Is it Already Happening?

Kason came home from school about a month ago to inform me that "he had the best day of his life!" He has said this many times before, but of course I asked him why. He proceeded to tell me that a girl in his grade had come up and asked him if he would "go out" with her friend.

WHAT?? I thought to myself, does this happen in the fourth grade? I didn't respond like that however, just calmly said, "so what did you say?"

Kason replied, "I said yes!"

I then asked Kason, "what does going out mean to you?"

"Well, it just means that you hang out with each other at recess and stuff", was his reply.

So, as I was partially freaking out in my head I tried to explain to him that it is probably best just to be friends with a lot of girls and not "go out" with anyone quite yet. He assured me all was fine and that they were just friends anyway. However, the smile on his face made me think that he was pretty excited about all of this!

Fast forward a week:

Kason came home sad from school because his friends were mad that he wasn't playing with them at school and was "hanging out" with this girl. He didn't know what to do, because he wanted to make everyone happy. I tried to lovingly explain that there are going to be a lot of girls he will like through his life, but none are worth losing your best friends over. He seemed to understand and was resolved to "break up" with this girl the next day at recess.

He came home the next day and solemnly declared that he had done it! He broke up with her because "she was breaking up his other friendships" as he put it. I was definitely relieved....this cannot already be happening to my little boy!

All was well for a couple of weeks, until one day Kason came home and declared "Mom, we got back together!" (How does he already know all this language?) Oh great - I thought, we are starting all over. I didn't have to worry long because the next day he came home to announce that they had broken up again, and that now she wouldn't even talk to him!

Oh, girls...they are all the same! "That is the reason you want to just stay friends", I told him!

He agreed and said, "You're right mom - it is dumb to 'go out' with a girl right now!"

He actually agreed with me - I know this will not happen often.

I have to laugh at this whole situation, because I remember when these things happened to me...however not in the fourth grade. I laugh that the kids still use the same "language". And that the result of breaking up is always the same - they don't even want to talk to each other anymore! And, I especially had to smile about the friend asking Kason if he would 'go out' with her friend!

I am not old enough to have to already experience this...I am afraid that there will be much more to come!

For Posterity

I don't think I have taken any pictures of my belly this pregnancy...must be because it is number 5! So, not for any other reason than having a record for my children, I will post this...

I couldn't think of anyone else I would rather share this picture with, than my sister! What is even greater is that my youngest sister is also pregnant with her 1st baby! She lives much too far away - or she would be smack in the middle of our two bellies!

Yes, Shaundee is 31 weeks pregnant with her 2nd baby (a boy) in this picture and I am only 27 weeks pregnant. Funny that I am so much bigger than she is! I just keep reminding her that my stomach muscles are not as tight as hers are anymore!

Oh, and don't mind my belly button sticking straight out! That thing popped out when I was only 4 months pregnant...I thought that only happened when you were ready to deliver.

So, for posterity, here is a documentation of my pregnant belly. It is even bigger now - 3 weeks later. If I get brave I will have to post again. I know it is fun to look back on your belly, but in the moment it just doesn't seem very appealing.

A Living Snowman

We are finishing our basement. Well, let me rephrase that....Brandon is finishing our basement. We are slowly making progress, and are actually at the painting phase! Brandon has been painting for a few days - but I have never gone downstairs while he was actually in the process. I decided to go down the other day, and this is what I found....




I burst out laughing! I didn't even know they had such painting attire! When he took off all the gear - he only had paint all over his eyes. So, the protection worked. I have to admit that he is an extremely cute snowman!

Too many pictures, so I had to do a slide show!

Easter Weekend

I have been totally slacking in keeping up with my blog lately. It is always on my list of things to do, but seems to get pushed to the bottom by so many other urgent things! So here is a late update.

We were lucky enough to spend Easter weekend in warm and sunny St. George! It was so wonderful to feel the warm sun on my very white skin. I am someone who definitely needs Vitamin D. The sunshine always seems to snap me out of a somber mood.

