Tuesday, October 30, 2007

I wish potty training was this successful!

Today was a memorable day for Tyler. He learned how to ride his bike without training wheels. I was actually dreading having to teach him this lesson in life. I was in visioning the falls that would happen. The crying I would have to hear. The scrapes, bruises, and cuts I would have to band-aid up. But it was a success!!! We took the necessary precautions, knee pads, elbow pads, helmet, and gloves. I told him over and over, "Now you will probably fall off the bike and you might get hurt, that is part of the whole learning to ride your bike experience." He listened and was a little nervous, but he did great! I was very pleased with how quick he caught on. I was reminded of my memory of learning to ride my bike without training wheels. If I remember correctly I wasn't so quick. My little sister actually learned before I did-on MY bike! :) Great job Tyler!

Today was a day I actually was able to check things off my oh so long "to do list". I made calls for the computer business. I was dreading that too, because I feel like I am soliciting. I guess I am kind of. But at least I am a nice solicitor. I am not trying to put people on the spot or weasel them out of money. I am simply just letting them know about the services which are now available. I am actually doing them a favor. ;) Ha! But I know that it is still annoying! :)

I am going to get my visiting teaching done for the month. Wahoo! All that I have left to do is drop of the lesson and some goodies to two sisters. Yes, sadly I won't be able to actually visit with them, but at least they will get the lesson. I have one sister who is just a letter only so I don't feel guilty about that.

I have been really thinking about the HFPE activities that are going on now. I think I am going to change them around a bit. I just don't feel what we have going is good right now. I am not comfortable with how things are set up and if I am going to be in charge of it I want it to be WOW! I want the sister to be actually improving themselves at these activities. If they are going to take time out of their busy schedules and time away that they could be spending with their families I want the activities to be worth it. I have a vision, but it is just bringing that vision to reality.

Tyler had a soccer game tonight. At first Tyler was being his usual self at soccer wild and crazy, but then the coach had Tyler play defense and it totally clicked. Tyler was awesome! That must be Tyler's area. He did a great job at defending the goal. The girls had a great time running around and chasing after the extra soccer ball that we brought. Ethan was enjoying running around outside, too! A couple of times I had to run after him because he ran on to the field. He is so cute!

Tyler did a great job finishing his homework quickly. I am not bribing him, but motivating him. ;) He wanted to watch the Halloween Charlie Brown show. (I don't remember what is was called.) So, Tyler quickly did his work. :)

I am glad I was able to teach Tyler how to ride a bike today and spend some quality time with him. Sometimes I feel like when he gets home from school we are always in a rush with activities to do or homework that I don't have very much time with him. So, I am grateful for the time I had today with him.

I just wish Isabelle would catch on with going to the potty as fast as Tyler caught on riding without training wheels. :)

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Holy Cow!

We have been busy! I am not going to play catch up here, but we have been doing tons! Soccer, Scouts, Zoo Halloween Party, Ethan getting sick, Trunk or Treat, Weenie Roast/ Trunk or Treat II, Pack Meeting/Halloween Party, Isabelle's Third Birthday. Needless to say October has been super busy for us.
I will post some pictures later. We are all doing fine now, no one is sick. :)

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Pictures

Look how big my baby is! Ethan likes to push things around while walking. He is growing way too fast!
Watch out for Ethan! Don't let him fool you with the toothless grin he can gum hard! OUCH!

Here is Isabelle the morning after the Princess Party. We had to spend the night at our friend's house because I locked the keys in the car.

Emily AT the Princess Party!

Another beauty in the morning! Emily is showing off her princess wand she made at the party!

Daddy and Tyler heading out for the Father & Son Campout. Ready to have a fun night of camping and shooting!
The girls getting ready for the Princess Party!







On the go Monday

Yesterday was a pretty good day all and all. The kids pretty good most of the day, all except for that rock incident. What were thinking throwing rocks across the street?!

