Via Jason

Jason laid in bed with the girls for a while before they went to sleep tonight. He wants the list of careers of choice he discussed with Emily to be immortalized for future comparison's sake. When she grows up, Emily wants to be:

1. Artist
2. Paleontologist
3. Volcanologist
4. Doctor
5. Seismologist
6. Dentist


And just for good measure, Dani wants to be a doctor.

State

We got a letter in the mail today for Emily. Apparently, since she was the only one who ran the 400m race, thus winning, she now qualifies to go to state! Mark the date -- June 21 -- Emily will make Restuccia family history -- first and youngest family member to run in a state level race!

Her Daddy's Girl

Jason took Emily to a youth track meet on Saturday. I don't know who was more excited about it, Jason or Emily. They've been practicing at the YMCA for a month or so, running laps around the indoor track. Unfortunately, Dani had karate at the same time as Emily's track meet, so I wasn't there for the whole thing. From the reports I received, participated in the long jump and the 400. I made it in time to see her run the 400 -- alone. She didn't have any competition! Which disappointed her on one hand, because she really wanted to BEAT someone, but on the other hand, when you're the only one in the race, you automatically win first place! She ran it in 1:41, though, so while she didn't actually beat anyone, that's pretty darn good time for a 9 year old! She won 2nd in the long jump, where she did complete against 5 other kids.

She really did seem to enjoy it. Jason reports that she was "the picture of smooth and consistent running." And now's he's researching how to train kids and talking about going to an official USAT&F youth meet next month. Look out track scholarships! Here we come!

Let's just make one thing clear...

In the chapel -- Brendan is sleeping in my arms and Evan won't keep his hands off him... stroking his head, holding his hand, kissing his cheek. Then, out of the blue....

Evan: Mom, when are you going to have another baby?
Me: Uh. Never. I've had enough babies.
Evan: No... when Brendan is 3 or 4. Then he won't be a baby anymore.
Me: Honey, I am DONE having babies.
Evan: (big grin) Yeah. You got enough kids.

Innocent

Emily: Mom, a girl at school told me that someone at the middle school broke into people's lockers and STOLE stuff.
Me: Well, that doesn't suprise me TOO much.
Emily: (in complete disbelief) There are people that ACTUALLY DO stuff like that?
Me: Yes, Emily, there are people in the world that don't always choose the right!

I totally love that she the difference between right and wrong is so ingrained in her that the very idea of someone doing something wrong is unthinkable to her! Give myself and her Primary teachers a little pat on that back! Just a little one thought, because honestly, she was just born good!

Scrapbook experimentation

Last year, my sister, Rachel, and I started a new tradition. For Mothers' Day every year we are going to give our Mom scrapbook pages. This year, I'm starting to learn about digital scrapbooking, so I attempted my pages on my computer. Here are the results. I think I do a little better with my adhesives and paper trimmers, but not too bad, i have to say!

The poem on Dani's layout was written by m y sister and reads as follows:

That girl is a volcano.

by Lani Rush

The sulfuric scent of unpredictability
hangs on her disastrous hands.
Ostensibly, she is just a mountain,
just a little girl.
But her fiery hair explodes like magma
and her volatile tongue
answers only to the demands
of pressure.
There is a constant storm building beneath Earth’s crust,
beneath her skin,
and it rages with fury and thirst.
Her unsmiling mouth yells and shouts because
volcanoes don’t know how to whisper,
but there is a cacophonous symphony
is you listen:
the music of her fearsome zeal.
She is blazing red and orange,
inside and out.
A burning vexation like hers demands attention
or else the craving becomes too strong
and Pele’s treacherous beauty erupts.
With a confidence in her own power,
she throws her arms out
and explodes.
“Volcano!” she cries, her own name
replaced by her own eruption.
A blast of fire and a child’s call,
the Earth quakes and lava oozes,
and Danielle is quiet again.

Stories

The girls have given me some doozies in the past couple of days.....

On the way to the orthodontist:
Dani: Mom, who am I going to marry when I grow up?
Me: I don't know!
Dani: I want to marry Henry.
Me: Ok.
Dani: Cause Henry is a boy in our church, right?
Me: Yes. Why do you think you should marry a boy in our church?
Dani: So I can get married in the temple and be a family forever!
Me: That's right!
Dani: Me and Henry are going to have 5 kids. How many kids will you babysit?
Me: Probably only 3.
Dani: Ok, I'll just have 3.
Me: Dani, you can have as many kids as you want.
Dani: Ok, I'll have 5. I want to name them after me and Henry.
Me: You could name a boy Daniel and girl Henrietta!
Dani: Yeah! But I'm going to have to talk to Henry about the other names. (short silence) Mom, I am just looking really hard for a boy in our church that I can marry that is nice!

And thus we see that Dani may be a tomboy, but in her heart of hearts, she's a true Mormon girl! 7 years old and already scouring the primary for an appropriate eternal companion!

Another with Dani -- yesterday Jason took the kids out to get supplies for making me a Mothers' Day dinner. When they got home, Dani brought me this cute little single serving package of Ben and Jerry's ice cream and told me, "See, Mom? We got this so you can have a treat on Mothers' Day and you won't get fat!" I guess my preoccupation with my weight is beginning to show!


