OMSI

I took the kids to OMSI today with Jo and the 4 Istook kids. Kip and I just bought a membership, so we thought it would be fun to break it today since it was a school holiday. The museum wasn't crowded at all. The Beaverton School District was the only one with the day off and according to the signs we passed near the zoo about the zoo parking lots being completely full at 11am, everyone from Beaverton choose to spend the day there. The weather was perfect, so I can't blame them (mid 70's and SUPER sunny). But it sure worked well for us! The kids had a blast. We spent the entire 3 hours of our visit in the children's area. It was perfect because we knew we could come back any time. We didn't feel like we had to try to see the whole museum in one go.


Anna spent a lot of time playing in the store/kitchen area. She loved the cash register.


William and Spencer got abosolutely soaked.


Becca looked stylin' in her OMSI boots. She didn't like wearing them, though.


But she REALLY liked splashing and getting wet.

Shearing the sheep

We finally broke down and shaved off William's overgrown hair on Tuesday night. While we were out in the yard doing it, we decided to give Becca a fresh start on hers. It's been growing in all crazy. There was getting to be some good length on top, but not on the sides. There was one clump of about 15-20 hairs behind her left ear that grew long, but the rest of that area was short as could be. It looked pretty crazy. So, we shaved it all back. I think she looks pretty cute, but now even more people think she's a boy because what parent would shave their little girl's head?

Reunion in Utah - Playground and Temple

On Sunday we went to church and relaxed at the condo. The kids had a blast at the play area outside our unit.




On Monday we went to the St. George Temple and had a picnic. The kids really liked the visitor's center. It was very peaceful there.




On Tuesday, we headed back up to Kaysville for dinner with the Parkers. On Wednesday, we packed back into the car and drove 13 hours back to Oregon. We were sad to leave all our family behind, but very happy to be back in our own house and get the kids back to school.

Reunion in Utah - Snow Canyon

On Saturday April 25th, our first full day of reunion, we headed to beautiful Snow Canyon. The red rocks and sand were stunning. The kids had a blast playing at the red sand dunes.




Kip took William with Grandma, Chad, Angie and Abby on a hike of the Butterfly trail. They had a great time walking and shooting immaginary aliens per William's request.

Reunion in Utah - the trip down

We drove to Utah last week. We headed from Beaverton, Oregon all the way to St George, a total of 1,080 miles according to Google Maps. It was a lot of time in the car.


On the way down we stopped at the Parker parent's house. The kids got some time with the dog and didn't do too bad with her.


Between Kaysville and St George, we stopped the the Dinosaur museum. It had a lot of neat things. The kids wished we could have spent longer.

Spring is in the Air

It was such a pretty day today we decided to take a walk. We went to Powerlines Park and then to the duck pond. The red-winged blackbirds were in the trees. The ducks were on the water. The kids found lots of dandelions to blow and pinecones to toss. They really enjoyed it. I realized what a perfect photo-op it was while we were out and ran home for the camera. We don't get weather this nice often in Oregon in the spring.

