Stages

 

Do you see it?  That hint of mischief in her smile?  Oh yeah, it’s there.  She is trouble.

Who me? She innocently says…

Yes, you!

Because of your monkey-like antics, you have forced my hand to do something that anyone who knows me, knows that I hate! 

This is my kitchen table.  Missing something?  Chairs.

This is my laundry room/bathroom.  Seem a little squishy in there?  It is.  Chairs do not belong in the laundry room.  Josie’s constant climbing has left me no choice but to remove the chairs and put them somewhere where she can’t reach them, otherwise, she is constantly climbing on them, getting wedged between them and the table, and of course, standing and trying to jump while on top of the table. 

Will protested last night when we all stood and ate our spaghetti, but it is a battle I’m not fighting with her anymore, and he will have to get on board.  Besides, I’m sure that standing while you eat helps with digestion or something.  Really, this is a blessing in disguise

Weekend Fun

We had a great Memorial Day weekend. It was the kind of weekend where you wonder why life can’t be more like it more often.

It started with the boys heading out for a mountain bike ride on Saturday. Will started mountain biking with Josh last year, and picked it up quickly, so they gave Isaac his first go at it. He did great. He had a tough crash, but can’t wait to try again.

Josie and I didn’t mind staying at home. They may have been mountain biking, but we had rubbermaid storage bins to climb on! and we could not have been happier about it.

We had a full Monday, and the weather was hot and summery (probably not a word) just how I like it.

We started with tennis at the park. Next, swimming at our pool. A super fun bbq with our friends the Daines’ with good food, a trampoline and rocket launching.

Then, home for naps, and back out in the evening to Lake Michigan for some serious rock throwing.

It was so nice. How do we get more days like these?

Sunday

 

The boys got new church clothes.  It only happens once a year, and that happens to conveniently fall during the after Easter clearance.  Josh had to work today, so we snapped a few pictures of these handsome boys.  Isaac chose something that did NOT have a tie.  He says it chokes him, and Will wanted to look more like his daddy, so we went with a white shirt instead of a colored one, even though, I’m going to hate keeping this one white. 

I think this picture is too cute.  Genuine smiles are hard to come by, but I managed to get all three doing it at once…if only they were looking at the camera

Doesn’t she seem so grown up?  She acts it too.  In just the last week she has gone from a pretty agreeable kid (for me at least) to more of a “my way or the highway” mentality.  Ugly.

 

Just incase I ever actually get my act together and have the blog printed in a book, I feel like every once in a while I should do a better job at giving a snapshot of parts of our lives.  Not like air our dirty laundry, but share the things that are valuable to remember and not too much information for our poor unsuspecting friends and family.  Sundays felt like a good place to insert an entry like this.

Sundays.  Whew!  That is how I feel after getting into the driver seat of the car with my three wild kids in the back, poking at each other and telling me in their loudest voices (our at least it seems that way) what they learned about in primary, only their version always includes some form of potty talk, and the baby is screaming because she needed a nap two hours ago, but still hasn’t had one, and I just close my eyes and say to myself, “We made it through another one.”  I don’t even bother asking them to be quiet or knock it off on the short drive back to our house.  There are times as a mom where we recognize that we aren’t at our best to deal with certain situations, so I’ve found it better to just not, until I have myself together.  We roar into the garage, where I immediately close the garage door after pulling in, just to prevent a stray child from hopping on his bike and riding through the endless supply of puddles we have had this Spring, since it seems like we don’t go even one day without rain, and getting those nasty mud/grease stains all over their church clothes.  Then mommy-robot kicks in where I manage to tune out all of the crazy that surrounds me in the forms of noise, clutter, and fighting, and I go into hyper-drive as I

1st:  put that overly tired baby to bed.

2nd:  Start at the top of the house and work my way down making beds and picking up random items and clothing that have been thrown about during the weekly Sunday tornado that visits as we race out of the house.

3rd:  make the rowdy boys stop with the noise by getting them to put some food in their mouths

4th:  realize after they have already started eating and spilled some on their shirts that they are still, in fact, in their church clothes

5th:  get out the shout and treat the weekly Sunday stains

6th:  begin making dinner for me and Josh, all the while wondering when he is actually going to show up

7th:  sit down.  breathe.  feel tired, and think I’ll catch a quick nap, and then…Jo is awake!

Sundays are wild.  I feel bad every week for whatever family ends up sitting near us in Sacrament meeting.  I’ve managed to control the noise (or at least I thought I had until Josie discovered her shriek this week) but I cannot seem to get a handle on the constant movement.  All four of us are literally all in constant motion for the full hour, and every once in awhile I’ll glance up longingly at Josh, sitting peacefully, and listening to the meeting, only to be startled back to reality as gold fish crackers fly all over, and Josie rips a page in a Hymn book.

All of that being said, I’m thankful that I get to do it.  It is never easy, but it always feels good to know that I am where I need to be and am supposed to be, and that my kids have good people there that love them and teach them.  I have learned to enjoy whatever stage I’m at in parenting, because just when I start to think I’ve got it under control, somehow, I’m shown that I absolutely don’t.  I’ll appreciate these “calm” Sundays for a few more weeks, because I’m sure come summer time when baby comes they will have seemed like a walk in the park.

Lucky Me

 

Will and Isaac with the flowers they picked for me for Mother’s Day.

