Emilia the Show Girl

Emilia is one funny little girl.  She keeps us laughing most of the day with the things she says, her cute little behavior and that she can be super sassy...also sweet, but wow there is some kick to this girl!

I wanted to give a run-down of the things that Emilia has been and is currently interested.

SHOWS
Last fall (2014), she started to get to the age where she could watch a movie for more than the 20 minutes of Signing Time.  She loved all the Signing Time DVD's and in the morning while I was trying to get the boys up and off to school, she would usually watch one (or a few) Signing Time DVD's.  She learned A LOT of signs, and would sign the opening credit song and also learned a lot of the other songs throughout each DVD.

Right before Christmas time, I was needing something a little different that she would watch, so I put in Frozen, and she loved it!  She watched it so many times that she started to belt out 'Let It Go' as Elsa traveled up the mountain - even though most little girls around the world know and sing this song, we loved our Emilia's singing of this!  She also would do the cutting sound of the saws on the ice from the beginning of the movie (ch-ch-ch-ch), she also started to sing and dance to 'For the First Time in Forever'.  She loved Frozen and watched it so many times during December!

After Christmas, her next movie choice was Curious George, which she had gotten for a present.  During the beginning when George is in the jungle with the animals, she would get a little scared from the Lion, and would bury her face in me or the couch pillows.  She eventually got over her fair and would laugh when George and the Lion's blew on the plants, making it look like they were sticking out their tongues.  The other part that made me laugh watching it with her, is when George holds onto all the balloons and floats away.  She would call out to George to be careful and watch out, as George's balloons ran into a building and popped with George falling down.

The next movies that she has watched (and when I saw watched, each movie would run the favorite place holding with her, and she would watch the show over and over - memorizing, lines, songs and movements.  Emilia went through Peter Pan...which she absolutely adored, but also got scared when Peter comes at the beginning and is trying to get his shadow.  She would sing the song 'We're Following the Leader' and march around the house.  She also loved Mary Poppins - which one day she jumped up on our black center table in the living room and danced around when they did 'Step in Time'.  She also took the tape measure one time, and pulled it out and exclaimed, "Mary Poppins!  Perfect!"

Other shows she cycled through were Cinderella, Robin Hood and Tangled.  With Cinderella I felt like I was time traveling with Madeleine as a toddler - that was one of her favorite movies as well, and she would run in to put on her Cinderella dress that we had gotten her for Halloween.  Emilia doesn't have a Cinderella dress, but she would run in her room and ask for a "pretty dress".  She has always loved dresses, but she really loves to wear them now - she doesn't like pants and prefers a pretty dress every day of the week.

While I don't believe in the TV being on for hours a day, it has been fun to sit down and watch Emilia's face light up with wonder at the scenes, colors, dancing and singing and I absolutely will get drawn in to sitting down and watching a few scenes & sometimes an entire show with her...so many shows I haven't watched all the way through ever or in a very long time.  It's been really fun to rediscover them with her!

One of the latest favorite shows (and I love how she asks for a SHOW - not a movie) - was Sound of Music.  She absolutely loves the Do-Re-Me song and we watched that scene over and over, and she has memorized the song.  She asks for me to sing it to her when I'm putting her down for a nap or bed, and she will sing it around the house or in the car all the time.  She has a loud voice and really belts out the songs!   I have high hopes that she'll be wanting to do plays and join us in a play or do one on her own before long.  

We really love our little show girl!

Little Seeds

Emilia's morning routine consists of getting her books (and not just one or two - it has to be at least a dozen or more!) & setting herself up to read.  Her little voice can be heard around our home "reading" her books - and actually when I say reading, she knows which books are which & has certain lines memorized from each book which she'll repeat when reading the book.  It's absolutely adorable!  

 

Emilia is a ham - but also likes to play "shy" for the camera....what a silly, fun girl we have!

I suppose it's no surprise that she loves to read, as her older siblings are reading so often in our home as well!  Emilia and I also like to go to the library often & one of our favorite times is Singing & Story Time...although it's not at the library.  We tried going to our local library's Story Time and it was lacking....in almost every way.  I decided to start our own at the church building and have a fun time for the neighborhood children to come & that way we could get to know them as well.  It's been a really great experience - we are holding it every other week as doing it each week right now was a little crazy with our schedule.  We do a lot of singing and play instruments, read books and dance around and do the parachute and have a great time with our new little friends (and their moms) at our church.  We have a little craft at the end and a snack - which I figured out that to have someone in charge of those two things, took a lot of stress and coordination from me and have people sharing in the responsibility - it's a win-win :)

Although there are books left all over our home all day and every day - I sure love this sight every time I see it!  The little seeds we plant from our daily actions surely do take root and grow in the most extraordinary and beautiful ways that surprise me every time!  How thankful I am for the gift of reading that all of our children enjoy...even down to our littlest seed of all!

