I Hope...

I was looking at pictures of a fabulous campout with the Knittles, and thinking, I hope my kids have friends like Jennecca, and that made me think about other things I hope for my children.

I hope... they learn sooner than later that having brothers and sisters is one of the greatest blessings they have been given.



I hope...they never get tired of playing in the mud.

I hope...they get a good education.

I hope...I am teaching, disciplining, and loving them enough.

I hope...they learn to value hard work.

I hope...they respect their elders.

I hope...they will have their own testimonies.


I hope...they will always love to read.


I hope...all the boys will marry girls as wonderful as my sister in laws, and that Livy will marry someone just like her daddy.


I hope...they will get married in the temple.


I hope...they will get to have the incomparable experience of being parents.


I hope...they won't ever forget how much I love them.

Kindergarten Graduate

Finn Graduated from Kindergarten.

He loved every minute of his first year of school. He made good friends. Loved his adorable teacher. Created amazing crafts. Learned to use the computer. Learned to read. Got inspired by his school library, and created his own version at home. Lived for chocolate milk Fridays. Climbed the monkey bars constantly. Formed a recess ninja club, and then disbanded it when it took up to much of his monkey bar time. Hatched and raised some baby chicks. Had pajama day. Ate lunch at school. Created a kindergarten city. Chased girls. Ran from girls. Endured substitutes, who were probably great, but just not as great as Mrs. Skelton. Stood up to a bully, (actually asked me to.) And came home smarter, bigger and more grown up every single day. Next year he will be gone at school all day. He will eat lunch there, and spend more hours of the day with his teacher than his mother.

Finn graduated from Kindergarten.

Obviously I cried.

No one will be shocked to learn that Finn almost wet his pants during the graduation program, and I had to run up and get him and take him to the bathroom. Poor kid with his mothers bladder.

He refused to wear his church pants because he said that the teacher told them they didn't have to wear church clothes, but they could wear a shirt and tie if they wanted. So my stubborn boy just knew that church pants would somehow be against the rules.

I wanted to interupt the program and tell the teacher that Finn stuck his tongue out at me, but I thought it might be childish.

Finn doing "First Grade, First Grade" Sung to the tune of "New York, New York."


I sure do love this little guy.

The last song included instrumental time during which the kids did the robot. Finn was on the front row and was fabulous at the robot. Seriously a lot of people came up to me afterwards and said how great they thought he was. I was proud, and a little shocked, I mean, he is usually pretty shy in front of other people.

Airing My Laundry

By far the biggest difference between having 2 kids and having 6 kids is the amount of laundry. I start washing on Monday and finishing folding on Wednesday. Very fun! There is something great and theraputic about the nicely stacked clean laundry, and getting to check this task off my list until next week...

Now if I can only get the kids to put it away without just jamming it in their drawers!

Picnic Program

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Recently Livy had her end of preschool picnic program. She goes to an adorable little preschool in a lady's home and the program was held in the park across the street. It was so fun. She is fearless. Never afraid of strangers or social situations, and LOVES to see her preschool friends. She has one very best friend, Claire, but loves the others as well. Interestingly, there are two little girls named Brynnly in Livy's class. It cracks me up that she calls one of them Brynnly and the other one, the other Brynnly. To her face! She is an adorable little girl. The other day Finn said, "You know whats weird about Livy? When we go to the park she always just plays with people (little girls her age) that she doesn't even know. (This is unfathomable for Mr. Shy.) She is spunky and fun and I love being her Amy! Also...to illustrate how strong willed my little lady is, please notice the adorable pink sweater (her very favorite) worn on a 90 degree day. She loved how beautiful she looked and never took it off until we got home. I love a girl who knows what she wants!

Funny Brothers

One of the best things about our new family is that Finn and Brandon are only 6 days apart. They are adorable little friends who love to play and imagine together. They do sometimes argue, but it is more common for them to get in trouble for talking after bedtime (or laughing, or swining from their bunk beds, or jumping off their bunk beds into a huge pile of snuggle animals and pillows.) Recently when Finn was gone visiting his dad Brandon really missed him. Everyday when I would pick Brandon up from school, he would ask, where is Finn. And he told me several times "That brother is AWESOME." I am so glad they are friends. I love to watch them laugh and play together. I hope they will always enjoy each other so much.

That final picture cracks me up. It was their special invention so they could both swing together. I don't know how they decided who would swing in which position, but it seems to me that the guy on the bottom is getting a bum deal.

Ah Summer!

Nothing signals the start of summer better than a ripe juicy watermelon. The beautiful bright red fruit, the juice running down your arms, and that wonderful sweet taste. Summer is here, and I hope I will see a lot more of these adorable boys with or without their shirts on, running around outside with watermelon all over their faces and running down their arms. I love being a mom, and I LOVE these little reminders that dispite the trails we all face life is pretty great!

More From "The Finninator" (self titled - as in "Who wants to play with THE FINNINATOR?")

Today in the grocery store Finn asked me if he was holding up his right hand. I said yes, and then he told Brandon that he was right handed, but left toothed.

What? I asked. He explained that he is right handed, but chews his food on the left side of his mouth, so he is left toothed.


Also...

I was driving Finn to school today and he was bouncing in his seat. If any of you know him you know that my first question had to be "do you need to use the bathroom?" He did, but there was something else.

"I just can't wait to get to school. This is going to be a great day! It's Friday you know."

I know Fridays are very special because its the day they get chocolate milk for snack, so I say "Chocolate Milk, huh?"

"Yup, chocolate milk and chickens!"

His kindergarten class hatched some baby chicks from an incubator and today they were old enough to be touched. Finn proceeded to explain that they had finally started to grow some wings which was very exciting. I asked him if they could fly, thinking they probably learned that chickens don't really fly. "No." he said, "they haven't learned to fly yet, but when I get my turn to hold one I'm going to throw him up in the air to teach him to fly!"

YIKES! And he is the farm boy in the class. I talked him out of it, which is incredible since he is never wrong in his own mind. He thought it was a brilliant, and nurturing plan, to teach these poor motherless chicks how to fly.

My little sweetheart nearly suffered the fate of one of my friends who accidentaly threw their kindergarten class hamster on the floor when she got frightened of it grabbing her sweater. The hamster died, and she was branded a killer for the rest of elementary school.