Third Grader, First Grader, Preschooler, Bug.

School started today. I was so happy to send my kids off on the bus, and they were happy to go. I will miss them a little bit, and I do hate the strict schedule of school days, but I'm ready (and so were they). To celebrate them going (and ease Beau's pain of not going), Beau and I and Marianne had a fun date to Abq Uptown where there's a small splash pad and Nestle Toll House. We had Joy and her kids tag along and had a terrific and carefree time.
But to back up a little bit...
Yesterday we had a very special back to school dinner. I had read on NieNie's blog how she has a theme every year for her kids and presents it at a special dinner...and I totally copied her, right down to the crowns and stars. I even used her theme from last year because I felt like it was so fitting for my family. The kids knew that it would be a special dinner, and they were super excited for it.
Here they are, lined up and waiting to see their new crowns. Beau is holding our theme, "By Small and Simple Things"

I made a crown for each of my kids. They might just be a jumble of paper and stickers, but glitter makes everything cooler, fyi. I also made stars for each of the kids. NieNie had special stained-glass stars made by a friend, but we stuck with wood because that's what I had. I ran out of time to paint them so I'll have the kids help me later. Then we'll write the theme on them and hang them...somewhere.


 
 
After dinner Rus gave each child a father's blessing. Even Marianne. It is always a special experience to have him give them blessings. They were each reassured of their talents and abilities, and how they can use those to overcome challenges. They were also reminded of Heavenly Father's love for them.
We talked about how if they do all the little things everyday that they are asked to do, by the end of the school year they will be doing great big amazing things.
This morning could not come early enough for the kids. They were so excited to find new shirts laid out for school. Of course Jacob got a Transformers shirt... Bekah's is a really cute black and white striped one, but she didn't wear it because...well, I vaguely remember her coming to me while I was asleep and telling me that the inside of the shirt felt funny...I think I told her I'd wash it. She wore a different shirt.
And here they all are:
JACOB THE FIRST GRADER!

BEKAH THE THIRD GRADER!
One day Bekah will ask me why I let her go to school with her hair like this. And I will tell her that she wanted it this way - actually she preferred it freshly taken out of her braids and sticking out like a triangle helmet on her head. I convinced her to let me curl it. It helped a little. But she was still so beautiful and so excited to get to school.

BEAU THE PRESCHOOLER IF I CAN FIND HIM A PRESCHOOL TO GO TO THAT DOESN'T COST A MILLION BUCKS A MONTH!
Beau the lady killer. Kiss me mama!

Ki

 My gang.

 Loaded up and headed out...have a GREAT first day, guys!

I can't believe that next year Beau will actually get on the bus with them. AACK! I'm not ready for that, good thing I have this year to get me ready. He was wearing his backpack because he wanted to be like the big kids. He even had a lunch inside which consisted of chips, a water bottle, and a granola bar. He and I and the Bug are going to have a fantastic time this year! (If I learn to play transformers more and he learns to enjoy painting and crafts more...and if the Bug stops unrolling the toilet paper and playing in the open toilet. GROSS.)

Marianne at Eleven Months!

Marianne is eleven months. CRAZY. A year ago we had just moved into our house and I was pregnant and it had been such a long, busy year. And now I have this beautiful, fascinating little Bug to keep me entertained, hug and kiss me, and tone my arms (she's heavy). Here are some things I love about Marianne:
She loves banana peels. Not bananas. She prefers her bananas whole with the peel on so she can suck on the peel and mush the rest of it to her heart's content.
She loves phones. She knows how to play messages on the actual phone. I'm not sure I even know how to do that.
The Bug loves Colonel. LOVES. Loves. He makes her very happy. Don't tell him this, though: She actually loves all dogs. She squeaks whenever she sees a dog nearby.
Speaking of happy, whenever the Bug is happy or whenever she sees something she wants she lets out a succession of little squeals/shrieks. It's adorable.
Marianne is a very, very vocal baby. At church on Sunday, in Relief Society, they were trying to welcome any visitors but Marianne was talking/shrieking so loudly that they just stopped talking until I collected my things and [saying, "We're leaving, we're leaving!" over her shrieks] left. It was embarrassing, but funny.
Marianne has a great sense of humor. She loves to be tickled and kissed thrown on pillows.
The Bug LOVES to dance. If she is mad or just fussy, all I have to do is hold her, hum a tune, and sway back and forth. She will just melt into me and hug me as long as I'm dancing with her.
She hates her car seat. And getting dressed. And having her diaper changed.
Marianne has four teeth - two coming in on the top, two on the bottom. I love her smile!
Her favorite sibling (ssshh, I know, we're not supposed to name favorites), has to be Jacob. At least he is the one who pays her the most attention and cares the most for her. He is always cautioning me, "Mom, don't let Marianne too close to the stairs, she might fall," or "Mom, Marianne just put something in her mouth." He will hold her and walk her around the house and he'll pick her up and bring her to me if she's sad. Whenever she gets to the top of the steps in our house she'll just sit there and yell until someone helps her down. Jacob is usually the one to get her. She also loves to pick on Beau. If he is sitting nearby she'll pat his head and try to pull his hair. Or if Beau is laying on the pew at church, Marianne will climb on him to get a better view of the people behind her. And he'll let her. Bekah is really good at playing peek-a-boo with her. She can really get Marianne to laugh.
Marianne is not walking yet, but she will be in the next month or two. She loves to walk and push the barstools or high chair around, and she likes to walk when someone is holding her hands.
Marianne loves to play by herself after the kids go to bed. Rus and I will usually watch TV (especially with the Olympics on), and she will crawl and play happily for at least an hour. She likes to climb on the pillows and roll over onto her back and kick her legs. Silly Bug.
Here are some pictures I took of her this morning.
Painted toes! The paint is already coming off, and her feet are dirty because she needs a bath, but I still think they are the cutest things ever.

