Siblings

Sorry for the long post but this is my main journal, and I'm hoping it will mean something to my kids someday. Watching my kids interact with each other has been one of the most exciting things about parenthood for me. I am so glad that my kids will always have each other, and it is amazing to see them becoming such good friends. We are really working to teach our kids to put each other and family first and to build up those relationships. Sometimes our lessons are received better than others. It just dawned on Luke a while ago that I don't have any brothers or sisters and his comment was that it "must have been pretty boring." I don't know about boring...my childhood was very happy, but I definitely would have liked siblings and I think my kids are pretty lucky.


Luke is a good big brother. He is quite a tease (wonder where that comes from?) and that can be a problem. During November and December his tormenting became excessive and so did Seth's reaction to it. I was getting a little frustrated. I'm happy to say now that things have changed for the better. Luke and Seth have always had tons of fun playing together but now Luke is really making an effort to get along. I see him sharing some of his favorite stuff, and teaching Seth, and just taking good care of him. He's definitely the mastermind of their playing and Seth is his trusty sidekick. I love to hear them laughing together...unless it's bedtime! Next year when Luke is gone all day will be a shock to both of them.

That top picture is after Luke's class Valentine's party. It was best dress. He told me I was his valentine, and he immediately came home and started sharing all of his treats with his brothers. His gifts included a pencil each for Seth and Ian so he could "teach them to write when they are bigger." He also spent lots of time making Valentines for everyone in the family.


This guy is my gentle giant. He is such a big, strong kid, but he's very soft hearted. It's easy to hurt his feelings and get that bottom lip quivering even if you don't mean to. He also likes to show lots of teeth in pictures right now. He wants to do absolutely everything "Lukey" does. This morning when Luke and Jer left to go skiing he was totally devastated...major bawling. We all felt bad but Luke felt the worst. He was telling Seth he could come next time and kept hugging him and telling him sorry. By the time Luke left he had tears in his eyes and was feeling horrible about leaving his brother. They really are sweet kids. Now before you think it's one big hug fest around here I assure you we still have our fair share of wrestling, chasing, teasing...you name it!

If Seth doesn't want Ian to play with something he simply holds it above his head. He also has started teasing Luke, and if he has something Luke wants he'll say "ha, ha, ha." I have to laugh inside at that one.

On a sidenote I sent Seth to take Ian's dirty clothes to the hamper the other day and realized a few minutes later I could hear him in the laundry room. He put Ian's clothes in the washer and started it! He had it set on "silk" and actually got it going which was kind of impressive. When I found him he looked a little sheepish and simply told me he was washing Ian's clothes.

Watching the boys with Ian is the best. Everyone in our family pretty much melts when it comes to him. Luke is an awesome helper and Seth really is too. Luke is always telling me that Ian is the "cutest one in our family."

Watching these boys grow up together is awesome, and I really do feel so blessed. I know it sounds crazy to some people, but I would actually love to have another baby if that miraculously happened. Luke is always saying we need a sister and he doesn't want me to be the only girl in the family. I tell him not to get his hopes up.

He and I had quite the conversation the other day about Seth's adoption. We have always told him Seth is adopted but grasping what that means is hard. I was taking Luke to the eye doctor and the little boys were at my neighbor's house. He asked me about a million questions including this one, "did Seth give his other mom a hug and a kiss before he left?" I assured him that Seth's birthparents gave him lots of hugs and kisses and tried to explain to him how much they love Seth and how hard it was. He doesn't understand it all yet but it's a beginning. He was also very concerned and asked me if Seth was really part of our family and if he would have to go away. I had the chance to remind him about our temple sealing (which he doesn't really remember), and he was very relieved. To him it doesn't matter where Seth came from he just knows he's his brother. I'm sure we will have lots of similar discussions with Seth and the other kids over the years, and I'm praying we will know what to say. Hopefully how much we all love Seth will mean more than words can really explain.

I attempted to get a shot all together, but it was a little bright and they all acted like moles seeing the sun for the first time. I took about five and none were any better than this...Ian in particular was not having it!

