Miles: A Special Little Kid

Ladies and gents, we totally struck gold with Miles.  He is such an amazing and special little kid.  I'm always feeling like I don't deserve him.  He's too good for me.  Lately, there has been a steady flow of things happening and things coming home from school that I think need to be recorded.  All the instances in this post span from about October-January.

Starting with October-- October 12, 2014 to be exact-- Dave was reading scriptures on our couch and Miles decided he wanted to join him.  He got a little Book of Mormon we have and opened it up to Alma 30something and started reading.

The very day and time I just told you about.

Dave and I didn't really expect much to come from it, but Miles kept reading in the coming days.  Waking up early to do so, in fact.  When I would go to wake him up in the morning, this is what I would find:

That's Miles, ready for school, reading the Book of Mormon.

Once he started reading the Book of Mormon, all things church really kind of took off for Miles.  He started teaching the girl he sat next to in class.... boy, do I wish I could have been a fly on that wall!  He didn't tell me everything for sure (he never does), but I was blown away at what I got out of him.  He taught her what the Book of Mormon is (something along the lines of it being about "old times" and teaches about Jesus and helps us make good choices.  He specifically told me he didn't use the words "choose the right" because he thought she might not know what that means.  Hello!  Holy cow, awareness.), what a prophet is and how Nephi went and got the brass plates from Laban and cut off his head.  He also told her to tell her dad to stop drinking alcohol.  I was pretty much waiting for an angry parent to tell me to get my kid under control.  We did talk with him about not telling people what they can and can't do to which he responded, "I'm just trying to make her a Mormon.  I'm just trying to help the church of Jesus Christ grow!"  He had a plan for what he was going to teach her next (Sabbath day observance) but never went through with it.  I think the don't-tell-people-what-they-can-and-can't-do talk kind of extinguished his little flame. :(  It was actually very inspiring to see his fearless, disregard/unawareness of societal norms/boundaries and how he just went for it.  Unreal. 

Around Thanksgiving time/November, I went to the school to help out with roller skating and his teacher approached me and told me what Miles had written he was thankful for and how it pretty much blew her socks off.  She hugged me, teared up, did a hands up in the air "Thank you, Jesus" and texted her pastor to tell him about it.

Here it is:

"Otomnent" (Atonement)

"Jesus"

"Gospul"

"Hockey"

It's so Miles that hockey is right up there with all those very important things.  His teacher asked me if Dave is a pastor...  It was great to see and know that the things Miles is learning at home and at church are staying with him.

Then these turkeys were on the wall:

Miles' says, "I am thankful for the Book of Mormon.  I am thakful for Crismis.  I am thakful for Hockey."  Little does he know he introduced our beliefs in the best possible way: Jesus Christ and His Atonement being number one.  Mormons are Christians.  Way to go, Miles.

This came home in January.  It says, "I'm gana read the Book of Mormon more."

Below is from Martin Luther King, Jr. studies:

It says, "My dream is to make more people Mormons, by preaching the Gospul."

The picture he drew is of a missionary about to knock on a door.  That's a blue Book of Mormon attached to his hip.  Pretty great, if you ask me.

Miles told me that his teacher read all of the kids' dreams aloud to the class, but wouldn't read his aloud.  She just told the kids they'd have to read it themselves.  I never asked her about it, but it would be interesting to know exactly why.  Miles just thought it was really cool.

Needless to say, Miles has been really amazing us.  He finished the Book of Mormon earlier this month, I think on 2/2/15, and has since started over so he can read it from the beginning this time.  He's 6 years old.  I just really wonder what this kid is meant for because he truly is unique and special.  It's like my mom said to me one time, "Maybe when they were passing out baby cards in heaven you said, 'I'll just take that ONE REALLY good one.'"  Maybe I did, because I sure got one really good one.

Thanksgiving in Houston

It was just DAM for Thanksgiving 2014.  We thought about going to a soup kitchen or something, but I was able to do some research and found the perfect activity for our family on Thanksgiving: Meals on Wheels.  We got up bright and early and went to a church parking lot to pick up a route and some meals to deliver to some home bound folks living in Houston.

It was an adventure for sure.  I felt the whole spectrum of emotion: fear (like OMG, we are going to get shot type fear), gratitude, discomfort, laughter, sadness, joy and when it was all over, just an overwhelming feeling of love.  It was a great experience and I'm glad we were able to do something like that with Miles.

