Birthday

I had a really nice birthday today.  I was able to sleep in a little and then nine year old Janelle gave me a song that she wrote for me for my birthday (the first one she has ever written).  It was sweet.

Everything went surprisingly smooth with the whole getting-ready-for-church routine.  I enjoyed my church meetings and loved the beautiful cross stitch of the St. George Temple from our Deaf Branch Relief Society Presidency (along with chocolates and a scented candle) and then came home to find these beautiful roses and a nice framed quote and picture of President Monson from our Hearing Ward Relief Society.  That was a nice surprise since we haven't been to our hearing ward for over three years now!

Then we had a delicious dinner (mostly make by Janika) of ham, cheesy potatoes, candied yams, vegetables and salad!  The kids cleaned up and I took a little nap.  Later on we had ice-cream and sang "Happy Birthday."  The counters were messy because the kids had become hungry again and pulled out a bunch of food and left everything out.  I hate taking pictures and videos when there is a bunch of clutter in the background and so I tried walking to a different spot, away from the messy counters, to try and steer the video camera away from the clutter.  When I explained my reasons to the kids Jase said, "Yeah, that way when you are old and have Alzheimer's you will watch the videos and think that your house was actually clean."  Ha Ha!  He got that one spot on!

Saturday

Rick is so sweet to go take care of the 6:45 a.m. Bountiful Basket pick up so that I can sleep in!  This morning Rick and I both went to the "Terp-Time" held at the Deaf Center.  Robin Meeks taught the interpreting workshop today and did a great job!  It was so much fun and gave me some new tips when it comes to voicing!   Janika took care of the kids and house while we were gone.  When we got home Rick went grocery shopping and I did some cleaning.

Janika wanted me to take her swim suit shopping and I really didn't want to but she was so helpful with the kids and house and made candied yams and cheesy potatoes for my birthday dinner tomorrow and so she definitely deserved it!   We bought one that we found one for a killer deal.  I thought it was so cute on her but she thought it was just "okay."  We will try going another day to look for another one.  I tried on a few also but it was just depressing.  Having seven kids along with age has definitely taken a toll on my body and so the whole swimsuit thing -- well, it's just depressing. Janika wanted to go to a couple more stores but I didn't want to miss my date with my hubby.

It is my birthday tomorrow and Rick was taking me out to dinner.  We had an enjoyable time and a nice dinner at Golden Corrall.  As soon as I got home I drove right back into town to join some friends for ice-cream.  That was our fifth trip into town today!  Anyway, after my all-you-can-eat dinner I decided to be "good" and ordered a healthy fruit smoothie instead of ice-cream.  We had a fun time and were laughing so hard at some of the stories that tears were rolling from our eyes!

Week's Events

Monday I brought Jared to the Orthodontist.  He said to wait yet another year before putting on braces.  We picked up Jaiden from dance and ate a quick dinner before the kids' piano recital, and closing night of Janika's show.

Tuesdays are always busy.  Before school was Jase's NJHS meeting, Janelle's choir practice, Jaiden's piano lessons and Janika' Madrigal rehearsal (at 6:30 a.m. after returning home after 1:00 a.m. from her closing night party last night).  During school Jenna had play group and I had an interpreting appointment.  After school I had class and Janika had a rehearsal for the Youth Spectacular.  I brought a van filled with six of our kids and three extra friends to Janelle's soccer game. 

Wednesday my visiting teachers came in the morning and then I went visiting teaching in the afternoon.  Tonight was dance for Jaiden and Young Mens for Jase and Jared. 

Thursday Jase had to be at the school at 6:45 a.m. to catch the bus to his Energy Fair Fieldtrip in Beaver two hours away.  I went and watched the afternoon showing of Janelle's choir concert since Rick and I would have to miss the evening performance because of Jase's National Junior Honor Society Banquet.  They choir did a fantastic job as usual.

Then I headed to the college to teach my ASL class and then picked up Rick for Jase's NJHS banquet. 

As soon as Jase got his award we left so that I could drop him off at Parkour on my way to my interpreting job.  Jase changed in the car and met Jared there. My class got out early and so I went back to Barefoot to pick up the boys.  They were strutting around shirtless, showing off their "skills."     

Friday I turned down a job in order to help in Josh's classroom.  I had missed the last three Fridays because scheduling conflicts and didn't want to miss again!  They had a sub today and the kids were a little more unruly than normal.  It made me glad that I teach college students instead of K-12 kids! 

Tonight Janelle and I had a "Mother-Daughter Date" for Activity Days.  The kids have been learning about how to set a table and exhibit proper table manners and the culmination was the manner's dinner tonight.  Janelle took this very seriously.  She kept up a constant one-way conversation on the way over, "I hope I remember which fork to use first....what if I drop my spoon on the floor, is it okay to pick it up...what if this and what if that..."  It was funny.  I love that girl. We both got 100% on the "manners quiz" that were on each of our plates.  Janelle did pretty well with the dinner too -- except for spilling her cucumber juice all over the table.    They sent us home with these cute little jars of grass which were the table centerpieces.

After the dinner we picked up Jaiden from her friend Valarie's Hawaiian Swimming Birthday Party.  She had a blast!   I practically had to drag her out of their gorgeous back yard swimming pool.

Piano Recital

The kids did great at their piano recital tonight!  It is expensive having four kids in lessons but we figure it will be worth it in the long run.

A Stroll Down Broadway

Janika performed with her high school in a Broadway Musical Review called, "A Stroll Down Broadway" Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Monday night.   She was in several numbers and played the part of Millie in the opening number from "Modern Millie."  She did a great job.  I hated the skanky dress though.  The modesty attempt they did of ribbons over the shoulders didn't help much, didn't go with the dress, and just looked weird.  I wished I had attended the dress rehearsal or had Janika bring the dress home to show me first so that I could have looked for an alternative or at least done some alterations.  Lesson learned for next time!  The kids have a tradition of going out to eat at Denny's afterwards.  It is fun for them but I wasn't very happy about the late night outs on the two school nights!  Janika had a lot of fun with the shows here the past few years but is excited for the additional professionalism that accompanies Tuacahn's program and productions.    

Kite Festival

Every year our community has a Kite Festival which involves all of the elementary schools in the area.  All of the kids get a reading chart and keep track of their reading for three months.  If they complete the required reading minutes per week for three months then they are rewarded with a free kite.  We went for several years and then I stopped going the past few years.  It just didn't seem worth it to drive clear out to the distant golf course, park a mile away, and trek in just to get a free kite.  But this year Janika had a two hour rehearsal for the Youth Spectacular just five minutes away from the location of the Kite Festival.  I figured if I had to drive out there anyway and come back two hours later to pick her up I might as well take the kids to the Kite Festival.  With the hustle and bustle of packing a lunch and getting everyone ready and out the door, I didn't think to bring a stroller.  The parking attendant waved us into the big dirt lot of parked cars and the five youngest kids and I began the trek carrying a big blanket, my purse, camera bag, a bag of food and water bottles.  It was only 10:00 in the morning and heating up fast.  It was supposed to be the hottest day of the year so far -- up to 92 degrees by the afternoon.  It had to be at least a half mile walk and I kept wishing over and over that I had brought the stroller.  Not only for Jenna and Josh but so we could have heaped everything else into that instead of killing our arms trying to carry everything.   

We finally made it there, picked up our three kites (there were rather nice ones) and made it to the spot where the deaf group was meeting and laid out the blanket.  I think this is the first time I have been at the kite festival where there was NO wind.  Usually the sky is alive with hundreds of kites.  But this year the sky blazed blue without a hint of clouds or touch of a breeze.  A couple lone kites struggled to stay afloat in the air as long as the children pulling them kept running.  Jared came down with allergies as soon as we arrived and chose to stay under a tent while I took the kids to play the free games and get a balloon animal.  It was getting close to the time I needed to pick up Janika from her rehearsal so I started gathering up everything.  We had taken the kites out of the packages and put them together which was a big mistake.  I wondered how I could possibly make it back to the van with all of my bags and now three huge kites with streamers and string spilling all over the place.  By now it was really hot.

I bribed the kids by saying that if they could make it all the way to the van without one word of complaint then I would take them out for ice-cream.  They excitedly took me up on my offer.  They all helped out and none of them complained about the long walk, the items they had to carry, or the heat.  Jared even carried Jenna on his back most of the way with perspiration dripping down his face. We were barely into the walk when the bag of food broke and apples and bananas started rolling down the street.  A family took pity on us and offered to have us put some of our things on their stroller.  We were grateful and accepted their offer.  By the time we reached the van 45 minutes had gone by and we were a half hour late picking up Janika.  I had forgotten my cell phone and had no way of contacting her to say where we were.  But we did stop for ice-cream at Arctic Circle and everyone was happy.    I wish I could say that we have had hours of fun with the kites since that time but we just don't get a lot of wind around here!  We do every once in awhile though.  There is proof in our neighbor's tree which still holds one of our kids' kites from at least three years ago. 

