It is going to be an awesome year in 2015, I can feel it. My goal is to post once a week, but as I was getting my other goals into habits, it won't start until February, so for now, it's a monthly re-cap again.
Logan is a very bright kid, but sometimes homework time is not always the best time of day. We've only hand a handful of really frustrating times (usually it involves times math problems) and this day, having him pose his grumpy pictures cheered him up quite a bit. This kid is a ham, anytime he needs cheering up, just snap a picture or catch him on video. :) Works like a charm.
This year our family focus (ok, mine anyway) is Prayer. Making prayer meaningful and actually realizing that we are communicating with our Heavenly Father when we pray. So, for a family home evening we took pictures of the boys how they should look when they pray. I printed the pictures and taped them to bed. Now at prayer time instead of nagging and getting after them about proper prayer etiquette, we just say "match your picture" and it's awesome! I know it might not work in a month, but for right now we are getting great results.
We are really trying to focus on teaching the boys to say their personal prayers. We focused on prayer a couple years ago and that really helped up develop the habit of saying prayers at mealtimes and as a family at night and morning, but this year I really want them to focus and learn to prayer in earnest individually.
Sometimes the prayers are pretty repetitive, but right now, just getting into the habit is what we need, then we can move on to sincerity. I think these boys are pretty awesome and I'm sure the Lord knows that too.
We've been sick (or at least one of us) pretty much the entire month of January. We had a little scare with Tragon and croup. It was so bad he was having difficulty breathing and was coughing and throwing up. It was scary. Morgan was able to give him a quick blessing, but it was off to the ER in the middle of the night on a Tuesday ( and just that Saturday before I had strep and got a shot for that...so not feeling so great myself).
He had a breathing treatment and steroid shot and did so great and was so brave. I did have the thought while I was sitting in the ER that this probably wouldn't be the last time we were here for something. With all my boys, I'm surprised we actually haven't been there more often. Not that I want to of course, but boys can be a little crazy sometimes. Tragon especially, it's a good thing he's a tough kid though. He didn't even fuss or fight or anything and was totally calm. He was like that when he broke his wrist too.
This little cutie cute cute makes all the tough days worth it. Usually all it takes to cheer Morgan up is a smile from his baby girl.
I know there are a lot of this outfit, they were all just so cute I couldn't choose which to post and since this is my blog and will be my journal someday, I can put them all in. :)
We did a follow up with the Dr. after Tragon's ER visit. He was bouncing off the walls with energy, the steroid shot really had him wired for a day. However, the day after he was on the couch basically sleeping all day with fevers off and on, I have never seen that kid be so down and out (it was kinda nice really....)
My baby girl can sit up for a regular bath now!!!! Woohoo! Doesn't seem super exciting, but when you can finally get rid of the baby bath, it's a happy day. Someday we'll be rejoicing that we don't have carseats anymore...we might just have to do a bonfire for that one though.
We took a trip to Zion this month. It was awesome. We went with some of my family. It was a little cold, but warmed up as we were hiking. The kids all were awesome. It makes me want to go up there every weekend and make good use of the pass.
I love my sweet family and 5 kids!! Sometimes it doesn't really hit me that I have 5 wonderful, beautiful, awesome kids until I see it in a picture. :)
As we were finishing up eating, Rylea puked all over my pant let. I made Nicole come with me to the bathroom so I could wash out my pants and try to dry them with the hand dryer...didn't work, but once we got hiking again, they dried out and I wasn't too cold. Ah, what fun memories. Don't you just love it when things go wrong so you can remember them better. :)
I'm trying to be less camera shy for the sake of my kids. And, really, it makes me happy too when I see myself with my boys and not always hiding behind the camera.
My boys are trail blazers and I love that they love to go hiking. They were bummed that we didn't stay longer at Zion this trip.
Logan loves building things in the garage. I love that they are getting more creative outside and can literally spend hours doing something.
Logan's permanent teeth were coming in sorta crazy, so we had to go get some teeth pulled. He finally lost (had pulled) 2 teeth! He did awesome. I was a little worried because he can get pretty worked up about stuff like this, so we made sure to say a prayer for him to have courage and he did.
And I couldn't help snapping this picture. Don't worry, that's the gauze for the bleeding, not a cigarette. :)
Finally my toothless boy. I have a feeling this is just how it's going to go down for this kid. Hopefully the others will lose teeth on their own. I'm already saving for the braces. Oiy!
One more quick story: The other day I was going to take the kids to the park to play for a little while. Tragon had just gotten home from a friends house and I told him to stay at our house and play while the boys finished up homework and then we could go. Well....when I went out to go get him, he was gone. He was with a friend that tends to roam the neighborhood pretty freely, so of course I have no idea where he could be now. I decided to make this a teaching opportunity (something I'm also striving to be better at this year) and I gathered the rest of the boys together and told them, "guys, Tragon is gone and we don't know where he is and we need to find him, we are going to say a prayer" We said a prayer and got in the car to look for him. As we started driving down the street we decided to check the empty lots that they like to play in, but no luck. At this point I let Logan be the guide and tell me which way to go. We followed him until we reached two little girl at a lemonade stand on the corner. We were about to turn up the street, but they told us they had been going a different way, so we followed where they told us. Sure enough a couple houses up the street I found Tragon's bike. He had gone to another friends house. We got him and as calmly as I could, I grounded him for a week. At that moment I made sure to tell the boys that Heavenly Father had answered our prayers; we had found Tragon safe and sound. I don't know if they will remember this little incident or not (Tragon will, he hated not being about to go outside without a grown up or riding his bike for a week), but I would hope that someday when something comes up, they will remember that the Lord did answer our prayers that day, however simple it seemed. I know our Heavenly Father loves us and watches out for us and I pray that my kids will come to know that for themselves one day too......I'm sure I've missed more fun stuff this month, but until next time.....
Updating with Morgan's phone pictures too...
This month for the Father - Son Activity, the boys really wanted to shoot a BB gun
So, Morgan got it all set up in the backyard.
The boys really liked it, I think they both did pretty good too.
I love these monthly Father/Son activities that we have been trying to do this year. The boys have been coming up with the activity ideas, which makes it much easier to plan something. :) Half the battle is just coming up with the idea.
They also both earned a "dinner date" and chose to go to McDonalds. I think because I always tell them I don't like McDonalds, they have come to love the place. Oiy.
Our cutie cute cute is sitting up all on her own now.
We were out for a walk and saw an aerial photographer launching their camera helicopter. It was pretty cool.
Daddy and the boys at a friend's baptism, trying to keep them occupied. :)
Our boys love to play in the dirt. Maybe that's why were are so drawn to new construction, there is always plenty of it around.
Rylea girl loves her new stroller and it's been nice to be able to take her outside more. We are loving the warm St. George weather. I just wish it would stay this nice all year round.
The boys like to have wars with the other kids in the neighborhood, so far there have only been a few tears about it. :) Man, our January has ended up being quite eventful. I wonder, is this the new normal?
