Happy Mother's Day

How blessed I am to be a Mother to four wonderful boys!

A few years ago I changed my attitude of this special day. I don't look at what is or what isn't be done for me, but I look at it as a chance to celebrate the opportunity I have to be a mother. I am in deed grateful for my four sons. Each of them have come to me with great faith being exercised on Ryan's and my part. They are sensitive, sweet boys! I treasure each of them and their unique personality and character traits. All of them have a great big heart. They know when their mother needs a hug. If I stub my toe or get hurt one of them will quickly come over and give me a great big hug. They are forgiving and patient with me as I figure this Mother thing out. I love each of them more and more each day! I am ever so proud to be called their Mother!

I awoke this morning to Christopher bringing me my Mother's Day present he made at school. I opened it to find a cute little lady holding 6 coupons. They were:

1. A mother as kind and as sweet as you, deserves a hug...This coupon is worth two!!
2. If dusting is a job you need...I do good work with super speed!!
3. When you feel real tired and you're needing a lift...A "back rub" can be the most perfect gift!
4. If you day's made you sad and it's been real long...Just redeem this coupon and I'll sing you a song.
5. If our trash is piling all over the place...I'll take it outside with a smile on my face!
6. If junk on the floor has been there all day...I'll pick it all up and put it away!

I was absolutely delighted! It was exactly what I wanted. Christopher told me I can use each coupon three times and then they expire. He was so cute talking about each coupon. He was in deed a little worried about the picking up the pile of junk. He didn't want to have to go from room to room cleaning and losing precious time to play. He did though give me a sample of what his back rubs would be like. I am looking forward to redeeming my coupons.

Ryan made a delicious breakfast of strawberry crepes. Matthew made me some lemon poppy seed muffins, my favorite.

After breakfast Matthew gave me part two of his Mother's Day gift. Part one came on Friday, he gave me a tomato plant. Part two was two coupons, one to bake whatever I wanted and the other coupon a back or foot massage. I asked Matthew how many times I could use his coupons. He told me, they never expire. So I teased him about him being Ryan's age and coming home to visit and giving me back rub with skin that sags and is as dry as an alligators skin. We all laughed. He then replied, "As long as I am living at home, you can redeem your two coupons as many times as you would like." WOW!!! I am going to surely take advantage of that!

What a wonderful, calm and relaxing day I had! More than anything I enjoyed spending time together as a family.

Mother's Day Celebration at Hope Preschool

On Wednesday I went to Joshua's preschool for a Mother's Day Celebration. When all the moms arrived the children put on a sweet little program. The children had made these adorable animal faces out of paper plates for the program. You know the book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?" Well their program was very similar to the book, yet they used different animals. It was so cute. Each of the children covered up their faces with their masks for the whole entire program. I was so proud of Joshua for saying his part perfectly! At the very end the last child who was a bunny said, "I see Mother's looking at me!"

Afterwards, Joshua gave me my mother's day presents. The children had tide dyed paper then cut it to a smaller size and glued it onto paper and made them into blank cards. So I now have a set of stationary cards with Joshua's artwork on them, along with envelopes. He also gave me a poem with his hand print.

We then went over to the little tables and planted some parsley seeds in a mug Joshua had made. We have put the mug and seeds in our kitchen window and can't wait to watch them grow.

After we got cleaned up from planting our seeds, we enjoyed some cheese, crackers and grapes. I had a wonderful time spending some one on one time with Joshua along with visiting with some of the other moms.

As we were leaving, Mrs. Bower took off the bulletin board a very cute and funny questionnaire. Joshua had to fill in the blanks about me.

The Questionnaire Form

"My Great Mom"

My mom is special because she loves me.

My mom is the prettiest when she wears a beautiful dress.

My mom always tells me it's time for dinner.

My mom is the happiest when I help Mom clean.

My mom likes to buy yogurt and chips.

My mom's favorite thing to do is help me clean my room.

