Belated Thanks

I'm burning a little midnight oil here attempting to catch up on all the homework I procrastinated over the holiday, but I wanted to write down a few thoughts of gratitude because I have a lot to be thankful for. So here's a few in no particular order.

• My family. I have been blessed with a great family, including amazing parents, and now I am so blessed to be a parent myself. I certainly wouldn't have imagined myself with three kids five years ago. I know modern medicine and adoption were tools that Heavenly Father used to make me a mom. November was Adoption Awareness Month so between that and Thanksgiving I have been thinking a ton about Seth and his birth parents. Obviously there aren't words that are adequate to thank someone for choosing you to parent the baby they loved and brought into this world, but I am so eternally grateful to Seth's birthparents and their choice to place Seth with us. I can't imagine our lives without him, and I just know he was meant to be a part of our family. I will never forget the raw emotion, heartache, and joy of the day we met with them and brought Seth home. Someday I hope to explain to him just how much he was loved by so many people right from the start. Today I got an email from someone who has no children and has been trying to adopt for three years. That would be so hard. I am so lucky.

Luke and Seth--Thanksgiving 2007

• Jer. He of course fits into the family category, but he deserves a bullet all to himself for being my best friend, the person I most want to spend time with, such a hard worker, and an incredibly supportive husband and dad.
• Where I live. I know I live in the greatest country on Earth, and my little corner of it (Cache Valley) is the best. Thanks to all those who make living in this free country possible.
• The gospel.
• My health.

I could go on and on but that's a good start.

Our Thanksgiving was spent with my family this year at a big dinner at my aunt's house. The food was so good, the kids played great, and it was a fun day. It was such a nice day that Jer and the boys spent the morning going on 4-wheeler and motorcycle rides. (My dad was nice enough to give Jer his old dirt moto, and we also "store" the newer one for him. Jer bought this four-wheeler from his dad a couple of years ago for "plowing purposes.") Luke likes going for a ride but Seth loves it. There's not much he would rather do. Just today we got a big snow and Seth was in seventh heaven riding around with Jer while he plowed the street and flipped some cookies along the way (the snowy day driving kind of cookies).

I got up ridiculously early on Black Friday and went shopping with my mom, aunt, and cousins. The earliness was made even a little crazier when Ian was up all night with an earache, but it was fun anyway. I don't particularly enjoy shopping, mornings, cold, or crowds but on this one occasion it is fun. We divided and conquered and everyone got what they were looking for. You know you started early when you're able to go to every store in town, eat out for breakfast, go home for your baby and back out to the doctor's office, pick up a prescription, and still be home by 11:30 am!

The whole weekend was great and having Jer home for four straight days was awesome. Saturday night we took the kids to Preston for the Festival of Lights. It included fireworks, candy, a light parade, Santa (a scary one in red sweat pants I might add), and a trip to Big J's with cousins so it was a hit.


Notice Luke is only wearing a sweatshirt while everyone else is bundled. He pitched a fit about taking his coat, so I decided to let the consequence teach the lesson. He was quite chilly, so I'm hoping we're done with that argument!

Big Boys and a Baby Boy

I haven't felt much like blogging lately, but we have had a lot going on. Most of it has been routine everyday stuff with a few traumas of the five and two-year-old variety thrown in there to spice things up. I have been kicking myself for taking two classes this semester and struggling to get my school work done here and there when I have the time and motivation to do it. Let's just say my interest level and therefore the quality of work I produced on "gray wolves as an endangered species" left something to be desired for my current issues project. I assure you that topic was assigned. Luckily I only have a few weeks of class left, and I am so excited for this holiday season to begin.


I didn't like this show much, but Zoolander? This child is perhaps the most stubborn, independent 2-year-old out there. He insists on dressing himself complete with belt daily and changes his clothes often...usually into shorts and his beloved "Targhee" t-shirt. He now hides to do his #2s, so we are definitely still in pull-ups. That one doesn't concern me too much yet. When I do find out what he's doing and ask him if he did his business he will say, "little poop" as if that makes it better. He also says "oh my gosh" a lot now which I'm trying to steer him away from. He is everywhere and into everything and amazes me at the things he figures out. Lately he includes "President Mon-un" (Monson) and "President Eyeking" (Eyring) in his prayers quite often.


Seth and his beloved "Lukey." I think these two have a pretty typical brother relationship. Luke torments Seth a lot and Seth overreacts a lot, but they do love to be together.


This guy is just plain cute and almost always happy!

The boys have enjoyed the little snow storms we have had. The very first snow didn't last long, but they were out with the neighbor kids playing and building snow men. They would not take my advice about winter clothing so Luke wore a sweatshirt, cowboy boots, and gardening gloves. Seth also sported a sweatshirt along with rubber galoshes. They are now believers in parkas. Luke has already sledded down "the hole" in our backyard and has big plans for it when there's more snow.