As the day went on they just kept adding to the cup.  They chose a plastic cup from Valentine’s Day with hearts on it, because hearts mean love and wrote on it with a Sharpie, “Happy Mother’s Day”.  It doesn’t get much better. 

Perhaps some women feel that Mother’s Day is definitely in order, but the longer I’m a mom and the more kids I have the less I feel that way.  Don’t get me wrong, I think it is great that we set aside time to tell our mom’s how special they are to us, but as a mom, I want my family to be sure, every day, that what I do for them is a blessing to me.  I taught a lesson this week for the Relief Society and Young Women on being a daughter of God, and there couldn’t have been a better preparation for me for Mother’s Day.  The Hymn “As Sisters in Zion” has a verse that says

The errand of Angels is given to women and this is our gift that as sisters we claim:  to do whatsoever is gentle and and human, to cheer and to bless in humanity’s name.

It’s a gift.  It is because I am a daughter of God and because I have infinite value, that Heavenly Father has given me the gift of motherhood and the necessary divine attributes to accomplish it.  So, with this in mind, you can imagine the surprise for my little family when after church I sat them down for a “talk” and told them how thankful I was to be their mom and gave them all gifts to say thank you.  It is way more fun to give your kids and husband gifts than it is to receive them.  Pretty good day for every one.

ONE Never Tasted so Good

Sweet Josie turned one. She really ate up the birthday celebration.

I like when babies turn one. It is absolutely no pressure. Isaac turning five was a lot more work.

Had I known that buying one wax candle would have provided the magic we were hoping to create, then I could have saved the trouble of the cake and presents.

Josie did “blow” out a candle, but I had a cupcake with a candle for each family member and we all blew out our candle and made a wish for Josie. As the mom of all three kids I’m dying to know what they wished for, but then again, maybe I don’t want to know!

Are you noticing a theme here?

How about now?

Jo is working on a few teeth.

Josie in her Easter dress. I think she felt pretty.

I told Josie that Josh was leaving for Bishopric meeting, so she started waving “bye-bye”.

I would have taken a picture of the boys in their snazzy, new Easter suits, only they didn’t get any. I totally wait for that stuff to clearance AFTER Easter. Look for some sharp lookin’ brothers in a couple of weeks.

One year with Josie:

She walks. She tries to talk. She says a few words. She adores her brothers, and I think her favorite time of day is quickly becoming when daddy gets home from work. She absolutely lights up and so does he. After having two boys I wanted so badly to have a little girl. Wish granted. She is everything I could have hoped for. She is my buddy. Where I am, she is, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Still to be determined is how much she is going to like being a big sister. I have a pretty good idea that it will be a total disaster at first, but who doesn’t love a challenge!

With each baby I recognize more and more that these little creatures truly are heaven sent. Thank You for my blessings.

FIVE

Isaac turned 5! His birthday was yesterday. I hope he had a good day. Isaac is full of life and lets all emotion show, so, we definitely saw the highs and lows of the day very much on display.

It started out great! Birthday donuts, and an eager older brother willing to share in every minute of birthday excitement.

Time for presents! Still pretty good, and still a hovering brother hoping that maybe somehow, by some miracle it might turn into his birthday too.

Isaac is managing to keep a positive attitude even though he was yet to receive what he had asked for….and what was that? One of those ridiculous motorized cars for kids that cost hundreds of dollars.

He got to the last present, and although it seemed unlikely that his desired vehicle would fit into the shoe box sized remaining present he hopefully tore into it. This was his reaction upon seeing the contents of the last present. After threats that he won’t get any presents anymore if he doesn’t start acting more grateful, he managed to put on a happy face.

Isaac just after blowing out the candles. He was happily enjoying his cake and ice cream and was half way through his second helping when he got a panicked look on his face and asked to be excused. We said sure, he started walking away and then turned back really panicked now. I went to see what was wrong, and found that he may have just gained a year, but he had lost a tooth!

Isaac’s new five year old smile.

Happy Birthday, Giggies!

Catch Up

 

 

This one walks now.  She started a couple of weeks ago.  Now she really has the hang of it.

I tried to get her in action, but, well, not really.

Josie, wondering how the heck this thing keeps getting put on her head.

She is turning 1 on Friday.  It went SO fast.  There will be more on her sweet little self then.

 

Now to the boys…

Yep, this dates back to the beginning of April, but we’ve had a busy month.   I wanted General Conference to be more meaningful for them, so we spent time memorizing the names of the first presidency and the 12 Apostles, so that when conference came we were ready to listen.  I thought it would be easier to listen if they felt familiar with them.  They each made a poster depicting something that they talked about and what their tie looked like, and now we will cover each talk over the next few months during Family Home Evening.  It actually went really well.  They went from not really having to watch any of conference to watching all four sessions!

 

As a side note, another activity I did was assign a special treat to each speaker, so that when say, Pres. Monson got up they could look at the treat list and they would each get a sucker, or something like that.  Well, after conference was over, the next day, I was taking the treat list off the wall, and Isaac asked for a paper and pen.  He continued to ask me how to spell “one thousand Jesus’”.  He was making a new list for next conference! I was so proud of him.  I thought it strange he was requesting 1000 Jesus’, but what a love for the Savior!  I spelled it out for him, letter by letter, and when we were done, I said, “Ok, that spells one thousand Jesus’”.  He looked very confused, and then exclaimed, “not one thousand Jesus, one thousand CHEEZITS!”  Oh.  That is so much more like him.  We corrected his sign, and then he asked to add “and one Jesus”.