Happy Home

I love our weekends!  To be home all together is such a special treat!  Sunday nights are always a bit difficult because I know it will be Monday soon and I will have to leave my kiddos and hubby for a busy week. 

Yesterday I had a very busy day.  Our home had hit an all-time low point and it was time to clean up.  From the moment I got up until midnight I cleaned and organized and scrubbed.  I feel much better.  But I also feel tired. 

We finally found a table!  I have been searching craigslist persistently and finally found the right one.  And it was still available! And wouldn't you know that the Lord would have another tender mercy for us.  The table listed for $100 sold to us for $60.  And it is just what we need.  Yay!  We can sit around the table together!  Now we just need someone to cook the food.  :) This little home of ours is coming together.  I also got the boys' room put together and we cleaned the loft.  Oh, you should have seen the little walking trail we had created through the piles of toys and blocks and legos to our room. It was particularly difficult to navigate at night.  And I also organized the garage to make space for our trash and recycling bins.  I set up the slide outside for the boys to play on while I cleaned.  They loved it!  And Blake came home and played some street soccer with Collin for a bit.  Right as I finished up it began to rain.  Another blessing.  :)

We had a fabulous Halloween.  The weather was unseasonably warm and I thought quite perfect.  This Halloween Collin decided he was going to be Jack Sparrow.  And would you believe we found a Jack Sparrow Costume and hat at the consignment store about 6 weeks ago?  I found a discount Pirate dress at Walmart to accompany his as Elizabeth Swan.  Our efforts to find Blake an affordable pirate costume (Will Turner) and Avind a monkey costume (the Undead Monkey) were futile so we ended up recycling the Zebra costume for Avi and buying a $4 safari hat so Blake could be his zoo keeper.  I thought we were all pretty cute.  For work I dressed as the crazy scientist complete with lab coat, goggles, and smudges on my face.  And, for the fun part, I sewed a toy frog on the back to make it look liked it had escaped and was hiding from me.  My students liked it quite a bit.  We took the kids Downtown to trick or treat and there was an incredible crowd there!  The whole town of people with children must have been there.  It was amazing.  But I enjoyed afterwards even better when we walked up and down Wilson and Grant streets.  It was like out of a movie.  Perfection.

Last week we had a wonderful chance to go to the temple and kid swap with the Stewarts.  We did a session first.  It felt nice to be in the temple again.  When we got out, we took our turn with the kids.  We were quite happy to accidentally find a Cafe Rio when on the way to Arby's for lunch.  Mmmmmmmmmm.  Happiness! It was a lovely day as well so we took the kids to a park to run around for a bit.  Before leaving for home we perused a few stores and finally found some boots for me that I am happy about.  I have been boot hunting for 3 years now.  And we got a good price on them.

It is amazing how going to the temple made me week so much more doable.  Two weeks ago, I was a total wreak.  I felt underwater in every way.  This week, I have had such an incredible feeling of peace and balance.  I have wondered a bit in the last month about my testimony of Jesus Christ and our church. There are some things that are very difficult to understand.  And it has caused me to reflect on whether I go to church and say I have a testimony because I really do, or because that is just what I am used to saying. Well, you can bet I have prayed a great deal about that over the last week.  And today, I had a very special experience.  It may sound trite to those who have not experienced this kind of a feeling, but I was in Relief Society and I felt sure.  Sure that there is a God, and that He knew me.  He knew me right there.  And I felt certain that we are where we need to be.  And that even though I don't understand all the doctrines, I am in the right place.  And I am a better person because of it. What a calming moment and an answer to my pleas to know that this is right.

So, let's talk about our cute boys:

Blake is getting serious about trying to write.  He has dozens of book ideas and can you believe he has begun to wake up at 5am each morning to work on writing?  That shows how serious he really is.  I have never seen Blake voluntarily wake up that early for much of anything.  :)

Collin has been on a Mommy kick and I love it. He and I are getting along really well.  His experiences at Preschool and improved and he has a new friend Sam that he really gets along well with.  He still amazed me with his kindness and intelligence.  We bought his some used xcountry skis last week and he is beyond excited! He practices in the hallway and holds them on the couch when we watches a show.  He even wanted to sleep in his ski boots.  He cannot wait for it to snow.  We skyped with Omi so he could show her his skis.

Collin  hates to be alone and often calls for Avi to join him in the bathroom.  :) We let him stay up to watch Once Upon A Time with us on Sundays and he loves feeling special and watching with us.

The other night Avi woke up crying after they had already been put to bed.  Before Blake got in to get Avind, he heard Collin talking to Avind and start to sing to him.  He made up words for Avi and soon Avi calmed down and went right to sleep.  He really is a good brother and the two actually play quite well together.

Avind is definitely on a Daddy kick.  He loves his Daddy.  He grabs Blakes finger and takes him wherever he wants to go.  He is saying more and more words.  Too-too! (Choo choo train) and geen (green)and done! even octopus (well, kind of  :)) He knows when the clock turns green that he can get up and we today he recognized that his puff balls are green.  It was the first time he recognized a specific color.

Avind loves to dance!  Any time Blake turns on music or sings to him, he starts to dance.  And he makes Blake dance with him.  Any music at all and his arms start to swing. 

He heard Collin say he was thirsty last night and he ran into the hallway.  When I asked him where he was going, he did the sign for water and kept on going.  He returned with Collin's water cup for Collin and handed it to him.  He is a good helper and helped Blake do all kinds of chores.  He had lose diapers and had to be home so Blake was home with him and he loved it. 

He likes to ride on the tricycle and go down the slide.  He loves Thomas the train and has been really into playing with the trains we have.  He loved the fake frog I had for my costume and desperately wanted to play with it.  It is his now, of course. When we got our new table set up yesterday, he got his chair from the breakfast nook and pushed it over to the new table.  He loves to yell, Done! and he has even said the prayer for us a few times. He will sing with me sometimes at night when I am putting him to bed.  And when he says bye or thank you he grabs your face and puts it right in front of his, cocks his head to the side and says, "tain too!" He is really into throwing things as well and has knocked Collin in the face with a train a few times. And he is adorable when he puts himself in time out...for all of 5 seconds.  :)

Oh these boys.  I love them so.  They make my heart sing!