Aaron is home

I am so happy that Aaron is home!

Aaron I love you so much!

That about sums it up!

Counting and spelling

Amy likes to count and spell. Not really. But she does like to repeat. I'm hoping to get a better video of her counting though. Typically when I say, "Let's count..." she say, "Five, two, five two." Or when she wants to jump down, instead of "1, 2, 3 jump" she'll say "5, 2, 5, 2..."

But she knows a little of the sequence of numbers, she'll repeat until I say "six", then she'll say "seven" instead of repeating "six". And when I say "seven" she'll nod her head as if to say "yes that's what I said." She'll also do that with "nine", instead of repeating it she'll say "ten".

However this is what happened when I tried to get her to count with me.


Amy also loves the ABC song. She'll dance to it and occasionally blurt out the right letter at the right time, it's usually "P". In this video, when she wouldn't count I had her "spell" since she'll repeat most letter names as well.

Fun-filled crazy week

Other than the normal goings-ons that I mentioned in the previous posts, here's what we've done. This week the boys decided to participate in the "TV turn off week", so they've been hunting for other activities besides computer games (it also included computer and video games). One afternoon they decided to use the sidewalk paint set that David got for his birthday, and they created these lovely pictures on the porch and the driveway.

Pretty cool huh?

David also put together all of the Lego sets he got and then took pictures of them all. Here are just two of them (the biggest ones).

David also took some pictures of Amy while taking pictures of all the toys.

David also created a scavenger hunt for me, and then Timothy did the same. He didn't really write clues, but rather just instructions of where to look next.

As for Amy and me... Monday we did some visiting teaching while new windows were being installed in the house we are renting. The property manager said he'd stay there while I was out of the house, so I took him up on the offer and stayed at my appointment for 90 minutes while all the kids played, and the 3 moms talked. Then I ran to the store. I nearly forgot about the laundry I was supposed to do. Since the window guy would be doing the windows in Amy's room while she napped I decided to put her to sleep downstairs in the office - it doesn't have windows so it would be dark. I grabbed her blanket, seahorse and puppy that she usually has in her crib. I was surprised that she didn't fight it. I lay down next to her, but I thought she'd realize that she wasn't in a crib and could get up, however she fell right asleep.

Tuesday the window guy came back to finish. I love the new windows, however I noticed after he left that there was broken glass on the driveway. Then a few days later I wanted to see how cold it was outside and realized the thermometer that was fastened outside the kitchen window was gone. It makes sense that he had to remove it to replace the windows, but you would think he'd either put it back up or give it back to us so we could put it up. We went looking for it on the side of the house, we didn't find it, but we did find a lot more broken glass :( And he left a razor in the kids' bedroom.

Wednesday I hosted co-op and had a fun almost 3 year old over for a couple hours. Amy mimicked everything she did. She wanted to play with the same toys and watch the same movie, and eat the same food, and when she wanted to put something in her pocket Amy looked at her pants and discovered that she had pockets, and had to find something to put in them.

That day she also decided that she wanted to wear boots like mine. My sister Becca gave us some boots for her back in February, but she hasn't wanted to wear them. But when I mentioned that I was wearing boots, she said, "Mommy boots. Amy boots." And she finally let me put her boots on her.

Aren't they cute?

Well Friday when she was wearing her boots and I had my shoes one she pointed to my shoes and said, "Mommy shoes off. Mommy boots." When I told her that I was going to wear my shoes she protested. After two or three times she realized I wasn't going to wear my boots. So she pulled her boots off and said, "Amy boots off. Amy shoes." I guess she just wants to be like me. :)

What else? Friday was the Walk-a-thon fundraiser for the boys' school. It's a fun event and I'm glad I was able to help out this year. I took Amy to co-op and joined the many volunteers. I've learned that two of the moms of Timothy's classmates are soccer coaches for the local university's women's soccer team. So they had some of their athletes come help out. It was fun to see the kid's eyes light up when they saw the athletes and coaches there.

