DUTY and A BOY

 She said to me today, "You have a lot of duty's mom."

I said, "Yes I do.'

She said, "I only have two."

I asked her what they were.

She said, "Cleaning and Playing."

Then she paused, "And Cooking."

She is the best cooker!

 These are the real faces that have greeted me this week.

Aren't they awesome?

I am ready to have my happy boy back.

 Yeah, it is okay buddy we can get through this.

Luckily, I have her to make me smile. 

BEAUTIFUL GIRL all in WHITE

 She is such a beautiful girl, inside and out.

She is bold and courageous.

She is strong and capable.

She is honest and good.

She is kind and thoughtful.

She is sweet and helpful.

She is everything I could have ever asked for in an oldest child.

She means everything to me.

 

Since I tortured her for thirty minutes, she had to torture me.

I love my new shirt.

It is so comfortable and cute.

Thrift store. $1.25

CUTE BOY! ONERY BOY!

 He has been so hard these last few days.

I should have taken pictures of him screaming.

Truly, that is all he has done for three days.

Then he has these moments when you would never know he was fussy and sick.

Here's to longer good moments and shorter bad ones.

(Still my favorite thing!)

PLAYING in the DRIVEWAY

 Sierra got home from school today and I was finishing canning pears and grape juice.

James has been fussing all day because of a tooth and a cold. Yep, he is sick again. Poor baby.

He isn't happy unless I am laying on the couch.

I will lay down he will cuddle with me for a second.

Then he will slide off of me and crawl away and start playing with some toy.

I will sneak off the couch and go back to canning.

He won't notice for a few minute.

Then he will notice.

He will start to scream and cry and crawl after me.

Then, I am back on the couch.

 

I begged my sweet Sierra to take care of him while I finished up.

She was complaining her arms were tired from holding him.

He is a big kid.

I suggested she take him out in his stroller and walk around the front yard.

By the time she got his pants on and wrapped him in a blanket I was two pears away from being done.

They went anyway.

I was grateful for a five minute break.

Then I had to go get James to feed him

 

Sierra said they were hunting for treasures in the Whitehead's gravel.

I was shocked at how much stuff they found.

Kids are more observant than adults, this is one fact I know from being a mother.

 

When I got back from feeding James, Madison was in hysterics.

Sierra was trying to control her play again.

She is getting to big to have her sister tell how to do things, but Sierra keeps trying.

It frustrates Madison and makes her cry.

 

 

LUCY and MJ

 Madison's new best friend.

She would play with her every day if I would let her.

They were being very creative.

They kept shutting the bathroom door, so I knew they were up to no good.

I checked on them.

They were throwing everything they could find that was "water proof," by Madison's definition, into the tub.

Notice the pile of shoes.

 

We love having Lucy come and play she is a good influence on Madison.

When Madison is giggling out of control Lucy will innocently ask, "Why are you laughing?"

(Although I love my giggly little girl sometime giggling isn't appropriate.)

I am glad Lucy is helping her learn this.

Her sister loves to hear her laugh so it doesn't matter if it she should be giggling or not, once she starts her sister will encourage her to giggle more and more. As a mother it is has been difficult to navigate this one, I don't want to kill her happy spirit but giggling isn't appropriate; at church, in the middle of the grocery store, and when someone gets hurt, or late at night when we are trying to get into bed.

Yes, this little girl giggles all day.

 

ALEX

He is such a good kid.

He has such and angelic mother.

He asked if I would do his Senior Pictures.

This is the best one.

Isn't he handsome and good?

You can see it in his eyes.

CANNING

Canning has occupied most of my week.

I will be excited to be done.

I still have a long ways to go.

60 Quarts of Peaches and Pears, so far.

7 Quarts of Grape Juice.

They are beautiful and delicious.

Watching my babies eat pears and toast for breakfast made me happy because I am carrying on a tradition that has been passed onto me from my mothers.

WEDNESDAY ACHIEVEMENT DAYs

I have been asked to do activity days.

