I'll watch your kids while you watch hers

Jana's sister, Kara, was recently diagnosed with M.S. and she has been trying to figure out how to manage/deal with her symptoms and change her eating habits and overall, she was just needing some extra hands on deck to help her and her young family during this time. My kids had just finished their online coursework for the end of the COVID school year, so while Jana was away, the kids and I went to play. We got to stay in Utah with Brad and the kids for a week. Jana and Daylen came home on day 4 and we had a wonderful time visiting their family as usual. 

 Sage really wanted to play with the big kids at the skate park. She hasn't quite figured out bikes, scooters, or skateboards, but she had plenty of fun just jumping off the ramps with Uncle Brad.

 The kids made little pouches to take on our "Nature Walk" near the reservoir. They found shells, leaves, and cool rocks to add to their little bags. I suppose most of those bags will end up in the garbage (which I am perfectly fine with) but it was a fun project to do with them and a great excuse to get outside and explore.

 Brooks-10 and Tucker-7 were great entertainment for my kids as well as the neighborhood. I think they may have even rode their bikes around the block like this. Funny boys!

 We had to watch Sage like a Hawk. She was always getting into something she shouldn't and this time she got into her cousin's "drawers".

 Jana's twins do not love to get their hair done. I stopped asking "if" I could do their hair and started asking "HOW" I could do their hair. Cowgirl hair was the winner every time!

We haven't really worn masks throughout this quarentine/coronavirus, but we just so happened to have one in the car and it came in super handy on the way to/from Utah. :)

When we came home Ty was ready for us with a fire in the fire pit and burgers on the grill...I think next bbq will require a new camp chair.

My favorite Easter. EVER!

Each year Easter comes and I start to feel this internal turmoil. I have this longing to make our traditions more centered on the Savior but I don't know how to transition to spiritual from fun. Several years ago we were visited by the "Easter-bunnysaurus" (a pre-historic bunny/dinosaur) and Tyrel had the kids so convinced that he was chased by that thing, that they were terrified to go outside to search for their hidden giant Easter Bunnysaurus eggs. It was an absolute hit and a tradition our family will do for all of the Easters to come. It is so much fun and the kids look forward to it every year, but every year I still felt like we were missing the mark--that we needed much more.

I happened upon *this article and was inspired to change/add to our Easter traditions THIS year.

(*Mercy River is a LDS music group and I am a huge fan of their music--some of their songs have spoken to my heart and brought peace at pivotal moments in my life. I have felt nearer to my Savior many times that I have listened...as if they are singing my own thoughts and prayers.)

So, I set out to introduce Holy Week to my children. We had previously listened to General Conference and several speakers referred to Palm Sunday and left them wondering,

"What is this Palm Sunday?" 

Each day, starting with Palm Sunday, we read scripture verses, sang songs, watched videos, and did an activity to learn about the final week of the Savior's life. 

Palm Sunday: Christ's Trimphal Entry

We made Palm Leaves and each of the kids took turn acting out different parts of the the story of Christ coming into Jerusalem and being revered as the King, as his followers waved their palm leaves and shouted, "Hosanna!" Waving palm leaves was fun, but riding the donkey (dad) was their favorite. Our story may have ended in a donkey pile, but it was a joyous evening shouting praises to our Savior. 

 Mad Monday: Christ Cleanses the Temple
After reading the story of Christ overturning tables, casting out the money changers, and exercising righteous anger--we, naturally, had to act out the story. Mason was selling goods (food, animals, jewelry), Ivan was purchasing things, and Tyson.....

came in, exercised righteous anger, and overturned the table--so hard that it smacked mason in the face-- (we secretly told him to do this, so the other boys were very surprised!)

 Of course they had to act this scene out several times again.

Teaching Tuesday:Christ teaches the people in parables
Each of the boys read a parable that Christ taught. They then drew a picture and taught it to the family in their own words.
Ivan: Parable of the Ten Virgins
Tyson: Parable of the Widow's Mite
Mason: Parable of "The Least of These"
They each shared a simple version of what they learned in the scriptures, but my favorite part about this happened about a week later when Tyson heard the scripture Matthew 25:40 quoted in a talk and he said, "Mason taught us that parable!" Just when I begin to wonder if they're actually retaining anything...I see that our efforts are not in vain.

