grateful

Lately, I've spent a lot of time alone with these four. And I've realized what great kids I have--I feel so blessed to have them call me Mom. They've really stepped up with James in school. Chores are done without much complaining. Help is given when needed. Today, amongst my many blessings, I give tribute to my little support crew at home. They are growing up fast now!

Eliza's poem

I'm finally getting around to posting this!

Eliza's poem was published in the September 2009 "Animal All-Stars" edition of Zoobooks Magazine. Here it is for your reading pleasure:

Animal champions are everywhere
On the ground or in the air,
Deep in the water, or up on the shore
The jungle and grasslands, forests, mountains and more...
Cheetahs are fastest, ants strong for their size
Gorillas are smart, owls supposed to be wise,
Moose have antlers, crabs have claws,
These animals are awesome, they defy animal laws.

By Eliza Peterson, age 10

behavior modeling

This one's for you, Marci. Back in the days of papers and studying, I learned a concept called behavior modeling. This is a pretty basic idea, which says that most behavior is learned by observation and modeling. I had a great reminder this morning that my kids are watching my every move.

I woke up this morning feeling a little woozy, a little bit off balance. I got the kids off to school and started up the Backyardigans and actually allowed myself to crawl back in bed. After Caroline's show ended, she headed upstairs. I tried to get her to lay down with me and failed, so I decided it was indeed time for Dr. Pepper and Aleve (thanks, Traci). I was not going to sleep this migraine off.

So, in a cloud of fog, I went out to the garage and got myself some "medicine" (Dr. Pepper), grabbed Carrie a Capri Sun, pulled out the Utz Cheddar and Sour Cream potato chips (you gotta have something to go with Dr. Pepper) and planted myself at the kitchen table. There I sipped my soda and ate some chips.

Then I looked over at Caroline. She was sitting there swaying her head back and forth with her eyes closed, savoring the taste of the chips and drink. I laughed at her for a second, thinking she looked very much like Stevie Wonder singing a slow, love song. She silently looked very pleased with herself.

After this continued for the next few minutes all of a sudden it struck me: THAT'S WHAT I MUST BE DOING!!! A bit startled by the revelation, I watched myself through the eyes of a 2-year-old as I threw back my head and slowly swayed, trying to ease the headache away. Nice.

tired

I'm tired of seeing pictures from July on my blog. You probably are too! So much has happened that it's hard to know where to begin to catch up. We've had a great summer with both family's reunions, swim team and a weekend in Williamsburg. The kids are growing like weeds. And yet, we're really beyond the summer break mentality here.

School has started up for four of us: 1st, 3rd, 5th grades, and James' first two classes for his master's. It's a bit overwhelming at times. We're having to rethink things a little in regards to how we run the household. I've taken it upon myself to mow the lawn and realize what fun it is to spend time in the yard. Who wouldn't love two hours driving a go-cart around the lawn, listening to their ipod alone? Awesome!

Other than that, we're staying up later than usual, waking up later than we should. I've already missed the bus once due to the crazy schedule we're on. It's just not normal to have James get home from his day at 11:30 or midnight. Hopefully we'll find the balance in all of this.

Meanwhile, I'm just tired. I hear it in my voice. The need for sleep and routine. We'll get there!

"dance class"

A few months ago we were at the rec center waiting for our swimmers, and Caroline and I walked past a dance class that was going on in a little room on the top floor at the pool. She stood still and silent for a few minutes (miraculous, I know) and just looked like she was in a trance. I explained to her that these big girls were in a dance class. Ever since, when we have gotten in the car she'll often ask, "Are we going to my dance class?" I cannot begin to count the number of times I was asked that question.

So, after much trouble (I've seriously not had near this much of a time signing ANY of the kids up for ANY of their activities), I was able to place Caroline at a local dance studio for a 2-year-0ld class. She started last week. It was rather painful, with her clinging to my leg and crying at times. She had talked it up SO much that this surprised me.

So this morning we went for class #2. Much to my delight, she walked onto the floor with the teacher and did not even look back. I had my spies (Seth and Eliza) periodically check on her through the first half hour. She was following directions and Eliza even reported that she was smiling! Success. For a few minutes.

