Hiking with the Fam

Troy and Melissa started the tradition of hiking South Mtn on Sunday mornings and my boys have been really loving it. I love it too. Hubey is missing from this picture - but he is often a part of the clan. Parker prays before most of our meals and there are some things that always make it into his prayers - everyday for weeks he thanks God that we get to go hiking with Uncle Troy and Aunt Lissa and thanks God that Uncle Matt carries him down on his shoulders. He did get a ride down with Matt one time - but Parker really holds his own. I'm so proud of him. We've never carried him "up", only down to save time. Some of those steps are really huge when you are only three feet tall! He tells me he is Grandma's hiking buddy because she is usually willing to hang with him and go at his pace (which is a bit slow sometimes:) I also love to watch TJ hike - he loves it and always looks so very proud of himself when he gets to the top. I don't know if Davis loves it as much as P - he just loves hanging with all the boys . . . but he pretends . . for me:)

Should I have four more ?????

Should I have four more . . . NO! But we had a very successful first run at a Johnson/Filleman sleep over. My sister had plans before our husbands made plans to go meet Clayton in Las Vegas this weekend so I suggested the kids come here and you would not believe how smooth it was to get them all in bed. Evie Grace and Grayson slept up stairs and all five other boys slept downstairs. None of them got baths or anything, but I had five sleeping boys within 30 minutes of laying them in their beds which felt like a victory for sure! My boys are still talking about how fun it was to have them sleep over. AND for old times sake my baby sis came back to spend the night with me so I didn't have to be home alone either!! Yeah for little sisters :)

Waffles in the morning for b-fast

No joke, Eli is one of Grayson's FAVORITE people on the planet - "Eeee-yi" is even one of his only five words that he can say and he yells it the whole time he is in Eli's presence. Eli is super sweet to him and happy to play with him - Grayson beams the whole time!

Logan wore Woody jammies over here and Parker was so excited. He called him "Woody" all night and Parker wore his Buzz Lightyear wings around until I took them off for bed.

It should also be said that I would do just about anything for my niece and I believe she might have gotten old enough to figure that out. First of all, she loves me (at least, I choose to believe that:) When I laid her in bed she started to cry - which I have never heard - so naturally I picked her up, took her out with me and held her for a while until trying to lay her down again later. I must have "sucker for babies" written all over me in words all small children can understand! Oh well, it is my job as an aunt, right? Thanks for sleeping over boys - it was so much fun. I love these kids!

Happy Birthday Davis

I think I say this every year, but Davis' birthday is a particularly special holiday to me too because it the anniversary of the day God made me a mom and the memory of that will always be so overwhelmingly special to me. But . . on to the other thing we celebrate on January 28th, our precious, oldest son! I keep this blog because trying to come up with memories of the entire last year would be next to impossible for me. These are the things that stand out in my mind about this year. We started an at-home preschool program with Davis and it has been my privilege to watch him grow in the learning process. I was just telling my mom that when Anne Stirber introduced me to "phonemic awareness" stuff it seemed like Davis had no idea what we were doing and now he is breaking apart words/putting together words himself and has recently started sounding out words in books by himself (just in the last couple days). So cool to watch their minds grow and learn new things! Davis has also initiated a lot of very cool conversations in the last couple of weeks about spiritual things and I am always grateful for the chance to tell him what I know is true and trust God to hide it in his heart. He is really interested in understanding the differences in God's Word when it talks about God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. He has also talked a lot about "the children of God", making that connection from what he learned about Israelites in BSF last year to understanding who are "God's people" now. He has finished such conversations, on many occasions, saying that he loves God and wants to be his child too. We pray everyday that God would do that work in his heart. While some things has grown and changed, some things only stay the same :) This kid LOVES tools, any tool or anything he can make into a tool. A couple months ago Mark let him help him hammer and staple gun four stakes together to make a square that Davis then turned into a doorframe and added a piece of cardboard to make a door. His mind his very methodical but he can also be very creative. I would say his other favorite activity, hands down, is digging a hole. Our side yard is a dangerous place to walk in the dark! He is a great big brother. If someone asks him if he wants to do something - he always mentions that his brothers should get to come along too. I think he really sees he and them as a package deal and I love to watch that relationship develop between the brothers. While he can be very "firstborn" about 'directing' them (I have a lot of compassion for this quality in him:) I know that he often does it with good intention. He really loves his brothers and cares for them in a sweet way. I love this kid SO much I don't even have words. He is a joy of my life and I am so thankful for him. My boy loves me back and I am glad for that. He told me on his birthday, "I'm five but I'll never stop being your baby boy". Makes me cry just to type it. Okay, I'm done :) Happy Birthday Davis! Mommy and Daddy love you so much.

