Lover Boy

I've told you before that Jason is my little lover boy.  He still tells me every day, several times a day that he loves me.  It's still the same pattern...

Jason: Momma?

Me: Yeah?

Jason: I love you.

Me:  I love you too!

He's just such a cutie.  If he says that he loves me and someone else comments, or looks at him strangely, he says "What?  I am just so in love with Momma!"

He tells me that he has bad dreams if there are only two people in the bed, so that's why he comes to my bed.  He shares a room with Nate and that only makes two people, so he comes into my bed where he's a third wheel. 
It's hard to refuse him though because he's so sneaky, and he snuggles in just right.  I don't even notice him there until it's morning. 

He's a little charmer for sure.

When I tell him that we need to go into Logan to run some errands, he asks if Nathan will be coming.  If he is, he complains and says, "I want to go, just the two of us.  Not the three of us with Nathan!"
I had to take them both the other day, and I have to say that I prefer "just the two of us" too.  When he's alone with me, he's pretty good about staying close and being good.  When he's with Nate, they have the confidence to run off together and be crazy.  Ugh.

Anyway, the point of the post is just to write a few of the cute things Jason's been saying because I know there will come a day when my cute little lover boy will be embarrassed that he used to kiss me and love on me so much.  He won't come sneaking into my bed forever, so even if Mike isn't a huge fan of kids in the bed, I don't mind so much.

I'll end the post with a conversation that made me smile...

Jason: I fell in love with you mom.  I kiss you because I fell in love with you. (Why does he say "fell"?  It cracks me up!)

Me: I am in love with you too!

Jason: I wasn't able to kiss you when we first met because I was just a baby and I didn't know how to kiss yet.

Me:  That's true, but I kissed you all over your perfect little face.

Jason: And, then when I learned how to kiss, I kissed you first.

Me:  You sure did!

Jason: And now, I kiss you all the time!

Me: And I love it.

I love my little Jason boy and I hope he'll always love his momma. 

I kissed every one of my babies for the first time and our hearts are, and will forever be, knit together.

I am a lucky momma for sure.

Date Night

We still do our dates with the kids.  Sometimes we have a hard time thinking of something to do, but we always do something.  There has been a lot of flooding in the valley this year and I've wanted to drive down west of Smithfield and see if we could see some of the flooding.  So, Jake and I went there on our date.

 We got to see a beautiful sunset.

Mike was trying to detour that way a few weeks ago and thought he could ignore the signs and go through the water anyway.  As soon as the water was as high as the cab, he decided not to become one of the dorks you see on the news who think their truck is tougher than flooding water, and he turned around.  The water isn't over the road anymore (at least it wasn't when we were there), but the signs are there waiting for the next time.

Jake and I had a good chat as we drove and got to see our beautiful valley as the sun slowly sunk behind the Wellsvilles.  

We have been lucky to avoid flooding at our house, but so many people that I know have been affected this year. Nearly all of my book club friends have become friends with sump pumps.  It's been a crazy year. We're thankful for the snow and water, but it's hard to see so many people having trouble because of it.
The river near our house has been running for months now.  I've been warning the boys to stay away. We'll have a bit of a stressful time of it this Spring.
Anyway, it was a nice date with Jake.  It ended with a Slurpee.  With a two dollar limit for the date, most of the kids think that's the thing to do.
I love my Jake boy and I love having the chance to hang out with him.  He's a fun date!

Beaver Mountain

Nate has had a hard time watching the older kids head out to ski.  He wants to go with them.  He started asking to go over the Christmas break and I always told him we'd go another time.  

"Another time" finally came and Nate got to learn how to ski.

It started out as a snowy day and I was worried that Jason would freeze, but we all did great.  Allie and Jake took off to ski and I took Nate to the magic carpet to learn how to ski.

It took a little while to figure out the "pizza".  He had "french fries" down really well, but that wasn't really what we wanted.  :)

 He got it though, and then he could turn and go down the hill with more control.

Jason must have gone up and down the magic carpet at least 30 times.

