Emma's Dance Recital

Last night was Emma's dance recital at the Mesa Arts Center. This was her last recital with the studio she has been dancing at for 2 years. (AZ Desert Dance) We have decided to try something new. She has been going to a summer cheer/tumbling class and loves it. I think we will stick with that in the fall. We made some good friends in her 2 years of dance. And we will miss Miss Lainie who Emma absolutely loved as her teacher. But, there were several things I was not happy with at that studio, so on to other things. Emma did a great job dancing and even remembered to smile through the whole thing! I didn't record it, but at the end they had a curtain call and Emma started dancing, it was so cute! She loves dancing and we are hoping she can progress at her new studio.

Emma and Miss Lainie

Dress Rehearsal

Ready to go!

Me and my little dancer!

A flower for the star!

Happy Father's Day!

With Emma's dance recital being last night, I feel bad that we didn't do much for Jon for Father's Day this year. I had an idea to get him a Bass Pro Shop gift card and then tell him it was to buy the kids some fishing poles and we would take a family camping trip. That shows how much I love my husband because I do not camp! Well, once I realized I would not get over to get his gift card I told him yesterday that was his gift. He was happy about it. Then this morning Emma woke up sick, so Jon went to Sacrament meeting and then I went to teach my Primary class. (Emma is doing better, I think she was just a little exhausted, we had a busy weekend.) So, while Jon was at church I had Emma fill out a "Best Dad in the World" Certificate to give to him when he came home. It was a fill in the blanks certificate and I was cracking up as Emma was telling me what to write. It went like this...

My dad, "Jon", is the best dad in the world because he really knows how to "hunt" and always gives me "a love and kiss". Every morning he "goes to work" and that makes me "happy"! Whenever I need "love", my dad always "makes me feel better" and he never "goes on a trip for SIX days" (since Jon just recently went on 2 separate trips that were each 5 days!). His biggest talent is "hunting" and he can "race" like no one else. One day I hope I can "plant a garden" just like him! I love when we "ride his Vroom Vroom" together because I feel "happy" just being around him. Whenever we go on vacation he "plays games on his phone" and is the best "at taking showers" around. I don't know how I'd "play" without him. I want him to know "that I love him" because he's "my daddy"! And that's why my dad is the best dad in the world!

Derrick gave Jon one of his favorite candy bars and we called it good for Father's Day. I feel like Jon got shorted but I think he knows how much we truly love him and appreciate everything he does for our family! We love you lots and lots daddy!

In Memory Of Mila

Mila was our niece who passed away on June 18, 2007. She was a beautiful and amazing girl! Mila and Emma were born just 2 days apart and Emma asks about her frequently, but knows she is in heaven. We miss her and will always love her!

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." ---Unknown

Tooth Fairy Time!

The dreaded day finally came! For those who don't know...when Emma was about 15 months old she chipped her front tooth when she fell on the tile. I was devastated back then knowing that she would lose that tooth sooner than she should. We went to a great pediatric dentist who did a pulpotomy just before Emma turned 2 and then built the tooth up so it didn't look cracked. Basically the tooth was dead and he said it would eventually fall out. Or worst case if it became infected again it would need to come out. Fast forward 3 years later (almost to the day it was fixed) and the tooth needed to come out. On Sunday I noticed Emma's gums looking really red and it almost looked like a little pus pocket on the gums. I knew what that meant. I called the dentist first thing Monday morning and they got her right in. So right after swim lessons we rushed to the dentist. He said it was definitely time to come out. I was not back there for the procedure, but they gave her some nitrous oxide and a numbing shot and "wiggled", as they say, the tooth out. They brought her out to me with a mouth full of gauze and a pretty purple purse. She was good! Although she didn't look too good in this picture! I couldn't wait to get home and take the gauze out so I could see my toothless little girl. When I first saw her I thought how she looked so cute with her tooth missing. I teared up a bit, but Emma was so excited! She ran back to the mirror to look at herself and had to call all of her grandmas to share the news. I constantly catch her sticking her tongue through her new hole. She was especially exited for the Tooth Fairy to come visit! I told her that since it was her first tooth the Tooth Fairy would bring her a present, but every other tooth after that she would get money. (I felt bad can you tell?!) So when she went to bed last night she put her little pink treasure chest that the dentist gave her with her tooth in it under her pillow. This morning Emma came running in my room and said that there was nothing under her pillow and she didn't think the tooth fairy left her anything. I told her maybe it was too big to fit under her pillow (even though it was RIGHT by her her bed!) and she should go look in her room again. Let the excitement begin! She got a My Little Pony Ponyville play set. Her cousin has these and she has been begging for one. She was so happy and has played with it all day! The Tooth Fairy also left her a card which Emma was very excited about!So Emma will have a hole in her mouth for several years, but she is still our sweet Emma and looks cute even toothless!

