4th of July 2015

 Happy fourth of July!  I love this family picture, but man, why couldn't Jackson sit still for one more second????  Sigh-always the case when trying to take a family picture!  The next, candid shot is great as well.  Love my family and the memories we make together!

 

 We spent the evening swimming at David and Sarah's house, which will only be their house for a few more weeks given that it is selling.  We rarely take family pictures with the Lautenschlagers, and though getting everyone together is tricky, I was glad to get one shot.

 Not sure what James was trying to say with this smile.....

 All the kiddos swimming together, even baby Olivia in Karianna's arms!

 First time in a puddle jumper, and he did not care for it one bit!  He still loves playing in the water though, which is great!

 We saw a fantastic fireworks show in Gilbert with Grandma and Grandpa.  It was long, so much so, that Jackson got really tired of watching and just wanted to walk around in the burrs and thorny bushes!  Other than that, the show was amazing, probably some of the best fireworks we have ever seen.  Happy 4th!

Dive Meet #4

Tonight's meet was at Skyline, which was great for us since we have never been!  We sure did enjoy the lazy river-definitely a reason to come back!  

Karianna did the same dives tonight that she has been working on.  Although she did a few good 1 1/2's at practice, her coach pulled it so she didn't lose her front flip.  Karianna was a bit nervous tonight because of that, but she did great-4th place out of 21 girls, and the competition, once again, was fairly stiff.  Here are the top three highlights, each showing a strong part of her three dives:

I LOVE the height she got on her tuck dive!

 This, by far, is the tightest tuck she has ever gotten in her front flip.  Looks amazing!

 Karianna's biggest challenge with her inward dive is getting too close to the board.  Tonight, she managed to get farther away from the board than I have ever seen, which was just great!  It wasn't her best actual dive, but I liked the improvement to the mechanics of it.  As usual-great job!

These Boots are Gonna Walk Right Over You!

 Jackson loves putting on shoes right now....they don't have to be his.  ;)

I'll Protect You

We had a loud thunderstorm tonight, and upon checking the boys, I found this.  James was wide awake, but squeezing his eyes shut with his hands covering his ears.  Jordan was also awake, and was just laying with him, with one arm wrapped around him protectively.  I absolutely love that the boys take care of each other like this.  Sticking 3 boys in one room has its hurdles, but man, it sure does have its rewards as well.

Summer Movies and a Wiggly Toddler

Last summer, we hit up all the Harkins summer movies, and Jackson would eat a snack in his stroller or nurse, and then fall asleep.  Piece of cake.  Oh, this summer is different.  Jackson has a strong personality now, and that does not typically include just sitting and watching something.  Luckily, he loves snacks and will sit quietly for the first 30 minutes, if I am lucky.  After that though, I find myself in a wrestling match, just trying to keep him quiet for the benefit of the others around us!  We usually end up in the aisle or in the back of the theater so he can wander.  Luckily, the other kids are great at sitting on their own.

Today, Jackson realized he could open the doors leading out of the theater....thus we spent a good chunk of time in the halls with Peanuts, and the folks from Inside Out.  I'm not sure if I could survive Jackson in my head all the time.....

Dive Meet #3

Dive meet #3 is down in the books, and it is clear the competition is getting better.  Karianna did her hardest dives of the season, and I was amazed at how similar the other girls were!  I knew it was going to stiff competition as a result, and Karianna could very well fall out of the top 8, which was her goal for each meet.  I was super impressed to see her get 5th place out of 22 girls!  Even more impressive since she did her first inward tuck dive-ah!!!!  That dive freaks me out so much, and Karianna only practiced it for a few days! I was so proud of her for tackling a tough dive and being brave enough to do it in competition.  Just-awesome!

James being super cute!  

 Dive #1:  A GORGEOUS back dive!  I LOVE how beautiful the arc in her dive is!  She scored 5.5's and 6.0, which is the highest scores she has ever gotten on a dive, period.

