Broken

JULY 9, It was a day like most of our good summer days, I did something out of the ordinary to make they day fun. I had filled up water balloons plus given them some buckets of water with cups and squirt guns to splash the water around. Robin and Laura were frustrated with Jacob because after the water balloons were all used he jumped in the bucket of water and wouldn't move. Being the good mom I am I went outside and ordered him out of the bucket then proceeded to dump it over his head so he couldn't continue to play in the water either. Jacob didn't let that ruin his fun, he began to splash it the small puddle before it evaporated. Robin was making faces and mocking him for no longer having the bucket to sit in. If Jacob has a bigger puddle of water or a squirt gun still he would of shot water at her/the window, but in their absence he threw a rock that was in his hand. CRACK...crackle...the door was broken. On the up side it was only the outside pane that got destroyed and it didn't fall out. Sadly, the door needs to be replaced which means the whole things must go because you can't replace only the broken part. For the price were are paying for a new door we could buy a new appliance or have replaced the carpet or kitchen floor...something like that at least. We are making Jacob pay a very small portion of the price out of his savings and, when I remember, I have him help with extra work/chores. He almost didn't get to go to Laura's "congratulations on learning the potty" party, but his not attending would mean someone else had to miss out too....I really, REALLY wanted to get to see the movie and I think I deserve one movie seen at the theater. My mother-in-law pointed out that the broken door was a great way to give a FHE lesson about the atonement because only through the power and love of another could Jacob fix what he did wrong. I really doubt that Jacob has learned to not throw rocks, but whatever. His sisters, mostly Laura, won't let him forget he did it. We keep the blinds closed and won't allow them to bring over friends or play outside until it gets fixed.  A custom sized door take time to make and ship...maybe at the start of school it will get done...over a month stuck playing inside.

Hello Again

Where to start....my kids are still around. Don't think that you, the reader, has missed out on anything special because I haven't updated since late last year, my life is just so full of the same old thing that I forget to add any updates. My kids are getting bigger on me and I don't really notice until I look back and see the differences.

Jacob has only a foot to go until he is as tall as me and then I will lose all ability to tell him what to do. Let me rephrase, encourage him to follow along with what I say. Lately he has decided that we never do anything nice for him. When the girls went with their Grandma Nancy for a sleepover we took Jacob to Dairy Queen for lunch and a blizzard. Fun stuff right, a nice treat you say...well you are wrong. The whole thing was ruined for him because he didn't get his OWN $5 meal or blizzard. He wants to be treated like a big kid, meaning we don't tell him what to do and he gets his own everything (sharing is for babies I guess). He is right that he is getting older and we need to give him some privileges/allowances, but he is still young and needs to learn...well... more. The teenage years are striking too early. School is another struggle for him, not the learning just the doing. On the positive side, Jacob is really good with Devin and he loves caring for him. They sleep in the same room at night, so Jacob will bring him to me in the morning. Jacob helps in the bath, feeding, playing with, takes a turn holding him, and more.

Robin LOVED kindergarten and is looking forward to entering first grade in August. She can't get enough of learning and gets really frustrated when stuff doesn't click immediately. With so many school subjects Robin is superior to Jacob and I think it is all attitude (Robin wants to know more and Jacob doesn't want to be there). Robin is starting to get interested in being really girlie: make-up, nail polish, and always having a dress option. Well, lets be truthful, she has always enjoyed being a girl and the only new addition is make-up. You let a child play once in your stuff for fun and then she pesters you forever to do it again and more. When Jacob had his turn with Grandma Nancy for a sleepover the girls got a chance to decorate themselves with mommy's make-up; it was a glitterfest which just doesn't show up on camera very well. If I ever decide to paint my nails I better be prepared to paint two other sets of fingers and their toes too. I think earrings would be a good addition, but that would turn into another thing for me to be in charge of ...under her supervision of course :) Robin is also good with Devin, but she requires a lot of supervision herself when handling Devin. She just always looks like she will drop the baby...and she invades his personal space a little too much for me or Matt.

Laura...hmm...is much as always. This little girl is either happily playing by herself or hanging off of Robin, begging her to play with her. I am not sure who is more girlie, Robin or Laura, but Laura loves to have dresses, nail polish, and get into my make-up whenever she can. She has recently achieved potty trained level (and was taken to see Minions Movie as a reward!). I know, she is way too old to be only now reaching this accomplishment. I kept waiting for definite signs that she was ready, but she was perfectly happy in a diaper.  Like with Robin I had to take away the privilege of diapers, except at nighttime and wouldn't you know it she never had an accident at night. It was slow going at first, of course, and there were too many accidents to my liking, but really it only took her four months to earn her reward. Now is constantly asks me why babies always poop and pee in their diapers...like she doesn't know.  Laura is only now, six months later, starting to interact with Devin. It wasn't that she didn't like him because she likes/liked him fine, it is just that now six months later she is trying to have anything to do with him. It was like, "you are here and I am okay with that." Now I have to teach her to touch nice.

