What you get

Today Wayne Dyer was on the Bonnie Hunt show. I watched for a couple of minutes with Ella bouncing on the couch next to me. He was talking about how the universe is a giving universe, not a withholding universe. Bonnie said, "Well, you know, I've always been a 'doer' so is it you get what you want, is that how it works?" He said, "No, I believe you get what you are." Just then Ella says, "He's wrong. You don't get what you want. You get what you get and you don't throw a fit."

Well, I guess that's that.

Preschool

Ella is going to a fun preschool this year. She is loving all the activities and learning she gets to do. One especially new experience is learning karate. Every Monday, the kids get to meet with a karate teacher for about an hour. Will had a hard time when he was in this school because the loud noise of the kids shouting bothered him. It took me coming a couple of times for him to finally get comfortable.

Well, Ella is totally different. Loud noises don't bother her at all. Only, yesterday, as she came in the room, her teacher asked her to bow. Ella refused. So, the teacher decided to send her to a time out. After a few minutes, the teacher told Ella she could come back. She refused again and spent the entire time in time out. When she came home, Ella recounted the story and added that "The teacher wants us to say 'Yes Ma'am' and I don't want to." We all encouraged her to go and do what the teacher says so that she can have fun and learn the moves. We even played a game of bowing to each other and saying "yes sir" and "yes ma'am." We'll see if it works.

I just admire Ella's little attitude. If she doesn't want to do it, she sees no problem in opting out entirely. In fact, it didn't seem to bother her a bit. It seemed to me like the karate teacher was trying to teach Ella a lesson and in turn, she got schooled....

Precious Moments

Will sang in church last Sunday for the Primary program. The whole program was so beautiful. I've never heard our children sing so well, it seemed they were little angels singing about families. Well, towards the end, Will got up to the microphone and sang "I love to see the temple" all by himself. I was really nervous for him, but he did such an amazing job. The lady in front of us turned around with her eyes popping out after it was over and he got so many compliments of how well his sang, right on pitch, from people for the rest of church. One lady in nursery said, "Who was that little boy ...?" And I said, "It was my little boy," with a grin. It was such a special, sweet moment to hear his angelic voice, if I hadn't been nervous for him, I probably would've been crying.

The funny thing is that he took some singing lessons this summer for fun. They talked about singing out and looking at the audience. This must have given him great confidence because he wasn't shy or scared at all. He even sang the same song for my mom in Relief Society a few weeks earlier. It was as if he was already prepared for the event. I just had to make sure I had very little to do with the assignment. I told the leaders that if they ask him, he'll do it, but if it comes from me, he'll refuse. (so fun being mean ole mom) But it worked out just beautifully. One man said it even sounded like the children you hear on the church cds. It was such a sweet moment, a precious gift that I can hold onto for years to come.

He shoots, he scores!

Will has been loving soccer this year. When we tell him he has a game he says, "Yes! Woohoo!" It's been fun to see him learn the game and really try to get the ball and move it to the goal. This was his last game of the season and he got to be goalie again, which he loves.

I found out when they got home that he actually scored his first goal today, too! He said one of the other kids kicked the ball and it landed right in front of him and he "shoop" kicked it right into the goal. He was so proud, but I think making a goal is just as fun for him as kicking the ball anytime or being goalie. Such fun.

Happy Birthday Amber!

Kimball's little sister Amber has been living with us for a couple of weeks. She's a lot of fun to have around. We celebrated her 20th birthday today! It seemed like she had a great day complete with brownies and ice cream and a couple of presents.

cute boy

The other day, Alex was climbing all over Amber. Finally, he pushed and pushed on her leg, threw himself around and climbed down from the chair. She said, "Well, if you wanted me to move just say so." Alex sang out, "SOOOO!"