Boys Holding Katharine

Wesley probably holds Katharine the least. He knows that K is a kid magnet, and tries to avoid having his noisy siblings swarm around him. So I was able to get these pictures on the 4th of July when everyone had left to the breakfast and parade except me and Katharine - SHE'S SO PRETTY! 

And she's so little!!

I love this little jumper so much, a neighbor Jill gifted it to us and it is sooo adorable. I want to get more of them, it's just so cute. 

Wes and K Sharing amazed and concerned expressions - 

You can try to be excited and happy and smiley and make yourself act crazy talking and goo-gooing at her, but she will not crack a smile. She is the "try not to laugh" champ around here! One more with Wes, just cause it's a rare thing - K snuggled to his neck -

I also got a pic of J holding K on the 4th when he came up to celebrate with us. He was trying to recreate when she smiled at him (pic 5) but she didn't cooperate. That's ok - it happens. 

Every morning, Owen come into our room and knocks on my door and says to me (if I open it) or through the door if it is closed "Can I hold Katharine?" It's sweet.

It's overbearing, but it is sweet. Daniel holding K - 

Peter doesn't get a lot of turns either, but he's sweet and does a good job! 

He's very careful. 

That picture almost looked like he was nursing her. I am often impressed by her ability to sleep!

Another pic of K with the boys - I gave Joseph a haircut on Sunday morning, Abi was holding Katharine, Ethan wanted a selfie, and Joseph said "I want to be in it!" and Ethan got Joseph via the mirror, ha. 

Funny boys. Wes again, loving on her soft squishy cheeks!

So they love holding Katharine, but when it's not their turn, they are happy to be boys. 

Lily painted all of their faces again cause the paints were still out from the 4th. They are Avatar Batman's! Posing like Spiderman - 

Owen has also been having a "store" with his friend Oliver. They try to sell Oliver's snacks, but the overhead is a bit much. One package of Pringles is $2 bucks. I went to take a pic and would have bought something, but their store is too expensive for me. 

Ethan letting K stuck on his nose again tonight. His siblings think it's funny, most of us think it's gross and we go to rescue K. 

Girls Holding Katharine

Everyone around here loves holding Katharine! And we're starting to get a few smiles! It's so fun.

I love to admire her feet and hands when she nurses. 

Melodie is my favorite person to hold Katharine - 

She's my favorite because she holds and treats her like a mother. Katharine's comfort is top priority, not her personal amusement. Mel also has the gift of still being somewhat productive while holding the baby and without putting K in any danger. She'll put her in the baby wrap and play the flute, or today she was doing a little ukulele!

It's not the little girls don't try, Mel just has years of experience. I think Katharine knows when a little kid is holding her or when she's in skilled arms. Mel is able to keep her happy, and I like that Mel doesn't constantly change her clothes (Lily and Natalie do that), and doesn't let her suck on anyone's nose or earlobe (Ethan-tsk tsk!)). Abi does a good job, although A says that K hates her cause she always cries. 

Maybe A is just too affectionate. Katharine doesn't cry that much, just a little squirmy. Katharine might just not be used to her, since Abi has been gone so much this summer with all her activities and things. 

Lily treats K like a doll. 

The plus to that is that Lily has made the best use of the small 0-3 month clothing that is only going to fit K for a few more weeks.

Sophi doesn't nag or ask to hold K and probably holds her the least of all the girls. 

Sophi is just a quiet soul and I can tell that Sophi loves her just as much as anybody else.

Natalie is a little eager to hold K. Even though N has smaller arms, she has proved herself very able.

She's good at getting her to sleep.

Which is good, since she's also always waking her up when K should be resting. I guess I don't mind if I can still get some work done. 

Natalie is very happy she has a little sister. 

A Covenant Land

Happy 4th of July! Our community had a breakfast and parade today. The 8 am breakfast time was helping in us getting kids to bed last night. At 8 this morning, MALSNOD were all ready to go and they rode their bikes over. Soph and Natalie dressed as opposite twins, tights and shirts donated by me. They decorated their bikes on Saturday night over at Sophi's friends house. 

