We had a spectacular last two weeks and are looking forward to another fun one, starting Friday. We were able to go visit my family for the 4th of July, the sun has shined the entire week here in Seattle, and we are heading to New Jersey in two days! Oh how I love summer time.
We have been busy these last few weeks as well! Logan finally gave in to my hints of wanting a bunk bed for our kids. He drew up some plans and had it made in two weeks. It would have taken less time I think but we went out of town for five days of that soooo....
Tommy spent his last night in his crib! It was a sad occasion. We took it to my parents house to store in their garage until we have another. A part of me didn't want him to get out of his crib because that would mean he is no longer a baby. But, I also needed him to practice before we traveled the next few weeks so he wouldn't get out of his bed when we go to NJ! I have always told Logan I want three things to happen with Tommy before we have another kid. I want him potty trained, in a toddler bed, and no longer sucking on a pacifier. I just didn't want to deal with all that like I did when he was a baby and transitioning Elsy out of those three things was hard when I was already not getting much sleep with a baby. So we are knocking down the first check-box!
He has taken to his toddler bed like a champ. He still stays in it, as if it still had walls around and he can't get out until I come get him. I remember Elsy did that too.... until she discovered there were none. Yikes! Then it got rough. I will just be grateful for now. Although, this morning was the first morning two kids greeted me at my bedside instead of just one. Elsy apparently decided to wake Tommy up and let him 'out'.
We went to Tri-Cities and it was a much quieter weekend than I have ever had there, I think. Sharee had moved to Texas, Leisha's in-laws were in town, Lenise was in Utah teaching at EFY, Kelsy just got married, and Riley was at EFY. So a lot of the time it was just us, my parents, and Carl.
Tommy let my dad give him a back rub.
It wasn't completely dead, we still had a lot of fun! My little baby brother turned 18! I can't beleive it. He was just a little kiddo when I left for college.
But Logan can still whop on him. We watched Amazing Grace on Sunday night, Logan really loves that movie, and after these two got a little restless. My mom and I sat on the sidelines and watched them wrestle until they were both exhausted. Logan is 5'8" and Carl is 6' 2" and Logan still got him pretty good. Haha!
Tommy has always loved playing with older boys but has usually gotten into quite a few tiffs with kiddos his own age. He has finally started warming up to the idea of playing with younger friends. Asher and Tommy, while they still did fight a bit, had a lot more fun together this trip.
We pulled the bouncy horse out of the garage and washed it down. Once it was inside, Tommy didn't want to get off! He named it Kit, after my horse on Zelda, and became very concerned with his well being for the week. The first thing he said when he woke up in the morning, "I have to go wake up Kit!" And of course he would have to feed him. I would hear him downstairs saying, "Ya! Giddy-ya!"
We went to my Grandma Merkley's ward 4th of July breakfast.
And then after went to the river where we got to go jet skiing! Since you have to have a licence in Washington and I haven't gotten mine yet, Logan had to take us each out one by one. The kids were so excited. The last couple of nights when I ask Tommy what his favorite part of today was when we are talking before he goes to sleep, he says, "Jet skiing." Haha! It must have made an impact.
Here we are, just hanging around the house! The kids followed Carl and his big tall cousins around. Watching them play Mario Kart was a big event while waiting for the fireworks to start.
Later on we got out the sparklers! Elsy and Tom had a blast until a spark fell on Elsy's foot. At that point she started to get really nervous and anxious about the fireworks. She finally broke down and just cried and finally said, "Why do we have to have fireworks on the 4th of July!?"
Logan and I got to sit and talk with her for a while and explain to her about the wars and the cannons and guns that made sounds and then explaining to her about how we became free because of the wars and we are free to go to church and believe in God. She slowly started to catch the vision and she relaxed and was able to really enjoy the fireworks once they started. I am continually amazed at how slowing down and explaining things to my kids turns their attitude around and calms them down.
My parents live in West Richland where areal fireworks are legal. The year they became legal our neighbor kind of went nuts. He spends thousands and thousands of dollars and puts on an amazing show. It took a few years for people to find out but now I think half the town shows up. We are lucky to have a back yard fence that opens right up to the show. We rope off our property so people wont park in the way and then let all our friends and family in haha! Last year he hired a fire breather to do a pre-show. They do music that matches the fireworks on big speakers. It really is an amazing show and you get to be so close. The kids were just amazed. It is always short, but it is just perfect for us.
My dad let us borrow some ear phones for the kids.
When we got back, this was our house for about three days. Logan put the bunk bed together so I could paint it, and it takes me a lot longer to make progress than Logan because I had to wait until the kids were asleep so they wouldn't touch the paint. I had to go back and get more paint like three times... soon to be four because we still haven't painted the ladder.
