skills, add to her speech, catch on to the idea of using the potty, and learn to share. She just thinks it is fun to have Bella come to our house or to go and play at Bella’s house. Bella’s mom, Tirsa, enjoys a little quiet time when we trade off.
Amy and Misha are both doing well in school. While Kristen played at Bella’s yesterday, I went to volunteer at the school in Amy’s room. Misha had a substitute teacher. She had enough challenges dealing with students and didn’t need to find things for a parent to do. So, I helped straighten up Amy’s room and then stayed with her while she ate lunch. The little boy next to me was rather annoying and kept patting me on the shoulder to talk to me about video games—with his mouth full of course. I kept thinking, “Please don’t spit that food on me.”
Saturday, September 15, 2007
On Thursday night Amy has piano lessons and on Friday after school both girls are in a Chess Club. The people that we carpool with were signing their boys up for the class. They said they would still pick up Amy and Misha at the usual 3 pm time if the girls weren’t interested in learning Chess. I thought it would be a good opportunity for them to learn and to have some “brain” activity. It’s not such a big deal in my schedule on Fridays, they just don’t get home until after 4. They both are enjoying the challenge…and again, it was $10 each for the entire school year. You just can’t beat the price.
Kristen’s activities include story time at the library at 10:30 am on Thursday with Miss Jan. She loves it. I think she might even be ready to move up to the next class which meets instead on Monday mornings. In September, she, too, will begin swimming lessons. She really improved over the summer in overcoming her fear of the water. This will be a good start for her.
Kristen graduated to a “big girl” bed at the beginning of September. I figured since she wasn’t keen on the potty training, I’d mess up her schedule in another way. She watched as I took down her crib and tried to help me. She had a nap no problem in her bed that first afternoon, and I thought to myself, “Piece of cake!” Not so. That night she realized that she could actually get out of bed and come out of her room. She did that a couple of times throughout the night, and I lamented, “What have I done?” Chris looked at me with that “You just had to go a mess up a good thing” look. She got better with the passing nights and finally was back to sleeping through the night.
What got her in to more trouble though was not taking a nap one day. I’d put her down and she was right back up playing and coming out of her room. Chris even went in a couple of times. No luck. I finally gave up and put her in front of the tv. I checked on her a couple of times and finally she gave in to the dreaded nap monster and zonked out on the floor. By then it was 3 pm and I didn’t want her sleeping long. I transferred her upstairs to her bed but left the door ajar. That night after work, Chris purchased a new round door knob from Home Depot. We have lever knobs that are pretty easy for little hands to open. Just in case she was also adept at opening the round knob, we added a child safety knob on top. Now she’s back to sleeping through her naps and knocks on the door when she is ready to come out. It effectively psyched her into staying in bed.
I figured Kristen was ready for some of these changes in her life when she began to assert more independence and growing up attitudes. I wasn’t sad at all to say good bye to the high chair. It had sat in the corner of the breakfast nook for the past two years, and I was just waiting for the day when I could put it away. Kristen decided that she wanted to sit up at the counter as her sisters do. She requires a shorter stool to climb up to her counter-height stool and can barely see food in a bowl, but she is adamant about sitting up there.
Her speech is coming along, but it is not stellar by any means. She is picking up new words but can only say a few of the alphabet sounds. It’ll come. On the flip side of her brain, she has decided that she needs to walk down the stairs without holding on to the wall or the railing. When I attempted to potty train Kristen however, I would let her watch “The Letter Factory” video by Leap Frog that teaches the alphabet and the sounds each letter makes. So now she recognizes most of her letters by the sounds that they make and can pick them out on the computer keyboard.
Grandma Ball sent all of the girls new, monogrammed lunch boxes just for fun. Kristen calls hers a backpack (like Dora). She often enjoys riding to school with the girls in the morning and makes sure that she has her hat, shoes and little pink lunch box in hand to be ready. So cute.
