From the Mouth of My Babe

Running across the bridge at the park, a favorite pass time. 

I was getting ready for the day in the only bathroom in our home when Davis woke up and came downstairs, declaring, "I need to go potty!"
"Go ahead, Davy, you can use the potty right now." I told him.
"Umm," he said, "I fink I need a widdle pwivacy pwease."

Happy Mother's Day!

 We have been blessed with many wonderful mothers in our lives. We love you!

From the Mouth of My Babes (and a video)

Maddie is giving a talk in primary tomorrow about how prophets teach us to live the restored Gospel. Here she is practicing for the camera. She had me write down exactly what she wanted to say (and corrected me if I didn't get it word for word--"It's not President Monson, mom, it's President Thomas S. Monson"). About 90% of the talk ended up being her words. It just took a few minutes to convince her that, just because it is Mother's Day tomorrow, it's not necessarily appropriate to deviate from the topic and just speak about all the ways she helps me to be a better mom.





Last night was the annual "Fathers and Sons Camp Out" with our church. Ryan didn't have to work so he made plans to take the boys camping for the first time. Ryan is not a camper. Neither of us are. In fact, in the 8+ years that I have known him, we have never been camping once, I considered this a real labor of love for our sons. Isaac, of course, was thrilled with the idea. When he got home from school yesterday he kept talking about how it was going to be the best night ever. It should be said that Isaac knows very little about camping. In fact, I think the great majority of his ideas about what camping is come from reading the Book of Mormon in I Nephi about Lehi's family living in a tent in the wilderness. That said, when Ryan got home from work, they pulled a few things together and were getting ready to head out the door.
"Dad?" Isaac questioned, "What exactly are we going to use to kill all the animals?"


Against his will, I was putting Davis to bed tonight. He was trying to come up with excuses about why he needed to leave his bedroom but I wasn't buying any of them. He looked at me and asked, "Why are you ruining my life!?"

Special Person Day

Today, in honor of Mother's Day, Maddie's preschool hosted a "Special Person Day." Each student was able to invite their mother or one other special person to a class party. The children spent the morning making treats and presents for us and then we came to celebrate for the last half hour of class. Siblings were invited, but I had a friend offer to take Davis so that I could focus all my attention on Mads. 

I asked her a couple of days ago, "Maddie, do you want me to come alone to your classroom for our special day or would you like me to bring Davis as well?"

"Davis gets to come to my classroom?!!?" she exclaimed. "Hooray! Davis! Davis! you get to come to my classroom for special person's day! It is going to be so much fun! I will show you everything!"

And just like that, I was replaced as Maddie's special person at the party. 

It's a good thing I'm not in an emotionally fragile state or anything, or I just may have got my feelings hurt.

The Longest Five Minutes

Yesterday afternoon the kids and I headed to a park not far from our home with a few friends. There is a farm at this park, complete with chickens, sheep, bunnies, horses, and a pond that is currently brimming with tadpoles and frogs. The kids love this pond. Above Davis and Robbie are certainly discussing tadpoles.

Davis was curious as he touched a newt for the first time. All giggles.

 Maddie, too, was fascinated with the tadpoles and frog eggs. wading through the mucky water in search of more swimming friends.

Isaac and his friend Alice in search of frogs to catch.

Davis, too, loved searching for frogs on the bank of the pond. It was shortly after this picture was taken that I lost him.

It was getting close to dinner time and I told the kids that we should head back toward the car, and that if they hurried, we could spend a few minutes on the swings before going home to eat. Davis immediately took off running toward the park. I was sure he was headed for the swings, but still wanted to keep him in sight since he has a reputation for being my little escape artist. I asked my friend, Jessica, to keep an eye on Maddie and Isaac so I could catch up with Davis. She offered to run after the D-man instead since it's easier for her to move quickly than it is me. I thanked her and told her that he was headed toward the park, and she took off to catch up with him.
A minute or so later, I saw Jessica walking back from the park alone, and Davis was nowhere in sight. It was at this point that I started to get a little concerned. 'Where did he go?' I thought. I was sure I saw him run toward the park, away from the pond. At this point, my other friend, Kami, handed me her baby and took off running with Jessica, calling out Davis' name as they scoured the farm. No one said it, but I knew that the same thing that was running through my mind was running through theirs...'Even though that pond is shallow, it is big, and Davis can't swim.' It had been about three or four minutes since I thought I saw D running toward the park, and I began to have serious doubts. 'Maybe I didn't see him running. Maybe he made his way back to the water without me knowing.'
Panic started to set in. At this point, even strangers at the park were searching for our little guy. I ran back to where I thought Jessica would be, hoping beyond hope that she had found Davis. When I saw her, she was running along the bank of the pond, shoes off, ready to jump in the mucky water after him if she saw anything. When I reached her, I burst into tears. "Let's say a prayer," she offered, and asked that Davy would be protected and that we would find him. We both took off in opposite directions and, less than a minute later, our prayer was answered. "I found him!" Jessica yelled.
It turns out that I didn't imagine him running toward the park, he had really done that, but when he got out of my line of sight, he took a turn toward the horses and sheep and made his way down the long path to see the animals (I never would have guessed that he would choose sheep over swings, so I didn't even think to check down that way). Jessica found him sitting next to the fence, watching the animals. As she carried him back down the path toward us, tears were streaming down her face. They were streaming down mine as well. I have never been more happy to see my strong-willed little three-year-old.

I am so thankful for wonderful friends. I don't know what I would have done without them yesterday.

And I can't remember being so happy that a prayer was answered so quickly.