Dates with Dad - then & now

Rachel is dad's baseball buddy, and as I was going through his phone photos, I found some old pictures of them on their daddy-daughter dates at baseball games.  Rachel's favorite part of baseball is the ice cream they always get.  A girl after my own heart.

A few weeks ago, she filled up a sticker chart for cleaning her room and her reward was a date with Daddy.  Her first choice was a baseball game, but there weren't any games that weekend, so she opted for a trip to the mall to take a ride on their electronic animal cars.

I asked her to tell me about her date with dad, and here's what she said:
"We got ice cream and we went to 'Wreck it Ralph'; we got sour patch kids.  We rode on animals and I got a free hat.  I love my daddy.  We talked about my birthday, and how good he was at work.  We got to eat at Chick Fil-A - we ate chicken nuggets and yellow sauce, and we got a toy, but I traded it in for ice cream.  When we went to the car, daddy couldn't remember where it was.  I told him this is just like Andrew's trip to the mall when you guys got lost on the bus, so we lost the car, it's just like that."

2011 flashback

2012 game

Date with dad - March 2013

February Catch Up

Skinny Minnie!  (at least compared to our other kids)

A little snooze

One day, I found them like this watching a "scary" part of a movie.  Probably "Rescue Rangers, Down Under" which is hands down Andrew's favorite movie and he has seen it so so so many times.  He chooses that one almost everytime. 

Andrew uses his three blankets as a pillow & always likes them right by his face

Funny boy.  Lately, Andrew has been saying, "I want to be a pirate when I grow up, so I can say ARRGGHH mateys!"  

We are in love with this little girl!!

I continue to be surprised that my love can grow with each new child and that there is room in my heart to love another one just as much as I do the others.  My babies are my very very very favorite.  When our family is complete, I think I'll have to go volunteer at the hospital to hold those sweet, precious babies.

Kendall is the best baby I will ever have!  She is so patient and aware of my needs, she is sweet and loving and as appreciative as a baby can be.  She is the best sleeper and I love her for it.  Recently, she's been taking one long nap during the day - about 3 hours, which is longer than my other 2 ever slept during the day - and then the rest of the naps are 30-45 minutes.  She sleeps through most nights, and if she does wake up to eat, it's in the early morning hours and then she goes back to sleep and sleeps in late.

She's 4 months now (as of Feb 28th), and for the last month, her bowel movements have been far and few between.  The first one was 7 days in between, then 10, then 13 days.  It's crazy and it's like she's a ticking time bomb.  The doctor has assured me that it's fine as long as she is comfortable and happy, which she has been.  And when she does go, it's no effort whatsoever.  However, one of the side effects is that she has bad gas (I'll blame the uncles, Chris and Chad) and it clears the room - she has the smelliest toots we have ever smelt!!

Kendall is my first baby that has outright refused a bottle of formula.  Sure, I enjoy nursing, but I do not enjoy the 15-20 extra pounds that are hanging on, in addition to all the extra calories I have to eat to keep my milk up.  I know that if I even think about diet/exercise, that I'll lose my milk, so I'm hanging on to the weight.

Rachel Faye, tidbits at 4 1/2

Rachel has an incredible sense of smell (particularly with sweets), and I laughed out loud when she was able to smell root beer on daddy's breath when he gave her a hug.

I'm not good at writing down all her quotes, but this one made me laugh pretty hard.  It was during FHE and she said, "Boys have the Priesthood and girls just walk around with babies and do jobs."  She said it very matter of factly and wasn't saying it begrudgingly at all.  Good thing, because it's kind of accurate.  :)

Rachel loves kisses, and when she got (what I am guessing) was a small cold sore on the corner of her mouth, I told her that she couldn't give anyone any kisses for a week, and that made her cry.  She especially loves to give Brandon and I kisses on the lips.  And I know one day, I'll really miss that - but for now, it kind of makes me think of my Nana who always wanted to give us kisses on the lips - trying to dodge them was the standard procedure.

She is learning to read and has good reading comprehension!  Dad has been reading her a series of fairy books (her first chapter books), and she really loves them.  She's getting better at sounding simple words out, and her preschool teacher sends home readers that we do almost daily.  She starts full-day Kindergarten this fall, and she's really looking forward to it.