Friday, August 10, 2007
July was a busy month. We began with our trip to Steamboat Springs over the first week and followed it up with the 6th Annual “Camping with the Hansens” in Rocky Mountain National Park. That was held July 12th through the 14th. I helped Jennifer Hansen in the planning this year and organized and made food assignments for the breakfast for Saturday morning.
We had purchased a new tent last year but found after one camping trip that the seams were already coming undone and that the zippers kept catching the fabric. We returned that one and found a new tent at Costco. I hope that it turns out to be a good tent. The first night we were there it poured and poured and someone from our group said to me that Chris was bailing water out of the tent. Chris seemed to think it was a one-time occurrence after he adjusted the tarp. I hope so. I tried my hand at dutch oven cooking again and made lasagna the first night and bbq’d chicken the next night-as well as peach cobbler. Everything turned out quite tasty. We left for home after breakfast on Saturday morning and after unpacking and doing laundry were pretty much wiped out for the rest of the day.
We had a couple days off between camping and our next event--Linda’s visit. During that week, Amy had a doctors appointment with the pediatric gastroenterologist—Dr. Lee. It was in downtown Denver with an address that was rather confusing. I finally stopped to ask directions at a hospital and was shown the address on the office tower across from the entrance. At least I found it. We had to wait a little while until we were able to see the doctor, Amy obviously nervous. Both of us were a little shocked when Dr. Lee walked into the room—he was a little person, not much taller than Amy. After talking to us and doing an unpleasant exam, he concluded that Amy is constipated and needs to be on Miralax (a stool softener) for maybe 6 months to a year to soften her stools and regain some of the feeling in her muscles. He said that 25% of the cases he sees are this type and it is better to get the problem taken care of earlier than later. That was a relief for both of us. Amy was worried that she would have to have another surgery.
Amy and Misha both finished their summer swimming lessons in July and both of them did super and advanced to the next level. I hope to continue their progress this fall and also get Kristen started. She is a lot more comfortable in the water now and is ready to begin lessons.
Chris took a couple of days off while his mom was here. We had tried to get some days in the Estes Park Worldmark timeshare, but nothing ever became available. So instead we spent the day in Estes and Rocky Mountain Park. The girls were not thrilled with another hike, but we made them go anyway. As we were nearing the end of the hike, it started to rain. Most of us had jackets or umbrellas except Chris who had opted to leave his rain jacket in the van. We made it to the bus stop with seconds to spare before the bus came to take us back to our van.
The rest of the day in Estes was pretty rainy. The nice thing about that was that it scared off most of the tourists and the sidewalks and stores were pretty clear for walking and browsing. We didn’t buy much, but it is fun just to walk around. By the time we arrived back in Longmont, the weather was clear. We stopped at Target to buy a new stroller, I had had it with the one that we were using. The week previously I gave three of our older strollers to the Salvation Army. The new stroller, a Maclaren Volo, was a bit spendy, but it is sturdy enough to hold the older girls (though Amy for not much longer). We stopped at Mariposa for their 20-inch burritos and then headed home.
Friday was a relatively non-stressful day. I can’t remember that we did much of anything. I think Grandma Ball took the girls to see the movie “Ratatouille” at the theatre in Longmont. They loved it and I enjoyed some quiet time.
Saturday was IBM’s day at Elitch Gardens in Denver (it used to be a Six Flags facility but was sold). Chris was waiting on his bike to be fixed, so we didn’t actually get to the park until around 1 pm. Everyone headed straight for the water park. I stayed with strollers and things, which I didn’t mind. Though I wished that I had brought a book along to read. I think we stayed at the water park until well after 3 pm. Chris dropped Kristen off and after filling her up with a couple of snacks, I put her in the stroller and rocked her to sleep. We spent the rest of the day in the amusement part of the park. We traded off between adult rides and kids rides. IBM paid for a meal for us (hot dogs, bbq beef burgers, potato salad and drinks). It wasn’t super, but it filled us up. We left the park around 9:30, all of us were pretty exhausted. Kristen barely fell asleep just before we got home. Grandma thought for sure she would sleep in in the morning, but knowing her as I do, I figured she would be up before 7. I was right. I put her down for a nap Sunday morning at 10:15. Kristen cried about having to go to bed, but she fell fast asleep and woke up before we left for church. She would have been such a bear otherwise.
