Zara's Fifth Birthday

Zara celebrated her fifth birthday on August 31st. She's such a sweet girl who loves to sing, dance, and move. She's got a sweet and innocent heart and wants to please everyone. She's such a good big sister, always trying to help her younger siblings and her beleaguered mother. 

For her birthday dinner, Zara requested one of her favorite meals: pork katsu.

Adelaide's cranky face cracked me up.

After dinner, we moved into the living room to open gifts. I never intend to buy a lot of presents, but I never can seem to control myself.

She got several new clothes, some books, doll clothes (to go with the doll that my mother bought her for her birthday), and a dance bag.

I bought Zara and Adelaide matching dresses which they both wanted to try on right away. 

After presents, we went back to the kitchen to eat birthday cake--lemon cake with vanilla frosting. I bought these small My Little Pony characters to put on the cake. (I had originally planned to make cupcakes and use one pony on each cupcake but Zara didn't want cupcakes.) The girls have loved playing with their ponies since we cleaned them up. We like to figure who would be which pony. I think Zara is Pinkie Pie (although she claims she's Fluttershy), Adelaide is Rainbow Dash (although she could be Applejack too), David is Rarity, and I'm Twilight Sparkle. No word on who Benjamin might be.

Zara had a great birthday and is so excited to finally be five! Now let's check in with Zara and her favorites.

FAVORITE FOOD: won tons

FAVORITE ANIMAL: cat

FAVORITE CANDY: all of them

FAVORITE BOOK: The Pigeon Needs a Bath 

FAVORITE COLOR: Pink 

FAVORITE SHOW: My Little Pony

FAVORITE MOVIE: Frozen and Star Wars
FAVORITE SONG: I am Like a Star Shining Brightly, Let It Go

FAVORITE TOY: Elsa
FAVORITE THING TO DO: play with my while family
FAVORITE PLACE: the beach

Zara's Dance Recital

I'm about 5 months behind in posting these pictures from Zara's dance recital last may at the Ferst Auditorium at Georgia Tech. Zara was enrolled in Fairytale Ballet for 3-5 year olds at Rhythm Dance Center. She loved her class and her teacher, Miss Anna. Their end of the year dance was (shockingly) based on Frozen. Zara loved performing and was incredibly excited for us to come see her. 

My sister-in-law watched Adelaide so David and I could enjoy Zara's dance recital together. I bought Zara some roses for after her performance which she loved.

This year, I enrolled Zara in a jazz class because they didn't have a kindergarten ballet class and I didn't want her to repeat the same ballet class again. She loves to dance and enjoys it so much. I'm so glad we were able to find a good dance studio which a variety of classes for all ages. I think she'll want to return to ballet next year, but I did want her to experience some other forms of dance.

Student of the Month

Last week, Zara was selected as her class' Student of the Month. She got to attend a special ceremony in the library (during school hours) where she was given cookies and juice and a few little surprises like pencils.

She took home this certificate which says (on the back): "Zara is honest and trustworthy. She uses self-control. She is kind and fair to others. She is a peacemaker in our classroom and tries to always 

do the right thing."

We're very proud of this little girl.

Three Babies Part III

Everyone warned me that three kids was the hardest number and they weren't lying. There were certainly a few moments in those first few weeks where I thought I was going to have a mental breakdown. But for the most part, I think I've been handling the jump to three kids pretty well. I definitely have to be more regimented and stick to a routine as much as possible in order to not have our house devolve into utter chaos. It definitely helps that Zara is in kindergarten now so her school schedule forces us to have some semblance of structure. There are days that I'm able to be productive and on top of things, and there are some days when the house is in shambles and I never get out of my pajamas. But we're working towards a new normal and I'm pretty proud of myself for juggling all these babies. 

The other day, as I was walking with Adelaide and Benjamin to pick up Zara from school, I kept thinking how incredibly lucky we have been to be blessed with three such beautiful and healthy children. How did I get so lucky when I know so many people who have not been able to have children of their own or who have endured multiple miscarriages? Or who have had children but deal with health and behavioral issues on a wide spectrum ranging from learning disabilities to food allergies to autism or cancer. (And who work tirelessly to provide the absolute best for their children no matter their circumstances. I am in awe of these parents.) And yes, my children are still young and there may yet be some devastating diagnoses in our future, but for now, we're luckier than we really deserve to be. 

But amid this good fortune lurks the ever-present fear that something may happen to these children of mine, whether an illness, accident or something more serious. The hardest part of loving someone is living with the knowledge that you could loose it all. It keeps me up at night and knocks the breath out of my lungs when I least expect it. It can be debilitating sometimes, this constant fear, but the rational side of me insists I still move forward, tells me I need to let my children experience the world for themselves no matter how hard it is and how difficult the consequences may be. 

To give my heart to these three babies is the hardest thing I've ever done....because it also means I have to be open to the possibility of someday having to live without them again too. I just hope in this thing as well we continue to be far luckier than we deserve to be. I can't do without this family of mine. 