Spy Wednesday: Judas Betrays Jesus
The kids had a little bit of a hard time with this lesson. They asked things like,
"If Judas was Jesus's friend, why would he betray him?"
"Didn't he believe Jesus? If he did, how could he go against Jesus like this?"
We talked about how people have many different temptations and how sometimes good people make bad choices--and when they/we do that, Christ loves us so much that he will still reach out his hand and heal us.

Ivan and the twins each cut out 10 pieces of "silver" because Judas betrayed his friend, for 30 pieces of silver.

Passover Thursday: Christ eats the Passover meal with his Apostles (The Last Supper)
On Wednesday night, we watched "Prince of Egypt" and talked about the origins of the Passover feast to get them ready for Thursday. We made unleavened bread and even milled our own flour! We ate fish, honeycomb (cereal), grape juice, olives, raisins, and our unleavened bread) I forgot to take a picture that day--but sage decorated a sheep picture with cotton balls and we found a picture of the last supper to add to our Holy Week wall.

Good Friday: We chose to participate in what President Nelson called a "Worldwide Fast". Fasting for 24 hours has not been something our family has done regularly so it was kind of a big deal. In fact, the last time we fasted as a family for 24 hours was for my mom when she had a deep infection in her big toe and had the possibility of amputation --thank goodness for miracles and modern medicine. Her toe has healed beautifully and she still has all of her appendages!

Back to Good Friday...
My kids kept asking why we had to fast and I would remind them that they didn't HAVE to but that we were trying to be obedient and follow the prophet. But after learning about what Christ endured on that Good Friday, fasting felt so minuscule, so effortless. The kids thought about the pain that Jesus suffered for them. We certainly didn't eliminate all of the whining through hunger pains, but they were definitely more willing and focused after discussing the Savior's painful death. 
For our activity that day we wrote our names our names on strips of paper and then pieced them together to make a cross. We discussed what it meant that Christ died for each of us and how He knows us individually. It was a pretty powerful lesson.

Spirit World Saturday:
We talked about how Christ's work did not finish as soon as he died, but that he immediately went to work in the Spirit World. We explained how that work continues and we can be apart of it as we do family history work or go to the temple.  We had intentions of visiting the temple that day, but time and weather did not permit, so we chased the clues the Easter-bunnysaurus left instead.

Easter Sunday:
It was a beautiful spring day to reflect on the resurrection of the Savior. The sun was bright but so deceptive...we ventured up to the Rexburg, ID temple in our new Sunday best, to be outside long enough for the camera shutter to open and close. Brrrr!! It was only 30* with typical Rexburg winds, so the dreamy, perfect family photos at the temple that I envisioned turned out like this...

Holy Week was a hit. A new favorite tradition. It was meaningful and powerful. Each of us felt a closer connection to Jesus Christ. We found joy in little things and loved learning together. For me--this felt like the gaps in our Easter traditions were filled and were overflowing with goodness.

I believe in Christ. I love Him. It breaks my heart that Christ had to suffer excruciating pain and inhumane torture, but I am so grateful that he did. I am so grateful that he endured not only the pain of death, but that he also felt betrayal, humiliation, disappointment, fear, loneliness, sorrow, rejection, heartache, etc... so that he can know perfectly what we feel in each of our trials. I believe that He felt those things to have perfect empathy and understanding to advocate to Father in our behalf. Just as He is able to feel our pains and sorrows, I know he knows/feels our joys and happiness as well. I am so grateful for Father's plan that allows me to return to Him even in my imperfections, because of this loving man: My Friend, My Brother, My Savior, Jesus Christ.

Spring brings new life!

