The straight-forward honesty of children

Conversation I had with my 4 year old daughter as I am reading to her in bed:
Olivia: Mom, what's that right there?
Me: What right where?
Olivia:That right there by your mouth.
Me: What does it look like?
Olivia: Um, fur?
Me:(freaking out in my mind-what?!? Do I have a mustache?!) What color is it?
Olivia: Uh, brown?
Me: (Definitely freaking out now!!! I'm gonna make Jason pay for lying to me these past weeks when I've asked about it.....)Oh, it's just my kissing fur?
Olivia: Kissing fur?
Me: Yep fur kissing you! (smooches all over)

I can always rely on my children to be honest with me. I always take Nate with me when I go shopping for clothes because he will tell me if I look fat or not. Or if he likes the color or whatever the case may be. Olivia is good for pointing out all of my blemishes and facial faux pas. I have been seriously freaking out about facial hair and a little mustache because a lot of my friends have been talking about theirs lately. I ask Jason pretty much every day if it looks like I have a mustache and he always tells me no. Well, now I know that he is just being nice and sparing my feelings. But I also know that I have been walking around with a lady stache! Time to bleach that thing!

Nate's First Season of Basketball

Nate finished up his first season of basketball. True to form, he thought he was hot stuff on the court. And of course, as his mother, I am not going to deny it-he was pretty hot stuff! He did great at dribbling, blocking, and shooting. He'd celebrate each shot and he celebrated different each game. A few of them he'd do a funky dance. One night he kept flashing his fingers at me and I realized he was flashing either a 2 or a 3-whatever he thought his shot was worth. Another night he belly-bumped his teammates. He got chewed out by his coach a couple of times (Jason) for not passing the ball or dribbling to long. He was a ball hog! But that's ok because he was really good and there was another boy on the team who was good and never passed either. He played with his friend Porter who was the tallest kid on the team. They had fun out there together and by the end of the season Porter was doing pretty well blocking shots and making baskets. When I watch my son play I just can't help but be a proud mother!

This video is poor quality but it's all I have. Nate is making one of his famous break-away shots!

Jaker's Pumpkin Patch

This year I found a wonderful little place called Jaker's Pumpkin Patch in Springville. It's a free pumpkin patch and farm and the kids and I had so much fun that we went twice and probably would have gone a third time but we ran out of time! They have fun slides, a little haunted house, a corn maze, a petting zoo, a tractor ride, a haystack pyramid to climb and the best thing of all...

a pit filled with corn! The kids loved this place and we had so much fun playing together in this huge corn pit. We buried people in it, made corn angels, and had fun making corn bellies!

Olivia's first real hair cut

Olivia is almost 5 and she had her first real hair cut last week. Normally when she gets her hair cut it's just to trim bangs or trim her hair. But this time we cut some inches off of it. She was starting to get a funky mullet of growing long in the back but not much on the sides. So I had Amy cut it all one length and I hope that this will help it grow back in all the same. She's got weird hair. It's thin but has a strange matted texture and it's very hard to keep a curl in or braid because it's so thin. So, I hope we'll have a few more "good hair days" with this new do.

Happy Birthday Isaac!

My little baby boy is finally no longer a baby. He turned 2 a few days ago. I am saddened by this more than I thought I would be. I love each stage of my children growing up and I treasure each stage that I have with them. I guess I just always knew that I would be able to start all over again and relive those stages once more with the other children and so I treasured them, but didn't appreciate them. Now, I feel an emptiness inside me as I realize that I will probably not ever experience those newborn days or first words or first steps stages again. I've held on to this little guy very tightly and tried to hold back his growing up for as long as I can. That's why he has long hair. He looks like a baby boy to me and I'm scared that if I cut it then it will make him look like a big boy and I'll lose my baby forever. But I promised Jason that when he turned two I would allow his hair to be cut and I'd allow him to make that transition from baby to toddler. It hasn't happened yet so  I will enjoy my baby boy for a few more days...
Anyway, it really was a happy day for him. We celebrated with the Childs' side of the family the Sunday before because of Amy's wedding the day after his birthday. I asked Isaac what cake he wanted and of course he said "bootball." So I attempted to make a football jersey cake in the American Fork Caveman colors. He loves Pini Katoa and loves AF. I made it with a red velvet cake so that I didn't have to frost it with red frosting. I had a hard time with the black frosting so I didn't do the black stripe down the side like I wanted to. I just outlined it. I used sugar paper for his name and number.

 He got a lot of football stuff which is what he wanted. He got a few jerseys, two new balls, and some new church shoes.

 He loves to sing to the radio and sing songs with mommy, so I got him a little radio with a microphone that you can hook an MP3 player into and sing with. I think he had a pretty good birthday!

Potty Training Attempt #1

Isaac will be two in a few weeks and really wants to be a big boy. So, we are starting on the potty training. He loves to go potty in his little potty so now we just gotta train him to always go in the potty. Today he did pretty well. We'll see how he does tomorrow. Here we go.....!

