Thoughts

~Last night my friend's daughter, Hanna, was baptized. She and Kat are friends and the boys love to torment her when she comes around (crush maybe?). I babysat her when she was 6 months old and I was literally 9 months pregnant with Nathan. I think I watched her one last time 6 days before he was born. She was not an overly happy baby but is a gorgeous little girl. I was the last to have a baby that year and so as I watched 3 kids I know get baptized, it made me realize Nathan is right around the corner. How, how did this happen and how did it happen so fast?

~As we were walking back to the chapel Kathryn reached for my hand and told me she had that 'warm feeling' in her heart when Hanna was baptized, just like the day she was baptized. And then she said the sweetest thing. She said, 'it was such a good feeling it hurt her heart.' It was so adorable. I love to see that she's actually getting it. She's feeling the Spirit, learning the gospel and strengthening her testimony. She's a strong little girl and a fabulous example to me.

~One more on baptism. I cannot hear or sing the primary song Baptism without getting chills, feeling the spirit and choking up. Our song leader wants the kids to sing it acapella and so do I. They sound so good, I cried both times they sang it.

~We've been plugging along as a family reading Book of Mormon for quite a while now. It's been over a year since we've started and with a slack off last summer, we've finally made it to Mosiah. We used to read at night and it was difficult. With Milo home in the mornings as of late (3 months to be exact), we've been much more successful at reading. And the tantrum level of all involved has been down too. I love that the big kids are finally able to read verses in a row and they are remembering what we read. It hasn't been easy as of late, Reed tortures all of us while we read. He closes our books, tries to rip our pages and yells over whoever is reading. We'd like to ban him from scripture time but we're not sure where to put him or what that would teach him. .

~Today before church (dang 1:00 time!) we played 7 or so games of Tile Rummy. I played this with my Grandma all the time growing up. Last year I took one of her sets (she had 3), it's fabulously old school and is in a fake leather suitcase. Just the cover makes me nostalgic. The kids love to play it but we can only play when Reed is sleeping. He just wants to throw the tiles and wreck our game (notice his destructive one year old behavior). It annoys the kids to no end. It's kind of funny but I know you can't laugh. I want to though because he thinks he's funny too!

~School is over in 3 1/2 weeks! I have definitely hit burnout for the year. I'm ready for the 'lazy days of summer'. Not really sure what that means because no day with 4 kids is lazy but I'm ready for it none the less. In my dreams it means breakfast is later in the day, the kids quietly read their books for an hour or so in the morning, we stroll through the park, someone makes our lunch, Reed takes an extended nap, I get to do whatever I want from 1-4, someone again makes our dinner (p.s. that someone isn't me) and in the evening we all have a nice chat outside enjoying the scenery. There that was good for a laugh right before I head to bed, ha!