Last Day of School

WHEW!  Today was a day.  Bittersweet is the only way to describe it.

Sweet Baby James, who is not really a baby anymore, finished pre-school today.   

Just  few thoughts from a mother's heart....

Last year, a good friend, whose opinion I trust, suggested that we get James tested for "stuff".  She noticed in him some of the things her own son struggles with.  So we did.  It was a process and at the end of the school year I did not know if he had "passed" and been accepted into the special needs preschool that our school district offers.  It was a long wait over the summer, and we didn't know if he was in or not, until a few days into the school year.

But he did get in and I am so very thankful for that. More than I can say really.  Over the course of the year James' teachers have worked with him, taught him, and helped him improve in ways that I could not.  They have taught me, as well as being kind and mindful of our family's needs.  James has made so much progress with his speech and motor development this year, as well as grown into a very sweet and loving boy.

I feel blessed to have had good friends along the way, as well, who also had children in the preschool.  My friend Neighbor Julia and I have carpooled all year, which has allowed all of our toddler babies to get a nap in the afternoons.  And I'm thankful to my friends Jenny and Evelena, whose children James has become good friends with, and who have offered many times to have James over to play and have offered to baby sit swap with me for various things.

So, on to summer and preparing for Kindergarten.  I'm still not too jazzed about all day Kindergarten, but I knew all day school would happen eventually.    Thanks to all the staff and teachers at school.  We are thankful that you have been part of our lives!

The First Hair Cut

This is Jeffy.  Man about town, runner, jumper, climber extrodianier....he also has girl hair....or so some old man told us once...

 

So, you knew this day was on it's way ...

The day we would have to give Jeffy a hair cut.

I know, the HORROR!

Without a doubt Jeffy has the most silky, golden, flaxen hair of any person I have ever known. When he sits in my lap I love to just run my fingers thru it and smell his head. He has the best smell -- it literally melts away all the bad in the world.

But, his hair was long, way past his shoulders and had become increasingly more difficult to wash and manage. Every day I would spend far too much time picking out knots and tangles. As you can imagine for a man-on-the-go, such as Jeffy is, this was seriously cramping his style.

So with lollypop in hand, because you should always give kids a lollypop when cutting their hair, we set about the dreary task of cutting the silky, golden, flax down to something more manageable.

It turned out mostly ok ... considering how much he moved around. However, there was no wailing as is usually the case with James. Jeff was very interested in the scissors and wanted to actually see me making the cuts. Because of that I missed a few spots and he will be getting a second haircut sometime today. I'm sure he won't mind though, as it means he gets to eat another lollypop.

His hair remains silky, golden and flaxen, just not quite as long and tangled as before.   Church ladies and Grandmas, a like, may rejoice!  The curlies lived to see the dawn!

 

Sunglasses at Night

We wear our sunglasses at night ... enough said ...

(Well maybe not enough ... James got those glasses out of the treat box at the doctor's office three years ago.  They are indestructible.  Jeffy broke the glasses he is wearing about 2 seconds after this picture.  Jeffy is the destroyer of worlds and sunglasses)

Sing it ...

Sweet Baby James turns 5!

 

Five years ago today, Joseph I and I went to Santa Fe, and came home parents of this little guy.  Our Sweet Baby James....

 

 

He is kind, funny, inquisitive, and creative.

 

 

He used to suck on that pacifier like tomorrow would never come.  We finally got rid of it, after Jeffy was born!

 

 

Right now, James' favorite things include: the color orange, preschool, building legos and trains, watching Bob the Builder and The Super Friends.

 

 

He also loves to go to Primary and to learn about scripture stories.  His favorite stories right now are: Nephi and the Iron Rod, Abinidi and the Resurrection.

 

 

James has many good friends.  He gets to go to preschool with some of his friends from church.  He loves Ty, Kaylee and Johnny.

 

 

James has loved being a big brother.  He loves to play with Jeffrey and take care of him too.  They can be very sweet together...but a lot of the time it's like Calivn and Hobbes came to live here!

 

 

James has many talents and abilities.  He is a peacemaker and is very sensitive to others.  He also loves to write his name and practice writing letters and numbers.  He loves to help me cook pancakes.  Yesterday he even helped me bake his birthday cake.

 

 

James loves to help his dad, with whatever needs to be done.

 

 

Right now, James likes to "make good choices".  When he pretends with his lego men, I often hear them having discussions about making good choices.

 

 

 

James still loves Doggins!