We soaked up plenty of sun while we were there by going to 7 baseball games in three days! Kason had a baseball tournament, and they made it to the semifinals, which meant lots of baseball games! They ended up taking 4th out of 35 teams....not too bad! We were proud of Kason...he played great. Brandon and I love to watch the games...the girls and Braden on the other hand do well through about the first 4, and then don't want to sit and watch anymore baseball! Jaicee's comment at the end of the 7th game was, "since we have watched Kason play so much baseball, he gets to come and watch Halle and I go shopping!" I had to agree with her!

Kason pitching in one of his games (#22). I don't like when he pitches...it is way too nerve wracking for the mother!

The kids were very worried that the Easter Bunny would not find them so far away from home. But that Easter Bunny is pretty smart and found us all the way in St. George.

We got all ready to go to church...found the church....walked in, and we had missed it! We were told the wrong time. So, I guess it is the thought that counts! It did not feel like a complete Easter Sunday without church....I definitely missed it. But we took some pictures anyway!

No real "Easter dresses" this year...I decided they have plenty of dresses that they never wear! (Obviously they didn't bring them to St. George to wear either!)

Brandon's sister and her family were also in St. George - so we were able to have Easter dinner with them. We also went to the park and had a little egg hunt, flew kites, and played! It was perfect weather and a great weekend! I hope the 70's will last for more than just a week this spring...it always seems to get hot so quickly!

(See slide show above for the rest of the weekend pictures)

Play Time

Don't you remember as a child building forts? I loved doing this, especially at my gradma's house with all her chairs. My girls have also found a love for this. I am not sure that I always love them building forts, for the sole reason that they seem to have to use 10 blankets, and all the hair elastics....and I usually clean most of the blankets up. This particular day, however, Kason joined in the fun and they built an incredible fort. They were so creative with how to get all of the blankets to stay up - and covered the entire room. They had a huge area underneath which they slept in that night. I love when my kids entertain themselves and create something that they have to really think of. Kids at play are the greatest!

Can you see their little heads? This time they really did use every blanket/sheet in the house!

Thoughts on Motherhood

Lately I have been consumed with the worry of how will I provide enough time and attention for 5 kids! I feel like kids these days need more attention than ever. The world is crazy and wicked. They need personal attention and love from a mother like never before! Not to mention that as a mother we are trying to build each of our children to have good self esteem, work ethic, be educated, kind, loving, understanding, respectful, strong spiritually and emotionally.....just to name a few. Does anyone else feel exhausted at the fact that we as mothers seem to be solely in charge of this? And now I am adding a fifth child to the mix, and am starting to feel very overwhelmed!

I mentioned this to a friend the other day and she directed me to a friend's blog that had some great ideas for mothers. I loved them and wanted to share them with you. Here are her seven ideas:

1. Movie Night
Our friends the Farnsworths introduced us to this one. Dave and I try our best to schedule our dates and other social stuff on Saturday so we can be home with the kids on Friday because Friday night is sacred. Friday night is "Movie Night." We pop popcorn, always make chocolate chip cookies, and watch a movie. Sometimes it's an amazing movie we're all spellbound by, sometimes it turns out to be a dumb show we thought we'd try, sometimes it's one Dave picked up in China with annoying subtitles covering part of the screen, but none of that really matters so much. What matters is that we're together. And we all LOVE it. Inevitably there will be a time in the future when our kids won't think it's so cool to stay home with their parents on a Friday night to watch a movie, but for now, we're superstars to them and we're eating it up while we can!

2. Interviews
This is something I'm not good at, but I sure want to be. My Dad started this tradition when we were little. He'd corner us (usually in the bathroom since that was the most quiet place he could find with nine kids running around) and have a little interview with us once a week. He'd ask all kinds of questions. He'd help us figure out our goals. When we were really little he'd write the initial of our best talents on each of our ten fingertips (I was "good" at art so he'd write a little "a" for art with a ballpoint pen on my thumb, then move on to my next "talent" that he'd add to my index finger). He'd make us feel so great about ourselves. He'd ask what he could help with. And the amazing thing was that when we grew up and moved away he'd still call us for our interviews. Since I was the second girl the second Sunday was always mine. He'd call and just give me my traditional "interview" over the phone.This is a tough thing to carry on with my kids because I'm not anywhere near as organized or as amazing as my dad. But I do enjoy writing occasional letters on my kids' fingertips and I have cornered them for an "interview" on occasion. This year I've decided to try to do interviews on our monthly lunch dates, which is the next idea...

