Children's Prayers

We've been working with our kids, Westley especially (since he is older and talking better), at prayers. You know, teaching them how to open, what to say and how to close and letting them practice. At first, Westley would only pray for the food at mealtimes and for good sleep at bedtime. Lately, though, he has been praying for some interesting things.

Somewhere along the way he has learned that we wear clothes so we won't be naked. One of the things he is thankful for is that he is not naked. Another cute one is from a video we watch often on Sunday mornings. If you are LDS, you will know what this is about...the Book of Mormon animated story of the Tree of Life. Westley now prays that Heavenly Father will bless him to stay away from the Great and Spacious Building.

Other various things have included that bathtime will be fun, that his ducky will sleep good, and that Travis will keep smiling. Isn't it cute what kids sometimes say in their prayers?

Bonding Brothers

One afternoon, the boys decided to play dress up with the box of dress up clothes I have, courtesy of their grandparents. Both costumes were former Halloween costumes of my brothers, and I think both were also costumes of one of my brothers for some plays he was in in elementary school. When they were all dressed up, Westley said, "I'm a cowboy and Caleb is my owl." I didn't know that cowboys had owls!

The boys and I had fun building a house for the lego dinosaurs (seen above) out of the big block legos. I showed them how to start by putting together the bases of the walls and then building up from that. They built the roof and just kept adding blocks. It was a lot of fun. The shot below is a close-up of the house we built. They were very proud, since they did most of it, I only started it for them.
Westley and Caleb were watching a video--probably the "Chipmunk Adventure" video they got for Christmas from Aunt Leslie and Uncle Zach. It is their favorite movie. Westley asked if he could hold Travis, so this is a picture of all three of them. Westley loves to cuddle with Travis, give him kisses and play with him. The other night, Travis was laying on the floor, and Westley was laying next to him and he started sort of wrestling with Travis, pulling at his hands (making him giggle) and rolling him from his stomach to his back. Travis was enjoying it immensely, laughing the whole time.

Cousins Visit

The John Fowles family was able to visit Arizona before moving out of the country to London, England a week later. We were so happy that they were able to visit. They stayed in Mesa with Grandpa & Grandma, but we were able to spend time with them on Sunday and Monday, January 7th and 8th. On Monday, the 8th, we went to Makutu's Island in Chandler, a huge indoor play area with all sorts of forts and slides to climb on and slide down. Westley and Caleb both enjoyed that, and Travis dozed peacefully through most of it.

Later on Monday evening, they came over to eat dinner and have FHE with us. I was only able to get one snapshot of Marianne playing with our Leapfrog Fridge Phonics with the boys. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring the camera to Makutu's Island.

Eating Yucky Food

Tonight at dinner, Westley said, "This is really good food." We were eating my homemade macaroni and cheese, in which I put canned diced tomatoes to flavor it up. Westley HATES tomatoes. He likes the mac and cheese, but he hates tomatoes. I responded, "I'm glad you like it." At that exact moment, he had a tomato on his fork. He said, "No, this is yucky. But I have to eat it because I want to grow big and strong like Daddy." He then proceeded to clean his plate, eating everything INCLUDING the tomatoes. When he was finished, I said, "Good job eating all your food, Westley," and he said, "I had to eat the yucky food, Mom. Now I can be big and strong like Daddy."

The New Year

So far, this new year has been pretty busy. Both Corey and I had dental appointments last week. Westley is still involved in his gymnastics, which is once a week on Tuesdays. The weekend was crazy--attending a baby blessing for a friend's baby and then spending a lot of time in Mesa with my parents and my brother and his family before they (my brother and family, not my parents) move to England next week. We've hardly been home to have a regular routine day with naps.

Today, though, Caleb finally fell asleep after playing in his room for two hours. Now he's been asleep for about 2 hours, and we're wondering when he's going to wake up. Since his nap was so late, he'll probably be doubly grouchy when he wakes up. Then will come the problem of bedtime. Usually, we get the kids to bed by 6:30, but that will be too early for tonight, since he will have only woken up a few hours before.

Yesterday we went to a place called Makutu's Island in Chandler. It had all sorts of climbing equipment and slides for the kids to play on. We were there for several hours. Normally, in a place like this, Westley could be timid and afraid of trying new things. But he was courageous and even climbed through the netted tube from one tree house to the other. This tube was high in the air, suspended over the play area. At first he was a little scared and he told me, "It's too dangerous, Mom." But then he plunged on. I think his gymnastics has helped him be more willing to try new things.

All in all, it's been busy, but it's been fun. Hopefully, next time we do something fun, I will remember the digital camera and to take pictures.

Happy New Year!

We hope everyone is having a happy new year! Our resolutions as a family include the following:

1. To have regular scripture reading as a family
2. To have regular family prayer, morning and night
3. To have weekly Family Home Evenings
4. To better our financial situation
5. To get some exercise together and have some fun doing it
6. To eat better

We'll see what the course of the year 2007 brings our family and we hope for the best for all of you!

Fat Lip

Westley got a fat lip when he was playing outside on Saturday afternoon. I swear, my kids get more fat lips than any other injury! I took this photo at about 3 am on Sunday morning when Westley got up to go potty. The lighting was bad, hence the blurred image.

I'm not even sure half the time what exactly happens when my kids get their fat lips. They'll be playing outside, or in the toy room, or even just behind my back when they start screaming and I look and see blood pouring from their mouths. I'm always afraid they're going to knock out a tooth or two. Westley bit through the skin below his lip when he was about 19 months old, there is still a scar there (caused by his excessive drooling--the wound never had a chance to heal without scarring because his chin was always wet!). Now he bit through a different part of his lower lip, and on the inside (good thing you can't see it in the photo!) it's all pussy and disgusting. It must be pretty painful.

I'm sure it will heal just fine, but I sure feel sorry for the little guy. I would imagine it hurts to eat anything at all...