Pick a corner

Always a first. Was successful this time. I need to remember and try again. 

School carnival

We spent 3 hours and plenty of money at the school carnival this year. Jack and Jesse ran around together, Sam and benson ran together, and Thomas was with a variety of the big sixth graders all evening. I spent an hour and a half running a game with kids trying to throw toilet paper into a toilet. Hahahahaha. 

And this is it for pictures. It was a nice evening nonetheless. 

Maybe there's more pics on my phone. I'll add them if there is. 

Strong

How do you narrow down pictures when every picture was so important to them?!  So here they are. They felt so buff and warm with their 12 layers of clothes on. Leah even joined the party with 2 shirts. She claimed 12. I love them so much!!

Basketball

John is Jack's coach for the second season.  They keep calling to ask and he keeps saying yes.  He enjoys it.  The kids love to play and Sam can't wait until his turn.  Sam is their greatest fan.  John, Thomas, and Jack are playing right now and they are doing great.  I wish I could get to more games but they are all on Wednesdays and so are guitar lessons.  Usually right in the middle of two games so I'll end up only making a couple games each.  Darn.  John took the team to the Jazz game.  Thomas was there with his team.  Then a couple days later, he went with little John to the Jimmer game with his team.  John is a rock star and took the boys in his car to McDonalds after the game.  He's a great guy.  :)

(side note:  see Jack's cute hair?  It's getting long and needs cut but I was enjoying it's beauty.  A couple days ago I wondered if he had been wearing a hat because of how it looked.  Turns out he just decided to chop the front of it off himself.  It's kind of the Jim Carey look in Dumb and Dumber.  He likes it though, at least is pretending too.  Although I have seen him try to hide under a hat.)

Date with our boys

For Christmas, we got a few season tickets to Centerpoint Theater. The first play was "Arsenic and Old Lace" and we had a great time spending the evening with these two boys. It's always fun to have one on one or two on two time with our kids. They also lucked out with free kids night at IHOP.

Cute kids

Jack said, "mom, does Heavenly Father know if I win my next game?"
I said, "yes, He knows."
Jack said, "I hope He knows that I won."


John asked Sam if there was snow on the driveway. Sam said there wasn't any.
John asked "there's no snow at all?"
Sam said "well there's just crumbs of snow on the driveway".

Brothers

Jack started swimming lessons today.  He threw a fit and said he never wants to swim.  This stems from his near drowning 4 years ago and his fear of water, without a life jacket.

It is private lessons from a neighbor and after much coercing, I told him I would stay with him the whole time and we would say a prayer before we left.

He agreed.

His lesson was at 3:10.  We left before 3:00 to find where the lesson would be held (the teachers pool is being renovated this week so lessons are being held at another pool).  We searched for 30 minutes for the place.  We used teo different phones with GPS, both giving wrong directions.  After searching and searching, I finally found the place.  At the Pitt's.  She was gone, the pool was closed.  Had I known it was at the Pitts, we would have been there in 3 minutes tops but because it is a newly constructed area, the maps couldn't find it.

I woke up one morning to this.  Jack climbed into bed with Sam and it must have been comforting for both of them.

I was driving with Sam and Leah to pick up Emily from a volleyball camp when I called Jack at home to tell him about swimming lessons.  Sam could hear that Jack was not happy about it and  my 5 year old Sam kept asking to talk to his 8 year old brother Jack.  I gave the phone to Sam and he sweetly talked through it with Jack.  He told him that it is not scary and that he was going to learn how to swim too and it will be good to learn how to swim and that Jack would be okay.  It was adorable.

This Sam of mine scares me sometimes.  He is so full of life and he is so good at finding joy in life and making the most of life.  He smiles almost always and is very sweet.  He is smart and athletic and loves our family in a very sweet way.  When he does sweet things like he did today with Jack, it scares me a little more.

But I won't live in fear (at least try not to).  I will continue to enjoy every little bit of him and the rest of my kids.  I'm grateful for sweet kids and that the good in them far outweighs the hard parts about each of them. (usually.  Heaven help me when I'm in the thick of it and feel like I'll never be able to get through it.)

Update:
So we went to Jack's baseball teams swim party tonight at the coaches parents house.  It was fun and for the first time in four years, Jack got in the pool without his lifejacket and was braver than ever.  Thank goodness.  I was scared but he did it.  Sam got brave too which i didn't like but I kept a hawkeye on all six kids so there wasn't much of a chance for something to go wrong.  I just hoped every parent was doing the same for their children too.

John is out of town and Jack has stepped up to the plate.  Anything I ask, he is the first to volunteer from helping clean, helping with kids, getting things for me, and even playing with my hair (my favorite thing ever).  He has been so sweet and cute.  I love my kids.

