Resemblances

Here are some pictures of all three kids at one month old. Sarah looks more like Jacob than I thought!

Jacob
- shortest in length/height, most hair, fanciest outfit :)

Rebecca
- tallest, biggest, most tired

Sarah
- littlest in weight, brightest color of stuffed friend for the monthly picture , and  the chair looks a little faded all these years later!

Kid happenings

Jacob:

The little boy we carpool with for school broke his arm at recess a few weeks ago. When I told Jacob that his friend broke his arm in three different places Jacob's response was: "Oh no! So, he just broke it at recess and where else?" :)

Jacob with his finished game of dominoes. He was pretty proud of matching up the number of dots.

For several months Jacob has used the word neither in place of or on occasion. "We didn't have a book last night, neither a CD."

One day last week he asked some interesting questions: "Mom, why do we believe in Jesus?" and "Mom, why did Jesus create the world?"

He used a Justice League plate for breakfast before church yesterday and said he wanted to wear his red shirt so he could look "just like Flash" for Sunday.

Jeff helped Jacob make this papier-maché house for his Gingerbread Baby in September. He loved taking it to school to show his classmates!

I found Jacob at the table one morning with a pencil. He was drawing some different shapes and I asked what he was coloring. "This is a cylinder. I'm making this paper as a busy bag to help Rebecca learn her shapes." (we have a bunch of busy bags with little learning activities in them to help with colors, numbers, fine motor skills, etc.)  When he was done with the shading he got up from the table and sat with Rebecca on the floor and pointed to the shapes and had her ring a bell to say the answer. She said, "skirkle!" for the round one and I figured that was correct but he then kindly corrected her and said that it wasn't a circle, it was a sphere.

Rebecca:

"Yesternight we just did that." - in reference to jumping in our bounce house in the basement

We were at a preschool playtime at a gym today and she was bouncing with me and said something: "It's a Miracle!" is what I heard, so I asked her what the miracle was but what she said was "It's Gym America!" She kept laughing that I'd misheard her.

Upon discovering some clay dough that had been left in a little shape maker for a while she said, "Oh no! It is all dried! Like a mango!"

Rolling out and cutting the dough to make homemade cheese crackers. 

She is starting to use more grown-up sounding words and it always takes me aback.  Yesterday she just repeated something I had said a few moments before but for some reason when she said the word "realize" I thought it was so cute.


Here is Rebecca holding the picture of shapes Jacob made her. You can see how well the photo shoot went...

Sarah:

This one is smiling more and more and occasionally coos. She'll be two months on Wednesday this week and I can hardly believe it. Three kids is tricky, to be sure, but we are all so glad to have her in our family. The older kids are so sweet to her and I've loved having a tiny one to snuggle again.

One month!  

She's usually very alert when she's awake!  

7 Years

A long time ago (back in July)....we celebrated 7 years of marriage!  I am starting to sort of feel grown up. But don't worry, only sort of!

As usual, Jeff made this wonderful video to celebrate this past year of our family's life and the kids have watched it so many times Jacob has been caught singing some Mindy Gledhill and some Keith Urban.  It's pretty long but if you're game, feel free to watch and enjoy!

7 years from J Lamro on Vimeo.

Lead, Guide, Walk Beside (and get out of the way when necessary)

A couple weeks ago Jeff and I were reading in 3rd Nephi in the Book of Mormon. In the chapter we were reading the Resurrected Savior is teaching and visiting the Nephites in the Americas. This is one of my favorites sections in the Book of Mormon for many reasons, but I thought I should write up something that really struck me that night as we were reading that I'd not noticed before in the many times I have read the same passages previously.

But first I should give a little background, if for no other reason than to remind myself how I was feeling about my mothering as we read the scriptures together that night. Things have been hard lately, really hard. My patience has been so very thin most days. I feel like I'm the referee all day long many days, running interference but without any real game plan that ever works. I wake up every day, praying in my heart that I won't yell today, that I'll keep my cool and just be calm and helpful and kind, but firm if necessary. And most days I fail at this. I yell sometimes. It makes me sad and I know it's not helping us have peace in our home.  I'm currently about, oh, 40 weeks pregnant, and this hormonal+tired state obviously doesn't help things, because often after I get frustrated or upset I turn into a bucket of tears. This doesn't work wonders for disciplining children, in case you were wondering about my "methods." Don't get me wrong, there are perfect moments in every day, but no day is ever perfect, nor can it be, but I wish I had more perfect moments. (Don't we all?!)  In any event, this is how things have been of late.

