Disneyland retrospective

We took our first real family vacation last November to Disneyland, and it's about time I mentioned it. We had a great time. The kids were in heaven, when they weren't whining about the heat and their sore feet. The lines weren't bad at all, and Brandon and I were surprised at how much we enjoyed it. Many thanks to Brandon's parents who organized and planned and paid and helped with kids. Hip hip hooray! Elsa's favorite rides were the rocket one at the beginning and the Go Gadget Coaster. She wouldn't go near any of the princesses or other people, but loved the animal characters. Henry's favorite rides were the Matterhorn and the Maliboomer. And, he was our most devoted autograph-getter. Will was particularly emamored of the new lightsabers. And, he charmed the princesses by giving them huge hugs. He didn't have anything for them to sign, so Belle tracked down her own piece of paper and asked for his name so she could write him a note. We all enjoyed Tom Sawyer Island and the treats (although those cupcakes were pretty nasty). However, we didn't much enjoy what we came home to. After a long car ride, I carried Elsa to her bed at 11:00 p.m., and it was raining in our basement. But, we'll always have Paris, I mean Disneyland.

from the tongue of henry

So, Henry has something called tongue thrust, which essentially means that the only muscle in his tongue that functions is the muscle that makes the tongue go backward and forward, like when a baby suckles. His speech has always been pretty messed up, and he's done a lot of speech therapy in the past, but this year we started doing tongue thrust therapy. He hates it, and I can't say I'm a big fan either. It's pretty disgusting to poke a tongue with a stick. But, every day we do tongue exercises anyway.

About a month ago, Henry was having a really hard day. So, I brought him to our bedroom to read scriptures with me (he loves reading scriptures). After a little while, he said, "Mom, everyone's different."
Me: Yeah, everyone is different.
Henry: And everyone sounds different.
Me: Yeah (getting skeptical).
Henry: How would you like it if I hurt your tongue with a stick just because you sound different?

I explained how everyone sounds a little different, but that the way he sounds is even more different than usual, that I want people to be able to understand him, that the way he talks could make it hard for people to know how smart he really is and that I don't want that to happen, etc.

Then about a week ago, we were in the car and this song came on my iPod (or maybe another song by her, but this is the best link I could find).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYl0uLrXP7U&NR=1
Henry: Her voice sounds funny.
Pause.
Henry: She needs to do tongue exercises.
I started laughing. Another pause.
Henry: Now I understand why I need to do tongue exercises.

mmmmm chocolate

Every year for Valentine's we feel the need to break out the fondue pot, and tonight we had my niece Megan join us in the festivities. Will wasn't big on dipping things, he just wanted to eat his chocolate with a spoon.

Hooray for chocolate!



Playing paper, rock, scissors with Megan. Henry and Elsa decided it's more fun to make up your own weapons in the game. The winners tonight were dinosaur and bow and arrow. Cause what paper, rock, or scissors can stand up to a dinosaur?

And, here are a few more favorites from the last month or so. Here is Elsa's zoo that she created one morning. That girl amazes me at the amount of effort she puts into her projects. Will left this creation alone for about 20 minutes before he stomped all over it.

The other day, the kids were playing superheroes. Henry and Elsa were wearing too-small Batman and Superman costumes. But Will wouldn't wear any costumes, he just wanted to be "Gunner": the caulking avenger.

catching up with the arnolds

I'll see what I can do to catch up on all the things I've missed. It's been a long time, so here it goes:

I took the kids to see the balloon launch for 4th of July. They loved it, although Will wanted to be held the whole time. (You would think such a loud kid wouldn't mind loud noises.)


Henry took some pictures of Brandon for promo material for the China International Children's Film Festival (I think). This one's my favorite, although not the one he chose. Brandon's film won for foreign animated short, by the way. Yea, Brandon!


Will getting sugared up on Pioneer Day.


First day of school. Henry looks so tired in all of his pictures. Elsa was a little nervous the first day when it was time for me to leave, but it wore off pretty fast. In this picture, she's just naturally posing like how my mom used to try to get me to pose in pictures when I was little. Somehow that's funny to me.



I caught Henry reading to Will on our unmade bed.


Will location scouting with Dad.


Playing at the park for cousin Brenna's birthday in September.






At the pumpkin patch.




Trick or Treat! Elsa was a queen (not a princess). Henry was King Arthur (not a knight). And Will was a knight with 2 shields because I wouldn't let him have a sword. Cousin Sadie joined us for the trick or treating. It was such a warm night, and a wonderful time was had by all.