In the morning we had some errands to run. Children in Circuit City don't mix well.

Around noon we headed over to a friend's house to eat lunch and do school work. We have been trying to do a weekly little preschool with the kids, but life has just been so busy that we have only been able to do "school" twice. Sarah read a couple of Halloween stories to the kids. My kids LOVE having stories read to them. Then they colored the letters in their names, cut out the letters, and laced the letters on to a piece of yarn to spell their name. The next worksheet was coloring a pumpkin and then choosing a face to cut out and paste on the pumpkin. The girls really do love to color.

Next we were off to pick Tyler up from school. Yay! He kept his green card for the day! (Green card = good behavior) At school Tyler had a Boosterthon assembly. Dang school! They have Boosterthon -Fun Run going on. Tyler needs to find people who are willing pledge money on how many laps Tyler walks/runs around the track. Just another annoying thing for me to do! I know how my mom must have felt when we came home so excited to sell all that crap the school would send home. Poor lady! She always had at least 3 of us wanting to sell the chocolates or the gift wrap, so we could win the cool light up phone or the "boom" box. Ha! Ha! Oh the memories. Anyways, I haven't decided if Tyler is actually going to do this. The run is during school, so maybe. He is begging me, because he wants to win one of the prizes. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree after all. :)

After a short break at home we were off to soccer practice. Emily stayed at home. She didn't sound very good breathing wise. I feel so blessed that I don't suffer from allergies or what ever she seems to have, but I do feel bad for her. At soccer practice, Isabelle, Ethan and I went for a walk. She talked to "baby" grandpa on the phone (my dad). She is so funny. I honestly can't remember why she calls my dad baby grandpa, but she does. Maybe one day he was pretending to cry. I don't remember. Tyler was acting strange at soccer practice. The coach seemed annoyed with him and another little girl. At first I had mixed feelings about Tyler's coach correcting him, but I think it is good that Tyler knows that when he acts weird it isn't acceptable. This way he doesn't always hear it from me.

Off to Little Caesar's again to pick up pizza. The employee there is very nice. She is always giving the kids toys. Last night they got some Halloween bags with a toy and glow stick in them. The kids were thrilled!

I am exhausted at this point in the day. 7:30pm and I could fall fast asleep. How pathetic! I am only 28 yrs. old and I am wiped out by 7:30pm?!! How in the world did Abraham and Sarah raise a child at 100 and 90 years old? Maybe little Issac ran wild in the wilderness while they did their parenting from their beds? :) Hopefully when Heavenly Father blessed them with Issac he also blessed them with the a mountain of strength and energy. Interesting....

Anyways, at dinner I was weak. I couldn't pass up my favorite pizza, but my mouth totally paid for my loss of will power. My mouth is so sore from chewing my food and having my wisdom teeth removed! After dinner we had homework, bathes, prayer and scrips.

Whew!

Sunday, October 14, 2007

The weekend

The days are just zooming by! I still can't believe it is the middle of October!!
Well this weekend was a blast. ;)
Friday- I had an infection in my mouth caused my wisdom teeth, so I took an unplanned trip to the dentist. I decided then I was going to have my bottom wisdom teeth pulled! The whole procedure was done in NO TIME FLAT! Seriously, I was done within 15 minutes! What an awesome dentist!! So, the rest of my Friday was spent changing my gauze pads, but I was thrilled that that was all behind me. I won't have to worry about any more infections.
Sean was a major help on Friday for me. He watched the girls while I went to the dentist. He picked Tyler up from school. He took the girls for me in the evening. Thanks babe!
When Tyler came home from school I took him to go and drop off cookies to a friend's house that was from the Family Home Evening "Phantom". He did such a great job and was so excited to play the phantom role. We dropped of cookies to someone else's house earlier in the week and Tyler wasn't able to participate so he was thrilled when it was his turn.
Later that evening we ate dinner, or should I say THEY ate dinner. I drank mine. ;) We watched the Fantastic Four the Rise of the Silver Surfer again, but this time with the kids. It is so corny, but hey it is a comic book story. Then later on we watched, One Night with the King. It is the movie about Esther. It was okay. I fell asleep so I will have to watch the ending later.

