Brother Time

It is really fun doing what I get to do.  Witnessing what I get to witness on a daily basis.  Watching little boys grow up, and developing a strong brotherly bond.  This post is dedicated to them.  

On a Sunday afternoon.  I was trying to take a nap.  It didn't work.  It turned into a "selfie" session.

Bennett loves Theo a lot, but he really adores his little 9 month old cousin Norah, whom he's never even met in person.

Yesterday morning I was laying in bed with Bennett in the morning.  Max brought Theo into us.  Bennett excitedly greeted him.  "Good morning baby!  Did you sleep good?  You are so cute! ....I love Norah."  Theo smiled at him with admiration the whole time, and was not offended at all.

It's too much to have 3 little boys into the bath at once.  We usually get Theo out pretty fast, add a bit more water to the tub, and then Harrison jumps in and joins Bennett.  Recently Theo has not liked this plan so much.  He wants to be in the tub with brothers playing.  We have a hard time keeping him away.

Bennett trying really hard to keep Theo in the picture with him.  It doesn't always work out.

I really love that these three all have an apron, and want to help me bake.  This usually happens on a Sunday afternoon.  Here we are making Strawberry Muffins.

  

I've posted stories and videos on here before about Harrison singing songs.  He's been singing a lot to Theo lately.  I captured this recently.  He came in as I was cuddling with Theo, and about to go lay him down.  He wanted to sing him to sleep.  I told him he could try, and he did pretty well.  Theo was actually laying down, and starting to fall asleep, until the song got a bit too up beat.  This video makes me laugh so hard every time I watch it.  

Last week Max was gone all day, every day, at cub scout day camp.  He came home one day to his eager and bored brothers.  He dressed them all up like Pirates and they ran all around the yard, house and neighborhood for an hour before dinner.  Max was the strongest, Harrison was the scariest, and Bennett was the hairiest.  

Bathing beauties.  Summertime joys!

Every now and then the brothers hurt each other.  Sometimes on purpose, sometimes on accident.  On this day Bennett tripped over Theo, who was busy digging in a kitchen cupboard.  When Bennett landed on him he slammed Theo's head into the bottom edge of the cupboard.  It was so sad!  Theo had a concussion.  He started throwing up in the middle of the night.  It took him a couple of days before he was back to normal.  I was pretty freaked out.  Jason was good at monitoring the situation.  

I really love being their mom.  I have the best job ever.  Nothing is better than watching them form their personalities and relationships.  My biggest complaint is that it is going too fast.

Helping Hands

Every year on, or around September 11th is set aside as a national day of service.  I wonder how many citizen's of our country actually know this.  I don't hear much about it except at church.  Our church, which is established throughout the world, takes this National Day of Service very seriously.  Church leadership in Salt Lake City encourages all congregations to organize a service project that will benefit the communities we live in on this day.  The Service Projects are usually designed for all members in the families of a congregation to participate.  Through the years Jason and I have helped out with many of these projects.  Each one has blessed our lives and others.  

This year our Stake, which is a group of seven congregations like a Catholic Diocese, planned to collect food for local food banks.  We were asked to invite and involve our neighbors to also help gather food.  Jason and I took the bags around to our neighbors.  They all donated food.  One of our neighbors went to the grocery store and brought us about 15 bags of food.  It was very awesome, and seriously caused me to shed a few tears.  It was a thrill to gather food from our neighborhood, and then drive a van full of food to the church.  My favorite part was that my children were able to participate in this awesome project.  I was sad that Jason had to work, and didn't get to be a part of the project on the gathering day.

All Volunteers had to wear one of these.

Glenn and Max worked so very hard.

Our Stake gathered over 15,000 pounds of food!!!  It was awesome!  When the first food bank guy came to pick up he was happy and overwhelmed with how much food we had for him to pick up. 

This is just one of three locations filled with bags of food like this.  It was so awesome!

Many hands make for light work.
Do you see Max and Glenn?  They were two of the only youth there.  Max was the youngest helper.  I was very proud of them.

Harrison was bummed that I wouldn't let him do too much.  I told him that the best way for him to help was to sit on the curb.  He did NOT like that idea at all.  

Lily was helping too.  

Did I mention that it was hot?  Well it was.  After all the hard work we had to go get some Frenzi Frozen Yogurt.  YUM!

June-July Glimpses

My life has been crazy as of late.  I have many friends who love the Summer months, having their kids home, and no schedules.  I do not love it.  I love my children dearly, but I much prefer to have a schedule, some down time, cooler weather etc.

Lately my brain has been on overload.  I have had several moments when I can't seem to get the right words out.  It's frustrating.  One example of this happening was when I was driving and Theo was crying.  I asked Max to STRIKE his face.  I had to try about 6 times before I got the right word out.  Finally I said, "Please, STROKE his face, so he knows you are there for him."  It's amazing the difference ONE letter can make!

