Sweet Words

The sweet voices of little boys . . . is there anything better than that?  The best thing about this electronic journal is that maybe I will be able to remember them later.

Something I have always intended to write down is the way Davis has always said "Callipitter" (Caterpillar).  It is just so cute to me, so I have never corrected it.  I hope it sticks around for a long time.

Parker loves Evie.  He calls her "baby Ebee".  He talks about her all the time.  

I think Davis is "that" kid . . .

You know the cliche kid in the movies or cartoons that always has a frog or a lizard in his pocket (think Old Yeller) . . . I think Davis is "that" kid.  He has always liked finding any kind of creature and lately he wants to KEEP everything he finds.  Just so far this week he has asked to keep a grasshopper, some kind of beetle looking bug,  and a handful of snails.  I wasn't a blogger back in 2006, but when Davis was just barely walking at about 14 months he was chasing a lizard in our driveway and it scurried under my car.  He started to crawl under the car and I thought "go ahead buddy - you will probably just get stuck under there - that lizard is long gone".  You can imagine how SHOCKED I was when he came out from under the car with the lizard in his hand.  Anyway - that is just Davis.  

So Sunday night is when he found the snails in the flower bed at church.  I told him to put them down and didn't think twice about it.  I found out today (Tuesday!) that the snails were still in our company.  I don't know where he has had them stashed for the last two days, but here they are.  So I had him put them in a cup with some wet dirt thinking that after two some where other than dirt they were probably dead in their shells anyway.  Tonight after cleaning the kitchen I noticed that they were all alive and clinging to the outside of the paper cup eating it . . .ugh . . . slimey  . . feelers out . . yuck!!!  It is just too much for me.  Thankfully I had the good sense to put the whole cup in a ziploc earlier so they are contained - but still grossing me out.  My crazy little boy would be heartbroken if I got rid of them in the middle of the night, so I guess they will stay at least until morning.  Then I will try to convince him that it is a good idea to release them to the wild. 

Glimpses of God's grace

I am always overflowing with thankfulness to see small glimpses of my boys' heart possibly softened by the Holy Spirit.  Davis can say several verses and we can engage in pretty good conversations about the stories or verses that we are learning.  While those things are great and I know the importance of giving him a foundation of Biblical knowledge, I am most aware of God working in our family when I see my boys apply something or initiate something themselves.  Davis was very, very sick a couple of nights ago.  I had been sitting with him and he was throwing up about every fifteen minutes so he couldn't get settled enough to fall asleep even though he was very tired.  He rolled over in his bed and said something that I didn't understand the first time.  He said again, "Don't you think you could pray to Jesus and ask him to help me to feel better".  It was so sweet to me that he thought on his own to turn to Jesus in prayer when he felt horrible.  When he felt better in the morning he remembered and said, "Jesus answered my prayer and now I feel better"!  Praise God for an opportunity to see Him glorified.

I have also seen both boys being very considerate to each other.  (It goes without saying that they can also be quite the opposite) but almost everyday I see them, on their own, decide to share with each other when they know it would make the other one happy.  Davis fell down earlier today and Parker saw him crying so he brought him the new ball that Mark had just bought for Parker that morning.  Parker knew Davis wanted it earlier and was so happy to give it to him when he saw that he was sad.  Sweet brothers.  It would be my desire that they would come to know Jesus as their Savior and encourage one another in their faiths.  

Grayson's Pictures

Our very sweet little boy at 8 months old

We had pictures taken of Grayson and I have cried watching the dvd slideshow several times now.  I just love that little baby so much and am grateful to have pictures to remember all of the sweet expressions that I get to see everyday.  There are so many great pictures of him that I have trouble choosing my favorites.  Photographer's blog has a slide show:  one3photography.blogspot.com

(Might as well throw in an update)  To copy my friend, he sat in a grocery cart front seat for the first time about a week ago.  It used to be most convenient to put the other two boys in the cart and wear Grayson in a sling - but he is getting a little heavy for that now.  He is super close to crawling but not doing it yet.  He can get around though and get to just about anything he has his eye on.  This has resulted in several head injuries every day.  He wants to be mobile so bad and inevitably face-plants or falls over in his efforts to get faster.  The worst fall to date was a dive out of the wagon into my planter of flowers that I was working in.  I felt horrible - he had dirt in his mouth, eyes and nose - yuck!  He enjoys almost all of his baby food but he LOVES yogurt.  He'd eat it for every meal if I would let him.  He also seems to prefer a toy car over any of his baby toys.  I can put twenty of his toys around him and he will squiggle and pull himself around until he can get to his brothers' cars.  I love this baby SOOOO much!

