Blakie

He's two through and through.

Blake is a rough and tumble sorta boy.   He screams when he doesn't get what he wants.  He gut laughs when the kids play tag and chase him.  He cries when Ryan doesn't let him go in "daddy's car"--which he asks for EVERY morning (and sometimes Ryan gives him a ride around the block and then he doesn't want to get out).  He takes a good long nap every afternoon.  He loves pretzels/crackers/sugary items and still will eat most other things when he has to.   He loves "fwimming" in the YMCA pool and never wants any help until he realizes he doesn't know how to swim.  He fearlessly jumps in the water and goes under though.  He tries to copy everything the other three say or do (I personally love to watch him watching THEM.  He so intently stares and then tries to copy it).  He loves baths and will stay in there for 45 minutes usually.  He loves to read books and will NOT get in his bed till we've read a minimum of 2 books.  He is so loved everywhere we go because he says hi to everyone and it stops them in their tracks how friendly he is.  He likes to get out our winter sled and pull it around the yard filling it up with things.  He loves swings, slides and running.  If Ryan or I tell him no he immediately goes to one of the other kids because he knows they will give it to him.  Before bed we read stories and sing a few songs--usually Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, I am Like a Star and I love To See the Temple.  And he sings right along with us.  For prayers at night, we say a sentence and he copies us, and when we finish, he pats our hand ands says "good job, mom/dad".  When he runs, its all or nothing--he puts everything into it.  He doesn't like to be on the trampoline with the other kids.  He loves watching monster truck videos on the computer with Robbie.

Somedays are hard with him when it is a lot of temper tantrums, but most of the time he is a sweetheart boy that is so much fun because he just loves to live.

School projects, Spring and Sickness

Aubrie's first real school stress.  I thought it was cute when she came home and I reminded her that she really should work on her character analysis since it was due in a few days.  "I KNOW mom, and it's really causing stress".  I don't think she had ever felt the feeling of something "hanging over her head" before.   She chose to do her project on Karana from the book Island of the Blue Dolphins.    The assignment was to make a bottle represent the character in some creative way (extra points for creativity) and then as they are reading the book to put sticky notes in the book as they came across internal qualities of their character as well as evidence of those characteristics.  She had to display the internal qualities she found and her "proof" somewhere on the bottle.

I wanted so badly to help her and tell her my ideas--that is so hard for me not to do.

It turned out so well. She ended up creatively typing them out and setting them in front of the bottle.   Aub is a great student.



Part of Aubrie's stress is that she felt crummy most of this week.  She finally fell asleep one afternoon after school, which is unheard of for Aubrie.  It was probably her second "nap" since age 3.


And the backyard, outside play and baseball in the yard with Ryan on the days that he is home before dark are in full swing.

Memorial School playground.  Blake mastered the climb for the first time

oh he's cute...

My current favorite thing that Blake says when you ask him something and he replies in the affirmative

The Power of Everyday Missionaries

Since Easter I have been reading a book that Ryan gave me called "The Power of Everday Missionaries" by Clayton Christensen.  We better get on it (missionary work), ALL of us.   When President Hinckley said years ago that we need to and WILL double the number of converts into the Church, he certainly wasn't just talking to the full-time missionaries.  I have been so much more resolved in the last month to just open my mouth and be more aware of the countless times that I can talk about BYU, my own mission, living in Utah, having a big family, etc to QUICKLY bring the subject around to being a Mormon and hopefully to what we believe.  It has been happening almost daily.   I think that it reminds me of how much I LOVE and really believe in the Gospel.  It really catches me on fire and I feel more tuned in to living the Gospel.  Elder Christensen related (much better to just read it) that what originally started him onto his "member missionary" that he is so well known for is he noticed the difference of the Spirit in his daily life when he was sharing and praying to share with others about the Gospel because it was not a natural thing for him to do so he really, really needed the Spirit to help him.  

A few weeks ago they had a large (75+) group of women from an organization called Women of Faith to our church for one of their quarterly meetings.  I was asked along with a few other women to sing "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" as "the opening prayer" since they do not pray at their meetings (???).  It turned out to be an amazing night and I came home just aching to go on a mission again.  At the last minute the PR person that was giving the presentation had me come up to be on the panel with her and a few other ladies from our ward.  The ladies were attending the presentation  could write any question down on a paper that they handed up to us about Mormons- things related to us or our doctrine and then we took turns answering them.   I loved every second of it.  One of the women on the panel was Sister Wilkey, who is in our ward and is the mission president's wife.  I loved listening to her answers she gave.  She is studying, living and breathing the gospel every day and you could tell. 

Afterward we all went into the cultural hall where they had a display that is a copy of the one that is in the Washington DC temple.  The display travels around the Northeast region being used for things like that event.  It had probably 50 of the top questions Mormons are asked all on huge poster-size displays with the best, most concise answers. I wanted copies of them (might have to find a copy of the text of that display). 

Parenting is hard.

I often feel worn out at the end of the day from all the second guessing of how I (we) handled "x" and why #2 is constantly teasing #3.  Why #4 is acting so spoiled (oh cause he is) and whether #1 is getting enough attention because she is so responsible and independent.  Does #2 get enough rough-housing being surrounded by girls--no kids on our street so he doesn't get to come home and have a buddy to ride bikes with.  Do they all work enough so that they have good work ethic as they get older?   Why are they so quick to quit sometimes when something is hard?  Is it too cold where we live so they don't get outside enough?  Am I too quick to give in when they whine and so they will just will continue whining till they are 15?  Do I (we) expect them to be too reverent (quiet) at church, too grown-up at the dinner table,  too mature in their reactions? or do we not expect enough of them?  Do they know that we love them NO MATTER what--or does it sometimes feel like it's conditional?

blah...blah...blah.


