C is for Crafts

Jake and Allie are always up for making crafts.  I have a hard time wanting to make the mess.  The other day, we collected pine cones on a walk down the canyon. I thought it would be fun to make bird feeders...

I was a little dingy when I thought that the birds might be able to eat the seeds as they hung from the trees.  I guess we need to move them to sit just above a branch that the birds can stand on while they chow.

It was a fun little project though...

So, C is for crafts.



B is for Bath

Yesterday Nate had a poop free session in the bath tub. He doesn't poop in it every time, but it's got to be over 50%. So the times are rare that he can just hang out in the tub as long as he wants. He is also strong enough to hold himself up so I can take pictures of him in the tub and not worry that he's going to go under water. So we had a little tub photo shoot. He loves this thing!

And just so you don't think I didn't take bath pictures of the other kids when they were little, here are some of Jake and Allie too...

I don't know if there is a better thing than a freshly bathed kid.  I look at these old pictures of the kids and it takes me back.  They were so cute in the tub together!  Now they are in separate showers and I feel like I would be breaking the law to take pictures of them in the tub :)  Anyway, am I right?  Bathed babies are beautiful!

A is for Allie

I have a friend who did the abc's of blogging.  She posted a day for every letter of the alphabet.  I thought I might give it a try.  I have been spending a lot of time blogging now that Nate requires so much feeding time.  I am on a roll...so for today, A is for Allie.








I love this girl!

Allie was born almost 5 years ago.  We wanted her gender to be a surprise, so about this time 5 years ago, I remember sitting in church and writing names down on a piece of paper.  I wrote "Girl-Allie McCall.  Boy- Nathan Joe" and handed it to Mike.  He shook his head "no...we're not naming our baby after a d*@# lake.  Obviously he won the McCall fight and got Susanne as a middle name.  I figured I could handle anything as long as I got Allie.  She is a great Allie.  Our little Allie has been a joy in my life.  We butt heads frequently, but that's okay.  We get along great most times.  I used to think that I would be fine if I had just boys.  But I don't know what I'd do without my little Allie Sue. 
I found a picture right around each birthday so you could see her grow up...

Most of her birthdays have been spent in McCall...wouldn't that have been a great name?!?  Oh well..
Anyway, I feel like most of the time this blog is about the cute and/or crazy things that Allie does.  I have spent a lot of time with her alone while Jake was at school and pre-school.  We are a good team.
Allie loves to play with her friends outside.  She loves water and sunshine.  She likes to play with Polly Pockets and has a great imagination.  She loves to play with her imaginary baby monsters and take care of babies.  She loves her brothers and loves the attention that they give her. 
She can be very stubborn and will dig her heels in if we try to make her do something she doesn't want to do.  But that's okay...she gets it from me.
She loves to go places (like Grandma's house or to play in Star Valley.)  She is always up for a new adventure, but 5 minutes into a car ride and she is asking "are we are there yet?"  She loves to fish, ride the 4 wheeler, swim, read books, dance, and play with her friends.  Riding her bike is a new favorite as well.

I guess that is enough for now.  I am grateful for my little Allie girl.  Yay for the letter A!  (I guarantee you will be tired of me by the time we get to z :)

We went to Star Valley for the 4th of July parade again this year.  The kids had a great time sitting in the manure spreader tossing out candy. 

We are getting a pile of grand kids!  This isn't even all of them.  Pretty soon they won't even fit in the poop spreader.

 Nate and I sat on the side lines in the shade to view the parade.  Next year, he'll be in there eating more candy that he throws out.

Oh...isn't he cute?

 Mike drove one of the tractors with Allie on his lap.  She loved the view she had of the gymnasts doing tricks on the float in front of them. 

 This year, Joe painted one of the tractors and had everything looking great.  He loves the parade.  He's just a big kid himself.

I love how the kids think seat belts are unnecessary in Wyoming.

 After the parade, we had a BBQ at Grandpa Joe's.  The kids rode 4 wheelers and the little motor cycle round and round.  Then they played lions in the grass.  The fields are getting tall and they loved to hide from us, then sneak up when we weren't looking. 

