The littlest kids had a bath tonight and Elizabeth wanted to take pictures. After screening them and deleting the ones that were a little too personal, here's a few I liked.
Elizabeth fixed Abby's hair like this after she shampooed it. Abby was rubbing her shampoo in too. It was cute. (Yes, I said that my nine year old was bathing my baby. Benefits of big kids, right?)
Abby is a splasher in the tub! Look at that water churn! (The dark spots behind her are shadows, not dirt.) She has so much hair!
Olivia and Vincent were there too. Elizabeth sure didn't give them much water! They are all clean though.
Look what I've been working on this week. I decided that I wanted to make things for our siblings birthdays this year, so I'm making each sister of ours a jean quilt and treats for the brothers.
This one is for one of Andy's sisters who had a birthday in January. I was trying to use up most of the squares I'd already cut out and trying to make it kind of big since they have six kids. I think they might be able to all squeeze on.
At the end of February, I'm doing pretty good on my goals for the year.
I'm walking several times a week with my friend and walking halfway to the school with Vincent and Abby to meet the girls after they are done for the day.
I'm up to date on my 'read the Standard Works' scriptures in a year challenge and I'm enjoying it. Leap Day was a day without any reading, but I sat down expecting to read and then read the Ensign instead. And I'm praying before using the computer after I read still. (I like that too. It's getting easier.)
Andy and I went to the Temple.
I read several books with the kids this month.
And the computer.....well, I'm on it a little less, I think. I read several books this month, so I was not glued to it. =)
I did add a new goal of getting to bed before midnight last week though and I'm not doing that perfectly, but I haven't been up past 1am as much and I force myself not to nap, but to do something productive instead so at least and that's some improvement.
I was chatting with my walking buddy Sunday night about reading scriptures daily (and my challenge to finish reading the quad this year-still going strong!) and she asked me if I feel like I'm getting anything out of it. I really think I am. Although some of the first books in the Old Testament are a little more dull than others (so and so begat so and so...), I am really discovering that there is an order to Heavenly Father's Plan for us.
There is a reason He asked Moses to do what he did. There is a reason the people were asked to make sacrifices, even though it's hard for us to understand. There is order in everything.
Heavenly Father numbers the grains of sand on the beach and He truly knows and loves each of us and wants us to live up to our best potential.
The way I always look at the relationship we should have with Heavenly Father is by comparing it to the earthly relationships I have with both my parents and with my children. So many times as humans we think to ourselves that we can never be right with God again because of some mistake we made, but it's never too late to go the right direction and make good choices. If your kid messed up, would you want them to keep messing up and trying to hide it or would you want them to come to you and admit the mistake and get a good hug and encouragement from you and make better choices? I think that's an obvious answer. We would want them to do better.
I think it's hard for us to see that our relationship with Heavenly Father should be quite a bit like that. Obviously as parents we make mistakes and are not NEARLY as all knowing as Heavenly Father is, nor am I suggesting that, but we DO know many pitfalls of youth and can clearly see some things that aren't the best decision. It's our role as parents to help our children know how to jump over the pits and land on the other side without falling back in, isn't it? Although sometimes kids will make choices that land them directly into the pit and have to grab hold of the rope to get out of the pit, as parents (just like Heavenly Father), we will always hold the rope out to rescue them, wouldn't we?
I am learning a lot from rereading the Old Testament (I'm in Deuteronomy!) and through the study of the Book of Mormon that Andy and I are doing each night. We are progressing and are in Jarom already! Andy is reading the Old Testament too.
I really thought it would take a lot more time than it actually takes. I thought I'd have a harder time making time for it, but somehow I still find time to do all the things that are most important (the big rocks in that popular story) and my jar is overflowing with little rocks and sand, but I still have time to do what needs to be done. It takes me between 10-15 minutes to read the 4-5 pages of Old Testament each day. SOOO not a big deal compared to the time I spend reading blogs, emails, facebook, cooking, driving, playing with kids, and everything else. Try it!
In other news, in the middle of Sacrament meeting this morning, Vincent burst out with, "You're the best mommy in the whole world." He really knows how to make my day! (I never feel like I'm the BEST mommy in the whole world, but I am the best mommy he's going to have, so I'd better try harder!)