Allie had a little adventure.  On the first run, she and Jake ran into some of Jake's friends.  Allie told him to go down with his friends and she'd meet him at the bottom.  We had all planned to meet at the magic carpet.  Jake came, but Allie never showed.  We waited and waited.  She never came.
After a while, I sent Jake back up to re-trace their run and find her.  He came back down empty handed.  Then went back 3 times.  By then, I could barely focus on Nate (who was still going way too fast down the hill) or Jason who was dying to be on a set of skis himself.
Mike was looking for her at one lift and I was looking for her at another.  We both knew that something was wrong though because Allie is so obedient that she'd never have gone on skiing without checking in with us.
Jake was upset for losing her.  It was just a mess.  Ski patrol hadn't had anyone come in hurt, but they weren't really worried either and just kept telling us that she was probably off skiing with some friends that she had found.  When she had been gone for over 2 hours, they started to help us look for her.  I was trying to keep panic at bay.  I figured that she was probably just fine, but I couldn't imagine what would be keeping her from us.  I knew she was probably really scared.  That was the hardest part.  I knew that she was scared and I was feeling really helpless.  After ski patrol put it out on the radio that we were looking for her, one of the lift operators saw her sitting on a bench by his lift and asked her if she was Allie.  She had taken a wrong turn coming down the mountain and ended up at Marge's Triple (a place I didn't even know existed because I've only been on the one part of the mountain).  I guess you have to take the lift up to get off that side of the mountain and she didn't know where she was.  Jake was able to go up and over to the lift and we had her back with us over three hours after she got lost.  It was a bit of a disaster.  She said she had never cried or prayed so hard in her life.  It made me feel so bad.  I asked her why she didn't ask someone how to get back to the lodge and she said that everyone just looked so busy.  She also remembered when she was lost on a wheeler one time that we had told her to stay put and we'd find her.  So, she sat on a bench and waited.  Only problem with that was that Mike and I didn't have lift passes and Jake had no idea she would have made her way over to that lift.  We've told her now that she needs to just not worry about busy looking people.  She needs to flag someone down and ask them how to get to the lodge.  We've all learned lessons for sure.
Poor thing.  It was an adventure and it all worked out okay in the end, but I was sure worried about my cute Allie girl.

 We still had some time in the day, so she went off ans skied a few runs and got her confidence back.

Nate really got confident and we stayed until the lifts closed.  It was a really fun day for all the kids.  It fueled Nate's desire to ski all the time though and he hasn't stopped asking to go every Saturday.
A few days later, I was helping in Nate's classroom and the teacher was asking the kids about their talents.  Nate had his hand raised, so I was interested in what he'd say his talent was.  He said "I get good at things fast" in his confident way.  It's true though.  He does seem to pick up things pretty easily and get pretty good pretty fast.  He cracks me up.

A Tea Party

I've said before that Allie is a night owl.  I've also said that she has a hard time keeping her room clean.  These things are all still true.  We'll clean her room together (because she is feeling so overwhelmed) and then, the very next day, things are out and crazy again.  Clothes everywhere...toys scattered...I just didn't get it.  I know she does stuff in her room at night when she's supposed to be sleeping.  Now I have proof.  Mike went in to check on her before he went to bed and found this...  

She was having a late night tea party with Lumpy.  In order to have that tea party, she had to get herself (and Lumpy) fully dressed, resulting in two outfits that will have to be put away.  She also got out her tiara from the Halloween costume box, resulting in more stuff to put away.  The rest of the clean up is relatively easy with a box of dishes (from under the bed, displacing several other tubs of her treasures) and a blanket.  No big deal right?  You would think.  Unfortunately, this party is only one of many late night parties.  But who cares about a messy room when you've got a cute girl who loves her elephant?  I love her imagination more than I love a clean room.    

Temple

 I'm still a bit behind on things.  Ever since Jake turned 12, he wanted to go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead.  It took us a while to get a recommend because we kept forgetting to ask when people had time to do it.  When we finally got things together, I called and made an appointment at the Logan temple and we went on February 11th.  It was so neat.  I enjoyed sitting there watching as Mike baptized Jake for several people who now have the chance to embrace the teachings of Jesus Christ.

I think Jake enjoyed the opportunity.  He has looked forward to going to the temple and I hope he makes it a priority in his life.

He's a good kid and I'm super proud of him.

The Actual Birthday

This lucky duck had a Saturday birthday.  He chose Captain Crunch for his birthday breakfast and was super happy with his birthday balloons.

He wanted to go skiing on his birthday, and I totally planned to do it with him, but things just didn't work out.  Mike still didn't have a voice (from the cold of death) and I had a messed up back and knew that if I skied with him, I'd regret it.
So, I talked him into staying home and riding the motorcycle.
Jake played x-box with him in the morning (a dream for him).
Allie let him hang out with her and Lily as they built a fire (another dream).



