painting & encouraging

This month, I've been joining in with a painting challenge from the woman who taught the watercolor class I took earlier this year. Today's the last day and I'm excited to finish up and share some of the little pictures I've made over the last few weeks.

One of my favorite parts of this process has been the sweet delight of my children. Isaac stood at the kitchen table yesterday, watching me paint and said with excitement "You're painting my light up shoes!" Which to me was fabulous because it meant I was painting something he could recognize! (I can still remember trying to draw a dog for a toddler-aged Landon. When he had no idea what it was, I realized I wanted to work on learning to draw just a little bit better!)

None of my little paintings have been so spectacular, though there are a few that I love and they make me really happy. But listening to my kids, you would think I was ready for a grand exhibit!  It has been such sweet encouragement to hear their comments all along the way. "Wow!" "How did you make that?!" "You are like the best artist in the world!" "I wish I could paint like that!" (I wish I could paint like any number of lovely artists I admire!)

It has just been so fun to share my little work with them and have such excitement and kind encouragement!

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow (a few little things)

yesterday

+ Jordan realized another new last as Isaac raced to church on his balance bike -- no more stroller walks to church (a little thing, but part of a big thing so it still got our attention). Also, it felt like our Sunday morning just went more smoothly than normal -  There were still too-small shoes and kind of a tornado of a kitchen, but we all went out the door cheerful, ready, and on time!

+ I had signed up a month ago to help another mom make some Brazilian treats for tonight's International Night. I was super excited to meet last night and had it planned into the day when we left for church. Somehow by the time we got home though it was out of my mind and I didn't remember again until this morning when I woke up and realized I had missed it - ack!

+ One of the kids noticed me eating cheerios for breakfast (instead of my every day oatmeal) and they could hardly believe it!

+ Jordan took some of the kids for a long walk and got to see and try out the new sidewalk near first Dam.

+ I got to help Ellie quickly get ready a talk for primary, and it was so great to use the scriptures we'd just talked about as a family earlier in the week.

today

+ working out plans and getting things ready for a birthday party for Owen

+ Wild Kratts movie time for the boys this morning (from Isaac when they started talking about rhinos -- "I have a rhino!")

+ A super speedy-hurry to get back in time for kindergarten-shopping trip + two happy boys ready to hurry back home and eat the mango and kiwi they picked out.

+ a Monday morning school-time break down...

+ Loving all of the trees and bushes just about ready to burst out their leaves, plus the beautiful and wild forsythia plants around our neighborhood and the great blossoms everywhere. From the boys yesterday "Look! Our popcorn trees!"

+ Soccer for Landon and the school's International Night this evening (which also means dinner plans are set, hooray!)

tomorrow

+  One of the kids said this morning looking at the calendar, "Tomorrow's baby day!" This still delights me and makes me laugh that we have this Ellie-created funny monthly holiday.

+ A birthday party for Owen (we made it in his birthday month at least...)

+ Scouts for Landon and a fun surprise young women's activity for me

+ Last day of the April paint-with-me challenge I've been working on and having such fun with!

Bring your kids to work day

As the kids were getting ready for school yesterday morning, Landon heard on the radio that it was "National take your child to work day". Of course, when he mentioned this to the other kids they all thought it was a fabulous idea (quite possibly with a feeling something like 'A day off school? whatever it is, yes!')

Jordan was in meetings for the morning so the kids all did head to school, but when he had a break in his schedule Porter made the proposal.  It turned out that TPT had scheduled some in-office activities around the day, so it worked out great for Jordan to take some time also at home for his own version of bring your kids to work day.

We checked out the kids from school and they all got a lesson on what Jordan actually does for work.  Owen was really interested in understanding all this a little better. By kindergarten time, Landon was ready to head back to school and we guessed Porter would soon get a little bored (he assured me after school he would have loved to stay, whoops!)

For the afternoon, Jordan sat between Ellie and Owen (and worked through the actual work of the day :) while they worked away at their own programming lessons and challenges. Ellie loved this and was super excited to show me the programs she was creating.

