Taking advantage

Today I took advantage of the fact that:

1. it is overcast outside

2. my kids were in nice clothes

3. my kids like hold hands!

The walked down the whole length of this fence stopping to laugh at each other every few feet.

I tried to give them directions during this impromptu photo taking session, but they ignored everything I said. And thank goodness they did.

Hurt

Yesterday baby Miles passed away.
Last night...
I got home and my eyes and head hurt from crying,

my back hurt from sitting in hospital chairs,

my mind hurt from thinking heavy thoughts,

my knees hurt from praying (not literally, but you know what I mean)

but most of all my heart hurt for my brother and his sweet wife. I wish I could take this away.

Ashley and I got pregnant at the same time and come march, neither if us will have a baby to hold. That's HARD. But we will both be okay.

I took as many pictures as my battery would let me. Why oh why did I not charge my battery the night before! I love baby Miles.

here he is by his Daddy's handand here is his hand by his aunt Debbie's finger.Russ saying goodbye.Russ holding him without all the tubing. He is such a handsome baby. His nose is so defined for a baby, let alone a baby that is not fully developed. Last night I was trying to explain to William that he died and that is a concept that is really hard for him to understand. I told him that his body was still here but that his spirit was in heaven with Heavenly Father and Jesus and he said, "oh, is Heavenly Father holding him?" and I said yes and he said, "that's happy." Yes William it is. I may have told a white lie. I don't actually know that Heavenly Father is holding him. From what I understand his parents are the ones he needs to hold more right now, and I think he is.

Today

I am trying to get my house in better order so I can put up Christmas decorations.

I am staying close to my phone to hear any news about this little guy.

I am praying that, God willing, he will live. Will you pray with me?

Camelot - while we were unpacking

We took a break from packing to go and see Camelot with Russ' parents at the Hale Theater. Russ played Arthur in his high school play (can you believe that?) We went to Joe's Real BBQ first and it was yummy. The play was great too.
I dared Russ to run through the fountain and he got nailed.

Ha! Ha!

PB&J...&B - while we were unpacking

Gracie wanted to eat her lunch - a PB&J, but...
She didn't want to put her baby down

So she got PB&J too. And they both got really messy.

Chapstick - while we were unpacking

I had all my cosmetics on the bathroom counter while I was sorting through it and William found three chapsticks that he became attached to. He would periodically run into the bathroom and say, "I need chapstick" and then put all of them on in order. He did this like 20 times a day and must have had the smoothest lips in town.

The chapstick sat exactly like this for days.

sprinkles

It was sprinkling outside so the kids and I went out to run around.

And I was barefoot so hopefully I won't catch my death. (when I was younger and it would rain my sister and I would go running down the street barefoot and our friend would always be standing under a jacket or umbrella in front of her house and would tell us we would get sick. It wouldn't be long before she was running with us.)
Instructions for water play from my 4 year old:

1. Put your hand in the water until it is good and wet2. Then shake it at your mom until she is good and wet.Instructions for water play from my 16 month old:

1. Put your hands in the water until they are good and wet.2. Then rub them on your shirt until it is good and wet.

At any rate just have a good time!

Visitors

We had some visitors at our new home. Below is a picture of Russ' sister Kirsten. She and her family and Russ' mom and dad came over for dinner and visiting. They not only brought clothes for William, they brought him some late birthday presents.Some play pots and pans and a play food game. William loves both. Now hopefully Mommy clause will get his Christmas kitchen done in a month.Here is William telling his dad a pretty intense story. You can tell by the facial expressions. I wish we saw these cats more often.

Puddle Jumping

Russ' sister came over for a visit all the way from Tacoma they brought bags and bags of clothes for us. In them was this awesome raincoat and hat. I decided to let William play in the big puddle in front of our new red brick home.Nothing is better than running, jumping and kicking in water. Mostly because there are natural sound effects. These next three pictures are all mid-jump and they all make me smile.

After convincing him that he had played in the water long enough (20 min. at least) we went and sat on the porch steps

and he was super gigglyand cuteShaking the water out of his boots.
Then he wanted to take a picture of me. Viola!We are officially moved in and unpacked, except my craft room. We didn't have Internet for over a week so the next week of posts will be catching up with the -while we were unpacking-happenings.

To be a kid

The thing that is great about kids is turning everything into fun or a game. Can you imagine having this much fun getting yourself clean? Maybe you do.

Gracie pushing William over.

Clean kids reading stories. William read the whole memorized story to me and Gracie reads books to herself all the time. She loves reading stories. When Connie walks in the door from work Grace will run up to her and Connie will squat down to give her a hug. Once you are in squat position this little girl turns around and backs her little rump right into your lap forcing you to sit down. Most the time when she does this, she wants you to read to her.

**Some exciting news** All the technical junk went through and I started to unpack in the rental house. I am soooo excited about this. I will do a post later about this little house that I love, but this weekend I am unpacking!