his first real playdate

I was so thrilled yesterday to see Perry doing something he has never done before. It began on Sunday during our weekly family calendaring meeting when he asked to have a friend from church come over to play this week. Say what?! He has never ever asked for a friend to play with him. I am more used to things like him refusing to allow me to invite friends to his birthday party. Or me arranging for a neighbor to come over (with one of his therapists there to help work with him) and it turning into the biggest aggressive meltdown of all time. Or him putting a chair to block the way so no one will "get" his toys when they come over.

So his first self-initiated playdate and I was beyond thrilled to make it happen. I was ecstatic. And I knew the sweetest little friend from his church class that we could invite over.

We arranged for him to come over for just about an hour. Which ended up being the perfect amount of time for him to keep it a success.

They played Lego Star Wars on the xbox (Perry's current favorite thing to do right now).


After a small snack, they went upstairs and pulled out the rescue bots, the Legos, and the nerf guns. I checked on them (maybe a little too often) and they were doing great and I was jumping around the house as excited as could be for my little guy. A friend!


When it was time for his friend to go home, Perry politely said goodbye and told him thanks for coming over and then ran as fast as he could to go back and zone out with his game.

But he did say he would love for his friend to come over again sometime. yay!

this week

 

If you want to feel loved, spend a week subbing in classes of 1 and 2 year olds or 3 and 4 year olds. "Your face is beautiful." "I like you." "You are my favorite teacher." And those hugs and smiles!

And if you want to feel really, really tired at the end of the day, spend a week subbing in classes of 1 and 2 year olds and 3 and 4 year olds. :)

It was a long week. But filled with happy moments and lots of time to reflect on how hard it is for working full time moms and how grateful I am that I do get to stay at home with my kids. 

 

We watched another Indiana Jones movie as a family last night. We popped popcorn and cuddled all together on the couch. I just want to snuggle my children all weekend. And Perry has been in a very huggy and kissy mood lately. He told me last night, "I like hugging you! I like you, mom." I like you, too, bud.

Layla and I walked to church last week. Well, since it's over a mile she got to ride her scooter. Then we change shoes when we get to church.

 

 

 

I won't go into details here, but this has also been a stressful week because of some things going on at school with Kacin's teacher. We have been emailing with the school and we think we found a solution for now. But my mind has been swirling with the stress of it all, especially on a week when I've been working 40 hours. And all I want to do when I get home is sleep. I am so ready for the sabbath day tomorrow. I am looking forward to it. For the rest and the renewal of my body and my mind and my spirit. I'm hoping to sit down and start reading the new Gordon B Hinckley manual we are studying in relief society. 

And then I'm looking forward to my regular schedule as a stay at home mom next week.:)

her first love, and other things they've said

"Mama, did you know Jackson and I are in love?"

Layla tells me they will get married. She goes around telling everyone this. But she also told me she wonders how they will find each other when they get older and it's time to get married.

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As part of a birthday present, Eric is gone today to a grilling/BBQ workshop. Layla woke up this morning and kept asking if dad was with all the girls. Then she insisted he was with the girls today. I finally figured out when he told her grill class she heard girl. I hope she's the one with the misunderstanding and not me. ;)

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Perry had a super rough day at school last week. One of the triggers was when he was asked to clean up after a craft. So the next day, I was talking to him after school about how his day went. I asked if he helped clean up after himself. He calmly told me no because "The teacher can handle it."

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I was upstairs when I heard the front door open. I came downstairs to find that Layla had opened the front door because she thought she heard someone knock. I sat her down to explain the rules again of opening the door. She did a little back talking with a "Blah blah blah" at me. Before I could say anything, Perry stepped in. He pointed his figure at Layla and exclaimed "Layla!" Then he gestured towards me as he commanded her, "You say sorry to her!"

Storm Soccer

Kyler had his first school soccer game since making the team. He is in heaven playing on a competitive, talented team with an awesome coach. He has early morning practices and a busy schedule, but he is as happy as can be.

 

He was nervous to start as keeper in the first game, but he had no reason to be. He is awesome as goalie!

 

 

It's hard to see in these blurry phone pictures, especially with that white ball, but he blocked ball after ball.

 

 

The second half he played as a mid- defender. He has so much drive and energy out on the field.

 

 

Since Eric was out of town, Layla and I were on the only ones who were able to cheer him on this time. So while Layla ate snacks, turned in circles, and took pictures of the ground...

 

 

Kyler and his team took away their first win of the season! Way to go Santan Storm!

 

Kacin wanted to be at the game, but he was hard at work building the Roman colosseum. :)

  

Happy birthday to E

Eric's birthday celebration was a bit of a washout, too. Perry got hit with the bug we all had. It was just delayed from the rest of us. So Eric's birthday plans were canceled because of it.

But he still got the birthday poster, that Layla worked so hard on, hung up on the wall. She loves her daddy and worked hard on his birthday picture.

 

We gave him his gifts and lots of hugs. He means the world to us.

 

 

I kept apologizing to him that his 35th birthday was so lame. Not that he said anything about the lameness, his heart is just too good. I eventually made up for it, almost two weeks later, when I was finally able to take him to Rodizios to eat.

