the terrorist

remember my baby?  remember how i used to write things like 'he is so sweet' and 'what a peaceful child he is' and 'he's my only good child'.  well, one day (and really it just happened like that: overnight), he woke up and decided that he had opinions that needed to be heard and we started into a new phase of getting to know adam: the terrorist.

now, not to say that he isn't still delicious and sweet but he just likes to share his opinions loud and clear.  when he is sitting in his little chair that attaches to our table, there is a bench below him and so he stands up tall and puts his hands in the air and just shouts!  it's not that he is upset or mad, he just likes to shout at anyone passing by.  i think he is going to be a charismatic sermon giver one day.

he eats constantly and if you aren't shoveling something in, he is shoveling something of his own choosing in.  last night, he leaned over and grabbed a giant fistful of caleb's food and quickly stuffed it in his mouth. and there he sat wide-eyed with spinach hanging out of his mouth.  if he is not eating, he is probably sleeping...which i am not going to complain about.  he is my best napper yet....now to get him to sleep through the night and not lie in our bed kicking me and shouting at me and crawling all over the bed at two in the morning.

oh yes, he is also crawling....at least army crawling...it's like he is perpetually high-centered with that big belly but man alive, he can get around fast.  i really need to invest in a baby gate for the top of the stairs because he will launch himself off that edge in no time.  any recommendations?  i need one that the kids and i can open without having to be rocket scientists.  he also started clapping in the last few days and thinks that he is pretty awesome.

his favorite thing to terrorize is piano lessons.  all the kids love him and he loves them.  but he also LOVES to play the piano and sing and get under the piano and tickle their toes on his way to playing with the pedals.  we generally position him as far from the piano as possible and then they play their pieces while he makes his way over.  when he gives up on the pedals, he makes his way over to the fake ficus and eats the dusty moss at the bottom of the plant. yuck.

last night, we found out that he loves to sing in fhe.  families are so important.  i love having him as part of our family.  it's like he was born into a club. it's a place where he belongs and is loved and adored and he knows it.  and each of the others know it too because it's where they belong.

i have been mentally griping to myself about how much laundry i have and all the perpetual messes and how will i ever not feel overwhelmed again? but then i remember the club.  how much i want them to have each other.  and i love being the ceo of that club.  eric is the president but i am the ceo.

if i die looking into these eyes, i will be a happy woman~

this is adam's very typical face...he loves to suck in that bottom lip.

grandma's visit

i mentioned a few posts back that we got to have my grandma for the month of august! what a treat it was to have her here.  i so enjoyed reconnecting after such a long time and sharing a glimpse of our lives together.  there is something very special about having her for more than just a few days...she got to BE a part of our lives a moment sharing in meals, loving on my babies, telling stories and laughing together.

the best part were the moments i've dreamed of....i can't tell you how many times i have wondered what it would feel like to introduce her to my babies...i've dreamed of it for years....having her love them to pieces and hearing them call her, "grandma".  i dreamed of showing her my home and my piano with her and ganksy's picture proudly displayed with my treasured music of ganksys' that sits above my piano.  i remember them everyday as i spend hours at my piano teaching and practicing.

there were also things that caught me off guard.  moments that i hadn't imagined.  i was struck by how wonderful it felt just to sit and talk to my grandma, to hold her hands, to go to the temple with her.  i was really struck by how good it felt to call her "grandma" and how much i loved just saying her name.   these are things that i have really missed over the years and it was such a treat.

adam was completely enamoured with her and spent hours and hours on her lap, being snuggled and kisses and being spoiled taking naps with her.  it was a sweet little peace of heaven and i am sad that she has left us to return to our other family in south africa but this was definitely the highlight of my year.

one night while she was here, i couldn't sleep and kept on having thoughts of doing some four generation pictures and this urgency to make it happen before she left.  these pictures are priceless to me...i am so blessed to have these beautiful, amazing women in my life...

*thanks to my sister, emma for being behind the camera so that i could be in a few shots:)

1st days of school

although maryn and caleb have been in school for 3 weeks now, joshie just started this week with PRESCHOOL!!!  it has been something that he and i are so ready for and not at the same time.  anyway, let's start with the big kids....this is their first day...

caleb entered first grade and is in mrs. schuhmacher's (ex-ms. wonner who maryn also had) class.  we couldn't be more thrilled.  she is an amazing teacher and he loves her.  plus he is surrounded by his herd of friends in there and couldn't be more please about that.  things seem to be coming fairly easily to caleb.  he just goes with the flow.  we have to work on a little reading here and there but he just does his thing.  he likes to play tag, basketball and kickball during recess.  there is a little girl, ava, who loves to follow him around and although they are friends,  he is beginning to become aware that it's not cool with his buddies for him to have a girl following him around everywhere. and it starts!!

