Oh my Carter.

Here's a whole bunch of pictures of Carter and what life is all about with this little guy around. He is fun, stubborn, determined, and all around hilarious and on the move. Love you Carter!

 On an outing to the park with Grandma and Kade, Carter slipped on a wet rock and smacked his head on another rock. We made a trip to the ER for a small but deep cut in his head. I opted for glue instead of stitches, to make it easier on him, and once we were home, he was his happy little self.

 I could kiss this little face all day, if he'd let me.

 While "helping" with laundry he put Ben's undies on his head, and left them there for a long time. This boy cracks me up.

 One of my all time favorite picture of Carter climbing. Although the kitchen is a disaster, it's real life and I am grateful I captured the pure craziness of this determined little guy.

 

And, yes, he climbs some more. He's my only climber boy. He's really good at it, but man he makes me nervous! I dare say I think this boy is going to be the cause of multiple heart attack for me.

Back to School! 1st Grade

Ready for his first day of 1st grade.

Confident and ready for a new year.

My big first grader -toothless and all.

Ben is back to school!! He's now in the 1st grade! I can't believe it, but I have said "I can't believe it" every year. He's grown so fast.
Sunday, he and Kade got their back to school blessings like they've gotten every year. That always helps me know they are going to be fine.
Today went off pretty well -only one minor hitch of locking my keys in the house. (thankfully Aunt Nattie works five minutes away and was able to come use her key to open the door.)

Ben had laid his clothes out the night before; he even put his socks in his new shoes. (This kid is so on the ball.) He woke up before his alarm went off, and he was awake and dressed before the other boys were up. I was able to go over all his supplies with him, get him breakfast, and talk to him one on one for awhile. I needed that. He was so relaxed and excited, yet I was trying hard not to show my own nervousness. This is my first born people! And, he's going off to school, all day, eating lunch there, going to five different classes with five different teachers (like jr.high or high school schedule) and he's riding bus. It's crazy! I wish I could be a fly on his shoulder just to be there while still letting him go. (more for my sake than his.)
I drove him to school today and, as a great blessing, we ran into his best friend  heading into school. Ben is always thrilled to see his friend, and it made the morning all the more exciting. Hopefully they'll have a class or two together -or at least lunch and recess. :)
I'm more than grateful for the awesome school Ben gets to attend. I know that he will thrive this year. Even with all the butterflies I have, I feel calm about where he is and what he'll be learning. Having a kid in school this way is a whole new routine and a whole new world. But, it's exactly what we need. I'm excited for the year to come.

Oh My Sweet Four Year Old.

Before I forgot, I had to journal these things Kade said today.
I went in to Kade I say good night. (it was Ben's "night", so he wasn't in bed yet) Kade and I were talking about how awesome I think he is and what his great strengths are. He's a defender and protector and SO creative and just all around a great boy. Then he said, "I can't always control my hands. Sometimes when they want to hit Ben, they just hit him. But, I pray and pray that I can control them and someday I won't hit."
I told him he was exactly right. When we pray, continually for help to change something, Heavenly Father with help us improve. He said he knew that already. :) What a sweet kid. I told him his faith was one of his greatest strengths.

Also, when driving, I pointed out the huge gorgeous gray clouds rolling over St. George. Kade quickly said, "Look I see Jesus' world over there. See the white?" It was so cute. I love that he thinks of things like that. I love my Kaderbum.

Fun Day Build and Take Apart.

 Today was our third Fun Day -Build and Take Apart. What little boy doesn't like to build stuff and take things apart? This was a fun time. We started with Pinatas. I pre made little animals out of toilet paper rolls, and white "streamer" paper. I glued ribbon to different parts that, when you pull them, break open and release the candy. Super easy and super cute. I cut up some of my left over tissue paper from my craft stash, and the boys got to work. They painted glue on their animals and then stuck the paper all around. They were so cute and so focused. I loved watching them work.

 Ben and Kade did such a good job on their pinatas. They were excited to get to pull a string and eat some of the candy after their lunches.

