Sawyer's Birthday

 We celebrated Sawyer's birthday early, just like we did with Jack, but this time it was because Daniel and I were going to be in Europe for his actual birthday. 😬 We just had a little celebration for him on the 18th, the day before Daniel and I left. 

Mom and dad were there celebrating with us because they had come to take care of the kids, and we didn't do much that was out of the norm that day. I did make him a hilarious looking helicopter cake (not my best work 😂), and I'm sure we watched some TV for fun. 

The highlights of presents he got were: 1) a crocheted elephant from Brooke, which is extremely adorable; 2) bubble guns were really fun; and 3) a little toy emergency station, complete with a police car, fire truck and ambulance. 

Things I love about Sawyer: 

1. He is adorable. Daniel and I can't get over how cute and fun he is.
2. He's talking a lot now that he is older and it is so fun to hear him say things differently and so cutely. Also, his little personality is coming out more now that he's talking. 
3. He loves cars and trucks like his older brother. 
4. He loves his brother Jack, and lately has been introducing himself (and correcting people when they say Sawyer) as Jack. "I'm Jack!" They usually play together so well, and I love it. 
5. He is the best eater, possibly, that we've ever had. He usually likes what I make everyone to eat, and he trusts me when I give him food. 
6. He has the cutest little smile
7. He follows his siblings examples a lot, especially when they are pretending to be animals. He makes the cutest little pretend dog I've ever seen. 
8. He hasn't started climbing out of his crib yet! 
9. He sometimes pretends to be a man, he has the funniest little "man voice". Also, whenever I call him "my baby" or "little man", he corrects me and says, "I'm not a man, I'm a kid."
10. He loves driving around on the little red car, back and forth over the hard wood on our main level. Sometimes he takes it outside to play as well, and when it gets dirty, he washes it.
11. He loves his stuffed animals and blankie. Actually, now that he is a little older, his blankie is more special to him than his stuffed animals, even Lamby.
12. He's getting more into books, which warms my heart. I love reading to him. 
13. He loves playing outside, especially when all of his siblings are outside playing too. He just loves to be with them. 💙

Some funny things about Sawyer:

1. He gets frustrated easily, especially when it comes to Legos. He likes to build and play with Jack; but if he can't do something he wants to do (even if it's not even possible) he gets very angry and throws like tantrums. 
2. He's starting bugging his siblings intentionally... which nobody loves very much. Haha! 
3. He loves watching TV, just like Jack. They really love watching this show on Disney about emergency vehicles called "Firebuds".
4. He does this funny thing where he loves going places and is always willing to go pretty much anywhere. He likes to get out of the house. But then, shortly after we go somewhere, he asks to go back home. 

Things I Want to Remember

•  Camille makes lists of songs she really likes. I often find pieces of paper with song title and artists on it. I think it's so cute that she does this. 
• Brooke is writing a book. It's about wolves, and she's written several chapters and is so jazzed about it. She also has a notebook where she writes down book ideas. She has this idea for a book series about mythical creatures. She's going to call it "Myth".
• Gramma and Grampa Holbrook bought a fun birthday present for Jack's birthday: a yard work kit, with a little wheelbarrow, a shovel, a hoe, a weeder, an apron and some gardening gloves. It was so fun to watch him take everything out and immediately start digging in the dirt with it. Sawyer joined him for the digging of the flower beds, and I loved watching them play outside in the dirt together. That's how childhood should be. 
• One day, Sawyer was sitting on my lap, and he patted my bosoms and asked, "is this your tummy?" And then tried to look down my shirt. 🤣 
• In the springtime, the trees in our neighborhood get what I call "fluffy". They blossom with white and pink flowers and they just look... fluffy. It's one of my favorite things ever. 
• Brooke wears a collection of bracelets on both wrists, mainly ones that she's made. Friendship bracelets made from weaving floss together. I used to do that as a kid too. And I love that she does it. She's becoming such a preteen.
• We did a gardening unit for our last science unit in school. We watched videos and got books from the library and bought supplies. We painted big Terra cotta pots and planted flowers and veggies in them. Then later, Brooke and Camille planted their own garden in one of the garden boxes. They weeded the whole thing and planted seeds (carrots and sunflowers and flowers) and watered them. They really got into the gardening thing. Especially Brooke. 
• Brooke finished her soccer season. Her team won most of their games, and she had fun. But she was also frustrated with how her team didn't let her play very much. I think she improved a lot this year, though. 
• We went to the tulip festival. It was beautiful. And the kids loved running around the gardens, looking at the flowers and taking pictures. 