And I should admit here that I failed at going to sleep on time Saturday night. I tried. I really did. I got in bed at 12:10 (after brushing my teeth and washing my face) and then Andy and I read our scriptures and then I laid there for a half hour with my eyes closed trying to go to sleep and failing. I finally got up and wrote some things down that were going through my head for the summer and still wasn't tired enough (all that sleep Friday night was probably too much for my sleep deprived system), so I read part of a lousy book before tossing it in the library bag and tried again. By then, it was closer to 3am. Even worse than before. UGH! It's now 12:20 (even though I changed the time on the blog to be earlier) and I'm on my way to bed. Promise!
I adore sleep.
I crave sleep.
I LOVE sleep.
However, most nights I don't get enough because I think I have other things to do (and I really DO have other things to do, but are they more important than sleep? Probably not.)
I'm turning over a new leaf (for lack of better trite phrase.)
Last night I went to bed at TEN O' CLOCK! This is FOUR hours earlier than my normal bedtime (Yes, most nights I go to bed at 2am. Crazy, I know.) I hardly slept on Thursday night (Like 3 hours total I think) and I forced myself not to nap on Friday during the day (I was too busy anyway....I'm sure if I had time I would have. I almost did for 20 minutes, but then got busy doing something else.) I slept until 9am uninterrupted. Heavenly! And then I slept for another hour with the kids yelling trying to force more good, deep sleep into my system.
I hearby declare that my new bedtime is midnight. It's still late for most of you, but I don't have to be up until 8am and my kids wake up with their alarm at 7:40 and take FOREVER to get dressed and Andy leaves for work at 8am, so it will work perfect. Eight whole hours of sleep will do wonders, I'm sure. Maybe I can stop napping in the middle of the day and have energy to craft during naps instead of in the middle of the night...
Saturday I took Elizabeth and Olivia on errands with me. We went to Sonic for Elizabeth's free birthday kid meal and Olivia's half birthday cheap kid meal, then to Costco, and then to Barnes and Noble for free birthday cookies (Vincent had his last month, so Olivia ate Abby's. She won't care.) It was so nice to be out with my girls. They are growing up so fast! They say funny things. I forget them almost as soon as they say them even though I tell my brain to remember them so I can put them on the blog.
Andy and I had a nice evening out at the Temple. I'm loving this Temple trading we are doing with some friends. They went to the Temple last night and we watched their girls and then they watched our kids tonight. We SOOOO get the better deal since we have four kids and they only have two and then we go to eat afterwards too and they come right back instead of eating out. I keep telling them we'll have to watch their girls twice a month instead. Andy and I went to Mongolian Grill for dinner which is always so delicious. I love their food. It's so fresh and yummy and the leftovers are almost even better! Then we went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond because one of our good friends gave us a gift card for Christmas to there (and we didn't ever want to go with all the kids). I found some new frying pans, spatulas, ice cream scoop that will work better, a metal fruit bowl, a powdered sugar shaker, and some CHEAP ($2.99 cheap!), nice picture frames.
I really love a good deal. Now for a good deal of sleep coming my way! (Check on me to make sure I keep it up!)
I love it when it's finally sunny after so many cold and drizzly days! Sure, it's the end of February, but we are starting to have some very Springlike days. Today we took off our coats and left them in the car while we played at the park.
Before the park, Vincent and Abby accompanied me on several errands from the time we dropped the girls off at school (8:40) until they finished school early for the day (12:30). Our neighborhood was having some sewer maintenance, so I showered before I went to bed (at like 5am because I napped too much Thursday and I just had to finish a fun book I was reading.) I took Vincent to a small playground to play while I read my scriptures until the bank was open, then we went to the bank, the Pasco Walmart, Kohl's, Dollar Tree, Winco, and the library. I had just enough time to go home and put the cold stuff away before going to meet the girls. It was a full day, but very productive!
Vincent keeps taking his shoes off in the car. This is while we were waiting for the girls to get to the car after school.
I told the girls that we'd go to a park after school. They've been wanting to go to this one again. Elizabeth found some boys her age to run around with so Olivia, Vincent, and Abby rode the swings for a little while.
Vincent and Olivia on the funny grasshopper toy.
Abby still loves the swing! I'm so glad! I got some fun pictures of her.
Olivia wanted to push her too.
Video of Abby swinging and chuckling super hard! She LOVES the swing!
Vincent on the balancing toy. (Yes, I ironed on and sewed around those cars. Silly? Maybe. The pants had holes in the knees and the sweatshirt was just plain and he loves cars and someone gave me several yards of this fabric. It worked out just fine and he loves it.)
Vincent riding the four wheeler. He said he wanted to be like Grandpa George on it.
