May Day, May Day

Luke learned how to ride his bike without training wheels. He is loving his new found sense of freedom and speed. But he likes to escape and not tell me where he is going. I'm having flashbacks of when he was two. Once I was at the library checking out books when a woman brought Luke to me and said she found him outside in the middle of the street. For all I knew, he was still right behind me in line. Now the neighbors are calling me and saying that Luke is at their house and they just wanted to make sure I knew where he was. What is a mother to do? I used to have to put him on a child leash (aka "monkey backpack"), but he's a little too old for that now.

Anywho, Collin is playing on a soccer team for the first time. I've never really been that in to sports, but I am now! I LOVE going to Collin's soccer games. I am glued to that ball the entire 45 minutes, cheering and shouting. It's so fun! And Collin is pretty good too. He usually scores 1 or 2 goals each game. And he doesn't care if he wins or loses, he just wants to score and have fun. He's a great kid...a little Rudy, small in stature with a big heart and crazy determination. He runs his little heart out when he's on that field.

I've also been enjoying some quieter times with Owen. His big brothers go off to school and preschool and we go out and pick dandelions, splash in rain puddles, play baseball, and watch the beautiful birds that come to our feeder. Last week at breakfast one morning, Owen noticed the trees had finally grown some new leaves. He excitedly said, "Look, Mom! Green leaves on trees! That's science, Mom." I can't tell you how proud I was at that moment of my little two-year-old son. This picture is Owen AFTER breakfast, stained with blueberries, and sword-fighting in the kitchen.

Oh, and my other favorite thing right now is that Owen learned to recognize his name. Everywhere we go, when he sees a letter "O" he gets so excited. He says, "Mom! Letter O! O is for O-O-Owen! That's me!" He's really excited about learning letters. He knows about 8 of them so far. And he pretends to read all the time. He loves checking the mail with me. I let him open all of the junk mail and he pretends to read it. We look at the pictures and try to figure out what the letter is about. It's his own important job to do, checking the mail and reading it to me.

Speaking of important jobs, Collin has been really interested in learning how to do chores around the house. Not because I'm paying him, but because he's noticed that I do all the work around here! He doesn't think that's fair, so he decided to help me so that I don't have to do it all. Well, tonight he unloaded the dishwasher all by himself. He climbed into all the upper cupboards and did his best to figure out where things go. It was amazing.

Night before last, he swept the kitchen floor for the first time. He and I were cleaning together, listening to music. I said, "Collin, cleaning is so much more fun when I have someone else to do it with. Thank you." And tonight when Collin went to bed he said, "Mom, when I'm eight, I'll be old enough to do the laundry too. That will REALLY help you." He must see me doing laundry a lot. We'll see how long this cleaning spree lasts, but I'm loving it for now!

My parents bought me a digital piano for my 35th birthday. I cried. I've wanted a piano for as long as I can remember. I've been playing all the old songs I used to practice. And it has headphones, so I can play after the kids go to bed. It's so great! Last Monday, I played the piano while my husband and children sang a song (Love at Home) for family home evening. It sounds silly maybe, but I've always wanted to do that. It was a big moment for me. Now I can't wait to teach my sons how to play. I've already taught Collin how to play Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Luke asks me to play Fur Elise over and over. I think it's his favorite.

Last weekend, Merritt took the boys on their first camp-out of the season. Collin caught this huge ugly carp, which they weren't allowed to throw back in the water. So Collin did what any little boy would do...he dissected it. He came home and told me all about how he had cut out the heart and the lungs (gills?) and the eyeball and then the stomach, etc. etc. He put sand in it, then put it in water to see what would happen to the different parts. Again, I'm so proud of my little scientist children.

Merritt is camping again this weekend, backpacking actually. This time with the Scouts. He gets so excited to be in the mountains. I love watching him prepare his equipment and pour over his maps and pack his backpack. He's so content and so confident that he'll be able to show all these Scouts how it's done. I love it. I love him and miss him.

Anyways, I better get back to studying. I was crazy enough to go back to school this summer (at Weber State University). I'm taking two early childhood education classes, trying to get certified to teach (eventually). Like I need more education! I went to college for nine years already. And I'll take a pay cut if I switch jobs. But, I'm loving my classes. I've always wanted to teach. My dream is to be a science teacher that services grades K-3 (like a P.E. teacher or a music teacher). The problem is that job doesn't exist! So, I'm not sure what I'll end up doing. But as always, I'm just taking things a step at a time. That's what I've always done...and my life has worked out pretty well so far. Love you all!