numbers one and three

This post was started a while ago - before the St. George move was in the works!  So even though I talked a bunch about Isaac and Lily in the last post I couldn't pass up talking about this daughter of mine.  She was pretty amazing this year - against her requests to stay in her school in North Ogden, I was done with that distance and not being more involved in her classroom, and had heard good things about the neighborhood school.  So we put her in ANOTHER school.  3 for 3!  And so in St. George it will be 4 different schools in 3 school years...this girl is up to the challenge though.

Her first day of school she was quite worked up and nervous, and so by the time I found her after school she was sobbing and so upset.  She didn't like the school, her teacher was mean, she never wanted to go back, etc etc.  I met her teacher at a Parent Teacher Conference a few hours later and she said Lily had been quite nervous and worried at lunch (of course - one thing I have bestowed upon my children is a fear of unfamiliar food) and it just seemed to escalate throughout the day.  She went to bed and ended up with a fever.  Missed the next day and was back at it the next day after a few pep talks.  So brave!  It is pretty neat to see kids being so resilient and strong.

Our move is pretty imminent and so free time won't be so plentiful next week - Isaac's 3rd birthday.  So I want to list a few things here that bring a smile to my face.  *"Sing Star Wars!  Sing Darth Vadar!"  (cue him putting serious face on and stomping around the house).  When he is play fighting with a sword or light saber he will say "I'm Skywalker!  I'm Darth Vadar!  I'm the emperor!  I'm yoda!"  He loves all things Star Wars!  *He loves candy, and includes it in his prayers often.  When we visited Grandma and Grandpa in August, Mom and I were sitting at the table and Isaac came and asked Mom something but we couldn't understand, and I said "What did you say?"  And he looked at me and furrowed his brows, then looked back at Mom and said "Grandma, can I have a chocolate drink?"  After the chocolate drink "Can I have an otter pop?"  Then "Can I watch a movie?"  He knows the goods at Grandma's house!  Mom said that he will ask why so much that she started asking "why not?" and Isaac would say "Why you say why not?"  So cute.  And although he loves the sweet stuff, he will also eat the most fruits and veggies of the 3 oldest kids.  Lily was sitting on the couch with me once and Isaac came up while eating a plum, and got a drop of juice on her leg.  She started freaking out and he looked at her with this serious face and said "Lily.  It's a plum."  Like 'you are crazy.'  Toddlers are so awesome in retrospect!  haha!  Today was the Primary Program and I had to set up chairs in the Primary room and we were late, so I rushed out the car and after a few minutes came to the pew where Adam was and couldn't see Isaac - he had been left in the car!  Poor boy.  I blamed Adam who forgot during his week away how much work it is to get 4 kids ready in the morning.  :)  Busy busy.

a lot of stuff

We went up Waterfall Canyon the day before everything changed.  This is one tough hike, and except for a handful of times that I picked him up to get over a big boulder, Isaac went the ENTIRE way up by himself.  Crazy!  He wanted to be held most of the way down, but I couldn't believe what a trooper he was!  A bunch of people remarked as well who saw him.  He stayed with me, chatting up a little storm and asking lots of questions.  Such a cute boy.

Here we are at the top.  I love this shot of Lily even though I look kind of goofy.  The next morning I had finished doing homework with Jackson, the house was semi-clean, and I had the thought that finally - finally! - we were settling in after the move.

No more crazy big house projects for a while.  No more rushing around like crazy trying to get a million things done post-move.  School was going well, the kids happy, good teachers, settled in at church with our callings, etc etc....and that's when the phone rang.  Adam had gotten a call from his Dad asking if he wanted to go to St. George to work.  Things fell into place quite quickly and that was that.  Here we go again!

 We have been trying to keep things as normal as possible, not that it is working that well, but a lot better than throughout the first move.  I almost think that move prepared me for this one to go a lot smoother than it would have had I not had the practice.

Homework would be 139% easier if Isaac didn't constantly ask Jackson if he wants to "play x-box?"  "watch Star Wars?"  "play the Wii?" When I say no Isaac whines and screams and throws a fit, even though Jackson is fine.  Ha!  Little stinker.  He fell asleep one day like this he was so worn out.

Saturdays start early with Lily's game at 8 a.m.  Jack's are later.  Soccer season with the mountains are a big tug on the heart strings for me.  Adam played 2 weeks of JD Clark softball but we missed those games.  Love that crisp autumn air!

 Ada is still growing.  Four kids definitely has killed some brain cells and made me feel like I am a piece of taffy needing to be pulled in five different directions, but man oh man.  This little girl is a little chunk of sunshine and happiness in my life every day.

If I ask Isaac if he is my little cuddle buddy he will say yes.  Don't know if it is just his personality, or the fact he was the first kid I didn't leave weekly to go to work, but this kid likes to be around me.  Which is pretty awesome after having two super independent kids.  He will always ask if I am going to stay and sit down at a friend's house (instead of drop him off).  If unknown kids come to close to him he gets a nervous look on his face and points to me and says "This is my mom!"  He has such a sweet heart and is always looking out for his siblings, and says 'tank you' and 'good job!' when necessary.  I can't believe he will be 3 in a week!

