overheard

This is something I overheard James saying as he played by himself the other day - pretty funny!

we have no diapers in our house
there's diapers in the dirt
we drive on some
our wheels on some
the dirt...the dirt...oh, the dirt!
we goin' to sleep in this. go to sleep go in this. ohh...naps. two naps. two naps, mommy!
I so tired! I too so tired! I go a sleep sometime, was I sleepy

Bugs

James' new favorite pastime:
looking at bugs on our front walk!

If the front door is ever open at all, he races for the door and runs outside to look for ants. What a cute kid.

Here Comes the Sun

What beautiful weather we've had this past week or so. My boys and I love it!

We have loved:

taking many trips to the little park by our house

looking for bugs on our sidewalk many times per day

actually turning on our air conditioning

just getting out of the house more!

the sun!

going to Uncle Josh's track meet (and were so excited that he won his event! yay Uncle Dosh!)

running and jumping outside (James is quite the jumper as you will see in the below pictures)

The only down side to the great weather:
Scraped knees! James got his first two scraped knees on the first two warm, sunny days.

How was your day?

Mine was just dandy.

Wanna hear about my day?

A little background: I am trying to become a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music. Awesome, right? Credentials are always nice and I'll have a nice little acronym/title I could stick at the end of my name for kicks - Jennifer Boster, NCTM. Well you see, in order to complete my application I need to make a teaching portfolio that basically proves that I am a good piano teacher and that I have experience and stuff. Well it's due in about a week and I have to admit that I did procrastinate a bit...I have been working on it on and off but this past week or so decided I had to just get it done. Well here are some fun little happenings of the past day (keep in mind that the perception of a "day" is blurred significantly when one gets less than 4 hours sleep) for your reading enjoyment:

• Yesterday (which really feels like today) I let my son watch three movies while I worked on my portfolio. (Am I a horrible mother?) At least they were good movies - Little Einsteins, Meet the Robinsons and Kung Fu Panda. And I justified by telling myself that I at least was home with him and sort of watching with him, so it was a fun mother/son activity.......right?
• I decided last night to just buckle down and get it done. I went to bed at 5:20 a.m. (It's not quite done yet....)
• I woke up at 8:46 a.m.
• Both James and I are wearing yesterday's clothes.
• My kitchen is messy and smells like beans.
• I have big piles of laundry in my house.
• James had the wettest diaper known to man. I lifted him off the couch and there was a huge pee pee spot about ten inches in diameter, and the back of his shorts were soaked. (p.s. lately he HATES getting his diaper changed. We hate it too. It is a struggle every time. I think we may be potty training soon....)
• I grabbed the wet child and hurried him upstairs to the bathroom. Then I hurried and grabbed the (recently washed) couch cover off of the couch to wash.
• How do you get pee pee out of a couch cushion?
• As I grabbed the couch cover off I accidentally flung a little bowl of cheerios and crumbs from the bottom of a Crispix box across my living room floor, which I vacuumed less than 24 hours ago.
• When I took James up to bathe him I left some macaroni and cheese on the stove - I turned off the stove, but left it sitting in the water.
• When I came down it had absorbed all the water and was this nasty, sticky gloppy pile of queasy noodles.
• James had a bath - phew! and started running around in his diaper
• I hurriedly emptied the contents of the dryer (clean whites) into an already existing pile of clean laundry, so I could move the wet clothes to the dryer and wash the couch cover and pee pee clothes.
• As I'm standing by the washer I hear a little voice from my bedroom, "Look at me!! Look at me!! This is fun, Mommy!" He is head first in the basket of clean whites with his little legs flailing in the air.

Ah the joys of life, eh? Seriously though, I am totally laughing at all these great happenings (maybe it's because anything is funny when you got three hours of sleep.....)

Life really is good though!

• We got to watch Lost last night! Man oh man we love that show!
• I made the best peach smoothie last night
• I love the rain!
• My boys are wonderful

Watching some Einsteins after his bath.

