On My Honor...I Forget the Rest

Anyone who knows me very well probably knows that I've been avoiding the scouting program since I got married. At one point, when I was called to be Primary President, I called a counselor just to handle 'all things scouts' so I wouldn't have to figure it all out. I actually told her that I didn't care if she didn't do anything else, so long as I didn't have to go there. It's not that I'm against scouting. Both of my brothers are Eagle Scouts and so is my husband. In high school I helped some of my friends with their scout projects. Scouting is great and I want my boys to participate in the program. I just don't get the program. Scouting is a language all of its own. I think it includes wolves, bears, eagles, and I want to say chipmunks, but that can't be right because all of the other creatures would eat them. I think scouts are supposed to learn to light fires and sing songs about peanut butter and jelly. I was always jealous of the food (especially the pudding snacks and trail mix) that my mom would buy for my brothers to take on their scouting campouts. I also wished that the young women would have a pine wood derby night and get to paint up blocks of wood into race cars. Who wouldn't like that?? And that nearly sums up my knowledge of scouting. I was planning on learning the rest of the stuff when my boys got to be older. So just imagine my surprise when, in this temporary ward, I was asked to be a leader of the "bears". Really?????? I thought I was off the hook until Daniel was 8. (That is less that a year away! Yikes.) So I'm not really sure what I'm doing. The book seems to be in code. Since I was never a scout myself, I could really use an interpretive manual. It skips all over the place and talks about someone called Akea or something. Why don't they just make scouting straight forward. Could someone just give me a list of requirements. What is all of this talk of belt loops and beads and arrows?? Maybe this will give me the chance to figure it all out, so I'll get it right when my own boys are involved. Oh well, here goes nothing...Now would be a great time for us to get that house we're waiting for.

Daniel and Liam are Cascade Cougars--for now!

We were hoping we'd be in a home of our own by now so that we wouldn't have to uproot the boys from another school, but the school year is beginning, so Daniel and Liam are attending here in Orem. Actually, it is the same school that Nathan went to (just for Kindergarten and 1st grade).

The boys were really excited for school to start. Grandma bought the boys new backpacks and lunch bags since everything we own is somewhere, in some box, in storage.

It's hard to believe that Daniel is already in second grade. What a handsome kid. His teacher sat him next to a very difficult student in the class. Daniel can be such a perfectionist and a bit of a policeman, so I worried about how this might turn out. (Oh 'me' of little faith.) But his teacher has been very impressed at how Daniel does not allow himself to be distracted or off task through it all. Good job, Daniel. And what is Daniel's favorite part of the school day??--Recess of course. Specifically, tag. I worried a bit when Daniel couldn't tell me the names of any new friends he'd made, for a week or two into the year. Then he started pointing to kids and saying, "They're not in my class, but we play tag everyday at recess." I guess there's not a lot of time for formal introductions when playing tag. Now I think Daniel knows more kids than most in the school--although many are not in his class or even his age!

Liam is now officially school age too, making his debut in kindergarten. I worried that he would be the class clown a little too often but his teacher keeps telling me just how impressed she's been as Liam has been a peacemaker in class. (I know that he is both a clown and peacemaker... let's just hope that the peacemaker is a stronger trait than the clown.) Liam is already reading Daniel's first grade booklets. It is still hard to motivate him to do it, but I have to remind myself to be patient, Daniel has only now started understanding the concept of getting homework done fast so there's more time to play. He may not love it, but this kid's got skills!

I would normally be starting joy school or preschool with Caleb right now, but I think I'll just work with him at home for a while until we get our own place. Then when we're settled I can find somewhere that feels right. Caleb is a funny kid. He has gotten a little clingy through this move. He can tell you all of the sounds of the letters in the alphabet and even some words that start with a specific letter, but he can't remember all of the names of the letters. It's all a little backwards. I guess that shouldn't surprise me because Caleb loves to be upside down. He's always hanging off of his chair and loves for me to swing him upside down like a pendulum. I wondered if he was color blind for a while because he can't name all of his colors. (I'm pretty sure both my other boys had them down by this age.) But lately, I've discovered that although he doesn't get his color names right he know what they are. Instead of yellow he says banana. Red is stop and green is go...I guess the right label will come eventually.

When I found out that I was pregnant with Caleb, many people commented on how easy it would be because I had two other boys and I'd know exactly what to expect. WRONG! It doesn't work that way. Each of my boys is so different. I guess, in all fairness, I'm different with each of my boys. So I guess this education thing is not just for them but perhaps even more for me.

Loving Liam

Liam is my little peacemaker. He is always concerned for his brothers. When he was little and I'd take Caleb in for shots, Liam would come out crying. Caleb would have a dry face and so people in the waiting room would ask if Liam just got shots. I'd explain that he didn't, but he was crying for his brother. It was really sweet. Now, if I leave to go anywhere, Liam worries that Caleb will cry or be sad. If Caleb starts crying because he wants a toy that Liam has, Liam will almost always hand it over to make him happy. This week Liam built Caleb a few lego spaceships. After inspecting them Caleb was sad that his didn't have guns. Liam looked for some, but didn't find any so he took some off his own spaceship and gave them to Caleb. Liam shares his treats from Primary with his brothers, without being asked.

Now that Liam is in kindergarten others are starting to notice how sweet he is. His teacher told me that a few kids were fighting over jump ropes at recess that day. Liam said, "It's OK I can wait. It's just a jump rope!" She said he earned all of his gold stars that day. A day or two later she told me that when they visited the library, all of the kids were fighting to get Star Wars books. Liam said, "It's all right, we can take turns. There are lots of books." Wow! A golden child!

Yesterday, Nathan took Daniel and Liam to their first BYU football game. I think they had fun despite the miserable loss. Nathan told me that when everyone was very upset by the opposing teams' scoring, Liam turned to him with a quizzical look on his face and said, "It's just a game!" There's perspective. I was at home worrying that my boys' first introduction to BYU games with their dad was ruined, but I think Liam kept things real. (It might have helped that he fell asleep before it got even worse in the end.)

Liam is the sunshine in my soul today. He is doing very well in his kindergarten class. I am so proud of him. He doesn't like doing homework (one of the few things that makes him grumpy), but he loves playing Lego Star Wars, so he will do homework for the chance to play. Liam loves being here with Grandma and Grandpa. When we went to Nathan's office family picnic he was sad that Grandma wasn't there. He cried one morning when Grandma had to leave for work. He often tells me, "Mom, you're beautiful." He also says, "____(insert name ie. Grandma, Grandpa, Caleb, Daniel, Mom, or Dad), You're the best." After doing something he likes he often says, "This is the best day ever!" He also says, "This is not any fun!" when he has to go to bed, or stop playing Lego Star Wars.

Liam is also has a very clever sense of humor. He definitely adds a lot of laughter to our family. I don't know how to describe it, but a while back, I was talking with one of the boys (insert Daniel) about why it's important to do homework. Unbeknownst to me, Liam was standing behind me doing the "Snoopy". That sounds weird and if I attempted to describe it, I don't know that I could make it sound any better. For those of you who have seen Charlie Brown's Christmas tree, there is a point in which Lucy is scolding the cast about responsibility and doing a good job and how it all takes practice, work, and patience. Snoopy is standing behind Lucy, pretending to scold the cast by mimicking everything that Lucy does. Well, that's what Liam was doing and we all started laughing so hard. Just yesterday, we were all sitting at the dinner table when Nathan said to Liam, "Daniel is eating his all of his food and is about to win". Liam's response? He started to rub his eyes and pretended to cry. We all started to laugh hysterically. Liam makes me smile. I love him so much.