Learning from Messes

Samuel and Bella really play so well together, but this is what I went upstairs to find the other day. I try to help them keep their rooms clean, but I am not always successful! I have a baby girl who really likes to be held and personally I would rather enjoy my baby then worry about their toys (as long as the toys are contained to their room or the basement!).


This was the funny conversation we had as I looked into this total disaster and realized that someone had climbed up in the top of the closet and thrown down a lot of the Barbie toys I had stored away. (Our neighbor girl gave us 49, Yes 49 Barbies and TONS of accessories about 6 months ago. I let Bella choose 5 Barbies and some clothes and then I stored the rest up in the closet.)

Me: "Kids what happened in here! It looks like someone got out the Barbie stuff."

(I was sure I knew who had done this because Bella is my monkey girl and Samuel just likes to encourage her. He is not a climber. He thinks to much about the consequences of risky behavior!)

Samuel: "Jesus just helped me do it mom."

Me: "He did?"

Samuel: "Yep, He helped me be brave so I could climb up in the closet and get them down"

I just told the kids that they would have to pick up the mess later and let them enjoy all the Barbies. Then I laughed to myself thinking how my lunch time teaching the day before had led to this.

Every day as the kids are eating lunch I read them articles out of the Friend magazine or tell them Scripture stories as we look at pictures out of the Gospel Art Kit. Lunch used to be such a challenge, but now I look forward to this time to teach them of what really matters. The other day as we were talking about a particular scripture story I told them that Heavenly Father and Jesus can help them be brave and do hard things. Obviously Samuel took this to heart even if it was being brave to do something I considered naughty!

Each night as I tuck the kids in bed I ask them what their favorite part of the day was and then what they didn't like about that day. That night both of them told me their favorite part of the day was playing with all the Barbie stuff. I was so glad I didn't get mad at them for making such a GIANT mess, because we can eventually get it picked up. I realized this incident could have easily been the worst part of their day based on how I reacted. (I wish I could be this patient everyday! I'm working on it, but don't always succeed.)

I later caught Bella in the top of the closet throwing down the remaining Barbie items.

The kids were so excited to show Chuck and I what they had put together with a good portion of the Barbies.

My Girls

The other day I was holding Jenna and Bella was bouncing all around and laughing. Jenna was following her every move with the biggest smile on her little face. I told Bella that one day she and Jenna could be best friends and she was so excited as she leaned down close to little Jenna and said, "Yes, we'll be best friends!".

My sweet little Jenna rolled over a couple of days ago and a couple of weeks ago she began to laugh. Why is it with the first baby I was so excited for every new accomplishment and just couldn't wait until he could do something new. Now I just want my baby to stay this way and those same accomplishments invoke very different feelings for me. I told Chuck how excited the kids were to watch Jenna roll over, but how it made me a little sad. Chuck just looked at me and said, "We're not having another baby!"

Love that little squinty smile. My kids get the biggest cheeks and they just swallow up their eyes when they smile.

My Bella girl on Sundays

My Bella girl at Samuel's last soccer game tonight. We compromised on this outfit because she really wanted to wear a princess costume to the game. Instead she wore the Cinderella headband and her Strawberry Shortcake boots.

I just had to write down this conversation Bella had with Chuck tonight after our evening prayer. Bella in her prayer said she was thankful for mermaids, fish and puppies.

Chuck after Bella's prayer: I'm grateful for all those things too

Samuel: Yeah, but you can't be grateful for mermaids because they're not real.

Chuck: You're right mermaids aren't real.

Bella (approaching tears): Mermaids are too real Dad! They just live in the water!

Chuck: Actually Bella mermaids aren't real.

Bella (now even closer to crying and very upset): Yes they are Dad! They live in the water!

It was at this point I just wanted Chuck to give in and let Bella think mermaids are real. I mean do we really have to crush her imagination. But Chuck handled it well by asking Bella if she had ever seen a mermaid and then telling her he hadn't either so they could just hope that maybe mermaids were real. Samuel then told Bella maybe mermaids were once real like when it was 1966. This at least satisfied Bella and kept her from a complete melt down! She has the best imagination and is so creative.