 Allie was actually really good at it.  She could lay in there and hide till we really did forget about her. 

Those are her little feet :)

We drove home through Bear Lake to look at our lot.  We had heard that it was flooded and were a little stressed about it.  Eventually, we want to build a cabin on it, so that's not good news. 
The lake was really high, but we couldn't believe how beautiful everything was.  The yellow and purple flowers were in bloom everywhere and our lot was amazing.  The view is great and it made us wish we could build a cabin on it right now.  The "flood" is just a natural spring that runs to the side of the property.  Nothing to worry about.
It was interesting to see the damage the raging river has caused in Logan Canyon.  Nate was screaming, so he made the beautiful drive a little more stressful than it should have been.  He isn't really a fan of the car seat. 
Oh well...lots of fun to be had on the 4th of July weekend!  Hope you all had a great time too.

Sad face

Is it wrong that I like to take pictures of sad faces?

Prayer

We have had lots of opportunities to pray for people we love lately.  We had two friends in our ward who had cancer.  Our daily prayers included them and now they are cancer free.  The kids have seen the miracles, and know that their prayers worked, even if they can't really comprehend it yet.

"Please bless Baby Cale that he will have a good time in heaven.  Please bless Sam that he can be good in heaven, and please bless Nate that he will grow up."  I have heard that prayer dozens of times, and the words are always the same, but I can feel the sincerity in which Jake says that prayer.  He has the faith of a child.  He believes that prayers are answered.  He knows that Heavenly Father and Jesus are listening and that his request will be granted.  I love that about children.  My prayers are always guarded.  I want to allow an "out" in case the Lord's will and my will aren't the same.

Today in church, one of the brothers in the ward bore his testimony.  In it, he said a few things that sparked a conversation for Jake and me.  The man had said that he was heartbroken about losing his daughter.  Jake leaned over and asked me why he was heartbroken.  I explained to him that his daughter has cancer and it was time for her to go live in heaven.  He thought about it for a minute and said "why don't they just pray for her?"
We had a chat about the will of the Lord.  We talked about Sam.  I reminded him that the heart God gave Sam was one that couldn't work to make him live.  Even though we prayed for him, his heart was still the same.  I told him that sometimes things don't work out the way we think it should be, but that God has us in mind and that He always knows what's best for us.  Jake accepted it without question.   
I love the faith of a child.  They are teachable.  Jake and Allie both accept gospel principles when they are taught them.  I can't imagine facing this life and the things that happen in it without having the help of the gospel.  I can't imagine trying to raise children without it.
I am grateful for prayer.  I am also grateful for the faith that I have in my Heavenly Father.  I know that He knows what is best for me and my family.  I pray that I will always be able to accept His will.

 Jake likes milk with his meals.  He recently discovered that milk can bubble up if you blow into it with a straw...

Allie prefers water with her meals.  She recently discovered that she could make a huge mess if she blew into it with a straw...



 Nate prefers milk at meal times.  He recently discovered that fingers taste pretty good too...

Conversation in the back yard

I was listening to the girls play in the back yard.  Sometimes they have the cutest conversations.
Today they were playing Mom and daughter...

Lily: Mom! My broken arm is bleeding!
Allie: Just keep it on, I’ll be right there
Lily: I’ll just wipe the blood off.
Allie: Yeah, be tough.
Lily: Pretend I fell off this swing and that’s how I broke my arm… Waa, I fell off the swing mom!
Allie: Oh, get back up!
Lily: But I broke my arm!
Allie: You’ll be okay. Just get up.

I had to laugh because Allie's responses were all the things I have said to her over the years.  I guess I'm not very sympathetic to the everyday broken bones :)
I still feel bad for the time I told her to be tough when she said she bonked her mouth on the bunk bed.  When the crying didn't stop, I suggested she get herself a band aid.  I was done with all the excuses of why she couldn't fall asleep.  When I finally went in to investigate, the pool of blood made me feel bad.  To be fair, mouth wounds always look worse than they really are right?
 
