Oveson Family

Today was Preston’s Wall-E birthday party!!  We had a house full of fun little kids over to enjoy the fun!

We played pin the plant on Eve

We played “Pass the Eve” and had them dig through “trash” to find the treasures

We played a dust buster relay (so we could be like the cleaner robots)

We played “Wall-E, Wall-E, Eve”

Then we did presents & cake!

We had so much fun!  Preston started being able to walk yesterday, so he was so excited to be able to walk for his party!   He was getting so tired of hurting and being carried everywhere.  He’s said several times lately, in a very frustrated, dejected voice ”I never should have listened to Zach!”  (Because Zach is the one that told him to jump from the stairs).  He’s also asked if he would be able to walk by the time he turned 5.  So yesterday when he tried to walk and was actually successful he was so excited!  Perfect timing!

So, what a fun party day!  After Preston’s party we went to see “Bolt” with our extended family and had a good time with them.  It was great, but I have to say, I’m exhausted!!!  So my grateful post for the day is that I am grateful that we’ve had so much fun with our “birthday mania” and I am equally glad to have a whole year until I have to do it again!!

Today I am grateful for Friday Date Night, or “Holy Date Night” as our Stake President calls it.  It’s so nice to take one night a week and go out together with no kids, no housework, no meetings, no homework, no phone calls!  It helps us take a moment to look at each other and think, “Oh yeah!  That’s why I love you!”  It’s also nice to be able to carry on a conversation from start to finish without a million interuptions, and to take a break from being Mom and Dad for a moment and just be Mike and Mary!  PRICELESS!  I look forward to it every week!!

I am very super grateful that Kyle slept until 4:00 in the morning last night!  That is a miracle around our house, and I’ll gratefully take it when it comes!  I woke up much more rested!  Thank You Kyle!!

Today I am grateful that all of my laundry is done (at least for the next 4 hours – until everyone sheds the clothes they are wearing right now and it all starts over again)!   I have to say that I HATE doing laundry!  It’s not the actualy washing that I dislike – it’s the folding and putting away that I just absolutely hate doing.  I know I just gave up my chances at winning the “Homemaker of the Year” award by admitting it, but it’s true!  It’s the worst chore in the house in my opinion.  And each day when I’m faced with it, I have a hard time not putting off or grumbling through the process. So, having complained, it’s time to try and change my attitude by making it a grateful post.  So, here I go, reiterating what I am grateful for:  I’m grateful that all the laundry is done for the day!!  Hooray!

Today is Preston’s fourth birthday!!    What a fun day it’s been so far!  He had preschool this morning, and it was at our house, so he got to share a birthday treat with all his friends.  Then, we went on a field trip to the Story Telling Festival!  It was a lot of fun!  Then we got Zach and Dad and went to lunch.  So, it’s been a great day so far!  He’s very excited to be 4, and keeps telling people that he is really 4 now!  The past few weeks he’s been telling everyone that he would be able to walk by the time it was his birthday, but last night he realized that wasn’t going to happen.  So he said, “I guess I’m not going to be able to walk for my birthday.”  Poor kid!  So we’re trying to come up with a whole bunch of “sitting games” for his party on Saturday.

This is of course is my grateful post for the day as well, so I have to say I am SO GRATEFUL for Preston!  He is such a little joy to have in our family!  I cannot even being to imagine what life would be like without having his special little spirit in our home.  He has the sweetest most loving little personality, and is often the peacemaker of our family.  (Though he can definitely hold his own when he needs to)  We also like to call him our “Family Cheerleader.”  He’s always the first person to tell someone that they have done a good job, or to give someone a compliment, or to tell someone that he loves them.  And he is so easy going, and just kind of rolls with whatever’s going on.  And he’s always been that way – always a really easy child!  He’s one of those people that you always want to have around and that you feel like you want to be a better person when you are around them.  What a blessing! 

