February is the month of the Heart

February has been a wonderful month for many many reasons, but we've had a lot of wonderful moments pull at our heart strings.  February is always bittersweet because its the month that Ryan died.  It has been 5 years this year, and that seems impossible.  But the 12th ended up being a wonderful day filled with reflections of Ryan and being able to quietly think of him and the impact he had on me.  I was able to spend the day at Camp Z with the young women from our ward on a retreat.  We snow shoed and enjoyed the beauties of Washington and I felt a strong sense of peace and love surrounded by snow and forest…two things Ryan loved.

 Uncle Jake came to visit so the rest of the weekend was full of fun and food!  The kids were pleasantly surprised to have such a warm President's Day and we had buddies over to celebrate.  I went out to find the older boys sporting their skins playing a mean game of lightning!  I love this group of boys. We are so blessed to have such good people here in Yakima and I can't wait to watch them grow up together.

 Lyv passed into full on big girl status after loosing her first tooth!  It had been loose for a while, the adult tooth was even starting to come in behind it, and I told her if she didn't get it out the dentist would.  That was all the motivation she needed.  You should have seen her…blood filled mouth, with the biggest grin proudly showing me the tooth she literally ripped out her gums!  This girl!

She got to go to a Father/Daughter Social hosted by the high school with one handsome guy!  It was such a great night for both of them. Shawn even bought her a corsage…she looked darling.

 Jack had a Valentine's Concert for the 1st Graders and was asked to play the part of the Big Bad Wolf!   He looked adorable up there and said his part perfectly.  He is such a smart cookie this one…watch out world, Jack is coming!

 Finally - what is February without our traditional 14 Days of Love via Mail….the kids love this tradition, and day 12 was "Donut" know what we would do without you, so we went in search of a donut after school.  Apparently donuts were on the brain that day because they only had these GIANT Texas sized ones left.  The kids didn't complain!

The Potty Training Miracle

At the beginning of February I decided this would be THE month, to take on the most dreaded of parenting tasks….potty training!  I loath potty training, not only because of the mess, but because of the constant feelings of frustration and at times exasperation over my child's inability to grasp the concept overnight:)  My lack of patience is no help in this area.  I had attempted potty training Max 2 times before Christmas with no luck and no interest.  Honestly, he was perfectly content to wear a diaper for the rest of his life…why not?  He can do whatever he wants…eat, sleep, watch tv, play outside, without interruption…sounds nice right!  So about 2 weeks ago I was determined that today was the day…I took away the diapers, I pulled out the undies and suckers and started the potty training fun!  Fun quickly turned into loads and loads of laundry and a look from Max that basically said….I don't care, peeing my pants is cool!  Ugh!!!  Seriously people, this kid held it for 12 hours one day because he refused to try, even try to pee in the toilet!  Yikes.  After 10 days of this attitude I flew the white flag, I surrendered to my 3 year child…you win!  Then miracles were performed.  He went into the bathroom three days ago, because he wanted a sucker and peed in the toilet (made it yellow in our terms).  I jumped for joy, cheered, high fived, rejoiced so much in this bodily function finally being performed that I think I scared Max a bit.  Day two not a lot of action, but still nothing worse…today is day three, and he has been dry all morning and has peed 4 times on his own, without being asked.  What!!!  I have been a mother for 10.8 years now and I have yet to understand that all four of my children are VERY strong willed, VERY independent and won't be told what to do.  What does this mean for us in the future?  Hopefully I will look back at this potty training experience and remember that ultimately they have to decide… it has to be their decision…I can't force my hand on their free agency, their testimony, their decision to go to college or serve a mission.  It will come from them, in their time, and in their way.  All I can do is be standing by in the next room, hopefully to hear the sound of urine hitting the water, and rejoice that they did it on their own.

Post Christmas Happenings

Here a few more fun things we did during Christmas break….

Mother Daughter Date: We got our nails painted in preparation for Hawaii and went to the Yogurt Shack for a sweet treat!  I love spending time with Lyv.  She is getting so grown up and easy to talk to.  I hope this is something we will continue to do throughout the years.

