Aaron -- 6 Months

Our sweet boy turned 6 months this week!  I was telling Greg I think that the first three of those six months were some of the very hardest of my life!  And, the next three have been some of the happiest I've ever had.    What a difference a little baby Zantac and some sleep can make!  Aaron is such a pleasant little guy!  There couldn't be a more loved baby by all of us!

He found the plants...and was so pleased with himself.

Mister Innocent.
(Reminds me of his father's attempt at innocence in the midst of mischief.)  =)  We just love how expressive his eyebrows are.  He doesn't actually have eyebrow hair much, but those little eyebrow muscles can say so much.  =)

 

Toes in the Tub

Can't remember our other babies so thoroughly loving their toes as much as Aaron does!

The Man

 

Love This Boy

 

What's not to love?!  He's got the moves...may they transfer on to the field!  =)

Swing Set and Water Guns

 

A swing set from Craigslist and some water guns have turned our backyard into the happening place this week.  It's a little dream come true for me to have all the neighbor kids out in our yard playing their latest favorite game "Medieval" .... involving various ranks of archers and "calvary" ... great scheming and too much weaponry.  =)  Mostly a whole lot of great imagining and fun.  My favorite is the boy in the upper left picture who's shield is from the inside of a tool box.  =)  Brings back so many great memories of playing with friends in our neighborhood growing up.  There's nothing I'd rather be providing for our kids than this kind of simple, carefree fun. 

Die! - orama

 

The project that would not die!

We were excited and ambitious as we started off on Nathan's diorama of a scorpion.  We even kept up momentum pretty well through the sculpting with clay and painting of the cactus and almost 20 separate parts of the scorpion Nathan created to glue together (including 7 sections of the main body).  Determined to help it get safely to school (we have a bad track record of dropping special projects on the sidewalk on the way to school -- shattering two things so far this year) we dropped Nathan carefully off right in front of his classroom. 

Somehow by the time he made it inside a few legs had broken off and trying to get it safely back home to fix it...it only got worse!  I was so frustrated that we'd almost gotten rid of the thing and it arrive back home severely damaged by afternoon.  Nathan spent the evening glue-gunning again, and I thought we were done. 

The next morning I woke up at 6:30 a.m. to banging...and dashed down to find Nathan adding a "finishing touch".  His friend had crushed graham crackers to put as sand in the bottom of hers, and he thought he'd do the same.  Only after he'd crushed and spread them all over the bottom did he realize that gluing each crumb on might be tricky.  

Needless to say, I carried the diorama in the classroom that morning, handed it straight to the teacher, and told her I never wanted to see it again!  The teacher assured me these are the things that create such fond memories later.  All I can say is it's going to take an awful lot of forgetting before then! 

Little Gardener

Squirting and talking to the flowers...to help them grow.

 

Mother's Day Tea with Joshua

 

At Joshua's "Mother's Day Tea" we were served fancy drinks and cookies and were presented with several art projects...including that portrait of me with the fabulous earrings and eyelashes up above.  =)  If only we could always picture ourselves through the eyes of a loving kindergartner!  It's so fun to get to go into the classroom and see a bit more of the people I hear so much about every day!  They sang three darling songs, including "A -- You're Adorable".  I hope I'll always remember the uninhibited love and sparkle of Joshua at this age!

Mother's Day Tea with Nathan

  

We had the best day on Friday!  I got to go in to both Nathan and Joshua's classes for a "Mother's Day Tea".  In Nathan's class they have been studying poetry.  They have secretly worked all month on a book of poetry for their mothers...including five different styles they've studied!  You can see a couple of them above.  They also had a little program reciting as a class several poems.  I was so impressed!  I'm so grateful for a teacher who would create such a great "moment" for us to share...with so much work behind it!

Happy Mother's Day?

 

Yes...even though Joshua's face may indicate otherwise...it's been a Happy Mother's Day around here.  =)  Greg and the kids made a great breakfast, and Nathan even painted my toenails for church. 