Jokes on YOU!

I somehow thought time was standing still as I was getting all the kiddos in bed - and then realized the last 20 minutes had gone by way too slow. I kept staring at the clocks wondering how it was only 9:20, when at 9pm a child had gotten out of the bath, we read scriptures, bedtime snack for two & all 3 older kiddos had gotten ready for bed & were actually in bed?!! There is no way we did all that in 20 minutes!

Then I suddenly got it. Bryson Jr. has a love of practical jokes & he checked out a pile of joke books from the library today. Classic Bryson move - he had set all the clocks back 1 hour! I'm thankful I caught that move tonight....and sad that it wasn't even close to 9pm --- why is that time for bed is so hard to actually accomplish?!!

Bryson really is the jokester in our family.  This past weekend the kiddos had a cousin sleepover at Nana & Papa Lord's place.  Papa got the Wii for Christmas & the boys think that they need to play it every time they are there (ugh - dislike on my end, like on the boys end).  It appears that the Wii was turned off for bedtime, and then the boys set Bryson's watch and got up in the middle of the night when everyone was asleep and went down to the basement and played the Wii until the wee hours of the morning (oh, I just reread that...Wii and wee hours of the morning....ha ha!).  

Bryson Jr. said he went to bed sometime around 4'ish & Jacob....we aren't sure if he went to bed & got back up, but he was up in the basement at 6:30am when Papa got up.  That is a long night for two little boys & since no one knew of their midnight adventures, the girls all thought they were sleeping in way too late with not being up by 9am.  They were exhausted that day, but they were kept busy at home with Bryson/Dad doing projects around our home and then went to bed rather agreeable on Saturday night and slept really well :)  

The story does not surprise us with Bryson...actually both boys.  Particularly with Bryson, he just really likes jokes and doesn't (usually) do things to be malicious or disobedient...and sometimes what he does is comical (as frustrating as it was knowing they got up to play Wii in the middle of the night, we all laughed at how creative they were to accomplish their little Shangai manuever!).  Jacob is now following suite and really gets into his own little scraps of trouble with being a prankster.  

On Sunday, Jacob complained that he wasn't feeling well & it was a struggle to get him ready for church.  He was being stubborn and absolutely refusing to get ready to go to church...everyone had already left and I was finishing getting ready and trying to get him to hurry along.  It ended up that he absolutely flat out refused to get ready, and truthfully there are days that I will work with the boys & their behavior...and days that it just zaps all my energy and spirit.  Today was one of those times.  I knew that if I tried to get him to go to church, it would be a battle & then the point of going to church to help refuel my spirit would be pointless.  So, I left Jacob home and told him there was no movies, or computer - he could sit and read (the children all love to read & will read for hours & hours if we let them....this was not a punishment by any stretch of the imagination).   

When I came home, Jacob was moving around the room with a bit of a suspicious air.  I couldn't put my finger on what was going on, until I saw that the back door had been left open just a bit.  I knew I had checked all the doors  before I left for church, and this back door is the one that goes down to the unfinished basement - or outside.  Unless Jacob had suddenly had a desire to do some laundry - he had been outside...and of course, then it hit me...the weather was so nice we had put the trampoline back up just two days ago & he had been out there jumping!  The little turkey!  I asked him if that is what he had been doing, and he admitted it.  So, I grounded him for the week from any play dates.  

Sometimes I wonder if the boys enjoy reading Calvin & Hobbes because they can relate to Calvin's insatiable curiosity and way that he is always getting into mischief!  Or - if they are getting ideas from reading Calvin & Hobbes and getting into more trouble along the way!  Either way - these boys are a handful of fun, rambunctiousness and crazy antics almost, well....most of the time! :)  

Beginning of a Testimony

Tonight while laying down with Jacob and Bryson Jr. for our bedtime routine, I sang some of the songs they had performed in the Primary Program yesterday. I finished with the hymn, 'I Stand All Amazed' - and right as I finished, Jacob asked - "Mom, do you cry when you hear that song?"

My mind flashed back to the program yesterday - the children were singing that hymn for the closing song, and I noticed that Jacob had started to wipe his eyes - palm open, trying to wipe "something" out of his eyes. I remember wondering 'was he was crying'? My heart wanted to know if he might be feeling the spirit, or I reasoned that perhaps his cold was bothering his eyes. I didn't follow through & ask him - the program finished and after the prayer, the children came into the congregation and we were wrapped up in telling them how much we had loved the program & then we were whisked into the gym where cookies were laid out, and in the commotion and chocolate overdose I didn't take a moment to recognize the spirit at that time. However tonight - it all zoomed in and I realized - he HAD felt the spirit.

