Bright, Sunshiney Day!

Today while we were outside waiting for the bus to come pick up Weston, I snapped these pics of the kidlets. Wow, what a bright day! I can't remember the last time it was so bright and sunshiney that the kids had "squinty" eyes in a picture! Ever since then I've had that song in my head. (Definitely better than a lot of other songs I've had stuck in there!) I love that Weston squatted down to be next to his sister for a picture. He is so sweet.

Lovely Patient

The kids have been sick all week. Weston is almost better, but this poor baby had a rough day yesterday! While I was in the kitchen, she fell asleep in my chair. I was struck by how pretty she was, even at her worst. To me she looks like a porceline doll, with perfect little red lips, and crazy hair! Sweet girl.

Our Flowers

For Valentine's day this year, Jason bought me a lovely big new pot and some heirloom seeds of various kinds of flowers. He said that way I could have flowers to enjoy for months! Sweet. We planted them in the new pot, an old pot, and in several spots in the back yard. Every evening the kids are anxious to help daddy water all the seeds. Sometimes they fight over the hose, but for the most part, I think it is a good experience for them! It is fun to watch the plants grow, and it will be especially exciting when we eventually get some beautiful daisies, poppies, and Sunflowers, assuming that Sophie doesn't dig up all the seeds before they have a chance to grow...she really likes playing in dirt. :)

Sophie's Bike

Sophie got this bike at Christmas, but it was just too big. The other day she determined that it was time to ride! It's still a bit too big, but she sure had fun trying!

No worries, Weston is more than willing to give her a ride...

They now do this almost every day!

Funny Kid

Weston makes me laugh every single day. Today he told me that his best friends were Marc, Owen, Evan, and Calvin Klein. What? I was aware of the first three, but the last one? Where did he even hear the name Calvin Klein?

He has now said three prayers all by himself. His first one was a week ago yesterday. Tonight he insisted on saying the dinner prayer. He is so sweet when he says, "Jesus Christ, thank you," and "keep safe mommy." But the best part of that dinner prayer had to be when he asked for privacy from Sophie while he is in the "bloom-bloom." Translation: he prayed for Sophie to leave him alone while in the bathroom. Jason and I kind of glanced at each other mid-prayer and tried not laugh out loud!

Here is a recent picture of Weston, wearing Spiderman pajamas and his ghost pack... I'm pretty sure he believes that he is Spiderman half the time and I know for a fact that he wants to be a ghostbuster when he grows up.

Go Weston!

The Package...

Grandpa Knapp, who lives in Nebraska, sent the most awesome package for Weston's birthday. It was so great that it deserves it's very own post! I feel the need to issue a disclaimer: although Weston appears disgruntled in these photos, he was actually just serious, and seriously stoked about the contents of his special package! (YES, I did just use the word stoked, something I probably have not done since 1998.) Item #1: Duplo Legos! Very cool... but what lies underneath in the great mass of white packing peanuts?

A card, two slinkies, two flashlights, 4 cars...and PLENTY of adult vitamins! As a child, my dad repeatedly took advantage of my trusting naivete by telling me that all candies (especially chocolate candies) were actually "adult vitamins," and that it would in fact be dangerous for kids to partake of them! I think I was 15 before I realized that chocolate dipped Keebler cookies and chocolate covered wafers really wouldn't hurt me! So I guess I missed out on some candy as a child, but on the flip side, its pretty great. Every time my dad sends us a package of any size, it is always surrounded by oodles and oodles of chocolate candy!! Adult vitamins for Jason and me. Sweet! Grandpa was thoughtful in that he sent 4 cars - two for Weston and two for Sophie. I let Weston choose which two he got to keep. Sophie didn't care which ones she got anyway... she was thrilled! Plus, they each got their very own retro slinky, flashlight, and little carrying bags they can wear around their neck, kind of like a lanyard. Kids love that stuff, you know.

Oh, and Sophie also had a special little bunny waiting for her in that big box! She was pretty excited to try out the flashlight, and for some reason she thought this would be a good idea... but not for long! Happy little camper!

The package from Grandpa was long anticipated, and it did not disappoint!!

Weston's birthday

On Weston's birthday, my mom and I went to his preschool to bring cupcakes for all the kids. The cupcakes were huge and delicious... not that I got to taste one, but everyone (especially the teachers) kept oohing and aahing about how wonderfully tasty they were. I guess most people don't make things from scratch anymore.It is kind of hard to see in the picture, but there is a sign hanging around his neck of the number Four. It it was really cute!Sophie was a little clingy... it was her nap time after all!Love my boy. That night, we decided to have a picnic in our living room while watching Wall-E. Weston said that was the movie he wanted, so that was the one we watched. I can't say that it fulfilled all of my hopes and dreams, but what can you expect from a movie where people have morphed into bloated creatures and robots fall in love with each other? Mid-movie, we got a knock on the door from Uncle Ryan and soon-to-be Aunt Sadie... it was a pretty sweet surprise!

Weston excitedly ripped open their present and discovered...

A Toy Story video game! Holy cow. He was pretty ecstatic until we realized that it didn't work. Poor kid.He did still have fun attacking Uncle Ryan!

Too cute. I will post shortly about his birthday party... after all, I know you're waiting with bated breath for the details!

FOUR WHOLE YEARS!