We read these verses from 3rd Nephi 17:

9 And it came to pass that when he had thus spoken, all the multitude, with one accord, did go forth with their sick and their afflicted, and their lame, and with their ablind, and with their dumb, and with all them that were afflicted in any manner; and he did heal them every one as they were brought forth unto him.

 10 And they did all, both they who had been healed and they who were whole, bow down at his feet, and did worship him; and as many as could come for the multitude did akiss his feet, insomuch that they did bathe his feet with their tears.

 11 And it came to pass that he commanded that their alittle children should be brought.

 12 So they brought their little children and set them down upon the ground round about him, and Jesus stood in the midst; and the multitude gave way till they had all been brought unto him.

 13 And it came to pass that when they had all been brought, and Jesus stood in the midst, he commanded the multitude that they should akneel down upon the ground.

 21 And when he had said these words, he awept, and the multitude bare record of it, and he took their little children, one by one, and bblessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.

22 And when he had done this he wept again;

23 And he spake unto the multitude, and said unto them: 

Behold your little ones.

 24 And as they looked to behold they cast their eyes towards heaven, and they saw the heavens open, and they saw angels descending out of heaven as it were in the midst of fire; 
and they came down and aencircled those little ones about, and they were encircled about with fire; and the angels did minister unto them. 

What struck me was that the people took their children to the feet of Jesus Christ and then "the multitude gave way till they had all been brought unto him."  After that is when He is able to allow parents and others who may have been in this group witness the miraculous blessing and prayer for the little ones that He gives.  When I read these verses, something struck me: "Don't let yourself get in the way of your children going to the Savior." I realized as I thought about this more the next day that I have been very consumed with lots of things lately and that I've probably missed opportunities to guide my children to the Lord. I've been so busy worrying about how to help them be kind to each other that I haven't been as kind as I could be. 

I thought of the words to the song "I Am A Child of God" that say "lead me, guide me, walk beside me, help me find the way. Teach me all that I must do to live with Him someday."  Leading, guiding, walking beside and helping our children find the way to God and the Savior are vital things that I can do as a mother. I know my children are young, yes, but I also know that it never occurred to me before that I also need to be prepared to get out of the way (figuratively speaking, I suppose) as I lead them, guide them, or walk beside them.  They are spiritual beings in little bodies who long to be near the Savior and follow Him - and I want to help them do that better. 

And I was reminded as I read that it doesn't say "Behold (comma) your little ones." It says: Behold your little ones. This is something that requires action - the act of beholding encompasses so much more than just looking at them: it is, to me, a commandment of "Pay attention to your children!" But first I need to go to the Lord and then take a step back to make room for them at His feet, and I intend to keep working at it, with God's help.

Swimming and Soccer

The kids enjoyed their Starfish Class for swim lessons a couple weeks ago and they just started another set of lessons at a different pool today.  The lessons that started today are just called Level 2 but the kids agreed that Tunafish Class was a nice name for it. :) 

First day, just before getting in the water!

Excited but cautious :)

On Fridays they had Fun Friday and got to go down the waterslide with their teacher. This was obviously a big hit (as were the blow pops and tootsie pops the lifeguards gave them after the sliding was done!).

Our housing area is doing a little soccer clinic for a few months right now and both kids are enjoying that. One of their favorite things is that they both have soccer shoes to wear - Grandma Hoopes brought some of our cousin Ryan's old ones to us and they fit Rebecca pretty well and Jacob's wearing a pair that we got from one of our favorite stores, NTTD: Next to the Dumpster.  Here are both kids in action a couple weeks ago:

Preschool Art Show and Graduation

Jacob went to preschool for about 3 months starting in January. It was just around the corner from our house at my friend Shana's place. He really loved it and was so excited to learn. Here are a few pictures from his art show in March and graduation in April.   

