Visitors! (and lots of 'em)

 Monday morning I got a conference call from my sister Charlene and my brother Jared. The conversation went something like this:

Them: "So....whatcha got going on this week?"

Me: "Not much. Just swimming and hanging out with the kids. We're boring. Why?"

Them: "Oh, we were just talking at Mom's last night and thought it would be fun to come and visit you."

Me: "Yes! Do! When are you coming?"

Them: "Oh, probably in a few hours..."

Pause.

Me: "Ok!!! Come!"

 And so they came. They caravanned. And this is who came:

My brother Jared and Heather and their 4 boys.
My sister Charlene and her 2 kids
My sister Calli and her son
My sister Kim

Twelve visitors at once. It was a party every day. In fact, several times I went outside to hear little kids chanting on the trampoline as they bounced, "Party every day! Party every day!"

 One day they went to Six Flags. I opted to stay home and I volunteered to babysit Lance. This is how he got babysat:

He's a cutie pie.

We had lots of fun with our visitors. We did some night swimming, we stayed up late talking, we made up a synchronized swimming routine (we're awesome), I taught some swimming lessons.

It was a party every day.

iphone photo dump: Summer Wrap-Up

We got to see my niece perform some gymnastics. She is so good and is constantly practicing her moves. I love it when I catch her doing "gymnastics hands" subconsiously while she is playing with the boys or just hanging out. She's awesome.

This summer I have totally gotten lazy when it comes to dressing my kids. Most the time we're not properly dressed...due to the fact that we swim every day, sometimes a couple times a day.

Or some of us might be wearing a life jacket in the house while we play with play dough.

Scarlett wearing some of the leggings I made her, with a matching bow.

Edmond always has a toy fixation. He's gone through several toys like a fire truck and a diesel truck...for a while it was this yellow lamborghini.

I love watching my boys play together. It's so nice that they keep each other entertained.

I give this baby popsicles all the time. She holds that stick and eats it all by herself and makes a huge mess. She LOVES it. Afterwards I just dump her in the pool. She loves that too. She is so easy to please.

I took the boys to a ward party and they immediately found a horse and pony to pet.

For me, this was the best summer I've had in years. I'm not pregnant, I was able to go boating and wake boarding, my boys are getting older and more independent, we had a pool and used it every day, Scarlett is super cute and a really fun to have around. It was a great summer. I'm sad it's over.

Scarlett at 9.5 Months and a Photo Shoot

 My girl is 9 and 1/2 months old and Aunty Andi sent her this darling outfit in the mail. Oh my.

 So I immediately dressed her in it and placed her on a chair so I could take a picture and share it with the world. But Scarlett wasn't about to sit still and let me get the perfect shot. So what ensued was a series of pictures with Sister trying to crawl away the entire time.

Scarlett said "Mamma" today. Twice. And meant it.
She tips her head to the side over and over and stares me down when she wants to eat.
She waves "Hi" and "Bye" to people.
She crawled halfway up the stairs the other day and almost gave me a heart attack.
She loves the pool and likes to shove her face in the water and splash with her hands at the same time.
She still doesn't have any teeth.
If Charlie screams at her she'll scream back at him, with her eyes intense and her face red. (Atta girl!)
She's constantly pulling herself up to stand against things.

I am completely smitten with this girl. I can't get enough...and I'm with her all day. And those cheeks! Those cheeks. I can't imagine how I lived before I was able to kiss and cuddle her chubby cheeks every day.

Dearest baby, how I love you.

 Kids look so cute when they are filthy after eating a yummy treat.

Taitum and Charlie had chocolate ice cream cones and couldn't be happier.

Sleeping With Their Treasures

 I walked into my babies' room and saw a familiar sight. Rosy cheeks on white pillows and an insane amount of toys on the bed.

They love to sleep with their treasures.

And for the record, I know the paint on the wall is hideous. Some day I will get around to painting the boys room grey. I couldn't publish this post without the world knowing that I did not paint my boys' room orange and yellow with a faux finish. That is the handiwork of the previous owner.

A flower on her bum

 I sewed a flower on Scarlett's bum. I figured if she was going to arch her back all the time and stick her little diaper bum up in the air, she should have something cute on there.

 Scarlett is soooo much fun right now! She crawls around the house discovering things, and when she finds me she squeals and crawls as fast as she can until she reaches my legs and then tries to pull herself up. I love that girl.

 Edmond was whining about something here, so I told him I would take his picture so he could see how silly he looked, crying like a baby. That just made him even more mad.

 Charlie was an innocent bystander.

Sometimes I wonder if I expect too much out of my kids. But maybe it's good for them when their Mother has high expectations. But maybe they just need me to give them a break. It's a conflict I always have with myself. But the important thing is this: I love each of my kids more than anything. I will give them anything that is good for them that I am capable of giving. My goal is to teach them life skills that will help them to be successful and righteous.

But I'm not perfect...and I'm finding that along the way, I am the one who is being taught. Like today when Edmond threw a fit because I turned off the TV, and I told him to go cry in his room, and later I came back from putting Charlie down for a nap and Edmond presented me with a lovely picture of a yellow race car that he had drawn himself and colored very carefully. "Here Mom," he said, "I drawed you this so you won't be angry anymore. Do you have some patience for me?"

I bent over and scooped him up gently. I cradled his skinny body against mine and nestled my face into his neck. I praised him for his beautiful artwork/peace offering. I apologized for losing my patience, and asked him if we could both try to do better. We promised we would. And then we read a book.

The truth is, my son is better than me. I am constantly learning lessons from him on meekness, humility, forgiveness and Christlike love. The challenge for me is to help him keep those attributes, instead of showing him how not to be that way. But I'm going to do my best. I'll do better tomorrow.

Little Swimmer

Edmond and I have been having lots of fun in the pool. He can swim with his face in and big arms for about five yards, but hasn't figured out how to come up for air and then go back down again. He can float on his back all by himself. He's so proud of these accomplishments and every time a friend comes over to swim he wants to show them. Today I put on a pair of goggles and had him swim to me while I went underwater to watch him come to me. He looked so cute with his goggles on, grinning underwater at me and swimming toward me. Then we held hands and went underwater to touch the bottom together. Then he had me throw him up in the air and then he hit the water and swam to the side by himself. Then he showed me how he jumps in from the side all by himself. It's so awesome to see all his progress! I'm so proud of him.


But he's still not a proficient. Sometimes he'll forget to kick and he'll just start sinking. So, it's pretty much the most dangerous time for all of us because he thinks he can swim but he can't, so we all need to be on our toes. I say prayers all the time that no one will drown in our pool. Ever.

My kids all have white hair these days. Wherever we go people are commenting on my blonde children, and asking if Edmond and Charlie are twins.

Things are so wonderful right now. My children are happy, healthy and strong. My husband loves me and has a job. We are in the process of buying a lovely home. I get to stay home with my children every single day. Sometimes I look at my life and all the wonderful blessings and feel a foreboding...I know this won't last. Trials and tragedy have come to me and they will come again, but when we are happy we should celebrate.