Dive #2:  The Inward Tuck Dive!  The second and third shots show how she jumps up into the tuck facing the board and then pulls out into a dive facing the other way in the 4th shot.  Crazy!

 More silliness from James as we waited for the third round-Jackson was so stinkin' adorable, he would watch each and every dive, wait until the diver hit the water, and then clap his hands like a crazed maniac.  He drew a lot of amused looks from the other parents!

Dive #3:  Only two pictures that don't really showcase her front flip, but that was the third dive.  She rotated a little funny on the landing because she started working on her 1 1/2 this week, and was feeling a bit off on the standard flip.  Regardless, she looked great and scored solid 4's across the board (we consider anything above a 3 really good). 

I absolutely love watching Karianna dive and seeing her confidence rise with each practice/meet.  She is so brave and capable!

Happy Father's Day!

 I wish I had noticed my camera battery before today rolled around!  I managed to get two measly pictured-TWO!  And then the battery went caput, and that was that.  Oh well.  Regardless, we had a great Father's Day and really enjoyed celebrating Jared.  As is tradition, I made him an elaborate breakfast to share with the kids-eggs, bacon, sausage, waffles, hash browns, and OJ.  We did a few gifts afterwards, including home made cards from the kids with awesome pictures of pokemon from the boys and sweet messages from the girls.  Jared knew I had gotten him a pair of pants for Father's Day.  What he didn't know is that I had secretly purchased a GPS system using a couple of gift cards I had saved up from work.  The look on Jared's face when he pulled out the GPS was priceless!  He had absolutely no idea, and has been wishing for a GPS for a long time, especially in lieu of our upcoming CA vacation.  I love moments like this.  It doesn't have to be with something expensive like this (and really, it was a steal of a deal).  I just love the thought of putting my energy into something I know Jared will love and being the cause of his joy.  He deserves it-he is a great Father and Husband. He does absolutely everything-everything-for the betterment of our family, especially in the last year or so.  I love that his time and energy are focused on our family.  The kids adore him, and he is truly my other half.  We are so grateful for the person Jared is and the role he plays as husband and father.

We had a good Father's Day at church, with the kids singing Fathers from the children's songbook.  Karianna sang a solo on the third verse and sounded just angelic.  All of the kids sang the chorus, and for a group of maybe 15, they sure were loud!!!!  It was a nice tribute, and I was really pleased with the sentiment.  We were able to visit the Lautenschlagers that night, which was also nice.  All in all, it was a beautiful day and we sure do love Jared!

Vent Follow Up: The PEDIATRIC Dentist

So, here's a follow up to my vent yesterday about our general dentist.

• That appointment, for one kid, took over 2 hours for a simple cleaning and xrays, no cavities or issues.  We saw the dentist for about 1 minute.  

Today's appointment was with the pediatric dentist.

• That appointment, for THREE kids, took 35 minutes for simple cleanings for all three, xrays for two of the three, and no cavities or issues for any of them.  We saw the dentist for most of the time we were there given that he came in to chat with me while the cleanings were done.  He took over to do a thorough check up and then flossed the kids' teeth for them.  

Night and Day difference.  I love our pediatric dentist! 

A Real Babysitter?

A milestone has been reached!  Karianna just completed her first real babysitting job tonight.  She and her buddy Kori babysat for a family in our ward.  They were in charge of two little girls-one nursery age, the other just over 1.  They babysat for about 3 hours and each earned 7.50.  Both of the girls were in bed, but the older girl woke up missing her mom so they played with her for an hour and then put her back to bed-which worked. The couple had given them permission to each some ice cream sandwich, and so they did.  It was a huge success, and I love that Karianna got to have her first real babysitting experience with a good, responsible friend.  That's exactly how I started at 10, babysitting with my older sister-so neat!  She's growing up too fast!