I found this coat at Kohl's (my favorite store!) for Elizabeth for next year.
I was just noticing a few days ago that she'd need a new coat for next year and when I went to Kohl's this morning, I found this one for $24 (normally $60) and all of their clearance stuff was an extra 25% off and I had a 15% off discount on top of that. I also picked up some snowpants for Elizabeth that were priced at $15 (normally $50) with the same extra discounts. AND I had a $10 bonus cash from the last time I went there, so the coat, snowpants, and a few other things were just $25 more. And now we will be set for awhile longer.
Tonight we get to babysit some friends' little girls so they can go to the Temple and tomorrow it's our turn. I'm excited!
Our school has a Science Extravaganza night where they displayed science projects some kids made and they had many, many, many ways science is used in real life with a pony, rabbits, worms, hovercraft, wildlife, fire department, trains, and more. They did a great job putting it all together.
Elizabeth and Olivia didn't do projects this year because we weren't on the ball enough to do them in time with all of those birthdays. Next year Elizabeth has to do one since she'll be in fourth grade. I'm secretly-or not so much-telling myself that we are saving our good projects for when they actually count...
Elizabeth had Jujitsu so she went there with Andy while I took Olivia, Vincent, and Abby to the school.
The first thing they wanted to see was the pony. One of the teachers brought her pony named Star (she has a white star on her forehead) that she has had since she was in third grade. She told about how she takes care of her and then the kids were able to pet the horse.
Apparently my camera setting for night isn't very good at actually taking night pictures. The battery was nearly done too, so I didn't test it before taking this.
Olivia decided that she didn't want to pet Star, but Vincent did, so the teacher held him up and he pet her for a minute. (The other lady is the teacher's sister who is also a teacher!)
Inside, Vincent was mesmerized by the worms. He didn't want to hold them, but he liked watching them.
Olivia liked finding little magnifying glasses near some projects and checking them out. (She put those feathers on her flower hairthing this morning and wants to glue them on. They came off of her boa.)
This was a table with magnets. The framed one has tiny shreds of lead that come up to the glass when you hold a magnet to the glass.
I'm glad the kids like to learn about things. Abby was a trooper hanging out in the stroller.
This morning preschool was at our house again. We learned about the letter S and number 19. It was the last week for one of our preschool friends who is moving away on Friday. We will miss them! We made snakes with string stripes that they snipped with scissors and played Simon Says and made silly faces and counted 19 Star beads and then strung them onto some stretchy string to make bracelets (or snakes) and then had a snack of saltines, starburst, and sunflower seeds and read "The Very Busy Spider" book. I was thinking about making Snickerdoodles, but decided that I didn't want to stay up even later than normal to make them. I think they survived without the cookies. It was fun!
I have so much fun using alliteration while I'm teaching or helping. It's a little challenge I give myself to use mostly S words on the S day.
Tomorrow the city is supposed to come and work on our sewer pipes sealing them or something, so they asked us not to use water all day long. I'm doing the laundry and dishwasher now so I don't have to worry about that. Hopefully it doesn't take all day though!
I finally got a video of Abby walking Wednesday night during game night (which is now MOVING to Thursday nights!)
Abby does much better with incentive. =)
Abby is really liking apples lately.
I buy the ones in the three pound bag that are small enough for the kids to eat as a snack and not waste.
She ate nearly the whole thing (seeds included!)
Monday the girls had the day off school because of President's Day and Abby and I slept in for a little bit while Elizabeth, Olivia, and Vincent played nicely in the family room. Later the girls begged for paper so they could make some fun things and Elizabeth got out several of the art sets that she got for her birthday (she loves them!)
They watched Narnia and Andy's rereading the whole huge book of the series again, so I wasn't surprised that they came up with some Narnia-ish crafts before I let Elizabeth use her art set.
Olivia was a not so willing model for Elizabeth's sword and shield.
Look at Elizabeth's detail though!
Vincent really likes to pose. Elizabeth made a bow and arrow for him.
Elizabeth was even was able to catch a great smile from Vincent!
Back view of the arrow holder.
Close up of one of the two arrows.
Vincent trying to USE the bow and arrow....
We are busy as always and having plenty of fun while we are at it!
We headed up to Andy's parent's place in the mountains Saturday. They still had some snow and a little dusting of snow started when we were there. The kids had fun playing in it. We skipped out on the Valentine's dance in Walla Walla because Vincent still has a little cough, but he wouldn't get other kids sick going to the mountain, so we went for it. (My parents invited us to Walla Walla for their adult dance and they had babysitters at the church to watch kids).
