two reasons I stay up too late

Every morning I am kicking myself for staying up too late, especially when I am driving Mariah to seminary. The two reasons I stay up too late are
1. Writing on this blog
2. Watching The Bernie Mac Show
My routine has become to write on the blog at about 11 pm, and then watch Bernie Mac until midnight. I know its crazy! And I'm not necessarily recommending this show because it does have a bit of language, and there are some episodes I am not willing to watch. But most of the episodes have Reggie and I cracking up. I cannot BELIEVE how much we relate to this show, as far as the trials and adventures of raising children. Laughter really is good therapy, so thank you Bernie Mac! And now I've got to go catch an episode!

POUNCE!

So I've been looking through our family's photo albums and am surprised at how many pictures there are of our family playing "pounce" throughout the years. Pounce is our favorite card game, where everyone has their own deck of cards and you are kind of playing solitaire off of everyone elses decks. You can also play in teams of two. I think this game originated in Idaho, at least for our family. I remember playing it all my life with all the extended family. And our kids have grown up playing it too. It has also been a great source of fun for games nights at our house with friends throughout the years. So in looking at these pictures and reminiscing with Mariah, she has made a startling confession. Years ago, a certain couple in our ward used to come over and play this with us all the time, before they had children. Mariah and the husband, who shall be nameless, always insisted on being on the same team, and they always won, by a mile. We suspected them of foul play, but never insisted on breaking up their team. Now Mariah has CONFESSED that she and her teammate, who shall be nameless (but who has the same initials as her), CHEATED! every time! So, we now challenge this person (who has moved to Napa) to come back, with his wife and children, and play a LEGAL game of Pounce, and see how good he and Mariah really are! (You know who you are!) Anyway, we love the game of Pounce!

Big Date

Friday afternoon, Reggie told his co-workers that he had to leave at a certain time because he had a big date. They said "We thought you were married!". He told them it was a date with his 12 year old daughter to see High School Musical 3. So he came home for 15 minutes and then left with Samantha for dinner (food court, her favorite!) and a movie. It was a great night. And if anyone is dying to know how the movie was, Samantha will be thrilled to tell you!

Tactful Luke

Today I decided to be bold and wear some eye shadow. Luke and I were sitting in church and he said "Mom, what are all those scratches on your eyes!" I told him it wasn't scratches, it was wrinkles (which I guess the eye shadow brought out). He then said "Have you seen the commercials about lotion you can put on to take away the wrinkles?" I said yes, and then he asked "Do you want to have wrinkles?" Thanks for trying to be so helpful Luke! But in light of this, I decided to post a picture of Reggie and I years ago when I had no wrinkles. Oh well, 21 years later and Reggie and I are still in love, so I guess I'll live with the wrinkles. (Or maybe Luke will give me some of that lotion for Christmas!)

Hillary"s Wild Ride

A couple of weekends ago Hillary and some friends drove from Salt Lake City to see Julia in Idaho - about a 5 hour drive. On the way there they had a flat tire; thank goodness for a nice family that stopped and helped them change it. Then, after being on the rode a while longer, they ran out of gas. Thank goodness for prayer; after they said one, they tried the car again and made it to a station. After a great weekend together, Hillary and friends got on the road to head back and got another flat tire! They eventually made it back safe and sound, and we thank our Heavenly Father for watching over them. We hope that next time Hillary will take the shuttle that goes from the conference center up to Idaho.

When Pumkins drink

Where's the fog?

We know that summer is our foggiest season, and fall is our warmest(indian summer). But WOW! what a warm fall it has been! We are dying in this 80 degree weather everyday - we're just not used to it! There have been only a handful of cold/foggy days since school started. But since it has made some beautiful scenery out our front window, we will not complain. And since we don't mind the fog, we won't complain when it comes back.

My favorite kitchen appliance

There are 2 appliances in my kitchen that I find most necessary. One, of course, is the stand up mixer which enables us to make cookies at record speed. But the second is the television we have set up on the side counter. There is no t.v. reception, but there is a vcr hooked up to it. There are days that I know I have hours ahead of me in the kitchen - making dinner, doing dishes, cleaning out the fridge, mopping the floor (yes I do mop the floor!), making cookies, etc. This drudgery is almost something I look forward to when I have something good to listen to from the t.v. I imagine it is what it was like in the 30s and 40s when people listened to shows on the radio. I'll put on my favorite reruns, old movies, etc. I especially enjoy it during the holidays; nothing like a holiday classic to keep you company and in a good mood. And best of all, on Sundays I can listen to the old seminary videos and other inspiring things. In fact, because we knew we were going to miss the Saturday session of conference this year, we recorded it and have been watching it for family night. Some of the talks are things that i want to hear more than once, and so I play it over again in my kitchen. So if anyone ever offers you a small, old t.v., don't turn it down. Put it in your kitchen and see how much fun doing the dishes can be! (You might even find your kids more willing to help!)

The last "first tooth"

Today our last child lost his first tooth. Yesterday Luke noticed that he had a loose tooth, and from then on was addicted to wiggling it. Today it was hanging on by a thread, and I told him it would be easy to take it out. He said he would wait for Dad to do it, until I explained to him that I have never gotten to help my kids pull out their tooth; they all waited for Dad. So he felt sorry for me and let me do it. It came out no problem. And he says "it didn't even hurt". I cannot show you a picture, because Mariah is not here to download it off the camera to the computer. (I am so pathetic!) But take my word for it, he has a cute toothless grin. (We are just hoping that he has a permanent tooth to replace it.)

