My Kid has Style

It doesn't matter what Skyler does, he does it in style... Whether it's sleeping, posing for a picture, or kicking a ball, he has a style all his own, and I love it!

Daddy's Belt

While I'm getting ready in the morning and Skyler has nothing to do, he often goes into our room and gets Daddy's belt & begins tying things up around the house.

Sometimes it's himself... And sometimes it's the fridge or dresser drawers or bathroom cabinets...

I'm not sure where he learned to be so creative with tying things up, but I sure love it when he can entertain himself like that!

"Milo came to see me!"

My parents have a cat named "Milo" that Skyler loves. He loves that when we go to visit them, Milo is often the first one to greet us at our car.

Well, our next door neighbor apparently has a cat that looks similar to Milo, and the other day Skyler was looking out the window and excitedly proclaimed, "Milo came to see me!" I tried to explain that the cat sitting on our neighbor's front porch wasn't actually Milo, but Skyler wasn't convinced. So now we just call our neighbor's cat Milo, although we should probably learn what it's real name is sometime...

Toe Jams

Skyler absolutely LOVES getting the lint out from between his toes. I'm not really sure where he learned it from, but we get in BIG trouble if we forget to let him do it before putting him to bed. My parents learned this the hard way when they babysat him for us one night... He loves it so much in fact that he volunteers to help Laron & I with ours if we ever happen to take off our socks in front of him... Weird.

And sometimes, if he's being disruptive while we have company over (like the Home Teachers) & we keep asking him to sit still and be quiet, he'll simple whisper "Toe Jams?" with a twinkle in his eye until we give in and take off his socks and let him pick at his toes. And let me tell you, it works like a charm! He'll sit quiet and content for several minutes, engulfed in the task at hand.

Kids sure come with their own personalities, don't they?!

"Not my Fault"

Skyler's latest phrase is, "Not my fault." When Kimberly was younger and would be crying, Skyler would try and go over and comfort her. But most of the time it only made her cry more, so when he'd feel bad that his attempts to make her happy didn't work, we'd tell him that "it wasn't his fault she was crying." Well, a couple months later, now Skyler has learned that he often gets in trouble when Kimberly starts crying (because it often IS his fault). So a week or two ago he started defessively saying, "Not my fault" whenever she starts crying. Whether or not it is his fault or not, it surprised me that he'd already be trying to get himself out of trouble... They sure learn fast!

Cellphone Savy Already

A few weeks ago, Emily and Adam gave Skyler one of their old cell-phones, which of course he LOVES. He keeps it above the head of his bed, and sometimes when I tell him we're going to go to Grandma's house or something, he'll go grab his phone and "call" Grandma to let her know we're coming over.

Look at those texting fingers!  He knows just how to hold it...

Thanks Emily and Adam!

Beautiful Things

After spending all day cleaning up toys, dishes, & kids and trying to MAKE things beautiful, it sure is nice when things become beautiful on their own...

Kimberly's First Cracker

A couple weeks ago, I gave Skyler a bowl of crackers while I got ready in the morning. A minute or two later I heard Skyler excitedly say this: "Mom, Kimberly likes crackers!" Sure enough, Kimberly was trying out her first cracker, and although she didn't have it in her mouth long, I think she liked it.

My Cute Kids

It took quite a few attempts to get pictures cute enough to send out to Grandma's and Grandpa's for Easter, but it was worth it... Here they are:

I love my kids!

House Pictures, FINALLY...

Sorry it's taken me so long to post these... I guess I was waiting for all our projects to be done before I took pictures, but I'm coming to realize that they'll never be done. Oh well. Here's our little heaven on earth...!

The Backyard was one of the main selling points for us... Lots of room to play & lots of fruit trees (apricot, plum, pear & apple, as well as grape vines!) & a big garden space!

WE LOVE OUR NEW HOUSE!

This is the Latest Edition to our House!

Isn't this picture gorgeous?!

Well, it's the latest edition to our new house! We've been eyeing it for awhile, waiting for our tax return, & researching the best deal we could get on it, and it is finally hanging up on our living room wall.

Now to explain our expensive purchase...

Laron cleaned carpets with his dad while growing up & saw many really, really nice houses in Park City and stuff. But he said some of them had these amazing 1 or 2 pieces of artwork in their homes (like this one) that just brought the spirit into their homes & let you know what they felt was really important in their life. So about a month before we moved into our new house, Laron came home one day and explained this story to me & announced that he'd found the picture we needed for our house. I was a little hesitant after hearing how much it cost, but after I went and saw it, I was hooked. There is just something about the sunset and the water and Christ with the little boys... It's a great picture for Skyler to grow up seeing every day, and I really do think it helps bring the spirit into our house. So thanks Laron for the great idea! Now my only problem is making the rest of the room match the elegance of it...

Skyler's Fears

I'm not sure why, but Skyler is terrified of loud noises. So the other day, Laron was building some shelves under our stairs, which meant he was drilling for several hours. This also meant that I had to comfort him & hold him & cover his ears for him for several hours. I tried distracting him once by giving him something to eat, but this was how happy he was about it. He tried covering his own ears while he snuck in a bite every here & there, but nothing seemed to completely comfort him. We finally had to just go to the store for BOTH of our sanity's sakes... For being such a "tough" boy most of the time, it surprises me how scared he can be when it comes to loud noises.

Meet our Backyard Neighbors

I don't know if you can tell, but this horse is reaching THROUGH the barbed wire fence and eating the grass on the other side.

Even they must know the saying, "The grass is always greener on the other side."

Quoting Books

I guess you know you're a good mom when your kids start quoting books you've read them... I hadn't realized that Skyler was to that point yet until the other day when he picked up the book "The Gingerbread Man" and started reading it to me. Even cuter though was the other day when he went over to Kimberly, and while stroking her face recited the words to another book we've read a lot:

I'll love you forever,

I'll like you for always.

As long as I'm living,

My baby you'lll be.

Doesn't that just make your heart melt? Oh, it sure did mine. These are the moments of motherhood I hope I never forget.

My Hard-Working Boys