Sweet Hope House Moments!

Yes, we are still alive! Life has been so busy lately that blogging has taken the far, rear seat in life! We found out we are having a little boy! This did not come as a surprise but I will write a post about this story and post cute little ultra sound pictures later! For some bizarre reason scanning the pictures in has seemed overwhelming and so they sit waiting - I look at them several times a day, but no scanning yet :).
I just wanted to write down a few sweet moments before they escaped my often overloaded brain forever. I am ashamed of all the cute moments I have already forgotten and vow to capture more in writing!!
1) Andi has started "ballerina" lessons! She was so excited on her first day, I thought she would explode!! We were at Target buying a little dance leotard and she was telling anyone who would listen, "I'm a ballerina now." Several women were melted by her obvious excitement and cuteness! We had several errands to run that morning and I looked at the clock, realizing I had only fifteen minutes to get her to her lesson. In a moment of desperation, I ran through the drive thru at Wendy's; ordering a hamburger (ketchup only) and a small drink. I expected a child size drink but it was actually tall - an adult small. I handed her the cup and heard an audible gasp followed by, "They knew I was a big girl ballerina!" It was so funny, I just laughed and laughed. Yes, indeed little girl - they were aware you are now a big girl ballerina.
2) We decided to make the 3rd Monday of the month a "Family History" FHE. For the first one I read a passage out of my own journal from when I was 13 (thought Riley would get a kick out of her old ma being 13). Then I read some from my dad's life history (Thank-you Thank-you Thank-you Dad - best gift ever!!!). Then I talked to them a bit about Pres. Kimball's talk on keeping journals. We gave each kid a new journal of their own and helped the little ones make their first entry. The next morning Andi came running up to me (I believe I was cleaning a toilet) and says, "Mom, hurry, where's my journal? The Spirit just told me to write in it!" She has continued to write rather diligently for a 4 year old, 2 or 3 times a week. Her entries are so cute - Yesterday: "I love my mommy. I love my daddy." On Friday she wrote: "My mom is having a baby. I love babies." It warms my heart every time she wants to write. The other two are also writing - Riley doesn't share (for obvious 13 yr old reasons & Craig is much less enthusiastic but much easier to assist)!
3) Craig came home from school a few weeks ago. I asked him how his day was and he said, "Good and bad." "Oh buddy, why was it bad?" "Vanja said I picked my boogers, put it on my pie and ate it!!" This was said with tears starting to well in his brown eyes. Both of my girls have been known to engage in booger eating behaviors (Andi is still a regular partaker, much to my chagrin :) but Craig has never eaten any bodily substance that I am aware of. Even as a one year old; he would cry until I wiped the booger off of his finger, face, etc. You can imagine the absolute injustice of being accused of such a heinous crime!! I wanted to laugh but this was serious business. So, I resisted and let my sweet boy talk!
4) I picked Craig up from school a few days later and he says, "Mom, do you want to know why Thang is my emeny?" (note - spelling of enemy is not incorrect but creates the way Craig pronounces it and Thang has always been one of his good friends). He then related an experience - he was using the bathroom, sitting in a stall, and Thang and a couple of other boys banged the door until it opened and then laughed at him sitting on the toilet. "They ran away because I was going to beat them up." Craig considers using the restroom to be a completely private affair. It made potty training difficult because I insisted on helping, cheering, rewarding, etc. I did eventually figure out that Craig worked much better with complete privacy and preferred not to speak about the incident - potty training moved much more smoothly after this discovery. I know he was just incredibly embarrassed and I doubt the boys meant to be mean - probably just being little boys, thinking it was funny. Craig has since become friends with Thang again and all is forgiven. BOYS - they are so wonderful about just letting things go and moving on. He "beat Thang up" and now they are good. I asked for more clarification on "beating up" but I gather it is frequent occurrence among all the boys and the recess teachers don't seem to care, which made me feel much better!
5) This is the end, I promise (for today). My sweet Riley is the queen of finding out information for the first time. You all know what I mean - when they learn about gravity for the first time at school, kids are just certain this is information you have never heard before or smart enough to understand. I have been enduring this "discovery" of information since she hit about 3rd grade. "Yes Riley, I have heard of meteors. I happen to have a college degree you know." :) The other day she came into my room as I was getting ready for bed and said, "Mom, you have to hear these wonderful scriptures I found about the Savior." I have never been so happy to have her "discover" anything in my life! It is a wonderful thing to watch your child gaining a testimony!!!
I love my children and I don't want to forget this handful of moments in our life!!! Thank you guys for making my life rich, funny & memorable!!!