Have you ever noticed how gifted children are at stating the obvious? Mandy seems to be particularly talented at it.
We were riding in the car and she was eating some candy. She opened up a caramel Hershey Kiss. She bit into and told me, “Mom, this chocolate has something in the middle. It tastes just like candy.” Really? What a surprise?
With Pioneer Day coming up, our ward had a little party last Saturday to celebrate it. And everyone knows that you can’t have any kind of outside party in July in Florida without water involved:
Wow it was hot out there, but at least the kids got to cool down a little bit. This water slide was pretty awesome!
While I do love what Pioneer Day stands for, as I’ve said before WHY do we have to celebrate it in July! It is just too hot! I think everyone that lives in Florida should get to celebrate it in October. Let’s start a petition.
Layton has this odd little habit. Anyone who has been around us for any length of time will have noticed it. He loves to hold onto and feel my undershirt while he drinks his juice or milk. It is comfort thing. It is rather annoying, so I finally decided to try to break him of the habit. Last Saturday morning, all the kids piled into bed with us as usual, and Layton was drinking his ritual cup of milk. He was doing pretty good without holding onto my undershirt and then about halfway through his drink he turns my head away from him and closes my eyes. Next think I know, I feel a little hand at my shoulder making a grab for my undershirt. I turn to him and ask, “What are you doing?” He then gets this stern look on his face and orders back, “Go to sleep.” He thought he could feed his habit if I was sleeping. Sneaky bossy little booger. Nathan and I laughed until we cried. It was awesome.
Somehow the topic of having another brother or sister came up (which is not something that we are planning on anytime in the near future) and Dallin told us that he wants to have a sister. He is a little on the Monkish side and likes to have everything very even, and a sister would even out the male vs. female totals in our family. Mandy on the other hand told us, “I want to have a NICE brother.” When questioned about what she meant, we learned that apparently her current two brothers don’t fit into the “nice” category, so she wants a new one :) Love my crazy girl!
in my whole house are scrapbooks! I think my kids are a little egotistical. They adore looking at pictures of themselves. But who can blame them. My kids are so cute, I like to look at pictures of them too.
Really though, absolutely the most viewed, poured over, cherished books in our house are scrapbooks. Dallin and Mandy especially love to pull them down and go over them page by page and look at themselves.
I have to admit that I totally love that. It absolutely makes all the work that I put into those books worth every second!
about my little Layton.
He brought this to me and asked me to help him put it on. There was no coaxing by me or Dallin or Mandy. He picked it out and he wanted it on. Not long after he brought me one of Mandy’s barrettes and had me put it in his hair. Then he gave me a smile and said “I pretty”. I’m little worried about him.
Not overly worried though. Every day we have a little verbal exchange of me asking him “Are you Mommy’s baby?” and he always answers with “I Mommy’s baby.” Yesterday, I began our dialog, but instead of the usual answer, he said, “No, I Spiderman.”
So maybe I really shouldn’t be worried. Maybe he is just a well rounded individual who appreciates ballet, pretty things, and is also a follower of heroic male character.
While at home, I visited my dad’s grave. I really do love the walk down the path to get there.
It is so quiet and beautiful that it sets the mood perfectly for a visit to a grave.
I sat on the little stone bench,
and reflected about all those that my dad is now with. His father.
A brother and two sisters.
A favorite nephew.
And most importantly his son. How sweet that reunion must have been!
Then I cleaned some of the old dead flowers off the grave and was surprised by this guy.
Then I laughed at myself for jumping when I saw it and then laughed again because I know my dad would have laughed at me too. At that moment I learned another one of life’s lessons: It is almost impossible to be melancholy when staring a toad in the face!
Our 3rd of the July celebration was definitely a full one! We spent most of the day out at the lake swimming, surrounded by family and friends.
We were very proud of Mandy and Dallin for getting over some of their fear of deep water. Up until this day, they completely refused to go out in water over their heads even with a swim ring or life jacket. But, this time, they saw their cousins having so much fun out there that they strapped on a life jacket and went out to enjoy the fun too!
They played so hard and had so much fun that after a while, Layton crawled up into my lap and passed out.
While he was out, the other kids went out for a paddle boat ride.
It was an awesome day! I couldn’t believe how nice the weather was. I mean it was July. In Florida. And I didn’t even sweat. Can you believe that? It was nothing short of a miracle! Thank you Copelands for letting us come over that day! We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly!
Just wanted to send out a little love to Mama Doris this morning. We sure enjoyed our visit home and seeing you Mama Doris was one of the highlights!
I’m sure you all know this hymn:
Each life that touches ours for good
Reflects thine own great mercy Lord
Thou sendest blessings from above
Thru words and deeds of those who love
I always think of that hymn when I think of Mama Doris. She has most certainly touched my life for good.
Since the 4th was on a Sunday, we celebrated the 4th on Saturday and will be doing it again today. I can’t wait to dig into this in just a little while.
Hope your 3rd, 4th or 5th is/was a happy one! And a yummy one too!
I really do love summer time. No set schedules. Leisurely days. Doing whatever we like. Spending all our time together. Doing crafts. Making treats. It is the best!
Deanna is scared of frogs. No, no, that is an understatement. Deanna HATES frogs and TERRIFIED of them. So what does Dallin do? He enlists the help of Mandy and decorates her room in frogs.
In case you can’t read that sign, it says “Are you afraid of frogs? Answer here_____________” He started out the reign of terror by placing a little frog on her door handle.
And let me just say it really did scare her. She was totally afraid to go into her room!
He put every toy and stuffed frog he could find in her room.
And when he ran out of those, he strategically placed Frog and Toad books all over her room.
It was pretty awesome. I was very proud of him. I thought the Frog and Toad books were just the perfect touch to the perfect little prank planned out by a 7 year old mastermind.