3. Lunch Dates
I know there will be a time I'll need to take school time more seriously. Soon they will be in junior high, then filling out college applications before I know it. But this is elementary school for crying out loud. Shhh, this is a secret. I let my kids miss some of it sometimes. I take them out to long lunches one by one once a month. It's the only time I could figure out to have more one on one time together. Yes, Lucy and Claire tag along, and yes, sometimes they're enough to upset the good people who thought Wendy's would be a nice quiet break from their work day and don't want to be hampered by two kids throwing French fries around in the air. But that child I took out of school still knows that it's their special day, and their eyes sparkle with the excitement of getting to order whatever they want and having me just concentrate on them. I love that Max still begs for it to be "his" day.This year I'm trying to have a little "interview" with each child while we're at lunch (amidst the chicken nuggets and fighting over who gets the last bites of the McFlurry...yes, sadly it's usually Wendy's or McDonalds with an occasional Jack in the Box thrown in there, but it's their choice and I have to live with it). I go through what my parents call the "5 Facets" with them. How are they doing 1) spiritually, 2) physically, 3)mentally, 4)emotionally, and 5)socially. We make monthly goals of how they can do better in each of these categories. And then ideally I schedule these things in on my calendar so I can help them (not so good at that yet). But I love connecting with them. I love telling them I love them over our "gourmet" food.

4. Mother's Day Letters
Being the fanatic about record keeping that I am I love to write letters to my kids. I want them to have a record of how much I adore every little thing they do. When Max and Elle were little I was great at it and I'd write to them all the time. But then it got harder and harder to set aside time to do it. So a few years ago I decided I'd ask for a couple hours alone in my room each Mother's Day so I could write a special love note to each of my kids. I love knowing that I have those compiled for them. I want them to forever remember how much I love them at every stage and what I've noticed about them each year.

5. "Happies" & "Sads"
Another one of my parent's great ideas (I'm a little bit biased but I think they are amazing. They do have a great website here). Each night at dinner the kids tell us what their "happies" and "sads" were from the day. Claire's are inevitably that she was happy a friend could come over and she was sad when that said friend had to leave. But most of the time it leads to good discussions and helps the kids tell us what really happened during the day instead of just saying it was "fine" or "good"...or "bad." I like to hear the details and this is a good way to squeeze them out.

6. Late Nights
We were really good at this last year but not so hot at it this year...I think this is something that works better when your kids all go to bed around the same time, and our kids are more staggered at bedtime as they are getting older. But I love it anyway so I'm including it. "Late Nights" are when the kids get to rotate each getting a turn once a week to stay up ten or fifteen minutes later than the others. They eat this up. It's such a short amount of time, but they think it's the luckiest thing ever when it's their turn and we love to give them some undivided one-on-one attention.

7. "Clean Ten"
This really doesn't have much to do with cherishing the moment with kids, but it sure makes things less chaotic when it happens and then you can cherish the good stuff, and "be still" more often. I have no idea where I heard this but I love it. Whenever things get really cluttery...Saturday afternoons, between when the kids get home from school and dinner, Sunday afternoons, etc. (ok, pretty much a few times a day) we just say "clean ten" and the kids have to each pick up and put away ten things. I LOVE it because they just know to do that. Not only does it help to get the house clean quick but it helps the kids know where everything really goes so they can be better at putting things away in the first place.So these are a few things from my motherhood idea "collection" so far. I'd love to hear any other great ideas.

I hope this amazing lady doesn't mind that I posted her ideas....I just thought they were great. Her blog is www.71toes.blogspot.com if you want to take a look. I think I do some of these ideas to a degree - but definitely need to make an initiative to do better! This is the time when are able to shape our children....I love the stage of life I am in with each of them and just pray that I will be able to help them become the best that they can! Any other ideas - I would love to hear!