The Swim Meet

On Friday night Midge had her first swim meet. She competed in 7 Events and placed in all of them. Her most impressive events were the 25 Backstroke and 50 Backstroke where she placed 1st place. Backstroke is definately her race. We are so proud of her. Ken, Papa, and Patch were all able to go and cheer her on.

The following are her times and events:

25 Free style 27.62

25 Backstoke 26.12

25 Breaststroke 43.84

25 Butterfly 44.12

50 Freestyle 1:04.87

50 Backstroke 1:00.87

100 IM 3:21.56

Baptism Day

Yesterday our oldest and first born was baptized. As I thought back on the past 8 years I was shocked at how quickly this time has gone by. During the program I made a movie for Midge that showed the span of the past 8 years and where she is going in the future. I put the movie to the song "What Heaven Sees in You" (the three white dresses song). I enjoyed making it because it helped me get ready for this day. I was able to reflect on where we have been and express to Midge all of the dreams we have for her.

Ken baptized Midge. I was surprised at how nervous she was. She said she just didn't want to do anything wrong. We kept assuring her that she didn't really need to do anything.

Got to love those 70's jumpsuits. It is so great that they have made them out of indestructible material so they will be around for another 100 years.

The bow Midge has in her hair is what we put on her wrist when she was blessed.

These pictures crack me up. We were trying to get a picture of Uncle Patch with the kids.

Little Miss was just doing her own thing.

With Little Miss you get one shot when you tell her to smile and then you just hope that everyone else is ready and smiling - they weren't!

When she did decide to cooperate she wasn't looking at the camera.

And then she's done!

My parents were able to come down. My mother played the piano for the program and my father gave a great talk to Midge on baptism. I liked how he spoke directly to her.

This is a picture of Midge's bishop. Bishop Richardson conducted and gave her the baptism interview. There were a lot more people at the baptism, but we were rushed out afterwards and didn't get pictures. Darrell Hunter gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. When we asked Midge what she remembered from the night she immediately told us about the talk Brother Hunter gave out about Jerry the mouse and Tom the cat, and the decisions Jerry had to choose which way to go. Midge also asked her primary teacher Sandra Hatalla to give the prayer, and our family friend Harvey Carlisle to give the closing prayer.

A Flashback

So my mother has this blue dress that she wore to her oldest sister's wedding reception. When I was a little tike they put me in the dress and snapped a picture of me holding a picture of my mom wearing the dress. So I got the brilliant idea that I would do the same with my kiddo. I never really got around to doing it with Midge, but don't people always say the middle kids get looked over (maybe that is just my sis :). Anyway I decided when we were at my mom's to get the dress out and put it on Little Miss.

At first all she wanted to do was stare at the picture. Pretty cute, but I was going for the three generation theme and it was crucial that she give me a lovely smile, while clearly showing the picture as well.

Notice no lovely smile and an absolute refusal to clearly show the picture. She actually threw it to the ground - ah you precious little booger.

So guess how we got this smile. Midge came running up behind me with a gigantic lollipop and said, "Smile and you can have this!" Look at that grin that little sneak was capable of it the entire time. Now if she had only been holding the picture correctly.

Ah well here is the picture of me in the dress with a lovely smile and clearly holding the picture of my mother in the dress. What a clearly obedient child I was!

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So I have to add a side note here. Midge's dance concert was tonight, and being the truly wonderful mother that I am I dutifully charged the battery for the camera. When we got to the recital I handed the camera to Ken who promptly tried to turn the camera on, but to no avail. When he opened the battery compartment it was empty. The battery was at home in the charger. I want it noted that I did put in effort to record my daughter's dance recital and she was stinking cute and did a great job. Please note that I can attest I know that there are other mother's out there that this has happened to, and I would appreciate hearing from you so that my daughter doesn't think her mother is losing her mind.

Where we have been

I thought it would be fun to do a little comparison of the girls in their first two years. Let me tell you this post took some tricky planning, but I think it is worth it to be able to see the similarities and differences. The first picture is Midge a few hours old, and the one right after it is Little Miss a few days old.

The below picture is Midge on her first birthday, and the one right after it is Little Miss on her first.

The following picture is Midge on her second birthday and the next picture is Little Miss around the same age.

I can see similiarites but at the same time they are both so unique and different to me as well.

My first born turns 8

On Friday our oldest turned 8. How did that happen?

We decided to make her birthday cake out of rainbow cupcakes.

