Conglomeration

I've been jotting down notes for the past couple of months about the boys to put in here--they are not in any organized way--just gonna paste them in here.

George is really into his cd player lately.  He hauls it down to the kitchen table during the day and back upstairs for bed.  I got him some cds from the library and he loves the Raffi cds and Disney cds.  I also got Mary Poppins.  He really likes "Hard knock life," "under the sea," and everything on Lion King.  He sings along and often dances.

George said, "I'm gonna get me a pet.  A pet ant."
When the boys were camping outside in the backyard and looking up at the stars, George said, "What if one of those stars was Jesus and he was coming here?  He would get brighter and brighter and then he would just be outside the tent!"

George got to fulfill a dream of his--fishing with Daddy

George heard his tummy rumbling and he said, "Is that the Holy Ghost inside of me?"  I said, "No, its your tummy saying it wants to go to bed."  "Seryoslee?"  (seriously)

George was rolling his R's one day and saying he was a cat purring.  I said he would make a good Russian speaker, and now he figures that he will go there on his mission.

I told George about horseback riding and he said, "What?  You ride backwards on a horse?"  We were walking along together down in the coulees and there were tons of groundhog holes all over the ground.  He said, "Someone maded a lot of traps!  Ground hogs like to make traps."

George came in to help me clean out the games cupboard.  He said, "Mom, let's clean out the covered!"  He was pretty upset that one of the puzzle's pieces was missing.

We went to Costco together and George said, "I love Costco because of the stamples! (samples)"  He spotted people setting up their booths and watched closely for the first customers he could see that were eating said "stamples" so he could direct me to get some for us.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tommy was a spiritual strength to us recently when we went camping in Waterton.  On the way to the freeway he reminded us to have a family prayer and he said it.  When we got there and after we set up, we went down to the river.  When we came back to the car, it wouldn't start.  Tommy again said we should say a prayer.  We did--and things worked out.  We got help from a former institute student named Brad.  He helped us many times--that day and the next.  He was a true Good Samaritan.  Tommy's not perfect of course--he also was the leader in all things silly on that campout--but his spirit is bright and he is a happy, strong leader in our family.

We had a winner of an FHE lesson--talking about relationships and reproduction, and the whole works.  Tommy was funny when he was telling us all about how courtship works.  He said, "First you make eye contact, then you smile, then you hug, then you kiss."  I guess that's the order!

Our windy camping trip in Waterton

We hiked a new hike for us--Lower Rowe Lake.  It was so lovely.  Just a little scary because there was a lot of bear's poop on the trail.

We tried fishing a little--caught a lot of rocks, sticks, and moss.

Tommy loves to watch Meet the Mormons.  He knows it quite well.  When one of us loses our temper, he talks about the Coach in Meet the Mormons.  When we talked about the fact that people can be pregnant without being married, he referred us to the story of the Missionary Mom.  I'm glad that he has some connections like that to make with real life.

Tommy is scrappy.  He plays and works hard.  We recently visited our friends the Baldrys out on their farm.  He got scrapes and cuts all over his body--climbing trees, playing soccer with all the older kids...He also played Celebration in the school talent show.  He really gets into the piano.  He will sit and play all his favorites from memory as often as he can.  Sometimes he gets rocking on the bench so much he falls off!

I recently got to ride up to the Calgary Zoo with Tommy and his class.  We had an absolutely wonderful day together.  Tommy was so sweet.  He really wanted to see every animal, and especially wanted to take a lot of pictures of the penguins to show Owen and some of the red pandas to show James, because he knows those are their favourites.  He took care of all the kids in our little group, and he kept saying he was having a great time.  Afterwards, on the way home, we cuddled on the bus and he said many times, "This was the best day ever!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Owen is still figuring out life as the middle child.  He likes being old and young at the same time.  He is losing teeth left and right.  He went through a phase lately where he would say very offensive things to others but he would preface it with "No offense, but..."  For example, "No offense, but you are not much fun to be around."  Or, "no offense, but I liked you better when you were a baby."
He is the Manners Police around the house--usually telling us all to eat with our mouths closed.

Owen is sweet and sensitive.  He is a quiet leader everywhere he goes.  He recently got selected by his classmates to read the announcements every morning over the intercom.  He did a great job!  He also played in the talent show.  He said right in the middle of playing "Inner City Stomp" he started wishing he was playing two other pieces that he knows.  He really loves music.

James has been reading Chronicles of Narnia to Owen and Tommy.  They are on the last one.  Owen loves reading and cuddling with James every night.  They give him head rubs while he reads.

Owen and I were discussing the Resurrection one night and he asked if in the Resurrection I would have no zits.  ;-)

Owen loved having an art class with Tommy this past semester.  The teacher was a young sister in our ward from the Ukraine.  She came to our house and taught the kids and some friends art.  Owen loved it and wants to take art from his Aunt Jeanette in Edmonton.  He has some good friends here in our cul de sac and he's going to miss them a lot--also his friends from school.  He will be okay though.  Owen makes friends wherever he goes.

Owen "shaving" James

It was Owen's idea to pick these large leaves and use them for shade

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ryrie and Will recently went on a band trip.  They went up to Edmonton to the West Ed Mall.  There were 90 kids on the tour!  They had a fun time.  Ryrie said before they left--"I want to bring some coins in case there's a guy on the street playing guitar or something."                                                      

The boys just finished doing a couple months of swim club.  They improved their strokes so much!  They enjoyed it and the twins figure they might want to become life guards someday. They took a couple days of First Aid for scouts and enjoyed teaching it to their younger brothers for an FHE lesson.  They will really miss their twin friends Zack and Jared, their big friend Jeremy, and most of all their best buddy Asher.

They are really becoming teenagers every day.  They like staying up late and don't like getting up too early...but they do!  They have been studying for and taking exams every day and they have a few more.  William had the idea to meet some of their old buddies from Nicholas Sheran elementary school and reminisce about the old days.  He thinks of cute things like that often.

They got slurpees and went to the playground and then walked over to James' work to play ping pong.

James was thrilled yesterday to have their help for a couple of hours.  They are cheerful and hard word workers.  They have helped a ton with this move.  Just their attitude alone in working around the house helps.  They are awesome examples to their brothers.

They did their last day of the dreaded Shopper a couple of weeks ago.  They learned a lot of hard lessons doing that--and are glad to be through with it.  They are hoping to earn some money doing more enjoyable work up in Sherwood Park.  They are excited to go to school and church with some of their cousins and to live super close to the others and to Grandma.  :-)  They will be in Grade 8!!

They love really healthy food.

Last day of Shopper!