 

 

 

 

He also has a prize winning smile.  I'm just sad that all of those teeth he worked so hard to grow are going to start falling out soon.  It's funny, of all the gross things that kids to, the whole loose teeth scenario grosses me out the most.

 

 

James loves to tell knock-knock jokes with Kaylee on the way home from school.  They mostly just say knock-knock and I answer "Who's there?" in a funny voice.  That's it.  And they dissolve into a puddle of giggles every time.

 

 

 

 

 

Words can't express how much I love this kid.  Even more today, than that cold, November, Tuesday 5 years ago.

 

Happy Birthday, Sweet Baby James!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Real Temple Square

So just in case you think we're some sort of Stepford Mormon family from that last post...we're not...

Here are the other pictures of us at Temple Square.  I will say for the record, though, that there is a powerful spirit at Temple Square.  And you feel it the second you step onto the grounds.  I've been to Temple Square so many times and it feels like home when I'm there.  We wanted to take the boys to Temple Square in preparation for General Conference and to teach them more about the temple.  We were really fortunate to have Aunt Annette come along with us for part of the day.

This is how we'd like you to think of us, all the time.  Perfect family, being perfect.

But this is really more like it.  One kid not paying attention and the other screaming bloody murder to the looks of passers by, Mom and Dad looking weather worn and tired -- because no one likes to sleep at night!

Does the fountain between the South Visitor Center and the Temple have a name? I've always called it the Giant Clam fountain, because that's what it looks like.  Anyway, the boys were fascinated with the fountains on Temple Square.  I wanted to have a lesson on living water, but I was too busy trying to keep them from falling in, which Jeffy almost did several times at the Seagull Fountain.

James and I at the base of the Salt Lake Temple.

Joseph and James at the same spot.  I'm sure are wondering where was Jeffy?  He was having none of these pictures.

Except this one.  He consented to having his picture taken for about 3 seconds.

On the South-East stairs of the temple  I wonder which of our relatives climbed these stairs and entered the temple here?

In the North Visitor Center at the Christus statue.

James at the Christus, right before he scaled the thing...and I mean, climbed up in the arms of Christ.  I might have laid an egg at that point, and was very thankful we were not invited to leave Temple Square.

Both boys at The Christus.  We could not get Jeffy to turn around for a picture.  He's 18 months and clearly has a mind of his own.

 

The top of the Seagull Fountain.  That's the fountain that Jeffy was trying really hard to fall into.

A side relief of the Seagull Fountain.  I love the story of the Gulls and the Crickets.  I think I would have been devastated to see the crickets eat my hard work and food for the next year.  But then to see the gulls come and save everything would have been miraculous.

Inside the Joseph Smith Building.  James recognized him right away.

There is an excellent exhibit in the Church History Museum right now about the LDS Church and the Boy Scouts.  This neckerchief was given to Pres. David O. McKay, a relative, by a troop from Mississippi.  For those of you that want to know.  David O's father is David McKay, who is the brother of my third great-grandmother Wilhelmina McKay.  They joined the church in the middle of the night in Scotland and then came to America with the Saints.  They settled in Huntsville, Utah.

...and to finish up a thought from this last caption...there is also at the Church History Museum a WONDERFUL exhibit of Norman Rockwell's Scouting paintings.  I love Norman Rockwell, his talent was so amazing, and I love how he just perfectly captured the American spirit and the spirit of boys.  Thankfully, my parents were up at Temple Square the week before and were able to stop in and see this exhibit.

 Mom also ran into Uncles Monroe, Barry and Quinn at the Lion House eating lunch the day she was at Temple Square (Dad was at the Church Historian's office doing research).  The Uncles were sitting at the table next to her, talking about Huntsville.  The only people that talk about Huntsville are people that are from Huntsville.  We'll you know, we're McKays and we're all from Huntsville, and we all love it there.  They talked to her at length about her Dad, my Grandpa Ernest, who everyone called Bud.  Jeffrey is named after him too.  Grandpa Bud died early, and I think our family has missed him these many years.  He and Grandma were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple, so it was especially nice to be there.

This weekend, watching General Conference, we saw the fruits of our visit to Temple Square.  James and Jeffy both recognized the Temple and the fountains and were excited (for about 4 seconds each) to see these things on TV.  It's important to teach our children the importance of the temple, and it's important to take them to the temple and to have them see us prepare to enter the temples to worship as well.

Slices of life: September

Here are some snaps for the grandmas of the boys...

 

Playing outside

Right after a rain storm, investigating the gutter.

 

Blanket fort for a sick day.

