This morning, James made treasure maps for both Gracie and Ryan.  He saved his post-soccer game treat for them to use as the treasure at the end of the map.  I love it when they play together like this.

The other week I was tucking James in and he told me he was embarrassed to tell me something but he was going to tell me anyway.  After mustering up the courage he told me that he likes it when I sing and thinks my voice is pretty.   Last week, James’ teacher sent home a test he had taken in school.  He was instructed to write one perfect complete sentence with correct capitalization and punctuation, drawing a line between the subject and predicate with added details.  He wrote:  The nice looking teacher (Mrs. Keb) taught the class about the landforms amazingly in the class before lunchtime.  She gave him 100%, a smiley face and wrote “charmer” on the test.  If he keeps this up, he’ll make a girl really happy someday.

I co-teach Jonathan’s class at church now and get to observe him in a different environment from home. When learning about Samuel the prophet I was thinking along the lines of what he was telling the people while Jonathan calculated how many years ago it occurred.  It’s just a different way of thinking about things but it’s probably good to have a different perspective.  He told me that this year he isn’t going to do Reading Counts to give other kids a chance.  It’s nice to see him maturing and starting to think about other people.  The hard part of him growing up is he doesn’t want me to hug him or cuddle with him saying he is getting too old for that.  He’s happy to wrestle with me though.  I should get that kid in wrestling because he enjoys it so much.

Ryan had a play date with his friend who has a baby sister.  He said he really liked the baby but she cried unless he clicked his tongue.  Then she stopped crying.  Grandpa and Grandma stopped by a few weeks ago and he asked Grandma, “Can you run?”  She replied, “No”.  He continued, “Can you jump?”  She replied, “No”.  He said, “Well, I can run and jump.”  I’m glad he figures these things out.  He’s very attached to his siblings and misses them a lot when they’re gone.  We made a cake the other day and he insisted that we stop eating so they could have some after school.  He thought we were just going to sit there together and eat the entire cake.  

Last week I was tucking Gracie into bed and she said obviously concerned, “I just can’t stop thinking about something”.  I asked what and she replied, “I can’t tell you”.  I said I couldn’t help her if I didn’t know what was wrong.  She replied, “OK, you can guess.  The first letters of the words start with I, S, M, T.”  I guessed until I finally figured it out.  “I suck my thumb”.  I had forgotten she sucked her thumb before bed since I haven’t seen her do it for a while and it hasn’t ruined her teeth.  I told her not to worry about it but she obviously was quite concerned.  She regularly gives me little love notes and likes to organize her clothes and “tidy up” her room.  I’m not sure if all little girls are like this but it’s kind of nice.

A few weeks ago Gracie told me she had something to tell me but the boys probably wouldn’t want her to.  I told her she could tell me anyway.  She said, “The other night, the boys were jumping around their rooms from bed to bed in their underwear pretending to be Tarzan.”  I can just imagine her shock.  They recently watched Jungle Book.  Maybe the freedom of swinging from vines uninhibited by clothes was just too tempting to resist. 

Around here, we don't say "sit down" or "go to bed".  We use more specific terms since these phrases are often liberally interpreted.  "Bums on seats" and "heads on pillows" is usually more effective.  A couple of nights ago the kids had the choice of helping with the dishes or putting their heads on their pillows for bed.  They came downstairs with pillows on their heads.  

Jonathan, James and Michael were talking yesterday.  James was asking if a story he heard from a teacher at church about a kid being so full of skittles and Gatorade that he couldn't run down the basketball court was really true or not.  Michael responded, "Usually, what teachers say is true, James."  Jonathan replied, "You weren't raised in the 21st century, Dad."

Baptism pictures from last month of this little man-in-the-making.

I needed a good workout the other day so I figured I'd run around the cul-de-sac chanting encouragements.  Here's the proud little two-wheel bike rider himself.  He paid more attention to ringing the bike bell than learning to ride but eventually figured both out.  

These kiddos are growing up way too fast.   Summer was great.  Mike ended up being gone half the summer with traveling but it's more doable now that the kids are older.  I wish I felt up to homeschooling.  I hate sending them off to school each morning and wonder if their teachers get a glimpse of the powerful sweet spirits they have.  I'm not used to the new schedule yet. Today I was running on the treadmill at the gym when Mike called at 1:00 from Sacramento and I realized it was early-out day.  I grabbed my gym bag and got home in time to greet the little munchkins.  They love to knock when they get home even though they know the code just so I can answer it and they can throw their backpacks and bodies on the ground with exhausted grunting and other random noises.  They can be quite dramatic like their mom. 

I want to protect the kids’ privacy yet still document all the cute things I don’t want to forget, so if I ever sound like I’m just blatantly bragging, just know there are challenges too. 

