my eight year old

I took McKay to the Timpanogos temple a few days before his baptism to for a photo shoot.  Now you know that I always love a photo shoot, even though I don't know what I'm doing.  But I do always love taking pictures.  McKay was not so thrilled, although he was happy to be my model as opposed to being home and in bed.  I got some great shots of my precious boy- my eight year old.

It's hard to explain how I feel about McKay.  He is growing up so fast.  It's kind of surprising really.  He is forming opinions of his own.  He knows better how to challenge Brian and I- not in a bad way, but in a "I am a person too and this is what I think" way.  At the same time he is taking some of our opinions to heart more than ever before- which is kind of scary actually.  

He is starting to enjoy teasing his sister, Ellery, more...I wonder where he gets that from- but I also see them working together more and really developing their friendship.  

Sometimes I see him interact with friends when he doesn't know I'm watching and I am proud of how respectful and kind he is to others.  He is friendly to people and I hear him compliment and encourage people.  I also hear him get frustrated and hurt by people.  I am sure there are times that he frustrates and hurts people too.  

I have watched him proudly join the ranks of cub scouts- running off every Wednesday afternoon with his blue shirt on and his book in hand.  It has frustrated me to watch him tediously practice the piano every morning, but I have felt the satisfaction of finally hearing him play a song with both hands and sing along.  

I have cheered him on when he figured out the Real Salt Lake song on his own, and cheered even louder when he made a goal for his soccer team, silently saying a prayer of thanks because on the way he "had a feeling" that he'd make a goal that day. 

 I have seen the pile of books on the floor each morning from the last night's reading session, along with a whole day's worth of mess scattered around the room, and I have teased him about being the junk-food junkie of our family- a title he willingly accepts.

He shares a sweet bond with Layla and I am proud when he treats her with tenderness and love.  It is precious- those moments between them.  I often see him with many friends, running around our backyard- yelling, sweating, playing.  I continue to hear him ask me "the plan for the tomorrow" every. single. night. and eagerly and often times annoyingly anticipate what is coming next.

I see how he looks at his dad- his hero- and how he tries to be just like him.  I love their bond, and that they have each other.  Sometimes I am sad that I can't give him a brother, because he tells me he is sad about that- but I am glad he has a good dad who loves him and wants to spend time with him and be a good example for him.  

He still wants to snuggle me at night, and every morning I see a flash of a skinny body in underwear run into my room and settle in bed right next to me.  I thought about these things when I was reading with him in his bed the other night.  How long do I have when he will still want to snuggle with me?  Maybe two years?  I don't know.  But when I think of that, it sure makes me rethink being too busy to lay with him at night.  

I have heard him talk about his family- his whole big family- with pride and love and joy.  He loves being a Matthews, and he loves coming from Fuehrer's.  He loves his cousins and aunts and uncles and especially his grandparents.  

 I have heard this boy pray- seen him kneeling on his bed every night- and talking to his Heavenly Father.  I have seen him struggle through reading a verse in his new scriptures every night, and wondered how in the world I am going to help this become a lifelong habit and lifeline for him. 

I have most recently seen him make the decision to become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  This makes my heart full, and my tears come to the surface.  I am proud of who he is.  I am thankful for him in my life.  And I am aware of the ever present need to continue to teach him- both by word and example- so that he can learn what he needs to learn, and be who he needs to be in this world.  

I'm proud and grateful to be his mom.  I'm grateful that he is patient with me as I try to figure out this parenting thing.  

I really love him.

 His goodness is visible, his heart is beautiful, his face is adorable and his personality is lovable.  

My boy.

a baptism day

In two weeks we had two first days of school, two birthdays, and a baptism.  For a mother, that is a lot major events crammed into fourteen days.  I was feeling the stress of it all- as I will probably do every August.  

The good thing was that his baptism was the last big event- and undoubtedly the most important of the bunch.  It was a great day where the Spirit was felt and a celebration was had with our wonderful family.  

This is the list McKay wrote down of who he wanted involved in his baptism.  I think he did a perfect job of planning his special day.  I could not love this little list more if I tried.  

  

He was pretty proud to be hanging around in his white jumpsuit that morning.  I made him promise not to eat anything in it.

I love this picture of my two boys in white.  I am grateful that Brian is worthy to baptize our boy.  I am also grateful that Brian got new white pants that aren't a XXL from his heavier mission days.  

