Thursday, March 24, 2011

They think of everything.

I guess you just can't play army men unless you can get a realistic war scene. Seriously people, they came like this. (I just posed them.) A little too realistic for my taste. Only  army men could have defects that could be seen in a grotesquely positive way (at least for imaginative boy play).

Why does yogurt have to be his favorite?



Wednesday, March 23, 2011

32 things I love about my husband

Shaunton just celebrated his 32nd birthday and in honor of this once in a lifetime occasion I made a list of 32 things I love about him. Shaunton truly is an amazing man and I know that I am blessed to have him in my life. Enjoy!

1. His gorgeous brown eyes.
2. His beautiful 40 watt perfect teeth smile.
3. His sense of humor...even if I am the funny one.
4. How he father's our children.
5. They way he tickles my back at night.
6. His willingness to stop by the store on his way home from work because I forgot a key ingredient for dinner.
7. His patience with me...all the time. I don't think I am as easy to get along with as I believe. Weird, huh?
8. He is a good brother to his sisters and goes out of his way for them.
9. The priesthood. He has blessed all our children and a few of the nieces and nephews. He is willing to use it for the benefit of our family.
10. His athleticism.He loves to play sports...and looks sexy...but not when he is sweaty. Eew.
11. The way he cooks french toast for breakfast sometimes.
12. The way he plays games with the kids, like he is just one of them.
13. He works out...and looks real good...all the time.
14. He makes scars and scabs look good.
15. He can handle my sarcasm...most of the time.
16. The way I catch him looking at my sometimes. It makes my heart flutter.
17. The way he organizes his sock drawer. It is the most organized drawer in the house.
18. The way he looks in a white shirt and vest.
19. The way he massages my feet practically every day for the last few months of my pregnancy.
20. The way he gets up in the middle of the night to get the baby for me.
21. The way he hands me my vitamins each night with a glass of water.
22. He downloads songs for me that he things I would like.
23.He eats my cooking, all the time, with no complaint.
24. He buys me the things I won't buy myself because I am thrifty. (Like a pie server. Thanks Babe!)
25. The way he can find a great bargain at Goodwill.
26. The way he smiles at me from across the alter at me in the temple.
27. The talks we have late at night when we are both really tired but just can't stop talking.
28. The way he comes up behind me and kisses my neck.
29. The way he always kisses me on his way out the door and first thing when he gets home.
30. He loves me regardless of all my imperfections. He has seen me in my darkest times and hasn't run.
31. He is the strongest person I know, the one who has held me up when I couldn't hold up myself.
32. Because I am married to a younger man...even if it is only by two weeks.

Don't turn your back!

This is what happens when you fold lots of laundry late at night and don't put it away before you go to bed.


Looks like they are real upset about it. Kaysen is blowing raspberries on Owen's stomach!

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Happenings

Owen's thoughts:
Sitting at the table waiting for breakfast. "Jaxen, come and get it. Ding, ding, ding!" (I say this sometimes at dinner.)
Comes into the bathroom with a sword down his shirt. "Look Mom, I am a Nephi. I have a sword."
His new favorite word is "cool"...in a drawn out way.
He has started sleeping in his own bed, instead of Jaxen's....of his own free will and choice.

Kaysen thoughts actions:
Can sign please, more, eat, and thank you. All the important words. If he is really up to it, he will pat his diaper to show he needs to be changed.
Likes to throw food.
Doesn't like bathing, which does not go well with statement above.
Likes to take my hand and guide me to the bed so he can nurse.
Doesn't like when I don't always nurse him, even if he is super cute about it.
Eats more than my 3 year old.
Likes to shoot webs and pretend guns at you.
Can play dead. (Like you pretend shoot him and he keels over.)
Plays very rough.
Likes to pull on facial hair...no one in our house grows any. Sorry Grandpa! He still loves you!
Has a select few that he will grin and run to and cries when they (or we) leave them.

Ember thoughts:
Excited to move up to the blue reading group. This is a step above the group she was in. She was in the middle group before.
Thinks I should take my rings off before I get in the shower so they don't fall off.
Likes to wash the walls in the shower when she is done.
Likes to play outside with her brother and make up new games.
Falls asleep very quick at night. First one out and last one up.
Only likes cereal for breakfast. Nothing more, nothing less. Try her.

Jaxen thoughts:
Lately, likes to throw tantrums when he doesn't get his way...and seems surprised when he doesn't get his way after the tantrum.
Can sit on the bowl for one and a half hours reading...and maybe using the restroom every thirty minutes or so.
Likes to play board games.
Signed up to play flag football at school because he figured he already knows how to play chess and could probably get better at football. Dad was proud.
Likes to pulverize boxes with sticks. Better than pulverizing his brothers or sister.
Would eat breath and live computer or video games if we let him. But we don't. He keeps asking and we keep saying no. It doesn't sink in. Then we are back at statement number one.

I have been thinking a lot about my kids lately and about being a parent. Sometimes you stand back and take an inventory of your life and realize that it moves so quickly and it seems like you don't have time to take it all in. Not enough time to talk and ask and live and grow. It seems you can think of all the good things to say or ask after the kids have gone to bed. You make a mental note to bring it up the next day and the night washes it away. You wake up thinking about getting ready to do it all again. You fall in bed thinking, most days, that you did a crappy job or that you could have done a heck of a lot better. I will do better tomorrow drags on doesn't it? Oh, how I love to look in on my sleeping little ones and see how their faces have changed. Bigger. Older. Learning. So eager to soak up the world around them. Not having the filters to know what not to soak up. Thinking you have so much to teach them. Watching them fly a kite. Watching them laugh. Watching them enjoy the simple pleasures of life. Makes the whole Plan seems so simple. Live life. Enjoy it. Share it. Grow. Like they say, enjoy the journey!