Monday, June 24, 2013

Wilson's Photo Session

March 29, 2013

My next-door neighbor gave me the best present ever when I had Wilson.  She gave me a photo shoot. She is the most amazing photographer and I couldn't have been more happy with how they turned out.













The kids thought this shot was so incredibly funny:


Sunday, June 23, 2013

Spring Break - Wahoo....not really

March 25-March 30 2013


The boys had Spring Break the whole week right after I had Wilson.  So, needless to say, it wasn't all that cool.  However, we did try.

My dad took them swimming, I took them to the park, Mitch took them to Brighton to play baseball, they went to a Jazz game, and more.  Not too bad I thought.  

Pictures of the week were few and far between.  Here are a couple from the park I took them to.


About this picture.....Easton came out of the bathroom after apparently having an accident with his shirt off and a long strand of toilet paper sticking out of his pants in the front.  Somehow he got urine on his shirt and refused to keep it on, and he just shoved a whole wad of toilet paper down his underwear to help with the wetness.  Needless to say, we left shortly after this experience.

I am happy to say I survived Spring Break.  It was something I had been stressing about for a while.  Even though Wilson was only days old and they were home with us the entire time, it was really nice to be a little more relaxed and not have to get out of the door for school.  By day 4-5, however, I was thankful to have a few more months of school before summer.  

My little Easter Bunny


We took a picture of all the men/boys in their gray suits.  I love this picture!!





Easter Fun

I love Easter!  It seems like life is always so busy that week though and this week was no exception.  Especially considering I had a one week old.  My family was great in helping plan the activities, however, so my kids definitely didn't miss out on a fun holiday.  

It started with coloring eggs at grandma's house:



 We then had a great egg hunt at Aunt Melanie's house (only missing Marcus, Tyler and Malia):

Easton was very dramatic as he posed for his hunt pictures:



Easter morning the boys woke up to their clues to try and find their baskets:

In the shower

In Wilson's crib

The teeter totter

Love their bed head!!!

That night we headed to Papa's and Nana's house for an easter egg hunt.  Aunt Melyn and Uncle Jordan were in town, so that was extra fun!

Can't start out Easter without some bunny ears...
 Getting ready for the hunt:

He found one!

Jackson took it very seriously. 
Creighton took time to pose for the camera.


Inside the eggs was MONEY!  Look how rich Easton is.
Sadly, I didn't have a picture of the adult annual egg hunt.  It was a rousing good time as usual.

Monday, June 3, 2013

The example

Creighton, today you lost your shoe and you taught me an example.  I will be forever grateful.

As a typical Monday morning, we were running late.  I was feeding Wil and relied on Jackson and Creighton to get ready by themselves, and fast.  It wasn't until after they were supposed to have left that Creighton informed me he couldn't find his shoe anywhere.  The one was just right there, in plain sight, where could the other have gone.

I stop feeding Wilson abruptly and left him to scream while I rushed around looking for the missing shoe.  Creighton did the same, but didn't quite have the sense of urgency I did, so I did what I have been trying so hard not to do.  I yelled.  I was yelling about their room being such a mess.  I yelled about "how in the world could one shoe just disappear."  I yelled about how disgusting their room was.  I just kept yelling.

I came out of the boys room and saw my sweet Creighton drop to his knees by the couch, and before it registered to me what he was doing, I yelled again.  My exact words were, "What are you doing?  Don't you know we are in a hur......." My voice trailed off and I caught myself.  I felt shame.  I was so saddened by my behavior.  He was alarmed, however, and quickly jumped up.  I then begged him to kneel back down, which he did.  He knelt there for a minute saying his humble prayer as I sat staring in disbelief.  All the built up anger and frustration slowly oozing out and in its place, tears.

We never did find his shoe.

He wore a pair he hates and doesn't fit, and I drove him to school.  He had missed the bus.

He may think Heavenly Father didn't answer his prayer this morning.  However, I know differently.

About 2 weeks ago, I committed to not yelling at my kids for a week.  I read an article about yelling and I knew that I needed to be a better mother, and I could do this by not yelling. I sent Mitch a text and told him about my commitment.  He responded back, "Are you going out of town by yourself?" This gives you an idea about how much confidence he had in me accomplishing my goal.

However, I did it.  I didn't yell until just yesterday.  I loved it.  My kids were responding so much better to me.  They were more willing to help me.  We sat on the time out step or lost privileges more, but there wasn't the anger and there wasn't the yelling.  Yesterday, I slipped up, became very stressed, and yelled.  In my head, I thought, "Well, I made it a lot longer than I thought it would" and that was that.  Today, I received the gentle answer through my child stopping to pray, that "No, that's not that.  You need to continue."  And so I will.  At least I will try.

Thank you Creighton.  Thank you for being an example to me.  Prayers are answered buddy.  Even if it doesn't seem like it's the way you expect.  I love you.