Mel brought along some paints, and she and Lily offered free face painting. CJEP headed over around 9, after Corey got back from a bike ride. And then Katharine and I walked over last after she was finished having breakfast at home. Standing in line for our breakfast - 

Peter enjoying his pancakes and eggs - 

I went to check out the face painting station. 

They do pretty good work! 

Owen and Daniel are airbenders! With Owen's friend Zander.

I walked from home with Katharine in the baby wrap and I carried 4 chairs for us to sit on during the parade. I would have only brought 2, but I knew Corey would offer his chair to a kid if they asked, so I had to bring a few extras. It worked out great - Joseph, Ethan, Corey and I were able to sit and watch. Sophi and Natalie rode their bikes in the parade, and Abi watched the little boys gather candy.

I barely was able to catch a pic of Sophi and Natalie in the parade - 

Wes helped Abi keep an eye on Peter. After the parade, we stayed and visited for a bit.

Owen shared an insight he had: "There are two days we get candy: July, and Halloween."

Then it was time for the carnival. The little kids wanted to go. We asked who of the older kids could help. Eth, you want to go to the parade? "That does not sound fun to me... I guess I'm getting old..." Abi took Owen and Daniel to the carnival, JE&W headed home with two chairs, S&N were already at the carnival (that's where the parade ended), and I walked home with P&K. Corey went to the parade to watch kids. 

Mel and Lily took their painting booth to the carnival and continued their work throughout the afternoon. 

Corey and Joseph went to pick them up a little bit later and invited Davi over and we cooked some ribs that Corey got for lunch, making the 4th complete with a bbq, even though I cooked them in the oven. 

And the kids ate candy, watched Avatar the Last Airbender, and were basically lazy all day. Corey and Joseph, Mel, Ethan, and Davi, went on a bike ride in Corner Canyon (in the 90+ degree heat of the day!) 

Then tonight all left here at 8:30 to go watch the fireworks at Holladay Park. Joseph bought some ice cream drumsticks to share and they had fun and I got to stay home with this sweet face

A few thoughts on freedom- Yesterday we watched Amazing Grace. That is a great movie and an amazing story. William Wilberforce is a man I want to learn more about. I pray that there are great men like him and George Washington in the world today, because we surely need them as much as the slaves needed Wilberforce and as much as the United States needed Washington. And after we watched it, I read a little bit of Timothy Ballard's book "The Pilgrim Hypothesis" (pages 186-190) to the kids. 

"Jefferson's ability to persuade the Frenchman [to sell the Louisiana Territory] would largely come down to the happenings in Hispaniola. If Napoleon, by some miracle, could be stopped there, perhaps he would lose motivation for North America. After all, of the two lands, the only wealth generating one at that time was the island. For the French dictator, the only immediate an obvious benefit of the American territory (mostly just wilderness) was its potential role as a means to support and protect his commercial enterprises at Hispaniola.

"Few today recognize what was at stake during this tense time in the Caribbean. Would the sacred lands of the Gardner of Eden, even Adam-ondi-Ahman, and the New Jerusalem, where so much was to happen soon concerning the restoration, end up in hands of a foreign dictator? Or would Thomas Jefferson prevail and bringing those lands into the protective arms of the United States, the nation that Savior spoke of as the place where latter-day Americans "should be established... and set up as free people by the power of the Father... that covenant of the Father may be fulfilled which he hath covenant ed with his people, O house of Israel" (3 Nephi 21:4)? 

