A boy, a fish, and a prayer...

As much as my kids can frustrate me sometimes, they amaze me every day.  They are my greatest teachers.  Each and every day I can see why the Savior has told us to be like little children. They are so pure and good and happy. 

Myles taught me a HUGE lesson in faith a couple of months ago.  

We got two guppies last September.  Myles named his boy fish, Beedy Boder (??), and Wyn (with the help of Myles) named her girl fish, Nemo.  Nemo gave birth to like 5 batches of babies. It was so exciting for the kids.  I'll admit I got excited every time too. :) 

A couple of weeks after we brought Pierce home from the hospital Kenny and I could see that Beedy Boder was dying.  There's not really a whole lot to do for fish when they get sick.  So we waited. Finally, when Beedy Boder was laying on the bottom of the tank Kenny and I decided we should tell Myles what was happening. 

"Myles, Beedy Boder is dying." Kenny told him. "That means he's going to live with Heavenly Father and won't be in our tank anymore." 

At first Myles seemed okay but then he said, "But I like him." 

Then out of my mouth popped, "We can pray for him and Heavenly Father will help him to live." Immediately I thought, "Oh crap! Do I believe that will really happen? I better believe it."

Myles instantly wanted to pray.  He was always shy about praying, but he wanted to say that prayer. It was a sweet prayer.  Then I said my own prayer in my head to have enough faith that Beedy Boder would live. By the next day Beedy Boder was swimming around the tank again. It was truly a miracle. I'm so grateful for Myles and his immediate faith in what Heavenly Father could do for our family. No questions asked, just immediate belief.

Beedy Boder and Nemo lived for a few more months after that and then they really did die. Every time the kids talk about it though they just say, "It's okay, we'll see them again when we die."

It was hard to get a picture of Myles and Beedy Boder together, because that fish wiggled more than Myles. :)  But there they are together.  Myles with his arm around him. 

Beedy Boder is the black fish.

Magic Rocks

Back in February the kids got really into making Magic Rocks.

I filled the Magic Rocks with fun surprises and then they put them in a bowl and sprayed them with vinegar. Surprise! The rocks started to fizz and all the surprises were found.  Oh the joys of baking soda and vinegar.  The kids got kind of obsessed with this for a few days. I got this idea from Pinterest, of course. :)

They never got sick of the fizzing.

This is what Pierce did while they fizzed.

Round 2, the next day.

It got a bit messy so we decided that clothing was overrated.

Wyn still wore her basket on her head though. :)

Valentines Day and Naked Eggs

These pics are from February.

This first one is of Pierce just out of the bath.

Such a weird face!

He must have been hungry. :)

My little Valentines!

We ate too much candy on Valentines Day, but it was fun! :)

One day shy of one month old in this pic.  

He's growing way too fast!

Naked Eggs!

I've been trying to do more experiments with the kids.

This was our first one.

Take two normal eggs.

Soak them in vinegar for 24 hours.

They lose their clothes and become naked!

And bouncy!!

Pretty cool, huh?

Oops! Not that bouncy, Wyn! :)

That is the shell she is holding.

Here is Myles' egg mess.

 They were both sad that their eggs broke, so we did it again

And presto! 

Another nakey egg!

  

 Myles loves to destroy and crash things, so he still wanted to drop his egg, but I didn't want the mess.

So he came up with this brilliant idea!

Getting ready to drop...

And smash! 

You can see in the bag that we had put a smiley face on his egg before it dropped.

The vinegar had enlarged the eggs a bit. 

So while Wyn was napping we decided to shrink her naked egg in some corn syrup.

We had to soak it for another day.

 Looking at her shrinking egg.

Wyn wouldn't touch her shrunken, naked egg, but I wanted her in the picture.  

So I held it for her.

This experiment was a big hit with the kids, and it was fun to do something a bit different. This idea came from Pinterest, of course! :)

January 2013

About 2 weeks after we brought Pierce home from the hospital, my older sister, Ylfe, came to take care of me and Pierce and our whole family.  She was so great.  She cooked and cleaned and took Pierce at early hours in the morning so I could rest and recover. She has six kids at home so it was definitely a sacrifice for her and her family to come and help out.  What a great sister!! Love her to pieces! 

Thanks for coming out, Ylfe!! We all loved it so much!

Here are some pictures that I took while she was here.

All the kids look so much younger in these pictures even though it's only been 3 months.

Tiny Pierce.

This is Wyn, Myles, and cousin Zac.  Ylfe brought her youngest, Zac. The kids had lots of fun playing together. This is them playing with peanut butter playdough that Ylfe made for them. 

Here are Zac and Myles riding in the car.  Ylfe took them sledding and out to lunch and a toy store. Again, she was awesome!

Little Pierce Man. 

I wish I would've taken a picture of my sister and I while she was here, but I kept forgetting. It was so fun to have her here though!!

Myles and Daddy Date

We've been trying to do weekly dates with the kids. 

There's not tons to do around here, so sometimes we have to get creative so we're not just going to McDonald's.  Myles really likes to take pictures.  So for his last date with Daddy (in January sometime) they went around town taking pictures of whatever was interesting to him.

So here they are.

The sun.

His legos on his lap.

A sign.

The cemetery.

And a mud puddle. 

It's kinda fun to see what's important to him. :)

Life with Pierce

So to be completely honest, I feel like my transition to having three kids has been easier than it was going from one to two.  Pierce is a pretty calm baby though.  He is also very gassy though around 3am! But the kids love him and I'm just so grateful Myles and Wyn play well together.  Another thing that has been helpful (and this will sound weird) is that the kids are still naughty in the ways that they used to be.  Wyn has a few more tantrums now, but for the most part I haven't had any surprises with their behavior.  Plus, I think having a baby around just brings a calmness to the house. 

We got home from Salt Lake with Pierce after being gone for almost a whole week and hadn't seen the kids at all.  Myles looked at me and my stomach with wide eyes and said, "You had a baby! Do you feel so much better?" It was so sweet.  He took to Pierce very fast.  He loves to help him when he's crying and always wants to hold him and really wants me to let him walk around with him. I can also see in his eyes sometimes that he just wants to tackle Pierce and play with him. :)

Sweet Pierce.

Myles put his car "Casti" on him to play with. 

Every time we've had a baby I end up with the baby on the couch and Kenny follows us out and he sleeps on the floor.  He is the best and sweetest! 

Here he is getting extra snuggles in the morning from Myles.

Snuggles from Wyn.

Wyn wanted to hold Pierce the day after we came home, but wasn't completely sold on the idea of giving up her spot as the baby. She's doing much better now though.

 Love babies!

Myles and Daddy.

I is for Igloos!

For preschool a few weeks ago we were learning about the letter 'I'.  

We made igloos out of marshmallows, frosting, and styrofoam cups.

An idea from pinterest, of course. :)

Myles asked if we could add some smarties too. So we did.

The kids loved it and had a great time!