A Lego Star Wars Party

Since Jonas turned 5 this year, he had his first "friends" birthday party.  We planned it for the first part of June, since his birthday was Memorial Day weekend and we figured everyone would be out of town.  He chose the theme of Lego Star Wars.

The kids enjoyed lightsaber training (using lightsabers to keep a bunch of balloons from touching the ground), rescuing Han Solo from carbonite (I froze Lego Han Solo in ice and they had to chip him out), battling Storm Troopers (they had to shoot paper Storm Troopers with Nerf guns), using the Force to build a starship (I gave them a box of random Legos and told them they had 10 minutes to create a star ship). 

We ended the party with cake, presents, and watching Lego Star Wars the Empire Strikes Out.

Every one also got to pose with our Luke Skywalker stand up.

It was a great, short, simple and sweet party.  The only thing that would have made it better was if Jeff hadn't had to work that Saturday.  It was kind of crazy to juggle my four boys plus five more!

Last Day of Second Grade

 Another school year has come and gone.  Second grade was a completely different experience than first grade.  Carson seemed to settle in more and it wasn't as chaotic as last year.  I guess I've learned my lesson the hard way (never to start a late summer birthday boy into school right after he turns 5) and there really is nothing I can do to change it now.  This year his teacher, Miss Howell, was wonderful and Carson really liked her.  She didn't have parents volunteer in the classroom much, but whenever she offered, I jumped on the opportunity.  One of the times I went in was to read "If I Ran the Zoo" by Dr. Seuss to the class. I also volunteered a few times a month in the Take Home Reading Library.

She was really great to communicate with.  About midway through the school year, one of Carson's old primary teachers had approached me and told me that he has ADD and I needed to have him tested.  When I told her that none of his teachers at school had ever expressed any concern, she told me, "Oh he must have some other problem then."  Needless to say I was more that a little annoyed with the primary teacher, yet also concerned that I may have missed something.  So I emailed Miss Howell  and as we talked about Carson she told me she really didn't see any problem other than the fact that he is really social. We kept communicating all year about him and it really eased my concerns. I can hardly believe that I am going to have a Third Grader this fall.  I feel much too young for that! Time flies.

J is Five

My baby man is five. FIVE.  It's always a hard age to wrap my mind around because it marks a turning point from them being a small child to entering middle childhood. I am so happy with the wonderful little boy Jonas is becoming.  He is such a sweetie and has the most hilarious personality. He seriously keeps Jeff and I rolling in laughter.

As I mentioned, my boys are into Star Wars right now.  Jonas has been wanting a certain Star Wars Lego and as he opened it the first words out of his mouth were, "Mason you can have my R2-D2!"  (Jonas already has an R2-D2 and knew that Mason had wanted one too.) His selflessness totally amazed me.  I think the following pictures say it all. So glad I had the camera to capture it!

 After presents we dug into this yummy Obi Wan Kenobi cake that my SIL, Kris made.  Jonas loved it because Obi Wan is his favorite Star Wars character.

Happy Birthday Jonas, we sure do love you!

Jonas' Preschool Graduation

Today our little Jonas man graduated from Little Sprouts Preschool.  I am still in awe at how quickly the years have flown and our little baby is now an almost 5 year old.   We snapped a few pictures before graduation.  One with the flower that he took to his teacher, Miss Angie.

Love that nose crinkle!

And our traditional last day of school "I did it!" photo.

 The program was short and sweet. The children led us in the Pledge of Allegiance, sang some songs about the concepts they had learned that year, and then had their graduation ceremony.

Getting his diploma!

One last photo with Miss Angie!

  As you can tell Jonas was one of only two boys in the class.  After graduation, I had almost all of the girls' mothers come up to me and tell me that their daughter had a crush on Jonas. In fact two of the girls had told their parents he was their "partner boyfriend".  What can I say, the kid is a cutie.

Jonas and his classmates.

Meaningful Things

Over the past few months Jeff and I have done quite a few home improvement projects.  If you follow my other blog, The Aqua House, you've likely seen a few of the things we've been up to. While I know the heart of the home is the people who live in it and the Spirit that is felt there, there is a part of me that craves order and functionality.  I am best able to feel at peace when things are in their proper order and look nice. There is something deeply satisfying about taking an area of my home and improving it...creating a space that is uniquely ours.  For me, its not so much what other people think of my home...its how it makes me feel to create a beautiful space and to be in a place where I am comfortable.

If you've read my other blog, you know that Jeff painted our table as a Mother's Day present for me.  It was a lot of work and took him the last two Saturdays to do it.  I am so thankful for his sacrifice for me so I could have another area of my home beautified.  It's gifts like these that I truly treasure...something that somebody has put time and effort into. Everyday when I look at the table, I will think of him and all of the hard work he put into it.  Just like when I look at my hutch, I think of my Grandma and of all the time Jeff and I spent working on refinishing it. I like things that mean something.  That's why I've tried to fill my hutch with items that are special to me.