Kay suggested we do origami. I like to make my girls paper cranes.

We did. Then we made a cute paper crown.

We played basketball afterwards.

Since then, I have reviewed the Faith in God booklet.

I have chosen to modify our activities, next week we will be making massive posters about Joseph Smith's First Vision to share for family night.

(After reviewing these pictures, especially the ones Sierra took of me, I have determined I need a hair cut, so I will stop thinking that sloppy side pony tails are cute.)



MADISON is SICK AGAIN

He is back to his sweet self. Sierra was chasing him around the house this evening. he was giggling.

Madison is SICK AGAIN. SIGH! WHY? I don't think she has gone a month without getting sick since last December. I now she has, but it doesn't feel like she has. The pneumonia in January wiped her immune system. Every sickness that comes into town she contracts. It breaks my heart. Her breathing was labored this afternoon. Her eyes were watering. She was running a temperature. Poor sweet thing. I gave her a steamy bath and some Tylenol. She felt better for a few hours and then feel back asleep on the couch. I put her to bed early. Pray she gets better soon. It really isn't her year.

THINGS THAT MAKE ME SMILE

I volunteered to oversee the art heritage program at Sierra's school. I and Barbara went to clean out the closet. Madison drew this picture while she waited for us to finish. I love it. She said it is a little girl holding and umbrella in the rain. She has filled my fridge with art over the last few days. It makes me so happy.

 This little boy has had a temperature and has been getting new teeth. He has not been himself. He just wants to be held. He is content to just sit in my lap. Usually, he is crawling through the house destroying everything he can reach. The last few days he has been so mellow. You can see his new teeth emerging. Despite  not feeling well, he did crawl across my bed and smile at me a few times on Sunday. I was so happy to see my little James's smile again.

I always have to hold on to his foot when he is on my bed. He doesn't mind. It is how I anchor him so he doesn't throw himself off the side of the bed, because he will.

TWO QUILTS IN THREE DAYS

 

 

 

My sweet friend Amanda is adopting a baby boy in October. He is due October 17th. I told her good men are born on that day. It is my husbands birthday. (Although, those babies pretty much decide when they want to come.) I wanted to make her a quilt that represented her. The thing that came to mind was how amazing she is at gardening. It is awe inspiring. She doesn't have that big of a yard but she produces a lot of food. There are no weeds. You have to see it to fully appreciate it. It is amazing. I thought I would make her a garden quilt. I thought I could incorporate a lot of primary colors into it. I was trying to find some inspiration for the quilt but couldn't find any.

 

Finally, last Tuesday I went to the fabric store with my friend Barbara. While I was picking out fabric, Barbara mentioned when her daughter placed a baby for adoption someone made the baby and her daughter matching quilts. She thought it would be a nice gesture to do the same. I said, "Alright." Gulp. I procrastinated and now I had two quilts to make. I knew I still had to figure out what I was going to make and how and create the pattern and create the quilt and do it all by Saturday at 7:30. Miracles happen. They were both finished by noon. My home had exploded like a volcano. I had very little sleep. My children entertained themselves. I made it, some how I made it. Barbara did come and help me for most of the day on Friday. Amanda picked the quote for this quilt, "Plant smiles, grow laughter, harvest love." The quote on the last quilt I did was, "She fills our world with love."

 

I used the quote on both quilts for the stems. I didn't want to do a vegetable garden for the birth mother's quilt. I thought I would do a flower garden. I researched flowers and their meaning. The tulip stood out. I wanted the quilt to represent love, sacrifice, hope. Tulips emerge in spring near Easter and represent all three of those things. I had to do a little tulip garden. The watering can was suppose to symbolize blessings being poured out for her sacrifice. If I could have redone the quilt I would have embroidered "Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven!" I truly believe that although this will be the hardest thing she will ever do, her son and her will be blessed by her sacrifice.

 

I wish I could have gotten more pictures of the baby shower but it was too dark before I realized I hadn't taken any. I got one picture of Amanda. She is the sweetest person and will be an amazing mother.