Midge takes her wishing very seriously.

I told Ken I wanted this picture to prove I was there. I am always the one behind the camera.

This picture shows you the rainbow cupcakes. You should have seen Little Miss's diaper the next day. All I can say is wow!

Midge wanted an ipod shuffle this year to go with her idog. I know she got them in the wrong order. She has had so much fun with them we can barely separate the two.

Things we love about Midge:

When she is in the mood she can entertain her siblings like no one else. Her brother and sister thrive on her creative ideas.

She gives amazing back rubs.

An unbelievalbe energy level. We have met very few kids who have her endurance level. Needless to say she keeps us on our toes.
She has a special connection with animals.

She likes to leave thoughtful notes and do sweet things for people.

She is very perceptive, and has a strong sense of right and wrong.

She is sensitive.

She is artistic.

She is smart and does really well in school.

She is funny and can crack us up.

We love you and are so proud of you and the young lady you are becoming.

August is the m

What my children have taught me.

I was responding to a post from my sister, and when it started getting to long I decided to just post it. My sister had commented that she liked how I describe our vivacious Midge. What can I say in so many ways she is the mirror image of myself. I often see her struggling with some of the same issues I strive to overcome. When you have a child who is so similar to your virtues as well as vices you forge a bond, because otherwise you would be denying part of who you are as well. When I became a mother I had no idea how much influence my actions would have on my child. I still remember Midge standing at the end of our street at the age of 18 months. She had one hand on her hip, one finger pointed at me, and was telling me what for. I turned to my friend in exasperation and said where did she learn that from. She laughed and responded, "Ah Kirsten look at yourself". I looked down and sure enough there I was standing with one hand on my hip, a finger in the air, and a breath away from telling Midge what for.

At times you wish your children would simply skip over the challenges you have faced as an individual. It can be disheartening to watch them struggle with things. It can be daunting to realize that your example influences them so much in the early years. Yet I have come to realize that perfection isn't something that is useful to them. They need to see you make mistakes. Sometimes your children seeing you struggle can be more powerful than maintaining an image that everything is perfect. Midge and I can push one another's buttons like no one else, but at the same time we are each other's greatest allies. When Ken will state, "What in the world is she thinking". I can almost always respond with a statement of, "I know exactly what she is thinking." Just the other day I was working with Midge on telling time, something she has been struggling with this year (can't she just use a digital clock for the rest of her life - says the teacher?). Anyway she was giving me all kinds of attitude. I turned to her and looked her straight in the eye and said, "what is really going on here? Why are you acting like this?" Immediately she let down her guard and said, "I worry that other people will find out I don't know how to tell time. There is a girl in my class who usually struggles with everything and she knows how to tell time. If others find out that I can't do this they will make fun of me." When I told her that no one else was here now and we could work on this over the summer so she could go back to school and understand how to tell time she breathed a sigh of relief and had no problem working with me. Where do we learn that we have to be perfect? Who teaches us that making mistakes is something to be avoided? The biggest gift we can often give our children is the ability to fail at times, and then learn to pick ourselves back up and move on.

Introductions

It is time to introduce the members of our family that bring life into our lives. Our oldest is our daughter, who is 7. Her nickname has always been Midge. Someone once asked me if it was because she is short, which I laughed at because she isn't short at all, if you ever see her in shorts you will know that she is all legs. I don't even know where the nickname came from it is just something we have always called her. She has other nicknames like pumpkin, cutie, twit, but Midge is what has stuck. The other irony is that she is not short in anything. Not in talent, energy, intelligence. She is always on the move. She is the leader of our bunch. She is constantly figuring out games, coming up with new ideas, organizing the family, and keeping us on our toes. She is also sensitive and loving. I have an entire stack of letters from her that she leaves on my pillow with amazing and personal thoughts from her. She is reflective about life and asks amazing questions. She also isn't afraid to tell it like it is. Along with this depth she also has a healthy (and sometimes not so healthy) dose of a temper. From an early age (14 months) she hasn't been afraid to let it rip. She has had marathon tantrums. (All I need to say is screaming naked on the friged Oregon Coast and Ken knows exactly what I am talking about). The wonderful thing has been to watch her over the past few years grow and learn to control her temper. I have been so amazed at all she has taught me. There is a reason God gave us Midge first, and without a doubt he knew exactly what he was doing, if only for Ken and I to look at each other and saw "We've seen that before!"