Nudity and JIF peanut butter

Today when I got home from work, Austin was sitting on the couch watching TV. This is where I usually find him at that time - he is either winding down for, or waking up from a nap. Today he was alone, as Brian was putting Leah down and Jake was already dozing. Austin apparently had decided he was hungry........ and over dressed. He was sitting on the couch stark raving naked with the peanut butter jar between his knees, his hand covered to his wrist in peanutty goodness. It appeared he also didn't feel the need for a utensil of any kind, as he was just scooping it out fingerfuls at a time. Brian walked into the room at the same time, just as Austin looked up and said "Me like peanut butter".

Some of you will laugh at this. Those of you who truly know my darling child will just shake your heads, not terribly surprised at all... :)

Eternity

What a fabulous, beautiful, glorious, amazing, wonderful, exciting, thrilling, awe inspiring, grateful, incredible weekend! The little family I never thought I could love more is now mine for forever and eternity and I love them more today than I ever thought possible...

Thank you to my amazing parents for their love and support, and to everyone who shared in making this the incredible experience it has been. We love you all!

PS...
A special thank you to my wonderful father, who even on his own holiday continued his lifelong service to me and my family by cleaning my house while we were at church... what a blessing to come home after a long day and not have to lift a finger to get ready for the week! I love you Dad!!!

From my childhood to theirs...

The Fort

When I was young, my siblings and I would make great forts in the living room with the dining room table, chairs, blankets and sheets. They would be our secret hideouts, with nooks and tunnels and we loved them. Sometimes we even built them outside with the picnic table and old quilts and slept outside. One rainy day this winter, I introduced this past time to my boys. Their first attempts were simple, with two chairs and a throw blanket over the top, and they thought this was great fun. So last weekend they wanted to build them again, and this time Brian got involved. He took their two chairs, stretched a fitted sheet from the chair backs around the back corners of the love seat, and then covered the openings with blankets. The boys loved it so much they slept in it all weekend long!

Best slumber party yet...

Yes, Austin is in his underwear, as usual....

Who needs a Wii or X-Box when you have furniture and linens???

Random Musings...

Last night was kindergarten graduation. It seems it was just yesterday I was blogging about how emotional I was for my baby to start school and now I can't believe he is done with his first year. They had an adorable program where they all stood up and sang the songs they have been learning all year. At the end, they each walked across the stage to receive a "Certificate of Graduation" as Mrs. Fauth announced what they want to be when they grow up. Jacob apparently wants to be a teacher (news to us - it usually changes on a daily basis. Mostly he says he wants to be a dad).

After graduation, we treated the student to dinner at McDonald's, and then we went for a walk at "The Running Place", more commonly known as the Chemeketa Community College track. Brian and I walked for several laps while the kiddies ran, walked, laid in the grass, rolled down the hill and tackled each other in the middle of the soccer field. All the while our Blossom slept like a good girl in the front pack. It was a wonderful evening full of picture worthy moments.

If I had my camera.


Which I never do.


Not at graduation.


Not at the hospital when Leah was born (okay, that one doesn't count, I was at work in labor for an hour and a half before I actually went to the hospital...)


Not at birthday parties.


Not at Family Game Night.


Pretty much never.

I have the best of intentions, really. I usually have it on the list to take places like camping or visits to Grandma's, but I rarely remember to take it out once we get there. More often I just plain forget to pack it. I think it is due to all the years I lived with or near Jennifer, who is a fabulous photographer and always captured everything I would have wanted to and better than I ever would have. My mother has also become a wonderful picture taker, and scrapbooks the pics so beautifully, so you can understand why my motivation is lagging.

So I got to beating myself up over not having captured pictures of one of my first born's rites of passage. Anyone who knows me well knows that I hate having to work and be away from my kids, and I constantly worry about how I am failing them. Today, however, I took the advice my mother so often gives me and when I started beating myself up over my shortcomings, I also made a list of my successes as a mother.

My Downfalls

• My kids love soda TOO MUCH, mostly because I let them have it too young and too often (Jacob called it sauce for years)


• My boys always need haircuts sooner than I ever get around to getting them


• Jacob may very well be made out of equal parts white bread and peanut butter. He loves it, always has and I serve it too often for dinner when I am too pooped to do better.


• Both of my boys love movies like Transformers and Spider Man. Probably (definitely) too old for them but they love them so I let them watch them.


• If Jake is made of peanut butter, Austin is chocolate milk. He could live on that alone if you let him, and I have more than once.
• I put sunscreen on my kids - usually - , but somehow they are still ridiculously tan all the time!


• I'm not good at getting down on the floor and playing -- TIME!

My Strengths

• I love my kids fiercely, almost to distraction. Sometimes I think it's unhealthy - (no not THAT kind of unhealthy, I just spend too much time dithering...)


• My kids love books and reading, because I have read to them since they could listen. It has always been a part of quiet time and bed time routines. Brian and I both love to read and have had a lifelong love of books and want the same for our kids.


• I foster their imagination. The boys and I spent many nights in the recliner ( when I was soooo pregnant tired) looking at the texture in the ceiling and imagining what we could see up there. Works great with a cloudy sky as well.


• I am so ok with them getting filthy! We are so grateful to have a big yard where they can run and play and in my book, the dirtier they are, the more fun they are having.


• I try to have one on one dates with the boys, and will do it with Leah when she is old enough. They need time where my attention is theirs and theirs alone, even if it's just on a trip to WinCo.


• I take my kids to church. I didn't for a long time and I regret that. It has been the most amazing thing to watch their little testimonies of Jesus Christ grow as they learn about Him. Going to the temple next weekend to be sealed as a family is really a culmination of my desire to get Jacob to primary, and our family has been so blessed by it!