Just Boys

I would say that 98% of the time I LOVE being a mom of boys...the only time I don't is when Easter dresses and Christmas dresses hit the stores and it tugs my heart strings a little that I don't get to shop for those, or prom dresses, or wedding dresses...but with boys like these...life is too sweet to be sad about that for more that just a few split seconds!!

I told Michael to show me how excited he was to earn his wolf and arrows...he was very excited :) and loves scouts!!

This is Thomas working on a big pile of homework...he had forgotten his folder at school the day before so he had LOTS to do...you'll notice that he has an icepack on his head...his brain was getting hot :)

Well, there really are no words needed to explain this one...Just to say that this shirt is PERFECT for him :) and yes he is full of that much mischief :)

I love being a mom of boys...especially THESE boys!! They are the BEST!!

Random Thoughts

I've been to busy to do the blog post I want to do, so here are a few tidbits to tide you over :)

Last night Thomas was saying his prayers and said "thank you for our house so we don't have to live outside like crazy bugs" (yep tried not to laugh)


Yesterday they were showing a news story about the fires in Herriman...Michael turns to me and says, "Those fires were started by a machine gun?! Well, now I know never to shoot a machine gun, that's dangerous" (I think starting a fire might be the least of the danger!)

My life is good :)

A Spring Math Problem

10 Pretty little rows of planted peas
+ 2 boys
+ 1 hose =




-They had been planted for 3 days

-To their credit...the boys didn't know I had planted anything there

-When I pointed the floating seeds out to Michael he said he thought they were Kix

-I did not yell (or scream, or cry)

-There's a special reward in heaven for moms of boys right?! (please don't tell me if there's not...I survive believing this delusion)

Budding Artists :)

I've been wanting to hang some artwork on the wall in my bathroom for quite awhile...but I could never decide just want I wanted...so one day I had this idea and thought.."why not"

I bought some 11x14 blank canvases and acrylic paint in the colors I wanted and let Michael and Thomas paint some pictures for me!

The only rules they had were not to mix the colors, and to make something that would look nice and that we all would want to look at

Here are the results...

This one is by Michael. It says "Family Stays Together Forever" I thought I liked it better before he put the word on it, I was wrong!


This is the second picture he painted...it definately makes my "happy" when I see it. Notice his signature in the bottom corner...a true artist!!



This is one of Thomas' paintings..Flowers in a rainstorm. It matches the other flowers we have in the bathroom really well.


This is his other painting. Of course you can tell it's a horse because it says "Nay" just like a horse! And wow...check out that signature at the top...he signed it so carefully and in cursive to boot!! (his signature on the other picture is between the two flowers)


Here's what they look like all together on the wall...

I love them!!!

Such a fun project!!

Not expensive...but PRICELESS!!

Christmas 2009...A picture is worth 1000 words

There are so many pictures to share of Chrismas Eve and Christmas, I decided to try posting them a new way (click on the collages to make them bigger) I tried making a slide show...but I can't figure that out apparently!

I'll keep the words short...just enjoy the pictures for what they are

CHRISTMAS EVE

Check out these cute babies watching Grandma's train

New Jammies for all, and getting ready for Santa!!

CHRISTMAS MORNING

oh so much anticipation and excitement!!

Grandma Dever came and we had lots of fun (but mom forgot to take pictures...grandma Dever did though...maybe she'll send us some and I can add them) But even without pictures, it was one of the best parts of our day!! We really loved sharing our chrismas morning with her!!

Then it was up to Grandma& Grandpa Walkers...Thomas waited patiently for his turn, and Robert really liked playing with curly ribbon!!

The funnest part of the trip to grandma's was the surprise she had waiting for us...

First we had to line up...

Then we had to listen to the rules...


Then we were surprised with new toys and even more presents to unwrap!!

This was the level of excitement with each opening... (and when we were down to three presents left...they knew they were for Gavin, Hayden, and Ethan...come up soon and see the new toys guys!!)

Then there was only one present left...?what to do?...Grandma had a great idea...EVERYONE open it at once (I thought for sure she was crazy...but it was FUN!!)

All in all a GREAT Christmas was had and Thomas told me today as soon as spring summer and fall are over...it's time for Christmas again...I think I'll need that long to recover!!

I love Saturdays!!

I got to sleep in until 7:30 because my kids were busy doing this...

Then the cutest 7 year old boy in the neighborhood shoveled my walks...

Good day!

White Shirts

As I ironed white shirts this morning, my mind wandered back to a thought I had a couple of weeks ago, and decided to record it here.

