Gordon at 3 1/2

This is a picture from July of 2011. He seems to have grown a foot since then. He rides a bike with 16" wheels without a problem. He can still climb anything. When he lovingly head-butts me, it hurts. He's still a Mommy's boy, but will go hang out with Dad anytime (as long as Dad's going somewhere or if Star Wars is involved). He's a lot like Evelyn (they're two peas in a pod), but without the girly emotions. 

He was developing a really bad case of the terrible three's recently, and I realized I needed to put my foot down on him going to bed earlier (more like I put my foot down on myself, because most 3 year-olds can't tell time). I have to sit with him until he falls asleep. He's just plain scared of going to bed alone. His whispers and snuggles melt my heart, so I don't mind helping him drift off to sleep. A lot of nights he wakes up scared of the shadows, and needs a warm body to snuggle with until he falls back asleep. 

He talks more than ever these days, asking increasingly complex questions and giving answers to those questions according to his logic. Three year-old logic is hilarious. "Mom! My tummy hurts!" How come? "Hmm, it needs more food!" Uh, we just ate dinner, and you're going to bed, so, I don't think so. "But Mom! My bones are hurting!" I start chuckling. "My bones are rumbling because they're hungry! See?" And he lifts his shirt up so I can see his bones rumbling. I wish there was a way to remember all the funny stuff he says each day. 

Nipples on the male gender are referred to as 'Mohawks.' "Hey Mom! Look at my mohawks!" 

Blowing a raspberry is referred to as a 'jellyfart.' Where does he come up with this stuff? 

Speaking of mohawks  he wants to have one like his Uncle Dan, except Gordon was blessed with hair that doesn't want to do anything else but lay down. This provided some disappointment on Sunday when he piled the hair gel on, only to get a thin row of hair to half-way stand up, even after I worked the gel in and blew it dry to stiffen it up. He was shrieking, "My mowhawk!!!" every few minutes if something came within inches of touching his hair. 

Gordon is all boy, despite being surrounded by girls most every day. He likes to join in on the rare nail polish party, but other than that, he participates in all the typical pesky little brother activities - stealing toys, wrecking beloved set-ups, kicking, tackling, dog-piling, etc. Angelina thinks this is all hilarious for the most part, except when he does it to her. He likes dressing up, and he's gone through several dress-up phases the last year and a half. For a long time it was Buzz Lightyear, but now he's branched out to Woody, Red Rackham (Tintin), pirates, and just a regular superhero as of today. 

He loves going out to dig in my garden plot and pretend he's planting. He and his buddy Max enjoy ripping the layers of bark off the eucalyptus trees near our playground and making large piles of debris. He loves collecting sticks, and tries to get them in the house. They get tossed off the balcony when he decides the best use for sticks are hitting his sisters. 

He loves The Killers, as he has since he was 21 months old, and takes phrases and tunes from their songs, and changes the words to make his own hilarious lyric, and then sings it over and over and over. "I Can't Stay" has a lyric that says "riding my decision home in the dark." Gordon took the "home in the dark" part and started filling in "dark" with different words, like toilet, poop, oatmeal, shoe, etc. His sisters thought this was absolutely hilarious, so he kept on going. We're working on socially appropriate words. :)

I love this kid. I hope he keeps his coolness as he grows up.

Evelyn and her "evil ways"

Evelyn saw the recent post dedicated to Jilly, and she wanted to title this one, "Evelyn's EVIL WAYS. Muahahaha!" She also thinks that vampires are cool, ghosts roam our house, and she enjoys being scared of things (even if it drives me a little nuts). She really is the antithesis of evil though (except for that one time where she told Gordon that the shadows in his room are scary and now he doesn't want to sleep in his bed or be caught alone any where in the house. (She told me to add that by the way).)

I am really enjoying the stage she is in right now. She's happy to take on more responsibility if I ask her to help Gordon or Angelina with something, and is always eager to help in the kitchen. The help is actually helpful now, no longer a messy hindrance. She's no longer afraid to turn the bathtub faucet on, run down to the playground by herself to fetch something we left behind, etc. I guess her budding sense of independence is endearing to me.