"Who knew that while the African prince and former slave Toussaint Louverture stood his his ground on a Caribbean island, waiting for one of the most powerful forces on the planet to attack them, so much weighed in the balance? We know history and Henry Adams (grandson and great-grand-son to two American presidents) understood very well the situation: "Before Bonaparte could reach Louisiana, he was obliged to crush the power of Toussaint," he wrote. "If he and his blacks should still come easy to their fate, the wave of French empire would roll onto Louisiana and sweep far of the Mississippi; if Saint Domingo should resist, and succeeding resistance... America would be left to pursue her democratic destiny in peace." 

"Jefferson come in the meantime, refuse to comply with the French trade embargo placed upon Toussaint and rejected any idea prohibit in American merchants from supplying the Indian revolution. Beyond that, all America could do was pray. 

"Toussaint knew he could never expect to win a front-on confrontation with the powerful French, so instead, he led his armies into the thick, forested mountains of the island, where the French would have to come to them and confront the terrifying prospect of guerilla warfare. The French found little success. And then, as could be expected in a conflict over promised lands, Mother Nature took over. And she took over in the form of Yellow Fever - Toussaint's most powerful ally. Nearly half of the first wave of French soldiers immediately died from the disease. 

"But even with those odds, the French were eventually able to capture Toussaint and send him to rot and die in a prison in France, which opened the way for other Haitian leaders who, unfortunately, in the name of revolution, committed horrible and unnecessary atrocities against innocent colonial civilians. Nevertheless, in the end, Toussaint's martyrdom only raised the morale of  his freedom-fighting countrymen, who now dug in harder against the French. His people would forever remember the words he spoke as the French carried him away in chains: "In overthrowing me," he yelled, "you have cut down in Sant Domingue only the trunk of the tree of liberty; it will spring up again from the roots, for they are numerous and they are deep." 

"His words proved prophetic as the French continued losing ground on the island. Desperate, the French command issued genocidal orders: all men and women, including teenagers (everyone twelve years old and older), must be murdered. They even brought three hundred starving bloodhounds and let them loose on the island to help with the mass murder. But the islanders could not be subdued. They would pay any price to remain free from slavery. 

"After more than forty thousand French soldiers perished, and the former slaves continued to fight back, gaining more and more ground against the invaders, the French finally quit and went home. Needless to say, their great plans to move on to North America were foiled. 

"On January 1, 1804, the island freedom fighters officially established their new independent nation, which they named Haiti, a word from the island's indigenous language, which means "land of the high mountains." Haiti became the first and only nation in history to be formed and led by former slaves after they successfully revolted against their masters, one of the very first nations on the planet to officially abolish slaver, and the second in the Western Hemisphere (after the United States) to achieve independence from the monarchs and dictators of the Old World. The Haitian revolution inspired abolitionist movements in other parts of the world..."

So I just remember, when I first read this book, feeling very grateful for these people in Haiti who fought for their freedom. They contributed in creating the free country I live in. I never knew this story before, but now that I do, I need to remember and be so thankful that they gave their lives for the freedom I enjoy. They played a part and are responsible, along with the Founding Fathers and patriots of the US Revolution, for creating the wonderful United States of America. It is a covenant land, and the covenant, with it's blessings and curses, remains upon it. I pray we will be righteous and serve Jesus Christ, that he may bless us! 

Book of Mormon, Ether 2:12

Games and Music

It's great having Ethan home. He and and the kids in my bedroom adoring Katharine - 

It's nice having another adult to watch her protect her from the younger kids. They do pretty good holding her, but there's a lot of them and they're all so eager... it's just a bit much to keep track of, so I appreciate having another set of adult eyes.

I didn't have Mel around today to help, but she's put in her time this week, as will be shows by pics in this post. Today she was gone at a Dirty Dash race -

 

Sorry, "Muddy Dash" She was invited by a friend from Brazil named David (said in Portuguese it is spelled Davi and sounds like Dah-VI).

He is very nice, they've gone on a few dates together. After she got home she went to work at Aubergine (David gave her a ride) - she got a job at the Aubergine in Sugarhouse after she heard that lots of the workers there were from Brazil. She's keeping up with her Portuguese.

