Grady's super awesome 5th birthday

Just thinking about how much I like Grady makes me want to laugh.  Laugh because I'm happy, not because he's so silly - but really, he is pretty silly most of the time.  Making Grady's birthday cake was quite literally one of my most favorite things I've ever done.  He decided he wanted a chocolate cake with strawberry, white chocolate filling and he wanted it decorated with snakes and insects and it needed to have a cave and be topped with a volcano.  Easy peasy.  I went with Ina's chocolate cake and made a white buttercream filling with berries and white chocolate, and it was about the most delectable cake I've ever had.  (ps - i try not to eat sugar too much because it makes me grumpy and sick, for real, but I also dream about eating huge fat slices of chocolate cake about once every month or so - so to really have a good excuse to make and eat this most perfect chocolate cake made me like Grady even more.)  Anyway... we spent an entire afternoon making little fondant creatures (did you know you can make fondant out of marshmallows and powdered sugar?  It was awesome!) and painting them with food coloring.  It was so much fun.  Then we built this cool salt dough volcano and the kids all painted it and we topped it off with the coolest exploding birthday candles I've ever seen.  HOW FUN!!!

For his birthday we were up with my family in Sundance, so that day we just kind of hung out and then B took him and Clara up the ski lift and hiked around for a little bit and then we had dinner (he chose mac and cheese and veggies and fruit) and then we went and had family pictures taken and came back and had his most awesomest ever birthday cake.  Then a few nights later we lived it up at Boondocks. Happy Birthday Gray Gray - every time I see your handsome face walk into a room my heart lights up and I feel happier than I was before you were there.  You are kind and good and true to yourself.  You have a sense of self that I look up too so much - and I hope one day to be as determined and hard working as you are.  You are unique and brave and very very funny and I love you with my whole heart. 

side note - we took the volcano off the cake before we poured the vinegar down into it to make it explode.  Obviously.  Cause if we hadn't I wouldn't have been able to eat chocolate cake for three days straight.

How old are you?  5!!!!  Does anything in the whole world sound more fun and nice than to be a 5 year old boy?  I think 5 year old boys are probably the happiest, most "in their element" creatures in the whole world.  Oh to be a 5 year old boy.

And a cute one of Clara and Nana - cause I like those two a lot too.

A few more things about Grady -  Me and Grady really like to "exercise" together.  We go upstairs, turn up the music really loud and play and play and play until I'm sweaty so I can count it as exercising for the day.  We play tag and we wrestle and kick balls at each other and I carry him over my shoulder and dump him on his bed about a hundred times and have so so so much fun.  I do squats with him on my shoulders and push ups with him on my back and put him up in the air like he's flying and dance and dance and dance.  I think these exercising sessions with grady will probably be one of my very favorite memories of his childhood.  One day this week though we were playing this balloon game we made up and it involves kind of a treacherous leap onto the bed from the doorway and one time his whole little body came down right on top of my nose and I thought it was broken....but it wasn't and after he told me to shake it off, we had some more fun.  Whenever I complain that I am tired he tells me we better get upstairs and exercise so that I'll have more energy.   We also gave him two hermit crabs (both of which he named Josh) for this birthday - and I killed one of them today and that's kind of why i'm finally writing this post. It's really late and I'm kind of tired but I just spent the last 45 minutes reading about hermit crabs and have come to find out that the poor creature wasn't depressed, it was just molting and that's why it's spent the last two weeks in a whole under it's water dish.  And it didn't really need to be put in a bowl of water for the afternoon - it just needed to be left alone.  I just thought it was probably really thirsty.  Ah man.... I really wish tomorrow weren't Sunday so that Josh could be replaced before Grady woke up - but I guess he'll just have to learn the awful truth.  And the truth stinks sometimes (just like josh:( ).

anways....happy birthday Grady boy.  I    love     you.

Lately and a family theme

When I put Graham down for his naps or for the night he requires that I sing him three songs in this order "bird song"  (whenever I hear the song of a bird, which I think is actually called My Heavenly Father Loves Me), then "Dumbo song"  (a song I made up to the tune of "Oh My Darling", it goes like this - Dumbo Dumbo Dumbo Dumbo Dumbo Dumbo Oh I love my Dumbo Boy (insert really loud elephant noise at this point) Dumbo Dumbo Dumbo Dumbo Oh I love my Dumbo Boy (another really loud elephant noise here).   The last song is "duck song"  or 3 little ducks went out to play and Graham does all the duck sounds for that one, "when the mama duck said....then Graham pipes up "QUACK QUACK QUACK!".  Anyway, I get done with that and then I lay him in his crib and am required to sing "duck song bed"  one more time.  We usually skip straight to the daddy duck verse for that one.  It's awesome.  And usually when I put Leah to bed Graham charges in and demands I sing "BIRD SONG BIA MOMMMM, BIRD SONG BIA MOMMMMM!"  And so I sing the bird song for bia, I mean Leah, too.

