Joshy Loves the cat too

Josh loves this cat. Something I've seen from Josh over and over again is how cute he is with little kids and babies in particular. Well, this cat seems to fall into that "little" category. He is so cute with this cat. He just loves him. It's amazing how very tolerant he is of us teasing him and it just makes us smile :)  Josh was playing with him like a stuffed animal. Folding his arms, making him dance making funny faces with him and giggling and giggling. The even funnier thing is, Simba fell asleep while he was getting this sort of treatment. LoL too funny.

Try, Try Again!

This picture is sorta cheating - although it's a new picture, it wasn't taken today. I didn't even take one today. It's pretty obvious that it's from Sunday. But, this is my 365 and I make the rules. Right?!!

I love this picture of Josh because it shows a bit about his personality. In this picture I told him to make a serious face. How cute it was to me that he had a really hard time doing that. You can see the smile all over his face. I can also see how much he's growing up. Ahhhh!! He's almost a teenager!!!  I love Josh so much!! He makes me laugh. He teaches me how to make things fun. He loves, loves, loves to smile and be silly and sometimes I need to do that more often instead of trying hard to make it serious.

This 12 thing is a tough year. Being a deacon is a little scary and Middle School is a bit overwhelming. Something I'm noticing about Josh is that he initially gets overwhelmed but as soon as he talks it through, freaks it out and stomps his feet a little, he does it. He still does it!!  That's not always easy to do. Often when I get that way, I just give up and don't always want to try, try again. But Josh doesn't give up, he just gets it done. That's impressive to me. He teaches me that even if it's tough, try, try again.

Money for Good Grades

I started with Zachary. Wanted to reward him for his hard work. My kids don't get an allowance so I thought that would be a good compromise. Jeff and I decided that we would pay Zachary $5 for every A. So when Josh started middle school this year, he gets the same deal. Well, Hayden couldn't be left out when he heard what was going on so he asked if he could get money for his 4's. I couldn't resist. Everyone seemed really happy. Hopefully it's a great incentive and a feel great reward.

Lucky Boys!!

Snow Fort Sunday

Oh dear before I even knew it the boys were up, in their winter clothes and outside playing in the snow again. They were up before I was and out before I was. Their plan, to build these snow forts today (I think they were more like walls) and come back here tomorrow, after school, for a huge snow ball fight.

I thought it was a GREAT plan. Didn't want to burst their bubble, but the snow will probably be gone tomorrow.

Snow Family

Josh and Hayden couldn't wait to get out in the snow today. When the sun came up the put on their snow pants, gloves and coats and went to town. They told me they didn't want to just make a snowman, they wanted to make a snow family. <3 it :)

School Pictures

Josh, this year in school you are taking Art and Theater. You seem to like Art pretty well so far. I've seen some of the things you've drawn and I think you are really good. You’ve been in school now for half of your first quarter and you told me just the other day that you want to take Theater again next year! I thought that was pretty cool! I guess you must really like it! I think it’s going to build your self confidence so much, so I'm glad you like it so much. You are also taking honors math and I'm nervous for you, but it seems like you're doing pretty good so far, hope it continues to go well.  

Zac you are taking Art and Guitar this year. You are amazing in Art. You love to draw! I often find you sitting on the floor by the couch sketching out a new drawing. Usually you draw people, which I’m in awe over. I could never draw people when I was younger. So far you are doing good in Guitar too. I can’t wait to hear you play a song. You’re also starting Seminary and I’m excited to see your testimony grow. 

I ♥ U 2 So Much! I love to see how much you're growing up. I pray you keep wanting to do what's right and be good.

Picture Day!

Josh and Zac had picture day at school today. I love having their pictures taken. I love that they do that in school too because otherwise I don’t think I’d have any “professional” pictures of them after they turned five. I always make them “dress up” a bit too, which they don’t always love, but they do willingly.

There’s something else about getting their pictures back that just amazes me. I can always see how much they’ve grown up. I don’t see it as drastically until I get that picture. I guess it happens too gradually day by day, to notice it as strongly. But when I have that picture in my hand I see how much older they look. It never ceases to amaze me.

New Tooth

Josh came into my room today and stood patiently by my bed while Jeff and I were talking. I finally looked at him during a break in the convo and asked, “What’s up Josh?” He proceeded to wiggle his back  tooth with his tongue. I said, “are you ready for dad to see if that tooth is ready to pull out?” He said, “yep” while he twisted side to side and lifted his foot up a couple of times and sorta stomped it on the ground.