It makes my head hurt from all that thinking.

Is there a sigh of relief when they turn 18 and leave home because they are adults now and we did all that we could and they are now fully responsible?  or no? :)

I have NEVER wanted anything so bad as to be really good at being a mother.  I love our kids so much- I can't even believe how much sometimes.

Just want to get it right I guess.

This morning before breakfast Aubrie says, "the part I'm at in the Bible (Exodus) is boring.  All they talk about is building the tabernacle and fine twined...what is it called? and gold and silver. Boring! I can't wait till I get to the next part.  I just tell myself, just read the page, it doesn't matter what's on it, just read it, and then get to the next page. "

#dailylife

Usually for part of the time that Blake is napping after lunch, Hallie has quiet time--coloring, reading, puzzles, etc.  This day, she came upstairs from coloring after 5 minutes and grabbed a blanket and came over to me and said "mom, can I just sit on your lap for a few minutes".  Gladly!  Within 1 minute she was snoring in my ear.  I just sat there and read while she took a nap and it was so peaceful!  I enjoyed it as much as she did I think. 

 We love the YMCA!  And between my exercising, the kids classes and family time, we spend a fair amount of time there.  We know most people that work there by name and they are so friendly and good to us.  The kids zone (where the kids play) has known Blake since he was 7-8 weeks old and he is kind of their "guy'.

This day we were at the coloring table waiting for Aubrie's tennis to wrap up.

Oh trampoline, how we love thee.  It is thee. most. used. thing we have besides beds and kitchen table.

 Date night.  It's one of our highlights of the week.  Our current favorite babysitter is Jessie Hills.  This past week we found a Livingsocial deal and went to the Palace Theater in Manchester to see Joseph along with our friends the Medaris.  And it was SO wonderful. The singing was particularly good.  I was just enjoying it so much the entire night (can't you tell by my smile :)?)

Side note: About our babysitters--I don't know if they take some type of class or something, but I can't believe all the things they bring or do while they are here with the kids.  They are much better than I ever was.  Last time Jessie babysat she left a scripture Easter egg hunt where the kids had to read a scripture and a word from it was the clue to the next hiding spot.  So clever and I was grateful that she took the time to do something like that for them.

 Fort Jensen.  The most fun is the setting up and coming up with all the goods to create it.  They didn't actually play in it for longer than 20 minutes, but the collecting of items and setting up was over an hour.  They wanted to keep it all set up for the next day and of course it rained that night.

Aubrie's genius idea--when her purse became wet (See above rain) she put it under our hall light as a drying lamp :)  Ryan and I were cracking up. I secretly think Aubrie might be a genius :).  I am always asking her about things (especially when it comes to the earth or animals) because I know she will always have the answer.  She reminds me so much of my dad in that way.

 Robbie's assignment.  I just went to his parent teacher conference yesterday morning.  To summarize--he is a wonderful student, and is doing really well, particularly in reading.  He gets to go with a small group of students once a week to some extra activities in the library and then go read to the BEEP (preschool) kids.  His teacher also has them practicing in the classroom reading to a stuffed animal of their choice at their desks which he loves.  She said he is very social (?) in the class and "talks to one little blonde girl frequently".  He told Ryan the other day that he likes to make kids laugh.  He loves recess, gym and art.

 Don't all kids love to wear their parents shirts to bed.  I know I did.

Ides of March...and Easter

The kids have this one chocolate cake that they make all by themselves.  They get so excited and I think it's great.  One Sunday they donned their aprons made by Lita (grandma) and got to work. 

This picture was taken by Ryan one Saturday afternoon when I was gone and it was freezing outside.  THe kids had races around our living room/kitchen on their small bikes.  Blake or Hallie would stand up the red stool and yell "go" to start the race. 

 We decided for Easter to do two things the week leading up to Easter, have FHE the Monday before with our #10 eggs (#1-#10--each has an item and scripture in them that talk about the week that the Savior died and was resurrected---e.g.  red cloth, a nail, piece of soap, dice, guaze, etc.)  #10 is an empty egg.  We've done this all the years we've been married because I learned about it from Hermana Gardner as a missionary.  It's one of my favorite things at Easter.  After the lesson we dyed eggs.  The second thing was to read the events that happened each day in the Savior's life leading up to His death and resurrection.  We were about 50% on that one, but its a great idea I think and we'll try it again next year too.

 To minimize the candy, we filled eggs with change.  In order to have enough change I had Ryan break my piggy bank that I've had since I was 10 I think.  It was full before I ever even went to college and I've just carried it around with me since.  It was sentimental.  We did find a Taco Bell coupon in there that was from 1993.

 Ryan and Rob found a free almost brand new bike that they both gifted to Aubrie for Easter (setting the bar WAY too high for future Easters) and it was more fun watching Ryan and Robbie than anything!

This was the best of the 2 pictures we got :( before we rushed to 9:00 AM church.

"Pictures I wish I had of me as a kid"

That was what Ryan said as he was capturing these photos of Robbie a few nights ago, WAY past when both Robbie and Blake were supposed to be in bed.  It was just too much fun to watch Robbie though. 

Trying to do a 360.  I think he slammed into the door knocking everything down ;)