I flipped through these pictures and the kids are grinning so big in just about all of them. I think they enjoyed it!
Vincent took a turn "sledding" down the "hill" on his bottom in his snow pants.
Olivia is always ready for pictures.
A little cooperation! Amazing!
Grandpa George took Vincent for a four-wheeler ride to go and get a toboggan to take the girls around in. I didn't ever see it, so I'm not sure if that happened or not. Either way, Vincent went for a ride.
The girls in the tepee and the snow.
Vincent's nice big smile. He's getting so big! (That hat is from when he was a baby. He keeps pulling it out of the snow stuff bag even though he has other ones that fit him. He likes this one best.)
Elizabeth trying out some snowshoes with a little supervision by Grandpa George. (Scooter is between them too. Can you spot him?)
Elizabeth loved the snow shoes!
Abby watched with Grandma Shirley from inside.
Abby was mad at me when I came in and she didn't get to play in the snow. (Do you see that extra white spot to the left of her face? That's where her hand was and it was still warm.)
The kids came in after a bit and played some foosball. Notice Abby trying to get in there too?
And back outside. Olivia liked the snow shoes.
Elizabeth went with Andy and George to the neighbor's gun area. She took this picture for me of Andy and his dad.
Elizabeth got to shoot the bb gun.
Olivia sledding:
And Olivia again:
Vincent sledding:
George sledding:
George and Andy shooting guns with Elizabeth's commentary:
We had a nice time visiting and playing this Saturday. Sunday at church Vincent gets to give his very first talk in Primary. I'm so excited to help him.
After all that partying the last few weeks with three kid birthdays (just in our house!) and Valentine's Day, we had just a few normal days this week. I guess we don't really stop too much because there is always another event on the horizon or something that needs to be done around here, but if there isn't, then there's cleaning and laundry and dinner and baths, and always something. (I'm not complaining....just observing.)
Anyway, Friday morning was the school event that is Donuts for Dads/Morning with Mom. This year they were combined because of a snow day on the Donuts for Dads day. Andy had to go to work early so I took all four kids with me. I figured that Vincent ate Andy's donut. It all works out. Since I was up, showered, and ready for the day before the school thing (people take pictures at these things and I am NOT presentable without showering...) I came home and made my grocery list, sorted coupons for a bit, and got ready to go visiting teaching (which was lovely) before going to the bank and grocery shopping. By then it was nearly time to pick the girls up at school, but we came home so Vincent could go potty (not the first time this morning---promise!) and I put away the cold groceries.
After putting two sad kids to bed for naps, I was finally able to eat some lunch and catch up on facebook, email, and blogs. I was nearly caught up with the blogs I follow when all the sudden I came across this one. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw MY NAME in her blog about pillows! She made a dog pillow a few weeks ago that she stuffed and I mentioned that I use old bed pillow stuffing for that sort of thing instead of buying new stuffing (ridiculous pricing!) She made a whole blog about it! Cool! Rven better that my name is so unique. =) She said this on her blog:
"Well, as often happens, one of the comments on that post turned
out to be an even BETTER idea than the one I posted!
Sheesh..."my" readers have no qualms about showing me up!"
I guess I have no qualms... That's me always giving advice and leaving my two cents here and there.
And now it's time to make some dinner and maybe read a chapter or two of "Before Green Gables" before taking a quick nap...
What a fun day to remember those you love and care about! (Of course we do this all year, but Valentine's Day is just fun, especially with little kids.)
How could I NOT have a great day with this little girl?
I went through the next size box up and found the Valentine's Day outfits. (With Elizabeth's birth being right before Valentine's, she always had a supply of hearts.)
Vincent and Abby joined Andy and I for a super romantic lunch today at Quizno's and then the kids and I headed to the library. We had some friends over to play this afternoon while their parents picked out colors, tile, carpet, and other stuff for the new house they are building and on the way home from school, I saw this cool box sitting in a neighbor's yard with a free sign.
I had to stop and check it out. It's big. I've been on the hunt for a coffee table and this one would hold stuff....maybe snowsuits or stuffed animals or backpacks? Hmmm. Abby can't open it yet and that is a bonus!
The corner (pictured below) is a little beat up, so I think I'll need to recover it with fabric or something. Ideas???
Here is what the inside looks like. It's heavy and nice. I like it.