High Museum of Art

September 26th was the Smithsonian's free museum day. Being the museophile that I am (totally just made up that word), I insisted that we visit one of the participating museums in our area. I picked the High Museum of Art for several reasons. David and I had visited the museum pre-kids, but we had never taken the kids there and haven't really visited any art museums with them. We've tended to favor natural history/history museums that are a little more interesting for kids. The High is an excellent art museum but it also has a hefty admission price so I definitely wanted to take advantage of a free visit. Plus they currently have an exhibition of Mo Williem's artwork and I thought the girls would be interested in that since they love the Pigeon books. 

Our first stop, of course, was the Mo Williems' exhibit. He's the author/illustrator of several children's books including "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" and "Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs." His pigeon series are some of the girls' favorites. Adelaide has been reading "The Pigeon Needs a Bath" to herself every night for the last two weeks. 

They had several tables and chairs set up in the exhibit with lots of his books and David laughed to realize that we've pretty much read all of his works. His style is very fun and whimsical, much in the style of Dr. Seuss. 

After the Mo Willems' exhibit, we stopped at the outdoor patio to eat some snacks and enjoyed a very large exhibit of apples and pears. 

We then hit the Family Learning Center which had a cardboard bus (with a pigeon at the wheel!) which the girls loved dashing in and out of. They also had some puppets and blocks. 

They also had an exhibit about the design of the Coke bottle being that this is Atlanta (home of Coke) and Coke's 100th anniversary. It was a fascinating exhibit. But I love anything that has to do with design and American culture. 

We then toured the permanent collection of European and American art. The design of the museum is really interesting. The four floors are assessed through a series of ramps that line the interior of the museum space and culminate in a huge open sky light. 

At the bottom floor of the main wing is an art installation called Utah Sky by Michael Lin. Adelaide thought it was wonderful to dance across the flowers....

...and then plopped herself right down to make flower angels or something. She was having a grand ole time. 

It rained all weekend and was still drizzling pretty steadily as we left the museum but the girls wanted to play on the spinning tops, an interactive art installation in the museum's courtyard. 

They are made from a variety of ropes and pipes of various designs and colors and spin like the Tea Cups at Disneyland. 

The girls and I (with Benjamin strapped to my chest) got inside while David pushed us around and around. I used to love the Tea Cups but I may be getting too old. I felt quite sick getting off but the girls loved it. And although we emerged with wet butts, we all enjoyed our day at the museum. 

Fall Break

Zara had fall break this week which meant a whole week off of school even though they just started. Makes sense to me! In any case, we decided to make this fall break fun so Zara and I sat down last Sunday and made a list of all the things we wanted to do for the week and I'm happy to report that we checked off a huge portion of our list. With my pregnancy and Benjamin's arrival, we haven't gotten to get out and do much lately so I really wanted to take the opportunity to enjoy the very last vestiges of summer and welcome in autumn. So here's a rundown of our week's adventures: 

Monday

Monday was a beautiful day. Warm, but not too hot, overcast but with hints of sun and no signs of rain. We packed a lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and enjoyed a picnic at the park and then played for several hours. 

Tuesday

Tuesday was a low-key day which saw us enjoying a play date at a friend's house. My friend (who has three children of very similar ages to my three) was even kind enough to let me leave the girls at her house for an hour so I could run to the grocery store with just Benjamin. If you've ever shopped with three kids, you know what a luxury this is. My kids do a pretty good job when shopping. I just hate how long it takes to get in and out of all the car seats, especially if I need to make more than one stop. 

Wednesday

I needed a lot of time to prepare myself for Wednesday's planned outing: the zoo. It was supposed to be a sunny day, the hottest of the week which I thought would be best for our zoo day. Zoo Atlanta is not terribly big so it's easy to see most of the animals pretty quickly. The real highlight is the kid zone which features a splash pad, playground, petting zoo, and rides. I was quite happy to discover that my new double jogging stroller just barely fits into the trunk of my Accord. Without it, I don't think I could have survived the zoo with three kids by myself. 

After visiting most of the animals we wanted to see (the big attraction are the pandas), we went to the kid's area to eat our packed lunch. Zara was distraught to see that the splash pad was not on. Suddenly, the whole day was ruined (Oh, the emotional rollercoaster of being 5.) Thankfully, as we were eating our lunch, a zoo worker came and turned the water on.

Adelaide and Zara had a blast running through the splash pad. It was hard to get them to leave. But then poor Adelaide scraped her toe and knee and that was the end of that. We then peaked in on a few more animals and then headed home before downtown traffic got too bad. 

I wore those girls right out. They both fell asleep on their way home. But we had a great time and now I have a zoo membership so we can go back anytime we want. 

Thursday

I was pretty worn out on Thursday from all the zoo excitement so Thursday was going to be another low key day. I woke up late and had to rush to get us all packed into the stroller to take a walk to the local library where we enjoyed their preschool storytime. 

