Dandelions always play the bad guy in most stories, but i think we all need a reminder that they aren't always a nuisance. Besides being able to put them in a salad and their always cheerful yellow, they all go through the fun fluff stage. Kaelan, Joe and I went on a walk the other day and came across a field of dandelion fluff. It was amazing that they all reached that stage at the same time, and there were no yellow flowers anywhere. Kaelan had the best time blowing the fluff and running through them, watching it fly.

In another "dandelion" segue-way, there is a great article in the June Ensign about prisons and dandelions. I definitely recommend reading it. We all need a reminder to be like dandelions!!






















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When you agree to take on a pet, do you agree also to be abused by said pet? With a puppy you can train it to behave better, it loves you, and spending time with it makes it and you happy.

A snake is not this way. It does not even care that you exist, let alone that you feed and hold it. It has no positive feelings toward you at all, no more than it would have towards a warm rock. It can't be trained. It takes, but doesn't really give back. This is my view of them anyway, I am sure that there are many snake enthusiasts out there that would argue that they do give back. Probably thrills, and coolness factor.

Even still, with my barely tolerable feelings towards the snake, I still let it in my house, spent money to care for it, and even spent energy and emotion worrying that it was okay and comfortable. I even held it a few to times to appease my snake loving child, Calder. (He is a true critter kid and really wants his mom to love his snake as much as he does.) But, all I can manage is a sort of warm wariness.

I can actually say that even that paltry feeling, towards the snake, has diminished to near nothing now.

Stix became a bad word in my house the day she attacked Levi. The morning started out normal enough, I got the curly heads on their bus, and was reading the news, when I heard this faint screaming. It sounded like it was coming from outside, and it sounded like a little girl in trouble. I remember thinking that I hoped she was okay, right before it got louder, and then I switched that thought to concern that Kaelan was hurt. It was sort of a high pitched "ee ee ee ee".

I jumped up out of my chair to check on Kaelan, who was sleeping in his room, and met Levi barreling down the hall screaming "The snake! The snake!". At first my heart skipped a beat with concern that the snake had died, or was hurt. Then Levi finished his scream with "...is BITING ME!!!". I looked at the snake as Levi ran closer, and saw that it was tightly wrapped around Levi's wrist, his hand turning purple. Then I saw that indeed, the snake was biting Levi's forefinger. It looked securely attached, a very healthy Boa Constrictor. Um, maybe we shouldn't have taken such good care of her.

There is nothing like that surge of adrenaline accompanied by a huge feeling of helplessness. I was freaked out, and had no idea how to move forward towards fixing the crisis that had just landed at my feet. I mean, for crying out loud.... The snake was biting levi and NOT letting go!! What should I do?

Joe was, at that moment, on a plane flying to California, no help there. I flicked the snake's head a few times to see if it would make it release, Levi screamed in pain.... Okay that was not the solution. To be honest, I was frozen with too many conflicting emotions to come up with a viable plan. First, I was scared of the snake, second I was afraid that anything I did might hurt the snake (and that would hurt Calder), and third I was afraid that I might hurt Levi more than he already was (a very real fear, since I had done just that by flicking the snakes head.). I was so out of my league in this crisis.

So, what does anyone do when they are too overwhelmed and too under informed? Well, this "someone" calls 911.

It was kind of surreal to be talking to a 911 dispatcher. I have never before done so, and I am grateful that it was over something that was lower on the scale of life or death. Traumatic, yes. Life threatening, no. The dispatcher was really nice, she got me over to their reptile specialist, who was actually quite flummoxed by the fact that the snake was not letting go. In his experience fielding snake calls, he had never come across that situation before.

We were on the phone for a few minutes, 7 or 8, and they had called over to the police station to have someone come over to assist in removing the snake from Levi's hand, when she finally released and started to stretch her jaws in order to re-bite Levi's finger. I quickly got in there, grabbed her just behind the head and pinned her down on the ground, unwinding her from Levi's wrist at the same time. Both of us jumped back from her at the same time, when I released my grip on her head. Levi's finger was dripping with blood by the time we jumped back. Blood was all over the floor. She had been attached to Levi's finger for over 10 minutes total. A long time to endure a snake biting you. She had been actively trying to eat his finger, squeezing the life out of his poor hand. Quite distressing, I assure you.

Levi and I were visibly shaken, but relieved. I had been giving the dispatcher the play by play as we went along, through the pinning, and unwinding, and gave them the go ahead to cancel the call for help since we had successfully removed the snake on our own. We were instructed to get Levi into the doctor's ASAP since the snake had been attached for so long and there was a good chance an infection might set in.

Levi and I had just hung up with the dispatcher when there was a knock at the door. Up to this moment I hadn't paid any attention to how I was dressed. But, when that knock sounded, I was standing there in just my robe, aghast, and I could see the police officer through the front door windows. Vowing to get always dressed before I left my rooms from now on, I swallowed my pride, took a deep breath and opened the door.

The officer was a big man with a very cheerful demeanor. He explained that even though the call had been cancelled he had to come anyway because he was a snake guy and had never heard of a rosy boa doing what ours did. He had owned a rosy boa for 15 years and never had an experience like ours. Comforting right?

