Let's go fly a kite!

Justin's sister, Stephanie, brought the boys kites when she came out here. We had been waiting for a day with enough wind and warm enough temperatures to go out and fly them.

Jack had never flown kites before and he loved it. Sometimes he would get frustrated if the wind would stop and his kite would fall but his smile would come right back as soon as we got it up in the sky again.

The wind was there, but the temperature was not as warm as we were hoping for. It was sunny, but the wind was so cold. Anderson wanted to go down this slide about 5,000 times after we flew the kites, so we stuck it out as long as we could.

These little boys would be happy to play outside all day if they could. Anderson cries every time we come in from the car because he wants to stay outside and play. We cannot wait until we move to Mississippi where we will have a fenced back yard!! Jack will randomly get sad and when I ask him why he is said he tells me that he "wants to move to Mississippi to his back yard." He is so dramatic. :)

St. Patrick's Day

A little visitor climbed across our table and left footprints and his gold!! He also made his way into our fridge, where he made our milk green and also our waffle mix.

We added our yummy green smoothies to make our St. Patrick's Day breakfast complete!

(I know...they look gross, but they are really good! And good for you. These are now a staple at our house and the only green thing that Anderson will even come close to. He loves them! And that doesn't happen often.)

Can you tell my camera is dying a slow and painful death?

When I was telling Jack about leprechauns and getting him excited for St. Patrick's Day, he was trying to be happy about it but seemed a little nervous. Later he was telling Justin that he just didn't like those "little crouton guys". After he woke up and saw what they left, his opinion quickly changed.

Anderson totally woke up on the wrong side of the bed. He was so grumpy and was only happy if he had a hershey kiss in his mouth. Even then, this was the face I got. Maybe that's what happens when you let your kids eat chocolate for breakfast?

Funny

A couple days ago, it started snowing. I was definitely not happy about this and so over the cold, winter weather. This is the conversation I had with Jack about it...

me: Jack, it is supposed to be spring time with sunshine and flowers! What is this snow thinking??

Jack: It's thinking that it's Christmas time! That silly snow!

Later, while driving in the car...

Jack: This sure is one snowy planet!!

Hopefully this snowy planet figures out that it is April and kicks the spring time vibes in soon!

Stephanie and Jaden

Justin's sister and her boy Jaden came to visit us and go on a little church history tour. They flew in on Thursday and when we woke up on Friday to get ready to drive to Palmyra, this is what we woke up to! We got 10-12 inches of snow so we decided to wait until Saturday. The snow was really wet and stuck to all of the branches. It was so pretty.

After the roads were cleared, we drove out to Kirtland. I love the temple with all the snow around it.

Saturday we headed to Palmyra, NY. The roads were completely clear so we were really glad we waited to leave. Our first stop after arriving was the Hill Cumorah.

Jack was LOVING having Jaden around. He could not wait for him to get here. He followed him around the whole time and Jaden was so good to him. He played with him and entertained him the entire time they were here. I am thinking I need Jaden to be around us more often so that I can have a little built in babysitter! He was so awesome....thanks Jaden!!

Woooaaaahhh!!! Don't fall!!!

(haha....they are geeks!)

That night we went swimming at our hotel. Anderson was really scared at first, but as you can see, he got over it fast and was having a blast. They boys were having fun playing with some new water toys that Steph and Jaden brought them. They spoiled them rotten while they were here! Every day they had something new for Jack and Anderson and they were in heaven! I think Stephanie is going for auntie of the year. :)

It was quite chilly while we were in Palmyra. I'm so glad I thought to bring Anderson's hat to help him stay warm through all the site seeing. He was a champ though. The boys did pretty well, even in the cold weather.

It was raining a little and pretty windy when we went to the sacred grove. But while we were in there, it was so calm and peaceful. It is so quiet and even though there were no leaves on the trees and we were cold, it is always amazing to be in such a sacred place.

Jack kept running up to stuff and saying, "Mom, take a picture of me in front of this!" We've come a long ways from him yelling at me every time we wanted to take his picture. :)

This is in front of the Smith frame home that Alvin Smith started building for his parents. The sister missionary that gave us the tour said they think that they planted this tree next to the house in memory of Alvin when he died.

After making it back to Cleveland, we hit up the John Johnson farm. This is one of my most favorite church history sites and I will be so sad when we move so far away from it.

The boys figured they better take advantage of the snow before it melted.

After the Johnson farm, we hit up Trader Joe's so Stephanie could stock up, and then ate at one of our most favorite restaurants in Cleveland, the B Spot. Yummy!! Now that is one place I will miss. Even thinking about it is making me want to eat their pulled pork sandwich.

After we ate, we came home and celebrated Jaden's 11th birthday!! Him and Jack decorated the cupcakes and after the little boys went to bed, we stayed up way too late and played games.