I can't get over how truly amazing it is that Weston is talking so much. He began pre-school six months ago. It started off with a new word here, and a new word there. Pretty soon it was a steady stream of new words. After awhile, he had the confidence to try anything! Now, he consistently repeats the things he hears us say (for better or for worse). For the last three weeks, he has been reading a verse of scripture out loud every day!! We read a phrase, then he repeats. Sometimes he can only handle repeating one word at a time, but when I think of where he was just six short months ago at age 3.5, I can hardly believe it! He also prays at least once a day.

There are a few words that Weston still says his own way. Kind of like how he used to call Sophie "puppy" until he learned how to say "Sosie," and then eventually "Sosie" morphed into Sophie. Anyway, here are a few of Weston's words:

lope = yogurt

sirmut = syrup

vepables = vegetables

no-neets = noodles

Language development is not the only thing that's changed. Weston has grown so tall! He is taller than all the 5 year olds at school with him. I've had the chance to visit his preschool a few times now, and I've seen how he interacts with the other kids and with his teachers... he is so much like me! (Well, you know, except for wrestling with the other boys during outside play time.) He is an obedient student, a social creature, and somewhat of a people pleaser. Whenever he sees Sophie and me coming to visit his class, he gets all excited to include her in playing with all his friends.

Weston loves his little sister. Whenever she gets hurt, he kisses her face (always reporting to me exactly how many kisses he gave her... counting is one of his newest skills, after all). He'll comfort her by saying, "Okay Sophie? It's okay, Sophie!!" Weston doesn't just say things, though. He repeats them over and over and over again. He is extremely tenacious. He never gives up on what he wants, and he will e n d l e s s l y insist on something until he gets it. I'm not talking about the ordinary thing that all kids do where they just whine about something because they know you'll eventually give in if they just wear you down (although he has been known to try that, too). If he goes to sleep wanting something - assuming it is something we won't let him have - he will most likely fall asleep crying for it. But that is not the end! Whenever he wakes up, the first thing he'll do is start asking for that thing AGAIN! No matter how much you try to distract him or divert his attention to something else, he will absolutely NOT forget the thing he really wanted.

One day this past Fall, I thought it would be fun to look at some old pictures and watch some videos from when Weston was a baby. He loved this, but when he saw pictures from our trip to Disney world with Grandma, he became upset. He was upset because he saw himself wearing the Mickey shirt Grandma had given him, and he realized he didn't have it anymore (he had long since grown out of it). He began to cry, repeating over and over again that he wanted the Mickey shirt Grandma gave him! I wasn't sure if he was attached to the shirt because of his sheer, unadulterated love for Mickey Mouse (that really doesn't sound right), or because Grandma had given it to him. All I know is that I could NOT console the kid! He cried for at least an hour before the bus came, and he was crying so hard at that point that I had to carry him onto the bus and set him in his seat. When he came home from school three hours later, he walked in the house an immediately began crying about his shirt again! Needless to say, I found him a great Mickey shirt for Christmas... which he is equally attached to, I might add.

Not only is Weston extremely sentimental, but he has the memory of an elephant (okay so I got curious while I was writing this and just had to know if elephants really have the best memories of all the animals, and according to chacha.com, not that anyone has ever heard of them, either chimps or sea lions take the cake). In the people kingdom, I think Weston wins the prize. Of course, he has only now barely lived 4 years, so that remains to be seen! Let me share a story to illustrate my point. Yesterday we were going through his closet and sorting out his shirts. I looked at one cute orange shirt and said, "buddy, this is so cute, and I don't think you've ever even worn it!" He immediately recalled the one time he did in fact wear the shirt - several months ago while watching Back to the Future. He remembers details like that all the time.

When he was about three and a half (sometime in August), my mom came over to visit and asked me how the 24th went. She was referring to the 24th of July, meaning Pioneer Days... our Stake has a HUGE (and super fun I might add) celebration that weekend each year. We generally refer to it as Pioneer Days. We don't talk about it in terms of the date, so when she asked how the 24th went, I would have never guessed that Weston had any idea to what she was referring. And yet, to my utter surprise, he started telling her about the fireworks and how they hurt his ears! I'm sure at some point he heard someone say it was the 24th that day, and he just remembers things!

So last week Weston turned four. I was emotional that day, because it was also my mom-iversary! I thought about how his arrival into this world and our life was the best thing that ever had happened to me. I thought about the intense anticipation we all felt the day he was born. I also thought about how glad I was not to be reliving that day! When I think about all the life-altering moments in my life, Weston's birth tops them all. Of course my life changed dramatically for the good when Sophie was born too, but nothing in this world compares to becoming a mom for the first time. I don't think I really knew what love was until I had that tiny, adorable little boy in my arms! He had the most piercing, beautiful eyes, and large hands! He was long and skinny, but he quickly filled out. Now he is tall and thin again! He is tender and sweet like me, but he also has quite a sense of humor, which he clearly got from Jason. It is just so exciting to watch his personality emerge more and more as time marches forward. I am so proud of my little Weston!!

By the way, if you are still reading this post and you aren't family, you must be an extremely devoted friend! I will post the pictures of his birthday and birthday party, but for now I just wanted to record my thoughts on my little Bean, who is not so little anymore! We do still call him Bean sometimes, so just the other day I asked him whether he was a black bean, a pinto bean, a white navy bean, or a green bean (I didn't even give the option of being a kidney bean or a lima bean because they are just too gross). He responded that he was, in fact, a BLUE bean! I thought about that for a minute and then asked if he was a blue JELLY bean, which of course was what he meant. You've got to love that kid!!