Easter Celebrations (Part 3)

Easter morning our church had a service outside at Tempe Town Lake.  It was so nice to be with our church family and sing praises outside on such a beautiful, cool morning.  In this picture, our pastor was reading the Easter story to all the kids - so many little kids around him listening to the story.  We sang one of my favorite songs:

"Now the daylight flees, Now the ground beneath, Quakes as its Maker bows His head.  Curtain torn in two, Dead are raised to life; 'Finished' the victory cry.  This the power of the cross.  Christ became sin for us.  Took the blame, bore the wrath, we stand forgiven at the cross!"  There is something about the reality of what a quake it must have been to have men crucifying their Creator - I can't even get my mind around it.  Truly - the power of the cross and the amazing forgiveness our Amazing Savior!!  After a great service, it was off to my Aunt and Uncle's house for a yummy spread of food and more egg hunting!!  (I think the count was three egg hunts this year :)

Cute Grayson with a basket of eggs

Our attempt at a family picture - the boys looked so handsome

Davis and my Gram

Grayson and my Dad

The boys sorting eggs and checking out their candy - Parker loves candy!!!

Parker and Logan - good buddies.

TJ, Davis and E

The clan getting ready to run and find their eggs

Easter Celebrations (Part 2)

Easter Morning at our house.  

Easter morning the boys look at their Easter baskets 

And Davis got some boots in his basket - had to do it!

Could only look at baskets for a minute because we had to hurry, hurry to get ready for an early 8 am service with our church at Tempe Town Lake.

Easter Celebrations (Part 1)

Easter festivities started on Saturday morning with brunch at Buzz and Billie's house.

The boys picked up baskets with their names on them at the front door and got to look for eggs as soon as we got inside.  It was randomly raining pretty hard all day on Saturday so the egg hunt had to move indoors.  Good thing Parker is prepared with his rain boots :)  (He just got those boots last week and he won't take them off.  Davis is dying for some . . . )

Every time Parker finds an egg, "Yeah, I got one, I win, Yahoo!!!"

Grammie and G

What is that thing Davis is holding you might ask????  Oh that is our new pet.  Yes, my boys got a pet for Easter from their Grandparents.  If you know me at all you know I was freaking out a little (sorry Billie) but the boys love it and it is pretty fascinating.  It is one of those 'ecosystem' aquariums that is supposed to pretty much take care of itself.  It has two little frogs inside and a snail.  Those are our pets - and probably the closet thing my boys will ever have to a dog :)

Granddad and Grayson

Seder Dinner

Eli praying for the kids table - so sweet to me.

Dipping the bitter herbs in the salt water.

Opening the three cloths to find the unbroken unleavened bread inside.

 

My mom likes to make a Seder dinner.  It is something she has done different variations of since I was little.  I really appreciate her continuing this tradition for my boys - even though it is kind of chaotic in this season of life.  This year was especially cool because when I was talking to Davis about it beforehand he could put some of the pieces together in his mind after his lessons on the Life of Moses study at BSF.  I was reminded in my BSF notes recently that a foundation of scripture knowledge is a foundation God can use on which to build their faith.  I am grateful for all opportunities to plant those seeds of Scripture knowledge.  Eli is fascinated with the "chair for Elijah".  It cracks me up - he is sure it should be for him.  

Catching Up

Baseball season officially started last week.  The D-Backs aren't off to the best start but I have hope for them.  Mark loves baseball and it often sets a tone in our house during the season.  The boys already "pretend" to like seeing it on t.v. - especially Parker (of course).  He cheers anytime anyone hits the ball - our team or the others.  I like this picture but I also posted it because Davis just looks so big in this picture to me.

Trying so hard - Grayson spends most of his time in this position trying so hard to move.  He totally has the leg scoot part down but can not figure out how to get his arms moving.  This means he mostly just moves backward.  It is crazy how much this kid want to be on the move.  I might have my hands full.

