A move, a baptism and Lighting McQueen

Lets start with Maddy - and her fascination with "lite a ma queen" (Lighting McQueen). Whenever she sees a red car she squills and jumps and says "there's lite a ma queen" and if she's on foot she rushes to the car for a hug and a kiss from the car. She is thrilled to be living with Grandma for the next half a year or so because she can visit "lite a ma queen" in the garage whenever she wants, and when "lite a ma queen" is not in the garage she makes assumptions that he has gone to Disney land for good behavior. So cute! On another note she is full of fire. I would say she is my fireyest kid but truly Ben did and does rival her - these two children keep me on my toes. They know their minds and very little will change those minds. Lately, I've begun to think that Maddy is mimicking her hero - Ben is her everything and she really does do what he does- which is also so cute and so infuriating. As for potty training, she is still fighting it but she doesn't have near as many accidents so that is progress. We recently put her in counseling because we suspected a little emotional trauma had happened as a result of the fire. -the counseling has helped me so much! And I suspect it has helped her too. She is getting better every day- and where I saw a few learning delays I see her brilliance instead. She is really a very bright girl - I hope to continue to be able to unravel her powerful personality in a helpful to herself and the rest of the world kind of way- wish us luck!

James is kinda sorta the cutest kid ever! Always with the smiles and laughter and hi fives. I love how everything he does is so exaggerated. "This is going to be the biggest, mega ultra blast" or "I'm going to jump ultra higher than spiderman." His phrases always come with sound effects and his energy for life is a breath of fresh air. He spends almost every waking moment on the trampoline - when he isn't in school. At school he is above average with academics and pretends to not like talking to girls but often does talk to them when boys aren't looking. There is a girl named Riley in his class that chases him around trying to get a hug out of him everyday- ironically enough my James doesn't really like hugs from anyone but his mom (so glad I made the cut!) As far as fitting into the sibling order he loves his brother as well and is still warming up to Maddy (I assume it's because she is a girl) but loves her tons too. He has a little bit of a screaming/crying thing going whenever one of the sibs teases him- so the noise level in the home keeps pretty high because of his vocal cords.

Let us finish with the Baptism boy. Ben was all smiles yesterday. He was so happy - I think its the most happy I have ever seen him. He couldn't sleep the night before - he was up until 12 pm. He went about his day helping and preparing. Once he got to the baptism he made sure to hug every aunt, uncle, and grandparent- there was a lot of hugging- he even doubled up on a few of them. He said the water wasn't really warm but it wasn't really cold either- just comfortable. He had asked his Aunt Cami to give a talk on baptism and she did a stellar job of talking about Zoram who when he decided to go with Nephi into the wilderness he made a lifelong covenant- and much like Zoram Ben was making a covenant today that would affect his entire life. The other speaker was for the other boy being baptized was Finn. She gifted Ben and Finn with blankets and lights to remind them of the gift of the holy ghost. We arrived home with a table full of presents- journals, a tithing bank, treats, a bookmark and a keychain. He was so excited he opened them all up before I got there and I have no idea who gave him the presents- YIKES! As for the rest of his life, he is liking school - not crazy social but can carry on a good conversation with people when he wants to. He loves comic books and reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid. He is very bright and very fun to talk to. I'm so lucky to be his mom and so happy his baptism went so well!

As for Will and I- We moved our family into my parent's basement apartment last month- it was kind of on a whim - but really I felt like it was the right place to be. It's nice to find refuge from the storms and from the burdens that come along with adulting. My parents are the perfect hosts and we love being with them. I feel fortunate to be their daughter. We really did get a great return out of our home in Kaysville and should be set up to get a little bit bigger home in the coming year. Will is going to be finishing his HIM certificate here in December and I am continuing to grow my PopcornLeads Business. We are busy - I hardly see Will during the week and long for the weekends where I get to be with him.

I think that is all she wrote. Thank you for following us on our journey. We are grateful to have such a wonderful family and to have each other.

Sincerely,

Summer Blackhurst

ps, we had to give Skips back to his original owners because mom and dad don't do dogs- we all miss him terribly! I had no idea how attached I was to the little guy :)

As time goes by

Let's start with the dog- We came home and caught Skips red-handed or rather red faceded from eating our taco soup leftovers-- he loves it when we leave the house and forget to clean up the stove top leftovers-- STINKER!  He is such a loving dog - I forgive him for all of his transpasses even when he pees on the kitchen counter-- YIKES!

Ben feels like he grew up overnight. His hugs feel like they are coming from a boy- who is getting stronger not a chubby baby/toddler type kid I have been used too. He is bright and still as active as always.  His baptism will be this year I can't believe I will have an 8-year-old. He is already asking to babysit. He promises James and Maddy when he does get to babysit their days will be filled with movies and popcorn.  Which really he figured out how to make his own popcorn- from the popcorn maker one day and had drenched half a bowl of popcorn in a fully melted cube of butter-- he was not sad about the greasy mistake at all! Tonight driving home from my brothers Ben said- "you know mom, I really am not getting the summer I want. I haven't hardly watched any tv." #momwin! Currently Ben has been staying up past his bedtime to read- its been fun seeing him morf into a reader - even if he doesn't understand all the words he is reading...