I love how babies put so much effort and concentration into grabbing things at this stage. Watching Ian reach out for a graham cracker or pick up a piece of cereal is entertaining. It is serious business for him.

"Mr. Cute" as Luke calls him. He has a combination inch worm/army crawl/roll that gets him just about anywhere. Just today he started getting up on his hands and knees and rocking...boo...I don't want him to grow up so quickly!

What is missing here? Snow? A hill?

No matter.

This child can push all my buttons and then some I didn't even know I had, but he is also so irresistible. He is incredibly sweet and loving, and I am so proud of what a big kid and big brother he is becoming. I'm amazed at how much he has grown up already this school year. He got his swine flu shot today at school like a trooper. The kid before him went into hysterics so I was concerned, but he held tough! He sometimes sounds like he's 5 going on 50 with all the "actually"s and "certainly"s he can throw into a sentence.

Dad's Helper

Jer is building a shed in our backyard, and it has become quite the project. It's nice that he's handy and can do it himself, but on the other hand it has been taking up a lot of his time. He's pretty much done with his part though, and it will be nice to dejunk our garage a bit.


Jer framed it and did a lot of the work alone, but our neighbor Jason helped out and made it go much quicker. My dad also spent a Saturday helping out with the cedar siding which we really appreciate!


Seth wants to be very involved and "help" all the time. He hauls all the boards he can lift out to Jer and then Jer has him haul them all back again, and he feels like he's really contributing!


Seth already has a lot of interest in all things mechanical, wheeled, motorized, and I guess anything to do with construction/tools can be added to the list. He is definitely a hands-on kind of kid so far. Luckily he has a dad that can teach him a lot.

The shed is almost done now and looks great. I will post a picture when it's finished. Luke and his friends are going to be sad when it has a door on it and is no longer their secret hideout!

Skills

I've been thinking a lot lately about being a mom and just parenting in general. Since this blog is my main journal, I want my kids to know I actually spend lots of time thinking and praying about how to help them best and don't just leave it to chance! Being a parent is a huge responsibility. I learn something new everyday and there are lots of things I wish I could have a redo on. If you would have told me 10 years ago that I would be a stay-at-home mom of three boys I wouldn't have believed you. Not until we started trying to have kids and couldn't did I realize just how much I wanted to be a mom. And not until I was pregnant with Luke did I start realizing that I wanted to be home with my kids all the time. It took a few years to make the choices to make that happen, but for me it has been the best thing. I'm really grateful Jer has been totally on board with our family plan. I really struggled my first year, but now even though I sometimes miss my former life my life now is good, and I don't really have time to miss it too much! I have learned so much about myself (not always good) and about what it means to love these little people so much.

I'm glad that our skills eventually (at least I'm hoping) catch up to the tasks we have at hand. Before I had kids I could teach high school kids all day, deal with parents, grade papers, and travel around the country to biotech classes but I would have laughed (or cried) if I had been in charge of several small children all day. I recently had a day where I watched my kids plus a few extra, baked and decorated sugar cookies, made chili, made a run to the grocery store with 4 kids along, and made some last minute Halloween preparations...things actually went quite smooth and I couldn't help but think about how much I've grown. Now before I sound too confident there are lots of days where chaos reigns, multiple kids are crying, the house is a mess, and leftovers are for dinner again, but we need to celebrate our victories, right?

Here are a few other parenting firsts for me lately:
**The first one is not so pleasant. While Seth was supposed to be napping, he changed his own poopy diaper. Yes, wipeys and all. Use your imaginations on this one.
**Yesterday I took all three boys to church by myself for the first time. Jer was out of town, and I braved it. By the time we all got ready and got there I had already had just about enough fun, but we made it!

R.I.P. Halloween

I'm not that into Halloween, but we celebrated for a week anyway and had a good time. Luke was super excited this year, so I couldn't help but get into the spirit. I do love fall. We started off with a fun Halloween party at my mom's house that included pumpkin carving.

Let the wild rumpus begin! We hit the annual Pumpkin Walk.

Friday there was a big Halloween carnival at Luke's school. It was crazy and crowded, but the kids had a great time. I even dressed up...a first since junior high. (I had a bad experience where I didn't get the memo it wasn't cool to dress up anymore, and I felt like a loser but I'm over it now.) Dont' worry--I wasn't creative or anything. I was just a witch, and I didn't even take a picture! We had the grandmas and grandpas over after for chili, and the boys had a great time playing with them.

This year we had a firefighter and an astronaut. Luke could not decide what to be and Seth didn't care. I found these costumes at good prices, and they ended up being a hit. Although when the day came, Seth did not want to wear his. He has become super picky about clothes and only wants to wear camo or basketball shorts each day. He even changes when I'm not looking. I'm thinking next year I will try to talk them into something we can just kind of put together like a mummy, or I'll get crafty and make something...maybe.


