Lucky, Lucky Lito

Lito was lucky enough to be Abram's person of choice to accompany him outside as often as his little heart desired. Lito didn't complain of course, but he did take some pretty long afternoon naps. He was just so tuckered out. Here is Lito helping Abram to ride his big red scooter.







As is the custom with Abram, all outside play ends with the hose and a drenched little boy. Lito did his best to dodge Abram's aim, or lack of it.





Nana turned out to be lucky too. She got to wrap up the little burrito after he had stripped out of all his clothes...again, an Abram custom our family is quite used to. He's been known to rip off his socks, shoes and pants at church. I figure if his diaper stays on, it's not a problem. Unless this continues into his teens.

Santi thought Lito and Nana's visit was the perfect opportunity to bring out her "Easy Oven Bake" (known to the rest of the world as Easy Bake Oven). So for FHE, we enjoyed miniature cakes and brownies baked by Santi and her 60 watt light bulb. Since we could only bake one treat at a time, the FHE treat took over an hour.






Lito has a history with Easy Bake Ovens. Like Santi, I too received an Easy Bake Oven when they were first introduced in the 80s. I made little cakes decorated with way too much frosting and sprinkles. One year I made Lito such a cake and put little Easter bunny figurines on it. He thought it was so cute and tiny, he refused to eat it. Instead he put it atop the microwave like a little masterpiece and never let anyone touch it. Over the years (I'm serious... years), it was knocked around here and there until finally the petrified pastry was irreparable. Poor Lito. Well, not anymore! Now there's a new generation of Easy Bake pastry chefs and of course Lito refused to east the cake Santi made for him. He put it in the freezer and then put it in his shirt pocket for the plane ride home. I'm sure it will be on display the next time we visit.

Marin and Lito shared many a moments like this. I bought this little wooden Tetris puzzle (shout out to M2 girls) several months ago and we have YET to find a solution. The instructions tout that there are over a thousand solutions. Well, if that doesn't make me feel less than the most intelligent person on the entire globe. It was pretty entertaining just to watch these two work together, which consisted of Lito building a foundation and Marin sneaking his blocks to build her own. I loved that even though a solution has eluded us, Marin and Lito spent so much time together.

When Lito and Nana left, I realized how much I'd gotten used to their help around the house. Which is to say that Abram is nagging to go outside and the laundry is again backed up. Plus, there are fewer excuses to indulge in sweet bread everyday. So sad.

Open House

Something about the photo above makes me want to cry. 2020 does seem a bit far off, but I've learned that the years with the children at home are all too fleeting. Since the girls are now in full elementary school swing, time goes by too fast. Marin only has two more years before junior high, can you believe it? Santi will be in fifth grade when A-boy starts Kinder in three years. And throughout all these mathematical calculations of time left and time spent, I keep thinking, when did all this happen? Where did all these kids come from? Didn't Brian and I just get married?

Open House was really great for the girls. Each of them had projects to present and both were proud to have received excellent marks. Phew! It's been so fun to see each of them mature in their own ways and explore their own talents and interests. I so love them.

Santi presenting her power point presentation on Gerald Ford. She was so proud that she created her very own power point for the first time. I volunteered in her class one of the days they went to the computer lab to work on their presentations. I couldn't believe how all these little six and seven-year-olds maneuvered through the program. I was impressed. Good job Santi!


Marin's project was to create a Texas Native American dwelling. She was assigned a Tigua dwelling that was pretty much an adobe structure. She did a fabulous job on the dwelling as well as the report to accompany it. She also created a power point slide show. Again, I was impressed that she was able to do the report and slide show on her own at school. But it was really fun for Dad to share in some of the construction of the adobe.

Here's a close up of Marin and Dad's hard work. I thought it looked fantastic. What you don't see are the little figures Marin put inside the dwelling. She made people out of model magic. Of course, the only color of model magic left in the house was the politically incorrect red for this kind of project. Nevertheless, Dad let her proceed and saved the politically correct lesson for another day.

The highlight of the evening was that the girls were able to share all of their accomplishments with Nana and Lito who were still in town. Nana and Lito said they had such a wonderful time, even though it doesn't look so much like it in this photo. My family has a terrible habit of hardly ever smiling in photos (see abram's bday photo, etc...). I can sometimes catch smiles when the pictures are pretty candid. I think it's tragic since we'll all look back on these photos and wonder if they ever really had a good time at anything. So hopefully, me calling them out like this on the blog can help change that habit. Blogs are good like that.

Breakin' in

Bri and I spent our spring break trying to break into and make sense of the mysterious world that is the teenaged-girl psyche. Since my mom was in town, Bri and I both were able to attend Girls Camp 2009! It turned out to be mostly so much fun, as well as a little eye opening to what we may be expecting in a couple short years in our own household. Can you imagine Marin and Santi in Young Womens? This is where Bri freaks out.

Above is a picture of me receiving my First Year certification from Lynda Holbrook. Since I joined the Church after the age limit for YW, I've a lot to learn and make up. Most of my married life, I've served in the Primary. Only recently have I been called to YW for the first time. I could not have asked for a better first year of camp. How lucky I was that Bri came with.

Because our stake is brand new, the stake leadership decided that every other year the wards will be responsible for their own Girls Camp. Our ward paired up with our old ward, Mission 2, which turned out to be the perfect scenario.

