The other night I wasn’t ready to get the kids ready for bed so I just let them keep playing.  I thought the girls were downstairs in the playroom.  When I realized they were upstairs I figured I should start getting everybody ready for bed.  I walked into the room and they said, “Stop!  It’s a surprise!  We’re getting ready for bed by ourselves!”  There they were both in their pajamas, already brushed their teeth, reading the scriptures together!  It was the best surprise ever.

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Sooooo, Amelia and Kathryn each had some swimming lessons.  It was interesting to watch my kids be the worst at something.  There were times I just wanted to get them out of the pool and take them home and tell them they never have to swim again.  Kathryn cried a few times and I just about cried! 

 Amelia was in the three year old class.  I waited for the class that started the day after her birthday.  Because the two year old class needs a parent and there was no way I could do that with the other kids and I don’t like the hassle of getting a babysitter.   I think Amelia’s only fear is water.   The first day she sat at the edge of the pool and the teacher tried to get her to come in the water with her.  Her teacher’s name was Amanda, and I’m pretty sure that was what tipped the scale to finally get into the water.  

Kathryn was in the 4-6 year old class, which had 10 lessons.  I look forward to both girls being in the same class next year.  She was also afraid to get into the water and clung to her teacher’s neck.  I don’t think she ever actually blew bubbles, but she did put her face in the water.  She made a lot of improvement.  And now she will float in the bathtub on her back, even letting her ears get wet.  Big step!

Amelia, Kathryn | 1 Comment »

 Three years ago, the summer before we moved to Ukraine when Amelia was just a couple months old, we drove through Idaho to Utah and back visiting lots of  family and friends.  We just got back from a very similar trip, which included a family reunion.  We visited some of the same people, whom we had not seen since the trip three years ago!  We got lucky with kids that are quite good travelers.  We also decided to not wake up early to leave, but get a good night of sleep and regular morning routine before leaving.  It worked great for the kids.

So the first day we planned to leave about 10am.  Unfortunately that morning we realized we had failed to include time zone change into our plan.  So we got ready as fast as we coud an left about 8:45 for Boise, ID.  We made one stop for lunch, and one for gas.  The kids were so great.  We got to Boise and stayed with my cousin and her family.  Another cousin and her family also came for the evening and we had such fun talking and the kids playing.  We also enjoyed some real summer heat.  It was about 100 degrees, compared to the 60 degrees and cloudy in Seattle.

Later my cousin’s daughter, Lindy, dressed my girls up in costumes and they practiced a dancing show they later performed for us.  Kathryn and Amelia did not want to leave the next morning. 

But we did, and drove to Utah where we stayed with my aunt and uncle in Highland.  Daniel couldn’t have been happier about the dogs and cat there.  As you can see they loved him, too.  Or maybe they just loved the food he dropped.

 

We went on a walk one evening and Darryl caught the gorgeous view.

We spent a day at BYU.  Darryl and I were excited to visit, of course, but the kids kept complaining about so much walking and sun.  I decided the next time we take our kids to BYU they should be 8 years old.  Then maybe they would appreciate it more!  They did like the statues. 

  

I was amazed at the addition to the Tanner Building.  And we went into a jr. core class room, where Darryl and I (not in the same class) had spent many hours. 

For lunch we went to J-Dawgs, a hot dog place south of campus started by a Marriott School student a couple years ago.  The best hot dog I have had in my life.  Definitely.  Go there when you are in Provo.  Wow.

We also met up with Kristina, a friend from Ukraine.  I thought we took a picture, but I couldn’t find it.  She was in our branch in Ukraine and it was great to see her again, as a BYU student. 

The next morning we met another friend from Ukraine, another girl from our branch, Annie (Anya).  Again I thought we had  a picture but couldn’t find it.  After so much traveling and visiting, we found a park where the kids could play and Darryl could practice taking pictures. 

 

That night we visited a missionary couple Darryl had served with in Armenia, the Hadleys.  He is so good at keeping in touch with people!  They were so kind, and had toys for the kids to play with and a delicious dinner for us.  It was a great visit.  Notice Kathryn posing in the picture.

