Parkour

When I say that this kid "literally" climbs the walls. I "literally" mean it. Notice the bare feet. He usually does his best work barefooted. His dad does not like it. At all.
They argue about his shoe wearing on a regualr basis. I really don't care if he wears shoes or not. They're his feet.
So I sign him up for Parkour. It's all about getting in and out of tight spaces and maneuvering majestically from one place to another. It was going to be perfect. He waited impatiently for the class to start.
It came.
I watched him for a full hour jump into pits and figure out how to climb out. I saw him swinging from high bars. Climbing ladders on the walls. Jumping with his body nearly pressed all the way to the ground. Impressive.
I knew he was loving it.
We got in the car.
"I don't like it," he said.
I was in shock. Serious shock.
"What in the world are you talking about....you were amazing! That is exactly what you do at our house...but here you don't get in trouble."
"Oh...it's just that I thought I could come and do whatever moves I wanted to do. I have to actually, like, follow directions."

And that, my friends. Is Jake. In a nutshell. An adorable little nutshell.

Guess How Much I love You?

Luke was already sound asleep in his bed. Naomi begged me for just a few stories. It's hard to read in the dark.  Unfortunately for Naomi, I wasn't about to risk turning the light on and waking up a cranky three year old. She had an idea. A bright idea.
She grabbed the three inch flashlight her dad gave her. "We can use this," she enthusiastically reported. I couldn't decline.
We settled in under two layers of her comfy "cov covs."
Both of us slightly propped on two pillows. We pulled the "cov covs" close to our necks.
Kindof like camping.
Than I began reading the children's book, "Guess How Much I love you."
We eventually turned off the flashlight and sat in the darkness. Arms wrapped around each other.
Silent.
Naomi whispered, "it's impossible for you to know how much I love you."
"You have no idea how much I love you, I repeated.
I explained to her that one day she will have her own little "Ne Ne" and then she will realize just how much I love her. In fact, I continued, "I would do anything...anything for you."
She thought a minute.
Then she whispered, "even die for me?"
"Absolutely. No questions asked." I held her little body close.
"Oh wow," she responded.
We lay in silence for a mere few seconds.
She wrapped her arm around me tighter and said,
"I would die for you too, mom."
I held her as tight as I could.
I whispered, "you're a very special girl, Naomi. Very, very special."
And I meant it. 

HALLOWEEN 2014

School Halloween Party

Truck or Treat

Snow Queen

Adorable Lil Monster

Emmitt...from the Lego Movie. And yes...all Homemade and exhausting

Creeper...third year as a character from Minecraft

THE Backyard

 Ever since I was young...I had this marvelous dream of having my very own family. A family of blonde hair, crazy kids who made me laugh and play. I dreamed of a backyard that was completely fenced in. A backyard where we could just be a family. A backyard where I would someday play catch just as my dad did with me. A backyard where my kids learned to kick the ball, throw the ball and climb trees. A backyard that brought my kids as much joy as my backyard did to me. 13 years of marriage and 4.5 kids later...my dream came true in Omaha, Nebraska. I never would have imagined. Omaha. But here we are. As happy as we ever were. In our gigantic backyard that backs to a "forest" where the kids have a tree house and an archery range.  A swingset and a patio. A hill to race their homemade go cart down. A perfect place. To be a family. 

Last night when James got home, I retreated up to my bedroom. I was completely exhausted from making four different things for dinner and two kids who still refused to eat. I threw myself on my bed...thinking about crying. I opened my scriptures and started looking for peace. Peace came. From outside my window. I heard my husband playing with the kids. Every single person was laughing hysterically. There were balls being thrown. There was mischief being created. There were memories being made by the second. I closed the sacred book and decided to listen to the sacred music coming from outside my window. The laughter never ceased. Each child took turns creating the peaceful music that I realized I could never tire of. My husband enjoying the dream that I imagined so many years ago. He was dressed in slacks, a shirt and tie. Straight home from work. I could hear that handsome man laughing with my kids and I could see him in my mind... in his handsome clothes. Peace. Complete peace. Joy? Yes. This is exactly what our world is desperately seeking. And I had it right outside my window.

First day of School...2014

 With a new state...comes a new school. Or, schools, to be exact. Will started Middle school!
Watch out Omaha, Nebraska...the Ford kids are taking over!! We have a 6th grader, 4th grader and 1st grader....leaving all day for Luke and I to fill with cleaning the house and playing 2 year old peek a boo.

Luke was sad to lose his three biggest fans and best friends...he kisses them every day from his car seat and runs to them when he sees them after school. Kindof a payoff...they all seem happy to see each other after a long day away...let's hope it never changes!

Adjusting Nicely...

 Nearly 4 months in our new home...and we are finding lots of fun things to do...

 He's loving it and for now he says, " I think I should probably just stick to one sport. I've got tons of homework."

 Naomi let me be her soccer coach for her first season ever! UNDEFEATED 6 YEAR OLDS! I was extremely pregnant and had Luke on my hip most of the time due to James' crazy schedule, but all in all, it was one fun season. Naomi thinks she may just be a professional soccer player when she grows up...but she says it's "really, really tiring and I don't give enough water breaks." Life is tough, Kid!

Jake enjoyed his own bout with soccer. Was a stellar defender. He claims most of his talent is in defending. Same when he played football and now basketball. Hilarious. But most importantly...he always came off the field with a smile. I like that. I really, really like that!

Crawdad Fishing...but no crawdads

 SO I take the kids crawdad fishing on a warm afternoon. We find sticks, tie some fishing line to it and a half a hot dog to the other end. The crawdads love it. However, we came up shorthanded on crawdads. Without fail...Jake didn't let us leave without catching something...two snakes. arggg.  This kid could catch a snake in his sleep.

 Will rocks as an older brother. He's teaching Luke the joys of fishing. Whenever I need a helper for Luke...I call out for Will. Thanks, Buddy.