Worth a Thousand Words

Ahhh....what would I do without this kid??

Flashback Friday - Judy

Tucker's Aunt Linda recently email us this really cute picture of Tucker's parents! It was taken in 1972 and his mom was about 5 months pregnant with him. They were around the ages of 25 (Judy) and 27 (Neal).

I've never met Judy. She died of complications with Leukemia when Tucker was 13 years old. Just as he started his Freshman year of High School and about one month before he turned 14. Tucker is the oldest of five kids, so she obviously left a lot behind. I have known Tucker for about 10 years now and I ponder this part of his "story" continually. I think of it from a mother's perspective and how it would feel to leave my children so young. I think of it from a husband's perspective and how helpless and lonely he must have felt. I think of it from a child's perspective and how lost and sad the children must have felt. I think of it from a sibling perspective, and how hard it would be to lose a sister. And the list goes on and on. I just simply cannot imagine it.

Tucker's family talks about Judy a lot. There are several stories that live on. From her journals, other's memories of her and these stories, I feel as though I know her a little. She was energetic, fun, optimistic, little and everyone who knew her loved her. So often, I wonder what she would think of me, or how she would be with our kids and even how Tucker's life would be different had she lived. Maybe he and I would have never crossed paths? So much would be different.

What I do know is that I have the most wonderful mother-in-law there could ever be in Jeannine. For the past 19 years, she has continued the big job of raising Judy's children in her absence. She is one of the strongest women I have ever met. Someday, I look forward to meeting my other mother-in-law Judy! She'll be able to tell me about Tucker's first 13 years of life....and I'll be able to tell her about the rest.

Thanks Tiff!

We had a great time with Tiffany, Eliza and Solomon (not to forget her little puppy Beau too)! I am so grateful to have such a brave friend (ha ha). It was so fun to have five days together. We stayed up too late, we hung out at home a lot, and we ate a lot. With 5 kids ages 7, 5, 3, 2 and 5-months, it was often easier to just let them play out back than try to go anywhere!

We did manage to go to the coast on Monday. Once we got there, it was actually freezing! So we ate at Splash (of course) and the kids played on the beach for about two hours....and by then we were ready to leave. Not the most ideal beach day, but we still had a good time!

We also were able to celebrate Tiff's birthday while she was here! I made her a hibiscus flower cake, had several small presents that the kids helped open, and we were even able to get away for a quick dinner with only baby Solomon in tow, thanks to the help of Lindy and Tucker each having some of the other kids!

Tiff made it home safely today and I'm so relieved. It's a long drive (I'd be the first to know doing it a few times each year!)....and I'm so glad she did it because it was just what I needed! The kids made some fun memories! Jordyn is SO good with Solomon, Lexi is so good with Eliza, and Peyton & Eliza.....well, they're either REALLY good or REALLY bad together. The fun of a 2 and 3 year old!

Lexi, Eliza and Jordyn in a candy shop

Baby Solomon's first feel of sand!

Eliza, Me, Tiff and Solomon


Lexi, Me and Jordyn (we left Peyton with Lindy)


Jordyn and Eliza making sand castles


Happy Birthday Tiff!!


This pic makes me laugh. I had the really dumb idea to make a "34" with our fingers. Not only does it look like we're throwing gang signs, but it says "43" instead! lol

Most of the gang


Mommy Tiffany with her two cuties

Paxton, Peyton, Lexi, Eliza, Jordyn and Lyric! Our house was crazy and fun!

Look Who's Visiting!

I (subconsciously) convinced my dear friend Tiffany to throw her two kids (Eliza 3 and Solomon 5 months....oh, AND her dog Beau!) in the car to drive 12 hours to visit us!! No wonder we are such good friends....we both do insane things like that!

So far, we've hung out at home lots, swam at my parents' pool and gone to church. It's been a combination of loud, chaotic and wonderful! Tiff and I laugh that we are thirty-something moms instead of college kids laying around in Hawaii. How did that happen?

Tiff, thanks for being such a spontaneous, bold and semi-crazy friend! *wink, wink*

Check out the variety of skin tones!!

Awww, what a sweet boy!

Eliza LOVED my dad. My favorite part of the day was her quote "Mike! You have a SPIDER on your arm!!" (his scorpio tattoo)

Peyton LOVES baby Solomon

Lexi and Eliza are a sweet little duo

And Tiff wants to take Jordyn (or "Jodi" according to Eliza) home with her because she is such a HUGE helper!

A "relaxing" family dinner ;-)

The "thirty-something" Moms! ha ha

Just Like a Child

Our kids really like it when we have Family Home Evening. Sadly, I have not been very consistent at it lately. Usually, if I'm teaching them a lesson, it is a very short and sweet experience because their attention spans aren't terribly long. We do a song, a prayer a little lesson (on anything in the world ranging from spiritual, to manners to a family issue we may be having). Then a treat.