Two of my bestest friends are moving in the next few weeks, Andrea and Laura. I may have already cried about it. We are trying to get as much time in with them as we can. Andrea got a Groupon to the Funtastic Playtorium for 4 kids for a buck. She asked us to come along and the kids had a blast. This was the only non-blurry picture I got. I have a picture of Elsy in this thing from a year ago. Her legs are so much longer!
On Saturday we finally were able to put our house back together! It was so nice to have a clean house and Elsy not sleeping on the toddler cot anymore (because she was waiting for her bed to be finished). We re-arranged their room and we finally have a 'girl side' and 'boy side' decoration wise. The boy side isn't done yet but I'll send a picture when it is. I was so pleased that the book case actually fit under the bunk bed. Logan also put some shelves on the end for me and it is perfect for storing all those toys that have nowhere to go.
Since there was leftover wood, Logan built the kids a treasure chest! They kept carrying around his Pelican case that he stores his lights in and he decided they needed something of their own. They love it and have been keeping the scriptures in it. :)
Elsy gave a talk on Sunday. It was so fun and turned out great. It was on keeping the commandments. This is what she said:
At my house I like to play with super hero paper dolls.
My little brother also plays with some.
Super heros have powers to make them strong.
I may not be a super hero, but I can get special powers when I keep the commandments.
The scriptures tell us of real super heroes.
I can eat healthy food like Daniel.
I can have faith like Peter.
I can pray like Enos.
I can share the gospel like Abinadi.
I can read the scriptures like Joseph Smith.
When I try to be like the scripture super heroes by keeping the commandments I become more like the Savior and I have a special power inside.
She held up the super hero paper dolls I made for the kids a few months ago (I just printed off the super heroes, colored them, and laminated them, if you want to make some let me know and I will send you a link to the document, although I don't think I can post it for copyright purposes because I copy and pasted a lot of them haha). And she held a corresponding picture for each of the prophets. My favorite part when she gave it was at the end. Right in the middle of the last sentence she turned to me, big blushing cheeks, and said, "I have to go potty!" right into the microphone. I realized she hadn't gone all morning since she woke up! We quickly ended and she ran out the door with Logan. We all got a little giggle in and it makes for a great story.
I know I am always saying this but I just love how great of friends my kids are. The like to get the grapes out and sit on the couch and chat while they eat them.
I got out of the shower yesterday and came into my room and found two little heads peeping out of the pillows on our bed. They were playing back there. So cute!! They do know how to have a good fight, but they mostly just love to run all over the house, shouting and yelling whilst wielding swords and jamming out to intense movie theme music.
Tommy and Nora are such good friends and I am so sad they will no longer be together. Tommy's closest friend that is his age is Nora. The other day when she came over to play he ran up to her and they gave each other a big bear hug.
We went to Lake Sammamish this afternoon with the Carruths to play in the water and sand.
Elsy sat on the edge of the blanket the whole time to dig. She is such a priss and doesn't like to get messy. She finally figured out it would be fun to get dirty right before it was time to leave.
Logan and I were so proud of ourselves today. We have been wanting to wake up early for such a long time to get stuff done before the kids wake up, but it is hard when your kids are finally sleeping in to 7am to not want to sleep in with them. Today we finally did it, we woke up early! Logan got up and was able to record two tutorials and went to work early so he could come early and do more recording. He also made us a yummy dinner. I was able to study my scriptures, do dishes, fold laundry, work out, sell my couch pillows (finally!), drop stuff off at Value Villiage, get gas, and still have Issac over to play with Elsy and then go to the lake! We did baths and bed time and are now sitting together on the couch watching Cooked while eating chocolate ice cream with a clean house around us. We are pretty pleased with ourselves, and I think we got kick started by waking up that hour earlier than the kids. Yay! I hope we can keep it up.... while I know it has only been one day haha.
I think of everything, though, my favorite thing about today was lunch time. We have been reading The Friend magazine while we eat most days and it helps remind me to teach my kids and facilitate another part of our day into an opportunity to feel the Spirit. Today we read about a missionary experience in The Friend. Elsy has been increasingly concerned and confused by why some people don't believe in Christ. Again, I was grateful for promptings from the Holy Ghost to me. She asked again yesterday and I didn't quite know how to answer her simply. So I prayed about it last night and felt prompted to explain to her about how some people just don't know, while a lot of other people just forget about him. So today at lunch we all talked about that. How it is easy to forget about Jesus and we talked about the importance of saying prayers, reading our scriptures, and going to church and how those things remind us of Him. And if we stop doing those things, we can forget about Him and stop believing. I could tell both of the kids felt something as we talked about it. They were both listening and that was special. We even stopped to try and feel the Holy Ghost and I asked if they could feel anything and both kids excitedly said, "YES!" I felt it too. It's always hard to get Tommy engaged but this is something he loves.
PS, if you have Netflix you should watch Cooked, its so good and now we want to have a pig farm. Hehe!
We have another busy day tomorrow, getting ready to go to New Jersey. So excited to see that side of the family!
