Boys playing dress up?

Okay!

Lucky kids.

I just wanted to take a minute to give kudos to (i.e. embarrass) my husband...and since this blog is a record for our family, I thought I should put into writing something for our children to read in the future about their father.
Yesterday morning the kids were getting ready to head out the door to go to school, when Chris asked them if they wanted him to come have lunch with them. He has done this on occasion with all of the kids, starting back when Noah was in Kindergarten. Sophie and Sam immediately said "yes", and for the next few minutes as they put their shoes on, etc., we could hear Sophie singing a little song to herself: "I can't wait 'til lunchtime, I can't wait 'til lunchtime..."
When Chris arrived at the cafeteria, Sophie's teacher came up and told him that she was happy to see him come, as Sophie had been talking about how her daddy was coming to have lunch with her all morning long! The teacher said she asked her: "Are you sure he's not coming to have lunch with Sammy?", to which Sophie replied: "No way! He loves me the most in the family." Of course, Chris spent some time with both Sam and Sophie (Noah is in a different lunch block, so he missed out on this one!), and he even went bearing gifts - ice cream sandwiches! The kids were so happy.
When Chris relayed this little story to me, my heart melted as I realized the confidence Sophie has in her daddy's affection for her. It got me thinking about how lucky our kids are to have such a great dad, and all the other recent examples of his love for those four flooded my mind.
Some of you may remember my post a while back about the Daddy/Daughter date that Chris took Sophie on to see the Hannah Montana Movie. He had promised her at the time, because they both liked it so much, that when it was released on DVD he would buy it for her. Well, a few weeks ago when the DVD came out, I actually picked it up at Wal-Mart because Chris was away for training. He told me he was disappointed he wasn't there to take her to the store to buy it, but she was just happy to get the movie. As an added bonus for us, though, this movie has seemed to be the resolution to our previous issues with Sophie focusing on death and not wanting to sleep alone in her room. Since getting the movie, she watches it for a little bit before bed and then goes right to sleep in her own room! I asked her why watching that particular movie has helped her not be afraid, and she said: "It's only the BEST movie ever, and dad got it for me!" She is such a sweetheart.
Chris is such a great father, everything he thinks about revolves around his kids. He let them stay up a little late one night last weekend so he could take them outside to look through the telescope, as he explained everything he knew about the current night skies. They were so enthralled, and they couldn't wait to tell their friends about how they got to see four of Jupiter's moons! Last night we were having dinner at a restaurant, and while we waited for the food to come, Chris kept the kids entertained by quizzing them on their math facts. It was great, even Nick got in on the action by showing off his counting skills.
Chris has really been enjoying being done with school, and it has been so different for us to be able to go to the store and run other errands (that I used to do alone) together, because he has the time. The only problem is, he wants to buy so many little things for the kids, something fun for them to come home from school to, a pack of Pokemon cards, or a treat of some kind. He's always thinking about them.
Anyway, I could go one, but I guess that's enough "bragging" for one day, and I'm sure I've made some of you gag! ;) I'm just so grateful for our family.

A very cool surprise!

I just wanted to send a shout-out to the UHEAA (Utah Higher Education Assistance Authority)! Today we received a letter in the mail from them telling us that the balance on our student loan (almost $800) is being forgiven as a "Thank You" for our diligence in taking care of our loan obligation. I've never heard of such a thing, but hey, we're not complaining!

SHEEP!

This afternoon Chris and I took Nick and went on a drive in the mountains. Every few miles we kept seeing these sheepherder "outfits", with a camp set up and horses mulling around, but we never saw any sheep. Weird, we thought. Then we suddenly came up over a hill and were surrounded by them! It was actually kind of creepy, to see so many of them laying around on the ground beneath the trees, so I had to snap a picture of it.

Fun Friday.

I really like that our school district uses the four day school week, because Friday is the day the kids have to unwind and relax after four, very full days. Today all the kids either had a friend over or went to a friend's house. Here's Sophie and her little friend playing princess, or something, after giving each other a "makeover".This is how I found Sam at around 4:30 this afternoon, after coming home from his friend's house. He never falls asleep in the middle of the day like that, he must have been wiped out!And, of course, Nicolas had to get in on the picture-taking action, cute little guy.Now, dinner is done, the kids are all watching a movie, Chris is at work for the night and I'm looking forward to a (hopefully) quiet evening.

A sunny day.

Today is Chris' day off from work, so we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go for a hike in the hills near our house. The ground is awash right now with wild sunflowers, making waves of yellow all around, it's so pretty!

Nick did a great job, but he got a little tired at the end! Good thing he has a nice, big daddy to carry him the rest of the way.

Little successes.

I was greeted at the school yesterday afternoon by three little faces with wide smiles and hugs ~ hooray! They all claimed it was "the best day of school ever!" Today I dropped them off, with no crying, clinging or whining from any of them. Thank goodness for small blessings. Now we'll see how they do the rest of the year...

Yesterday, as we were discussing all the great things they did on their first day, Sophie told me about an exercise her teachers did with them to explain why it's important to always speak kind words to others, and not be hurtful. The teachers each had a heart-shaped piece of paper, and they told the kids to say mean things to them, then for each thing they said, the teachers crumpled their "heart". Then, they told the kids to say nice things to them, and they tried to flatten and straighten the crumpled paper to make it pretty again, but no matter how many nice things the kids said, the damage was done. Very clever. Anyway, this morning I heard Sophie and Noah squabbling, with little shrieks coming from Sophie. When I got after them about fighting, Sophie said: "But Noah crumpled my heart, mom!!" She misses nothing.