Princess Lydia

A long time ago in a far away place lived a princess who found a test, a challenge of sorts, when once completed, then and only then could she live happily ever after.

In honor of the Royal wedding that took place early this morning Lydia's school had princess day. So all the girls could dress up like princesses. Lydia, our princess adorned her royal clothing and then went to the royal school and after her challenges and tests returned home to be loved always by me the royal queen and her father the King.

This week for entertainment we watched Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, and Disney's Snow White. We realized that Lydia hasn't seen the princess movies because we only have them in VHS and we don't have a VHS player. It crazy that technology has changed so fast that from the time Jessica and Emily loved these movies until Lydia that we don't even own a player that can play these classics. So next we need to rent Beauty and the Beast, and Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Princess.

Monday Last Day of Spring Break

Unlike the county schools we had today off of school. I loved it because I did get the front flower bed planted. I love how it turned out. Willy and Emily really stuck to until the job was done. It took longer than expected. Emily really worked hard to finish by the time I got back from swimming lessons. I spaced the plants like it says to do so it looks a little bare right now but the plants are going to grow into the space.

Also the garden boxes are ready to plant hopefully they can get planted this coming weekend.

I'm sad to see Spring Break come to an end, but on into the last seven weeks of school. We are looking forward to Summer.

Easter Reflections

It was a glorious day hot and gorgeous. The Sacrament meeting talks were about the atonement of Christ. I felt the spirit as they spoke about how we can use the atonement in our daily lives.

In primary I felt the spirit as I shared with the children the events of the visits of Jesus after His Resurrection. The visit to Mary, the Apostles, Thomas, the Laminates in the Americas and to Joesph Smith. We watched a little video of the modern day apostles testifying of the Resurrection. The spirit was so strong and the children so still that you know they felt it too. I pointed out the feeling of the spirit to them to let them know that they also know that Christ was resurrected. The feeling was so powerful and I was so blessed to share my testimony with the primary children. I know that He lives!

We painted Easter eggs a few days ago and wanted to share our pictures of them.

Out With the Old In With the New

It's been a hard choice to make but we finally made it. A while back we paid off our Suburban. That big black rig that Bill loved to drive and I hated. We had to say good bye. It still ran but we hated to put in a few thousand to get it to pass inspections again. Slow start getting out of the gate, broken door latch ( Had to roll down the window and open the door from the outside), needed new tires. The back window leaked every time it rained, and the list could go on and on. So we decided to purchase a much more gas efficient used vehicle to replace it. We looked at a few hybrids more than we wanted to spend, so Bill and Willy decided on this little Chevy Aveo. It's a cute little commuter car for Bill. We will probably let the kids have it after a few years, and have Bill get the car of his dreams. Oh yea the kids will have to learn to drive stick so it may take a while for them to learn the tricks of changing gears. It was amazing after all the years of not driving stick it came back to me without any hitches.
I hope our new car will be a great long driving car.

Spring Break Swimming

It's Friday and we have really enjoyed having this spring break. We wanted to do something different today so for fun we decided to go swimming at the Freedom Center. The kids had a blast playing and practicing for swimming lessons. I think I'll be brave the next time we go swimming and put on my suit and go for the exercise. Austin loved the slide. Lydia loved jumping into the pool and having Emily catch her. Willy loved being noticed by pretty girls for his big muscles. Emily loved playing with Lydia. Fun time for all of us. However, Jessica stayed home and studied for her AP exam and then went babysitting, so I'm not sure she had fun, but she did earn a little cash.

Lydia's Birthday!!!

Wow My Baby is six!!! It's her special day!!!

Lydia is special in so many ways but here are the Six Ways for six years of life.

1. Lydia Loves School! She is learning to read. We rarely miss a week night reading at bed time. I started the year reading the stories now she reads to me. She loves to write the alphabet all over the dry erase board in the seminary room and wants everyone to spell words to her so she can write them. She also writes our phone number everywhere so she can remember it. She shares the same birth date as her teacher Mrs. Albarado.

2. Lydia likes new things. Swimming, school, riding the bus, reading, writing, dancing, singing, art, shoes, clothes, hair ribbons, hats, flowers and friends.

3. Lydia is happy and brings joy to others. Each day as she returns from school I look forward to refilling my heart. Her eyes are happy she has something to share and she makes me so glad to be her mother.

4. Lydia loves to notice the world around her. Each day would be incomplete without our daily stop at the neighbors flower beds to see the changes in the flowers. The little purple flowers came out first this spring, then the Daffodils. "Mom look at the new red ones today." "Mom what kind are these?" "Oh look at those." She sees the beauty in nature and it fills her with joy.

5. Lydia is fun and funny, she has a sense of humor that is hard to explain but easily understood. She knows how to say something funny and she knows when others are being funny. She still likes the "happy toys". But she really likes to do whatever her big brothers and sisters are doing! She is great!

6. Lydia is very adaptable. It's neat to see that her adaptablity helps her to get what she wants. She knows when to act like a small child to get the candy she wants. And she knows how to act like a teenage girl to get her sisters to take her somewhere. And she knows how to act correctly in all types of situations. She's adaptable.

That's Lydia!

We had a small family party where she opened up some great gifts from her grandparents and Mom and Dad. She blew out her birthday candles! Awesome day

Wednesday Spring Break Day 5

Sleeping in what a great slow way to start a day. The day was greeted about 9:00, by the majority of the children, however Austin as usual is up ready to greet the day at 7:00. It was nice to take a slow day. By 10:00 we were on the move. Alex had arrived. Austin and Alex played video games for much of the morning. Not much talking mostly playing. A boy thing indeed.