 

Getting ready for bed.

 

 

 Doing their best "Sister Wilhelm Smiles".

Who's Your Mommy?

You all remember the blog post, Who's Your Daddy?  We here at Atomic Soup would like to present the next installment of the series with a post titled, "Who's Your Mommy?"

Me at 18 months.  Mop top and favorite elephant coat.

 

 

 

Jeffy at 18 months.  Mop top and cookie faced.

 

 

It's been 18 months since Jeffy joined our family.  His birth should have been indicative of who he is.  Firecracker all the way, can't-go-fast-enough, never wants to miss a beat, type of a person.  He's funny, loud, helpful and adventurous when it comes to most everything.  And one day, I hope, he will even sleep in his own bed at night.  But despite that, he has made our lives infinitely better.  Thanks for coming to us Baby!

 



Oh what do you do in the summer time?

I will cause it to rain upon the earth...Gen 7:4

It rained yesterday....oh it rained, and thundered and hailed and washed out our back yard.   James ran from the front door to the back door yelling, "THUNDER!" in his best WWF announcer voice, which because he cannot pronounce "th" very well sounded like "FUN-DER!"  It was kind of fun, except when a lighting strike tripped one breaker in the house.  Just one, the one the TV is on, right at dinner time, when I needed an electronic babysitter for about 30mins.   And I would have gone and fixed it myself but for our neighbor's lovely German Shepard that guards the breaker box on our duplex.  I love that dog so much...so very much..like I'd love a root canal.

So it begs the question, "What do you do in the summer time?"

Well we don't march in parades or drink lemonade (well sometimes we do), or lazily dream on the banks of a stream...or watch all the stars in the sky...

We get dirty.  I mean DIRTY!

Observe:

The Mud King

 

 

The Mud Prince

 

 



In their mud kingdom

 

 

If you were wondering, I just walked away to an appointment I had....I just walked away and let Joseph clean them up.  I'm sure Jeffy's diaper was brown from the mud.  But they had fun.  The pen is still not dried up, so I can send them out to my little piggies again tonight.

 

And that's what we do in the summer time.

It's the Hoo-TEN-anny you've waited for...

 

 

First date: February 8, 2003
 

 

Getting officially engaged: March 2, 2003 -- HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSEPH!

 

Engagement photo for the wedding announcements

 

At the temple, finally married!

 

 

There is nothing as great as sisterly love.  Right?

 

 

 

Honeymooning at Mt Rainer National Park, Washington.

 

 

At the Statue of Liberty 2004.

 

At the Battle of Brandywine State Park in Pennsylvania.  This cannon was used in The Battle of Saratoga in the Revolutionary War.  With Melanie and Meredith Porter. 2004.

 

 

James the Nephite in his doormat costume. Hill Cummorah Pageant, 2008

 

Matt, James and Joseph @ the Hill Cummorah Pageant, 2008.

 

New car for the growing family, 2008.

 

 

Sunday before I went in to have Baby James.  November 2008.

 

James is here! November 25, 2008.

 

 

James at about 4 months.

 

 

A much better family picture, November 2009.

 

 

James' first birthday with his cousins! November 2009.

 

First tubes surgery, January 2010.

 

Watching TV with Daddy.

 

 

Family picture, October 2010.

 

Playing water buckets, Summer 2011.

 

 

With Mama, 2011.

Las Conchas Fire.  We evacuated our home for 8 days while everything around us burned up. June/July 2011.

 

 

Pregnant with Jeffrey, our FIRE BABY!  November 2011.

Jeffrey comes three weeks early and good thing too!  March 3, 2012.

 

Taking a napy with Daddy.

 

Post bath boys.

 

Jeffy, summer 2012.

With Mama.

Playing in the splashy pool, Summer 2012

 

 

Brothers and best friends!

 

 

Flying in the "airplane".  Fall 2012.

 

 

Family picture, October 2012.

Halloween! October 2012

Jeffy's first Christmas.  2012.

 

 

Sunning in the Grandma chair.

 

 

James loves to sit in the laundry baskets.

 

 

Jeffy turns one!

Easter with the cousins in Mesa. March 2013.

Popsicle time (which is all the time around here!)

 

 

Blowing bubbles.

 

Playing with the cousins.

The Los Alamos Ward Primary the day the ward was split.  May 2013.

 

 

Brothers!

Reading in the treehouse

Snuggling in Mama's bed



All spelled out for you...let's do it again shall we?

 

And this will be our theme song for the next ten years ... with cool animation too :)