A couple months ago in preschool, Miss Arlene told me that Rachel was being silly with another girl (Elise) in the classroom.  She said that both girls were having a hard time focusing and paying attention while she was teaching.  We were giving lectures at home and that wasn't seeming to help, so we were brainstorming with Arlene about possible solutions.  When she told us that Elise was the aggressor and about 70% of the problem, we came up with a new plan.  Brandon gave an awesome FHE lesson on the Tree of Life, the iron rod, the great and spacious building, etc.  Then the next day, I talked with her about what it means to ignore others - especially during classroom time - but also tying it back to the FHE lesson and how we'd need to ignore the people in the great and spacious building (sorry, Elise, but that's you).  We actually practiced what it meant to ignore others when the teacher is talking - I would try to distract her by making silly faces and saying, "Rachel, look at me!" while she kept focused on her teacher (pretending, at least).  It was super helpful to actually practice it; otherwise, I don't think she would have understood how to ignore.  I told Arlene what we had done so that she could recognize what Rachel was trying to do.  Anyway, Miss Arlene said that Rachel solved the problem completely and that Rachel has been great in the classroom ever since.  A proud parenting moment for sure!!  It was new territory for us to help Rachel remedy a problem all by herself when we were't there to help facilitate or see what was going on (and I'm sure we'll get many more opportunities to help her solve her own problems, for better or for worse).  Hard to believe that she'll be in full-day Kindergarten this fall!

January Catch Up

"Mom, yook at my moothie mustache!"

Needed haircut number 2!

Our MLK Day hike to Hole in the Rock on Brandon's day off; Andrew's looking tortured (and I just noticed his skeleton shirt, which I don't remember even being embarrassed about him wearing it that day)

I should have taken a picture of the actual hole that's in the rock.  Here's the view from the top of our .10 mile hike - it was perfect for the ages of our kids.  

Occassionally we've had some tummy naps with this sweet girl.  

New nephew - Chris & Kacie's 4th - Colson Hale, born January 11

Kennedy & Colson - we hear she's a big helper!

We designed the Hale's announcement they sent out in January - what cute kids

Catching up on some zzz's

She sometimes gets mauled by Thing 1 and Thing 2

Attempt # 6 of a picture of all three - this one will have to do

Too cool for school

I love when they play nicely together!  Most of the time, they do.  Until they wrestle - that usually ends in tears.  And they're only 3 pounds different in weight, so it's a pretty even match.

Our first Toothfairy visit!

The toothfairy left a teeny note and a dollar bill with sparkles, folded into a ring

Rachel minus a bottom tooth!

I am in total shock, but my 4 and a half year old lost her first tooth (March 6th)!  This is EARLY!  At the beginning of the week, Rachel told me in the car that her tooth felt kind of funny but I didn't think anything of it.  Later that night, I wanted to floss her teeth to check everything out and she had a very wiggly bottom tooth!  Just a couple days later, in an attempt to open the ice cream with her teeth, she said "ouch!" and I could tell it was almost out.  Daddy yanked it out in one pull!  We had to convince Rachel that this was fun and a big girl thing, because she was crying a little - maybe scared / surprised, not sure - but now she understands and thinks it is fun.  Our toothfairy was not very prepared and her partner in crime fell asleep before the job was done, but she checked out Pinterest and got some cute ideas.  :)

Rachel insisted that she spend her dollar at the dollar store the very next day, and bought some lame, cheap toy, like always.  I have a love/hate relationship with the dollar store.

p.s.  Rachel's other bottom tooth is loose too!

Random Photos - February / March

Excuse the VERY low quality ipod touch photos, but sometimes it's the closest thing around. Sure, an iphone would be nice, except that I would only want it for the camera/phone/wifi capabilities - no data package, please. Verizon, can you please work on that?

Lalaloopsy by mom, coloring by Rachel - not too bad if I do say so myself

Brandon's frames he made for our bedroom!  

Brandon is making all sorts of frames these days, and they have turned out SO good!

Custom frames he made for a friend - she wanted Chevron to match her boys' bedding

 

Andrew & Rachel playing with Kendall usually entails too many toys

Nursery poster - when the kids come in they put their picture on Noah's ark; we have 10 kids in our class, so somedays only 4-5 show up, which is a nice change from the 16 we had at the end of the year

Kendall loves the baby carrier and gets hauled around the house with me, until she zonks out

Fun mirror in Kendall's room that I have had in each of our babies bedrooms - we always stop by the mirror to say hello to each other - it's my babies favorite!  (another Brandon frame in the background)

Rachel LOVES to hold Kendall and asks to hold her at least twice a day if not more - Kendall is patient for just a few minutes and then squawks at me to take her away from her 4 year old sister.

