Dan My Man

Daniel also had a Birthday in April. It is a big month for us, and as you can see I am still trying to catch up. But I have a deadline now as Caleb's birthday is in 2 weeks so I must get Daniel's done today!

Happy 6th Birthday Daniel!
Daniel had his first birthday party without combining with Harmony. Thus the theme was Superheros!
We played Superheros Says, we had a Superhero Training Course, We broke a Spiderman Pinata, and had a Superhero Supper ( hotdogs) and a Superhero Cake.

It was a fun time for all!



Daniel's newest passion is Karate! He is in a summer program and right now he eats, drinks, and loves Karate (at least on Mondays and Wednesdays!) He's got some moves!


This is Daniel's buzz cut for the summer. When he got this he was still in kindergarten. He felt like a new man. He said "Mom, this haircut is going to change my life in 3 ways! 1. I will be able to run faster. 2. I will be cooler for summer and 3. Sara in school probably won't love me anymore because she will think I am going bald! (That was apparently a good thing.) He is so funny!

Daniel and his buddies are good at meditation. Everyday on their way to Kindergarten they would stop and get into positions and say "Ommmm, Ommmm." What great skills they are learning!

It was also pajama day at school that day. He did wear school clothes everyday, although I am not sure I fed him everyday.


We went to Lake Powell this June with my family. It was so fun. Dad bought this great 3 seater tube. It was so much fun. I think Caleb would have been happy to do nothing but ride that tube the entire time, he even had fun getting dumped off of it.

As you can tell, Daniel didn't love it as much. In fact on one ride he was with my sister Katie and her 3 year old daughter named Roccio "Chio". Midway through the ride he was motioning the boat by pointing at Chio and telling us to stop. Katie said the whole ride he was saying. "We better go slower...for Chio, this is too fast for Chio, I think Chio wants to stop." Way to protect Chio, Daniel!

All the kids to our amazement tried the knee board. Harmony screamed the minute she wasn't touching the boat. Caleb stayed on for a while and almost got to step two, where you hold the rope and not just the knee board. Daniel got dragged for 20 feet(by Mom) without letting go and in the end was more scared about fish nibbling his toes than almost being drowned.
It was a great time!

Daniel we love you and you are a very special member of our family!

Harmony is 7!!!!!!

How did this happen? I swear just yesterday this was Harmony.


Today I looked at her and she has grown up!

She had her first birthday party this year that she didn't have to share with Daniel. (He wasn't thrilled about a High School Musical party, although he was a very willing participant when it came down to it.)

Harmony is such a joy and a help in my life! Eva really does think that Harmony is her second mother!



Harmony loves sports, especially soccer, basketball and tumbling. (Especially from the deck to the trampoline!)

She just made a competitive soccer team where most of the girls are 9 and 10. (I know-total bragging!)

She does a front flip in between these two shots, I just wasn't fast enough to get it all on camera!



She loves school and can't wait to be a second grader (except her best friend and twin Macklyn is moving and she is not sure how she will survive!).


She is great note maker she writes notes to everyone in the family and leaves them on our pillows. She even wrote a note to herself and left it on her own pillow with a treat. Then she walked out of the room and walked back in and said "Oh look I got a note!"
(I do write her love notes, but I guess not as frequently as she needs.)


She is also a great example of selflessness and kindness. She always shares her treats and she usually spends her allowance on her brothers or friends. This is the sign she made for her bedroom door.


We love you Harmony, you are our precious princess forever!

The kids are famous even before they get here

Here is a video for an article by the Salt Lake Tribune about the Kennards who are the people running the orphanage where my (potential) kids are. I can't point out who they are in this blog to protect my pending adoptions. But they are all there and beautiful! It is great article and these are great people!



This next video is a mini preview of the work my Dad and associates are doing in Ethiopia. It is so exciting!

Eva Unleashed

Happy Birthday Eva! Eva's 2nd birthday was on April 6th. For her birthday she got a new truck! Daddy is her chauffeur.