We said our goodbyes to Grandma after Sacrament meeting as Chris would be dropping her off at the shuttle at 3:45. He hurried back to the church in time to help Amy with her talk. She did a super job talking about how families can follow Jesus Christ in faith.
Sunday afternoon was full of doing laundry in preparation for a week away. I don’t enjoy spending my Sabbath afternoon doing that, but it really needed to be done. We packed up our bags so that we could leave fairly early in the morning for Cooke City, Montana. We planned to spend a couple of days there with Mark and Malinda DeBry. (They used to live in Colorado but moved to Boise, Idaho a couple of years ago to be closer to family). Our friends the Siders and the Allreds were already at the cabin. We had to stop in town to pick up Chris’ bike because the wrong part had been ordered on Saturday and then we dropped a loaf of bread off at a friends whose husband has West Nile virus. By then it was around 10 am and we were finally on our way.
We spent all day driving and stopped a couple of times to get groceries and let the girls out to run around and to eat. I would be responsible for making meals for everyone the next day (ask me if I was excited about that). We finally arrived at the cabin after 10 pm. What a long day. I didn’t imagine that it would take so long. The girls were almost too wound up to go to sleep so we let them unwind a bit while we brought suitcases in. The cabin itself was huge with lots of bedrooms. It wasn’t so crowded with people, mostly just overcrowded with furniture.
The girls had a blast there. They got to ride horses, swim in the river, jump off the tree swing, play in the mud, see a moose, and play with lots of friends. I’m sure they will want to go again in the future. After cleaning and a group picture, we left Wednesday morning around 9:30. We planned to drive through Yellowstone Park and spend the day there. The girls were amazed and impressed by the buffalo, many right along the side of the road, and some crossing right in front of us. We got a lot of fun pictures.
We stopped for dinner in West Yellowstone and then headed toward our hotel destination in St. Anthony, ID outside Rexburg. I wanted to go to a printing factory and pick up thank you notes. We also drove around a bit a saw the new temple and walked around campus a bit. There was a lot of construction going on, so we didn’t stay too long. I showed the girls where I lived when I went to Ricks College.
We had lunch in Pocatello and drove on to Lehi through pouring rain for much of the morning. We had planned for family pictures in the evening at Thanksgiving Point, so once we arrived at Brad’s and dropped off our stuff, we headed to a Walmart to get Misha’s hair cut. Her bangs have finally grown out and are just below her chin. I had the stylist cut the rest of her hair to match that length. It looks pretty cute and will be a good style for school. Most days I just have to comb through it and it looks great.
We headed back to Brad’s for a quick snack for the girls so they’d last through the photographs and be happy. Utah county is so congested now, that to get anywhere you have to plan extra time. There is bound to be slowing, accidents and congestion. Our photographer and all of our family finally arrived and after a brief stint of rain, we got some fun pictures taken. He was relatively inexpensive and my family was pretty impressed. I found him on craigslist since my family wasn’t able to locate a photographer.
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The next couple of days were spent in Park City for the 1st Annual Rice Family Reunion. I pretty much planned and organized the whole thing which added to my stress level, but it worked out okay. The cabin had plenty of places for sleeping, though Mom and Dad Rice ended up on the pull out couch in the basement living room. The kids enjoyed the hot tub in the evening. I think the water level was down by a 1/3 by the time we left. I didn’t try to plan too many activites and that was probably good since the kids just had fun playing pool and other games. Some family members went shopping and some rested. Dad’s heart started acting up Saturday morning, so he spent the day resting and finally his heart rhythms evened out by Sunday.
