Beware!

Bad guys, Beware! Eli and his friend Damon-oh, excuse me, I mean Spiderman and Iron Man-are on the lookout!

Last Day!

Today was the last day of school! Let the fun begin!

( Last day pictures, followed by the first day pictures for comparison. Funny enough, Logan is wearing the same shirt both days!)

Teacher Apreciation

To say Ali and Logan learned a lot in Kindergarten would be an understatement. They began the year knowing some letters and numbers, but now they can read, write, count higher than 100 by ones/fives/tens, and do simple math. It has been inspiring to watch them learn these concepts for the first time. I am so grateful to Mrs. Manuel and Mrs. Peterson for all their time, love, and patience with my two kindergartners this year. We will miss them!

Joy School

Eli has so enjoyed doing Joy School with these three boys this year! And no, this wasn't part of the lesson that day, but sometimes you just need to do a headstand with your friends (apparently!).

The Game Maker

Logan is having fun lately making up fun games, treasure hunts, and activities for us to do. On this day he made a pinata by filling a balloon with m&ms and then having us use pencils to pop it!

Mini Golf

Ali's class had an end-of-the-year event at a mini golf place, and the kids and I had a blast. It was glow in the dark, and had such fun murals on the walls and sculptures to putt through. 

This guy actually really scared Eli, nearly bringing him to tears. We decided he wasn't making the mean face at us, but making it to scare away bad guys. In a face-your-fear moment Eli decided to pose next to him with his own mean face:)

Korrali is One!

We feel so lucky to have lived near our niece and cousin Korrali for her first year of life, and hope to be as lucky for many years to come! We loved getting to be there with her for her birthday party, cake, and presents, and are grateful she won't have any memories of how...um helpful?...her cousins were with the present opening and exploration:) Happy Birthday, Korrali! We love you!

The Art of Giving

Logan's love language is clearly and almost solely gifts. I've never loved someone with that love language, so it has been a learning process for me. I have been pleased to see that lately he has been excited to show love through gifting instead of just always wanting to be on the receiving end. He really can be very thoughtful with his gifts, and is SO EXCITED to give them. On this day, me made me a necklace with some beads and flowers. It made my day to see how happy he was to make me something he knew I would love:)

For Aunt Jeanene

My Aunt Jeanene is my most faithful blog commenter, and is currently serving a mission in Spain. So when we had the privilege of a visit from her youngest daughter and her husband, Elena and Aaron, I knew I need to get a picture and post it. We love you Aunt Jeanene and Uncle Rod!

Mother's Day

Have I mentioned lately how much I love being a mom to these three? I really do. How did I get so lucky? Ali, Logan, and Eli: you fill my days and my life with joy, purpose, and love. I am proud of you all and am blessed to call myself your mom.

Jason and I are unspeakably lucky to have been born to such noble, generous, loving, selfless, righteous, amazing women. And we are so thankful that when we got married, we both got a second mom, not just a mother-in-law. Tina and Bonita, we love you more than we can say.

Lovey Costume

"Look, Mom, it's Halloween and Lovey is dressed as R2D2!"

Sleep Over

For the last year or two, Friday night is sleepover night. Until recently, Eli was invited to play in the room of the sleepover until it was actually time to sleep, and then he would got to sleep in his own bed. But a couple of times ago I asked his if he thought he was big enough to sleep in the same room as the kids--if he could be calm and quiet when it was time to sleep (he couldn't settle down in past, hence the sleeping in his own bed thing). He assured me he was. We talked about keeping his eyes closed and his mouth quiet, or he would have to go back to his own bed. That first night I stood outside the door after I tucked them in to see if he would really be able to handle it. I heard no talking, but heard Logan thrashing around and opened the door to tell him to settle down. Then I looked over at Eli to remind him to go to sleep, and saw him laying there with his eyes squeezed shut as tight as they would go! I would have understood him opening his eyes when I came back in the room to talk to them, but clearly he wasn't taking the chance!