 Beautiful Bug!

 Making this face after I stole her toothbrush from her.

 Clapping her hands. She's very good at clapping.

 Oh no! her foot is stuck!

 Good thing Beau was nearby to rescue her!

Facing into the sun.

 I love you Marianne!

Bekah's Baptism

I'm not sure exactly what I thought pre-baptism activities were...cleaning, cooking, dressing, etc...and we did do all those things on Saturday morning. But we also did this:
We hung a fan in Cutesy's room. We call it "Cutesy's" because the bed is from her, and she was the first one to stay in it. She called me Saturday morning and asked if she could by a fan for her room. I said sure, I'd been meaning to get a small oscillating fan for it. She said no, a ceiling fan. Only my parents... So they brought home the fan and then the men installed it. How many men does it take to install a fan? Four, apparently.

 Emilee spend a good fifteen minutes trying to get Marianne to make "The Face." And she was successful! Emilee looks like Perry the Platypus here. Don't know who he is? Catch up on your Phineaus and Ferb.

Chip spent some time being heroically jumped on, tickled and pretty much personal-space-violated by my children. He's a trooper.

 Jake picked his nose. There was nothing else to do, so...

 I curled my hair.

 Then the baptism!
Here they are, my amazing husband and daughter.

 Nana bought Bekah a very nice set of scriptures. We used them later to have our guests mark their favorite scripture.

 Me in the picture; I was and am so proud of Bekah and the choice she has made!

 

 The whole family...

 I have to say that this was a really special experience for me. It was my daughter walking down into the font with her dad, me that was holding out the towel to her when she came out of the font, me that dried her off and asked her how she felt. And she was just so beautiful and shiny. She kept saying, "This is a really big deal! This is a special day!" After she and Rus had changed we walked into the room where everyone was waiting. They were watching our slideshow that we had made. Afterwards, Bekah's Sunday school teacher Sister Semanek talked to her about the Holy Ghost. It was perfect for Bekah - a story about a young girl who learned how the Holy Ghost was like a comforter - someone who could make you feel safe and warm. Then Bishop Lines talked about how heaven would be a little like Bekah's special day - a place full of the people she loves. She was confirmed a member of the church and given the gift of the Holy Ghost by her dad with her grandparents and uncles in the circle. Our friend's daughter Kielee played the piano for the closing song, "When I am baptized." I love that song, it says,
I like to look for rainbows whenever there is rain,
And ponder on the beauty of an earth made clean again.
I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain,
I want to be the best I can, and live with God again.

It was a wonderful experience, and I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for Bekah's faith and her choice to be baptized, for my husband who was worthy to baptize her, and for all our family and friends and their love and support.

Baptism Slide-Show

I wanted to do something special for Bekah for her baptism. I wanted a way to show her what she was promising by being baptized. I looked up the scripture in Mosiah that tells what her part of the baptismal covenant is and decided to paint signs with some of the words from that scripture. I actually just taped off the words on a big sheet of white paper and then let the kids go to town with the paints. When everything was dry I took off the tape and cut them into signs. Then I made sure to have the signs and my camera with me everywhere I went so I could take pictures of Bekah's friends and cousins holding the signs. The credits at the end of the movie are incomplete, I forgot to put the Kinghorn's names and Uncle Jacob's name. (Sorry.) When we had all of our pictures, I had Bekah help me put the slide-show together. I typed up all of the scriptures on the slides, but she chose everything else, the font and background color and animation. She also chose the song, "I'm trying to be like Jesus." It was a really fun project to work on with her! We showed it during her baptism and everyone really enjoyed it.
Here are my two favorite pictures:
Cousins Allie and Luke with "bear burdens":