Easter Outfits

The kids finally got to wear their Easter outfits last Sunday. This picture just fills me with joy - how lucky I am to be their mom!

With Stake Conference, General Conference and then the cancellation of our block meetings because of a scheduled power outage we hadn't been to our regular church meetings for almost a month. And I shouldn't say it, but it was really a nice break!

Getting ready to go to church without Chuck here to help is a bit of a challenge. I've definitely managed to smooth the process, but those last 10 minutes as we try and get every one's shoes on and then everyone buckled into their car seats can be brutal. Most times I arrive at church flustered because everything went to pot just before we got there! Then during sacrament meeting we just try and survive. Isaac is giving us quite a bit of trouble these days. Last Sunday, Chuck had to take him out 3 times and then I took him with me to the mother's lounge to feed the baby and he cried at the top of his lungs the entire time we were in there. Thank goodness for Primary! I get to go play the piano and watch the cute kids and poor Chuck is left to try and get Isaac to go to nursery and take care of the baby. (Now back to the kids in their cute Easter outfits - I just had to get this memory down so when this season passes I won't forget these crazy days!)

I am loving having 2 little girls to dress alike - at least sometimes! I love getting them dressed in all their pretty church dresses. Chuck always teases me that my one indulgence is buying the girls dresses.

And my handsome big blue eyed boys!

Music Recital

This week Samuel had his Let's Play Music recital.

I really love this program because it uses solfege to teach ear training for singing and then piano playing. Samuel does not love to sing like Bella and Isaac, but he really likes going to class each week because they have so much fun. I get to attend class with him every other week which I really enjoy even though it's work for me to get a baby sitter (thanks to my friends cute girls who come and watch the others!) and it's a bit of a drive. I have a great love for music and so I tell the kids they all have to learn to play the piano and hopefully with training they'll be able to sing (I don't have a wonderful singing voice so hopefully some of their daddy's genes will come into play here).

It was so much fun to watch Samuel perform. He was making me laughing with some of the things he was doing. The highlight was seeing Samuel as the genie in the puppet rendition to Aragonaise from Carmen.

Samuel with his teacher.

She really is wonderful with the kids and is very talented. Bella can't wait to join Samuel next year in class.

Isaac's Actual Bday Celebration

On Isaac's birthday I took the kids to the park for a picnic lunch. We were the only ones there for the majority of the time and the kids were having a great time playing on the equipment and climbing on the rocks.

We always take the kids out to eat for their birthday, but Chuck had city council that night so I made pancakes - one of Isaac's favorite things to eat. After dinner I pulled out the scrapbook from the year Isaac was born. On their birthdays I show them pictures of themselves when they were born and pictures from their first year. The kids love this!

Since I had already made Isaac a birthday cake for our early birthday celebration I opted to just go for the ice cream with a candle to blow out. The only thing was Isaac was afraid of the candle and ran away. I finally coaxed him to come back so I could get a picture, but Samuel had to blow out the candle because Isaac was keeping his distance.

The next night we took Isaac for his birthday dinner. We kept asking him where he wanted to go eat - with the other kids adding their favorite suggestions of McDonalds, Marv's and Pirate Island. He finally decided on Pirate Island.

Isaac actually doesn't like pizza. The kid eats almost anything, but for some reason he doesn't like pizza. We got him fries and a corn dog with lots of ketchup.

And to close the birthday celebration Chuck measured and marked his growth stick. Then we had to get all the kids sticks out and see how tall everyone was when they turned 2.

These are a few pictures that I took of Isaac around his birthday.

The kid LOVES to eat and will eat almost anything especially if it is covered in ketchup or salsa. He is a messy eater for sure - just look at the food in his hair.

Somehow he got himself stuck under his crib.

He loves to build and is actually very good at it for only being 2.

