Pinterest Projects

 We've been tying out some projects from Pinterest lately. Zeke thinks it's called address and asks me to look up a project on address for us to do. We also did a rainbow project and a jellyfish but I forgot to take pictures of those. These boys love to be busy and it's all I can do to keep up with them sometimes. On the other hand, I took them to the splash pad today and couldn't believe how easy it was. I didn't have to hold a little kid's hand the whole time. They just ran off and played while I sat and enjoyed the sunshine. Weird.

GOOOAAAALLLLL

Zeke had a soccer game last night.

IT WAS AWESOME!

The other team was bad. Really bad. They all looked to be about Porter's age/size. There was one kid about Zeke's height, but not his same size. (Not many kids are Zeke's size) Well, Zeke finally got his chance to break away. There were only 4 kids there so Zeke got to play the whole game. He scored in the first couple minutes and then there was no stopping him after that. I didn't yell once for him to pay attention to the ball. He was there waiting. He would kick away from the other team and then take it down and score. After each goal he would come over to us and count out how many goals he had on his fingers. It was hilarious! He scored 11 goals. Actually he scored 12 if you count the one he scored right after half time when they switched which way they were going.

It was actually really hard for me to let him go. I'm sure the other team thought he was ruthless. They had no idea this was the first game he had scored in. He was using his body to get in there next to the ball. He even sent one of his teammates flying a couple times on accident. I kept wanting to yell for him to let the other team have it for a minute, but that would have been too confusing.

So, we let him score 11 goals... and he loved it!

Slacker!

I know I'm a slacker. I'm going to be a slacker for a few more days too. I'm so excited. I'm going with my mom, Tyleen and Janiece on a little retreat. So during that time I will probably not write anything.

Instead, I will leave you with a quote from Zeke.

"Nobody has seen any wolves in this whole wide village in 25 years."

I know it is completely random and may not make any sense, but he's always talking about seeing things in our whole wide city, and this time our whole wide village. It cracks me up.

Soccer time

Zeke is playing soccer again this year. I wish I could say that he really is getting it this time around and has really improved. I think maybe he got a little better. Maybe? Anyway, this last game he did play a lot harder than last week. (I'm pretty sure he spent more time laying on the ground than running last week) Although he was brought to tears at one point.

Why?

Because the coach told the girls that they shouldn't hold hands while they were playing and they wouldn't stop! Zeke told them over and over again to listen to the coach but they just wouldn't listen. Hence the tears.... haha. He is such a funny boy sometimes.

He is usually very happy when he's playing. He follows the ball's exact pattern around the field probably about 3 seconds after it has been there. He just runs around looking at everything/everyone around him. Talking to people, checking out the spectators and sometimes hugging the other players. Every now and then he'll get involved and get a good kick in there. It's pretty fun to watch.

Random Picture

I just figured out that I can email pictures from my phone to my email. I know, I'm so behind in technology. I didn't have a card in my phone so I thought the pictures were fun to look at, but that's all I could do with them. Anyway, I love this picture and have kept it in my phone for a few months. I'm so glad I decided not to delete it. I sure do love my boys.

Decisions Decisions

So I know I complain sometimes about living where I do. Truth be told, I really do like it here. I have some great opportunities and I need to stop whining! Right now I have more decisions than I care to make, however all great and wonderful things.

Help teach preschool
Take over some students for piano lessons
Help coach the basketball team a bit

See! All great things. I just freak out a little about big commitments. I'm sure I'll figure everything out eventually.

Some time in Idaho

 We went to Idaho for a week to hang out with my parents for a bit.Zeke was in heaven. He spent all his time with the neighbor's animals. I'm pretty sure he spent hours, yes hours, in the chicken coup with the neighbor boys. He rode the horse, with a 6 year old leading him... not sure how I felt about that one for sure.

 Then Popi took us out fishing on his new little boat. Zeke kept saying over and over what a great fisherman he was. He caught 3 fish and was in heaven.

 

 He even let me have a turn with the fishing pole for a few minutes so I could catch one too.

 Then Porter tried and caught one as well. He touched the fish and then it flipped water in his face and scared him to death. He cried for a few minutes after that and didn't want to fish anymore. We'll see if he's been scarred for life.

 I made Zeke a little threading shape for him to do, so he went in and sat with Grandma GG to sew with her. So cute.

FHE game

For Family Home Evening we usually let Zeke chose the game we play, but this night Toby was in charge. We played the old game where you put a penny on top of a cup of flour and then you cut the flour away without making the penny fall. The one who makes the penny fall has to dig the penny out with their teeth. Toby and I thought it was hilarious, but Zeke wasn't so sure about it till the end. Good times!