One of Lily's favorite things is to get a camera or a phone and take pictures or videos of herself.  The crazier the better - this girl loves to laugh!  For a while she had an obsession with snorting, and was always trying to laugh so hard she would snort.  Which of course would make her laugh harder and snort more.  Lots of goofy videos from her and various friends when she confiscates Adam's phone to play!

 Jackson loves to tell everyone he sees that we are moving to St. George because his Dad got a job there.  This stems from us telling them the past year or so that we weren't moving to St. George because Dad's job is in Ogden, and we live where Dad works!  So Jack took the camera one day to capture a few shots of what he would miss in the house.  Number 1 being the chalk wall I painted for him, even though I haven't let them play with chalk besides this one time.

And the hallway.  Love these vaulted ceilings.  This was such a neat house to be in for a few months.  It is a lot of fun to see how much we improved the space from what it was.  A lot of hard work paid off in the end, even though we're not going to be around to enjoy it.

Adam let his work know he would be leaving and just gave 2 weeks notice - super fast!  On his first weekend back we packed up the van to drive up to Logan for our yearly visit.  It was rainy so we didn't get our nature hike in, but we enjoyed ice cream and a drive up the canyon, and lunch at the Bluebird on Main Street.  Next year we will be staying in a hotel, and will go later - the leaves were just barely beginning to turn so there was still a lot of green.  Gorgeous in the rain though.

treasures

 We celebrated Jackson's 6th birthday last week, treasure hunt style!  He requested chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting.  Jake, Josh, Kate, Booker, and Sebastian were invited.  He tried to get more friends but I said 6 is it (Jaxon couldn't come last minute).  I was the Captain and Lily my first mate.

The kids were super excited about finding all of the clues, but apparently hot tubbing was on the brain, since once they had found the super cool treasure chest (stained by Adam) filled with chocolate gold coins and jelly bean jewels and had a pirate cupcake, Jackson asked me "Mom, aren't we going to do something fun?"

 I love this shot of Lily and Jackson.  Best buddies!  The week before we celebrated in St. George with Grandma and Grandpa and Liz's kids too.  Trampoline park, and swimming in Veyo.  He seemed quite happy, especially with the new Wii game Grandma and Grandpa gave him.  He has never been so excited to come home before.  And the night before his party it was his turn for a night out with Dad, who took him to "How to Train Your Dragon 2" - with popcorn, candy and a big drink!  He was very excited.

(With Henry earlier in the summer)
Jackson is our wandering boy - he LOVES to explore!  I finally quit procrastinating and got Adam to take off his training wheels.  He sure wasn't happy at first, but within two days of working working working he finally got the hang of it!  Pretty neat to be able to see such hard work pay off, he was so determined.  And SO HAPPY when he got it.  He told me to take pictures, and call Dad, and send a picture to his friend's mom.  Super cute.  Interesting to compare to Lily:  while Jackson wanted help and guidance at first, Lily is one to push you away "I can do it myself!"  "I know how to do it!"  Funny how different their learning styles are.  

I took both of them to the Weber River path so we could bike and they LOVED it.  Jackson was so mad when we had to leave.  He was weaving in and out of the separating lines; standing up to pump up hills, and putting his feet up on his bike seat - all of the things he could do with training wheels.  Every few days he will tell me he is glad he took off his training wheels.  Such a neat kid.  At church yesterday I got him from his Primary class, where he was in the middle of telling a story to his teacher.  He continued telling me on the way home and kept on going - for 45 minutes!  He really has an awesome imagination.  I think he learned the art from Amanda's "Kid Stories" at bedtime, where she gave the kids reign at some of the story intersections.  At any given time you will likely find Jackson with something resembling a gun or swords/knives, completely lost in his own world of fighting and shooting.  Pretty neat except when you want his attention.  Can't believe he is 6 years old!

(At the cupcake store in St. George - courtesy of Amanda, of course.)  He started Kindergarten a few days after his birthday.  He is very excited to be going to a big school with his big sister.  I just wish it was all day instead of half day - after 3 years of preschool he is definitely ready!  He loves a good joke, too.  The other day he asked why he kept on forgetting things.  I said "hmm...because you're crazy?"  And he started yelling and saying "Ahh!  My hand is bleeding on fire!  Why is my hand bleeding on fire??" I asked why, and he said "Because.....Lily kicked my elbow?"  Love his silliness.

The kids were so excited when I had Ada join them for a dip in the hot tub.  This is one of the kids' favorite things ever.  I didn't think she would like it so much but she did!  Loved splashing just like Isaac.  And can I just say how awesome those trees are - it is a great deck!

The day finally came!  The kids have been watching the temple be built for the last 3+ years, and were SO EXCITED that we could finally go in!  The tour was a bit rushed compared to Brigham City, but nevertheless it was really neat to be able to take the kids through.  Isaac loved the water features the best.  Lily loved the diamond lights.  Jackson loved the windows.  It was a very special day, and I am grateful we got tickets even though I procrastinated getting them!

After the tour.  What a crew!  We are so happy to have a temple close again!  Cuts off an hour of babysitting time since we're not driving to Bountiful.