Today I took Grady with me to Graham and Leah's well child visit.  "How come this baby is 8 months old and this is only the 2nd time I've seen her?" asked Dr. Giannini - welllll - I'm doin my best is all I have to say.  Graham weighs 33 lbs and is 37 inches tall.  Man.  He's in the 90% for weight and 95% for height.  Leah weighs in at a whopping 14 and  a half lbs and I can't remember how tall.  75% for height and 6% for weight.  Maybe he steals all her food when I'm not looking.

Me and B have been trying to come up with a family mission statement.  My ideas are really long and emotion filled, B's are really short and to the point.  Hmmmmm.  Well the other night I finally found a quote that I think is perfect - and B said he liked it too, not sure if that was said just to appease me and move on or not, but we're going with it anyway.  Here it is;

"We must cherish one another, watch over one another, 

comfort one another and gain instruction

that we may all sit down in Heaven together."

Lucy Mack Smith

I think it's perfect.  We also chose a family scripture for 2013 back in January,

"I am the light of the world, he that followeth me

shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."

John 8:12

We decided at the first of the year that we wanted to work on memorizing a scripture every week in family home evening.  Well - that didn't go over so well the few times we did it so we put it off.  But we decided to give it a go again this month. Our theme for November FHE is Faith.  And so we chose the scripture, "Faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things.  Therefore, if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen which are true."  As we sat down that night to teach it to them I immediately felt like this was a little silly.  My kids are too little - it won't work again.  But then I kind of laughed at myself and thought - HELLO - HAVE FAITH!  and so I did.  and they memorized it perfectly!  It was awesome.  Grady really loves it, especially the part where we shout THEREFORE! and punch our arm up into the air (actions always help, right?).  It's the best.  I had faith and it worked.  We're just going to do two scriptures a month and I'm optimistic that it will be great.  And that these little minds will be filled with scriptures - so that when they get into tight spots, the words of their Savior, their prophet and their God will already be in their minds and will help direct them towards the light.  Thats my hope anyway, and I have faith it will work.  

don't forget

a few things from today I want to remember.

Tonight we had lettuce wraps for dinner.  Love these.  Everyone else does too.  Brandon had to work late so this is how it went;  Make Clara and Grady wraps.  Make a wrap for Graham.  Feed Leah a bite of veggies and meat.  Make a wrap for me.  Pick up the contents of Grahams wrap, put it back in the lettuce and feed him a bite - feed Leah a bite, make another wrap for Gray.  Repeat, and repeat.  Eat a bite for myself, woot woot!  Half of dinner ended up on the floor. HA!  Don't make wraps when B's not home to help - remember.

Tonight Clara was doing her homework and she came across the equation 7+9.  "Seriously!"  she said, "This is like kindergarten homework.  7+9!  7+9!   Really?!!"  Then I watch as she counts out the answer on her fingers, and hear her mumble under her breath, "16, the answer is 16.  Who even needs this!?"  It was pretty funny.

A few weeks ago I was laying on floor of the family room with my head on top of a blanket.  We had just put the kids to bed and most of the lights downstairs were off.  I was talking to B, who was laying on the couch, when a MOUSE ran right out from under my head.  No joke.  Then it ran in the toy room and hid under the sombrero.  Then we tried to capture it with bowls and towels, but it ran behind the washer.  Then i begged for Brandon to go get some traps.  They didn't work - but the darn thing ate the peanut butter off the trap without putting it off.  Three nights later B sees it run through the kitchen one night.  I called my Dad and asked for advice.  Don't set the traps so tight he says.  It worked.  We caught the mouse right after I got in bed.  I heard it snap and felt like a murder:( But there is no longer a mouse runnin around on the floor that my little baby crawls around on.  FEWF! (do people say fewf?  I do).

And....that's all.

4th of July 2013

Oops - Should have posted this one before the first day of school post.  Oh well.  So - Clara and Grady helped me put on a neighborhood parade complete with Neil Diamonds "comin to America" and a hose to ride their bikes through at the end.  it was the bomb.  

I cut off a pair of Clara's old jeans into shorts and Grady found the scraps and wore them around like this for a couple weeks.  seriously.  he's just cool like that.

And she is just cool like that to let Graham sit on her lap and squirt the hose up in the air over and over and over until they were both soaking wet.  We love Lizzy soooo much.  She is one of the kindest people I've ever known and my kids (especially Graham) adore her. I feel so grateful for good neighbors! That night we went up to Logan for the fireworks and then to Idaho the next day for a long weekend with the Johns.  We hung out at Rigby lake the afternoon of the 4th.

I think the noise from the fireworks made Leah a little crazy and graham a little .....confused.  hehe

Cousins rock.

Then that night when Aaron and Timmy told us they were going to be in a triathalon on Sat. and begged us to do it with them, we thought, "Heck - why not!"

This was Timmie's first tri - WOOT WOOT!  We just did the sprint distance, but it was awesome.  I had only run a few times since having Leah, but somehow we made it through.  The guys did the olympic distance and rocked it.

I can't remember when this was, but we had sparklers so I think it was in July sometime.... we had some neighbors over to make pizza.

Sweet lindy and Matt.  She is the most capable toddler I've ever seen - i love that little girl.

