Christmas time

This is such a fun time of year with the boys!  They are very excited about Christmas!  They love to sing Christmas songs that they learn at school and church.  They love to talk about the toys that Santa is going to give them.  I am hoping to take them on the Bethlehem walk at their school, so that they can understand the real meaning of Christmas.  The real meaning gets so lost with all the shopping and commercial side of Christmas.  I am also looking forward to the boys delivering some Christmas cheer to the neighbors, so that they can catch the spirit of giving.  I am hoping this will be a tradition that they will look forward to each year. 

Today, the boys stayed home from school (Mother's Day Out), because they were getting over colds.  The doc. said that they could go, but we decided to stay home instead.  Assuming we weren't contagious, we went to the mall and had pictures with Santa.  Santa Clause told me that when he saw me coming with the boys, he thought, "Oh no, triple trouble!" He made a point to come over and tell me that they were some of the most behaved and best kids that he had ever had sit with him.  I told Santa Clause that I really needed that!  Let's just say, I am glad to know that they indeed are well behaved many times.  After all, they are four, so it's not always easy to behave.  Anyway, they told Santa that they wanted Buzz Light Year and Power Rangers.  They were so cute!  Then, we went to the Disney Store to hold the Buzz Light Year toy.  They are so good about giving the toy back.  I don't know if I could be that good about letting go of a toy I talked about non-stop!  I look forward to Santa bringing them that toy this year...if they are good. wink

I also look forward to letting them put ornaments on the tree tonight.  They already put ornaments on their own tree upstairs by their room.  They had so much fun!  I look forward to taking them around town to look at Christmas lights. Hopefully, we'll have a warm day--so that we can take the top of the black Jeep.  Also, I am looking forward to decorating Christmas cookies here and at Aunt Ruth's house.  I guess I love all the traditional Christmas things.  If I could get my family to Christmas carol, I would.  Maybe one year, I convince them. ha!  That'a my favorite thing to do!!!  I mean, seriously, does it get any better than Christmas caroling.  It makes me so happy.  I could do without the shopping part, but Christmas is a such a happy time of year.  

Also,  I can't wait to see my mom for Christmas!  It's not Christmas, unless she is here to see the boys excitement!  I know my Dad would have enjoyed seeing that, too.  He would have helped them put an airplane together, or a train set, or who knows what else!

Lastly, I am so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life.  This is definitely the time of the year to reflect on the Savior.  There are many times in my life that I rely so heavily on my Heavenly Father and the Savior.  I am so grateful for the example that was set by the Savior.  I made a little subway art as a reminder.

Daily I strive to have these attributes, and it seems impossible to do some days.  I have learned to lean on my Father in Heaven, especially as I raise my most precious angels.  I also made another subway art to inspire me as I am with my boys each day.  It was a collaboration of different phrases of multiples moms.  

I guess I like to use words to inspire me.  Sometimes, I just need to look up and see the words as a reminder of my goals.  I pray that I can continue to strive to have the attributes of Christ.  

John and I are performing the song Pie Jesu this weekend, and I love the lyrics.  Even more, I love the feelings the music evokes.  

"Pie Jesu" Latin Lyrics
Pie Jesu, pie Jesu, pie Jesu, pie Jesu
Qui tollis peccata mundi
Dona eis requiem, dona eis requiem
Pie Jesu, pie Jesu, pie Jesu, pie Jesu
Qui tollis peccata mundi
Dona eis requiem, dona eis requiem
Agnus Dei, Agnus Dei, Agnus Dei, Agnus Dei
Qui tollis peccata mundi
Dona eis requiem, dona eis requiem
Sempiternam
Sempiternam
Requiem

"Pie Jesu" English Lyrics
Merciful Jesus, merciful Jesus, merciful Jesus, merciful Jesus
Father, who takes away the sins of the world
Grant them rest, grant them rest
Merciful Jesus, merciful Jesus, merciful Jesus, merciful Jesus
Father, who takes away the sins of the world
Grant them rest, grant them rest
Lamb of God, Lamb of God, Lamb of God, Lamb of God
Father, who takes away the sins of the world
Grant them rest, grant them rest
everlasting
everlasting
Rest

favorite traditions

I love a tradition that started a few months ago. The boys come down from their room and crawl into our bed. Will is to the left of me and Andrew is to the right. Sam is to the right of John. They are always in the same positions, even if John has already gone to work. I treasure that time with them!!! Sam likes to hand me the remote to watch tv, and will likes to hand me my phone. I hope this tradition lasts a while longer. :)

Been a While

As usual, I am bummed that I go for long periods without writing. The boys are doing cuter things by the dozen these days. It's just so wonderful to watch them growing and learning and making strides. I love all the new words and the funny things that each of hem does. Will loves, I mean LOVES underwear. First thing in the morning he wants to pick out his underwear...usually Avengers! They all love superheroes right now. They have a lot of loves at the moment--Krypto, the Superdog, Paw Patrol, "pow pows," which are their nerf guns, and wearing fun costumes--porates, ninjas, superheroes, army men, etc. They love going to the park, riding their bikes wih Dada around the neigborhood, riding in "Black Jeep." They love yogurt, chicken and fries, peanut butter sandwiches, all things sweet!! I love seeing them happy and having fun!!
They love having their "Leen" in town, and so do I! They always want to go to "Leen's" house! Maybe she will live here one day!!
I look forward to Christmas with the boys this year! They are precious!