Allie and Luke again with "repent"

And my most favorite - Bekah, Beau, Jacob, Wesley, Luke and Allie with all of the signs: Beau was grumpy - I had to bribe him with a sucker just to lay on the ground - so he got the "mourn" sign. :)

Rus in a {hot} Monkey Suit

Rus is a scout leader in our ward. He told his boys [in January] that if they all brought their scriptures to church then he'd sport a stylish light blue three-piece polyester suit to church the next week. A few Sundays ago, they finally all brought their scriptures to church and so Rus had to hold up his end of the deal. Doesn't he look handsome? Something about a three piece suit, I like very much...maybe in a different color and fabric next time, but mmm...I dressed to match him, and I only look taller than him because I'm wearing heels. {By the way I won the bet, the one where Rus pays me a hundred dollars for growing my hair out. The soonest appointment I could make to chop it off is August 31st. I won't cut it all off, only four or five inches...it's just so hot right now!}

 

Why are we blurry? Because Bekah was taking the picture. Here we are, in true color: (and oddly enough, not blurry...)

 Later that night we had dinner at Carla and Doug's house. Ben, Beau, and Russel are three crazy kids. Here they are doing what boys do best:

 Yes, Russel is punching Beau's butt. Yes, Ben's face is hidden in there somewhere. Yes, each of them has a butt in his respective face. Yes, they were all laughing. So was I.
The next day we were up and at 'em early because I was working on a project for Bekah's baptism. (More on that later). Here are a few fun pictures we took at the park. Bekah liked to show off by skating over Marianne. I was sure she was going to run over a little finger, but she never did.

 Beau, the daredevil on his scooter.

 Beau pulling Jacob. These two boys have a blast together!

 Marianne loves to swing. And she loves all things soft and furry, which is why she wouldn't let go of this zuzu pet.

 Yep, they're all mine. No, I'm not too young to have them. Yes, my hands are full. How else would I want my hands to be?

Random Pictures

A few weeks ago Beau got strep throat. He was grumpy and miserable, and then got over it so I could take care of Jacob, who caught it and the grumpy-miserableness that went with it. So they watched a million movies and when they got bored of that one time, I painted their faces at Bekah's suggestion. Jacob looked like this for days - not the flames, but the expression. He doesn't just get sick, he gets angry that his body could so abruptly betray and hurt him.

Bekah was obsessed with her Lalaloopsy doll at the time. I think she's moved on to her new stuffed kitty, but I never really know. First she had me paint her whole fact to look like Lalaloopsy. I even painted big black buttons on top of her eyes. She looked creepy. So she washed it off and just kept the cheeks.

The heroic, yet humble Beau...

...Who becomes the devious heroic Beau when he gets a dinosaur and flames on his arms.

Marianne joined the fun. I had an extra set of paints that fell to the floor while I was painting Jacob's flames, and Marianne just helped herself. Yum. Why not...

Even with a messy face I could just eat her up!

Did you know that she's best friends with her cousin Rachel? Here they are on a different day (before the sickness).

Bekah and Dad Campout

 A few weeks ago Rus took Bekah camping, a special "eight-year-old" over-nighter that involved backpacking in to a campsite and camping in a real tent (not the pop-up). Bekah was ecstatic! She has always enjoyed one-on-one attention and this trip was no exception. She packed her backpack with the things Rus said she needed and was ready to go when they got off work. They headed north to Cave Creek and got there, luckily, before the sun went down. They had time to hike in a little ways and find a good spot for their tent before dinner. Bekah is hyper-aware of fire danger and all the forest fires that happened earlier in the summer and so she was perfectly fine not making a fire, even though they did just lift the fire restrictions.

 Rus said they went to bed around nine and didn't have the worst nights sleep, although Bekah did wake up a couple times in the night because she was scared or cold. At 5:30am she was ready to go, but Rus convinced her to sleep a little longer. At 7am they were out of the tent and enjoying some tasteless pop tarts (Bekah's choice), before they headed out for their hike. Bekah picked me some wildflowers.

 They hiked to where the creek disappears into a cave (hence the name).

 Kids are able to fish for free, so Rus took a fishing pole for Bekah. They found some worms and Bekah fished while Rus took a billion pictures. Here is only one:

Bekah said fishing was her favorite part of the trip, even though she didn't catch any fish. She did catch two sticks, though, and Rus said she was as thrilled as if she had actually caught a fish. She even brought the sticks home to show me.

Thank you Rus for making this special trip with Bekah!