 The next project was taking apart Dinosaur Eggs! While in Cedar I hit up an obliging mountain for a few shovels full of dirt and then sand to make this recipe for dinosaur eggs. (I baked mine for 10mins at 200 degrees to help dry them out. It's been pretty humid lately.)  They were rock hard on the outside. I was a little worried that the boys would need more than the popsicle stick I'd given them to "dig". But, nope! They were solid but softer inside and were easy to dig through once the outer shell was broken through. SO COOL! Each dinosaur egg had a little dinosaur in it, and the boys all loved that. I may just use this idea for other things later. So easy, and SO fun.

Clay Tower building. The I made homemade clay (2c flour, 2c warm water, 1c salt, 2tbls veg oil, 1tbls cream of tarter -optional but awesome. Combine in pan, stir and cook over med-high heat till the clay isn't sticky.)  This is the best recipe I've found for clay, and I've used a couple over the years. :)  I don't know a kid who doesn't love clay. I gave them cut straws to use to build towers -or whatever their little hearts wanted.

ROBOTS! Sooooo fun! The pictures speak for themselves. Clean empty cans covered in random things (with magnets attached to them) to create funny faced robots. Then they can take them apart and do it all again. When I first saw this idea on pinterest I knew it was something my boys would love -especially Kade, so I knew it was meant to be for Fun Day. Each boy received two robots and lots of different robot pieces, like: plastic lids, screws, eyes, pipe cleaner hair, metal washers, clothes pins etc. (I gave the boys a warning to not let littler kids get a hold of these robot parts.) These robots have already given Ben and Kade a ton of entertainment.

Carter even got in on the fun this time. He didn't stay in the chair too long. And, he prefered throwing everything off his highchair anyway. But, it's "fun" day -not "follow the rules" day. ;)

It was another successful Fun Day. These kids are seriously awesome. They make all the prep work worth it, and I enjoy having them over. They are sweet and grateful. I think I'll have to keep doing these off and on even though the school year. :)

Good Friends -Oh, How I've Missed You

This past week, the boys and I drove up to Cedar City to meet up with my best friend Brittany and her family. I've driven through Cedar, on the freeway, several times, since we moved away, but haven't been in town for about three years. It had been even longer since I'd been on campus at SUU.

 This is where a whole new world began. My first apartment in Cedar City. I consider this home a very dear old friend. So many memories are tied up in this place. I loved it. Seeing it made me want to cry with nostalgia and long for those years as a young, cute, college girl. I had some of the best roommates in this place. I'm grateful for all they taught me. And, it's the place I first met Joe! He lived in apt. #1 (far left) and I lived in #3. :)  He came over one day looking to borrow scissors. I obliged him.

On campus!! SUU is seriously beautiful to me. I loved it especially when all the evergreens were covered in snow. Breath taking! There have been a lot of changes made around campus, but it was still my campus. Brittany and I were silent a lot as we replayed many memories in our minds. Then we'd say, over and over again, "I can't believe it was that long ago."

The one and only Brittany

So, thirteen years ago, I met this spitfire of a girl Brittany Sweat. She was spunky, and outgoing, honest, and loved to talk almost as much as I did. :) We were a match made in heaven! We had the important things in common and quickly became best friends. Working a shift with her, in the Smiths video/non foods dept. was always one of my favorite things. I love this woman, who I met as a girl. (well, a teenage girl anyway.) Thank you Brittany for EVERYTHING you have brought into my life.

Here we are now with our growing families. We were lucky to have gotten married only a few months apart, and then to have had all of our children within months of each other. This means, we have been through everything TOGETHER. We were newly weds -together, first time moms -together, and are now moms with three kids -together. Each trasition -together. I have been so grateful for this. It's so nice to be able to talk to someone who is in the exact same situation as you. Our parallel lives are what continually prove, to me, that the Lord gave me Brittany as one of the greatest gifts and strengths to my life.

Carter and D. These two could be brothers!