For far too long, I have felt a little lost. I have spent a lot of time feeling overwhelmed (by everything) and  have been very unmotivated. I have spent years feeling that I was missing passion, purpose, and really confused my priorities. My husband would often encourage me to pursue a hobby but I was genuinely convinced that I didn't have time or energy for a hobbies...as in thinking things like, "I am a mom, therefore, I only have time for my family. There is only enough time/energy in a day for food, laundry, homework, cleaning and nothing else." As I write that, it makes me cringe! That is crazy sauce and a lie I have believed for far too long. Well, I am SO grateful that after a long, dark winter (as in almost 7 years) there is a beautiful renewal of life, a change in weather, and a promise of warmth and light: Spring.

This Spring has brought new life. It has brought some hope, peace, clarity, and has already been so refreshing to my soul. Something has changed in me--specifically in the last few weeks. I feel happier and more motivated. I have felt closer to the Savior and actually felt the Spirit speak to me. I do want to dissect and reflect on what has brought about the change, because it truly feels so good, and I am so grateful, but for now (in my limited window of time this morning) I will just document a few photos of our recent memories. We are currently under "stay at home" orders because of the world-wide pandemic: Coronavirus. That means that my kids are home from school, my husband is teaching/working from home, and we only go out in public for necessities (which so far has been about 1 time per week to the grocery store). We take the kids outside to play when we can but we are supposed to be "social distancing" and not interacting with other friends/neighbors/associates in the same space. I know this presents some challenges but I have to admit that I am loving this "forced" family time. We are having school and church at home. We are working and learning together. We are not busy with school, sports, friends, and church activities. We have time to work on projects. We have time to read. We have time to walk together or jump on the trampoline together. I am so grateful for this "social distancing" and I know I'm going to miss it when it's over! 

 The kids made boats from recycled materials (bottles, jugs, skewers, etc..) and we tried to race them down a canal. This early in spring made it difficult to find a small canal with easy access and flowing water. It was cold and still fun, but we look forward to improving our boats and trying again in a few weeks.

Ty and I have had the much needed time to organize some of our home space. For years he and I have shared my office space as his hobby room and my office. Now I have my own office/craft/sewing room and I couldn't be happier about it. Ty's stuff is all nicely organized and put away in his game room (and currently his office).

We try to take advantage of all of the nice moments of weather that we can. It was chilly, but it wasn't snowing, so we headed out to the local golf course to hunt for golf balls. We were out for about an hour and we found 96 golf balls! Just as we left it started to rain/snow again. The kids have been using the golf balls to play math games, and they can't wait until we can go out and hit a bucket of balls at the park!

The kids have missed being able to go school, stores, theaters, and restaurants. We had a contest to guess the number of golf balls we found (before we counted them). The closest guess won a date with mom. Tyson was the winner with a guess of 90 golf balls. Just he and I snuck away to Family Dollar where he picked foam disc shooters and a twix candy bar. We shared a twix, found an open soccer field where we chased and shot each other with foam discs, then came home to play basketball and video games together. Before he went to bed I heard him say it was "The. Best. Day. Ever!" I have to agree, Tyson. It was a pretty amazing day!

There is a lot more spontaneous family fun in our life right now. Yesterday, Ty and I took the kids to get free lunch from the school (the school district has been providing free lunch/breakfast for the kids since they have been out of school). The sun was shining and it was a BEAUTIFUL day...a perfect day for picnic! After lunch, I remembered that we randomly had a deflated giant beach ball and a pump in the car...so we blew it up for an exciting P.E. experience. We hit, kicked, chased, and even rolled with that 6ft. beach ball. So many laughs and squeals....it was music to my ears!

Homeschool is hard and stressful and our table often looks like this...but I actually LOVE it. I just wish we weren't trying to school the way the the teachers are having us school right now (A LOT of worksheets) but I am grateful for their support and direction during this unexpected stay at home order. 

My man, Mason

I just found this little gem that I wrote and never published. Enjoy!

Let me introduce you to my buddy, Mason...

Mason is a thinker and already at two years old, he has a very active imagination. Today after insisting that we take his pumpkin for a walk, I witnessed  him trying to teeter-totter with that cute little thing. He has a twin brother, he shouldn't need a pumpkin buddy, but he absolutely does NEED a silent little friend that he can tote around and play with in his own way.