Olivia's Preschool Field Trips

Olivia had a few fun field trips this past week. On Friday they went on a walking field trip to the American Fork Fire Station. I went with her and had a fun little group of kids to walk with. The firefighters were really nice and made it fun for the kids. They brought out the big truck and raised the ladder all the way up to the top. Then one of the climbed up to the top and waved while we cheered and then climbed back down. They showed us how they get into their suits and what they look like. They taught the kids Stop!Drop! and Roll! At the end they gave the kids all a sticker and a plastic fireman hat. The kids really enjoyed it and we had a lot of fun.

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A few days later they went to a little local pumpkin patch. I was asked to go on this field tri'p as well. We rode on a bus and this being Olivia's first bus ride she was pretty excited. We found some big pumpkins, went through a corn maze, played on a playground, and walked through a little warehouse decorated in fun Halloween and some Christmas decorations. The kids had a lot of fun and my little group was so cute.

Nate my flag football rock star!

The Kings!

Nate played flag football for the first time this year. We fudged and said he was in first grade because technically he is 6 so he's the age of a first grader...but he's really in kindergarten. Anyway, he held his own and out shone all of those first graders! Even though his team really wasn't that good he managed to score at least one touchdown every game but one. And usually his touchdown was the only one scored. He was a great passer, thrower, kicker and defender. He's a fast little bugger and the team relied on him to get those flags! He was always frustrated as the quarterback because he could only hand it off. He really wanted to make some throws but nobody on his team could catch it. His team lost every game...until tonight-the very last game of the season. My little player was a rock star! The team finally brought their A-game. They were making good plays and pulling flags and running hard. Nate scored 4 of the 5 touchdowns and pulled some crucial flags. One of his touchdowns was a thrown pass that he caught!!! His friend Porter threw him the ball and he caught it and ran it in. Those two boys were in heaven! Porter almost scored a few touchdowns himself and pulled a few flags as well. Even though they probably still lost this game the boys all went home winners and feelin' good because they haven't ever scored more than 3 touchdowns (all scored by my son of course...brag-brag) and they just all felt on fire making their plays and getting those flags. It was a great game to watch! A proud mommy moment for me definitely and a struttin' peacock moment for Nate. His Dad couldn't help but have a perma-grin the whole game. We tried to get the touchdowns on video but only managed to get one. The battery ran out (of course) on his last touchdown which was the one he caught but at least we have one to show him. I also have a video of him being quarterback. Again, not as exciting, but he's still great at it. He has a natural talent and I can't wait to see what my All-Star athlete does with it.

Battle Creek Trail

I wanted to go up into the canyon while the colors are still vibrant and it's still fairly warm. We attempted to do that for FHE tonight and went on a little hike up to the waterfall at the Battle Creek Trail. We left later than I wanted to because I fell asleep because my tummy hurt but oh well. The pictures are not good at showing the colors because it was getting to dark but I really enjoyed being up in the mountains and enjoying the beauty of nature!

 The kids found a cave. Nate started going in until Emma told him it was a bear cave and then he turned around an ran right outta there!

 The waterfall

 The last time we did this hike Isaac was still cooking in my tummy. I was about 7 months pregnant with him. He had a blast throwing rocks into the water trying to say "skip." To him that meant that it splashed and he was devastated if they didn't splash. After he'd throw one in and watch it he'd say, "one more" and throw another one. That "one more" ended up being like 10!

Zeke and Daddy

My boys and their football!

My two little guys are so into football they could go pro right now! Nathan has loved football and other sports since before he could walk and talk. His little brother Isaac has followed right in his footsteps. These sports fanatics can hike, pass, kick, score and fumble with the best of them! I love to watch them play and have fun. I love to see the passion they have for this and hope that they will apply that same passion to other aspects of their lives as well. I especially love to see them play well together and the love that they have for each other. And I pray that this too will follow them throughout their life.

Yesterday Nathan found one of his new mouth guards and got it all prepped and ready for himself. Today, Isaac is having a turn with the mouth guard...

He is just the cutest!

When I went outside to check on the boys, they were playing football as usual. Only this time, Nate said that he was the coach and Isaac was Pini (our neighbor who plays for AFH). Isaac gave back the mouth guard and used the one in his helmet (aka-the chin strap) and ran it in for a few touchdowns. I love these cute little guys!

Superheroes!

SUPERHEROES. FRIENDS. BROTHERS.

Picture Day for Livvy

Today is Livvy's picture day at school. It was fun going through the box of 5T clothes with her that we haven't dragged out yet. It's like getting a whole new wardrobe for her! It was not fun, however, doing her hair and picking her shoes. She threw an absolute FIT because I wanted her hair in pigtails and I wanted her to wear her calf-length sneakers. She wanted a boring ponytail and these little silver shoes that barely fit her anymore. So I told her she had to wear what I wanted for my pictures and then I'd let her wear what she wanted for school pictures. And since I don't pay for school pictures anymore, I thought it was a great compromise. She didn't grasp the concept and so we still had tears. Once those subsided I took a few photos for me and then changed her hair and let her change her shoes and sent her off to school. Doesn't she look darling!

And because he can't be left out of anything, here's Isaac with his hair like Livvy's. As Jason put it, "he makes the cutest little girl!"

I also got out the 2T box of clothes for him and he immediately found the beloved Bears Jersey. He's been wearing it every day since!