The kids walked - or ran for 20 minutes, and collected pledges per lap or flat rate. Each lap is 1/8 mile. And the top kids were doing 19 and 20 laps! Even David and Timothy ran most of the time and got 13 and 11 laps respectively. I was pretty busy, so I didn't get as many pictures as I had hoped but here is David's class (and another class) warming up.

And here is Katie and David (and Abby in the background) just after they finished their run.

It was fun to see all the kids show up in their work out running gear. And one 5th grade girl who wore a dress and short pumps - needless to say she walked after the first lap and had taken off her shoes by the end. We also got to cheer on the 2 specialized classes and the 4th graders who helped them around the track. One boy was so determined to keep going he wouldn't stop when I tried to mark off the lap he finished.

Saturday I probably would have found time to blog, or work on the computer, but Aaron decided he wanted to clean up our computer, so we downloaded a program that allowed him to take over the home computer with his laptop and I let him delete all the extra files and programs we don't need, and defragment the computer and probably a whole lot of things I don't know he did. But that left me computerless for a good portion of the day. That's OK because I ended up making cookies and playing games with the kids.

The other things I have been working on is planning David's baptism for next week. We've moved the date several times, and it's finally coming together. I just need someone to lead the music, and figure out who will conduct the meeting so I can put it in the program. David had his Bishop's interview today, I picked up the Baptismal clothing and have the room reserved, and now I just have to figure out refreshments. David was so excited when I told him got to pick what he wanted. Brownies and cookies are definitely on the list.

Is that enough reasons why I haven't blogged for a week? Good, because I'll probably be just as busy this week especially since Aaron comes home on WEDNESDAY!!!!! I might not be available for a little while.

Where has the week gone?

I can't believe it's been so long since my last post. But I know exactly why I haven't posted. Amy has kept me busy all day, baseball and tee ball have consumed my evenings and I spent more time at night on the phone and video chat with Aaron than I ever did as a teenager (not that we had video chat back then). Aaron has used over 1000 minutes on his phone this month (700 of those during the unlimited nights and weekends), and most of that is talking to me, or the kids. It's been an arduous 11 days with only 3 more to go!!! The only reason I have time to blog tonight is because Aaron is on call. And I'm typing while he takes "mommy calls", and makes the rounds in the newborn nursery. This is my typical day right now:

6:30 I get up with Amy, and snuggle on the couch - sometimes it's as early at 6:00 - but then we might fall asleep again until about 6:45 when the boys wake up. It's amazing how much later they sleep in when Aaron isn't up and about getting ready for work ;) Sometimes I'll turn on the computer and check my email - I'm room parent for David's class, and often there's an email to forward to the other parents.

7:00 Breakfast - most days just cereal, but we fit in pancakes, waffles scrambled eggs or muffins some days.

7:30 I go take a shower while the kids finish up breakfast and David watches Amy.

8:00 I'm ready to go, and in the mean time I've made sure the boys get dressed and make their beds, well except Timothy who takes a really long time, and usually doesn't do anything unless I'm standing right there telling him each step "take your PJ's off. Now get your pants on..." but sometimes he surprises me.

By now I've probably interceded on a few squabbles and redirected a few distracted kiddos. Then it's time to get Amy ready, and lunches ready and make sure the kids have their folders and backpacks, permission slips, homework, shoes and socks, jackets etc. And we're usually out the door by 9:00.

I drop the kids off, and then I usually have errands to run with Amy. Grocery store or Target, or something else. Then it's home and time for playing with Amy, and trying to do stuff on the computer, but not very successfully since Amy demands that I play with her, or else she wants to talk to Daddy on the computer, and gets mad that he's not there, so we have to go somewhere else. She will ask for her binky or yogurt. We have lunch fairly early - 11:00 or 11:30. Sometimes I try to distract her with a video, but that doesn't last long.

She will go down for her nap between 12:00 and 12:30. That lasts anywhere from 1 to 2 hours and 2 1/2 if I'm lucky. During that time I try to make phone calls, and return emails, clean up the kitchen, family room, bathroom, or whatever. I also think about what to eat for dinner, but that doesn't always happen either. When she wakes up we spend some more time together, but she usually will ask for a snack. Then it's time to pick up the boys from school.