James is my ham. He loves pictures of himself taken. He loves dancing and singing if the phone cam is rolling and tonight his girl cousins had him dancing in front of their skit while they sang. He is such a lovable kid! James hangs on Ben's every word and loves getting "training" from him. Even if this weekend's training was a punch fest so Ben could train him how not to be a "whimpy kid" The STINKER! (Ben not James ;)  James enters Kindergarten this year. He is so excited. I got him a paw patrol backpack for school and he can't wait to be in the same school as Ben. James lives on the trampoline during the summer. Jumping as high as he can and making up his own little world out there. James is a lot better at playing pretend than Ben. Ben is very logical like Will (I remember talking to Will when we were dating about a movie he had watched- and we debated how unrealistic it was---I think it was a superhero movie- I told him- "WILL they aren't supposed to be based in reality- face palm - LOL I guess I understand now why I have such a literal oldest child and a not so literal second child #whosgeneswinmineorhis)

Madison is turning a corner on potty training (cue the fireworks and cakes and music) I can't tell you how stressful this has been for Will and I -- she is 4 and a half years old. We figure she just got hit with constipation at the wrong time and as a result, couldn't go when she needed to and the who scenario has been stressful for all three of us. She has started to talk a lot more and as a result James is starting to include her into his clan (he kind of ignored her before then) their friendship is finally budding. Ben has always babied Maddy - I'm talking he rolls out the red carpet for her all the time- it is so cute! It is so fun for me to have a girl - she dances with me and breaks out into singing whenever she is playing with a doll or feels excited - finally! someone I can relate to! I'm counting down the days until I will have someone to enjoy my hallmark movies with! I still am trying to get a handle on her character- but if I used some nouns right now they would be independent, full of thoughts, driven, and loving. She gets so sad if she thinks she has hurt something or someone - I have to convince her its going to be ok. She broke a handwashing jar the other day- it was 45 mins of hysteria and her begging- mom fix it mom fix it.

Will is back to school- two more classes until his RHIA certificate -- we think we will be done in December. I've started a business and have some really busy days that end at 2 or 3 am and those weeks can be tricky. My business is marketing for nonprofits. I love it and I love the people I work with- really hoping it takes off in a manageable part-time sort of way. Will is my best friend and my favorite person- I miss him all the time- ironically parenting feels like a lot of time away from him- even though he is in the same room. I don't want my kids to grow up but really look forward to the day that I won't have to compete for Will's attention or him mine. I appreicate our date nights more than anything now :)

Welp I think that is the whole run down. We'll be back with another edition someday hopefully sooner than later:)

Summer

ps I turned 40 last month- What a beautiful world :)

Its a new year

Woah!

I really neglected this blog in 2017! It happens to be my kid's journal entries- so I better pick up the pace in 2018!

So many months to cover and so little energy in my body right now.  I noticed my last post talked about working alot.... Well as things turned out that trend did continue through to the end of the year. I was literally running from activity to activity. One kid to another. One mess to another. One job to another. All the while Will studied and tried to keep up with his classes. Not going to lie I did not like having so much time away from Will. I had no idea how much I needed a husband until I got one and now that I have him I'm kind of lost whenever he is really busy (insert frowny face here). So thats the dets on Will and I- I guess I led with us this time.

Ben, we will put him next. Ben is at the top of all the lists in his class- the fastest to finish a math chapter and reading and etc... He is doing really well in school and loves his teacher Mrs. Israelsen. He still likes Pokemon but has moved onto other dorky Japanese cartoons like Yoki and he likes the zombies versus whatever games- that he can only really play when he is at my dad's house. he is as brave a kid as you will ever find. Yesterday while at his friends' house he jumped over a box and landed wrong on his foot. Instead of telling his friends dad he crawled around on the floor upstairs for an hour and a half until I got there-- the little stink!  So he is hobbling now and testing his foot abilities every two mins to see if it is time to be up and going yet.

James loves to laugh and his jokes are shooting out his mouth every other min and when they are spoken out loud they are shooting out his cute little eyes. Notable achievements in preschool this year - are he really seems to have great handwriting. He likes coloring more than Ben does and he can't remember his friend's names but he has a lot of them in class :)  James is in constant motion. I wondered what he would do with winter being too cold to jump on the trampoline and instead of being out on the trampoline in any of his spare time right now. He runs back and forth and back and forth in the front room all day. So cute.

Madison- is a TOUGH sleeper! She is so hard to put down and get her to stay down. And often she will get up at 3 am or 4 am and want to just talk... So so hard to deal with. I am beside myself I asked social media (you know I am desperate if I turn to Facebook for help) the internet and the pediatrician and all I can seem to diagnosis is that she just isn't a good sleeper!! Yikes!  She also has my heart lately. I think one of my strong love languages are words of affirmation. And she says the sweetests things to me. "Mom I love you- Mom you're my best friend Mom I want a hug..." She is such a wonderful daughter! I feel so blessed to have her. She is also talking a lot more now. Yesterday she started a sentence with "actually, I don't think I want one..." She is so cute!

I think that is all she wrote. I'm kind of maxed out lately and hope to find more balance in the coming months.

Take care. Keep with us in our journey :)

Summer