Saturday Mornings

Most weekday mornings start with Taylor giving me an extra half hour of sleep (or more if I'm extra lucky) by getting the kids breakfast, making Will lunch, and then waking me up for family prayer before he walks Will to school. What started as a means to help everyone survive during my first trimester of pregnancy has now become one of Will's favorite parts of the day. As they walk to school, Taylor teaches Will about stuff: business, cars, sports--whatever they feel like talking about. In fact, lately the two of them have been planning a business together so that Will can earn money to pay for his mission and buy his first car (a Tesla apparently) by the time he's 16. One night Will told me he was so excited to walk to school the next morning to talk about his business so I suggested that he get everything ready for the next morning. "Get your school bag and your lunch box ready to go, put some clean socks next to your shoes, and pick out what clothes you're going to wear." Will's eyes got wide as he responded: "Or I've got a better idea. I'll sleep in my clothes!" And he did.

Then there are lazy Saturday mornings. One of us gets the kids breakfast and we try to go back to bed but usually end up with one or more of the kids in the bed with us. Between my growing belly and our growing and increasingly wiggly kids, it seems like our king-sized bed just gets smaller and smaller. As I teetered on the edge of the bed last weekend, trying not to get sat on, stepped on, or elbowed by our silliest and wiggliest snuggler (Luke) I finally gave up. As I climbed out of bed I got to take in the whole scene: covers everywhere, crazy bedhead, a giggly pile of kids, and at least one and a half of them squishing their much-more-patient-than-I-am dad. It was definitely a scene worth getting out of bed for.

Sure enough, as soon as I got up and came back with my camera, the sweet snuggling had turned into jumping, tickling, tackling, and showing off their muscles in the mirror.

Does every morning look like this? No.

But when I look back and remember this stage of our lives I hope that I mostly remember the scenes like this. The calm, silly, togetherness amidst the busy, fast-moving, everybody-hurry-up-and-get-in-the-car-and-where-did-your-shoes-go-have-you-seen-my-keys moments that seem to clutter up my everyday and split my attention into a million different directions. I want to remember squishy little Luke who will only snuggle with me; sweet, sassy Emma with her crazy hair and her knack for bossing her brothers around; and Will, so pumped to wear his new Nike clothes just so he can look like Dad and be super comfy. I want to remember Will and Emma obsessing over Luke and trying to invade every inch of his personal space. I want to remember Luke trying to mimic every sound and every action then laughing (proudly) at himself. And I want the kids to remember that even though some mornings I feel like I'd give anything for more sleep, they always find some way to make being their mom (albeit a tired, pregnant mom) totally worth it.

Stuff Will Says

I have a long list of funny things the kids say that I keep on my phone. I realized I haven't shared it in a while so prepare yourself for over a year's worth of Will quotes. :)

2/11/18

Favorite color: black and lime green

Favorite food: In-N-Out

Favorite day: Wednesday

Favorite ice cream: chocolate

Favorite dessert: cinnamon pretzels

Favorite thing to do: play football

Favorite person: Dylan T.

Favorite book: Three Little Pigs

Favorite animal: eagle

Favorite character: Te Ka (from Moana)

Favorite sports team: Eagles

Favorite toy: my football

Favorite shirt: my Nike shirt, of course

Favorite song: All I Do Is Win

Favorite chore: putting school supplies away

Favorite number: "9, wait no 8... that was close." 

Why?: "Because that’s when you get baptized."

Favorite snack: yogurt drink

Favorite vegetable: "Apples, oh that’s a fruit. Um... carrots with ranch."

Favorite drink: "Water. I love sports so I need water."

Favorite store: "Target. No, the Nike store!"

2/11/18

Looking at pictures on the blog we came across pictures of our family at Easter when Taylor still had glasses. “Hey, that’s Easter when dad was blind!”

1/22/18

"My tummy keeps making a sound. I think I need some meat." (At 3pm)

1/22/18

Will: Can I have a cookie?

Mom: Nope, because there’s not enough for everyone.

Will: Well someone must have had some! Who was it?

Mom: Me.

Will: What????? You can’t eat cookies when you’re pregnant! 

1/2/18

Me: Will, if you help me with all these chores today I’ll pay you a dollar!

Will: Cool! How many bucks is that?

Me: One.

Will: Why? What about 5? Or 100?

12/26/17

"Wow, they’re pretty talentive!"

12/10/17

Will: We got a lot Jewish stuff in our classroom.

Taylor: Oh yeah? Like what?

Will: Like coffee.

Taylor: Coffee isn’t Jewish!

Will: Yeah! It’s a Jewish drink!

Taylor: Will, a lot of people drink coffee.

Will: So there are a lot of Jewish people?