Saturday- We woke up and got ready for Tyler' s soccer game. When we got there the other team had to forfeit the game, because they didn't have enough players show up. It was a good lesson for Tyler to see why it is important to do your part when you are playing on a team. I told him that his team won the game, because the other team's players didn't show. When you play on a team everyone counts on each other to do their part. I guess it sunk in to his head. All I got out of him was, "I know Mom." I can totally her myself as a child in that boy. :)
So, the kids used the time to scrimmage each other. Tyler needs to work on alot of things. He needs to practice dribbling the ball down the field. He needs to have more control of the ball. He definitely needs to kick it up a notch on speed. And stay out of La La Land. :) He is pretty good! I would like him to stay with soccer. He has great potential and I don't want him to throw all his hard work down the drain.
After the game we spent the rest of the day at home. It was nice to get caught up on laundry. Sean has been a major help with that as well. He has been in charge of switching out the washer and the dryer, but I fold the clothes. Good lil' teamwork going on. Thanks again, babe!
I have been recovering EXTREMELY well from my wisdom teeth pulling. I am a little sore, but not too bad. I have been recovering without any prescribed pain medicine. I am taking Tylenol around the clock, but that is it! I thank Heavenly Father for that. I do feel very blessed with how good I feel.
For dinner I made some grilled cheese and heated soup from a can. Note to self: Can soup is disgusting!! I did try and eat some grilled cheese. That was a little painful. My mouth is still tender. I made some Prune cake. It taste So Much better than it sounds. It taste just like a spice cake, but it has prunes (duh?), but you can't really taste the prunes.
Later we had FHE. Sean gave the lesson on the Good Samaritan. We voted on the activity and watching the movie, Elf won! That movie is hilarious!
Sunday- I woke up and my mouth was sore. I stayed home from church today because of the teeth thing. I let Tyler and Emily sleep in. Emily was running a small fever last night and has a sore throat, so I thought they could use the extra sleep. I went upstairs and got Ethan, Isabelle, and myself some breakfast. I washed dishes and cleaned out the microwave. I don't know why I have so much energy, but I do and I am actually enjoying cleaning right now.
I came down stairs to get the kids and myself ready for the day and then Emily and Tyler woke up. Then, Sean came walking through the door. He left church early to help me out. I feel bad for him because he fell yesterday and hurt his leg. He took some pain medicine, but then a couple hours later he almost had a stomach spasm. Poor guy. His dad gave him a blessing.
The kids have been EXCELLENT today. We read Halloween stories, they played with Play-doh, and now they are making Halloween cards for aunts and uncles.
Well, Ethan Finally fell asleep so I better get off her and go and change Isabelle. AAAHHH!!! Dang that girl! Potty training SUCKS!

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Special Person

Yesterday we were invited to Tyler's school to celebrate "Special Persons' Week". This week is for the students to invite the special people in their lives. We invited Grandma Wellings, Sarah, Adam, Rachael, Jackson, Grammy and Grandpa Brown and of course mommy, daddy, Emily, Isabelle, and Ethan. Tyler had the most people BY FAR! Tyler should definitely know he is loved and special! It was nice of everyone to take time out of their busy lives to come to Tyler's school, too. Thanks everyone! I could tell it meant alot to Tyler. The school had refreshments and they took pictures of the students with their "special persons".

