Jake's Stand

Jake is ready to walk! Last night I saw him stand up unassisted and take a step. It was so exciting! Ryan's been eager to get Jake walking because he doesn't want it to happen while I'm in the States for a month visiting my family without him.

Then today I was moving furniture around while vacuuming and apparently all that open space inspired Jake to stretch his legs! I looked over and he was in the center of the room just standing there like this. He's been pulling up on stuff for a few months now but today he is determined to stand up on his own.

I cheered, he got excited and he fell. I ran and got the camera and he put on a show for a good ten minutes going from his bottom to the frog to standing. He became quite giddy and began falling over with flair. Oh how he loves an adoring, cheering audience! Jake even took two steps when he wanted to chase after Morgan who went behind a chair to play their favorite peek-a-boo game.

It's a good thing my baby still looks like a baby. Why are they all so determined to grow up so fast?!

Testimony Bearing Boot Camp

Today I got my buns in gear like a proper Monday should be - fresh with high ideals! After breakfast and putting Jake down for his morning nap, I put my ipod cuff on and buzzed around doing chores while listening to the "Past Impressions" program from the Mormon Channel about the early Restoration days of the church. I boiled up some eggs so Jake could try egg yolk for the first time and the boys could have them in their lunches for the rest of the week - one of their favorites. I ate breakfast and lunch with Morgan, took her on a run, and we began the Teach Your Child to Read in 100 lessons. She proudly learned the sounds "m" and "s" and how to write them which is new to her. This is to say that this much productivity and joy are not routine for me - so I'm documenting that it has in fact happened and may just happen again. Tomorrow?! 

A word about taking Morgan running. This girl can't help herself, she loves to run! She has serious energy and it is so awesome to see how well she goes for so long. Two weeks ago when I first took her, it was hot so we made a deal that we'd run to the shade everywhere along the trail. She liked that game! Last week at the boys' run-a-thon she ran over a mile on the track. Today she ran almost the entire 20 minutes we were out but rain cut us short. She’d holler, “Power Speed!” now and then to keep her motivation up and I am always BEHIND her! Ryan and I both like to think she got it from each of us. 

I feel like I learn something new about her every day. I see so much of my features in her face - it's uncanny. She's a challenge and when she melts down, no one escapes the decibel of her scream. But when I get it right, she's so much fun!

For Family Home Evening, I had planned to do a family tree activity tonight with the kids where we'd post up pictures of three or four generations of our families. But I was six pictures shy of my goal so we scrambled. True to form, Ryan led a great impromptu FHE lesson. (Why do I even bother trying?! I guess we all know that the one preparing gets the most out of their own lesson so I must be in serious regular need! Oddly enough, I heard on one of my programs today a passing theory that those who serve missions get about a ten year "jump" on those who don't but we all even out in time with due diligence and study. Whether that is true or not doesn't matter to me, but I see evidence of it possibly having bearing now and then when I get to see Ryan in his element teaching. I'm a lucky woman to have snagged him!) 

This weekend was Easton's first time fasting. Ryan's lesson was the perfect follow-up as he briefly covered the facets of fasting, fast offerings, Fast & Testimony meeting, and finally – Testimony Bearing Boot Camp. (So the name is my idea, but he totally rocked the activity.) He lined the kids up in a straight line and they had to repeat after him, “I want to bear my testimony,” one by one and head to the back of the line.

Next round, they had to add one thing they wanted to bear testimony of:

Easton - “I want to bear my testimony that I am grateful for this beautiful earth that God created for us.”

McKay – “I want to bear my testimony that I know this church is true.”

Morgan – “I want to bear my testimony and I love my family.”

Next round, add a proper closing:

Easton – “I want to bear my testimony that I am glad Heavenly Father created this beautiful earth for us and that I know this church is true. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.”

McKay – “I want to bear my testimony that I know Joseph Smith was a prophet. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.”

Morgan – “I want to bear my testimony that . . . In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.”

It was an awesome thing to see and the kids got it! Ryan’s concept was simply brilliant! Perhaps others have done this too, but I'd never seen it done and to have it done with OUR kids was just awesome. Ryan and I both bore our testimonies to the kids and challenged them to bear testimony in the meeting next month even though we’ll be in Tuscany. If they do it, we’ll do it too.