It's Time to Print

My mom is visiting, and she was just saying that I should print out my blog.  I told her that I still had so many to go back and add pictures and more information.  I don't think that is going to happen at the moment.  I guess that's the way life goes.  She reminded me of how I printed out my annual photo books, so hopefully that will help fill in the blanks of unfinished blogs.  To close this book, I just want to say that I love my family more than anything.  I am so grateful for the boys and their special spirits.  Each of them has their own wonderful and unique spirit and personality.  I don't know what I would do without them in my life.  I am also so grateful for John and all of his help in raising the boys.  I look forward to that moment when he walks through the door, because I know what a tremendous help he is to me.  That, truly, is a blessing.  He is the best "dada" there is!  The boys are so lucky to have him as a dad.  Speaking of dads, I love and miss mine so much, and I am so grateful for John's dad.  Sam has been an enormous blessing to us.  The boys love their "G-Daddy!!  They are praying for him each day, since he recently took a fall.  They miss him, and they cannot wait to give him a hug again, soon.  I am also so grateful for the wonderful Grandmothers in Sam, Will, and Andrew's life.  They love their Grammy and "Leen," so much!  Leen is here right now, and I don't know what I will do when she leaves.  She helps me tremendously.  She does so much more than she should, and I cannot thank her enough! Thank you, dear family, for making my life so wonderful!

Ole Miss!

John and I had a great time at the Ole Miss/UT game!  Ole Miss won 44-23!  It was so much fun to witness an Ole miss win!  John and I drove to Austin Saturday afternoon, had lunch at a random Thai place, then headed to campus.  We walked around campus and had a good time people and sight seeing.  Then, we made our way to the stadium.  We had great seats, so we enjoyed being able to see everything easily.  There were a lot of Ole Miss fans, so that made it a lot of fun, too!  Of course, it's always even more fun when your team wins.  For John, it was bittersweet!  He was wearing his red and blue colors for Ole Miss, but he's also a Longhorn fan.  I appreciated the fact that he opted to cheer for the Rebels.  After all, it was the 20th year anniversary of our meeting in Oxford, MS.
The next day, we walked around downtown.  Then, we had brunch at a place called Olivia.  We didn't like it as much as Pearla, our last brunch spot in Austin.  It was nice to try something new.  We look forward to another Austin trip, before too long.  We were really grateful that my  mom generously watched the boys for us.  Many thanks to her!

Happy 4th Birthday, Sam, Will, and Andrew!!

My sweethearts are four years old!  I can't believe it!  We had a fun celebration on Saturday.  They wanted to have a superhero party, so they dressed up like superheroes.  Will was Flash, Andrew was Iron Man, and Sam was Captain America.  We had Super-dogs (hot dogs), chips, cupcakes, and more!  The boys enjoyed spending time with their family and a couple of neighbors.  They loved all their new toys.  Mama liked all the toys, except for the one that got stuck in her hair.  Too bad I didn't take a picture of that one.  Not sure who came from behind with the spinning propeller, but it created quite the hairstyle for me.  My mom was able to work on the knot for a while, and we were able to salvage all but a couple hundred strands of hair.  ha!  I surely do love my precious super heroes!  They'll always be my little ones!

four years old

one year old

Treat after Camp

Monster water and rice krispy treat snack for after camp.

Precious Sam!

Sam was the spotlight in Primary not too long ago.  Sam, you have the most beautiful smile!
Sister Clements, their teacher, wrote...Sam was so cute today when they shined the spotlight on him in Primary. He was beaming as they read off all of his favorite things. I thought you'd enjoy a couple pictures. 

Summer Camp 2013

The boys have been having a great time at Summer Camp this week. They have come home with lots of great art work (see below).  I love to see them having a great time!  Leen has been here, so we have LOVED having her here!

Will Spotlight Primary

Will's teacher, L. Clements, sent me this cute picture of Will in Primary.  He was the spotlight.  It is so hard to believe how big they have gotten!  I am amazed at how fast this happens!  They are still my little sweethearts.  I cherish moments that I get to rock them in the rocking chair or hold them like a baby.  I know they won't let me do that too much longer, so I take full advantage of it!