We drove home watching a fire on our mountain right above our house.  We drove around a bit and checked in on the Pitts and Robisons.  Looks like they'll be okay.  Kind of cool.  Kind of scary.

Pack Meeting

I feel bad I missed a picture of Thomas.
Jack earned his bobcat.  Thomas earned his last silver arrow and his first webelos pin. 
Then they had a bike rally and an officer came to talk to them about safety.  The highlight was getting to look in the police car and listen to the siren of course.
It was a nice evening.  We've got great leaders and a great Ward.

Jack is a Wolf

Jack is so excited to be in scouts.  He was introduced tonight and enjoyed being with all the boys as a scout this time.  Not just the brother of a scout.  He's a great kid.

Jacks Birthday at the Lion House

The most crazy of all the Lion House parties. My feeling with this one is I'm glad it's over. The taffy was sticky. The boys were LOUD. The hostess struggled. But I'll stop complaining. It's just good to be done and we're glad Jack felt loved being surrounded by so many friends. That is just what he needed and he was happy.

Happy Birthday Jack!!

Jack turned 8 years old today and when he went to bed he said "today was the best day of my life". Jack says this often. Funny coming from a kid who daily throws MAJOR tantrums and claims that no one likes him and he should die.

Wow. That was a lot to take in, in one paragraph.

Jack is our only blue eyed child and wow they are a gorgeous blue. Ice. With a little yellow around the pupil. Beautiful.

We think he might be a perfectionist. This may explain some of the tantrums. But what do we know?! He is a genius. Really. He is so smart. He was given a letter to go to the spectrum program but he will have none of that. Neither will we. He thinks it's best to be wherever Thomas is and knowing Jack, we agree.

He is a stubborn kid and when he has in mind that something should be a certain way.....well, this is usually where the tantrums come in. But somehow, after a lot of tough stuff, his little mind somehow figures it out and once he grasps the new concept, he kind of shrugs it off and is okay again. It really is the most interesting thing. It's Jack. It's a daily thing we go through.

He is my only child that I get an overwhelming feeling of "wow, he is really ours?" He is my child that helps me realize who he really belongs to. And that is our Father in Heaven. He is His and on loan to us. We've been trusted to do our best with him and I hope we do it right. There's just something about him.

Just after Jack turned 4, he almost drowned. We were in a hotel pool, John was watching the kids while I was on the treadmill in the other room. Something I never do. I ended my run and thought hmmm, I'll just do 5 more minutes. Well, that five minutes made a huge difference in our lives. In that 5 minutes, Jack went under water and no one saw him. not the other people in the pool, not the people on the side, not the people in the hot tub. Until Jack's 6 year old brother Thomas saw him and lifted him out of the water. At this point, John and Emily saw Thomas holding jack and they got him to the side of the pool. He was lifeless. The kids came and got me and when I got into the pool area, he was on a chair, wrapped in a towel, but breathing. We took him up to the hotel room and gave him a bath. I didn't feel okay about anything but John (and I don't blame John. it's just the way it was) said he'd be okay. At midnight, we said a prayer and right after I took him to the emergency room.

His oxygen was in the 80's with 90 for a high. I asked if he'd be okay and they said "we don't know". This is when I first pannicked becaused of course he was going to be okay. It's always okay. Then I was told he needed to be transported in an ambulance to Primary Children's. It was secondary drowning they were afraid of. The chemicals in his lungs poisoning him. He stayed two nights in the hospital and then came home and thankfully we still get to keep him.

I think this may be a big reason why I have such a different feeling with this boy.

He is precious. Uncle Nairn got through to him and somehow connected and we are so grateful for his patience and love for him.

Jack plays the piano but is taking a little break. He plays baseball and loves to play with his brothers, his sisters, and his friends.

There really is just something about this kid but there is no way to get what that is from my heart and mind onto paper. So I'll treasure it inside me and be grateful for every day I have him.

When I was pregnant with him, we thought he would be a girl. We hoped he would be a girl because I knew I had two girls (another story) and I wasn't sure I wanted to keep having kids. Well, the day we found out he was a boy I called my mom and she laughed and said "there is something special about this little boy" and it eased my anxiety and I've always been grateful for her doing that for me.

Jack is a good boy. He is a helper. Thomas is his best friend. He adores Leah and has to hug and kiss her every night. She looks for him every night too to say good night.

He is a super blonde and skinny. He loves to eat chicken pillows and his favorite colors are yellow and orange. He has great handwriting and he will sit down and do 14 pages of homework in one night. He loves to read and now that he is 8, he has his own scriptures with his name on them. last night he laid in bed and wouldn't stop until he read one chapter.