The Story of the Lost Lamby

 Sooo... I have a fun story to share that happened on our trip to California. Dad took care of all the hotels we stayed in, and when we got to the hotel he booked in Sonora, California, we parked the cars just outside of the pool outside while he went to check us in. Mom stayed in their car, and I stayed in my car with the kids. They all unbuckled and were playing around in the car while Dad was doing his thing, because it took a while. We rolled down the windows, and the kids just messed around in the back of the car. 

Finally, he came back out, and we drove around to a different part of the hotel where our rooms were located. And we all piled out of the cars, dragging all of our stuff with us into the rooms, and trying to get everything set up for sleeping that night. I asked the kids to find Lamby in the car. I knew she was in the car, because I had seen her recently in Sawyer's car seat. But they come back saying they can't find her. So then, irritated, I go out to look. Irritated because, in my experience, the kids don't look very hard, and when I have to go look for something that they "can't find," I usually find it very quickly. It's irritating that they always need me to find things for them. Anyway. I was irritated. Also, I wanted to get these kids to bed because it was getting late. 

So, I go look. And I can't find Lamby. Dad comes to help look in the car with me. I climb in the back, move everything around. Still can't find her. And getting more and more frustrated and worried. But I'm still fairly sure we had her recently. I think, "Maybe we should call the front desk." But Dad, Brooke, and I walk around the whole parking lot looking for her, because we had the windows open, and I think maybe she was just dropped out the window while we were driving through the lot. Can't find her. 

At this point, I am slightly panicked. Sawyer is very attracted to his lamb and loves his lamb so much and has a very hard time sleeping without her. I acknowledged that I could probably buy a new lamb when we get home. But that didn't solve the immediate problem of sleep and the rest of the trip that Sawyer would have to endure without Lamby. 

As I'm thinking (and trying not to be angry and panic), the thought comes to me, pretty clearly: "Call the front desk and ask if they have seen Lamby." My first thought was to reason away why this wouldn't work. But it felt like a prompting, and I'm trying to be better at following promptings right away. So, as I (stupidly) search the room we just arrived at (where Lamby couldn't possibly be hiding... but I'm desperate at this point), I say to dad, "Maybe we should call down to the front desk and ask if they've seen her." To his credit, dad immediately does this, without hemming and hawing and reasoning it away. And they say they have Lamby at the desk. 

I jump up and start walking through the parking lot over to the lobby. The religious types and teachings were not lost on me at all. First, there was the prompting from the Holy Ghost, which I was relatively quick to obey. And it was a very easy and quick solution to this problem. I could've let myself be tortured about the loss of Lamby; I could've cried and been frustrated; I could've let this go on for a very long time. But God knew the solution, He knew it was easy. All I had to do was listen. What an amazing instance of teaching me about listening to the Spirit! Even when we think it may not work or make sense. 

Second, it doesn't escape me that what we lost was A LAMB. Like, as in the Lamb of God? Jesus Christ? That we need to be seeking out the Lamb of God, and following Him. Also, the parable of the lost sheep: could God have been teaching me about the efforts and the worry we make in looking for that lost sheep? And how important it needs to be to me, to search for the lost sheep? 

Third. I think God was reminding me of His love for me. And of His love for Sawyer. He helped me to find it because it was important to me and Sawyer. And as much as Lamby meant to Sawyer, as frantic as we felt trying to find Lamby, God has the same feelings for us ... many times over. 

It was a pretty remarkable teaching moment for me. I cried on my walk over to the lobby. And I just felt Heavenly Father's awareness of me and Sawyer, His love for us, and His desire for me to learn of Him and His ways. I waited for the lady at the front desk to help me, I said, "I'm looking for a lost lamb." And she pulled Lamby out from under the desk and gave her to me. And I walked back with Lamby and thought about what I'd been taught.