An update on Wes - he's still been in school this summer, because he is online and still has a lot of work to do to graduate. BUT, it's taking him longer than we think it should... He started 4 classes in January, and it took him 5 months to do just his Math class. Granted, he learned a lot and more importantly he understands it and likes it, and he even received an A grade, BUT he might be working a little too carefully and too neat-ly on his notes (see pics 2 and 3). Corey said "I hate to tell you to lower your standards, but..." BYU says each class should take "no less than 60 hours" which means they could, hypothetically, be completed in 60. So, on Thus I told Wes to start texting me his start and pause times each day and we're going to keep track of this boy's hours, and hope that if he puts in a few 40 hours weeks, he should be able to get these classes done. Cause he can't spend 5 months on one class, or if he does, he won't graduate high school until he's 22. So Thursday we started keeping track of his time and I said I wanted him to get atleast 5 hours, and he got 4, but he said he'd do an extra hour Friday, which he did - he got 7 hours on Friday. Today I wanted him to do 7 hours again, and next week, I want him to do 40 hours, which if he doesn't want to work on Saturday, will mean he has to put in 8 hour days. So he was on the clock today doing a good job, but Corey wanted W to go on a ride with him and Ethan, so Corey said if he did it could count towards his school hours. It can be his PE time. So Wes took an evening break and went on a ride down Little Cottonwood Canyon with Corey and Eth. 

Peter went too. I told them I wanted a picture, and Peter knows the drill -

 Cute little face - head tilted back, he's a charmer. Eth and Corey smiling for me -

So yeah, it's been a good Saturday and kind of a busy day. The kids are getting back into a routine after our break with Park City and Bear Lake last week, and all the excitement of Ethan coming back. Usually after a trip or when we spend time away from home, it takes a few days to get back in the groove. They got a little bit back on target yesterday doing their workbooks again and practicing, but not doing chores much yet. Here's Daniel doing his preschool book yesterday, making sure he's all ready for Kindergarten!

Owen doing his work, and sharing his chair with Peter and his coloring book. 

The little boys are doing good at completing their summer checklists cause they want to play with friends. The girls don't care as much. They have also been effected by another common thing that happens after time away. They get back home and rediscover their toys and games. It's like the time away awakens their mental creativity and they go deep with their imagination. So ALSN have all been down in the basement being creative with legos. LSN are also playing with their superhero dolls. 

They've been making costumes for them with paints, paper, and string, so S&N's room is a wreck, and they also made a mess of my scrapbook papers in the basement. Natalie and Peter were playing Pirates and searching for treasure yesterday. 

Sophi make the map and the treasure hunt for them. Natalie deciphering the map...

It's fun to see them be creative, but I've had to threaten them with the consequence of not being allowed to hold Katharine in order to motivate them to practice. They don't want to pause their game to go work or practice, but holding Katharine is enough of an incentive that most of them have reluctantly obeyed. (She's so pretty!!)

Mel and Abi didn't need any incentive to practice. They have been working on a "Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing" duet that they are going to play at church on the 10th when Ethan speaks in sacrament meeting. 

Here's one of the times they practiced this week - 

Mel gets to add ability to rock an infant and play the flute to her list of skills (like practicing while hula hooping). She's very talented!

Here she is practicing Thurs night - while holding Katharine in a more practical way.

Katharine seemed to be very much at peace. 

Here are two other videos I took that evening - Mel playing a very fast song, Jazzy by Claude Bolling, and this one where we had two instruments being played in the same room at the same time, which is often the case around here! The kids are liking the ukulele that Ethan brought home, especially Wes has become a serious student.

Time to go gather kids for scriptures and bed. Here's a pic from family scriptures on Wednesday. 

That's what it looks like when we do it upstairs. Usually we have it downstairs in the side room with the big screen tv. It's nice having Ethan in the mix for scriptures now, and to have his comments and insights as a freshly returned missionary. It's been a good, busy, and memorable week.