Puke and Play

I couldn't think of a title for this post but since we've done some of both this past week it seemed fitting. It all started with a call from Luke's school last Thursday letting me know he was sick. Yep, he threw up at school. When I got there he was sitting in the office next to a garbage can looking pale. He was not embarrassed at all and so happy to see me. He was sick all day but quite the trooper. The real fun started when I woke up early Friday morning with bad stomach pains. Let's just say Jer had to stay home from work and I spent my day near the bathroom. That is the sickest I've been in a long time. This one had it all...fever, chills, body aches, diarrhea, and puking! I topped it off with a massive migraine and then moved on to the cold we've all had which I can't get rid of. Luke was so sweet and concerned about me when I was sick. The boys had a great time with Jer, and I was just grateful he could take over. Thankfully it's not very often the mom gets sick.


Saturday I felt much better although extremely tired and not ready to eat much yet. We followed through with plans though and headed up to Jer's parents that afternoon for sledding. I mostly just took it easy with Amy, Cid, and the babies, but I did take a little snowmobile ride up to see the kids and take some pictures.

This is Ian's version of sledding. He got a kick out of being pulled around on this.

Jer, his dad, and TJ took the kids a few minutes away for some sweet sledding.

I had to bring Jer a hat from the house to protect his scalding head. It was really warm.

Addison did a mini version of the sledding.

The kids had tons of fun and were hauling by the bottom. They rolled off and crashed but got up laughing each time.

Luke and grandpa.

Then there was that one time Jer took the boys even higher to start and they were going like 40 by the time they passed me...

and the sled came to a screeching halt...

but the boys didn't...they launched way up in the air and ended like this...followed by tears from both. It didn't last long though, and they all had lots of fun and were completely soaked.

Monday night we headed up with some friends for Jer's night skiing duty. Jer and I must be getting old because we were the only ones still suffering with colds. Seth has been begging to ski and Luke really wanted to "help" him. The skis we rented him were the tiniest, cutest things I've ever seen. I think two is a little young to learn, but we kind of hauled him down the mountain the way we did with Luke at that age. He wasn't always loving it but after he wanted to do it "one more again" so we may take him up one more time this year.

Afterwards all the kids had tons of fun eating and playing around in the patrol building. One of the best things about ski patrol is the fun people and the family atmosphere up there. I better enjoy this now because in 10 years I probably won't be able to keep up!

Day to Day

We haven't been up to much around here, but I did take a few pics of the kids the other day hanging out around the house.


Now that Ian is getting bigger and is more fun Seth pays a lot more attention to him. Most of the time he's really cute with him. He has gotten in the habit though of apologizing while he's in the act of doing something to Ian. Like I will see him with the Nerf gun pointing right at him, and he'll say sorry right as he pulls the trigger. We're working on that. I love mornings when Luke is at school (no offense Luke), and I can spend some quality time with the little guys. Seth misses Luke while he's gone, so I think these two will become best buddies next year when Luke's at school all day long.


I just can't get enough of this kid. He is so sweet and happy. He gives hugs now, loves to clap, and has started waving. He also pulls up to stuff and is all over the place. He really is growing up too fast for me.

Still no teeth but lots of drool.

Seth is a chocolate milk addict. Seth has made such progress with his speech that he is graduating early from his program...in fact, he's getting kicked out because he doesn't meet the criteria anymore. I'm so proud of him. It was getting a little ridiculous at his class. He would request songs, get supplies out, etc....he pretty much ran the place. Not too surprising for a kid that scored age 41 months in the "self help" category. Have I mentioned that he is potty trained too?? Awesome! He even goes on his own and stays dry at night. It was almost too easy (that makes up for Luke who was terrible). We're are still working on "f" and beginning "s" sounds with Seth. For now they are all "y." As soon as you pick up on that he is very intelligible i.e. yee, yo, yun, yunny, yick...

Luke loves Ian and usually is very soft with him. He does like to carry him around which can get a bit sketchy. The other day I found Ian drinking his bottle like this. Luke told me he was keeping him warm.

This is Ian's scrunch face. He does this when he is trying to get mad. It is usually when he's stuck in his high chair and you ignore him too long. Sometimes this progresses to crying but as soon as you look at him he goes back to smiling. It's all for attention. He used it a lot on the nurse at his check-up. He developed an instant dislike for her and would immediately do this and cry when she walked in the room. He loved the doctor though and would go from smiling to this in an instant depending on who was looking at him. Funny kid.