I had located a visitors’ Sacrament Meeting in Park City for Sunday. I think all were quite pleased that it was Sacrament only. I know I enjoyed that part of it. We had a fun white elephant gift exchange and a fairly laid back day. All in all I think it was successful. Chris and I had hoped to have the reunion every two years, but everyone else voted for once a year. That’s probably because they don’t have to go very far to attend. Chris suggested that the next time I plan it, it should be held in Colorado. Good idea I say. Dallin and Donna will be in charge next year, but more than likely it will be Donna.
Dallin’s oldest daughter, Angie, came back to Utah with us Monday morning to spend the rest of the week. For the most part, it has been good for the girls to play together. Sometimes though, Amy and Angie who are both the oldest in their families, vie for ultimate power. I suppose it has been a good learning experience for both of them. Dallin and Donna are coming tonight to pick Angie up. They’ll stay tomorrow and then head home after morning church on Sunday.
There are a lot of craft items strewn around my house from Amy and Grandma Ball’s purchases. Yesterday, I walked in to my office to find Kristen applying glue stick to her lips. “Mmmm, pretty.” she says. She wasn’t too happy when I confiscated the glue, but I can just imagine it going in to her hair, on her clothes, you get the idea. In fact, earlier in the day, I was transferring flour from a large bucket to a smaller bucket that would fit in my pantry. Amy asked if she could do it, and I said yes. I made the mistake of allowing Kristen to go outside while the transfer was in process. When I went back to check, there was flour all over everything, including Kristen and Amy. I took pictures, but I was pretty angry. Kristen had already had a shower for the day and now both girls were headed upstairs for a bath and I had a big mess to clean up outside. Ahhh, the joys of parenthood.
The girls are back in school! Yeah! A feeling of peace has settled back over my home and all is good. I was getting to my wit’s end. The girls and I went to the school on Friday afternoon so they could meet their teachers, check out their classroom and drop off some of their school supplies. Misha is in first grade with Miss Place (Amy had her last year) and Amy is in second grade with Mrs. Romero. Both are excited for the new year and for their teacher assignments.
After the flour mishap a couple of weeks ago, Amy came running up to my room last Friday. I was getting ready to go out with Chris and was in the middle of blow drying my hair. Amy comes upstairs and says that Kristen is in my flour again. Aaaaaaagh! Worse, she was playing in my more expensive dough enhancer and had kindly swirled it on her, the counter, and the floor. I was so upset that I started to cry. My children knew I had reached my limit. Amy quietly stole downstairs to get her dad and he magically appeared to help clean up the mess and enfold me in his arms. Without saying anything to Kristen, she definitely knew she had done something wrong.
The rest of that Friday evening got better. Chris and I celebrated our 10th Anniversary with dinner and a movie. And it got even better on Monday morning when we dropped the girls off at school.
For Family Home Evening on Monday night, Chris gave Amy and Misha “back to school” blessings. Kristen wasn’t very quiet or patient during the blessings. It would have been better to set her up watching tv in the basement. I was trying to write down some of the ideas Chris mentioned in the blessings, so I didn’t want to leave to quiet her down.
Misha went first and here are some of the points mentioned in her blessing:
This year is a time to grow and stretch out of your comfort zone. You have a soft and tender soul and change is sometimes hard for you. With faith, these changes will be easy.
If you work hard, you will be blessed to be able to listen, pay attention and not be so distracted. You will be able to focus and do what your teacher asks. And you will have good grades.
You will be a leader in your classroom. Children without friends or who are having a hard time at home will look to you as an inspiration in class because you have a sweet smile and are able to make friends. You will help these kids.
Your reading has improved and if you focus, your writing will also improve. You will develop new skills, a love for reading and better penmanship.
Heavenly Father loves you. He sent you here at a special time for a special purpose. He will help you as you have faith and ask for his help.
Amy’s blessing:
Amy you have experienced many struggles over the past year that have been hard to bear. You’re stronger and better able to understand what it feels like to be in need, to be depressed, to be sad and wish that you could do things that you can’t. You understand the healing power of the priesthood and now have the opportunity to take these experiences and use them to help others. You will see others who suffer from illness, you will have a special intuition about helping them by being a friend, providing service and being a leader so that your friends will want to help as well.