Mike took him on a long ride up the canyon (the best part ever).
We even went out to lunch as a family for his birthday.  We went to a place in Smithfield, Trader Jim's.
He had a great day.  
I made him a Lego Batman cake.  Pretty rough, but he liked it.

 He requested grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner.

Then he got to open his gifts...

Grandma Bonnie gave him a glow in the dark race track.  Aunt Dixie gave him a Nerf gun.
 Allie gave him a body pillow, Jake gave him a Frisbee, Jason gave him two foam swords so they can fight.

He got a drone from us.  It has already survived a dip in the river and being caught in a tree and on the roof of our shed.  I'm seriously surprised that it's still flying.

 6 candles to blow out!

I think it was a great day for my Nater tot.

Birthday Boy

As usual, we dragged out the birthday celebrations.  Nate got to have his very first friend birthday party.  He was really excited to invite his friends and the list was long.  Looking back, I should have made the list a little shorter.  Ugh...so many kids!  The day was so busy that I didn't even start anything until there were only three hours till kids arrived.  In that time, I made cupcakes, shopped for things, made a pinata, and planned the games.  I was grateful for help from my kids.
He had a great time though.

The pinata was obviously home made, but he loved it...

The string holding it up only lasted through a few kids and we had to just whack it on the ground.

It was a Lego Batman party and Nate wanted cupcakes.  That's always easy...

I was out of time, so Jake cut the circles out for me.

...see!  There were tons of kids.  When I counted up kids, I failed to count my own kids, so we were two short of everything.  I just felt pretty out of sorts for the whole thing, but I don't think anyone minded.

 Allie and Lily cut out the masks and made all the capes for everyone.

Then, they supervised all the games.  I was so grateful for the sunshine!  It meant we could stay outside the whole time.

Nate had a great time and he was totally spoiled by all his friends.  He got Lego's, a huge stuffed bear, puzzles, nun chucks, an RC car, and all sorts of other loot.  He had the best day ever.
I was pretty tired after the party and ready to go straight to bed.  Remind me that I never, ever want a 2 hour birthday party with 13 kids ever again.

Love Bug

A few weeks ago, I saw an FHE idea that I thought my family would like.  It talked about how you can't ever run out of love.  Love is something you can give and give and never run out of.  And, when you give love, you feel good in return.  We printed off a love bug and told the kids that we would be spreading love.  If you find the love bug on your pillow then that means someone did something nice for you and it was your turn to spread the love.  I started it out by making Allie's bed for her while she was at school.  I wasn't sure how things would go, but I hoped the kids would like it.  The next day happened to be Valentine's day, and Jake came up the stairs with a big smile on his face and thanked me for all the hearts.  I told him I didn't know what he was talking about and we went to investigate.  Allie had given Jake the love bug along with a bunch of hearts taped up all over his room.  

The hearts said things like, "you are amazing", "you are great",  "be the best you can be",

"you can do it",

and, "you are the best".

I thought it was pretty cool that she would do that without me telling her to do it.  It totally made Jake's day.
He passed the bug back to her by tiding up her room (a never ending battle for her).

Nate was really excited to find the bug on his bed one day and he wanted help cleaning Dad's office.  It got stuck there for a few days because Mike was out of town.  The boys tried to keep it a secret, but they couldn't help it and told him as soon as they could.
It's been a fun thing for the kids.  I hope we can keep it up for a little while because I really want my kids to have a desire to serve and show love for their siblings.  I tell them all the time that we are all on the same team.  We are all trying to get to the same place in the end, and our home family should be a safe place.  Our family loves us no matter what.  We can't run out of the love in our hearts, so we might as well give and give and spread that bug!

Nate is 6!

