A boy and his cars

Beck loves cars and has even named several with the help of his sister. Here are a few of his favorite: "baby car" is his absolute favorite. Also pictured are "blueberry" and "spider". Some other funny names include marshmallow, Snake, and naked truck (this is a semi-trailer without the trailer since it won't stay attached).

All around my house I find piles of cars that he has been playing with like this:

He takes them with him everywhere whether it is to run errands with mom or bed time or to brush his teeth.

Some mornings he wakes up in a panic because he can't find his cars.

Once while I was buckling him in his seat he was talking to his "baby car" and kissing it.

Kate loves to have birthday parties for Beck's cars. They will line them up and sing happy birthday to them and then give them cake. I guess if Kate is going to have to play with Beck and his cars she is going to make it more fun for her by turning it into a party.

Once when Beck fell asleep in the car Kate commented "I wonder if he is dreaming about cars since he likes cars so much".

Beck is in heaven when he gets to go to his cousin Erik's house. As soon as we get there Beck doesn't even bother saying hi to anyone, but instead runs immediately to Erik's room and plays with as many of Erik's cars he can get his hands on. Good thing Erik is good at sharing and doesn't mind Beck Ransacking his room. Erik has a lot of cool cars and even many of Beck's current cars have come from him.

Beck had a lot of fun driving the cars at Lagoon and made crashing noises while he was riding the bumper cars.

His Daddy sometimes sticks his tongue out when he is concentrating too:)

Fitting in Summer

This year we have been trying to fit in summer in between all the wet weather.

Eli took the kids to the air show. Beck was affraid to touch the guns.

We have only been able to go swimming at grandpa's once so far. The shark was a big hit and grandpa was a good sport to help all the grandkids take turns riding it. This particular day I didn't bring swim stuff because I thought for sure it was going to rain. The kids still really enjoyed the shark.

Kate and Beck love digging in the sand and it has been a good motivator for good behavior. I bought a bunch of sand toys and they have been earning them with good behavior.

I tried to get some pictures of me and the kids, but Beck refused to look at the camera. Oh well, I'll have to keep trying. You know how it is when you're a mom and always the one taking the pictures and then you don't have any of you with your kids.


Kiera was a good sport with all of our running around trying to fit in summer whenever we can.

Seeing all these pictures makes me realize that we are having a pretty fun summer even with the rain we've been having. I still can't believe it will be July in just a few days. We still have lots of fun to look forward to especially with all the cousins coming in mid-July. We or I should say Eli has been working very hard to finish the basement by mid July as well. I am excited to post some pictures once we get it all painted and carpeted.

Pets

Kate has been facinated with all kinds of bugs and other creatures lately. she gives them names and carries them around like they are her friends especially potato bugs.

I was walking next to her the other day as she was riding her bike and she informed me that she had to go slow for the potato bug she was carrying in her bike pouch.

One day as I was pulling weeds (yes that does happen from time to time), I found a snail and showed it to her. She decided she was going to name him "spitty the snail". He unfortunately did not even make it a day as Kate's pet.

This is why I don't have real pets: I have enough to take care of already and my kids are too young to really take care of them. Insects, creatures, and Daddy's fish will have to do for now.

80's style

Here we have Beck sporting his Star Wars T shirt and another popular reinvented 80's fashion heels with jeans. I have known that 80's fashion has made a big comeback in the last few years, but it is wierd to see it on your kids. I really need to get him some of his own more masculine dress up attire, so he doesn't have to share with his sister. Needless to say Daddy is not very excited about his son wearing his sisters purple heels.

Consider yourself Lucky

About a week ago I was having one of those days where things kept going wrong, but at the same time I was able to see all of my blessings. It was a stuggle to get the kids ready and out the door and we finally made it to the grocery store. As I was pushing the kids in the cart toward the door of the grocery store, I hit a bump. The whole cart felt like it was going to summersault as it lurched forward. I was trying to stablize the cart and keep the car seat from coming off when I heard the lady walking toward my cart reacting with panic and I knew one of my kids was on the ground. I ran around the front to find Beck on the ground screaming and my heart sunk. I picked him up and expected to see blood gushing from his head, but luckily no blood. Okay, no stitches, but what about a cracked skull or concusion. I got him into the store and requested ice for his head. He was more upset about me trying to put ice on his head than his injury. He calmed down and was fine with only a rather minor goose egg which you can't really even see in the picture.

