Kenya's swim lessons.

For the last 2 weeks Kenya was doing swim lessons.  It was a great experience.  She got to for 9 days and her good friend Hannah was able to join her class.  Kenya had a blast.  It was something that she got to do all by herself.  Mommy and Jasmin just sat on the side of the pool and watched.
From the very first day she did great!  She liked the water but would sometime get a little nervous.  The girls who were her teacher did an awesome job at warming the kids up to the water and they stated in teaching on the first day.

Kenya on her first day of swim lessons. 

Blowing bubbles with her class.  The first day.

This was right after her first lesson.  Look how happy and proud she was!

Kenya and Hannah after class.  The water was so warm that they were often cold when they got out and huddled in towels.

Kaylee and Jasmin playing while their sisters swam.

So cute!  She is growing up so fast!

 

In this video her class went out for a ride as a train. Yes at the very end that is her yelling " Chugga chugga choo choo!"

This is the last day of class and the girls were getting ready to go down the slide.

Kenya hanging on the side of the pool by herself.

Swimming by herself on the last day of class.  Of course with her life jacket on.

SISTERS!!  Love it!  Kenya and Jasmin walking to the car on the last day of swim lessons. 

 Kenya went of the diving board 2 times on the last day of class.  The second time she did it all by herself.  Way to go Kenya!

By the end of the lessons Kenya could hold her breath under water for 7 seconds (that is what they counted I think she could do more if she tried) and was floating by herself on her back and stomach for a short time.  Really all by herself with no floatation devices.  No actually swimming yet, but she is well on her way.  I signed her up for lessons again at the end of July for level 2. 
I am so proud of Kenya and the way she behaved in class!  She did a great job listening and get along with others!!

Worse than actually given birth to my girls!

This past weekend I joined a club that I hoped I never would have to and I did not join it by choice.  On Thursday night I stated having a miscarriage.  I always wondered if this day would come because of the high % of pregnancies that result in miscarriage.  This is something I wish to never do again and I feel sorrow for women who has to go though a miscarriage.  It just is not fun!
No, I did not know I was pregnant and so it was all very surprising. 
No, we were not preventing from having another baby at the time.
I do not know how far along I was and really don't have a good guess.  By talking to other people and reading a lot about it on the internet I was probably somewhere between 7-12 weeks along.  And I am leaning a lot closer to being 12 weeks along.
I wrote out all the details in gore and all if you want to read it feel free, it is just on a different blog that is not our main stream family blog.  It is very personal and not for a weak stomach.  See it here.
This was physically way more than I ever expected!  Honestly it was worse than I ever felt with either of my girls and now I have no baby to show for it either.  Really it was sheer inconvenience.   I had so many things to get ready and do and we had plans for this weekend as a family.  It really slowed my life down as I had to stay home and couldn't/shouldn't really go out.  My body needs rest which is really hard for me to do. 
Emotionally I have been doing just fine.  I know it was a blessing that I did not know about that baby because I am sure that everyone in our family would have been excited about it.  Kenya has been talking about her bother for a few months now.  We are all doing well and we didn't really explain any of it to Kenya.  I guess I just didn't know how. 
I guess it has kind of got me excited about having another baby someday though. 

Help make a miracle!

Pass it along to everyone you know.  We have some great friends who are trying to obtain what most of us don't think much about.   These two wonderful people are trying to start their family, but they need the people of other selfless people.  Megan and Brandon Hebdon are looking for a chance to adopt.  Please keep them in your prayers and then keep your eyes and ears open to be part of this miracle.
https://www.itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/26076907/ourMessage.jsf
Really, what an amazing couple!

And please repost this link if you can!  

