May 2021

We started May off with a fun adventure on our street.  Our neighbors rented an amazing bouncy house water slide.  The kids had the best time sliding for hours!  It was a magical day.

Don't let this picture fool you.  Atticus had the time of his life.  By the time I took this picture his clothes had dried and clouds had come so things had cooled down a bit.   

Mother's Day came later in the month and it was a good one.  Dane did a great job and Atticus tried so very hard to make me feel special.  He put up "decor" on the walls downstairs and both boys drew pictures for me.  Hinckley was pretty rotten all day, but I still wouldn't trade my job for any other in the whole world.

I found this page Atticus did back when he was Hinckley's age and decided to do the same thing with him. We had a good laugh.

Just before school ended we had planned a trip to the beach.  Then we heard the weather would be chilly and decided to cancel the trip.  Instead, we decided to hike up on Mt. Charleston.  We checked Atticus out of school and took off.  We had no idea what lay in store.

Snow!  At the end of May?!  We were discouraged at first but the boys set off with their winter gear on.  After a few minutes I decided, what the heck, Lucy should try out snow for her first time.  She wasn't laughing... but she wasn't crying, either.  So I put her in the hiking backpack and went to find the boys.

Meanwhile, the boys were having a great time.  They decided to send Atticus back for us.  Lucy and I joined them in no time.

After only a few minutes the snow stopped and the sun came out.  It was gorgeous- just the perfect weather for a hike.  

It was such a fun way to gear up for the summer and prepare for our Bryce Canyon trip.

Hinckley has been so much easier this month.  I'm not entirely sure why but we've had several days that were just very good.  He is such a good helper around the house and has such a sweet, affectionate personality when he isn't fighting us on something.  

He has started doing "homewoke" every day and a chore before he can watch a show and he is so diligent and easy to teach.  He already knew his colors and how to count but now he's starting to identify numbers, letters and their sounds.  His handwriting gets better every day.  I love it!

He has his own unique sense of style- he loves to wear his shoes on opposite feet and likes to match his shirt and shorts (green with green, white with white, etc.)  It can be frustrating sometimes but it's definitely not something I'm willing to fight over.

Speaking of learning, this was his last month of Joy School for the school year.  It has been so fun to compare his first and last day pictures. 

Oops!  This was actually the last day, so we took another one.  

Here he is pretending to be a grandpa on one of the last days of Joy School.

We have had the best time with our sweet Joy School friends.

Here they are the day they graduated.  He was so serious when he got his little "diploma."

This little boy is the sweetest big brother.  He is always "playing" with his little "sisto."  Sometimes he'll feed her, he loves to wake her up and play with her in her crib.  Here they are in a "fort" that he built for them.  She doesn't always appreciate his ideas but loves the attention.  It warms our hearts.

Don't get me wrong.  He can still be very hard.  Mother's Day was possibly the hardest day of the month.  He actually threw a shoe at my head before church and there were many more tantrums and unpleasant moments.  As a general rule, however, we've gotten better at being reasonable and he is becoming easier to reason with.  We still have a long way to go.

Earlier in the month Atticus offered to teach the lesson for Family Home Evening (we hold it weekly with Dane's family and mine through Zoom.)  We made assignments for different family members and practiced a couple times beforehand.  I was so proud of him- he did such a great job!  I mention it here because Hinckley was so impressed that he wanted to practice teaching with me.  He was adorable and went through it a couple times.

Little did we know it would be the perfect warm up for Primary.  Yesterday he gave his first talk and looked so confident.  We are so proud of our little Sunbeam.  I hope this confidence stays!

Hinckley Speaks:

• "My gwampa makes lots of salads wif me." (Said at Joy School.  Huh? He'd never eaten a salad with his grandpa before.)
• "Mom... can you go back inside now?" (While playing with friends outside.)
• "Didn't hurt!" (Said defiantly after being given a light spanking.)
• "Yo a bad, bad mom!" 
• ("How do you think you could earn that privilege back?") "I could shoot you wif vis."
• "I had a good day and my teacho had a good day."
• "Mom, I went potty and then Daddy went potty!" (Said loudly at church.)
• "I don't want you guys to dwill my teef." (Said to each dental assistant at the dentist's office.)
• "Mommy, aw you my teacho?" 
• "Yo a good teacho."
• "Mom, can I have a chopstick?" (Chapstick.)
• "I fink I'm getting stwongo or somefing." (While doing the Murph workout on Memorial Day.)

Atticus continues to make life interesting.