The officer went straight over to the boa on the floor (she hadn't moved at all) commented on the blood marking the floor, and picked up Stix. She was completely well-behaved in his hands and we talked for a while about snakes.

"She's a really beautiful snake." he told us, as he attempted to hand the snake back to Levi. Levi backed up, warding off the snake with his hands and said, "Uh, it's too soon". Understatement of the century in my book!

The officer turned to me and I shook my head frantically. "I don't touch that snake even on good days, no way am I touching it again today." Pinning her to the floor filled my quota for the next ten years, without a doubt! He looked at me questioningly, and I told him to deposit her into a clear container that I had brought up in my frantic quest for an idea on how to remove the snake.

With the officer gone, the snake contained, and Levi's finger not bleeding anymore; we set up an appointment for Levi, called the school to excuse his absence and headed off to the doctor's. Levi had a free pass from school that day, a battle scar, and a really great story. Not so bad after all. Hey, he lived...right? Even if there were tiny teeth marks and some bruising, that adds to the story.

Stix stayed in the container all day. If you look closely in the picture below, you can Levi's blood on the edge of her mouth. Pretty gruesome, huh.



When Calder got home, of course the first thing he noticed was that his snake was on the dining room table. I was worried that he would be afraid when I told him what had happened, but I shouldn't have worried. He looked at me as if I was crazy, and said "Mom, she isn't venomous!". Then he lifted her out of the container and took her upstairs! Levi and I looked at each other and silently agreed that Calder was in a whole other league.

The snake is still with us, Calder has played with her repeatedly, but Levi and I have had enough for a long while yet.

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Here is another ode to Levi. I was so proud of him this year. He tried every sport they offered, meaning he was at school and hour and a half longer everyday the entire year. He went from cross country, to basketball, to Wrestling, and finally track and field.

The hardest for Levi, hands down, was wrestling. Not only is it a very personal sport, but it also hurts, a lot. He had a bloody nose at every match. But he was scrappy and won 50% of his matches. Which is pretty amazing considering he was the only one on the team who had never wrestled before in his life. He never gave up, and there were many silent tears shed at the defeats. They feel a lot more personal, because they are, you can only blame yourself, and it is only you that loses. That it pretty hard to cope with. But he did a band up job of dealing with it.

This is totally blackmail material, I know.... But isn't he so adorable? My skinny boy.






Here is a video of Levi winning one of his matches:

Scrappy, like I said.


After wrestling was over, track started right up. And much to my dismay, the meets were three hours long with Levi having different events scattered throughout the entire three hours. Need i mention that these were all done in the freezing cold rain of this unnaturally cold and rainy spring?!?! It was pretty miserable, but Levi is now assured of my unconditional love for him, since I never missed a meet.

Here is a quick clip of Levi running Hurdles, he is in the orange:




He was really good at the hurdles, I was surprised. He usually came in first or second, with one third place as well.




Calder did indoor soccer this year, but for some reason I failed to even get one picture of him playing a game! Sorry Calder!
So since I neglected that part, I am including some more karate pics, just to show you that this is still a presence in the curly headed boys lives:






Ansel is my all around athlete. He is good at every sport and he has great focus. This is really saying something when applied to baseball, which is a notorious kid attention killer. He hit well, every up to bat, made several amazing double plays, and was an all around MVP.
















A 10 second clip of him hitting the ball and sliding to first:

He is so fun to watch.


Along with taking swimming lessons at the gym, Kaelan has also been taking gymnastics at the little gym. Much to our surprise we have realized that Kaelan really is a natural gymnast. He excelled quickly in this class. The teachers were so surprised since he is the very youngest in the class, yet probably the best. He is really strong, has very good body awareness, and isn't at all afraid to do any of the scary high things.



I have posted a video from his second day in class, in an earlier post. He joined halfway through the class and his second day was a mid-semester performance. He had never done any of those things before, but had fun attempting them.

Next week is his final performance. I will post a video of it when it happens so that you can see how much he has learned. His teachers keep telling he should be a gymnast. Maybe that would be a good outlet for his daredevil tendencies... I'd rather it be that, than some extreme sport.

Now sports are all done, school will be done in three days, and relaxation and enjoyment can begin!!!!!

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I love that music plays a big part in my children's education. Each child got to perform in a music concert this year.

Calder had a good year. He is ready to move on to bigger and better things that, we are sure, will be waiting for him in the fourth grade. His music performance included oldies. My favorite was Yankee doodle, it is in the clip below. Calder is on the top row near the left side of the blue stage curtains. He is the curly head in a long sleeve button up.

Calder's concert:


Calder and his best buddies after the concert:



Levi also entertained us with a concert at the middle school. He was in the mixed choir at the school this year, and they teamed up with the school orchestra to perform "Viva la vida" by Coldplay. An excellent song choice for middle schoolers. The orchestra was having a hard time, Coldplay isn't an easy musical score, but I think they made an applaudable effort. Levi is one of 5 boys in the choir. You can see him in the center on the top row:


Levi, in his concert outfit:





Ansel too, had a school concert. He got to perform several songs, with lots of props. Kudos to music teachers that really know how to capture and keep young children's attention.