I finally replied, "Sometimes I cry when I hear that song & sometimes I just feel the spirit really strong in my heart. Do you cry when you hear it?"

"I don't cry the tears out, but my eyes fill up when I hear it and sing it," Jacob sweetly said.  

My eyes definitely filled up with tears at that moment. We then had a sweet talk about how the song is a testimony of how much Jesus loves us, and a way we share our knowledge of Jesus as we sing the hymn. We talked through many of the lines of the song and what it means to us - how we know that Jesus loves us. I reminded him that if he were the only boy on the entire earth, our Savior would have come to save him. He would have died just for him. He would have done the same for any of us. And in fact - He did die for each and every single one of us. It was such a simple and sweet moment with both boys - particularly Jacob. That boy has a spirit as large as a giant. I definitely marvel at the love my Savior and my Father in Heaven have for me - that this boy was sent to me to be my son, to have me for his mother. What a blessing. Jacob definitely teaches me, amazes me and enlarges my heart on a very regular basis.

I Stand All Amazed at the love Jesus offers me. 
Confused at the grace that so fully he profers me. 
I tremble to know that for me, He was crucified. 
That for me a sinner, he suffered, he bled and died. 
Oh, it is wonderful, that He should care for me, enough to die for me. 
Oh, it is wonderful! Wonderful to me.

Conference Weekend

The first weekend in October is one of my favorite weekends of the year - it usually starts feeling a little more like fall, or at least the colors start to look like fall!  It's also an incredibly spiritual weekend where we hear from our prophets and leaders in the church.  We still are watching Conference on a little laptop - we try to remember to hook speakers up so we can hear better than we might be able to see, and we spend a lot of time snuggling up while listening, kiddos playing Conference Bingo & learning and growing in ways that will bless our lives.

This was Emilia's first time where she is very, very mobile and she was everywhere during both Saturday and Sunday morning sessions - however, she also must have felt something in her little spirit, as she stopped to listen to this speaker & gave him a big smile....
                                     

 ....and then tried to get in closer to watch and listen to him...

 ...and finally gave him a kiss to show her love.  We all love General Conference - Emilia just took it very literally!

Daddy and Emilia had a little cheer practice in between Conference sessions on Saturday and before Emilia's nap.  It was a beautiful, fall day --- hooray!

 {how fitting that her shirt say's Daddy's Little Butterfly'!}

Between the Saturday sessions and when the Afternoon Session was finished, we went outside to work - Dad and the boys took all the wood that had been taken down from around the door frames, and leftover from the new walls that had been put in, and took out the nails (smart thinking...our carpenter Dave already put a nail through his finger!).  There were nails left all over the driveway and we needed to get them cleaned up - Bryson Jr. went way beyond my suggestion of a broom and dustpan, and while he pushed Emilia on her bike around the driveway - he tied a rope around his waist and hung our large magnet from it.  He went up and down the driveway and had dozens and dozens of nails hanging from the magnet by the end of his "sweep!"  I love his creativity and ingenius mind to think of that idea!

On Sunday, the boys worked on their Conference Bingo....we had the alphabet cookies from Trader Joe's to help sweeten (ha ha) the game :)

Between Conference Sessions we decided to go up to walk around Silver Lake up at Brighton.  The day was gorgeous!  The aspen leaves were golden amber and sending out a beautiful glow!  We walked around the lake which is an easy walk for everyone & realized that we live too close to the mountains to not go up there more frequently.  I think a break/mountain retreat between sessions each Conference time is a perfect tradition to start :)

Emilia found the pockets in her jacket after watching Madeleine put her hands in her pockets.  Emilia is at the perfect stage of imitation and that she is still doing so many firsts & exploring what is around her.  It is so wonderfully fun & precious to have her young spirit and life in our family!

 

It was a great weekend and while there was a lot of time sitting and listening/watching the messages (therefore sometimes antsy little children) - we felt the spirit many times in our home from the truly inspired messages.  We feel uplifted and know that by using the messages in our own lives, home & family we'll be blessed.  There are times when I wonder if anyone in the family likes one another - we get frustrated and snippy & short of temper....however, during and after Conference we pull together and make necessary changes to improve our family & I realize there are times where it might be hard to like one another - but there is always the deeper family love that binds us together.  It's great to have a 6-month boost of spiritual messages delivered that we can apply and feel the difference with immediately.  Conference always impresses and works in it's divine ways to help our family improve.  We are the best family that we have - we need work like most families - and that is why we work to build together from the messages that have been given.  What a blessing Conference weekend is!