Happy Birthday Patrick!

Yesterday was Patrick's 3rd birthday!! I can't believe that he is 3 years old. It seems like it was only months ago that he was a baby that I could cuddle easily in my arms.

And, now Patrick is so big. He is talking so much more!! I know I have expressed my concerns over his speech in the past, and I'm finally beginning to relax because he is jabbering so much. The last week has been so fun because Patrick is talking and talking and talking. Some of my favorite lines are:

• I play with Ian. 
• I pee bubbles. 
• I pooped my pants by the farmhouse (its a toy farmhouse and yes we are working on potty training right now.).
• Dad is home, Dad's home.
• Lets catch the bus

There are so many other things that he says. Anyways, we celebrated the bulk of his birthday on Sunday (a day earlier) because I wanted Broden to take part of the festivities. Broden works crazy hours, and I wanted him to be around for his son's birthday. Patrick had his aunts, uncles, and cousins come over to have cake and ice cream and to open presents.

Patrick is obsessed with trains so I made him a train. I made sure to put lots of blue on it since blue is his favorite color. I also made green cupcakes because his birthday is on St. Patrick's Day!

Patrick had lots of fun opening up his presents. Because his older cousin no longer plays with the firetruck pictured below, my sister-in-law brought it over for Patrick. Let's just say that he was more than thrilled.

And, Patrick got a train set!! We got the table, train tracks, and buildings from a family in our ward. They were going to DI it, and they gave it to us for free. Thank you so much for making Patrick's birthday so special. We just had to buy some trains.

Patrick sure loves his cake!

This is my cute family! We all made sure to wear green!

On Patrick's official birthday, he couldn't stop playing with his train set. He talked about it all day long and didn't want to part from it for one second. Even Ian likes the trains.

And, here are some cute pictures of my boys. Patrick doesn't like getting his picture taken now so I get pictures with funny expressions. Silly boy! I am just glad that Patrick loves Ian and Ian loves Patrick. These boys are such blessings in my life, and I'm working really hard on focusing on the positive! They are making me be a better person!

Happy Birthday Patrick! You are such a dear sweet boy.

Beautiful Sunshine

The weather has finally warmed up, and I couldn't resist taking the kiddos out on a walk. We have been cooped up in the house for a while because of illnesses and bad weather.

But, this last Saturday the weather was beautiful. Broden wasn't able to join us when we went to the park because he was working mandatory overtime. Broden works so hard to take care of our family. I'm so grateful for him.

Patrick had a blast at the park. He has been asking to go to the park for months now. He just loves this red fire truck. I normally sit there with him because he wants me too. I'm glad that he wants me to play with him.

Then, there is the big slide that he can't stop going down. He will say, "Again. Go down slide again!". You can sure see the joy in his face.

And, of course, Patrick had to swing! Who can say no to swinging??

Ian slept the entire time at the park. The only time he napped today. Ian has been a little stinker lately and refuses to sleep for me. I don't get much sleep because of him. But, I sure love him. He did have a big smile on his face at home!

I sure love my boys! I hope that Broden will be able to join in on our adventures too. Patrick sure misses Dad a lot. Anytime he hears the back door open or close, he comes running through the house yelling, "Dads home. Dads home." The door he hears is me going into the laundry room. I just love seeing and hearing how much Patrick loves Broden. Just goes to show how Broden is a wonderful Dad!

Chasing Balls

Ian is now crawling! I can't believe how much he has grown and how fast time has gone. Ian will be a year old in about 5 months!

Ian is quite pleased with his army crawling/regular crawling skills. He can get toys and into other things that he normally couldn't. He loves this toy T bone steak. He is also obsessed with my cell phone. If he sees it on the ground by me, then he will crawl as fast as he can to get it. Thankfully, I'm still faster.

Tonight, he loved chasing this green ball around. It was so cute because he had to learn how to hold it otherwise it would pop right out of his hands. His crawling method makes me laugh because it looks like he is swimming on land.

Patrick is so proud of Ian and loves to get down on the ground with him and play. Patrick can't wait until Ian is older because he wants Ian to join in his adventures. I have to stop Patrick from pulling Ian around the house. Patrick thinks that is totally acceptable to do this! Silly boy. And, Patrick loves to copy Ian. I have pretty funny stories. I wrote about them on my other blog, the Howling Horn, so here is the link to Copycat.