Clara loves a good leotard with a flowy skirt underneath - she's been rockin that look for a few months now.

and to end this awesome post - this super cool picture of me that the tri- company put on facebook - just doing my best to make it a reality (ps - that's water from the swim, not sweat. promise).  Good thing I had my holy t-shirt, some yoga pants and Byrons bike, or that reality might have never been made that weekend.  We also took canoes down the river by B's parents house - something I've wanted to do for years!  It was such a pretty evening when we did it - a little storm was coming in and the sunset and sky were so beautiful.  Southern Idaho has the most beautiful sunsets on the planet.  It was a busy weekend, but we still had lots of fun.  Happy 4th!  random memory - we got this book from the library about a family's celebration of the 4th and for some reason my kids thought that everything the family in the book did were things that we would be doing too.  They kept asking things like "When do we sing happy birthday to america and eat cake?" and "When is the watermelon seed spitting contest?"  and on and on.  it was pretty funny.

1st day of School

We only got six weeks of summer.  Thats it.  I felt like we were racing the clock trying to get it all in before the first day of school started July 25.  The Sunday before it started I decided that we just hadn't quite fit it all in and booked two nights at the KOA in Garden City and we booked it up to Bear Lake for one last camping trip.  I didn't even take the camera but gosh we had fun.  The KOA there is about as idyllic as camping can get.  The kids had so much fun.  We rented a little surry one afternoon and peddled around town, swam in the pool, sat around the campfire, built sandcastles and laid in the sun. Graham had a bunch of good sitting naked in the lake time, digging up cups and cups full of wet sand - it was perfect.  I can't remember what song we were singing one day, but at one point me and Clara and Grady were out floating on the blow up thing on the lake and we were belting out some song that had been on the radio and those two were just beaming with the warm sun on their faces and I was the very most happy I have ever been.  We even caught a whole bunch of frogs one day and made a little pond for them.  It was the best.  Then we came home and put the kids to bed and I cried and cried and cried.  Then we got up and sent Clara to school and i came home and cried and cried and cried.  I hate it.  I hate sending them every day.  I thought I was ready for it.  I thought I had myself all prepped for it.  But I didn't.  And then just when I was really really really missing them this fall, we got a break (we have year round school this year) and for three weeks I had them back.  But then that ended and I had to send them again and it was just like the first day of school all over again.  I feel like in saying this that I'm making myself sound like some sort of perfectly loving mom who never feels like her kids are making her crazy and who always get along.  Well, that's just not the case.  But I do really really like them.  And I just miss them when they're not around.  All of the sudden they have more influence outside of the home than in.  And I don't like it.  But I do like it too - that's the problem.  I love how it pushes them - how they meet new friends and learn things I don't even know - how they have to be outside of their comfort zones and learn to stick up for themselves, and other kids and I love their teachers and I really do think it's great for them.  But I think it stinks for me and I just miss their faces super bad.  And tonight is Sunday and that means tomorrow is Monday and they have to leave again and I hate it.  Man - being a mom is hard sometimes.  

Cute little first grader - all day school stinks.  She leaves at 8:25 and we don't get home until 3:45!  That's the whole darn day!  She has this whole life I don't even know about and I like her and wish it wasn't so.  But it is so, so what do I do?  Just miss her.  This picture shows what I think is one of my favorite things about Clara - she has 'curly' toes.  it's true.  her toes are all just a little... curly - or crooked I guess you could say.  They were super curly when she was a baby, and they have straightened out quite a bit now, but I really think it's because the whole time she was growing inside of me she had her toes stuck so firmly in my ribs that they never had the room they needed to grow straight.  THat's my theory anyway....

He misses her too.  All day long, "Ra ra home?  Ra Ra home mom?"  nope.  :(

Is he the cutest stinkin kindergartener ever?  yes.  I was nervous, but he's done great so far and seems to really like it.  And he even likes doing homework.  whaaaaat?  yep - I thought that would be killer with Gray but I wasn't taking into account how much he likes to work, and homework is to him just another fun job to get done.  super cool.  he needs to rub off some of that liking work stuff on a little girl i'm friends with.

Clara and Grady have the same teacher! How cool is that.  Clara has Sra. Moore in the morning for Spanish and then in the afternoon she switches teachers (Miss Edwards, who I really like too) and Grady has her in the afternoon for kindergarten.  She is darling with the kids and I feel like we really lucked out.  She is so warm and kind and teaches in a way that really works for both of them.  If they have to leave me, at least they can be with someone I like!

Leah's Dress

I spent so much time looking for a sweet little blessing dress for leah that one night I went to bed and when I closed my eyes I could still see white dresses.  I finally found it on etsy - a little dress from the 80's, white pintuck, never worn - so very sweet.  I ordered it and then Rhonda came into play - she saw this one that Leah is wearing, ivory silk with those sweet little rosettes and she was sunk and now Leah has two blessing dresses.  Hopefully one day I'll get another little girl to wear the other one:)  The pictures below were taken at about 5 months. The first two pictures were taken by me and the rest were courtesy of the talented (and usually shirtless) Grady.