Five boys and one cute girl walking the sidewalks where their parents walked. The cutest group of kids you'll ever see.

They climbed! 

Ben helping Carter get back to me quickly. What a great big brother; he carried Carter a long way. And, Carter didn't mind the ride.

Just a picture of campus. Picture this covered in snow! One of my favorite views on campus back then.

Kade and L. Kade waited patiently till L would talk to him. Then they became friends.

The kids enjoyed taking a tour of campus. they ran on the grass and climbed things. They enjoyed each others' company. We look forward to seeing the O family every year. We were all pretty  bummed that they couldn't make it down to St. G. But they have a lot of friends and family to see in one packed vacation, so we are more than happy with the time that we had. :)  What a great day, full of remembered, revisited fond memories, and full of new memories with the kids.

Come A Long Way -And, I Didn't Know It!

YEARS ago, Joe bought me this book, after I showed interest in hiding veggies in food for little Ben. He even bought me an awesome food processor that Christmas to help me accomplish these recipes. But, when I read through the book, I was quickly overwhelmed and disappointed. Each recipe had a million ingredients and soooo many steps to accomplish for "just one recipe". This just seemed so unnecessary and not for the normal mom/person like me. Who would actually do this many steps for one meal, and who had this kind of stuff on hand?! -Like Old fashioned oats, whole wheat flour, natural peanut butter and flax seed meal?! Ridiculousness!!
Hahaha! Well, flash forward 4-5 years and lo and behold I -ME!!- Holly Harris have all of those thing in my cupboard at this very second. AND, my cooking prowess has increased substantially, because most of my meals take "millions of ingredients and soooo many steps to accomplish" and I love it!  (mind you, the millions of steps that seemed ridiculous, are simple things, like "saute onions and garlic...then add......", or "in one bowl combine such and such, then in another bowl.....")

Growing as a wife and mom has expanded my whole world to include things that were so foreign to me before. I loved to bake before I was married and had a couple things I could cook well, and received praise from roommates for making. I loved food, and cooking shows, but it just seemed not real life. But, I have fallen in love with recipe books, and like reading through them. I frequently try new recipes and enjoy finding a good one. I also have fallen in love with kitchen appliances, tools and cookware. I literally LOVE cooking ware and serving bowls, and platters. I have rearranged a whole cupboard for my prized stone bake ware. (and yes, Joe thinks I'm a little weird. :)  )

Also, as I've learned about healthy food choices for me and my family, I have changed some of things that we have around the house. Before, everything I bought was pre-made. I had never made a lasagna. I hadn't thought to ever steam/cook my own veggies before -I bought the steamer bagged ones. On top of getting healthier, I started learning more about being frugal and watching a budget. Making your own food is SO much cheaper than pre-made stuff. (this is such a DUH statement now, but I didn't realize these things as a young -er woman.)

Back to my point. I have been thinking a lot about Carter and his incredibly picky tastes. He's hit and miss with veggies. I remembered this book that has been gathering dust on a shelf all these years. I remembered how unrealistic I had thought it was, but I figured maybe there was something I could do. Reading through the recipe, I can honestly say, there is NOTHING unrealistic to me! Everything sounds pretty simple and easy enough to accomplish. And, I have most of the ingredients already and just need to make the purees. I actually laughed to myself thinking, "Wow, I've come a long way, and I didn't know it." Until now!! I'm so grateful for the slow and subtle changes. I am grateful for this new awareness to my improvement. :) Just had to share my gratitude and giddiness.

Fun Day Part 2! Art!

Today was our Fun Day part 2! We used paints and got a little messy. It was a lot of fun! We had six friends over -so eight boys in total. Boys are so fun. Carter got to spend the morning getting spoiled and playing with grandma at the water park. He came home very happy. Thanks mom!

We started with fun painted drinks....sprite with Kool-aid ice cubes! The ice will melt and color the sprite. Fun and tasty. :) And, when do the kids get this stuff, if not at a party. Awesome! 

Both boys chose Batman -it couldn't have been anything else. :)

Kade found The Hulk.

