Made My Day- No, Made My Life!

This is a conversation Micah and I had tonight.

"Mom, I love someone."

"That's great, Micah. How do you know that you love someone?"

"I just know, because it's you!"

After giving him a gigantic hug, telling him that I love him too, kissing him and tucking him in, I left, only to break down crying. My tears were tears of joy, tears of appreciation, and tears of... that feeling that you only feel by being a mom.

I love you too, Micah.

Micah's Back-to-School Party

Micah had a "Back-to-School" party the day before school started. He invited all the kids his age, plus a couple of kids that were older and younger, that he has played with for years. We tried to set things up as if we were at a movie theater. I closed the blinds, turned off the light, and fixed a bunch of movie theater type food.

The whole gang.

With this many kids, you would think it would have been total chaos. It wasn't. The kids were soooooo good and took the movie theater concept very seriously. When Abby got a little too noisy, they promptly asked that she be removed from the party.

We had candy, Capri Sun, popcorn, and pizza. I cooked 5 pizzas and we did not have one scrap left. Five-year-olds can really put it away. :)

We watched "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs". It was so cute to see the kids following the storyline so well and laughing in all the right places. :)


I've thrown many parties for my kids and this was probably the funnest, easiest one so far. The kids were great and cute as can be. It was the perfect ending to a fantastic summer and the perfect beginning to a new chapter in most of these kids' lives.

Some "Firsts" for Abby

Abby has really missed having Micah at home during the day. She wanders around, checking his room, to see if he has magically returned since the last time she checked. To fill her time, I put her in a dance class and a Waterford computer class.

Here is Abby all dressed up and ready for her first day of dance class. She could not wait to get there. She was literally bouncing off the walls, she was so excited.

Abby picked this leotard all by herself. When she saw this one, she knew it was the one. She twirled around in it so many times, she actually fell down from being so dizzy.

Abby is very social. So, first thing she did when we got to class, was go introduce herself to a new friend. This little girl's leotard had a pretty, sparkly heart on the front of it. Abby admired it.

The teacher handed out a dance schedule. Abby is studying it hard. She doesn't want to miss a thing.

Here she is giving me that look, like, "Oh mom! Would you just leave already?"

And here is Abby just before we left for the computer class. I've been telling her that we are going to "her school". She was so excited and kept telling me that she is "big" now.

It's so true too. Abby is getting so big. She can do so many things and definitely has her own opinions. She is happy, loving, a social butterfly, and tons of fun to be around. She can he feisty and even naughty at times, but we love her so much and wouldn't change anything about her.

Scary Experience

Last night, we were in Saratoga Springs for my nephews 2nd birthday. While we were there, Micah learned to ride a bike w/o training wheels. He was so excited and took off riding it. As he rode down the sidewalk, the sidewalk became steeper and steeper, and he started to go faster and faster. I could see that he didn't know what to do to stop himself and that he was panicking. I didn't know what to do myself, so I started running down the sidewalk after him. All I could do was run and say a silent prayer, asking for that he wipe-out in the vacant field off to the left of the sidewalk, other than keep going and hit a mailbox or a car. As Micah was screaming, I was running behind him, as fast as I could go. Just then, his bike slipped out from under him and threw him into the vacant field. He landed right in a giant bush. When I got to him, he was screaming, mostly because he was scared. His right leg was twisted a bit, and Micah said that he thought his ankle was broken. So, I proceeded cautiously as I removed him from the bush. Quickly, I could see that his ankle was not broken. In fact, there was very minimal blood (mainly from scratches). The only real injury was that his little legs were covered in small, super fine, thorns. Once I removed them, they didn't even leave a mark.

After things had calmed down from the excitement of this situation, I sat on the grass and realized just how lucky we were. Micah could have easily been seriously hurt, but he wasn't. He was watched over last night by someone much more powerful than me. :)

More Pics from Micah's First Day

Here are some more pictures of Micah's first day of Kindergarten. I forgot my camera (who does that on the very first day), so I had to take my pictures with my phone. My friend, Melissa was kind enough to share her photos with me.

Miss Mook's class

Micah tends to put his fingers in his mouth when he gets nervous.

Micah, Levi, Caden. All three of these adorable boys are in Miss Mook's class. It's so fun to have your neighbors as classmates.


It makes me want to cry all over, to see him so nervous.

Micah's super cool backpack. He LOVES this thing.

Thanks, grandma!

When I picked Micah up from school, I got to talk to his teacher for a quick minute. I asked her how Micah had done and she said, "He was an angel."

Yeah, day #1 is down and it was a success.

Micah's 1st Day of Kindergarten

Micah started school today. He was so excited! He got right out of bed this morning, picked out his clothes, and was ready to leave before I was even dressed. He is ready to be a "big kid" and wanted to ride his scooter to school by himself. Unfortunately, mom has to tag along. :)

Here he is, all dressed up and ready to go.