On Friday we had lunch with one of my former roomates who lives and works near Salt Lake.  I think she was the first babysitter Kathryn ever had.  Then we headed up to Josh and Andrea’s house where we had a fun night.  Kathryn and Amelia loved playing with their cousin Katie.  And we saw some amazing hula hooping.  Four hula hoops at a time. 

Saturday before the family reunion, we visited our good friend Melissa.  I had several classes with her at BYU, and she lived in Seattle briefly working at KPMG.  I loved seeing her!  Again notice Kathryn’s pose.

 

Also before the family reunion we had lunch with John Henry, Darryl’s former mission companion.  Whew, that was a lot of visiting before the official visiting of the family reunion.  That will be a separate post.  On the way back to Seattle, we stayed in Rexburg for 2 nights with Darryl’s mission president, President and Sister Schwartz.  It was nice and relaxing.  We spent a day at BYUI and met up with our friend Katya from Ukraine, who is a student there now.  Kathryn was especially excited to see her and we loved hearing how great she is doing at BYUI.

 

The point of the post is, get a J-Dawg for lunch when you are in Provo.  My mouth is watering.

The real point is we had a great time seeing so many people!   The troubles of taking the kids around to so many people and places have already faded.  It was worth it!

Family | 1 Comment »

   Amelia goes around singing, “Families can be forever and ever” (the real words are “Families can be together forever”).  She told me today she doesn’t need anymore candy because she knows how to go on the potty by herself.  This was of course after she admitted sneaking several extra coins and eating lots of candy.

Daniel is trying to get me to fix his hair with girly hair holders.   He has also discovered cars and trucks and buses and gets very excited when he sees them. 

Kathryn decided it is her doll’s birthday tomorrow so she made invitations to a party, decorations, a sign, and party hat.

The picture below is something else Kathryn made – herself as a fairy princess.  She drew and colored each part, cut them out, and put them together.

Amelia, Daniel, Kathryn | 1 Comment »

I wouldn’t go so far as to say Amelia potty trained herself.  But once we made her start, she pretty much did.  A few months ago we tried taking diapers off and she resisited.  She held it in and then the minute I was out of the room she went on the carpet.  She screamed when we took her to the potty.  So we decided to wait.  Once she turned 3, we decided to try again.  I was very apprehensive because of what had happened last time.  But I was willing to try for a couple days to see.

First we got what is now called “The Potty Training Machine”.

 

We just wanted to encourage her to sit on the potty, even if she didn’t go, so she gets a coin to put in the machine whenever she sits.  A coin yields 2-3 M&Ms.  Anyway, to make a medium sized story short, she just goes when she needs to!  She does not go when I ask her to.  She does not go before we leave for the library if she doesn’t need to.  She usually does not go even if I offer her extra candy (like before we go shopping).  She goes when she needs to!  I do take it upon myself to remind her and talk about going, so she is thinking about it and knows to go when she needs to.  Because she has had accidents when she just forgets.  She is so independent, she doesn’t want to go when someone else tells her to.  Against my judgment we also took diapers off at night and she is doing great!  Again, she doesn’t always go right before bed, because in her words, “Pee pee is coming up my body, not coming down my body.”  But we wake her up when we go to bed to take her and often she’ll go then. 

The first day we took her diapers off, I asked Kathryn to tell Amelia about how to go on the potty.  It was so cute! 

Anyway, the point is, that Amelia is just doing it her way and it is awesome.  No taking her to the potty every 15 minutes or whatever.  (Of course that method did work well for Kathryn).  It is awesome to just have one kid in diapers!  He just inherited a couple more boxes of diapers so we’re good to go for a long time.

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One of my cousins mentioned that sooner or later everyone has a Costco post.  So I decided it was my turn.  Sure, I love to buy diapers at Costco.  I’m glad Kathryn went to preschool near Costco, because I didn’t feel bad going there almost every week.  I really love to buy gas at Costco – it is always the cheapest.  I don’t know if I should admit this, but I also love the hotdog and drink for $1.50.  We do that for lunch or dinner every once in awhile.

But this post is not about the shopping.  Darryl’s firm does the audit for Costco.  When we got back from Seattle, Darryl was put on the audit team for Costco.   We have learned what an awesome company it is:

They always look within the company before looking without.  Most of the people he worked with in their accounting department had been at Costco their whole careers.  

