My Invisible Tiara

Being a mom of 4 boys I know without a shadow of doubt one of the most important things I can teach my children is who they are. I want them to know who they are and where they come from. I know it's a vital factor in them becoming who they will one day be. It will help them to grow and realize that they are important. I want to teach them that if their parents here on earth can love them with their hearts so unconditionally, they can only imagine how much their Father in Heaven loves them. 

If it is so important to me to teach my kids this and remind them as often as I can of their divine potential, than I've decided it's even more important to remind myself just as often.

Being a woman leaves me open to so many reason's to pick myself apart and tell myself why I am not "good enough." I think as we get older for some reason the phrase "I am a child of god" becomes something we teach our children but forget that we too are his children. In Primary they sing it quite often. I know it's a favorite in our house.  

In Young Women's they stand and bear witness, "We are daughter's of our Heavenly Father, who loves us and we love him." Now that we are older it's harder to hear those words we sang in Primary and recited when we were in Young Women's. The world is screaming at us that we are never good enough. If we don't feed our kids this we are bad, if we don't look or dress the part we are not pretty enough, if we are stay at home mom's we are lazy, but if we work outside the home we aren't being a good mom. I am one of those that has beat myself up for not being enough. My house is a mess, my kids eat hot dogs (lots of hot dogs) and I can't get rid of the baby weight. Even though my baby is well over a year old. (I could go on and on.) 

As I was laying in bed trying so hard to fall back asleep, I had this thought. What if we all could wear tiaras? Wouldn't that be awesome? After all we are all Princesses. A princess is a daughter of a King. And that is what we are. Heavenly Father sees us as just that. Have you ever watched a dad look his daughter,with "that look" in his eyes? I picture Heavenly Father giving us that look everyday. Not just when we are looking our best or when we have finally caught up with the laundry for the next 5 minutes. 

I know I need some help in this department. So I have an idea. I know we can't walk around wearing tiaras all day to remind us of who we are, people might get the wrong impression. So when you look in the mirror in the morning pretend your putting on your tiara. Than tell yourself, good morning "Princess."  Than Walk around all day with your head held high, because you are a Daughter of God, you are important and what you do matters. No matter what. Heavenly Father Loves you. If you happen to find yourself feeling like you're not good enough, reach up adjust it, just in case it may have slipped. But move on.  And when you feel that love, make sure you help others see their tiara too. We are all struggling in our own way. Even those we think are the most put together.
Walk Tall, You're a Daughter of God
Words and Music written by Jamie Glenn
If you haven't heard this song before, look it up. It's beautiful.
Walk tall your a daughter, a child of God, be strong- please remember who you are. Try to understand you're part of his great plan. He's closer than you know- reach up, he'll take your hand. 

We now have a 4 year old!

On Novemeber 22, 2009, I walked into the labor and deliver and awkwardly said to the ladies at the desk, "Hi. I'm here for my 10:30 c-section." It was so casual. I felt like I was there for a something as simple as a hair cut. (Lol) 

By 11:35 we were holding our sweet baby boy. 

Ever since than our life has never been the same. This boy brings so much energy, laughter and love into our home. He loves helping me cook, especially cookies. He started preschool this year and his teacher says he's the biggest helper and he's learning so much. 

His favorite thing to do is follow his big brothers around and tries to do what they do. Even if it means following them to their friends house. He's a good big brother to his baby brother. Loves to make him smile. He's very curious and sometimes gets himself into trouble. But he keeps life exciting and entertaining. We love this guy! 

Happy Birthday Manning!! 

His request for his birthday breakfast was birthday pancakes. (With sprinkles) Four little ones and one shaped like a #4. 

Than for dinner homemade pizza. With a candle on the top. 

He didn't want any presents, he only asked for a party with his friends from his class and games at his party. 

His original request for a birthday cake seemed kind of hard for me to pull off, considering he wanted it to light up, growl, have a motion sensor when you walked by that said in a mean voice, "you're at my birthday party eat some cake." I did my best and he got Paw Patrol cupcakes with badges for all his friends. Close enough. Right? 

 He loved his birthday crown from school and wore it all day even when we ran errands. I hope he had a good day. 

Autumn Leaves and Giant Puddles

The boys have been off track and home all day for a week and a half now. It hasn't been that bad, I do enjoy having all my boys home during the day. Don't get me wrong after a while they do have thier moments of constant fighting and crazy abnoxious energy. 

