Lullaby

Every night we play music for the boys as they fall asleep.  One of my favorite for the boys is "Lullaby" by Billy Joel.  I love the version we listen to found here.  The words are below.  I can not say for sure what it is that makes me love it so much.  I really just think it is beautiful!




Goodnight my angel, time to close your eyes
And save these questions for another day
I think I know what you've been asking me
I think you know what I've been trying to say
I promised I would never leave you
Then you should always know
Wherever you may go, no matter where you are
I never will be far away

Goodnight my angel, now it's time to sleep
And still so many things I want to say
Remember all the songs you sang for me
When we went sailing on an emerald bay
And like a boat out on the ocean
I'm rocking you to sleep
The water's dark and deep, inside this mothers heart
You'll always be a part of me

Goodnight my angel, now it's time to dream
And dream how wonderful your life will be
Someday your child may cry, and if you sing this lullaby
Then in your heart there will always be a part of me
Someday we'll all be gone
But lullabies go on and on
They never die
That's how you and I will be

Technology

I thought I was pretty savvy in getting connected to technology and understanding it fairly quickly but I seem to be having issues in uploading video from my phone to the internet or computer..  Anyone else have this issue? Maybe I'm just not smart enough to go down the right path to get it uploaded correctly but I am struggling..

Tonight would have been a video of Braxton getting his groove on with end-of-credits-song.  He is awesome!

I'll try to figure it out. Once I get it figured out, it will be loaded onto here or FB.



Chad

Sleep

Sometimes our kids are great and sleep in til 6 am and sometimes they are absolute angels and sleep in til 8! :P  Today we had both. Michael woke up at 6 and wanted everything from breakfast to watch a show.  Braxton however, decided to sleep in and give us a "break" (can't really call it that because other kids are still awake).  Now if they could all talk to each other and decide on which nights they would all sleep in together that would be GREAT.

Katy and I have also had similar issues with sleep. We need to decide when and how long we are going to sleep... I slept ok (Katy can explain otherwise) and Katy apparently stayed up til about 3 am and then got up at 6. poor wife.  We need to communicate when we both want to sleep and when we both think that staying up late would be fun.  I would love to stay up late and talk... I just need warning so i don't expect sleep before hand and get denied later.

So the sickness that has been in our house for what seems like the last month is FINALLY starting to wind down. Michael seems to be the last one to get the runny nose and a hoarse-r voice. Here is hoping that the sickness doesn't decide to go full loop again.. :P

Keep in touch and love you all!

Speaking in Chruch

Tomorrow I have to speak in church (this is Katy)

I am extremely nervous.  Not for the actual speaking part, I have no problems with public speaking.  I am worried about the topic.

I was asked to speak about primary.  Now most of you know that I have been involved with the primary for the last 4+ years.  I LOVE it.  The kids are a blast.  And like my mom says, it is the only place in the church where you can act like a cartoon character and no one will judge.

However;  I was asked to speak because we are having a hard time filling callings.  Lots of people are just not showing up, and we have even more just saying "no" out right when the call is extended.

I am afraid of the anger that I feel, and I am petrified that it will come out in my talk.

I want to explain and try to help people understand how incredibly important primary is, and that there is NO WAY for it to run or function with out the support of the ward.

That it is the BIGGEST organization in our ward, I would even go as far as saying it is the biggest in a lot of wards.

I am afraid I will just get up and preach.  Really need to humble myself and listen to the spirit have it guide me.

tears are now in my eyes.  Please pray for me.

Favorite or Favourite.. i can never decide because I like both.

If any of your kids has lost a favorite ANYTHING it is basically the end of the world and NOTHING will change the fact that whatever it is, is missing!  Tonight as we were getting ready for bed Michael informed us that he could not find his "blankie" and since it's his favorite thing of ALL TIME, he had to have it.  After many fallen tears and upside down smiles with a super sad heart we could not find his blankie.. (which is strange because he didn't go anywhere today). We enlisted everyone's help in looking for this dark blue, 5x5 blanket and we looked everywhere but the one place the blanket actually is; under beds, in closets, in sheets, in beds, shoes, cupboards, under couches, bathrooms, etc. We even all knelt down and prayed that we could find it!  Poor guy was very sad going to bed. I was finally able to convince him that he would have to look for it in the morning so i convinced him that the current blue-blanket-with-polar-bears-blanket that he has would suffice to keep him warm. Poor kiddo.