As a side note, Happy Joe (the dog) got his first taste of being the Halloween Fairy that night. A friend of Henry's told him that if you leave your candy out in the yard the Halloween Fairy comes and leaves you toys in place of the candy. Elsa put the candy bags out in the backyard unsupervised, so they were in easy reach for Happy. He was one sick dog. I think there were only about 10 small pieces left when I found the bags.






Brandon went to Chicago to see his film at the Chicago International Children's Film Festival. Dave and Sarah were kind enough to put him up for the night. Thanks guys!


Well, I think that's about it for today. But here are a few of my favorite quotes from the kids that I need to write down.

Elsa: I don't like the airplane because it tries to put ghosts in my ears.

Elsa: Sometimes when I swallow, the food doesn't go down. It's like it's hanging on a bar in my throat. Milk never does that though, because it's too slippery to hang on a bar.

Henry praying: Thank you for a sister who is nice, a brother who is funny, a dad who is my best friend, a mom who is workful, and a dog who is really fast.

In the fall, Will got on a kick of saying "never" all the time if he didn't get what he wanted. As in, "Oh, I never eat cookies." Or "I never play star wars." So, we were in this endlessly long line at the Beehive Bazaar, and I was late to bring Elsa to school, and both Elsa and Will were hungry. But, I couldn't just leave the line because I had allowed them to eat this package of cookies, not realizing how awful it would be to try to pay for them. So, they were both whining, and Will said loudly, "Oh, I never am happy!" The lady behind me in line started laughing and said, "if only we were all so honest about our emotions." Then she heard me explain to Elsa and Will how we had to stay in line because we couldn't leave without paying for the cookies they had eaten. And then, that saint of a lady behind me told me to hand her the empty package of cookies and she would pay for them. She said, "Just take your kids and go. I've been there before, and now all my kids are at school and I can shop in peace. You can just return the favor to someone else once all your kids are at school and you're in my shoes." I was so grateful I almost cried. In fact, I think I did once I got in the car.

Elsa's Birthday

Tonight I was reading Stewart Little with Henry, and then told him to go get ready for bed. I went to help William with his pajamas and Henry came in and asked me where I had put Stewart Little. "Put your jamas on first, then you can read some more," I said.

"But I need to go to the bathroom first." He answered.

"So?"

"And you always read a book when you're in the bathroom."

"oh."

"And I want to be just like you."

Well, I'm honored. Thankfully, I didn't take any pictures. But I did take a few pictures of Elsa's recent birthday party. She just turned 5 and for her party we had a reptile show at the Monte L. Bean Museum at BYU.

Independence Day

Here's a few pictures from our 4th of July festivities.

So far this summer has been pretty sweet. I've taken Henry and Elsa to see both Wall_E and Speed Racer, and they loved them both. We've done some hiking, some bike riding, and a lot of swimming. All three of the kids took swim lessons for two weeks and are now fearless towards the water. Henry took a big step last time we went to Veterans Pool and went down the big white slide all by himself! Another step on the road to manhood.

will turns 2

William is 2 years old now. We celebrated his birthday this weekend by going to the duck park and then coming back to our house for pizza and presents. Kim and Cynthia, Grandpa and Grandma Arnold, and Jess and Sadie all came with us. Will thoroughly enjoyed himself--throwing bread to the ducks, climbing and sliding, eating, playing with the new presents. He wasn't too keen on opening up the presents. Not that he didn't love getting presents, he just wanted to play with whatever he had just opened and couldn't be bothered with opening another one. We borrowed a ride-on Thomas train from a friend, and it was pretty entertaining. Will even had to feed Thomas some of his cake, telling him, "cake is nummy."

Will is such a sweet boy, most of the time. He is a sucker for hugs and kisses. If I smile at him from across the room, he will drop whatever he is doing and run to me saying, "Huggy, huggy huggy." He has started putting an y ending on things now. He saw my visiting teacher, an older lady who lives 2 doors down named June, walking past our house, and he ran up to her and hugged her legs. I don't think he even recognized her, but she was pleased. He also spends a good portion of the day play-fighting in a way that hurts Henry and Elsa, so his sweetnes is tempered with a lot of loud craziness. I can almost see the testosterone coursing through that boy.

The day of Will's birthday, I took the kids to the McDonald's playland because it was rainy and cold. They played with their friends, Sylus and Finn, and ate ice cream. There were two little girls that were about Will's age but a lot smaller, and he kept calling them babies and trying to hug them, much to their dismay. His new words for the day were "car" (because he got one in the mail from Chuck and Kris) and "backpack" (because he loves Dora). He was walking around today singing D-d-Dora D-d-Dora.