11/24/17

Will and Emma were playing/pretending something in the car and I hear Will say, “Siri, I’m sorry that I called you Alexa.”

10/19/17

About an hour after the kids go to bed, Hernandez hit his 3rd home run of the night. Dad cheers and immediately (like he was listening at the door or something!) Will comes out of his room, shakes his finger at Dad and says, “I heard you say that so I had to come see it.”

6/28/17

"Mom look at my artisting!"

6/15/17

Talking about Emma's friend Savannah's birthday present: "She's going to LOVE that. She's just going to sparkle up when she sees it."

6/14/17

"You know what makes me happy? It's friends." 

4/28/17

Luke farted in the car and the other kids laughed. Then I asked, "Ew who was that? Will?" 

"No." 

"Emma?"

"No."

Then Will chimed in, as if Emma needed more clarification, "Emma, are you sure? Did you feel a push out of your bum?"

4/28/17

While looking for the legos in one of his sets:

"Sometimes my brain is smarter than just myself."

"When I don't remember a piece my brain will just show me and then I find it!"

"I'm pretty much a smarty pants."

After he helped Emma set up some of her legos:

Will: "Here Emma, now Ariel can clean all of her weapons. And her house."

Emma: "But Ariel doesn't have any wipes."

Will: "Just pretend."

Emma: "Oh, otay!"

Mom (pointing to a pile of Lego jewels): "Are those Ariel's treasures?"

Emma (with a little snarl): "No! Dose are NOT her tweasures. Dose are her magic FINGS."

Will: "Yeah, those are her magic things for Ariel to take over the Lego city!"

*Will gasps*

Will: "I have to build all my Lego guy vehicles before Ariel comes and destroys the Lego city. She turns them all into girls!"

Emma shrugs: "She needs some more dirlfwends (girlfriends)..."

3/12/17

(In the tune of "Follow the Prophet") Follow the beetles! Follow the beetles! Follow the beetles! If you are a Jewish person!

3/2/17

When he had calmed down after a long, violent tantrum I hugged him and said, "It's okay Will, is it just hard to be 5?" Tearfully and so broken-hearted he responded, "Yeah, it was a lot easier to be 4." 

1/28/17

After we explained that we should change our underwear everyday Will says, "Okay. First thing I'm gonna do when I wake up: Breathe, put new underwear on, make myself toast."

1/7/17

Before dinner I told Will he and Emma could split a cookie after dinner. While they're eating, Emma says she doesn't want a cookie.

Will: "Can I have a whole cookie since Emma doesn't want one?"

Me: "No, you can still have a half."

Will: "Ok. How about we split it in half and I eat both pieces?" 

1/7/17

"When I get up to here (top of his head) and I'm full of food then everything goes down and then I get hungry again."

"Everything goes where?"

"Um... through my feet?"

12/30/16

Emma asked Will for help braiding her pony's hair and said, "It has to be beautiful." So Will says sweetly, "Okay, Emma. I will try to make it as beautiful as possible." 

12/11/16

I was having a whisper contest with Will (to try to get him to talk more quietly for a bit). Finally he says (in a normal voice): "Mom we should talk like Spanish."

Mom: "What does Spanish sound like?"

Will: "Like this. You just talk loud!"

Mom: "Oh really?"

Will: "Yeah."

Mom: "Where did you learn that?"

Will: "I just knowed."

Mom: "You just knew how to speak Spanish?"

Will: "Yeah, when I was a baby in your tummy I learneded!"

10/3/16

After having a tantrum, gagging on and spitting out his mandatory "try it" bite into the trash Will told meal  not to make food that he doesn't like. 

Will: "Just make a list of all the foods that I like."

Me: (trying to teach him that it's good to try new things by reminding him about the Chinese food he ate earlier that day) "But Will, remember earlier today at the restaurant you said, 'Mom, I tried it and I liked it!'?"

Will: "Yeah. Add that food to my list!"

Luke: 10 Things

1. Luke is a happy, sweet, but intense little boy. Everything seems to amaze him. Hitting a balloon? "Wooahh!" Christmas lights? "Woooah!" Mountain biking videos? "Ohh! Woah!" Football games? "GOOO! GOOO!" He just gets a lot of obvious joy out of little things.

2. He says very few actual words. He understands A LOT but most of his words sound about the same. So depending on context, facial expressions, and hand gestures we generally know what he's trying to say. For example, most of his favorite words are some variation of "ba". 

"ba" = ball or balloon

"baba" = football 

 "baba" + pointing up to the sky = airplane

"ba" + patting his bum = bum (or "Yes, Mom. I do have a stinky bum.") 

He also says:

"da" = done (along with a quasi sign language hands up off the table when he's done with his food)

"dada" = Dad

"dadah!" = Tada!