He’s so sweet to his brothers!  He’s practically joined at the hip to Zach.  Zach only has half day Kindergarten, but Preston still spends all morning asking, “When is Zach going to be home?”  because he can’t wait to play with him!  He also loves to play with Kyle, and is really good with him.  Like Zach, he likes Lego and Star Wars, but he’s also really into Indiana Jones (even though he’s never seen the movies) and Wall-E.  And unlike Zach, he’s not a big “outdoors” kind of kid – he opts to stay inside most of the time.  He also loves to draw and he is very creative!  He comes up with creative stories and creative play all day long!

He is so smart as well!  He’s listened to Zach learn to read so much that the other day he picked up a book that Zach brought home from Kindergarten and started to sound out and read the words!  I’ve never really worked on reading with him since he’s still so young, but because he had observed Zach do it he was able to basically teach himself how and read it on his own!  I was impressed!  (BTW, everytime I tell him I’m impressed with him he says it’s because it’s his name is PRES – so I’m imPRESsed.)

And since it’s his birthday, I have to indulge in a “Mommy Moment” for a minute and look back on the day he was born.  Preston was born by a scheduled c-section early in the morning.  We were told to be there at a different time than the hospital thought we were coming, so we got a phone call and rushed over, rushed through all the prep, and then waited forever because the Dr. had it down for the same time we did. Oh well!  There are a few moments I’ll never forget from his delivery:  listening to 80’s rock music the whole time, having my blood pressure stubbornly refuse to stay stable, trying to get Mike to NOT video tape it :>, but most of all I will NEVER forget the little gasp that he let out as he was born.  It was the sweetest little sound I have ever heard!  I felt so much relief and joy and love in that moment, and Preston has been filling our home with joy ever since!  I just love him so much and am so grateful to be his mom!  He is a one in a million kid, and I’m so blessed that he is mine!  Happy Birthday, Pres!!!

Newborn Preston

Preston’s 1st birthday

Preston’s 2nd birthday

Preston’s 3rd birthday

Preston’s 4th birthday

I just had to write down a couple of things the kids said yesterday before I forget! 

First, Preston: We stopped by the Holmes house for a minute, and as we were leaving Preston said, “Mom, Katherine in really into me.  She even tried to kiss me today when you were exercising.  So now I know she’s really into me.”  :>  What a little ladies man!!

Then, last night at FHE Zach was giving the lesson, and he was telling the story of the Seagulls eating all the crickets.  After he told the story we were ending and he said, “Well, I think it could also mean another thing to us.  You see, the crickets are like Satan and the temptations of Satan.  And the seagulls are like faith in Jesus Christ.  So, as we have faith in Jesus Christ we can get rid of the temptations of Satan.”  Wow!  I was blown away that my little Zach was not only telling the story but coming up with his own spiritual analogies!!  It was awesome!

I’m grateful to have a sister and good friends to talk to.  It’s so nice to have friends that will listen if you have to rant, or share something exciting, or just talk about normal everyday life. (And they like you just the same when you are done!)  I don’t know why we women have the insatiable appetite for talking, but I’m grateful to be surrounded by wonderful women to talk to and share life with!  We say all the time that the reason we girls get together to work out, or have lunch, or have play group or play bunco is to talk to each other -  thank goodness I have all those opportunities!  And, not a day goes by where I don’t talk to my sister on the phone (sometimes even a couple times a day), and I’m grateful to have her close!!  So, thanks to all you women that I LOVE talking to!!

Today I am grateful for my very sweet, very wonderful husband!  And more specifically, I am grateful for a husband that is always very kind and complimentary to me.  I started thinking about it this morning when Mike came home to get us in between meetings and church.  In the couple minutes (literally) he was home, he told me that he loved me, and that I was beautiful, and that I was wonderful, and that he appreciated me several times.  And that is not specific to just this morning – he is so sweet and complimentary to me all the time.  I really don’t think he has ever said anything mean to or about me in the 9 (almost) years we’ve been married.  And for that, and the million other things he does that are wonderful, I am grateful!!  I am one lucky woman!!