As for Braxton, I should have clarified last night. Braxton was kissed on the cheek (after a demonstration from Maliah :P). We asked him where he was kissed and she quickly blurted in that "it was like this!" and kissed him on the cheek again!  I can't believe that I forgot to clarify this small detail. forgive me.

Caden is currently BARELY too small to climb onto our somewhat (ok, they are terrifying) soiled and beaten couches and, like stated before, likes to vocalize his existence. So when he tries three or four times that he can't climb up onto them by himself he lets us know. Sometimes it sounds like someone is taking HIS favorite thing away from him.... He is still super cute and knows that he can play mommy and daddy like flutes if he plays just the right face and adds just the right amount of "voice" if needed...  We really shouldn't let him have that kind of control over us... but he's just so STINKIN cute!

  <<<<< PROOF!

User change-up

Katy and I have decided that we would take turns writing in the blog as much as possible and I am here to "steer the boat" tonight.

Things are going well for the most of our family. I am currently waiting my fate as I wait for the praxis scores to return. Once they return I will be able to start student teaching and get on with this last semester of school (well at least of me being the student part).

Braxton turned to me this evening in an almost dazed state and said, "Dad, she kissed me."
"What?"
"Maliah kissed me."
He's growing up A LOT faster than I expected.. or at least I didn't expect to "confront" (I "quote" because I'm not head on against it, I'm just stating I didn't think I would hear him say those words for at LEAST 5 more years... but... I guess i'm just old fashioned :P )

Braxton is growing up way too fast and Michael is following quickly in his footsteps. Michael wants to do everything that Braxton does; he wants to go swimming and we were able to get him into Braxton's swim class. He has also started to pick up on a few of Braxton's bad habits such as screaming and being negative when he doesn't get his way but at least it's short-"er" lived. He's still super sweet and wants to make sure that everyone gets their needs met before he worries about himself. He is definitely the giver of the family at this point in time. For example, we have these fantastic little cups from IKEA and the boys love all the different colors but for some reason they have created a hierarchy for them: Pink, blue, green, yellow, orange, light blue... Anyway, we have this rule that you "get what you get and you don't throw a fit." we like this rule because these cups seem to change your water into pure sprite if it's in the pink cup.. (kids eh?) well I pulled a blue and orange cup out and Braxton ended up getting the orange and he basically started to whine and pout about the kitchen because of this.. well Michael, the sweetie, turned to him and said, "Brax, you can have my blue cup."
Now, it's not the best thing to show positive reinforcement for Braxton whining, but I hope you got the point; Michael is so sweet to give up his wants to make sure everyone is happy.

Caden is still screaming when he wants something be he is starting to realize that if he finds a way to explain himself it's that much easier. He knows where to scream and whine when he's hungry or tired. Really I shouldn't say scream, i should say vocalize his existence.  He knows he's the younger brother of two very loud and rambunctious brothers and has to be louder to be the dominant for the moment.  He loves to play with his brothers and we are seeing him tackle Braxton and Michael more and more while they are unaware that he's coming up right behind them.  This morning he decided to body slam Michael with a pillow he brought up from downstairs during breakfast. Michael squealed and then realized that it was Caden and just laid there like he was down for the count; dazed sound and everything; it was pretty cute.

Life is good but I hate being in an unknown state right now as I wait for the praxis scores for a few more days.. even a week. bleh.  I feel like Aaron. He's stuck in Cali doing basically nothing (yes he is staying busy) as he waits this last week to finally get home to his family that he was so far away from while he finished up in Japan, came to the states and now has to wait again in Cali to go the rest of the way home.. at least it's only one time-zone now instead of 18 right?

Babies at six months

 Here are my three boys, all at about six months.  who is who?  I think they look very different, but I had a friend recently tell me they all look alike!?!