some randoms

this is all you get of easter because i never remember to take pictures. grandma gibbs gave the boys easter outfits which they love. and they always have to wear them at the same time.

my parents went to italy for a couple weeks, so the twins spent a lot of time with us. my boys looooove their uncles.

birthday #4

okay, i'm just gonna lay it out there. i'm never gonna be the mom with the blow-your-mind theme parties that are perfectly organized for every birthday. ain't gonna happen. in fact, pretty sure i'm only gonna do what is necessary to get by...presents and some cake. i console myself by thinking that this is all they really care about anyway. and pretty sure, since jack's birthday happened to land on the same day as our weekly playgroup, i casually mushed the party and playgroup all into one. no invites needed. check.

remember my pitiful attempt at a baseball cake last year? the one where i ran out of red gel and couldn't even finish the strings? sadly, i can't decide if these cupcakes turned out any better.

jack's buddies: evan, tyson, christian, and holly

ps where is franklin?

we also had a big shindig with our families. my boys are very lucky to have so much family that loves them. we had a big game of kickball, pizza, cake, and presents.

you think girls love tangled? my boys looove it, and sam asks shawn to sing him tangled songs every night at dinner. does shawn know them? why yes, yes he does.

the ultimate tough guy gear. thanks to the scotts!

sam loved the scooter.

my fam hadn't seen tangled yet, so we all sat down to watch together. pretty sure this was my mom's favorite moment.

messing around

i was laying on my side and sam came and plopped himself down.

never to be outdone.

my boys

3 peas in a pod.

these boys looooooove their daddy. not sure how to emphasize that enough.

sam

i cannot get enough of this boy.

a true fashionista.

grandma gibbs gave jack this awesome dr. jacket so he could be like his dad. sam wanted to try it on and i fell in love all over again. he loves to take my temperature, check my reflexes (my belly-button reflex is doing well, by the way), and give me shots.

he is at that stage where his vocabulary multiplies exponentially every day. i am astounded at how much he picks up. i love hearing him reply in his little voice "kay, mommy", or "sah-ee" (sorry), or "HHHIIII, JACK!" so cute.

jack

oh jack. there are no words.

okay, maybe there are some...like what prevented you from continuing your masterpiece and painting the whole body? or maybe that i would have gone with a different shade of blue? but mostly i just said, i'm so glad your dad is home to deal with this.

this is what happened one day when he didn't feel like taking a nap but i shut him up in his room anyway.

look at him, he's seriously feeling cool in this one.

this is supposed to be a shot of sam but jack was really happy to stick himself in the foreground.

i'm not totally sure what these pics are. a sword and cheesestick wielding ninja, i guess.

this kid has more personality in one finger than i do in my whole body. he's stinkin' smart, funny, and a true baller. seriously. and he's almost 4. wha?!?...

praying is tricky

it really is. figuring it all out can be a challenge. but jack is really starting to get the hang of it. here's a couple examples:

he's really good at saying a memorized prayer, and most of the time, it's not really time appropriate, ie "bless daddy to drive home safely" and shawn is sitting across from him at the dinner table. but he says it because at some point in the last 6 months, he was prompted to. so his prayer has become a memorized conglomerate of said prompted moments. a couple of nights ago, when he volunteered to say family prayer, we encouraged him to think of 2 new things to pray to Heavenly Father about (thinking they would be tacked on to the list of memorized petitions).

dear Heavenly Father,
please bless jack that he won't be afraid,
please bless sam that he won't be afraid.
in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

2 things, done.

after further encouragement to think about what he is praying for this spilled out at the dinner table last night:

dear Heavenly Father,
thank you for this day.
thank you for this food, please bless it to make us healthy and happy.
please bless nephi that he will build a ship.
and please bless mary and Jesus that they will make it to egypt.
in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

brilliant. pray for things that have already happened so then you know prayer works.

absolutely scrumptious.