On her way!

Our family can never have too many girls and we are so excited that Hillary and Andrew are giving us another grandaughter! WE LOVE YOU BABY GIRL DOBBINS and can't wait to meet you in August!  Actually we can wait so that you will continue to grown strong and healthy!

Weekend wrap up

Saturday was a whole lot of fun.  We went to visit my Mom and then joined in a community Easter egg hunt nearby.  They advertised there would be 10,000 eggs; we took their word for it and didn't bother counting.  They had the kids divided into different age categories and their areas roped off.  Luke was at an advantage because there were alot more kids in the younger categories than in the older.  He had alot of fun in spite of the fact that he didn't find the golden egg that came with a basket of a hundred dollars worth of gift cards.

 

The rest of the day we hung out and worked on preparing the house for Easter.  One of our favorite traditions, after dying the Easter eggs is to tye-dye napkins. 

 

Saturday ended with a beautiful rainbow outside our living room

Sunday we had church and then some of my family over for dinner.  We did another Easter egg hunt - not 10,000 eggs but some very interesting ones.  I wanted to liven things up a bit and suggested we

1.  Put coupons in some of the eggs - things like "you are excused from your dishes job for one day", etc.

2.  Put some dinner leftovers in some of the eggs.  Come on, tell me it wouldn't be fun and original to find a plastic easter egg full of a scoop of potatoe casserole or peas and carrots. 

Well, the kids got the best of me!

 1. Somehow there ended up being alot more coupons than I had written.  Turns out they were making some up and adding to their loot.  My niece gave her sister one that said "you are allowed to stay up 1 extra minute before bed!"  SCORE!

2.  I enjoyed seeing one of the kids open up their "ham" egg but didn't get to see the others.  Luke says he got the "potatoe casserole" egg but has hidden it, and that I will find it when I least expect it.  The "peas and carrots" egg is still unaccounted for.  Just as our kids started to hunt for the eggs, at the school yard, a couple of girls came to play and we let them join us.  What are their parents going to think when they hear about the nice people that let them join in the Easter egg hunt and then see the egg filled with peas and carrots?  Oh well! 

The night ended nicely with the fact that the children each remembered to pay me their "Reeses tax".

So that was our Easter weekend!  We hope you all had a good one and a good March.  Time for April!

Easter

Yesterday was such a nice day and I will blog about the fun Easter activities we did later.  But for some reason I was feeling especially grateful for my blessings.  That usually comes to my mind more at Thanksgiving and Christmas, but this Easter I am really feeling blessed.

We already have the table set for Easter dinner.  Doing so was bitter sweet because I was thinking about how much my Dad loved these family get togethers.  He always had his spot, on the end of the table, to give him elbow room since he was a lefty.  And he because was head of the family - although when it was time to say the prayer we would look to him to pick someone and he would throw it back to Reggie, stating that it was Reggie's job as man of the house.  Reggie would always throw it back to him, stating that he was head of the family.

Last night we read the last few chapters of Mark and at one point, when it was describing the suffering that Jesus went through, Samantha wanted us to stop.  It was hard to take.  But we kept reading on because it wasn't the end of the story.  The Ressurection - the "He Is Risen" and "Halleluiah" and "Triumph Over Death" part was coming and we felt the joy and gratitude in reading to the end.  I think about my Dad in that sense too.  Because of Christ's Atonement we will see my Dad again.

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

some better pictures

Boy did she have fun!  This dance gave the kids the opportunity to dress up, dance, take pictures with various friends, etc. without the pressure of getting official dates and pairing off.  Thank you so much to the people that put this together!

 

a formal dance

Samantha is headed off to the church for a formal youth dance. She was so excited to get all dressed up. Thanks Mariah for your generosity and encouragement in the loan of the dress!

 

 

 

I peaked in at the decorations.  The theme is Hollywood.  It looks like it's going to be alot of fun!

 

the end of the day

As tonight was coming to an end I started feeling discouraged and stressed about all of the things I didn't cross off my to-do list today.  Then I reminded myself to instead start looking at all the things I did get done.  The stress started to go away and I feel ready to check more things off the list tomorrow.

 This reminded me of something we discussed at the "staff development day" last Friday.  I know I've learned this before, but it is so good to be reminded of things - especially because so much of child development is the oppositive of what we might naturally do, but is what really gets the best results.  We talked about praising the behavior that we want to continue/catch the child being good.  In our class you might hear 20 times a day "Good job doing your work!" or "Nice listening!" or "I like how you are sitting in your seat!"  Not every child needs praise over such simple things but these are the things our kids are working on.

At home we had some rough moments over homework today.  But what a light I saw in my kids eyes when I recognized and acknowledged the great job they had done!  It was a very nice way to end the day and I am determined to remember this simple truth more often:  Praise the behavior you want to continue/catch them being good.  

Our Weekend

We just had a wonderful weekend celebrating our belated anniversary.  Instead of going very far away we sent the kids away, thanks to the Porters and Grandma Chandler, and then had the house to ourselves.  You know it's true love when I will sit through a James Bond movie with Reggie (Skyfall) and he will sit through a chick-flick with me (Did You Hear About the Morgans). 

It was a no-cooking weekend thanks to The Cheesecake Factory etc. and a window shopping weekend in buying new curtains for the living room and getting ideas of what our next couch should look like. 

And finally we found more places to explore in this amazing city.  I'd been to The Cliff House before but I didn't know there was a whole museum about The Sutro Baths and the Playland that used to be by Ocean Beach.  There are also beautiful walking trails all over that area now with amazing views of the bridge, etc.  The Bay Area is truly a fascinating place.  Next time I will bring along the camera to take my own pictures of all the trails, etc.  But here are a couple of after and before shots from Google.

