Family Home Evening

'W' loves family home evening, especially when he is the lesson.  He loves to stand up in front of us all and tell us about how we should be kind and how we can be obedient.  Our family home evening chart has been invaluable as 'W' feels that each week it is his turn to be the lesson.  He is very sad, though, when it is not his turn for the lesson that we have resorted to having him and the person who’s turn it is to give the lesson both give us a lesson. This strategy has worked well, but now 'W' insists on being first.  I decided that we needed to draw the line, and let who’s ever turn it really is go first to give the lesson.

This past Monday, when it was time for the lesson and 'W' jumped up to give it first, I told him that it was 'A's turn first.  I then thought I would tell him that on our family home evening chart it read that he was “after A''”.  I pointed to the chart and said, “See, it says, “after 'A'”.

 This would be a good time to tell you that I have started teaching 'W' to read.  He is a smart little guy and is picking up on reading and sounding out words really fast.

Now back to the FHE story.  I was pretty proud of myself, being so clever and all, and we then went to proceed with 'A's lesson.  When suddenly 'W' went over to the chart and started to look for the ‘a’ sound for ‘after’.  When he quickly found out that there was no ‘after’ word, he called my bluff.  I then got a life lesson on trying to pull the wool over my three year old’s eyes.

A Birthday and Tummy Time

We celebrated 'D’s 6^th birthday this week.  For his presents he wanted a rock and stone dig set.  It basically is a block of hardened sand that there is rocks and gems inside.  There is a little hammer, pick and brush that you slowly dig the stones out with. 'D' did his ‘digging’ in the garage, and 'A' went out to check on his progress.  'A' said that 'D' would gently hammer a few strokes, dislodge a few grains of sand, brush them gently away, and then start the process over again.

'D' also wanted a watch, and is quite pleased that the watch he got is a ‘sports’ watch, and loves to show everyone that it states this fact right on the watch band. 

He is really into mazes right now.  We got him a book of mazes, and for his cake he wanted a maze drawn on the top which he could actually do.  I have a very talented friend who makes cakes, and made him his maze cake. 

As I watch 'D' in his interactions with his brothers, he is a great audience to them.  He is quick to laugh, which keeps 'A' and 'P' always eager to keep him laughing.  'D' is so kind and loves to teach 'W' how to do things.  He is so patient.  He brings the softness to all these boys.

'V' is a very happy baby, until I put her onto her tummy for tummy time.  On one such occasion, I placed her on her tummy, to which she loudly protested, when suddenly she rolled onto her back.  A huge grin spread across her face as she realized that she was now onto her back.  Thinking it was a fluke, I placed her back onto her tummy.  Again, she loudly protested.  But not 5 seconds later she was again on her back, and again had a huge smile on her face.  After repeating this ‘exercise’ for 6 more repetitions (place 'V' on her tummy, she loudly protesting, she then rolling to her back, finished with a huge smile spreading across her face) I finally gave up.    

Table Manners

In our house, teaching table manners is an every day battle.  We have accomplished having everyone sitting down for at least 3 minutes as the meal starts, and the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth have gotten a lot better when a meal that isn't a favorite is served. But just about everything else, we are still working on.

The other night, 'P' guzzled his juice down in about 5 seconds, and as he was placing his glass down out came an enormous belch.  This, of course, delighted all the brothers at the table, to which 'P' took as them saying, "Encore! Encore!"   Not wanting to let anyone down, he produced another quite excellent belch.  Stifling a giggle myself, I said, "'P', it's one thing to be silly and let a belch out, and it's quite another to be..." And before the word gross or rude or disgusting can come out of my mouth, 'A', in a proud sing-song voice, sang, "AWE-SOME!!"

There goes that manner lesson.

Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

Mini Vacations

Two years ago Troy and I went on a weekend trip to West Virginia.  It was beautiful and Troy loved the fishing.  He has wanted to take Andrew and Parker and do a long camping weekend since.  So on Thursday morning, they packed up and headed for the banks of the Cranberry River.  After hearing the report of the trip, I now present the following awards:

The award for retaining the most fishing flies goes to. . . Parker!  No matter where he snagged the fly, be it in a tree or under a rock, (his fly could even be left on the back bumper of the car during an hour car ride) Parker didn’t loose one fly.  Troy estimated between himself and Andrew there was about 15 flies lost.  Troy was glad he had the foresight to bring his fly tying supplies with him. 

And now for our next award.  The award for the biggest fish caught goes to. . . Andrew!  Again, from the report I got, Andrew caught a nice sized rainbow trout with a spin rod.  The fishing conditions were very tough.  The water was low and the water was crystal clear which makes presenting the fly tricky. But did this stop Andrew?  Not in the least. 

(Side note.  In the two hour report Troy gave me of the trip, he did not mention that Andrew caught the biggest fish.  It was only when I talked to Andrew I learned this fact.  Fishing pride runs deep when it comes to the biggest fish.)

And our final award is to the most patient father. . . Troy.  From having the tent door left open for a few hours and somehow only Troy had a bug infested sleeping bag to sleep in (earwigs crawling across his face as he was falling asleep), to having the plastic ends of the hot dog roasters left on while the boys were putting the roasters in the fire to clean them, to working tirelessly to get a fire started with wet wood, he pushed forward and didn’t throw in the towel (or the boys in the river). 

