*second month's end*

The end of February brought our first baseball tournament in St. George. I was not able to go so Justin took all the boys with him while I worked all weekend. I am so thankful for our baseball family that took such good care of our 3 younger boys while Justin coached and for a wonderful mom who takes incredible pictures of all the players. I just posted ones of the cutest boy on the team.

We celebrated my father in laws birthday. We went out to eat at Fuji and then saw the movie Journey 2. I liked it even the second time.

Liam went to Jungle Jim's for the first time on a playdate. It was a big hit.

There were a couple dentist appointments, 3 doctor appointments--Luke had a wart frozen off, Nick was evaluated for his migraines, and I am pretty sure Liam received a second round of his Kindergarten shots but at least he is covered, I had an amazing lesson on provident living, signed Luke and Liam up for baseball, Liam was Star of the Week, and Liam had an open house at his school to show off what he has done for the second term. I am sure glad there was an extra day this year.

*more quotes*

In a conversation overheard between Liam and his friend Braxton:

L: Remember when you said the "H" word?
B: I didn't say the "H" word!
L: Yes, you did--it is the other word for rain!



As we drive to Luke's cello lesson, we pass a little Asian restaurant called the Magic Wok. There has been a Help Wanted sign in the window for at least a year and there is really no one ever in the parking lot. Luke is a bit obsessed with it.

One day I think it finally got to him.

He turned to me out of the blue and said: "I know why they don't have more customers."
Me: "Who?"
L: "The Magic Wok. Their food is probably bad and the service is slow."

I maybe want to try it one day, just to test his hypothesis.



Then finally, we were up at my parent's house and the boys and my dad were having a little wiffle ball game in the backyard.

Luke was on first base and Andrew was up to bat. Andrew tapped the bat on the ground and brought it up into position to hit the ball. From his position on the make-shift diamond, Luke called out: "Spit. It means business."

*100 days*

Kindergarten has been in session for 100 days.

It is a big deal around here.

Each student made a hat that had 100 things on it. Liam wanted a space hat and so I was trying to come up with some complicated extravagant project but then we went to the dollar store and he found stickers and a colander. I bought a balloon weight that had some wirey star things on it that I clipped off and put on the top of the colander, covered it with foil, and voila. You have a space hat.

Liam thought it was awesome, even though it looks a little ghetto.


He got to lead the parade. He was pretty darn psyched.


They paraded around the school and everyone came out of their classrooms to line the hallways giving the kindergarteners high fives and a ton of applause. These darling kids were beaming the entire time.


They came back to the classroom to do different "100" activities. I was in charge of 100 exercises. The kids didn't really pay attention or count so it was a whatever you want to do activity and it worked out great.

Here is their cute class in all their hats.


Congrats on 100 days Liam!

*love day*

I am an idealist.

I frequently have unrealistic expectations and frequently end up with shattered pieces of what I have built up in my mind of how things are supposed to be. It is not a healthy way to live my life, I do realize this, and while I do have wonderful moments in my life, I rarely have ones that are truly utopian.

Valentine's weekend exceeded all expectations because I didn't have any. Sure I had some plans that involved activities with the kids for their boxes and valentines and such but as much as I could have tried to, there was no way to plan the way things arranged themselves in perfect harmony. It just happened. And there was a moment that I wanted to tell everyone about but if I would have told anyone they would have given me a strange look and wonder why in the world I was telling them since it was nothing special. To them. It was my moment to cherish and love and remember when I need to remember something happy.

We went to Journey 2--not high on my list of things to do but the only kid friendly movie out at the time. And you know what? I loved it. It was cute and much better than I expected. We looked at a super cute house that day and I even was called off off work that night. The start of a perfect weekend.

On Monday, the day before Valentine's day, I had a rare burst of energy and was able to get all of my projects done. You know, to create my perfect holiday.

While I was getting things ready for dinner, Justin was helping the boys with their boxes, and Nick was singing the love song from Rio in his newly acquired baritone while helping me cook. It was so serene and the love I felt for my family right there and then was almost palpable. This simple and remarkable twinkling was my utopia. It filled my soul and I just stood there for a minute and soaked it all in.

Justin has so much more patience and creativity with this kind of thing than I do. I think he created, with the boys' help, some pretty phenomenal boxes.


I loved how Liam's valentines turned out.


I even had time to put together a little gift for the boys' teachers.


The next morning we had red velvet pancakes for breakfast. They were sinful.


I was also able to go and help with Liam's valentine party at school.






Then made dinner and went to work where we had a party to celebrate love day.

Pretty much the best weekend ever.

*quotes*

Luke has not been very reverent in church lately.

He got in serious trouble one week for yelling "DIARRHEA" in the hall not once, not twice, but thrice.

The last one was in the glass partition as you walk outside and it echoed. A lot.

He was grounded for a week from all things fun.

The next week he was in Sacrament meeting he was being rowdy and I turned to him and I asked:

"Why can't you just be good? You know you aren't supposed to act this way in church."

He replied with "Mom, there are too many distractions."

He was grounded from the TV for a week.

The next week went a little more smoothly. When Andrew was trying to make him laugh Luke shot him a dirty look and said: " I have not been able to watch TV for two weeks. I want to watch it this week so leave me alone!"

Then today after I picked Liam up from school I asked him what he learned today. He was rattling things off and then his face lit up when he remembered that they did first grade math.

I asked him what that meant and he told me that ten plus 6 is sixteen and that ten plus 9 is nineteen.

We were driving along for a minute and then he said: I know some college math."
"Oh! You do?"
"Yep. 120 is 121."

Unfortunately for me, the logic behind college math truly was that confusing.