Lunch time.  He likes to throw noodles... because it is fun.

 We went to a really fun "School" themed birthday party for Amelia. 

Harrison about to go at the Apple Pinata that Alyssa and Kevin made.

Amelia and Harrison

Bennett is always "sharing" with Theo.
I find Theo in his chair holding Bennett's sippie cup....

Asleep in his carseat holding his chipmunk Eleanor, which makes sense because
Theodore and Eleanor go together.

This one here is proof of how much Bennett loves Theo.  I heard Theo crying in his carseat as we were trying to get out the door to church.  When I came to check on him he was asleep... with Bennett's most beloved stuffed animal - the horse that Aunt Paige gave him when we were in Denver.

Harrison has been making up songs to sing to Theo.  One day while I was making dinner I heard Harrison singing this, "Do you wanna see my body?  Do you wanna see my body?"  I was about to stop him because I thought he was going to be inappropriate.  He went on to sing, "Do you wanna see my ears, my eyes, my arms?  Do you wanna see my Bee Bo (belly button) and my eyebrows?"  As he sang each body part he would gently poke Theo in that place.  Theo was squealing with laughter.  Harrison continued singing, "Do you wanna see my itty bitty little Penis?"  I gave him a stern look, and he gave me a mischievous smile.  At least he did not poke Theo there, and luckily the song was over!  

Theo loved it.

Raising Boys is just fun.  Girls would never sing a song like that.

After his 'body' song he told me his next song was called, "I Love Food."  I thought that sounded safe.

It went something like this, "I love fruit, and I love cookies.  I love brownies, and I love pie."  

I love to drink, but I do NOT love alcohol, but I DO love cocoa!!!"

Theo was squealing again.

I was laughing too.

These two pictures were taken about 1 minute apart.  His mood can change quickly.

 I left Theo with Jason to get my hair done.  On my way home I got this picture texted to my phone.
Yeah, I laughed out loud when I saw it.  There was no message, just this picture.
A picture can say a thousand words.  I think my milk came in just seeing this picture.

Harrison in his new glasses posing with daddy.

Bennett enjoying his blackberry jam at dinner.  The jam is so yummy that if I put bread or rolls on the table with jam, then it is considered dessert.  It works as a good motivation for the little boys to eat their dinner.

I was trying to get Harrison into bed, and he started to tell me about a scary dream he's been having lately.  He described it like this, "A scary doll with red hair and big black eyes comes alive and drags him under the bed when he is a girl in his dreams."  Lily overheard this and angrily asked him, "Are you talking about my Raggedy Ann?"  He said, "Yes."  She was so upset and yelled, "Well, if you weren't such a jerk to her, then maybe she would be nice to you!"  Harrison yelled back, "I can't help it!  She is just so creepy looking!"  Lily was furious and stormed off.  I was laughing so hard at this point.  First of all, Harrison is a girl in this nightmare!  Secondly, Lily was seriously upset about the way he treats her doll, and believes that his treatment of the doll is the reason for the bad dreams!!!  My children might be insane... but still funny.

I have really enjoyed the slow mornings during Summertime.  This is how I spend most of my mornings - Cuddled up in bed with Theo and a book.

I love that I caught him yawning.  I was trying to catch him smiling by telling him about his Aunt Kylie, whom he has not met yet.  I guess he thinks she is boring.

I really love his little, squishy body!

This was Family Home Evening - something we try to do every Monday night.  Bennett was cranky and in bed.  This is what it looks like when a mother of many tries to read a story.

We've been getting some sun here, which we are not used to.

Muscle man Max.  He even spoke with an accent, and created a whole new
character around this mustache.

Bennett and Lily having fun

We were watching the Olympics with the kids one night when an Australian swimmer won Gold, and a USA swimmer won Bronze.  I said, "Oh, I guess Mick is getting a foot massage tonight."  My sister and her Australian husband have a deal that whenever USA gets a Gold, she gets a foot rub.  When Australia wins a Gold he gets the foot rub.  I explained this to my family.  They thought it was funny.  Jason added, "When Brazil wins Gold I get a foot rub!"  That makes sense because he lived there for 2 years when he was serving a mission there.  Then, Glenn said, "When Germany wins a Gold, I get a foot rub!"  I just started laughing so hard, and he asked why.  I told him it was because he was funny, and it didn't make any sense.  He said, "Well, I like Germany."
Yeah, OK, well I love all the countries in the whole world, so I should get a foot rub every time anyone wins a Gold Medal!!! 

I have still been dealing with bad skin issues.  Every week it is something new... rash and welts on my lips, hive, swollen eyes, welts on my neck etc.  On the drive home from Utah I noticed a little itch between two of my fingers.  It slowly got worse and worse and developed into a horendous, disgusting, itchy rash.  It was SO itchy, and covered in blisters.  I started to soak my hands in a salt water solution with essential oils.  I went to the dermatologist the day after I started soaking them.  When I woke up that morning the rash was covered in a disgusting, yellow crustiness.  The Dermatologist diagnosed it as Excema, which I've NEVER had before, with a staph infection on top of it!  He prescribed a steroid cream, and oral antibiotics.