Below you can see a sign he made.  We have been telling him that once school was over he never had to wear a mask again (he actually had no problem wearing masks to school but we don't believe that children who are symptom-free should be wearing masks) and he concocted this sign.  His plan was to march around the neighborhood, declaring that, as the sign says in his writing, "We don't have to wear masks!"

After recruiting a couple friends to help, their plan changed into polling neighbors about masks.  "Do you think we should have to wear masks?"  The result was mixed.  But now that school is out, it is unanimous at home.  No more masks!

It's been so fun to compare his first and last day pictures, too.  What a difference 9 months makes!

It may come as no surprise that his appetite has been bigger than ever of late.  He and some of his friends often try to get "double breakfast" and "double lunch," ha ha, where they eat at home and then eat breakfast at school.  A new favorite food is Dagwood sandwiches with all the adult fixings, meat, cheese, lettuce, pickles, and tomato. 

I love these kinder graduation photos our wonderful photographer friend took.  

(photo credit: lovelyolivinephoto)

Since they were never able to play on the playground during school (except the very last day- I guess they let them play) and they were at home for two months I felt very strongly that he and his classmates should get to play.  I contacted the teacher and some parents and after some brainstorming we came up with a splash pad party.

His amazing teacher, Mrs. Bloom came with her kiddos, too!  It was so fun.

He really progressed quickly at first with his piano playing.  He has definitely slowed down but still will randomly draw little gems like this below- with no help. 

Atticusisms:

• (After explaining what a portrait is to a friend his friend asked him, "How much are you going to pay me for this portrait?") "Nothing!  It's the worst painting I've ever seen!"
• "Dad!  You're supposed to be trying to spend less time on your phone!" (Said fairly often...)
• "We're long-lost brothers!" (About a friend at school.)
• "Mom, can you go back upstairs so we can have our time with Mimi?"
• (LDS missionaries ask him, "Will you accept two challenges?") "Yes. I can accept any challenge." 
• "Dad, you misspoke.  Me and my friends don't misspeak."
• "Ugh, she's been talking for hours!  This is so long..." (About a talk at church- a very good one, I might add.  But it made us laugh.)
• "...Cuatro, cinco seis, ocho, nocho, nueve, dies!" (Singing one of his new favorite songs.)

Oh, our little Lucy Laurel. 

This month was another big one, filled with milestones.  She got her top left tooth on May 3rd and on that same day she started scooting forward (very slowly!)  A week later her fourth tooth (TR) popped through.  That same day she was officially inchworm crawling and she's been exploring the house, little by little, ever since.

She is still on her belly most of the time, digging her toes into the floor and dragging her self with her arms but she's getting up on her knees often.  It's the cutest thing.  She is often letting out little giggles as she crawls- thrilled by all the fun things around her.  The giggles crack us up- they're so dainty and seem higher pitched than the boys.

She LOVES music so much and bounces in our arms to the beat.  Dane got a video of her moving her leg to the beat or "dancing" one day on the floor.

She'll soon be 9 months old but on May 6th she turned 8 months and I was able to snap my favorite picture of her, yet.  

She is the sweetest, most huggable and squeezable little lamb.  She will let me hold her, cheek to cheek, and squeeze me right back, like a little baby koala.  It is such a delight having her in our family that Dane and I agree- sometimes for the last couple months we have felt like we don't deserve her or even like she can't be real.  

With the end of the month, however, things have been a little less magical.  Her sleep regression (it has been like clockwork- she's almost exactly 9 months!) has been all too real.  Now that she's dropping her third nap and has become more mobile, she is starting to fight naps and bedtime harder than ever.  She's even started some night waking again.  She also just got another little cold.  I guess you could say that the spell has been broken, at least a little.

June will be busy month so we're hoping and praying her cold passes quickly so the fun can begin!

Happy Summer, everyone!

April 2021

April felt longer than your average month.  I guess we just packed a lot in.

It started with a camping trip to the Valley of Fire with some friends in our ward.  Man was it beautiful!  The kids were able to climb until the sun went down (and even afterward.) 

Our little Lucy didn't sleep hardly at all, which came as no surprise, but the boys did great!  We count it as a success and look forward to doing more camping in the future.

The camping trip was just before Easter weekend (which also happened to be General Conference for our church, as well!)

It was a wonderful Easter.

We are so proud of Atticus.  This isn't just because his paper airplane game is on point, although it most definitely is.  (In case you're wondering, those little ones were tiny!)

We have seen him struggle and push through.  He has been a peacemaker- for his parents, his siblings, for friends.  He is making huge strides and being rewarded for his hard work and practice.  He is not perfect but he tries so hard.  I get teared up just writing about him.

