The reasons I love you...let me count the ways

Now that my kids are older, everyone is sleeping through the night, everyone pretty much has complete control of their bodily functions, they are feeding themselves, life is getting different.  It's fun.  They are wild and crazy but I am just trying to love life and love this stage of it.  I always try to have my camera ready for the many moments that make me reach for it.  I wish I was better at taking photos of the "big" moments, but for some reason I love the little ones.

I love my boys.
I love them for a million plus different reasons.
They are my sunshine.
Here are some reasons they make me happy:

Easton got Froggy ready for church. 
Didn't know you needed astronaut boots, darth vader mask, a cape,
and a storm trooper gun to go, but apparently you do.
I love this picture so much, I can't even tell you.

Creighton drew a picture of him and Daddy
playing baseball.

Can't remember what this was a picture of.
Sure it was something exciting.

Jackson drew a picture of the world and a lacrosse net.

This boys holds my heart in his hands.
He came over to me and told me he made this for me.
My heart melted.

I just love him.

All of them.

We've been playing lots of dress-up while the other boys are gone.

He put the mustache on by himself.
No clue where he found it.
This has to be one of my new favorite pictures.

Easton starts Pre-school

I think more than the other kids starting school, Easton starting was a much bigger shock.

I am alone for 6 hours a week.

You heard me, alone for 6 hours a week.

 

 

This kid was so excited about starting school.

Can you see the excitement?

 

 

He even gets to go with his best buddy.

Such a classic picture of the two of them.

 

 A couple days before the official first day I was able to go with him for a little orientation.

This is his mat.
This is where he sits for circle time.

Staying in line. Way to go.

So far, a few weeks in and he is still loving it.  I am not minding my 9:00 workouts and trips to the grocery store alone either.  I know I will be heartbroken when he starts going all the time though.  6 hours is nice for now.

Creighton goes to Kindergarten

 

The days finally came when this kid got to go to "the big school." 

Creighton started Kindergarten a few weeks ago and he is loving it.  He is in the same class with all his little neighborhood friends and he loves riding the bus with his brother in the mornings. 

When the cat is away.....

So, it's been decided.  I am hiring a babysitter next time I go do Swiss Days and dad will be staying at work.  It was super sweet having him stay home with the boys, but I think they had a little TOO much fun and I didn't enjoy cleaning it all up.

My basement:  An ENTIRE box of 60 granola bars, consumed.  Wrappers everywhere.  An ENTIRE family size bag of Tostitos consumed.  Crumbs everywhere.  An ENTIRE box of Capri Suns consumed.  Wrappers everywhere. 

Pretty sure this was the way they were fed. Mitch said they didn't seem very hungry.  MMMMM I WONDER WHY?

 

Then I found that they had gotten into my glue dots.  About 100 of them.  They were everywhere.  In fact, I find them still to this day.  I especially love when I step on one smashed in the carpet.  So thankful they were the extra strength ones.  They even used them to hang up coins throughout the house.

 

Well, enough about that.  I think the kids were glad I was gone.  They were excited I came back with new arrows for the bow and arrows they got last year.  

Lessons learned.

Swiss Days Year 2

I can't believe I survived Swiss Days, again.

It was a billion times better this time knowing what I was getting into this time, and thankfully I had so much help.

I even had all the boxes packed and ready days before. 

 The boys wanted the Swiss Flags sooo bad.  For weeks they have been waiting for this weekend to be over so they could play with them.  They didn't realize how badly I wanted the weekend to be over so I could play with them (as in the kids, not the flags) too.

 My booth:

This year I had my amazing mother to help me the whole time.  She took good care of me, made sure I was eating and drinking, and thought of things I needed since my mind isn't always functioning correctly during those two days.

The days were long but it was fun.  Things went better than I expected and I even won the Outstanding booth award giving me automatic entrance into next year.  Mitch was not too pleased with this award.  I can't believe that this means......I am doing it again.  I know, I am crazy.  It is nice to know that I have one year to prepare this time, instead of 5 months. 

Jackson's First Day of 2nd Grade

My Jackson had his 1st day of 2nd Grade a few weeks ago.

Time is going way too fast.

 

Such a stud.

Thankfully Easton was prepared to protect us from any and all
bad guys on the walk to the bus stop.

I LOVE this picture.  Not that Easton is licking his hand or something,
but that Jackson and Creighton are holding hands.
HOW CUTE IS THAT?

Have I mentioned I love my boys?

Such Creighton's personality.

 And he is off..........

I think I am sadder now that I am writing this post than I was then. 
I think summer makes you feel that way.

Evers Family Party



The Evers were able to get together when Uncle Marty came to visit from Virginia.  Mitch's parents and Melanie's family were missing but I was still happy to get a good family picture with everyone else.

