Today's Bully

This afternoon, while the kids were supposed to be eating lunch, I called a friend really quick. Soon Morgan was telling me something that Jackson was doing so I told her I would talk to him later when I got off the phone. I then locked myself & Landon in my room so I could finish my conversation. :) At the end of the conversation I could hear crying, running, & loud noises down the hall. "What are they doing now?" I thought as I walked to the room. I quickly had to hide my smile as I saw the 3 of them in the corner of Landon's room. Morgan & Hallie had their arms draped around each other, both of them with tears streaming down their faces, along with looks of fear. I looked to see what they were so afraid of, and I see Jackson with his back to the dresser & curling his tongue & pulling a scary face at the girls. Morgan then cried in her most dramatic voice, "Mommy! He's kicking us & hitting us!" Hallie then added with her own sad voice, "Kick us, hit us!" At this point, I'm holding Landon, trying to get the girls to come out of the room, getting Jackson to stay in the room for time-out, & trying not to laugh at the drama of my girls. Morgan & Hallie then showed me the bruises Jackson had made on their feet when he kicked them. Morgan's just happened to be the small dents in her skin from her sock, and Hallie's was a tiny fingernail scratch from a week ago. :) I told Morgan to go and read books to Hallie, while Jackson had time out. After Jackson had some thinking time of how he had treated his sisters I went in & talked with him. A couple of weeks ago we had watched a dinosaur movie about a bully. Jackson & I talked about how the other dinosaurs felt sad & didn't want to play with the bully, and I explained how he had been a bully & he needed to apologize. He quickly went to find the girls and give them a hug & say sorry. Hallie was the first one to literally jump up and give her big brother a hug, followed by Morgan. The 3 of them then wrapped their arms around each other with Hallie saying "Sorry." They are such busy kids, but I love the constant entertainment they bring to our family. Today, the quick glimpse of them hugging each other was sweet & priceless :)
* The picture was taken later this afternoon. Jackson still has the look of "I'm in trouble" on his face. :)

Landon's Blessing

Yesterday was a special day for our family, especially Landon. In our religion (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) we believe that Families are Forever, even beyond this life time. I am so grateful for this basic & important principle. Yesterday, Brian gave Landon a name and a blessing. A name to forever be on the records of the church. It was such a beautiful blessing! Landon was blessed with the talent of a peaceful & patient personality, and to continue to develop these talents to bless the lives of those around him. He & Brian have very similar personalities. I find it so amazing how each of our kids have similarities in our personalities, and I think of our Heavenly Father, and how they must have similar spiritual characteristics from Him as well. What a blessing it is to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Here is our sweet little family. I love every one of them so much & feel so blessed to have them as a part of me and my life.
The tired little guy & Brian. Landon was blessed in the same outfit that my brother was blessed in as well as Jackson. One day while I was holding Landon, I looked at his little hands and thought about all that they would do throughout his life time. I then thought about how one day his finger would have a ring on it. A few days later (without even telling Brian my own thoughts) Brian mentioned to me how it was crazy to think that one day Landon would have a ring on his finger. I know this time with him will go so quickly & I love the peace I feel when I hold him and care for him.
These are the men the stood in the circle (minus Jeff who had to leave for another baby blessing) Dad, Cameron, Brian & Landon, Grandpa Spencer,& Uncle Merrill. We are so blessed to have such a supportive & loving family.

Jackson's Preschool Program & Visit with Santa

Jackson had his preschool program the week after Landon was born. He was so excited for Daddy to come and watch him sing all his songs. (I'll upload the movies later) Notice the cute little girl with the pink tights next to him. Her name is Belle. One day, Jackson came home and told me that Belle kisses him a lot. I was a little surprised and asked him why she kisses him. He told me that he didn't know why, but that she just liked to kiss him, and on the lips too. :) Wonderful! I asked him if she kisses any other boys, and he said she kisses his friend Gatlin too, even better! I'm kind of hoping this is just one of his fun stories he likes to tell. :)
Jackson was so excited to sing "There was a man with a long white beard, and SANTA was his name-o S-A-N-T-A & so on. He was also excited about being a reindeer.
I have to tell a story about Jackson that my friend shared with me. Hopefully I tell it right Analice. :) Analice had invited Jackson to come over and play with Makell and while they were playing somehow they started talking about dogs. They then had a conversation similar to this -
Analice: Jackson, do you think you will ever have a dog?
Jackson: Oh, we had a dog, but it bit me.
Analice: It did (knowing that we have never had a dog)
Jackson: Yeah, so my daddy & I took it in the backyard and killed it.
Analice: You did? How did you kill it?
Jackson: We took a sword and cut it in half.
Ha ha ha ha ha :) I have NO IDEA where this story came from. He has been FULL of stories lately and shares them often. One day (after he and Morgan had been locked in their room for time out) Brian was talking to them and Jackson explained to Brian with a serious face that Morgan had kicked him in the face, and then became 4 inches tall and crawled under the locked door and went into the bathroom, and that's why Jackson was in trouble. Another story. :) We are trying to teach our kids to not lie, but it is quite entertaining to hear the stories. :)

Jackson & the Santa Claus. When Santa walked in, Jackson looked at Brian and said like Buddy the Elf, "Daddy, it's Santa! Santa is here!" He is such a fun and entertaining kid.
Our little Landon is doing good. He is such a cute little guy. I think I would love him even more if he would let me sleep a little bit each night. He eats good, but wakes up for a whole hour at a time! Needless to say, I'm awake for a couple of hours each night. Long & tiring, but definatly worth it for this sweet little guy. We love him so much!