Anyway, I thought it was a cute conversation in the back yard.  When Allie came in for lunch she said,

"Sorry I’m late Mom!  I was going to make a butterfly trap.  I want to get all the flowers that they like and make a sign that says 'butterflies here, free place to live!'  Then when they come, I'll trap them!"

I had given her permission to pick any of the flowers in the back yard.  So she made a pile of mutilated flowers on the front porch and that's what she wanted to attract butterflies to.  That girl makes me smile.

Later...
I was feeding Nate and I heard a knocking on the door...
Allie:  Mom!  We caught a butterfly!
Lily:  Actually, it's a moth.
Allie: Yeah, it's a moth, but we caught it!
Lily: Yeah and it's alive!
Allie: But we broke a wing off...
Lily: But it's still alive!
Allie:  Can you find a jar for us to put it in?
Lily:  Yeah, we can share it in a jar.
Me:  I'm feeding Nate right now.
Allie:  Okay, we'll just wait.
Lily:  Yeah, we'll try to find something for it out here, but if we don't find something, can we use something from you?
Oh those kids...

By the time I was done feeding Nate, they had made a nice little comfy home for the moth in a tuna can.

They also spiffed up the butterfly trap on the front porch.

  Hey, if I were a butterfly, I would totally come and live with them.  As long as they don't yank my wing off :)

I love Pictures!

I got the camera out to take pictures of the new strawberry that the kids got out of the yard.  I know it's dorky, but I am a total picture taking mom.  Any excuse to take pictures of these cute kids, and I take it.
So after the strawberry pictures, I was looking at Jake through the lens and I saw that his freckles are so intensly colored now that it is summer and I haven't been as strict with sunscreen as I have been in years past.  So I took pictures to remember those cute freckles (I can call them cute now). 

Then, they were being silly and wanted pictures of them eating the apples that they had left from lunch.  Jake took it to a crazier level (as he usually does) and started to blow raspberries on Allie's cheek.  I didn't tell him to stop annoying her as I usually do.  I took a picture instead.  Then it was cute rather than annoying. 

I look at this picture and it reminds me of our daily routine.  They have to have matching plates, cups, bowls, spoons, etc.  Allie's have to be pink, and Jake has to have orange or green.  When things are in the dishwasher, it can sometimes get ugly.  It's something that drives me up the wall some days, but tonight, I thought it was cute.
I think I have been sentimental because I spent so many hours looking at old pictures trying to make Mike a Father's Day book.  It reminded me of all the cute things these kids have done and how much they have changed in the few short years they have lived on this earth.  Sometimes I wonder if I have hugged them enough.  Have I held their little hands in mine enough?  One of these days they won't want to hold my hand anymore. 



One of these days, they won't think it's fun to look at the silly pictures I am taking of them.  They'll stop posing for me, or make grumpy faces like my brother did in his grumpy years.  I can't imagine them having grumpy years.  I don't want to think about them facing the things that come with getting older.  Sometimes I just want to freeze time.  I want them to stay like this forever.  But I have also enjoyed each phase of life that they have been in and have loved watching them learn new things.
I held each of them on my lap at church (they were fighting for space.  It's a good thing I'm not tiny or they wouldn't be able to share).  I could smell the sunscreen that hadn't washed off in Jake's quick shower.  I sat as Allie played with my ear lobe (one of her favorite things to do).  Nate was snoozing on Mike, making his little phantom sucking face every minute or so.  It was all so perfect.  I love these kids of mine.  I know that things were crazy when Jake and Allie were younger, but as I looked at all those old pictures, I remembered all the really fun times.  I'm so glad I have taken all these pictures through the years.  I read somewhere that not all of us will lose a child to death, but we will all lose our children to time.  It's true.  These kids are growing before my eyes.  I'm glad I have all these pictures to help me remember the joy that they bring me every day.
So my challenge through this long and indulgent post...take random pictures of your kids throughout the day.  Pictures that aren't posed.  We used to tease my mom because she would make us pose our "action shots". But I love that my mom took so many pictures.  I hope my kids will love that I have documented their lives.  Long story short, I love pictures!