maryn started third grade and is in mrs. willie's class. she seems so love her and i have heard great things about her and i am confident it will be a good year for maryn.  this week, i think i won "mother-of-the-day" award for forgetting to give maryn her ritalin on the day of the state testing.  she came home devastated that she only made it to number nine.  my heart just sank. i think that number nine will stick in my head forever.  how badly i want her to succeed and know about beautiful and smart she is and those moments make me want to back track so fast!  her reading is coming along nicely and i need to get it in gear with the times table thing.  homework has really gotten more intense this year but we are starting to find our groove.

maryn is also doing piano lessons and loving them. she seems to be a talented little girl who sightreads easily and is enjoying the progress she is seeing. 

and then there is this little character who started school on tuesday.  he had been all over the board about school this summer.  some days he was super excited and others, i couldn't peel him off my leg to even say, "hi" to miss leigh.  she is so lovely and patient though and made several efforts with him which definitely paid off because by the first day of school, to my shock, he sauntered off without looking back and has really enjoyed preschool this week.  and let me tell ya, how i have enjoyed a few moments of peace and quiet as adam naps and the house is just silent.  i love it!  josh is such a goon...and people rarely see it because of his shyness but seriously, in our home, he is our biggest personality....for better or worse.  man, i love this boy. the hat was all him, by the way...

lots of love and support from his older siblings...

copper

this has really become a highlight of our summer....our back-to-school tradition of a trip to copper mountain with grandma and grandpa....tons of fun....always nice cool but beautiful summer weather, and a day full of activities! here ya go...

oh my word, the profile, the chubby hands, i can hardly stand it!!

i think that mud has an invisible pull that just seems to attract little boys....

i'm a paranoid mom on ski lifts and hold on to my babies tight!!!

adam's new nickname: augustus glupe

caleb was first up and proudly made it all the way to the top!

maryn is a monkey and scrambled up in no time....maiya to one of the harder courses and it took a little more time but she was so persistant and made it all the way up!

eric was a bit of a show-off...jewel and coltie watched...

i climbed all the way to the top too despite my crippling fear of heights...it's amazing what you can do when you know your kids are watching:) can you tell i was scared on the way down!?

the trampolines are always much anticipated and rewarding...

josh got his little self up there and was so fun to watch...he couldn't stop smiling and giggling the whole time!

hanging with grandma

we have a lot of three-year-olds in the family...and they just keep moving...

caleb and maiya.  zipline.

and that is as far as i have gotten in my editing...i may share a few more....maybe i'll just move on...

twenty-nine.

today, i turned 29 years old.  i know, some of you are gasping at how young i am especially considering that i have four kids.  and if you read my blog, you have noticed me mention it before and though i don't want to admit it, i am somewhat self-concious about what others think of my life choices.

this last month has been one of reflection and self-evaluation for me.  i have thought a lot all through my twenties what i wanted to accomplish during my twenties and most of those goals have come along the way including having four children who have blessed my life abundantly.  i am so grateful for eric and the relationship that we have together, the life that we have built together. where we have come from; where we are going.  we have been through a lot in these 10 years we've been together...more than i ever could have imagined but our lives have been richly and abundantly blessed.

my thoughts have run along the lines of what i want to accomplish during this, my last year in my twenties.  there are so many good things out there and honestly, my goals had tended toward having a six pack and defined arms more than others.  after giving your body to growing bodies inside, there is definitely a distinct desire/need to feel like i finally get to have it back for myself. i have wanted to run races and do triathlons.  i've wanted to travel the world.  i've wanted to grow my photography business into something to really be proud of.  but all of these things have fallen behind something else that has taken over my mind and my thoughts:

that there is one thing that is truly needful: to come to know jesus christ. to turn toward him and keep my eyes fixed on him.

so despite the fact that it is not the new year for resolutions, i have a goal.  i want to come to know my savior this year.  i want to seek him more earnestly particularly in the scriptures.  i have struggled with studying my scriptures in young motherhood more than any time in my life with distractions constantly swirling around my head but i feel that this is the time.  i want it and i want my children to know that this is what is important to me.  and for now, they will be resting their heads on a softer chest and belly than maybe i would like, but i somehow don't think they will mind so much.

i realize that this is a journey and not something to be accomplished in one year but over a life time, but i pray that this year may be the start of something greater and if i can turn thirty remembering all the things the lord has done for me, and feeling closer than i was the day before, then i will be happy with that and the other things will hopefully fall into place in my life.  that's all i have to say about that for now.

twelve

my little sister, maiya, decided to go ahead and turn twelve last month.  it was a LONG awaited birthday and we celebrated with family and friends out at chatfield on the boat with the tube and playing on the beach.  it was a lovely day to spend together:)

the highlight for me was when caleb came with me on the tube backwards as a "chariot" it is much harder to hold on this was and stay on will being flung around. you have to kneel up to hold on. the girls were too woosy to do it, but caleb was game as usual.  grandpa didn't even go easy for caleb and he laughed and giggled the whole time and i had a blast just being on there with him.  it gave me a little glimpse into the future of getting to do more adventurous things with my ever growing kids.  i'm not going to lie, my back and buttocks were feeling it the next day:)

these two cousies love each other.