Locks of Love

To follow her friend Cecelia from Mount Vernon who in turn followed her piano teacher Lisa Garrett's example, Céleste has been eager for her hair to grow long enough to cut it all off to donate at least 10 inches of it to "Locks of Love".

Today was the day. I was going to get my hair done and after checking and rechecking that she would not be bald after the deed, she got her hair chopped off.

It is such a generous gift. But then it is pretty typical of her though. She has a very generous spirit, especially with her brothers. You only have to ask, for her to give you what she has in her hands.

Last time I had to cut her hair this short was because of a bug infestation, and she cried and cried when she saw her locks fall to the floor, then she was only 3 years old. This time she couldn't wait for the big event. She loves her new hairdo and shaking her little bob.

Her curls are so glossy and bouncy, they match her personality so well.

Swimming at Nellis Air Force Base home of the thunderbirds

A friend of ours in our ward is a JAG officer on Nellis Air Force Base and invited us to swim at the base's swimming pool. The kids and Don had a blast jumping in the diving pool while I took pictures and worked on my tan and went down the slide.

Who said humans don't fly??
That reminds me that I was right when I nicknamed Don "the Flying Squirrel" way back in the MTC for how he always dove to save the ball while playing volleyball on Pdays.

boys and cardboard, guns & weapons

I never was a proponent of guns and other assorted weapons, but leave it to boys to turn harmless sticks and cardboard boxes into armor and battle each other.

I introduce to you the self proclaimed "blockhead #1" & "blockhead #2". Thomas now owns a slingshot to play paintball with his scout friends and Nathan was recently heard asking: "Papa, now when do I get a weapon?" !!! He wants a BBgun rifle for Christmas.
We told him: You'll shoot your eye out!!!! LOL.
Don can't say no because at Walmart where we bought Thomas' slingshot, we found the very same air pump rifle he bought for himself many years ago. He was so happy to remember those days, the boys just about dropped dead hearing their dad used to have a weapon to shoot small birds and small game with.
Nathan ever so practical and logical retorted that he needed a weapon to shoot the pigeons that are infesting the neighbors yard, that he had shot a bbgun and a bow at cub scout and that he would be doing a service. Ah, nathan... Even Legos are a source of inspiration...

Sacrament meeting performance

After 7.5 years of taking violin lessons Thomas had a chance to play a musicla number for the intermediate hymn on Sunday. He played "The Spirit of God" accompanied at the piano with his friend Brayden Walters. It's not my favorite piece of sacred music and we couldn't appreciate the whole sound because we sat in the overflow of the chapel, but I think Thomas gave a lovely performance, and Don & I were pretty proud of him. No reproach, no critic. Just a good chat afterwards. I love it when I keep my tongue in check. Thomas just opens up...
i hope htis year he gets more chances to use his talents. He needs to share them and bring joy around him with them.

I love it when things get done because I listened to the still small voice

Since Easter, Thomas has been passing the sacrament every week. I feel so happy when I see him walking up and down the aisles. He is growing up. The funny thing though is that he and I seem to not always be on the same wavelength. Nothing really surprising given the fact that he was always partial to his dad even as an infant, but sometimes lately it reaches "greek" proportions, especially when he talks back. I can't stand it and I fly into a rage. Not good to resolve issues is it? Anyway every once in a great while, I have flashes of genius (called inspiration from the Holy Ghost in my book) and do something completely unexpected. Noboday yells, or gets yelled at, slapped or otherwise disrespected, and things go according to plan.
I love it.
Like this morning I asked T. to vacuum the upstairs because I have a ton of translating to do. Well, I asked throughout the day to no avail. Being Monday, it's also violin lesson day at 16h00. About 20 min. before leaving I called an APB to get ready to go. At 15h55 I left with the 3 in tow and not bothering to wait for T. I left. He called on my cell, looking for me, I said I was gone. No tantrums, no screams. When we came home 1hr later, T. was putting the vacuum away and the job that had waited all day was done well. Tada♪
Maybe I'll try again tomorrow...

What were they thinking??!!

Easter being a week after his birthday, Thomas' grandma said in his birthday card and on the phone that she would bring a present for him when they would come.
The boy was so excited to see what he would receive. Don's mom called last Tuesday and asked for suggestions. Don mentionned twice that a gift certificate to "Barnes and Nobles" or "Borders" for our bookworm would be great (since his mom is a bookworm too). Thomas was clamoring for Legos or cash and I was hinting at some green as well, to put toward his new violin.
Well on Saturday, Thomas experienced the disappointment of the century while I went in shock.
This is what he was presented with!