Largest company in pacific northwest – that means its bigger than Boeing, Microsoft, or Amazon. 

Costco’s goal is only to make money on the membership fees.  Anything more than that, they put back into lowering product cost.

The audit team worked at the corporate office, which is a large complex across the street from the first Costco store to open.  At the office is a huge cafeteria where the employees (and auditors) really ate lunch everyday.  The kids and I met Darryl there once for lunch.  The camaraderie among the employees was evident.  And the cafeteria had great food for very low prices.

My favorite thing to hear about from Darryl was the annual shareholders meeting, which Darryl attended.  He has been to these before for other clients.  In Darryl’s experience, one of these meetings lasts about 6 minutes, with zero or one shareholder present.  Not so at Costco.   For Costco, it was a huge  event held in a big hotel ballroom, with literally thousands of people attending.  People came from out of town to attend, some obviously come yearly.  It lasted about 90 minutes.  All Costco food was there for free, as well as booths showcasing new products. 

At one point they opened for questions and many did ask questions, to which the president and CEO answered.  One guy asked if they could put signs up to show what was in each aisle.  The answer was that Costco’s model is a treasure hunt.  They want you to look down every aisle.  That would explain why sometimes the diapers have moved after being on a certain aisle for six months!  But I do like the treasure hunt idea.  Sometimes we find a treasure!  And sometimes I can’t find something but the kids are ready to go, so we go.

Family | 1 Comment »

I always thought preschool graduations were so cheesy.  Did they exist when I was that age?  Perhaps, and I don’t remember it at all, which kind of proves the point that they are kind of silly. 

So when I saw that there was a graduation for Joy School, I was a little wary.  Of course I knew the kids would like it.  And they did!  It was so cute, I think I’ve changed my mind on preschool graduations.

We started the year with two boys and Kathryn, and Amelia was not officially part of the group.  When it was at our house Amelia always participated and then one boy moved away, so Amelia started attending all the time. 

They were quite serious about the graduation.  It was at our house, and both Kathryn and Amelia helped clean that afternoon.  In fact, they were so excited about cleaning and were so happy working, we might start having weekly graduations at our house.

I told the girls they could wear any fancy clothes they wanted, and they both picked princess dresses.

Here they are singing a couple of songs.  We all had fun and the girls are so sad not to have Joy School anymore.  I said we will have Family Joy School this summer.  They really liked it on Tuesday, because we just had art, snack, and play time!

Amelia, Kathryn | 2 Comments »

My appreciation for my three children recently grew.  A few Sundays ago in Relief Society we had a lesson in which several women mentioned their unrealized desire to be a mother.  We do not live in what I would call a typical family ward.  Probably only half of the women are mothers.  Listening to these women of all ages and from all walks of life talk about their dream to be a mother, I was so greatful for my own situation and kids.  My dream of being a mother has come true.  And not just once, but three times!  I think too often of my kids as a burden, or at least the taking care of them as a burden.  But they are a blessing!  I think (as all mothers think of their kids) that my children are beautiful and amazing!

My Daniel.

He is just such a boy.  He throws things down the stairs.  He runs.  He sucks food coloring.  He cooks!  He just loves to get different utensils from the kitchen, plus bowls, pots and pans and play with them.  If something is cooking on the stove, he has to see it and he wants to stir it up.  If something is in the oven, he has to come over and watch it.  When the timer goes off, he reaches for an oven mitt.  Daniel is so enthusiastic, as many 1 year olds are.  He goes crazy if he sees a dog outside.  Or a bird.  He loves to chase birds.  He doesn’t say too many words yet.  So often we are guessing at what he wants.  When we guess right, he grins as wide as can be.  It is so cute!  He is also very sweet.  He knows that Amelia uses the silky bop.  He may not realize that we have three of them.  So after his nap, he picks up the silky bop he used and puts it on Amelia’s bed.   (A silky bop is just a piece of silk pajamas or silk scarf.)

 

My Amelia.

