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Our Pediatrician told us one of the worst places we could take Elliot was to church.
Now wait, let me explain. She said this because there are so many sick people, and so many people who want to hold, and love little babies. So, we’ve waited to take Elliot to church until he is a little bigger.
Because of this, Toph and I have rotated who attends church, sometimes I will go for Sacrament, come home switch and he will return for the last half, or Visa Versa.
With all of the change up, often times messages don’t get relayed.
Like last week.
It was the last verse of the closing song of Sacrament Meeting, when I start to load the quiet toys into the church bag. It is then that I discover a little note hanging out of Tuckers scriptures. I pull it out, shocked to read that he was assigned the talk for primary– the next meeting. Which was starting in approximately 6 minutes. 🙂

I leaned over to Tucker, and quietly whispered to him, after the prayer,stay here.
He did. And he quickly wrote the following talk, and he drew corresponding pictures. Luckily for us, it was an easy topic. ‘My family can help me’. We were looking up a scripture, but then Tucker told me ‘no thanks on scriptures’, he informed me he felt a little nervous reading the scripture ‘with out much practice’.
Here is the talk he wrote. I think he did a great job.

I have a family, dad, Truman, Mom, Elliot and of course me.
My dad will baptize me someday.
My mom helps me when I get hurt.
Truman helps me clean my room.
Elliot loves me.
Heavenly Father helps me remember the gospel.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

We wrote it down, he drew the pictures, and he went off to primary where he did a great job sharing it.

Later I reflected gratefully that I had found the paper with the assignment, as Tucker loves to speak in public, and is great at it. But he hasn’t quite mastered the art of what is appropriate for church yet. I am sure Tucker wouldn’t have hesitated to stand up at primary and give a talk about just about anything. Including, but not limited to: bugs, lizards, bionicles, robots, you get the picture.
Yeah, it was good we found that note.

There is something about sharing your childhood with your children.

It brings out a magic in us parents.

For us lately, it has been through toys and books.

Toph and the boys have slowly been amassing a Construx collection from Ebay (I had never heard of these guys, but the boys love to build with them!) Some of the magic–
Toph and Tucks Creation


Toph and Trus Creation

That same day, Truman was feeling like a middle child, so we brought out a classic from my childhood, from back in the days when I was a middle child. ‘Noisy Nora’.
Unfortunately, Truman wasn’t up for reading it at first, so Tuck and I sat down, and soon Tuck was laughing up a storm.

We we’re having so much Fun, Tru had to get in on the action.

Reading it again, made me laugh. And transported me back in time, I could almost hear my brother Ryan changing the words from the book to tease me, “Emily, said her brother, why are you so…”

Ah. The magic.

To get that perfect picture of my boys to frame and hang for my desk, place on the fridge, and sent off to the grandparents and cousins. You know what I am talking about, everyone looking at the camera at the same time, no food on the face, or hair sticking up in funny directions, the things that seem to come with the candid shots?

Sundays seem like a good day to take pictures. The older two boys look presentable, and sometimes even matching. We’ve tried on a couple of occasions, now, and here’s the latest shoot.

A few of the pictures really make me laugh, like the one where the older two are supposed to be kissing Elliots head, looks like they are trying to eat him. Ha!

So, Grandmas and Grandpas, uncles and aunts…don’t be expecting anything in the mail real soon….

Today is My Mother in Laws birthday.

I asked my boys to share some of their favorite things about their ‘Grandma Phillips’
Tucker:
She’s a good grandma.
She likes to play with us.
She sometimes makes us feel better when we are sad.
Truman:
I love her.
I love her hair, it looks beautiful.
Every times she smiles, I smile.
And I am sure if Elliot could speak, he would say something to the effect of my Grandma is amazing. She loves me so much.

I think the boys said it perfectly….She’s just wonderful! Our very own Mary Poppins. And honestly, who is not going to love someone with all the magic, happiness of Mary Poppins mixed with the dancing skills of Dick Van Dyke, and the patience and heart of gold.

I count myself blessed to be part of her family.
Love you Mom! Happy Birthday!

With a spoon.

Can’t believe it’s already been 3 months of this sweetness….

My nephew Ikey is now 4 years old!

Ikey is Trus pal. They are close in age, and always have fun together!
He is enthusiastic, and always friendly to everyone.
Happy Birthday Ikey!
We love you!

Recently I have discovered a new favorite thing…a whiteboard.

This whiteboard is tucked in the corner of our office, and a few months ago that was all it was,and I had no idea how much I would begin to treasure this old whiteboard. You see, to help Tucker learn his ‘sight words’ I would occasionally, leave a silly sentence or a note on it for Tucker to read. Tucker thought it was fun, and soon began to leave little notes back. Soon Truman wanted to get in on the action, so I would leave him picture notes, and before I knew it, there were notes flowing back and forth between us. We now try to sneak notes, when we know the other is not watching, and it has become a fun little tradition and a treasured part of my life.

Now I look often to check for notes, and leave them there, always being surprised at what I find.

Sometimes I understand what is written, and other times not.

(Above msg. from Tru)
Either way, it is an unexpected treasure….

This month marks our two year bloggiversary,

I can’t believe it’s been over two years since we’ve begun documenting our lives here.

Thanks for caring about our our young boys adventures, and my adventures in mommy-hood.

I know there are many of you who have read all of my posts, and commented on many of them. Wow…

Things have changed dramatically since we began here including adding a new member to our family, discovered many things about my children, laughed often and mostly just felt grateful for a place to share this crazy thing called life. …

Thanks for sharing in this journey with me.

This is a song I was introduced to by my sweetheart when we were courting. I came across it the other day on YouTube.

It has some great memories for me of our early years in marriage, the lyrics are amazing,

And even more than ever that my sweetheart takes my breathe away….

Today is my sister in law Beccas Birthday.

Becca is one of the most patient women I know. She works behind the scenes of things, and just quietly does things, nice things for people. But yet, also one of the most adventerous, fun loving girls I know.
Like for example, I will never forget the time she went sky diving, (not telling anyone), bought the video of her doing it, then brought the movie home to show her family, by saying something funny like, ‘Come watch this awesome movie’. They didn’t even know what it was they were going to be watching.
Also Becca is hilarious, she is witty, and I almost always leave being in Becca’s presence with a smile.

Happy Birthday Becca! Hope you have a good one.