In the above picture, Bishop Hulse and Bishop Smith repeatedly tried to show off how to build a fire. We were all so hungry, we're glad these two trusty Eagle Scouts finally got it going.

This is a picture of all our foil dinners cooking at once. That's a LOT of meat and potatoes.

This is Kaylee Edwards, who may look like one of the YW, but is actually a leader from Mission 2. I had such a blast with her. One of my favorite parts was bunking in the same tent with the other three leaders while Bri and Jason stayed up way too late in their tent. But the ladies kicked me out the next night, so I had to share cabin #2 with Bishop Hulse. And of course, this led to us being teased by the chant, "Rendezvous in Cabin 2!" Lovely.

And this is Shanna Wheeler who is probably the most capable outdoors woman you will EVER come across. I'm not kidding. She's guided river rafting and camping along the river for weeks at a time. This is the gal you want around in the last days, let me tell you.

Here is Shanna showing Bri the finer points of dutch oven cooking. Shanna's dutch oven skills and menus are world class. If you don't think "world class" and "dutch oven" belong in the same sentence, it's because you haven't met Shanna. We ate so well, I can't even believe she cooked all that she did in a cast iron pot.

Let's face it. The Bishops were the life of the party. We as leaders were so grateful they were both able to come as our priesthood leaders. The girls had a chance to bond with them unlike any other time imaginable. Shanna said it best that when these girls need to come to their bishop, they'll feel more comfortable after having built a rapport with them at camp. 

And I just love that about my husband. He gave them so much silly and fun attention. He's never afraid to look goofy or a little foolish. During down time, he performed his ridiculously lame magic tricks (see the video) or lead funny games or songs. He and Jason introduced the girls to the ever useful game of Big Booty.It took a while.

Melinda (Jason's wife) made shirts for our guys as a thanks for their help (as pictured above). Jason's had a Superman on it and said, "Super Smith" and Bri's had a Hulk on it and said, "HULK HULSE." Melinda says it's Jason's fav shirt right now.






Below are just a few pics of Golead State Park. It was nice to wake up to fog and nice cool air in the morning. Ahhhh.

I have lots more pictures of the girls but I figured their parents wouldn't appreciate me posting them without their permission.

Oodles of Poodles and Pedal Pushers

It's so nice that Nana was in town for 50's dress up day at school. Santi has dreamed every year to wear a poodle skirt. Well this time Nana pulled out a nostalgic night before sewing project, and without a pattern too. 

Marin opted for the rolled up jeans, which is something I could accommodate. I can handle that much. Santi would really appreciate some saddle shoes for next year. We'll see if I can plan far enough in advance. And we'll see if Nana's available for another custom fitting.

Niner

Hooray for the number nine Hulse grandchild, Andi Renee! What a cute thing. We can't wait to see her in person and catch up on all the cuddling we're currently missing out on. Congrats Michael and Laura!

Andi Renee Davis

March 10th

1:27am

8 lbs. 4 oz.

18 inches

two much

Who has two thumbs and just had a birthday? THIS guy!

Abram was fully prepared to turn two. He has been rehearsing his Happy Birthday song for months and made certain we were all prepared as well. He's also been practicing blowing out candles on Mom's aromatherapy candles on her bathtub. His motto the last few weeks has been, "if it's got a wick, it can be licked" (that goes both literally as well as figuratively. boys.). Of course he had only dry runs until the critical moment when Mom put a piece of cake with flame-throwing candles in front of a two-year-old. Fortunately, he remained professional and did not compromise the moment by blowing them out too soon or burning himself. However, he remained insistent that we go through the whole song and dance three times. Even after the third time, he was still not quite satisfied. But in our attempts to be decent parents and not raise a completely demanding child, we stopped the revelry at thrice. Because three times is not excessive in the least.




The way he "blows" out his candles is such a kill. Thank heaven for big sisters.



The girls made Abram's birthday cake. They made a lemon-jello bundt cake and topped it with whipped cream. Yum. I am so proud of them. I am trying to allow them more responsibility in the kitchen. They are so eager to learn, but they were even more elated to make such a special treat for brother's Big day!



Abram was lucky enough to have Lito and Nana visiting from California. Abram has appreciated having two more people at home to play with. No one is as willing as Lito to go play outside for hours at a time. I, for one, will be sad to see them leave.



The doting sisters, as always, helping brother to read his birthday book from Grandpa Finn.




Abram casually opening one of his favorite gifts... airplane jammies from Aunt Squirts and Unkie Chris.


Aside from the fact that, like Prince, Abram now has his very own purple throne, this gift from Finn and Lainie is perfect because Abram is fully acquainted with the word, "Shhhh..." printed on it. Every night for prayers, Abram kneels down and then puts his head to the floor and periodically utters, "shhh" throughout the prayer. This might be so, since he hears it from all of us at some point, coaxing him to be quiet for the entirety of at least one prayer in his life. Not yet.


Here is a picture of Abram and his other very favorite birthday gift... his basketball. I don't know how he did it, but this sneaky little guy found it like a week before his birthday, and once he did, it was all over. He had eyes for no one else, including the red pressure washer. I know, borderline obsessive. Even more fully illustrated by the fact that he refused to go to sleep without it in his crib for like three days.


And here is the second time we sang. Though no distinction from the first, I figured the grandparents would love it still.