I can not believe my baby is in school. He's ready. I'm not. :)

This is Miss Mook. Micah was so excited to be in her class. She has a strong science background and believes in incorporating that into the Kindergarten classroom. Micah wants to be a "Scientist" when he grows up, so I think she is the perfect teacher for him.

This is where Micah will be sitting.

His locker. He loves his new backpack. It's the silver, black, and lime green one. He thought it was cool that his locker is right next to his friend, Levi.

Micah's cubby.

Micah's classroom. Doesn't it look like a fun place to be?

The kids line up, outside their classroom in the morning. Here is Miss Mook putting Micah's name sticker on him.

All line up and ready to go.

I was so impressed with Miss Mook this morning. She handled the kids (and parents) so well. I'm not sure I would want a gazillion parents watching me on the first day of work. But, she was prepared, kind, and oh so patient.

Micah handled things really well until it was time to leave the classroom and go visit the lunchroom. For some reason, that made him nervous, and instead of getting in line, he ran over to me and clinged to my leg. He kept saying, "I want to go with you" over and over. It was breaking my heart to see him that nervous about something. I reassured him (several times) and finally got him back in the line. As they left the classroom, I took that as my cue to exit. So, as Micah faded into the hallway, I left.

Fortunately, I ran into one of my friends (who was dropping her son off in another classroom), so I walked home with her. It was a good thing, because I was choking back the tears the whole way. As soon as I left her house, the tears started coming. I keep thinking of Micah and hoping he is okay. I keep hoping he feels more comfortable and that he will open up so Miss Mook and all the other kids can see what a wonderful kid he is. I know he will, I just hope it happens soon.

I can't quite figure out why this is such an emotional experience for me. I guess it's just the realization that he's not my little guy any more. He's growing up and it has happened so fast. In five short years he has grown into such a sweet, kind, handsome, smart, active, curious boy. No longer is he the baby that needed to hold my hand each step of the way. This is a step he has to take on his own. I can't be there with him, but you can bet, I will be there waiting to hear all about it.

Can't wait....

Missing Jared

Last weekend was the one-year anniversary of Jared's death. We went to Rexburg to be with Heath's mom and Jared's girlfriend, Stephanie. Stephanie brought Jared's dog, Bubba with her. It was so fun to see him. We hadn't seen him since he was a brand new puppy, and now he is huge!

This is Jared's headstone. I took Micah and Abby there. Micah remembers Jared very well. He remembers spending time with him and he remembers how great Jared was with him.

Even though Jared isn't with us, we still think of him often and miss him so much. We love you, Jared!

Quick Funny

The past few days, Micah and Abby have been playing so well together. It's been super cute. Yesterday, they asked if they could jump on the trampoline with the sprinklers on underneath it. I told them to go put their swimsuits on while I set up the sprinklers. When they came outside, Micah had a lime green, silver, white and black swim shirt on, with red, blue, orange, and yellow Lightning McQueen swim trunks. It was quite the ensemble, so I told him to go change because he didn't match. I could tell this didn't sit well with him. He just kind of looked at me all disgusted like and said, "Only girls care if they match."

Enough said. :)

Happy Birthday, Valerie!

Today would be my sister's 34th birthday. I still miss her like crazy. Last night, I was thinking that if Valerie were here right now, I'm sure she would have a family of her own and our kids would play together. I'm sure Valerie would still be running- probably marathon's. I'm sure she would be a college graduate, but probably a stay-at-home mom. She would be a wonderful mother. I am sure of that. She would probably be involved in church leadership, community service, and just making a great life for her family. Plus, I know she and I would be having tons of fun. We had lots of plans for things that sisters do together. That's probably what I miss the most. When my friends tell me about the things they do with their sisters, I have to admit, that I do get a bit sad, and although I try to fight it, I get a bit jealous too.

I remember one time, it was actually my birthday, probably my 14th or 15th. Valerie gave me a travel size bottle of Jergen's lotion. I always thought that was sweet because she was only 10 at the time, and didn't have any money of her own. But, she found a way to get me something. That's how she was. She always looked for ways to make other people happy.

The week before Valerie died, she came to Provo and we spent the day together doing some Christmas shopping. We had so much fun! We laughed constantly and just really enjoyed the day. I remember when it was time for her to leave, I thought how great it was going to be when she started college the next year, and we were in the same place again. That was not to be, and to this day, I believe that Heavenly Father gave us that day so I would always have that memory. The memory of my little sister.

I still miss her so much. I wish she was here to get to know my kids. Abby's full name is "Abigail Valerie". She looks a lot like Valerie too. But, I know we will be with her again. That I know, just as sure as I know of my love for my own children. I guess for her birthday this year, I will remember what a blessing the Plan of Salvation is and how grateful I am to know that even though Valerie is not here with us, she is a huge part of our family, and always will be.