Just tired

I didn't post yesterday. It was a conscious choice. I was tired. So tired. Not sure why? I've been trying to figure that out lately. This week I even started exercising everyday instead of just twice a week hoping to pump some energy back into me. Monday and Tuesday worked pretty well. Yesterday not so great. It was all I could do to make it through the day. I was ready to go to bed at 9 but stayed up till 10:30 doing some computer stuff with Toby. So then I thought maybe I need to go hang out with someone. I went to my cousin's house. So fun. Yet still exhausted. Usually people give me energy. Didn't work this time. I got plenty of sleep last night and I'm ready for a nap. I guess the next step is to tackle my diet and see if that helps....

(If you have any ideas, please let me know.)

Easter

  So I am very late in posting about Easter, but what can you do. That's life. Porter was really excited to find root beer in his basket. The Easter bunny knows just what these boys like with that one. It was seriously their favorite thing. 

 Zeke woke up telling us that he didn't feel well. I didn't know what to do because we were going to go back to Idaho with my parents and you can't take sick people into the house with Grandma being there. We kept and eye on him all day until it was time to go and concluded that he didn't eat anything healthy the day before, and then skipped dinner which was making him feel sick. Once he ate a few healthy things, and let them get into his system, he was feeling much better.

 

I let me kids eat their holiday candy whenever they want. I figure it's easier just to get it done with and out of their system in one fell swoop. (Plus, they end up taking one bit and throwing it away because they are so excited to move onto the next thing. I think they eat less this way.) Porter wanted to break into his chocolate bunny right after breakfast. 

 

We had a little Easter egg hunt outside before packing up and heading off to Nana and Popi's house. Toby went to Janiece and Connor's house for a fancy Easter dinner with them.

Easter Eggs

We decided to dye Easter eggs the week before Easter because Easter weekend was going to be crazy busy with Trent's wedding and all. I'm still waiting to see pictures from the wedding so I can post some....

Zeke loves dying Easter eggs and especially loved having the extra people around to do it with.

 In case you didn't know, Porter is obsessed with stickers. The rules at our house are that stickers can only go on people. (It's my attempt at keeping them off the furniture and floor. Working well so far.) Janiece and Connor were the targets of Porter's stickers this night.

 Kendra and some friends came up for a break before the crazy week before finals began.

 Every year we have a contest to see whose paper towel gets the most colorful. Janiece won this one hands down. The picture really doesn't do it justice.

In case you can't read it, the egg says: Trent + Jessica

Porter does this face whenever you tell him to do his scrunchy face. Finally we got a picture of it!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day. I had a good day today. My kids slept in till 8, and helped make breakfast. In church, the men took over primary so that we could all go to Relief Society. Toby made dinner and I got to talk to Jenica for a few minutes. On top of that I bought myself a new watch for my Mother's day present.

I wanted to say that I have the most amazing mom in the whole world. She is so caring and thoughtful of the people around her. She worries more about everyone else, always, than she ever does for herself. She is my example of being the best homemaker. She is one of my very best friends in the whole world.

My mother in law is also an amazing woman. I love her love of learning, how she always puts her family first, and how she always tries to say nice things about people. She is an excellent example of service and is always up to trying out new things.

Happy Mother's Day!

My race

Wow, I missed another day. It just goes to show how scatter brained I really am right now. I've been thinking about something lately.

An analogy.

It all started when my friend, who I hadn't seen in a while, stopped by for a visit. She was telling me about how she was deciding to have another kid, but her husband was just starting medical school and she already has 4 kids and how she was hoping to run another marathon this summer. It sounded overwhelming. Oh, and did I mention she lives in a little basement and is planning on it for the duration of medical school?

To her it was a means to an end. A temporary situation with the finish line firmly planted. It got me thinking about why I felt so overwhelmed with my situation. I don't have 4 kids, I'm not sending my husband back to school and my home, though small, isn't the end of the world.

It's the mentality.

My friend is preparing for a marathon (figuratively). She knows that it's going to be a long and hard race. It will stretch her to the limits and may even hurt a bit. It's way longer than a 5K but mentally she's preparing herself for it. She's going to make it. She's going to set her mind on the finish line and keep running till she gets there. Though the finish line is way out of sight, she knows where it is and what it takes to get there.

I set out on my race thinking it was a sprint. Imagine planning on a 5K, or even a 10K and then as the race is moving along, you pass the 6 mile mark and the end is still not in sight. Someone comes along and tells you there is a finish line out there, but they don't really know where it is and just keep running. Maybe my race is a half marathon and my friend's is a marathon. Some would say her race is harder. I'm not convinced. It's a mental game, and I'm trying to learn to play it. I'm trying to learn to just keep running and not think about the end. It's easier when you know how far you have to go. I guess this is my test. My test of mental toughness. I am enjoying the race and I have some great cheerleaders along the way, but sometimes I'm just tired and want to cross the finish line..... wherever it is.  