After reading books about fall, they broke out the parachute (always a big hit) and then did a fall craft. We came home for lunch and naps and then watched Cars. 

Friday

Friday we went to Champion Kids, a gymnastics center, that holds open play time on the weekdays to play on their trampolines, ropes, and bouncing equipment. I've never been able to take Zara since they don't do open time on Saturdays so I wanted to let the kids play. They had a pretty good time although Zara definitely enjoyed it more than Adelaide. 

On our way home, we stopped at Gigi's Cupcakes for a cupcake treat. I've been trying to find a good cupcake place and have tried several okay places but I think Gigi's is my new favorite. We came home for lunch and then we all took naps. Zara doesn't like to nap so this was a big deal. Part of the reason could be because Zara came home with a fever. Delightful. 

After our naps, we did our own art projects. Zara loves to create and paint and she's gotten very good with her art supplies. Adelaide, on the other hand, just makes big blobs of paint. But they both enjoyed themselves. 

Saturday we went to the High Museum of Art but since I took lots of photos, I'll make that it's own post. In any case, we had a great week but I'm looking forward to school starting again on Monday. I need a break from our fall break. 

Three Babies Part II

I really think my children are much cuter than the sum of their parts. David and I aren't this cute. How'd we produce three such creatures? Then again, we haven't hit the awkward teenage years yet. Maybe their genetics will finally catch up with them then.

Three Babies

I love that each of my kids was born in a different place--Zara in Seoul, Korea, Adelaide in Provo, Utah (sorry, Adelaide), and Benjamin in Atlanta, Georgia. Aside from the fact that it shows how frequently we move, it's also another reminder of their differences and unique personalities.

I also find it interesting how I've come to know my children. With Zara, I had very distinct impressions of who she was before she was even born. I knew she would be stubborn. I knew she would be very active. (She canNOT sit still. And she's such a little dancer.) And I also knew that she would bring a lot of joy to the world. She has such a kind heart and a lot of empathy. She seems to be intuitively attuned to the feelings and moods of others.

I knew absolutely nothing about Adelaide before she born, not even her name. (With both Zara and Benjamin, I was 99% sure of their names in the week before their birth.) She was a complete mystery to me but within two or three days of her birth, I was struck with the sudden and inexplicable knowledge that Adelaide and I would have a very close bond. Adelaide is my little mini-me in looks and temperament and despite her attitude (which she got from me) I find that she rarely pushes my buttons the way Zara does.

Like Adelaide, Benjamin was a largely unknown entity to me. I had the impression before his birth that he was scared to be born and that's why he delayed his arrival. (And yes, he was only 4 days late but those 4 days felt like an eternity.) And yet, three weeks since his birth, Benjamin is still something of an unknown entity to me still but I fall in love with him a little bit more everyday. And as I get to spend more time with him, hopefully I'll come to know him better. I think he may surprise me.

Benjamin's Baby Blessing

We had Benjamin's blessing on Saturday (August 15th) at our home. My parents were in town (my mom has been here for nearly 2 weeks and my dad flew in on Thursday) and by lucky coincidence, my brother and his wife Elisa and daughter Grisette were able to be there too. My brother lives in New Jersey but is attending a work conference in Florida and they were able to stop in Atlanta on their way to Orlando. 

Several members of David's family were able to be there, including lots and lots of cousins. It was a big party. In addition to my dad and brother, David's dad, and two brothers-in-law, Jeremy and Matt, were also able to bless Benjamin. The first counselor in the bishopric, Brother McCreary, was also there to make things official.

David started the blessing by telling Benjamin how grateful we are to have him in our family and that we have been expecting his arrival for some time. He blessed him to be filled with optimism and hope despite the ever increasing dangers of the world and to be filled with curiosity and a desire to learn. He also blessed him with patience, love and virtue and that he would be a good example to both his sisters and his parents. David also told him to be mindful of those in need and to serve them in any way that he can.

About as good a family photo as we're every likely to get.

 David and Benjamin after the blessing.

 Sweet sleeping baby.

David's mom and dad with Benjamin.

Such a handsome boy.

After the blessing, we had a big dinner and the kids played and played and played while the adults chatted. Benjamin had an exciting day yesterday and didn't get many naps so he ended up sleeping straight through the night, bless him. He's more than made up for it today with lots of extra feedings and mini naps. We just love this little boy.

Zara's First Day of Kindergarten

Georgia starts school really early and before I knew it, it was time for Zara to start her first day of kindergarten.  I'd bought all her uniforms and school supplies before Benjamin was born and we were all prepared for the day to come. Still,  I wish we'd had a little bit more summer to enjoy together.

So far, Zara has been a little uncertain about school. She's often unhappy about having to go in the morning, but when I pick her up in the afternoon, she always says she had a good time. She seems to like her teacher (Ms. Welch) and I have had positive interactions with her so I'm optimistic that she'll have a good year. I do worry about her making friends and being challenged enough. But I'm hoping that with a small class of just 13 students that she'll get a little bit more individualized attention and help.