In the past I've had bad issues with yeast on my skin after giving birth, so I was nervous about taking the antibiotics.  On my way home from the Dr.  I started picking at the rash, and crustiness. (Sorry this is getting gross, but I think this is amazing so I have to share.)  Where ever the yellow stuff was, it peeled right off and my skin was beautiful underneath!  I continued to do the soak, and use the cream.  Over a few days the whole rash peeled right off of me!  I really believe it was the oils that killed whatever infection had been there, and cleared up the rash.  I don't think I ever had a staph infection.  It just looked like I did because of what the oils had done to the rash.

My friend decided to set up a weekly playgroup.  Each week we meet at a different park for a picnic lunch and playtime.  My kids have been loving it.

One day my friend invited all of us to her house.  They have an awesome, huge yard.  Harrison and her son "H" are good buddies.  They were running around shirtless in these hats.  Harrison told us that they were being "naked pioneers".  I wonder if the Naked Cowboy in NYC has heard of them.

These two boys both have names that start with "H", have many brothers and one sister each, wear glasses, and make crazy faces!

On a Saturday night Harrison asked, "Is tomorrow Church day?"  I dread that question, because if I answer in the affirmative he will throw a fit.  It is so annoying, and I am just waiting for him to mature beyond it!
I said, "Yes."  Then, he screamed, "NOOOO!!!!!"  Like so many times before I tried to have a rational conversation with him about why we go to church, and why it is a good and important thing to do etc.
I asked, "Harrison, why do we go to church."  He was still crying and screaming.  He stopped, and asked me back, "Because of Satan?"  His response stunned me.  I had lots of answers in mind, and that was not one of them.

Bennett on a "church day" eating Nachos for lunch.

Lily, Glenn and Theo had a dance party to "Thriller" by Micheal Jackson one afternoon.  

Theo really enjoyed it.

 

So other than school getting out, going on vacation and the boys going to camp, this is what we did to pass the time through June and July.

Birthday and Blessing Day

A Continuation of our awesome trip....

Day 7 - 

We caught Achilles the Cat sleeping in Bennett's bed.  Bennett didn't mind at all.  Not only did Bennett kiss Achilles, but the horsey did too.

This picture of Achilles "hugging" Bennett's Chipmunk Eleanor may or may not have been staged by the Paigester.

After Bennett got dressed for church he cuddled in bed while I fed Theo.  Achilles joined us.

X

Lots of kisses were passed.

Harrison came in like this to tell me that he was an Indian Princess.  Max, his father, was the Chief.
I asked him to get dressed for church, he said, "NO."
That's just how Sunday's are, whether we are on vacation or not.

I took the boys in with my mom to try and wake Paige up for church.
Bennett brought his horsey.

Paige woke up, undressed Theo, and got him to giggle and smile for her.
That's a good way to wake up.

In our religion we do not do infant baptism or christening.
Infants are brought forth before the congregation, held in a circle of Priesthood holders, and given a name and a blessing.  I am so blessed to have a husband who holds the Priesthood, and has given our children many Priesthood blessings over the years, starting with their infant name and blessing in church.

I would have preferred to do it in our own ward (congregation), but my father and brother, who also hold the Priesthood, couldn't make it up here.  Since we were already going down there it made sense to do it in my parents ward so my dad and brother could be in the circle.  My dad has been in the circle for all six of my kids.

Theo all ready for his blessing.
 This is the same outfit that Glenn wore for his blessing.  This was a full circle moment for me since Glenn became a teenager just 2 days before this.  Theo is even wearing the same little shoes that all my boys wore on their blessing day's.
A friend of mine crocheted this beautiful blanket for him.  Thanks Allyson.

This time I sneaked in a picture before church started.
Lily holding Theo, about to be blessed.

After church we went to Isaac's house for a birthday/blessing dinner.
My mom made Glenn an awesome birthday cake.  Paige helped.

For dinner we had sesame chili chicken with gingered watermelon salsa, curried basmati rice, strawberry spinach salad and homemade bread.

I prepped the chicken and Isaac grilled it, I also made the rice.  My mom made the cake and the watermelon salsa, and Kristin made the salad and bread.  It was amazing how SO good it all tasted together considering we had several people chipping in.

The birthday boy eating his yummy dinner.

The cake was layers of ice cream sandwiches, cool whip, M&M's and chocolate syrup.
My mom found the idea on Pinterest.  It was delicious, and a huge hit with everyone.

 

My six awesome kids...
with Isaac making a Jean Dujardin face in the background. (That's the actor from The Artist.  I couldn't watch that movie without thinking it was my brother the whole time.)

I LOVE this picture of Grandpa eating birthday cake at the table with all the grandkids.