A moment for my boys

Thinking about family this week my thoughts landed on our boys. I love them. It's so fun to see their personalities develop as they grow up. I think it hit me because now I have a baby & it's amazing to see how far they've come in the almost eight years since they were that size. It made me grateful Heavenly Father trusted me with these two precious spirits. I love moments like this.

Tony volunteers for the "Real Men Read" program in Jaydon's class. He does such a fantastic job with the sound effects & voices that Jaydon now has friends all across the world, cementing him in the "cool" hall of fame forever. Even teachers from other classes come in to listen to him (true story).

"Writing Celebration Day"

Last Sunday's domino version of the temple (Moroni is a red train this time)

This is the boys being 'Daddy.' Apparently those mugs are their interpretation of what a parent looks like? (though I'm not sure I've ever seen Tony look that serious)

Aw, look at those baby blues!

Preparing the "Pinewood Derby" cake for their first official "Blue & Gold Banquet."

Cub Scouts, here we come!

The exersaucer of power

Thanks Mom for letting me stand up & see the world!

This Day is All About LOVE (Jyson)...

We LOVE these traditional V-day cookies (Janey must have the same tradition, she has the recipe posted here)

I LOVE this outfit (the leggings are from dear Sugar City Ashley who bought them even though she didn't think she had anyone to give them to until...we unexpectedly met up over Christmas vacation. Lucky Ari :)

Gotta LOVE this face

These boys are the LOVES of my life (other boy not pictured, he was working & we LOVE him for it!)

Reciprocal LOVE

She absolutely LOVES to roll over ONLY in this bouncer (time for her to graduate to the exersaucer I just bought off Craigslist).

They LOVED putting as many of her flowers & bows as they could fit on her poor little head

The LOVE of a lizard...Mommy hauled this reptile to the school so the boys could show their classes before we sold it to some friends in our ward. We'll miss her, but...no more feeding worms wiggling on my table/crickets hopping around my house/lizard smell?? LOVELY.

Me to a 'T'

Confession of a Creative, Compulsive, Crazymom (me):

I am the type of Mom that has tons of cute ideas, activities, crafts, etc. to do with my kids & then while I can be ok about letting them have their moment, I more often have a tendency to STRESS about the mess created from the creativeness...you know? For example, this picture:

We did the thing where we put a bunch of random utensils in a pillowcase & then picked one (or in the boys' case, several throughout the course of dinner) to eat our meal with. Fun, right? The boys loved it. Well, while I'm taking the picture, I'm just sure I have a slightly pained look on my face because I'm thinking about the fact that slotted spaghetti servers don't hold liquid soup very well & did I already remind them to "Hold over their bowls & if you spill on the floor remember to use a *floor* rag (not a dish rag, gross) to clean it up?" Aacck! Anyone know the cure? I remind myself often (it is my goal for 2010 after all) to "chill out," but so far I'm not incredibly obedient to me. It reminds me of this awesome song from one of our "Scripture Scouts" CD's about parents & their seemingly 'opposite' statements & desires (& it emphasizes that it's really because we love our kids & want what's best for them)...my favorite line is:

"Don't be afraid to try new things, just wear HELMETs, pads & WATERWINGS!!"

Silly parents (me)--we have our agenda, but yet we also want our kids to SOAR!

A Baby's Day

Rise & shine, boy am I ready to get up...after sleeping from 7pm to 7:30am (well, I do like to have an early morning snack at 4:30am) I'm STARVED!

Wait a second, what is this stuff? Where's my milk?

Processing, thinking, swishing it around in my mouth...

The verdict: no go on this homemade brown rice yuck mush. They call this food??

However, I am ready to forgive & forget & practice my new trick while Mommy & I take the boys to school

This is what I get when Mommy exercises...do I look overstimulated or what? I think she plans it this way so I'll get sleepy, it won't work, I'll fight it....zzzzzzzzzz......

Hooray, I'm up & it's playtime! Hey--that bird is looking at me!

Look at me go!

Crash landing...I'm good at those

Ah, I love to be on my back after yet another nap...oh, I get SO close to rolling over, but I think I'll save it for another day

After my dinnertime (I'm so lucky, I get to eat before everyone else) bath time, my FAVORITE!

And, if I'm really lucky, I get to see my daddy before I snooze. Night night!

Our Creative family

FHE lesson last night was a re-enactment of the Alma the Younger conversion story. The scene: Alma the younger (Jaydon) pondering what Abinidi (Daddy) has to say while the guard (Jyson) tries to take him away. The boys chose the props according to their creative minds' definitions.

This is King Noah (minus the discarded crown) glaring at Abinidi for taking a picture of her/him.

Alma the Younger incognito (don't you remember the purple mask mentioned in the BOM?)

The guard of horror

Our charming upside-down baby. For some reason, she really likes this view of the world!

Sunday

Today…

Today is clear, deliciously cold, & sunny with only a dusting of snow left. I wondered yet again how the Amish feel about driving about in their horse & buggies on days like today…

Today the baby awoke cooing, drooling & happy to greet the sun…at 5:50 am (she was disappointed he wasn’t awake yet either)

Today Jyson peeled off all three layers of his jammie shirts, pants & socks in order to get dressed for church; giggling merrily as each layer was uncovered

Today the boys rushed through their hot cereal in order to partake of our tasty (yet healthy) breakfast cake

Today I didn’t sit still in church for more than 10 minutes: I lead the music in sacrament, fed the baby, played the piano in combined RS/Priesthood, left for Jaydon’s talk, went for my YW “teaching the theme song” session, lead choir, & ended with a finale round of “feed the babe”

Today Tony is doing his home-teaching on the last day of the month as a result of his companion’s ardent love for football (apparently, Indianapolis Colts are in the Super Bowl?)

Today I accidentally took my sports bra to church in my coat pocket. I wish I could say I didn’t pull it out amidst a few onlookers

Today Jaydon’s talk was flawless. No hiding from the audience, he looked up a few times & recited a good portion of it from memory! Proud & grinning, that was me.

Today a car with a very elderly couple & their handicap permit dangling in the window passed us on the freeway. No contest.

Today a friend from church suddenly insisted she should watch our children so Tony & I can go on a date this Friday

Today all I heard on the 30 minute drive home from church was soothing church music. Not one single note of 7 yr-old discord! The baby slumbers on, even now

Shhh…today maybe I’ll take a nap…………………..