I love you, Valerie! Happy Birthday!

"I Want To"

Last night, we took the kids to Trafalga to do some miniature golfing. It was a lot of fun and the kids had a good time just doing their own thing. They didn't really like it when we tried to show them how to hold the golf club correctly or when we tried to keep score, so we basically just let them do it their way. After about the 10th hole though, Abby started to tire of golf. She was wandering and exploring things a bit too much, so I had to stop her and let her know that she could still do what she wanted, as long as it was within the boundaries of the hole we were on at the time. Abby agreed to those rules and then proceeded over to the lights that lined the hole. She kept pulling them down and then put her face up to them. Curious, I walked closer to see what exactly she was doing. When I got to where I could see her clearly, but without her knowing I was spying on her, I realized that she was using the light as a microphone and was singing into it. Her song went something like this, "I want to! I want to! I want to....."

No one has or ever will accuse Abby of not knowing what she wants. :)

4th of July & Poor Abby

We always go to my hometown, Annabella, Utah for the 4th of July. It's a small town with a big-time 4th of July celebration. This year though, it was proving to be difficult for everyone to get down there, so we decided to stay here and see what Provo has to offer.

We got up super early and headed over to my cousin's house to watch the parade. We have lived in Provo for almost 6 years, and I did not know that the 4th of July parade here is the largest in the nation. We had great seats, and the kids enjoyed it. I asked Micah which one he liked best and he said, "The one at MaMa and PaPA's house." When I asked him why, his reply did not surprise me, "Because they throw lots of candy there."

After the parade, we had breakfast with about 45 relatives on my dad's side of the family. Lynda made some of the best scrambled eggs I have ever tasted. Not sure what she did to them, other than tons of fresh herbs, but they were to-die-for. :)

After breakfast we took the kids to the park. They got super excited about the bounce houses. After watching Abby "almost" get trampled by bigger kids one too many times, we decided to end that part of our day early. So, we headed to McDonald's and ate lunch while Micah and Abby played on the Play Land.

To end the day, we headed to the Gateway to meet more cousins and play in the fountains. To say Micah loved it would be an understatement. He ran around, splashed, jumped, to his little hearts content. Abby was a bit more restrained in her enthusiasm. She held back and just ventured in when the fountains were low. It was tons of fun though and we all returned home exhausted.

This is the only picture I got of the entire day. I had my camera with me, but wasn't able to snap any shots.

Abby has been sick the last couple weeks. She's been coughing on and off, had a runny nose, and had a fever a few nights in a row. We actually thought she had a UTI, but the symptoms went away, so we thought she was fine. Last night, she woke up screaming in pain. This morning, she was still in pain so I took her to the doctor. Come to find out, she had a severe ear infection and her ear drum had ruptured. No sign of that, so I was pretty surprised. To make it worse, yesterday, she reached up and touched the hot stove with her bare hand and burned all of her little fingers. So, the poor girl has been laying on the couch, or my lap, all day long with a sore ear and fingers wrapped up in gauze.

There is nothing worse as a mom knowing that you missed the signs of an ear infection, which led to a rupture, and didn't protect your child from a hot stove. Mother of the Year award potential, I am not.

Abby's Swim Party

Micah has a friend over every single day. Most of the time, he is really good about letting Abby follow him and his friends around. I've been feeling extremely guilty though because Abby doesn't seem to have formed the same kinds of friendships that Micah had formed at this age. I think, in large part, it's just because we are so busy going from one thing to the next, and usually, Abby just gets taken along for the ride. So, I decided it was time for Abby to have her own party, with little girls her own age. We decided we would do a swim party. There are only three girls her age, so we made invitations and invited them to come over for a water party.

Let's just say, it was less than successful. :)

Here are Micah and Abby before the party started. High hopes.

Micah showing Abby how the Slip-n-Slide is done.

Abby, Micah, Riley

We had pb & j sandwiches, ham and cheese sandwiches, cheese sticks, watermelon, and baby carrots for lunch. Isabelle was the only one that ate. Abby threw a fit because all she wanted was dessert- popsicles. When I wouldn't give her a popsicle, she threw a fit, which pretty much lasted the duration of the party (which was only a little over an hour).

Riley didn't like the Slip-n-Slide. In fact, no one did.

This is probably the one time that Abby was happy.

Isabelle and her mom were troopers. They tried to make the best of it and have fun despite the fact that no one seemed to like the pool or the Slip-n-Slide.

