Baby it's cold outside

I don't have much time because I should be asleep but I just thought I'd report to you a few things. Will got a JoB at U of U working in the Health Information Department. He starts Dec. 1st. See more about this on our what happens instead blog. This past month he has also been in a seasonal position educating people on their medicare plans. So I've been home with the kids without hubby. And you know what- I feel like I'm focusing more on my kiddies than I ever have. Before I was so worried about keeping  a roof over their heads that I think I have been too preoccupied, so this last month has been wonderful. I'm falling in love with our kids all over again.

I love how Ben has to question everything. "How did that tennis ball get in the street? Was it a kid that threw it to a dog and the dog got it and brought it back to the kid and then the kid left it in the street? And then a car ran over it. I need to go tell my friends they left their ball in the street…

James is so cute. He loves loves loves stickers. He loves to put them on his face. I find them everywhere around the house once they have lost their stick and fallen to the floor. Today it was so cute he was frustrated that he couldn't get the ink off of one of his toys-- it looked like a sticker so he was scratching at it to try to get it off.

Maddy. What can I say, she is already stepping up as queen bee around here. The boys love her and bring her toys every time she is on the ground. They are soft with her and if they get a little rough she lets out a shout and they cease and desist.

Well I best be off to bed. We're happy as clams around these parts. Keep us in your hearts and we will keep you in ours!

Love,

Summer

Primary Program

I can't miss the chance to tell you about our primary program epic fail. -- The program itself was wonderful. My corner of the world not so much.  Will and I are Sunbeam teachers, and we were on the front row facing our sunbeams. The kids said their lines alright. Ben (who is in the other sunbeam class) was pretty impressive - he recited his line for memory loud and clear. Then things took a turn for the worse. Instead of singing the whole time Ben decided to knaw away at the podium. It was half way through that I realized he was making marks in the wood!  Meanwhile, Will and I were rushing three of our own sunbeam kids off the stage to the bathroom(one didn't make it and went in her pants) and bribing James to sit with us with fruit snacks-- the program was pretty crazy. Well at least Maddy was behaving herself.... or so we thought. When Will rushed one of our primary sunbeams off the stage to the bathroom, on the way back someone in the hall pointed out a yellow spot the size of small basketball on on his shirt. Maddy had made her mark... Poop and all! Will got back to the pew moments before he had to give the closing prayer in front of the entire ward. I tossed a few wet wipes at him and one of the women in the primary presidency gave him a sheet of paper to cover up - and up he went to pray with a paper in hand/over belly.... After sacrament he had to run home to get a new shirt. I'm including a picture of Ben's teeth marks on the podium. I didn't get a shot of Maddy's ferocious poop mess- all you need to know is it saturated three layers of clothing-- Will's white collar shirt, tshirt and garments- Yikes!

Ben's teeth- marks... we did report oursleves to the Bishop don't you worry.

 Three bats, a spider man and a football fan from Ohio

 Ben's habit of taking pictures of his siblings

Ben and his preschool class pet eating popcorn and watching a movie

A broken heart

My heart is broken. Its not so much that I blame myself, its that I could have lost my little James.

I was rushing to get a Ghost Hunt/fundraiser set up and I put two of my kids down on the grass with some older kids. Then decided to back my car into the driveway. The kids all ran inside the house (so I thought, except the toddler I was babysitting I carried her back to the car with me). I got in and put the car in reverse. After backing up about an couple inches a truck honked at me and pulled over in front of my van (I was parked on a semi busy road). I couldn't figure out what was going on. I looked everywhere for a cop car or some reason he would pull over and couldn't figure out the deal. I was considering continuing in reverse until another car pulled in front of me the girls in the car looked visibly shaken. I knew right then my little boy had been hit and he was behind me. I put my car in parked and jumped out. From what I heard from eye witness reports my little tike was bumped over by my van and was on the ground behind it. By the time I got to him he was crying a little but was just fine.

I guess I am writing this for James and for Ben and for Madison. I know that the truck honking - the driver being there at that moment - was no conicedence. The strong feeling I had to keep my foot on the brake even though there was no reason in my mind to stop was the Holy Ghost. The Lord is aware of us. Ben had prayed that morning that we would be protected at the Ghost Hunt and his four year old prayer was answered. I know Heavenly Father is aware of us. I am so grateful for James and for Ben and for Will and for Madison. I canceled a Halloween party the next day so I could just hold my little James all day. Every moment we have with those we love is priceless. The secret to happiness is loving those who are dear to us. I'm sure of it. Not taking for granted how lucky we are to be surrounded with such choice sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. Hold your family close to you, tell them you love them often. You just never know ;)

I know every breath we breathe is given to us by our Creator. The great I Am. I feel truly blessed for this mortal existence-- even with all the heart breaks-- there is nothing more important than what we are doing right now with our eternal families.