"a da" = all gone

"no" = no (or nose)

"go"

"woah"

"uh-oh"

"yeah!" = yay! or "I did it!"

"ow" (whenever he purposely bonks himself on the head with his hand)

"shhs" = shoes

Plus he has the cutest, raspy little voice when he talks.

3. He knows where his nose, ears, hair, head, tongue, belly button, and toes are.

4. Some of his tricks include: taking dishes to the sink, throwing trash in the trash can, getting a clean diaper, shutting doors, putting his shoes in the closet, going to his crib when it's nap time (if we've given him his milk, he won't go without it), shaking his head, jumping (with his feet firmly glued to the ground), sticking out his tongue when we ask him to make a silly face, and giving kisses and saying "Mmmma!"

5. When we tell him to laugh he throws back his head and says, "Ha! Ha!" When we tell him to Santa laugh he says, "Ho ho."

6. When he wants the food you're eating he'll come up to you and say, "Mm. Mm. Mmm!" and open up his mouth until you give him some. He also says it when he likes the food he's eating (which is pretty frequent--he loves food).

7. He wears size 7 shoes and clothes up to size 3T. (He's only 19 months, guys.)

8. He is SOOO ticklish. Neck, chin, cheeks, ears, chest, armpits, tummy, thighs, feet, and toes. He is ticklish everywhere and scream/laughs (loudly) every time you tickle him. He also likes to tickle his own toes and say, "Ti ti ti" and laugh.

9. When he does something cute or funny for other people he usually gets a big grin and brings both hands up to, over, or into his mouth while he laughs.

10. His favorite stuffed animal is a lemur from Africa he got from my parents for Christmas.

11. (bonus!) Mom is his definite favorite. Luckily he is just fine with Taylor (and they have lots of fun!) if I'm gone but if he can see me, he'll pretty much always choose me (unless Taylor just got home or just showed up where we are, otherwise it's pretty much always me). He also will pretty much only snuggle with me these days.

Scootering

For Christmas this year Emma and Will got razor scooters. It took a couple days for them to get the hang of it but now they are scootering experts and they LOVE it. We brought them up to St. George the week after Christmas and they kept asking when we could go out and ride scooters again. They especially loved this path by Grandma's house so they could go see the ducks. 

Emma couldn't quite make it all the way back. We saw the ducks and she decided she was too tired so Dad carried her for a bit, then we took a little break on a bench. I guess scootering is hard work when you're four. Taylor was a really good sport, considering he had been sick with the flu for a few days and was still recovering. Emma, your dad loves you a lot.

November 2017: Thanksgiving S'mores

Taylor's mom and stepdad redid their backyard a few months ago. They added a beautiful little waterfall, a grass area, a gazebo and a fire pit! The kids love it and they were SO excited to make s'mores when we went up for Thanksgiving break. I'm not sure how many they had but while the sugar rush lasted they sang songs for us, told us stories, and we all talked past (the kids') bedtime. I think it's safe to say they're big fans.

November 2017: San Diego Girls' Trip

In November I got to go spend four days (kidless) in San Diego with some of my college roommates and let me tell you, it was amazing. It wasn't just refreshing to have a weekend for myself (thank you, Taylor!) but also to have a weekend with these girls. I didn't realize how much I missed them in my life! We're all at varying stages of life/careers/kids/etc. and yet it was really easy to spend a weekend together catching up. It was so inspiring to me to see what all of us have been through and learned and experienced in the years since we've been roommates. Between the five of us we've served missions, went through family hardships, pursued additional education, started businesses, had several kids, travelled to and/or lived in cool places, changed career paths, have held all kinds of church callings, and have all kinds of different interests and hobbies. I'm so lucky to know each one of these girls.

Although we spent most of the weekend just talking and catching up, we also visited some San Diego sights: the beach at Coronado, the Mormon Battalion historical site, seaport village, another cool beach whose name I forget and a lighthouse. We got pedicures, went for walks, ate gelato, watched movies (In the middle of the day. Because we could.) and were pretty much constantly fed by Heather Breeze's parents (whose house we were staying at). I even managed to eat a lot of the food (along with pretty consistent, daily bagel-and-cream-cheese breaks) even though I was still at the tail end of morning sickness.

I also managed to schedule this girls' trip right on the same weekend as our kids' primary program. Oops. I didn't want to miss Emma's first one so while I was trying to figure out logistics, one of my roommates offered to come with me. So Becky and I drove up from San Diego in the morning, watched Will and Emma in the primary program, and drove back to San Diego after the program to finish up our weekend. It was a bit of a long day but it worked out. The whole trip was so worth it. I love these girls.

We saw a submarine going out to sea (which I thought was pretty cool!).