Then the teacher came and got me to let me know Carrie had had a little potty accident. They let her finish out the rest of the class with wet leotard and tights. When I explained that it was time to go, Carrie pitched a fit. A real tantrum, right there in the dressing room. She did not want the class to end. Even in wet panties, she danced like a fairy and had the time of her life!

almost there

I really can't wait for Summer Vacation to begin this year. Our school year is a week longer than ever and we're all just DONE with the school routine. This morning Seth asked if I could just call the school and tell them we're taking our kids out of school now, because as he put it, "we should be out by now anyway...and we're not learning anything." True, true.

A Kindergarten graduation for Rachel tomorrow and then just two more half days following. I can make it. Last week there were a few nights that I about lost it. Too many places to be, overlapping sport seasons due to all the rain we've had and SO many parties for school, soccer, football... Whew!

To top it off, we're heading out of town for 10 days on Saturday. I can't tell you how much I look forward to a 16-hour car trip. Some would dread the drive, but it may just be my favorite part of vacations. Really. I CAN'T WAIT!

Top Ten Reasons I love roadtrips:
1. No meals to prepare.
2. No dishes to do.
3. No mopping.
4. No laundry.
5. My body being "at rest" for the whole day.
6. Talk time for James and I. CAN'T WAIT!
7. Listening to music and singing duets with James on the drive.
8. Happy kids out of school.
9. Seeing places I've never been.
10. Roadtrip snacks. When else do I buy cornnuts?

I think being away from home is the only time a Mom can escape some of her duties (#1-4). Though there are other challenges that being cooped up in a car can create, the benefits FAR outweigh them.

And then to actually get to our destination and enjoy time with family...BLISS.

news

We found out on Friday that James has been accepted to Georgetown's MBA program beginning in the fall. He will attend evening classes twice a week for the next 3 years to complete the program.

To many of you, this will come as a surprise, but it's been in the making for quite some time. Starting in October of last year we purchased a prep course and James began studying for the GMAT, which he took in March. He was studying two nights a week and Saturdays to prepare. It gave us a little taste of what we're getting into now...these years will be tough. ;)

We do feel SO blessed. He is 1 of only 120 that were admitted.

Seth's homework

I just finished editing Seth's sentences for his spelling homework. These gave me a good laugh! It's so fun to see this boy grow up.

"At Costco we get lots and I mean lots of samples."

"My wife wears a cape, chews gum and is the crabbiest person in the world."

now or later?

I'm listening to Caroline screaming upstairs, feeling a little guilty that I'm not going up to intervene. She's in good company up there, but is just irate about something. Not an unusual occurrence. Dinner is cooking in the oven and we're just waiting for James to get home. So, why not spend a minute blogging, right?

I thought I'd share a little laugh we had on Mother's Day.

We were sitting in Church and the Coopers sat behind us giggling while we struggled with Caroline (their youngest of 4 is 14) . She had a particularly rough meeting. Twice she blurted out that she needed to go potty. (She's learned that that phrase gets results.) They saw her damage a prized "book" Seth had been working on all meeting, and his angry response. They witnessed Caroline stab the pipe cleaner flower I had just received into my thigh. At the end of the hour, James turned around and asked if they'd like a 2 year-old. Brother Cooper offered a straight across trade for their youngest. James casually mentioned his plan to slit his wrists when we have 3 teenage girls. Brother Cooper just laughed and said, "Oh, if you only knew...you'd slit your wrists now."

so happy

I love to see Caroline's personality coming through. This morning she slept in until 8:30am, which is MUCH later than usual. She tiptoed downstairs and came to sit by the computer with me. I looked over to her and she was grinning. I said to her, "You look happy today!" She replied with, "I am happy."

Last week there was a time in the car when she just blurted out, "I SOOO Happy!" It's so fun to be able to see how these kiddos think. What a sweetheart.


Untitled from James and Val on Vimeo.

baptism and cherry blossoms

Now that Spring Break is over, I can regroup a little and reflect on the past few weeks. We had a wonderful time with Mom and Dad Peterson in town. They came at the perfect time to go into DC and see the cherry blossom festival. It was just gorgeous to look out over the Potomac from the Jefferson Memorial and see all of the pale pink blossoms lining the water. I had to take a picture of Seth to remember his baptism weekend amidst such beauty!

