first day of school

So yesterday I only posted pictures and today I am only writing. It was Ariel's first day of first grade today. She really likes her teacher and knows some of the kids in her class. Adriana's preschool starts next Wednesday.
Dallin rolled all the way over for the first time today. Annika is saying all kinds of new words. Today she climbed up on the couch next to Adriana and said, "Move," very emphatically. She has a tiny toy pig that she carries around all day and says "My baby pig." She can say a lot of colors: yellow, blue, pink, orange, purple, green, but she gets them mixed up. She says "up and down" when she is playing on the playset
I really love how Emily is always blogging about new books or movies or products. Here are my two new finds although they may not be as cool as Emily's, they made me happy. The first is a good "family" movie called "Chestnut: Hero of Central Park." It's good for little girls. And the other is what my dear husband gave me for our anniversary. It is called an action hoe. Last year he didn't believe me that I REALLY wanted a ladder for my birthday, but now he understands that I can get excited about gifts from Home Depot too.

Well that is all for now

more photos

these five are for me

Here's a story that will really put my parenting abilities into question. Yesterday at the grocery store I wanted to bribe the kids to be good without spending a lot of money, so I told them that if they were good I would buy marshmallows (97 cents). I let them chose if they wanted little or big ones. They all got one marshmallow when we got home for good behavior. I thought, "Great this bag of marshmallows is going to last forever." Then today I really got into Eclipse and it was almost dinnertime. I hadn't yet even thought about what we were going to have for dinner, but wanted to read just a little bit more before Nikolay came home. So, when Ariel asked me if she could have a marshmallow, I said, "Sure if you will bring me one too and let me keep reading until Papa gets home." So of course Adriana and Annika needed one too. In a few minutes Adriana asked if she could have two marshmallows and I was like way into the book, like Edward and Jacob were going to fight, so I said, "Sure but ask Ariel to get them for you," so everyone including myself got two more marshmallows. Before you know it, Adriana is standing next to me with a handful for marshmallows and I reach my hand out for another one, and she states with a mouth full of marshmallows, "These five are for me." So, instead of trying to teach her anything (just imagine all the lessons that needed to be learned: nutrition, sharing etc...) I reward her by laughing hysterically, and having Ariel get her some more so that I can take her picture. How's that for parenting skills!


These are photos of our second trip to Silver Lake. It is my goal to get a good picture of all six of us together. I hope Emily will help me out with this one.

sarah

I just finished Harry Potter and read a little of Eclipse but I can't sleep, so I thought I'd blog. I was just thinking about Sarah and about different memories that I have of her. It is hard to be so far away in distance from the closest people in my life. I remember after she moved back to Wisconsin it was so hard to keep in touch with her because she would never answer the phone. It is so much easier to talk in person. I think we made three different trips down to San Diego together when she was living in Provo. They are all kind of a blur in my head, but I remember how fun it was because we really had time to talk in the long car ride. Nikolay likes to drive and so Sarah and I just talked a lot. I remember her bringing that over sized teddy bear that used to be Erin's and curling up with it to sleep in the car. She and Ariel had a great time teasing each other for hours on end. And one time she babysat Ariel at Grandma's house so that Nikolay and I could go to the temple together. One time we went to IKEA there together and she bought a pack of 100 votive candles and a cool candle holder/lantern for them. We taught her a lot of Russian words on those trips and she would like remember them months later. I think it was when we were driving out to Adam's wedding that she first told me about Derek. I remember her studying her nursing books in the car, so I wanted to look at them, but they had pictures of different kinds of infections and stuff, and I got grossed out so I called it the encyclopedia of gross. I don't know why I want to write all of this stuff down, maybe because I know that with years it will fade. :( I feel so much pain for the sad times in Sarah's life. When she moved out to Provo the first time I felt like I was getting to know her in a new way. When I think about times when she was living at home and I came back to visit there are just fleeting memories of encounters with her. It seemed like she was always trying to take a nap, or get away from everyone. I really regret not making more of an effort to be with her. :(

summertime fun

Ariel holding Dallin this afternoon.
Today was the last day of swimming lessons, but we are considering continuing in the fall.
Emily holding Dallin at Howard's. It was so great to spend time together, and as always she was such a great help with the kids
Us with Grandma Beth at Howard's

So as you can gather we went to Howard's house last Saturday. He invited us because Grandma was in town to see the eye doctor (who she adores) about getting a tear duct drained. It was nice to sit and chat with her and she got to see Dallin for the first time. She made a really great blanket for him, I'll take a picture of it soon. It was so good to see our cousins and spouses and kids. Grandma informed me that in two years her branch of the Lemon family is in charge of the reunion, so maybe some of you can start planning on coming out for it.

This is going to be a short blog entry because I am busy reading Deathly Hallows, and Eclipse and Fair is the Rose

when I grow up

Dallin is getting so big, so fast, I feel like taking his picture every other minute so I don't miss even one moment.
Isn't Adriana so photogenic? Today I asked her if she wanted to be a missionary when she got bigger and she said no, "I want to be a princess, but can I still live here when I am a princess?" I told her that Mama was a missionary and that she probably couldn't be a princess (we have had many discussions before about the only way to become a princess is to marry a prince, and there aren't very many princes in the world available to marry) And then she asked if I was still a missionary and that she actually wanted to be a ballerina, a ballerina princess.

Before that she asked if when we are zero if we live up there. So I said "Up where, do you mean before we were born?" Then she said,"Yeah, with Jesus when we are zero."