Like many sunday mornings, I had spent a good chunk of time ironing shirts (I know I know, Saturday is the special day we should get ready for Sunday...I'm working on it) On this particular sunday I ironed a white shirt for each of my boys (from Robert to Dave) As we sat in church that day and I looked down the row at all of them with freshly pressed creases in their white shirts...I got a little lump in my throat and thought of how many times I would be ironing white shirts for these boys (and the two years when they would have to do it on their own)

Instead of being overwhelemed at the amount of work that would be...I was overcome with gratitude for the opportunity to some day have so many worthy priesthood holders in my home. (And a little overwhelmed at the responsibility I have to raise these boys to be worthy to hold that Holy Priesthood.) I am also grateful to have the biggest of my boys (you know it's true Dave!) already hold the priesthood worthily in my home...it is something I rely on a lot and hope to never take for granted. I am a blessed woman. Bring on the white shirts!!

These are the moments...

There are lots of things I need to blog about...but I was able to catch this moment on film tonight and wanted to share it.

One of the best things about having kids is the frienship that develops between siblings...I'm always surprised how fast it happens. Robert loves every minute he can spend with Michael. I'm glad he has such a good big brother to look up to and learn from.

(and Robert has learned to react to the camera...everytime I took a picture this is what he did the quiet beep of the focus made him look up and smile every time...silly boy!!)

Fall Fun

Nothing beats playing in a pile of leaves!!

First they threw leaves in the air...

Then they decided throwing them at things were more fun...

First Mom...

Then Dad :)

Sure was a fun afternoon!!!

Poor Tooth Fairy...

She's gonna be broke!! The other top tooth is loose too. This is his third and he's only in Kindergarten!!

(remember when a dollar made you so excited?)

The First Days of School 2009

****Warning....this is a long post...feel free to skip most of it, but check out the pictures and video (you can click on the pictures to make them bigger)***



*******************

Well..it's that time of year again...time for early bedtime, homework, and having to get ready in the morning instead of staying in jammies all day!!

Michael started 2nd grade this year. He is so excited and seems like an old pro at this school stuff. He was ready to go back!!

He got to ride in a private bus with his cousins the first morning (alright..you got me...it was Sherry's van! Think anyone's excited much!!)

Michael promised that he would let me take a picture of him in his classroom, but when we got there his nerves got the best of him and he didn't want me to. I took one anyway :) Next year I probably won't even get this much!! ( I just noticed when I posted this that his name is spelled wrong...maybe I'd better go check his folder)

They had a short day but it seemed like forever until the bus got there (it didn't help that it was 20 minutes later than I expected!!

He had to wave to all his friends when he got off the bus, then he saw me and posed for a proper picture :) When did my boy get so grown up?!?!

Thomas was NOT happy that Michael got to go and he had to wait a whole week for his turn!!! He did get to go the next day to meet his teacher. He was so excited, but disappointed that it didn't mean he got to go to school the next day. (I thought it was cute that they both had frogs)



Finally the big day came. He was so excited to start KINDERGARTEN (in fact, in the picture he was saying "I'm going to KINDERGARTEN"



I drove him to school, and he was at least 5 steps ahead of me the whole way there.



He quickly found his hook, turned in his homework folder, and got to work...



It was time for me to leave, then the tears started. They were mine...not his!!! I have been having such a hard time sending him to Kindergarten. By the time I got back to the car I was seriously sobbing!! (I really have been crying for weeks whenever I thought about it)

I don't know if it's that he was my baby for so long, and I have some concerns about him, so I am overprotective...or that I have gone through this before with Michael and I know that this is the beginning of him not needing me so much, or just what it is exactly...

It's hard when their teacher has them for more time during the day than I do!! Speaking of which...I know that part of the problem I'm having with sending him to school is that he is going to an all day Kindergarten class.

When I first heard about it, I didn't want it at all. Thomas still takes a nap almost every day, and I was really looking forward to sending him to school in the morning and having him come home, eat lunch, then take a nap. I didn't even want to think about him being gone all day.

Then it was suggested that it might be good for him, so he was evaluated to see if he qualified as "at risk" (which is why they have the program) He didn't even come close to qualifying...but his name was drawn out as one of the "model" children. (they have some "at risk" kids then other children who don't struggle to be examples for them...imagine my son a "model child") I really struggled with the decision to let him be in this class or not.

After praying, crying, and talking to the teacher about what they did in the class, I decided that it would be good for him. So my 5 year old is at school all day, having 3 recesses, and lunch at school...just like the big kids!!

