Summer in April

It was so hot yesterday that I pulled out our new sprinkler set for the kids to play in.  Good thinking on the Easter Bunny's part to get that as a gift, right?  Bailey, Emma and Nathan, along with their friends Malachi and Isaac went for it.  Now, the two friends are in their clothes and for the record I did have them run home to ask their mom if they could go in the sprinklers and change.  They came back and said it was OK to go in their clothes.  I did not verify this, but it was so hot they probably dried off by the time they walked home anyway.

The sprinklers have all sorts of rubber arms that shoot out and wiggle.

Bailey caught by a shot of water.

Emma was soaking at this point, Isaac in the background.

Nice pose, Bailey.  I kept having to tell him to pull his shorts up.  I can't believe that kids waist is so skinny with all that he eats.

Parable of the Sheep and the Goats

Tonight, I tried something new with the kids for reading scriptures.  I let Emma pick a word out of the topical guide and I told them we would read a verse about that word.  Emma picked Jesus.  Well, there are soooooo many areas under Jesus that I let Bailey pick the sub topic.  He chose the Good Shepherd.  We talked for a bit about why we call Jesus a shepherd and how we are all His sheep.  Here is the conversation that followed:

Mom: Who are the sheep?

Bailey: We are....but sometimes I am a goat. (Mind you, I had not brought up this parable at all, he was remembering from Primary)

Mom: You are a goat? Why?

Bailey: Well, I am SOMETIMES a goat.  Because I do bad things some of the time, not all of the time.

Mom: You can still be a sheep.  Sometimes sheep wander off and have to be brought back.

Bailey: Yeah, cause they are out making friends with the goats! (insert silly Bailey laugh here)

We went on to talk about goats and how Bailey thought they were pretty tough and could take care of themselves.  But then, we came across reading a scripture in Nephi and he remembered how cool he thinks Nephi is.  I asked him if Nephi was a goat or a sheep?  He said Sheep, of course!  I then reminded him that Nephi was strong and good, but he followed Jesus.  Bailey stopped, did his little half smile with a head bob and decided that being a sheep was probably pretty cool too...

Kinkies...

Nathan's version of going to the bathroom is pronounced "kinkies" otherwise known as stinkies. Lovely, right? Well, I am slowly getting into the groove of potty training. It's been on and off for a while as I am not ready to devote my life to being centered around trips to the bathroom just yet. So, when we have some time, we work on it. Nathan decided he was going to go to the bathroom while watching Sesame Street today. I figure, why not? After all, I have five kids right, so where you pee, you pee as long as I don't clean it up... He sat there for about 15 minutes until I tried to get him to get up. He got upset and wanted to sit back down. I let him and then went down the hall towards my room. It wasn't very long before he came padding down the hall and saying Mommy Look!!!! I went to his little seat, and lo and behold, there were "kinkies", in this case also known as pee. He calls everything kinkies. This is probably the fourth time or so he has gone on the toilet in the last six months. Not bad for not really trying. And I'm sure he will love this picture at 14.

Woo-Hoo!

Ben forwarded me this email today, sent out to his work.  We pretty much knew he would be offered a job, as all the partners had talked with him about it.  However, until you actually get that offer, everything is still up in the air.  I know Ben will think it is silly I am putting this on the blog, but I'm just so proud of him:) And it needs to be documented, of course!!!

-----Original Message-----
From: Gerald Lenahan 
Sent: Monday, April 20, 2009 10:07 AM
To: All Lenahan Employees
Subject: Ben Oram

I am very pleased to announce that the partnership unanimously and enthusiastically voted to extend an offer to Ben to become an associate with the firm upon admission to the Bar which we expect to occur when he gets his results from the Feb 2010 exam sometime in May 2010.

 

We are very happy to learn that Ben has accepted.  Please take the opportunity to congratulate Mr. Oram who we expect will have a long and rewarding career with our office.

 

Welcome to the team, Ben!

Emma then and now

Valentines Day, ready for the play group party

We thought she would be potty trained before Bailey!

One of my favorites...

Such a sweet little girl, only 3 months old.

Emma and her favorite, Dad:)

When I took this picture of Emma outside on her bike today I was reminded of...

The first time we took her picture on this same bike!  Oh, the little pigtails:)  I think I will have to keep these pictures handy the next time she slams her door and tells me I am ruining her life...

Neighborhood Friends

It's getting late, but I wanted to get the rest of these pictures blogged for the record!  Our friends live around the corner with the benefit of kids playing freely in the streets.  

Here are Emma and Isaac.  These two have been buddies for a long time.  I still remember them playing together under the end tables in the foyer at Church when they could only crawl.  OK, so they are only 5 and it wasn't that long ago.  These two have a love hate relationship.  It's hard being good buddies with a boy when you have an older brother who is sometimes more "fun" to play with.  Emma used to be able to boss Isaac around, and now she is finding that sometimes boys don't obey your every command:)

The Street Gang-

These kids will be seen up and down in front of our house on the street riding their bikes.  They were quite willing to let me take pictures of them, and even give me the tough poses.  Now, I hope Bailey understands a little more about what I did as a kid when I had no t.v.  There is nothing like playing until dark with your friends.  We have forbid the Morgans to ever move unless they provide an equal replacement of a child that is matched in age for every one of ours.

Bailey the low rider

Bailey, so proud of his new wheels

This is how low he wants the seat.  He must get the gangster thing from his dad

Cruising around...

A while back, Bailey made up his mind that he was going to learn how to ride on two wheels.  With some of Bailey's delays, he has a left side weakness and is starting occupational therapy.  The therapist said he might never ride a bike.  Well leave it to Bailey to prove her wrong.  He has been out EVERY day riding on his old bike with training wheels until they got so bent, he was actually riding only on the two.  We took the wheels off and he could ride like it was nothing!  So, we got him this bigger bike and he has been a maniac all afternoon.  It still amazes me what this kid can do when everyone else says he shouldn't be able to.  I'm so excited to see him so proud of himself!