While Austin was having fun Jess and Emily treated Lydia to a special day. They took her to get her hair cut and get her nails painted at a salon. Then they went to lunch together at Chic-Fil-A. Lydia was so cute she called me when they were finished to tell me all the things they had done and she was so happy that it made tears come to my eyes. Because I know that soon her sisters will be away to school and the times they have left to share her youth will be gone. It was indeed a special way for Lydia to get ready for her big birthday day tomorrow.

Willy and I worked in the front flower bed removing some shrubs I didn't want. He got out the big man tool, the saw that can cut a car in half, the saws all and removed the three shrubs in no time flat. He stuck to it until the job was done and cleaned up the mess too. He did a great job. The flower bed looks like a clean canvas ready to paint with new plants flowers and grasses. I'm sure he'll get to do more work in this area before the week is out.

In the afternoon. I worked with Lydia and Emily create a masterpiece of true art. I've had this umbrella holder that I got years ago that has looked pretty sad. so we took pretty paper and tore it into pieces and Modge Podge it on to the holder. Now we have a work of art to put some plants into for the sun room. Super cool.

When Bill came home we had a great time eating at Tony's Pizza. We sat at this huge round table. I think it could hold 12 people. the kids thought a round table in the breakfast nook would be great because we wouldn't have benches and everyone would have their own chair. We talked about everything and nothing. But it was never quiet. We talked about the weather what kind of pizza is best, Lydia's birthday and the people who sat in the booths around us. I love the fights over the mushrooms, and the Parmesan cheese and who gets the last piece. It's life and it's beautiful when your with the ones you love.

It was a very productive day indeed.

Tuesday Spring Break Day 4

Wow!!! Wow!!!! Great Plan!! Long Drive! Disappointment! Disappointment! Disappointment! Drive! Fun at last a park with teeter totters, swings, benches, places to run and grass. I guess that would be the summary of the day.

It's interesting and somewhat sad when you plan everything out in advance and nothing works out as planned. It could bring you to tears but instead you try to make the most of it. I wonder why didn't I know before and we would have just stayed here and found our own toys to play on. We started out on a journey to Richmond. First we would go to the white house of the confederacy then to a park that happens to be on an island in the James River and then finish up our trip by visiting the capitol building. Awesome plan.

The White house of the Confederacy is in the middle of this medical college. To find it is a totally frustrating adventure. I kid you not it is at the end of a dead end street leading into a parking garage. we pulled up in front of the building Bill went in and found out that it was 12$ each. We decided not to go crazy, but we have seen the inside of many of the same types of buildings and Jessica is very tired of civil war history. Disappointment #1 Still everyone was in good spirits and we were glad there was more to come.

On to our lunch and Bell isle park. The highlight of this misadventure was counting the number of train cars on the Barnum and Bailey circus train that we walked by in order to get to the park. However, among the many paths we walked we are not certain that we ever made it to the island or could have made it to the island because of the flooding of the James River. We did find a bridge that led to something but the water was covering what ever piece of land may have been there earlier before the rains. We had carried our lunch for at least the mile and found a cement spot, retrieved the sandwiches, stood and ate our lunch among the trees, poison ivy and the running water. It was pleasant because we were together but it would have been a little scary if it had only been one of us. I do hope that Richmond has some nicer areas than the ones we saw near this park. We are glad that we were there in the day and not at night. Disappointment #2

I guess the circus had come to town. There were 25 train cars. All we saw were two clowns coming off the train. Other than that we didn't see much movement.

This snake greeted us as we came back to our car. The boys thought it was way cool.

By now we were hot for the humidity had creeped up and we were more south than we had ever ventured before. But why not see the capitol. Indeed a trip to Richmond would not be complete without seeing this wonderful building. After going around and around following the GPS we located this building. The kids were tired no one really interested in walking around or seeing the inside we pulled up into the driveway that goes around a statue that is at the side of the building. Stopped long enough to snap a couple of pictures of the statues, forgot to take one of the capitol building and then we took off towards home. Disappointment #3. At least we can say we've been to Richmond saw the capitol the white house and the James River. Right now I think I will never go there again.

It's interesting that a stop along the way can make the day right again. That no matter what it was great because we played. We stopped off in Fredricksburg. We love this town!! It's so full of history. We stopped to see the grave of Mary Washington, George's mother and then down the hill to the park!! The kids all had a great time on the swings and the teeter totters. We played it was a great way to end our misadventures.

Bill couldn't take it any more. He felt bad that he had taken the day off and was disappointed. In my opinion a day with the family is better than a day at work. I hope that he felt that way as closed the day together.

Monday Spring Break Day 3

We enjoyed having Bill home in the afternoon so we decided to take a trip to Leeslyvania state park in Woodbridge. This park has a great history. It is located on the Virginia side of the Potomac river. In the 1930s it had a sandy mile long beach, a faris wheel and other rides, and a huge gambling boat that would dock. Now it is a state park with fishing, walking trails, and of course happy toys. (This is where we had a picnic with Bill and Caryl in December and we played football and Lydia played on the swings.) It was a fun afternoon and evening playing and spending time talking.

At times when we are having such a great time I want so much to grab the moment and hang onto it forever. I want to always see the joy in their eyes as they swing up and down. As they go around and around on the merry-go-round, and as they find seashells and skip rocks. I want to grasp and never let go of the feelings as I see all of the children walking along the shoreline. Some stop to skip rocks, others to find shells, others run ahead onto the fishing dock. Each happy, each talking with another and leading them to another discovery. Bill and I watching taking it all in and then we join and we walk along the beach all together noticing the birds and the blossoming trees and laughter and the joy of being us, a family. Me wanting none of this to change. What a wonderful feeling just being us doing our own thing. It filled my spirit with love, hope, joy and gratitude.