T. can't stand it, I won't look at it because I find it disgusting, and Don was just stunned that they would just stop at a truck stop and grab this.
They didn't have to get him a present if they can't afford it, my parents rarely sends the children stuff in the mail because of cost, so they use the phone.
However after mentionning to him a couple of times, that they were bringing him a present, they were committed. I don't care if you are late, don't buy an object just to say you did your duty. I felt so bad for T. I would have cried. He remained polite and thanked his grandma and said it was an interesting gift, even if it was such a let down.
I was impressed by my son's maturity in how he handled it. What a grand soul!
When he pulls such a mature reaction, I know why I expect so much out of him, I know he has so much potential and stature in him. I know why I push him to do better, because he can.
Thomas, you are my hero in your moments of great kindness. Je t'aime. Maman.

A new family member

It's been a few weeks since the last post. Almost a month. Pfew being at risk for an old cliché, well, time flies!

After several years of pressure, we got ourselves a dog! I didn't really want to post about him (yeah it's another boy in the house) because Don in his enthusiasm posted about him on Facebook the same evening we adopted him. That was March 28th. I figured everyone who would know already didn't need to read about it here. But since this is about the family, I can't ignore it. It's like me not writing in my journal for the past 16 or so years, like nothing important ever happened in that time frame, except.. I got married to a great guy who made me move from one continent to the next and then several times on said new continent, gave birth to 4 incredible children in the process, and on and on. So I could not write a few lines about adding a dog to the brood.

For one, I've always been afraid of dogs: thought they were too needy, too messy, too expensive to keep (you know extra food, extra medical bills, etc). Cats on the other hand are more my type, but it seems a few people in this family are allergic to them beginning by me. So "Niet" to cats as mammal pets. The snakes we had in Illinois were just about the perfect pets: they didn't crave attention from us to pet them, we could handle them if we wanted too but they didn't feel abandonned or neglected if we didn't, they ate earth worm, which the kids handled just fine, and since they were caught in the wild they could always be disposed of easily in case they needed to go. They didn't bark, didn't get too dirty in the tank, and when they shed, it was all at once and very cool to behold.

So how did I give in to a dog? A few months back Don (always him. if you haven't figured it out by now, he has a prominent place in my life) innocently asked me what kind of dog I found cute. After searching pictures of dogs, I settle on the westies; with their cute faces and small size they are less threatening than any dog in my opinion. Upon hearing my opinion Don jumped to the conclusion that we were Go for a dog! WHAT ? How would he make such a jump when the question asked was "what kind of dog do you find cute?", not "Can we have a dog now?". Needless to say that I said "no" to the later. I didn't have to pursue the matter very long since upon further research the cost of purchasing such a puppy is not even something we could consider. I thought the matter closed, until March 22. You see Don (yeah the same) has always wanted a dog and in particular a husky or a malamute type dog. He has even found a few over the years that he's brought home then driven to the shelter for them to be later claimed by their owners. Back to March 22, he happened to be browsing the Nevada SPCA website with the adoptable dogs and found a westie there. He thought it was destiny or something like that. A few weeks prior he had felt that we should look into adopting (as in adding another child to the family, maybe a sister for Cheeks) but I think the road took us a different way. The very next day he went to the shelter to see the posted puppy and despite leaving work early, because of impending closing hours, he was rejected at the door with 1 min. to spare and was told to return the next day at 11 AM. In his words "fat chance, that would happen". However in hopes that the cute dog would still be there on Saturday, I had time to think if I really wanted to do this. In the meantime, my loving mother thought it might be a good idea for our son Thomas to love and care for a creature that would not judge him like his own mother does, etc... So I did think and came Saturday I reluctantly embarked in a family trip to the shelter. We saw lots of dogs in 3 diffrent places that day (of course the adorable westie named Heidi was long gone) starting at 10h30 until 19h00. We did bring home Kiba (which means "Fang" ion Japanese) the awesome shiba inu (which mean brushwood or red dog in Japanese) that very day. He looks like a mini husky which fulfills one of Don aspirations. He doesn't bark too much, nor jump on people, nor sniffs people in private parts. I think he is a good fit for us. Don takes him on his daily jogs in the morning and I tend to take care of the evening/late afternon walks. He gets us out of the house. My main issue with him is the shedding though so much to make sure is clean for a neat freak like me.

Also, I don't know if I'm allergic to him or if it's all the stuff in the air, I've been sneezing quite a bit lately. But then the kids were all sick just before and during Spring break last week.

There we are for the next 10 years or so. We have rescued a 3 year old dog. It's like having a toddler around that will never get out of that stage... Wish me luck and patience. We are starting training lessons this Saturday.