Music Class

Every Friday morning, Kate, Hannah & I go to a Gymboree family music class. The girls absolutely love it, and I mostly do it because it's an activity for Hannah. She gets hauled around to so many things during the week for the other kids, that I wanted something fun for her.

Ms. Kimberly is our teacher and she's really great. The kids can play with shakers while we wait for the class to start. Some weeks there are 4 kids and other weeks there are 12 (and sometimes there are 3 Kate's!). Then each child gets to play the drum while we sing a welcome song to them.

Then, there is a theme of music for the week (R&B, Elvis, country, Diva's, classical, etc.) and Ms. Kimberly does a couple of fun things based on that type of music. There are maracas, scarves, sticks, blocks, etc. that they can play with.

Then, she brings out a big basket of instruments and the kids can try different types. Sometimes there are bubbles at the end and then a stamp on their hands. It's just a 45 minute class, but we've really enjoyed it and it's been fun to see Hannah get more and more into it!

Hannah, Ms. Kimberly & Kate

Welcome song for Kate

Welcome song for Hannah

What Will There Be In Heaven?

The kids and I were eating dinner last night. Jon had gone to work and we were just a couple of minutes into eating. Now, I'm a HUGE fan of eating dinner together as a family. I did it growing up and I KNOW that family dinners make families stronger. There is something about sitting down and eating, that really makes kids open up. The kids starting talking about heaven and I asked them what they thought would be in heaven. Here are their responses:

Emily: rows and rows of shelves full of crafts and books

Lindsey: she agreed with Emily

Jack: a basketball hoop

Kate: lots and lots of toys

....to which I added: fabric and Ding Dongs! (And all of my amazing family and friends!!)

Engagements

2010 is shaping up to be an important year in our family! We are thrilled for my sister, Becky and my brother, Richard, who are now both engaged to incredible people!

Becky and John were engaged on December 10th and they'll be getting married in March. They met through my sister-in-law Candy and have been such a cute couple. John proposed by lining and lighting tons of candles in my parents backyard. When Becky got home from work, she was surprised by red roses and a sweet proposal! We love John and are so happy to welcome him into our family.

Richard and Misty got engaged this weekend and will be getting married in May! They have been dating long distance for a few months. Misty lives in Henderson, NV and Richard met her when he lived there. They are really good sports about travelling to see each other and are also, a perfect match. Misty told Richard what type of ring she liked and then she let him pick it out. She is thrilled with it! Richard took her to the very top of the State Capitol and proposed up there. We love Misty and can't wait for her to be a part of our family.

Again, congratulations to all 4 of you! We love you!

Kate's 4 Year Old Pictures

Having Kate's pictures taken at Target was a much better experience than Hannah's. She was happy to pose and smile for the camera! I still can't believe how fast this girl is growing. She is such a joy!

All Said in One Word

It's always fun to have a toddler around who is learning to talk - and that toddler for us is Hannah. She seems to learn new words daily and it's been so much fun to hear her say different things.

She's had croup and now that's turned into a pretty nasty cold. She woke up in the middle of the night and was feverish. I took her downstairs to get some Tylenol and water. In the process of doing that, she sneezed and out came a lot of snot. To this she simply said "Nose." Translation: "please wipe my nose mommy".

We went back to her bedroom and I rocked her in the rocking chair and started singing a few Primary songs. She put up with it for about 5 minutes and then simply said "Off." Translation: "please stop singing, I'm trying to back to sleep."

Now, if only I could figure out how to use one word sentences!

Grandpa & Grandma's mission call

I wanted to record the process of my parents telling us about receiving their mission call...

Back in October, we took a family trip with all of my family to Worland, WY. I could honestly tell something was weighing on my mom, but nothing was said on the trip. When we got home, my parents called and asked if everyone could come over to our house that night. We said sure, so after the kids went to bed, they came over. All of my siblings & sister-in-law came over and my parents told us about receiving a call from the First Presidency and meeting with President Eyring and being called as a mission president & mission president's wife. They knew that it would be a Russian speaking mission. My dad served his mission in Finland and then got a minor in Russian in college. Their stake was a Russian-speaking branch and my dad has been giving his talks in Russian for several years.

