Month: February 2012

How could we not participate in that?!?!? We stopped by on Thursday and had lunch with the kids. Elliot is now convinced that the big boys have pizza and chocolate milk, and carrots for lunch every day. And he wants to have those same things too….

But again, only got pictures while we were eating with Tru– by the time Tuck came, the little kids were done eating and sitting at the tables-and I was trying to act as a human jungle gym, and keep them contained.

In between the big boys, we had about 10 minutes, and I just watched the other kids…It’s amazing to me to watch the kids literally inhale their food, not even talking to each other sometimes so they can get out to recess. So funny to watch them do that!

And a good excuse to have lunch with the kiddos…and good news. I am still cool, and it the kids still wanted to come and sit by me. It’s all going to be changing too soon! Going to appreciate it while I can!

He can reach the drinking fountain by himself, and get his own drinks. And that he does the whole time we stuff folders. He loves his independence, and get so excited, that he can do it on his own.

A good reminder for me to celebrate the little steps and little things.

Truman’s poster made the front hall of fame.

(Elliot showing me Truman’s poster)
I thought it was pretty cute to see, especially considering that he had recently had both of his grandma’s taking care of him!

What a sweet boy.

At the beginning of the month, my wonderful mother, and sister Amy, came to our house and watch our children for FIVE DAYS, so Christopher and I could go and get away! (Thanks again Momma and Amy! I love you guys!)

And away we went. This was the first time in a few years, that I was not either pregnant or nursing–but I was not quite comfortable going too far away from the kids. So a return to St. George was perfect. That was where we spent our honeymoon, and it was perfect way to celebrate 11 years, to go back and revisit ‘our roots’ so to speak.

It was wonderful that I was able to spend time with Toph, but it wasn’t so great, that most of the time I was pretty sick. Yuck. I spent a lot of time sleeping, and napping…and being sick. But we were able to do a few things that we don’t normally do! Like go to dinner and a movie! A trip to the temple, not feeling rushed to return home to the kids. And so nice not to be doing laundry, cooking meals and changing diapers.

A few pictures:

(Toph took lots of pictures of the food! Ha!–And I included screen shots of Toph’s foursquare, where he checked in when we went places. And he was pretty proud of the fact we returned the rental car on Empty.)

How grateful I am to be married to such a good man. A man who loves me, and our children. A man who honors and keeps sacred the covenants he has made, including our marriage covenant. A man who makes my life a joy, EVERY SINGLE DAY. A man who works hard to make sure I know I am a priority in his life, and honors me as a woman. A man who has the same goals as I do.

Happy Anniversary Sweets! Love you!
Hurrah for 11 years, and hoping, praying and for many, many more years to come!

And a video clip, sent to me from my hubby:
Happy Anniversary
So funny…

We’ve all had a really bad cold at our house, it’s been around for a couple of weeks now. I am not liking it one bit. And I am ready for it to go away. THis day, Lorelei had a cold and double ear infection, and was still a pretty happy girl. You can hear it in her voice, as she’s pretty raspy.

The day I took this video, I was hoping to get Lorelei walking around, instead I got just a sweet girl, interacting with us.

Still loving this special class with Elliot! And he still thinks he’s a great little cook, and helper. (and he is!)

We’ve had to miss a couple of them lately, due to this DARN cold, and having big kids home…

hopefully we’re past the worst of it now, and we can get back to enjoying the fun!

His birds nest:

Grilled Cheese Sandwich:

Christmas Morning Pajama Party, opening his gift:

Lorelei stays pretty happy with her Sippy and snacks:

Cooking Cinnamon Muffins:

His Monster Cake:

And his Valentines Box for next weeks party!

So fun to watch and see as he learns to interact with friends, and for me to be able to bond with him. What a cute, cute boy.

Another unknown video (video I had no idea that was being made), that was discovered now. Tucker is the maker of the video.

In the background, I am preparing dinner, one of our favorite, loaded baked potatoes, and salad.

I am finishing up, it must have been a Wednesday Night, as Toph was trying to eat quickly, to go and ‘bishop-sit’, we’ve already prayed, and the kids are waiting patiently to be served. As I watched this video, I was overcome with the NOISE LEVEL. But then as I listened, it’s pretty realistic, lots of noise, lots of talking, when everyone is home, my ears sometimes do get tired from the noise.

So some typical evening pre-dinner noise. Just because…this is our norm right now, and someday it won’t be! 🙂

About 2 weeks ago, she finally got the nerve up and began walking, and now she walks everywhere!

She’s been ready for quite awhile, she even walked across the room right after her first birthday, but this little girl is going to be a cautious one, and not going to do anything until she is ready!

And already, she’s got people chasing behind her, always. How lucky she is to have big brothers who adore her.

Then seeing your kids happily crafting away on a Sunday Morning… Lorelei was napping, and I looked over and couldn’t help but be thrilled.

This day it, our crafting together was making Thank You notes.

Love my kiddos, and love to craft/stamp/create with them.

This blog, is a place to record the good and the bad.

So here we go, some not so good news, starting here with the email received from Tuck’s teacher:

Mrs. Phillips,

Thanks,
Miss Wesel

First, let me state, we are grateful for his Teacher, with out proper structure and classroom setting, Tucker knows what he can get away with! She is great at communication with us and great at providing a perfect consequence she provided for him.

Later as we discussed with her, this ‘situation’, she joked with us, that Tucker was one of the smartest kids in the class, but apparently not smart enough to think about the consequences of ‘graffitting’ his own name on the chairs. Ha! It gave us a bit of a laugh.

Also, it must be noted that Tucker is doing great in third grade. He is a voracious reader still, and is going to be a on the ‘all star team’ for the schools ‘battle of the books’. He is still as speedy as ever at getting his work done, and is working on slowing down to really read what he is doing, and not be in such a rush to move to the next thing (which for his free activity, he can usually be found doing ‘free reading’ of his favorite series the boxcar children). He is a stellar author, and we love to see the ‘works’ he brings home, although he claims to hate social studies, but loves to learn the facts and vocabulary that go along with it.
It is going to be fun to continue to watch him grow in his educational experiences!

And on another note, this boy saved all his birthday money and worked hard to earn extra money to buy this new game:

Skylanders. When he sets him mind to something, he works hard to get to it!

Love you Tuck!