Davis' Special Day

For Davis' fifth birthday, I wanted him to feel very celebrated and special even though we had some regular "day-to-day" stuff on the agenda. Our day of fun started with Bosa donuts before BSF on Thursday morning

TJ and Logan came too - so fun

Then we went to lunch at PPP after BSF - don't worry - Davis and Parker are having a birthday party that is a little more put together than this last minute luncheon - we are waiting for the AK fam to get here!!

Davis and E at PPP

Blowing at candles on his birthday cupcakes from Grammie

After naps - Daddy took everyone to Fuddruckers to have dinner together - Fudd's is a favorite for Davis and was his pick. Of course I forgot to take pictures of that outing. I think he had a very fun day. He has been talking about his upcoming birthday for weeks so I think he had really built it up in his mind. When I tucked him into bed I asked him what was the best part of his day, he said "The whole thing because it is my special day". Then he said, "I don't really FEEL like I'm five though". (What do you mean buddy?) "Like, I didn't feel myself grow or get bigger or weigh more - I don't think I got any bigger today." I guess deep down I wish he didn't get any bigger too :( but I'm always mindful, at times like birthdays, how grateful I am that God has protected him and kept him healthy.

Brotherly Love :)

I have always thought it would be nice to have the boys pick out birthday presents for each other and this year was the first year that I thought it would really work and reciprocate. (After all, this time last year Parker was ONE turning two . . . could that be right? in fact it is . . crazy!) Anyhow, I took Parker to the store the night before Davis' birthday so that it would be close enough that there was a potential of him keeping a secret. I thought it would be super, super hard to get him to focus on picking something fun for someone ELSE and not for himself. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that not only did Parker 'get it' right away, but he was really into it. He walked up and down the isles for a long time trying to find something Davis would really love. It was just so precious to me how excited he was to pick something for Davis and how he never mentioned one time getting something for himself. In the morning when Davis woke up, Parker came running upstairs to find his gift - he was SO excited to give him his Nerf ball blaster. This is a picture of the two of them right after Davis opened his gift and I think you can see in his face how proud Parker was of his gift to his big Bro! I'm just not sure they make 'em much sweeter than Parker!

Late Christmas in Duncan

We took a late trip to Duncan to celebrate Christmas one more time with family there.  Unfortunately I failed once again at having the camera out very much at Gram Boyd's house and didn't get any pictures with her but we got to spend the second day with Great Grandma Jeanette and I managed to have the camera out that day!

It was so, so, so cold there.  The low was 16 degrees and the high was about 42 degrees - waaaaaay to cold for this desert rat!  The boys stayed warm enough to play outside and I was warm enough when I could wear Mark's ski jacket.  I'm a baby, I know!  They could play out in the dirt outside all day long and never get bored.



After lunch with GG we got the boys treats at a cute ice cream/fountain shop.  It had a pretty bar with stools and the whole bit.  The boys thought it was pretty fun.  Davis ordered root beer and Parker and Grayson both had ice cream.  The hit of the stop was the balloons they received from the lady at the shop.



It was a quick but great trip!