Baby Communication

Jasmin is starting to learn new words everyday.  Her two new words today were bubbles and down. 
Here is a list of the word Jasmin uses and some of them she even puts together.
Hi                                    more
Kitty                                animal sounds: neigh, baa, moo. meow, woof
Kenya                             banana
Dada                               bird
Momma                          bubbles
Bear (she said for the first time yesterday)
This (our cats name)      dog
uh-oh                              down
cheese (when taking pictures)
down                            night night
numnum (wanting to nurse)

Her signing is coming along as well these are signs she uses
more
eat
drink
all done
thank you
up
please

She is also to the point where she will shake her head "no" if we guess the wrong thing.  It is nice to finally get her to respond to what we are asking her.
Just the other day she came up to me and signed "please".  I then asked her "Please what?"  and she began to dance around.  I took that as she was wanting me to turn music on to dance.  I did and she danced and danced and giggled and giggled.  That same day she brought me her cup and handed it to me and signed please.    You got it I went and got her a drink and she was thrilled.  It appears she has discovered how nice it is to communicate and get her point a crossed.  I am loving it too!  It is bitter sweet though because I now have to admit that before she is 11 months old she is no longer a baby.

Just Lois

So, I guess I have a theme for the month of May and now it is my turn.  I have been up to the having a blast with my girls and husband.  It has been crazy watching them all grow.  Once Jasmin stated walking it made it seem like I don't have a baby anymore.  Kenya just amazes me everyday with what she learns! Robert is an amazing father and loves to play with all of us just as much as we love to play with him! 
I love my life! Really, I do!  I get a full nights sleep (most nights) and have for months now, which is a lot to say for having to kids and one of them under one.  I get to play and have fun with my friends.  I get to watch every event in my children's lives.  I get to be a mom and a wife!
 Really, I have been watching my starter plants grow and actually did a little sewing.  I made skirts for the girls for Memorial Day and the 4th of July and a matching headband for me.  I also got crafty with making new hair bows.  That is me. 

One for me.

And one for a friend.

These were for a friend's baby shower and now that I think about it, that baby girl is being born sometime in the next few hours.  

What can I say about these two?  CUTE!

Well, you cannot see the headband I am wearing, but it matches.  I am kind of dorky like that. 

Just Kenya

Kenya LOVES her sister.  That is what occupies most of her time right now.  I don't think she can go more than 10 seconds without the urge to touch Jasmin.  The most common thing heard in this house for at least the last 6 months is...
"Leave her alone."  or "If you touch your sister again you are going to your room." (often followed by Kenya going to her room because she just could not resist!) or "You know you are not allowed to pick your sister up, so why did you."  and MANY similar sounding phrases!
My goodness Kenya loves her sister!  It never helps with Jasmin is laughing or smiling and Kenya always follows up with, "But she likes it," or "But it makes her laugh, I just want to make her laugh."
Well with that all said, I will tell you about what she does while Jasmin is sleeping or the other 2% of her time when she is not bothering playing with her sister.  Kenya love playing outside.  Since the weather has been so much nicer we are outside at least a few hours a day.  She rides her bike, plays with neighborhood kids and plays chase.  She is super into pretend play.  Her favorites are, playing baby, anything type of animal that is a pet on a leash, playing making friends (she pretends we have never met and then we pretend that we are becoming new friends), and whatever else in her amazing imagination that day.  Outside she loves to play in water, play with bubbles and write/draw with sidewalk chalk and play at the park.  She like to go to story time at the library too.
When we are not outside some of the things she does are: play dress up, help clean, play with play dough, write/draw, cooking, dancing, reading books, and really anything else she see other people do. Her imagination had really taken off in this last year and it is fun to see what she thinks about what she decides to play.  She has begun to play card and board games too!

Dress up and dancing with Mommy!  This is super common in our house. 

This next picture is too funny.  I mentioned that she enjoys cleaning and mopping is one of her favorite.  One day she was playing dress up and I needed to mop.  So she came out of her room and asked to help.  Of course I let her.  Then as I sat back and watched her I notice what she was dressed up in.  Yep, that is it, Cinderella.  She was dressed up as Cinderella and mopping my floors.  Oh, the hard life she has.  Too ironic!

She got to "meet" Dora and Diego. Seriously it was less than 5 seconds that she was near them and they did not even say a word to her.  We were all disappointed to say the least!

Doing what she does best.  Sharing and being with her sister! @ Yellowstone Bear World.

She got to ride in the front of the car without any seat belt or anything as we went through Bear World.  She was so ECSTATIC!  Just like a big person!