Check out those moon boots. They are just shoe covers, but they were a fight.


Luke loved his costume, and I'm sure he will continue to dress up in it throughout the year.

We went to the ward party and trunk or treat and then went to visit some family. It was a great time. We also went trick or treating to Luke's kindergarten teacher. She is amazing. She sent home a letter inviting all of her students over, and she visited with our whole family for about 5 minutes. I sure did not do that when I was teaching.

And we can't forget the cutest skeleton on the block.

Each boy has worn this skeleton costume, so I had fun looking at skeleton's past.

Seth Skeleton October 2007

Luke Skeleton with cousin K'Lee October 2004

Child Find

So I had a parenting first yesterday. I lost Seth. Not for a long time but long enough. I made the huge mistake of not putting him in a cart when I was running into Smith's Marketplace for a minute. He ran away from me back by the baby clothes/toys and then hid. I called for him and looked all up and down the toy aisles and then through the most crowded kids clothes section in the world. I guess I should have been worried about kidnappers or something but we were practically the only ones in the store, and I was 99% sure he was hiding from me.

After my unsuccessful search I asked a clerk who announced that they had a "child find" in progress and then proceeded to describe him over the intercom. Less than 30 seconds later another employee saw him and then he ran to me. He had the most mischievous look on his face, and all he said was "hiding." I then attempted to put him in the cart, but he was extremely uncooperative and would not put his legs through the holes. He's not exactly the tiniest kid, so we were struggling and it kept making the cart roll away. At this point the same employee asked me if she could help me. I was by now embarrassed and sure only psychiatric help or a spa getaway would be of any help, so I gave her a quick no thanks and sat Seth in the front part of the cart sideways and headed for the checkout. Two-year-olds!

(I must note that the only other time I let Seth go cartless he ran away and I was chasing him round and round a check out stand at Walmart. Yes, I have been beaten in this game by a two-year-old...twice. I think it's some sort of IQ test I'm failing.)

Fall Festivals, Farm, and Foliage

Cheesy title, I know. I figure I better post about our latest goings on before all of the Halloween picture madness begins. I hope my kids don't look at this blog and think our life was just one big outing. I assure you there's been plenty of everyday life...you know...diapers, meals, dishes, homework, chores, playing with friends, laundry...the list goes on. None of that is very picture worthy though so here goes.

Jer has been working hard to build our shed the past few weeks, but he took a break to take the kids to Hardware Ranch for the Elk Festival. They had a good time. They did a bunch of stuff including shooting guns and bows, and it was free so you can't beat that. I enjoyed a few blissful hours of quiet while Ian was sleepng. I am the family photographer so no pictures were taken during that one!


Mandy and I have taken the boys to the American West Heritage Center the last two years, and they had a blast! This year it was even more fun, and we were practically the only people there.


Mandy took a ride on the train with the boys while I waited with Ian.



All sorts of hay to climb and jump in. At one point Jace was trying to help Seth up a big hay hill. "Lift with your legs" was my advice for him.

There was also a slide you slid down on gunny sacks. It went really fast and you slammed into hay at the bottom. I need to get the pics from Mandy, but I know I was pulling some crazy faces while I was going down with Seth. I'm pretty sure if that was anywhere else you'd have to sign a wavier and wear a helmet or something! We had the place to ourselves, so the kids did it a bunch of times.

This was what we got when we asked for pirate faces at the pirate hay maze.

My mom and I also headed out on a little expedition to The Scarecrow Festival at Thanksgiving Point. It was a long drive, but the kids had a blast. There were about 15 inflatables--slides, bounce houses, etc. and they climbed and jumped for hours. Seth was such a trooper and was by far the youngest kid going on the big slides. He wants to do whatever Luke does. He only needed help a couple of times. I had to join him in one that had this wall with ropes to climb and after I got in I couldn't really get out, so I had to continue and slide down the big slide at the end where all the parents were waiting for their kids. Luckily no one felt the need to catch me.

There were also a ton of carnival style games. Seth was so tired at this point he could barely keep his eyes open. It was such a warm day I was practically sweating--that does not happen in Cache Valley this time of year. We ate some Cafe Rio food under a tent in a wind storm and then headed home exhausted.

Ian was once again super baby and had some time to love on grandma while I chased the boys around.

Last Sunday afternoon we headed up the canyon after church, and it was such a beautiful day. Our kids love to hike, and we had a blast. We did the Limber Pine trail which is just a really easy nature walk, and it was so fun.

Luke was carrying bottled water and snacks for him and Seth. Seth also had to have a backpack but his was mostly empty with a few toys.

Seth was always lagging behind doing his own thing and shooting things with his stick gun.

Ian was just along for the ride taking it all in. Good times.