Eva has had a jump start on the terrific twos, she is a very busy body!


She helpfully throws everything out of my drawers so that I can have clean and empty spaces!




Eva already has a sense of style. She loves shoes, no matter the color, style or size!




Eva is very grateful for onesies! They provide a ready made compartment for anything you might need to carry around. In this case she was carrying around puzzle pieces.


She loves her baby cousin Elyn who has been staying with us, and she loves to take a rest in his car seat.


She is an amazing artist and the world is her canvas! Here is beautiful artwork on my walls. She will also draw on herself and then come show me by pointing to it and saying "No, No."

Eva loves bathtime, especially when there is a party in the bathtub. She invited her two new cousins Maria and Roccio and then pulled in her sister, Harmony clothes and all!

She loves to accessorize during her "nap" she pulled out all her baby headbands and bows. She had 15 of them around her neck and chest.

She is trying to reinvent playing in the excersaucer.

And at the end of the day when there is nothing left to destroy or take off, she finally crashes.

We love you Eva you are so much fun!

Caleb's got the Hops!

 

 

Caleb just finished his basketball season this year. His team was awesome and only lost one game the whole season!
Caleb really gave 100% and was a great team player. His defense skills were exceptionally good and he has a good jump like his Dad!

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

I just watched a profound movie called The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. It is based on a book of the same name by John Boyne. ( I know middle of the day on a Thursday, I had so much to do, but it was worth it.)

It is about a friendship that is formed between two 8 year old boys. One boy is the son of a German Commander of the concentration camp where the other little boy is a prisoner. Both boys are as naïve and they should be and the movie is seen from their perspective and understanding. While I watched from my perspective as an adult and a mother. It was beautiful and painful. Painful in the way that gets me all charged up. Thus here I am still with my long list of tasks to accomplish but I am filled with emotion and drive that I need to get out so I don’t forget.

Many of us in America have been raised on and taught a lot about World War II and the Holocaust. I know many of my peers like me felt driven beyond our high school English and history classes to find out more. Thanks to Anne Frank, Eli Wiesel, Corrie ten Boom and many, many others we have had a myriad of sources to turn to for more education about this dark period in Europe. A common question that I often ask and that I know many others do too is “How could so many Germans sit by and allow this to happen?” Also “Why did we as Americans not get involved sooner?”I don’t think I am alone in feeling some disappointment in my grandparents generation for these things. As an adult now I do realizes that in trying to answer these questions there are as many “Becauses” as there are “Whys”. I am grateful that we have been taught the truth and that there continues to be awareness of this atrocity, in effort to prevent another.

But the fact of the matter is that atrocities like the Holocaust are happening all over our world this very minute. Unlike our grandparents we really can’t claim that we “just don’t know about it.” If we don’t know about it is because we choose not to know about it. Information doesn’t come to us weeks old off the radio waves. We have news and information at the tips of our fingers 24 hours a day.

You wouldn’t have to google very far to learn about the exterminations in Darfour, the human rights atrocities in Asia, the child soldiers in Uganda and human trafficking and starvation the world over.

The Lord has told us “If thou lovest me thou…wilt remember the poor, and consecrate of thy properties for their support” (Doctrine and Covenants 42:30)

I just counted in my personal scriptures from the topical guide that there are 107 references to taking care of the poor and the needy of our world. It is in every book of scripture that we (LDS) have from the Old Testament through the Pearl of Great Price.

I think the scriptures make it pretty clear that helping our brothers and sisters all over the world is not an institutional responsibility but an individual one.

I don’t want my granddaughter asking me why I sat in my abundance and did not sacrifice to help those around me.

More than that. I do not want to stand before my Savior, who has blessed me with a privileged lifestyle, AND gave ALL that he had temporally, spiritually, and physically and tell him I didn’t have enough to share, or I didn’t take the time or risk to help.