Date with Lucy Goosy

During Jason's deployment, I made it a priority to take Lucy and Graham out for some mini-dates with Mom. I caught a few pictures when Lucy and I were out for dinner.

Loving our pizza from California Pizza Kitchen. We both kept saying how good it was. I was loving even more the conversation with my sweet girl. While Jason was gone, I felt like I had to be good cop and bad cop in the parenting department and bad cop came out A LOT! It felt like I was constantly nagging my kids to do the next thing or to get something done. So, I really enjoyed sitting face to face with Lucy and just talking. We have tried to make this a priority for the last couple years. We aren't super consistent, but we are hoping to do better.

Goofball got an award at school for testing well on the STAR test. She's a smart little cookie. Her teacher recommended that she be tested for the Gate program in the district and she did really well. The program is run at a neighboring school, so we decided to keep her where she is. No need to add another school to her already long list. Since she started kindergarten, she has gone to 4 different schools. We are so proud of Lucy. She handles change very well and is actually looking forward to our move this summer. I think her tune may change when the final days actually arrive, but I'll take her excitement for now.

Lucy with a few of her besties.

Morgan, Lucy, Pfieffer, Maggie, and Julianna

A few tidbits about Lucy:

-She REALLY wants a pet, mostly a dog. In fact, this past week she was in tears over it. She had asked nearly everyone in her class if they had pet and she found out that she is one of the very few that doesn't have one. I had to tell her that no amount of crying is going to get her a cat or dog. I felt bad for a minute. I honestly can't show any signs of weakness or the tears will keep coming and then she'll enlist her Dad's help. It's not happening. Seriously.

-Lucy has decided she's going to be a rock star when she grows up. She has asked me questions about whether or not she'd be able to be a rock star and a teacher and an author. She was concerned about whether or not she'd have enough time to dedicate to all three.

-A sister in our ward gives Lucy art lessons a couple times a month. She uses oil paints. She has enjoyed the quiet time with Patty. I was amazed at her beautiful painting of an ocean scene. We framed it and she gave it to Jason when he came home. She has always loved creating things and doing projects. She writes stories for us on our birthdays and illustrates with colorful pictures.

-Lucy loves it when I tickle her back or her arm at church during sacrament meeting or at night when I'm tucking her in. Sometimes I get frustrated with her because I'll be wrestling with Ben or Graham and she'll tap me on the shoulder and lean over to show me she wants me to draw a picture on her back. It's the times at night that I need to take advantage of. I'm in such a hurry to get them to bed so I can relax, but I need to take in the moments that she wants me around and when I can talk to her about what's on her mind.

-I'm so excited for Lucy girl to get baptized this Saturday. She's been looking forward to it for so long. Nearly every fast Sunday, she gets up and bares her testimony and mentions how excited she is to be getting baptized and that she knows how important it is. She turned 8 back in August, but we wanted to wait for her Dad to be able to perform the baptism. Grandma and Grandpa bought her a beautiful white dress for her to wear afterward. Tonight, she and I are going to go shopping for "high heeled" white shoes for her wear with it.

I love my sweet Lucy Jane. I love her funny sense of humor and the way she's so quick to laugh and be crazy.

Slam-Bam it's Graham!

My Graham is getting so big, so fast. He had a major growth spurt while Jason is gone. He seems so grown up. It's fun and exciting to see the boy he's turning into, but it makes me sad to see my little buddy get older. I want to remember my little guy at this age.

Where to begin? Graham is such a funny kid. He is still our "all or nothing" guy. He is either really happy or he's super ticked off and grouchy. Luckily, he is usually pretty cheerful and can snap out of a bad mood pretty quickly.

I love how excited he gets about everything. I love seeing the look on his face when he tells me about the leprechauns that visited his preschool class or after primary when he is telling me about how kids can be "dishionaries"(missionaries), too. He is so animated and excited to tell me about everything he learns or does.

Graham went through a belt phase for a couple weeks. He would put the belt around his head and then a few minutes later I'd see him putting it through his belt loops and tucking his shirt in. Later in the day it would be around his head again.

A few days ago, I was making Graham some lunch (peanut butter and honey sandwich) and he was quiet for a minute or two. He then told me that he was just thinking about how cool it would be to have a shark for a pet. The shark would live in the "water part" of Disneyland, but when we went to visit, all he would have to do is whistle and his pet would come and give him a ride in the water. I asked him what the shark's name would be and he acted like I was an idiot for asking. "He can't talk, Mom. He's a shark."

One of my favorite Graham moments this week was when he told me he thinks he knows how to tap dance. He then proceeded to do a little jig for me in the kitchen.

