From John's Phone

Every so often,  I get a notification that John's photos have merged into my account. I love seeing the moments I miss when the kids are with their dad! 

Tree climbing at the park on Mother's Day.

Johnny is so scared of heights!

John and the FBI agent he covers cases with got these violent crime tshirts..they got future-policeman Johnny one too.

On his way to Washington DC.

John went mountain biking with his friend Ronnie!

Caity did the boys' hair fancy.

John texted me this picture when he snuck home one day.  Creepy getting a picture of yourself,  you know??

Sunday walks

Pho!

A prank at John's work.

Johnny's best friend from kindergarten,  William Brewer came to visit family in Vancouver,  so we met at a park and played.

John fishing with the Garcias.

The VanTresses came to town to visit.

A flag John made for a friend.

A trip to the zoo.

Johnny at the Harlem globe trotters for Travis' birthday.

Had to include a picture with our dog for a weekend, Boomer. We were going to adopt him as a Christmas present but it didn't work out with our landlord. That didn't stop our kids (particularly Johnny) from claiming Boomer as "our dog."

 Sundays are sometimes busy...like today.
I sat in sacrament wrestling Matthew on my lap, while William tried to carve a space on that lap of mine for himself. I looked over at John and thought, "Man, I am lucky to have him." He just keeps me grounded in what really matters.

Thriving Thursday

I was sick this week, and let me tell you: it.was.rough! At first I thought I was perhaps surprise-pregnant, then I thought I probably just got hit by a semi truck and forgot about it, then I finally settled on the "I must be dying" theory. AND John was out of town to boot! Thank goodness for sweet Caity and Johnny nursing me back to health...or at least cleaning the kitchen so I could rest. And I suppose I shouldn't under acclaim Matthew's contribution of laying on me and laying about 100 kisses on "mommy's sick head." Today was the first day in a long time I felt like myself again, I was extremely motivated!
I tried new recipes, overhauled my closet, prepared ten pounds of raw chicken (ew) for the freezer, and finished ALL my laundry! And that actually deserves to be reemphasized: I completed all the laundry! I'm pretty sure I have been behind on that laundry for almost two weeks....eek. Laundry to my life now, is like what studying was when I was a student:  It is never done, and taunts me in every.waking.moment of my day stealing my joy and ability to feel in control of my life. That's dramatic, but you get the idea. So....by 6:00pm today, I felt pretty darn good about myself.
The kids and I made a plan of how we would make the most of our evening, with lots of revisions and compromises among the kids, and then we got to it. First we ate chicken and rice, (and side note: everyone ate there food all gone, has that even happened before? I don't even know.) Then we went to the library. It was a success, minus the fact at any given time at least half my kids were missing. Caity bee-lined it to her current favorite authors: E.D. Baker and Shannon Hale, as well as sought out some Babysitter Club books. Johnny had the librarian help him find Fly Guy (he cleaned them out.) Meanwhile, despite saying I would only choose out two books for the younger boys, ended up with forty- so there's that. Next was the park, in time for a warm sunset. The kids set out to do every piece of equipment before we left, it was fun. Last,  we graced the grocery store, for a couple of things. Then finally home to read stories and eat treats.
 It was all a little exhausting, but in a euphoric, happy, I hope-I-never-forget-these days-way. After a tuckered out Matthew asked me to tuck him in, the three older kids and I stayed up and chatted about future plans and funny memories. It was really fun to just talk together and joke around while every one lounged around my room on the floor. I genuinely wanted them to stay up even later so the night wouldn't end. They are good kids and my little best friends.
It was just a normal day, but it was enhanced by gratitude.  Nothing like being out of the game for a few days to set you straight on how great the daily grind is! So....A toast! To warm spring nights, new books to read, silly late night giggles, and kids that fell asleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows.

Another Average Day

My morning wake up call was Johnny overloading me with every important, need-to-know fact about sharks. 

It was seriously the cutest. "Which shark would you be more scared of swimming with: the white shark or the whale shark, the biggest shark of them all, but; that's a trick question because it doesn't have teeth. ..and that's a trick question again because it just swallows fish WHOLE. My answer is none, I'd choose a jelly fish to swim with because even though they are deadly, they are slow."

Oh William and Matthew. ..you two!!

They always fight over which door to exit the car from. It can be pretty intense some days. On those "intense" days we compromise on the back window, and everyone is happy.

Matthew saying I'm the best mom ever makes me the happiest. 

One time when he was in trouble and was crying he said "you're the worst mom ever." I told him that was a lie and he said (still sobbing), "I know, you're the best mom ever!" And then he fell into my arms and cried long enough for me to think he was repentant, but stopped immediately when he heard the Daniel the Tiger theme song. It was so funny hearing his despair saying something so sweet.

"Mom. Stop. Go like this. Now hug me. Do you like that kind of surprise?"

They all wanted to hold Caity's hand! Could you blame them though? She is seriously the most considerate big sister. She loves and nurtures those little brothers in the sweetest way.

On the way home from the park, Johnny and William raced Matthew and me through back paths. It was so cute watching them one block down looking for me, checking for cars and dashing to the next street. Meanwhile, Matthew softly petted my hair and looked at me sweetly and said, "I'm making it better."