Notice the glazed-over look...

A little peek at my messy house, because hey, that's real life

p.s. after posting this, I hear a little voice from James' room (where he is supposed to be napping - like I had just barely put him down) - he had opened the door (darn, why did he have to learn that skill?) and was trying to come downstairs. So I put him back in there and closed the door and put up the baby gate. Two minutes later there's a crash as he knocks down the gate. He is by my feet playing with trains, saying over and over and over again, "I never take a nap...I never take a nap....I never take a nap....."

Family.

We love having family stay with us! Here are some more fun pictures from when the Bosters came into town last weekend...

Megan and Joseph with Daniel and Bethany's new baby, Caroline. Megan and Joseph will also be new parents in a few short months! We're excited to have another little Boster boy in the family!

Sweet little Baby Caroline

She definitely has some great facial expressions

I love these ones

Caroline is named after her Grandma Caroline!

Nana & Grandy with Caroline

James' cousin Joshua

James played forever in the wood chips - kids are easily entertained, I tell you

Cute Hannah

What a little ham for the camera

Me and my cute sister-in-law Emma Jeane, or "Jeaney" as James calls her

Daddy

My little buddy is such a lucky boy to have such a wonderful Daddy...

egg hunt

James had his very first Easter Egg hunt on Easter Sunday (yeah I know that was like a couple of weeks ago...) and oh man he loved it so much!! We followed him around carrying his basket while he found all the eggs which the Easter Bunny had hidden in oh so conspicuous places. We had to open every single egg when found, and James insisted on eating at least one candy (mostly m&m's) from each one. Talk about sugar for breakfast, eh? Only on a holiday, right? :)

showered with gifts

A couple of weeks ago we had a Glenn family bridal shower for my cute sister Abby. We had a wonderful time, and it was so fun to see all the Glenn girls! Also, James sure loves going to "girl parties" and being the only boy there!

Fortifying the Family

We're into forts lately at our house.

There's just something about a blanket fort that makes you feel so comfy and safe and protected. Especially when you're in there with your two favorite boys, having family home evening and reading some stories about Jesus, eating ice cream and watching a movie.

We hold in our arms the rising generation. They come to this earth with important responsibilities and great spiritual capacities. We cannot be casual in how we prepare them. Our challenge as parents and teachers is not to create a spiritual core in their souls but rather to fan the flame of their spiritual core already aglow with the fire of their premortal faith.

The stories of Jesus can be like a rushing wind across the embers of faith in the hearts of our children. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The stories of Jesus shared over and over bring faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and strength to the foundation of testimony. Can you think of a more valuable gift for our children?

-Neil L. Andersen

James couldn't get enough of this fort, so we've built one almost every day since. I love the wonder in his little eyes when we put those blankets up over the furniture and climb right in.

I think that every home should be as comfy and happy and safe as this blanket fort. For isn't that just what our children need and deserve? We need to fortify our little families against the storms that will come. Spending time with our children, being there, showing them that they are the most important thing to us, holding family prayer, loving each other, making fun memories, teaching our children the gospel.

There has never been a greater need for increased faith and personal righteousness. There has never been a greater need for strong families and homes.

-Julie B. Beck

Can you believe how many talks there were in General Conference that were all about families and parenting, about teaching our children and about the importance of motherhood? I think the Lord must be trying to tell us something ;)

Parents must bring light and truth into their homes by one family prayer, one scripture study session, one family home evening, one book read aloud, one song, and one family meal at a time. They know that the influence of righteous, conscientious, persistent, daily parenting is among the most powerful and sustaining forces for good in the world. The health of any society, the happiness of its people, their prosperity, and their peace all find common roots in the teaching of children in the home.

-L. Tom Perry

Those bright, shining eyes on the face of my two-year-old remind me every day that we need to keep our family strong. I guess we'll keep on building those forts.