Again with her favorite person in the world!  @ the kite festival.

Kenya loves learning new things.  We grew some pinto bean plant a couple of months ago and she loved watching them grow.  So we were both super excited about planting our starters for our garden.  So here we are below planting seeds.  She still love to water the plants and see the progress of our garden.  (Almost all of our seeds are planted and are ready to transplant into the ground. Now we just need to find some land for them.)

This was actually cooking with Daddy.  They made me these yummy cupcakes for Mother's Day.  It is an orange cupcake inside the peel of an orange.

These are pictures that Kenya took one day.  I came out from putting Jasmin down for a nap and she was quietly playing with the camera taking pictures.

Playing around with Daddy!

This was just on Memorial Day.  Outside playing frisbee at a friends BBQ.

And this was yesterday.  She just asked me to take a picture of her and so I did.  She was saying "cheese' while grating cheese for dinner.  How cheesy!!!

There are so many wonderful things to write about Kenya and so many amazing things she says and done.  But this has gone on long enough.  There is just one last story that I have to share that melted my heart today.
She got in trouble at the store for doing something she knows she is not suppose to do.  So, we just left the store and I was trying to show her I was pretty disappointed in her for what she had done.  So, I told her we were leaving and explained to her that she got certain things taken away for the rest of the day because of her behavior.  She could tell the my mood had changed and asked me if I was happy.  I told her no I wasn't because she had chose to do something bad.  So after we got in the car and we were on our car ride home she pointed out to me that I was "happy with Jasmin, but not happy with her."  Yep, that was right!  Then she began to tell me things like this-"Mom, I like it when you are happy with me and we play together.  I love it when you are happy and we cuddle and you read me books.  I like it when you are happy with me."  I told her that I like it too.  Then she asked me to look at her.  (I hadn't really been looking at her because I was driving, but also because I was trying to show her that I was upset.)  I asked her why after she persisted to ask.   She then said, "Look at me because I want to smile at you."  (My heart was already melting, but I asked why she wanted to smile at me.)  "It makes you happy when I smile at you!"  Yes Kenya, it does make me happy!  I turned and looked at her and she smiled a sweet half grin.  I am sure she saw my face light up.  This is by far one of my proudest parenting moments yet!  Then there were some other sweet words exchanged.  I just hoped that was a lesson learned and memory we will both never forget. 

Just Robert aka BEST husband EVER!

Yeah, I  have the best husband ever!  It is something that I should brag about more often!  What does a man need to be to be the perfect husband.  I will tell you!
You may think that it is bring home gifts and flowers unexpected and often.  You may think it is sweeping you off of your feet every day and every moment of your life.  You may think it is doing everything right.  You may think it is being romantic.  You may think it is giving you everything you have ever asked for or wanted.  You may think it is making you laugh.  You may think it is taking you out on dates to the nice restaurants and spoiling you on special occasions or not so special occasions.  You may think it is not saying anything as you spend endless hours on Pinterest and make him look at everything you are going to make "someday".  You may think it is making you feel and telling you, you are beautiful no matter if you have gained weight or are not showered and still in your PJ when he gets home from work.  You make think it is playing with the kids after dinner and all evening long so you get a break even though he worked all day.  You may even think it is that he does not ask "What did you do all day?" when he gets home and the house is mess and the kids are whinny.   Really you may think that the best husband ever is all of these combined!
Robert is better at some of these than others.  He is really amazing at the latter half of these statements.  But what makes him the BEST husband EVER is that he supports me in every way and shares the same goals and visions for our family!  He goes to works to support me financially so that I can stay at home with our children, which is what we both want!  It does not matter what the job is he is will to do it and do his best at it.  I get to go and play all day with these girls and have so much fun!  He comes home from work and we tell him all about our day.  He smiles and tells us he is happy we had fun. A MAZ ING!  He supports me emotionally and spiritually as well, by doing some of the things listed above.  He has a strong relationship with our Father in Heaven and with Jesus Christ which enables him to lead our family in righteousness.  He listens to me and we make decisions together, but he also trusts me to make decisions on my own.  I feel his complete trust on love everyday! 
Not many women are as blessed as I am to have this amazing life!
Do we fight, NO!  Do we disagree and sometimes argue, YES.  Are there days when I don't feel as blessed as I am, yes I am ashamed to admit.  Do we get to have everything we want for our children and ourselves, NO.  Do we have everything we need to be healthy, strong and feel safe, YES!!  Are there times I feel overwhelmed staying at home and frustrated with my children, yes.
I have so much more to say, but it is too long already.
Robert, I love you for everything you are!  