Swim Lessons

All smiles before the torture began!

Yesterday was the first day of swim lessons. We had a nice cool down for June in Arizona. It was in the low 90's ( 70's at night) all weekend, but unfortunately that does not make for good swimming water! The poor kids were freezing! There were a lot of tears from both Emma and Derrick. I chalked it up to it being the first day, but today was worse! It was cloudy and about 80 degrees when we left for lessons. But, Derrick had "special" goggles today that he did not want to wear yesterday that helped him swim better! He was actually smiling as he came out of the water after jumping in, but wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh or cry. Emma is just scared. She doesn't want to do anything the other kids in her class are doing. When she does do something she whines or says no and holds on very tight to her teacher. Bless Miss Sharisse who is so patient with these kids. Emma and I had a LONG talk today about her attitude and how she needed to get over her fears and just jump in like all the other kids in her class. So, we'll see if the talk and some bribes help! Today at Costco the kids picked out Ring Pops for a little incentive to not cry at swim lessons tomorrow. And after the 3 weeks are over if they have improved and are doing good, they will get special prizes. Emma will get to go to Build-A-Bear and Derrick will get James from Thomas the Train. If bribery doesn't work I don't know what else to do. I guess my kids will never learn how to swim! I'll post at the end of lessons with an update.

AZ Museum for Youth

Jon left to go to Baltimore last week and the kids thought they could stow away in his luggage!

We tried to think of fun things to do while dad was gone. We went to the mall and rode the carousel, went out to dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Trafzer (where Derrick won a green frog out of the crane machine! Like Father Like Son...Jon is really good at those things!), and on Thursday we went to the Arizona Museum for Youth with our friends and then to a delicious lunch at one of my favorite places...Sweet Cakes! YUM! At the museum the kids had fun playing in Artville and looking at the monster exhibits. Their favorite room was the black light room where they had several monsters for kids to play with. As much as it completely grossed me out I did let the kids just play and have a fun time. Even letting them put on masks! We washed and heavily sanitized afterwards and I gave them Airborne before we left for the museum! Yes, I know I'm a bit of a germaphob! The museum was fun minus the part where Derrick ran away and I could not find him!! Emma and I were sitting at a craft table and my friend had taken her 2 girls to the bathroom. Derrick kept asking to go play with the cars in the other room. I told him he needed to wait so I could help Emma finish her craft. I looked down for a few seconds and when I looked up Derrick was gone. I called for him and no response. I went to where the cars were, he was not there. I checked the black light room...no Derrick. I ran through the museum like a mad women searching for him, then I went to the front desk and told them I could not find my son. I told them his name, how old he was and what he was wearing. The 3 workers immediately split up each going a different way. (My guess is they have had it happen before because they knew right what to do). At that time my friend came out of the bathroom and we all started searching. As tears started to well in my eyes and my heart was pounding faster than it ever has, I heard, "We found him." "He's here". Oh, relief! One of the workers found him reading a book as if nothing were wrong! I was so relieved and upset that I didn't even know what to do! Anitra took her girls and Emma up to the lobby and I sat down with Derrick and had a long talk. He didn't even realize what he had done until I explained it to him. Then he snuggled up to me and started his little "sniff, sniff" that he does when he knows he's in trouble. The whole ordeal from start to finish was maybe 2 or 3 minutes. But it was the longest 2-3 minutes of my life! Derrick is a handful sometimes. I am learning what a head strong boy can be like! He is so different from my sweet princess girl, but I love both more than I could ever say. And we (especially me) were very glad when daddy got home Thursday night!

Chores

I decided on Saturday that it was time for the kids to start doing chores. I made them chore charts with pictures of what they needed to do. Nothing hard...they both had to clean their rooms and make their beds. Emma had to unload the dishwasher and help fold the laundry and put it away. Derrick had to clean up the toys in the family room and empty all the trashes in the house and take it out to the big barrel. Emma thought it was great fun and was so excited! She has asked everyday since then if it was Saturday so she could do her chores. I told her she can always do her chores! Funny girl! Things are going well for us. Since getting a gym membership for Mother's day I have been going faithfully everyday. It will be more fun when the initial soreness wears off! Jon has even been waking up early to get to the gym by 5:30 am to get his work out in before he goes to work. He's more motivated than I am, I would never get up early to work out. But, I love that I can just go whenever I want in the mornings. It has made me a little tired and hungry though. Hopefully that goes away! With summer being here, I think time will fly by. We have gymnastics, swim lessons, dance recital, trips to Young and Jon has a couple work trips to Baltimore. Before we know it Emma will start school and I will wonder what to do with only 1 child! But, until then we will enjoy the 120 degree heat to come!