The boys love to play on the playground after school. Amy loves the playground equipment too. However that means I no longer get to spend that time talking to my friends, because I'm helping Amy. Unless Larissa is there with her kids, then we chase kids and talk together.

We are usually back home by 4:00 or soon thereafter. About 3 days a week we have either a tee ball or baseball game or practice. That makes the evenings a little crazy. I have to have dinner on the table before 5:00. And an hour isn't much time to prepare especially if I need to help kids with homework. So we end up having something quick - which doesn't always equal healthy. If I could plan ahead better I could make healthy meals that are quick. Several times I was tempted to pick up dinner somewhere, but so far I haven't. That just isn't in the budget right now.

So by 5:30 we are out the door to a game or practice. I spend the time trying to keep Amy close by without her running onto the field. We're home by 7:30 or so, then it's straight to bed for the kids (OK after PJ's brushing teeth, scriptures and family prayers). We've had some later nights lately. Often Aaron will call to say good night to the kids. If we don't have a game he'll try to do a video chat with them a little earlier.

A little after 8:00 the kids are all in bed, and usually I do the dishes, and talk to Aaron. When I'm done upstairs I'll go down to the computer and we'll talk on Skype or another one we found - Ovoo. I can't really type when I'm talking on the phone. I might be able to read an email and reply quickly, however to create a cohesive post is rather difficult while having a completely different conversation. Even after the video chat (I really don't know how we could have been apart this long without that!!!) we end up talking on the phone before he goes to bed - he's an hour ahead remember. Even still it's probably 10:30 or 11:00 before we hang up (my time). So I might be able to do a couple things before I'm ready for bed, but again, not a blog post I am dead tired by then.

I'm in bed around 11:30 or maybe midnight. I'm not used to staying up that late. Aaron and I have promised each other that we'll try to go to bed earlier when he comes home. But right now those hours on the phone and video chat have been so helpful. It's worth the lack of sleep.

So that's the overall weekly agenda. Wait til you hear what else happened this week! That post is coming up.

Party time

After the baseball madness in the morning on Saturday, we went home and finished cleaning the house and getting ready for David's birthday party. I put Amy down for her nap at 12:30, hoping for at least an hour of Amy free party time.

Just before 1:00 guests started arriving. We played a few games like toss the LEGO. I made this board with construction paper LEGOs on it. The kids stood a few feet away from the board and tried to make their LEGO land on one of the squares; the smaller, the more points. This would have been more fun, and lasted longer had I been able to supervise, but I was running up and down the stairs as guests arrived. Then we went on to the next game of LEGO tic-tac-toe. Each kid had 5 LEGOs of one color which they used as markers instead of xs and os, and they had a list of everyone's names and everyone had a chance to play everyone else. I didn't really declare a winner.


The next game was guess how many LEGOs are in the jar.Well the kids insisted that there needed to be a winner and a prize, so I said the two closest would get to split the LEGOs in the jar. Well the two girls won, and neither of them really liked LEGOs, they just wanted to come to David's party. Oh well.

Then we did LEGO tricks, like balance a LEGO on your nose, or toss it in the air and clap and catch it. Then it turned into "Brickmaster Says", like "Simon Says". In the midst of this Amy woke up - I only got 35 minutes of Amy free time. The next game was like Pictionary, only they had to build the object written on the paper. After the third one they lost interest, so I brought out the last thing. They each got a bag of LEGOs that they could build whatever they wanted. There were enough pieces to build a car, but they really could do anything.

Michael's creation

Cooper's creation

David's creation

I was pretty flexible, so when the girls didn't want to build with LEGOs I told them they could play with something else. Then they asked if they could play air hockey. I couldn't find the paddles, so they improvised with plastic dishes. They had fun and that's what matters.

They boys wanted to play after that

And the girls finally decided to build with the LEGOs, but had to ask David how to do it :)

Katie's creation

At 2:00 I had David open presents. He started out in this corner.

He got lots of fun things.

LEGOs of course were a popular item.