Samuel does a computer reading program every day and Isaac always pulls his chair up so he can watch what is going on. He loves to learn.

He loves to play with Samuel and Bella even though they don't always enjoy playing with him. He can be a little rough with them. Unfortunately he is going through a terrible 2 stage where he throws objects, hits and spits. (Not very fun and we're hoping this stage passes quickly!)

Loves to read.

Loves the binkie. The only bad thing about the binkie is he constantly bites holes in them and then will not use them. It drives me crazy that we are always having to buy more binkies, but I just can't bear the thought of taking it away yet. It's the way I get him to nap so well every day and go to sleep early in the evening.

The kid hates to bath. He throws a terrible fit every time he has to get washed, but he really enjoys turning on the water. I often find the water running either in the sink or the tub because he has turned it on and then just left.

The kid loves to make messes - it's part of being 2! The other day I was feeding the baby and came out of the room to find this.

We sure do love this little guy!

Tis the Season

Tis the Season for family to come stay with us.

Everyone loves the spring weather here!
My family was at our home over Easter, then Chuck's sister and her family came for a few days, then Chuck's brother and his family came and stayed with us.
We love the company!


While Chuck's sister was here I went and took a few pictures of the girls. I love taking pictures of these two! (I'll post more on my photo blog one of these days)

We did a lot of fun adventures with Chuck's brother and his family. We went swimming, hiking, played at the park and dug in the sand at the lake. It's been awhile since our little family has done anything too adventureous so we were excited to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather. And the kids loved spending time playing with their cousins.

Isaac loves to hike by himself, but every once in awhile we had to carry him so we could catch up to the older kids. Let's just say he wasn't very excited about being carried.

Resting and snacking at the top of our destination.

We really do live in a beautiful place!

Playing at the park and Michelle and I with our babies.

Yes, this is a picture of Jenna.

As soon as we got to the lake I had to feed Jenna and unfortunately she had a major blow out. Gotta love those! And sure it's my 4th baby, but I was caught unprepared. Luckily Michelle had an extra outfit for her little guy or poor Jenna would have been naked at the lake.

Chuck had to build his traditional water works project at the lake. The kids loved playing in the sand, trying to catch lizards and splashing in the cold water.

I really enjoy going to the lake, but it sure did take us a long time to get all our supplies hauled across a very large expance of sand. Later the wind started blowing very hard and we all got sand blasted as we had to make the long trek back to the vehicles.

Thanks everyone for coming to stay with us!

I Did It!

I did it - I took all four kids to the grocery store tonight and survived!

I only had to pick up a few items, the main one being ice cream to celebrate Isaac's birthday, so I wasn't in the store for very long. We've got the holding hands and forming a line to cross parking lots down pat. I hold the carseat with the baby on one arm then I hold onto Bella's hand, who holds on to Isaac's hand, who holds onto Samuel's hand. The only slight mishap was when I was trying to hoist the carseat into the cart and Bella and Isaac stood on the same side of the cart and it began to tip. Luckily I was able to avert that crisis. I must admit we did look like circus clowns with the baby in the front, Isaac in the cart and Samuel and Bella each hanging off a side. I felt like a needed a sign that said, "Wide Load" or at least a booming voice that cautioned other shoppers to get out of my way since I have a hard time seeing obstacles with the carseat and kids everywhere. But we made it out of the store without hitting anything and everyone was actually good.

The lady who checked us out did say, "Let me guess - the oldest is 5". This after a mom at the park today asked me, "Are all these kids yours?" and then said, "If you don't mind me asking why did you decide to have them all so close together?" I guess we create quite a scene these days! But I can't imagine it any other way!

The whole reason I decided I was up for the grocery store visit is because I took all the kids with me yesterday to get Samuel's Kindergarten shots. We were at the doctor's office for an hour, but the kids were great. They played in the waiting area and then they all sat quietly in the room when we were called back. Sometimes it's hard not having family live close enough to help at these times, but I walked out of the doctor's office and decided taking all the kids places wasn't going to be as bad as I anticipated!