Ode to Uncle Matt

We got a phone call last Thursday night that Grandma, Papa, and Uncle Matt were coming to spend the weekend with us and would be arriving late Friday night. This sparked a frenzy of cleaning, sheet washing and food shopping for me and a frenzy of excitement for the children. The kids LOVE IT when Grandma and Papa come for the weekend...... But they
LOVE IT EVEN MORE when Uncle Matt comes with them!


You see Uncle Matt was only 7 years old when J.J. arrived in our family and made Matt an Uncle. And he has been the best, funniest, craziest, uncle my kids could have. Probably because they practically grew up together! When we go to Grandma's house the kids all hang out with Matt. He gives them piggy back rides, lets them sleep in his room, jump on his bed and steal his gum. He sneaks downstairs with them on Christmas Eve after the parents have gone to bed and everyone is supposed to be sleeping, so that they can get a sneak peek at what Santa left. And than he makes them go back to bed. (Thanks Matt) He plays with them, listens to them, feeds them fast food, gives them fashion advice, teases them and calls them crazy names. He likes to call Miss M by his special name for her.....George! He started this when she was a sweet little baby (probably hoping to annoy me) and he still does it today. Once when she was 3 and we were coming back from a weekend at Grandma and Papa's house she turned to me in the car and said in her sweet little voice.....

"Uncle Matt isn't that smart... is he Momma?"

"Why do you say that?" I asked

"Because he thinks my name is George!"

Ha! Ha! I think little Miss M got the last laugh with that one!

I caught this cute picture of Little Man waking up Uncle Matt and climbing in bed with him to snuggle and talk about the life of a two year old. Matt is good that way...taking time with his little admirers. Thanks for being such a great uncle Matt. We love you!

The Weekend Report

This past week was General Conference Weekend * for our family. I know that to someone who is not of our faith, spending the weekend watching four- 2 hr sessions of church on TV does not sounds like anything to get excited about. But the truth is that Conference weekends are some of my favorite weekends of the year and I look forward to them for many different reasons.

Firstly, I love to listen to the uplifting messages of our church leaders. I always come away feeling rejuvenated and refocused on the things that are most important in my life..... my family and my journey as a follower of Jesus Christ. After conference I find that worldly worries are a little less worrisome and I am rededicated and focused on what really matters most.

Another thing I love about Conference weekend is all the family time. The family spends two days watching conference together, in front of the TV, wearing our pajamas, all snuggled up in quilts. It's great family time! This year in between the Saturday morning & afternoon session we took a drive out to a local airshow. We didn't have time to go in and see everything, so we parked the car and watched the airplanes fly for 45 min before heading back.

The last thing I love about Conference weekend is the food! We eat our way through the weekend. Homemade cinnamon rolls are tradition in our family for Saturday morning breakfast. We had a big family breakfast on Sunday and my wonderful husband made omlettes. I love it when my man cooks breakfast for me.....and love it even more when he cleans up afterwards! And of course there were all sorts of treats and goodies to munch on while watching....because I learned long ago that the children listen best when their mouths are full!

*The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints "gathers" twice a year to receive council from our prophet and other church leaders. Meetings are held on Saturday and Sunday at church headquarters in Salt Lake City and are broadcast by satellite to reach a world wide congregation.

RAINDROPS falling on my NOSE, on my HEAD and HANDS and TOES!

It rained on Friday much to the delight of the children. Miss L has been asking when it would rain for weeks now as she is in desperate need of some cooler weather so she could wear her new long sleeve shirts and jeans. Friday the weather finally decided to cooperate and the temperature dropped a little and the raindrops fell.

It was warm enough that Little Man was able to go out and play in the rain while waiting for his siblings to get home from school. After they all got home they went out to jump on the trampoline in the rain and get nice and wet! (Unfortunately this is the point where my temperamental camera stopped working) Afterwards we had tortellini soup for dinner and family movie night with everyone all snuggled up with lots of blankets. Then we tucked the kids in bed to fall asleep to the sound of raindrops.

Flashback to May 2005

My sister-in-law has been organizing her photos lately. Knowing how hopeless I have been about capturing moments like this on film she has been forwarding to me the pictures she has taken of my children. This is one of the pictures she sent my way. I love the sisterly love they seem to be sharing at this moment...so happy to be doing nothing more than playing around on the floor together.

More Applesauce

My sister-in-law has been wanting to learn how to make applesauce. So Saturday she came over and the kids and I taught and her how to make it "our way". (Basically that translates into lots of brown sugar and cinnamon.)

We had lots of help peeling the apples.........

We had lots of help measuring ingredients.........

We had lots help mashing the apples into sauce......

And I'm sure she will have plenty of help eating the applesauce!

Cousin Tme

We traveled to my parents home for my grandfather's funeral this past weekend. The kids were sad about their great Grandpa, but excited for a reason to spend time with their grandparents and see their cousins. I never had the benefit if growing up with cousins myself. My mother was the only of her siblings that was married on her side of the family. I did have a few cousins on my dad's side but we rarely saw each other. So I love to see my kids playing with and loving their cousins. We went over to my Brother's house for pizza on Friday night and the girls spent the night and got to stay up late watching a movie in the "movie room".

These two were inseparable. Watching them play you would never guess that there is an 18 month age difference between them.

Dog pile!

This little guy always looks at me with this exact expression on his face. He's one tough customer! That's what I should call him, T.C. I really have to work to get him to give me a..............................

Smile!

Piggy back rides!