School Work

Rachel's school work always comes home so well done. Today I noticed all these perfectly spaced dots on the dogs and that they both have lipstick. They must be girls! Ha! Oh this girl is too much! She is so creative.

Pigtail

Vivian's first pigtail. I will admit it looks funny but I had to try and it worked. She is a cute little bug!

After 6 weeks of Rodan and Fields

Her is my after with nothing on

Here is my after with make up. 

Although I have not seen the drastic changes I would have loved to see I am sticking with it til this round of regimen is out. Then I can decide if it is worth it to reorder. It costs about $200 for facial treatments/creams. I don't mind paying that since it lasts 3 months or more IF it really works. I am using Reverse which is supposed to lighten my skin and make my freckels and skin damage fade. So far I don't see much of a difference except that my face is much softer. We will see.

Skiing

Last ski of the season with Grandma at Park City. Dayton LOVES skiing and Grandma loves taking him. Thanks Sue for a fun season.

Spring cleanup

Thoughts

I am supposed to be raking leaves or doing a million other productive things but instead I am...

Nursing

Giving baths

Holding a sick baby 

Making a grocery order online
and well doing all the Motherly things.
Sometimes this gets discouraging to me but then I remember that I am blessed to get to stay home and hold my babies. So even though my to do list never gets done, my most important to do list is my kids!

Goats

We got to see the neighbors baby goats and boy were they cute! Welcome spring!

Quack!

For Adams birthday Nate bought him ducks. We really do have a farm!

Carter's First Sleepover with Grandma Sue

Grandma Sue took Carter to her house for his one on one sleepover for the first time this weekend. He stayed Friday to Saturday and wore her out. She took him to a thing for Breezy's work where they had this rock wall and a ferris wheel. She also played ball with him in the yard, took him to McDonals and let him stay up way too late watching shows. He had a great time and felt so big. He did pee his pants for her, darn it. That is something we are still trying to figure out with him. He is three and a half now but I wonder if he may have similar bladder issues that Adam had when he was little? That all said, he still behaved and came home beaming. Thank you Grandma! This sleepover thing is the best idea we ever had. All the kids enjoy it!

Mom's Preschool

My preschool is great this year. I feel like I never blog about it so I am going to make a short post. This year Teena Young helps with pre-k class in the afternoon and Camille Randall helps with pee-wee class in the mornings on Tuesday and Thursday. It is fun for me. I have a video baby monitor I use in the morning while Vivian naps during class and in the afternoon she has grown out of napping (since about February) so I have a friend and neighbor come, Marci Ashby, to play with Vivie, Carter and Rachel while I do afternoon. It works out pretty okay most days. This year I have 21 students including Carter who comes to the pee-wee class in the morning while Rachel goes to Mrs. Harker.

I plan to keep doing preschool. We need the money for medical bills and it helps us stay afloat while keeping me home. Plus, my preschool room that is on the back of the garage is seperate and progessional and totally lovely! I am so glad we built it last summer. 

I am planning on doing a few summer camps. I just ordered these things for one of them. Thank you amazon prime. I hope to be able to use the summer camp money to go on a cruise with Adam for our 10 year this December. We will see. 

Date

Dayton earned a free sundae from Artic Circle at school for doing his reading. He has been working VERY hard this year. After some news a couple months ago of being moved down reading groups for the second time since first grade started, we were concerned. I observed class and visited with Mrs. Berry, and we came up with a great plan to help his fluency. His problem was fluency only, aka how many words per minute, his comprehension and accurracy was 100% or darn close to it. Anyway, long story short his reading teacher could be far more engaging and rewarding! He gets bored in school and daydreams or  he is being someones best friend. We sure love his personality and the qualities he has that will bless him in his life. So back to our date, he got to come with just Mom to redeem his coupon. He read almost EVERY DAY last month, I think we missed one or two days that were on the weekend. His fluency has improved immensly as in 50-60 wpm which is a 2nd grade level, from about 30-40wpm. Not that we didn't read at home before, we did, but we are being far more diligent and timing his reading so he gets practiced being stressed out by it, at least a bit. I personally think that is or was part of the issue too. He gets nervouse about reading correctly so he would read diliberate and slow when assessed in his reading groups. Gee whiz there is SO much pressure on these kids. He can do anything when he works hard for it. We had a nice time together and he is so bright I could cry. I am considering asking his teacher if he could move up groups now. Love you Dayton!

Boo, ba-humbug!

I'm tired! Darn daylight savings has messed up vivians schedule. Hello 5:30am!!! Bright eyed and bushy tailed!Ugh baby!

I just thought, it's ok I can get a 30 minute power nap this afternoon when the older two have quiet time and she naps. NOPE! As soon as I got all other kids settled for quiet time and I laid down she woke up from her nap. Isn't that how the life of a Mom goes?

I'm grumpy! 

This sleep issue better resolve quick or I might have to increase my chocolate stash. Ha ha!

Speech!

Carter qulaified for speech at the elementary with Mrs. Price. The same teacher Rachel has worked with since age 3. She is fabulous! He attends with Rachel, for now, until she meets all her goals which should be by summer. They had their first day and behaved together so I hope it stays that way for 3 months. It gives Mom a 30 minute time (twice a week) when I can run or get ready with just Vivian in the swing or walker while I do it. It is nice even if it is short. Plus, Carter needs the help! I find it interesting that he makes many of the same sound substitutions that Rachel did. 

