We were getting ready to go to Grandma’s house, but things weren’t moving quickly enough for my one-year-old so he took matters into his own hands . . . and feet. He grabbed his shoes and spent several minutes grunting and squirming and then stood triumphantly with his shoes on his feet. He put his shoes on all by himself! I know a few four-year-olds who can’t even accomplish that “feet” (groan).

Here’s the proud toddler showing off his handiwork.

Every five weeks I get the opportunity to teach Joy School. Five four-year-olds descend upon my home I spend five hours over two days singing, teaching, cleaning, crafting, feeding, reading, drawing, painting, playing and running with them. By the end of each day, I’m exhausted. Where do they find their energy? This is what my house looks like on Joy School days.

This is what my kitchen counter looks like on Joy School days. Today we painted feet, traced shadows, sang songs, read stories and had a snack, among other things.

Dallin absolutely loves Joy School and I am thrilled that he gets the opportunity to participate. I remember how much I enjoyed Joy School at Dallin’s age. In fact, in honor of Joy School, I’m going to do something I rarely do: post a picture of myself. Here I am, graduating from Joy School in 1983. Check out my awesome knee socks!

Because every mother of boys should know how to make balloon swords.

I left the bathroom for approximately 90 seconds. Dallin needed help downstairs. When I came back up to finish putting on my makeup, this is what I found:

Good thing it’s washable mascara.

I made liberal use of the green food coloring this Saint Patrick’s Day and the boys loved the novelty of the moldy looking food.

For breakfast we had some unnaturally green foods and some that actually come that way.

Porter’s favorite part was the green milk.

Hyrum loved the kiwi.

Dallin downed at least three green muffins.

When we were explaining the holiday to our funny three-year-old, he wanted to know what a leprechaun was. We told him, “It’s a little man who tries to steal your gold.” Dallin’s eyes widened and he asked, “Is it Hyrum?”

Happy St. Patty’s Day!

 I had a bevy of boys at my house the other day and decided to let them get their hands dirty . . . and their clothes, and the table, and the chairs, and the floor . . .  

It was worth it.

Boys and boxes. It’s an instant recipe for hours of unplugged play. Porter decided to draw a monster on this particular box and chase his brothers around (and no, my brilliant child didn’t think to cut any eye holes so he could actually see where he was going.)

However, the little brothers weren’t scared and took to beating on the box monster whenever he was in their vicinity.

Jared pulled out the camera the other day to capture the funny ice cream faces sitting around our table.

Porter, true to his pre-teen status, hid his face from the camera.

Dallin smiled on cue and posed perfectly with his chocolate-stained teeth.

Hyrum decided to practice every face he’s ever learned.

Hyrum has three ultimate instruments of comfort. They are binky, blanky, Barney and we call them buh-buh-buh. Whenever he is sad or hurt, he wants buh-buh-buh. When he’s tired and it’s time for bed, we go in search of buh-buh-buh. And he is always so happy to see them. Tears and yawns turn to squeals of delight and we discover their hiding place – which is always in the same place, but that never seems to diminish the excitement. I know we are rapidly approaching a time when buh-buh-buh will turn into just buh-buh because we’ll have to lose the binky, but for now both Hyrum and I take comfort in the buh-buh-buh routine.