Last week, I decided to ask Jordyn if she would prepare a musical number for our Family Home Evening that night. Usually, we pick a song from church (either a hymn they know or a primary song) and sing it together. But I asked her if she would prepare something to present to us by herself. I was curious what she would do with the challenge, and she seemed excited by it. First she asked me if she could sing a High School Musical song, but I asked her if she could keep it a little more on the spiritual side that night. So she skipped off to her room.

I have to say how impressed I was with what she came up with! She took the tune of the primary song "My Daddy is my Favorite Pal" and wrote her own words. (No edits)

Chose the Right

I herd this speicil mesige
It stands for chose the right.
I herd about it in my prars.
And I know it helps me too.
And soon or later Jesus will come
bake (back) to Earth someday.
We never know wen just close your eyes
and then he'll come again.

Isn't that great? I was very impressed with her sweet little testimony. Thanks Jo-Jo! I love you!

Baby Maren!

I just received this photo - its from about two months ago or so. My dear friend Shana, with her husband Derek and sweet baby girl Maren, stopped by our house on their way back home from visiting family. It was so fun to see Shana and Derek as parents......and Maren is one of the cutest babies I've seen!

Peyton has always been obsessed with babies, so she loved baby Maren.


As a side note: If Shana and Derek need help with names for their future children, they might want to consider Tucker's other siblings' names (Lyndsy and Spencer) since they've already got two of his siblings' names in their family (Derek and Maren). ha ha

Lest You Are Deceived...

Just in case any of my friends/family who read my blog (...or even my own future-self) thinks I am accomplishing super-human feats with all of our "events" lately.....let it be known that this is the reality and how my entire house looks!




And now that we are on no schedule with no-school/work.....I am back on the computer more than I should be (thus the million blog posts), it's 3:22 and I haven't showered and have INTENDED to work out all day long (hasn't happened yet).


HSM is on the T.V.....

And these cute girls are wandering around the house....entertaining each other!

Summer vacation is here!

My Snuggle-bug

So often my posts are about events. Places we go, things we do. But usually the most precious things in life are the most simple.

One of my most favorite things to do in the entire world is to snuggle with Peyton. She is my most snuggly kid for sure. She knows that she is my "snuggle bug" or my "cuddle bug" and will gladly snuggle with me for 20 minutes if our morning allows. I love it!

I asked Tucker to snap some pics of us in a snuggle session so I can capture this memory. It is etched strongly in my mind, but sadly probably not in her young mind. I want her to have a visual reminder of how much her mommy loves her. These pictures almost make me cry because it feels like it's slipping through my fingers so quickly...with all three of my princesses!

Dance Recital Week!

Anyone reading these posts probably feels exhausted just thinking about all the activities I'm blogging about. Even though it has been a busy couple of weeks, in reality it's been more spread out than the blog makes it seem. I'm just doing tons of catch-up!

The girls have their annual dance recital every June. That usually means a week full of......well, hairspray! We had pictures, dress-rehearsal and then the recital all within one week. By last night (the recital) I was not feeling like the nicest mommy while fixing their hair and asking them to "stand like a statue", or "please hold still or you'll get burned", or "What? You have to go potty AGAIN after putting on your costume??".

Really, the fun memories are what lasts and the stressful parts fade. Which is why we've done it for five years now! This was Jordyn's 5th recital and Lexi's 4th. It was extra fun to put them in the same class this year (along with cousin Lyric), so they all wore matching costumes and practiced together each week!

This year the girls all had a nervous excitement. Lexi has to pee a million times and won't eat beforehand, but no one freaked out or cried or said they didn't want to do it (as has happened in years past). In fact, they kept telling me they wished they could dance on the big stage every day!

So here are some pics from the week:

Lindy fixing Lyric's hair for dance pictures

Me and Lexi

The pretty dancers, all ready for the photos!

Me and my three girls

Lindy and Lyric

Paxton and Peyton are very wild any time they are together. This pic shows how they were the entire time at the dance studio during pics!

This one too....

Another shot of the three girls by some pretty green grape vines...

Walking like pretty little ladies to their dress-rehearsal

Performance time!

The night of the recital, Grandma and Grandpa came to cheer on their little dancers!
Grandma!


Grandpa!

Spring Piano Recital

Jordyn and Lexi have two piano recitals per year (Spring and Christmas - whew!). This year, Grandma, Grandpa and Lyric were able to join us for the event. They were brave and did a great job! Jordyn has been doing piano for nearly three years, and Lexi nearly two years. They really love the Yamaha music program, Mr. John is a really fun teacher and the curriculum is extremely effective! So the effort of getting them to piano feels worth the rewards.

Cousins!

(Jordyn with Nolan, he is in her class and they are "friends". I can see why she thinks he's so fun to hang out with ;-)

Grandma and Grandpa are celebreties to these girls. Having them walk in was like Christmas!

Cute Lexi.

Lexi with her class: Andrea, Lexi, Sarah and Logan

Cute Jordyn

Jordyn with her class: Kalvin, Stephanie, Jordyn, Tommy and Nolan

Me and my cute parents

Way to go girls!!!