And finally, Emily -- Dani was meltinher down at bedtime last night and Jason sent her to bed before family prayer. Still, she wouldn't calm down, so Jason decided that the other kids could not sleep in her bedroom that night, as is favorite thing to do lately. We've had to cut back to only allowing it on the weekends because they take a long time to fall asleep that way, so it had been a whole week since they'd been allowed to all sleep together, so Emily burst into tears becuase of Dani's punishment.... so the following exchange occured

Me: You can still have Evan sleep in your room, if you want.
Emily: But Evan's not any fun!
Me: Why isn't Evan fun?
Emily: Becuase he never talks about anything but Star Wars!

And we learn from this conversation that 1) Emily loves Dani! and 2) Evan's love of Star Wars has officially become an obsession!

Brace Face

I took the girls to an orthodontist last week. Emily's dentist recommended she see one and I decided to take Dani in for good measure, cause there are already little dollar signs engraved on each one of her crooked little teeth. I thought we'd end up with braces on Emily pretty quick and least an idea of what the future held in store for Dani and yet we ended up with the exact opposite results. Emily has lost nearly all her baby teeth, which supposedly at 9 years old, is pretty early, so the orthodontist wants to wait until they are all out and THEN start treatment. Dani, on the other hand, has problems that can be fixed now that will hopefully make future treatment easier and cheaper. Her front two teeth have come down too far and are biting into her gums on her lower jaw and her bicuspids can't come down becuase there's no room for them! So today, Dani got braces!

For your viewing pleasure -- before and after......

She should have them on for less than a year. We'll see how things go! Dani tends to have a very volatile personality. I'm worried what she will be like with the constant irritation of braces thrown into the mix. When my friend, Cimony saw her she told her, "Dani! You look just like a teenager! Now all you have to do is lock yourself in your room with a phone!" Oy. Let's hope that might be the worst of it!

April Overview

Wow, I can't believe I haven't touched the blog in a month! Especially because several cute and bloggy things happened. I shall have to hit the highlights.

On April 6, Jason turned 35. I do love that he's a good 5 years older than me, because I can safely tease him about being a old man and yet when I reach the age I'm teasing him about, he'll still be even older than me! Just LOOK at all those candles!

His birthday fell on General Conference, which ended up being really nice becuase we didn't have to go anywhere or do anything, except sit on the couch and listen to the General Authorities and play with the kids in between sessions. It was a great, relaxing day. We barbequed for dinner and ate in the backyard, although it was just the littlest bit chilly. But Daddy saved the day -- the kids gave him a outdoor fireplace and he rustled up a nice warm fire for us and we made smores and ate cake.

We got to have a fun visit from my former 7th grade locker partner Katie Koski-I-mean-Stewart. Yes, weird that I'm still friends with my 7th grade locker partner, but not when you realize that after I moved away, we kept in touch some and we ended up being roommates at BYU. Katie is still every bit as much fun as she was in 7th grade... AND in college, and she married a very nice guy who I enjoy having around too! And they recently moved just 2 hours away from us, so hopefully there will be many opportunities to play together. Especially since Evan just adores her son, Andrew, who we identify as "Andrew Katie's" to distinguish him from Andrew Van Komen from church. And so another BYU roommateship is born.... except that Andrew is 2 years older than Evan. Still, good times whenever we get together!

Me and Katie

I got to go out to Utah to play with my Mom and sisters for a few days in honor of my own birthday. As I was contemplating the asthetic state of my daughters during this absence, I decided that it might be wise to get Emily's hair cut now, rather than wait until the end of school, as we had been planning. Its about time Emily learned to be in charge of her own hygiene, including taking care of her own hair. However, since it was so long that she couldn't even get a brush though it on her own, it seemed she might never learn to do it on her own. And so she went from this:












to this. She can wash it and comb it and do it all by herself now! And she donated her hair to Locks of Love, so she did a good deed too! Way to go Emily!







Then there was my lovely trip to Utah. I didn't take any pictures, but I had a ton of fun. I played and shopped with Mom and Rachel and Lani and we went to a scrapbook expo and did more shopping. On my last night there, they made me a birthday dinner -- Dad made my all time favorite -- fajitas! Not just any fajitias. MY Dad's fajitas! They are the BEST! And Lani made me a birthday cake, and she and Rach made sure I had a birthday girl crown.









Then I came home and had my REAL birthday, which also was ever so nice. Jason made sure I didn' t have to do any work, the dentist appointment I had scheduled got canceled and Jason took the kids out to buy me birthday presents and brought home food from my favorite restraunt, which was perfect cause I didn't want to have to clean up a mess, but I also didn't want to have to fight my kids to behave at a restraunt.





And lastly, April 29, Evan turned 5! It was Evan's turn to have a birthday party this year and we selected Cyberspace Lazer Tag as the place of celebration. And the moment we walked in there, I knew we'd made the right choice, as it was heavily decorated in a Star Wars theme, which as been Evan's complete obsession, of late. In the middle of the lazer tag game, the music stopped short and the Star Wars theme music came on. Evan was completely in heaven! Sadly, we don't have a single picture because the entire place, and I mean the ENTIRE place, was lit with blacklights. But pictures or no, it was the the highlight of Evan's 5 years. He was inundated with Star Wars toys, he had a cool Darth Vadar cake and he got to shoot guns at his friends in the dark. What more could a boy ask for?