I am so glad that Stephanie and Jaden came out here!! We were so spoiled to have Stephanie away from her house and her busy life. We just got to relax, eat yummy food, talk and talk and talk, and play games. It is hard to be so far away from family and these little visits mean a lot. Jack was so sad when he woke up and they had left early to go to the airport. Luckily, we will be seeing them this summer!! Yay!

Thanks guys!

The Incredibles

Those of you who like the movie The Incredibles will appreciate this!

Today I picked Jack up from school and this was part of our conversation on the way home:

Jack: "Dad, I am sorry that I got in trouble at school today."

Me: "Thanks for telling me that you are sorry for getting in trouble, that was nice of you."

Jack: "Yeah dad, I am really sorry."

Me: "What did you do that got you in trouble?"

Jack: "I don't know."

Me: "You don't know?"

Jack: "I don't know, something amazing I guess!"

The inflection in his voice was spot on with the little boy's voice from the movie! I was laughing pretty hard.

I am off for Spring break this week and it has been so fun to be around him all day. He is always making me laugh. I am always amazed at the things he says and how smart he is getting. He is definitely growing up fast.

The Crazies

Justin and I have come to the realization that we have pretty crazy kids. Jack is all over the place and Anderson is LOUD. But they are our kids, and we sure do love them. They are so cute that it would be hard not to love them. They have their ups and downs but overall, they are great.

One of Anderson's downfalls is his eating habits. Anderson is a terrible eater, and dinner is his worst meal. He rarely eats what we put in front of him. I always put a plate of the meal we are all eating on his tray and probably 7 times out of 10, we have to give him something else, just so we know he is actually eating. One night we had tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches (fancy, I know!) and he devoured it. It really was a miracle. If he actually starts eating what we first give him, Justin and I try not to breath too hard or look at him, out of fear that he will realize that he is eating something beyond his usual foods. Obviously tomato soup is extremely messy to be giving a one year old, but if some of it was going in his mouth, I was happy to let him make the mess!!

Our sassy little Jack had Crazy Clothes Day at school in honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday. When I first brought down his clothes for that day, he did not like the idea. Jack likes everything to be in order. He likes his gloves to be on just right, his shirt sleeves to be pulled through his coat just right, his food has to be the right temperature, his pants to be tucked inside his boots just the right way, etc, etc. You get the idea. He is super picky about certain things, and if something goes wrong or is out of the ordinary, it is dramatic. So when I told him that he would be wearing pajama pants with shorts over top to school, the idea didn't sit very well with him. It took a lot of convincing. I reassured him that all of his friends at school would be wearing crazy clothes and that it would be fun. He thought about it for a while and decided he could wear it.

Anderson did not want to be left out and ran to get his frog boots as fast as his little legs would carry him.

We are CRAZY!!!

Crazy Clothes Day was followed by Crazy Hair Day, which again, I did against Jack's will. But once he got to school and saw everyone with their wacky hair, he thought it was pretty fun.

Valentine's/B-day

We had a great Valentine's Day, and of course...my birthday! I am now 27 and not too sure how I feel about it. The upper 20's is a little too close to 30 for my taste, but hopefully it will be a good year for me and will last a long time so I don't have to get to 28 any time soon! :)

Justin started our day off by making a pink breakfast, which the kids loved.

The boys came down to find some little treasures for them at the table. Jack was loving the new sunglasses!

Anderson was soaking up the fun too.

I went to Jack's Valentine's Day party at school. He loves when the parents get to come for their parties. They had a chocolate fountain for the kids to dip their treats in, which was a big hit.

Jack gave me this bag that he had decorated and inside was this little treasure box. Complete with candy hearts inside the lid. He was very proud of his work.

Justin came home a little early that day and we went to see Tangled at the theater. We were the only people in the theater which was a good thing because Anderson didn't sit like that the whole time. He did pretty good for his first time going, but we were definitely relieved to see he wouldn't be bothering anyone else. It was such a cute movie! We all really liked it.

Then we came home and had a pizza party with heart shaped bread sticks and a cake that Justin and Jack made me. It was fun to spend so much time together as a family. Jack is so great with holidays and traditions and I LOVE to see my kids having so much fun.

Here's hoping that 28 doesn't come as fast as 27 did!!

Come what may, and LOVE it

Do you remember that sweet little Anderson from my previous post? Well you might think this post is about him, but it's not. It's about a little toddler whom I do not know and hope he does not visit our family ever again.