It's also why I like to give gifts that mean something.  My poor mother must be so sick of me making her things, and this Mother's Day was no exception.  After seeing the chair we refinished for our computer desk, she asked me to make her one.  Well, here it is, and I have to say that my awesome, awesome husband did most of the work on this one.  He tore the chair completely apart, reenforced all the joints, made some new brace pieces for the bottom, and then painted it.  I was going to paint it, and went outside to find him doing it after he'd put the final coat on my dining room chairs. Over achiever.

I can hardly wait for my mom to come in a week and a half to pick it up.  She is such an amazing person and I feel so blessed to call her my mom.  She is one of the most selfless people I know and is always looking for ways to help me and others around her. I'll often call her and she'll be on her way home from helping a friend or dropping a gift off for someone. I hope to one day be more like that.

I know this post is getting long, but I have to tell you a few stories about my Mom.  When I was about 14, there was a family in our ward that had a baby girl.  The family wasn't well to do and lived in a pretty shabby house.  My Mom was asked to take dinner over to them and she also decided to take them a present. (If you haven't figured it out yet, my Mom is a gift giver). I went with her to deliver the meal and was shocked that in addition to some clothing and receiving blankets, she gave them a beautiful handmade quilt (one that she had paid someone else to quilt so I know she had a lot of money invested into it). I remember thinking two things as we drove away from that house, 1) My mom was a very generous person and I one day wanted to be like that. 2) I don't think I would have given such an expensive gift to someone I hardly knew and I needed to work on being selfless. It is an important lesson that she taught me by her wonderful example.

About 3-4 weeks ago the foot pedal to my sewing machine went missing. I'm pretty sure Porter ran off with it and I have literally searched my house from top to bottom for it.  I finally came to the conclusion that he must have thrown it in the garbage (I'm always catching him tossing random things in there) and I didn't notice and it was taken out. I was telling my mom all about it and how I've been frustrated because I have a lot of sewing projects I've needed to get done.  That day she went to Idaho Falls and found me a used foot pedal that matched the one I'd lost.  In a few short days it showed up in my mailbox and I can't tell you how much it meant to me.  That's just how my Mom is. Awesome.

Baseball

This year the three older boys are playing baseball.  Don't they look so cute in their jerseys?

Carson is playing on the kids pitch team and has a great coach this year.

Jonas and Mason are playing on the 3&4 year old "Itty Bitty Ball" team. It was so cute watching them warm up for their game last week. I really love that they are so close in age.  It's made it nice because we only have to juggle two games instead of three.  Last week Carson's game was at the same time as the little boys' game so Jeff and I hopped back and forth between the two games. It's kind of crazy  because Carson's games are an hour and a half long and the little boys' games last maybe an hour.  So Jonas and Mason watched the first part of Carson's game, then came back just as it was ending.

Preschool Exchange

This past school year Mason participated in a Preschool Exchange with some other kids in our ward.  Since the kids were really young (Mason and one other girl were still two when we started) it was pretty laid back.  We worked on letters, numbers, and handwriting, but the main goal was to let the kids socialize and learn to follow directions. We rotated houses so I only had to teach every fifth week. I really loved having these little ones in my home and Jonas was always so excited when it was my turn to teach because he got "extra preschool" those weeks. Its been a little crazy running Mason to school on Mon/Wed and Jonas had preschool on Tues/Thurs. Friday has been our only day where we can just hang out and do what we want!

Last week one of the other mothers, Mikki, took pictures for us.  She has her own photography business and is super talented.  I am hoping to get her to do Carson's baptism pictures.

In addition to pictures of the kids in the exchange, she offered to do sibling pictures.  I really regret that I didn't pull Carson out of school to get his picture done.  It would have been nice to have had all new pictures for my wall! Here are my handsome men.

 I love this look on Porter's face!  It is just soooo typically him, with this concerned/questioning look.

Star Wars

 A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

 You knew it was coming, right?  With so many boys in our house, I'm actually quite surprised that they hadn't discovered Star Wars before now.  It all started back in February after we bought our iMac. Since my iTunes account was hacked twice last year (and money stolen off our debit card...twice), I bought iTunes gift cards so we could purchase some programs through the App store.  We had a few dollars left over and decided to let the boys download Angry Birds Star Wars. Pretty soon they were asking if they could watch the movies and I was pleasantly surprised to find out they were rated PG. 

So on a snowy February day, and on our way home from a Jr. Jazz game, I stopped by my friend's house and picked up all six movies.  Even though I really regulate my boys' TV time, the plan was to let them watch the movies while Jeff and I painted our bedroom as part of our bedroom re-style. After all, it was a snowy, icky Saturday, and I needed them distracted so I could get my project done. As it turns out I was the one distracted and ended up watching most of the first two movies with my boys. Over the next week or so we watched all six movies (in order).  This is the first time that I'd ever done that and the saga made so much more sense to me. When it came time to return the movies, my boys cried...and cried. They went two whole weeks without Star Wars before I texted my friend and asked if we could borrow her movies again. She was so kind and let us borrow them for a whole month.  Seriously, how awesome is that?