Growing Up

Last June Samantha graduated from elementary school. (Here she is with Grandma Hanaike.) I was scared to death all summer long about her starting middle school. One thing I love about Samantha is that she is not in a hurry to grow up. She likes what she likes and doesn't worry about it. (She and cousin Becky played with their American Girl dolls all summer long.) But I was worried about her being thrown into that teenage environment. Well so far she is doing great. She loves school; she fits in well, enjoys her classes, and can hold her own with any obnoxious kids. And best of all, she is still our same old Samantha: happy; has a great imagination, loves to talk; likes what she likes. She is showing some teenage interests as well: she has the premiere of High School Musical 3 marked on our calendar for this Friday.

another picture of our kids

after a long day at the beach. (I am having too much fun with this blog!)

Family Portrait 2008

Here is a picture of our whole family together, compliments of Luke. (Notice how good Reggie and I look? We've been working out.)

Our crazy kids!

Reggie and I have a favorite song that says "you're gonna miss this; you're gonna want this back; you're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast." We miss you Julia and Hillary!

VOTE MCCAIN/HANAIKE

So the other day Mom and I were visiting, and she asked me how my job was going (I'm an elementary school librarian - 3 hour a day job; I know, I'm lucky). Anyway, I was telling her it was fine, and that I have a new responsibility this year. Now, during recess, any children that did not finish their homework have to come to the library to do it. I have to supervise them, and many of them, especially the little ones, end up asking me for help with their homework. This is easy for me to do because I have been helping my own kids with their homework for 15 years. In fact, many times what they need help with is the homework I just helped Luke with the night before. I told Mom that it amazes me how much being a Mom has given me so much experience for this job, and she said "Hey that's right. Maybe you should run for Vice President!" Ha! Ha! I was cracking up! Now come on, Palin fans, you've got to admit, that's funny!

Luke's birthday party at the academy of sciences

As As As we mentioned, Luke just turned 7 years old. To celebrate, we took him and 4 of his friends to the brand new Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, which includes an aquarium, planetarium, tropical rainforest, etc. This was only the second saturday it had been opened, and it got pretty crowded by the afternoon. In spite of the boys' ENDLESS ENERGY! they behaved really well, and stuck with us the whole time.

The first thing we did was go into the rainforest, where there were butterflies flying freely. We have decided to call Mariah the "butterfly charmer" because they kept landing on her. We also now call her the "little-wild-boy tamer" because the boys really wanted to stick with her and hold on to her the whole time. We were very lucky that she wanted to come and be so helpful.

The aquarium was of course amazing with all of their "Finding Nemo" buddies, and we saw some real similarities to the boys in the African Hall.

By 1 oclock the boys were ready to go back to Luke's house to have cupcakes and ice cream. But the most important thing they wanted to do was have a lightsaber battle with Reggie. After years of barbies and American girl doll parties, I was a little out of my element, but Reggie was in heaven. It was a great day. (Samantha was not with us - she opted to have a quiet afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa at their apartment, watching conference.) (I still have to learn how to get the pictures in the order I want them.)

pictures!

Thanks Jade for showing me how to really do a blog, adding pictures and all. Sorry Suzanne, no plane trip necessary!

Ward beach party in September

Luke is 3rd from the left

kids say the funniest things

Yesterday I got a good laugh at work. I was checking books out to a class of third graders, while their teacher was sitting at the table across from me checking their homework. She started to laugh and showed me a sentence that a child had written. The spelling work he was supposed to use was "brief" and the sentence he wrote was "That brief smells gross.". Ha! Ha! That is not the definition she expected, but it is how the boy saw the word. Pretty funny.

I Told You So

I told you I wouldn't know how to do anything with this blog! Although I guess I know how to post messages, since this one makes a total of two. But either our friend Jade is going to help me get things going or I'll have to buy Suzanne a plane ticket from Hawaii to come and set this thing up for me!

But anyway, I did want to, for the record, say Happy Birthday to our Luke, who turned 7 years old today. I can't imagine life without him or describe how much our family adores him. There are times that I feel bad for all the things I cannot get for my girls, and I hope they do not feel deprived being in this big old family. But then I see how much fun they have with Luke, and have had with Luke all these years, and I realize he is the best present we could have ever given them. There is not one thing I could buy them, not one trip I could send them on, that would give them as much laughter and love as Luke does. And he is blessed to have them.

We did celebrate his birthday in a very fun way, which I will write about later if I can get some pictures on here to go with it.

Here we go!

Okay, I think I've created a blog. But we'll see if I know how to do anything with it! I've been having so much fun checking out other people's blogs, especially my niece's - Suzanne Bree. It seems like a great way to keep in touch and what a treasure with which to be able to look back on your life. I was showing Reggie Suzanne's blog and he said we have to do one. So I guess we're getting started. I hope Mariah knows how to get pictures on it, etc. I am very computer illiterate. Thank goodness I have children to teach me about modern technology. Reggie's brother laugh's at me because I will not give up my VCR. So if we actually learn how to do this blogging thing, it should be fun!