My Artist and my little girl!

I love this little soul more than I could ever tell you in words. Here in this collage above she is doing what she loves best and is very talented at doing! This is another Georgia O'Keeffe painting she is doing, as a gift to someone. My Meghan is not only talented, this little spirit is so amazing....she is turning 15 in a couple of weeks and I am so not ready for her to be 15! Not that she is changing, however she is no longer 10 and that scares me. Last night as I was snuggled in bed with her talking about going to the Temple with the Youth this weekend she could have lit up the sky with her spirit! After she was off to bed I started thinking about how she is turning 15 and how can I do this? This was not in my plan, at least not yet! I want her to be little again, I want her to stay home forever and yet I want to watch her spread her wings. I am saddened by her getting older, not because I am too, but because I love my children so much and I guess you never really think about the day they turn a year older than you can handle.......it sneaks up on you and it happens, almost in an instant. I know you think, OK Melissa she is only turning 15, not so bad. This little girl will grow up and isn't it crazy that I am just now realizing that?? -maybe more than that it is finally for the first time since her birth that it feels like I have her under my wing for only a couple of more years......I can't help but to feel a little blue about it! Don't despair, this momma will throw her baby a party and buy up some lovely gifts, and my little girl will always know how much her momma LOVES her!!!!

PS. I will show you the painting once it is finished!

Even on cool days

We love this time of year, being able to go to the beach as often as we can......taking it all in, no matter the weather we always gravitate to the beach for a family stroll. This day caught us a little off guard as we are still having some cool spring days- which I LOVE and crave. The weather was a cooler and much cooler on the beach, we only stayed for about 10 minutes before warming up in the car and getting a cute pic of my favorite flip flop feet- Meggie's and Nathanael's!

Shopping for May!

This was taken with my cell phone so forgive the pic......the onslaught of celebration days begins - Mother's Day, Nathanael's birthday, Meghan's birthday, Mr. Wonderful's birthday, and Father's Day, all within a month of each other! For me, it is a snow ball of gift finding, gift giving, gift receiving, and hours of mind stretching to find new and creative ways to celebrate these special days. On this day, we were gift shopping for someone's big sister ... and Nathanael was not content with just looking and picking out colors - he had to try them all on, all at once! Call him a very hands-on, conscientous shopper! He definitely is my little helper, and although we did not walk out of the store with ALL of the bracelets (only two, in fact), he was quite content with the purchase; however, he was NOT content with not being able to wear the bracelets after he bought them! - so I let him wear one for the ride home, so he could break it in for her, and test that bracelet's durability!
Love him!

Spring Break

I LOVE being with my family. We all had a wonderful spring break, my kiddies returned to school yesterday, : ( , we are all trying hard to get back into the day to day routine.

Off to see what you have been up to ; ).

My sweet little goofy helper!

Nathanael loves to be silly, and we all love it too- he makes us laugh all the time. His mind is constantly going, never taking a break, he has boundless energy which is great but at the end of the day I am tired ; ). His silliness ranges from walking in with his sisters goofy glasses and just staring at us, to saying the most adorable silly things. He truly enjoys getting us to smile or laugh with him.

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He is also my little helper. Nathanael loves to help! Ok, "clean up toys"it is a little harder on some days but on most days he is more than willing. When it comes to chores the little one can't help himself, he loves it, and I love it too. If it is our Saturday to clean the church he gets so excited and he does all the entry way windows with Mr. Wonderful. He is the cutest!

Love Him!

General Conference - Saturday

We had a spiritual feast today with 178th General Conference Saturday session. It gave us a great boost and we had a wonderful evening doing crafts and talking about the talks that were given and what inspired each of us. My Nathanael did well, he played first session and napped the second. Meghan took the most notes, it was so incredible to watch her diligence as she listened intently to all the talks.
I Love my family so much, I love my Savior!

Because sometimes I want to do what my sister does!

Because sometimes when my sister leaves her I-pod and Sunglasses where I can reach them, I want to try it out too, if I could only figure out how to play this thing! Maybe if I move the sunglasses out of the way I could see better and figure it out ; )!

Nathanel loves his sister so much that sometimes he wants to copy everything she does, even when she is not around ; ) !

The Park!

We finally had warm enough weather to not be encumbered by coats, hats, gloves & to FINALLY go to the park. Nathanael was thrilled to be at the park, a favorite of his after pre-K. I am so excited for warmer weather- maybe that will help to stave off these colds that we keep passing around to each other. I am looking forward to planting some garden goodies- both plant and vegetables. I love spring!! I just need it to be a little bit warmer- don't mind sweaters, however we are in April and still putting on the coats. I should not complain, the sun is beaming today ; ).