How lucky I am to have this 35 year old as my best friend. He is amazing! And in my eyes he is the perfect father and husband and friend.    

Kacin is 12

 

We celebrated a big milestone for our second oldest last month. This wonderful boy of ours turned the big 12!!

I think I've been in denial about him growing another year older (maybe that's part of the reason it has taken me so long to record this). In my mind, he will always be my adorable chubby cheeked three year old boy with the contagious laughter and the bundles of energy. I just blinked. And now he is this handsome and bright young man. He is still full of laughter and energy, but there's so much more to him. 

He was ready and prepared to receive the priesthood. We were surrounded by family that day and I know that meant a lot to him. 

I don't think I will ever forget the moment, January 8, 2017, when I looked up during sacrament meeting and saw my two oldest boys both passing the sacrament on either side of our pew. My mother heart swelled with gratitude and pride and love. 

Kacin's actual 12th birthday was a complete washout. Our plans to celebrate that day were completely ruined by a sickness that ran through our family (including extended family) right after Christmas celebrations. That was the day Eric and I were both completely sick in bed and couldn't get up or move. We had to postpone the birthday fun until the next day when everyone was somewhat recovered. 

But I wasn't recovered enough to make a cake, so we picked up a store bought cake and sang happy birthday and showered him with gifts, including his very own super cool flip phone.

 

He also got to pick a family activity to do so we went to a bounce place for a couple of hours of fun.

 

 

 

Twelve words to sum up Kacin as a 12 year old: loving, baseball, passionate, sports, fun-loving, caring, outside, friends, clever, ice cream, good brother, and righteous. I could keep going, but since he is only 12 he only gets 12 things. ;)

Happy birthday, Kacin! We love you and we are beyond blessed to have you in our family!

these days

I have so many thoughts swirling in my head, but, lately, no time to organize them. Among other things, I started subbing at Layla's school. And so I have been there a few afternoons each week. But it's been working out nicely. I don't have to sub every day. And when I do, Layla can always come with me and since E works from home he is able to get kids off the bus if I'm not back in time.

I've also started a second round of organizing the house. When we moved in we quickly found spots and put stuff away. But now that we've been in the house for awhile, it is time to better organize things like the pantry, and basically every other closet in the house.

Right after the new year we were able to meet up with our good friends who were in town. They were our second family when we first moved to washington. I don't know how I would've survived the first years in WA without our swapping of kids and meeting up at parks and museums and gatherings for holidays. We love their family! And look at how cute and little our kids were back then (plus little Kiera).

We have each added kids to our family and grown up quite a bit since we last saw each other so it was wonderful to catch up with them. I hope it's not too long before we see them again.

Perry is handling his work and demands a little better now. As in, still whining like crazy the whole time while doing it, but will try in short bursts when properly motivated without outright refusing or becoming aggressive and destructive. This is good! I am especially proud of the little guy for taking out his homework and doing some tracing each day after school (pretty much) independently. Wahoo! We are also trying to sneak in more time and focus at home on learning his letters. Oh, my greatest goal for him would be to learn to read some day! I love this boy and I'm proud of all his growth and hard work.

During the break, I was lucky enough to get to take these guys to the mall (the first teenage initiated trip to the mall). Of course, we had to make a stop at Sodalicious.

Layla was also very excited for her first cousin sleepover. Macie was coming to spend the night so a few days earlier Layla worked on her plan of what they would do together during the sleep over. Where does she get this list making from?? ;) ;) I'm glad she's so much like me in so many ways.

A pillow fight at the sleep over was a must.

Layla has been into book making lately. I get to staple pages together all the time.

We got to be there to celebrate Grayson's 1st birthday. And this is the only picture I got from it--Perry helping him open his gift from us. On a related note, if you ever want to practice your skills of persuasion and patience then take Perry shopping for a present for someone else. :) Let's just say, my boy knows what he wants to get, and it's usually not within budget.

We have had many evenings of wrestling around here the last few weeks. A princess in a superman cape and optimus prime make make a great team against a strong daddy.  

Before they went back to school, I took these great boys hiking.

It's tradition now to balance on this rock.

Perry took a lesson from Layla and tried his hand at the selfie during FHE the night we set our goals for our new theme.

He even captured a few shots of some others.

Kyler got his "soccer haircut" at sports clips and then Kacin got his haircut from dad at home.

Kacin LOVES that I assign him homework each day to challenge him.

 Layla started soccer! She has been so excited to play on a team like her big brothers.

Layla also passed a level at swim school!

She loved that she got to ring the bell and the whole pool cheered for her.

My amazing 97 year old Grandpa was moved into a hospice facility. My little family went to visit him. While we were there we got to see my Grandpa surrounded by three of his four sons. And one daughter-in-law. Beautiful moment.

Kacin is on the student council at school and they went on a field trip to Feed My Starving Children. Our little group rocked it and packed 24 boxes out of the 102 in that hour.

Kyler woke up early all week long and worked hard at school soccer tryouts. It paid off because he made the team!!! We are so excited for him. We celebrated with a cake. Layla and I had so much cake decorating skill you probably can't even tell which picture is the cake and which is the actual soccer ball.

                       

Brotherly love at the celebration.