I was happy to be able to speak to McKay about the Holy Ghost.  I was emotional, of course, but shared a time in my life when the Holy Ghost spoke to me on behalf of McKay- when he had planned a trip with Granddad to Thunder Mountain and the Spirit told me he shouldn't go.  He ended up being really sick that whole day and it was a great learning experience for both of us at that time to trust the Holy Ghost.  I felt the Holy Ghost there in that room with us.

Poppy was assigned to give the talk on baptism.  He did a beautiful job- I love hearing my dad speak.  He talked about how McKay was making the first step in a series of good decisions to come in his life that will bless him and make him happy.  

Granddad was able to confirm McKay a member of the church.  McKay's namesake.  This is somewhat of a tradition on the Matthews side of  the family that we wanted to continue.  He gave him a beautiful blessing where the Spirit was strong.  I wrote some notes down during it- I'll have to find them and add them here.

I am sure grateful for this little family that I have.  And so proud of the newest church member in our family.  

And now some photos of the day:

mckay's birthday interview 2013

I guess I'm still trying to do these birthday interviews.  Here is McKay's 8th Birthday Interview.  He's getting older.  But he's still just as cute as ever.

McKay Jack Matthews - 8 years old

• Some things you like to do?  Spend time with my family.
• Favorite sport to watch?  Basketball
• Favorite sport to play?  Baseball   
• Favorite thing to do at home?  Play with friends
• Favorite foods?  Ravioli, Rib-e-que sandwich at school
• Least favorite foods?  Quinoa, Butternut squash soup (incidently, two of mom's favorites)
• Favorite outfit?  A pink shirt, gray shorts, my gray shoes
• Favorite color? Pink and gray
• Favorite place to go?  The Allred's house
• Something that makes you happy?  Being with my family
• Something that makes you sad?  When my family is mad at me
• Who are your best friends?  Dawson
• Favorite TV show? Tom and Jerry (first answer: "I don't really watch tv." True.)
• Favorite movie?  Les Miserables
• Favorite book?  All books (mom would say Diary of a Whimpy Kid)
• Favorite thing about school?  Recess
• Other than recess?  Computers 
• What you want to be when you grow up?  NBA Player 
• Who is your hero?  My daddy.  Because he is the best- he's nice and plays with me and since I only have two sisters he plays with me.
• If you were an animal, what one would you be?  A panda bear- they're awesome and they're purple sometimes and I would want to be a purple one.
  

thoughts on a sunday

Layla:  I want a chicken nugget.

Ellery:  You are a chicken nugget.

Layla: No I'm not.

Ellery:  Yes you are.  Your muscles are made of meat.  

It's inside your muscles- you're meat.

• We took Gemma and Carson to see Kevin while they were over to play.  Layla and I walk by Kevin sometimes on our morning walks.  I think I've talked about Kevin already- oh well.  The kids love Kevin.  Brian even got introduced this week also.  You can't appreciate him until you see and hear him up close.

• Kevin is gross.

• Layla upon seeing the pencil sharpener, "It's a sharper pencil doer."

• We got out our Halloween decorations just to see what we had.  I got an entry way table and one of the biggest reasons I wanted and entry way table was to decorate it for each holiday.  I have such fond memories of my mom decorating for each holiday and being able to help her place them around the house and play with them.  There were wooden eggs with our names on them for Easter, a homemade ghost holding a bucket to fill with treats, a skeleton with gangly bones that hung on the wall, three caroling mice piggy banks and a wooden Christmas tree that held suckers for ornaments.  These are just some of the memorable decorations of my childhood.  Anyway, I have always wanted to be like my mom in this way and go all out for holidays, and although I do pretty good for Christmas, the others haven't gone as well.  Mostly because we didn't have a lot of money, and so we didn't have really any money for such a thing as decorations.  I pulled out my Halloween stuff to see what I had and realized that most of it is either hand-me-downs from my mom, homemade (which is great) or stuff from the dollar store.  I am on the lookout for new decorations this Halloween that will be memories for my own children.  I have already seen that twinkle in their eye just getting out the few things we do have.  I am excited to now be able to add some more to our home and add more memories.

• Oh, I started this whole thing about Halloween because when we got out the box (and yes I realized that it's still September- I was doing inventory :) Layla was quite fascinated with some of the Halloween costumes we had in the big, black box.  When I pulled out the 0-3 month pink kitty costume she wore when she was just two months old, she insisted on putting it on.  After several attempts of trying to explain to her that it was way too small, I decided to help her squeeze her little body into and even littler pink kitty costume.  It was quite a sight.  Later she decided her last year's Minnie Mouse costume would probably be a better outfit for the day.