Nater totter, Nater tot, Tater baby, Nate the grape (because you love grapes so much), Sloppy Nate (because your middle name is Joe...you know, sloppy Joe...)...whatever we call you, you are our boy and we love you.
6 years on this earth and I've loved every one of them.  You are pretty awesome.  I can't describe how much I love you, but I do want to share all sorts of fun things about you.  Where to start?  I guess we'll start with the morning.  You get up at around 6:45 or 7 and you like to play Mario Kart or something on the wii.  Jason is a super fan and you both cheer as you win or exclaim incredulity if you lose.
You are not the best breakfast eater and I have to remind you several times each morning to stay at the table and finish your food.  You like Honey Nut Cheerios, graham crackers dipped in milk, toast, or any fruit that we have on hand.  I really do think you'd live on nothing but fruit if I allowed it.  I bought grapes when they were on sale last week.  4 pretty big bags.  You ate the first two all by yourself before anyone else could have them.  You impatiently wait for me to wash them and then snarf them down.
You love bananas but won't eat them if they start to get brown spots.  You still eat at least one apple a day.  It's a real bummer if we run out of fruit.
You go to school and are doing really well in Kindergarten.  You are learning how to read and you love to read.  We have a hard time getting the homework packets done because you don't have the patience to sit down and do more than one page at a time.  That would be fine if we did what the teacher suggests and do one page a day, but we never remember to do that, so we are currently 3 packets behind.  Yikes!
You come home from school and stop over at Baltzer's for a treat before you get home.  You bring one home for Jason sometimes too and then you are motivated to eat lunch because then you get the treat.
You like bologna and cheese sandwiches for lunch.  I don't even remember how you were introduced to bologna, but you've liked it for years and you load my cart with it when we are grocery shopping.  You like the sandwich to be cheese, bologna, and then a squirt of ketchup on top.  After I microwave it for 25 seconds, I flip the sandwich over so the bologna is on the bottom.  All this has to do with ketchup squirting out the side of the sandwich.  If I don't do it in the right order, it makes a mess for you and you accuse me of not making it right.  I sure hope this doesn't mean  you're going to be a demanding husband when your wife cooks a meal.  Yikes!
You and Jason play pretty well after lunch.  Now that the weather is getting nice, you like to go out and play.  You seriously long for friends to play with.  Jason doesn't stay out as long as you'd like, so you spend a lot of time outside.  You rotate your time with playing with the RC car until the battery dies, then the RC helicopter until the battery dies, the electric scooter, and the electric motorcycle.  You also still love your bike and spiderman scooter.  It's all fun for you.
You love it when Jake gets home.  You've been able to follow him out to play a few times this month. You think he's pretty awesome.  You love playing the xbox with him.
Your favorite foods are still about the same.  You are willing to try anything, but you love grilled cheese and tomato soup, grilled chicken, and meatballs.  You eat like a bird unless it is something that you really like though.  That's probably why I can fit my hands around your waist and touch fingers on both sides.  You are super skinny.
I got you here for an interview.  Your favorite color is still green.  "Every kind of green except the very, very, very dark green".  Your favorite show, "every kid show".  Your favorite book is "Piggy and Gerald There is a Bird on My Head, and The Thank You Book".  Your friends are Cache and Dawson but you mostly play with Cache.  You like the neighbor kids too, but they are Sam's age, so they are only just now thinking you are old enough to be cool.
You love anything with a motor.  You just found out you are tall enough to ride the electric motorcycle this month.  Dad also put you on the Yamaha and you were able to ride that.  You ride hard, but you do it with skill.  I can't believe how natural you are on a motorcycle.  I love to see you stick your leg out as you turn and then zoom back down the hill.  You started standing the other day just because you thought it looked cool.  You still like to watch the dirt and rocks fly away from the back tire, so that makes me nervous and I'm always telling you to watch the road.
You still like it when I lay down next to you until you fall asleep, but you have fallen asleep on your own several times lately.  You like listening to "Praise to the Man" on repeat on the cd player.  You don't like it when adults sing on the Primary cd's, so we have to find ones that are instrumental, or kids singing.  Funny thing to dislike, in my opinion.
You still have a tender heart and you don't like to cry because you are hurt, but sometimes the tears just come.  You cry more from what you think is injustice than pain.
I am just very much in love with you Nate.  I love seeing you come in from school.  I love listening to you as you tell me stories, or watch your face as you learn something new.  You really work things out in your mind and ask questions to clarify things.  When it clicks, you light up.
I am so grateful for you.  I always have been.  You are a special little buddy and as much as it's hard for me to watch the years go by, I am happy that you are six.  I am happy that you gain independence every day.  I love to see you learn and grow.  I love that reading is opening a whole new world to you.  You are very independent and love to do things on your own.  Lately, you really have been able to do things on  your own just as well as I would have done them and I am so proud of you.
Thanks for loving me and for being my sweet Nate boy.

Love,
Mom

Shooting

Our snow is slowly melting away in the back yard, but these pictures are from when we still had a lot.  Nate was begging to go shooting.  So Mike took him out and let him shoot the bb gun.

Obviously it was a day that he didn't have to wear real pants :)

He thinks he's pretty hot stuff.

Every once in a while, he'd go out with Jason to see how many holes he had put in the milk jug.