This boy melts my heart.

This little boy sure knows how to "work" his momma!  All he has to do is cuddle up with me or flash  his famous toothless smile, and he gets what he wants! ;)  I am just sad that he's growing up so fast.  I just want to freeze time and keep him little forever!

 

Lately, he's been giving me more hugs and saying cute things to me totally out of the blue like, "Mom, do you know that I love you?" or "Mom, you're cute."  It melts my heart.  I SO do not look forward to teenage boys!  I hope that Carson stays his sweet self and isn't afraid to show his momma some "sugar" every once in awhile! ;)

The Holy Ghost

Lately, we've been having more conversations with Austin on the Holy Ghost.  Most of the time, he brings it up too.  For example, the other day he told me that when he is trying to go to sleep at night, he hears the Holy Ghost talk to him.  I asked him, "Well, what does the Holy Ghost say?" and he replied, "Mostly he tells me that he will help me go to sleep and stay asleep until morning."  Ok.  Interesting.  I then asked Austin, "When else have you felt the Holy Ghost comfort you?"  He then told me about a time when a kid wasn't being very nice to him at school and he felt the Holy Ghost comfort him and tell him to walk away.  That's good buddy!

All of this discussion around the Holy Ghost spurred the idea of having Austin give a FHE lesson on the Holy Ghost one week.  He practically prepared the whole thing by himself, by finding some scriptures, reading in the Preach My Gospel manual, and choosing a few pictures that went with his lesson (baptism and confirmation).  He gave a great lesson and asked each of us to share a time when we had felt the Holy Ghost (with Eric's prompting).  I was so touched by how much he put into the lesson!

The latest discussion about the Holy Ghost was as we were driving to pick up some medicine for Eric, who got really sick with a major infection from a tooth ache/abcess.  As Austin and I were driving home from the pharmacy, Austin told me, "Mom, the Holy Ghost just told me that we need to call Dad and see if he is ok.  I think Dad is sad."  I was so overwhelmed with emotion when Austin shared this with me.  What a sweet boy!  We called Eric right then, who had just been throwing up and wasn't feeling so well.

I can tell that this boy of ours is approaching 8 years old.  In one year, Austin will be getting baptized and I know that he is getting more and more ready for that special day.  I am so proud of him and the boy that he is becoming.  He can be crazy, busy, and stubborn (or as I like to say, strong-willed) sometimes, but he has a gentle and caring heart and is very much in-tune with the Holy Ghost.

I also love that Austin loves to read his scriptures.  Each night when we read as a family, he never complains and always wants to keep reading.  At church on Sundays, as we are sitting in sacrament meeting, he usually opens up his scriptures all on his own without our prompting, and reads them for a few minutes.  What a good example Austin is in our family and I thank Heavenly Father each day for sending us such a special, pure spirit to our family!

Tis' the Season

Baseball season is here.  I love this time of year.  The weather gets warmer, the trees and flowers are budding and blooming, and it's time to play outside more.  Austin started baseball this week and is on a team with a bunch of boys/friends that he knows from church and school.  We were even lucky to get the father of one of his church friends as our Coach (who is really awesome)!

It has been fun to see the growth that Austin has had playing baseball.  Last year was his first year and even though he improved a lot throughout the season, he has grown even more this year and is really learning how to play the game.  His attention span is also better this year.  For example, last year you could often find Austin kicking his shoe in the dirt or picking grass if he was out in the outfield.  This year, he actually pays attention to the game!  He is learning where to throw the ball and really enjoys playing catcher.  He is a good batter too!

GO TIGERS!!!

Easter weekend

My parents came to town for Easter weekend and it was so much fun to have them here. We kept them busy! We had a couple of Easter egg hunts, we died our own Easter eggs, we ran errands, we went downtown for dinner, we had a picnic at the park, we went to baseball practice and swim lessons, and played and watched movies at home. OH, and my mom and I sewed pillows (well, really my mom--I'm not much of a sewer ;) for our couch. We love having company up here to visit and wish we had family come to town more often! Love you Mom and Dad--thanks for the fun times and for being such wonderful grandparents to these crazies.

The Power of Moms

I recently read this article titled, "Your Children Want YOU!" on the very popular blog, The Power of Moms. It touched my heart as I felt it related so much to what we mothers often feel a lot of the time: Overwhelmed. Inadequate. Or not good enough.

We live in a world now where social media rules the internet sphere--Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Blogger, which are great tools for connecting with our loved ones and friends, and getting ideas for all sorts of things--recipes, crafts, home decor, gardening, etc--but are they really all that useful when we start to feel overwhelmed and compare ourselves to others?

I know most of the time when I'm on Pinterest, for example, I feel overwhelmed with things that I would like to do, see someone else doing, or seem like a good idea. But how many of those things do I actually do? Hardly any of them! And then I feel like like a failure because I don't sew my own pillows, I don't make my own door wreaths, and I don't make cute-sy lunches for my kids each day.

This article is a great reminder that what is most important is spending time with our kids. Just being a mom. Our kids don't care about all the fru-fru things. They want US. My kids would probably rather go play baseball in the backyard, read books, or go for a bike ride with me vs. have me make them sandwiches shaped like Mickey Mouse.

My favorite quote from the article is this:

"There’s something deeper going on in family life than can ever be expressed on a social network. Whatever it is we feel we are lacking, can we collectively decide–as deliberate mothers–that we are not going to sit around feeling discouraged about all the things we’re not?

Can we remind each other that it is our uniqueness and love that our children long for? It is our voices. Our smiles. Our jiggly tummies. Of course we want to learn, improve, exercise, cook better, make our homes lovelier, and provide beautiful experiences for our children, but at the end of the day, our children don’t want a discouraged, stressed-out mom who is wishing she were someone else."

The author then posed a question and challenge to ask ourselves when we start feeling overwhelmed, inadequate, or not good enough.

"QUESTION: How do you keep the right perspective on your importance to your family–in the midst of so many ideas and temptations to compare yourself with others?

CHALLENGE: Recognize any tendencies you might have to get wrapped up in discouragement, and set up a regular way to remind yourself that your children want you."