Brock Turns 10!

Brock is now 10 years old.  Sometimes that seems very fitting and sometimes I have to stop and catch my breath when I think about how fast everything is going.  My mom once told me the first 10 years of motherhood went by slowly and the last 10 went in the blink of an eye.  I hope that isn't true - but I know it will be.  I know in the blink of an eye he will be gone.  

But... TODAY he is here and he is wonderful!!  Brock is everything an oldest child/big brother should be.  In fact he may very well be the best human being I have met.  He is more compassionate, caring, sharing and responsible than me or Jason most days.  His FIRST thought is always for other people, always.  

We had a glow in the dark soccer night party.  It was planned for a Friday evening but due to weather we made a last minute decision to move to it Saturday.  It was a hard call - but the decision was completely up to him.

Cameron, Simon, Lucas, Emerson, Finn, Lincoln, Brock, Andrew, Dillon, Even, JJ, Noah

He wanted an ice cream cake.  It was still cold outside from the bad weather the day before - so we all had coats and hats on - but they still loved the ice cream cake - we had hot chocolate as well!

The cake was AMAZING - I don't feel bad saying that becasue I hardly "made" it.  It was from one of those sped up videos on Facebook.  It is just ice cream sandwiches layered on top of each other with caramel and chocolate sauce in between frosted with whip cream.  SO easy and SO good - and it LOOKED amazing!  I ah all these little 10 year olds impressed!

I can't believe I didn't take ANY pictures of the soccer playing part.  It was really cool.  I bought a glow in the dark ball and glow in the dark cones and got 2 different colors of glow bracelets and necklaces (for the 2 different teams).  It turned out really cool.  (Madison played - we thought she wouldn't be able to keep up and would just play for a minute - oh boy were we wrong - not only did she keep up but she made some awesome plays as well!)

I was also SO happy to have my mom in town - she was such a great help.  I forget how much easier life is having family around.

Tukka Family

A few friends and I have been "cultural mentoring" a refugee family from Ethiopia the last 6 months.  It has definitely been a growing experience for us.  What I have been most amazed about though is the kids willingness to  help.  None of the members of the family speak any English - but my kids seem to be really comfortable around them - especially the girls.  Madison has been the most exposed because she is with me when I go during the day.  She loves the Tukka family.  One day we were driving in the car listening and the radio was on; the news came on and talked about Trump's refugee ban, Madison picked up on it quickly and said, "oh no - Trump wants to get rid of the Tukka's?"  I explained that the Tukka's were already here and that they get to stay but he doesn't want to let anymore in for a while - she couldn't understand it.  "Why?"  She kept asking.  "They are so nice and happy to be here."  For the next little while she would tell people that "Trump doesn't want the Tukka's here and the Tukka's are our friends".  

For our last "official" day with them we did a neighborhood clean-up.  When I first took the kids to the Tukka's neighborhood the FIRST thing they noticed was all the trash on the ground.  It was actually Noah's idea to teach them how to clean it up.  They have been in a refugee camp for 17 years and don't know a lot about sanitation.  Plus it is great to teach civic duty and some environmentalism - plus just keeping  your own home and yard nice.  

A few days before was Megan's birthday and she had gotten a scooter that was too small (for little kids) - she had decided she wanted to take it back to the store and get one her own size.  I put it in the car so we could stop at the store on the way home from the Tukka's.  When we got there Megan saw her scooter and said she wanted to give it to the Tukka's.  I explained that she wasn't going to get another scooter and that she didn't have to.  She really really wanted to.  Well the scooter came in pieces and the instructions were pretty complicated - I didn't think the dad could put it together so we set it up - the boys were REALLY into it.  They felt so proud of themselves for building that little girl a scooter.  Then Maddie took the little girl out and was trying to teach her how to ride it.  She was showing her by example and explaining and would even take her little foot and try to show her how to "scoot" it was very sweet.

Then we went and played at their local park.

Grandma Hanna Visits

My mom came out to visit for a weekend in April to spend some time with us and watch Brock and Madison play soccer. We were praying for good weather becasue the last 2 seasons she came out to watch  them play we had rain outs.  We were blessed with nice weather.  We loved having her here!

Blue and Gold and Brock's a Weeblo

We had our blue and gold banquet for cub scouts.  It is so fun having both our boys in Cub Scouts together.  Brock got his Bear award and is now a Weeblo.  Which is weird for me because when I was in Cub Scouts I had the bears and I remember feeling like they were so old and when they became Weeblos - well they were basically young men at that point.  I remember imagining what Brock would be like as a Weeblo.  This growing  up thing is strange.

Truth is I am not a very good Cub Scout mom.  But I love scouts and really wanted my boys to all have their Eagle.  My heart broke a little this week when the church pulled out of the scouting program.  My only solace is that I know it broke president Monson's heart a million times more.  I know how much he loves The Boy Scouts and it helps me to know this church is led by God and not men becasue NONE of those men wanted to pull out of Scouts.  I still hope that they can both be Eagles anyways.

Easter

On Sunday morning we woke up to a house full of hidden Easter eggs (except in the chaos of Megan's birthday party we never dyed eggs - a fact the children are STILL reminding me of and asking when we are going to dye Easter eggs).  

Jason had to go out of town for a business trip later that morning - so our Easter became kind of a bust after the hunt. 

And that's it - I never got picture of them in their Easter Sunday outfits or anything.  We went to church and then went to a friends house for dinner.

To be honest it wasn't especially Christ centered Easter. Easter was kind of an after thought this year with Megan's birthday (and Brock's later that week).  Since both Brock and Megan were born Easter has always been in March which gave me plenty of time to focus on it and make it much more Christ centered - but having it smack dab in the middle of birthday week (when both of them got birthday parties that year) I kind of dropped the ball.  In the grand scheme of things I am grateful we have a Christ centered home and Christ is part of our everyday conversations and we have good habits of daily family prayer and scripture study and for primary teachers who were able to refocus their attention on the true meaning of Easter.

Megan Turns 7!

Megan's birthday happen to fall ON Easter this year - how thrilling!  She decided to capitalize on this opportunity and have an Easter themed birthday party on Saturday complete with an Easter Egg hunt.

I kept meaning to take a picture of all the plastic filled eggs - but didn't (boo) - we had 250 plastic filled Easter eggs.  It was the boys' job to hide them.  

We made Easter necklaces

And had an Easter egg cake.

Played a balloon game, and did the bunny hop!

We invited 25 friends!  But since it was the day before Easter only 15 could come.  They made their necklaces while we waited for everyone to come.

Then we had the hunt!

Megan is the  best!  She is sweet and helpful and creative.  Currently she loves art and is taking art classes.  She loves begin my helper and says she can't wait to be a teenager so she can do everything that I can do. She is my morning rock star - she wakes up by herself gets completely ready and gets all of her jobs done way before anyone else (sometimes before anyone else wakes up).  She helps me pack lunches, get backpacks ready, and always makes sure we have our morning scripture story and prayer.  She is loving school and has a great group of friends.  She loves being a big sister to Madison - but LOVES having 2 big brothers.  She basically rocks!