Pop art in the style of Andy Warhol in that top row.

Picasso-style art. Jacob thought this was so fun to cut up a picture of himself.

The Marcel du Champ exhibit...they used string to paint their pictures.

Sitting together right before they shared their lines to tell what they learned in their art and artists unit! Jacob got to talk about Michelangelo painting the Cistine chapel ceiling. 

Jacob with Miss Shana on graduation day!

He would never wear this shirt usually if I offered it to him, but that day he did because it was a special occasion...

T-ball

A couple parents in our housing community started up a weekly t-ball clinic for kids ages 4-7. Jacob has been having lots of fun. He is sure to wear his tennis shoes every Tuesday and his baseball cap (brought here by a friend's dad from China). The second week of t-ball we were walking to the diamond and he very frankly said, as though he were a baseball sage: "Mom, one of the most important things to remember in t-ball is to catch the ball, like this" (bends down to show me how you would catch a grounder).  So he's pretty intense about it!

Here are a few pictures from yesterday's t-ball practice. He's improved and now runs right to the bases, instead of overshooting them by several yards, but yesterday he was in the group doing the batting drill and after he batted he ran to 1st, 2nd, 3rd and home - passing the kids standing on 2nd and 3rd.  He loves being able to be out there with his friends!

Jacob at the Bat!

Running to first (and then all the way home, passing everyone else)

Something distracted me and I moved when I took this picture, but I love seeing his form and smile as he runs to home plate!  

Here is our neighbor Brooklynn waiting to run from 3rd. Every week Jacob wonders if she will be coming, too!  

And here is how this one spends her time at t-ball, hanging out with the moms and playing with other people's toys :)  

Easter then and now!

You know it's been a long time since you last blogged when the Post Editor changes a lot :)

Just wanted to post a couple pictures from Easter in 2011 and 2012 to see how the kids have changed.  And I guess I've changed a bit also since I have a little bit of a baby bump in this year's pictures, but you can't really tell from a front angle shot.  

For starters, we can see that I had no idea what to do with Rebecca's hair a year ago. It was in this funny baby-mullet stage still.

Dyeing eggs is so fascinating!  

Rebecca looks at the camera, Jacob looks at Rebecca's spoils...

Getting ready for this year's Ward Easter egg hunt. Dandelion picking was first on the agenda, and looking at the camera apparently was not!  

Both kids have grown and changed a lot this year!

And one obvious change is that for our family picture in 2012...

...we had someone else to take the picture for us instead of relying on the camera timer!  And look at that, Jeff wore the same suit and tie!  (I promise he wasn't wearing it for a whole year!) Glad to have everyone's head in the picture this year!

This year, it was fun to have both kids understanding that we're celebrating the Savior's resurrection at Eastertime. Rebecca has given us this lesson for Family Home Evening several times now, using paper cutouts from nursery. We let them hunt for their baskets Saturday morning this year just to give that a try and it worked pretty well.  We even got to stay in bed for about 30 more minutes while they kept coming back upstairs to get another clue. 

A great Sunday!

Today in Sacrament meeting our Bishop and his wife gave wonderful talks. Bonus: J&R were pretty well behaved so I heard almost everything!  :)

Holly's talk focused a lot on her experiences as a 17 year-old girl in June 1976 when the Teton Dam flooded southeastern Idaho. I have heard many other stories about what happened after this disaster, since my mom was still living at home then also in Blackfoot, ID, but Holly's perspective was really intriguing today for some reason. She talked about what she learned in the months of cleanup that followed the flooding: that people are more important than things, that hard work produces a sense of accomplishment even and maybe especially in the wake of tragedy, and that people coming together to serve others in need is a wonderful thing to witness. Holly likened this experience to how we can learn and grow as we raise our children and strengthen our families and it really was great.