He wants to learn to play the ukelele. He has only lost two teeth, besides the tooth that came out when he fell when he was one. So three officially.

Jack will be baptized and is very excited for it. He will also be taking swimming lessons this summer and it's a scary thing for him.

We sure are a blessed family to have him and he fills his spot just right. We need him. We learn from him. And we love him deeply.

Happy Birthday Jack!!

JackaLacka. Gack.

Friends

I have this complex that I feel like no one likes me.

I feel like I am always in the way and always say and do stupid things.

I worry about this with family, friends, neighbors, ward members, anyone I meet anywhere, and even my scouts and primary class.

Lame, I know.

I'm built that way but trying to get it out of my system.

So just now the doorbell rang and standing there were two neighbor boys. One Jack's age and his little brother. I walked up and the friend Jack's age saw me and said to his little brother "It's okay. She's really nice."

Silly but it was just what I needed. Not necessarily needed at the moment but needed to help me fight my complex.

What sweet boys. They can play at my house ANYTIME. :)

Besides that, Jack's best friend is Thomas and he doesn't really play much with anyone else so for this friend to come here, makes me happy. But especially makes Jack happy.

(Hm. I just realized. Maybe his friend was talking about the dog being nice. Not me. Shoot. There goes that.)

Thomas and Jack. And Thomas and Jack and Sam.

Thomas and Jack fit themselves into one of their uncles shorts at the family yard sale. It was our second yardsale to earn funds for the our second every other year family reunion.

It was a success!!
The boys had fun digging in my garden this summer. I didn't mind since I didn't plant a thing and it kept it weeded. But the other day, they came up with the grand idea to dig a hole. On the other side of the yard. In the grass. No where near my garden. I don't get it. It got put back together just fine and even though I didn't want a hole in my lawn and I wasn't really happy about it, I had to have a picture because this is just one of those things worth documenting.

Jack and Sam and the Fam.

At the end of the 2010-2011 school year, a 'deal' came through to get Hollywood Connection passes for $5 each. I thought this was a great idea and would give us something to do as a family. Well, the first time we tried to go out, it was dead. Like Wally World. It was actually kind of funny. Because it was Wally World. :)

I got smart and the second time called ahead. We ended up having to use these the day before they expired in September of the 2011-2012 school year. Awesome. Hey, at least we used them.

So John met us there and we played miniature golf and rode rides and it was well worth the price of $5 per person for about 4 hours of fun. For the kids.

This is on this little ''Crazy school bus" ride. It isn't too big and you sit in the bus and go up high and come back down. Rather silly. It is afterall a mini indoor amusement park. Jack DID NOT want to go on this ride but after seeing Sam go without a hitch he finally decided to do it. And this is how he looked while riding. He got off and loved it. Just like everything Jack does. Absolutely NOT on so many things but once he is forced or coaxed, he loves things. Funny kid.

Before the ride. And a PERFECT example of Sam and his happiness. See that smile?!! All day. Every day. I get that smile. Hundreds of times. How does one smile so often?! It's wonderful and I hope he always keeps that great trait.

Grasshoppers

Jack came home from school with two grasshoppers. He noticed one was missing a leg and made it so it couldn't jump. He was so excited about it and wanted to find more. He went out back and caught 7 more. He was collecting them in a flower pot in the front. I asked him how they were all staying and he very innocenltly said "I took off their legs so they couldn't jump away". I was sad of course but recognized how innocent he was and that he is also a boy and that's just kind of what boys do. I explained to him that grasshoppers are made to jump and it would be a good idea to let the rest of the grasshoppers he catches, keep their legs.

Leah even got in the fun and enjoyed holding the grasshoppers. This little girl with her 3 older brothers.....oh my. She just chases after them and joins in their fun.

I remember catching grasshoppers and rolly pollys and ladybugs and even daddy long legs when I was a kid. I remember my cousin Brandon pulling the legs off grasshoppers but I was never interested in that.

Sometimes I try to really focus on something the way kids focus on things. Do you remember focusing on the pictures in a book? Now I don't even look at the pictures. I just read the story but sometimes I stop and stare at the picture and try to remember how easy it is for a child to study the small things. It's no wonder their minds grasp so much knowledge.

Buddies

Jack use to feel so different and feel bad that he was the only one with blue eyes but he now knows that they are our FAVORITE eyes and he is "special" because of them.

Thomas bought this pocket knife gadget at scout camp and decided to clamp his hair. It got stuck and dad had to work on it to get it out. It was pretty funny.

Thomas and Jack are such great buddies. Thomas is Jack's hero. He admires him and wants to be just like him. It is very sweet. They love to be together and I love that they love it. Sam is their sidekick but has such a mind of his own that he is okay doing his own thing most of the time.