My Bubba!

Kendall's big enough for the Bumbo - please stop growing so quickly!

New rug I got for Christmas - and I love it!  

Just a regular day

Yesterday I had the thought to blog about my day - just the little details that often seem meaningless, so I made notes of what we did so I wouldn't forget.  I need to do this more often - I'm sure I will look back with fond memories of when our children were young (or at least that's what I've been told).  :)

You know it's going to be a good day when you step out of bed and your bare foot squishes down on a poo log that just happens to be on your carpet! Yep, that's how it started.  Andrew, who wakes up more often at night than the baby, brought me a diaper at 2am and asked me to change it.  It was uncommon for him to come in at that time of night with that request, so I just quickly did it right there on my bed (half delirious) and figured that he had a wet diaper.  Apparently, I didn't notice the poop in the dark and it must have rolled right on out when I was changing it.  You can't make this stuff up!

I got a great morning nap from Kendall, so I organized and sorted both Rachel & Andrew's clothes so I knew what things I'd need to buy for them.  While checking my email, I got an Old Navy email saying they were having a 40% off sale on kids clothes plus an additional 15%, so I shopped around a bit and got some essentials that Andrew & Rachel will need for summer and fall.  I also got in a quick phone call with Kasey.

While I was feeding Kendall, I had Rachel sit with me while she read her reader from preschool.  I can't believe she is learning to read - this is uncharted and fun territory for me and I find it to be really rewarding.

I quickly got everyone ready for the day and made lunch for Rachel - a turkey & cheese sandwich with "white" (miracle whip) & lettuce - and then we were off to preschool. It's pretty close - about an 8 minute drive.

Rachel goes to preschool from 11:30-2p, and it works out perfectly for our schedule.  After I dropped her off, I went and met a lady for a Craiglist sale.  I've been selling old decorations and pieces I don't like anymore.

Then we went to Costco to pick up pictures and a few groceries.  Andrew and I shared a hot dog and he got some new blue jammies, and he insisted on putting them on the second we got in the car.  I totally let him.  I fed Kendall in the car in the Costco parking lot while Andrew terrorized the inside of our van.  Definitely normal for us.

We picked up Rachel from preschool, and she was happy that I was the first mom there (a rare occurrence, I must admit).  And I talked to Kacie on the phone while driving.  Andrew had fallen asleep in the car, so I transferred him to his bed and let him sleep for 30 minutes or so (I didn't want him to stay awake super late).

Rachel watched a Spiderman cartoon and had a snack while Andrew slept.  I gave her some skittles she had left over from Valentine's Day, and I warned her that she better hide them when I went to wake up Andrew.  Instead of eating them all or hiding them, she saved some for him and was happy to share.  She is an amazing sharer, and the little moment made me smile!

It had been rainy and cold all day, but the kids played outside in the afternoon anyway.  I did some online stuff for a bit, while Kendall took some short sporadic naps and the kids played well together.  Then we cleaned rooms and earned their stickers right before dad got home from work.  They are both working on filling up their sticker charts so that they can go on a date with dad.  It works wonders and is a good incentive program for us right now.

I made BBQ chicken salad for dinner, and everyone ate it pretty good, no major complaining.  Phew!  Brandon brought home the girl scout cookies he bought at work - yum!

Brandon put Kendall to sleep while I read books to Andrew who has gotten the shaft lately with all of Rachel's reading and the attention it requires.  Then Rachel read all of her readers to dad to show him her progress.  We let them stay up 30 minutes past their bedtime.  Rachel threw a random tantrum about not being able to stay up late.  Glad that paid off.  The big kids were asleep by 8:45p, which is very late for our family.  We usually shoot for 8pm.

Brandon worked more on his picture frames and I worked on a flier I am doing for someone.  Right around the time Brandon fell asleep, my parents called and we talked for a little bit.  While I was on the phone with them, I had to run because Rachel had a nasty, out of the blue, croupy cough.  We wrapped her up and took her outside in the cold air.  Since there wasn't much of a change in her cough and wheezing, I decided to take her to Goodnight Pediatrics and we were in and out within an hour.  What a blessing!

We got home, and Rachel got a breathing treatment and watched a movie while I showered and got a few more things done.  Her and I went to bed around 1a, and then we thankfully didn't hear from her the rest of the night.