Mindy and Jason's Kids

Dylan is 12 and is such a great kid. I couldn't have asked for a better
oldest child. He's such a good brother and a good example for his
siblings. In the past year or so he's become a big tease, but he usually
knows when to quit and be serious. He's very sensitive to the feelings
of others. He knows when I need a hug and doesn't mind giving me one,
though he doesn't kiss anymore. Maybe that's not such a bad thing for a
growing boy! He's always asking me how he can help. He's also very
sensitive to the Holy Ghost. He's the one who asked if I thought
something was missing just before I got pregnant with Jonah. He's trying
to read the Book of Mormon this year, as he was challenged to do by his
previous primary teacher, and reads 3 pages a day fairly regularly. It's
so much fun to overhear when Jonah is sitting with him and Dylan is
describing what's going on in the scriptures at whatever point he is in
his reading. He makes it sound so exciting and Jonah really gets into
his stories. Dylan is very easy going, easy to like, and gets along well
with everyone. He looks out for the underdog. He likes to read, play
computer and video games, play with Legos and with his little brother,
explore, take things apart to see how they work, and he and I have had a
lot of fun playing badminton since we moved here.
Megan is 10. She is a true mother. She has always loved taking care of
people. She likes when someone is sick so she can wait on them. She is
so eager for a baby sitting job. She takes it very seriously. One time
I left her to watch Kate and Jonah while I went to an evening meeting. I
came home and Jonah and Kate bounced in the room to tell me hi and
bounced off again, just as happy as could be, and Megan came dragging
into the room saying she was worn out. She had played school with them,
read to them, colored with them. She'd been right there entertaining
them the whole time I was gone. She's very good at including everyone
and making new people feel comfortable. The secretary at their last
school told me about one day when she was in first grade. There was a
new kid who was crying in the office, and she happened to go in there,
couldn't help seeing him, asked him what was wrong, and she was able to
comfort him and make friends with him. She's such a sweetheart. There
was an autistic boy in our Pocatello ward, who is a senior in high school
this year. He loved her, and his mom would get teary eyed every time she
talked about Megan because she so appreciated that Megan would be his
friend and seek him out to say hi and play his word games and singing
games with him. She loves to get dirty. Dirt, tree sap, bugs, whatever.
One thing she doesn't like here is that she can't dig holes in the yard.
She also likes to draw and watch movies.
Kate, 8, is such a little fireball. She is so fun and loving most of the
time. She loves to laugh, and she actually enjoys Dylan's teasing most
of the time. When she is crossed, she lets everyone know, very loudly.
She tends to be a little accident prone. She broke her wrist last winter
at a roller skating party, and after we moved in here she sliced her foot
open on a file cabinet drawer that was on the floor. It's almost healed
and she's very excited that we can all go swimming tomorrow at the
aquatic park in town. Last week she tripped and fell on the same foot
and bruised her heel. Kate is so quick at learning. Her teachers have
had to give her extra work to keep her occupied. In first grade she
completed an entire workbook by February that was supposed to have lasted
the whole year. Last year she was almost always the first one done with
assignments, and I often found her drawing at her desk in her classroom
because she had finished all her work. She's different from all the
other kids that way. She's very speedy with most jobs, and still manages
to do them well. Kate loves to draw and color, play video and computer
games, horse around with her big brother, and ride her bike. Jeny, Tara,
Spencer, and Mark -- thank you so much for remembering Kate while you
were in Hawaii. She was SO excited to get the card. She opened it and
shouted, "She remembered!!" and showed everyone, "Look, this is the note
I gave Tara and she remembered to send it to me!"
Jonah is 5 and is my little buddy. We've had so much fun together,
especially the past couple of years, baking together, going shopping, to
the library, and to school and everywhere together. I'm going to be so
sad to send him to school this year without me, though he's very ready.
He's such a smart little man. He loves to hug as hard as he can and give
me kisses. He loves to play with his Duplo blocks for hours, building
towers, space stations, and "guys". He plays make believe while he's
building, and makes lots of sound effect noises, usually car noises or
shooting or blowing up sounds. He's such a boy. He's shy when you first
meet him, but once he knows you he's a chatter box, and when we go out he
starts every sentence with, "Mom," just so I say, "What," so he knows I'm
listening to him. He likes to listen to stories and books, play with
play dough, play computer games, dig, wrestle with his siblings, and play
with his dinosaurs, cars, and jets. He's so excited to start school this
fall.