Children's Prayers

Amara the other night was saying goodnight prayers:

Steve prompting Amara: "Please bless..."

Amara: "Seep." (Sleep)

Steve: "And bless..."

Amara: "Unko Deezus" (Uncle Jesus) 

That was the first time I had heard that one.  Both Steve and I peeked at eachother and laughed silently.  It's one of those cherished moments that come as a blessing of teaching your children to pray.  In past prayers she's blessed several of her uncles (including "Uncle" Missy and "Uncle" Mandy (My brother's wives)).

Also, earlier Lily had asked in her prayers that all the dinosaurs could come alive again because right now they are just bones.  

Mothers Day Cards from Lily and Amara

Steve helped Lily and Amara write cards to me for Mother's Day.  Here's what the girls had to say:

From Amara:

Steve: Do you love mommy?

Amara: Yeah... Uh huh.

Steve: What does mommy give you?

Amara: Daddy!

From Lily:

"I love mother because...

You see her eyes.

My mother always loves me and I love her and everybody loves everybody.

She always knows my name and comes home with us.

I love her so much."

Then she drew a bunch of squiggles and scribbles.  When asked what a few of them were, here's what she said,

"It's my owl's toys."

"That's a big huge mountain!  It's my mother's mountain."

"Present I'm going to give to my owl."

"That's my name.  I tried to write my name, but it says nothing."

"Her [mom's] foot."

I just love my girls.  These cards are precious.   Thanks to all who wished me a happy mother's day.  Being a mother has been my biggest responsibility and privilege ever and I'm so thankful I have the opportunity to be one.  I like to tell people that I've found motherhood to be the job that I've always wanted, but never knew it until it happened.

"Sweat" and the "Wrong Thing."

Lily is potty trained, but she doesn't always want to interrupt her day to go and use the bathroom, so she holds it as long as she can, then sprints to the bathroom and in a frenzy she tries to remove her clothing to make it on the toilet in time.  I've been trying to command her to use the bathroom when I notice that she's holding it.  

One such instance happened the other day.  It was after lunch and I noticed Lily looking quite uncomfortable crossing her legs tightly, slightly bending over, and bouncing a little.  

"Go to the bathroom, Lily."  I told her.

"No thanks, Mom."  She replied.  "I think I'll just bounce and sweat."

I'm still laughing at that.

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The girl I babysit doesn't always listen to me.  One day I told her not to go in the bathroom and take out Lily's hair accessories without asking me.   A few minutes later, she was taking Lily's hair things again, so I told her, "Katie, when I ask you to do something and you don't listen, you're doing the wrong thing.  You need to ask me if you want those."

She responded, "Lani Christensen, can I do the wrong thing?"

50th Birthday Party for Mrs. Mapother!

Mom's kids all emailed me something to put in a birthday card to her.  

It made her cry, so I think we did our job.

Lily was just pretending, but Amara wasn't.

It was fun to throw a birthday celebration for my mom.  It being her 50th, it had to be memorable.  So, we had a festive birthday dinner, showered her with flowers and love notes, and topped it off with a yummy homemade cake.  It was fun.

~Mom's Birthday Menu~

Appetizer- Shrimp Cocktail

Drink- Pina Colada

Entree- Grilled Steak, Seafood Scampi, Broccoli, Rice, Rolls

Dessert- Caramel-Soaked Choco-Butterfinger Layer Cake with

Whip Cream Frosting and Caramel Drizzle!

You'll notice in the video below that Amara already has some whip cream on her lip, even though we haven't started to sing to Grandma yet.  We put a bowl over the cake to prevent the kids from getting into it again, but that was temporary.

This next video is Amara mistaking herself for Grandma and mistaking this for her very own 50th birthday, thus, her cake, her candle, her moment.

Mapother Reunion Slideshow

This past weekend, everyone (Joe, Missy, Malia, JJ, Micah, Mandy, Jaxon, April, Spencer, and Jake) came up for the Mapother Reunion.  We made many memories and had a lot of fun playing at the park.  We also took some family photos, went out to eat, and ate warm chocolate chip cookies.  Blissful weekend.  The slideshow has just about every picture that was snapped with mom's camera, so sit back, grab some popcorn, and enjoy the show.

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