 Our first project was finding hidden pictures with homemade watercolor paint! I had drawn pictures of a few of the boys' favorite characters (Batman, Hulk,  Superman, Mario and Luigi, Phineas and Ferb, and Capt. America) with white crayon. Once the boys added color to their paper, their pictures appeared.

 Next the boys painted with regular gel watercolor paints and then used spray bottles to "see what happens". It was fun to see each of the boys' different pictures and what they thought to paint. I'm very surprised that with all these boys none of them squirted anyone else. :) Pretty good boys!

 Our third project was Paint filled Balloon Popping! It was SO fun! The boys each picked a balloon, and told me where they wanted me to hang it. Once every one's balloons were up, they started POPPING! Do I even need to write that they LOVED it?! They loved it! I loved it. We did four rounds of balloons. It was the prettiest mess I'd ever seen. :)

I used this recipe to make paint -well, it turned out not so much like paint. But! It made a perfect gooey, colorful concoction that was perfect for filling eggs! Whoo! And, yes, since joining Pinterest, I've become a mom that saves egg shells. -What?! (just for this specific day, I won't be saving them anymore)... as well milk jugs and other random things to use for project. (notice the milk carton full of goo?)  But, I like that I'm looking at things to find other uses for them.

  The bombing commences! The boys showered the backyard patio (as well as the dogs) with the goo filled eggs, and then washed it all away by bombing water balloons all over the mess. (Did you notice how I basically had them clean up their mess and they didn't know it? He he he. ) The only thing left for me is to sweep up balloon parts -but I'm not feeling too motivated to it just yet.

 After everything was done and moms were on their way, we ate these tasty colorful cookies. The boys enjoyed them, and the treat was helpful to encourage sitting and waiting. But they only waited five minutes or so.

Kade and Ben both had paint randomly splattered across their body or face. Kade was by far the messiest of all the boys. It has a lot to do with his keen ability to seek out and enjoy a good mess. It was proof to me that he had a great time. :)

I sent the boys home with their masterpieces and these fun papers, so they can keep painting at home. I am glad the kids had a fun time. They are all incredible and well behaved kids! It's amazing!  I totally wouldn't do these big messy things if it wasn't serving more then one purpose. Having more kids involved justifies the mess for me, so I don't mind it. (plus my cleaning basically  consisted of me hosing the entire patio -EASY.) Plus my boys get to be with friends and the kids do something they wouldn't normally be allowed to do. Get messy. I, also, get to give other moms a break. And, I make these days as low stress as possible by doing a little prep here and there when I have the time over a few days, or weeks. ;) All in all it was another fun day. NOW, what can I do for next time?!

Big Boy Bed

Well, my luck finally ran out. Carter has been so good to go to bed, wide wake, read for a few minutes and then go to sleep. We just put him in there and leave -no crying or anything. He just wants a book in there with him, and he's happy. With training in a big boy bed, it involves at least a week of training to reach the point where a kid will just go in there, wide awake, and stay there. I loved being spoiled with this great little guy, who, other than sleeping in a crib, went to bed just like the older boys did -wide awake, no fuss, and EASY. However, in the back of our minds, we knew the day would come when our little climber boy would probably climb out of his crib.

Well, the little guy didn't just climb out, he fell out and hit his head REALLY hard on his toy box. This left him with an egg sized bump on the top of his head and a bruise on his cheek. So sad!  Joe took the crib down immediately. That was it! No more falling/climbing out for this guy! (The big boy bed was moved out of the boys' room into Carter's room.) So, Saturday night was our first "Big Boy Bed" training night. It went better than I thought.

Nap time Sunday didn't go as easily. It started out pretty normal. I went in and laid him in his bed with a book. He seemed to say, "Okay, I'll go to bed." So, I left the room and shut the door. It was quiet, but I couldn't think of anything he could get into that wasn't "okay". After awhile Ben told me he looked under the door and could see Carter's feet, running around. I went to see. I could see Carter's feet too, as well as a big billowing cloud of baby powder falling to the floor. I burst in the door to stop him, which only made Carter squeeze out one more huge puff of powder.