• My sweet daughters- these beautiful sisters- went on a walk with some very important passengers.  (by the way, we are extremely into stuffed animals lately)  The weather was cozy- a cool wind, cloudy skies and the smell of Fall in the air- and we walked around the block.  I wanted to remember that walk- when my two girls were pushing strollers of stuffed animals around our neighborhood without a care in the world and as happy as can be.  I love that they have each other.  I love that they are friends.  I love that they pushed pink strollers around the neighborhood together.

• Ellery has found her passion for drawing again.  She took a break for a couple months, but now it's back in full swing.  She does it ALL the time.  Probably the cutest thing of all is that she whistles while she draws.  Absentmindedly and adorably she whistles.  I can always tell when she's coloring when I hear that cute little sound.  Today she drew a fox at church and I was blown away by the little guy.  I've said this before, but I will never tire of how children draw with no thought of how they've never drawn this before or don't know how to draw that.  They just do it with confidence and security in their abilities.  I just love that about kids.

• Okay, so speaking of foxes, my kids, McKay especially, is OBSESSED with the music video "The Fox".  I must admit, it's kinda catchy and I love hearing them try to imitate the sounds.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, McKay would love to show you.

• We picked apples at Grandma and Grandad's house this week and Layla came home with her very own precious apple.  So precious, in fact, that she requested to sleep with it.  

• This morning Brian got released from his taxing calling as 2nd counselor in the Sunday School Presidency, to Cub Committee Chair.  One exhausting calling to the next, I guess.  Haha.  I guess it's a good change...

• I went to the Relief Society Broadcast with my mom and sisters last night.  It was a great meeting.  One of the speakers (can't remember who) talked about the Provo tabernacle burning down and how many people asked how the Lord could allow such a tragic, horrible thing to happen to one of his beautiful buildings.  She spoke of how He knew that there was more in store for that building, a temple, and how Heavenly Father could see that from the beginning, when we couldn't understand.  She related this to doing through trials and how sometimes we wonder why we have to go through terrible, difficult things in this life, but that He knows the ways in which we will learn, grow and come out better for them.  I liked that analogy a lot.

• Lately it seems that many people I know and love are going through really hard trials.  It breaks my heart, and sometimes I wonder why, but now I can think of that and find comfort.  I  know that trials are for our benefit.  I know my trials have made me who I am and I can see how I am better now that I'm on the other side of some of them.  It's so difficult to go through hard things, but I hope that I can always keep this perspective and know the purpose of trials and the blessings they can bring.  

• McKay lost a tooth last week during primary.  He was so excited to surprise me when we got home.  I was happy because that little baby tooth look way too tiny next to those mature chompers up front.  Anyway, during the hustle and bustle that comes after church, his tooth was lost- somewhere in the kitchen- and he couldn't find it anywhere.  Brian sat with him while he wrote this note to the tooth fairy and the word practically was really important to include.  The tooth fairy was understanding and left him a paper airplane dollar and some tic tacs.

• I'm not really sure why our tooth fairy got into the habit of bringing tic tacs.  

• This week McKay had a little white list of spelling words stapled to his regular list.  They were longer, harder words and he told us that he had to do these harder words instead.  We practiced all week and when he came home on Friday after taking the test, he informed us that he was the only one in the class that had moved on to harder words.  He had a private spelling test with his teacher.  Made us proud of our little second grader.  He's such a good kid.

• We went to the school carnival on Friday night.  It was indoors this year due to the cold weather.  It was crowded, really, really crowded.  They had all sorts of carnival games with long lines for each one, but the hottest destination for my kids was the hair painting booth.  It was our first and  most important stop, followed by face painting.  Ellery got a rainbow, Layla chose all pink and Mack got some awesome blue Y's to represent!  By the end of the night Brian and I were dying and trying hard to spend the excess of tickets we had purchased and the various booths.  The kids loved it and had fun.  I know lots of moms who refuse to go to the carnival, because honestly for a parent it is kind of a nightmare.  But my kids love it so much- they don't even mind the crowds- and so we will go.  Fighting crowds and eating junk, we will go.

• McKay has suddenly become really into football at recess.  I see a new grass stain almost every day.  Brian and I sometimes wonder about the rules and ways of this "school football", but he loves it.  Every day I pretty much get a play by play of how the day's game went down.  It's hard for me to follow sometimes, but with the enthusiasm in which it's delivered to me, it's hard not to listen.  

• Both my girls had play dates scheduled this week and both my girls, separately,  backed out of said play dates this week.  That's not such a surprise with Ellery, she tends to like to stay close to home, but I was really not expecting Layla's reaction.  

