Hannah had a bad case of 5th's disease. These are her rosy "princess" cheeks.
Luke and Joshua are excited about football. After Luke tried on his gear, he wanted a picture taken. I told him to smile but he shook his head and said, "no! I want it to be a football picture. You don't smile in football pictures."
Luke made this picture for Michelle. Michelle is holding Gavin in a dragon's nest.
Cubby drew all over himself and said he was a bear. I gasped, he cried, I laughed and took a picture.
Jon Mark and I thought it would be funny to have stinky faces or disgusted faces as bathroom decor. So, I tried and tried. I kept trying to look too cute. Mine aren't as good as Jon Mark's. :)
I have 4 kids in school this year. I just have my buddy Caleb at home with me. I miss my little kids so much, I forget that they aren't that little anymore. They all got the teachers they wanted. Joshua got Ms. Flandi again because she decided to move up to 5th grade. Mercedes has Perkins, Luke has Maxwell, and Hannah has Boos. Hannah really wanted to wear her ballet leotard to meet the teacher. I let her because I figured it was kindergarten. She got many compliments on it.
Mercedes got her ears pierced! She almost chickened out, but ultimately she braved it and is happy with how they look. She picked out pearls because they are apparently June's birthstone.
That day we went was a really hot day. I ended up having to park a block away and tow the littles with me in the sun until we found the store. Then, Mercedes was chickening out which was a little stressful, then she banged someone's car door, and then I decided to traverse Costco on a Saturday... big mistake. I was already a bit stressed out when I found the perfect shady parking space at the front near the entrance. I turned on my blinker and waited for the car that was occupying it to back out. Then, out of nowhere, another car sped towards it and snaked it from me. I was surprised by how mad it made me. I told Mercedes that that lady was so rude and that I was going to roll down my window and tell her how rude she was. I rolled it down, I waited for her to get out of her car and then I felt my heart soften. I remembered something my parents used to tell me-- respond in love to all situations. So, I rolled my window back up, I turned to Mercedes and said, "I can't control the way others treat me. But, I can control the way I respond. I'm not going to tell her she was rude, instead we're going to go park over there and respond with love." I felt as though the Holy Ghost had helped me teach my daughter a greater lesson that day than the one I would have been teaching by my example had I done what I had originally wanted to do. I became thankful for my Savior, who, no matter how many times I mess up, always reaches out to me and responds with love. I want to be more like Him.
Hannah is really into posing for pictures with her leg popped out. She also loves it when I curl her hair so she can look like Mercedes.
First day of school picture.
Cub is my little companion as we sit in bumper to bumper traffic waiting to get the kids from school. He's not always this happy, in fact, most of the time he is quite grumpy as we wait and wait.
Mercedes likes it when I curl her hair too, although her hair is naturally pretty curly, she likes the ringlets.
Jon Mark got me a new comforter. I love the way it looks!
Jon Mark bought the kids this tackle dummy. It is supposed to teach them the correct and safe way to tackle. It also makes a good bed. :)
Mercedes likes to dress up the little girls.
Joshua had a good birthday. His party is on Saturday. It's his first friend party. He told me to blend into the wall. I really want to buy myself a spandex tan colored body suit so I can literally blend into the wall as a joke. He also got the Gizmo Gadget. It's a phone watch that can store 10 numbers, I can track all of his usage of it and his GPS location. But, the best part about it is he sends me little "I love you's" throughout the day.
Cub came downstairs like this and I thought it was so cute. The kids (especially Joshua) have been pretty good about waking up and getting ready for the day. Joshua is proving to be so mature and responsible this way. Luke needs me to snuggle him in his bed as he wakes up. Mercedes is generally awesome about waking up cheerfully. Hannah needs me to hold her hand as she walks down the stairs in the morning because she likes that.
Other Updates and Snip-its:
Some of these I may have already shared. Oh well!
Jon Mark: He's been into golfing and has gotten pretty good! He likes to go to the driving range and he also likes putting around on the soccer field. He practices at night time while we talk. He's also getting really buff. He's been doing push-ups and weights to increase his chest and arms. It's really the only kind of exercise he can do right now because of his injury. He wishes he can do more cardio, but for now he's buffing up and it shows.
Me: I have been having some problems with my knees recently. I had a visibly swollen knee for a couple of days. Then, the swelling left my knee and moved into my calf and ankle. That's weird. So, the dr. said that he didn't want me to exercise until he can take a look at it in person and clear me for exercise. My appointment is in a week. Taking a week off from all exercise but walking sounds awful to me! I'll try to comply, but I love my exercise.