A little time relaxing

I have been a bit busy with my creative projects & I am a little behind in my exciting things to share about Meghan and Nathanael, my little ones have a lot going on- as does this mommy. Many posts to come on my pumpkins!
It has been a little busy.... spring brings a lot of my favorite things, it also brings a lot of busyness!
Do you have your favorite "go to" comfort movies? I have more than a few.
My favorite movie to snuggle up to Mr.Wonderful with, especially when my nerves need a relaxing break from all the day to day, week to week of never ending things, is Miss. Potter. I love this movie for so many reasons, the romance, the scenery, the art- her story. I watched "Little Women" with my Meggie girl on Friday night, and Miss Potter with Mr. Wonderful last night, after Young Women's Conference with Meghan on BYUTV, btw it was great! I am ready for another round of these movies and a little more relaxing time. Spring Break is around the corner! ; )

Easter Morning

This is a little snippet of what Easter morning was like at our home. It was full of excitement knowing the Easter bunny had delivered some goodies. Mr. Wonderful and me took such delight in watching Meghan and Nathanael make their way through the baskets. So much gratitude came from little the pumpkins- I loved it. We had a super morning! More pics to come!

* I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter holiday- I have family here so it has been so nice and having the kiddies out from school today was a treat too!

A Sister and her baby Brother

My children are ten years apart, almost to the day! I did not plan it this way; I wanted five kids just like my mom. I now understand that God has different plans for all of us. Meghan is the sweetest big sister and is so proud to have a little brother, she prayed for him everyday to be healthy while I was pregnant, and prays for him nightly. He in turn adores his sister, they play together and because Meghan is such a pure in heart it is so easy to think we have two young children and not one teen and one toddler!

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I love to see the way they interact, and at times I have had to intervene and ask "what’s going on?" Because Nathanael now loves to "tell" on Meghan, believe me there is nothing to tell, but I will listen to his plight and Meghan will be patient- knowing he is addressing some matter that will end in about 5 seconds.

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Meghan is not a little mommy to Nathanael, and I prefer it that way......she is still my little pumpkin to me, just like Nathanael. However she does tend to his needs and watch over him constantly, he in turn does not view her as a mommy, she is "Meggie" his fun loving sister! I love that even though they are ten years apart they still have a strong bond as siblings.

Love Them!!

Bow Tie

Happy St. Patricks Day from the Stoddards.

*I had no clue it was today. I picked him up from pre-k wearing this and he has not wanted to take it off- cutie!

Easter Egg Hunt, Church Activity.

Nathanael was so excited once he realized we were going on an egg hunt. It was a church activity at one of my dear friends home, she's a trooper! All the hussle and bussle so early in the morning had Nathanel in his element.

Once the actual egg hunt began, after some yummy bagels & juice, Nathanel was more interested in watching the other kids run around- he also enjoyed the playground in the backyard!

Meghan of course was cute as ever and the older youth helped out the little ones find the eggs. Here she is with her dearest friends, and their Mom (my dearest friend) are in the bottom corner chatting it up as usual. Mr. Wonderful was there too, promise, would not be without him! He somehow was not in any of the pics, I thought I took a few- in fact I know I did!

Well, we are looking forward to Easter for sure now!!

My little Meggie girl

My sweet little bear is growing up, it makes me sad and at the same time I love watching this sweet angel blossom. Tonight before she went to bed, after doing loads of heavy homework, she came into our room (we always tuck her in with a prayer and a kiss)- She came into our room and sat at the end of the bed, I just gazed at this beautiful young woman, she is so articulate, so determined, so spiritual, and is made up of so many of the good things - the innocent and beautiful things of life. Today at seminary she heard the story of Elisha being protected by an army of angels, and as she heard the story, she thought deeply about God's power - His protecting power, and the army of angels protecting her, in her life ... and how this protection extends to (in her words) temptations, procrastination, trials, no matter what you are going through - when you are living righteously, "Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them" (2 Kings 6:16). And yes, this is the thrilling part for me as a mom!

The frightening part comes because she is so innocent - not gullible - but innocent in a pure minded way. Don't get me wrong - I love the world, I love what it has to offer, I love the opportunities Meghan has in front of her. I am not trying to be negative, but the challenges are so great for teens. Do I want to put her in a bubble? Yes. And of course not. The girl can paint, and row, and run track, and dance, and is academically above her peer group. I love that she is still mine, ALL MINE. I want to be there for all her "some days," because some day she will hear something so sad that it will make her fold up with sorrow; some day she will swing up higher than she had ever dared to swing before; some day she will wave good-bye to me, if only for a little while; some day she will rub her big, round, pregnant belly; some day, she will have her own little pumpkins to worry about; some day, a long time from now, her hair will grow gray ... and when that day comes, I pray that she will remember me.

Oh how I love this little girl! She is amazing.

Love her!

The Coveted Spot- Left side of the our bed

In the four years of my son's life he has never slept in my bed. As a newborn he slept in a co-sleeper right next to my bed and when I weaned him at the age of one and half- almost two, he went straight to a big boys bed. However that has changed in the past couple of weeks since we have been passing our bugs to one another. Nathanael will grab my hand at about 7:30pm (after his bath) and say to me "come on momma, lets go to bed, I sleep (making the hand/head motion of sleep) with momma." He then carries his Thomas blanket up and sits up and is ready for his snacks before bed, so he yells down to daddy "snacks please dad"- And of course they arrive. He is proud he feels confident with this new sleeping arrangement he has made for himself. He had a high fever so to watch over him I put him in bed with me to stay on top of the fever- that was eight days ago. Yes, OH NO!

