A Happy Mother's Day 2017

I got to watch and listen to these cute kids (well the oldest three) sing a couple Mother's Day songs at church on Mother's Day.  We got to church a little late and ended up sitting right up front.  I had the best view of my singing kids that I'll probably ever get!  Grant knew the words and Brett and Camille kind of smiled and looked cute.  It made my heart happy to see them up there, knowing they were proud to be up there singing for me.  How I love them!

 The kids walked home from church with Grandma Jackson and we took some Mother's Day pictures with her.  She's a great example of a loving, fun, and hardworking mom.  We're lucky to live close by and to have our kids know her and Grandpa Jackson so well as they grow up.

 Cute mother/son pic!

That night we had my parents and grandparents over for a Mother's Day dinner.  Keith helped, but to be honest I really made the dinner!  Ha!  I prepared a lot of the food the day before so our work load would be light.  Luckily Keith did the dishes.  That's huge for me!  I don't mind cooking any day if someone else does the cleaning!  For dinner we enjoyed pork enchiladas, chips and salsa, beans, watermelon, strawberry salad, and Keith picked up a couple desserts from Costco for us. 

Here's the whole bunch of us:

(Don't mind Camille.  She has a hard time ever being normal in a picture lately!)

 The three moms:

 My mom and me.  She's another great example of a fun, loving, and hardworking mom.  Keith and I really lucked out with being sent to great parents!

My parent's live close by too, and it's so fun to be able to have them in my kids life also.   

I have to get a couple of these gems in here too!  I had pulled out old pictures of my mom with her kids and took pictures of them and printed them out, put them on sticks, and stuck them in a pot of Mother's Day flowers for her.  Here are a couple of them.

Here we are (I must have been about 7) at my mom's parent's condo in Sun City West.  How I loved that place!  I have some of the best memories of that place!  Lots of memories have to do with the food, down to the dishes and the unique glasses that we all wanted to drink from (like that eagle mug my brother has on the table!).  I can't eat a grapefruit without feeling like I'm back at my grandparents home.  Anyway, here we are, the four of us kids with my cute mom.  I'm the girl in the middle at the counter.

 In this pictures, my mom is younger than I am right now, but she's at about the same point with her kids that I am, with the oldest just eight and a toddler on her lap.  This was from my brother's baptism day.  I'm the one up front in the middle with the awesome blue sock with sandals!  I had the best fashion sense back then!  Ha!

Here's our little family at Grant's baptism.  No blue socks with my sandals this time! ;)

I'm so very grateful to have great mom's in my life and to be able to be a mom myself.  It's what I always dreamed of doing when I grew up.  On those hard days when I feel overwhelmed and just want to run away for a while I remind myself that this is exactly what I hoped for and I have so much to be grateful for.  I'm so lucky to have a great husband who supports me 100% in every way.  Because of his hard work for our family I get to be exactly where I want to be every day, with these kids at home.  And Keith is glad that I'm happy to be here.  Like I mentioned above, Keith and I really were blessed with great parents.  Of course they weren't perfect, no-one is, but they gave it their all.  My mom always put her family first and I know Keith's mom did too.  They took their responsibility to their family serious and their families were blessed because of it.  I sure try my hardest and I hope my kids will feel like I did my best someday when they grow up and look back on how I mothered them.  

Here's some of my favorite things I do as a mom:

Reading chapter books to my boys at night before bed.

(We are currently reading Indian in The Cupboard and they are captivated!)

Play one on one with them when I have a chance.

(Like today when I played with Tyler in his room with a stuffed tiger and a ball.  Somehow he was thoroughly entertained!)

Prepare food for them and watch them eat it and like it.

(The liking part doesn't always happen, but we're getting there.)

Playing outside at dusk.

Watching them try new things.

Getting them to laugh or smile and watch their faces shine up at me.

I check on them every night and give them a big kiss on their forehead before I go to my own bed.

Play Pat-A-Cake with Camille.  We always give each other a big hug at the end.

Sit with my babies and a bottle before bed, just the two of us with the blinds cracked a little so I can see their sweet faces in the soft light.

Puff up my cheeks and squish them back down with my babies feet.  They laugh so hard!

Work with them.  Brett especially benefits from doing housework together.

Be silly for my kids.  Wether it's making funny faces or silly voices or doing a funny dance, they love it and I think it helps them see that I can lighten up sometimes.