You are a natural leader. You are able to work well with your teachers and follow directions as they are given. Your challenge will be to try not to always be first or be called on by your teacher when you have the answer. It will be okay if you are not first.
You have a keen mind and learning is easy. I admonish you to supplement your learning through extracurricular activities to prepare for life that is to come. School is easy--your challenges more often lay at home. Being honest is a struggle. Focus on telling the truth and your problems with your bottom will diminish and go away. Realize that these things happen through the Savior.
Work hard at home to be a friend to your sisters. Respect your parents. The skills you learn now will set you apart distinctly from your peers. Work hard at home and you will be blessed.
Heavenly Father knows Amy Kline. He knows who you are. Ask for his help and work hard to do your best. You are like your Dad and don’t always want to ask for help.
Both Amy and Misha will be taking a gymnastics class this fall. It is held once a week for 45 minutes at a friend’s house. They are pretty excited. Amy will be starting piano lessons next Thursday—they will also be once a week. Chris tells her that she will have to sign a contract with her parents for practicing. If we are going to invest so much $ in to the lessons, she will have to practice. To balance things out, I have thought about enrolling Misha in some after-school science classes. They would be just perfect for her. Amy would probably love to be involved as well, but she’ll be plenty busy, and something fun that Misha gets to do that Amy doesn’t will be good for both of them.
The swimming lesson schedule for the fall hasn’t come out yet, but I would like to have all three girls enrolled. I will try to get Kristen enrolled in the morning and then have the other two enrolled at night. Kristen is already signed up for story time at the library, so they all should have plenty to keep them busy and involved for the fall and winter. It’ll probably end up driving me crazy with all of the running here and there, but Chris will hopefully be able to help with some of the shuttling back and forth.
I gave my best effort to beginning potty training Kristen this week. She kind of gets the idea, but not really. I decided to give it a rest for a month or two and try again. I was really losing my patience over all the accidents. She would stand right next to her little potty and pee! Aaaahh! the frustration. I will be glad when that hurdle is behind us.
We had purchased a new tent last year but found after one camping trip that the seams were already coming undone and that the zippers kept catching the fabric. We returned that one and found a new tent at Costco. I hope that it turns out to be a good tent. The first night we were there it poured and poured and someone from our group said to me that Chris was bailing water out of the tent. Chris seemed to think it was a one-time occurrence after he adjusted the tarp. I hope so. I tried my hand at dutch oven cooking again and made lasagna the first night and bbq’d chicken the next night-as well as peach cobbler. Everything turned out quite tasty. We left for home after breakfast on Saturday morning and after unpacking and doing laundry were pretty much wiped out for the rest of the day.
We had a couple days off between camping and our next event--Linda’s visit. During that week, Amy had a doctors appointment with the pediatric gastroenterologist—Dr. Lee. It was in downtown Denver with an address that was rather confusing. I finally stopped to ask directions at a hospital and was shown the address on the office tower across from the entrance. At least I found it. We had to wait a little while until we were able to see the doctor, Amy obviously nervous. Both of us were a little shocked when Dr. Lee walked into the room—he was a little person, not much taller than Amy. After talking to us and doing an unpleasant exam, he concluded that Amy is constipated and needs to be on Miralax (a stool softener) for maybe 6 months to a year to soften her stools and regain some of the feeling in her muscles. He said that 25% of the cases he sees are this type and it is better to get the problem taken care of earlier than later. That was a relief for both of us. Amy was worried that she would have to have another surgery.
Amy and Misha both finished their summer swimming lessons in July and both of them did super and advanced to the next level. I hope to continue their progress this fall and also get Kristen started. She is a lot more comfortable in the water now and is ready to begin lessons.