Just Jasmin

This post is just about Jasmin.  In the last month she sure has grown a lot.  Physically and mentally.  How is it that she took her first steps on April 1st (she was 8 1/2 months old) and by April 18 she was using walking as her preferred mode of transportation (9 months and 3 days). I think she crawled for less than a week.  Yes, she has been army crawling for a while, but crawling on her hands and knees was very short.  As she started walking she must have begun to think that she was "big" now because she has had a lot of first since then and has almost out grown her babiness.  What Jasmin has been up to, here we go!

Using the walker.  It was shortly after this that she took her first steps.  I knew she was ready for the walker because she had been standing and walking around the furniture for such a long time.

Jasmin's first time walking all by herself. (2nd set of steps.  She walked from Robert to me once right before this, but we did not catch it on camera.  It was the same day, just moments before this.)

 

And here Jasmin the following week.  On April 8 she just started to walk away from the couch and walk to me.  She thought it was so fun! She really enjoys the praise that and cheering she got.  I think that was her motivation.
 

Jasmin decided about a month ago that she did not want to eat any baby food anymore.  No more cereal no more baby food mush!  So now I spend the first 5-10 minutes of our meal cutting up whatever it is that we are eating so Jasmin can eat. And she really wont let me feed her, she has to do it all by herself. 

Evidence of Jasmin's fist ice cream.

First time eating spaghetti.  She loved it!

yummy!

 We went to the zoo on opening day.  Jasmin loved the animals!  She would make noises at them.  She even growled at the lion copying what Kenya was doing.

At the zoo for the first time this year. 

With Daddy at the zoo.  You can see her two bottom teeth in this photo.

At Bear World before the bears attacked.  

Sister sharing her ice cream at bear world.  Kenya is great at wanting to share, most of the time!

Fish face!

 Just yesterday we went to the Kite Festival.  Jasmin of course wanted out of the stroller to walk around.  Here she is, out walking 9 month old. 

Such cute sister!

Other things about Jasmin.  

She has begun to use the "mawh" noise when giving kisses.  She loves to give kisses.  She kisses any toy with a face, This, and just about anyone she knows.  She is just a sweetheart.  

She knows some animal noises: cow, goat, dog, cat, horse 

She does pat-a-cake

She now says "Nice kitty" 

She mimics "I love you"  She is not saying the words yet, but she has the rhythm and fluctuation down.

The signs she uses are "all done" "more" "drink"

She is growing up all too fast.  She enjoys reading books and  playing with us and playing by herself if she ever gets the chance.  Kenya seems to think that she need to touching her and in her face 100% of the time she is awake. 

What do you think, do they look very much alike?

Draper Family Mauled by Bears!

Saturday 4/21/2012 4:30pm MST- The Drapers, a family of four, were driving along a curvy road minding their own business when suddenly a group of bears appeared forcing the vehicle to come to a neck-wrenching halt. The hungry bears sniffed and examined the car and finally one saw fit to attack the vehicle with extreme prejudice! The family found themselves locked in the menacing jaws of a young, grizzly bear! Not knowing what to do the head of the household hit the gas in a desperate attempt to elude the onslaught, but to no avail. In an act of desperation, he did what any self respecting victim would do and aimed his 10-14 mp camera at the beast and shot in an attempt to capture live footage of the traumatizing event. However, like bringing a knife to a gunfight, the batteries in the camera failed; there were no replacements on hand. The only pieces of evidence of this horrific display are a single blurry photo of the culprit meandering from the scene and the gory aftermath photographed later that evening. Local officials with a load of witnesses mockingly watched as the encounter ensued. However, a separate witness did respond with a call to the victims' cell phone to see if the any had survived the tragic incident.