Patrick is speaking so much more this last month, and I'm so grateful for this change. And, I think he has finally decided speech is a valuable skill. I have been so worried about him that I can barely think about other things. I think the preschool activities I have been doing at home have really helped him. We focus on a letter a week and do various activities to learn about that letter. It has been some work to do, but I love to see how much Patrick enjoys the activities.

Here are my posts that describe what I have been doing for the preschool activities.
Letter A
Letter C
Letter E

I sure have to say that we are one cute family!!! I sure love my boys.

Family Cuteness

So I know it has been a little bit since I have posted something about my family. It has been a crazy month because I have started up a blog with a good friend. Go here and check out the Howling Horn. You should totally follow it. Anyways, and I have been super busy with my two kiddos and have been under the weather for the little bit. And, I will get up my Family Home Evening plans for March because I need a little bit more time.

But, I told myself I needed to post something so I am going to share some cuteness of my family. Ian is getting bigger. I can't believe he is almost 7 months now!! We are just starting to do solids, and he is loving it. He doesn't eat tons, but we don't have to fight him to try it. We are introducing the solids through purees and soft chunks. Ian enjoys eating his peas, avocados, and squash.

Patrick loves being a big brother to Ian, and insists on trying out the things Ian does. He climbed into the high chair the other day, buckled himself in, and pulled the tray on. He wanted to sit in it like Ian and play with toys. He soon realized it wasn't as exciting as it looked and wanted out. And, Patrick quickly tells Ian that the trains are his. Silly Patrick! That toy train was given to Ian, but I guess it doesn't matter since Ian doesn't even care.

Patrick is enjoying his preschool activities we do at home, and I feel like it is helping me with his speech. In a few more weeks, we will be meeting with a speech therapist to get him tested. I have to say I am so nervous about this because it has been a very personal struggle for me. If you want the background of this story, then go to this post that I did on my mommy blog. I sure love Patrick, and he loves to help me out. He was a big helper when we got lots of snow. He helped dig and sweep the snow around.

I sure love my boys, and I am glad that they are here to bless my life even if it means that I don't get a good nights sleep!! All I can say is that I am hoping and praying Ian will sleep through the night soon because I am so exhausted. At least Ian is so cute that I forget my frustration with him pretty quickly. Who can be mad at this cute face??

Weaknesses Can Become Strengths

As a mother, I have anticipatde all the major milestones my children reach. It is thrilling to watch them grow and develop. I love seeing how they progress. My oldest boy, Patrick, has astonished me with his problem solving skills and mechanical abilities. Before he was 2 years old, he knew which keys went to which cars and he could unlock the door and turn the car on. He quickly learns how things work and how to take apart and put things back together.

Patrick is a burning ball of energy and is driven by his curiuosity to know and his desire to be independent. He is one stubborn boy. His stubbornness almost exceeds mine and that is saying a lot! I guess this is what you get when two stubborn people have a child together. He tries so hard to do everything on his one. I have encouraged him to be curious by not allowing him to watch TV/movies until he was well over 2 years old, and allowed him to solve things on his own without swooping in to show him how it is done.

However, my son struggles with speech. He has for some time now. I have worried about him for well over a year now because despite all my efforts (for example, reading to him for over 20 minutes a day, talking to him, explaining what I do,and doing various preschool activities) he still doesn't speak a lot. Part of his problem is a lack of desire to speak. This reason why I say this because he speaks when he wants to, and I will often catch him speaking and he will stop when he notices me listening. The other part of his problem is that I think speech and social skills don't come easy to him. I notice that he likes to say words he knows, but shuts down when he encounters words he doesn't know. It is almost like he doesn't want to fail. This behavior is something I am to familiar with because I hate failing myself. And, I hate having people see my failures.

For Patrick, his weakness is there for everyone to see and comment on. It is something that people notice right away and point out. It is a sore spot with me because I feel like I have failed my son. Plus, I feel some people feel I'm not a good mom because my son would rather play and explore instead of speak.