Chris took a couple of days off while his mom was here. We had tried to get some days in the Estes Park Worldmark timeshare, but nothing ever became available. So instead we spent the day in Estes and Rocky Mountain Park. The girls were not thrilled with another hike, but we made them go anyway. As we were nearing the end of the hike, it started to rain. Most of us had jackets or umbrellas except Chris who had opted to leave his rain jacket in the van. We made it to the bus stop with seconds to spare before the bus came to take us back to our van.
The rest of the day in Estes was pretty rainy. The nice thing about that was that it scared off most of the tourists and the sidewalks and stores were pretty clear for walking and browsing. We didn’t buy much, but it is fun just to walk around. By the time we arrived back in Longmont, the weather was clear. We stopped at Target to buy a new stroller, I had had it with the one that we were using. The week previously I gave three of our older strollers to the Salvation Army. The new stroller, a Maclaren Volo, was a bit spendy, but it is sturdy enough to hold the older girls (though Amy for not much longer). We stopped at Mariposa for their 20-inch burritos and then headed home.
Friday was a relatively non-stressful day. I can’t remember that we did much of anything. I think Grandma Ball took the girls to see the movie “Ratatouille” at the theatre in Longmont. They loved it and I enjoyed some quiet time.
Saturday was IBM’s day at Elitch Gardens in Denver (it used to be a Six Flags facility but was sold). Chris was waiting on his bike to be fixed, so we didn’t actually get to the park until around 1 pm. Everyone headed straight for the water park. I stayed with strollers and things, which I didn’t mind. Though I wished that I had brought a book along to read. I think we stayed at the water park until well after 3 pm. Chris dropped Kristen off and after filling her up with a couple of snacks, I put her in the stroller and rocked her to sleep. We spent the rest of the day in the amusement part of the park. We traded off between adult rides and kids rides. IBM paid for a meal for us (hot dogs, bbq beef burgers, potato salad and drinks). It wasn’t super, but it filled us up. We left the park around 9:30, all of us were pretty exhausted. Kristen barely fell asleep just before we got home. Grandma thought for sure she would sleep in in the morning, but knowing her as I do, I figured she would be up before 7. I was right. I put her down for a nap Sunday morning at 10:15. Kristen cried about having to go to bed, but she fell fast asleep and woke up before we left for church. She would have been such a bear otherwise.
We said our goodbyes to Grandma after Sacrament meeting as Chris would be dropping her off at the shuttle at 3:45. He hurried back to the church in time to help Amy with her talk. She did a super job talking about how families can follow Jesus Christ in faith.
Sunday afternoon was full of doing laundry in preparation for a week away. I don’t enjoy spending my Sabbath afternoon doing that, but it really needed to be done. We packed up our bags so that we could leave fairly early in the morning for Cooke City, Montana. We planned to spend a couple of days there with Mark and Malinda DeBry. (They used to live in Colorado but moved to Boise, Idaho a couple of years ago to be closer to family). Our friends the Siders and the Allreds were already at the cabin. We had to stop in town to pick up Chris’ bike because the wrong part had been ordered on Saturday and then we dropped a loaf of bread off at a friends whose husband has West Nile virus. By then it was around 10 am and we were finally on our way.
We spent all day driving and stopped a couple of times to get groceries and let the girls out to run around and to eat. I would be responsible for making meals for everyone the next day (ask me if I was excited about that). We finally arrived at the cabin after 10 pm. What a long day. I didn’t imagine that it would take so long. The girls were almost too wound up to go to sleep so we let them unwind a bit while we brought suitcases in. The cabin itself was huge with lots of bedrooms. It wasn’t so crowded with people, mostly just overcrowded with furniture.
The girls had a blast there. They got to ride horses, swim in the river, jump off the tree swing, play in the mud, see a moose, and play with lots of friends. I’m sure they will want to go again in the future. After cleaning and a group picture, we left Wednesday morning around 9:30. We planned to drive through Yellowstone Park and spend the day there. The girls were amazed and impressed by the buffalo, many right along the side of the road, and some crossing right in front of us. We got a lot of fun pictures.