I believe there are ANGELS among us!

I don't think I realized or really thought that it would be difficult with 4, but this past week has been emotional, tiring, & difficult. On Monday my Mom was so sweet and came to help me get the kids ready for the day. I took Morgan to school while she stayed home with the other 3, and on the way home I asked myself how I was going to be able to do this with all 4 kids. Right when I pulled into the driveway, my neighbor saw me and said in answer to the question she didn't hear "Melissa, Congratulations! Can I take Morgan to school for you this week?" Somehow the emotional Melissa who has been here a lot this week, started crying and said with relief... YES!!! After talking to her, and explaining that no, there was nothing wrong with me, just emotional, I went inside. :) Right then my friend next door called to see if she could take Morgan, followed by another phone call from another friend. I have been so blessed to have good friends take & bring Morgan home from school, and they are my angels.
My Mom has been an amazing friend, angel, and help this week. She has helped me so much with the kids. She has taken them to her house so I could sleep, played with them, given them fun activities to do, (like Christmas cookies), made dinner for us, and been a friend I could talk to. I am so grateful for her love and help.
Brian has been so sweet this week. He brought home flowers on Monday, which has been so nice to look at every day. He has been so good with the kids and the house, and just lets me relax. I am so grateful for him. He truly is my best friend.
I know that there are angels that come to me daily. My friends, Brian, my Mom, and my kids, but I also know there are Heavenly angels that help me daily as well. The other night I was feeling kind of lonely & completly off routine. That night before I went to bed, I thought about how much I missed talking to my friends and being outside the house, and how much I missed the routine. I prayed that night, that my friends that I hadn't heard from, would know that I needed them to come to me, since I couldn't come to them. The next day my friend came over & brought a plate of brownies. Later that same day, another friend called and asked if she could come over the next day to visit & bring over dinner for the crock-pot. The Relief Society Presidency also came over to visit. I knew that Heavenly Father had heard my prayer. It also made me realize even more that he hears me every time I pray, and that he is aware of me & who I am. I am so grateful for the Heavenly angels that sustain me each day. I know I can't see them, but I can feel the strength & warmth of the angels with me. The other day I read a quote on my friends blog that I knew would need to be my motto this week, "I can do hard things! In fact, with Christ I can do all things!" As Brian left this morning, and asked if I was going to be okay today, I thought of this quote, and immediatly could feel the strength of the Savior helping me. Yes...With Christ I can do all things! :)

Thankfully Landon has been sleeping so well that past few nights & it is wonderful. He is the sweetest little baby and is so calm and peaceful. I just want to hold him & stare at him all day. He is a miracle!

First Impressions

The kids didn't come to the hospital because of the weather, so Brian went and took our camera to them so they could see what their new baby brother Landon looked like. They were so excited on Thursday when they came home. Brian put Landon in the carseat in the closet and put a baby doll in the crib for the kids to come and find. They looked at the baby doll and then started looking around the room. They soon found Landon and couldn't wait to hold him. We love our new little baby and he has been smothered with love.
I love the look on their faces at first seeing Landon. What little sweethearts.
Hallie was the first one to meet Landon and she was so gentle with him. Brian and I think they had a special connection in the life before this. She treated him like she knew him. Brian had taken the other kids to school and brought Hallie home to spend some one on one time with us. I can't believe how much she grew up overnight. Her feet that I used to think were so little, now seem huge compared to Landons. She seems like a toddler instead of my little baby. She has been so sweet & is so much fun!

First Impressions continued

Jackson was so excited about his new baby brother. He kept saying while he was holding him... "My baby brother is so cute!" "I love my little baby brother!" "Can I hold my baby brother?" "I like my baby brother's hat." "I like my baby brother's hands, where are his toes?"
Jackson has been so sweet with Landon. He loves him so much & loves to be around him.
Morgan was so excited to hold her new little brother. She had told all of her kindergarten class about him and even got to tell the first grade class with her teacher since my neighbor/friend was subsituting the 1st graders that day. Brian let both Morgan & Jackson take pictures of Landon to show to their classes at school. They couldn't wait to get home and actually see him.
One more picture of my sweethearts. I love them so much!

Going Home

We left on Wednesday night at 6:00. We stopped at Target to get some things & Kid to Kid for some other things for Landon. I wanted to stop then so I wouldn't have to go out anywhere for a while. My parents were so sweet and kept the kids again so we could sleep that night. It helped a ton!
Landon wasn't too excited about getting dressed, but he looked so cute!

Ready to go!