Mothering

I heard a talk at a church event once. I think it was a previous years' Conference, but I'm not sure. I just know that the story shared by the speaker really impressed me. He told of an event from his childhood. He did something wrong, broke something or something like that, and was nervous about how his mother would respond. He said she could have totally yelled at him. She could have been very angry about what he had done. But she wasn't. She told him that she knew it was a mistake and that he hadn't meant to do it. She didn't make him feel worse about it. He said that this was exactly what he had needed at the time and he was incredibly glad his mother had responded that way. Listening to the story that first time, I felt just awful. I've been that mother, but I didn't keep my cool. I blew up at my son. Lots of times. And in my case it wasn't always even something precious that was broken. It was just that I was a Mommy who didn't always respond in a forgiving and loving way to something that really wasn't a premeditated act of aggression on my child's part. And maybe one of those times when I didn't respond lovingly was a time when he really needed me to do so. I felt bad about this for a long time. It came to mind often--probably most often after another case of getting angry over an accident that I shouldn't have gotten mad about. Then, one night I had a breakthrough. It was during a "bad mother" phase soon after Becca was born when I was tired all the time and prone to short-temperedness. I would go to bed each night and think back on all the less-than-patient ways I had responded to William or Anna and all the good things I had neglected to do with them and feel bad about it. I was really depressed about my mothering skills and very frustrated with myself. Suddenly, I realized something about the story. The boy feared that his mother would yell at him and scold him for what he had done. He feared that she would respond that way because, and this is what really struck me, she had responded that way in the past! This thought struck me like a ray of hope. If his mother had responded that way in the past but had managed not to do so this one time when it really mattered, maybe, just maybe, I could do it to! Maybe I hadn't already missed the time when it mattered most with William or Anna. Maybe I could keep trying and trying to be more loving and forgiving when they did things I didn't like. And, just maybe, the time when they need my understanding the most, I'll actually hear the whispering of the Spirit telling me to be nice and do it! Maybe being a good mother is a process--something I can develop in little baby steps of improvement--not simply something I either have or I don't.

New Bows

Kip's cousin Missy made us some super-cool bows for the girls. Here are some pictures of them looking adorable with their new frills. Becca actually keeps the headband on for several hours. Then, something makes her realize it's there and she tugs it off and won't let me put it back. I think if I keep trying she'll get more used to it and actually wear it all day. Anna's similar. She lets me do up her hair and looks adorable for several hours, then she just yanks out the bows and rubberbands and refuses to let me fix them. She ends up with funny poofy hair after that. Oh well.

3 Wishes

Tonight I read the kids a book about the Genie from Aladdin. It talked about getting three wishes from a genie and ended with the question, what wishes would you make?

Here are William's:
A ton of chocolate no-go-bars (granola bars) just for me.
A great big bed.
Getting to sleep by myself. (Although he hates being alone, so I'm not convinced he wants that one.)

Here are Anna's:
A muffin.
A cookie.
A fruit snack.

Oh, to be young and have such simple desires.

Sick Kids

My sweet little Becca got her first real fever this weekend. On Friday, Kip's birthday, I checked her temperature and found it to be over 102. She's never had a fever over 100 before. Since then, she's been super cranky. Saturday night she spent most of the night crying and writhing in my arms. Sunday morning I planned to take her to the Immediate Care as soon as it opened at 9. She fell asleep at 7 after an hour of screaming and I hoped she would sleep until close to nine but at 8 she and everyone else in the house woke and wanted to be up for good. I pulled on sweats and headed downstairs. When I got there, Kip informed me that it was actually 9:00 already. Daylight Savings Time. I hopped in the car and headed to the Doctor. It wasn't very crowded. Apparently, there were a lot of people who forgot about the time change. Some of the staff hadn't shown up yet. Becca and I filled out our forms and were called back fairly quickly. By 10 am (which I thought was 9) Becca had been diagnosed with a double ear infection. We took our prescription across the street to Rite Aid and were home by 10:30. Then, we spent the day relaxing as much as possible. William hung out on the sofa moaning for medicine. Anna begged for someone to play with her. Becca's drugs kicked in and she took a 4 hour nap. I got a small nap, too. So, Kip's birthday weekend was on the mellow side. But we got a new DVD player. Unfortunately, its remote doesn't work well and I'm out of batteries. That was the whole reason we needed it...

This Little Pig...

We had a really yummy lunch today. I made Mac N Cheese first, then reheated some leftover hamburger/potato hash called "just stuff" in the saladmaster cookbook. Becca REALLY liked the hash. But she didn't like me feeding it to her. She had to do it on her own and she didn't want a spoon involved. Or even her hands.

Becca's First Birthday - The CAKE

Back at home that evening we opened Becca's presents and had some yummy cake.


She wasn't quite sure what to think about the open flame on top.


But she had no trouble getting into the destruction of her own slice.