Amelia jumps into your arms without telling you first.  While you’re standing on the stairs and she is at the top of the stairs.  She loves to pretend and most days she goes around telling us which family member we are in her pretend family that day.  Or she’ll pretend we are all characters from a show she watched, such as Dora, Winnie the Pooh, or Wonder Pets.  She loves to make any little toys into families, or set them up a certain way.  She loves to rhyme and make up nicknames.  Right after we saw a slug one day, she asked Darryl if she could call him “slugger boy”.  Amelia also loves to tease Kathryn, and one way she does it is by calling her Kathy (Kaffy).  Amelia loves to cuddle, and she loves bears.  I don’t know how to describe it but she has so much personality.  She sure didn’t get it from me.  Like the way she struts into nursery.  Its just so cute. 

 

 

My Kathryn.

The girl is so creative!  She asks for pipe cleaners and makes herself a tiara.  Draw, draw, draw!  She spends hours each week drawing.  Sometimes hours in one day.  Its a good thing we have two boxes of paper from Costco.  She will draw something and then cut it out and play with it.  She made herself a friend.  I traced Kathryn’s body, then Kathryn colored it and cut it out.  She made several outfits for the girl and named her Cindy.  Kathryn gets so excited about things.  I love to hear her squeal when she sees a pretty dress, when Darryl brings me flowers, or when she saw the chandelier in the Vancouver, BC temple.  I love that Kathryn can’t help but move her body when she hears music.  She has an amazing memory and often brings up things from Ukraine that I’d forgotten about.  She has even told me how frustrated she is that she can’t remember the pre-mortal existence.

 

 

Amanda, Amelia, Daniel, Kathryn | 2 Comments »

That’s what Amelia told me when she woke up this morning.  I love that she doesn’t pronounce things correctly.  We did most of the celebrating yesterday, even though today is her actual birthday.  We have 9am church, and Darryl had to leave right after church for the airport. 

Friday night Darryl set up the Geotrax train set so it would be there when Amelia woke up in the morning.  I love how little kids are excited by little things.  Darryl told Amelia to go see what mommy and daddy got her for her birthday.  The first thing she saw was a truck, so she said very excitedly, “a truck!”  Kathryn has enjoyed the train as much as Amelia, which is great.  And we got enough (through a great deal on Craigslist) that both girls could actually make separate tracks to play with. 

Kathryn and Daniel got her some slippers.  Kathryn has slippers, so Amelia has been wanting and asking for some.  I searched all over for slippers, but stores are not selling them right now;  only flip flops.  So I finally checked out DI, and voila: blue fuzzy slippers just her size.  She also got a play-doh set from Grandma and Grandpa that I really want to spend an evening playing with. 

A highlight was the cake.  Amelia wanted  bear cake.  I decided a panda bear would be cool, after seeing a youtube video on how to make one.  Amelia helped with the frosting, mostly for tasting. 

We got black food coloring and boy did that chocolate frosting get black.  I ran upstairs for a minute and came down to see Daniel like this.

  

The cake turned out pretty well!

 

Of course, eating black frosting and chocolate cake looks a little like eating tar.  Good thing it was bath night.

 

 Amelia has always been full of personality.  From the moment she was born and we knew she was not Adriana (what I planned on naming her).  I don’t know how else to explain it, she is just so bouncy.  She loves Wonder Pets, Dora, bears, sidewalk chalk, sliding, swinging, dancing, doing tricks, and especially jumping.  I can’t say I don’t believe she is three, because it seems like she has been three for awhile.  She keeps up pretty well with her big sister, I guess.  Happy Birthday, Amelia!

Amelia | 1 Comment »

 Someone gave Kathryn this dress, and it makes me think of a tennis outfit.  Darryl and I played tennis yesterday, and Kathryn also recently saw a tennis trophy I have.  So she was posing like the trophy and wearing a visor.  I thought she looked like such a little tennis player I made Darryl take a picture.  Then of course, in typical Kathryn style, she made a racket and tennis ball out of paper, glued them to cardboard, had me cut them out, and played with them.

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I haven’t been much of a blogger lately (not that I ever was).   Here are some pictures of what we’ve been up to.

We drove to Vancouver, BC for the open house of a new temple built there.   It was a little chilly and raining, so the kids wanted to stay in the car while Darryl took pictures.  And Daniel was quite the handful making sure he didn’t touch things and trying to keep him quiet.  But I’m still glad our whole family went.  The girls, especially Kathryn, really liked seeing the inside of the temple. 