This sidewalk chalk/paint set was really cool too, but I want to note how by the end of the present opening, the kids had moved from about 6 feet away to about 6 inches away! I felt like poor David was trapped in the corner.

So after presents was cake and ice cream. Some of you may have seen this next picture on Facebook. I baked the cake on Friday and left it cooling on the counter. Amy was watching her movie upstairs and I went downstairs to make the LEGO toss board. Later I heard Amy playing in the sink. I didn't know what I'd left in there that might be dangerous, so I ran up there and found this:


I debated baking another cake, but decided to put the ruined side down and hope frosting would make up the difference.
Well, I think it worked. Since I did one big LEGO instead of a bunch of small ones like last year, I couldn't use marshmallows for the pegs - they would be too small, and I didn't have any marshmallows anyway. So I baked up a small batch of cupcakes (making 1/3 of a box of cake mix isn't that hard), and shaved them with a knife to make the right shape for the pegs. Not too bad. But I stayed up way too late frosting the cake. I blame Aaron, he was missing me so we were Skyping until past 10:00. I'm just kidding I was missing him too, it's not his fault I could have sad goodbye, but I didn't want to.

Well back to the party... the kids had fun with the cake and ice cream.

Abby looks like she's going to help him.

That's the whole crew. I was two seats short, so Yash and Timothy had to stand.

Everyone had blue tongues afterward.

This was the only time Amy was happy unless I was holding her. I put her seat on the floor. She was very happy to eat her "ceam".

After that we had 30 minutes left so they played downstairs once again. Most finished their LEGO creations, but the girls found toy dart guns and tried to tie up the boys. Oh boy - does it really start this early? I think I will have to have boys only next year :) It was very loud and crazy. It was a lot of fun. I'm glad Aaron will be here for Timothy's party. It's only 2 months away. I should recover by then :)

Happy Birthday David!!!! Up next on the agenda: scheduling his baptism!!!

Tee Ball season starts

Friday was Timothy's first Tee Ball game. He was pretty excited. David also had practice that was last minute changed to a different field and time. OK so they emailed us about 5 hours earlier, but I didn't hear about it until I showed up for Timothy's game. Luckily there is a family with boys on the same teams so they help me out a lot with getting kids to both places. They've brought each kid home from a practice and taken David to the practice at the other field and the game on Saturday. Anyway... what I was trying to get at was that we were running late trying to get everyone ready for a game and a practice and things to entertain Amy, and a few things were forgotten. Like Timothy going to the bathroom. So during warm-ups I had to take Timothy to the bathroom (David had already left for his practice so I only had to bring Amy). There is no bathrooms at the ball field. They do have a port-a-potty during baseball season, however it was padlocked. So we had to run down the stairs and across the street to the park. We made it back just before they had to line up and play. Oh and on the way back from the bathroom I noticed Timothy's shoes. Did you notice the picture above, well here's a close up:


Um one cleat, one sneaker, oh and the sneaker is the right shoe on the left foot. That's pretty much typical Timothy!
There he is playing um, I don't know which position. But didn't really want to stay there. He had fun though. The rules are quite different from baseball. You get to to swing as many times as you need to put the ball in play. There are outs if the ball is caught - usually they are just grounders though, or if the kids somehow get the ball to the base before the runner. that happens. It happened to Timothy on Saturday because he just kind of jogged along in a very erratic line. He was sad to be out, but the next time he ran pretty hard! Also each kid gets to bat in each inning, they go through the whole lineup. They also get to play on the field each inning, so there's a few extra players out there. 3 innings per game, so they last about an hour - perfect for that age.

Here is is up to bat on Friday

And again on Saturday. Wait wasn't he batting right handed yesterday? When did he become a switch hitter? For some reason he insisted on batting that way. Oh well.