It was a fun day for these kiddos and for Jordan too!

Puddles!

We had a wild Spring day yesterday with a beautiful sun shining morning and early afternoon, and then a whirlwind of rain -- sun -- rain -- sun -- HAIL -- rain -- sun throughout all the rest of the day. Shortly after one of the downfalls, I picked up Porter from a friend's house by bike. All the way home, he was going out of his way to ride through the widest, deepest puddles he could find. When we stopped to pick up Ellie, he sought out more puddles. By the time we got home, he was soaked to his waste and splashed (from his back tire) up to his neck. Then he just gave up the bike and went to some giant splashing on his own!

Also, 

I was making dinner last night when I went to check on something and heard water running in the (empty) bathroom... I opened the door to find about an inch of water covering the floor, and more streaming down from the sink and countertops. (We think Isaac must have been playing and left the sink with the drain stopped and the faucet on full speed...) So we had some more puddle clean up!

One hilarious bit of mischief, and one wonderfully sweet thing: 

While I mopped up the floor and cupboard drawers, etc. Isaac walked in with a smile on his face and a cup in his hand full of something thick and white that he had also obviously been drinking -- "What's that?!" I asked and he answered enthusiastically,  "The mix! I love it!" I then discovered that he had found the dumpling batter waiting to go into our soup, added plenty of water to get a more drinkable consistency, and served himself a cup-full! 

As soon as I started cleaning up the bathroom, Porter, just watching me, ran downstairs and carried up our giant laundry bin of towels waiting to be folded and jumped right in to cleaning up right along with me. It wiped away so much of my frustration to see and have his cheerful help!

Soccer Time

We're back in to soccer season! The first Fall that Landon played was right after Porter was born, and his games and practices were all at Lundstrom Park so I'd just walk across the street, set up my chair, and hold tiny little Porter while I enjoyed the beautiful Fall days and watching Landon play and learn.

We've since had a lot more seasons with games and practices for the boys from one end of the valley to the other (a nice way to see some parts of Cache Valley we haven't yet had a reason to visit!) It's so fun for me to watch them play and I still also love the time to just spend outside and enjoy this lovely place we live (those mountains!)

On our way out the door yesterday, Owen was asking me a question about his past game (how many goals did each team get I think) and when I didn't know the answer, he followed up with (kindly) 'Do you think you could watch the field a little more this time and your book a little less?' Ha :) I'd actually been listening to an audiobook and when I told him that I'd been watching the whole time, he said, "But maybe you were paying like 75% attention to the game and 25% attention to the book?" Fair enough :) It's a sweet feeling to know it matters to these kiddos that I see and really notice the good things they do.

Springtime Adventures

Jordan has been excited to be outside and adventuring again with these warm Spring days. Yesterday he took these boys on what was going to be a hike, but ended up being a happy afternoon of cave exploring and rock tower building.

This weekend one evening (picture above), he took most of the kids on a bike ride/run downtown to pick up sandwiches and KFC and then back up to Jamba Juice where I drove to meet them for dinner and smoothies and took a few kids back home. The other day they ran to Aggie ice cream (with just 4 stops to rest!) I was a little worried about maybe pushing them too hard, but Porter was leading the way on their run, and Owen has since been asking to go for another run! (And not even just for the Aggie ice cream "we could, but anywhere would be fun!)

Hooray for these lovely Spring days and Jordan's fun adventure plans!

Lightning Storm

Saturday night as we were getting the younger boys to bed, a thunderstorm was just getting started. We'd decided to stretch the rules on bedtime to let these three older kids stay up to finish our movie night, but the rumbling thunder and flashes of lightning stole their attention.

And we had this magical little time watching the storm. It was cozy and warm inside and pouring buckets of rain outside our open windows as the kids counted out the seconds between flashes and thunder. For one of our kids, sitting and watching the rain just fills them right up, and I love so much to see it happening!