While Jocelyn, Emma and I were on our trip to D.C. and out partying, Jared held down the fort with the middle two kids. My friend Tami watched them for two days and was a lifesaver while Jared worked. Then my parents watched them for the remaining 5 days. What would I do without these amazing people in my life? The kids were safe, had fun and felt loved the whole time! They would barely talk on the phone with me...
They had formulated an entire list of what Lillian wanted to do with Dad and Jonas while Jocelyn and I were plotting and scheming our outings with my sisters. Lillian's list was quite the creation and here are a few examples:
- Make cupcakes and eat chocolate cake
- If it's hot drink ice water and have popsicles
- If it's cold drink hot chocolate and snuggle
- Go to Chuck E. Cheese
- Go to a lake
- Pack a picnic lunch
- Go to library story time
Jared delivered on all of these did an amazing job of helping them feel like they were having a vacation as well. He helped Lillian give her first talk in primary and she did fabulous. He took not one picture the whole time because I had the main camera and he doesn't want to worry about it. Luckily I took some pictures recently and can share them instead.
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| We found these cute dresses with the coordinating doll dresses at TJ Maxx and my mom funded us being able to buy them for all the granddaughters. We took my niece her dress and Jocelyn and she were able to "match" at church on Sunday |
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| Jared reading to the younger two after the older girls were in bed one night |
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| Our "future missionary" before church one day |
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| Lillian matching her doll before church |
Lillian continues to come up with funny terms and expressions and her latest that she calls out when she is trying to tattle tell is "Jonas called me a name tag" (meaning he called her a unkind "name"). I try not to respond at all to tattle tells but this one makes me laugh every time.
I try not to get too sappy, but with it being Valentine's day this month and all, I feel like I can brag about what a great dad Jared is. Doesn't he look handsome getting Jonas ready for church? And it melts my heart when he reads to the kids.
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| My boys getting ready for church. Jonas gets so excited to do hair with dad and put on their ties together |
I also try not to stress when my children get hurt as it just heightens their anxiety and makes them react bigger. But, I tell you what...Recently I am seriously concerned that Jonas is headed toward some serious and permanent head damage. Just in the last couple months he has climbed up onto the back of the couch (even though he knows the rules forbidding this) and within seconds of me seeing him and asking him to get down he toppled over the back and landed straight on the top of his head on a tile floor. I was afraid to move him because I thought he had perhaps broken his neck. He did essentially the same thing at a museum climbing up a bench and crashing on a concrete floor. I feel like I am telling him all day long "Watch where you're going!" as he is walking or even running full speed ahead while looking backwards. He has run full speed straight into the kitchen table multiple times and currently has a black eye because he did so at my parent's house last week. I told Jared I am tempted to make Jonas wear his bike helmet all day long just to prevent further injury but he seems so reckless and I don't know what to do about it! It's not that he's uncoordinated because he seems great at sports and hand-eye coordination, it's just plain reckless! Any suggestions? Will he grow out of this? I sure hope he does soon because I don't think my heart can keep skipping beats like this without having permanent damage either.