Becca's First Birthday - Museum

Monday the 26th of January was Becca's first birthday. Since Beaverton kindly canceled school that day (it was a teacher workday or something), we decided to celebrate. The Istooks joined us and we all went to the Children's Museum. It was great. Most of the school districts were still in session, so the Museum was not at all crowded. The kids loved the Bob the Builder exhibit and the water room. They enjoyed the supermarket, hospital and baby dolls. But they had the best time on the stage. They stayed there so long dressing up in costumes, controlling the lights and playing the instruments that Butch was even able to get a little nap.


The water area, Anna, Becca and Rachel.


Anna, Alyssa and William. Anna liked to gather all the flowers she found and carry them with her.


I think we surprised Anna when we caught her and Alyssa playing with the dolls.

Christmas Legos!

As soon as we were back in Oregon, William begged to have Daddy help him build his Lego cargo plane. It took some work, but they got it done.

Funny things the kids have said this month (January 2009):

Sunday afternoon Kip and the kids were in the family room while I finished feeding Becca in the kitchen. William asked Kip, "What do you want to do, Dad?" He replied tiredly, "I want to run away." William's face lit up and he said, "OK, Dad, I'll chase you!" and proceeded to run toward him and tag him. We all burst out laughing and he looked at us wondering why.

After a visit to the dentist last Monday, Anna went through her take-home baggie in the family room. She pulled out a tube of Kid's Crest and, in her sweetest soft, high-pitched princess voice, said, "I got toothpaste, too! Isn't that just AWESOME!"

Kaysville Cousins

All the Parker-parents' grandkids got together on the first of January. Here's a pic of all the kids - Quinn Barnett holding Enoch Parker, William and Anna Killpack, Zach Barnett holding Sarah Parker, Elizabeth Barnett holding Rebecca Killpack.

Christmas in Utah - Children's Museums

We visited the Gateway Children's Museum with Kip's family on the 29th and the Treehouse in Ogden on the 2nd. The kids really liked both places.

Becca in the ball area.


We built an arch-just like at OMSI but smaller and easier to do.


We found this little Leopard crawling around.


Princess Anna found a knight loyal and true.

Christmas in Utah - Temple Square

We all went to see the lights at Temple Square on the 28th. It was insanely cold. I've been softened by these mild Portland winters, I guess. The kids dealt with it better than I did. As long as they had Aunts, Uncles, and cousins to play with, they could have stayed out forever. I got cold and wanted to head home. But the temple grounds really were beautiful. I am glad we went.

Christmas in Utah - Sledding

Our kids got their first taste of sledding on the 27th of December. We packed them into warm clothes and hiked up the hill behind Jenny and Tyler's house. I had forgotten how much work it is to get up the hill you want to sled down. I tried to pull Anna up on the sled, but that was too scary for her, so we both had to walk it and reached the top a little winded. From there, Anna consented once to go down the hill with me and then refused to have anything to do with sleds. William, on the other hand, had a blast with his cousins. He loved racing down the slope with them. Becca was a good sport and dealt with our attempts to have her slide down the slopes with us. She was a little upset, though, that I deserted her a few times to go down myself. I had forgotten how much fun it is!

Christmas in Utah - Getting There

Christmas day we flew to Utah. After all the snow here, we feared we wouldn't get out of Portland, but flights were heading out by Christmas morning and our hopes were high. We got to the airport, checked our bags, and went to the play area near our gate to wait for our flight. Everything went fine. We boarded the plane and headed to Utah. We even made better-than-expected time and neared Utah early. Then, things turned sour. The storms that had caused so much trouble in Portland had reached Salt Lake and the airport was having trouble. We had to circle for 45 minutes before a runway could be cleared for us to land. At least they didn't head us somewhere else! I was scared for a while. Instead, all of us except William ended up napping during the 45 minute circle-time. In the end, Grandma and Uncle Cory were there to pick us up and drive us home through the snow.

Christmas Cutie

Becca got up a little later than everyone else Christmas morning but she was really excited about her presents. I couldn't pass up posting this picture of her toothy grin.