Sunday, November 21, 2010

{Our} kids...bragging rights!

I will start by telling you I hate brag letters.  You know the ones people send out at the end of the year listing all the things that their family has done throughout the year, and how wonderful they all are.  Please keep sending them to me though because what else will I have to make fun of.  I find it funny that as much as I hate those letters I am about to do one.  I say all the time that this is my journal but I never just talk about my kids.  So I am going to brag for a minute.
I was just sitting here thinking how much our kids are all so different.  They come to the exact same parents and yet they are so incredibly different.  I love how unique each of them are.  I don't just sit and reflect very often but I find myself doing that tonight.  We have been so blessed.  Our four kids melt my heart on a daily basis.  They each bring something different to this family that makes our family stronger.
JJ is so smart it is crazy.  He is clever.  He thinks of things is such a different way than most people do.  This is why I think some day he will change the world.  He can create the most awesome things.  His mind is always working.  He never stops...ever!  He literally is smarter than me by leaps and bounds.  He is just so handsome with his brown eyes and copper top.  He comes up with the craziest ideas and if I was more fun we would do them, but I am not so we don't.  He is the sweetest boy.  He is always willing to help others out.  Every teacher (school or church) he has ever had tells me what a privilege it is to have him in their class.  I know it is because he is such a helper to them, he wants to learn, and he listens.  He is very mature for his age except when he is not.  He is a tease like no other.  He teases all of us to the point that we want to scream.  When we do scream this just fuels his fire.  He does well to be a brother of all sisters.  He doesn't complain when we rent the Barbie movie.  He just goes with the flow.  I don't think I have given him enough credit for what he does put up with.  His sisters are lucky to have him.  He loves me.  Even though there are times I think I am the worst mom ever, he still loves me.  He loves to wrestle with his dad and tease him in a way that only boys can.  He loves his grandparents like crazy.  He always wants to call Papa and tell him about what he made or wants to make, and is always coming up with endless project that he could do with him.  He loves to tell Mama about his day and he knows she will really listen to him.  He loves to sit on Grandma Jan's lap and have her tickle his back.  He loves that Grandpa Gene shows interest in his hobbies, and shows him new ones.  He loves to tease his Grandpa John and make fun of him for pinching his ears. JJ is such a great kid.  He really enjoys learning about Christ and his gospel.  He is starting to think about things on a deeper level.  We can have cool discussions about life now.  Oh, did I mention he reads novels like 400 page novels in a couple of days.  Like I said the kid is wicked smart.
Emma is our little soft spoken, mild mannered, sweetheart.  She is always my biggest helper.  She is johnny on the spot when it comes to helping with Ellie.  She is the best thing that has happened to Ellie.  Emma helps her do her homework.  I didn't even have to ask, she just does it.  She is a perfectionist.  Where she gets this from...I don't know (mama)  She gets extremely nervous the day before a test because she is worried she will do bad.  If 100% is bad than she did bad.  She never, ever misses a word on her spelling tests.  She does not really come from me I guess.  I can't spell worth a lick.  She can memorize like nobody's business.She is learning to love to read and is almost keeping up with her brother with how much she reads.  She is also a little crazy about her math.  She was so worried that she would be passed up by all the other kids when they got times tables memorized.  She was one of the first to finish.  Even when she was on 9's she was worried that she was getting behind.  She is such a great sister.  She will play with Ellie for hours and hours.  She has the cutest laugh.  But once you get this girl going she can't stop.  She is hilarious.  When we play games she is so competitive but such a poor loser.  She loves to win so much that she can't handle losing.  She still wants to be a little girl but is starting to grow up.  This makes me sad and excited all at the same time.  Emma is someone that truly wants to be a good person.  She is so sad if someone is mad at her.  She hates to hurt feelings and feels bad when she does.  She gets her heart broken a little too easily.  I sure hope it gets tougher.  She is starting to want to do her own hair.  Yikes, that is my favorite time.  She loves her family.  I think we are going to be great friends which makes me happy.  I hope this stays true during the teenage years.  She loves her daddy.  It is cute to watch her tell him things.  I can see that she really loves his opinion.  Again she loves her grandparents as well.  She is always so excited to see them and her love for them is so genuine.  She has the prettiest smile I have ever seen.  So perfectly pink.  She loves to go to church.  She is understanding so much more and starting to have answers to the tough questions.  She says the sweetest things to me all the time. 
Ellie, where do I begin.  I really could just some it up in a few lines or write a novel.  She is an ANGEL!  That is how I could sum it up.  She LOVES school.  She gets so excited when she sees the school and when she runs in my heart smiles.  She is starting to talk a little bit more.  She said "Help you mom?" the other day and I about passed out.  She is starting to make sense of things and point out things to me.  She is funny.  She has just started to really laugh in the last couple of months.  She has always laughed but now she is laughing with more feeling in it.  She loves to escape into her Barbie world.  She gets them all out and lines them up and has them all talk to each other.  I often wonder if this is because she doesn't really have friends so this is who she shares her life with.  She really does love her Barbie time.   She HATES change.  She is cranky when I tell her to get in the bath, cranky when I tell her to get out of the bath, go to school, come home from school, you see the patten.  It makes me laugh...some days.  She is starting to say the prayer at home on her own.  Even though I have no clue what is being said I can feel the spirit.  She can sing songs now, and I understand what she is saying.  She is the most thoughtful little lady, unless it involves Boo and then she is maybe not so thoughtful.  She is starting to really like to cuddle with me.  I love this.  She loves to eat carbohydrates.  This makes me crazy.  I want to feed her good food but she only wants crackers, chips, breads.  Oh, that girl.  She has the prettiest hair color ever.  I just wish she had more of it.  She get so excited when daddy gets home.  Cutest thing.  She is trying so much more now on her own.  She is getting sneaky.  She stole Emma's cookie the other day, and a shirt from the school book fair.  We might have to watch this one.  She loves everyone that she meets.  She teaches me more than most people.  She is amazing when it comes to knowing when someone needs a hug.  I love to be a witness to the many things that she does, and the hearts that she touches.