As soon as we got off the freeway and saw where we were going our stomachs kind of sank.  I hadn't been to this part of Houston and while I've been through some pretty scary and ghetto parts of this city, this one topped them all.  By a lot.  We pulled up to the first house and didn't feel much better when we saw these signs:

 I blurred out the swearing should Miles ever read this... it says, "Dont be a B***** and lose your life around this house!!!  You will get yo a** blown away!"

 This one says, "If you are caught anywhere around this house the undertaker will be here to pick your a** up.  Or!!!  The city of Houston."

We were like, "Uhhhhhh, Miles, you stay in the car."  Then this little lady came to the door.  Whew!

We had a good laugh.

We only delivered to 3 homes and the last one was the best.  The lady was so overwhelmed and extremely thankful and emotional.  Dave put his arm around her and she laid her head right on his chest.  It was sweet and sad and overwhelming.  Whenever we are in a situation like this, I'm so glad Dave is there.  He's great with people and so kind and giving and courageous in uncomfortable situations.  He's a good man.  I'm really thankful we were able to do this and that Miles was able to see what life is like for a lot of people and watch his father's good example.  Miles was fearless (or unaware, or both) and wanted to go to each house and help give them the food and card that came with the meal.  It was just a great experience.  If we are here in Houston for Thanksgiving 2015, we'll go again for sure.

In action:

Happy Thanksgiving from DAM FAM on Vimeo.

Thanksgiving in Houston from DAM FAM on Vimeo.

Miles and New York

We don't have a ton of Thanksgiving decorations, so we bought this Lego turkey for Miles to build each year.  It's kind of becoming a tradition around here to build Legos for the holiday.  So far we have collected some for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Lego is so smart.

Anyway, Miles named the Lego Thanksgiving turkey New York and Dave took pictures of him building it.

Another Phone Dump: September, October and Novemberish

Boy, I don't know if I've ever been so far behind.  It feels real annoying.  At any rate, here's a bunch of regular old life from our phones, in no particular order and spanning September-November.

A friend of ours actually knew where we are in this picture.  Can you figure it out?

That's me, at a really hot, muggy outdoor birthday party.

Miles and I reading the Book of Mormon in bed.  I'm looking pretty cute, no?

Miles is a great reader.

At church.  We go every week.

Dave likes to play hockey and it went crazy one night.

Totally blurry, but still made the cut.

Dave.  At work.

Miles has been taking ice skating lessons/hockey lessons for the last little while.  It's been challenging for sure.

Toothless.

Roller skating on pajama day.  Check out how skinny Miles is!  Also, he looks like a total goon.

So far, Miles has thoroughly delighted me with his Halloween costume requests.  In 2013 he wanted to be a "homeless person" and in 2014 he wanted to be a hockey player.  Those are my kind of costumes (AKA minimal work and time)!  

In-n-out in Dallas on Halloween.

Trick or treating with cousins in Dallas Halloween 2014.

The same weekend of Halloween, Dave and I went to Chive Fest Dallas.  One of our favorite bands was playing so we pretty much had to go.  The festival itself was nothing special, but we went 100% for the music so it didn't really matter anyway.  The music, however, was great.  So loud, but so great.  My ears were ringing for 3 days and I was a little scared I ruined my ears for life!

Playing a little big game of connect 4.  Party.

Emily Wolfe was the surprise of the day.  I really enjoyed her show.

The very band we went to see.

And John Butler Trio, who were also really good.  John Butler did play this song which is so crazy good and it was pretty rad to see it live.  There were other bands and the main guy was some country singer, but we didn't stay.  Country music literally makes me irritable. 

Miles and I made this bat mobile thing to decorate for Halloween.  Let it be known that I despise crafts.

Good ol Houston traffic.

Miles drew a hockey game complete with the score board thing in the top left.  It's got the Calgary Flames logo and the Avs logo and the Altitude Network (the Colorado sports network) logo, among other details... the kid is a FAN of hockey.

Awesome.

Kindergarten and 1st grade pictures.  I couldn't believe how much older he looked!

That's all for now.  More to come-- I will get caught up if it's the last thing I do (which it very well may be the last thing I do).

Little Bits of 1st Grade

Let's start with the best of all:

 I freaking laughed my head off.

 His haunted house.

 His constructed compound word.

 Can you guess it?  The thing on the left is a letter and the thing on the right is a box.

He was supposed to write 5 addition problems with the sum of 12.  He mostly stuck to addition and I love that he has complicated problems and then 10+2 and 2+10.  Haha, he's great.

Now check out this video.  I didn't take it to always remember Miles roller skating like an athlete, but to get his teacher.  She's the black lady with the big hair dancing.  Check it:

Ms. Gates from DAM FAM on Vimeo.