I hope I've made the right decision (when I found out all he ate today was a trix yogurt, cookie, and milk for lunch...and he was so tired and grouchy that he wouldn't touch his dinner and went to bed sobbing, I'm not so sure!...but that's a whole other topic)

He came home from the first day so happy!!! He LOVED everything about school and LOVED the bus ride!! (he sat by his cousin Katelyn and when the bus started moving he told her "Katelyn...this is going to be AWESOME"

In fact...he didn't want to get off the bus:) but he eventually did



When we went through his backpack, he was so excited to show me what he had done. He had a little folder that said "I Can Read on My First Day of Kindergarten" Inside was a book he had colored and he sat down and "read" it to me.

Here he is "reading" his book


He was so excited to show Daddy that he could read just like Michael!! That made my heart just jump with joy!!

Robert sure missed his big brothers that day though. If you watch the video again and listen in the background, you can hear him laughing...I think he laughed for like 30 minutes after they got home. Everything they did was just so funny to him.

I'm kind of having a hard time with them being gone. Funny how they drive me so crazy I need to get away from them to regain my sanity...but when they're both gone...I hardly know what to do with myself. Hopefully things will smooth out over the next couple of weeks and we'll get back into the swing of things (and hopefully I'll stop crying whenever I think about Thomas in Kindergarten!!)

All in all though, the first day was a success!! I also forgot to mention how thankful I was to my wonderful husband for giving my boys such beautiful blessings on the night before they started school. Thanks sweetie!!

SURPRISE!!

THOMAS LOST A TOOTH!!!

Yes he is barely 5 years old, nope...he hasn't started Kindergarten yet (sigh...see why I'm having a hard time with my kids and them growing up lately...they're doing it TOO FAST!!)

He came up to me last Friday and told me he had a wiggly tooth. I smiled to myself and said to him "wow, you do, come show me!!" (I was sure there was no wiggly tooth and that this was just the start of the wishing and hoping to have a wiggly tooth that starts about now) To my surprise...he not only had a wiggly tooth...it was almost ready to come out!!!

He played with it and played with it and by Saturday it was DEFINATLY ready to come out. He wanted Grandma to pull it and we had to rush up to her house to make sure she got to pull it and that it didn't just fall out on it's own and get swallowed!!

Well, we made it, he was a little shocked at the actual pulling, but it was quick and pretty much painless. He made a little envelope and placed his tooth outside his bedroom door so the tooth fairy could easily find it.

She did find it and brought him something extra special for his first tooth...it was 2 I SPY books, and a DOLLAR!! ...Unfortunately, big brother got to the loot first and tried to show it to Thomas while he was asleep so that he could look at the books himself....that won't happen again (I hope) and Thomas may hide his next tooth under his pillow so that only he can get it in the morning!!

Here's Thomas showing you where the tooth was (and his nice orange tongue from the popsicle he just ate :) He's so proud of his missing tooth...And I'm proud of him...he's such a smart, fun boy!!!

LOVE YOU THOMAS!!

Thomas' Birthday

Thomas was very excited to turn 5 this year. I on the other hand had some reservations...I am having a hard time with my kids growing up :(

We surprised him with a room full of orange balloons on the morning of his birthday (Which was April 19th...I know, I know...better late than never). He was so excited and they had a lot of fun with the balloons.


We then had his birthday breakfast...Blueberry muffins, bacon, and orange juice...for future reference...when you put candles in hot muffins...they melt.


His favorite color is Orange. I've honestly never known a child who really loves their favorite color so much. If orange is a choice...he'll take it, toy, fruit snack, crayon, vitamin, the list goes on and on...

So of course, for his birthday...he requested an Orange birthday party...He wanted a cake with sprinkles and a big orange T (he is also excited about learning this year...he loves everything that has to to with letters, numbers or colors) so his cake had to have his favorite letter and favorite color...and the candle he picked out MONTHS ago at the grocery store.

So...who am I do disappoint?!



I love that a few orange balloons, some orange crepe paper and some orange frosting is all it takes to make my boy happy.

Then of course there were the presents...Another good thing about being 5 is that you are as excited about a box of fruit snacks as you are about the orange camera you've been wishing for for 2 months :)



Except when you're a 5 year old boy...the cute summer clothes that Grandma gave you get tossed to the side (literally) without hardly any acknowledgement. (he really did sigh and toss them to the side...LOL) Maybe if they were orange instead of red and blue he would have cared more...probably not :) wait...if they were underware he would have cared...because underware are VERY funny when you're 5!!



We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the new toys and the yummy cake (see the pie at the bottom...that is a delectible strawberry rubarb pie that the adults got to enjoy with homemade vanilla ice cream...YUMMY!!!...but the cake was good too I was told:)



The new camera was (and still is) a BIG hit...I highly recommend it...picture quality isn't great...but he has stopped playing with mine and has so much fun with all the features (more than my camera has)




I LOVE YOU THOMAS!!
let's take this year of being 5 slow...PLEASE!!