Gracie and David will be signing autographs later.

Yep everyone, that is my husband and daughter on the cover of the DO medical magizine. They are pretty much famous!

Let them eat cake!

Sammy has been extremely emotional lately, breaking into temper tantrums every 5 minutes about the color of bowl that his cereal is in. It is driving me CRAZY! I just have to come look at this picture sometimes to remind me what a sweet little boy he is! He is pretty funny with some of the things he says too. When it is time for him to take a nap he tells me he doesn't want to go to his room, he wants to stay in the house. Anything circle is a moon (even the dots on my shirt). He loves everything green, and he has carried a little car he got in a happy meal around for three days now and has a tantrum when he can't find it. I think he might be OCD.

My little teenager

Gracie came to me yesterday and told me she wanted to go look for a boy for her to marry. She is totally obsessed with getting married and the 10 babies that she has in her tummy. She grabbed a boy in line at preschool on Wednesday and started hugging him and saying that she loved him. What am I going to do? I am going to have to start locking her up!!!

Preschool

Gracie started preschool this week, and what new preschool experience would be complete without the customary picture by the door on the first day of school. The first day (Wednesday) was on open house day. Gracie and I went and met her teachers and found where the bathrooms were and filled out mounds of paperwork. Gracie was destitute when she had to leave. She actually got real tears in her eyes. She asked me if she could sleep over.

Today was the first day that I left her there on her own, and can I say I think my heart is breaking. She just isn't big enough to go to school. I know she was just born yesterday.

This is Sammy's reaction to his sister going to school. He wanted to go with her SO much! He is going to miss "Sissie." I should have taken a picture of my face because it was probably pretty much the same as Sammy's.

Next year Sammy.

9/11

I remember on 9/11/2001 waking up thinking it was just an ordinary day. David and I had gotten married barely over a month before. We were living in a tiny apartment. I didn't even have a job yet. Oddly enough I had turned down a job working at an airport only a few days before because it didn't feel right. I know there were a lot of layoffs in airlines nationwide, and probably around the world after 9/11 and am pretty sure that if I had taken that job I probably would have been out of a job shortly after. I remember David liked to listen to the news on the radio in the morning (he still does). Soon after he turned it on he started hearing this horrific story about a plane that had crashed into one of the twin towers. He told me he thought it was some fictional story that they were reading on the radio because it just seemed to terrible to be true. But before long he knew the unthinkable was true. He came and told me what had happened. We didn't have a TV. We had been married for only weeks and David's tutoring job at the college just didn't pay enough for us to buy a TV so we stayed at home and sat in the one recliner that we owned (we didn't have a couch either) and held each other and listened to what they were calling "America Under Attack." I remember later that night David had to go to a church meeting and I sat at home and continued to listen to the news and think. I know it made me think about the things that were really important. Family, the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, and my testimony in Him. The same things that I am still most grateful for. Heavenly Father didn't make 9/11 happen, but I do remember the increased faith in Him that spread across the nation after the twin towers fell. My prayer is that that faith in Him may spread and grow again as we remember the anniversary of that terrible day.

Dear So and So,

Dear Smiley Baby,

Can you please tell me why you have decided to stop eating real food and start nursing through the night again? You make me so tired. It is hard on a mama to wake up every two hours to feed you. You were sleeping through the night just a few weeks ago. You have even started turning down your favorite food, bananas, and instead of eating them think they are something fun just to mash onto your tray and in your hair and on your clothes. You are so adorably cute and I love you so much that can't deny you anything you want even when I know you are giving me your "fake cry" (when you are peeking at me through almost closed eyes to make sure I am paying attention to you while you whine at me), and especially not when it is your real "I want my mama" cry. You are the happiest baby. You rarely cry, except during the night when you want us to come get you so you can have your milk fix. Please please please just stay asleep during the night!!!

