The Cottage

For spring break our dear friends, the Smiths, invited us and the Abbotts to their cottage on the Rappahannock River near the Chesapeake Bay in Virgina. It was a wonderful few days with our North Carolina family. Since a picture's worth a thousand words I'll let them do most of the talking...

Jumping at the sand dunes.

 The first day we were there was gorgeous and warm. The kids played in the water, caught creatures in the stream, flew kites and had a ball. The next couple days were cold and windy, but the fun didn't stop.

 

These baby turtles were the favorite creatures caught. Tadpoles, crawdads, and minnows were among the others.

Luke and Corbin are kindred spirits when it comes to caring for creatures.

Alex flying the kite.

 In the evenings we gathered round the bonfire and ate s'mores.

One of the cold rainy days we drove to Jamestown, Virginia.  

We picnicked in the rain and cold like the first settlers did over 400 years ago and then explored the Jamestown Settlement. 

The Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery – re-creations of three ships that brought English colonists to Virginia in 1607.

 Exploring the Powhatan Indian Village...

...and the English Settlement.

Ethan, Josh and Alex. Our little warriors.

The last day it was still too cold and windy to do much outside, so after a quick easter egg hunt the kids created their own "egg games" indoors. Anna and Addilyn played the egg under cup game while the others spun their eggs to see whose egg could spin on in its end the longest.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

Happy birthday my baby boy!

You've only been with our family one year but I can't imagine life without you. You have brought me such joy and renewed my love of motherhood.

Here are some things about you:
Weight: 26 lbs 10 oz (90%)
Height: 30 inches (75%)

Your first word was "dada".

Other words you say: "mama", "uh oh", "ball", "bath".

Your favorite game is ball.

You love to snuggle.

You love to poke and pull and my eyelashes.

You love having your picture taken and will grin immediately.

You love to play with adult electronics (cell phones, remote controls, lap tops).

You hate to have your diaper changed and hate having your clothes changed even more. You will try to crawl away and giggle when I chase you down.
You are a very good natured baby. You sleep well, nap well and eat well (obviously).
My favorite place to tickle you is on your neck where I nibble it with my lips. You always give a deep hearty laugh that is contagious when I do that.
Your brother and sisters adore you. It's been so fun to see how they care and love you. Alex is particularly watchful and warns me when you're in danger. Maycie is quick at making you laugh and you love being entertained by her. Addilyn is a mother's helper and will take you for walks in the stroller when I need a break.
Thank you for adding such dimension to our family.

A Child's Prayer

Anyone who knows Maycie knows she loves her stuffed animals. They are like her children. Recently she lost her beloved "Foxy". For several days we casually searched the house with no luck. I had given up, but Maycie hadn't. She continued to long for it. Maycie is my prayer girl. She is always reminding us to have prayers before meals (I tend to forget at lunch) and even when we go out to eat she makes sure we bless the food. So it was no surprise that she jumped at the idea of saying a prayer to find "Foxy". She prayed that she would find him. That was a couple weeks ago. This week after a family home evening lesson on prayer Maycie brought up the fact that her prayer to find "Foxy" hadn't been answered yet. She didn't state it like she had lost faith, but only it hadn't been answered yet. I asked Maycie if she thought Heavenly Father cared if she found "Foxy". She said yes, because she knew Heavenly Father cared about her. I then asked if she thought Heavenly Father would help her find "Foxy" if she asked him again and we looked hard. She said she did. We decided to conduct a more thorough search and offered a simple prayer asking Heavenly Father to help us know where to look. We search for a while with no luck, then a thought entered my mind. We looked in a forgotten bag in the bottom of her closet and there "Foxy" was. A child's prayer was answered. We quickly offered a prayer of thanks together and I offered my own prayer of thanks in my heart for allowing Maycie to experience answered prayers first hand.

The Spender, The Saver and The Philanthropist

Recently we've started paying the children for completing their daily chores. We thought it would be a good way to teach them how to save and also practice paying tithing. It pays off when we go to the store too. Now when we go to the store and they ask if they can have something I calmly reply, "Do you have enough money?" What's really been interesting is seeing their different personalities in what they do with their money. Here's how it goes.

Alex: The Spender - his jar is almost always empty. As soon as he earns his money he asks when we can go to the store to buy something. Usually he asks how big of a lego set he can get.

Maycie: The Saver - Maycie doesn't care much for money. Although she likes the idea of having it and will gladly take it when given (or earned) she's doesn't have a large wish list of things to buy and is happy to see her jar fill up with dollars.

Addilyn: The Philanthropist - Like Alex, Addilyn's jar is almost always empty, though for an entirely different reason. Addilyn gets money and she gives it away. Often its to Alex to help him buy his next lego set. Sometimes she donates to fundraisers or relief projects. I know there are others we aren't even aware of who benefit from her large and generous heart.

Conference Weekend and the Prankster

April Fools!

I must admit that I don't always get into the spirit of that day, but this year the prankster got the better of me. It all started with...

...the night before I drew mustaches on the kids (well Alex and Maycie) with marker while they slept. Addilyn happened to be up for a potty break and therefore narrowly escaped. Maycie quickly washed it off before I got a good picture, but here's the residue.

For breakfast I made blueberry pancakes. Or are they?

The kids didn't think olive pancakes tasted as good.

Finally.... Soapcicles.

This prank came from my childhood days when my brother, Patrick, and I decided to cover a soap bar with chocolate, freeze it and then offer it to pesky neighbor boy we didn't like. However, it backfired when my mom got a sweet tooth and tried the soapcicle first. Oops.

I actually felt pretty bad about this one. The kids were so excited to try my homemade ice cream bars. Addilyn and Maycie tasted the soap on the first lick and abruptly stopped. Alex, however, was a little more enthusiastic about his. He took a giant bite and proceeded to chew for a minute before realizing. Poor guy! We had to rinse his mouth pretty well and dose him up on non-soapy chocolate to get rid of the taste. The next day in the bath, he refused to use the same brand soap to wash his body. He said the smell of it made his mouth taste like soap.

Conference weekend is our favorite time of year. The kids always look forward to playing Conference Bingo, but this year we added a new game. Anytime they heard the key word in the food bowl they could take a treat from that bowl. I find it's a good way to get them to listen for bit plus mom and dad get some quiet to listen as well.

We ended the weekend with a fun cookout and easter egg hunt with our friends the Petraneks, Jensens, Worths and Robisons. Our new neighbors had just moved in that day so they joined in too. In all we had 21 children and 11 adults. Once again I was grateful for a large backyard that makes it easy to entertain. Also, perfect for easter egg hunts. Plenty of nooks and crannies to hide eggs.