The bishop talked about the Mann Gulch fire of 1949 in Montana (somehow I'd never heard of this before, whoops) and how most of the men sent to help stop a fire in the gulch died. Two men's lives were spared when they raced to the top of a ridge to out-run the fire as it spread, and the other man who survived created what is known as an escape fire that he encouraged others to jump into in a split-second decision. His life was spared when he chose to be in that ring of fire. There are all sorts of spiritual implications to go along with this story, but I liked that Bishop Harris talked about how we need to trust the Lord, or our spouse, or someone else when the time comes for us to jump into a trial of faith or some other kind of "fire" that requires us to do something that seems ineffective at the time but that will preserve us in the end.  I leaned over to Jeff and said, "Hey, I've got a Garth Brooks song in my head right now..."  So here's the chorus of the song:

Standing outside the fire 
Standing outside the fire 
Life is not tried, it is merely survived 
If you're standing outside the fire 

I just thought I'd put some of my thoughts here so I could remember what I learned/felt today as I listened to their talks.

*Updated with winner* Weekend giveaway: Trix Yoplait Yogurt and Prize Pack

**Congrats to Katja on winning the yogurt prize pack!**

As penance for it being a long time since we posted on this here blog, I thought I would get things going again with a giveaway.

Thanks to MyBlogSpark and Yoplait we recently received the prize pack pictured above. Yoplait recently reformulated Trix yogurt to take out all of the HFCS, artificial sweeteners and colors and other such things.  I don't buy Trix yogurt usually, but we definitely go through plenty of yogurt here in general. The kids thought the Trix rabbit was pretty funny on the package.  Rebecca used our coupon to pick out the Triple Cherry flavor.

Leave a comment on this post telling how you or your kids like to enjoy yogurt and be sure there is a way for me to contact you in case I don't know who you are personally.  :)  Do you eat yogurt for breakfast, with granola, in a smoothie, for a snack, use it for a fruit dip, or anything else? I'll pick a winner randomly on Monday morning and post the winner here at 10 AM EDT.  I guess you have one hour less to enter than you think since we switch to daylight saving time on Saturday/Sunday. :)  You could win the same things we recieved:

• (1) VIP coupon for a free 4-pack of Yoplait Trix yogurt for kids
• Yoplait branded items including an insulated lunch tote, ice pack, backpack, folder, zippered pencil pouch, pencils, erasers, and pencil sharpener

Thanks to Yoplait and MyBlogSpark for sponsoring the giveaway!  Have a great weekend! 

Jacob's Talk

Jacob was asked to speak in primary today. For the spiritual edification of all who read this blog, I will post the text to his talk, in its entirety, below:

"One of my favorite songs is “Scripture Power.” Part of the power we get from the scriptures is to learn about important things that happened long ago. In the scriptures we can read and learn about when Baby Jesus was born and what will happen at His Second Coming. (Picture 1) Shepherds were watching their sheep when an angel came and said, “Fear not!... For unto you is born this day...a Savior, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:8-9). (Picture 2) After they heard this, they hurried to go see Jesus. When I am told to do things, I also hurry to obey. The wise men also came to see Jesus after he was born. (Picture 3) They knew about prophecies in the scriptures and had seen a sign of His birth. I think the wise men were so wise because they read the scriptures. The scriptures also teach us about what will happen when Jesus comes again. (Picture 4) We can look for signs of the Second Coming and be ready to see Him, like the shepherds and the wise men. I have a testimony of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the scriptures and what I can learn about Jesus when I read them."

He, of course, carried out his speaking task marvelously.

Indoor playground!

Jeff has been busy these last couple months building some fun things for the kids in the basement. See for yourself, and if you need something fun to do in the winter, feel free to drop on by! :)


squarygoround from Jeff Hoopes on Vimeo.



squarygoroundwithdrill from Jeff Hoopes on Vimeo.



slide from Jeff Hoopes on Vimeo.

A new way to travel to Bethlehem...

Jacob has been playing with his phonics train and our Nativity set this afternoon and I had to take a picture once he combined everything into one big playset. The shepherds never made it to Bethlehem faster than they did today:

Joseph apparently made it on the same train as the shepherds, and you'll see Mary above (on the couch) standing in the fields looking for her husband. We're loving this time of year and hope you are, too!

Tithing and something cute to remember!