It was nice to see Tyler in his environment. He was excited to have everyone there and to show them the library. I was able to talk to Tyler's teacher for a few minutes. She is so nice. I am glad Tyler has her for a teacher. She said that Tyler has a really good memory, that he remembers EVERYTHING! She said he raises his hand and will say, "My mom taught me that the e and y make the long a sound when they are together." I just laughed. His teacher said sometimes she lets Tyler teach the class. So, I am thinking I am the mother of one of those "know-it-all-kids". He must get that from his father. :) Ha! Ha! Actually it makes he happy that Tyler raises his hand and voices his opinion. I am pleased with that quality, as long as he does it in a humble and respectful manner. Well, Special Persons time only lasted for about 40 minutes. Tyler wanted us to stay, but of course we couldn't.

We came back home and got a snack. The girls watched some cartoons, I made some phone calls and Ethan napped. Then it was time to pick Tyler up from school.

Later on we all headed to the park for Tyler's soccer practice. The girls rode their bikes, played on the playground and we went for a walk, while we waited for soccer practice to end. After practice I took the kids to Sonic to get a snack. I must have been starving, because I really don't care for Sonic and I thought their food tasted delicious!

We came home and started the bedtime routine-bath, scrips, prayer and bed!! The kids are doing really well on saying their personal prayers. I guess the charts are working. We also are working on memorizing the scripture for the month. This month is Matthew 5:16.

Sean and I stayed up and watched Fantastic 4- Rise of the Silver Surfer. It was o.k.

Sunday, October 7, 2007

The weekend...

Nothing special really to report.
Friday- Tyler had school. I helped out a friend and watched her kids for a couple of hours. We headed over to some friend's house and had dinner and just hung out that night.
Saturday- No soccer game. Hooray!!! General Conference this weekend. Hooray!!! Sean went to the Priesthood session that night and then we went to our friend's house, again. It was such a late night. Never again that late. The kids get so cranky! We watched, The Astronaut Farmer. Weird move. I didn't care for it at all.
Sunday- Conference. Loved what I heard from all of the speakers. We played two rounds of Balloon Lagoon game from Cranium. It is a fun game! The kids really like playing it. I made a some charts for the kids, and Sean printed up some new family goals. I love the new attitude we always have after listening to the speakers at Conference.

Monday, October 1, 2007

Another Day

Woke Tyler up, dressed, breakfast, and off to school without any problems. It can be done, folks!! Good thing I write this down for proof that he can be a sweet little boy.

Ethan is feeling much better. The poor little guy had 2 ear infections from teething! The Amoxicilin is working wonders! Today I got a call from the Target pharmacy. They were just checking to see if Ethan was feeling better. How sweet! I never had that happen to me. I just thought that was very caring of them to do. He is a much happier baby and is taking better naps! That makes me a much happier mommy and a clean one too! I took a shower and got ready for the day during Ethan's nap.

I did a little bit of school with Emily during the day. Then, we headed off to Sean's cousin's house for a little spur-of-the-moment, surprise, birthday celebration. Kelby turned 31 today! He and Laurie just bought a nice house. They still have a bit of work to do on it, but it seems like fun. I think he was surprised that we showed up and I think he enjoyed it. Emily and Isabelle were extra cute. Kelby and Laurie have 3 big dogs. They have a St. Bernard puppy so, he is a big dog! Ethan loved the puppy. Isabelle said that Ethan said that he wants to go for a ride on the puppy. I have a feeling that, that is not what Ethan said. :) The girls enjoyed the dogs somewhat. Poor Emily had a hard time with them, breathing wise. When we came home she had to have a breathing treatment. I would say that I can safely say that we won't have a dog in the house.

I picked Tyler up from school, switched clothes for soccer practice and headed to Target. Target has all of their backpacks on clearance for 75% off! So, I got 3 backpacks for the kids 72 hour kits. Yes, we are just now getting started on this, but better late than never!

Off to soccer. The coach was 15 minutes late. I was so hoping that practice was going to be cancelled. I was so tired! Oh well, the coach made it so they had practice. The whole teams needs the practice so good!

Little Ceasar's pizza tonight, of course. Dinner, homework, shower, scrips, prayer and bed. Yay the day is over!