A couple of times this week Gracie and James have climbed into our bed, James where Mike sleeps and Gracie where I sleep. They get a kick out of it and hide under the covers and pull down the blanket, with Gracie repeating, “wherehe go? Derheis!” It makes our day.

Jonathan finished school this week! Unfortunately he has been really sick with a fever and sore throat and it looks as if he has lost a little weight. He also has napped on his own accord the last two days which isn’t like him. He’s been speaking in a high-pitched voice and refusing desserts so we figure he must be really sick.

I have a couple of educational workbooks I have Jonathan work on. He was complaining that I am making him do this even though it isn’t the school making him do these books.

Him: “Mom, It’s for kids in second grade so I can’t do it!”
Me: “You know you can do it Jonathan.”
Him: “I’m already the smartest kid in my class. Well, uh, (kind of embarrassed look on his face). I didn’t say I was the smartest kid in the school.

The funny thing is that after he gets going in the workbooks he seems to really enjoy it. It is enjoyable to see him grasp some new concepts. I had some successes here and there as a missionary teaching people but teaching Jonathan to read was what I think was my first real success teaching a subject where I could see the results. It’s given me confidence to try new subjects with him, I just need to get up the courage to make and plan and follow through which is my current struggle.

When Ryan cries, Gracie covers her ears. She doesn’t like me feeding him and puts her head on top of his to get her face up close. I gave her a little bottle with water in it for her to feed her baby doll but she ended up drinking out of it instead. I’m quite sure that if I let her have access to a bottle she’d take it in a heartbeat.

Gracie continues to give the boys kisses before bed. Tonight James wouldn’t let her kiss him (something he learned from Jonathan) so she climbed up on his top bunk and got under his covers pretending to snore instead. She and James enjoyed dancing with me to The Beach Boys, Do You Want to Dance music. James insisted that I replace the word “baby” with “big kid” for him. It was cute. At the part of the song where the music goes higher, I moved their hands up higher and higher and wiggle around having what appears to be the time of their lives.

Today the boys learned about the pioneers in church. I asked James if he is kind of like a pioneer and he said no because they could walk, “14 miles per hour.” I’m guessing they taught him that they walked 1,400 miles. Of course, hoping that this would be a good time to teach the kids I talked about how our trials are different from theirs but we also need to have faith. Jonathan referred to the primary song, To Be a Pioneer. I love that he and James are learning and remembering things from church. Thank goodness for good primary teachers.

Jonathan got me a cup of cold water and poured it for me at dinner. Michael and I gave him lavish praise hoping to encourage this gentlemanly behavior. Of course, as soon as James saw what was going on, he ran over the counter and got Gracie her Sippy cup of milk. We couldn’t give enough praise to our two helpers. There’s got to be some way to get them to be this helpful all the time.

James is quite the speedster on his little bikes. One has training wheels and the other is a big plastic one with three wheels. He goes as fast as he can and loves the chance to show off.

Sunday July 15, 2012

Gracie loves to climb onto the boys' beds to give them kisses and pretend to sleep on their beds. She loves to tackle her brothers and to "hold" baby Ryan. She tells him, "quiet" when he cries. She loves to climb on things at the playground but isn't able to keep up with James. She will sometimes just be hanging on a bar at the playground until I can get over in time to help her down. Gracie is our first child that appears to be able to carry a tune. Tonight she sang the word "Mommy" over and over to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star perfectly.

Ryan smiles and coos. It appears that I'm his favorite person in the world, at least for now. I can already tell he will be tall and have pretty eyes. He is starting to lose some of his hair. Today and another Sunday, our bishop's wife, Sister Stearns, held him for the second half of Sacrament meeting so I could hold Gracie. She offered to hold him every Sunday for us. I hope I am a nice lady like that when I'm out of the baby stage. Gracie is quite posessive of her spot on my lap at church. This is good in that she doesn't want to give it up to anyone so she just sits there for the entire meeting.

I taught the 12- and 13 year-olds at church for a lady I Visit Teach. It was fun. I enjoy teaching Relief Society but this felt a little less offical. The lesson was on Dealing with Anger. I thought it was good for me. It reminded me of an experience that happened a few weeks ago. I ran into Wal-Mart with the four kids to get a few items we needed. James wanted an ice-cream as we were leaving and I told him, "no". So, he ran away in Wal-Mart. I left Jonathan with the baby (in his carseat) and the shopping cart at the checkout and went back in the store holding Gracie and calling out for James. Of course I was scared that he'd be kidnapped and I was worried sick. It ended up he was hiding behind an aisle. I don't think I had ever been so angry at him. I suppose that is how Heavenly Father is with us. We put ourselves in dangerous situations (i.e. jeopardize our salvation) when we sin.

Mike is busy as Ward Clerk, with work and school. Mike took James with him to do ward clerk stuff after church for an hour because James is right at the age where he fights with both Jonathan and Gracie. However, Gracie and Joanthan are too far apart in age to fight and Ryan is too little. So, it was actually relatively easy to watch the other 3.

Mike's mom and Duane were gone but Michael still used their house to do schoolwork all day yesterday. He took Jonathan so there would be one less kid for me to watch. Jonathan just read books for at least 3 hours until Grandpa got home and he could be his little sidekick running errands for the evening.

Jonathan finally was able to keep a beat with the metronome today. Both Michael and I were very proud when he caught on after several attempts.