On Sunday we had tithing settlement with Bishop Harris and I very briefly taught Jacob about tithing before we went. He had some birthday money from a couple months ago that he paid tithing on and last night I realized that maybe he did catch something in the 5 minute lesson I did with him.

I tucked the kids in bed last night around 7:20 or so and then went to use the bathroom. When I came out Jacob was standing in the hallway holding two books:

I asked him why he was out of bed and he said he needed to show me something. He pointed at both pictures above and said, "Mom, they are both just paying their tithing!" :) Now, we have read several chapter books with our kids over the last couple years, but not Dear Mr. Henshaw yet - he just knows the picture on the cover of that one from his occasional pastime of reorganizing the chapter books shelf on our bookcase. He told me how the little girl was writing on the same paper he did the other day but the boy was paying his tithing on a different paper.  Love it!

A year ago this week...

Something I've always been grateful for (or mostly grateful for) is that I can remember things pretty vividly. I have a lot of thoughts as December begins today about the things I did the first week of December last year. Since I most likely didn't blog about any of them, I figured I could reminisce here and process the memories that way.  Without further ado, a list of the things I was doing last year:

1. My sister Erin came home to MI with us after we Thanksgivinged in Virginia. She was here for a week and it was great!  Jeff ate lots of white cheddar popcorn on the drive home from VA, I attempted to sew her a hat  out of an old sweater and then my sewing machine went crazy on us when the bobbin case kind of exploded or something. In true sister fashion I think we both almost wet our pants laughing at how the inside of that hat looked.

2. I was rehearsing for Messiah performances every other night.  Yep, doing that again this year. And it's wonderful. Tomorrow night is our last dress rehearsal before our two Ann Arbor concerts, and then next week we have three  rehearsals before our two performances in the big D.  I am a little excited to sing in Detroit, having never sung in a big city before. PS I love singing Messiah. Not only is Handel kind to altos (we do have the first line in the first chorus of the whole oratorio), it is remarkable how spiritually riveting it is for me to sing beautiful text and beautiful notes (well, they were written to be beautiful, I am making no statements about how they sound when I sing them!). I am a lucky gal.

3. I accidentally went to touch up/finish off the top of Jeff's haircut after he had done most of it and didn't bother to notice he had handed me the clippers with the guard off, ready for me to shave off his fuzzy curls that grow below where he likes them to be in the back. So he had a nice little patch of baldness somewhere in the middle of his head and then we just went all out and shaved him since we were definitely beyond and possibility of fixing things.  You'd better believe I check really closely now as to whether the guard is on or off.  I must also point out that a year ago Jeff was telling no one except 1 person (our neighbor and his office mate at school) about this. I loved him so much for that, and luckily for all of us, his hair grew back.  

4. I was taking Rebecca to the ER because we thought she swallowed a hearing aid battery.  It turns out she didn't swallow it, but I was so proud of how still she laid during her x-ray. And I learned that the UM ER staff in pediatrics is really nice, though I think I'll be alright if we don't make it there again.  

5. The same day as #4 (but of course) I was comforting my three year old Jacob who had fallen out of the cart at Sam's Club after jumping up and down excitedly after seeing a  Charlie Brown Christmas book.  I almost took him to the ER as well since I was afraid he had a concussion, but he was fine. I never want to hear the sound of a little person's body/head/whatever it was hitting the Sam's Club concrete floor again. Shudder!

6. I was remembering, as I always do this week of the year, my sweet Grandma McKoy who passed away on December 9, 2007, when Jacob was a couple months old.  Boy do I miss her.

7. I was enjoy the company of not only my sister but also David + Megan and their family since they drove up from Beavercreek for my Messiah performance and stayed for a day or so.  It was so great to have them close by for that and other occasions these past few years - and now I am missing them since they moved to California over the summer!  

8. I was having a colonoscopy a year ago this week. Everything went fine with that and the only reason I mention it here is that I was so glad Erin was here that day to help me out at the doctor while Shaunae watched my kids. I even made it to rehearsal that same night. 

9. Doing dishes.  :)  I was just thinking I better finish up this post and go do the dishes that are in my kitchen right now, and I imagine I was doing dishes at some point during this week a year ago.  

Happy Decembering and Happy Remembering!!