Love,
The tired one


Dear Pretty Girl,

I am so sorry I hardly noticed when you came into our room this morning. I do vaguely remember hearing you talk to daddy and him telling you to go back to bed, but I was so tired I didn't even realize that you brought your pillow and blanket in and made a bed on the hard, cold, wood floor just so you could be near us. I want to be near you too. I love your hugs and snuggles and the funny jokes you have started telling. Your latest goes something like this, "There were two monkeys in a car with some bananas and oranges." And then you laugh hysterically. I love you! I love your obsession with all things pink and becoming fancy just like Fancy Nancy. I am so happy that you are so excited for preschool, although I want you to just stay little forever. Don't grow up to fast babe. You keep telling me all about your plans for when you are a mom and living in your blue brick house and are married to your brother Sammy and have three little girls. Slow down. Stay my little girl a little bit longer.

Love,
The one who would keep you little forever.


Dear Train-Plane-Truck Boy,

I do love to have you climb in bed next to me in the early morning hours, and to feel you little arms wrap around my neck and to feel your contented sigh on my cheek as you settle in next to me to go back to sleep. What I don't like is when you don't go back to sleep. Instead you wiggle, you giggle, you hum, you play, you climb, you tickle, and you basically just refuse to go back to sleep, and refuse to let me go back to sleep too. Your daddy said it was around 5:00 when you came and climbed in our bed, but somehow it seems to me like it must have been much earlier. And once you climbed in, your sister felt like she needed to be in the bed and then Benson woke up and wanted to nurse and with 5 in the bed the daddy one said "I'm crowded" and went in and spent the remainder of the morning on the couch and slept while I got to wrestle with you. I think you and your siblings planned this to test your mommy to see if she could be happy after no sleep. She failed. Sorry about that, dear one. It doesn't mean I love you any less. I think you are so funny wanting a "potty train," but not wanting to go potty in the potty. You make me laugh when you come crawling up to me pretending to be a puppy or a baby. You ask me about 50 times a day to sing you the temple song or the church song or the song about water on your leg (which is a song that your grandpa used to sing to me when I was a little girl). I love to watch you do head stands against the couch or summersaults all over the house. You don't ride your bike, you run behind it and push it. Your grin lights up your whole face and I love it! You really are a delightful little boy and sometimes I just need you to remind me of that when I haven't slept. You are all boy and it is so fun to have you around.

Love,
The luckiest mom of 3 in the world.



Dear Dirty Laundry,

I have asked you not to come around my house any more. I don't like you and don't know how to get the message through to you that you are not welcome here. "I take no leave of you, dirty laundry. I send no compliments to your mother. You deserve no such attention. I am most seriously displeased."

Rags to Riches

Gracie and I decided to experiment with some homemade rag curlers yesterday.

When she woke up this morning those rags had turned her hair into riches of copper curls.

We put them in a pony tail and Wah-La!

What a beautiful girl.

I think I love rag curls!

Swingin'!

Benson had his first swing at the park. He was a little afraid at first. It only took him a minute though to change his mind.

Benson took his first steps last week just a couple of days before he turned 10 months. He loves to stick his hands in the toilet and follow his sister and brother around and cuddle with his mommy and daddy.

Feeding the Fish

We went to this beautiful lake a couple of weeks ago. There are so many fish there they call it "where the ducks walk on the fish." We saw a guy throw a whole loaf of bread into the lake at once and it was totally eaten in less than 5 seconds! I found the fish kind of cool and totally disgusting at the same time. It was a fun day.

Nature's Fire Works

We had the coolest lightening storm last night. David and went out in the yard at about 11:3o pm to watch it. It was completely dark other than the lightening, and it was flashing almost every other second. It was so beautiful!

The Girls

Mug Shots

Gracie took these pictures of Sammy the a few days ago. Do you think she has a future career as a mug shot photographer?

Help!

Poor kid, his sister trapped him under the laundry basket and thought it was just hilarious.... well it kind of was. He is so cute peeking out of the holes.

Baby Blues

Just wanted you to see his smile!

"Today I will marry my best friend."

"I love him and that's the beginning of everything."

"Love doesn't make the world go round,

love is what makes the ride worthwhile."-- Elizabeth Browning

" When you are in Love you can't fall asleep

because reality is better than your dreams. "-- Dr Suese

"So dear I love him that with him,

All deaths I could endure.

