Luke's Birthday Present

I was changing Luke's diaper and Will and Jack came running in and announced they had the perfect idea for what we could get Luke for his birthday that is 2.5 months away. I asked what and they said, "A baby sister!!" 😳

Hot Cooker

Will and Jack were discussing cooking this morning.

Will: The thing about ladies is that they can cook really good.
Jack: Like Nonna. She's a hot cooker.

bahahahaha day made.

No More Medicine!

We have slowly been weaning Will from his medicine since December. When he had been down to 1 pill of Lamictal for 2 months, I called his Neurologist and he told us we were done with the meds. Wow. So incredible to actually be here at this point. Surreal. That was on Monday so we had big bowels of ice cream to celebrate that night and on Saturday we ordered Will's favorite pizza and made plans to watch The Force Awakens. I sure love that boy, and I am so incredibly grateful to be where we are today with him.

Fair Trade?

I was cleaning up the kitchen this afternoon while Will was sitting in the living room holding Luke. We were talking about how sweet he is and giggling when we would hear his little noises.

I asked, "Do you think we'll have anymore babies?"

"I don't think so."

"Why not?"

"There's just too many boys here. If you have another baby, it will be a boy and we will have 7 boys including Cooper. That's just too many."

"It is a lot."

"How about we ask Aunt Julee if we can make a trade for Ceseley?"

hahahaha "Okay, and who would we trade for Ceseley?"

Not missing a beat, "Sam."

He is a bit of a threenager right now (bless his heart), so I can totally understand how he came to this conclusion.

Sunday Morning

Will asks at least 50x a day to hold Luke. Unfortunately he doesn't get to hold him that much. He is gone at school or Luke is eating or fussy, so he doesn't get near the amount of snuggling that he would like. He asked this morning and it worked out just right.

This is what Sunday morning looks like at our house right now; Little boys in underwear, cuddled under blankets, and watching veggie tales. I couldn't resist taking a picture. I wanted to remember this moment so badly. All of my boys. In one spot. Happy to be together. 

Everyone Wants to Hold Baby

Proud Momma

An email I received from Will's teacher today:

Proud of that little booger. <3 nbsp="">

8 year-old Wisdom

Talking with Will the other day about the baby

      "You're about to have 4 kids...that's a lot of responsibility."

 So so true, oh wise one.

Will's Baptism Day

Will had been waiting patiently for his baptism day. We had postponed it from November when my Grandma Miller had started to really decline. He had been looking forward to this day, and we had spent a lot of time at home talking about baptism and the covenants we make with our Heavenly Father. Will had some very special people come to his baptism, and some of them traveled pretty far just to be there. His Great Grandma Mary Hitchcock, Two of his Great Aunts, Terry and his cousin Mariah, and Great Aunt Marsha and Uncle Mike. His Aunt Julee and Uncle Dan drove all the way from VA to be there, and they brought two of his favorite cousin friends Ceseley and Natalie.

 A couple weeks before his special day, Will decided who he would like to speak and what music he would like to sing. I made a program in photoshop (I had never done that before, big learning curve for me!) and he approved it. :) He also asked me to make a few of his favorite cookies to share with everyone for after the baptism, devils food cookies, lemon chunk, and chocolate chip. 

It was a simple and beautiful service. Will's feet popped up and he had to be immersed twice--something he had said he hoped wouldn't happen. His Nonna spoke on why it's important to be baptized and that when are we are promising to do our best to be like Jesus and help others. And his Pa talked about how it feels when the Holy Ghost talks to us and how we can recognize those good feelings and warnings and know who those promptings are coming from. When the Primary President gave Will a chocolate bar with a red pencil scripture marking pencil. She asked if he knew why we marked our scriptures. Jack raised his hand and he said, "So you know which ones you've read, and you never read them again."  It was pretty cute and funny. 

 We are so proud of him and the good young boy that he is. I know the Lord is proud of him too. Will is very caring and wants everyone to be happy and safe. He is almost always smiling and he really does try very hard to do his best and make good choices. Love him to pieces!

 Love these two best of friends

Brothers

This one just makes me smile. I love how Will is holding Sam's face to look at the camera.

