I’ve decided to try and put up a couple fun, random pictures each month. Here’s some pics of my silly boys in January. I just realized most are of Kyle. Guess he’s the silliest one this month!
Ky’s eating one of Preston’s special home evening treat: pudding cones!
Ky made the mistake of falling asleep after church, and his brothers covered him in pass-along cards. Guess they’re preparing him to be a missionary!
Preston is our “creator.” He creates from sun up to sun down. And when he’s not creating he’s thinking about something he could create. For example, he has an awesome time machine, a robot that cleans the house, and a million other machines all created in his head. He always reminds me of the talk President Uchtdorf gave at the women’s conference in ‘08 when he talked about creating. Here’s some of the quotes from his talk:
“The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before.”
“Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment.”
“You are spirit daughters (sons) of the most creative Being in the universe.”
That’s has Preston written all over it! :> So, the reason I’m blogging this? Preston was building a big tower of blocks the other day and he asked if I would please take a picture of it and put it on the blog. So, here it is:
I have to add another cute thing Pres said the other day. I asked him what he did at preschool and he said, “Hold on a minute, Mom. I know it’s in my brain, but there is so much stuff in there that sometimes it gets lost and all mixed together. So I have to search through my brain to find it.” I had to giggle at that. Don’t we all feel that way every now and then (or everyday for some of us)? I think I get more and more forgetful the more stuff that has to share my brain. I know it’s in there, I just can’t find it. To true, Pres… to true.
Zach just started reading Harry Potter, and we are now in the midst of Harry Potter Mania at our house! He’s about halfway through the first book, and he and Preston have been playing Harry Potter, talking Harry Potter, and dreaming Harry Potter! We think it’s crazy that Mike was reading that book as we sat in the hospital waiting for Zach to be born, and now Zach’s reading it! Crazy! Time sure does fly! I’m having such a hard time lately with my kids growing up! I want to keep them little forever – but at the same time I love each new stage they reach. So I told Mike I was going to find a way to keep each kids at each stage. So, by the time Zach turned 18 we’d have 18 little Zach’s. Mike of course thinks I’m crazy, but I think it would be great! How am I ever going to deal with the fact that kids grow whether you like it or not? Mike keeps telling me, “Mary, we grew up and that was a good thing.” I know he’s right, but my “mommy heart” thinks otherwise. Anyway, enough of that… back to Harry Potter… Here are a couple pictures of our “Harry’s”. The boys came upstairs the other day all decked out!
Back in November Zach brought home a note from school about KUED’s “super reader party.” I had never heard of it (though apparently it’s the 17th annual party), but it sounded fun so we decided to jump on board! My boys logged their reading minutes, submitted them, and PRESTO… here we are at the Super Reader Party! They held it at the Utah State Fair Grounds on January 21st, and it was huge! We were there 3 1/2 hours and busy the whole time (and super tired when we left)! There were so many fun things to do, fun entertainment, and lot of free stuff for the kids. They loved it!!
For the January birthdays on my side of the family (Mike, Melissa, and Liz) we took a “trip” to Jamaica! Ok, well if you ignore the foot of snow we have outside, our wonderful Utah pale skin and accents, the total absence of Rasta’s and Jamaicans, and the fact that we were in my living room, you could almost believe we took a trip to Jamaica! :>
Zach and Preston made airplane tickets for everyone, served us a mid-flight snack, and we even had on-flight entertainment (we had Mike’s mission video and a thrilling travel video)!
Grandpa was our highly esteemed pilot (don’t you love the M&M shirt with the stripes on the shoulder?), and he got us safely there and back in record time!
And we ate super yummy (if I do say so myself) Rice & Peas and Jerk Chicken.
Kyle decided to dish up the cake… not the cleanest idea, but cute!
So happy late birthday, Liz and Melissa, and happy early birthday Mike! It’s all irie mon!
We went to Zach’s reflections awards ceremony for the council level on Tuesday, and Zach won the award of excellence again! Yay! So his video is now going onto the next level! Congrats Zach! (Doesn’t he look thrilled? I could not get him to smile at me! Silly kid!)
When we thought of what we were going to get our kids for Christmas, our minds automatically went to the big “WOW” toys that the boys want – you know, the super cool boy toys that are out there these days. And they got plenty of fun stuff that they love for Christmas. But, you want to know what Zach loves more than any other present he got for Christmas?
Yes, crayons. He got a box of 120 crayons, and he is so proud of those crayons! I knew he’d like them, but I had no idea that they would outshine the other gifts! I think he’s memorized most of the crayon names, and loves telling everyone what colors he has. When Preston was coloring a picture with a boat the other day I heard Zach say, “Preston! You should use my crayon “Titanic Blue” for the water! I think titanic is like the name of an ocean or something, so it would be perfect!” And then other day he came home from school so upset because he tried to show a friend his crayons and the friend said he’d look tomorrow. Zach was crushed! He takes them back and forth to and from school everyday – just in case he needs to use them at home. It’s so cute! Who knew that such a simple gift would be such a hit? It shows that kids now days still like those simple things – not just the “super-duper WOW” toys!
Here are our two new bathroom quotes… just thought I’d share!
“It is not enough to want to make the effort and
to say we’ll make the effort. It’s in the doing,
not just the thinking, that we accomplish our goals.
If we constantly put our goals off we will never see
them fulfilled.”
-Pres. Monson
“Perhaps the most valuable result of all
education is the ability to make yourself
do the thing you have to do, when it ought
to be done, whether you like it or not.”