Jonathan continues to excel with academics.  He got a perfect score on state math testing again.  His Lexile reading test scores are at college level and James claims he’s famous throughout all Reading Counts schools in the district for being the “King of Reading Counts”.   I signed him up for AYSO soccer not realizing that this age is the beginning of co-ed AYSO soccer in this area.  So, he was reluctant to play with girls but there are enough boys that I think he’ll give it a try.  He and James are still swimming laps at THVS on evenings they don’t have other things going on.  I think they’d be happy to take a nice long break but I just love having them swim.  I have been on hold for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child for a few weeks and Jonathan has anxiously been checking my library account.  It came in today!  The other day Ryan told me I better start exercising and eating a lot more so I can stay stronger than Jonathan.  He has a good point.

James was baptized the first Saturday of August.  I hope James will remember it as an important starting path to covenant keeping.  Extended family came from near and far to show support.  His top front teeth are loose and he is worried they may fall out during soccer practice and make his mouth bloody.  He is learning an Ewok Celebration song for his first piano recital in November.  He chose the Ewok song because he knows I like Ewoks and figures that means girls like Ewoks.  When I tell the kids stories sometimes I use Star Wars characters and ideas and they like to tease me about it.  Jonathan says, “Life is more than big fuzzy teddy bears, Mom.”  I was able to get Jonathan and James’ soccer coaches to coordinate fields and times.  This comes in handy when Mike is out of town and Gracie and I chase Ryan as he kicks soccer balls at furious speeds around the surrounding fields while Jonathan and James practice.  James is excited to be starting Scouts but was slightly disappointed they didn’t give him a welcome party.  He loves being tucked in just right with songs and cuddles and can be as sweet as they come.  He has Jonathan’s 3^rd grade teacher, Mrs. Keb.  This is great since we already know each other.  After swim a couple weeks ago James said his coach told him he is getting better everyday.  I said, “oh really?” and he replied this is true because he “turns on his nitro speed boosters”.  Nitro type is a fun typing game he likes to play.  I’m glad it transfers over to swimming so well.

Gracie is quite a love bug and I sure miss my girl while she is in full-day first grade.  She also seems to have a wonderful teacher, Mrs. Kim.   Mike and I tell the boys they are responsible for keeping Gracie safe to and from school and they know we mean it.  So far, they’ve been good about taking care of their little sister.  Hopefully, they will always look out for her.  She loves spinach ravioli so I get that from Costco just for her.  She loves princess stories and finally lets me braid her hair.  She brushes mine and loves to scratch backs and heads.  She loves to play “puppy dog” with Ryan and tells him what to do.

Ryan is full of energy, love and smiles.  He named his sheet blanket, “Sheet Blanket Comfy Grey”.  It has large holes, medium holes and small holes in it and he likes to point out the size of the various holes.  He is in preschool with “Miss Delene” again and enjoys his friends there.  We do reading lessons everyday and he’s doing well.  This is the first time I’ve done them without a baby or two around so it feel strange.  He has Paw Patrol underwear that he wears with pride and wants to have Paw Patrol keys when he is an adult.  He pushed me off the bed the other day while I was getting him to nap.  He still needs one every few days because he wakes up early and goes non-stop.  I got up smiling since we were just joking around and he was crying heavily into his pillow.  I asked what was wrong and he replied that he couldn’t tell me because it was “really, really bad.”  I said it was ok and that he could tell me.  He said, “Ok, I’ll tell you Mom.  I pushed you off the bed on purpose” and returned to crying large tears.  It’s hard to be mad at such a remorseful little fellow. 

Yesterday, while driving to San Diego in the as a family, Ryan starting singing a song he made up which repeated “obedience” over and over.  Then he asked what the word “obedience” means.  I asked him what he thinks it is and he said, “sitting still at church.”  I said, “That sounds about right”.  I figure we’ll just start there. 

A couple weeks ago Jonathan was trying to get Ryan to be good in FHE.  Ryan said, “I will be good if you let me tickle your belly button.”

A few weeks ago I took the kids to the dentist.  They may have inherited a number of bad things from Michael and me but cavity-prone teeth aren’t one of them.  It’s nice to go to the dentist because they always complement me on what a good mom I must be because my kids don’t have cavities.  When the dentist was getting ready to look at Ryan’s teeth, Ryan tried to get me in trouble saying, “My mom always reminds me to go potty before I go to bed but she doesn’t remind me to brush my teeth”.  What could I say?  Not going potty before bed can result in early rising and the wiggle bug crawling/jumping all over me.  It’s all about priorities. 