• Layla.  My baby.  I am just drinking up her three year old-ness right now.  I am cherishing each day that she is three.  Honestly, I have cherished her pretty much every day since I got her.  Not to say that I didn't with my others....but I did so in a different way.  I consider this to be a tender mercy from my Heavenly Father.  I didn't know that she would be my last baby, but I have no regrets in regards to enjoying her every phase and stage of life, especially as a baby.  She was my little buddy when Brian was away so much.  We needed each other then and our bond was very significant and important in my life.  This doesn't mean that she is my favorite or that I enjoyed her more than the others...it just means that Heavenly Father blessed me with that bond and those feelings because He knew I would need them.  For that I am thankful.  And tearful.

thoughts on a sunday

• McKay is really into jump rope.  It all started at recess in second grade.  It's just the thing he does now.  I will never forget him showing off his skills on the driveway one afternoon and with the look on his face just daring any of the neighbor kids to take a look at him.  This is precious to me because I always want him to be proud of his jumping rope abilities and think it's cool.  I have to say he has improved quite a bit since the start of school.

• He says a lot of boys play soccer at recess, but he does NOT want to because of the "school rules".  School rules = cheating in normal soccer terms.  But not at school, so that's why he can't stand to play.  I have driven by many days and spotted him on the  playground.  He is running or swinging or chasing or jumping or pretending.  I love that.  He's always got some buddies around him doing the same things and I hear about elaborate games and scenarios they find themselves in at recess.  He's a second grader and I am so happy he is still care-free and running around that playground.

• We have had such an issue with spiders lately, mostly on our front porch.  This was a new one though- it was orange, huge and had an abdomen like a crab shell.  It was crazy.  I let it live there  on the side of the house for a day or two and then I just felt she overstayed her welcome and she had to go.  So we transported her across the street (into the neighbors backyard, hehe) and onto a utility box.  Did I mention how gigantic it was?

• Laysie Lou got some squinkies from Grammy for her birthday.  Oh my goodness, she has been busy.

• Walking Ellery's to a friend's house with Layla and baby in tow.  It was slow-going, but so worth it to have this view in front of me as I walked home.

• Watching the BYU game at Grammy and Poppy's.  I showed up with three pretty excited fans.  I especially love the tie.

• Layla and I have been walking the kids to school three days a week.  Two of those days we walk a little extra with our friends, which means we walk by Kevin.  Kevin is a huge pig.  Like if you think of a dirty, snorty, giant pig, Kevin is pretty much who you're thinking of.  He eats any snack you bring him and is filthy from rolling in the mud.  And he makes the perfect pig noises.  

• Also important to note, it is not even 9:00 a.m. and this is what we're wearing.  At least it's something...the baby is naked.  I don't know what that girl is going to do when it turns cold and swimsuits are not an option.  A depression is sure to ensue.  

• Ellery started gymnastics.  She is taking it with all her friends and so far loves it.  She is so excited to perfect her cartwheels and get better at head stands.  Look how beautiful my girl is.  I sure love her.

• Brian ran a 17 mile race last week.  He actually ran 20 miles, but only 17 was part of the race.  We got to pick him up and be there at the finish line.  I sometimes forget how far he can run, like it's no big deal.  And then I think TWENTY MILES and I'm extremely impressed with my husband.  And then I kind of understand why he falls asleep at odd times and positions later that day. 

• It's hard to believe that the same sunny day Brian ran that race, we had an extreme rain storm that  cause all sorts of havoc in Utah county.  The girls and I were having a girls night and made a stop at the Outlets.  It wasn't raining when we arrived, but that didn't last too long.  It was POURING.  We stayed put in the lobby for awhile, because we had heard driving conditions were scary and dangerous.  We got snacks out of the vending machine and the girls loved that.

• McKay and Brian were lucky enough to get tickets to the BYU game from Lisa and Trevor.  They had quite a unique game experience with all that rain and wind.  I think it ended up being a nice night for them after the storm passed.  I was glad I wasn't there, and so happy that they were.  Those boys kind of really love BYU football.

• Layla and I were twins last Sunday.  I didn't plan it ahead of time, but then when I noticed that my skirt was similar to hers, I decided to just go for it.  Me and my little doll.  I love her sweet little belly.

• McKay meditating.  That's really all.

• Layla:  "But mo-om.  You did my hair last week!"  Always a battle with my girls.  Honestly, Layla probably gets her hair done every other day.  That's just how it is.