A Good Day

For all my posts about how hard my life is right now I thought I would record that we do have good days.  Today was one of those days.  A really good day.  We didn't "do" much - meaning we didn't leave the house or get dressed or anything really productive.  But we played.

I can't say exactly what was good about it - or what the formula was to ensure we have another good day tomorrow. Actually now that I am thinking about it I remember that it didn't start off wonderful - the boys woke up early - too early for Noah and he was really really whiny all morning.

I made everyone breakfast - 2 dunk eggs (fried eggs) and toast for Brock. 1 dunk egg, toast, and pancake with peanut butter and honey for Megan. 4 pancakes with peanut butter and syrup for Noah, and scrambled eggs and peaches for Madison.  Peaches and orange juice for everyone.  Everyone was happy and eat really well.  After I put Madison to bed we did a great activity that was very purposeful and had different developmental purposes for each child (I love those).  Then we went in the back yard and got out tools and "fixed" the kid's bikes.  Then, once Madison woke up we put on our swim suits and had an intense backyard water day.  I invited about 5 different families to come over - but as luck would have it NO ONE could come - it was just us.  Initially I was pretty bummed - but then I decided to get involved.  I put on my swimming suit and got soaked right along with the kids.  We chased each other with the hose, I went down the slide into the pool, ran through sprinklers, did the slip and slide, and played with water balloons. It kind of seemed like the world stopped spinning for a while, it was pure bliss.

We had lunch and all four napped - out of pure exhaustion.  During their nap I had time to clean up and had some time to do some studying.  I have started a journey to try and come closer to Christ and to understand and utilize the atonement in my daily life, not just for repentance, but to find a way to use it in my current stage of life.  I felt I had a good grasp of this at one point in my life - but currently it has become too abstract and distant to feel relevant.  I deeply desire to change that and gain more sure footing in my relationship with Christ.  I spent a good hour in the scriptures and reviewing my old journals, and writing in my current one.  I had a lot of inspirations and revelations.  It was a nap time well spent.

Brock woke up first.  I got to spend some precious one on one time with him.  Then Noah and Megan.  We made sugar cookies then got out all our play dough and tools and played some intense play dough.  Everyone was really creative and happy.  Once Madison woke up the older kids wanted to play the computer, so I played just with Madison.  This was particularly great because I have started weaning her and have cut two of her feedings, this has been emotionally hard for me - so getting one on one time with her during the day is a great bonus.  We mostly played with blocks, balls, and pretended to talk on the telephone (her new favorite thing - she says "hello").

I made dinner, everyone ate everything (perfect!), frosted the sugar cookies, had a family talent show when Jason got home, played back yard family games like "Red Rover, Red Rover" and" Red Light, Green Light", and all went to bed with out much of a fight.

It sounds like we did a lot, and we did.  But it was all pretty spontaneous and the mood throughout the day was just peaceful, fun, and stress free.  I wish I could put today in a bottle and keep it.   It was a good day.

Playing outside with Mads

Madison loves to play in our backyard.  She moslty loves it in the heat of the day.  I try to put her in shade - but she always moves her toys out into the sun.  She could spend hours out there going in and out of her car and pushing her stroller around (well pushing anything around that will move: pool, bikes, chairs, etc).  If I am holding her and walk out side to put something away and walk back inside she starts screaming and trys to push herself off of me.  

She is a lot like Brock in that she puts everything in her mouth - I know most babies do - but her and Brock did it a lot more than Megan and Noah.  Brock still does.  These two pictures look a lot like me when I was a baby, right mom? - she is the first child of mine to look anything like me.  I hoped at least one would.

This is how she pushes her stroller - from the front. I swear she has walked a mile pushing this thing. 


 Then one day she stood up.

She stood for about a month or so.  Now she is stepping.  She is up to about 6 steps.   

Sometimes when Madison and Megan are playing in the back yard or around the house I think about how differently their baby-hood/childhood is form Brock and Noah - having this house, backyard, and all the toys.  Brock and Noah could not just go outside and crawl around on grass when ever they wanted too.  I had to take them down three flights of stairs - and even then it was mostly just a parking lot to play on.  Their  most of their outside time was standing on the windowsill looking out the window or playing on our dirty dirty balcony.  Their "play" area in our apartment was about 6 feet by 6 feet.  And that was it.  These girls are living the high life compared to the "sacrifices" their brothers went through to get us here.  I hope they appreciate it! 

Aaron

We had our nephew, Aaron, stay with us for a week.  His dad had to move to Arkansas to start a new job and his mom was finishing up her Masters at BYU - so I offered to take him so she could focus.  They are all now happily in Arkansas together - we will miss them.  But we had a BLAST with Aaron here.  

He was so good it was hardly any extra work and the boys loved having him.  They all played together so good.

They are all dressed in the same color because I took them somewhere and I wanted to be able to spot them all easy - I figured "hunting" orange was a good choice.

