Little blessings

Today in church a missionary told a story about how when he was a senior in high he'd watch his younger brother (who was 5) walk from the end of the lane (where the bus let him off) to the house. Every day his brother would have a treasure to share - an arrowhead, a piece of Indian pottery or a beatiful rock that he found on his trek from the end of the lane to the house. The older brother wondered how, in the numerous times he walked that lane, he had never found anything as spectacular as his brother.

A few days later the older brother and his father were riding horses in the hills behind his house, when his father abruptly stopped his horse and jumped down. His father then picked up an arrowhead off the ground and stuck it in his pocket. The next day, the little brother came running into the house anxious to show his family the arrowhead he found at the end of the lane.

The missionary then talked about how his father was leaving the little treasures for his brother to find. Those treasures gave the boy something to share with his family and made him feel special. Our Heavenly Father does the same for us. He leaves us little blessings that bring us joy. The trick is finding those blessings.

Little blessings I recognized today:

Pie

a willing child

an understanding husband

beautiful weather

church friends who pick up my slack

cookies

friends and family that listen

dvr

rootbeer

But mostly I'm thankful for my Heavenly Father...who loves me no matter what.

Games

On Monday the boys and I went to James's baseball game (he did AWESOME btw). Evan had fun playing with Anna, Emmy & their cousins.


Ben & Max had some hose attachments that they were using as light sabers (my boys will make anything into a weapon).

While Xander pretended to be pitching.

First...the stare:

Next the wind up:

And then the throw!

I love that even though he's almost 12, he still can play pretend.

:)

NFL Training

I hope I'm not jinxing myself by saying this, but I love my kids being home. In fact I wish summer vacation was right now when the weather is nice and the kids can play outside for hours. Then they could go to school all summer when it's 110 degrees outside and you can fry an egg on the sidewalk. Just a thought.

Any how, after the boys did their chores this morning they went out to play. Ben and Max are in training for the NFL. They have sworn off sugar and caffeine and have an exercise regimen.

It involves running laps and throwing up and catching the football.

I had to go run errands while they were still at it but I guess after I left Xander came out to train them. Xander made Max run laps and when Max told him it was easy he made Max run 2 more laps which made Max cry.

Later after I got home all three boys were flexing in front of my bathroom mirror and Xander was rating their abs. Xander gave himself an A+ (of course - although he is pretty muscular for being so skinny), he gave Ben a B+ and Max got a C. He told Ben and Max that if they worked hard they might catch him up to him.

I can't wait to see what Xander grows up to be.

Spring Break...so far

We are almost through the first week of Spring Break and I'm amazed that I haven't heard, "I'm bored" even once. My kids have been happy just to hang around the house playing football, basketball and Madden10. This morning Max set up his own football "training" camp. He did laps around the couches, threw the football and caught it 10 times, sit ups and push ups. He is now officially ready for the NFL.

Kim & I did manage to take the kids bowling on Tuesday (or rather Kim took the kids bowling while I chased Evan around the bowling alley). The boys had a great time - Ben and Max told me it was the best day - EVER :)

Yesterday Ian had off and took Xander to a Spring Training game. Apparently it was really exciting - the Angels vs. the Diamondbacks and the Diamondbacks managed to pull in the winning run in the 9th inning. The score was 6-7 (I think). As soon as the boys got home we left to see Alice in Wonderland. We all had a great time.

Now we are gearing up for our garage sale that we are having on Saturday. If you are in our neighborhood, please stop by!

Saturday

was one of the best days I've had in a long time. I cleaned, went to Sam's with my mom, went shopping with Tiffany, took Ben & Max to Target, went on a dinner date with Xander and then caught up on The Amazing Race, Lost and Castle with Ian (one of the best Lost's EVER). It was a fun packed day.

Sunday was a nice, relaxing day. In the evening, Ian and I were watching the Amazing Race while Evan climbed all over me. Toward the end of the show it suddenly occurred to me that I hadn't heard from Evan in a while. Ian started looking for him and said, "He's gone!" After a minute everyone was searching.

I eventually found him....

I walked past him twice before I saw him.

Toothless

On Wednesday, March 10, 2010 Max lost his first tooth. This tooth has been loose for a loooooonnnng time. In fact, both Alexander and Ben have lost teeth since Max's tooth has been loose. Wednesday, Max begged me to pull his tooth out (weird, I know). Ian finally did it. And Max didn't even cry. He was so proud to take it to school the next day and put his name on the "Tooth Chart".

Now if only the Tooth Fairy could remember to leave him a dollar....

Lunch

On Monday Kahea and I were supposed to have lunch. I started thinking that it might be fun to pick up our kindergartners and take them to lunch with us. There is a Peter Piper Pizza right by the school. It was a total surprise - when we picked the boys up they were smiling from ear to ear. Max had brought his lunch box with him. When I told him that he wouldn't be needing it - that we were going to have pizza- the look on his face was priceless. He was so excited.

Some of my favorite memories growing up are when my dad would pick me and my friends up and take us to lunch. Or when he'd take us to breakfast when it was one of my friends' birthdays. I'm so glad I was able to give Max that memory.

Seeing the look on Max's face made my day.

Feeling Love

This is a common occurrence in our house. If I am sitting down and Max or Evan aren't playing anything in particular then they like to invade my space. Evan is really bad. If any other kid is even near me, he will run over and claim my lap. Right now he is climbing all over my back as I type this. It makes it hard to be efficient.

Max likes to play with my hair. I like it too. But sometimes it's too much. Sometimes all of their "love" feels like it's smothering me.
Then I remind myself that pretty soon they will be embarrassed even to be near me. And I should enjoy it while I can. Even when they follow me from room to room and I trip over one of them (this happens alot). Or when I see Evan's little hand poke under the door when I'm using the bathroom. Or when they jump on my back while I'm kneeling to pick something up. Because it isn't so bad to be loved to death.

Balloons

I remember when I was a kid and once a hot air balloon landed right by my house. We were getting ready for church and my mom let whoever was ready go out and see the balloon. Unfortunately, that didn't include me. And instead of being motivated to hurry and get ready I threw a fit. So I never got to see the balloon up close and personal like my siblings did (and I'm still bitter).

Last Saturday Xander and I were pulling weeds in our pile of dirt and saw a balloon getting ready to land. We grabbed Evan (the other 2 boys were spending the night at Kim's) and picked up Michael and headed over to see it. It was very impressive. Evan was scared and refused to get out of the car. I can't blame him. Standing in a basket 100 feet up in the air scares the crud out of me too.

Then Xander & Michael reminisced about using the parachute in PE. Which made me reminisce about when I used to get to play on the parachute in PE.

Those were the days.

You know you're getting older...

-when you forget what you were trying to remember

-when laughing makes you pee your pants

-when sneezing makes you pee your pants

-when you get a permanent line (o.k. a wrinkle) down the middle of your forehead

-when you are hungry for dinner at 4:00 pm

-when you get tired at 9:00 pm

-when your bones ache in the morning

-when your bones ache at night

the only thing good about being a year older is having a good excuse for forgetting what I should be remembering

Don't

mess with this boy and his cheeseballs.

*Mandie - notice how we still have the air mattress up? We're thinking about keeping it up until you come visit again :)