A couple of nights away while I was reading a few scripture stories before bed, I had an amazing experience with Patrick. One that I am extremely grateful that I got to experience. We were reading  about Joseph from the Bible Storybook - God's Love For You. The short story we read about how Joseph's unfortunate circumstances of being sold into slavery by his brothers was turned into something good by God. Joseph was able to interpret dreams of the pharaoh, and he eventually becomes ruler over Egypt. He saves grain so the people are ready to face the drought. Because he ordered food to be stored up, he was able to save his family from starvation. There is this quote in the story that just rang true to me:

"God cared about Joseph and his family, and He cares about us too. Just as God brought good out of the bad things the brothers had done, He will bring good out of the bad things that happen in your life."

After reading this part, the spirit came and spoke strongly to my heart. I took Patrick and told him that even though you struggle speaking and this is your weakness, God will make this weakness strong and he will make something good out of this situation. It was a huge comfort to me because I have been worried sick about my son and I have been praying so much about what to do about him. And these last few days have been completely different. Patrick has been speaking SO much more. Even though I can't understand everything he says and even though it is not a lot compared to other kids his age, it is more than he has done before. To me, this is a miracle and a blessing. I know Patrick felt something that night and felt his Heavenly Father's love. I know God does hear my prayers, and I know that He can make good things out of the bad things that happen in life.

Trains

My son, Patrick, just loves trains. I'm not too sure where he developed this fascination with trains from because we didn't have trains at home or have movies about trains. But, he is now obsessed with them to the point that he tries to make everything into trains. He will make trains by pushing chairs into each other, by connecting cars together using string, and the other day he wanted to make trains from cookie cutters using tape. He came up to me with the cookie cutters that are in the shape of various vehicles and asked me to tape them together. Of course, he brought the masking tape as well.

He is such a creative boy and a boy who has impressive problem solving skills! I have been worried about him a lot lately because he doesn't like to speak. I read to him for over 30 minutes a day, explain what I am doing, and try to teach new words. He knows the words because I catch him saying them, but he just doesn't like to speak. We are probably going to get him tested and start doing speech therapy. I feel like I have failed him because I'm his mom and haven't done my job. I have struggled with these feelings for almost a year now as I see so many children his age speaking in sentences, and then I see my son who barely speaks a few words at a time. Anyways, I have digressed and that issue is a post for another time.

The other day we were going shopping, and we got stopped by the railroad crossing signs. A train had to cross the road, and Patrick was so thrilled. If Patrick wasn't with me, I know I would be annoyed because the train delayed me. However, I'm grateful that Patrick was with me because I got to take a moment to sit back and enjoy the train through my child's eyes. Life has so many adventures and beauties in it! I just need to take a step back from my list of tasks to do and appreciate the little things. Patrick ended up talking about the train all day long, and I'm grateful we got to see the train.

What things do your children like? How do you appreciate the little things the life gives to you?

FHE Lessons

I have wondered the last few months if Family Home Evening (FHE) is even making a difference with Patrick. He is just so full of energy that sometimes I don't know if he even is learning something. Yesterday, I mentioned to him that we would be doing Family Home Evening and he quickly, "Jesus. Pictures. I go get them." I was so touched, and was so thrilled when he came by to the living room with the gospel art manual that I got from the Distribution Center (now a part of Deseret Book).

I attempt to do FHE with my kiddos every Monday night. It is really hard because Broden works evenings, and I struggle to keep both kids entertained while I try to teach them something about the gospel. I found that Patrick loves the pictures and I can talk to him about the stories behind the pictures for about 10 minutes. That is amazing considering my boy doesn't like to stop moving.

After the I got the kiddos to bed, I started to think about how I could make my FHE nights a little bit easier. Because I have started doing preschool lessons with Patrick, I decided why not do the same thing with FHE. So now I will plan FHE lesson by picking out monthly themes and planning the lessons according to that theme. I'm going to create a template where I can pick a theme, song, and scripture, and jot down quick little lessons for my family. I will start this up for February and I will post my lessons here on the blog. I'm mainly doing this so I will motivate myself to write the lessons, but I also hope that this will provide some help for others who are also in the same situation as me and struggle finding ways to teach your kiddos about gospel principles.

Be sure to come back and read about my FHE lesson planning experience and how my lessons went!