This is not to say she doesn't have her rough moments either - like afternoon-long runs where everything in the world is negative and she refuses to be grateful for much of anything. These are times where anyone near our apartment can probably hear, "You'd better take your garbage attitude and flush it down the toilet! I don't want to hear another word about how things are so terrible for you!!" There were a few weeks earlier this fall when this was almost a daily occurrence, and she and I were at odds a lot of the time.

Teenage years. I do not look forward to them for this reason. Evelyn and I share quite a few personality traits, so we can butt heads really hard. This is when it's good to have a husband to step in (especially in the morning before school). Her and Ben have almost always gotten along great, their personalities complement one another, so he can usually reason with her when I've failed. I fulfill the same role with Jillian.

Evelyn asks many thought provoking questions, often times about the gospel, or things she sees going on in the world or among her friends at school. The time after dinner has become one of my favorite times of day because we get to talk about really neat and interesting things, and I get to share my testimony of the gospel with my girls. One of my fondest childhood experiences were the talks my Dad and I (sometimes my mom too) shared when much of the family had gone to bed, and we would talk about anything. I hope my girls can remember sharing the same type of experience with me.

She has a talent for music - which will become more apparent if I can get her to practice the piano. Like the rest of us, she loves The Killers.

She has a definite love of learning about things in the natural world - weather, volcanoes, earthquakes, and often asks me to help her look up something on the computer so she can figure out what it looks like and why it happens. I am grateful for the Internet so I can satisfy her curiosity while she's hungry for the knowledge, instead of having to wait until the next library day so she could check out a book on the subject. She loves books about fairies and fantasy stuff too, like most other girls her age do. She likes the "Rainbow Magic" series right now.

Evelyn is the brother Gordon doesn't have - he gets all wound up when she comes home from school because he knows she will squish and wrestle him. He loves it.

She asked a few weeks ago when she'd get her own cell phone - I told her not until she's at least 16. She looked a bit bummed, but not many of her friends have cell phones either, so she's not too worried about it yet. She likes to get on my out-dated phone and play a game called 'Diner Dash,' and send text messages to family members. Once in a while I can convince her to call someone, usually Daddy.

I love my Evelyn and the role she plays as "Mom #1." As her teacher Mrs. Tonooka said, she's a kind and conscientious young lady!

October was super busy

 What my husband thinks I do on Sunday (look fabulous all day)

 What I like to do on Sunday (sit down and eat something yummy)

(Like this Boston Cream Pie the kids picked to make)

 What I actually do. 

 These pictures all uploaded to the computer in an unintentional series, and it made me laugh. Ben's cell phone camera was putting weird lines in the pictures, so I think he kept testing it to see if it returned to normal. 

 The Cub Scouts in our ward held a dinner fundraiser, and there was a "Mad Scientist" show as well. The kids all got to make that gak goo stuff, except Ev's batch disintegrated and it ended up being a case of chewing gum gone horribly wrong. 

After church one day, we headed to a lookout point. The skies were really clear and you could see downtown L.A. and Rancho Palos Verdes.  

Ben calls this picture, "The kids surveying their land."  

 And Jilly's making a really funny face. 

 Serious Ben shot. 

 Sleeping beauties. 

Here is evidence of Gordon sleeping in Ev's bed. He climbs up with her whenever he has the presence of mind to do it instead of coming in to wake me up. Which I am grateful for. As long as he doesn't wake up too early and wake Ev up as well. 

Jilly is six

Jilly turned six this week. Here are a few things that make her who she is right now:

She received Legos for her birthday. She loves them because she can "make a little set-up!" She still loves playing with small, miniature toys and turning them into organized scenes.

She is also fiercely protective of these small toys and her personal space. No one else is allowed to sleep on her bed or play in it, unless she gives permission. Her bed is still a small disaster zone, just like a year ago when she first started storing anything precious to her on her bed.

She is so sweet. At the same time, she can throw a magnificent tantrum. (It's usually the result of not having eaten recently - she never has had much of an appetite).