Devin is such a sweetie. It took him a few months to decide that being awake wasn't a bad thing and sometimes he doesn't understand that no one can hold him. Maybe I just know the ropes, but Devin seems to easy compared to the others. Devin enjoys to eat (except unsweetened applesauce), doesn't mind other people, slept through the night at four months (never slept less that three hour stretches), and of course has the most adorable giggle. Right now he is working on figuring out the crawl. He gets up on his toes/knees and hands, but can't get the motions down for crawling so he simple slithers across the floor or pushes with his toes.

Vacation

It's been a while since I have updated this blog. Jacob finished Kindergarten! He loved it and loved his teacher (was really sad to leave her for another teacher in Fall). Robin is soooo EXCITED to be going to school in August. I worried that she wouldn't be allowed to test in for early admission to Kindergarten, or that she wouldn't be awesome enough to pass the testing. As it turns out the lady who tested her in was Jacob's Kindergarten teacher, so she has been watching her all year and already felt that she should be coming to school. Laura is thinking about potty training, but neither her nor I really feel like pushing. For about three hours after waking up (and all night) Laura is trained, she will tell us that we should take her diaper and she runs off to her potty for a deposit :) Once her sippy intake catches up with her she forgets to run to the potty until after her diaper gets wet and let's not even talk about pooping.

Now on to vacation. Matt had some unused vacation hours, use it or lose it. We decided that it was hot enough here in the valley to warrant a trip to Payson. It is 15 to 20 degrees cooler up there, need I say more. Matt has an elk hunt coming up in September, so this vacation provided the perfect opportunity to practice his archery shooting. Most of the time we watched movies, with a couple of visits to the park, a short duration of "hamster ball" (a big ball filled with air, hollowed out in the middle allowing kids to climb in a roll down a hill), and daily sprinkler frolics. We tried to go fishing a couple of times, but the fish weren't biting or there was too much crabbing to find a good spot. It was hard to go home to the heat, but vacation can't last forever and neither could our laundry go any longer without being washed. At least we still have our pvc sprinkler in the backyard.

Merry Christmas from Us

Go ahead and admit it to yourself, my kids are adorable. It's okay, I tell myself that every day and it hasn't hurt me one bit. This year our picture was taken at my in-laws over Thanksgiving. It was really hard to pick a favorite picture since someone (a child) was either looking the wrong way or making an unhappy face in every picture. We took the pictures inside because I was just too cold to stand outside without a coat on. I can't say what a year, like we had so much going on because it has mostly been more of the same. Let me tell you about life...

MATT still works for Home Depot stopping the shoplifters and saving company money from misguided employees. He did go on his annual October hunt, but didn't get to stay long because his hunting buddy (his dad) got a new job and couldn't get the time off. 

KIM loafs around the house, the end :) Really I spend most of my time reading books, or working on a craft. I feel lucky that their is a school nearby for my kids to attend because they wouldn't learn a thing from me that was vital to life. I still work for my brother-in-law Mike on his pylons, though this year production was slow (I don't know why, but I can hypothesize). Here and there I also did work with another brother-in-law Julio and his company Shatterworx; I put the stuffing (content) into a couple of websites and assembled a few phone apps (you wouldn't use any). 

Speaking of schools JACOB started kindergarten this fall and loves it. We had our doubts at the beginning of the school year, but he is excited to go everyday and can't wait to tell us whether he received a stamp each day. Just yesterday Jacob received the Student of the Month award for November!! Way to go Jacob. 

ROBIN is bored at home and constantly tells me so. Mostly I think her boredom stems from me not letting her watch as many movies as she can, though she does miss Jacob. I hate to admit it but I have slacked off in my preschooling. The habit of preschool was broken because it was so hot after walking Jacob to school I just wanted to sit down and relax. My relaxing turned into total distraction. Hopefully we can get her into school next fall.

LAURA is now two and finally turning into a person who is willing to not cling on to a parent whenever we venture out and will even play with the big kids. If you listen closely and ask the right things she will actually say something understandable. She has the cutest little voice and is gathering a lot of words.

Merry Christmas to all and happy celebrating family together time whether you gathering be small and quiet, or crowded and noisy. Let us all remember the good times and forget our trials while we bask in the love surrounding us.