Joshua: He is so patient and loving. The other day, Lily and Cub found his birthday present I had hidden (it was from Grandma and Grandpa Haws). They ripped the box open and scattered all of the pieces that he was supposed to use to build a star destroyer (Star Wars). Then, Lily pooped ALL over the bedroom. Caleb knew he was in trouble when I followed the smell and found what he and Lily had done. He kept saying he was sorry. Joshua hugged him and told him he wasn't mad. Then, another day, Cub and Lil had locked the door and destroyed several of his lego creations. This time I could see Joshua trying to not cry. He was very upset about it. I lectured Cub and he said, "But, Joshua is not mad at Cub." Joshua kept telling Caleb he wasn't mad because Caleb was concerned, but I could see Joshua crying. Cub held fast to the hope that Joshua wasn't mad. Joshua responds with love and kindness. He's a good example of that. Joshua can beat JM in Mario Cart. He also has taken an interest in reading Jon Mark's old Physics book from college. After reading about elements, he structured what his own element would look like once it was discovered. The other day while driving home from Speed Camp, Luke was talking about the upcoming football season. I tried to help him with his expectations about playing on the gold team because he hadn't played a full real season of football yet, so he'd probably be on the green team at first. Joshua stopped me and said, "no, think positive! Luke, you will be on the gold team. Work really hard, impress the coaches, and you will be on gold for sure." Joshua got his AIMS scored back from school the previous year and they were really high scores. He had a couple of 100% in science and history. He was proud of himself and declared, "I'm going to BYU!!" I said that he still had to get good grades. He said that they'd take one look at his test scores and declare him a genius. I told him that if he didn't get really good grades then they'd declare him a genius and say it was too bad he never learned how to use his genius ability to get good grades. Joshua promised he would try really hard this year to turn in all of his assignments and stay organized so that his grades would be higher.
Mercedes: Mercedes is fascinated by pioneer stories. She and I watched 17 Miracles together. She is comfortable when I cry my eyes out in movies and while listening to music. Sometimes she and Luke cry right along with me. They're sensitive. She gave a good FHE lesson on pioneers and bore a good testimony about them afterwards. She looked us in the eyes and spoke confidently. Mercedes also recently got a concussion. I was trying to teach her how to dive into the pool by assisting her on the side of the pool. She freaked out, I was still holding on to her. She went to jump into the pool and I tried to grab her back. Anyway, she hit her head on the way down. I felt so bad. She puked later that day and had a pretty bad headache. That makes 3 out of the five to have gotten concussed. That's not good. Joshua fell off of Nick's shoulders onto the pool deck, Caleb fell off of a chair onto the tile, and now Mercedes.
Luke: Luke is a sympathy crier. The other day Mercedes had gotten her feelings hurt and was crying about it while telling me about the incident. Luke starts crying. I ask him why, and he says, "When someone I care about gets their feelings hurt, it hurts my feelings too because I don't want them to be sad." Luke is very close to the spirit and can feel it often. A song was playing on the radio that had a good religious message to it. I was explaining the message to him and he started to cry and told me he felt the spirit. He bore a good testimony in church. He talked about how we can be good missionaries now and he told an experience he had when his friend was using the Lord's name in vain and how he asked him to say oh my goodness instead. He said that he was being a missionary when he did that. Then, he read Elder Anderson's apostolic promise about missionary work.
Hannah: She loves her teacher and she loves school. She still comes home grouchy. It's a long day for a 5 year old. But, she wakes up happy and excited to go to school and see her friend's Alex and Harper. I have no doubt that she has friends. She is a bubbly happy thing and I miss her. She loves playing hide and go seek as a family. She loves playing hard to get when you try to kiss her. She does push in her kisses though and enjoys getting tucked in. She's my reminder child. She reminds me about everything. She reminds us to bless the food, to ask how she served Jesus at bed time, she reminds me to curl her hair. She is a cautious swimmer and doesn't swim too far past the step although I know she is capable.
Cubby: Cubby likes being the center of my attention now that all of the kids are at school besides him. He still says he wishes he could go to school too, but I tell him not to rush me. I'm not ready for him to go to school yet. I still need him home with me. The other day we were at the dinner table and I said something about a scheduling conflict and how if we did it this way instead then I could kill two birds with one stone. Later, like ten minutes later, Caleb looked at me concerned and asked me if I hated birds and that's why I wanted to kill them. Joshua had to remind me of what I had said because I had no idea where he got that from. For a few days after, every time we'd be driving in the car he'd tell me not to run over the birds or hit the birds because he knew I hated birds. Silly kid!