 

 

What really happened...

The Drapers enjoyed a trip to Yellowstone Bear World. They were driving through the park following a tour bus that had people throwing food to the bears. The Drapers did there best to keep their distance from the bus in order to avoid the appearance of having food to throw out. However, a bear came to the rear of the car and sniffed and licked the bumper as if there was something delicious on it. Robert then slowly inched forward trying to help the bear lose interest but could only move so far before getting the attention of the other 5-10 bears ahead. Robert inched forward again to no avail and even revved the engine a bit. Finally, the bear sank it's teeth into the bumper! Only after that did it decide it wasn't interested. Later another bear had stopped us to lick some dead bugs off our headlight. Thank goodness that was all! 

SPRINGTIME FUN BEGINS!

Our fun-filled Saturday began in Idaho Falls at a kids' fair that a friend had given us tickets for. It was great because Dora the Explorer, her friend Boots and cousin Diego were going to be there for the kids to meet. In case you didn't know, Kenya loves watching Dora the Explorer.  So when we told Kenya about them she was pretty excited. There were tons of people there and tons of things to do. There were at least 7 different bounce houses and a bunch of games and activities for kids. Also there were a bunch of booths where business gave away free stuff! That is always a plus! There were stage performances in abundance, all performed by kids of various ages. Kenya even got her face painted again and got to meet a couple Disney Princesses.

At about 1pm we decided to head to Yellowstone Bear World. They were having a half price day, with unlimited park drive through, an Easter egg hunt for kids, unlimited children's amusement ride rides,  and we had never been, so why not? We even got more half price entries for the future by going that day! Below is some footage of Kenya in action in her 4th Easter egg hunt of the year!

 

Kenya is an Easter egg hunting animal!

 

There was tons of candy scattered and also plastic eggs that contained a piece of paper that had a prize of some sort on it. After the hunt we were going to go redeem her prizes, but everyone else who had participated decided to all at the same time so we changed our mind to drive through the park and see what they had to offer. 

Of course we went during the hottest part of the day so the animals weren't very active (thank goodness we had unlimited park drive through)

This big grizzly was just inside the gate as soon as we entered!

One of the 2 White Elk they have there. They look way better when they have their antlers!

A common sight for the bears at this time of day!

Now this bear had the right idea!

We also saw some bison, turkeys, mountain goats, wolves, deer, and regular elk.

After going through the park the first time we went to redeem some of the free ice cream and soda that Kenya had earned from the hunt and to ride some of the amusement rides. Plus there was a petting zoo included we totally took advantage of. It was blasted hot!

While we waited at least 20 minutes for mommy to get refreshments Kenya rode the train!

Kenya does excellent sharing

Mmmmmmm! That's where it's at!

After refreshments we went to the petting zoo where there was a pot belly pig, chickens, goats, a couple of peacocks, ducks and a fawn and deer! 

You can feed the goats, but we got to them too late because they all refused to eat!

Ever see a male peacock with white feathers? Well here he is!

This chicken belongs on the show Weird, True and Freaky!

 

Mommy and Kenya rode a couple of rides while Daddy and Jasmin went to watch the bear cubs.

 

This is Kenya's first roller coaster ride and we thought she might get a little scared...especially since she had to ride on her own without Mommy and Daddy but...

...she did great and loved it!!

 

Kenya rode the roller coaster many more times and rode this other ride that took a group straight up and did some short free falls. We have a video of it but it is pretty long and would take forever to upload.

She got brave and put her arms up...when it wasn't moving yet!

The fish lip baby is so cute!

 We drove through the park one last time and tailed the curator bus and that is when we got to see the bears in action.  In this one enclosure at the beginning of the tour there were two grizzlies. The dominant one chase after the other bear doing laps around the enclosure because they wouldn't share their food!

We had a busy but fun filled day and best of all the girls loved it and were in great spirits the whole day! They both conked out pretty quickly on the way home because of all the fun in the sun we had...and it's only the beginning.