 

Our friends the Skidmores were in town and among other things, we went to the zoo together.  Amelia and Kathryn loved playing with Sam. 

Last weekend my parents came to visit.  They brought Amelia a scooter for her birthday (one week early).  She was very excited – “I’ll scoot all day!” she said.

Glow party.

We had to two best weather days we’ve had the entire year.  This is no joke.  I was beginning to forget what the sun looked and felt like.  It was so nice to go out on a walk Sunday evening.  Darryl brought his camera, so we had quite a few pictures.  The girls loved running with Grandpa. 

And Daniel had a blast, being on foot instead of in the stroller.

 

 

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 Last year at this time, still living in Kyiv, I was promised we would go to the Tulip Festival this year.  And we did!  But while I was getting everything ready, this happened.

I found him sucking on a little bottle of blue food coloring.  In one end, and out the other.  Darryl did take a picture of the other end, but I decided not to post it.  Forest green.

We loved seeing the tulips.  Daniel loved walking around in the mud.  He was fascinated with mud puddles, and was generally careful not to step in them.  But in the end he fell in one – good thing I brought a change of clothes. 

I put this picture in of Daniel because I just love his little dimple on his right cheek. 

At one end of the field we went to, there was a weed area, aka dandelions.  This may have been the kids’ favorite part.  Kathryn and Amelia think they are just beautiful flowers and pick them wherever they see them.   Kathryn loves the idea that she can sprinkle seeds and then more flowers will grow.  I only recently tried to explain it was a weed.

Family | 4 Comments »

Hard to believe Easter has already come and gone.  It was cold, rainy, and windy.  Still is.  Just doesn’t seem right, but we had lots of fun anyway. 

We’ve started a tradition of the kids going on a treasure hunt to find their Easter baskets.  I think Darryl did this as a kid?  Or maybe it was his friend’s family that did it and Darryl joined in.  Either way, it is lots of fun.  This year Darryl did a separate one for Kathryn and Amelia.  Kathryn read her own clues.  Amelia’s clues were pictures of places to go in the house.  They loved it!  I gave very minimal candy in their baskets, because I knew Amelia would eat hers all in one sitting.  So I filled some of their eggs with chapstick (lipstick) and fuzzy chicks.  Both were a big hit.

Kathryn got a hula hoop as well.  She had been asking for one for about a year.  I didn’t think she would be able to hula, until I saw her trying our neighbor’s hula hoop a few weeks ago.   I used Easter as an excuse to get new sand toys for Amelia and Daniel.  

We dyed some eggs.  Darryl made the fanciest one.

 

Everyone has enjoyed eating the hard boiled eggs for snacks.  

I was out shopping a couple days before Easter and found some Easter hats on sale.  I just couldn’t resist seeing them on my darling girls.  So I gave them the hats on Easter Sunday (opposed to Saturday when they got the Easter baskets).

They adored the hats.  Kathryn said she will wear it every week to church.  She wore it just about the entire day Sunday.

Here is Amelia in her Easter dress.  Rollers finally stayed in her hair.  We have tried before but her hair is so thin and fine, they would always fall out.

 

Kathryn posed for Darryl about 15 different ways.  She came up with them herself. 

 

And cute Daniel.  He has been wearing a sweater vest to church which was very handsome, but I decided to try out the tie.   Wow!  We couldn’t get over how cute it was!

We had a friend invite us over for Easter dinner and an egg hunt.  We had a great time!  All three kids loved the egg hunt.  Daniel even really got into it, he knew just what to do! 

Family | 2 Comments »

Kathryn finished her 6 week ballet class on Wednesday.  The last day of class they put on a little show for the parents.  All those little ballerinas were pretty cute! 

 

At the end all the girls ran to their parents and Darryl captured Kathryn’s excited face. 

  

We got there a little early and Darryl took some pictures.  Kathryn is really a poser (not a hoser).

I’m pretty sure she learned this last move from Angelina Ballerina.