The baptism itself was so sweet. Besides Grandpa and Grandma, the Jenkins, and other friends from the ward, one of Seth's kindergarten teachers, neighbors and a few friends from school came to celebrate with him! He was so excited to have them there and was such a great little host. He welcomed each of them when they arrived--just so grown up!

Some highlights from the baptism:

• Grandma Pete's talk on baptism that Seth participated in (much more than I think Grandma had intended, but SO sweet). After that first question, Seth just had to have his input on all of the points Grandma made!
• Brother Jenkins' tender comments about "his friend, Seth". So dear.
• Caroline coming up to sing with Mom, Eliza and Rachel. She was not to be left out of a performance! She stood still in front of the microphone and could be heard, "lalala" during "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus".
• The yummy food afterwords: Damien's amazing guacamole, Arlene's fruit salad (a request from Seth himself), Sonya's beautiful veggie tray and of course, cake!
  

New York!

Our trip to New York was fabulous! I had never been, so the lights, the cabs, Broadway was all new to me. The cab drivers were amazing--the way they zipped in and out of lanes of crowded streets. I was worried for some of the pedestrians that crossed our paths a little too close for comfort, but no harm was done.

Wicked was seriously as good as Janyse made it out to be. Quite a few of the songs left me breathless and teary (though that's never been hard to achieve). Glinda just MADE the show. If you ever get a chance to something on Broadway, consider Wicked. We were SO impressed. The writing was so good and the songs just blew me away.

The next day we did the touristy things: saw the statue of liberty, went to the top of the Empire State building, went into Macy's (and quickly back out...can we say CROWDED!!), walked up and down Times Square. We even found a few street dealers who would've sold us a nice Gucci bag or Rolex for oh so cheap. ;)

The restaurants we stumbled upon were great too. The first night we went out for Irish food. I've never seen so much beef in a stew in my life. I figured it was at least 3/4 of a lb. on my plate...and no way did I finish it! We went to the Little Italy pizzeria. You know a place is good if they accept cash only. It did not disappoint. We even went to breakfast at the Stardust Cafe, where the waiters all sung show tunes during your meal. Pretty cool place.

What made the trip the most amazing was just to spend time together without the kids. I felt like this was a mini-honeymoon. With the GMAT behind him, James was himself again (hallelujah!). It was fun to remember what we like so much about each other!

One funny story: On our second night, we were so exhausted from all of the waiting in lines and were on our feet for almost the whole day, so we decided to go and see a movie at around 6pm. The show ended and we decided it was the perfect time to call home and say goodnight to the kids. We walked next door to Chevy's to have dinner and call the kids. So, we were talking to them in a little booth in Chevy's while a wonderful waitress was taking our drink orders and trying politely to not get too involved in our conversations. It came time to talk to Caroline and I was so excited to see how she was doing. I said hello and tried to talk to her. There was no response...until she started to WAIL, "I want my MOMMY...I want my MOMMY!" She was near histerics and I could not take it. I handed the phone back to James and started bawling right there in the restaurant. He got her all calmed down and then had to explain to our waitress why I was near weeping. It was so pathetic to hear her SO sad.

The plane ride home was worrisome. There was low-lying fog at JFK, and thunderstorms at IAD, so we almost turned a 2-night stay into 3. After 2 1/2 hours on the tarmac, the pilot came on and abruptly announced that we would finally be taking off. Everyone on the plane started to cheer. I was so relieved. I did not want poor Caroline to go another night without Mom and Dad to put her to bed. The other kids hardly missed us.

(Oh, Diane...there's your braces picture. Taken just before we left to see Wicked.)

we're off!

James and I leave for NYC tomorrow at noon! We're so excited to get away for a few days together, but oh, the pain of preparing your house for someone else to stay in while we're gone. It's much more stressful than a visit from family or friends.

Wish us luck!

humor me

I thought I'd pull a Marci here. Since I last blogged...

• I started throwing up on Friday night, half an hour after James returned home from his business trip. I have not had my stomach "right" for more than an hour or two since. Thank heavens it waited for James' return home.
  