There used to be, in the late 1800s. a huge building here full of swimming pools called bath houses.  This is what's left/it's "ruins". 

 



Playland on Ocean Beach was referred to as the Coney Island of San Francisco.  There were rides, food, games, etc. 

Whether I spend the rest of my life seeing the world or seeing more of my own backyard, I will be happy as long as i can see it with Reggie.

If there were blogs in 1989 . . . . .

I would have written all about our 5 lb. 9 oz. baby named Hillary.  Now that she is expecting her own baby I thought it would be fun to go back and record a couple of things about when she was little:

Hillary was always a small little thing.  I only gained 15 lbs while carrying her.  The doctor's were concerned enough to do a series of non-stress tests to make sure she was okay.  They determined she was fine - just a small baby. 

She was 9 days late, which was a relief, since she was so small.

By the time she was eating baby food the doctor told us to add butter to help her gain weight.

She was such a calm baby that we would sit her in the middle of the table with a toy when we were eating dinner and she would be content - not trying to grab anything - just sitting there with her toy.

When she was 18 months she would walk around with a can of green beans for her snack - not heated up or anything - just green beans out of the can.

She skipped the crawling stage.  At about 9 months, when she wanted to cross the room she would lay on the floor, roll over to the couch and then pull herself up.

She was an early talker and had the cutest little munchin voice.  Before she could read she would memorize her favorite Disney story tapes and then sit with the book and "read" them to baby Mariah.  Sleeping Beauty was her masterpiece.

17 month old Julia loved Hillary from the day she was born, and we knew having them so close together was going to work out after all.  They became "Julia and Hillary" for so long that I often accidentally combined their names to "Jewelry".  Julia, being the oldest, was often taken out on adventures by herself with aunts and uncles and grandparents.  The first time Hillary was old enough to be taken by herself Julia was devastated.  How could this be happening!  She stood at the living room window and banged on it and cried as Hillary left without her.  She forgave her and they've remained pretty close sisters all these years.  

permission!

 

Well, I've been telling my poor Hillary and Andrew for a while now that I am dying to blog about their happy news! We have a grandbaby on the way and we are so excited! I can't imagine what joy this baby will bring! Actually I can, when I think of all the babies that have been in our lives so far. A while ago Andrew had a box full of pictures from his childhood and we were comparing them with Hillary's pictures. This is going to be one cute baby!

 

This is one of my favorite pictures of these two.  I may have put it on here before, but I'm putting it on here now.  I can just see the happy life they are going to provide this baby.

or actually, I think I'd want to be eliminated first!

Reggie has been able to look up some extra details about "The Amazing Race" and from what he's read, as each team is eliminated they are sent to a villa/resort to spend the rest of the time, until the race is over.  I guess that is how they are sequestered.  The racing seems to last about a month.  I would totally want to be eliminated first! 

It would be interesting, though, to watch and guess which team was joining you next.  That would be pretty uncomfortable for the teams that hated each other, but on the other hand maybe fun for the teams that got along. 

 

 

 

Today

There's nothing like that feeling of being at recess and seeing your husband walking towards the playground with a dozen roses!  I will never forget today! 

26!

 Happy Anniversary Reggie!  It's been a wonderful ride so far!  (pause the playlist first!)

I want to be like the Hippies

We have discovered Hulu Plus around here, which means we have re-discovered "The Amazing Race".  We used to watch this faithfully years ago.  It has brought back memories of when we threw Julia an Amazing Race birthday party one year and Mariah one another year.  It was alot of fun, and I think about it everytime we go walking around our city.  For each party there were about 30 participants, divided into teams of 2.  We started off with a cake eating contest and when they finished they got their clue to go onto the next task.  We had those teenagers running up and down the hills - heading to the cliffs, the park, and Luke's sandbox.  We had friends waiting at each "Road Block" "Detour" and "Pit Stop" to keep the race going.  The kids were so out of breath, I'm not sure they thought it was worth it in the end, but we had alot of fun planning it and watching it. 

In watching it on Hulu plus now I can't help but notice some life lessons.  It is hard to watch people argue, but it certainly is human nature, especially in times of stress.  One of the teams admitted that when things go wrong they tend to want someone to blame, and so blame each other.  I think that is very true in life, and I am going to try harder to not do that.  I've also noticed that in season 9 the team referred to as "the hippies" approach almost everyday with a sense of humor.  They are genuinely having fun.  There have been a couple of episodes where they've made huge mistakes and have gotten very stressed, but they haven't turned on each other.  They've encouraged each other and soon afterwards been able to laugh about it.  I want to be like those Hippies.

Annual weekend plans

Samantha has been looking forward to this weekend since last March.  The youth in our church, age 14-18 have an annual "youth conference" at the temple in Oakland.  There is always a "fireside" Friday night where they listen to a keynote speaker.  Then by 9 Saturday morning the real fun begins:  games, workshops,  food (Samantha especially loves the catering by Subway Sandwiches) and a dance, all enjoyed by hundreds of kids from around the Bay Area.  And to top it all off, Samantha had a friend stay the weekend to enjoy it all with her.  They planned and executed an "Everything-but-the-kitchen-sink Sundae" dessert last night.

She's going to be one tired girl when she gets home tonight, but it's always worth it.

One of my favorite days

 

has always been March 7th. Well, at least for the past 25 years. It is the day that our beautiful Julia came into this world. She has made it happier and brighter and more fun ever since. She came one week after our first anniversary, which gave us even more reason to celebrate. I think that now that she has Addy she is getting a glimpse of how much she is loved by being our own baby girl. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIA! Hope you have a good one!