Emma's Last Day of Preschool

Yesterday was Emma's last day of preschool. I can't believe how fast the year went by. It seems like just yesterday I was sending her off for the first time. She really learned a lot from Mrs. Amber and also taught Derrick things she was learning. Emma loved preschool and can't wait for kindergarten to start. (I can!) I am amazed at the growth Emma showed throughout the school year. She is very bright and eager to learn and should do well in school. Her school had a party at Peter Piper Pizza. My poor deprived kids have never been there and they had a blast! We are grateful to Mrs. Amber for all the hard work she put in this year and Emma already told me today that she misses her!

Emma and Mrs. Amber

Eating pizza! YUM!

The kids wanted to ride this over and over again and would sneak on if someone else paid for a ride!

Derrick's favorite...the big purple car!

Emma and Alli

Happy Mother's Day!

This year I had a very busy, but great Mother's Day. It all started on Wednesday. Emma came to me crying big tears, "Mom, I can't find the bracelet I made for you at school! It's not in my backpack and it's not in my folder. You HAVE to call Miss Amber and get it!" There was nothing I could say to console her. I tried telling her maybe she wasn't suppose to give it to me until the next day, which was the last day of the school week for her. She just kept crying and then all of the sudden the tears shut off and she simply said, "Oh, I think we still need to decorate the bags at school tomorrow." I just laughed. So she spoiled my surprise, but I didn't mind. So, on Thursday I received a decorated bag with a poem on it. Now let me say that Thursday was a very emotional day for me. Coming off the week of worry and then relief with Derrick, then we found out that Jon's step-mom went into the hospital and I just had some other things on my mind that day too. So, me being so emotional...Emma gives me this gift she made at school and I started reading the poem on the front out loud and I couldn't even finish it because I started crying so hard. Here's a copy of the poem:

Thank you for reading me stories
And taking care of me.
Thank you for tying my shoes
And putting bandages on my knee.
Thank you for tucking me into bed
And kissing me goodnight
Thank you so much for all your hugs
And holding my hand so tight. (this is the line where I lost it!)
Thank you for being my mommy
And that's not all I have to say,
Thank you so much for all you do
And have a happy Mother's Day!

I opened the bag and inside there was a foam picture frame that said "mom" with Emma's picture in the "o" and a plastic beaded bracelet that she was very proud of! I gave Emma a big hug and told her how much I loved it and told her I was only crying because I was so happy and loved her so much. Then I just held my "big" girl for a while and cried and thanked Heavenly Father for trusting me to be her mom!

On Saturday Jon told me in the morning he wanted to talk to me about my gift. I told him not to ruin the surprise. He left to go run some errands and then called and said he was coming home with my gift and wanted to give it to me right away. He can't keep gifts! That is why you will see him shopping on Christmas Eve, because then he only has to keep it a secret for 1 day! So he came home and the kids gave me a card that they colored, but when I opened the card something fell out of it. I picked it up and it was a gym membership key tag. He signed us up at a gym. We have kind of been talking about it, but I didn't think he would just go do it. At first I wasn't quite sure how I should take that! Was he trying to tell me something?! Actually, I was really excited and I just like to give him a hard time about it. I am very excited to have a membership during the summer when it is too hot to run outside.

Today I woke up and the kids wished me Happy Mother's Day and then it was a typical Sunday morning, trying to get out the door for 9 a.m. church. But, Jon did give the kids a bath for me! After church I went to the hospital to see Louise. She looked good and seemed to be in good spirits, but they have no idea how long she may be in there. She had a reaction to the chemotherapy and her white blood cell count is very low and they are trying to get it back up before she can go home. Unfortunately, the kids are not allowed to go see her, but they sent her a Mother's Day card and some kisses (Hershey kisses)! I had a good visit with the family and came home to my mom and dad at our house for dinner. Jon had made steaks, twice baked potatoes and zucchini and carrots. It was delicious! I couldn't have asked for a better Mother's Day meal. After visiting with my parents for a while we went to Jon's brother's house to surprise his mom. She didn't know everyone would be there and was pleasantly surprised. We had some homemade ice cream and pie. Tonight I tucked my kids into bed and received a final Happy Mother's Day wish. I gave them each big hugs and kisses and thanked them for a wonderful Mother's Day. I think Mother's Day is one of my favorite days. Not for selfish reasons of me getting things, but it just makes me stop and reflect on how blessed I am to have 2 amazing kids that I will be with forever! I love Emma and Derrick more than they will ever know. And I love Jon and all that he does for me and our family! I am also thankful for 3 great moms in my life that each have taught me something about being a mom. And my mom especially who taught me life's most important lessons and more. I have a wonderful mom!

Happy Mother's Day to all!