• I've lost 8 pounds and gained 4 back, thanks to a WONDERFUL friend who brought me soup two days in a row. I am so grateful.
• James and I cleaned up a trail of vomit from an unsaid child's bed, down the hall, completely to my room and then to the bathroom. As I've heard the story from said child's words, I guess the vomit came and said child thought to catch it in cupped hands, then continued to vomit and cup and ran to find me. This meant a SOLID, LONG trail...
  
• Every family member has battled this stomach bug. Today Eliza finally succombed to this awful fate.
  
• I've managed to help Rachel through 5 days of taking azythromiacin...not a small feat by any means. (Think 35 minutes of crying each night to accomplish the 10 second drink.) I can't take all of the credit. James played a major part here too.
• I've gotten to know the office staff at the school far too well. Unfortunately, as I've become more familiar, they are hearing more whining from me.
  
• I've done truly a dozen loads of laundry, probably more like 15. No quarters involved though...something to be grateful for!
• I've rescheduled a MUCH overdue haircut for myself two weeks in a row. Who would've thought after the strep fiasco that I would have to cancel again a week later due to another illness in the household?
• I've decided that we need to purchase a steamvac. Without a great neighbor to loan me her's, I would've ripped out carpet to clean this mess up. (That was my first thought when I saw the carnage mentioned above.)
• I've laughed to the point of tears telling this story to a dear friend. That is my favorite emotion--laughter through tears.
• I've realized how many friends I really do have out in VA. SO many kindnesses have come our way.

Next week is bound to be better.

trifecta

I'm not sure if I've ever posted about one of my favorite words: trifecta. I first gained my love for the word while timing a swim meet. When all three timers were exactly the same, we got all excited that we were so accurate and had a 'trifecta'. It's rare, you know... ;) So I find myself watching for threes and casually throw out the word. I love it!

So, today I use the word to describe something not so fun: the strep throat trifecta we have going in our household. All three kids are home from school with it. I've been to the doctor three, yes three, days in a row. I wish they'd all get sick at the same time and we could just have one big doctor visit. So far, Caroline is holding out. The doctor wished us well as we left this morning and hoped we don't get to visit her again on Monday for Caroline.

At least this all held off so that Seth could have a great birthday on Monday. He didn't have a friend birthday party this year, but instead Seth was able to go to the Lego store and spend some birthday money. He was in heaven! And isn't that one cool Lego statue of Indiana Jones?

girls

Rachel's home from school today with a fever. The first time this whole schoolyear. I'm loving having her home!! I had forgotten how much better it is to have 2 kids at home instead of just one lonely 2-year old. She has pretty much entertained Caroline all morning, and Carrie is in SUCH a good mood (a rarity). She's loving the attention of having Rachel all to herself.

I have LOVED having the extra help to alert me to Caroline's mischief! This girl is into EVERYTHING. She has written on my sewing machine, my sewing table, more walls than I can count, her body countless times... She's climbing up onto HIGH things. Yesterday I caught her sitting on the top of her kitchen set throwing dishes off of it. I told James just the other night that this child is the little boy I always thought I would have. Just she's a girl. She wears her BYU The Quest shirt every time it comes out of the wash. Even if she catches a glimpse of another blue t-shirt, she yells out, "BYU football shirt". She makes her daddy proud.

If you could see Caroline today, she has a big bruise under her left eye (fell while we were waiting for Eliza at swimming the other day), a bright purple big-toe toenail (dropped a plate on her toe), and a green gooey nose (sinus infection).

see's

James got me See's Candies for Valentine's Day!! I have really missed the Nuts and Chews that we used to get from Brad for Christmas every year. Don't get me wrong, Nauvoo Fudge is really good, but there is just one See's Candies.

The last time James was traveling I had him search the airport for See's...to no avail. The Denver airport is not a source for these delicacies.

So when James got home from a little shopping this morning and handed me flowers and chocolates, I half-heartedly looked at the box, thinking I'd see Godiva or Russell Stover (gasp) or some other inferior chocolate. This red heart-shaped box was none other than SEE'S!!

I don't know where he got these, but he scored some major brownie points with me. Now if I could just eat them. Spacers have done a number on my gums and I am so sore. It's just going to get worse next week, so I'd better get busy eating! I also have to grab my favorites before the kids catch wind that we have See's in the house...especially Eliza!

