Oatmeal!

This one is inspired by Baby Kate. And completely the boys' idea to post...

Starring:
Micah the baby
Jacob the dad

Pay it Forward

I've seen this on many of your blogs and was finally fast enough to post a comment soon enough (ok, so I cheated - thanks Tammy!) Good luck...

Here's how it goes: The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice--for you!

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1. I make NO guarantees that you will LIKE what I make! (I can only hope)
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It WILL be done this year.
4. You have no CLUE what it’s going to be … it may be cards, a bookmark, something delicious or a complete surprise to you (and me!) … who knows?
5. Most importantly, you MUST offer the same deal on your blog - the first 5 people to comment on your blog get something made by YOU!

Happy 3 Duck

Those of you that know our family, know that life has been a bit more exciting since our Micah came along. He has brought some of just about every emotion into our family. We celebrated his 3rd birthday on Friday and are grateful to have him in our home. Micah loves "the brothers", so I thought this picture was appropriate:
We had a fun day of presents, Kangaroo zoo, Jacob's soccer game and ice cream cake. I always try and make the boys cakes. It's usually late at night though when I get around to it. I'm not sure what I was intending to write, but it came out Happy 3 Duck. After writing happy, I knew birthday wouldn't fit, I wanted to get a 3 on there, and he loves to pretend to be a little duck. So there you have it: my thought process at 10:00 at night. The cake was yummy though with ice cream in between the layers.
We had his little friend Mason over for cake. It was fun for the boys to play.

Micah got a new Thomas race set for his birthday. Over the years, Thomas has come and gone in our family. Each of our boys has spent many hours playing with various Thomas trains, and it warmed my heart to see all three together playing Thomas once again. It's been a while. Welcome back old friend! (I love the background music.)

A First

Jacob earned his first set of stitches today!! When I got the call from school that he had gotten hurt in PE, I wasn't in too big of a hurry until I heard "might need stitches..." I'll be right there! They were playing baseball and Jacob was a little too close to the batter and hopefully learned his lesson as the racket (bat) took a little chunk out of his skin by his eye. He was such a brave little trooper and all business at the Dr.'s office. I was very proud of him! They got us out of there pretty quickly and he was quite excited to surprise dad when he got home. We're hoping this is a first...and a last for our family...ok Ben and Micah??
We're also hoping to eventually have some nice spring weather or it's going to be a short soccer season this year. Yet another practice rained out today!!

April

So I'm a bit behind on April happenings. Here's what we've been up to:

April Fools

We took Phil's coworkers some burgers and fries for lunch. The boys loved playing the joke and it was fun for them to see dad at work. We also had "meatloaf", "mashed potatoes and gravy" and peas for dinner. The joke this year was that the peas were real. They weren't expecting that!

Cousin Time
We got to spend time with cousins on conference weekend and took a trip to see the Thuesons last week while we were on Spring break. The bond with these boys was so fun to see!

Easter

The boys enjoyed some egg hunts, time with Aunt Nicole, Aunt Lynnette, Uncle Chris and baby Kate,

And lots of SUGAR!!! Phil was wondering why they were going crazy, then we noticed Micah over decorating his cake with his easter candy. Yum, yum!

Toothless Jake
With help of a wild swing, Jacob's front tooth was knocked loose and came out last Sunday. His smile sure looks different, but he couldn't be happier!

Just a moment, please

I love moments. The kind that you never want to end and make life seem perfect...just don't blink. I had one of those this morning. We were gathered in our family room. The boys were on the floor, working on their respective activities. I was sitting on the couch next to Phil, listening to President Uchtdorf. No one was restless. No one was complaining. No one needed anything (except Micah who needed scissors). We were all content, trying to listen to what we needed to hear. It felt like, for a moment, it was where we were supposed to be, when we were supposed to be there. It felt so good.

We've also had a couple of these scripture moments the past few weeks. The boys are starting to grasp the story line in the Book of Mormon and it thrills me!! They have questioned about Abinadi and wondered what would happen to King Noah. They're following the story of Alma, and I'm loving it.

These moments have to be relished, don't they? They are fleeting. Because boys will only sit still for so long. Soon someone is distracted by that conference trail mix and again, my pleading to be quiet distracts from the messages we're supposed to be listening to. The scripture stories are replaced with the latest video game quest. BUT I'm hoping that these short moments will add up over time and be the ones we remember. They are rewarding if we can just notice them and take the opportunity to make moments happen. The right place at the right time...