Welcome to harmony's Roundeo.

I spent a couple of minutes trying to think of some other title for my blog and I gave up.

So, here's what we were up to in May.

We started off in utah with the exciting wedding (see below posts) and then we got back from Utah and spent a considerable amount of time jet-lagged. NOT fun. Geneve was especially difficult. She has always been a pill about going to sleep, and international travel magnifies and gives new life to the problem. So things have been rough ever since. Last night she snuk out of her room and we found her asleep and curled up at the foot of Paisley's bed. She really loves her brother and sister. I'm so glad they have each other, they're such sweet friends. It just confirmed what we had recently considered of moving them all into the same room for sleeping and moving all the toys into one room for playing.

Anyway, then we celebrated Mother's day of course. It was nice and relaxing. The family gave me a clean house and Spencer made me a grilled hamburger dinner and we had pot de creme (a store bought treat like creme brulee) for dinner, and my kids made me things at school and church.

I took the kids to a big fun toy store and spent allowance money. Paisley got a Strawberry shortcake car. And Cado got "Gormiti" which I had to that point never heard of, and which since then he's hardly played with. kinda frustrating. I thought he was going to get one of the things he's talked about and wanted forever, but he could not be convinced away from these horrible monster looking toys. It was really an outing too because it's on the other side of town and though that's only a few kilometers in a city it ends up being quite the trip, we drove and driving in the city is a bit stressful and frustrating--one wrong turn and you may have just added a half hour to your drive.

Then there was a day off for "Ascension." That's right-- to mark the day when Christ ascended into heaven after his resurrection. Cado actually said, "Hey I have a day off tomorrow because it's the day when Jesus went back to heaven, my teacher told us." Wow. Does that strike anyone in America as amazing. I'm pretty sure no teacher or anyone for that matter is allowed to say anything anymore about Jesus or God there. We have a minority complex in America which is to say that we honor and value the minorities "rights" and opinions more than the majority, we have minority fear. America is largely Christian, and yet.... yeah, well you know what it's like. Anyway, I thought it was cool that his teacher just said that, and that it's not a problem, and why should it be? If I lived in a majority Muslim country, I would expect there would be a Mohammed day or two, and so what! I don't get it. Anywho...

So for the day off, we went to "L'hoptial des nounours" which is "Stuffed animal hospital". HUG, the Geneva hospital puts on the event by the lake, with a bunch of tents and as far as I could tell actually doctors or nurses who examine the kids stuffed animal. It was so cute. They have a consultation and the kids get to say what's wrong with their animal. Cado's Stripey and Paisley's Rose (a dog she got from Uncle Brian and Aunt Doreen) both had broken legs and Stripey had a fever. They took xrays of the animals and got casts, and then they gave them prescriptions for gummy bear "medicine" that they explained was magic and when consumed by the child would actually help the stuffed animal. Too cute! They even had an ambulance come and out came a large Pooh bear doll all hooked up to stuff, and then later the kids got to go in the ambulance and hear all about it. The whole point is to help kids feel comfortable with hospital and ambulance stuff in case they ever are in a situation to need it.

We also did some family biking. We went to a sports store and got helmets and bells, and a seat and trike for Geneve, and we've been on a couple of rides. Geneve LOVES it. she grabs her helmet all the time and tries to get on a bike and is very dissapointed if we aren't going. Spencer has been doing a TON of road biking. He goes in the morning and has logged a bunch of miles. I'm really impressed and proud of him. This is the first time he's road biked, he always mountain biked before. Cado and Paisley both love biking too. Paisley is still a beginner and pretty cautious, but Cado is like an old pro and I think he's following in Daddy's footsteps, or bike pedals...

We've spent a lot more time lingering outdoors and at playgrounds which is just lovely! When we were rushing to and from because of cold I longed for these days! When I drop the kids off I often play with Geneve at a playground for awhile and she obviously loves this. She adores playing at the park. And when I pick the kids up from school we often linger awhile and play there too. On one such occasion Cado and Paisley were able to try jumproping for the first time and they did really well! I was proud of Cado because he has a really hard time if he doesn't succeed...sound famililiar Mom and Dad? Yeah, it comes from me. He says, "I can't do it!" if he doesn't get it right the first time and he beats himself up or he says he doesn't care and never wanted to do it or liked it anyway! So I've been trying to help him and I feel like I'm my parents parenting myself! But there are these awesome moments where it clicks for him and he remembers the things I've tried to teach him and this day was one of those. He said, I'm afraid I won't be able to do it, and I said, You probably won't be able to at first, but if you keep trying I know you can. And he chose to be positive and he said, Yeah! I'm just going to keep trying until I get it Mom! And he did! It took him a few times, but he got it! It's so obvious that our minds have so much to do with how we fail or succeed in life or how happy or miserable we are. 

We had another day off in May, this one was for Pentecost. The ward had a picnic and it turned out really well. We grilled, we ate, talked, played some games and Cado had a ton of fun with his friend Mathias. Cado and Daddy biked to the park and all the home again, don't know how long exactly, but a pretty long bike ride for a 5 year old anyway.

To finish off May Paisley had THREE dance recitals! It was so fun. But I'm going to post that seperately...stay tuned!