Graham plays really well on his own. He will sit and play with his blocks, "Lego guys", or the latest McDonald's toy he got in the kids meal, for quite a while. I love to hear his sound effects and little whispers as he plays at the coffee table in the family room.

Even though he loves his toys, Graham would go without food and water if it meant he got more time on the computer. About 6 months ago we started a system. He gets two X's a day. Each X is worth 20 minutes on the computer. He can lose an X by misbehaving or whatever, or he occasionally can gain an X by doing an especially hard chore (AKA Mom needs a break, so clean the toy room so you can have another X). It has worked really well and it's nice to know what his "currency" is. He loves to play the Disney Channel or PBS kids games. He has really enjoyed coolmathgames.com, too. Lately it's been Club Penguin.

I caught this picture one night when I was checking on the kiddos before going to bed. Jason hadn't been gone too long and this little guy was missing his Dad.

There are a couple stories I've been wanting to record about my special boy. This little man is always full of surprises. It seems like Jason and I are always wondering if anything we teach him is sinking in. Let's just say he's not super attentive during Family Home Evening lessons or scripture study.

Well, a couple months ago, Graham came into my room in the middle of the night because a bad dream had woken him up. I scooted over and made room for him in my bed and then promptly when back to sleep. He woke me up a minute or so later and told me he couldn't go to sleep because he didn't want the dream to come back. Me, being the kind and sympathetic mother that I am, told him that he was just fine and needed to go back to sleep. Well, moments later, I felt him moving and could hear him whispering. I turned over to see that he was saying a prayer. He told me he said a prayer that his dream wouldn't come back. He then laid down and went right to sleep. A similar thing happened one day when he couldn't find a toy he really missed. He searched for a bit and then I looked over and he was saying a prayer in the corner. A few minutes later he found it.

It's moments like this (even when they seem few and far between) when I realize the importance of consistency in our family. There are days when I just want them to get in bed or I feel like we are too rushed in the morning to stop for family prayer. But those days are the prayers or family home evening lessons that teach the most. My kids see that even though we are tired or hurried, doing those things are important and worth the effort. We bare our testimonies through the act. Does that make sense?

Back to Grambo. Here's some of the little things he does that make me smile:

-He still says "gremote" instead of remote.

-"Bremember" instead of remember.

-He's really into playing "tricks" on us. Things like, "Hey Mom, did you go under there?" I say, "Under where?" Cue the loud laughter, because apparently, I said "UNDERWEAR".

-Another that I hear at least a dozen times a day. "Mom, I bet I can make you say red. What color is your shirt" I say blue or black or whatever. Then he says, "I told you I could make you say blue." I am then supposed to say something to the effect of, "Hey, but you said you could make me say red!" Again, cue the big smile and finger point, "See! I told you I could make you say red!" He's always disappointed when Lucy rains on his parade and tells him that we already know the trick so it won't work.

I found out this week that Graham will probably be going to all day kindergarten in the fall. My heart dropped a little because I'm not ready for him to be away from home that much. I know he will do fine and will love being at school learning and being with friends, but I will miss him.

DADDY!!!

YES! He's home! We are doing wonderfully and are so happy to have our family back together again. It was such a fun few days building up to his homecoming. Lucy had made a count down from 14 days. It was fun to see the kids get excited about it and realize that it was really going happen. He really was coming home.

His flight of about 300 Seabees was scheduled to come in at 4:00 pm, but that morning we were told he wouldn't be coming in until 7:00 pm. We were sooo ready to have him home, so we were disappointed. I spent the day cleaning and prepping the house for his arrival. I told Lucy I would get her out of school an hour early so she could help me get ready.

About an hour before we left to go to the air field, we found out he was coming in at 6:35, so I sped up our schedule and loaded the kiddos up to make our way out to Point Mugu. We were so excited!

In true Maggie fashion, we were one of the first people there. A full hour early to be exact. So shoot me. As you can see, Lucy wasn't amused.

Benny, on the other hand, was a happy boy. He was all over the place. Once it got dark and there were tons of people there, I actually lost him for a solid 2-3 minutes. It was scary and very stressful, but when I asked for some help, I was able to locate the little guy.

Still waiting. Benny was thrilled to be taking pictures.

There's the smile I was waiting for! Goldfish in hand. All is well.

Cannot wait!! At this point, we could see the plane flying towards us in the distance. It took WAY TOO LONG for the plane to land and to start unloading our peeps.
Here's Graham with one of his friends, Camden. He was waiting for his Daddy, too.
Oh my goodness!

There's that smile!
My man where he belongs........with me!