One of a Kind

On Sunday afternoon I had this conversation with Jeremy,

Jeremy:  Look at my sliver Mom!

(holding up the palm of his hand to show me)

Me:  Oh did it fall out?

Jeremy:  No I squeezed it out.  It persecuted!  And I did it!

So the next time you have a sliver that persecutes you Jeremy can help you out with it.

Jeremy is one of a kind.  He cracks me up!  When he is at his best there is no one sweeter.  Likewise when he is at his worst...well let me just say I try to persevere.  My very favorite things about Jeremy is that he loves to pray and when he does it comes straight from his heart.  He is a spiritual giant.  Another thing I love about him is that he is so determined.  Once he makes up his mind there is no changing it.  I'm figuring that as long as we can get and keep him on the right path, he'll be steadfast.  

His favorite color has always been orange.  And this is his favorite super hero getup.  He likes to mix up all of his costumes and he called them "mixed up superhero's."  The ensemble he is sporting in the picture above is an astronaut jumpsuit, The Flash mask and a blue lightening bolt cape.  He loves it but is somewhat self conscious about it.  He doesn't wear it out in public too often.   I just love Jeremy!  He is such a special boy!

Jeremy's 4th Birthday!

This year Jeremy wanted a Star Wars Clone Wars birthday party.  He really wanted a pinjata and since I couldn't find the right kind, and because they're now made out of cardboard and don't really break, I reused an old one from Riley's.  Jeremy was quite pleased.
Tyler's face was priceless when all the candy fell out.

Happy Birthday Jeremy!  We Love you so much!!

Tulip Festival

Several weeks ago we went to the tulip festival.  I am so behind on blogging.  It was beautiful and we had a great time.

There were several booths and one of the booths was a bird rescue.  The boys got to hold them.  Riley was very eager and Jeremy had to work up the courage.  Riley loved both but ....

This green quaker parrot was his favorite.

More Riley projects

This one was a creation out of our recycling.  Their are several room and all of them connect by tunnels or doorways.  It's hard to see in the picture I know.  There is a movie theatre room and a massive bowl of popcorn(made out of paper)  and an ice skating rink to boot.

I know this has some resemblance of an athletic cup.  Trust me!  It is NOT!  I don't think he's ever even seen one.  It's part of a large plastic egg from easter and a head strap made out of tape and crayons.

Two mondays ago we had a family home evening on being a peace maker.  For the activity Lane made cutouts of Doves holding a branch and we pasted them on a canvas and the boys painted everything but the birds and the word peace.  (lane did the finishing touches on the doves)

While we were painting, Riley was so excited and said to Jeremy....

"We will never forget this even when we're Grandmas!"

Yes you read that right, even when they're Grandmas!  : )

If you didn't have a Mom

Riley and Jeremy were playing make-believe so nicely together this afternoon.  Then Lane and I hear Jeremy say,

"Oh, I have no Mom!"

Riley:  "You have no Mom?"

Jeremy:  "Yeah!"

Riley:  "WELL THEN, you can do whatever you want!"

Lane and I just started busting up.  I love to hear what they think.  It's us Mom's standing in the way of what they want to do.

Today's invention by Riley

Monday after Family Home Evening, while the kids were eating snack, I ran upstairs to grab a picture to show them.  When I came downstairs Riley was gone.  I asked where he was.  Lane told me that he saw the cover of the new Friend magazine and his wheels were spinning.  He was in the garage gathering supplies to make his very own pulpit the following day.

He even made a cupboard in the back for his lesson materials.  Since it is spring break Lane is home.  He let me sleep in.  When I woke up I came downstairs and they both had pulpits and a talk to give me.

Still potty training

Potty training Riley was a breeze.  He basically woke up one day and was potty trained day and night with rare accidents.  Being the first time parent that I was, I of course attributed the grand success to my wonderful parenting.  : )  I know anyone who has more than one child knows what I'm talking about.  

Potty training Jeremy has been a trial.  Is been an on and off process for a year and a half of optimistically trying, giving up, and repeating the battle.  I'm giving it another good try taking Melissa's advice on using the "potty whisper's" technique.  So far so good.  We're on day 3 and he's been dry for about 20 hours.  I"m keeping my fingers crossed!  