We stopped for dinner in West Yellowstone and then headed toward our hotel destination in St. Anthony, ID outside Rexburg. I wanted to go to a printing factory and pick up thank you notes. We also drove around a bit a saw the new temple and walked around campus a bit. There was a lot of construction going on, so we didn’t stay too long. I showed the girls where I lived when I went to Ricks College.
We had lunch in Pocatello and drove on to Lehi through pouring rain for much of the morning. We had planned for family pictures in the evening at Thanksgiving Point, so once we arrived at Brad’s and dropped off our stuff, we headed to a Walmart to get Misha’s hair cut. Her bangs have finally grown out and are just below her chin. I had the stylist cut the rest of her hair to match that length. It looks pretty cute and will be a good style for school. Most days I just have to comb through it and it looks great.
We headed back to Brad’s for a quick snack for the girls so they’d last through the photographs and be happy. Utah county is so congested now, that to get anywhere you have to plan extra time. There is bound to be slowing, accidents and congestion. Our photographer and all of our family finally arrived and after a brief stint of rain, we got some fun pictures taken. He was relatively inexpensive and my family was pretty impressed. I found him on craigslist since my family wasn’t able to locate a photographer.
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The next couple of days were spent in Park City for the 1st Annual Rice Family Reunion. I pretty much planned and organized the whole thing which added to my stress level, but it worked out okay. The cabin had plenty of places for sleeping, though Mom and Dad Rice ended up on the pull out couch in the basement living room. The kids enjoyed the hot tub in the evening. I think the water level was down by a 1/3 by the time we left. I didn’t try to plan too many activites and that was probably good since the kids just had fun playing pool and other games. Some family members went shopping and some rested. Dad’s heart started acting up Saturday morning, so he spent the day resting and finally his heart rhythms evened out by Sunday.
I had located a visitors’ Sacrament Meeting in Park City for Sunday. I think all were quite pleased that it was Sacrament only. I know I enjoyed that part of it. We had a fun white elephant gift exchange and a fairly laid back day. All in all I think it was successful. Chris and I had hoped to have the reunion every two years, but everyone else voted for once a year. That’s probably because they don’t have to go very far to attend. Chris suggested that the next time I plan it, it should be held in Colorado. Good idea I say. Dallin and Donna will be in charge next year, but more than likely it will be Donna.
Dallin’s oldest daughter, Angie, came back to Utah with us Monday morning to spend the rest of the week. For the most part, it has been good for the girls to play together. Sometimes though, Amy and Angie who are both the oldest in their families, vie for ultimate power. I suppose it has been a good learning experience for both of them. Dallin and Donna are coming tonight to pick Angie up. They’ll stay tomorrow and then head home after morning church on Sunday.
There are a lot of craft items strewn around my house from Amy and Grandma Ball’s purchases. Yesterday, I walked in to my office to find Kristen applying glue stick to her lips. “Mmmm, pretty.” she says. She wasn’t too happy when I confiscated the glue, but I can just imagine it going in to her hair, on her clothes, you get the idea. In fact, earlier in the day, I was transferring flour from a large bucket to a smaller bucket that would fit in my pantry. Amy asked if she could do it, and I said yes. I made the mistake of allowing Kristen to go outside while the transfer was in process. When I went back to check, there was flour all over everything, including Kristen and Amy. I took pictures, but I was pretty angry. Kristen had already had a shower for the day and now both girls were headed upstairs for a bath and I had a big mess to clean up outside. Ahhh, the joys of parenthood.
The girls are back in school! Yeah! A feeling of peace has settled back over my home and all is good. I was getting to my wit’s end. The girls and I went to the school on Friday afternoon so they could meet their teachers, check out their classroom and drop off some of their school supplies. Misha is in first grade with Miss Place (Amy had her last year) and Amy is in second grade with Mrs. Romero. Both are excited for the new year and for their teacher assignments.