Kathryn | 2 Comments »

Daniel is curious about everything, but especially likes anything in the kitchen.  If Darryl or I have something on the stove, he has to see it.  If its in the oven, he watches it.  If he sees a bowl, he wants to stir.  I have high hopes that he will become a great cook like Darryl.  Meanwhile, it is frustrating to always have to cook with one hand, while I hold him in my other arm!

 

 

Daniel | 2 Comments »

 We live very near a trail to Carkeek Park.  This morning we hiked down to the park and beach with some friends.  On the way in we found a slug.

 

Activities included throwing rocks into the water,

snacking,

and playing in the sand.

Up at the playground area, the “Bubble Man” was there, providing enjoyment for all.

It was about a 4 hour episode, which made for some very tired kids in the end.  We even had a record breaking temperature of 69 degrees!

Family | 1 Comment »

Amelia’s gymnastics class ended yesterday, and Darryl was able to come and take lots of pictures.  Amelia loved the class, but she would never say that she did and never wanted to talk about what she did there.  She didn’t even look at the pictures we took of her and the videos.  Not in a defiant way, in a humble way.   This is something she got from Darryl, not me.

Now without further ado, here are some pictures:

Amelia loved her teacher, Coach Sarah.   We saw her in QFC once, and realized she lives across the street from us!

  

She really loved to swing on this ring, and would go back and forth several times. 

 

 

At the end of the last day everyone got a little trophy. They stood on some sort of stool and said, “Ta da!”  Pretty cute!

 

Amelia | 2 Comments »

 

This is our lunch before going into the Seattle Children’s Museum again a few days ago.  Typical poses from each one.  Daniel a little blurry, always on the move.  Kathryn smiling – she poses all the time.  Often in a ballet pose.  Amelia frowning when I say to smile.  She’s got quite the independent streak in her.

Amelia, Daniel, Kathryn | 2 Comments »

I think I usually post things that the kids do.  So today I am writing some things that I am doing.  

First thing is, I’m going to the temple every week!  I am really excited about this.  Darryl said he would watch the kids for me to go early on Saturday mornings.  I only went twice and then our temple has been closed for a couple weeks.  So I’m not exactly in the swing of it yet.  But I am looking forward to it.  From past experience, I know it makes a big difference for me.

Second.  I am usually riled up about all the things I did not do during the day, how little I accomplish, etc.  So at the beginning of the year I decided to write down the things I did do that day.  Try to focus more on the positive.  Wow, it only took a few days of writing it down to feel a difference.  I don’t even write them down anymore, I can recognize the things I did.  Usually. 

Third.  I have written in my journal everyday (except one) since January 4.  I have wanted to for, like, a year.  So I decided to not look at Facebook until I had typed a journal entry.  I wasn’t sure if it would work, but it sure did!  I couldn’t consistently come up with a time to do it.  But I knew I looked at Facebook just about everyday.  So that is when I write – when I am about to look at Facebook.  Sometimes morning, sometimes afternoon, sometimes evening.  It is a great reminder!  And hopefully I have spent a little less time on Facebook, too.

Amanda | 4 Comments »

It has been one day shy of a month since I blogged anything.  I kept waiting for something worthy of blogging to happen.  And it did!  Two things, in fact.  Yesterday my dear Darryl informed me it was my lucky day!  I was 33 years, 3 months, and 3 days old, on March 3rd (3/3)!!!  I was so excited!  That is just the type of thing I would keep track of and would make me smile.  He knows me well.

The other thing is that on Tuesday we had our bedroom furniture delivered!  Oh, the joy.  We have never had bedroom furniture.  When we first got married we had a chest of drawers from my childhood, a shelf from a roommate, and a rolling nightstand.  All of those disappeared when we returned from Ukraine.  So for the past 9  months we have been living out of suitcases and boxes.  Literally.  I forgot to take a picture of it, but my brother Josh who was here recently can attest.  Our clothes were in actual suitcases and that is where they were kept.  And a few boxes.  And of course the closet, as much as we could cram in to it.

But now we have a whole matching set of bedroom furniture, including 15 drawers and 5 secret drawers.  It is glorious indeed.  Definitely worthy of a blog post.  

And this little guy.  There isn’t much he can’t reach now, with pushing chairs and climbing and such. 

 

Amanda | 6 Comments »