He said he could be braver in the bathroom. So Jeff went into the bathroom with him and within a few seconds I heard Josh say, “And it’s out . .  huh.” Jeffrey said yep. And just like that, Josh got a new tooth. There is already a full on tooth in his mouth where that loose tooth use to be. Funny kid.

Sunday Night Homework

This is what I saw before I went to bed. Josh had homework. I didn’t even know about it. He had been with cousins all weekend and I didn’t even think to ask him. It looks like most of it’s finished. He’ll have time to do it in the morning. I hated homework as a kid. I wish they didn’t have to do it. They work so hard in school every day. Why do they have to bring homework home too.

Visiting with Isaac & Jacob

We made it to Vegas today. We took the boys out of school early, Josh and Zac on their first week of school, I might add. I felt like it was important for us to do. We were going to be able to be part of Isaac’s baby blessing and we would be able to see Jacob get baptized too. Two birds with one stone so to speak.

With Mandy and Steve living in Vegas now, we figured we could drive. I forgot how long it is to drive. Six hours is pretty long. The boys couldn’t believe we weren’t flying. Wonder what that means? Maybe they’re a little spoiled or something. But it was all well worth it.

It was so fun to see their family. The girls have grown up so much and Jacob seems so mature. The boys loved hanging out with their cousins. Josh loved holding Isaac and cuddling with him all weekend too. There wasn’t many times you didn’t see Josh without Isaac in his arms. There were plenty of people he had to share him with though. It was fun for me too. It was so much fun to rock him to sleep and cuddle with him. He’s such a sweet boy. We are glad he’s here.

Tomorrow will be so special.

Dress Shoes

I’ve been looking for dress shoes for Josh and Hayden now for about a week - while shopping for school clothes. I have had no luck. Today was my last chance. We’re going to Mandy’s this weekend for the baby blessing and baptism and Hayden just can’t wear his old ones anymore. Last week he wouldn’t wear them at all. He wore Josh’s black crocs to church instead.  That’s something I didn’t want to repeat. Today was my last day before we went to Mandy’s. We were going to leave about 12:00 tomorrow and I was going to work in the morning before we left and I was sending the boys to school and checking them out early.

We hadn’t hit the mall yet so I thought that’s where we’d go. We usually find great dress shoes at Dillard’s or Nordstroms. Only thing is we only had time for one mall. So we hit South Towne. We started at the Macy’s end so we went there. They don’t sell children’s shoes there - LAME. So then we walked all the way to Dillard’s we got upstairs and they had 3 choices. They were all LAME. So we were out of luck. Then we went over to Nordstrom Rack. More of nothing - literally didn’t have a pair of dress shoes in their size.  Then we hit Factory Stores. I’m surprised that store is around at all - there really isn’t anything left out there but a levi store and a kitchen store. Sad. Then we decided to go to Payless Shoe Source. You have to understand that I have had really bad luck at this store. But I thought we’d try. After all it was our last ditch effort or black crocs it would be.  So we ran in. In a matter of 10 minutes we had two new pair of shoes and they were buy one get one half off to boot. Wahlah!! We did it!!

First Day of Middle School

Zac and Josh started Middle School today. I planned on getting up early and making them breakfast. Apparently, even though I woke up at 6:20a, I didn’t wake up early enough. Boo :( I’ll try again tomorrow.  I did take them to school early with plenty of time to spare. They both were prepared and ready to go quickly and without event.

They really like their schedules and their classes. They saw each other at school and Zac did say hi to Josh and Josh said hi to Zac ~ WOW!!  That made me smile. They even found each other after school and walked home together. L♡VE that!!

Hope the rest of the year goes that smoothly.

A girl can hope right! Ü

Josh’s Schedule

Josh got his schedule for Middle School in the mail today. It was a very exciting moment in our house! He’s excited about it, and sort of nervous too because that means school is getting closer.

He got the classes he asked for and a big surprise class too. Do you see it? He got HONORS Math!!  Wow we are super impressed with that. Did you know they place them in their math classes? Ya, they do. The school looks at his past test scores and places them in their math classes. That means, Josh ROCKS in math!!  Zac was impressed too (in a sort of jealous sounding kinda way ;)

Josh also has Beginning Theatre which I think will be awesome. I think he might end up really liking it. I hope he will. He is often very dramatic and he loves to be goofy. I’m glad he asked me if he could give it a try. I hope it ends up being a great choice.

Jumpy Josh

Something we’ve discovered about Josh is that he loves jumping on a trampoline. Loves it!!

I’ve said it before, but jumping makes you happy. Try it! Do you need a happiness boost, stop right now and go jump up and down a few times or skip and jump. It’s fun isn’t it. It’s an instant happiness boost.