First, he is kind.  He loves being at school with his friends and his teachers.  He is so friendly and, from what I can tell, kind to all of his classmates.  His teacher says he is one of the students that make her job worth it, which makes my momma heart so proud.  She has had some tougher days and so he has prayed that his teacher would have better days and he'll draw pictures for her and brought her an apple one day.

He started playing piano last month (I may have mentioned this already) and he has progressed a ton!  He asks to practice and, while he still gets angry as he practices, he really seems in it for the long haul.

Like I said earlier, however, there have been things that have been hard to watch and hear about. 

For starters, there is a boy in his class that seems to be giving him a hard time.  According to Atticus, the boy was his friend at first but now the boy is mean to him.  "I think I found a bully," he told us the first day.  There have been a few hard days but Atticus seems safe.  He tells us that he likes "silent lunch" because now that boy can't say mean things to him and his classmates.  I don't think we need to intervene, for now.  He has said he just ignores the boy and we think that's a pretty good way to respond.

The struggle that has weighed most on my mind has been his anger during soccer games.  

He has natural gifts (I am sure it's from his paternal grandma, Marti) that allow him to really see the field and position himself in just the right places.  In addition to these gifts, he has worked hard so that he is one of the fastest kids on the field and he has an excellent first touch as well as great accuracy.  So you'd think he'd be amazing, right?  He will be- when he can get his emotions under control.  

There was one game, in particular, where he had to sit out for a quarter and a half because he was beside himself over losing.  We lost by a lot (6-0, I'm sorry to say!) and it would have been a much closer game if he had stayed in.  I am happy to report, however, that he didn't lose his temper once at the following game and he has been doing a much better job since then.  When he played like that, he was seriously unstoppable.

Atticusisms:

• "Mom, are you 100?" ("Yes.  She's 100," his father was quick to reply.)
• "I really want to homeschool.  She didn't give me a bandaid!" (Said while showing a small cut he had gotten on his finger while at school.)
• "Stupid wind!" (Said while rotating back and forth and trying to "hit" the wind with his basketball.)
• "I prayed that Dad would be happy." (Said after hearing his parents argue and when he saw his dad smile.)

Oh, Hinckley.  So cute.  So terrifying.  

At the beginning of the month he was talking about how he wanted to have a wife and kids, all so he could have a "beohd" (beard) and go to work at the office.  Now he is very adamant that he doesn't want a wife because he doesn't want to do "kissy-kissy."  (Oh, the effect a big brother can have!)

He's coming along with his tracing and artwork.  Below you can see his "python."  It's the best he's ever done!

We've started doing FHE using Zoom calls with our family (which we love!)  For the first week Dane's dad asked the boys to draw something they would take with them on their mission.  Atticus drew a crocodile (for protection- it would eat anyone who tried to hurt him while he was sharing the gospel.)

Hinckley worked on the picture and explanation above with me.  I tried so hard not to laugh while helping him.

We just love so many things about him at this age.  The way he runs is so adorable.  He twists his whole upper body from the hips from side to side, pumping his arms.  And when he dribbles a soccer ball he does little poses as he traps the ball.  (He's getting pretty good!)

Speaking of soccer, he is dying to have his own team.  He wants to go to every practice and game for Atticus and always wears soccer clothes, long socks (Atticus's practice socks if he can) and cleats.  We've had many conversations and tantrums when he's been reminded that this season is just for Atticus.  At the last game, he even asked me if he could go in and play during half time.  He took it pretty well that time.  

I'm excited to have him start this fall.

The last thing I wanted to mention tugs at our heart strings.  He feels so small and wants so very, very much to be a big kid.  Almost once a day he'll ask me when he's going to get bigger in one way or another.  And there are many times where he still needs help but utterly refuses help, making the situation virtually impossible.  For example, he wants to buckle his car seat.  Now, he can do this.  He has done it several times.  But it takes him a very long time, during which time I am not to move the car because "It's a dangewus woad!" (Good point, kiddo.)  I'm not to even back the car out of the driveway.  When I'm already late for our carpool...  Auggggh!  And if I even come near him and suggest that I could help him, he makes me regret it.  

I just have to take deep breaths.  And I need to leave earlier.  For everything.

We love his independence and know it will serve him well.  In the meantime, however, it makes for some very difficult days.