New Cub Scout in Town

Will had his first cub scout meeting tonight. He had been looking forward to getting to go to scouts for awhile before his 8th birthday. When he was finally able to start going though, he was already committed to basketball and practice happened to be the same night as Scouts. Sam and I went and picked up all his cub scout stuff today...can I just say $$$. Wow. Anyway he looked adorable and was excited and nervous all at the same time. When he got home he told me he LOVED it!

Homework

Back to school...back to homework

Teamwork

They are beginning to grow out of this building with blocks and cars and trucks and alll that type of playing. Makes a momma's heart a little sad when I think of all the hours they've spent on there knees and the miles and miles those trucks, rescue vehicles, and equipment have covered. It took some encouraging to "go play!" but they remembered pretty quick how to do it and why they have loved it so much.

My Favorite Boys

The boys were very helpful with cutting down some small trees and cedars, while I helped Patrick with putting up the fence. They did a great job of helping us start a fire to stay warm and clear out brush. They paused to take a little break and snuggle up with there favorite big pup.

Movie Night

The boys got the movie Inside Out for Christmas. So we invited the Blatter's over for a movie night. We made popcorn, and I tried to get rid of lots of our Christmas candy. Ella was a big help. She came and sat in my lap for a while during the movie, and I let her eat all she wanted. :) The movie was really cute and we had a fun night visiting and playing.

Tornados? In December?

We have had some crazy warm weather this December, but tornado warnings a few days before Christmas is just ludicrous. We had some strong storm fronts that moved through tonight and we grabbed the kids out of their beds and shoved them in the closet. Remarkably they slept, but we did hear the occasional elbow, leg, or head hit the wall. Kinda cracked us up. And thankfully it just rained really hard and that was it.

Tie Blankets

Every Christmas I try and think of ways to remind and encourage our boys to think about others,  and especially about those who are struggling with either health or financial obstacles. This year I was so excited to learn of an opportunity to help some homeless children in our area that Will and Jack could physically be able to do something. A local charity hosted an event where kids could tie fleece blankets that would be distributed to homeless children. The boys learned a new skill and had fun playing and working with other kids in our community.

Basketball

Will has been playing basketball since October. He was so nervous and didn't want to do it. But good Ol' Mom to the rescue--I made him. :) Will is like me in a lot of ways and one of those is not trying things because of fear. I've learned to take more chances, but know I missed out on so many things because I let my fear get in the way. Anyway ever since his first practice, he's been hooked! He absolutely loves it! His team however isn't the best. But they play hard every game and don't give up.

During this game, Will scored his first goal!! So exciting to watch him! I feel so fortunate to get to see him learn and grow in different ways. Dad and Silvana came up and watched Will and made it an extra special game.

A Boy and His Pup

Science Kid

Jack loves all things science and always is wanting to do experiments. My Dad arrived yesterday to spend a few days with us to kick off his Thanksgiving visit. He brought gifts for the kids for their birthdays. Will got a Pokemon case to store his hundreds of cards, and Jack got a science experiment kit. Sam also got a little blue car that he has loved playing with.  Will put all his cards in the new case that night, but since it was a little late Jack wasn't able to do any experiments. The next morning, he didn't waste anytime recruiting Poppa J to help him build a volcano. He loved every second of it!

Will is 8!

How can it be that I have an 8 year old??!

I made Devil's Food cookies and Will got to take them in to share with his 2nd grade class. He was very excited when I picked him up that everyone loved them as much as he does.

That evening we had a little party. He invited Lane's family to come over and eat his birthday dinner with him. Will chose cheeseburgers, fries, and pineapple. I added a salad on the side. He got some Pokemon cards, a wii game, a game that shows you how to build with different electrical circuits, a new chapter book- Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and a dinosaur that was trapped in an egg. I think he said that the dinosaur was his favorite gift. That came from Lane and Ella.

When it came time to blow out his candles, all the other kids blew them out instead of Will. It was a little sad, and Will obviously a little sad but trying to be mature quickly said, "Next year, I would like to blow them out." We all praised Will for being so nice and understanding and quickly assured him that we could relight them and do it again, and we told the other kids to scoot back. No harm done!

We finished up our party with hot fudge sundaes and got everyone in bed by 8:30. It was a fun evening celebrating a fun sweet boy.

Will is very excited about being baptized! We are planning on doing that after the first of the year.