I chose to post the video of Ansel on his wooden xylophone, he is so cute and serious about it:

Kaelan was their number one fan. He went to every concert, and tried very hard to hold still, though not very successfully.


Wow, I just noticed that he wore the same sweater jacket to all three performances! Must be his favorite...






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Location:West Linn,United States

In amongst all of these happenings, I took the time for another girl cation with my sisters. We again did the Space needle, but also included Pikes Market and a few other things.

Lani, Remi, and I:



Messing around at Pikes Market:




On the way to the Space needle:




Dinner at Sky City Restaurant, where we were served a mysteriously "crunchy chicken" entree that later the chef came out personally to apologize for. They gave us another meal, that we couldn't eat, since we were already full from all the yummy bread.



At the top of the space needle, with Seattle's night city scape behind us.






Now, I want more!!

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I want take a step back in time for a moment to give you the back story on something funny related to Kaelan. February 5th is Ansel's birthday, and he too was fortunate enough to have my family in town to attend his birthday celebration with him. Even more lucky to be able to share it with his grandma that also shares the same birthdate with him. He also was lucky enough to get a professionally made cake in the bargain since I had a screaming deal from one of the local bakeries for a birthday cake.

Here is Ansel and his grandma with their respective cakes:








Now, look at this cake and apply this phrase to it: "circle chocolate cake with chocolate on it and a dinosaur on top".


Yes, you can see where Kaelan got his seemingly amazing inspiration for his birthday cake. And, consequently why there was much disappointment at it's unveiling. Think, homemade chocolate cake with plastic dinosaurs on top. Yeah, not quite what he had in mind....


As a side note....

This is my Ansel, at school. I was his classroom photographer and photographed all the kids for the yearbook. I just love this photo because I think that it really captures Ansel's sweet nature.


And since we shared about Ansel's big day.....
Happy 7th Birthday, Ansel!! I love you!

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It always stinks when your birthday falls on a Sunday. May 1st was a sunday this year, No fun outings, no big birthday parties, and three hours of church. Not the most ideal set up for a day of celebration, but we made the best of it. KK was really lucky because his birthday happened to be the same weekend as our girls weekend, so he had all of his aunts and grandma, on my side, there to celebrate with him. We did a mini party before church, luckily church wasn't until 1pm so he didn't have to wait until after to open his presents. He woke up late, so that gave his big brothers ample time decorate for his party.

They gave him a throne and a crown and declared him king for the day.



There was not a more pleased child than KK, that day. He was on cloud nine.

We opened presents and played with the toys, and opened and played....it went on for quite some time. The boys "helped" him open his presents and play with them. KK wasn't sure he liked them taking over his toys but big brothers are cool, so what do you do? Levi and Calder really enjoyed the balloons.




Kaelan was really specific on what he wanted for his birthday cake. I asked him one day what he wanted for his cake, and he surprised me by answering right away with a pretty detailed order. He said he wanted a "circle chocolate cake with chocolate on it, and dinosaurs on top". What could I do? I had to make it!

Here is his birthday song:

I love these candle blowing pictures so much, that I couldn't leave any out:





Happy birthday to my littlest little boy! I love you!

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I vowed to myself that I would catch up this year quickly, on my blog, so that it wouldn't be as appallingly sparse as last year. I am hoping that with the addition of the iPad that I will become more regular at my blogging and start doing it once a week at least. We shall see, my past failings are standing as sentinels to this current embarkment into regular blogging.

I know I promised a story about the snake, but it will not be appearing in this post.... As it hasn't happened yet chronologically and I don't want to confuse myself.

Every year our primary school puts on a Rhythms program in which the entire student body participates. It is fantastic. I especially loved this year's because it was dancing from around the world. The kids performed traditional dances from many countries across the world. It was so fun.

Ansel's class did one from Africa called "Jambo". It was great. The kids had a great time shaking themselves all over the dance floor.


Calder had the unique experience of being one of the announcers. He introduced the kindergartener's dance, "the chicken dance" and then preceded to do their dance with them, because they were one short. He was giant next to all the kindergartener's but he LOVED performing their dance with them. (he is performing that dance in the collage below, in the top left photo). Then he also performed with his class a traditional Indian dance named something like "daboori". It was so cool with the swirling scarves and graceful movements. He got several compliments from other parents who had to tell me that Calder was such a natural, graceful dancer, and really fun to watch. He kind of got to be a star for the day, since so many people noticed him announce and do two dances. He stands out with that mop of curly golden hair.



Baseball season started up, here is Ansel at his 1st game. (More to follow, in later posts.) He loves all sports and has the most focus of any of my boys. He is a heavy hitter in baseball, and was really pleased that the opposing team's coach told that team to back up because Ansel was a power hitter. "Back up, back up, we have a power hitter here!!". The soft smile on Ansel's face was priceless, when he heard that.




Easter came and went without too much fanfare. We colored the eggs, hid the eggs, found the eggs, then ate the eggs. What else is there to say?

Here are the boys in the various Easter related activities of the day: