Sam's Birthday - again.

I called and asked my mom if we could bring her dinner on Sunday but instead she offered to make us dinner so we went over for stew Sunday evening. She had half of a cake for dessert and Sam asked if it was his birthday cake. So she stuck candles in it and we sang happy birthday. He also got to open presents from her. He got a cool Frighening McMean car, a soccer ball, and some clothes. It was pretty funny to see how excited he was about the clothes. Usually the kids just toss them aside or don't even want to open the box because it's just clothes.

We ran into Scott and Lori and their family at Costco the other day and ended up bringing Anna home with us to play with Emily. They had a great time together and part of their time was spent laughing at themselves put eyes on John's head.
Our snowman is melting but still standing.

La La La Leah

Leah has become fascinated with her tongue. And it looks like she has a long tongue.
She is trying not to smile. Or trying not to cry. Don't know which. She has been miserable for about two weeks now. After two antibiotics, her ear infection is finally clearing up and she is sleeping a little better. It's been pretty bad. The day after she finally started feeling better, she woke up MISERABLE. I was frustrated until I realized her top tooth is breaking through. The poor girl. I can't wait for her to feel better.

She is sitting on a bench at my mom's house that all the kids have sat on and had pictures on. She's already big enough to have her own bench picture.

She is 9 months old now and super long and super beautiful.

Heart Attacked

I was heart attacked by my young women yesterday. I'm not sure I can legitimately call them "my" young women anymore but I sure love them still and feel so lucky I had the opportunity to get to know them. They love Leah like crazy. They use to line up to hold her. We share "good news" in Young Women's and one day a girl said "I am 6th in line to hold Leah"!! It was cute. Last Sunday, Paige said, "I was looking at pictures of me when I was a baby and I was an ugly baby. It made me realize how beautiful Leah is. She is such a pretty baby." I told her she is so beautiful now there is no way she was an ugly baby. Anyway, it is very sweet and I love my girls. They heart attacked me with notes of thanks because I was released in December.

Baby Basket

John, Emily, Thomas, Jack, Samuel, and Leah spent their first few months of life sleeping in this basket. My mom gave it to me when I was pregnant with little John. She made a cushion for the bottom out of foam and cut up a bumper to fit the entire inside, including the top. (Everyone used the bumper except Leah. I threw it away when I got the bed out for her.)
I love it! And I love these 6 like crazy.

And now I will go put it away. Until next time. ; )

Tender Mercies

I woke up at 8:30. Oops. John was gone to work. Little John was gone to school. Everyone else was sleeping.

I was up with a sad, crying baby, sometimes sleeping in the recliner until 4:00 am when I asked John if he would take a turn because I was craving to lay down in bed. He was happy to help and Leah screamed with him. I knew she wanted me so I kept doing all I could do help but knew I had to get a little sleep. So John spent the next couple hours in the chair with Leah. At 1:00 am, I was watching House Hunters and Leah threw up all over her and me. It was lovely.

Early this morning, I took Leah back and she fell asleep next to me.

Well, I woke up and with Leah on my hip, woke up the other kids and told them to "hurry, hurry, hurry". They were going to be late if they did not hurry and they already went to school late on Tuesday. Thanks to me. I was a bit ornery and questioned why they weren't faster, etc. etc. etc. It was lame. AND Leah threw up on me again.

On the way to school, Thomas said he is smarter than his teacher because she says 'ruf' instead of 'roof'. I told him that people say things different and it isn't wrong. I then gave the example of how he says 'eggs' and 'legs'. He says it just as it is spelled....with the 'e' sound instead of an 'a' sound. Then I told him how little John use to say "toolet" instead of "toilet" and one day he got upset with Emily and said that she keeps telling him it is "toilet" "and it's not. It's TOOLET".

We all laughed (just as we always do with that story) and the kids jumped out of the car and went to school.

I immediately said a prayer of thanks that the spirit and the mood instantly changed with that little giggle and that Heavenly Father set up that change in our day. I literally FELT a change within me when I went from feeling frazzled and late to happy. The little laugh made a huge difference in my day and how my children's day will be today.

I called John at 8:30 and asked why he didn't call to wake me up. He said he didn't want to wake up Leah. I wanted to blame him for making everyone late and making me frazzled but after the kids and I giggled together, that all went away. And it was wonderful. (And there was the tender mercy for John.....avoiding the wrath of me!)

A sweet tender mercy and I am so very grateful. I feel more love for my family and for my day. And I feel extreme gratitude for a loving Heavenly Father that knew exactly what I needed.

What we all needed.

And to top it off, I came home and checked my email. There was a sweet email from my neighbor. She had taken pictures of our snowman and said that she was having a dark and gloomy day and when she left her house and drove up the street and saw our snowman, she was instantly reminded of many family home evenings with her kids when they were younger. They always sang "Once There was a Snowman." and it brought back sweet memories for her.

This lady has been very, very sick for a long, long time and she made my day by sharing HER sweet tender mercy.

Happy 4 SAM

None of these pictures came up where they were suppose to and blogger won't let me move them. So....Sam is opening his Toy Story book here.
Sam loves to spell his name so I had SAM written on his cake. Dairy Queen ice cream cake. $10 off on Tuesdays!! I'm not much of a cake maker.
This was right after he blew out his candles. I thought it was so cute. He was so excited.

Before lighting and blowing out candles. Happy 4th Birthday Samuel!!

Sam with his new sword. It's awesome!

Sam and the fam. Mom is behind the camera. As usual. Right where I like to be.

Today is Sam's birthday! He is 4 years old today and does not care one bit. He did not want me to buy him balloons and he was completely content to go on as if it was just another day. I took him to Jake's Over the Top for a crisp bean burrito because he chose that even over a happy meal. We then went to Wal Mart and he picked out a few random things. It was pretty much a regular trip to WalMart with him asking for things but today I said YES "Because it's your birthday". So he got a new 50 cent toothbrush, buzz lightyear toothpaste, a mini etchascetch, and a batman pez dispenser. He was pleased as punch.

Tonight he had dinosaur chicken for dinner then we had ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. Ryan and Laura stopped by and had cake with us. He opened presents and got an awesome sword, a cool Toy Story book and a Buzz Lightyear kite.

I've told him about every 10 minutes all day that it is his birthday or have asked every 10 minutes what today is. He never answered. It was odd. Every day of this kid's life is exciting to him so I don't think he was finding much more JOY today than any other day.

Sam ALWAYS has a smile on his face. He is full of JOY and lives life to it's fullest.

Sam is a trouble maker. (The boys just found him in the bathroom with his Buzz toothpaste. He squeezed it into the sink and filled up the sink with water.) No big deal.....just another fun thing for Sam to do. It's amazing the trouble the kid gets into. I will not go to store's with Sam unless absolutely necessary because he likes to explore and it takes 100 times longer than it should.

Little John says Sam is cute.

Emily said Sam plays with her and it's fun.

Sam is ridiculously coordinated in all sports. He is fun to watch and grandpa H. says we better find what all our other kids are good at so he doesn't outshine them all. : )

He is funny and completely adored by all of us.

We love Sam and are so happy to have his fun, happy personality in our family.

The rest of the day, all the spots in between the fun, were spent holding Leah, taking her to the doctor and waiting for an hour and a half for her prescription. That was not fun.

The poor girl did not sleep last night. Not much anyway. Which means neither did I. She had a fever of 103 and I slept, kind of, in the recliner in our bedroom holding her. She woke up many times crying, threw up twice, and pooped. It was awesome. She has had a cold and cough for two weeks. One week ago I took her to the dr. because of that with a slight fever. She has slight RSV and I insisted that she be put on antibiotics for a sinus infection or something because she was not well. So after 5 days of amoxicillin, she went back in today and has a double ear infection. Poor girl is MISERABLE. She got a new medication and numbing drops for her ears.

THEN Emily had play practice, Thomas had a game, and big John has play practice until 10. Luckily Sam wasn't too excited about his birthday and didn't even notice how busy I was with Leah and everything else. I did make it special and I completely enjoyed spending the day with my four year old boy.

Oh yeah! I left Leah with little John, sleeping at home while I went to Thomas' game. When I got back, John had taught her how to wave and she was saying 'ba ba'. Cute little girl. Another milestone. She started crawling about 2 weeks ago and clapping when we say "yeah".

And I am rambling like crazy now so I'll end here.

Leah is sick

This is the first time Leah has been sick in her life and it's a big one. Poor girl.

"It's not those who never make mistakes in this life who get ahead; it's those who do fail, accept it, and move on. In fact, son, the most successful are those who fail faster, accept it quicker, then get on with the next step sooner."

-Chad Hymus' Father

New Beginnings

Emily and her parents were invited to New Beginnings tonight. She, along with 5 other 11 year olds, were introduced as the newest Beehives this year. It was a wonderful program. The artist, Sandra Rast, spoke and the YW sang a beautiful song called "We Believe".

Lucky for Emily, she gets to go to Youth Conference this summer even before she is 12 but because she will be going into 7th grade this year.

Emily is also an orphan in the community play of Annie. Her dad has a few random parts in the play as well. It will be a great experience for the both of them. And we are already excited for it to end! The practices are crazy. But it will be great. We're excited.

P.S. Grandpa has decided that Emily looks like Shelly Long. Remember her?!!

I remember her best from "Cheers" and "Money Pit".

Once there was a snowman!

A six level snowman....one level for each kid. The dad, Thomas, and Jack built this snowman.

It has BIG stick arms but it's hard to see because they blend in with the tree behind it. He has carrot eyes and nose and is wearing an 80's headband.

It's President's Day and to enjoy the day off, we had sausage and egg burritos for breakfast, cleaned the boys room, made cookies and smoothies, had macaroni and cheese for lunch and built a snowman. Little John played basketball at the church with friends and Emily went to the REC center with a friend. Now everyone is relaxing before we go clean the basement then watch Open Season 3. Last night we watched Nanny McPhee Returns and loved it. We liked it better than the first. It's been a nice family weekend.

Seussical

Emily, Thomas, and Jack have spent the last several months practicing for Seussical the Musical at their school. Emily was cast as Little Cat B. There were 6 Little Cats and they were always on stage with The Cat in the Hat. She was cute and did a great job.

Thomas blew me away at tryouts. He was awesome and was cast as Wickersham Brother 5. It took a little extra effort to coordinate the singing and the dancing but he had a couple solo lines and he did a great job. The worst part was he had a microphone and they forgot to turn it on in every show. Poor Wickershams.

Jack was cast as ReNew Snoo Who. He made a great Who and was so cute and fun to watch.

It was a cute play and all the kids did a great job BUT Seussical is just not my favorite play. It's fun and colorful but kind of a boring story. Next year the school is doing Pirates of Penzance Jr. and since big John was Fredrick in Pirates of Penzance in the High School play, we've convinced Thomas and Jack that they need to try out. Yep....only two kids in elementary next year. Very strange.

Leah

Doesn't this picture just make you want to pick her up and cuddle?

Last night when Emily went to bed she told me to come see Leah. Leah was sitting in the corner of her crib, asleep. She was starting to stir in this picture. Sweet little girl.

She has a horrible cough and cold right now. Maybe it felt better to sit up to sleep. Three nights ago, she woke up about 10:30 and ate then went back to sleep and slept all night. I was super tired the next day. I guess from sleeping all night. The next night she was up pretty much all night. I slept for no more than 4 hours. She had to have been wasted yesterday but the girl does not sleep. She usually has one tiny cat nap then fights sleep the rest of the day. As soon as her eyes start to close, she wakes herself up and wigs out.

Oh if she only knew how wonderful sleep is!!

Happy Valentines Day!

Our littlest Valentine!!

My mom bought her outfit on an after Christmas clearance and thought it would be great for Valentines. It was perfect!

What a great day. No matter who you have to love. Kids. Neighbors. Friends. Family. What a great day to recognize those we love and mean something in our lives.

I got lucky today. My two little ones and the big guy all have coughs and colds so John stayed home! Yeah! I got to help in Thomas' class without little ones in tow and had a great experience with a little girl from his class. More on that later. We then got to have lunch together and then I got to go help in Emily's class with her Valentine's party. She was so cute to watch with her class. She is happy and kind and I was a happy mom. I'm so glad I could help because I heard it was their last party this year and next year when it's Jr. High, I won't be going in to help anymore.

Last night we all helped make Valentine's for Thomas, Jack, and Emily's classes. We all wore red or pink today and the kids had a "secret admirer" leave them a small gift and letter.

Tonight we had navajo tacos. John made the scones and he made them in the shape of a heart. It was so cute and the kids loved it. The kids decorated cookies from grandma then they took advantage of the great weather and played a lot of basketball outside.

They are now all in bed and I need to finish up here and go cuddle with my valentine. He's a keeper and he made my day wonderful. He is great at making all my days wonderful.

With love.

Ouch!!

John plays basketball with men from the Stake every Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Tuesday morning I heard him come in from basketball and calmly say "Tawnie?" I knew something was wrong and was so scared I was going to see his finger twisted all weird or see a finger jabbed up his nose or in his eye. Thank goodness it wasn't any of those.

I guess a guys elbow slammed into his face with such force that John was knocked to the floor and he saw stars.

He went into the bathroom to see the damage and his nose was split right open in about a 1 inch gash. He was worried it had gone straight through to the inside of his nostril. He came home and by the time I saw it, it had sealed together pretty well so we called our awesome neighbor who is a nurse. She ran up and suggested he ice it. So the first picture is ice in a bag and wrapped in a pillowcase then an ace bandage wrapped around his head to keep it in place so he wouldn't have to hold it. I am laughing just thinking about it. It was silly. His nose swelled up HUGE!! His friend at work has been making fun of him all week and sending him pictures of people with big noses. Luckily today it's gone way down.

After a while he went to work with my suggestion of going straight to the nurse at work. She suggested he go and have it glued so it would stay shut. So he left work and headed to MarDiene Jeffs. Dr. Wilson, his regular dr. doesn't glue but I was happy that we could call MarDiene. (She is from our old ward and we were primary choristers together. She and John have a kinship in that they are both the ward music directors now. We've become great friends and I was looking for an excuse for a couple years now to get into her. This was perfect!!)

She glued it shut, gave him a tetnus shot and sent him on his way. Two days later, the glue has come off and the bruising is really starting to show on his nose and around his eye.

Hey, if your going to have an injury, you may as well make it a strange one. Who knew the tough skin on the outside of your nose could split open like that. It must have been an extremely hard hit.

We have to keep a hold of that sweet little baby up there. She thinks the scar is pretty cool and tries to grab it. She's just so darn lovable. (So is the big guy.)

Switching Rooms

Little John does a great job of keeping his room clean. He did share a room with Thomas, but Thomas isn't as good at keeping his room clean. We offered John to have his own room but the "privilege" (if that's what he wants to call it :) of having his own room comes with keeping the kids bathroom clean WITHOUT getting mad at everybody for the messes they make but asking them to clean up their mess and if they don't, talking to mom or dad about it. It's a deal and it's going well.

Thomas, Jack, and Sam love to share a room and now John and I can hang out in one room with the three who like us to be around when they fall asleep. John's room is ALWAYS clean and so far so good.

Big John made all the beds. The bunkbed was just for convenience so it's not fancy but he got all the dimensions and design for the other two beds from Potterybarn and whipped up a couple beds for the boys. He's such a handy man.

I had a talk with little John about Jolie and me. We shared a room growing up and my side of the room was always a mess. Somehow everyone in my family got the clean bug but me. (I can organize, I just struggle to keep things in their place). I told him that I still struggle with keeping things clean (just in case he hadn't noticed) but I'm continually working on it and hoping that I magically get great at it. I asked him to not make Thomas feel bad but that we would continue to encourage him.

Which reminds me:

One time I heard John and Thomas in their room getting along great. After a while I went up and little John helped Thomas clean EVERYTHING. He helped him clean out his drawers; they organized the clothes and passed clothes down to Jack that didn't fit anymore. They went through any papers that Thomas had and got a box to keep the important ones; they made the beds, decorated the dressers and made the room really nice. They had fun doing it together and Thomas worked like crazy. I've encouraged John to be more encouraging to Thomas that way.

(Just like Jolie and my mom are to me when they come by and help me get things in order).

Oh thank heaven for family!

YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL

I saw this printout on a website today. I loved it and printed it. You can print it too if you'd like. I thought of my daughter, Emily. I would like this in her room....or on the mirror.

Scratch that....AND on the mirror.

Then I thought of myself and how much I might benefit from it as well. It's a good reminder so how about on my mirror and maybe on the fridge too! Because we are all beautiful just the way we are. Right?! That doesn't mean we shouldn't "try a little harder to be a little better", it just means to be happy with who we are while we try a little harder. What a simple idea and you can make it with any phrase that suits you.

If you like this one, you can print it from HERE.

Punk kids

Sam and Leah had a bath in the kitchen sink tonight.

Sam is obsessed with making his hair go "up". It's cute. When I am getting ready, he comes into the bathroom and gets one of my round brushes, gets it wet and puts the front of his hair "up". Then he looks at it to make sure it's just right, and smiles. I love it!!

The kids love when I put Leah's hair in a mohawk and Sam loves his mohawked now too.

Karey's Book Release Party

This is my sister in law Karey, her daughter Savannah, and my daughter Leah. We braved the weather last night and went to Cedar Hills to an awesome lodge (really just her neighbors home) for her release party. Karey is signing our three copies. She did a great job. I can only imagine how she must feel because I'm just her sister in law and I think it is so cool that she actually published an entire book. An entire 200 and something page book. It's awesome.

Pick one up for yourself. $8.99 at Costco or you can get it on Amazon.

La la la Leah

I think she knows how cute she is in these glasses.
John worked from home for a bit this morning to watch the kids while I helped in Thomas' class.

(My neighbor who usually watches Sam is in Hawaii....lucky girl.)
He said this is what he got to look at while he worked. Lucky guy.

Carl Bloch

Our family went to Provo one night to go to a BYU basketball game and even more to go to the Carl Bloch exhibit. Carl Bloch's masterpieces were sent in from cathedrals on the other side of the world. It was wonderful. We rented iPad's for the kids and they loved it.

When John and I saw this picture above and read the descriptions, we were both overcome by the spirit. "[the} miracle that is about to occur". Isn't that AWESOME. Just seeing it again and thinking about it again brings that same feeling. The description read:

"The Daughter of Jarius. Here, the mother sits by the daughter's lifeless body, despairing - a tear running down her cheek. Christ has arrived at the doorway as the sun is rising behind him as a foreshadowing the miraculous miracle that is about to occur."

The exhibit is well worth the drive. But while you're down there, go get some ice cream (Roasted Almond Fudge is our favorite), eat at the Creamery, walk around campus, hike to the Y, go to a game, take advantage of Provo. We love it.

I am so grateful for the daily miracles in my life. And a few big ones too. At our stake conference last year, we were taught to pray for a miracle when one is needed. That night I NEEDED a miracle. I had needed a miracle for months. So I prayed. I told my Heavenly Father that I really needed this miracle in my life. And guess what?! I was blessed with a miracle that evening. The miracle I needed. And I was at peace. The trial continues on and off but because I KNOW miracles occur, I know that I can continue to pray for this 'need' and eventually have the miracle of complete peace.

"the miracle that is about to occur". Sometimes we just need to ask.

So Me!

My sister came over one day with this sign. She told me it reminded her of me. Isn't that nice?!

I'm okay with it. I completely agree.

But I do have to say, Emily said last night, "This is the longest our house has ever been clean."

YAHOO!!! Maybe I'm making some progress.

Sam and "Sam"

We asked Sam who was in this picture and he said "Sam".

Actually, it is Sam's dad.

But we agreed that it looks like Sam.