I actually have enjoyed his company and we have quite the routine, snacks, me on my laptop, him watching baby night time channel, then lights out and sleep.

My other little love caught my bug and she too wants to reap and enjoy relaxing, being served by Mr.Wonderful, and watching old movies- Nathanael came up and was not having it, no way was he giving up his spot. He was not even in his jammies yet but in his mind the left side of the bed is HIS sleeping spot. My sweet meggie was sick but still got a good laugh out of it!

And Yes, Nathanael is still falling to sleep in my bed, ( a habit I will soon break, once everyone is in full swing- COME ON SPRING!), However Mr. Wonderful carries him to his bed once he falls to sleep for sweet dream land. Tonight is the first night we will enjoy our bed again- movie, popcorn. and snuggle time ; ) I am so excited, Mr. Wonderful is back in his spot! Parenting is the best!

Thank you!

I love this picture of Nathanael. He is such a cutie, he loves to put on his mommy's and his sister's shoes, boots, heels, etc. and slowly walk around the house. He barely made it without falling, the boots were all the way up to his leg, and then some. This photo was taken during winter break.

Thank you for all the kind words and well wishes!! Hopefully we are turning the corner ; ). I took a sewing break for my sanity today @ M's Creations. Again, Thank you, and I can't wait to see what you have been up to!

It's raining and pouring!

Strep for Nathanael, root canal for Mr.Wonderful, and a tummy bug for me. This too shall pass, all is well-soon.

My lovely hat that I WON!!!

Shannon from Following our bliss had a 100th post giveaway, and I was the lucky recipient of a lovely crocheted hat, handmade by her just for ME! I posted about this here.
I have posted two collage's @ M's Creations- go take a peek at my fashion statements ; ). I love my hat Shannon! Thank you so much!!
*As soon as Shannon posted her win one week later my hat was in my mailbox. She sent it to me January 28- Crafty and fast, the link to her crafty blog is her name highlighted in blue.

Speech Delay - A Mommy's Plea

Speech delay is not uncommon, however when it happens to your little one it hurts, and I use the word hurt because it hurts my heart to watch my son grapple with communication, with expressing what he wants (he knows but cannot always relay exactly what he wants, so I play the guessing game for the longest time, and sometimes I don't ever get it - and this breaks my heart, because he is trying so hard, and in his mind he knows exactly what he is trying to say). In an earlier post I wrote about feeling guilty by putting Nathanael in Birth-to-Three (a CT state program designed to help children with special needs). I called Birth-to-Three because of Nathanael's speech delay. He had just turned 3. For the longest time I wasn't worried. My pediatrician recommended that I contact Birth-to-Three after his three year check-up, to help him along with his speech. At that point Nathanael was still doing some baby talk, and had his own language. I guess at first I was in denial, then I wised up quickly, for my motherly instincts told me he needed it. From Birth-to-Three Nathanael went into Pre-K, and the guilt I carried was tremendous ... I was sending my baby off to school. This was all perplexing to me - Meghan talked and walked early - she did everything early.

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I am happy to say that Nathanael has grown, and has a large vocabulary, but is still behind his peers. It's frustrating ... for him, and for me. I love my little guy so much. I have tried various things to accelerate his speech, and he does really well in some areas. There is no cognitive problem - he just can't quite form words, and he can't always fully grasp what I am teaching him, sometimes. I have had many parent-teacher meetings, along with his speech therapist that he sees 3 times a week. On Tuesday I was told that he will go into Kindergarten with his classmates in the fall, and that he would continue to receive special assistance (speech therapy, etc.) as he continues to catch up.

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I have been praying since he started Pre-K, when he was 3, that he would have a regular Kindergarten year ... and yet, we are not there yet. I still pray to know how to help my little guy. Mr. Wonderful, and my sweet Meghan, are so good with him. You will constantly hear in our home all of us repeating words and teaching new words to him. He often surprises us with cute little phrases, and my heart leaps for joy whenever I hear them. I am trying a new strategy with his Pre-K teacher - to have her tell me a week in advance what he will be working on the following week, so during the weekend I can prepare him for the upcoming week, and he can become familiar with the new words, phrases, thoughts, and concepts he will be taught in the upcoming week. Right now she just tells me in very short summary what he did that day, and I always review it with him, but there is just too little information to go on. I am hoping that with this new strategy, I will be able to better reinforce here at home what he is learning at school, and further speed his progress.

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If any of you have advice, PLEASE let me know, and leave me a comment. This is so near and dear to my heart - it is on my mind and in my prayers constantly, so I will really treasure any advice you can give me.

SNOW!!!

What a fun day in the snow! The snow was super soft, perfect for a snowman, and staying out longer. I took about 160 photos, it was so funny to watch Nathanael frolicking around, and Meghan perfecting the snowman with Mr.Wonderful.

Love them!

*click on photo collage to enlarge