Siblings

This might sound absolutley ludicrous to some of you who read my blog (Sally, I am just picturing your face!) but I cannot imagine the day when I will have "enough" children.  

I LOVE being a mom.  My kids make my life so incredibly meaningful and all the money and entertainment in the world couldn't do that.  It is also soo neat to see the love my kids have for each other.

The other morning all six of us were snuggled under the covers of our bed.  Eli accidentally kicked Daddy "where it really counts" and Jaron jokingly and painfully exclaimed that the bed is full enough - we may not be able to have any more kids now.  Eli misunderstood Jaron's statement (he doesn't know human anatomy that well yet!) and during the breakfast prayer asked Heavenly Father to help them be good so that we could have more kids in our family.

Eli's little misunderstanding broke my heart and after clearing that up, I just couldn't get the thought out of my mind that my kids want more siblings.  I think even at their young ages they understand that they don't have as much of mom and dad or as many "things" as they would have if they had less siblings.  But even at their young ages their siblings mean a lot to them.  We move a lot and I think my kids know that other people come and go but our family is forever.  LOVE that!!

 I was getting fake smiles...

 ...so I told a joke. ("Knock knock." "Who's there?" "Dwayne." "Dwayne who?" "Dwayne the bathtub, I'm dwowning!")  It worked, huh? :)

BLESSED AM I!!!

Reed: Four months

Four months - are you kidding me?!?  I can't believe we've had this little bundle for FOUR MONTHS!!

 What an incredible spot of joy this little guy is in our home.

 He loves to stand on his chubby little legs.

 He's beginning to master those hands of his and loves to always have a toy in reach.

 He's big enough for the bug exersaucer Aunt Cassy brought him.

 Love me some baby hoodies!!  They are just too cute.

 Handsome in a tie!

 Reed is having longer periods of wakefulness but it is a little bit of a nap nightmare.  We pick up/drop siblings off at school three times a day and it seems like I am always waking him up to go.  He sleeps awesomely in his crib but terribly anywhere else. Poor guy!

 LOVE this face!!

Backyard Lizard

I moved the garbage can out to the curb a few weeks ago and this cute little lizard scurried out from underneath it.  

Eli was brave enough to go and pick him up.  Gracen looks like she's in love, doesn't she? :)

 At one point Alden passed it off to Gracen to hold. 

 At first all was well.

 And then all of a sudden Gracen freaked out and threw the slimy lizard to the ground.

 I was busy roaring with laughter but sweet little Eli was quick to make sure the lizard was unharmed.

I love little family adventures like these. :)

Reed's First Haircut

Happy boy.  Little did he know what was coming...

 For the most part it went okay.

 But then all of a sudden his countenance changed...

 ...And he burst into tears.

 All that for a little off the top:

 But we were friends again by the end. 

Soccer Picture Overload!

I really wanted to sign up our kids for a team sport this fall.  I think there's a lot of great character development that can come from playing team sports but I wanted something that was cheaper than $10 per week per kid, would take all my kids at roughly the same time, and wouldn't require too much time commitment (our weekday evenings are crazy enough!).  

Was that too much to ask?

When I first started looking into stuff, I began to think so.  Gymnastics was too expensive.  The soccer leagues wanted a 3 day a week commitment and $140 per player after uniforms.  Nobody offered swimming lessons for three age groups at the same time.  I got discouraged and decided we'd shoot for  finding something in the spring.

Then one day at Walmart I saw an SUV in the parking lot with "Kickin' Kids Soccer" splashed all over it.  It advertised "inexpensive" and "perfect for large families" (which I took to mean different ages at the same place at the same time).  I contacted them and fell in love: $35 per kid for six weeks of games, 20 minute practices before games, all games at the same time and same place on Saturday mornings.  PLUS, the registration fee included a team t-shirt, a team picture, and a trophy at the end of the season.

PERFECT!!  

The kids were really excited and now, four weeks into it, they're still loving it.

 Alden has found that he really likes playing goalie. 

 Alden's team is fun to watch because they're old enough to actually learn some soccer skills and work a little bit on team strategy.

 Eli's age group seems to still follow the ball around more or less in a large clump.  :)

 As for Gracen's age group, their soccer can be summed up in their coach's praise last week: 

"Good job, guys!  Most of us remembered which direction we were going this week!" 

 Hahaha.

 Still, all those little legs are pretty cute toddling around the field in their tiny cleats and shin pads.

 Thinking about her game strategy, no doubt.

 The best part?  Each game ends with snacks and drinks provided by a different parent each week.  Score!