Hello again!

Keeping up with the journal-

Lets start with Benny boy shall we- he was sitting in the back of our van and out of the blue he asks "Why do chickens sit on eggs?" And then quickly replied "because they don't have chairs!" This little boy is turning into the cutest little man!  He says the cutest things like tonight when we asked him to get his PJs on he said "I can't I'm projecting" -- he was filling a plastic bag with water in the bathroom sink while he said it. His new fascination is with locking us out of the house. The minute I step foot out the door there is no telling when I"ll get back in-- he slams it locks it and runs around the house locking the backdoor and side doors too. I get comfortable on the front porch while he runs around the house giggling like a silly school girl then finally unlocks the door and lets me back in.  As for other news- he started preschool- he loves it but is a little rowdy some days. He shines during reading time-- this kid loves reading.

As for cutie patootie James-- he is talking more all of the time. His favorite words are "mine," "hold," and "truck."  He will call his dad, aunts and uncles - "mom" when he wants something and "dad" when he is just content. Last night he had an asthma attack at 1 am-- I was just about ready to throw on the slippers and run to the ER, but Will talked me out of it-- we gave him some rescue medicine and I slept in his little bed with him to make sure the weird wheezy didn't come back!  Being a mom is a lot of pressure- I tell you!

Madison-- my little girl. I admit to snuggling up with her during my chick flicks and pretending to go shopping with her while the boys play at a playground-- I may just be a teensy tinsy excited to have a girl! She is six months old-- and lovingly referred to as "sumo baby" by my siblings and pops. She has lots of chub to love!  She still sleeps through the night- actually the boys wake me in the middle of the night more than she ever does-- she is great! She will pick sleep over eating anytime!  Speaking of eating she is great with solids- and being the third child-- has already had her share of ice cream and cake (I'm eating my words from years earlier when I claimed that I would never feed my kids treats when they were too young to know any better ;)

Lets end with Will and I-- Will is studying all the time now and is taking a medical coding test in a week or two to get his certificate. Meanwhile we do have a coding interview lined up with IHC in a week and a half that we hope and pray will be fruitful and land him a job. I am doing great! I love love love love love having three kids and I am so happy with my little family!

Well I best be off! Talk to ya soon lagoon!

Love,
Summer

Three Kids!

Its the most obvious on holidays. We just got through the July 4th weekend- and I gathered my little family around me and participated in parades, fireworks, symphony, breakfasts, bubbles and a baptism. My heart was full. I never never felt so whole when I was single. The holidays were good but now they are great. My life was good but now it is great!  Even more so with three kids!  We look around our dinner table and to have one more person in the room with us - just feels right!  I guess this is the best way I can describe life with three kids-- more complete!

Lets start with Benny boy!  Lately, when people ask me if it was hard going from 2 to 3 kids.. I say nope! I've survived Ben's terrible twos-- this three kids part feels like a cake walk now!  Our little Ben has been the subject of a lot of my thoughts and prayers lately. I worry about him. I think about how to parent him. I am becoming keenly aware that I can't keep him safe under my wing anymore. He started primary, and will start preschool in the fall. I know he won't always make for an easy student or an easy classmate. Today I substituted in his primary class and he made a kid mad - the rest of the time this kid said "I hate Ben," "I don't want to sit by Ben"-- of course I was sad about that, but I was even more interested in preparing him to be OK even when "the world" isn't OK with him. Even when kids are mean or he is not the teachers favorite. I believe my Ben has infinite potential-- I am impressed with his determination. He is strong. Rarely cries. He is dynamic. He will definitely excel to anything he puts his mind to. He is my diamond in the rough. Wish me luck on being the parent of such an exceptionally hard but wonderful kid! I hope I am up for the challenge.

James is my sweetie. He is soft and gentle and thoughtful. The other day he got out a cereal bowl for himself and then one for Ben. He insists on putting his plate in the sink and when he is done clearing the dirty dishes he starts putting the clean dishes in the sink. I put half a drawer of clean plates and cups in the dishwater the other day before I realized my little james was handing me clean dishes. In other James news he still has asthma and we decided he has allergies too! I hope he grows out of both!!!

