Almost five

Kyle has been with us for almost five years!! I thank my lucky stars for him everyday. He is joy. The past couple of weeks he’s been saying the silliest things that I never want to forget. 

-Coming out of the store one day he smelled a fast food restaurant. He said, “Smells like McDonalds! Speaking of McDonalds, I sure wish I could get some today.”

-On the way home from dropping his brothers off at school he was chatting up a storm and telling me all his plans for the day. When we got home he said with a completely serious face, “Mom, did you get all that?”

-Wondering why the snow hadn’t melted yet, Kyle said, “I think the weather people are having trouble with....you know....the snow machine.”

-I needed some fresh air the other day so I took Luna for a walk and left Kyle home with Tayden. When I got home he was on the phone through Alexa with our neighbor Jon. They were just having a causal conversation and I completely interrupted. He was a bit annoyed when I asked why he had called Jon and he told me just wanted to see who Alexa knew. 

Dirt Bikes

The boys got helmets for their birthdays and with the weather clearing up they have finally been able to put them to use. Their dad isn’t complaining much either. 

Especially when he gets to tag along on his own. This summer is going to be so fun! 

Growing Up in the Church

The phrase, “Growing up in the church” has been on my mind since Christmas when our friends invited us to a play at a different religious church house. At the Christmas play, my kids were uneasy and unsure of the building and people around them. They weren’t sure where to find the bathrooms or drinking fountains. They thought the chairs felt weird and the atmosphere of the whole building was different than they were used to. 

A couple of days later over our Christmas break, we played basketball at our Church. Our kids immediately ran to the gym with familiarity. Kyle headed for the nursery where he promptly got out the toys he wanted and brought them into the gym. Bathroom breaks and drinks were easy to find and there was not uneasiness being in the building alone. This is our church. This is their church.

I’ve watched my kids over the last two months while we’ve been at church. Both at Sunday services and for recreation. As I mentioned before, recreationally they feel at home at the church. They know the building and feel safe there. They are accustomed to the rooms, closets, where to find the bandaids, etc. They know this building. 

Sundays aren’t much different. They sit in sacrament, knowing how to act and what comes next in the service. They know the teachers, where their classrooms are and to meet in the gym after class to put away chairs. They know the people in our ward and what is going on in their lives. They understand what it means to have a ward family. 

I am so grateful for the blessings and privileges that come with growing up in the church. The sense of stability, safety, unity and home that it gives my kids is priceless. I know they are learning the truthfulness of the gospel while they are in class and feel community while in the building. The blessings of church are ever abundant!!

Random Bits

A couple of random things from the past week. 

Tayden is getting big, but still loves a good soft blanket. He usurped this one from my parents when we were living with them five years ago and has been sleeping with it every night since. 

And though he’s getting big, he still likes to sit next to me. The whole couch is available, but he chooses to sit shoulder to shoulder with me. It’s my favorite and I had to sneak a picture. 

Apparently Caches night light was too bright. He had to wear his sunglasses to bed. And yes, the writing on his arm says, “10x10=100”.

Luna is still the cutest dog in all the land. 

Mornings with Kyle are awesome. I’m going to miss him so much when he goes to kindergarten in the fall. It doesn’t matter what he’s doing, as long as I’m doing it with him. An old favorite is legos. And a new favorite is water coloring. Either way, I’m soaking this dude up. 

Valentines

Valentine’s Day was fairly uneventful. In fact, so uneventful I almost forgot to document it. Cache and Ky did their boxes at school and the older boys did theirs here. They are old enough to do it on their own and kept it low key. Like wrapping a box in Christmas paper and a chocolate milk monster which was basically a chocolate milk box with a hole and eyes. 

Tayden was so indifferent about valentines that he didn’t even fill out his cards. He just wrote his name on the candy and called it good. Which is funny because my favorite part of the day actually has to do with that oldest boy. Around 8:00pm we got a door bell ring. We opened the door to find a small goodie on the doormat. 

Tayden got a card and some chocolate strawberry’s from a cute little neighborhood girl. She’s had a crush on him for about a year, so we weren’t too surprised, but this was the first time she’s ever admitted it to him. He honestly could have cared less! It surprised me how relaxed he was about the whole situation. And not in a bad way. I’ll be completely satisfied if he doesn’t worry about girls for many years to come!! 

Lazy Luna

I was going through my pictures and noticed a theme in my phone. Luna is silliest dog and I love finding here in funny, lazy positions. They might be duplicates, but I’d rather have two copies than none. 

We love you Luna Girl. 

Snow Day

The best news sometimes comes at 5am and tells Dad he has a snow day at work. It only gets better by the 6am call that says school is canceled too. Everyone got an extra free day today and we were so excited about it. The kids got up and happily “Mom clean Monday”-ed (clean to moms standards) their rooms so they could be free the rest of the day.

We decided to take advantage of the free time we had and hit up the movie. We were the only ones there for awhile, so the kids ran out the wiggles and I snapped some pictures. Sadly,  more people trickled in as the movie got started. It was a fun day and I enjoyed our surprise day off.