Shhh....I'm off to savor these now.

success

At church today one of the speakers shared this poem. I hunted him down after sacrament meeting to get it. It spoke to me...not so much the eloquence, but the meaning. I wish I could say that I am more "successful" as defined in the poem. Nonetheless, they are great goals.

Success is speaking words of praise,
In cheering other people's ways,
In doing just the best you can
With every task and every plan.

It's silence when your speech would hurt,
Politeness when your neighbor's curt.
It's deafness when the scandal flows
And sympathy with others' woes.

It's loyalty when duty calls.
It's courage when disaster falls.
It's patience when the hours are long.
It's found in laughter and in song.

It's in the silent time of prayer,
In happiness and in despair.
In all of life and nothing less,
We find the thing we call success.

(Author Unknown)

scheduled!

Oh man, oh man, oh man. I just called up the orthodontist and scheduled my appointments for spacers and braces. I officially regress to my teens on Tuesday, February 17th!

This is something that has been a long time in coming. Just about every year for the past 3 I've seen an orthodontist, had a consultation and gone home a little devastated. "Jaw surgery, jaw surgery, jaw surgery." They all seem to agree this is the answer for my serious bite issues and crowding. No chance that Invisalign would work for me, darn it. Thank you genetics...

But on Tuesday of this week I again visited another practice and this time was SO pleasantly surprised by the new techniques available for my issues. I won't go into too much detail here, but what I will say is that this will involve two screws in the roof of my mouth for a length of time. Sounds like fun? Yes, these will be a few painful years.

BUT, when finished, I am confident that I will be able to bite through a piece of tomato. And, my jaw (cross my fingers) will be aligned in such a way that when I'm through I truly may not need a jaw splint or suffer from the horrendous jaw aches when the temperature goes below 20 degrees.

I'm nervous and SO excited!

snow vs. ice

Snow, I tolerate. It's cold, and I don't like being cold, but it's beautiful to see the world in white. It's fun to be out in it for a short amount of time, and even more fun to stay inside and be cozy while there's snow outside. I don't even mind shoveling snow. The immediate reward for your effort is gratifying.

But, ice I HATE. Yes, hate is a very strong word, and it is the correct one for me to use here. I do not enjoy chipping ice off of our driveway when it's 25 degrees outside. I don't like trying to drive in it. I do not like how it hangs around for days on end.

Yes, I'm basically throwing a tantrum here. I have been outside since before 9am this morning with my huge bag of salt. My mood started when the darn fertilizer spreader wouldn't work, so I had to use a measuring cup to distribute the salt. Then when I turned to walk down the driveway to put it away, it started to work. Of course.

I began chipping the ice off and found that I had two tree professionals watching me. They were cutting down my neighbor's tree and mostly sat in their nice warm truck and watched me gingerly walk on this huge sheet of ice. Nice. They ended up giving me some tips and laughing as I just about fell a few times. (I did manage to stay on my feet while they were watching.)

School has been out all week. I have been home all week. James has been gone all week. Yes, I can be a crabby Mom.

Okay, I'm feeling a little better. I need to go eat lunch and take a hot bath. My back is killing me from bending over for so many hours.

Ice. Grrrrrrr...

exciting!

What an exciting day for our country.
Maybe it's the fact that we live near DC, but this year, as never before, I am SO excited to watch the Presidential Inauguration!
I've been glued to the television all morning. The streets are familiar, and I can picture exactly the different monuments and streets where everything is taking place.
As I got the kids off to school, they even asked me if I was going to go to DC today and watch it in person.
Nope, I'm on my couch in my pajamas, but this year is different.
I feel like there is so much work for this president to do, and I'm almost giddy to hear what his speech will entail.
It's a great day to be an American.

on our calendar this saturday

7:30 am Eagle Scout Project for one of the priests
8:oo am James' basketball game
11:00 am Rachel's basketball practice
11:00 am Seth's basketball game
1:45 pm Birthday party for Seth's friend
2:00 pm Baptism for one of our missionary's girlfriend
2:45 pm Eliza's basketball game
3:00 pm Valerie's basketball game

And so it begins...basketball season. Sweet.