ASL Lego Club

I  brought Janelle and Jaiden to a 4H ASL Robotics Lego Club today.   They made a motorized car out of lego pieces all by themselves and it worked!  They had fun watching it drive around on its own.  They loved it and so I went ahead and signed them up for the club.  They will meet twice a month to make various motorized robots out of legos and program them on a computer.  This is right up Janelle's alley since she is always making things and says she wants to be an inventor.  The guy in charge was impressed with how fast and well they were able to put the car together.  He said, "Do you have legos at home?"  Janelle said, "No, we don't have any!"  I guess they have competitions out there for the kids to bring their best lego robots to demonstrate.  My kids aren't really interested in that aspect but we will see, maybe later they will be.

 

Surgery and Story-time

Today is my little sister, Kellie Sue Westra's birthday.  She was born in 1979 and only lived eight days because of an heart defect that wasn't discovered until she was a week old.  She would have been 33 years old today -- probably married with a few kids.  I wonder what she would have been like had her earthly life not been cut so short.  I look forward to meeting her one day.

Today my mom went in to the hospital for knee-replacement surgery.  It is something that has been needed to be done for a long time but my mom has been putting it off and I don't blame her.  I hear that the recovery is a difficult one.   We are praying that all goes well.

This morning I went to listen to Josh read a story to his class.  He chose the book "Peep," that was given to him by Grandma Westra for his 5th birthday.  He did a good job.  He is getting to be a great little reader!  Way to go, Josh!

 Three of the kids had piano lessons today and Janelle had choir practice.  I brought all the five youngest to Janelle's soccer game right after my ASL class.  She had some good kicks in there and they even won -- or was it a tie?  They don't really keep score at these games and it doesn't really matter as long as the kids are having fun and improving.   Janika had rehearsal for her high school show after school and then went straight to the Burns Arena for her Youth Spectacular rehearsal.  When both these shows are done she may actually have time to breathe again (and maybe even finish up her driving hours!)

Happy Birthday Josh!

     Josh turned six today!  I will never forget his birth.  It was 1:00 in the morning on Easter Sunday and my constant contractions had gotten strong enough to wake me up and keep me awake.  After timing them for almost a half hour I woke up Rick and said that we probably needed to go to the hospital.  We wondered who we could call at 1:30 in the morning to be there at the house with our five sleeping children, ages 10 to 2.  We debated a few options but the contractions were quickly getting stronger and more painful and we knew we had to hurry and call someone on the way.  So we grabbed my bag, the cameras, and ward directory and headed to the hospital.  We noticed that Rhonda Gentry's lights were on (Rhonda was my visiting teaching companion at the time) and so we called her to see if she could go over to our house to be with the kids.  She said she would and luckily none of the kids woke up.  Rick and I made it to the hospital and I had a difficult time even walking in because the contractions were so strong at that point.  I barely had time to put on a robe and get on the bed before Josh made his appearance -- just seven minutes after we arrived.  Rick says that it is a good thing we didn't hit any red lights or people may be calling him Doctor Jensen instead of Brother Jensen.

     Now six years later we celebrate the wonderful day when Josh came into our lives.  Josh is a delightful boy and we love him so much.  He has really matured this past year.  I have mentioned in past posts that we have struggled with his temperamental behavior.  By that I mean Josh would let out these blood curdling screams several times a day. Talk about pushing my buttons!  But I am happy to say that Josh has FINALLY outgrown this behavior (for the most part, it still happens every now and again).  Josh is now at quite an easy stage.  He loves kindergarten and always reads his take-home book and does his homework without prodding.  He is really starting to enjoy reading and like I have mentioned before, he is really into puzzles. He can easily do 500 piece puzzles all by himself.  I got him a couple more for his birthday and he informed me that I should have gotten a 750 piece puzzle instead of a 500 piece!  He also loves to play games on the computer.

     This morning Josh opened up his presents from us (more puzzles and two pair of desperately needed shoes since his were completely falling apart).  He also opened up his present from Grandma and Grandpa Westra (Puzzlemania books,stickers, glow sticks, and a long sucker) and he got his card and money from Grandma and Grandpa Jensen today too.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!  I took Josh, Seth, and Jenna out to McDonalds for lunch, which was fun except for Jenna getting stuck up in the playground.  That has happened with almost every one of my kids -- I really hate that playground for that very reason.  She was crying and scared and since they make it so most adults can't fit I was stuck with coaxing and reassuring from the ground.  I finally got a chair and held up my hands to try and guide her through the tapestry of holes that was preventing her from crossing and she finally made it down.

     Tonight we all went to the ward BBQ at the park which was fun, except Jenna was tired and whiney and kept crying.  The past couple of days she has reverted back to peeing in her pants for no apparent reason -- a fact which is making me absolutely crazy!  Unlike Josh who has matured from "difficult" to "easy."  Jenna is still very much in the "difficult" stage.  I know I should be enjoying every moment of her pre-school age, but part of me looks forward to the time SHE is six!