It was an awesome trip.

 

 

And while they were having their fun in West Virginia, I took Dylan, Weston and Vivian up to Michigan and we got to meet Sarah’s baby, Aubrey Rachel.  We had a lovely time feeding children, going to the park, going to see How to Train Your Dragon 2, and just enjoying each other.

On Saturday morning, the neighborhood Sarah and Mike live in had a bike parade. The neighborhood host the parade every year the weekend before the Fourth of July.  A fire truck leads the parade and a police car brings up the rear, and all the neighborhood kids decorate their bikes and follow the fire truck around the neighborhood.  Other neighbors stand outside and wave and cheer for the kids riding around.  The parade then ends at the park that Sarah’s house backs up to and they kids get to climb in the fire truck and sit in the police car.  They have games set up and watermelon to eat.  Such a fun summer time event.

(Weston and Ethan in the back of the police car, having a little to much fun.)

1 More Mintue!

Weston has always been one who needs to feel in control of his situation.  This skill will serve him well in his life, but at the tender age of 3, it can be a bit of a challenge to his mother.  Bed times, meal times, time to get in the car really fast because we are running late can quickly turn into a frustrating time for both Weston and I when he feels that it isn’t ‘time’ yet. But leave it up to Weston to come up with a solution to this problem.   For instance, when it is time for bed and he wants to watch a show or read another book or play with his toys and I have told him no, he now will say, “How about in the morning?”  With this solution, he goes to bed with the knowledge that he will get to do what he wants “in the morning”.  The other day, when I told him it was time to get his pj’s on, he said, “10 more minutes!”  I said, “No, it time to get them on.”  He replied, “How about 1 more minute?”  Before I could answer he counted to 1 and said, “Okay, now I’ll go get my pj’s on!” 

The fireflies have been making nightly appearances in the backyard, and I may sound like a romantic here, but there is something truly magical when the boys all go to the backyard and try to catch them.  As I stand by the house and watch them in the fading light darting around with an intense look as they stalk the firefly.  Then to see the smile spread wide on their face as they catch one.  It is a moment of complete joy to them.

Parker has been struggling to use the potty instead of going in his underwear. I am trying to bribe him with v-bucks but he won't listen to me. I think tomorrow I will sell him to a pet shop

Starting Summer

We have had a great first two weeks of summer.  Per tradition, we got a frozen yogurt at Orange Leaf on the first day of summer. We have discovered a new park that is like our favorite park in Utah. 

We purchased a slip n’ slide and it is a big hit.  Andrew and Parker, of course, are fearless with it.  They run full speed, flop onto their bellies, and slide to the end and even a few yards on the grass. Dylan, not quite so reckless, briskly walks, gingerly gets on his belly, and scoots a few inches.  But then is upset when he doesn’t get the same result as Andrew and Parker.  We had to help him gain a little more gusto in his brisk walk and now has achieved his desired results.  Weston, on the other hand, insists on getting a running start, from the front of the house.  He will start at the sidewalk at the front of the house, run full throttle to the slip n’ slide located in the back yard.  Then just before the slip n’ slide he comes to complete stop, gets in the perfect position on his knees, and slide a few inches.

At the beginning of the summer we made a list of things we wanted to do this summer. A big one for Dylan was to get an ice cream from the ice cream truck.  It was a pretty mild weather day on Friday, so I had the windows open.  The boys were all playing a very loud game, when Dylan suddenly shouted, “I hear the ice cream truck!”  The house went silent as we all strained our ears to hear the music coming from the truck.  No one else could hear it, but Dylan insisted that he had heard something.  He and Weston then ran outside and down the street to see if they could locate anything.  I sent Andrew out after them, and sure enough, 2 streets away, was the ice cream truck.  What a sight to see all four boys at the end of the driveway awaiting the truck.  Andrew picked a chocolate ice cream cone, Parker got a sour ice cream, and Dylan and Weston got a cotton candy flavored popsicle.  I also got a vanilla ice cream cone, but when Dylan discovered that the cotton candy wasn’t what he was hoping, Dylan offered to finish my ice cream for me.

Andrew and Parker are half way through their baseball season.  Andrew was excited that his coach was his fourth grade teacher.  They have both done really well and are improving a lot.  They both are often found in the backyard playing catch together. The minor league baseball team here hosted a Mormon night that Troy, Andrew, and Parker attended.  In Andrew’s words, “It was awesome.” 

Happy Birthday!

Today is the big '5' for 'D'.  He is our little lover, and can't get enough of us telling him how much we love him and how we love everything about him.

So it wasn't much of a surprise to me when few weeks ago he came to me with this song he had wrote and wanted us to sing to him on his birthday.  Here are the original lyrics:

"Happy Birthday, I really love you.
I love your birthday, and I really love your cake.
I really like your birthday.
And I really, really love you."

I know, I know.  So adorable.

But now picture this.  It's time for cake and ice cream.  We have some friends over for dinner, and I realize that if I don't sing this song, my sweet loving 5 year old will be crushed.  So I do my best to rally the brothers and my husband into singing this song with me.  But instead, (feeling more like Will Ferrell on "Elf" as he is singing to his dad. You know, when the dad thought "Buddy" was a singing telegram) I lovingly sing 'D's song.

Happy Birthday 'D'.  Did you know I really, really love you?