Grandma + Grandma

We had a visit from Jason's mom and grandma this past weekend and had a great time hanging out with them. Jason's grandma, Ruth, served her mission here in Washington and was glad to come back for a little trip. I was very happy to be around a fellow WA lover. I love it though I am a Washington girl at heart and wouldn't choose any other place. Really it's so beautiful, I wouldn't trade all that gorgeous green and the wonderful summers and falls here.

On Friday we had a lovely pizza night complete with Alvin and the Chipmunks. Then we met Uncle Mike and Aunt Melissa at Snoqualmie Falls on Saturday. The waterfall was awesome and then we went to this huge train museum full of amazing exhibits. Ha Ha! It was tiny and I think it was a real stretch calling it a museum. We did see a train though that we may go back and ride at some point because, cool!

Sunday was a relaxing day hanging out with the family and watching conference. We had a great time! I hope that Washington was everything that Ruth remembered and we loved seeing her!!! Grandma is always a huge hit at our house, even though the boys felt it was odd seeing her without Grandpa!!! Addie kept saying, "Next time Grandpa too right?"

Just A Little Something

Look at that! I know, I know it's very tiny but hey-- a little ponytail. Now we're getting somewhere. Let me tell you what it is seriously hard to get that in. I'm going to have to get a lot better if I ever hope to get Katie in pigtails.

Oh Boy!

I was doing the laundry this morning and saw that Noah had yet another hole at the knee of his jeans. You might think I get annoyed at seeing this, the inexplicable way that these holes are always showing up in the boys' pants, but I secretly love it. It reminds me of how wonderful little boys are. I love their wildness, rough housing, wrestling, and loud laughter. Ok, nine times out of ten. Some of the stereotypes about boys are true, their physical energy knows no bounds, but there is so much more to them than that.

Since day one my boys and I have had something really special going on. There is just something really amazing between a boy and his mom. I am so spoiled by the way they are always taking care of me. Putting their blankets on me, making cards and notes, cuddling and kissing me. I have been introduced to the joys of legos, the Mario Brothers, all manner of superheroes, StarWars, and little league sports. Yea for being a soccer mom (and wife). Oh how I love them with their crazy knock-knock jokes and strong boy smell, ha ha.

Lots of articles have come out lately addressing the fact that boys are falling behind girls in education and other areas and how the current structure of the classroom is working against the strengths of boys. Boys have trouble paying attention in class, they struggle to listen quietly. They are little boys it is so hard for them to hold all that energy in all day!! Little boys have always been this way but now that lower elementary grades are less about play and social and more about required state testing boys are more likely to be labeled as behavior problems and/or needing medication to calm them! I get discouraged about it for my boys' sakes. I worry. I don't worry about them too much though because they are wild and free little creatures, not to mention impossibly brilliant and adaptable. Their futures seem incredibly bright.

"You don't raise heroes, you raise sons. And if you treat them like sons, they'll turn out to be heroes, even if it's just in your own eyes." Walter M. Schirra

3 AM Hijinks

We had quite a night! We were all sleeping oh so peacefully when at 3:00 am this morning our fire alarms started going off. Where we live it is required by the city to have a fire alarm in practically every room of the house and to have sprinklers built into the ceiling. Basically that amounts to about 10 fire alarms going full blast, er screech. Jason JUMPS out of bed we both about had a heart attack and he is telling me to check the upstairs and he'll check downstairs to make sure the house isn't on fire. The kids start freaking out in their beds and Katie is crying. I brought them all into our bed and I'm super worried that our sprinklers are going to start giving us a nice morning shower. Addie has both hands over his ears and he's saying, "I'm not sure how much longer I can do this." Noah, "I don't think I can get back to sleep with this noise." No kidding. Jason is trying to figure out how to shut them off and after about 20 minutes of the loudest sound imaginable they stop. I still don't know why they came on in the first place, but it took us a while to get back to sleep after that. I kept having weird dreams that involved us having to hustle the boys outside in the snow in their underwear because the house was on fire. I really need to get those boys to start wearing pj's.

Big Brothers & Baby Sisters

When we pick Noah up from school Katie is always sooo excited to see him. As soon as he climbs in the car she's actually yelling, "hi hi hi hi" over and over until he greets her. Then he plays with her in the car and she eagerly laughs and smiles at ALL his efforts to entertain her. Yesterday after picking him up he said, "Baby sisters are really nice right mom. I'm glad I have one."

She loves her brothers so much and she can say both of their names now. A couple of days ago I was picking Addie up from preschool and I let Katie get down to go into his classroom for a minute. All the kids rushed her and Addie was sternly telling them, "one at a time, just one at a time." He was so cute as the protective big brother. The boys are like little parents to her, getting her things, entertaining her, and helping her. Maybe that is why she is getting pretty demanding about having her way around her. She has a baby her Grandma got her for Christmas that she loves and sleeps with for naps and bedtime. She is so cute when she is saying "my baby" and it comes out "ma baby." However she is super bossy about getting people to put the hat on the baby's head so she can take it off literally one second later.

Our Easter Morning

We had a great Easter this year. We don't have too many traditions but we do have a few. We always do our Resurrection eggs which are very fun for the kids and they are getting pretty good at knowing what all the little things in the eggs represent. Of course we did all the "bunny" stuff, egg hunt, basket, and egg dying. The kids all got new clothes for church today and they looked great...so handsome and beautiful accordingly. We had dinner at Grammy and Papa's and had a fun time. This morning I got a chance to take some pictures of them. I hope everyone had a great Easter.

Egg Hunt

We went to an Easter egg hunt Saturday morning at the park in old Dupont. They had separate sections for the different ages of kids and so everyone had a great time. Katie even got to find a couple of eggs and she enjoyed putting them in the basket, taking them out of the basket, etc. you get the idea. It's the simple things.

It was a very beautiful morning, the sun was shining and there weren't any rainclouds in sight. We saw lots of our friends there and Noah ran into one of his best friends, Zach.