Update

Today was Derrick's echocardiogram and follow up appointment with the cardiologist. I am very happy to report he is fine! During the echocardiogram I found myself tearing up just hoping and praying everything was ok. He laid there so still while they did it (Sesame Street on tv helped). Every once in a while he would ask for a kiss, which I was happy to give him! But other than that he was very quiet and very still. He was such a good boy! I'm so glad that Jon was able to come to the appointment and that Grandma Trafzer kept Emma for us. After the echo we had to wait probably 20-30 minutes for the doctor to come in and give us the results. I am just happy he gave us the results right away and didn't say "We'll call you!". He walked us through the heart monitor results first. He showed us where the irregular beats were showing up. Sometimes they were singular and other times they came in groupings. The largest grouping was 10 irregular beats in a row. And it didn't matter if he was doing anything active or not. They were very sporadic. The doctor said he found atrial and ventricular contractions. But the good news was Derrick's heart went back to normal on its own and in a 24 hour period only 4% of the beats of his heart were irregular. He said they usually wait until it gets to be about 30% before they start treating with any sort of medication. The other good news is that the function and structure of Derrick's heart is normal. The doctor said most kids that have this usually grow out of it, but he still wants to monitor him every few months to see how it is going. Something interesting was when Derrick was running and playing hard he didn't have any irregular beats. So, overall we were very happy with the results. Derrick does have to do another 24 hour monitor and echocraidogram in a few months, but I am so thankful he is a strong and healthy boy! He is and always will be my baby (and now I'm going to cry!) We just feel extremely blessed to have him in our family. Thank you so much to all of you who prayed for our sweet "bubba". We know the Lord heard everyone's prayers. I'm sorry to have scared everyone!

Derrick's Heart Monitor

I know I wrote about this before, but here is the story. At Derrick's 3 year check up the doctor could hear some premature beats (PVC's) in Derrick's heart. He wasn't overly concerned about it, but sent us to a cardiologist just to play it safe. Last Monday we went to the pediatric cardiologist and he seemed even less concerned and told me there was about a 0% chance he would find something. But, they sent Derrick home with a 24 hour heart monitor. As they were putting it on in the office Derrick was standing as still as possible on the table and as big tears were rolling down his cheeks he just kept saying very calmly, "I don't like this, I don't like this!" Poor guy! But, he quickly adjusted and thought he was pretty special. He didn't want to take it off the next morning. Well, we took it back a week ago today and I have been waiting for the results. There was a message on my phone today saying that the cardiologist wants us to come back in next Wednesday for an echocardiogram and a follow up appointment to talk about the results from the heart monitor. I am a little worried because he said that we would not need a follow up appointment and he would just give the results to our pediatrician. So this can only mean that he found something he was not expecting. Derrick seems healthy, which is a good sign. He doesn't appear to have any trouble running or playing. So, I keep trying to tell myself everything will be ok. Which I'm sure it will. I will update next week after we know more.

The Dinosaur Museum

Last Tuesday Emma's preschool class had a field trip to the Mesa Southwest Museum (better known as the dinosaur museum). The kids have been looking forward to this since the beginning of the school year! I have not been to that museum since I was a kid, so it was fun for me to go again. Emma and Derrick had a blast! Emma loved that she got to see "real" crystals (both kids are really into rocks) and Derrick liked the miniature town enclosed in glass that was in the mine because it had a train. The museum had a special poop exhibit! Yes, a poop exhibit! It was both really gross and informative! :) There was a section on Mars and "The Old West". Emma and Derrick got to stand behind a wall and on the other side you could see them in an old western film. They liked being on t.v.! The kids also liked panning for gold. Emma found 2 pretty good size pieces. In the gift shop they both picked out snakes to take home. Emma's was rainbow sparkly and Derrick's was orange and purple. After the museum we went to one of my favorite places to eat from back in the day. When I worked downtown I used to eat at Sweetcakes almost everyday! They have the best sandwiches and bread bowls and my favorite...giant oreo cookies! I realized it is a good thing I don't live anywhere neat that place anymore or I would weigh twice as much as I do now! But, it was a nice splurge!

Easter Sunday!

On Sunday The kids woke up to their Easter baskets filled on the couch. Then we were off to church. Jon and I both had to teach that day. It was my last time teaching Relief Society. Starting this week I am the new CTR 5 teacher. That is Emma's age group, but not her class. It should be fun. I have never been a primary teacher before, so I'm sure new experiences lie ahead! After church we talked about what the kids learned and tried to focus on the real reason for Easter. Emma knew all about the Resurrection and that Jesus lives! I'm glad she listens in church! We decided to have our own easter egg hunt in the backyard after nap time. The kids got more quarters and some more candy. That night we invited my dad over for spaghetti. Not a fancy Easter dinner, but my mom was out of town and we wanted him to have dinner with us, so we made what we had. It was good (Jon makes fantastic spaghetti!). Happy Easter!

This was their reaction to seeing their Easter baskets on the couch!

Nothing says Easter like Peeps! (I personally think they are the most disgusting candy ever invented...but the kids love them!)

One big mouthful of Peeps!

Easter Egg hunt!