When facing these situations, you can get upset or grab a camera. I grabbed the camera and counted to ten. After doing a quick, hardly thorough job, I started over with the training. This time staying in the room for awhile. It was better than I thought.

So, hopefully the training will go quickly! Wish me luck.

Carter is no doubt fine with the mess he's made. I love this picture, because he seems to be thinking, "What's all the fuss about? There's just powder all over." At least his room smells good. Oh, and his room was still unorganized from the quick changing out of beds, so excuse the other out of place craziness.

"Come to Jesus"

There is a song I regularly play in the car among the mix of church music as well as the two local christian radio stations. It is titled "Come to Jesus." It has quickly become one of the boys' and my very favorites. They request it often! Every time this song comes on, the car gets instantly quiet. It's the coolest thing; it just requires reverence. We all sing along. The older boys know every word, and Carter, so far, just listens. (You can listen too HERE!)

 It's not rare -at all- for me to cry when I hear beautiful songs, or sing along with them, and I always get choked up hearing my boys sing the words that I know they understand. I make sure to thoroughly explained each phrase to them -they take things so literally, and so I teach them what is really be meant. This song has invoked many questions, and I have gotten to teach the boys a lot of important truths about our Savior.

While driving around town with Joe and my mom, the boys and I sang this particular song, so she could hear them sing so sweetly. At the end of the song, Ben simply and knowingly said, "The Holy Ghost is right here." as he pointed to the center of the car. I told him he was absolutely right. The car was filled!  I was grateful Ben recognized the Spirit and thought to mention it's presence. Later at home, I asked he what the Holy Ghost felt like to him, he said, "It's like something is pressing on me." I am more than thankful for personal revelation that led me years ago to change my music from good to best. I am grateful my boys are hearing what they are hearing and more importantly feeling what they are feeling. I am so grateful for all the beautiful music I have to enjoy and share with my boys.

Drawing Help

     Ben often comes to me to teach him how to draw something. He is great little drawer, and once he practices a few times he can master drawing whichever superhero he's wanting too. Yesterday, he wanted to draw Wolverine. So, as always, the first thing I taught him was to "see the shapes in the picture; break it down to draw the whole." I drew first to break it down. Ben tried a couple times, but just couldn't quite get it to where he was happy. He was frustrated almost to tears. I reminded him how hard it was for him to draw other things too, till he practiced. But, nothing I said made him feel any better. He was just frustrated and disheartened. I told him to not worry about the picture till he calmed down and could focus. He did.

This morning I noticed a Wolverine picture being colored. Coloring only happens once Ben feels his picture is right. So, I said, "Hey, you drew Wolverine!" Then, as happens so many times, Ben's reply blew me away.

He said, "Yeah, I prayed."

I asked, "You prayed for help to draw it and not be frustrated?"

He said, "Yeah."

He said it in an "I knew it would help. I should have done that yesterday." sort of way. I LOVE IT!

Joe and I have always asked the boys if they think they should pray over this thing or that thing. But Ben prays all the time -on his own- when he's facing challenges. Then he mentions that he does this in the most casual way. He isn't proud or trying to impress me when he tells me -because he sees it as  just something you should do. I'm proud of him and grateful. He's really applied prayer into his life and, most importantly, SEES the help and KNOWS they're answered.

(Ben said his picture "Isn't finished yet" But you all get the idea.)

Conversations with Carter

I'd be a wealthy woman if I had a dollar for ever time Carter and I had this conversation:
"Mom?"
"What?"
"Um......"
This will happen a million times a day. The "Um" is then followed by words I can't understand, but he sure does try to communicate. :)

Carter will regularly say something that sounds like, "I want this." or "What's this?" Most of his sentences ends with something that sounds like "this". His little voice is the cutest sound ever.

