love these four boys

I know mother's day has come and gone. But I'm okay to think about how much I love being their mother everyday.

Having four boys can be somewhat exhausting at times. Probably not any more than anyone who has four kids in general. But I'm not sure if girls are dragging in every cool rock they find outside. Not sure if they drag legos is every single room in the house. Not sure if they are wrestling each other everyday. I just don't know. Are they? 
But I'm okay with all that boys bring because I really kind of like these boys. I just can't imagine it any other way.

Whenever we are all out running errands, I get at least one comment like this...

"wow you have your hands full"

"oh, I'm sorry"

"you need a girl"

No, please don't feel bad for me. I am so happy. I would never EVER trade one of these boys just to have a girl. 

Would that be tacky to tape a sign to me that says that??

but then sometimes I get this comment...

"I have all boys. It's great."

On another note.

I sometimes feel like I am failing as a parent because our boys aren't in every extra curricular activity. They didn't go to pre-school. And we don't take our kids to every theme park around. I know *gasp*. For some reason, they get excited to jump on the tramp, play in the sandbox, be creative with what we have at home, read books with mom, and make treats together. We will be having one of our first big family vacations this year....and it's not to Disneyland! I know our boys are happy, but again, I still feel at times that people look down on us because we aren't giving our children more.

Then I read a fantastic article in the ensign last night!

For one year, they chose to forgo dance and sports; instead they prepared meals, learned Primary songs, visited museums, and played outdoors. “Our children were able to feel the Spirit … because we took the time to stop and listen,” Amy says. Their children may not be the top sports and dance stars, she says, “but they have a testimony of the Savior.”

Love! Love! Love! And that is my goal as a mother.

I also hope that I can discover who they are, what their talents are, and then help each of them grow into the man that they are meant to become individually. Thank goodness Justin is my partner in this!

 And while I am discovering and trying to do my best, I hope that they feel my complete love for each one of them.

busy happy corby

We just love this boy! Who just so happens to have had lots going on lately.

he had the ever popular pinewood derby.

which he proudly painted himself.

Corbin was so excited to hang out with his friends and watch the race. He especially loved that his best friend was right there by him. 

(I wish I had video of the two of them waiting for the race to begin.)

 Corbin's car raced five different times. The first four times he got last place... 

by the time he got to the last round he was a bit sad, but still so hopeful.  As it raced across the finish line, his car got third place...not fourth...

you would have thought he won the gold medal. 

I love this kid!!

Corbin is not a die hard athlete, but he is an active one and loves to be outside. He loves playing basketball with his friends at school and then at home with dad. He also loves tossing the frisbee with dad. He's getting pretty darn good at both. 

The 3rd graders had a wax museum.

Corbin chose to be Dr Suess.

 

He worked really hard on this project and got many compliments on being the BEST and CUTEST dr. suess. 

We've known for a very long time that Corbin is an energetic, fun-living, silly boy. These class pictures are confirming what we already knew.  Can you spot him?

ya. He thought he was being hilarious...

memorial weekend

Absolutely loved our long weekend. Such a great tease to what we have to look forward to after next week. Cannot wait. 

We played lots and lots of games. Our favorites: memory, go fish, thirteen, hide n go seek, and sardines. 

(Rudger would cry out for me every time I would ask where they were hiding. He's kind of in a major mommy's boy mode right now)

 We had to have too many baths from playing in sand and dirt all weekend.
(love love love his hair. it never lays flat. Justin keeps threatening to cut it while I'm at yws, but I think he secretly loves it too)

 Rudger has been starting to crawl lately, but only backwards. He's gotten himself in some serious predicaments. (like the back corner of his half closed closet)

Breakfast outside is the best.

 Yard work is a fav.

We saw the light and made our sandbox a little smaller. (the boys only agreed to this because it made the sand deeper) We worked on our fire pit. Then we planted nine trees and a dead bush. 

The boys played in the sand and painted rocks all while in their jammies. 

We enjoyed a nice leisurely walk in the mountains and found the most beautiful flowers. 

 And the coolest chairs in nature.

 (someone is sporting some awesome shoes and spider man jammies.) 

 And of course we ended with a bbq. These hamburgers, fries, and drink are the best!

(and we used my new little baskets from target dollar section, love these! i have a feeling we will have lots of dinners in these)

We also enjoyed getting together with Justin's sister and brother-in-law for some homemade ice cream. rocky road style. 

And we finished the beloved Harry Potter and the sorcerer stone as a family and are now reading the chamber of secrets. *squeel*

I also learned my lesson for leaving bags of garbage and recycle on the floor.

I love memorial weekends. I love my family. I love those who have and are serving our country. Goodness, I just love this country. 

too much fun with our baby

It's true. We have some kiddos and a daddy and a mommy who have had plenty of fun and love to share with this boy.

I am pretty certain he is feeling the love.

remember easter 2013

Yes we had easter this year. It was one of the best. Unfortunately there aren't enough pictures to show the beauty of the season. 

A couple of months ago our cute neighbor girl was over, she was watching me make tacos and she told me she loves tacos. I told her we would have to get together with our families and make them. 

She did. not. forget.

The Friday before easter we finally had them over for taco night, we dyed almost 7 dozen eggs, then we played the candy bar game. Love this family to pieces. 

(*sidenote* Taylor brought tears to my eyes, when he willingly gave up his candybar to help make our little friend happy who was just so devastated with the candy bar he was left with.  Love that boy.)   

 Saturday morning was the neighborhood easter egg hunt. Good times.

 The rest of the weekend was wonderful. Again. someone forgot to take pictures.

After watching videos of our Savior all week, I feel like the boys understood more this year and grew to love our Savior even more. 

I feel so grateful to celebrate the beauty of this season with our children.

And just so you know, Rudger really was there all weekend. He loved easter too.