Last week McKay had come to me and told me he wanted to give his friend Joseph a Book of Mormon. It was so cute and I loved the conversation we had. He wants to share the Book of Mormon with his friend because he wants his friend to use better words and to be kinder. It was so wonderful to me to see that we as parents were doing something right on this score. That McKay knows that reading the Book of Mormon changes people for the better. We're hoping to invite Joseph to church with us this week. I love that kids make that so simple!

I'm in the missionary chapters of Alma right now and love sharing little bits of it with the kids this past month. Such great stories!!! I know the Book of Mormon changes my life and makes me a better person as I read, study and ponder about the prophets and missionaries who find, serve, and soften hearts to teach God's beautiful Plan of Redemption. I am so grateful for my knowledge that Jesus Christ is my Savior and the eternal blessings I earn as I live up to the covenants I have made at baptism and in the Holy Temple.

Despite the dishes in the sink, the floor desperately needing mopping and an explosion of chaos in the laundry room . . . I head to bed this Saturday night happy and content because:

#1  Easton has great friends here - Anthony and Henrique! McKay's friend invited our family to come bowling last night and so I asked Henrique's mom if we could borrow him for the evening so Easton would have a buddy too. What I love about Easton and his friends is that they always let McKay and Morgan play with them - it's simply a non-issue. It's so awesome and I hope, hope, hope it never ends! Plus these friends are the easiest kids to have around, no work or worry for me! Jackpot!

#2  A husband who loves me for letting Easton invite his friend to sleep over despite my insecurity of our house needing some tidying. It was an odd compliment he paid me in the moment that sat well as I bustled around the house while the kids hunkered down in the boys' room playing PSP and iPad games.

#3  Who doesn't love a late morning snuggle nap? Sadly, it's a rarity.

#4  Ryan doing yard work and taking all the trash to base. It made for a refreshing evening in the tidied yard as a family.

#5  Pulling out my "water table" for the kids to play. Some cups, some spray bottles and they were set!

#6  Escaping to the library alone this afternoon. I love browsing the shelves and finding books to feed Easton's voracious reading appetite! Especially now that the children's section has multiplied in size due to other bases and their libraries in Germany closing in recent months.

#7  Easton abandoning his fun on the trampoline to chase me down and see what books I got him. He loves anything with a comic book/graphic novel look or that's about funny kids (ie. Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Captain Underpants, Bad Kitty). He grabbed one and immediately headed for a chair on the patio to dive in!

#8  Hearing neighbors' continued laughter from their balcony as they watched Morgan and McKay play a spray bottle game on the trampoline. They had quite a rhythm down as they'd jump in circles, attempt to spray each other twice, and then slide the bottle to each other.

#9  Singing to and kissing on Jake on the patio while being bossed by Morgan to watch her "cool moves" on the trampoline.

#10  Reading the first chapter of The Great Brain to Easton tonight. It's entitled "The Magic Water Closet." The boys didn't know that all the WCs they see in Europe stand for water closet = toilet. And any boys at their ages can't resist toilet humor! Just take a look at Easton's first Mad Lib notebook he got this week!

I remember my 3rd grade teacher reading the Great Brain series to our class and loving it. Cross a Tom Sawyer-like story with a setting in 1896 Southern Utah. I loved Easton's questions and anything that made him laugh. I wish I read aloud more often to my kids, I'm usually too tired but I remember how I loved being read to in school and by my parents as a little kid.

#11  Snuggling my babies before bed. I love how Jake rests against me or demands his favorite hold that enables him to suck his fingers. With the boys having received some prime mommy time, I heeded Morgan's begging to be snuggled and read to too. I practiced telling part of my lesson's Book of Mormon story to her. Silly girl told me Ammon was a super hero and that's how he defeated the robbers and cut off their arms - not through power given him by God so he would be able to teach Lamoni's people the gospel! This girl certainly has her own mind about things already and it's so fun to hear her express it in words better now!

My biggest regrets of the day are not going to bed when Ryan did because I was finishing my lesson prep and the fact that I couldn't seem to get anything right for McKay today. I never cut up the watermelon on the counter which was all he really wanted from me today - many, many times. He went to bed crying and I wish now that I'd gone to him for he's my kid that when throwing monumental fits that send me over the edge, he wants most to be held to calm down.