 



The brothers racing (even left a space for Melanie)
Youngest to oldest in the picture

The family

The little kids even got to race.

Lucky kids

I don't know if my kids really realize how blessed they are to have such wonderful grandparents.  Seriously, until a few months ago they had 10 grandparents.  Some of them live far away and they don't get to see very often, but it's been so nice having my parents so close.  They have had them over for sleep overs, zoo days, underwear swimming (don't ask), and much much more. 

One yearly activity is our celebration of Que's birthday.  This year, Que would have been 21.

We always start it out with a trip to the cemetery.

I love this picture of my mom.
She is such a beautiful lady.

 Then we head back for the cake.  The boys love that they all get to blow out the candles for Que.

Another reason the kids are lucky: My dad took the time to take the boys to the zoo a few times this summer. I am so thankful for such a cool "papa" for my kids. 

I hope the kids cherish this time with their grandparents.  I have so many memories with mine as a kid. 
Thanks mom and dad for all you do for my kids.
I am lucky too.

Righteous Ranger

I think the classic story for this summer is the story involving this picture:

Righteous Ranger is probably the most loved person in our ward.  He comes into the Primary twice a month, looks through his binoculars to find children choosing the right, and then spotlights them.  Righteous Ranger usually contacts the parents the week before to find out what special ways their child chooses the right.  Righteous Ranger contacted us.  Easton, please know I love you, but please also know that this was a hard age for you.  Age 3 is not the most righteous time in one's life I've decided.  So, when he contacted me about how Easton chooses the right, it took some time to come up with some generic answers. 

Righteous Ranger had me tell me him the answers right before he went in and he responded by saying, don't be surprised if I change it up a little.  Well....he did.

He looked in his binoculars and discovered that EASTON EVERS had been choosing the right.  Easton was beyond over joyed to come up.  He got his racoon hat on and Righteous Ranger started to name the ways Easton chooses the right.  He names a thing or two, but then names a way that I did NOT name.  He said, "Easton chooses the right by being nice to his brothers."  Creighton yells out, "That's not true, he is a bully to me."  Easton then points right at him and says loudly and definitively, "That's because I hate you."

Silence.

Righteous Ranger was pretty much like, mmm, do I keep going about this kid being righteous?  Do I still give him his award?  And after the shock and awe left his face, he continued on to act like it never happened.

That's my boy.
Proud parent.
Mitch and I snuck out of the room.

Righteous Ranger came up to us weeks later to replay the story to us as if we weren't there.  He also told us, "I have told that story to a million people.  Best ever."

So glad we can provide you with entertainment.
We are currently working on kindness in our home. 
Oh...and that hate is a bad word.  Dislike is what we are trying to move to. 
It's not going all that well.

Love you Easton.

Fun times in the Summer

Easton wearing my glasses

Lunch with the boys.
I couldn't pick just one picture.

The boys and I had a lunch date on day.  It was quite entertaining.  When I was taking pictures of the boys I was getting frustrated because I couldn't get a good one.  However, after looking at them after, I loved them all.  They show their personality so well. 

We had LOTS of dress up days this summer. 
I swear I hid the costumes, but somehow they were found often.

My mom took the boys to pick out a few school clothes and we ended our mall experience with a trip in the Hurrican simulator.  My boys thought it was the coolest thing ever.  Their cousin, however, did not feel this well.  We were the evil parents laughing at him as he was bawling and begging to get out. 

Cowboy Creigh

This kid has been so naughty but his face just kills me.
LOVE HIM

Grandma made us green Hulk smoothies.
Also, you can see that E had a fall on his chin.  Pretty sure he needed stitches,
but we decided it wasn't in a place people would notice and let it be.
Not sure if it was a good decision or not.

Jackson loves his magformers.
Also, Grandma took them to see ParaNorman.
They love movie days with Grandma.

I decided to try one of my pins on pinterest.
They claimed this occupied their kids for HOURS.
My kids loved it, but it lasted only about 10 minutes before they just poured the
whole concoction on the baking soda.  Not really the intent.

One day they named themselves the "Red Goblin Rangers" and made
themselves badges with Magformers.
My kids are very creative.
Very Creative.
Sometime their creativity makes their mom sad.
This was clean creativity.  Mom was happy.

A few days while I was working I had their next door neighbor take them to "papa's place" to play.
I gave the gift certifictes to buy things.  I learned my lesson.
No cotton candy.
This is what the boys looked like when I went to pick them out.
So gross.

Easton frequently got ready to go to school.
He NEVER wore a shirt this summer, loved Jackson's rain boots, and needed a backpack.

My kids were such good sports this summer.  Unfortunately, the last month of their summer break is not that cool since I have to buckle down and work as much as possible.  They used their creativity to make it fun summer.  I didn't always love their creativity but I did love how well they played together and their ability to entertain themselves.