Hinckley Speaks:

• "Chocolate makes my poop brown!"
• "Who fills them with milk?" (Pointing at Mommy while she was nursing the baby.)
• "I not beautiful!  I'm powerful."
• "I have two gulfwends." (At the beginning of the month.)
• "I'm going to mawwy Georgia, Elsie, Evelyn and Faye, too."
• "Pockets hit me... he thwew a wock at me and his mom said, 'POCKETS, COME HEOH!" (After some detective work I discovered he was talking about his friend's cousin who is named "Hawkins.")
• "I don't like cats." (After a cat had attacked our dog while we were on a walk.  It was traumatizing for all of us.)
• "What kind of bones do you have?"
• "Can I see yo bone?"
• "I have to take my sho-uht off so to play basketball/wohk out/westle." (Any excuse, right?)
• "Wawwior kids take theyuh sho-uhts off when they do fwips." (On the trampoline.)
• ("Let's play Goldilocks.") "Okay, I'll be Batman." ("Batman's not in Goldilocks.") "...Okay." (While playing with some Joy School friends.)
• "Why am I not big?!!!"
• "I'm so stwong because I wohked out."
• (After falling down he grabs his knee...) "I'm okay.... Cover it... " (I cover his knee.)  "Kiss my weg." (I give it a kiss.) "Yep.  I can see bone, all wight."  (For the record, it didn't even break the skin.)

Oh, our little Lucy Laurel.  Dane is starting to call her Lula.  I still find myself calling her Lucy-Lou.  

No matter the name, she is such a little lamb.

She loves to be held tight and holds you right back.  I rub her back when she's in bed or just before she goes to sleep and I can often feel her little hand rubbing me right back on my arm or shoulder.  When I hold her on my hip she often squeezes my arm- little squeezes as we go on our way.  Don't get me wrong- she still bats at our faces and seems to want to tear off poor Max's beard but she can already be surprisingly gentle for being so small.

That hasn't stopped the boys from trying to frame her.  Oh, no.  While they were taking a bath I saw some mysterious little floaties in the water (gross!  we drained the bath and they took a good shower.)  When they both vehemently denied any wrongdoing we decided not to worry about who was responsible.   That wasn't good enough for the boys.  They talked it over and decided that, since neither of them was the culprit Baby Lucy must have pooped in the tub.  (Who, as it happened had been in her room the entire time...)

She's also becoming a bit of an escape artist.  She has gotten out of her bumbo seat a few times and so now I have to buckle her.  Atticus's legs were too fat to ever sit in the chair and Hinckley was content to just sit... so this is a new experience for us.

You can't see the movement in this photo above but she was making her first sign for "more."  She's still spotty with it but I think next month she'll become more consistent.  

Man, she loves eating so, so much.  Nursing during the day is such a burden.  She outright refuses some of the time until she's about to go down for a nap.  I can tell she's holding out for the "good stuff."  And she's getting adult food.  I've descended so far in my parenting practices that I just chew up my own food and give it to her.  Heck, I'm sure that's how cavemen did it.  I figure she's getting great nutrition and I don't have any extra dishes/blenders to wash.  

This has been another big month for our little beauty.  

She started babbling early in the month.  When she isn't growling she's babbling, "Bah, bah, blah blah blah."  It's like music to our ears.  She has this cute way of babbling by sticking her tongue out like a baby bird.

 

She went from being able to scoot backward and rotate 360 degrees on her tummy at the beginning of the month to scooting forward!  (This first occurred on May 3.)

She can go from sitting to hands and knees and she is starting to sit with one leg forward and one backward so that she can go back and forth. 

I try not to talk to much about us, as parents but I wanted to write about one final experience that I had while coaching Atticus's team.

Remember that game I described earlier?  The one where we lost 6-0?  It was not just traumatic due to Atticus.  The coach on the other team treated me with complete scorn and disdain and I let it shake me.

My players made a mistake that I wanted to correct.  He reluctantly let me restart the play and when that mistake was made again he had his players attack the ball and score a goal.  When I attempted to talk to him about the situation he yelled at me, "You should have taught them!"  Adding, "Go!" to his players.  I tried to remind him that the kids were 5 and 6 years old and he just ignored me.  I was shocked and humiliated.  It honestly took me days to recover.  I don't take confrontation well and I started to doubt myself as a coach and just as a person.  It was a darker week for me, I'm sorry to say.

Thanks to time (which heals all!), my sweet husband, loving family members, friends and the sweet whisperings of the Spirit, I am back to feeling good about my decision to coach.  No, I'm not perfect (far, far from it!) and that's okay.  I like my coaching philosophy and methods.  I like that my players love to come to practice and that they feel loved by their coach.  And I feel sorry for that coach, his team and anyone who takes sports that seriously- especially at such a young age.  

It's funny how it takes a shocking experience like that for you to really assess who you are and your own feelings of self-worth.  While I really felt worthless for a couple days there, I have since felt even more loved by my Father in Heaven.  He is proud of us and rooting for us, even in our smallest, most meager efforts to serve and lift others.