When introduced to Joshua's football coach:
Coach: What are you looking at?
Luke: The face I'm about to rip off!
The other day, I had had a bad morning. One spill after another, whining kids, running late, can't find shoes... you get the picture. I was not in a good mood and I was very close to losing my mind when Jon Mark walked downstairs and asked if I could cook him an egg (something I do everyday, and it's no big deal). I burst into tears and that started a flood of me chastizing the kids. In the car, none of the kids dared to speak or anything because Mom had gone crazy. After a moment or two of silence, Luke said, "spiritual thought!" I have been trying to remember to send my kids off to school with a spiritual thought every day and even put reminders on my phone to help me remember. Still, with tears running down my face, I shook my head and said, "no, not right now." Then, he said, "Mom, prayer, family prayer!" Feeling a bit humbled, I asked him to say it while I drove. He said, "Dear Heavenly Father, help us to be calm. Help us to be kind to each other." Ouch. Sometimes in moments of chaos, my kids teach me profound lessons. This one stuck with me. He noticed and recognized that we needed prayer, we needed Heavenly Father to help us correct the path we were on that morning. He (and his borthers and sisters, I might add) recognized the need for the Holy Ghost to be with us. I repented for my poor attitude that morning and made a course correction for the rest of the day. I am thankful that my kids teach me when I need to be taught. I am thankful that Heavenly Father helps us achieve our goals even when it's through our kids.
Cubby: Dinosaurs are NOT DEAD! We will buy a Batman Dinosaur at the grocery store. It will eat smoothies and sandwiches. It will be too big for the backyard, so it will have to live at the church. But they are NOT DEAD!
Cub: "Hey guys, butter butter butter! That's what it said in my show. That is a potty talk. We don't say that!"
Hannah: Hannah has been getting a lot of bloody noses this winter. The other day after gymnastics, she had a bad one in the car ride home and didn't have any tissues or anything. Fast forward a week later, after gymnastics, she ran to the bathroom and grabbed a bunch of napkins. "These are for my bloody nose in the car!"
Mercedes: Mercedes gets very excited every year on Veteran's day. The school does a very good memorial service/honor service for Vets. Mercedes always makes sure to eagerly invite Papa Mac and Mommom. After a presentation, the vets and students with the vets are served a nice breakfast. After the presentation, we couldn't find Mercedes for a couple of minutes. Soon, a lady brought her to me and Mercedes was bawling her eyes out! She thought we had forgotten about her and gone to the breakfast without her. She was in panic mode, it had only been a couple of minutes. She just gets so excited about special things like that and has such a tender heart.
Joshua: He scored in the top ten for AZ on the standardized test. At least that's what he told me his teacher told him. I believe it too, he always scores very high on those tests. He loves playing catch with Jon Mark and thoroughly loves being apart of the football team. He's a sweet boy with a big heart and a super chill attitude. I rely on him so much because he has such a sweet and loving disposition. He runs a fast mile and tells me my cheerleaders need conditioning because they are pansies right now and aren't reaching their potential.
The four pictures below we discovered from years earlier that we wanted documented digitally.
Mercedes was looking so grown up to me the other day in the car, so at every red light I took her picture.
The list of things I did to get our house ready to sell. :) And the pictures of our house are the after pictures from my labor.
Hannah, Jazmine and Shelby at Shelby's birthday party.
Caleb after playing in the puddles left by the rain.
Luke's second grade picture.
Hannah after her nose got bloodied, again...
Joshua had a run-in with some gravel.
The kids constantly take my phone and take random pictures. I kept this one so that I could remember this time in my life.
Hannah took this picture of me before church.
