Sicked and ficked

(When I was younger, my mom used to say this when we were not feeling well. It made me smile just

to type it. Did I spell it right Mom? I've never thought about how in the world you would spell that.)

(Update: My mom reminded me of the story behind the name of this post. When my oldest
brother was really little and would say his prayers, he would say, "Pwease bwess the sicked
and ficked." So apparently that has been a part of our family for more than 40 years and
I can never hear the phrase "sick and afflicted" without smiling at our family's version.)

Our Nate isn't feeling so hot. He isn't terribly sick at this point, just a bit coughy and

stuffy. Just enough to cause his whineyness to be pretty constant. Fun times for sure.

So about an hour before his normal nap, when nothing was right in the world and everything

was wrong (at least to a certain two-year old), I told him it was time for a nap. He looked

at me like I must be kidding and started to object, but then kind of lost the energy to protest.

I gathered him up and took him downstairs to his bed. I laid him down, handed

 him his favorite blanket and a loved-stuffed animal and told him to sleep well. 

He rolled over, hugged his blanket and little puppy and whispered,

"Oh sank you Mommy. Sank you so much."

More darling photos from our Annie girl

Reflections

Several weeks ago, the kids came home from school with a paper telling them about a contest at
their school and an opportunity to participate. Annie and Ben came to me separately and really
wanted to submit something. And good grief, I have to be  honest here. I wanted to talk them out
of it. Grace was still new and I was crazy tired and while they are both super motivated and
would do most of it on their own, I knew it would take quite a bit of help on my part (printing
forms, buying supplies, etc.) and I was exhausted and not feeling like it. But I kept my selfish,
tired thoughts to myself and they both submitted something to the Reflections Contest.

And both of them won an award.

Annie won an honorable mention in the 6th-8th grade category in photography. 

And Ben won a trophy in the Kindergarten-2nd grade category in visual arts.

(His artwork goes on to district, so I don't have a photo of it as they kept it for now.)

Lesson learned for this mom. I'm so proud of both of them, but really, it doesn't matter if

they won an award or not. They tried something hard and something unsure and both of

them felt happy and good about their effort (even before they knew they had received awards).

And it isn't my right to hold them back from that. I love these kids. And I sure love being a mom.

And learning important lessons in the process.

Nate's birthday book

One of the greatest blessings of my life is that our kids are sincerely good to each other.  Are they
perfect or completely patient? Um, no. Do they lose their temper, tease and find joy in singing
a song that is driving their sibling nuts? Oh yeah. But in general, they love each other
and are each others' best friends and for that I am daily thankful.

Several weeks before Nate's birthday, Annie came to me with an idea of what she wanted
to give Nate. We talked about it for a bit, brainstorming how she could do it and
the end result is honestly one of the cutest books I have ever laid eyes on.

Annie took an index card (well, 36 of them to be exact) and spent time creating an amazing
drawing for every letter of the alphabet, as well as the numbers 1-10. She put an incredible
 amount of effort and thought into it and when she was finished, she took the time to back
each card on a larger piece of colored  cardstock. Then she took a small photo book, slipped
each drawing into its own page and put a darling picture of Nate in the square on the front.

When Nate opened it up on the morning of his birthday, he was beyond thrilled.

Love this girl and her remarkable heart.

I call this one Sleepy MJ

Conversation

Who cares if most of these pictures are blurry? I knew the second I started downloading

them that I wanted to have them on our blog to remember this time. I love these two.

They make me exhausted beyond belief and joyful beyond description. 

So Gracie...what do you want to talk about today?

Oh wait, you've got a little something on your cheek. Milk maybe? 

 Nevermind. Keep looking straight ahead and it's invisible. Now where were we?

Gracie, how are we supposed to talk when you keep making me laugh?

Well then. All done talking? Okay. I'll just go back to eating my graham crackers.

Two months

Nathan Grant

TWO words to describe this sweet boy:

• Joyful • Hilarious •

Happy Birthday our darling Nate! You are so very loved.