David also had a game on Saturday 30 minutes after Timothy's started. His game was on the fields by the park across the street. So as soon as Timothy's game was over we walked over to David's game. There was about an hour left, so we got to see most of the game. David got to play pitcher. It's coach pitch so he didn't pitch the ball, but he fields in that position.
He got a grounder and threw it to first, but the first baseman bobbled and dropped the ball. But the next hitter did the same thing. David got the grounder, threw it to first base, the player caught the ball this time, and the runner was out! He enjoyed the game. I was glad, especially since Friday night he was wanting to quit because his legs hurt and they had to practice in the rain (it only rained about about 20 minutes, and it wasn't that hard).

I can't wait to see what the rest of the season brings.

Aaron's visit

It was great to have Aaron home, even if was here for about 36 hours. Let's see if I can put it all in one post. At about 6:30 on Monday night I told the kids that our FHE activity was a surprise and that we were going to drive somewhere. The boys kept trying to guess what it was. they asked if it was going to be fun. I told them, I didn't know if it would be fun, but that I thought they would like it. When we got off the exit they said, "Is it IKEA?" No it's about that far south but about a few miles further West. I asked them to look for signs. David quickly saw signs for the airport. Then I told them someone was waiting for us at the airport. They guessed, Grandma, and then Daddy. I told them, "We'll find out in a minute." Soon after we stopped they saw Daddy. They were happy and excited and then reality set in, they weren't going to do anything "fun". So they complained a bit, but then were happy again that Daddy was home.

It was just about bedtime when we got home, but we stayed up a bit and played with Aaron. The evening was spent getting presents together for David's birthday.

Tuesday David was excited to wake up. He wanted to open his presents right away. I figured we'd better wait until after breakfast. I don't think I even got a shower first. He enjoyed the presents, even the clothes.

A slingshot style rocket.

A book on Asia

A new Lego set

Nerf ball launcher

Time for cub scouts!

While I showered Aaron started making the birthday cake. After we took the kids to school we dropped Amy off at co-op and Aaron and I went shopping. We did a lot of window shopping for our new house (we are only one step away now). But couldn't see purchasing large items that might break when we move. So Aaron insisted that I get some clothes for me. So we got some shoes, 2 shirts, a skirt and a pair of sunglasses (my old ones broke) for me. After shopping we picked up Amy and went home for lunch. Then I went over to the school to train the new library parent while Amy napped and Aaron worked on the cake and dinner.

When I got back I had a few minutes on the computer and talked to a few people on the phone. Then I brought the cinnamon rolls to David's class for his birthday while Aaron took Amy to the store with him. I still had about 30 minutes before school got out so I hang around and talked to some parents. Aaron and Amy met me at the boys' school. We got to play and enjoy the beautiful weather.

When we got home it was time to do homework and get dinner ready. Our hometeacher and his daughter stopped by with a card for David and me. We talked for a bit and then we had to eat dinner early so we could get to David's game in time.

The ball park was further away than the others, but really nice. Timothy and Amy loved to climb into the concrete stand behind the backstop. I spent most of my time chasing her around.

Aaron got to cheer on David and take a few pictures.

It was a little chilly by the time we left. It was late, but we still had some celebrating to do. First I got to open my presents.

Then we had this delicious cake.

After we both blew out the candles

We got to bed late again, but still worth it!

Wednesday it was hard to send the kids off to school knowing that Aaron would be gone before they came home. After we dropped them off we ran to the grocery store and then came home to pack Aaron up. We wanted to go out to lunch, and we debated about going for an early lunch before heading to the airport and finding a babysitter for Amy, and going to the one near the airport and bringing Amy. We ended up leaving early and going to the one by the airport. It's a good thing we left early because about 15 minutes into the drive Aaron discovered he'd left hie phone at the house. We still had plenty of time to enjoy a free burger for my birthday. Well, mine was free.

It was hard to say goodbye knowing that it would be 2 weeks before he came home. A week away was bad enough. I know I will survive, but it's still not fun. He arrived safely, and we're doing fine here. I've just been very busy planning and pulling off David's birthday party which was today. I'll have to do another post on that. Maybe tomorrow. I'm all blogged out.

a few pictures

A week ago while Aaron was gone I made some cookies. Amy had fun helping me.

And made quite a mess.

