HAPPY SUNDAY

Ashton feeding chicken in his diaper.

 We woke up this morning and had banana nut pancakes. The boys didn't finish theirs so I told them to go feed them to the chickens. Ashton loved it. He got a little too excited and started to wack the chickens on the head with the bowl. I told him no and brought him inside. He wasn't happy about that. 

He has been sick for so long I forgot how much personality he has. He is saying words. I love this age of repeating everything anyone says and growing verbally. It fills me with joy. He will grab his diaper and say, pooh. He will say, BA, for bottle. He says, trash every time I get through changing his diaper and insists he needs to put it in the trash. He loves putting the dishes away. When I leave the dishwasher open, he will just start opening drawers and throwing dishes in various drawers. I will find the strangest things in the strangest places. He is so proud of himself, it is hard to care too much. He loves being outside. The minute the door opens he runs full speed for it. If you shut the door and say, we aren't going outside right now, he melts into a puddle of sad. The other day he insisted he can wear underwear like his brother. He put a pair of his underwear on and absolutely lost it when I took it off. He finally stopped yelling when I put underwear over top his diaper. He brings so much light into our home. I love him so much.

Madison and James ready for church.

James loves church and he can never leave with a vest and a tie. He hops around so excited to go. Ashton the minute he is dressed cries until we leave. He wants to go the minute his clothes are on. Luckily, today, he took a quick nap before we left, which made church more bearable. 

Sierra lately has become our hardest child at church. (Any suggestions are welcome.) I know sitting still is hard for her and being bored is hard for her. I don't know what to do about it. She was tormenting her siblings with every item in her scripture bag. Then I literally picked her up and moved her between her father and I, but she was fighting me. Yes, I was wrestling my child during church. I was talking to this couple, that attends our ward, later in the evening about it and he humbled me. He said, "No one notices when your children misbehave, but they do notice when you get angry and lose the spirit." I know he is right. I felt like I remained calm through most of it but maybe wrestling my daughter wasn't the best idea. I will try to be better and more creative and pray to figure out how to get her through church without it being too hard on both of us.