Mason became obsessed with Darth Vader.  Obsessed.  He made a mask out of a milk box and walked around the house saying, "Luke, I am your father." One day my sweet sister in law, Kris, showed up at our house with a Darth Vader costume!  It was one of her boys old Halloween costumes and she thought Mason would love it.  Cue evil Empire music now....dun, dun, dun, da, da, dun, da, da, dun...

 Pretty soon, Darth Vader, was everywhere I looked...taking a nap on my couch, in my bed, on the patio, playing outside...he even tried to go to the store with me.

Since my boys were making Light Sabers with anything they could find, we soon invested in some "real" Light Sabers.

And the epic battles began...

I have to share a proud mom moment with you.  One day Carson came home from school very sad.  I asked him what was wrong and he told me that all of his friends at school had Star Wars Legos and he didn't.  At first my mind turned to the old "you need to be happy with what you have...wanting things makes you sad...don't covet..." train of thought, but before I said anything something stopped me.  I looked at him and said, "Well, you can be sad about it, or you can do something about it.  If you want those Legos, you will find a way to get them. What do you think you could do to get them?" At first we talked about him doing chores to earn the money.  He decided that it would take him a long time to earn the money because Mom doesn't pay well (I like to make him actually work for a dollar not just have it handed to him!).  There is a Facebook page for our community where you can post items to sell and we've had quite a bit of luck selling things on it. I asked him if he had any old toys he would want to sell.  He went to the basement and picked out four toys he hardly played with.  I snapped a picture of them on my phone, uploaded it to FB, and within 10 minutes all four toys had sold and he had the money he needed for his Star Wars Legos.  It was a great lesson for both of us.  Carson and I talked about how we need to look for solutions instead of whining about our misfortunes. We also talked about how if we really want something, and we put forth the effort to work for it, that Heavenly Father will bless us. I often think of how that day could have went.  I would have told him not to whine about it and that he had a lot of other Legos, and he still would have been sad that he didn't have his Star Wars Legos.  It would have caused contention in our house.  I'm thankful that I was able to listen to the Spirit and teach him.  He sure has been crazy about those Legos, and I'm happy that there are four less toys in my basement!

Aunt Val

Last weekend we went up to Idaho. One of my main reasons for going was to go visit my Aunt Val.  She is leaving this next week on a new adventure and I'm not sure when I'll get to see her again.

Me, my mother, and Aunt Val

She and my Uncle Brad are packing up and moving to Hershey, Pennsylvania.  Yes, Hershey--the town that smells like chocolate!  They have taken jobs at the Milton Hershey School as house parents. I find it an incredibly brave thing to do to pack up, move across the country, and take on the care of several children. I am so excited for them and their new adventure! My Aunt and her family have always had a special place in my heart as I spent a lot of time in her home and with my cousins when I was young. They have raised four very successful children and I know that they will be great mentoring the children at the Milton Hershey School. You can read all about what lead them to make this choice on her blog My Third Quarter. I hope that one day Jeff and I are able to follow in their footsteps, and find a way where we can use our time and talents to make a positive difference in the world.

Have you ever looked on the back of a Hershey bar?

Easter

This year we decided to do our Easter baskets on Saturday, so we could focus on Christ on Sunday.  It was a Star Wars Easter Basket year for us.

Then we took the boys over to the City's Easter Egg Hunt.  It was absolute chaos and we lost Jonas for about 15 minutes.  Jeff says we will never go back.

We ran into our good friends, the Snedakers, at the egg hunt.

Sunday morning our boys woke up with a nasty, croupy cough.  After weighing our options, we decided that I would stay home with the sickies, and Jeff would take Mason to church.  I was sad that I wasn't able to get a picture of them all in their matching Easter ties :(. I was also sad that I didn't get to be in church on Easter.  We have been making it a point to focus more on Christ during the Easter Season, and we always make sure to read about the Resurrection with the boys.

We hosted Easter dinner again this year.  My Mom, and Jeff's Dad and step-mom, were all in town from Idaho that weekend, so we had a full house!  I loved these chalkboard place settings (and chalk ink pen) that my mom and I found shopping that weekend.  Jeff's sister, Kris, was in charge of the Easter Egg hunt and she did about 200 eggs for 6 kids.  It was crazy.  She always does the best Easter Egg hunts and the boys loved getting money and toys like Lego Minifigures, along with all the candy.  She also brings the best cupcakes that look like nests and Porter thoroughly enjoyed his.

I am so thankful for the Easter Season and for the chance to focus on the miracle of the Resurrection and to spend time with family.