Yesterday, this little toddler woke up bright and early, as usual, was brought downstairs and placed in his highchair for breakfast. I put a waffle in the toaster for him and peeled a banana, broke it in half and placed it on his tray. This little boy started throwing a HUGE fit! He screamed and hit the banana on his tray, cried and refused to eat anything. I'm thinking in my head, "What the heck just happened?" Not knowing what to do, I took him out of his chair and thought that maybe he didn't want to eat yet. So I got him out and he continued to cry. He cried and screamed and had a major freak out. Let me just add that this is completely out of the ordinary. Justin and I just looked at each other totally baffled and said, "What do we do?? Is this really happening??" For fear that I would strangle this little boy (Ok, that might be exaggerating a little, but not much) I took him up to his crib and shut the door so I could take a deep breath and regain some motherly ability to handle the situation that was obviously out of control at this point. So I let him cry for a minute, went back in and held him, rocked him, and sang him some primary songs. He in turn calmed down and stopped crying. So I took him down stairs again. Justin tried to offer him a new banana with the peel on it. BUT, he saw Justin peel it. Apparently that is a big no no. He throws himself on the floor and starts crying again. At this point I think, "I have got to document this!" I grab my camera and start snapping.

Nothing would help him to calm down. He was beyond help. These pictures don't quite do the tantrum justice. So, we left him alone. I don't even remember at what point he started to calm down but eventually he did. The tears dried up. The screams stopped. Peace was once restored to our household. Thank heavens!!!

After he calmed down, he found the banana again. He picked it up, pulled the peel down a little, and took a huge bite. He came to show me the banana with a smile on his face and said, "Mmmmm!!" I said, "Oh, we are so not friends right now. Do not even show me that banana." Justin and I spent the rest of the day trying to figure out the best way to get around the tantrums. Could we peel the banana while he isn't looking? Would he eat it if we just cut the top and let him try and peel it? Should we just never buy bananas again?? What can we do to avoid that at all costs?? Was my sweet little baby capable of such a tantrum?? Please Heavenly Father tell me that this was a one time thing and that we will not be dealing with this for the next however many years!

This really was a hard thing for me (and Justin). Anderson is now apparently throwing fits, and Jack seemed to be especially whiny that day. I was getting over the flu and hadn't eaten in two days. I was tired. I had no patience left inside of my body. I didn't get much sleep last night and apparently my awesome mood carried over with me this morning. We were in the car on the way to church and I TOTALLY lost patience with Jack. I felt like I was in this snowball effect where my bad mood and horrible outbursts were just getting worse and worse. It made me feel terrible. I had this horrible feeling inside of me that I could not get rid of and I was completely taking it out on my family. When we got church, Justin and I said a prayer together that completely helped me. I broke down in tears but was so thankful that we were at church where I could take the sacrament, and be spiritually uplifted, which is exactly what I needed. Everything in church seemed to be what I needed to hear as well. I love it when that happens. And Justin came and got Anderson from me, who was an angel in church, so that I could listen to the Relief Society lesson in peace. It was perfect. The lesson seemed to be directed at me, although I knew others were feeling the spirit. We talked about trials and the principle of compensation. It was good for me to talk about adversity and the good things that can come from it. It was based on a talk by Elder Joseph B. Worthlin from the October 2008 General Conference. He talked about something his mom had taught him, which I LOVE.

"Come what may, and love it."

This is the quote from his talk...

“Joseph,” she said, “come what may, and love it.”

I have often reflected on that counsel.

I think she may have meant that every life has peaks and shadows and times when it seems that the birds don’t sing and bells don’t ring. Yet in spite of discouragement and adversity, those who are happiest seem to have a way of learning from difficult times, becoming stronger, wiser, and happier as a result."

Not every day am I going to have children who behave well, as I have already found out. But I know that I would not give up the blessing of having children for anything. They are dear to my heart, even though they throw fits and whine and totally stress me out (only sometimes!) They are what will make me learn to be more like God. Yes there will be bad days. Yes, there will be days where I don't have the energy or strength to be the best mom that I know I can be. But it is a learning process. It is hard!! But I feel more love for my kids and my husband than I did before this calamity of events.

"How can we love days that are filled with sorrow? We can’t—at least not in the moment. I don’t think my mother was suggesting that we suppress discouragement or deny the reality of pain. I don’t think she was suggesting that we smother unpleasant truths beneath a cloak of pretended happiness. But I do believe that the way we react to adversity can be a major factor in how happy and successful we can be in life.

If we approach adversities wisely, our hardest times can be times of greatest growth, which in turn can lead toward times of greatest happiness."

I am so thankful that we have prophets and apostles that we can go to for direction. As soon as I got home from church I went to lds.org and found countless talks on parenting, strengthening families, adversity, etc. I was instantly given courage to face another week and given multiple ways that I can personally help to strengthen myself and my family. What would I do without the Gospel??

I might have given up my kids for adoption.

(OK, maybe not)