Kinder Registration Today

She is going to Kindegarten this fall! Today we registered her and she was thrilled. I had to explain that she didn't actually start today which she was sad about but we are working on her patience. It is hard when you are little to wait so long for something you are looking forward to. She is such a smart girl. She did excellent on her assessment, she cut a circle, recognized all her letters, counted and wrote her name. She is our bright baby girl! 

Pawnee

We got a new dog. She came from a breeder in Smithfield. She is 4 years old and so mellow. I even like her and that is saying a lot! She is a Bernese Mountain Dog, a breed that has always interested Adam. The kids even walk her and she doesn't jump or pull. Get this too, she doesn't chew everything up. WOW! We hope she lives a long time.

Spring Walking

Today we walked to the post office. It was so nice to get out and the kids loved it too. Welcome spring! 

Notice Carter's finger up, that is how he gives a thumbs up. It is priceless. 

See that Vivie baby? She is getting big and that hat is too cute. 

Rachel rode her bike with no training wheels most of the way too. 

Milestones are happening folks and I am grateful I am home to see them. 

Jobs

Running a whole household alone can be so discouraging. I mean I really am not alone since Adam is the one who works full time and earns the money but most of the daily tasks fall on my plate. To be honest it makes me want to cry. I enjoy being a Mom and a homemaker but most days I feel like I spent my whole day working and running from task to task just to get in bed at the end of the day and realize it was all undone. More laundry, more dishes, more meal plans, more cereal spilled in the carpet and food all over the kitchen floor, all other young Mamas get it, right?

So my new plan is these little magnetic job charts. The kids have assigned jobs each Saturday. This way each job is done at least once a week and the kids learn to help and work. Plus, I don't feel like I am at it alone. Obviously, I still do daily tasks like meals, dishes, laundry and basic pick up but this is ensure that the whole family gets to help keep our house in order. I like that it teaches the kids life skills too.

We have done it for two Saturdays now and it takes about 1 hour of work for everyone to get done and then we play. Mama win!

Rachel is learning to read!

Rachel is very smart! She is super motivated to read right now. Grandma Trudy brought over these basic books with a fun clear page over them so the kids can fill in the blanks with a dry erase marker. After they complete a page they read it to Mom and they earn a nickle. It is great! Rach is doing these like a champ. I do help a bit but she mostly gets them on her own. We also have been reading the BOB books I read with Dayton in preschool and other little readers too. She is so ready for Kindergarten and I can't wait to see her grow there. 

5 months old!

This girl is so chubby! She is 5 months, weighs 18 pounds and is plenty long.

She love applesauce and beans. 

She likes rice cereal okay, if it is made warm and thin.

She sits up!

She is getting better at sleeping than she was at 4 months.

She just moved up to size 3 diapers.

She now takes big girl baths with shallow water in the main tub. We add lavendar. We have found it really helps her be calm at night.

She has dry and sensitive skin so she only bathes twice a week and special lotion goes on after, Aveeno with colodial ointment in it.

She is wearing 6-12 month clothes.

She rolls and loves the green binki and a toy not a binki.

She also just barely took a bottle. I figured out that she hates the taste of formula, when it is breastmilk she takes it. Oh gee am I glad she will take a bottle. She really just hasn't forever, since she was tiny. 

Her hair has gone light and her eyelashes have filled in too.

She has found her tounge and it is adorable!

This baby is so fun!

She loves watching her siblings play and loves her walker!

Dayton turns 7!

Dayton had a great friend birthday this year! He invited 8 friends plus his siblings. We had a blast! Dayton wanted sports cupcakes so we put whistles on them. We had cake and presents at home then went to the bounce house. The kids LOVED it!

Bounce house place was so fun! I didn't get tons of pictures but enough to document we were there. 

He got some good gifts. He loved the tool box from Parker the best, I would say. He also LOVED the microscope from Mom and Dad. He was fascinated by it and it was a good thing Grandpa Day was here to help. Those pictures in another post. 

He felt so special! I love this picture. Grinning ear to ear.

The best part of his birthday party day was the gift Rachel gave him. She made this over a week ago. She went through her room and chose a few toys to wrap up for Dayton. She also gave him money of hers, dollar bills. When D opened it I noticed there were $4 she generously gave, happily. I had previously talked her about just giving him one dollar. She said, "Yup, Mom that is what I did!" So I trusted her on it, and it was already wrapped so I couldn't check. Anyway, she is still too young to understand money and how much it's worth so when he opened it I made her keep 3 and give $1 like we had talked about. She also gave her yoyo toy from the dentist that she got for being so big and brave when she has major dental work a couple weeks ago. She earned that little yoyo and she gave it away. My heart was bursting! Anyway, Dayton was still so happy! I am so so proud of her for being so knid and giving. I hope our kids are always this way. I mean really what a gift. It is much better to be generous and giving with what you have then stingy. Dayton gave her a big hug after he opened it all and said, "Thanks Rachel, that was really nice, I love it all." I cried. 

Happy Birthday Dayton! One more post to follow on your actual birthday of our small family party.

Ballet

Here she is ready for ballet pictures today! I will try to post her photos when we get them. She got to wear makeup and she felt like a big special girl. I can't wait to see how they turned out! She has taken at Cache Valley Civic Ballet since fall and seems to really enjoy it!