When I tuck the older boys into bed I pretend to put glue on my lips and then give them a big kiss on the cheek.  Then I say, "Uh-oh, my lips are glued to your cheek and I can't get them off!"  And then I start making funny sounds like I'm going to drool on them (but I don't!) and they laugh so hard.

I'm sure I'll think of more later, but at least some are now documented here.   

And now it's time to go check on those kids and kiss their foreheads. :)

Tyler's 1st Birthday!

This happy boy had a very happy first birthday back in March.

The weather was perfect that day for dinner outside.

Then the grandparents came over and we celebrated with cake, ice-cream, and presents.

 We played on the grass for a while with the fun balls Tyler got from Keith's parents.

 Tyler got a couple big bouncy balls that morning from us.

 And we gave him this cute new ride too.  The kids all checked it out thoroughly before they handed it over to him. ;)

 He loved it!  And oh, how we love him!

The past year with this little guy has gone by so fast and yet it seems like forever ago that he was this little.

Here's some of our favorite things about our Tyler:

He has the awesomest deep voice.  He really sounds like a fog horn!

He's almost always happy.

He loves being with his mom, but he loves his dad even more.

He plays the shy card a lot when someone he doesn't know well gives him attention.  He'll put his head down and burrow into me.

He's the calmest kid we have, and I'm so thankful!

He loves the red light that shines down on the floor from our dishwasher.

He gets excited watching the big kids, but is happy to be a baby.

He's learning how to walk, wave, and give high fives, and gets so excited for himself!

Happy Birthday Tyler!

Grant turns 8 and gets baptized

Back in February, our boy Grant turned 8 years old.  He'd been looking forward to this birthday so he could become a Cub Scout, but mostly to being able to be baptized.   We celebrated his birthday as a family the Saturday before his actual birthday because Keith was going to be out of town.  He chose donuts for his birthday cake.   I'd say he looks pretty happy about that.

That morning he opened his presents...

...roller blades!

He had a basketball game that day, and then that night we all went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse, where he got to sit on the saddle and get sung to.  He thought that was pretty cool.  :)

Grant's actual birthday fell on President's Day this year and he didn't have school.  What luck!  

He got to bring a friend with us for a day at the zoo.

Camille made sure we had our kettle-corn for the occasion.  Geesh, do you think it's big enough?  It's almost taller than her!  Ha!  But seriously, this popcorn is amazing stuff!  I highly recommend it!

We enjoyed our lunch by "Monkey Island".  The monkeys were putting on a good show for us that day.  Brett was thrilled to sit next to Grant's friend.

With Keith out of town, his parents came along and were a great help with getting those cute kids through the zoo.

Tyler had fun playing with Grandpa's hair! ;)

This was the cutest thing ever!  These boys had a journal with them and they were drawing pictures and writing descriptions of the animals.  Their school teacher would be so proud!

Grant's baptism day came in March.  He sure was excited for his big day!

His baptism and confirmation were so sweet.  As soon as he walked into the baptismal font with Keith, he was ready to get dunked under the water.  He kind of stood there nervously like he was expecting to go under at any second even though the baptism prayer hand't even been said yet.  It was really cute.  
He had quite the crowd there to support him that day.  Afterwards we all gathered in our backyard for BBQ pork sandwiches.  It was great to spend that time together with so many family and friends that beautiful afternoon in March.

I'm so proud of this kid and the great boy that he is.  I can't believe that just seven years ago he looked like this.

We've both come a long way.  Him growing up and learning so much and developing his talents, and me learning so much about being a mom.  

He said the cutest thing the other day after Keith and I had been away for the day.  We got home late that night and Grant came up to me and said, "I cried a little today because I got home from school and I wanted to tell you about my day and you weren't here."  Melt my heart!  He has such a tender heart.  I was sad that he missed me so much, but also so glad that our little chats about his day after school mean so much to him.  As Keith's grandpa would say, "He's a keeper!"

Happy Birthday Grant!

Happy Weekend

This has been a busy non-stop week!  The kids and I all took a nap this afternoon.  I only woke up to let Grant in from school and then I fell asleep again on the couch.  We slept 'til five!  We must have been really exhausted!
Now to get dinner going, but first I had to post this picture of Camille from today.  She was watching me put on my makeup this morning and wanted some on her.  So I came up with this and she loved it!  I whipped up the cat ears really quick with a headband and construction paper.  Isn't she cute?!  
Happy weekend!

