pain tolerance

We were out playing yesterday, and on our way home Luke informed me in a very upset voice that he "got blood". He cried the entire way home, and I told him we would put a bandaid on when we got there, and braced myself for the worst.

When we got home, he showed me his "blood".  Which turned out to be a little scrape.

When Ben got home, the first thing Luke said is, "Dad, I got blood". I tried convincing him all day to say that he got hurt, but he was convinced that it was blood.

A picture of "blood":

Can you see it? Yeah, right there under the ankle bone...see? Uh, look closer. It's there.

Good thing he's cute.

On a totally unrelated subject...this is the view I have from our porch as I watch Makenna waiting for the bus every morning.  She is just the sweetest!

all balls, all the time

I know that having boys also includes having balls, but sheesh, come on! Jared is 10 months old, and has been throwing a ball since last month...seriously. For Jared, it is all about the balls, and he doesn't really care if it is a small ball or a large ball. Hard ball or soft ball. As long as it can be thrown, he does not have a preference. And he actually throws it to us, right on target.


I must admit, a part of me is hopeful he is a child prodigy and can support Ben and I with his balling skills when we are 80 years old and still living it up!

When Makenna was this age she carried a pen around with her everywhere, 

when she needed to crawl, she would stash the pen in her mouth (safe, I know). 

This is what Jared does with balls...

This boys smile is so contagious.  Jared has the sweetest disposition,

he loves to laugh, and anytime he hears music, he does the 

best body dance you can imagine.  There is something special about this guy...

As busy as ever, he has places to be...but it won't stop him from 

having his ball with him.  Clever little guy, he just uses his mouth

to hold the ball, and off he goes.  I just love this age, and all the excitement

Jared has for life right now.

serious love

There has been a lot of love in our home lately:

Jared absolutely loves terrorizing Makenna, and Makenna absolutely loves being terrorized by Jared. Here are some pictures of him expressing his love-

We made some Easter goodness last week to share with our buddies.

There was just a smidge of frosting left over from our cupcakes, so I put it on the left side of our cake. This is what Ben did to our cake when he got home from work.

Yes, he ate the top off of the cake, because it was where all the love was. And why is it that Dad's can pull this kind of stuff off without getting in trouble?  If anyone else had done that....

fhe cuteness

Last Monday Makenna had the Family Home Evening lesson, and she surprised us with a lesson and activity on Mothers. She started by telling us what Mothers do for us, and then gave us a clue that led us on a scavenger hunt. It was really sweet. We found a rolled up "scroll" at the end of the scavenger hunt that said this:

A- always busy.
I- intelligent
M-Makenna, her daughter
E- Enos, she loves to study
E- enlarge, she enlarges her love for us every day

C- catches, she catches us being bad and tells us the right way
H- healthy, she keeps us healthy
R-remembers, she remembers the way
I- I love her!
S- sweet as sugar
T- trouble, she's never in trouble
I- inside out, she fixes Luke's inside out undies
N-nice, she is very nice
E-Ensign, she reads the Ensign magazines

W- water, she gives us water
H- hibernate, she doesn't hibernate
I- inch, she loves us inch by inch
T- turtle, she's not slow like a turtle
M-movie night, we like to have movie nights
E- enter, we enter the world of happiness with her
R-rabbits, she loves rabbits

I loved this!  It was a special way for me to see into Makenna's mind about what she thinks I am. She's really such a special girl, and it is fun to watch her grow. And I'm sure that I'll look back someday and smile at the challenges Luke is going through.  And I will love them all day long, and give them cookies and milk and yellow balloons (a plug for the song I loved as a little girl).

a doctor in the house

After an agonizingly long first morning of Spring Break, I decided I needed to take matters into my own hands, and organized a doctors office upstairs in the playroom to keep little minds engaged and busy. I could not believe the things that Makenna and Luke came up with! They crack me up. As I was lying on the hospital bed, being "examined" I was told the following:

Makenna: Mom, first let me work on your hair, because it is very out of date (ouch, by the way). First, you need a trim. There, you look much better.


Luke: (holding a mirror into my mouth) Ut oh, you have a silver thing on your tooth.
Makenna: Wow! Really! Let me see!! What is it, Mom?
Me: A cavity. Pretty gross, huh?
Makenna: No, that's awesome! I always wanted to have a silver tooth! (pause) but just not from a cavity.


Makenna: (inspecting my thigh--I was nervous for this one) Well, it looks pretty good, you have a good size bone. (um...thanks?)


Luke: (using the stethoscope to listen to my heart) Mom . . . you do have a heart! (Was there any doubt??)


Makenna: (tapping my throat with a comb) Oooooo. You have good rhythm, Mom! (wasn't she the one making the rhythm? It's okay, I'll take the compliment.)


Makenna: Well, it looks like you need to take 2 of these (hands me my pretend medicine) and take it easy, and don't forget to brush your teeth and say your prayers.


Good advice, Makenna! Thanks for making me feel better!

a report on brothers

Makenna had to give her 2nd grade speech this week, and her teacher let them decide on the topic. This is what she came up with...


Hello, My name is Makenna. Today I brought pictures of my two cute brothers to share with you.

I love my brother Luke very much.

Luke is 3 years old, and will turn 4 in 2 months. Luke is very sweet, but very hyper. He likes to play with tools and his hockey sticks.

We love to play together. Some of the things we like to do are jumping on the mattresses in our play room. My mom lays out two extra mattresses that we have, and Luke and I jump back and forth between them.

We also like to play with legos. Here is a castle that I made when we were playing legos. Luke likes to build towers when we play legos. (hold up lego castle)

During the summer we like to play in the pool and splash each other. Another thing we like to do is Luke will throw in a dive stick, and I will swim underneath the water and get it. Then Luke throws it back in again. It is a lot of fun, and work when he throws them into the deep end. Once he threw it so far into the deep end that I had to jump off the dive rock into the freezing water and swim all the way down into the water to get it.

Jared is my other brother, he is almost 10 months old. He will turn 1 in May. I love to make Jared laugh. He has such a cute laugh! I make him giggle by playing peek-a-boo. I play peek-a-boo many different ways, one is crouching underneath my mom and dad’s bed and jumping up and saying “peek a boo! I see you!”. Then Jared starts laughing, and laughing, and laughing. He also loves to drive a car (hold up a picture)

and brush his teeth (hold up picture).

He also loves to eat ice cream, here is a funny picture of him eating my Dad’s ice cream cone. (show picture)

We all love ice cream!

My brothers are my best friends, I love to play with them and make them laugh. Sometimes when we go on long trips in the car we all sit next to each other and play games. We have lots of fun together.

Thank you for listening to my Show and Tell. Now I hope you know more about my bothers and what I love to do with them. I have time for 3 questions.

I love to see Makenna's interpretation of her relationship with her brothers.  I hear a lot of "Mom, I need your help, Luke's picking at me!"  But I know Makenna has a deep love for her brothers, and it is fun to see that.

some luke love

This boy.  Strong willed and ready to test his will vs. mine.  But such a tender heart and so full of life and love.  Three has not been an easy year for you, and I spend many days on my knees asking for help on how to help you feel loved.  I would not trade this year for anything, though.  As I've cried and prayed, my love for Luke has grown.  And as we have struggled together to navigate these hard times, my heart is always keenly aware of how Heavenly Father sees you.  Your tenacity that will create opportunities to thrive as an adult are not always easy, confined in a three year old body.

Luke, I love you.  You make my job hard sometimes, but because of that it is the most rewarding also.  Love you to the moon and back, and even beyond.

Love,
Mom