Noah is 6 today

My Dear Sweet Noah Boy,

I loved waking you up this morning.  Your handsome face so relax and your chest rising and falling as you dream.   You seem so big and I still remember the way you smelled as a sweet baby.  And the tiny glimpse I got of you right after you were born.  I knew from that moment that I would never be the same again.  I was YOUR mother.  I felt so humbled, blessed and grateful. You fill my heart with so much wonder and love.

After I sang you awake and teased you that now you were 3.  You said to  me,
 "No, Mom  I am 6.  I turned 6 while I was sleeping.
Hold on just a minute."
And you stretched as long as you could, feeling all your muscles long.
Afterwards
"Yep,  I feel longer.  Six feels a lot different Mom".
I had to investigate and I felt all your muscles in your arms and legs
The certainly felt a lot bigger to me.  So much more like 6 year old muscles than 5"

This year has been such a big year for you.  So many new and exciting adventures and changes.  I have loved watching you grow and learn.  Kindergarten has been so exceptional for you.  Your mind is like a sponge.  You amaze me with your questions and your insights.  You are so thoughtful about everything and you try so hard to figure things out.  Your speech has improved by leaps and bounds this year.  My eyes are filling up with tears as I write this.  You have worked so so hard.  As you have been able to communicate better it astounds me even more what you have retained and what you are thinking about.

I love helping you with school and your homework.  The light in your eyes as you figure something out.  I will never forget the first time you sounded out words for me as we did your reading homework.  It still just makes me marvel at you and what you have accomplished.  Sometimes just the fact that you can blend the sounds together make me proud.

We have so many changes in our family this year.  You have been a trooper.  You are so gentle and understanding with your sister.  You try so hard to teach her what is right and to make the right choices.  Your patience with her is amazing.  The two of you laugh and play so well together.  I am so glad that you love each other and want to be close. You only have each other.  It is so important to nourish this relationship.

Thank you for still snuggling with me.  And for wanting to still kiss me goodbye when you go to school.  My heart cherishes those loves from you.   And I do miss you while you are gone and the kissing hand does help a lot.  Thanks for talking with me and telling me what is in your brain.  Your imagination is beyond bounds.  All the new games and things you play are so super fun.  I love seeing a glimpse of what is in that mind of yours.

Noah,  I love you to infinity and back.  I love being YOUR mom.  Thank you for making me a mother.

Love your,
 Mom
 Forever

Pirates at the Mayan

Noah's turns Six on Wednesday.  

And we told him he could invite 3 friends to a small party this year.

He chose Heber, Dylan and Lily.

On Sunday night we realized that Dylan would be out of town for the event the next Sat.

So we threw together a party really quick.

We called the parents to make sure the kids were available.

And we went to the Mayan for dinner. 

On Monday Night the 12th.

The Mayan is a magical place for kids that serves mexican food and has divers.

The put on a diving show while you eat.

The motif is a jungle

I figured we could make it work, since Noah wanted a Pirate themed birthday this year.

When we arrived at the "ship".

I turned all the kids into official pirates.

By tying bandanas around their heads.

Noah as "Captain Jack N",  Heber as the "First Mate", Dylan as "Soldier" and Lily as "Lily the Tough"

those are their pirate names

Kersten was "Armpit" and I was a "Serving Wench."

Sofia as always was a Pirate "Princess".

We headed off to our ship for some grub.

The kids got quesadillas , burritos and fries.

But basically the entire time this is what we saw

They were watching the divers.

I admit they were pretty amazing.

And all the kids were very entertained and not running around like crazy.

Now that is my kind of kid party.

I actually had time to chat with the adults.

Which included my hot husband, my best friend Kieran and my sister Amy.

I really liked this pic of me and Sofia the Pirate Princess so I added it.

For his cake they had a brownie volcano with huge sparklers in it.

Noah's face when they lit it was priceless

It was quite the impressive sight.  

The funniest part was when he tried to blow them out like candles.

I don't think he realized that they blow themselves out after a bit.

They shared the desserts

And I gave them all "Jolly Rogers" Flags.

They ran around and showed them to the divers.

We heard a lot of comments about the pirates on the deck.  

We opened presents and finished watching the divers

And we drove them home.  

It was perfect and fun.  

And they loved it.  

Donuts

Donuts

or Doughnuts

However you want to spell or say them is fine.

This was the very last thing I ate right before I found out I had,

Diabetes.