Happy Easter 2017!

Easter is my favorite holiday.  This year felt especially wonderful.  It was a beautiful day spent with the people I love most.  

The three oldest kids got to sing the song "Gethsemane" with the primary kids during Sacrament meeting.  It was so sweet to see Camille up front for the first time with the Primary kids. She was such a ham up there singing all of the words and smiling like crazy.  My eyes watered up, but I think it was mostly from holding back laughter at how funny Camille was to watch.  The messages given in Sacrament meeting were thoughtful and inspired and drew my thoughts closer to the Savior and His love for us.  

Earlier that morning we had a nice breakfast of creamed eggs (hard boiled eggs sliced into a white gravy and poured over toast — a well loved recipe from my childhood) and read a story from the Friend magazine about Easter.  Then we all got in our Sunday best before searching for Easter baskets.  

After church we snapped a few pictures and then were off to the other side of town for a delicious ham dinner at my cousin's home where I snuggled up her two week old baby boy.  We ate and enjoyed each others company.  The kids had so much fun playing.  Then they all fell asleep in the car on the way home.  That always makes for an easy bed time!

I love this cute boy's happy smile.  He was born on Easter Sunday last year and this Easter he took his first steps!  And I love that other cute boys smile too! ;)

 Brett loved getting his peas-in-a-pod in his Easter basket.  It's become an inside joke with us so I knew he'd love them.  Here's the story of how it started.  
I got a hammock for Christmas that's green, and the kids would hide in it and then pop their heads out and say, "Peas in a pod!"  Then when we were eating snap peas one day Brett opened his up and showed me the peas and said, "Hey Mom!  Peas in a pod!" And then he swung the pea pod like a hammock and said, "Hammock!"  And then we both laughed really good.  So now peas and hammocks are forever tied together in our minds.  These particular peas can be found at the Disney store.  :)

A simple setting for Easter breakfast.  I like to set the table for breakfast the night before for special occasions, especially for Easter and Christmas.  It sets the mood right away for the kids when they wake up. I hope that it helps them feel how special the day is.

 Trader Joe's had some great spring flowers so I braved the Saturday crowd and searched out the perfect bunches of flowers while Camille and Brett followed me with their adorable kid sized carts.  I was so worried they'd hit somebody's ankles with their carts in that crowded store, but we made it!  At home I put together this arrangement for us and a similar one for my cousin to welcome her new baby.  

I think one of the things that I love most about Easter is how simple it is.  I put up decorations, but not as many as Christmas.  It isn't quite as commercialized in the world as Christmas.  I like to keep it that way in my home.  It has my mind swirling already with how I can simplify our Christmas decor and keep it beautiful and directed to the true meaning, while keeping a little bit of the fun.  Just some thoughts.  Have a great day!

Camille Turns Three!

Our girl turned three last Tuesday!  The first thing she said when she woke up was, "I want to eat my cake!"  Luckily we were able to hold her off with a few fun presents.

After watching a video (that Keith and I stayed up way to late putting together) about Camille's past year, we ate up some yummy german pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream.
She spent the day riding her bike around inside.

Grant was home sick from school that day, and he and Brett were nice enough to supervise the cake making process.

Camille had requested a pink cake.

She woke up from her birthday nap just as I finished her cake.  She said, "It's so pretty!"

And then we set it in the refrigerator for later.

She was so patient waiting for Grandmas & Grandpas to come over that night to celebrate.

She was excited to open up some great gifts from grandparents.

And then it was finally cake time.

What a great three year old our girl is turning out to be!

She is energetic and spunky.  Her heart is full of compassion for others who are sick or hurt and quickly tries to help them.  She loves her brothers, even if she fights relentlessly with Brett!  She's always loved running around with the boys and yet she is thrilled to put on a fancy dress.  She loves to sing.  One of her most loved songs is Gethsemane.  She requests watching the music video of that song every night before bed.  She loves to have ice in her water.  She follows me around all day and likes to wiggle her way into the middle of everything I'm doing, whether it be putting on my makeup or cooking in the kitchen.  And she loves washing dishes in the sink.  She could spend hours doing that!

Happiest Birthday Camille!