And, every single morning, my Carter alarm wakes me up with a quick succession of, "Mom! Mom? Mooooooom. Mom? Ma-om. Mom? Mom! Mom." followed a brief pause only to repeat again and again. :) It's cute, but I wonder where I can switch it over to "Dad! Dad? Daaaaaaad." He's done it before, so I know there's a Dad button on him somewhere. :)

The Lost Post

I was zooming back through my blog and noticed that these pics of Carter were never added anywhere. They are from forever ago.And, they are just too cute not to have in a blog book someday. They were taken after Carter noticed leftover cupcakes on the counter. This very well could have been the start of his climbing obsession. Hmmmmm.

Yeah, he was pretty proud of himself and ate the whole cupcake before Joe found him and called me to see. Where were the other four of us? Who knows? :) I guess he deserved it.  

Kade's Teeth Sadness

Monday, mid-morning, Kade mentioned his tooth hurt. But throughout the day, he didn't bring it up again and acted pretty normal. However, by dinner time, he wouldn't eat much and kept complaining about his tooth hurting. We flossed it and looked in his mouth and nothing was stuck, and we couldn't see anything. It was far too late to see a dentist by this point. Once we went to bed, Kade was in and out of our bed saying his tooth hurt, and he never wanted to have loose teeth, because they hurt.

The next morning we woke up to this face.The picture doesn't make the swelling look that bad, but it was pretty alarming, and at 7am I called our dentist praying the whole time that they could get us in SOON! They had an appointment open at 9:45. RELIEF! The poor kiddo. He was more than miserable, and crying. I went directly to the store for some Anbesol "maximum strength" to rush home to our poor suffering son.

 The dentist informed us a tooth had abscessed. The infection was what was causing the swelling -and it was spreading! It wasn't from "not brushing or flossing or anything we did or didn't do." (That was nice to hear.) Sometimes "these things just happen". SAD! The tooth would have to go. Double SAD! I secured a babysitter for the other two boys and ran Kade back for  the horrible appointment. I always prep the boys for what is coming. I told him the dentist would have to stick a needle in his mouth, and that it would hurt. But, I told him I knew he could do this hard thing. I told him I knew how strong he was, "not just his muscles, but his strong will and mind". He was so brave, and although he was very nervous, he was the toughest kid I've ever seen. They used laughing gas to help relax him, and when the needle was finally stabbing his mouth he didn't cry AT ALL- not a single tear! I told him he was stronger than Captain America -which he really appreciated. They also fitted him with a metal spacer. After it all, I asked him, "Do you still like the dentist." to which he very quickly and without hesitation nodded yes. That's my boy!

The rest of the day he didn't eat a thing; he was totally drained, and just plain miserable. He went to bed early and slept all night. This picture was of Kade the morning after the extraction. The infection was now leaving (thanks to antibiotics) but since his tooth had just been ripped out he was obviously all the more swollen. POOR KADE! It was really hard to see him this way all day. He literally couldn't smile, the swelling was to big. Ben said he looked like Two-Face (a Batman bad guy), because only one side of his face would show any emotion. Needless to say he was miserable. Thank heaven for pain medicine and Anbesol, as well as Otter pops, yogurt, pancakes and ice cream. I said he could eat anything he wanted and have as many cold treats as he wanted. He totally took advantage of this -which I totally understand.

This was two days after the extraction -still quite a bit of swelling, but better. You can even see a slight little upturn to the left side of his face. :)  (I didn't get any more pictures after this.) But, each day got a little better, and he eats a lot of regular foods and turns me down if I offer Tylenol or Anbesol. I have talked about Kade's mental toughness a lot as I journal. I could have had them put him under. He would have slept the whole time, but he might have had to wait till the next morning, he would have been drugged up all day, he would have been miserable anyway. On top of that, we'd have spent so much more. There was no doubt, of all my boys, that Kade could stay awake through this -at FOUR- and be totally okay with it all, and not leave scared to ever come back. He proved me right. I am grateful that this was resolved quickly and that Kade is on the up and up. I'll be adding "please never let another tooth abscess" to my prayers every night. ;) I'm glad it's already behind us.