Ammon (ăm´un)

Here are some fun facts about Ammon:  He LOVES anything "Toy Story".  His uncle Brian gave him a Toy Story card for his birthday that he made, which was awesome, and Ammon carried it around on a daily basis. It was like a security blanket, except card stock.

 Ammon loves to dress up and has a fetish with socks.  If you leave your socks lying around, he will put them on.

 Here he is dressed as the Tin man.  He doesn't know who the Tin man is yet, but he sure loved dressing up as a "silver guy".  Thanks to my Mom's sewing skills, Halloween is a highlight.


Ammon loves to make messes.  They make him happy.  Here he is dying Easter eggs.  He looked like a colored egg himself for church the next day!

For his birthday this year, he requested a "hot day fun day"...that's how we say "hot fudge sundae" at our house.

 

Ammon's favorite Halloween was last year when he was Woody.

We have a birthday cake hat that Ammon LOVES. He talked all year about wearing it all day on his birthday.  The day came and luck have it, we couldn't find it and he was devastated.  Luckily, I found it right before he opened his presents.

Ammon loves to keep things.....interesting!

Sometimes birthdays can wear you out, no matter how old you are!

One of the many things I love about Ammon is how sweet he can be when he tries.  I should be chomping at the bit to have him potty trained, since he's three years old...but would you believe that after I change his diaper he usually says, "Thank you for changing my diaper Mommy."  On second thoughts, he can thank me for other things!  He says "thank you" all the time and it reminds me to be grateful myself.  The funniest time he's said it to someone was after getting his last batch of shots at the doctor, with little tears welling up in his eyes, he said "Thank you" to the nurse. "Wow, I've never had that reaction before.", was her response.  We are so lucky to have Ammon as a part of our family.  When we named him Ammon, I didn't realize that it would be a name that people would have a hard time pronouncing.  Usually they stumble over it several times, and then look at me with a puzzled look and say, "Where did you come up with a name like that?"  "Well, I got the name from a book that I really love, called the Book of Mormon, have you ever heard of it?"   It's kind of like a "play within a play", only a "missionary moment being brought about by the name of a missionary". Thanks to Ammon and his name that will be mispronounced and perhaps made fun of all throughout his life, I have a lot of opportunities to easily talk about something that is important to me. Judging by his character, I know he will be happy to be named after such a great missionary from the scriptures and he might even just thank me for naming him "ăm´un".

Buyers Remorse

Have you ever been shopping online and after clicking "complete purchase", immediately felt buyers remorse?  Well, have I got a story for you!  First a little background: we have no pets at our house for many reasons, a few of which are most of us are afraid of animals, and we are messy enough ourselves that we just can't bare the thought of adding to the chaos.  Well, Zac caught a frog about a week ago and was happier than a lark about it...until he "had" to give it CPR.  Needless to say, the frog is no longer our pet.  Zac was devistated and Steve said he could buy a frog at the pet store.  So, I took him to the pet store and we looked at frogs, but they all were poisonous and they were jumping like crazy. I started getting cold feet.  Finally, I convinced him that we should just keep looking for the perfect frog.  To my surprise, he said, "okay, let's get out of here".  So we went home and out of motherly duty, I found myself on the internet site turtleshack.com.  Have you ever been to that website?  Neither had I. Without thinking twice, I added three baby "red eared sliders" into my "shopping cart".  Credit Card?  "You got it!"  Overnight shipping?  "You got it!"  What was I thinking!?  So today, Zac woke up and went straight out to the porch to wait for the turtles to arrive, while I did a little "all too late" research on our new pets.  Phrases like, "not good for children", "time consuming", "banned as pets by the government in the 70's due to salmonella"....were not really what I was hoping to find out....but from here on out, we're just going to accentuate the positive.  I have been needing a new hobby to tell the truth. Turtle breeding isn't really what I would have picked, but here we go!

Waiting for the turtles to arrive:

Update:  I just got back from taking all five kids to the pet store for some turtle supplies.  The situation has gotten much worse....and to top it all off I just learned that turtles can live for 40 years!!!!   What have I done!?  Somebody in the family needs to buy a house with a pond so I can stock it with turtles for them in a few years. Don't laugh....I'm really sad about this situation that I find myself in.  I need to scroll back up and look at those happy faces before I cry.

Trevor

Trevor's smile is like a ray of sunshine, and it isn't just reserved for those he knows and loves.  He beams at anyone from the checkout lady at the grocery store, to the toothless, almost homeless door to door salesman.  

Trevor on his first birthday: February 16th, 2012

Sometimes the smallest works the hardest!

 And sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero.

These cheeks get kissed by a lot of people, a lot of times, everyday. Sometimes when he's had enough he makes a face like this:

 And then we kiss him even more.

Look at the way the food chain works at our house.  Don't worry Trevor, you won't always have to be a "bottom feeder".  No pun intended.

CaLeB

When Caleb was just two years old, I babysat two little girls, one of which had hip dysplasia, and walked with a slow limp.  On one particular afternoon, we had gone to Caleb's favorite park in Pocatello.  He was so excited when we pulled up, and normally when I got him out of the car he would run as fast as he could towards the playground without looking back.  After getting everyone out of the car, I ran to the playground with the youngest little girl.  When I turned around, I saw something that epitomizes Caleb's sweet and loving personality.  He was back by the car, walking ever so slowly, even for a two year old, with Ashley as she limped her way over to the park, smiling up at her the entire time.  There is so much for me to learn from a child.  Here are some other fun facts about Caleb:

He LOVES school.  He is on the 5th Harry Potter book and usually reads two chapter books a day.  He recently was on the UIL spelling team and his school won first place!

Caleb has an eye for beauty.  He wanted me to take this picture of my "gold" at the end of the rainbow!

He loves sports and is training me and the younger kids in our sports abilities.

For the most part, he is very sweet to his one and only sister.  On her first day of kindergarten, I walked them to school, but couldn't fit my double wide stroller in the doors with the mobs of parents and kids going in and out, so I asked Caleb quickly if he could walk her to her seat for me.  I shed a few tears on the way home, which is normal, but when I got home, I checked my messages (I know.....shocker) and a lady from the school had called to tell me how she had seen Caleb holding Sierra's hand all the way to her desk, and it had touched her that he would do that being the big second grader that he was : ).  Moments like that make the toys scattered all over the floor, dishes piled up and yes, even the occasional underwear hanging from the ceiling fan fade from existence, and everything seems right in our little world.  Thank goodness for moments like that!

Caleb is good about playing with his siblings, even when his friends are around.

Caleb has an appreciation for good food. He makes me want to cook like Paula Dean, so sometimes I start to talk like her, and get all dewy eyed when I see my boys devouring dinner in seconds.  Not really, but cooking is definitely fun when people love your food!

 He has an awesome, slow smile.

 Caleb is a great example.

He often begins sentences with, "When I'm in the NBA..."  I smile and think we should all think that way a little more often! : )