Porter and his Tricycle

 Porter's latest obsession is his bike. He finally figured out how to ride it by himself and now he's obsessed. Luckily, I don't have a lot going on right now so we go on lots of bike rides. It's been so nice getting out and enjoying the nice weather. When we don't have a lot of time I move the van to the very end of the driveway so they have a place to ride. I have to keep a close eye on him because he really pushes the limits. He thinks it's funny to ride up to the street while I'm yelling for him to stop. Oh joy. Someday I'll move off of this busy road...... but until then, we'll enjoy riding down the side road to our favorite secret park.

 Oh, and here's a picture of Zeke on his scooter. He goes back and forth between loving his bike more and loving his scooter more.

I can't believe I forgot to post yesterday! It hasn't even been that long and I'm already forgetting. What a slacker!!

Latest projects

I told Kristel I would post what she got me for my birthday present. I know it's a totally random thing to get, but I needed a project. It was fun to break away from some of my typical projects. Toby helped me, of course, because he is so good at everything artistic. It's probably a little big for my house, but who cares. That and the colors don't match anything I have. The picture doesn't really do it justice, but I won't bore you with taking pictures from different angles.

 

 I was also working on a page for a quiet book. Someone put together a group of people to each do a page and then we got together and exchanged our pages. Now I just need to bind them all together. My page was the piggy bank. I thought it turned out pretty cute. I might still do a few more pages but we'll see what I can come up with. 

Joy School

This year Zeke did Joy school instead of the traditional preschool. It was definitely an interesting experience. To be honest, I was terrified of having 7 kids in my home for 2 and a half hours and being expected to teach something. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The kids, thank goodness, were good kids and pretty manageable. The curriculum was okay but not my favorite. Zeke needs people (all the time) so it was a good thing for him, but sometimes it felt a little like a glorified playgroup. Either way, it worked out great and Zeke loved going. He would ask which house he was going to and then ask... is that the house with the dog/chickens/cat? I think he spent most of his time chasing the animals around. The best part, Zeke made some great friends that we have enjoyed having come play at our house.

Toby's Birthday

 I know Toby's birthday was forever ago, but I've got to start somewhere. Unfortunately for him, I was just starting to feel a little better health wise, but not really ready to leave the house yet. We decided to have a small party at home. Trent and Jess stopped by for a little bit and Tyson came up too. 

 Toby is such an amazing person. I am so lucky to have him in my life. I love how he compliments me in every way. He is the rock in this relationship and keeps me grounded. He is so creative, artistic, hard working, and the best dad in the whole world.

Porter learned to sing the Happy Birthday song and sang it all week long. It was pretty cute. Then Toby let Zeke and Porter help him blow out his candles. 

Precious Porter

Porter and Zeke couldn't be more opposite. They are different in every possible way. Even just looking at them I can't imagine two brothers being built more opposite. I love the differences in them. After watching Zeke discover every new thing in life I thought it might not be as much fun to watch it a second time. Porter is just as fun to watch because he does everything so much differently than Zeke. Both my boys struggle with being the best sleepers (I'm starting to wonder if it's my fault). Luckily, Porter will fall asleep in the car and let me move him into the house for a nap. Kids are so precious when they're sleeping.

A couple other things I love about Porter....

The way he says, "thanks, Mom" whenever I do anything for him.

How he likes to cuddle into my arm and press his head against mine looking into my face. (He's done that ever since he was tiny)

The way he runs. It looks a little lopsided because he brings one leg really high up almost like he's doing high knees.  

How he is so independent. I have to keep a close eye on him because he'll wander off to do something that looks interesting to him. Zeke never does anything by himself so this is a huge difference between my boys!

Porter certainly has a redhead spirit. He is a tease and strong willed and independent. I love him and am so grateful to have my little boy.

Bridal Shower

I'm sure everyone has heard by now, but Trent got married! I will be sure to post some pictures from that when I actually see pictures. In the meantime I figured it was time to post at least a couple pictures. I threw Jess a bridal shower and we played a little game with these tiaras and mustaches. Zeke and Porter had to test them out for me beforehand. Unfortunately, I left my camera home and didn't get a single picture at the bridal shower. We had a lot of fun and I stayed up way later than I should have!

I won't tell the whole story about Trent and Jess got engaged. Let's just say you should probably hear Jess tell it rather than me. Trent and I go about doing things in very different ways, but in the end the outcome is what is important and Jess loved it. Oh, just a quick note so i don't forget... Trent likes to procrastinate and called me wanting me to help put this together in 10 minutes. I finally talked him into doing it the next day so he would have a little bit more time to prepare. Long story short, I still had Trent calling last second to pull everything together. Once a procrastinator, always a procrastinator. Good thing he is so good at pulling it off. Either way, I'm glad Trent finally asked her so that now I can have Jess as my sister!