Mason is an observer. He could just watch for hours and take it all in and the next thing you know he's doing it himself because he's already figured it out. I think we'll let him change the next flat tire ;)

Mason does things in his own way and own time. Tyson potty trained at 2 1/2 and Mason insists that the potty seat makes a better hat than a bum cushion.

Mason is a lover. Almost every morning and afternoon, I get to see this cute smile after he wakes up. He always finds me and says, "Hi, MOM!" and crawls up in my arms. We'll cuddle for a few minutes and then he'll go about his business, but he really needs that snuggle time. It helps him function throughout the day.

Mason is STUBBORN. This kid can be a stick in the mud. I'm realizing that many of his fits and tantrums have mostly been because I didn't listen or understand what he was trying to communicate. If I can figure out what he's saying and let him think that what I want him to do is his idea, he and I can get along brilliantly...otherwise, we butt heads a little bit.

 Speaking of butt heads (ha...I made a funny!)...check out the butt cream on this little dudes head :)

Mason has some crazy natural endurance. We decided this summer to start practicing hiking with some weight on our backs in hopes of getting ready to go backpacking next summer. Mason was a little hiking champ. He almost walked the entire 2 miles with his backpack on and was able to keep up at a pretty decent pace. He can hardly stand to be in a stroller or carried anymore...if he sees other people walking or running, he wants to be moving too.

 Mason is SOOOOO stinkin' cute! When he's smiling and happy, so is everyone around him!

We're fairly certain that sometimes Mason secretly wishes that he was a singleton baby. He and Tyson are FINALLY getting to where they enjoy one another and play together (for the first 2 years of their lives, they were mostly just upset that the other was in their space or getting attention from mom/dad), but Mason really needs one on one time. He will wait for Tyson to fall asleep just so he can be rocked. Or he'll wake up in the night and just want to snuggle. He would sit on my lap and read books all day long if he didn't have to share my lap with anyone else. He wants to be close to mom and dad...again, on his terms, but its pretty obvious that its frustrating sharing everything with his twin brother. From the time he was about 4 months old we have had the boys sleep in separate beds because Mason needed that time and space alone. He loves Tyson, but I've just kind of always had the feeling that Heavenly Father needed them to come together, and Mason didn't love that idea. I think that we just need to be sensitive to his needs and make sure he gets positive attention when he's alone and when he's with his brothers.

"little moments"

My three year olds have learned one knock knock joke and they say it about 20 times a day. They think they are the funniest people on the planet.

Knock, Knock.
Who's there?
Interrupting Cow.
Interrupting cow wh...
MOOOO!

Also, Im sure this is one of those moments that will get funnier with time, but after running downstairs to change the laundry, I returned upstairs to a quiet kitchen (quiet and twins are never a good combination) to find my little boys' hands and faces covered in peanut butter. Yes, they took the lid off and dug right in. Mason was trying to lick and wipe off his peanut buttery mess while Tyson proceeded to try to clean the peanut butter up with toilet paper. WHAT A MESS...I mean, how adorable!

Sayin' Hi to Jesus

before breakfast Tyson was asked to say the prayer. His prayer went something like this...

Tyson: "Heavenly Father, thank you for Jesus. Thank you for Ivan and mason. Thank you for daddy and mommy."

Me: "Tyson, say thank you for our food."

Tyson: (very offended that I interrupted) "Mom! I'm saying 'hi' to Father and Jesus. Thank you for going to church. AMEN"

This morning I am so grateful for a little boy that reminds me to just say 'thank you' and 'hi' to Father and Jesus.

Who needs pants anyways?

Just the other day at the grocery store, Tyson had to go potty (Tyson is potty trained, Mason isn't yet). We asked Ivan to help him so we could grab the last few things on our list and head up to the front of the store. Just as we were approaching the check out stand I hear a little excited voice behind me say, "MOM, I WENT PEE!". I then turned around to see my delighted little 2 year old running toward me with nothing but his birthday suit on!

Oh dear, I apparently need to teach my toddlers about the appropriate times to be naked; running through the store naked, definitely not appropriate :) My first reaction was to pretend the naked child wasn't mine, but I just couldn't help but laugh. These two definitely keep things real and entertaining around here. Our lives would be kinda dull without all of their silly adventures!!