JOhn and Emily are at scout camp and girl's camp this week. I spent two full days at cub camp with Thomas and today at the hospital with my mom while she had her port removed. Two more treatments of Herceptin. Yay!!! Now the boys are out having a lemonade sale and I am excited to spend the evening with them before our two oldest get home tomorrow.

Don't get me wrong. I can't wait for them to get home. I constantly think about them but it has been nice to have time with the younger kids. We seem to be so busy with the older kids so much of the time. We also have quiet evenings because the younger kids are asleep by 9:30. That has been strange but nice.

Got to go buy me some lemonade!!

Jack is ready for church

Jack loves to be like dad and loves to be "men in black". He loves to wear his suit to church but it is obviously getting a little small.

He didn't care that the pants were so short but we did have him change out of tan socks into black socks. At the same time, he changed his tie to a dark brown tie. He was so happy and so proud of himself.

Jack is a very sweet boy and we love him like crazy.

Jack

Nice lead off.

Jack LOVES baseball. He LOVES it. It is so fun to watch him play. He said no thanks to soccer next year. He just wants to play baseball. I love it when my kids have a passion for something.

He was so excited to be the catcher. We were going to leave the game early to make it to his soccer game but he asked if we could stay so he could be catcher. We stayed and at the end of the game, ran over to his soccer game. He played for 10 minutes and the game was over.

Beware

Last fall, John and I found this on our front porch. It is a sign Jack made that says:

no cats

my mom is allergic to them

Jack is 7

Jack got this ball for his birthday. All 6 kids were sitting in it and Emily and her friend played games in it. It's huge. It is now half flat in the backyard. It was fun while it lasted and hopefully it will be fun again.
Jack wanted the Better than Cake cake for his birthday. I didn't have toffee to put on top so it doesn't look so great but it was tasty.
John and I took him to Texas Roadhouse with Grandma and Leah. He was SO embarassed to get on the saddle. He finally agreed if he could get off before they yelled Happy Birthday to him.

He got off and sat here shyly.

Then we made him get his picture with grandma and Leah.

It was so great to have an evening with just him. I love this tradition. It's great to get one on one time with the kids.

Jack at Farmington Bay looking for Eagles.

Jack LOVES Leah. He is so cute and sweet with her.

I can't figure out if that is tonsils or what but it looks like fangs.

I think she could have gotten a better picture. This is funny. He's cute no matter what though.

Jack is the very top left corner. This is at the 1st grade patriotic program.

Jack told us day after day after day that we needed to do his american project. We kept putting him off not realizing we were putting him off until it was almost too late.

The day of the patriotic program he called me and told me he needed his america project of the eagle or statue of liberty or bell or something. (He had been wanting to do the eagle). I was heartbroken that we kept putting him off and in the end, I threw together his project and took it to school and asked what he thought. Thank goodness we had gone to look for eagles, he had seen eagles, and we'd talked about eagles so it wasn't too hard to put together. Cute kid. Big mom fail....but then I came back strong. kind of.

Jack wrote to Bruce on his mission and Bruce sent this picture back to Jack.

We sure are lucky to have Jack. His blue eyes are gorgeous. They have a yellow ring around the pupil. He is a spit fire. He is super sweet and loving and has the cutest smile and laugh. He is super skinny. You can see every little rib and bone on his body. He adores Thomas more than anything. He loves that Thomas saved him from drowning a few years ago. He is super smart....like ridiculously smart. Too smart for his own good sometimes. He struggles with patience. He struggles to cope and we are at a loss most of the time. He gets sad sometimes because he is "different" than his brothers. Hopefully he says that just because of his blue eyes....He is the only blue eye in our family. We walk on egg shells quite often. He does his homework without any help and really fast and loves to do it. He is obedient and just thinks that's how it's suppose to be. Unless he's throwing a fit. He is a big helper in our home. He has white blonde hair and it's beautiful. He loves to play with Sam and is so kind and cute with him. He talks in a sweet voice to Sam and Leah all the time. He needs Leah fixes. He just needs to hold her, love her, kiss her, or hug her sometimes.

John, the dad, says: He is a happy kid. He is smart and unique but fits in perfect with our family. He knows what he likes or wants and sticks to it. (This is where we struggle. :) One minute he'll be driving us crazy and the next minute he'll be entertaining us with his humor and personality. He really is a character and a hard one to figure out sometimes but HE IS SO GREAT! I love my Jack.

Jack is excited that he is going to be baptized next year.

I sure love my Jack. He is a special kid. Truly a blessing to us. And I am a lucky mom to get to raise him.

We love you so much Jack. HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY!!