Ella's Question

Ella to Mommy: "When are you going to have a baby?! I've been waiting so long!"

Poor girl is just gonna have to wait a while.

Is there a Dr. in the house???

As many of you know, Rhyetta and I have made the difficult decision of not having health insurance for Rhyetta and the kids. Even through work, we would be paying double what we were paying in Utah. We don't like to make such decisions, ever, but they need to be made.

Well, Rhyetta and I have been exercising our faith through prayer in asking for health, strength and safety for Rhyetta and the kids alot lately because of this hard decision we made. Our Ella has really put this to the test. All of our kiddos have gotten a lot more gusto to be more daring in their activities. While swimming last week, Kian, Abby, and Ella were jumping in the pool from off the pool wall. Kian showed Abby and Ella how he could jump into the water backward. Naturally, Abby tries to do what her big brother does. She jumps into the pool, but not far enough away from the wall. You can guess what happened. She landed on her chest on the wall. Thank goodness she had her floatie on, and did not get hurt. As Rhyetta and I were talking to her about it, we hear Ella start crying. We turn our attention to her to see blood coming from her chin. We ask we what happened and she mentioned that she was trying to jump into the pool like Abby and Kian.

We quickly got her out of the pool, as to not get blood into the water. Looking at the severity of the gash, she split her chin through all layers of her skin and you could see a little hole in her chin, we quickly started to apply pressure to stop the bleeding. I mentioned that we need to take her to the doctor. Rhyetta reminded me that it would cost too much money. What a dilema. We quickly got her home and bandaged her chin with a butterfly band-aid and a regular band-aid. Rhyetta checked online what we should do and we did it already.

As you can see, she will have a nice battle wound. Through the whole ordeal, she cried very little, and exhibited great strength and trust in Rhyetta and I as we took care of her. I guess when you need a doctor, there's always Dr. Mom and Dad. Healthcare that costs very little, and gives more care and love.

Evidence of a Great Teacher

Most of us can remember a teacher that we really enjoyed because they had a meaningful impact on us in some way. Today at church, Kian gave a talk in primary about the temple. Before this, Rhyetta and I were waiting in the hall outside the primary room for the older primary kids to come from their classes. As Kian's class was lined up outside in the hall, Rhyetta formally met and introduced herself to his primary teacher. In the course of asking questions, Kian's teacher mentioned that Kian was such a good reader; better than all of the other kids in his class. She mentioned that all of the other kids had trouble reading but Kian read without problems.

Now, correct me if I am wrong, but I think this is definite evidence of Kian having a great teacher helping him learn how to read and accel at it. Thank goodness we pay top dollar for his teacher. :-)

He did an excellent job with his talk. Insomuch, the bishop, who was watching Kian give his talk, mentioned to Rhyetta and I that he, Kian, should give his talk in sacrament meeting. What an admirable thing to say.

No More Baby Steps, but Big Girl Steps

Abby has a really great teacher, better than this one in many respects, helping her learn to read. Last night, Rhyetta was reading to the kiddos and Abby wanted to read a Dick and Jane book. She was told to read it to me, and read she did. I am so proud of her reading. Leaps and bounds is what is taking place, with Ella not far behind.

Where we live, there is a pool and since we moved to Missouri we have taken the almost daily pilgrimage to the pool to cool off. Abby and Ella grab their respective "floatie" and they swim their way around the pool, and after me or Rhyetta. They love the freedom the "floatie" gives them so they don't have to stay in the kiddie pool.

Today, after a wonderful morning of blackberry picking, we came home with the kids almost chomping at the bit to go swimming because it was sooo hot. We decided to take advantage of the last day of our free guest pass at the local YMCA (since obtaining a 14-day guest pass, we have gone to the Y for swimming since there is a splash pad and a water slide). As the ritual goes, Abby and Ella grabbed their "floatie" and off we (Kian, Abby, Ella, and myself) went to the pool to cool off. We spent several hours swimming in the pool, dipping in the hot tub, and getting back into the cool pool. About 20 minutes before we left, Abby decided to take off her "floatie" and get back in to the pool. Abby wanting to get my attention in only a way Abby can, she showed me that she was swimming. She got out of the pool to show me the "floatie" was gone, and she jumped in the pool and was swimming to me. OH, how happy I was and how happy I made her feel. Her confidence soared and was cottified by her jumping in the pool off the edge into deeper water and swimming to me or the steps. What a BIG GIRL Abby became today.

Even better yet, just as we were getting ready to get out of the pool, Abby swims over to me and the following conversation ensued:
Abby: Daddy, do you see that blonde haired boy over there?
Me: Yes. Why?
Abby: I was sitting at the hot tub with him talking. (At this point Abby is getting giggly in her Abby way)
Me: What were you talking about?
Abby: The hot tub and we were doing stuff.
Me: What stuff were you doing?
Abby: We did nothing.

I noticed Abby talking to this boy, who was probably around 10 or 11, and over heard her asking him about noises coming from the hot tub. I think it cute to see my 5 year-old girl getting giggly and giddy from talking to a boy. This is a BIG GIRL step that needs to get back to a baby step until she's 45.

Fun in the Summertime

Today, in the morning before it reached the 90's with high humidity, we went to the Robertson's to pick blackberries. It was fun, personally, to pick the berries off of the bush while popping a few in my mouth. It was fun to see Kian, Ella, and Abby picking berries while joyfully filling a Zip-Loc bag. We discovered that Abby has become our pro berry-picker. She was crawling and crouching beneath the bushes to get the black, ripe, juicy, sweet/tart berries. Rhyetta came away with purple hands from picking berries off the bush, while the kids had evidence of the delicious berries around their mouths.

After the berry picking, we sat down for a relatively cool lunch. Needless to say pictures describe how well these cousins get along with each other.

For my Mom

I have a vivid memory from my childhood. It's so vivid, I can still taste it 20-something years later!

I remember my mom serving up ice cream in bowls. That was a treat! I don't think we had ice cream very much. But when I happily took a bite of that ice cream, I didn't smile. I frowned. It tasted awful. How can ice cream taste bad, I wondered. Do you know what my mom did to that delicious ice cream? She served it with fresh bits of garlic hidden inside! Blech. It tasted wrong. I have never liked garlic--I wonder if it's because of that experience.

Whenever it seemed appropriate, I would share that story with friends to get some sympathy. Why would my mom do that to me? Yuck!

Here I am now, a mother of four youngins'. And for the first time in my adult life I don't have health insurance and neither do my kids. It's just too expensive to buy it (through Matt's work or individually). We'd rather risk it and pray for safety and learn how to keep ourselves healthy. We've made that choice. And as I wonder, what will I do if the baby needs antibiotics for something?, I remember vaguely my mother's voice explaining to me that garlic is a natural antibiotic. Bing! Lightbulb moment! What a good idea, I think. My mom used to do that with me when I was a kid. She sure was smart!

Mom to Kian: What do you want to be when you grow up?

Kian: I'd like to be an inventor or a chemist.

Mom and Dad to Kian: Do you know what a chemist does?

Kian: They get to mix chemicals together!

Mom to Kian: (A lecture on college).

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Mom to Abby: What do you want to be when you grow up?

Abby: Ummmmmmmm, I'd like to be a person that stays at home and has a dog!

Dad to Abby: Well, Abby, if you work hard and apply yourself, I think you can do it!

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Ella just said she wanted to be an adult.