The purpose of this post however is not to tell you about his potty training.  Riley has been such a good big brother.  On day one Jeremy was excited after having just thrown away all of his diapers and wearing underwear.  He kept running up and down the hall as fast as he could.  He told me that he was running faster now.  Riley piped in and said,

"Your running faster because underwear are stretchy!"  Then he kept letting Jeremy beat him.

Riley then went into the garage to get a box.  He then started making "presents"out of paper for Jeremy because he was potty training.  Riley is very creative.  He one of those kids that collects, well if I'm being honest, Junk.  He sees a potential invention or use out of absolutely everything.  He filled it with a lot of stuff that he made and was so excited for Jeremy to open it.  

At Riley's request I"m including a list of the things he made for Jeremy.  " Glasses (as pictured below), spider with a little hook under it, paper airplane, a thing that you throw it and it splats over each other (I don't know), hockey game, a telescope, a paper sword, butterfly, an instrument with a bow on it.  I think that's about all."  Everything he made out of paper, not just drawings but cutouts and more."

Way to be such a GOOD BIG BROTHER RILEY!!!

Sing and Play

Jeremy loves to sing.  My favorite songs are usually the ones he makes up in the car.  He has the sweetest voice and the sweetest songs.  I never have a camera when he's doing his best work.  These ones are pretty good and hey they have an accompaniment.  

This morning when I came downstairs I saw this....

Riley has labeled everything and he expects we sit accordingly!

On the way home

On the way home from the beach Tyler was so tired.  This is what I saw when I looked back.  He loves his monkey!

Jeremy is so sweet!

One night, while getting the kids ready for bed, Jeremy throws his arms around me and says,

"Im going to give you a kiss because I love you so much!"

(Lots of hugs and kisses)

me:  Thank you Jeremy I love you too!

Jeremy:  Kissing invites the spirit!

(more hugs and kisses)

3 nights at the beach

Last Wednesday we headed out the the beach.  Some good friends of ours' parent's have a beach house.  We spent 3 nights and days with our friends.  It was really nice to get away.  While we were driving through the forest, Jeremy exclaims with surpise,

"THERE ARE TREES OUT MY WINDOW!"

As we drove through Lincoln City Lane announced what it was called.  They Riley says,

"I think life is going to be good here!"  

We did lots of fun things.  The first day we went to Beverly beach to let the kids play and we had a picnic lunch there.  The next day we went to the interperative center at Yaquina Head and went to the bay there and saw all the seals.  We walked through the town of Depoe Bay too.  On Friday Lane and Dave took the boys back to Yaquina Head bay in the morning while the tide was out so they could check out the tide pools.  After which they went up to the light house.  Sorry all the pics are out of order.  On our way home Saturday we stopped at the Tillimook Cheese Factory and went home.  It was great!

Jeremy had the camera again

After taking multiple pictures of Tyler, multiple is an understatement, Tyler was not so happy about it.
Then he seemed to have a change of heart and started making silly faces.

I think Jeremy does a pretty good job taking pictures for a 31/2 year old.

Blips from the past 2 days

Today while we were having Family Home Evening, I noticed how reverent Jeremy was being.   I pointed it out and then he said matter of fact,

 " I'm a reverent person!"

Yesterday the boys wanted to watch Legacy.  In case you don't know, it's a movie that "portrays the moving story of early Latter-day saints' joys, sacrifices, hopes, and trials;  their epic journey to the Salt Lake Valley; and their legacy of faith in Jesus Christ."

About an hour into the movie, while watching the saint walking and all the covered wagons, Riley says, 

"I think they're Mormons!"

me:  Yes they are.  (pause)  We're mormons too.

Riley:  We are?  (as if he is surprised)

me:  We actually call ourselves Latter-day saints.  Lots of people call us mormons though because we believe that the book of mormon is true.  

Riley:  Oh (and shakes his head)

I thought it was funny.

Tyler's latest hat of choice

Tyler loves loves loves things on his head.  This is the latest.  He will pop up from around the corner with it on and just laugh.  It's so cute!  And yes I watch him closely.  There is no risk of suffocation here.