Olivia brought a few fun papers home from school. I especially like this one with her original spelling and my translation.
She loves to eat chili. She loves to play with Legos. She loves it when mom plays with her. She loves to wrestle with her dad. She loves to play with two friends from school (She wrote their names, but I'm not going to. =) And she really loves to go to school. I love these little things. They are so cute.
Nearly as cute as this paper she came home with:
I love first grade art. Olivia has also started picking up on cursive handwriting. Elizabeth asked for a little notebook to practice her cursive and we picked up a package with three notebooks and each of the girls and Vincent got one and they take them to church. Elizabeth asked me to write the alphabet in cursive so she could practice and then asked me to write a few words. Olivia copied that and now signs HER name in cursive. It looks pretty good too! I tried to find her little notebook and couldn't, so I'll have to ask her where she keeps it...
Vincent wasn't feeling well this morning, so I skipped out of helping in the classrooms at the school and hung out at home. It was so nice to have a slower day after all of those busy ones. I read half a book and napped and relaxed. It was so great! I didn't even do the laundry. Tomorrow I'll worry about that. =) I did pick out some potential outfits for Saturday when we go up to the mountain and get our family picture taken. I decided on blues and browns. Those colors work for everyone.
Vincent gave Abby an apple when he got one this morning while I was in the shower. She liked it!
She kept making super cute faces at me. Video below!
Vincent was coughing a bunch last night and had a runny nose, so we'll try to help him hurry and get better. He's going to the doctor on Wednesday anyway, so I guess we'll see then what she says to do.
After school, we picked up the girls and came home so Olivia could change for ballet and Elizabeth was going to get her Valentines to write on but the only ones I had were Thomas the Train and Cars and a few random Tinkerbell ones. Olivia was okay with Tinkerbell. Elizabeth didn't like any of them, so I told her we'd try Dollar Tree after we dropped Olivia off. (I didn't want to take Vincent in the ballet studio, but plenty of people have colds in DT, right?)
When we walked in, there was a sign next to a box full of Jonas brothers Valentines that that was all that was left. The balloons and flowers were flying out the door. It was crazy there. Naturally, Elizabeth didn't like the Jonas brothers either (we don't have cable, so it's not like she really even knows who they are...), so we went to the art section and found some foam rectangles that she wanted to write on, some fun stickers, and some pipe cleaners. We bought some for Olivia too because I know she'd want to do what Elizabeth was doing. I was right.
The girls hooked the candy on with the pipe cleaners, tape, and staples. They did them all themselves while I made tacos for dinner.
Elizabeth with her Valentines.
We also picked up a few little things that Andy likes there. Sweetheart conversation hearts, Tikipunch pop, and some fudgy cookies. I'm glad we did because he came in with this for me!
Pretty roses in a red vase! They are wonderful! Normally he picks some roses up after work on the way home on Valentine's Day and while they are pretty, they just don't last because they aren't the nicest (because it's the end of the day and they've been picked over.)
What a great guy I have!
At dinner we had quite the conversation going. Vincent decided that he only wanted a tortilla with nothing on it (after he finally finished his lunch) and so I told him he should eat it. He started shoving it in his mouth and so I told him one bite at a time which reminded me of that silly joke, "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." haha. I asked him how to eat an elephant and he said with a fork. Elizabeth said it would take a really big fork and Vincent changed his mind to a big fork and said that he'd "poke the elephant in the butt with a big, huge fork!"
Then Vincent decided that he thought it would be fun if HE was a fork. According to him, the fork would have a mouth, nose, eyes, ears, hair, and arms so we asked him which end would have hair (because no one wants to eat off the end that has his whole head) and he said his face would be right where the prongs are. It's always interesting dinner conversation around here. At least they have great imaginations!
Right after dinner we had a quick family night. I just had 15 minutes or so before it was time to go on my night walk with a friend so we sped through it a little. Elizabeth was in charge of the lesson and asked if she could take over the activity from me too, which was fine because that's kind of what I did last week when I was on lesson and I was in a hurry. She told us a little about the iron rod and then laid down a bunch of pipe cleaners across the living room with the bag of Valentine candy at the end (representing the Tree of Life). She turned off the lights and blindfolded everyone and we all took turns crawling to the candy. We endured to the end and ate some candy. It was great.
I'm so glad our kids have such active imaginations. Life is never boring!
Abby is in a messy eater contest at Parent's magazine. If you have a minute, go vote for her eating her birthday cake. The title of the picture is Happy Birthday.