Elsie makes me laugh.  Not just laugh but belly laugh.  She is so clever and witty.  She is in love with herself.  I wish I could bottle that and sell it.  She tells me all the time that she is pretty.  She is a spitfire.  Holy cow, that girl is on one all the time.  She is so much fun though.  She changes her clothes about every 30 minutes.  It makes for a ton of laundry.  She is finally (knock on wood) potty trained.  I thought that would never happen.  She loves to swim.  She asks me on a regular basis when we are going to the pool.  She loves to shop.  She wants to always go to the store with me.  It makes me laugh.  I am pretty sure she is going to be a fashion designer and everyone will want an Elsie original.  She is 100% girl.  There isn't anyone I know that has a girl like her.  She literally has to wear a dress everyday and it has to be twirl worthy.  She is so clever.  She can run my iphone better than I can.  She loves to sing songs.  She sings "I love to see the Temple" all the time.  She sicks it in such a high note you can't help but giggle a little.  She has learned the alphabet song and counting to 10 on her own.  She didn't learn it from me.  She is to smart.  She loves to get into makeup.  She almost always has some lipstick in her hand and is applying it like crazy.  She wants me to do her hair.  She loves to twirl my hair.  It drives me crazy sometimes, but when we went on our vacation I kind of missed it.  She has the biggest most beautiful brown eyes.  They can melt my heart.  In fact she is spoiled because all she has to do is look at me with  those eyes and wham, I give in. She loves her binkie.  I am not sure we will ever break her of it.  I don't know if I care.  She lights up my life and I am so glad we have our forth child.  She just might be my favorite Elsie in the world. 

I feel that I have been blessed to have such amazingly awesome kids.  I want more than anything that they will be happy.  Happiness comes from knowing who you are and where you come from.  They already get it so much more than I did at their age.  I just hope I don't mess them up too much.  They came pretty awesome.  Now, I just hope you know i could write just as much about what drives me crazy but I wanted to focus on how much they make my heart happy.  I love you kids.

2 comments:

Tara Snow said...

Cute, it was fun to read about them.

Jana said...

I love your kiddos!