They were really good chocolate mint cookies. I'll have to post he recipe sometime. The funny thing was Amy wouldn't eat the cookies after they were baked. She'd ask for a cookie and when I gave it to her she would cry and refuse to eat it, or throw it or something like that. I guess she didn't consider that a cookie.

Another funny event - we were eating some peas for dinner and David found a smile on his:

It's Great to be Eight!!

I can't believe David is 8! I had this post all typed up on Monday to post on his birthday (Tuesday), but I just haven't had a chance to post it. I guess I just wanted to spend every minute I could with Aaron while he was here.

So here's my little tribute David.

David:

• Is Energetic - whether it's playing baseball, basketball, riding his bike, or just playing tag with kids at the playground, he loves to move around.
• Is Helpful - David doesn't always enjoy doing his chores, but often he'll surprise me by taking out the garbage without asking, and he doesn't complain about getting dressed or making his bed in the morning.
  
• Is a Fabulous Big Brother - He loves to play with Amy, and watches her for me when I need to take a shower or make dinner etc. He will help Timothy sometimes, usually with cleaning up or playing a game - sometimes he doesn't help so much as take over, but it's still nice.
• Loves games - Once he's ready for school, done with his homework or otherwise unoccupied, he'll ask me to play a game with him. I LOVE to play games with David. I often wish we played more together. It's hard when Amy knocks the game over or messes up the cards, or I have to fix dinner, or clean up. We need more game time! He loves to play chess, and computer games of course, and the Wii, when we visit family who own one.
  
• Is a hard worker - David does well in school. He's usually positive about his school work, and doesn't complain about having homework. He gets frustrated when he doesn't understand something, but often doesn't want help either. He'll usually work through it himself if I just give him a little encouragement.
  
• Is a Reader - He reads, a lot. I love that he loves to read. Of course he'd rather read comic books. Right now he loves Calvin and Hobbes, and Peanuts. I try to keep him away from some of the other stuff that's out there now. He also loves chapter books, especially adventures stories, science or sci-fi.
• Loves LEGOs - For the second year in a row he has asked for a LEGO party. I'm a little sad I don't get to try a new cake design. But this boy will play with LEGOs for hours.

I am so blessed to have a son like David. I really enjoy playing with him, and he is such a sweet boy (I was going to say little boy - but he' not so little any more). Happy birthday David - a little late.

Opening Day

Yesterday was David's first baseball game. It was great to cheer Team X on. That's the name the kids voted on - I have no idea why. Here's the kids just after they got their team shirts and hats. I love the color - so fun! David is on the far right.


Since he didn't need the hat he brought, he put it on Amy. She kept it on for about 20 seconds.

It was a bit chilly because of the wind. After warm-ups David took the hoodie off, but left the long sleeve shirt on.
The kids are getting in batting order - David is #9.

I love the rules this year. They are very similar to the actual baseball rules with a few exceptions. No score is kept - officially that is. Each kid gets 6 pitches (it's coach pitch), no walks or strikes, but they can't foul out so if there's contact you get another pitch. Teams switch at 3 outs or 5 runs. The game goes 6 innings or they finish the current inning at 90 minutes. Each kid gets to play, they rotate positions. You can't play the same position twice in a row or something like that. David got to play 3 of the innings (every other one). He was left field, catcher and right field.

Here he is in his catcher's gear

Timothy had fun climbing on the barriers and finding new kids to play with. He didn't watch the game much, but stayed within the boundaries I set for him.

Here's David up to bat.

Amy also entertained herself by walking around the bleachers and finding David when he was in the dugout. She enjoyed being outside. I was able to talk to other parents and mostly pay attention to the game. I really enjoyed it. I was glad I brought a snack for Timothy and Amy.

Amy found David resting when he wasn't playing on the field.

I really don't know the score, but Team X seems to think they won by a few runs. Most innings ended because of the 5 run rule, but each team did gets some outs as well. Fielding is not very accurate at this age. But can you believe next year they start having tryouts, and coaches that draft their teams? Wow. But for now I'll enjoy cheering on the team no matter how they play!
Timothy's first game is this week.