Brocks friend birthday

 Brock had a last minute, easy going friend party.  Summer/spring birthdays are great because a friend party can be thrown together with a pool, sprinkler, and some squirt guns.

This year we had Wes, Kaden, Brad, Logan, and Parker. and London.

He got A LOT of super hero things - they know my son well.

I did the same spiderman cupcakes as last year - I need to be more creative - but that is what he wanted.

We got our backyard "tree house" the day before his birthday party (I scored it on KSL).  I am so glad we did - it was a big hit and really added to the squirt gun play.

Megan and Brock's birthdays

Wow, I can't believe it took me so long to do a post about Brock and Megan's birthdays (April).  Their birthday's are just 6 days apart so we did a joint birthday this year.  I had intended on doing two cakes - one for Brock and one for Megan.  Megan was very sure that she wanted an iron man cake.  After I was positive that she knew exactly what she wanted - and Brock wanted Spiderman (again) I decided to do just one super hero cake. 

And she loved it!  

Megan turned two - although I naturally think of her as much much older.  Sometimes it seems as though I have triplets. She thinks that she is the same age as her brothers and wants to do everything they can do.  The weird thing is... she can.  She can climb on anything they can, she can run, jump, wrestle, and be just as crazy as they can.  My sister once described her as "able", and she is very "able", she is fearless and crazy but knows her limits and is responsible in her craziness. She is extremely verbal.  She can talk, and talk, and talk.  This started at around 16 months.  She loves to read books, but mostly having them read to her.  She is a great singer.  She sings all the words to all of her songs and is very precise about it.  She loves her primary songs (Popcorn, Wise Man, and I am a Child of God), Rubber Duckie, and a song that Shiny sings on Dinosaur Train "I Like to Sing so Free".  But her Favorite song is "Come Thou Fount" but she calls it "Streams of Mercy".  She loves to play with Play Dough - that is her every day (several times a day) go-to activity.  She isn't really into learning her letters much.  By the time my boys were two they knew almost all their letters and sounds, her brain seems to be more wired to math.  She can build things with the precision of Brock.  She can build the train tracks and have them all connect and curve the right way and not fall off the train table.  She follows the directions to build a functioning marble tower (that is something I struggle with :).    

Brock had to get some super hero moves in with his super hero cake.

Brock turned 5 this year.  That to me is crazy.  He is turning into a kid and it is wonderful.  He is the best oldest child any one could ever ask for.  He loves his siblings so much and takes care of them all day.  He is always very aware of them and if they are happy or sad and tries to help in what ever way he can.  He is very excited for Kindergarten and has been counting down the days for about 4 months. He is wanting to take on more and more responsibility around the house.  Wants to make everyone's sandwiches for lunch and be in charge of making dinner or changing the laundry.  He is starting to read and write well and is writing words phonetically and just wants to sound things out rather than have me tell him how to spell it.  Although he does get frustrated easily and just wants to stop when he doesn't know how to do something.  This summer he is learning how to swim and ride a two wheeler.  his athleticism is still astounding.  He is very excited for soccer this fall, we got him in a different league that I think will be better (4 on 4), he just started basketball and loves it, and he makes sure we "practice" with his mit everyday to learn to catch. 

April is a hard month on Noah.  Like I said earlier - these three are more like triplets - and Noah in April he get's pretty left out.  He wanted his picture next to the Super Hero cake.  He is so sweet though ,and did much better this year than last.  He bought both of them presents and was really excited to give them to them.

My picture taker took a lot of blurry pictures - but they were too cute to not post.

 Megan loved opening her presents.  And thought it all was "cute".

 Brock got soccer cleats and a baseball mit.  He LOVES them and jumped right up off the ground when he opened them. 

 And a back pack. He calls it a pack pack and it makes my heart melt.  I don't want to correct him because it represents his innocence and a pure little boy not quite ready for kindergarten.  I know we have to tell him it's a back pack and as soon as he calls it that it will be like he crossed some sort of thresh hold in my mind - and be a big kid with a back pack - but for one more month he is my little Brock with a pack pack.

 Megan got a few "girly" toys from her grandparents and aunt.  She uses them a lot - but it is funny in our house their isn't much a difference between girl and boy stuff.  They all just play with everything together.  

Happy birthdya Brock and Megan.  We love you both so much!

Mother's day and Father's day

Jason had to work most the day on Mother's day so I decided to forego having Mother's Day on Sunday and celebrate it one a day when he wold be home all day.  So my "real" mothers day was the Friday after Mother's Day.  Well, actually I had already gotten my Mothers Day present the week before.  See, I had been carrying around a "spring cleaning to-do" list since March and very slowly checking things off the list (and by very slowly meaning not at all).  I made a comment to Jason that while I was in Boise he could do my whole list and that would be my Mother's Day gift... he said he would clean a few things but felt my WHOLE list was ridiculous and unnecessary, at best.  Then in Boise he said he couldn't find my list and acted as if he had given up, because he "didn't know what to clean" and was just going to buy me a Mother's Day present instead.  I was a little annoyed, who can only clean if they "have a list"? - a 14 year old, that's who.