What a blessing! I was so relieved. While Beck was in histerics from his injury one really nice lady offered to help me out to the car, do my shopping for me etc. and one really nice man who had only one leg was trying to console Beck. I thought how worse off he was and how much his injury had to hurt and he was kind enough to try to be empathetic to my son with his minor bump. I wondered if someone was there to console him when he lost his leg. When we finally got home and I got the kids in the car and the groceries unloaded, the rain came pooring down. How nice that I was able to make it home before the rain storm.

It was so uplifting to see that there are complete strangers in this world who will help you out when you are in need. I am so grateful for thoughtful people like the ones I met that day. I am so grateful Beck was not seriously injured and that my children are healthy and don't have to suffer from major illnesses. I am so grateful that I have both my legs. I am so grateful for the tender mercies from our Heavenly Father who knows I can only handle so much and spares me from many stressful incidences like being caught in the rain with two little children and one brand new baby. I know there are many more blessings that I probably don't even notice or recognize.

Of course as is often the case I was only able to enjoy these positive feelings for a short time before the adversary tried to take them away and replace my peace and happiness with despair. He started bombarding me with all these negative irrational thoughts. He knows right where we are vulnerable and insecure and he will not overlook any opportunity to take advantage of them to cause us to forget our blessing and the feelings of the spirit.

It was a great learning experience for me and I guess Beck felt like he wanted to have some company in his misery, so the next day he hit his sister in the head with a toy and gave her a smaller bruise right in the middle of her forehead. I hope to get some nice pictures done soon, but now I have to wait for all the buises, goose eggs, baby acne, cradle cap, and plugged tear ducts to clear up first.

catching up

Wow I can't believe it has already been over a month since my last post. I am finding it hard to accomplish some of the basic things like getting the laundry folded and put away or dinner cooked, so it has been difficult to find time to blog. I think it will continue in the summer since I want to spend time doing the fun summer stuff outdoors that the kids enjoy and the condition of my house and the blogging will have to pay the price. Here are some things we have been up to lately.

At the beginning of May we blessed Kiera. Dani and Tom were in town for Tom's graduation so we wanted to make sure we did it while they were here. Kate was sick and my house was too small to accomodate everyone, so the stress got to me more that I wanted to let it get to me. There were four baby blessings that day and it was fun to share the occasion with those families. I am grateful for all the support of the family and especially grateful for Kiera and the whole reason for the special occasion.

Another reason for added stress and fatigue is that my husband has been working most evenings and Saturdays trying to finish our basement. I don't get much of a break since after the long days with the kids and I finally get them to bed Kiera wants to resume nursing until close to midnight. I am pretty exhausted, but I think things are going to start getting better. Kiera went to bed at 10pm the last two nights and she only woke up twice.

Mother's Day we spent with my family and it was nice to just hang out in the beautiful weather.

Eli bought me some flowers to plant between our bolders which was nice. I think Mother's day and many other holidays tend to get a little too extravagant, so we don't do a lot of gifts for each other. I think it is nice to have homemade things or service oriented gifts especially for mothers day, but the flowers were a nice surprise.
I heard some quotes from a YW lesson that really stuck with me about the importance of the role of mothers.

"Motherhood is near to divinity. It is the highest holiest service to be assumed by a woman." David O. Mckay

"We have made covenants. We made them before we accepted our position here on earth. . . We committed ourselves to our Heavenly Father, that if He would send us to the earth and give us bodies and give to us the priceless opportunities that earth life afforded, we would keep our lives clean and would marry in the holy temple and would rear a family and teach them righteousness. This was a solemn oath, a solemn promise" Spencer W. Kimball

Since I heard those words I have been pondering them a great deal. What a sacred experience that must have been to make those covenants, those solemn promises. I know that this statement is true because the spirit testified to me that I was there making those promises before this life. I have a great resposibility as do all fathers and mothers and I need to work harder to fulfill those promises and not let the things of the world like stress and fatigue distract me from those solemn promises I made.

Last week we were able to go see my cousin Shannon who lived with us as our foster daughter for a year graduate from high school. We are so proud of her for overcoming so many obstacles in her personal life besides just the usual stress and hardships that come with being a teenager. she will be attending college this fall and is considering studying criminal justice or software engineering. Way to go Shannon!

Kiera has grown quite a bit this last month and is now over 10lbs. She is average on all her measurements and has been smiling a cooing for weeks now. I haven't been successful at catching her smiles, but I love this picture that shows how she puts up with all the love and attention from her siblings.

I have much more blogging to do before I can catch up on the last month and hopefully I can get back to regular postings. I plan on taking it pretty easy in June and I am looking forward to just relaxing since I know July will be very busy again.