Without him, live no life."

-- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

"Since love grows within you, so beauty grows.

For love is the beauty of the soul."--St. Augustine

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,

while loving someone deeply gives you courage."--Lao Tzu

"....A simple I love you means more than money...."--Frank Sinatra

"If I had a flower for every time I thought of you,

I could walk in my garden forever."--Alfred Lord Tennyson

"You come to love not by finding the perfect person,
but by seeing an imperfect person perfectly."--Sam Keen

"If I know what love is, it is because of you."--Herman Hesse

It wasn't my ear you whispered into, but my heart.
It wasn't my lips you kissed, but my soul. - Judy Garland

"If I could reach up and hold a star for every time you made me smile,

I would have the whole night sky in the palm of my hand."--Unknown

"I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach..."

--Elizabeth Barrett Browning Thanks for 8 amazing years David. I love you!

Positive Day!

I saw this online and wanted to participate. There really is so much negativity around every turn, in every newspaper, in emails, on the radio, on and T.V. that it is great to take a day to think about the positive things in life. Like (in no particular order):

the pitter-patter of little feet waking me up every morning (even on the days that it is 5:30 in the morning). I love my children and think that being a mom is the best job in the world.

my testimony in the gospel of Jesus Christ restored here on the earth here in these latter days.

the best husband in the world. He supports me and takes care of me even when he is the one who needs supporting and taking care of in medical school.

large amounts of Mexican food (especially fresh salsa!).

bird song in the morning.

nap-time!

books.

modern day medicine. Each time I deliver a baby or one of my kids get sick or hurt I am so thankful for doctors, hospitals and medicine.

school loans. With out the loans that David is getting while in medical school, I would have to have a job outside the home and couldn't spend my days with my awesome kids.

my body that sometimes (ok always) may weigh more than I want it to, the teeth that sometimes get cavities, the finger nails that break, the head and feet that sometimes ache (hey at least I have all these things!!)

living in the United States of America!

my cluttery house and our cars and all of the things we have.

I really have so many positive things in my life! What a lucky girl I am! They day ahead of me looks so much brighter now that I have taken a minute to consider my blessings!

Benson AKA Tub-o-love

Benson went to the doctors today. He had to get 4 shots, poor little fellah, but he was very brave. He only cried a little bit. But here are the statistics I know you are all waiting for.
Benson is 28.5 inches tall (50%). What? One of my kids is in the 50% for anything!!!! This is actually a first. I can't believe how short he is! I would be really surprised if he isn't about to start a growth spurt.
Benson weighs 24 pounds and 4 ounces (89%). That's my big healthy boy!
Benson's head circumference is 19 inches (97%). It takes a big head to hold all those brains.
He is the happiest baby I think I have ever met. He started saying "mama" a couple of days ago and yesterday he was laughing and cooing and smiling to a picture of me. Sure do love this little man!

In other news, we had a great 4th of July. Gracie got a mosquito bite on her arm. If you don't know what mosquito bites do to Gracie check out this post. This one wasn't as bad as some she has had in the past, but she thought it looked like "a boob" and kept on showing me that she had three boobs. I couldn't find my camera for a few days so I didn't get a picture of her third boob. Darn it!

Sammy loves trucks, cars, planes, trains, tractors, you know, all that boy stuff. He can't say truck though. He puts an "f" in front of it and leaves off the "tr." He does the same thing with croc. And he says it, oh about 5000 times a day. If I am not paying 100% attention to him when he tries to tell me about the truck he will say it over and over, louder and louder, until I acknowledge that there is indeed a truck.

David passed his step 1 boards. Yay David!!!! He has just one more year of rotations now until he graduates. He sure does work hard and I am so proud of him!

Brothers- UPDATED!!!!!

Benson above, Sammy below.

Their eyes and smile give it away for me every time!

I found these pictures of my two sons. I was sitting on the floor in both cases just taking random pictures and they both just started climbing up my legs smiling the biggest smile they ever smiled! I just thought it was funny to have two random pictures be so similar! Which boy is which?