Jovial June

We apologize for "Missed May" as I will call the invisible post for last month. It was an interesting month, filled with some illness and some rougher moments, which most likely explains where the time went. It ended well, and this post is mostly filled with pictures from the better days in between. We like to report each individual as mostly grandparents look upon our page and it answers all of there questions and curiosities. So here we go!










Clay: Clay is having a good start to summer. We enrolled him in the Bullhead Community "Swim Team", more commonly known as the Barracudas. This is just a race against himself, and he is doing really well. In the last 3 weeks, he's moved up 2 lanes and has improved his ability to swim the 4 main strokes (breast, butterfly, free-style, and back) very well. He practices 2 hours a day, 5 days a week and will participate in about 6-7 meets before the season ends in late August. He now has a love for water and is beginning to build muscle and feel good about himself. We are so happy for him. We took a trip to the beach May 30, and he had fun trying to swim in the ocean. He will finish the month with a week of scout camp at a really awesome full scale camp (swimming, canoeing, shooting, etc.) All the stuff boys love and moms try not to think about!



Catie: Catie is also enjoying a break. She had a great 5th grade year and finished with the highest grades in her class and the most "reading counts" points her teacher has ever seen! She has learned a bit of crocheting from a nice lady in the ward and has had fun trying her hand at that. She made me a little pillow for Mother's day. She is also in nightly swim classes 4 days a week and does well to help around the house and keeps us entertained with her naturally silly nature and great imagination. She turns ELEVEN years old in 8 days and I can hardly believe it. She is becoming a beautiful "young lady" and I enjoy our friendship so much. I hope we stay close always!





Lacey: Lacey also had a great school year. She received an award for "Fabulous Friend" from her class, which fits her well. She is a sweetie and very sensitive to people's feelings. She intuitively knows when to hug, tease, or just smile at a person. I benefit from that strength of hers daily. I sometimes feel she is gift from Heavenly Father to comfort her complicated mommy. While I was in the middle of typing this, a little "tiff" errupted from Luke, Leia, and Christian over a toy. She walked off quietly and returned saying, "I solved the problem...I gave them one of my toys and it took care of it. Such a peace maker! She has officially memorized all 13 "Articles of Faith", and said to me "Now what?"...hmmmm, keeping Lacey busy, not an easy task!






Luke: Luke is an impressive soul. His mind fascinates us, from strange things like me explaining to him that "pickles are cucumbers soaked in salt water to keep them fresh" and him responding with, "So they are like little mummy cucumbers?"...uhhh, yeah I guess you could say that! Another example is when I tell him "The Three Bears" which I have done almost every night for 3 years (ugh), and suddenly the story goes like this: "...and their porridge was TOO Hot!...what is porridge? ummm it's like oatmeal...anyways, the daddy's was too hot, the mommy's was too cold and the baby's was JUST right!...what's "just right" mean?...you know, not too hot, not too cold, just warmish...then he says, "so the chair was warm?" ---(sigh) Do you get the picture? Last night, Carl calls me in to the bathroom where he was bathing the little boys, and I come running expecting a problem, he just looks at me and says, "Luke wants to know what time is?" "Do you have any ideas how to explain that? Uhhhhhhhh...well...you know...hmmmm?
Go ahead think about it! We welcome some help here!





Leia: Leia is also going through a big "cognitive shift". I guess turning 5 is more complicated than I remember, especially watching it double-time. Her thing is honesty, or a lack thereof unfortunately.It is always a complicated thing knowing when to punish for lying and when to reward for honesty. I know it sounds like a simple thing, but if you get too angry about the inappropriate things they do, some kids will lie to avoid conflict, and if you praise them too much for telling the truth, they'll often continue undesirable behavior to get the "reward" of telling the truth! Trust me, it's not as easy as it looks. So that is our dilemma with Leia. On a higher note, she is very well behaved in primary and always loving to Cora. She also loves to help with laundry and dishes. She has become enchanted with "doing hair" and patient Lacey is often the recipient of her "styles"--she's very coordinated for a little one, and she amazes me.



Christian: Thankfully, due to the complex balance of the universe, as Luke and Leia become more exhausting, Christian is leveling off and becoming more calm. His communication skills have grown ten fold, and this has greatly lessened his frustration with the world. He is about 75% potty trained, much to the dismay of his mommy, but we have learned these things always work out, so we just go on with life and thank the stars for "pull-ups". (sigh) Christian's social skills are (in our opinion) very advanced. Everywhere we go, he introduces himself to strangers, "I'm Kiss-chin, what you name?" He loves nursery and his teachers (childless younger couple...bless them!) love him, too. He's a cutie and melts my heart every time he smiles at me.





Cora: "One Giant Step for Cora, One Giant Leap for the Westphal's!" Yes, we have an official "walker". (sniffle) She is SO cute though, I could die. Such a tiny thing, but so capable and determined. She also repeats words like "Co-Co" (her nick name), "GO", and "da-da". We think she's a baby genius. She is generally very pleasant, likes to feed herself Cheerio's, bananas, pears, and recently some tiny bits of an "In-N-Out" burger that made her daddy proud!




Did we miss anyone? I hope not! As for Carl and I, we are just plugging along, keeping the kids busy and learning, and trying to find as many moments in a day to nurture our marriage and kiss and hug and gross the kids out. (giggle) We enjoyed a brief visit to California this past weekend. We went out with my dear friend, Dianne Felshaw and our favorite "Uncle Wendell" and all the kids this past Friday night and saw "Night At The Museum II"--we LOVED it, and it was just the kind of stupid, wonderful humor that keeps life worth living. The next day, we took the kids to Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro. (Many pictures attached) we had a truly FANTASTIC time, and it was the perfect kind of place for the ages and stages of our kids. A trip to the beach after wards finished the day off perfectly. I've said it before, and I'll say it again...LIFE IS GOOD!