Henry's 5!!

 Henry has been a super hero fanatic for quite some time

He even wears his costumes to school

When I asked why he wanted to wear Captain America to school he said,

because I want everyone to say "Hey Captain America, whats up?!"

Thus his birthday cake this year was Captain America's shield (Its a good thing he's so young he can't tell how aweful it is!)

 My favorite part of the birthday..

A Super Henry Cape and matching shirt!

So he can be Super Henry instead of Captain America

Since we all think he really is a super hero!

 Mommy should really invest in a "Cake Decorating Class.."  Why didn't I inherit that ability from my mom?

This is pre hair cute Henry.... we kept putting it off

Until his teacher threatened to take him home and cut it herself

Daddy asked every day, "Want me to cut your hair today or tomorrow?"

He chose the later.

For at least two weeks...

Mom got fed up with it and did it anyway, to much protest

 

 

So he made it to 5! 

And his counts are at 1000 (iron levels)  Seattle says he needs to maintain a below 1000 level consistantly and we can be done with weekly blood draws. 

He's such a champ, doesn't even make a peep when they poke him, infact he enjoys the days he has to get three pokes or more because that means more stickers or toys. Such a silly, wonderful, sweet kid!

 

By the way, I do have other children... you may not have realized that.. I feel like all I do is post about Henry.  While he is a vital part of our family, there are others... and since it's past 11pm I will update tomorrow on the remainder of our family.. because they are growing sooooo fast!!

Valentines Day

Happy Belated Valentines Day!

I had grand plans to celebrate all the days leading up to Valentines, but my ambition were thwarted by forgetfulness and laziness.  And so this disorganized mother will have to try again next year.

H and E had parties in their classrooms to celebrate

E found a balloon on her desk from H after gym class and was so excited.

H also found one of those huge Hershey kisses for Daddy.

It was a fun day!

Mommy and Daddy aren't so good at presents for each other... so my valentine came in the form of a dry truck in the garage. It snowed all night on Valentines, and since J works nights he pulled it inside so it would be clean and warm for us in the morning.  Best present ever!! 

And then Mommy took all the kids, by herself, to the high school basketball games. It was really fun!  Well crazy, hectic, drag L around by her overalls kind of fun... and the bits of game I caught were great.  (L can climb those bars faster than mommy can turn her head! That's her blur in the front of the picture.)

Made me miss playing.

E enjoyed the cheerleaders more than the basketball... I quickly informed her she wouldn't be able to do that.  I am sure because I told her that she will do it anyway. 

We are still holding out for Volleyball.

 

Another dumping of snow and blue skies meant another trip to Hatchers pass!

Oh I LOVE this area!

This was taken from the top of 16 miler

J had to get his extreme sledding fix... sledding on the hills with kids wasn't extreme enough

 

 

And post sledding we went for some ice cream...

Red headed child stole the ice cream while sleeping child slept

and devoured it!

 

 

 She's getting tooo big!

They love having play days with Daddy.. it means ice cream haha

 

Looking forward to spring, but trying to enjoy all the snow until it arrives.



Winter Report

 

Some days I would really like to throw the computer out the window... today was one of them!

It's 11:30 pm and instead of sleeping I think to myself... I should update the blog

But what should only take a few minutes, takes a few years because our computer is so slow! UGH! I am sure there are probably slower computers, I just don't have the patience for it... especially this late at night. 

So here are some updates..

A few kid favorites in winter...for some reason their new favorite spot.. the side of the couch looking out the window, they also enjoy falling backwards onto the couch from this location.  Must be a sweet spot I haven't discovered yet, but they sure are cute!

 

 And the other past time, wrestling.  Lydia is joining the ranks too quickly. That girl is stronger than she looks! Trouble, trouble.  She has sent Henry crying to Mom on several occasions.  Mostly, as was the case in this picture, it is  "playful" wrestling.

 

House progress:

Railing for stairs has begun, still in need of paint

Need to get that done before carpet... better hurry up.

 

The railing for the outside deck.  It is much bigger than it looks, and I am really, really excited about it!  Lunch and Dinner on the deck is one of our favorite things... so those awesome three months of summer... it will get well used!

 

 

And we are now accepting guests at our house, thanks to R and Joel for putting the doors in!! We can all pee in private now!

Disclaimer, I did not say my kids would choose to do so, they have become accustom to peeing with out doors (Adults usually remember the doors are present and utilize them)

So be our guests at your own risk. 

This winter has been a crazy one

Snow didn't come until Nov. And it's been crazy windy and freezing, to warm and rainy.

We bought some used ice skates for the kids so they could go ice skating in the drive way, bonus to having rain and freezing temps.. drive way converts to personal skating rink! :)

And that's our dog, Chevron.  He's so awesome! The kids LOVE him and he really loves to go outside with them.

 



We went sledding today in Hatchers Pass

What a BEAUTIFUL day!

Sunny and warm and tons of fresh snow

We got there early, about 1030ish, no one was there and there were no sled tracks

So we blazed some new sled trails and had sooo much fun!!

Best moment of the day: Elizabeth climbs to the top of a very steep hill, yells "Africa, Here I come!" And starts down the hill, sled nose dives, Elizabeth face plants... no face plunges into the snow!  Her entire head was in the snow!  We all fell over laughing!