As for my little Madison- We put her down for a nap yesterday about 5 pm for what I thought was going to be a short nap. Well that nap turned into bedtime and she woke up the next morning at 6 am.  Will kept checking on her to see if she was ok and she was!  She is my amazing sleeper!  She has been sleeping through the night since she was one month old! I haven't quite pegged her personality yet. She loves the water, she loves her brothers (they are always so sweet to her too). She doesn't like to be held facing in and she rarely cuddles- both my boys cuddled more than her. She burps more than them too :)  Besides these tidbits my sister Cami insists she is the easiest baby on the planet!

As for Will and I -- well you could guess a little bit from my lack of blogging lately-- we have been BUSY this summer! Three kids two part time jobs and water parties and camping and hotel stays and birthdays (mine) and my dads retirement party and swimming and the list goes on. I hope to catch up soon. Until then- We are still here and happy :)

Be ready for picture overload from June/July 4th...

 Outdoor BBQ

 Moab Vacation

  

 LOA Bed and Breakfast stay

Park City Overnight at Resort

Will has a really cute habit of accidentally matching with James all the time

Fourth of July with cousins (above a ward breakfast and below Kaysville parade)

 Making big bubbles with the neighbors

 Dad's retirement party we got him a tv!

New Home!

WE LOVE OUR NEW PLACE.  It's a charming small home in kaysville in a sweet neighborhood with an amazing back yard! We are renting but might try to talk them into seeing if we can buy it someday... but who knows. Ben has run thru sprinklers for the first time, got a sunburn from playing in the sandbox too long, threw a frisbee back and forth to himself, ran around trying to catch butterflies and the list goes on. I feel like we are finally giving him the childhood that we were depriving him of... that little apartment in Centerville kept us cooped up and him spending way too much time watchin cartoons!  We are in Heaven here!!! I'm not a bad mom anymore ;) And now I can even clean while they play in the backyard!

Ben is saying the cutest things lately. I shouldn't tell this one but its too funny not to tell. He is no longer allowed in the bathroom when I am getting ready. Well one day he had to use the bathrooom and I needed to get in the shower that same moment. So I hopped in dressed to use the curtain as a changing barrier. He said "mom what are you doing???" I said "taking a shower." And he returned with"You're taking a shower in your clothes??" As for other news on the Ben front-- The other day Ben ran across the street to play with a crowd of neighbor boys and they told him he couldn't play with them. He ran back to me crying. I am not sure who was more devastated at that moment. My heart broke. It's like I was a kid all over again getting rejected. Only it hurt worse- cause it was my son.  This mom stuff is HARD. I wear my heart on my sleeve all the time.... We survived and hopefully Ben will make some neighbor friends soon :) I can't complain too much though we're in a great place and Ben is growing up fast. He actually stayed by my side in the store the other day instead of running off- Miracle of Miracles.

James was a week into his 18 month, and had just learned to walk when broke his arm. As the cosmos would have it -  it was just like Ben who broke his leg at 18 months. It was just as harmless of a fall too. I was taking his jacket off and he fell on the ktichen floor wrong and broke both bones just above his wrist. He took the whole thing like a champ and has barely cried about it since the incident. He'll get the cast off in another week. In other James news he and Ben are becoming little buddies. Now that he sleeps below Ben in the bunk bed. The two spend their nights jabbering. Ben finds his way down to James' bunk often to harass him.  The other night it was soo cute Ben kept coming out to tattle tell on James for talking and we would send him back in. After a few times of this we told Ben to stop coming out. Well of course he paid no heed to our directions and came out a few minutes later but this time our little James came waddling after Ben. It was soo cute.

Lets end with Madison. She is sleeping longer stretches in the night! Which is wonderful for me. She is a little over five weeks right now. I can already tell she is a gifted child. You want to know how I know- five weeks old and my baby rolled! She's got skills- She hasn't done it since but the way she swings back and forth on her tummy I won't be surprised if we don't see more preformance from my baby girl!.

Will and I are good. We love our new place. It feels like we busted out of a dungeon (our Centerville place was small and dark) and now everyday we wake up smiling, opening windows, and dreaming up new parties to throw in our back yard.

We'll I best be off- I have to feed baby girl!

I'll post more pics of the house later but for now here is our front room and the backyard

Now get ready for picture overload!

 Our landlord got us a new dishwasher and the boys a new spaceship aka cardboard box

We had an Easter hunt in our awesome backyard with some cousins! 

 Speaking of cosmos- these two cousins broke their arm on the exact same day

Ben and Mikayla at the Utah Museum of History- and chocolate