Philip's Blessing Day

Most babies are blessed as newborns in the LDS faith, right? Well when Benjamin was born he was so little we waited a little, until he was about 2 months old, so that he could fit into the white outfit Jacob had worn. Considering Philip was born the same size Benjamin was, it was an unspoken decision to wait until he was about 2 months as well. Because it was unspoken we realized about a week ago that Philip was almost 3 months and we still hadn't blessed him. We first felt a little guilty for possibly neglecting this wonderful little gift from God. Then we remembered that it is a sacred ordinance performed just for Philip and he would be grateful for this special blessing from Heavenly Father given to him through the priesthood that his Daddy holds. No matter his age it would be special for him. What a special moment it was. Plus, he was old enough to give us a great smile today.

On a side note. About 4 minutes after the blessing was performed, as the sacrament was being passed around, Philip filled his drawers! Nato was holding him and tried very hard to hold him carefully throughout the sacrament. As soon as that portion of the meeting was over, I ran out of the Chapel with him and into the Mother's Lounge. To my dismay I found that in my rush to church that morning I had neglected to grab a box of wipes. I reached for the paper towel dispenser determined to save the cherished white outfit. The dispenser was EMPTY. I had nothing and no idea what to do.

I had a small paper napkin in my bag. This napkin was for Benjamin to use with his PB&J that he eats before going into nursery. I opened the snaps to his outfit and found that it was starting to leak out of the diaper and just a little was on the outfit. I quickly wrapped the paper napkin around the diaper and his legs where it was leaking and ran for the van. I quickly (we live just one mile from the chapel) ran home to change him. After changing the diaper I rinsed the spot on the outfit and the stain started to spread. I felt like I was in an "I Love Lucy" Episode. I panicked. I stripped the outfit off Philip and washed like there was no tomorrow. Soon the outfit was clean, but sopping wet. I quickly dried it using the iron and ironing board that were left out from earlier that morning and had us back in the Chapel with about 15 minutes left in the meeting. With a sign of relief I sat down to enjoy the rest of the meeting, only to find him filling his drawers AGAIN!!!!!! Needless to say I got nothing out of church that day! But boy if his smile doesn't make up for it all!

Beautiful Dad

Anyone who truly knows Nato, knows that he HATES when his hair is messed up! He usually does his hair in the morning and then that is it! NO ONE TOUCHES THE HAIR! But today he wore a ball cap in the morning and was planning on having a haircut in the evening. In the afternoon Emma wanted to do some one's hair. Nato offered his head and at first she declined. I pointed out how rare this offer would be and Emma decided to jump at the chance to make Daddy beautiful. Nato was a great sport and even willing to pose for these photos.

I think he agreed to the photos just so there would be proof that he had once let someone mess with his hair and now he doesn't ever have to let them do it again. But then again, he might have just liked spending time with Emma.

Big Boy Benjamin

Our Mini Van has seating for 8 passengers. Two in the front, three in the middle, three in the back. Before Philip came along, we always had the very back seat folded away in the floor of the van to give us more cargo space. We would just place the three children in the middle seat side by side. It was great. With the addition of Philip we had to rearange things. Emma and Jacob now sit in the far back with Benjamin and Philip in the middle. This works great in theory. Benjamin, though, feels he is missing out on all of the fun in the back. Whenever we ask the children to get in the car, Benjamin climbs in the back seat between his siblings and even tries to buckle himself. Although this is very cute it is a pain to dig him out of the back EVERY time we go somewhere. He is resistant to the "dig" as well. "No!" and "Big!" are some of his cries as we place him in his safe car seat in the middle. I guess we should just be greatful for his love of his big brother and sister. They really are fun to watch all together.

Jacob's Butterfly

Jacob loves to swim!
During the olympics we allowed the kids to watch some of the events. During the day we would watch beach volleyball and diving. At night we would wake Jacob and bring him down stairs to watch swimming. (It was usually around 10 or 11 pm eastern time) Jacob loved to watch the different strokes and he could name them all. Here he is doing his best "Micheal Phelps" Butterfly.
I love that he can swim and I love that he loves it. I started out getting him swim lessons so that he would be safe and could safley play in the water, but he truly loves swimming and would do it all day long if he could.

The Mathematician and The Artist

One day for school we played a little math game. It was in Jacob's math book, but I thought it would be okay if I "helped" Emma, but apparently she needed no help at all. They each were given a bowl of smarties candies and they were to takes turns rolling a die. One person would put the number of smarties from the die in the picture of the treasure chest. The other person was to place as many more candies in the chest as needed to make a total of 6 candies in the chest. Emma was blowing me away with her ability to remember the number combos we needed to make 6. Jacob didn't seem interested at all. After several minutes I tried to regain Jacob's attention to our game by asking him what he was doing. His response was simply:"Making the United States of America Mom." Just like that. He said this in a tone that seemed like "Duh Mom. What else would I be doing with a pile of smarties. " I didn't know whether I should laugh or fall over dumb. Either way I can see this year will be a lot of work if I am to stay ahead of my Mathematician and my Artist.

Do It Myself Benjamin

Benjamin is at the DO IT MYSELF stage. His determination is inspiring. I could use some of it in my calling! Enjoy!

Philip Smiles

Philip smiling makes me smile. I love when he tries to talk too. It is almost as if he wants to tell me of the good things he remembers in the world he just came from. It reminds me of all the reasons we have children.

Back to Home School

Jacob and Emma are officialy back to school! It is exciting to start this new year. I am glad to have a great curriculm to use and the kids are excited. The best part about home schooling, No uniforms, no backpacks and no shoes! While people around here are busy buying all of these things we are saving our money and buying tons of summer closeout things for the kids instead. Plus school doesn't start until after lunch so there is time for play and work too. I did splurge and buy each of the kids a great new binder for them to keep their school work in.