Breakfast Foods, with Karianna

 In our household, Karianna is known for her food preferences.  She likes to be very independent in terms of making her own food, and differing from what everyone else is eating.  Sometimes this is not a good thing, but we try to give her some leeway to test her skills.  The best time to do this is breakfast.  She mastered scrambled eggs and pancakes a long time ago, and just recently figured out how to make amazing sunny-side up eggs, just as good as Jared.  Now she is on a french toast kick.  She makes it for herself all the time.  This morning was just comical though, because not only was she once again doing french toast after she got done with dive team, but she took a route that would allow her to get it down much faster:  two frying pans.  What a simple, yet highly effective way to reach her goal of eating sooner than later!  Besides, who likes eating french toast with one cool piece and one piping hot piece?  Makes perfect sense to me! :)

Vent of the Day: The Dentist

I took Jordan to a new dentist today since he can no longer see the pediatric dentist and our insurance assigned us to a new one....I should have gone with my gut and took the time to find one I actually like rather than just trying to get him in real quick.  A simple cleaning and xrays took over 2 hours-he was actively being seen by someone for 20 minutes of that time, and the rest was waiting, waiting waiting---DESPITE the fact that we were there 15 minutes early for his appointment! The dentist looked at his teeth for all of a minute-literally-after his xrays and proclaimed him cavity free before taking off.  We were taken back to the waiting room and told we would have to wait an additional 45 minutes just to see the hygienist so he could get his teeth cleaned.  What?????  Apparently she was backed up with a procedure for a patient.  I was livid.  We had already waited so long, the dentist barely gave us the time of day, and now we were being told we didn't even have priority with the main purpose of our appointment.  Who plans things this way?  I pushed back quite a big and they agreed to have another hygienist tweak her schedule and squeeze Jordan in after only 20 minutes instead of 45.

No part of this office indicated they had ever had a kid walk through their doors before.  All in all-a ridiculous visit, made even worse because the wait times made us miss our Harkins movie that all the other kids were super excited about and anticipating that very morning.  Needless to say-we are switching dentists as soon as possible  I really wish our other dentist hadn't relocated, and that our plan still allowed kids 7 and older to see our fantastic pediatric dentist.

Vent over.

Dive Meet #2

Karianna did fantastic at her second dive meet!  She did the exact same dives as last week, but wow, they have gotten so good!  I was super, super impressed with the height she got on her tuck dive and on her front flip, and the arc on her back dive was beautiful.  Unfortunately, the wait was not great for us, as the pool we were at closed early, and we had come prepared to swim.  I wasn't fully equipped with drinks or activities for the kids, so we had quite the interesting wait!  thankfully, Grandma and Grandpa Lautenschlager came and that lifted everyone's very bored spirits.

James being crazy for the camera.

 I managed to dig up some crayons and a couple of coloring books.

 Here's her back dive....

 Here's her tuck dive-the height is great, as is her tuck!

 And here's her front flip-again, a great tuck and height!

 She ended up in SECOND place!  Even more impressive, she increased her overall score by about 14 points, which is just awesome. Good job, Karianna!

Another Visit to Krazy Air

These pictures (all three) are awful, but they at least document our second visit to Krazy Air for family night.  We had an absolute blast, as expected!  Jared came dressed to jump this time around, and both he and I loved jumping with the kids.  I mastered the back flip today-started off doing it into the foam pit and surprised myself when I landed on my feet amidst the foam cubes.  After doing that a few times, I attempted it on the trampoline, and while it took me a few tries, I was able to land it pretty consistently-cool!  All the kids practiced their front flips.  Karianna and Jordan can land on their feet although in a squat position.  We had fun jumping off this little step in the second picture and immediately flipping after one jump-I was super impressed with Joshua and Tyler's flips, they were so free flowing and high!  We will likely visit one more time near the end of summer-I could seriously go to Krazy Air every week and not get sick of it.....there is something so relaxing about jumping on trampolines!