I had put together little goody bags with funky sunglasses and bubbles, that were meant to be given out at the end of the party, but in a desperate attempt to save the party from complete and utter failure, I pulled them out a bit early. It worked! For about 15 minutes, the kids played, somewhat interacted, and Abby stopped her fit. That only lasted until I told Abby she could not have another bottle of bubbles (she had already just dumped out three entire bottles), and she resumed the crying, fit throwing, no-matter-what-you-do-you-can't-make-me-happy behavior. Let's just say, the party ended pretty quickly thereafter. :)

I guess you win some and you lose some. Will it stop me from having more parties? Absolutely not! We love friends and we love having fun, so we will keep on keeping on.

Abby's Stolen Bike

My brother captured this cute little video the other night when he and his friend were watching Abby. That's my little girl!

Our Little Munchkin

Abby is known as "Munchkin" at our house. Not quite sure why, but the nickname has stuck. She is sweet, oh so feisty, dramatic, loving, full of energy, silly, smart as a whip, and an angel in our lives. Here are some pics of the things Abby does, on a daily basis, that bless our lives.

Abby loves to eat. Anything. Especially sweets. Here she is with chocolate cupcake all over herself. Let's just say she really knows how to enjoy her food.

Abby loves to play outside. If it's the slightest bit windy though, she insists on wearing a winter hat. Once she has it on, she runs back outside. I've tried to convince her that she doesn't need it, but changing her mind, is like changing the weather. :)

Abby fell asleep eating lunch the other day. So cute!

Abby is very sweet and is always bringing me flowers. I apologize to any neighbors that may have pink flowers in their yards, as I am having a hard time keeping her away from them. I tell her that she can pick all the yellow ones (Dandelions) she wants, but she has to leave the pink ones alone.

Best Day Ever

On Tuesday, Micah spent most of the day at his friend, Noah's house. Noah's extremely nice mother took them to Mickey Dee's and the park. When Micah got home later that day, I asked him how his day was. His reply? "It was the best day ever!"

Yesterday, Micah had his friend Brock over. Brock is a friend Micah met in preschool and this was the first time they had gotten to have a play day together. After several hours of playing Wii and jumping on the trampoline, it was time for Brock to go home. Micah was sad about Brock leaving and I said, "Did you just have so much fun?" Micah replied, "It was the best day ever!" Jokingly, I said, "I thought you had the best day ever the other day." Micah's response? "Oh yeah, today was the other best day ever!"

Preschool

Micah's last day of preschool was last Wednesday. It was a sad day for him. He has LOVED every minute of his school. He is sad that he won't get to ride the bus anymore. He is sad that he won't get to see his friends anymore. And most of all, he is sad that he won't get to see Mrs. Jo anymore.

Micah & Mrs. Jo. He adores her. I promised him we will visit her this summer.

/ Nichelle. She is one of the helpers in Micah's class. She was so cute about helping Micah find bugs out on the playground.

Ms. Marie. She was just like a grandma to Micah. She was the one Micah would go to when he needed TLC.

Sheila. She was Micah's SLP. She was incredible and made so much progress with Micah. We're lucky because this summer, she will be working with Abby. Micah can't wait to see her again soon.

For their "End of Year" program/party, each child got to show a page from the scrapbook they had worked on all year. Micah chose to show the "P" page. Getting up in front of everyone is incredibly hard for Micah, but he did it! I was so proud of him. I could see his little lips quivering and he covered his little eyes, but he did it! Way to go, Micah!

They played tambourines as they sang one of their favorite songs. Micah was not thrilled at all the eyes there. I tried to tell him that the other parents were only watching their children, and not him, but he didn't buy it.

Micah, Brock, Colton. Their friendship earned them the nickname, "The Three Amigos".

Micah had such a great experience at his preschool. We will never forget his teachers and the positive influence they had on Micah. He loves school and can not wait to start Kindergarten.

I, on the other hand, am so not ready for Micah to be old enough to go to Kindergarten. He is still my little boy. He still likes to snuggle up close when he is tired or sad. He still gives me the best hugs and kisses. He still tells me that he knows I love him because "I made you a mom".

I know, I know, he's not graduating, he's just going to Kindergarten. But, it's a big step for both Micah and me.

How Does Micah Feel about T-Ball?

This picture says it all....

He could care less. :)

Playing catcher. Um Micah, I think you should be facing the other direction. :)

Playing first base (or stomping out the dirt clods).

Casually running the bases. Did I mention that Micah has been passed up by the runner behind him, twice? He really is in no hurry to get around the bases. :)

Scoring! Love that helmet!

Almost! How could he possibly hit the ball, when he can't even see it?

Coach Cody has some amazing patience.

Some of Micah's fellow teammates. Having good friends on his team makes it all worth while for him.

A parting shot. Micah playing first base. :)

Tomorrow is game #4.
Micah can't wait...

because it's his turn to bring treats. :)

I love my litte guy!