A couple of weeks later, we went with my parents to Disney on Ice. Afterwards, we went back to my parents house and they told our kids about their call. The kids were really excited too! These pictures show my parents telling them and then we pulled a map out to see where they might go...they knew that the Moscow and Samara missions were the 2 possibilities.

They knew their assignment would arrive some time before March 1st and a couple of weeks ago, an envelope arrived via FedEx. When we would receive our mission calls, we would sit in my mom's rocking chair (it's over 100 years old and used to be her grandmother's), and open our call. My mom wanted to do the same thing, so a couple of weeks ago, we went over to their house and got to see them open their call. We are so thrilled about Moscow and got even more excited when they were able to talk with the mission president that is there right now. Oh, they are working hard and we just love them so much!

We are so grateful for them! And anyone that knows my parents, know that they will be fabulous!

The kids looking at the mission call

Looking at pictures of the mission home

Hannah - 18 months

At the end of January - Hannah turned 18 months! Wow - that has gone by so fast! She is our busy little toddler that we love dearly. She has such a funny personality. She'll be so sweet and loving and then when I ask if I can give her a kiss, she'll respond with a really nasty look and "no!" She LOVES the bigger kids and gets so bored when they are gone at school/preschool. She learns new words each day and is starting to have little conversations with us. She loves Elmo (she calls him "Melmo"), feeding herself with a spoon or fork, having books read to her, going to music class at Gymboree and making messes. Her new favorite food is raisins and we think it's mostly because we put them in our candy cupboard, so she must think they are candy.


Hannah is about 50th percentile for height, 30th for weight and about 90th percentile for head size - that's a typical Bowen kid for you.


A couple of days ago, I took her to Target for her pictures. She was so happy to be there and was smiling and laughing - until I put her on the floor next to the white background. True to form, she was terrible! There are a couple of decent shots, but the majority of the time was spent with her looking like the first picture below...

Hannah loves having her finger in her nose

We do love you Hannah - very, very, very much!

Russia Moscow Mission

It is official - President and Sister Sorenson will serve in the Russia Moscow Mission!!! They will go to the MTC for several days at the end of June and then report to Moscow on July 1, 2010. They will serve for three years and bless endless numbers of lives! My parents are already spending hours and hours a day studying Russian and will be a light and strength to their missionaries and the people of Moscow.

Moscow is a city of 10 million people! From what they've heard from the current mission president and his wife of the mission, it's an incredible place, with incredible people. Again, we can't begin to imagine our lives with them gone, but we are so proud of them!

Answer to Prayers!

I have been in blogging agony - no pictures, so no blogging! (It has helped me that Kirsten has a new post every day though!!!).

Anyway, we have been hoping and praying that the police would find our laptop and camera. I know there have been a lot of family members and friends praying as well (thank you, dad!!!) and we found out that both of them have been found!!!! Amazing! Both were pawned at a pawn shop and even though both were completely erased, we will get them back. The police will keep them until the case is closed (probably a month or two). I'm sure they are investigating whoever tried to pawn them to see if they can link it back to whoever took them from our house. But, we are so very grateful and feel elated that we'll have them back.

The laptop was older, but had a year's worth of pictures on it. Hopefully those can be recovered. And, besides my missionary scriptures, my wedding ring and my sewing machine, that camera is the nicest thing I own. Oh, how I've missed it! I see picture opportunities each day and I hate that I don't have it to capture the moment (for example...yesterday while jumping on the trampoline, Kate looked like a dandilion - the white kind that kids love to blow on). But, we will just look forward to getting it back.

Thank you again for everyone that exercised your faith on our behalf! We love you!