Oh Jack…..sweet Jack gave us a huge scare during a trip to the Tri-Cities with our friends the Lancasters.  After a session at I-Jump we decided to go to Barnes and Noble and get books for Hawaii. Jack was with the Lancasters and all the boys went running into the store and Jack just kind of disappeared.  This isn't unusual for Jack, so I wasn't alarmed.  I started walking around the store thinking I would find him in a section of books…a minute turned into a few, a few turned into a few more and still no Jack!  Scared! At that point Shawn approached and employee and the loudspeaker clicked on…Code Adam!  They locked down the doors, no one could move or leave until this little boy wearing a Yankees hat and a red shirt was found…within a few minutes I saw Jack walking toward me with an employee.  He looked at me and I looked at him, and we both broke down into sobs.  Thankfully and gratefully it had a happy ending.  I am so grateful that he is back in my presence safe and sound!

What!? Wait! No kids in Nursery!  Say it aint so!  The day has come and instead of being happy I was a little sad….my kids are getting to big too fast!  Max started Primary and is one of three Sunbeams in our ward.  He has an amazing teacher, which I am grateful for.  He took a few weeks to warm up to the idea of not being in nursery anymore, but now handles it like a champ!

Two little cuties in a tub!

Lyv's face killed me…she has inherited Shawn's facial movement and is able to come up with some pretty funny poses, but his "Really, Mom!" face is a new sassy pants favorite!

Our final adventure…Leavenworth!  We took the beautiful drive over to check it out.  It was a beautiful town set in the snow-covered mountains and decorated with lights.  The kids loved the yummy treats and I loved a new adventure.  My hot cocoa was pretty amazing too.

After two wonderful easy-going, laid back weeks, the kids went back to school….boo!  But that gave me and my right hand man some much need bonding time. (or more like him and my hair some much needed bonding time!)

Merry Christmas 2016

Oh Christmas!  I adore Christmas - and this one was especially wonderful celebrating it in our new home.  As we read the Christmas story and discussed the birth of our Savior the nights leading up to Christmas, I was impressed the thought that my kids memories of Christmas and the feelings they have will largely be had here in this house and in this room.  It made it feel very special and wonderful to know that my kids would look back on these times - hopefully with fondness like I do.

I decided in lieu of pjs this year I would do blankets!  It was a success - and hopefully they will keep them warm and cozy for many years to come.  I LOVED our Christmas tree and the way it lit up the room each night…but Max was on a mission to kill me with my own OCD tendencies.  He only liked the colored lights, and I detest colored lights…so any time I had the white lights on - all was well with the world….and then Max the destroyer of my happiness would click a little button and colored lights would appear bring horror to my eyes! Okay it wasn't that dramatic but it drove me nuts and made him happy - what do you do?

Christmas morning arrived and the olders were ready to go at 5:45….and away they went!

The kids received all they asked for and a little more…I told them to take a picture by their favorite gift: Here war go -

Jack - kinexts rollercoaster, given by dad

Lyv - Doc McStuffins Vet Checkup Station, from Santa

Max train track addition, from Santa

Sam - helicopter car, from Santa

Finally the we save the best for last - a trip to Kauai!!! YAY!  The entire Summers Family will be meeting up in Kauai for a week of sun and fun in January 2016.  We can't wait - Aloha~

Christmas Break

Yay for Christmas Break! Two weeks of family filled fun! So what do you do when is snowy outside and there's no school….we party!  We held true to the annual Christmas Movie Party tradition, but tweaked it a little bit this year.  The kids are getting to such varied ages that they all don't want to watch the same thing, so we had 3 parties!  Yikes!  It actually turned out to be great, but on Jack and Lyv's party day there was a huge snow storm that left many of their buddies stranded.  Though the numbers were few, they still had fun!

 Sam with his posse - watch Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, with ice-cream sundaes.

Lyv and Ryleigh watched Barbie nutcracker with hot cocoa and popcorn.

Jack's buddies enjoyed the Elf with root beer floats and popcorn!

The rest of the time we took full advantage of the snow - snowmen, skiing, sledding, you name it we did it!  The snow fall this year was very unusual for our area…but I have to say that I loved it.  It made Christmas magical and provided activities for my kids to do all day long!  I'm so grateful for the snow. We had an AWESOME sled hill at the Middle School and spent as much time on the sledding hill as possible.  The kids were animals - even Max tried it - only to decided sledding isn't his thing right now:)

Finally…what is Christmas break without a gingerbread house festival!  Sam wasn't on board because candy isn't his thing, but my three sweet toothed, candy loving littles enjoyed every sweet moment.