My mom likes to cook pancakes for breakfast.

My mom's favorite TV show is Mickey Mouse.

I know my mom loves me because she likes me.

100th Day of Scripture Reading

This year in Primary Christopher's primary teacher challenged the children to read their scriptures for 100 days in a row. Sister Williams gave each of the children a chart to keep track of their reading. If you missed a night you had to start back over. The deal was when you finished 100 days of reading in a row , she would bake you some cookies!

I knew the moment Sister Williams mentioned this idea to me that Christopher would no doubt step up and achieve this challenge. Christopher is the type of boy that loves a challenge, he loves to prove that he can do anything tossed his way.

I am very proud of Christopher, he was the first one in his primary class to read 100 days in a row.

Way to go Christopher!

It has been fun to watch Christopher take this challenge seriously. There was one night in particular that sticks out in my mind. A few months ago we went to the monster truck show in Washington D.C. we got home pretty late. Most of the boys had fallen asleep in the car on the way home. When we got home Ryan and I carried all of the boys to their beds. Well, Christopher woke up in the middle of the night and realized he hadn't read his scriptures before going to bed. I found him reading the scriptures in the hallway with the bathroom light on. When I asked him what he was doing, he told me had fallen asleep on the way home and had missed reading his scriptures. So he woke up and decided to read them now, hoping it would still count. He ask me if it would still count, since the sun wasn't up yet.

I have loved listening to him read his scriptures every day. As of today Christopher is on 113 days in a row. His goal now is to read 200 days in a row.

Cookies, Cookies & More Cookies

Today on our way to church I told the boys that if they were super quiet during sacrament meeting we could bake some cookies after church. As we continued to drive to church the boys were shouting out which kind of cookies they would want to bake after church. Christopher was arguing Matthew always gets to bake his kind of cookies. Finally, I said if they were SUPER good we could bake each of their favorite. Well, as you can see from this post the boys were quiet and earned their cookies. Each boy took turns in the kitchen helping bake their kind of cookies. We spent the rest of the evening in the kitchen baking. It actually was a lot of fun since it was dark and drizzling outside.

Matthew wanted Sugar Cookies.


Joshua wanted Peanut Butter Fingers.



Christopher wanted to make Snickerdoodles.

The boys enjoyed every ones cookies. Each boy thought theirs was the best.

Batting Cages

The boys enjoy going to the batting cages to get a little batting practice in before games.

Tommy's How Wheel Car

Tommy thinks he has died and gone to heaven. This is our neighbors car. Whenever are little neighbor girl drives it over to our house, Tommy is the first one to jump in the car and get a ride around the block. He always cries when it's his turn to get out. The other day, the little girl jumped out of the car and Tommy quickly and I mean quickly slid over to the drivers side. He was grinning from ear to ear. He defiantly was in Heaven with this life size hot wheel car.

Harper's Ferry National Park

I went on a field trip with Matthew's class and the other 4th graders at Selden's this past week. We went to Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. It's actually where Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia states all come together. I have heard lots about this place, but have never taken the family there. The fourth graders at Selden's have been learning all about the civil war since it's there state history. I remember growing up in Utah and learning all about Utah's history. Well Matthew isn't learning about Mountain Men or Utah Indians. I am actually a little jealous since in Utah I didn't learn much about the civil war until High School. Matthew has loved learning all about it. There are so many civil war sites out here that helps it all seem more real. Although Harper's Ferry isn't a civil war site, it is a place where one man, John Brown tried to get an army together to help free hundred of slaves.

(Matthew's 4th grade class)

One of Matthew's highlights was standing right under the railroad tracks listening to a ranger speak to us and then a cargo train came creeping by and blew it's whistle. Matthew kept saying, "I have never been this close to a train before."

The pictures below were taken at the church in the town of Harper's Ferry. In the distance, you can see the train truck tunnel, along with the point of where the Potomac river and Shenandoah river come together.