Grace's blessing day

Today our Grace was given a name and a blessing by her dad. 

It was one of the sweetest days I have ever experienced. Not only was the

blessing beautiful and our girl so very darling, but having family there meant a

lot to us. Living away from family for so many years, we haven't experienced

a day like today for a long time. Grace is so very loved. We are so grateful.

This is the blessing dress that I wore when I was a baby and our Annie wore

on her blessing day. Annie and I loved dressing Grace this morning before we

went to church. I love that each of our children have been blessed in an outfit

that has been around for decades and that is extremely meaningful to us.

My mom

This is my  mom. She and our Grace share a middle name. And it is a privilege to be my mom's daughter and to name my daughter after her.

My mom is good and kind and funny and overly generous and has one of the most amazing minds I have ever known. She loves the gospel with every part of her heart, loves the temple especially, loves her family and loves to be a grandma. Each of our kids know how much she loves them and talk to me often about how much they miss her.

I know exactly how they feel.

So when our Grace was born, and my mom was able to be there to meet her less than two days later, I was incredibly grateful. It actually made me cry. The fact that my mom would take her time to fly 6000 miles, while the temple my parents are serving at was closed for a short time, just to see her family and her newest granddaughter, tells you the kind of grandma she chooses to be.

Those days in September that we spent with my mom are some of the happiest we have had in a long time.

Whenever I think about Grace's name and the incredible person she was named after, I feel so very happy. My mom and I are close and she has been there for me over and over and over again. I am grateful for the amazing blessing that she is to me and I hope she knows that.

And I plan to make sure our Grace knows that.

Our baby girl is one of the greatest things that has ever happened to me. And she is named after one of the greatest women I have ever known.

I'm so thankful for both of them. And love them so very much.

Happy Halloween from...

our cowgirl

Abe Lincoln

Cristiano Ronaldo

Captain Feathersword

and our sleepy ladybug

to YOU!

October phone pics

 

This baby girl is growing up. And out. Oh man, I love chubby babies.

Which would explain why I have had six of them.

 

 

A photo from a morning walk. I think I went twice in the morning,

during the month of October. My numbers are outstanding, I know.

 

 

Autumn is beautiful.

 

 

A photo of the moon during a walk in the evening.

Three times, folks. Did you catch that?

 

I went to the temple for the first time in quite a while, with my

high-risk pregnancy and Grace being born. I love being at the temple.

 

 

This boy feel asleep in the car during a morning errand. Which was very unusual

for sure. And then when I brought him in the house and laid him on the couch,

he continued to sleep for at least another half an hour. That has literally never

 happened in his entire life. Which is why I suspected he didn't feel well. When I 

looked in his mouth later in the day and saw that he was getting his two-year old

molars, I realized the reason. Poor little guy has been struggling the last few days. 

 

Matt had to have some minor toe surgery a few days ago. I've had to have it

myself (dumb genes), but it was something else to watch Matt go through it.

That kid is beyond tough. The shot they have to give is the most painful I have

ever had. The doctor told us grown men have passed out from it. Matt 

gasped a little here and there, but that was it. This kid is amazing!

 

And he wanted to go back to school after, but the doctor said it would be best to stay

home and rest for a day. He didn't want Matt's toe getting stepped on. Matt was

pretty devastated by having to elevate his toe and watch some TV for the day.

Almost seven weeks

Ten seconds in the life of Nate

Dog sitting

And while my sister's dog is so incredibly cute and really well behaved, I know in my heart we were

meant to be dog sitters. Not dog owners. At least for many more years or forever--depending on

which member of the family you talk to. Plus, the temptation to own a dog as cute as this one

always lessened every time I cleaned up after it. Good thing, because I'm currently lacking

in the sleep department. So adding a puppy to the mix would be a brilliant decision for sure.

Sweetness

A family hike

Ancient

These two attended mutual together a couple of nights ago.

I'm old.

Sisters

I've never used that title on our blog before.

It makes me a bit teary just typing it.

Love my girls.

Headed south