Living Rooms and Closets

One of the best pearls of wisdom my mom has passed on to me is a thought one of her visiting teachers told her years ago. She said that we go into someone else's house and see their immaculate living rooms and immediately judge our closets by the same standard. Meaning, we know all of our own weaknesses, all of the clutter lurking behind closed doors, and judge those against only those things we see of others. We shouldn't judge ourselves against others at all, but I do. "Oh, so and so is the perfect mother." "Oh, so and so is in such great physical shape." "Oh, so and so is so put together." And, maybe what I see really is their proverbial closet, but the point is, I don't know, and I should cut myself some slack. And maybe once in awhile sit and appreciate the beauty and serenity of my "living room". I'm sure I've got one if I look for it!

Funny Girl

Emily as soon as she came downstairs: Mom! I looked in the mirror and there was another Emily and she was doing everything I did! She was talking to me!

I love 3 almost 4 year old imaginations!

Later

Mom: Can you get dressed all by yourself?

Emily: Yes. But, I need some help.

On the Fourth of July, Emily went with Grandpa to get fireworks and was falling asleep in the car.

Grandpa: Don't fall asleep Emily.

Emily: I'm not. I'm just blinking a lot.

Will's first tummy time

I know. I know. I'm out of control! I fully expect that no one is still reading my blog after all of these posts. I just want to make sure I record all of these things for posterity! I can't believe how strong Will is. This is his first tummy time. Three weeks old, yesterday.

Day at the Lake

On Monday we went to the lake to play with all of our family that was in town for Will. We had a blast.

And wore the kids out!

Grammy was able to come out for the blessing. It was so wonderful to see her and have her meet the two littlest Hickens.

Grandad and Joe working on...my "new" piano!!! Grammy and my dad hauled Grammy's old piano clear across the country for me. I have loved just sitting and watching the kids try out those keys with their little fingers. I never wanted my kids to grow up in a home without a piano. Now they won't! It needs a little love after its crazy year of storage and transport, but we've got plenty of that here! Thank you, thank you, thank you a million times, Dad and Grammy!

It was like Christmas when my dad came. He brought me a dehydrator, their old set of ChildCraft books (which Joe has already started to devour) and a SEWING MACHINE!!! I have my own sewing machine! Now I can stop fantasizing about all of those sewing projects I would like to do, and start doing them - well, after I start consistently getting more than three consecutive hours of sleep at night. Thank you mom and dad!!

My parents and Grammy left straight from the lake. It was so nice to have my mom here for a few weeks. The one downside to living in this beautiful place is being so far from family (well, that and the suffocating humidity/heat of late July and August). I will miss my mommy!

Did you REALLY just say that?

On Sunday, Joe was telling his Grandparents about his future plans. He said that after his mission he is going to marry his friend Denae. Then he said "The person you marry is supposed to agree with everything you say. Denae doesn't always agree with me, but she's supposed to." Where on earth did he get THAT idea? Well, I suppose we've got at least 16 or 17 years to set him straight!

Like most 1-2 year olds, Mary has a hard time pronouncing her "r"s and usually just leaves them out. Last night, she was "helping" Emily drink and turned the cup over, dumping all of its contents on Emily. "Oh, shirt!" she said in her own little lisping way. Gotta love the turrets stage of learning to speak!

Last night, Joe commented "Mom, our family is going to change." I asked him how and he replied "Me and the girls are going to start listening and doing what we're asked."

We went to a museum with Grandma and Grandpa Myers the other day, and Mary kept leading Grandma by the hand saying "check it out!" It was so cute!

Hello World, Here I Am!

Newborns don't smile

William Gavin's Blessing

Yesterday, William recieved his name and blessing. It was wonderful. I love hearing my children's blessings and getting a little glimpse of who our Heavenly Father knows them to be. My parents, my grandmother, and Matt's mom and Russ were able to come for the blessing. It was SOOOO wonderful to have a houseful of family and be able to take up a whole pew at church. Logistically it just didn't work out to get a picture of everyone in their church clothes. sigh. Matt assures me that Will won't be scarred for life and he will in fact not care. Well, I care. (Not enough to wake girls up from naps and force the boy back in his church clothes before eating saucy chicken parmasan). I'm so grateful to have my new sweet boy. I am so very blessed!