It is a bit ironic the the word Die is the beginning of this word.  

My sister Amy, in her 7 year old innocence thought that I was really dying.  

Ironically, if I had lived in any other century or decades sooner I probably would have.  

And I was a punk 14 year old teenager, angry at the world.

I was not very nice to her to say the least.

I think she has forgiven me by now,  at least I hope.

Oh,  well back to the Donuts.

My dad, brother and I were in a play "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe".

We had an afternoon performance and then an evening.

In between we went to visit the eye doctor,  my appt was at 4:45.

My dad had Beaver make up all over his face.

We had had NO lunch.  

So we stopped at a donut shop and bought each of us one.

It was a raised chocolate with sprinkles.

Quite delicious.

Moments later..........

Do you have Diabetes?

a very tentative "no" from a girl feeling quite small.

No explanations and hours later. 

The shock stayed there.

And the shock is still here and it is 19 years later on this very day.

Happy Anniversary Laurie Lou

Cheers......  Let's celebrate with another Donut.... 

They Do make you a bit Nuts........

Side note:  6 years ago today,  I was induced to birth my boy.  That was a very happy day of anticipation and joy. His birthday is not until Wednesday though.  He was born on a Wednesday so that is happy too.

Spring Break 2010

Today was Noah's first day back at school after spring break.
He was sad and a bit excited.
We have had a super fun spring break.
Starting at the F* grandparents for an Easter basket hunt.

We went to the zoo
and saw the baby Elephant Zuri.
Who I want to adopt,  She played and took her reading/resting time.
While we ate lunch.
We adopted two stuffed baby elephants,
 Noah named his Rex Lawrence F*, he has the cutest blue eyes. and
Sofia named hers Zuri Baby and it has a pink blanket to snuggle it with
And looked for the baby giraffe which Noah named Rex.
Who we found out the next day had died and his real name was Jamar.
Noah cried for a half hour because
he was so sad and was glad that "Rex" was in heaven with his fish, Ernie and Bruce.

We hung out at home.
We danced, sang, fought bad guys, slid across the kitchen floor, played games,
had mutiple friends over to play.
Ran around like hooluguns in the neighborhood.
Had a couple Facebook revelations that blew our mind over and over.

Celebrated Granny Jeanne's birthday,
Listened to the prophets words and was filled with hope.
Had makeover's during the Priesthood session at Aunt Em's
Sofia had lips and nail polish on.
Colored Easter eggs.
Willie the Rabbit came to our house with Easter baskets.
(he is our families very own Easter bunny, stories from my childhood)
We played with our new Halo 3 Legos and Cinderlla figurines
Read our new stories and ate lots and lots of candy. +

We saw the must see movie
"How to Train your Dragon".
Even us parents wanted to go right back and see it again right away.
Played with our best friends and talked a lot on the phone.

It was the perfect Spring break for us.
I love love love having my kids home with me.
It was really heaven on earth.
No rushing about,  long naps for Fia in the afternoon,
snuggling and playing in the morning.
I loved it.

Building

Today in the car........ 

Noah:  "Mom,  you need to build a strong family."

Me:  "We have a strong family, I think"

Noah:  "No,  it's the mother's JOB to build a strong family"

Me:  "So, how do you think I am doing?'

Noah:  "Pretty good,  we all love each other at least"

Me:  "Well,  I promise to keep working hard at my job"

Noah: "Yeah,  it's really hard work.  Really, really hard work."

As per this example, Noah maybe has been learning something at church and at family home evenings. It might also be a bit from Disney channel.  I saw a commercial this morning with this message.  He is so thoughtful and mulls things around in his head a lot.  I am grateful for his reminders of the things that really matter.  It is my job as a mother and as one lucky enough to stay home with my children, now when they are young to build our family.   I do appreciate that Noah realizes that building a strong family is "Really, really hard work".  Not to say that it does not have it's rewards and blessings.  It sure does not come in a monetary way. I say that I win when my job description calls for multiple snuggles, rocking and hugs throughout the day.  I often struggle with the balance of the most important things to teach.  I know the most important is the spiritual aspects for they will not get that anywhere else.  But the physical, the manners, working, independence, grooming and all the other, day to day things that they need to be healthy functioning and happy adults someday.  With my son it is better to relate anything you can to Star Wars.  So I am trying to teach him the light side of the force.  That we are all connected and we can and will be a stronger family if we rely on the force or the Holy Ghost.  And listen to our hearts to know what the right choices are.  And if we try to do what is right we will be together forever even after we die.  We need to forgive and love one another for our strengths and weaknesses.  As Noah say.... I love you to infinity and beyond and to beyond heaven.  So for better or for worse,  I am trying to build a strong family.

MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU!

Grateful Sunday - March 28, 2010

Today was such a beautiful spring day outside.  It made me want to sing and dance around the yard.  Instead, I ate my lunch on the deck and took pictures of my kids in their Easter clothes.  Since next week is General Conference we are going to watch church in our pajamas.

Neighborhood:  I love being busy and social.  The last two weekends have been jammed packed with fun and friends.  I love it but it sure makes us tired.  With the beautiful weather,  it has been idealic and has given me a taste of what summer will be like in our neighborhood and it makes my heart sing.  Kids playing together on bikes, inventing games and having so much fun.

Family:  Although sometimes it makes for chaos,  I adore living close to our families.  There are so many times I don't know what I would do without them.  I love my parents and my sibs so so much.  And Kersten's family has become so much a part of me and I just love them all.

Noah:  this boy just keeps getting better and better.  His insights and thoughtfulness astound me.  He gave a talk in primary today that brought tears to my eyes and many of the other adults in primary.  He has such unshakeable faith and such confidence when there are things pushing at him that could make it easy for him to fold up.  He talked about how the Saviour asked his disciples to feed his sheep after he was resurrected.  His favorite part of the story was that Jesus made them fish and bread for breakfast.  He has a gift to bring the spirit directly into the room and he was very specific that the things he said in his testimony came from him and not his dad who helped him with his talk.  I am so very blessed to be his mother.  I just can't get enough of this boy.  And this week is spring break so we are going to play a lot this week.  Hooray

Sofia:  my goodness who knew that having a daughter would be this adventurous and fun.  This girl keeps me on my toes in all her two year old glory.  She is my shadow and biggest helper.  She lives life with such enthusiasm and pizazz.  I love that she is always dancing all day long.  She walks on her toes and has started dressing up every day.  One minutes she is playing mommy and the next she has a ship and is shooting the bad guys.  Her laugh is infectious and her grin can melt you.  She is so trouble.  Already she tries to charm her way out of getting into trouble.  She amazes me with all her words and understanding.

Kersten:  my man, he works so hard and just keeps going and won't give up.  I am so grateful for him and the life we have together. I love that we are connecting so much better now and talk to each other about everything.  I love the crook in his shoulder that I fit perfectly into.  I love that he will let me wear his "Muppet" jacket when I am freezing.  He has been so motivated and has been helping a lot.

I love having really pretty dresses for my Sofia.  I take a lot of joy from her desire to dress up and look pretty especially for church.  She literally jumps up and down on Sunday because she gets to wear one of her princess dresses from the closet.  And go to "my class" and "collar Pictures"  of Jesus and play.  I love this dress and just had to show a full length view of it.  It is her favorite too.  Thanks to the people out their who made this dress possible

Noah's Room - House

In a new series 

I will show you our new house one room at a time.  

I don't believe that even one room in our house is "finished"

in decorating, painting etc.  

I will also do updates if something drastic changes.

So today here is Noah's room.

here is the view from the doorway.

His only request with our new house was that he has a blue room

When we moved in.  The blue wall was red

Obviously we painted it blue for him. 

He says he has a Star Wars Room now.

But he wants to keep his Wall-E bed.

His 'N Force" of animals sits on his ledge

and his favorites stay on his bed.

"Pal, Tom and Baby Whale"

Most of his toys and big books and Star Wars books

are house right across in the cube shelf

on the opposite wall from his bed

are his bookshelf, calender, Star Wars Stamps and dresser.

(this wall is not complete yet)

This is what you see as you walk in the room.

His closet straight ahead

which he calls his Darth Vader closet.

It is red after all.  The same red it used to be on the blue wall.

I want to hang a curtain with a Darth Vader on it someday.

and his Yoda Painting by Kieran.

When we were looking at our house for the first time.  Our children were with us.

This was the first room that Noah walked in and said

"This is MY room"

His only complaint is that he misses Sofia.

He wishes that she still slept in his room with him.


(just discovered,  Noah noticed a "gross banana" on his bed)
His room was not as clean as I thought it was when I cked it