Today, we went swimming at the Aitken home.  The boys LOVE to swim (with their floaties).  They love jumping in to the pool, and they have so much fun in the water!  Yesterday, they went bowling for the first time.  It was a little stresfull for me, but it was worth it to see them having so much fun!  The boys wanted to do a lot of things that the employees deemed danerous.  Needless to say, I had a hard time keeping them from doing all of the different dangerous things.  With the help of a couple of other moms, we survived.  ha!

Summer has been fun, so far!  I love spending time with my boys!  They are their mom and dad's most wonderful possesion!  John just came in the room, and started saying how much he loves talking to his boys before bed at night.  He said that they were telling them all about their day for about 15 minutes.  So precious!  Every night, John and I talk about how lucky we are and how much we love our sweet boys!

pic to come soon...cannot add it from my ipad.

Boys in Primary on Mothers Day

Uggh!  It is heartbreaking to me how behind I am on posting on the blog.  I'd like to blame it on the fact that I was out of a computer for a couple of months.  That certainly did not help, but the truth is--life is just crazy!  We have such wonderful days with the boys every day, and it's hard to keep up with documenting it all!  I hope I can get a little bit better, but I thought I would resume the posting with this sweet picture of the boys in Primary at church.  They were such big boys on Mother's Day.  They went up during Sacrament Meeting to sing the Mother's Day songs.  I was definitely getting teary thinking of them being big enough walk up there.  Moments like that make me reflect on when they were just 2 pounds each in the NICU.  It's amazing how lively and full of energy they are, now.  They are such sweethearts!  I love them more and more each day!

Playing catch up...

One day, I will have time to catch up on some memorable moments. For now, memory triggers...

Will wall climbing

Wagon donut mishap

Sam's cute dancing

Lots more talking

January started primary

Such good prayers...thank you for Christmas tree even at the end of January.

Need tickles.

I guess it's time to go back and play catch up.  I posted a few memory triggers, so that I would remember some of the highlights. I'll just start from the top and make my way down the list.

"Will wall climbing" has to do with me getting pulled out of my Pilates class, because of an emergency.  I hurriedly walked to the front to see that Will was sitting behind the help desk at the child care.  He had been climbing the climbing wall and had an accident.  He doesn't usually cry, but he was definitely upset this time.  We got our things together quickly, headed to G-Daddy's to drop off the other two, then went to the E.R. for stitches.  They ended up putting the super glue stuff on him, and we were on our way.  He had a good time sitting in the hospital bed watching cartoons.  It was a pretty big gash, so it was good that they were able to patch him.  Such a good boy!

The "wagon donut mishap" is not something I like to think about very often.  John and I were taking the boys to the Snowflake Donuts shop, as we have traditionally done on many Saturdays.  We have to cross a relatively busy street, and this particular time--John jogged with the boys in order to get across the street quickly.  Before we knew it, the wagon was tipping over and the boys heads were headed toward the concrete.  My view was definitely the worst, because I could see it all happening in slow motion.  It was definitely a fluke accident, because John had done the same thing many times.  The weight of the boys and a combination of a slight turn must have caused the wagon to flip.  Needless to say, we have never had another accident, now that we realize what can happen.  Poor Sam took the brunt of the fall, but the others had a few scratches as well.  I am happy to report that after several months later, the boys heads are perfectly healed.  Very scary moment for Mama and Dada!

I wish I had some video of "Sam's cute dancing."  He loves to dance, and I need to start putting more music on to watch him dance.  He loves watching cartoons that have music. He definitely has some good moves! "Lots more talking" for sure!  The boys love to talk up a storm in their room at night.  We listen to them in the monitor, and it is really cute to hear them talking.

The boys all started primary in January, and they really like their teachers,  Sister Leora Clement and Sister Bridgette McLemore.  I am so impressed with the things that they are learning. The teachers are so thoughtful in the things that they take time to prepare.  We love seeing the boys learn new things.

They do have "such good prayers."  I love seeing them fold their arms and close their eyes really tight to say the prayers.  They used to like to get up really high on their cribs to say their prayers.  John likened it unto people in biblical times that would go up high on some type of mountain or structure, in  order to get higher to God.  It's a pretty funny site to see three toddlers high on their cribs praying.  They all like to say their prayers at one time.  They are just starting to take turns, somewhat.  ha!  The things that they pray for are very funny--Christmas trees, "pink Jeep"--Brandy's twins' pink Jeeps, etc.

The boys love to get tickles from John.  They like it so much, that they say, "need tickles."  They laugh and laugh.  I don't know how they stand it, because I HATE being tickled.  They get the biggest kick out of  it!  They absolutely LOVE night time routine with Dada...vitamins, brushing teeth (Well, they dont' really like that part,), climbing on Dada, reading books, singing, prayers, getting more water, going potty, "hug and kiss," "Twinkle Star" with Mama, more water...as you can see it goes on and on.  ha!