I love bath time.  It is one of my favorite times of the day.  I love how happy they are to splash in the water.  I love how it can put them in a good mood even if the moods have started to go downhill toward evening time.  I love how them smell so clean (they can definitely be stinky little boys).  And I love to snuggle them in their towels.  I have wanted a bath tub picture for a long time but it is hard with all three of them in the tub - and I am afraid to take my hand off of Grayson for even a minute.  G LOVES to be in the water, splashing with his brothers.  He gets an excited little laugh the whole time I am undressing him to get him in the water.  (Thanks for the towel Aunt April:)

Randomness

Parker:

We were playing puzzles on the floor together with a shapes puzzle.  On the shapes he couldn't name, he would say "Now what is this one mom?" (like he was quizzing me) I would

 say, "It's a heart".  Parker would then say, "Yes, yes, right mom right".  He was cracking me up.

He points at ALL pictures of babies - t.v., computer, old pictures in our house of the boys - and he says "My baby Evie".  His voice just sounds so precious saying that over and over.

If I had it my way, Parker would have a MOP of white hair.  I had not cut his hair in almost 9 months and I thought it looked awesome.  Mark however did not think that it looked good.  He said Parker looked like the Grandpa on "Everybody Loves Raymond".  I finally consented and decided to submit :)  and take Parker for a haircut.  I tried to leave it a little long but he doesn't have enough for a pony anymore and the long hair that hung over his ears is gone.  I agree - he looks cute - how could he not though seriously!!

Grayson:

He is all over the place these days.  He can squirm and scoot his way almost anywhere on the floor.  I feel like he is going to crawl any day now but just when I say that he won't crawl for months.  It is so cute to me that he leans and pulls to get down and move in the direction of the boys.  He wants to be with them so badly.  He knows his brothers :)

I just 'sprung' the jumper thing out of the closet.  G loves it.  He jumps all over and loves the lights and song.  He is loving it more than either of the other two boys.  Gotta love it when you continue getting your money's worth out of those entertainers!!  (Thanks Daddy and Mom)

Davis:

He really loves bugs.  He likes to find bugs and put them in his bug house and give them leaves in their little homes.  He caught a grasshopper today and was repeatedly begging Mark to let him keep it inside as his pet.  Mark kept telling him "no" and he wasn't willing to accept that answer.  Finally Mark told him, he is a small grasshopper and probably still needs his mommy - you wouldn't want to keep him from his mommy would you?"  (a cheap shot for sure)  Davis told me later, "I HAD to let that bug be with his mommy!!".  

Davis with his Grasshopper

Davis was beside himself excited to see his new cousin.  He was asking to go to the Johnsons' house relentlessly.  When we finally took them dinner last night, he took one look at Evie (and while he still is excited about her) he realized that she was too little to play with right now and was off and running with E and TJ.  I think he was expecting a little "girl" and not a baby.

Earlier today Davis woke up from his nap in a horrible mood!!  This happens occasionally but I was getting ready and couldn't sit with him/"snuggle" to help improve the wake-up funk.  This only makes the mood much worse.  He eventually improved and we ate dinner with some friends.  When he was getting ready to get in the tub tonight he said, (completely unprompted and many hours later) Hey mom, you know when I woke up earlier . . . I had a really bad attitude . . . that was not okay and I'm sorry."  He then went and said the same thing to Mark.  I think it is the first time he has ever really confessed anything and apologized undirected.  I'm so grateful for glimpses of God's grace in his life.  

My Beautiful NIECE!!!

Evelyn Grace

My amazing, beautiful sister and her little girl!!

Meeting her brothers - Eli was shouting "We got a girl, we got a girl" over and over - so cute - Eli loves babies just like his Daddy

The whole clan - Evie has no idea what she is getting herself into

I was so happy to meet my beautiful little niece this morning.  Evelyn Grace was born about 12:40 today and was 7 lbs 15 oz (I think - it was kind of chaotic).  My brother-in-law Troy thought it would be funny to say that it was a boy first and then . . . April Fool's . . . it is a little girl.  Not so funny Troy - so sorry about the weird FB post.  Not my idea - Troy's idea.  

Anyway, she is precious and Melissa did amazing (no surprise there).  She looked so happy - the pure joy that I always see on her face when she finally gets to hold her little baby.  Troy, of course, seemed thrilled also.  I don't know if anyone was as verbally excited as Eli.  He could hardly contain his excitement.