Well I came home from Boise to my WHOLE LIST being checked off.  And this was a MASSIVE list, people.  Like cleaning all ceiling fans, blinds, base boards, clean out and sweep garage, vacuum under all furniture, etc. Our house sparkled, Jason is a great cleaner - better than me - when he wants to be.  He is so tricky.  I was so so happy. 

Well, on (Sunday) Mother's day I dressed me and the kids all matchee.  I had mentioned before that the girl's didn't have any matchee clothes.  My friend Karli loaned us these cute Sailor Dresses and the girls finally fit in them.  

I was unable to get a successful picture.  But they sure looked cute.

Father's day was kind of a bust this year.  It started out great.  On Saturday we went to Jason's parent house for some awesome swimming and an amazing dinner.  Then on Sunday the kids and I made some cards and a great breakfast for him.  But then at church Brock got really sick and we all ended  up leaving right after Sacrament, I ended up taking him to instacare and found out he had strep.  The rest of our plans were canceled - Jason is not really into things like holiday's and birthday's anyways so he didn't care - but I felt really bad.

Quick family outing

Jason met us at the zoo one evening after work to see the new bear exhibit.  Very cool.

As you can see all four of them loved looking into the water.

Evening family outings are one of my favorites.

A Little Family History

One of my favorite family traditions is going to the graves on Memorial Day.  It think it is a tradition not always honored any more in our society.  It has always been a strong tradition in in my extended family thanks to these two: 

My grandma and grandpa Brown lovingly take flowers from their gardens to all of their families grave site and clean them up.

I actually really saw for the first time this year the love that goes into it.  Especially from my grandpa.  He spent a very long time cleaning up and taking care of the graves of his wife's deceased extended family.  I watched him tend to those grave sites and thought about his motives.  I think that shows a great deal of love, respect, and honor.  He is a good man, my grandpa.

We are "that" family that sits in the cemetery and tells stories.  It is wonderful and really carries a strong sweet spirit of family and unity.  I guess this is part of what they mean when they say "turning the hearts of the children to their fathers".  I can tell stories about my great grandparents that I have never met.  I love that.

 This is my grandpa's grandparents.

They lost four children and they are all buried right underneath them.  Two of their children that died were older (like 7 and 14) - my heart ached for them.  They lost 4 children at separate time of their lives.  As a mother now, my heart sunk when I saw my poor great great grandmothers four children that she buried. 

 This is my grandpa's parents.  They died before I was born, but my mother was very close to them, so I feel a kinship.  They lived right up the street from my grandparents and my mom growing up (I am told it was a lot like "Everybody Loves Raymond" - so there are a lot of funny stories.)

 My grandma's little brother died when he was 17 in a car accident.

This is my grandma's parents.  I knew my great grandmother well.  We called her "Great".  She died when I was a junior in high school.  She came to the graves a lot, and in her old age she was so funny (I think confused is the correct term).  One year I remember she thought that people had just died and we were at their burial, she morned their loss all over again.  It was really sad, kinda funny too.  She was so sad for her little Ricky, and her husband (he had died about 30 years before and she was always so mad that he had "left her" and "hadn't come and got her yet".)  One year she was sad because she thought one of her other sons Nels, had died and we were at his grave.  We told her Nels was still alive, that made her happy.

 These are my grandma's grandparents.  He had two wives, but not at the same time.  My "real" great great grandma died when my great grandma was about two and the family was in Chicago.  They brought the body here (they were coming from Norway to join the saints in Salt Lake City) and buried her in the City Cemetery.  Her husband soon remarried (in Salt Lake) and she raised all the children.

We have adopted this grave site into our family.  We don't know who she is (names are rubbed out) - but she is right next to my great great grandparents.  When my great grandma was a little girl her and her sisters would go to their mothers grave they would have a contest see who could cry first or cry the hardest.  This statue made them so sad and they noticed no one ever came and visited her - they figured she would want someone to be sad she had died, so they would take a few minutes and cry for her every time.  They called her the "weeping woman". (Young girls are so dramatic... can't wait:)  We continue to visit her each time.

This last one is my uncle.  He died suddenly almost 4 years ago.  His presence and memory are still very tangible.  It is funny because I couldn't say me and my uncle were particularly close, we saw each other a lot, but.... you know... didn't have a lot to talk about I guess.  But I can honestly say I felt a draw to him my whole life and after his death I learned that his opinion meant a lot to me.  I remember wanting his approval.  I really respected him.  I still find my self wondering what he would think about something or react to something.  He is very very missed.

 

I shared this tradition with my boys this year.  They did very good resisting their urge to climb on every grave stone.  I hope they can learn to love their heritage and ancestry like I have.  I think it is a strong part of who I am and who I decided I wanted to be.  I feel that I have a deep heritage of faithful, strong women and I can distinctly remember as a teenage girl knowing that I wanted to draw strength from them and follow in their tradition.  I want to pass that on to my children.