Fourth of July

We had a wonderful Fourth of July! We spent the morning visiting and getting ready for family to arrive. They all got here at about 7:30. The kids were so excited to see Grandad, Grammy, Grandma Myers, and Grandpa Russ. So excited, in fact, that we didn't get to sleep until nearly 11:00 pm. (That made for cranky kids on Sunday!!) We had fun visiting and watching fireworks and visiting some more. Here are pictures of us in anticipation.

The kids decorated cardboard stars and letters that we hung on the wall.

Growing is hard work!!

You can't see it very well in this picture, but Emily tripped over the door jam and fell face first onto the cement. She tore up her lip and her knee. Her lip was HUGE and purple. Poor baby!

Fun with Four + Grandma!

It has been so wonderful to have my mom here. I can't believe the visit is almost over!

Changing has become a group activity lately.

Some local history

Live statues

Into the woods away we go!

Two Weeks!

William is two weeks old today! In junior high, I read a book called "A Lantern In Her Hand". It chronicles the life of a fictional pioneer-era woman. At the major events in her life she describes feeling like her life is rushing past her like a mighty wind and she is just standing there trying not to get blown over. The older I get, the more I understand how she felt! Don't grow so fast, baby!

Will is growing well! He is already 9 lbs 14 oz - exactly 1 lb heavier than his birth weight. Yay!!

Kid Tales

For the last three or so days, Joe has been talking non-stop about his future. He is going to live in Hawaii, China, Texas, New York, and Ohio. He's going to spend most of the time in Hawaii and China, though. He wants to learn Chinese - that and seeing the Great Wall of China are his main reasons for wanting to live there. He is going to college in Hawaii. He wanted to plan it all out, including when Matt and I will visit him and for how long. He has also told me (several times) that he will call me when he gets there so that I will know he got there safely. I've been surprised by how long he has talked about it. He even wrote out a check list. I figure I might as well help in a constructive way, so we are going to check out books on China next time we go to the library.

Emily was in time out this morning for hitting Joe. She took it well (meaning she was screaming bloody murder the whole time). Mary was quite concerned, so she ran over to spring her out. She pulled her hand saying "Pull! Pull! Come on!" Emily was obedient and stayed in time out, but I thought that was so funny.

On the flip side, Mary has gotten even more fiesty. She is a biter. She doesn't bite because she can't communicate so much as perpetuating a power struggle with Emily. Her latest move is pulling Emily by the hair, with both hands, close enough to bite her on the head. And if you've ever felt Mary's grip, it's iron! Poor Emily. Hopefully we get past this phase quickly!

Kid Logic

Matt and I were watching Mary this morning as she tumbled around our bed, nearly falling off at every turn. We were musing about children's judgment calls when they make plans. Our good friends were over a couple of months ago, and their three year old decided to ride a little toddler riding toy down our stairs (I think that "bump, bump, bump, bump, bump" sound on the stairs is the most heart stopping sound in the world!). She was okay - thank goodness. But, it reminded us of other things that kids do. At the park the other day, Mary motioned to the monkey bars, so Matt figured she wanted to go along them normally. As soon as he lifted her up, she climbed out of his arms and stood up on top, then started jumping off. Matt got her, luckily.

When I was younger, we lived across the street from Cougar Stadium. If you've been there, you might remember a steep paved walkway behind the stadium. Well, we (in all of our common sense brilliance) decided to tie a little toddler bike with a rope to a ten speed and ride down the hill. There's no possible way THAT could go wrong, huh. I was the lucky one who got to ride the toddler bike first. Several douses of hydrogen peroxide, copious amounts of neosporin and a gigantic bandaid later, we were out there again trying to figure out how we could do it without the wipeout. It's so funny to me to think about kids logic and the glaring holes in it. Well, funny until I'm hearing that "thump, thump, thump - cry" on the stairs.

Did you guys do anything genius like that when you were growing up? Isn't it amazing that so many of us make it to adulthood!