She is learning her letters in Kindergarten and loves it there. Numbers and math come easily to her, so I have hope that math will be an easier subject for her than it was for me as a child.

She is not a crowds person. During the trunk or treat a few weeks ago, she was the nervous mother hen checking to make sure all family members were accounted for and not falling behind in the crowd. She also has a big fear of being left behind and if I walk too far ahead of her, she'll be hollering at me.

She just learned how to ride a two wheeled bike last week and is already a little speed demon.

She continues to be particular in her tastes for food, clothing, and toys. She knows exactly what she wants, and she doesn't want anything else. If she can't verbalize what she wants, or I don't understand, she gets immensely frustrated.

When I go in to tuck the kids in again before I go to bed, she's often uncovered herself and rolled up into a little ball because she's cold. I'll cover her up and try to coax her out of an awkward position, but she'll start grunting and even glaring at me in her sleep. It makes me laugh.

She loves make-up and getting dressed up (like I did as a kid). I'll be paying my dues when she's a teenager, because if any of my children are going to take hours getting ready, Jilly will most assuredly be the one.

Jilly plays great with other kids and always has stories about what happened to who at school that day, or who she sat by on the bus.

I love you Jilly and the dynamic you bring to our family. You balance out your two high-energy siblings!

The Schedule

Lately, I have realized no matter what age your kids are, life will pretty much always be crazy in one way or the other. Here is the schedule I have to keep during the week. Ben is gone a lot right now in preparation for a big week of exams in January, so I'm running the household on my own for much of the week.

7 am: The alarm goes off. Get the girls up, Gordon bounds out of bed. I wish the girls were that excited to get up everyday. They (especially Ev) need a lot of cajoling to get out of bed.
7:25: head out the door to the bus stop. Or realize there is no way we are making the bus and I have 15 additional minutes to get out the door and in the car with 3 kids in tow. This has become the norm the last few weeks.
8:05: Get back to the house, and I have a little less than an hour to either exercise, shower, dress, read scriptures, haul laundry down to the laundry building, water the garden, etc. Usually only one or two of these things happen.
9:10 - Angelina arrives with her mom. We chat for a few minutes, and then her mom takes off for school.
9:45 - Angelina and Gordon need a second round of breakfast. I now have about an hour and a half  to run errands. The usual stops include the bank, Costco, another grocery store, and maybe the piano store for music.
11:35 - Jilly arrives at the bus stop where I have to meet the bus or else they drive away with her.
12:15 Lunch time for all the kids.
12:45 - Angelina goes down for her nap. Now's when I usually take time to do computer stuff, read scriptures, and get a break from kids.
2:10 - Evelyn gets home, I feed her and the other kids a snack, work on homework, and we pick up the house if it's a piano lesson afternoon (3 days a week).
3:00 (about) - Angelina wakes up from her nap. She has to be fed, changed, and then entertained until we head outside to play at the playground. Thankfully she finds my kids entertaining. This is when piano lessons start some days.
5:00 - we head outside most days (except where piano runs late) about this time. The kids are ready to explode with energy and get out the door.
5:20 - Angelina's dad arrives to pick her up. The kids play and run around some more.
5:45 - We head inside. Time to play the, "what's for dinner tonight?" game. I go through phases where I'm really good at using my crock pot to have dinner ready as soon as we get in, but lately that hasn't been happening. Time for kids to finish any homework they didn't do earlier, wash up, put on pajamas, and pick out outfits for the next day.
7:00 - Dinner is about wrapped up, and the kids are finishing running around, "helping" pick up the floor and their room, and finishing getting ready for bed.
8:00 - We get the kids to bed in by this time most days. Gordon should go to bed earlier, but he's decided he no longer can fall asleep by himself because he's scared. He sleeps with Evelyn, and I'm considering selling his toddler bed and getting a twin-sized loft so he can transition to a bigger bed and maybe stay there at night.

Now's when I decompress for the day, talk to Ben (he's coming home after the kids go to bed these days), check and respond to emails, etc. I should be in bed by 10 pm, but it's usually more like 11 pm.

Life is pushing me more than ever these days, but I am fortunate to have opportunities to add to our income during these lean grad school years.