3rd grade, Kindergarten, and Joy School

Well, here are my 3 little angels.  I can't believe how they've grown.  Time goes by way to fast.  Brian took off this day and we took pictures just outside our house before we took them to school.  All three of them starting today.  KennaDee, 8 years old and going into 3rd grade.  Jackson, 5 years old and starting Kindergarten, and my little Nico, 3 years old, and starting Joy School. What will I do with myself?!

Bedside Conversations part 2

In a previous post I reflected on my bedside conversations with KennaDee.  This post I will reflect on my bedside conversations with Jackson.  It is a completely different experience.

Here's how our conversation went the other night and each night it is not much different. Jackson starts out, "Mom, I've been wondering if people walk by us when we are praying.  Sometimes I feel like people are walking by us."

Then he changed the subject and said, "maybe it's monsters.  I think monsters leave the room when we are praying and go to another room."

Immediately after saying that, he engaged in imaginary play and talked about parachutes dropping, which turned into his stuffed animals having ninja frog powers, then his parachutes turned into rockets crashing, and then we were back at the ninja frog stick power, then the animals were fighting and growling at each other. Then he said goodnight.

I listened. I didn't say a word. (I didn't really even have a chance to.) Just listened as he created his own story.

The difference between boys and girls at bedtime.  Interesting.

I LOVE bedside conversations.

Rising Generation

So this post is going to be more like a journal entry...

Today at church, the theme for our first block of meetings was The Rising Generation.  There were 3 youth speakers this morning and each touched on a different aspect of our rising generation.  The third speaker is who I am writing about today. She shared a great talk about the importance of standing firm and immovable, however, it is her presence and the kind of person I see in her that I wish to share.

Let me introduce you to Arlee Richardson.  She is the oldest of 4 and a senior in High School.  She has beautiful, long auburn/red hair with fair skin.  She's gorgeous.  She's kind. She's humble. She knows who she is. She loves the Savior. She loves her family. She stands tall when she walks.  She's proud of who she is and happy to be Mormon.

Now that you have kind of a visual of what kind of person I am talking about, you will understand the rest of my post.  As I watched her give her talk this afternoon, she constantly was smiling and at times, her smile got bigger.  She would sometimes pause during her talk.  I couldn't tell if she was pausing because she was getting emotional or pausing because her smile was so big that she was about to laugh.  As I looked one row behind me, I could see her younger brother and sister sitting in the pew, both leaning forward, with just as big of smiles on their faces.  I can see how Arlee might have struggled with this, I probably would have giggled myself but she kept her composure.  Let me just add...they were sitting straight ahead of her so every time Arlee would look out at the congregation, I'm sure they were the first people she saw.

Then my thoughts turned toward their family.  What a great support system they have. Every time I see them, they are always kind towards each other and showing love for each other.  They seem to be best friends. I couldn't help but smile myself when I saw such love, encouragement, and support among siblings.  Every member of the Richardson family exemplifies our Savior Jesus Christ.  I see it in their demeanor, their actions, their words, their smiles.  As all of these thoughts went through my head as Arlee was speaking, I thought of their mother.  What a great job she is doing in raising her family to have such strong faith in our Savior Jesus Christ and to love those around them especially those in their family.

Now, whether or not Audrey and Grant were trying to make her laugh or trying to disturb her, I know not but what I saw was encouragement and love.  I love that family.  I love that they are so devoted to the gospel.

I hope that I can raise my children to love each other, to support each other, to be happy for one another as they achieve things in life, to encourage each other as they attempt to do things out of their comfort zone, to love our Savior, to smile at one another as they give talks in Sacrament Meeting. If we had more "Richardson families" in the world today, it would be a better place. I was recommitted this day to live better, live happier so that others might see that happiness as well.  That others might see that if we could all show love towards each other, the world would be a happier place.

Thank you Richardson Family for your example and helping me catch a vision to what I hope my children will be like.

Gender Reveal!!

As many of you already know, we are expecting our 4th child. HOLY COW!! Am I really gonna have 4 kids?!
Well - when I scheduled the ultrasound, I scheduled it for the 3rd of September (thinking that the kids started school the following week). The kids and I were excited that we were all going to be able to go to find out the gender, then lo and behold, I found out that the kids started school on the 3rd! BUMMER!! The kids were disappointed for only a short time because I told them that I would surprise them in a special way when the got home from school. I think they were more excited about that. :)

While the kids were away at school, Brian and I found out the gender then went to the store to get some balloons and decorations for the house.  We  filled a box up with some of the balloons and decorated the living room in the typical color of that gender.  

When the kids got home, the box was sitting outside waiting for them to open it up. I should have decorated the box in some cute way but....I ran out of time. Oh well..... they all suspected that it was a girl and were very hopeful for a girl...so much that their excitement for finding out wasn't as big as I had imagined it would be.  Haha...maybe I was just more excited than they were and I expected them to show just as much excitement.  And of course....Jackson had been saying he wanted a girl up until he found out it really was a girl and then changed his mind, saying he wants a boy.

After opening the box, the kids dashed for the door wanting to see what was inside.  (I hadn't let them go inside after school until we had opened the box so they were very anxious.) I think we got more of a surprise reaction when they walked through the door than when they opened the box.

See for yourself their expressions!  Needless to say, I am excited I'm having another girl and cannot wait to see what she looks like and the personality that she has.  I can tell you now, that she will be VERY active and a HUGE blessing to our family.

Here was our after our gender reveal party!!

I LOVE THESE KIDS!!