"it warms the cockles of my heart"

This expression reminds me of my mom. I've heard her use it often. I had a couple of those simple, yet 'heart warming' moments this week that I want to jot down before I forget them.

On Monday, Burke was up a little later than usual finishing homework (he had soccer practice and then our family went to the park with some friends for a birthday party). Hewitt was already in bed and when I went up with Burke to say goodnight I told him not to talk to Hewitt because I thought he might be asleep. As I was closing the door, I heard Burke starting to talk. I began to feel upset since I had just asked him to be quiet and to go right to sleep. I opened the door to tell him to be quiet and heard him say, "Goodnight, Hewitt. I love you."

Hewitt's birthday is right around the corner. We stopped at the mailbox on the way home from school on Wednesday to discover a birthday check for Hewitt from Grandma and Grandpa Pete. Normally, Rob I will just buy something for the kids "From Grandma and Grandpa" without the kids being aware of us cashing their check and selecting the gift. Since Hewitt is going to be seven (!), I thought that maybe he would like to make a few suggestions of what he might like (we've already purchased our gifts to him and I haven't yet asked him for any input). He was shocked to see a check in his name, and got very wide-eyed looking at the amount (super cute). I asked Hewitt to start thinking about what he might like to buy for his birthday and then moved on to putting together a snack and talking to Burke about homework, etc. About five to ten minutes later, Hewitt says, "Mom, do you remember when we went to California last year? Remember when we went into that gas station and Liv really wanted that doll [and cried a ton when we didn't buy it]? I want to buy that for her."

Heart melts.


Our days and nights have been much better since I put a gate up at Liv's door. She stays in bed, and naps and sleeps just like she used to...at least for now. Hewitt lifted her out of her room and got her dressed on Wednesday. Granted she wore a Minnie Mouse swimsuit cover all day, but it was sweet and I love that Hewitt still takes care of her, reads to her, and even brings her his treats from school sometimes.

The big hole is getting deeper. Rob tells me it will be done tomorrow, but I'm not holding my breath or anything. Hewitt helped Rob on Tuesday morning before school:

Liv watched them and played under the trampoline. Here she is showing her favorite silly smile:


It's actually cooling down a bit at night FINALLY. We still hit low 100s during the day, so it feels like "normal for most people" summer now. I'll take it. Maybe I'll start venturing out during the day to the park or zoo soon. We'll see. Tosh got a low fever on Tuesday night and now has a asthma/allergy cough. Hopefully we'll all be healthy and get out to enjoy autumn soon.

15 years later...

Rob and I met 15 years ago today! It was at a retreat up Hobble Creek Canyon, UT with the Young Ambassadors. It was the first time that the band guys and singer/dancers were introduced. Rob and I were on the same team for a scavenger hunt. Most of you may know that we didn't give each other a second thought at the time (and probably had our first real conversation about 5 months after meeting). For the record, I only realized that we first met on September 12th just a couple of weeks ago when I was going through a box of old things and found a flier giving directions to the cabin in Hobble Creek. When I reminded Rob that we were on the same team, he admitted that he didn't remember that at all but only that his team won the scavenger hunt! Not surprising.

So I neglected posting last week (again). We stuck around home for Labor Day weekend and spent a lot of time on the yard. Rob was (thankfully) feeling better after being quite sick for two weeks. I finally went against my "no digging" policy and put on my work gloves and helped Rob dig and move gravel for several hours. We are still a few inches short for the tramp and so Rob hired a 19 yr. old kid we know (leaving on his mission in December) to hopefully finish it up soon. I keep reminding Rob of how crazy he was to start this huge digging project in late July! We have finally had a few days that haven't gone into the 100s. This has been the warmest August in Phoenix on record!!! I guess we'll always remember the hottest August as the one when Rob dug a big hole.

We were pretty much burnt out on 'labor' around the house on Labor Day, so we mostly hung out and played with the kids on Monday. Rob was doing some crazy things with the kids (see photo) until I put a stop to it.

A couple of random pics of the younger kids: Wow, is Liv a handful lately. Do I say this every week? Not only is she as busy as ever getting into drawers, climbing on everything, dumping boxes of crackers on the floor, pulling off her diaper and going poo on the carpet, etc. (sigh), but she is suddenly having sleeping issues! She has been an amazing sleeper since she was tiny (napping well and sleeping through the night). She is now fighting naps about every other day and getting out of bed multiple times at night. What is happening!?! I know that 'the nap' is a war I will eventually lose, but I am determined to win many more battles. The all-time low was this weekend when she woke up at 4:45 on Sunday morning, fell asleep late on Sunday afternoon and then didn't go to sleep until 11:00 Sunday night. She ended up in bed with me (for the first time in her life) and then was up again at 5:00AM this morning. Age two doesn't last forever, right? Good thing she is so cute.She is talking more and more each day. A couple of my favorite things lately is that she says "Shaw" for "Tosh," and if I ask her something like if she is ready for bed or if her diaper is stinky she will say, "No I not."

So soccer season is here once again. This is the first year we have all three boys playing. We have a few overlaps in games, but never all three kids playing at the exact same time which is a good thing since there are only two of us.

Here are a couple of shots in the new jerseys:

Tosh looked so cute in his shin guards and cleats, although he was a little low energy at his first game. I took all the kids in for flu shots on Friday and I heard Tosh telling his coach that he couldn't run fast because he had gotten a shot at the doctor. :(

I had two episodes this week where something struck me funny and I got laughing so hard that my laughter turned to tears, which turned to complete weeping. One of these was in a public setting and it was a little embarrassing... My emotions are a little out of control to say the least. I've read a few things lately referring to blogs as being somewhat fake, and though I must admit to trying to focus on positive things to write about on here, I try to be real about my ups and downs. Even though it's been a rough year, I look around at what others are dealing with and I feel incredibly grateful and blessed for my current challenges and trials. I am really trying to find more "joy in the journey," and to just take things one day at a time.