The Things They Say

It's time...my kids are hilarious and so darn cute and it must be documented.

Austin is 15 months and changing each and every day. Unlike his older siblings he isn't saying much. We think he can say the word more...but it sounds more like, "moo-aaa?"with his lips pursed in the cutest way. But I'm counting it as a word. Even though he isn't talking he doesn't seem to struggle too much to let us know what he wants. He does several different signs (more, please, milk) and also has a little sound, "uh, uh, uh?" to let us know what he wants and if that doesn't work he lets out a few ear piercing screams to get his point across. His older siblings spoil him and he rules the roost.

One night Chet punched Austin in the stomach. After a family discussion of why it isn't ok to hit, Tanner asked, "Chet are you going to punch Austin again?" While fighting imaginary monsters and rolling around on the floor Chet said, "No!". All the while Austin was standing behind Chet nodding his head frantically up and down. We thought it was pretty funny but surprisingly Chet has been much kinder.

Austin wants to be just like his brother and sister. If they are sitting at the table coloring he wants to sit at the table with a paper and crayon. I always think he will get down pretty fast but he is so happy to be with his siblings that he just sits there and takes a half-hearted swipe at his paper every once and a while.

He has discovered the joy that comes with a good bag. He likes to carry bags, or the tupperware he has strewn all over the kitchen floor, around and collect little treasures.

Austin loves to be outside and gets so sad when he has to come in. Whenever I let him go out in the back yard with his siblings he is just giddy.

Chet is at such a fun age. He loves to tell stories or recount his epic "dreams" to us in the morning. We've had several FHE lessons on the Word of Wisdom in the last few months and one morning Chet told me all about his dream that involved a goat trying to get him to drink alcohol. But he was steadfast and didn't cave to pressure. I'm so grateful we have taught him not to cave to alcoholic goats...

Last Sunday I was trying hard to do activities that would be Sabbath appropriate. Mariah and Chet love it when I tell stories, about princesses, my childhood on the ranch, scripture stories, etc. Chet asked for a story about Cinderella and Mariah piped up, "How about a story about Jesus? Since it's Sunday."  Chet quickly put the kibosh on that and said, "I'm going to tell a story about Cinderella going to church." He then proceeded to tell a long drawn out story about Cinderella going to church and meeting the Huntsman (you know, from Snow White), and how the Huntsman had a gun and had to fight an epic battle and kill lots of bad guys. But they did meet up at church so it was totally Sunday appropriate.

Never felt safer.

Chet was singing, "When my mommy calls me, quickly I obey. I always want her to not be mad, each and every day." I don't know how he came up with that, I never get angry...

We got a bunch of character underwear from my sister and Chet just loves them, especially the superhero ones. I started to notice that he always seemed to have them on backwards but when I tried to fix it he told me that was how he wanted them. "I can't see the people if I do it the other way". So Chet wears his underwear backwards, and his logic does make sense. He dresses for himself, not for anyone else.

After getting a rug burn on his chin Chet said, "Mom my chin burns give me some gasoline." I just assumed he meant vasoline.

His first "selfie"

We have had a little bit of a whining problem with our Chet boy. We keep hoping he is going to grow out of it and I think he's doing a little better. One day while he was playing he said in a suuuper whiny voice, "My leg hurts!" He then said in a deep, gruff voice, "I'm gonna die!". One of his biggest desires is to make people laugh and he does a pretty good job with that.

Mariah is growing up so quickly and it is fun to see her learn and grow. We did a reading program together and she worked so hard and now is reading. She loves reading a verse or two during family scripture study and she and Chet have flashlights so they can look at books in their room at bedtime and I love hearing her read to herself at night. She is so motivated to learn.

One day she and Chet were pretending to be bears and I heard her say, "Honey Stew! Thats the worse I've ever had! I want honey mac and cheese!" And then in her best mother bear voice she said, "Well you should be grateful." If you couldn't tell we have had pretty similar conversations in our household, just leave out the honey.

Grandma Crossley let us borrow some Easter figurines and a tomb. While playing with it Mariah said, "Everyone in Heaven is crying because they see his scars." I thought that was really profound. I haven't given much thought to how we may have felt up in Heaven seeing our beloved brother suffering for us. It was really touching. Out of the mouth of babes...

She has loved her Co-op preschool and Chet loves when we have it at our house.

My friend sent me this so Mariah could see how big her water beads would get. I just love her face.

Today after church Mariah and I had some one on one time while the boys napped. We talked about how we feel the Holy Ghost, being a good friend, kindness and squishing the juice out when eating oranges. She really is a joy to be around.

One day while I was doing some cleaning the kids decided to join in. Mariah had an envelope on her hand, Chet had a duster, and Austin had a vacuum attachment and they all stayed busy "cleaning" away. This was the best photo I could get:

Tanner has worked every Sunday this month and I couldn't have asked for more from my kids. They really tried their hardest to be reverent and I'm so grateful for them.

When Dad Works on Sunday...

Getting three kids ready for 9:00 am church by yourself is no simple task. Especially when you have to be out the door by 8:20. So last Sunday I did all I could do to prepare. All outfits were picked out the night before, I woke up bright and early and got myself ready before the kids. We were out and loaded in the car by 8:15. I was so pleased with myself. And then I turned the key in my ignition...nothing. Commence slamming of head on the steering wheel.
Because of our funky ward boundaries there are only three other active families that live within ten minutes of me. I called my good friend hoping that her husband would be with her. He wasn't but she came right over. She pulled into my garage and like any good farm girl I went to work hooking up the jumper cables to our batteries only to find that the cables were not long enough to reach. "No problem! We can just push my car out of the garage." I thought with great optimism. Because of the incline of our driveway,  one person needed to be in the car to push the brake. Jen told me later that while I pushed with my super strength my kids were giggling at me in the car. I'd rather them laughing than crying about the situation. Even though I'm super strong, there was a rise at the end of the driveway that I just couldn't quite get over.
I was feeling so discouraged and I didn't want to keep Jen waiting. I decided to call my other friends that lived close by but figured they would already be on their way to church. But they had been trying to pick someone up and were still on our side of town. Jen left to get our friend Serge and the kids and I ended up piling up in the back of our other friends' car. The biggest miracle of all is that we were still able to make it to the church during the sacrament song.
I could have looked at this experience as a horrible debacle, but I think I was blessed to see it in a different way. Sure things didn't go the way I would have preferred but so much good came out of it. I was touched by the willingness of my friend to rush right over to help, when she could have said, "I don't know anything about cars and I don't want to be late for church. Plus, I haven't been feeling very well this pregnancy." Instead she came and did all she could to help. And just the fact that the couple we rode with normally would never be as late as they were, but because they had been waiting for someone who didn't even show up we were able to get a ride.
I am so glad I didn't give up. I could have just unloaded the kids right when the car didn't start and we could have had a nice relaxing day at home. But what would that have taught them? Instead we went and it was such a good Sabbath day. We were able to partake of the Sacrament, and I was able to teach my Young Women and feel their wonderful Spirits.
As much as I don't wish trials on myself, I am so grateful for the lessons I am able to learn from them. And I am so grateful for the wonderful people in our Ward who are so willing to help. We are so blessed.

I took this picture later that day after we had all taken a long nap. These three keep me good.