Definitely going again! I LOVE this place we call home. 

Life has a Plan

Porter at 6 Months

Lydia at 10 months

Henry at 1 yr some months

Elizabeth at 3 yrs

 

Just another quick update and some random thoughts.

Henry has been doing really well these past few weeks with his blood draws. Veins are working phenomenally! And he seems to get tougher each time!  He has his favorite nurses that help him oh so much!  Thanks awesome Nurses at the PedOnc in Anchorage, we sure LOVE YOU! 

We will be doing monthly meetings with the Dr., and we will see how things are progressing.

He seems to be doing just fine with all the blood draws, today he even tried to give more on his own!(Just a small bloody nose) haha

I forget many times how much E has been affected by H's life.  But I do know that every time E came back to Seattle to stay with us, H perked right up and did so much better.  I remember when she came back from one of her trips to Annie's house, her first order of business was to crawl into the hospital bed with H and cuddle.  She was about the only one that could really get him laughing. 

L is loving the Dr. office, so many toys to play with.  I think every week she makes something at the "kitchen" to feed the nearest victim. Her non existent fear of strangers helps her cozy up to anyone and everyone when Mom is busy with H.  And for the hour we are there she usually gets her way, because she is one SASSY little thing.  That red hair...

P is growing faster than we can keep up, but at least he has chunked up a bit, he was sooo skinny.  Now he makes my arm go dead lugging him around.  Like two of his older siblings, he has had to switch to Soy formula.  But it seems to help his tummy quite a bit.

I have been asked to give a talk in church in Feb. My topic, the Plan of Salvation. A simple plan set in place by our loving Father in Heaven, an answer to life's questions; Who am I? Why am I here? and Where am I going? As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints I have been taught the answers to these questions since the age of 1. I have taken for granted most of my life that I have the answers to these questions.  There is such JOY in life because I know WHO I am, and I know my purpose in this life. 

Today while attending E's 100th day of school party, we were ready a book and the word "spirits" was read. A little boy raised his hand and asked, "What is a spirit?" The teacher said it was like ghosts. E raised her hand and told the teacher that when we die we are just spirits.  While her understanding is just beginning, I was so grateful that she had some knowledge of what our spirit is.  It was an example to me that many people don't know the answers to those questions.

"Our hope and happiness lie in knowing who we are where we came from, and where we can go. We are eternal beings, spirit children of an eternal God. Our lives can be compared to a three-act play: Premortal life (our life in Heaven before we were born), mortal life (our life here on earth), and post mortal life (our lives after we die, they do continue). God has had a plan for our lives since the beginning of the first act."

How very grateful I am for awesome parents who taught me the plan of salvation, for my understanding of the plan of salvation and for the opportunity to teach my own children. What JOY I have because I know families are eternal and I know that we will all be together again after this life. We each have a purpose and right now, mine is being a mother to those four wonderful kids, and I love it!

"Rather than dwelling on the negative, if we will take a step back and consider the blessings in our lives, including the seemingly small, sometimes overlooked blessings, we can find greater happiness." President Monson

Confessions of THIS Mom

I am always ok with posting on my blog about our successes, our awesome family time, our accomplishments, and the good in life.  I think I've posted a few times about my failures, but I thought I would share something I learned from a lecture I gave my daughter.

We were having another "discussion" about how she NEVER listens (My exaggeration), and I said to her, "If you don't listen, you will never learn."  Which is true! (In this case she wasn't stacking the books exactly how I told her, hahaha I know...after 8pm I quit even trying to be patient) Another of my many weaknesses.  However, I thought to myself, HA Lisa, you're RIGHT! You don't listen either, that's probably why  you haven't learned to conquer your anger! (Yes I am still yelling, thus all the exclamation marks.)

As a Mother I stress about many things, most of them unimportant or out of my control.  I worry about my children's behavior, how they act to their friends, to other adults, at church, at school... basically I constantly worry about them, EVERYTHING about them.  Natural? Yes.  The only problem with this, I realized today, is that I have quit examining myself (well sort of), my behavior, how I interact with people around me, at church, at school, at home, etc. My disclaimer is that I realize many times that their behavior exactly reflects me and my behavior. But instead of trying to change myself, I just get frustrated with them and fuss over changing their behavior. I see my flaws and I point them out in my children.  But I haven't been constructive with my self criticism, only destructive. Listen and Learn.  

Here's another funny one, as an athlete I realized that I performed and learned better when I was encouraged, not criticized. My daughter is the same way, however, my mothering skills have tended to follow the later.  Why?  Maybe encouragement is actually a skill, or a talent, or maybe it just requires practice, or patience, ugh, in which case it may be hopeless for me!!

What I have learned tonight is this, my children are awesome, they are still perfect to the Lord and it is ME that has to change.  I have to walk in the Saviors foot steps so that they will know where to walk.  I cannot expect perfection from them when I myself am so completely imperfect.

My goal for tomorrow, because that's as much as I can handle, is to encourage the good.

 

I always knew I wanted to be a Mom, I wish I would have stopped for a minute to realize what exactly that really meant and how I could have prepared myself..even just a little! 

Encourage the Good!