The boys have been swimming most evenings this summer.  The coaches told them they needed to get them speedo–type-racing suits.  Supposedly these make them swim faster.  So they got new suits and joke about how it’s like swimming in their underwear.  One evening a few weeks ago, I was driving the boys to swimming and Jonathan was complaining about having to swim all summer and take piano.  James joined in just because Jonathan was doing it.  I think when school ended he must have pictured himself just playing on the computer everyday, all day for the entire summer.  The funny thing about it is that both he and James actually enjoy piano and swimming so I don’t get why they complain about it.  They claimed that I should see how dirty the pool floor is, there are beetles in the pool (I’ve never seen any) and Jonathan gets itchy from the chlorine.  To make the argument even better, James ends up swallowing water while he is swimming laps so technically I am making him eat beetles.  Anyway, he went on about how I was ruining his life.  I replied, “Jonathan, I only have eight more years to ruin your life.”  As my dad would say, “With a mom like that you don’t need enemies.”  I was corrected at church the next week when the first counselor in the ward gave a lesson on how our calling as parents never ends…

We’ve been getting ants in the house the past month.  It’s been cute to watch my little ant patrol of Gracie and Ryan finding them wherever they are throughout the house and putting baby powder or soapy water on them.  Finally I’ve resorted to putting this white ant remover powder around the outside of the house.  We had the Elders and Sisters over to dinner a couple weeks ago (Don’t ask me why our ward has us feed the Elders and Sisters together every evening because I don’t know) and one of the Elders joked about how I was trying to ward off evil spirits with white powder around the house. 

Gracie’s been in and out of eye doctor’s offices over the past few months.  We’ve come up with a game to fill the wait times where I tell a little story and she stands in a square and jumps to a new one every time I say the words “hop” or “bunny”.  She’s usually such a sweetheart.  I’m sad she’ll be going to full-day school this year and hope I still get enough cuddle-time with her.  If she ever is grumpy, I ask her, “Who are you and where’s my sweet Gracie?”  She likes that one. 

A couple weeks ago I was tucking Jonathan in and asked him about a boy that had been playing in the neighborhood.  He described him, “You know, he takes the Lord’s name in vain a lot and is a lot more cool than our family.”  I felt bad that I wasn’t helping Jonathan feel like he fits in and said, “So he’s more cool than us?”  He corrected me, “Mom, I didn’t say cool.  I said crude.   No ones as cool as us.”

Jonathan got an award at school for academic excellence through the 2015-2016 school year.  Hopefully documenting this on the family blog will make up for me missing his award ceremony.

We got a letter in the mail saying James scored in the 99^th percentile on a test and is classified as “potentially gifted”.  Sometimes I forget he is smart so I appreciate the school’s reminders.  He was voted as the best mathematician in his class for the year.  He got new glasses so he can see the board better just in time for school to end.  He, like his brother before him, was designated to be a weed in the 2^nd grade school play.  My boys make excellent weeds if I say so myself. 

Gracie has a large zip lock bag under her bed filled with fiber lemon treats and M&Ms that she’s been saving to give to her teacher.  I hope her teacher likes all that fiber to help with her digestion.  She loves all things girly and spends a lot of time writing sweet love notes and cutting out hearts.  She and Ryan love to play baby and pretend they are “twinners”.

When one of Ryan's brothers walks down the hall opposite to him, I've noticed he holds his arms up to defend himself.  This is probably a bad sign about the state of my parenting.

The primary music leader told me how I'm the best mom ever because the leaders asked who restored the priesthood and Ryan answered correctly Peter, James and John.  I had recently taught an FHE on the restoration of the priesthood and thought almost tearfully, "Wow, they are actually getting something."  I mentioned it to the kids and Gracie and James said he always gets the right answers and had actually said, "Peter, James and Jonathan".  Ryan said, "That girl that sits by me whispers the right answers."  Thank you Sunbeam teacher. 

Ryan has been promising for months that once he's four, he'll sit still in church.  He's four now.

I plan to homeschool the kids in the morning this summer.  I try this most summers and haven't yet been successful.  Jonathan and James have high hopes of me failing early-on so they can enjoy the break.

I sang in the ward choir a few weeks ago.  I asked Jonathan if I sounded like a goon ball.  He replied, "No more than anyone else up there".  

Gracie asked what crocodiles eat and Mike responded that they sometimes eat people.  Jonathan clarified that they find picky little girls quite tasty. 

A while back Jonathan asked Michael.  “Dad, I have a question.  What’s the difference between stocks and gambling?”  He is obviously wise beyond his years.

Gracie is a hard little worker.  She can scrub baseboards or pick weeds for long amounts of time.  It’s especially cute because she sings little songs while she works.  I thought only Snow White did that but I guess it’s just a girly thing.  She also loves to make mud pies (globs of dirt in the back yard) and describes them as “nice”.  She and Ryan are especially good at cutting out hearts and leaving pictures under pillows as surprises.

I finally was able to watch The Force Awakens via Vidangel this weekend and loved it.  I’ve been wanting to go since it came out and wasn’t disappointed in the least.  The kiddos loved watching it as well and now we have a beautiful picture of our Jedi Family on the refrigerator thanks to James.   The boys have also been having light saber battles which have been keeping me on my toes all weekend.

I was cleaning a stain on a tablecloth and quoted Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth, “Out darned spot, out” to see if Michael recognized it.  He got it but Jonathan realized we are odd balls as we debated whether or not high school students read tragedies anymore.