I’ve noticed that Josh becomes pretty fearless on the trampoline. He really likes it. We both wish we had room in our backyard for one. I love anything that’s fun and full of exercise too. You can’t get much better than that in my opinion. For now, we’ll have to settle for playing on the tramp when we’re over with friends.

Tonight they put a sprinkler underneath and jumped in their suits. They had a blast!!

Fun Friend

This week Josh and Spencer have been inseparable. They have been together nearly all day long. Today he didn’t come home until 9:00p. That was a little too long, but I’m glad that he’s making his summer happy with a fun friend. That’s one of the things I remember most about summers as a kid. The time spent with fun friends and the fun summer vacations with family.

I only wish this picture was of the two of them outside - but for now it will have to do :D

Happy Helping

Something I’ve noticed about Josh more and more lately is that he’s becoming a great helper around the house. I still have to ask him, but he does it quickly. He even seems like he’s happy helping.

Before he could go and play with friends today, he was asked to do the dishes. This is not one of his favorite jobs. Today, however, he did it gladly. Without a complaint. I was pleasantly surprised. In fact, I love it!! It’s almost funny how much happiness it brought me :) 

Josh's DS Spot

This is Josh’s DS Spot. You’ll often find him sitting here playing his DS. He loves video games and he loves his DS. It’s probably one of his favorite hobbies. I think it makes him happy. I like some of his other hobbies a lot better though. Like when he's riding his bike outside or playing "level" games with his friends. It feels much better when he’s active to me.

I do remember how fun it was to just sit and play a video game for hours too. I'm not that old yet.

7th Grade Shoes

I took the boys shoe shopping tonight. We went to Shoe Carnival, Famous Footwear and Zumiez. Can I just tell you, and each year I think this, shoes are expensive!

Trying to make myself feel better about it, I thought, most of the time the kids make it through the whole year with only two pairs of shoes. I guess they each have boots and crocs or sandals too, but I'm not counting that right now. Just looking at shoes, it's usually only two pair and so when you divide the cost of this shoe out by 12 months it's only about $5/mo, that's not so bad after all. Ü

These were Josh's choice for his 7th grade shoes - hope they're cool enough Ü

Deacon Responsibilities Done

Josh is officially a deacon. He discovered and completed a lot of new responsibilities. He accomplished a lot of firsts today.

This morning around 10:50a he got a call to come help with collecting fast offerings. Right as we pulled up to the church he asked me "mom, what do I do?" I told him quickly that he will be the one at the door waiting for me to write out a check and give it back to him in an envelope. He seemed really nervous, but he was willing to get ready quickly when he was called and he just went right in to the church ready to go and do what he'd been asked to do. I have to tell you I was really impressed with that. Josh isn’t the quickest of the Quick family (haha) and he often drags his feet a bit. But today he responded quickly and I was super impressed. Ü

Next off was at church today. He was asking me all morning if he was going to be passing the sacrament today. I told him I wasn't sure. They might ask him, and they might give him until next week where he didn't even get to practice. I told him to be prepared as best as he can. He'd watched the young men in our ward pass the sacrament a lot and he really will just have to do it to learn.

Well, when we got to church, sure enough they expected him to pass the sacrament. He looked at me like, “really!?!” So, I made a point of asking him if he was okay or did he want to try next week? He said he was fine. Again, I was impressed with his willingness to do what was asked of him. They had him in "Position 1." Which means he takes the sacrament to the Bishop and his Counselors and everyone on the stand and then down the north side of the church. He did great. He didn't really even seem nervous until he was finished and had to wait for the rest of the young men to finish. I thought he did a great job for his first time.

I actually got all choked up watching him. I did that with Zac too. I think I feel the spirit telling me this is good. It's that kind of feeling you get when you  have your family with you at the temple together. Just joy and happiness that you are holding tight to the rod right now and you might just make it through this crazy world.

Then after church today he was asked to help clean up the ward house a bit. I’m still not sure what he did, I need to ask him. So, with his deacon responsibilities done, at least for today, he accomplished lots of "firsts" and it made me feel happy. I was so proud of him and all that he was willing to do. It was so neat to see him sort of grow up right in front of my eyes. These are the moments I want to keep close to my heart and always remember.

Big 12

Today is Josh's birthday. This year is the Big 12. And the one present he's been long anticipating . . . . his very own cell phone. I love how Hayden captured this moment. Look at the intensity into discovering all there is to know about this new tool.

That's what we're telling him anyway. This cell phone is a tool - not a toy. We'll see if that works :D

I wish we had've made the cell phone b-day present age 14