The Young and the Restless

And so....

Sunday brunch with cinnamon scones, a breeze through open windows, white sheets hanging on the line, sleeping boys with trucks nestled in chubby fists, a freshly vacuumed car, slipping into yoga pants after a hot shower. This is me stopping to thank Him for the rain while still on my ever loving rainbow quest. This is me finding joy in the every day. (As seen mostly by my phone, so please do expect the highest of quality). Pictures from Maddox with this description: "you know on cartoons when something is so amazing it looks like it's going to explode? This is you surrounded by that kind of explosion". It made my day. It made my entire year.

First time readers. We've made it past the painful stage where it takes five minutes to read one word and you want to cry when you see it's a 17 page book. Or maybe that's just me. He's now cruising right through his little readers and my favorite is that they read them aloud as a class so he pronounces some of the words with a kiwi accent."I 'sawr' a sleepy bear"...

Big brothers helping little brothers get dressed when they had a broken arm.

Date night at our favorite Thai container. It's freezing cold and the BYOB means we're sipping water out of a blue plastic water bottle with the top chewed half off. But man that pad thai hits just the right spot.

A sunny mid-winter day. It's colder than it looks, I watched them behind a double paned window with the fire blazing, but it kept them well entertained as they washed all their toys. We still can't get the water out of his dump truck wheels.

Maybe not a reason for rejoicing, but it sure makes me appreciate the huge garbage cans that got picked up each week back home. This thing is half the size and only gets picked up every other week. The cats always have a hay day with the garbage bags left on the ground that won't fit in.

Spending my days with this dude. He is one funny kid and as he gets older he is mellowing out. I think 3-4 year olds are my favorite age. Every morning he climbs into bed next to me and insists that I turn towards him so that he can see my face and then always requests to "ticko me". He's a sucker for back tickles. He is also super observant and gets weirded out if I've changed anything about my appearance. It took him a week to get used to a new purse so you can only imagine what the hair extensions did to him. He couldn't even look at me the entire first day. Every time we get in the car we have this on going dialogue about the spaceship he wants daddy to build him so that he can explore the moon. Sometimes I'm invited, sometimes it's a solo mission. He also has a problem with the 5 little monkeys swinging in the tree song. Crocodiles can't climb trees so the song makes absolute zero sense. He has since banned me from singing it.

If the sun is out and I'm feeling like a good mom we'll go to the skate park where he turns it into the world's best matchbox car racing track. And we'll bring all the bread crusts to feed the ducks. He likes to give them an entire slice and watch them fight over it.

Thankfully he is finally settling into kindy. Sometimes he still gets a little anxious when I leave, but the teachers are so good to help him. I love spying on him from the car when I come back because he is always outside and always so happy. It's usually a two sucker day, but if he cries when I leave then it's just one.

Raise your hand if this parachute brings back a flood of elementary school memories.

We had the most beautiful Saturday, it was freakishly warm. We're talking shorts and t-shirts and that usually doesn't even happen in the summer. We had the strong nor'wester so it was the perfect day for flying kites and playing football in the park.

Kylie has got quite the arm. If anyone tells Jayden he throws like his sister then that would be a compliment. Speaking of Kylie, after several months, a new itouch and a new phone, her stolen ones were turned in. Faith in humanity has been restored. Either that or they got tired of trying to figure out her password.

Maddox always likes to look fancy. Especially at church. He averages about a half a can of hairspray (I stocked up on more in the states, because the stuff here is aerosol lung cancer. I feel like I'm taking a day off my life each time a breathe it in), then licks his two fingers and tames any stray hairs on his forehead. He usually wears a bow tie and suspenders. The suspenders give him a major wedgie, but he doesn't mind. He always keeps a pen in his pocket, but he did get it confiscated for a few weeks for using it to draw his name on the primary chairs. This boy and his nerdy hipster antics are almost too much for me to handle. I mean, it's some serious "poke me with a fork I'm done" kind of cute. He also likes to make flags out of the sacrament bread.

His sweet primary teachers finished their mission and went back to Utah this week. He was in tears over it, and so was I. We have no idea who will fill their spot as teachers and as our primary pianist. Acapella is not one of our strengths. There was a farewell potluck dinner for their send off. It was not your typical ward potluck. No funeral potatoes were involved and traditional Samoan dancing was the entertainment. It was cool.

Jayden's basketball games have started and he has done awesome. Although I would expect nothing less from him. He earned player of the day at their first game. Jason hasn't missed watching a single game, even if he has to leave work in the middle of the day. I love that.

Sunday morning portraits. They made each other pose so that they could get their stick figures just right. Thankfully there were no nude portraits today. Mooning each other has become a favorite past time as of late.

And last but not least, I keep seeing glimpses of spring right around the corner. We have a single daffodil that we have watched bloom in our back yard. Ryder gets so excited to see its progress and exclaims every morning that the flower is "springing". We've almost made it through winter, we've just got to keep on springing.