This morning we went to an assisted living community with some friends to hand out cards they'd made for the residents there.  It brought back such great memories of my days at Williamsburg in Logan.  (I worked for several years and was eventually the assistant administrator at an assisted living before having Nathan.)  

It was a fun chance for me to share a little bit of that side of my life with our kids.

Book of Mormon: Finished!

We set a goal in January 2011 to read the Book of Mormon together as a family.  It's taken us longer than we'd hoped...but this last week we finished!  I had great hopes for the special moment we might have at the very end.  The reality was that the kids fought over who would read the last verse and, after a family prayer, moved on to other things.  I wondered for a moment if it's really been worth all the effort.  But, in that moment I knew that it's not just about a "last moment", but as in so many things it's about the "journey". 

It has been such a great thing for our family.  President Hinckley promised that as we read the Book of Mormon as a family, "there will come into your lives and into your homes an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord, a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to His commandments, and a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God."  I know this has happened for us, and I hope it has helped plant the seed of faith in our children's hearts that the Book of Mormon is true.

Now...to start again!

Sunday Naps

 

First Date

 

Aaron next to his little friend who is one month younger!  When Aaron went to his five month check-up he weighed 18 lbs.  This last week we weighed him again and he's up to 20!

Friends for Elizabeth

 

Elizabeth is getting old enough that she really loves getting to be with other girls her age.  It makes getting to go to a friend's birthday party extra special. 

A Happy Birthday for Me

 

I was spoiled with a second birthday celebration ... flowers, my favorite Chinese food -- Pei Wei, a birthday cake decorated by Nathan (with my initials), some funny cards picked by the kids, and our latest favorite game -- Apples to Apples.

Last Family Home Evening on Monday night, we had "announcements".  When Greg announced it was my birthday on Saturday, Joshua got so upset.  He said, "Why didn't someone tell me sooner?!  We've got presents to buy, cards to make, decorations to hang up and we only have a week to do it!" 

Couldn't ask for a better birthday than having the little people in my life working so hard to make it great.  (And a good man actually making it happen.)

A Day at Greenfield Village

Nathan and Joshua had the day before my birthday off of school, so we decided to head down and celebrate by going to Greenfield Village.  It's part of the same Henry Ford Museum complex, but a part we hadn't been to before.  We had such a great time!

A working steam locomotive, a historical farm with baby lambs, a real train turntable like Thomas the Tank Engine...with men inside welding on engines! 

 

Our favorite area had different "crafts" being demonstrated.  Pottery, a print shop, and our favorite, glass-blowing!

Cub Scouting Boy

 

Nathan accepting his first cub scout award.  He's a Bobcat!

Rolling Over

 

Aaron was doing "tummy time" this week, and was doing so amazingly well I ran for the camera.  When I got back, he was on his way over -- rolling over!  A first for him!  With our other kids it felt like they learned how, and then it took several days to remember again and actually get natural about it.  (Largely because the had strong negative opinions about being on their tummies.)  Aaron is more patient and willing to rest his little head down on the carpet when it gets tired, and then come up and try again.  By the end of his first day of rolling, Joshua acknowledged Aaron had already become a "rolling maniac"!

I think we started T-ball

Joshua started T-ball this week, and it's our family's first try at this sport.  Next week we won't be bringing the whole family to practice, because Joshua was too busy showing us all his cool fielding moves and "instant replays" to actually keep track of the real ball in play. ...

Until one ball made it out near him...and then he and two others fought for it.  You can see that one boy gave up pretty easily.  But, not our Joshua.  =)  After a good minute or two of wrestle, Joshua came out the proud victor.  And we wondered if we should have signed him up for football instead! 

Little Friend

 

Upon doing one last check after getting the kids seat-belted in the car, I found two extra little eyes staring back at me.  Joshua just thought that sleeping Aaron needed someone to keep him company...Joshua's hamster.  =)

Love, Joshua