So the other day I thought it would be a good idea to get out and try out the new jogging stroller one of my friends gave me. I told the boys they could run or ride their bikes. I kept taking pictures thinking I'd blog about the beautiful fall leaves and our fun walk. We got half way to our planned turn around spot. I asked Manning to pose for a picture and than he started dancing and trying to pull his pants down. Unsuccessful right there and than a puddle began to form at his feet.... and just like that a fun outing turned interesting. I pulled the blanket out of the stroller and wrapped him up and awkwardly put him in. The others cried as I explained to them that we had to go home. Mattix wanted to finish the walk and let him sit in his wet clothes. So our fun walk turned into a few crying kids and a frazzled mom all hurrying home and leaving behind the rather large puddle of pee. 

Oh well...It's the thought that counts. It was a fun 10 minutes. 

Licking his ring pop, sporting his fireman jacket and his awesome birthday crown he got from preschool. Even with soaking wet pants. I love this kid. 

Doggy Pile

It's been raining all day and it's cold outside. No one wants to play outside. I've tried letting the boys out to run off some energy, but it lasted 5 or so minutes. 

So here I sit, it's Daddy's late night at work, I'm done watching lame cheesy Kids show, my baby is grumpy with a fever and the boys are out of control. (As you can see in this picture.) Nights like this make me count down the minutes until daddy comes home. I need bedtime and a Hallmark Christmas movie. Maybe some popcorn and chocolate. 

Happy Friday Night! 

Happy birthday Grandpa

For Grandpa's birthday this year we couldn't decide what to buy him. We brainstormed and decided we'd take him out on a date. So we planned a trip to Cabella's. The boys had fun and I think my dad did too. I love that they got to make memories and spend time with their Grandpa. He's a pretty special guy. We sure love him. 

We saw lots of fish and even got to feed some. Manning was disappointed we couldn't go fishing. 

Grandpa taught Mason a thing or two on the fake shooting range. Like how to aim and hold the gun. He thought that was pretty neat. 

We ended up spending 2 hours there. 

We definitely had a good time. 

Happy Birthday Grandpa! We love you. 

Do fish sleep?

The other night we were getting ready for bed. Part of our routine as new pet owners is to feed the fish and turn off their light. We got it done. I got the boys to bed. Came back into the living room and the light was on again. I turned it off and went to bed. The next morning I got up and the light was already on. I asked the boys if they had already fed the fish. They said no. I commented that the light keeps coming back on. Mattix said "mom fish don't sleep. They probably don't like the dark. We need to keep the light on."

Mason asked me "do fish really not sleep?" Well I have no idea. So we did what any mom in new internet knows everything era, we googled it and found out that, fish rest but don't sleep. Apparently they can't stay still because they move their gills to keep them breathing. But they don't really know if they actually sleep. Kids are full of all sorts of questions. I guess it's a sneaky way of keeping their parents learning too. I'm constantly having to look stuff up to find the answers to their questions.  

Simple Reminders

I woke up this morning in a fairly grumpy mood. Matt hurt his back the other day and just wasn't feeling good. We both agreed that maybe if he stayed home and took it easy, it might help him feel a bit better in time, to go to work tomorrow. Sundays are usually crazy and stressful. For some reason it seems to be the toughest day of the week. With Matt down for the count, I wasn't to excited to fly solo. Getting everyone ready and taking them all to church. Matt and I were recently called to team teach Mattix's class. (5-6 yr. olds) I made the mistake of procrastinating my lesson and was kind of dreading teaching. Well with all this negativity floating around in my head, for some reason I just felt like staying home and being lazy. I even found myself asking why do I have to have a Sunday calling? 

The boys were excited to go, which made going easier. Plus I didn't want to let my class down. We pulled into the parking lot and I knew we were a little early for primary. (We had already missed sacrament.) I sat in the car and said a prayer to change my mood. We sat down in sharing time and one of the cute little girls in my class sat down right next to me. With a big smile she hugged me and told me I looked pretty today. She was so happy to see me. She reached into her "purse," and pulled out a page of stickers. She picked out her favorite and put it on my shirt. She patted it and told me, "I am so happy you came to church today. I really wanted to give you a sticker." 

Something as simple as a little sticker and a sweet smiling face brought it all back to perspective. I know I am needed. I have a very important calling. Some may say it's "just Primary." But really it's a BIG calling. Christ taught how important it is to teach the children and show them love. How easy it is to think, oh I'm just a Primary teacher? But really, when you are there and fulfilling your calling, you are helping to build tiny testimonies and one day those tiny testimonies will be missionaries, moms, dads, Relief Society Presidents, or even just a Primary Teacher. How important is it for me to be an example and show my class I love them by loving my calling?