Catch Up

Let me see...what have we been up to lately? Of course, school started! Jacob started Kindergarten in August. He loves going to school and really likes his teacher, me too. On the second day of school I walked Jacob to school because I thought he got lost the first day. I left the house early so he could have plenty of time to get there, then I found out that before class starts the kids are allowed to play on the playground (duh). Now we walk almost everyday and all three kids go because they can play on the slides and in the sand. 

As a reward for good behavior I started bribing Jacob with trips to stores so he could look at toys and generally just get out of the house. On our trip to Toys R Us the kids had the opportunity to try out the cars. I got a few really cute pictures (like the one above) of the kids trying out a few. The bribing is going well, but it has escalated from just visiting stores to me buying something for Jacob which in turn means something for everyone. Jamba Juice, donuts, $1 toy, etc

During Conference weekend we camped out in the backyard. We bought this tent for Matt's birthday in January and forgot to test it out before it got miserably hot outside, so now that the weather cooled off I thought it would be fun to use it. Jacob and Robin were so sad when I declared the tent had to come down. Mommy didn't get the best sleeping position and I really wanted to sleep in my own bed again.

And the most resent happenings were a couple of birthdays. Robin turned 4 and Laura 2! They are getting so big, which I only can tell because people keep having babies and they are so tiny. Laura is just starting to trust people other than Mommy and Daddy. It is so cute to see he play with other kids and to snuggle up with relatives. Laura is also developing quite the attitude, usually just a playful thing but there are times that she will throw stuff because she didn't get her chocolate milk (this morning, nearly broke on of my drinking cups). Robin is talking a mile a minute and constantly has something she wants to "ask" you, which means something to tell/tattle. Anything that Jacob can do Robin wants to do too and lots of time she does it better. The latest thing that they do is see who can finish first, which is so stupid because we almost never start eating food at the same time or someone gets seconds.

Bunco

 Yesterday, July 9, I hosted bunco. My theme was Red, White, and Bunco of course in honor of Independence Day. The kids helped model the tables. The cup/bowl, for those of you who don't know, were for the table candy which I guess is a little silly because there were a lot of treats in the kitchen. It was really difficult to keep the kids away from the table candy because the chair allowed for perfect access to the treats.

The game started late because no one showed up on time and there is the tradition of eating first; makes sense so that we can all concentrate on the game instead of eating around the rolling of dice. Jacob, Robin, and Laura tried their best to be in the way and usually one or two of them were in my lap. Throughout the whole night they were telling stores and showing off tricks.

Just as I was finishing with clean-up duty I noticed that Jacob and Robin had crashed, which is really amazing for how much sugar they consumed. Laura on the other hand was still all smiles, so she had time to brush her teeth and get into her pajamas.

July Vacation

 Our "vacation" boiled down to the family spending a couple of days up in Payson to get out of the heat, and boy was it nice. Almost the moment we got up to Grandma's house (Matt's parents) the kids were begging to play in the sprinklers. Though Laura had us dress her in a swimsuit she refused to get near the water, even though Daddy ran through the water with her a few times. Oh well, she missed out. Jacob and Robin, Jacob especially, had enough fun to make up for Laura snugging the activity.

Day two was a sick day. Due to unknown causes Jacob spent most of the day throwing up. Even though he wasn't feeling well I think he enjoyed the love and attention he received from all of us. By mid afternoon Jacob finally got some sleep and recovered from his bug and with his renewed strength came his appetite. He ate a bowl of cereal, some Oreos, toast, a hot dog, and of course juice to wash it all down. Don't worry he didn't eat this all at once, he spread it out over a couple of hours.

 Day three was the fourth which meant neighborhood bar-b-cue and firework. One of the reasons we went up to Payson was so the kids could go fishing. Earlier in the week the kids had spotted Jacob's fishing pole and tackle box, so they were excited to fish. Of course when the time came Jacob was too scared of the water to try fishing and Laura wasn't allowed out of the stroller (though she was willing to smile big for the camera). Robin "fished" for five minutes, there just wasn't enough action. Jacob hid out by the CERT trailer because that is where Grandpa (my dad) was.

The best part for the kids about our vacation was that cousins came up for the fireworks too, so they got to play and play and play. The night ended with a few tears because when the fireworks went off it terrified poor Laura. It seems to be a tradition the my kids sleep during their first fireworks, but the next year get traumatized by them. Jacob and Robin liked the fireworks, but I think they enjoyed getting the glow sticks/bracelets best.

Day four was went we headed home. There was breakfast on the back porch, a short session of Frisbee with Jacob (he is really good at throwing that thing), and a visit from a garden snake and toad (very entertaining).