After the flour mishap a couple of weeks ago, Amy came running up to my room last Friday. I was getting ready to go out with Chris and was in the middle of blow drying my hair. Amy comes upstairs and says that Kristen is in my flour again. Aaaaaaagh! Worse, she was playing in my more expensive dough enhancer and had kindly swirled it on her, the counter, and the floor. I was so upset that I started to cry. My children knew I had reached my limit. Amy quietly stole downstairs to get her dad and he magically appeared to help clean up the mess and enfold me in his arms. Without saying anything to Kristen, she definitely knew she had done something wrong.
The rest of that Friday evening got better. Chris and I celebrated our 10th Anniversary with dinner and a movie. And it got even better on Monday morning when we dropped the girls off at school.
For Family Home Evening on Monday night, Chris gave Amy and Misha “back to school” blessings. Kristen wasn’t very quiet or patient during the blessings. It would have been better to set her up watching tv in the basement. I was trying to write down some of the ideas Chris mentioned in the blessings, so I didn’t want to leave to quiet her down.
Misha went first and here are some of the points mentioned in her blessing:
This year is a time to grow and stretch out of your comfort zone. You have a soft and tender soul and change is sometimes hard for you. With faith, these changes will be easy.
If you work hard, you will be blessed to be able to listen, pay attention and not be so distracted. You will be able to focus and do what your teacher asks. And you will have good grades.
You will be a leader in your classroom. Children without friends or who are having a hard time at home will look to you as an inspiration in class because you have a sweet smile and are able to make friends. You will help these kids.
Your reading has improved and if you focus, your writing will also improve. You will develop new skills, a love for reading and better penmanship.
Heavenly Father loves you. He sent you here at a special time for a special purpose. He will help you as you have faith and ask for his help.
Amy’s blessing:
Amy you have experienced many struggles over the past year that have been hard to bear. You’re stronger and better able to understand what it feels like to be in need, to be depressed, to be sad and wish that you could do things that you can’t. You understand the healing power of the priesthood and now have the opportunity to take these experiences and use them to help others. You will see others who suffer from illness, you will have a special intuition about helping them by being a friend, providing service and being a leader so that your friends will want to help as well.
You are a natural leader. You are able to work well with your teachers and follow directions as they are given. Your challenge will be to try not to always be first or be called on by your teacher when you have the answer. It will be okay if you are not first.
You have a keen mind and learning is easy. I admonish you to supplement your learning through extracurricular activities to prepare for life that is to come. School is easy--your challenges more often lay at home. Being honest is a struggle. Focus on telling the truth and your problems with your bottom will diminish and go away. Realize that these things happen through the Savior.
Work hard at home to be a friend to your sisters. Respect your parents. The skills you learn now will set you apart distinctly from your peers. Work hard at home and you will be blessed.
Heavenly Father knows Amy Kline. He knows who you are. Ask for his help and work hard to do your best. You are like your Dad and don’t always want to ask for help.
Both Amy and Misha will be taking a gymnastics class this fall. It is held once a week for 45 minutes at a friend’s house. They are pretty excited. Amy will be starting piano lessons next Thursday—they will also be once a week. Chris tells her that she will have to sign a contract with her parents for practicing. If we are going to invest so much $ in to the lessons, she will have to practice. To balance things out, I have thought about enrolling Misha in some after-school science classes. They would be just perfect for her. Amy would probably love to be involved as well, but she’ll be plenty busy, and something fun that Misha gets to do that Amy doesn’t will be good for both of them.
The swimming lesson schedule for the fall hasn’t come out yet, but I would like to have all three girls enrolled. I will try to get Kristen enrolled in the morning and then have the other two enrolled at night. Kristen is already signed up for story time at the library, so they all should have plenty to keep them busy and involved for the fall and winter. It’ll probably end up driving me crazy with all of the running here and there, but Chris will hopefully be able to help with some of the shuttling back and forth.
I gave my best effort to beginning potty training Kristen this week. She kind of gets the idea, but not really. I decided to give it a rest for a month or two and try again. I was really losing my patience over all the accidents. She would stand right next to her little potty and pee! Aaaahh! the frustration. I will be glad when that hurdle is behind us.
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