Friday, August 20, 2010

What's New?

Well..hmmm...lots. Shall we start individually?  Youngest goes first...

Trent - He is 16 months old now and has all of his teeth. He can say many things, but usually only in front of me. Sometimes to Paul. But here's the short list, "mama", "dada", "no", "pee", "ew", "what's that?", "who's that?", "woof", "meow", "need", "hi", "boo", "water", "tree", "one, two, three". Trent loves tickling, growling, using different voices to be different "characters", like Batman, and just loves doing whatever the Big Boys are doing. Oh! And he's walking. Yes, folks, that's right. On August 17th Trent walked from one end of the house to other all by himself!  And yes, he is still happily breastfed. :)

Kade - Has a vocabularly that is growing a mile a minute. He will also be starting speech therapy next month, so that everyone can understand his hundreds of new words. During his evaluation we found out just how smart he is and let's just say he can comprehend the same as those who are twice his age. Which reminds me, Kade is 3 1/2 next month. He is a pro-tricycle rider and I think he's ready for a big boy bike with training wheels. He loves to draw (just look at the walls!) and is doing great at tracing his name and numbers. He can recite our address and has an amazing imagination. Kade is my superhero.

Braxton - He is 5 3/4. And if you say anything else you are going to hear about it. He reads well and does simple math well. Braxton loves riding his scooter, flying paper airplanes, and has a current interest in origami. He has lost his bottom front baby teeth and the adult teeth are almost all the way in. It seems as though Braxton has lost his interest in Bionicles, which is big, since for about a year or more he would only eat, sleep, and breath Bionicles.

Paul and Kimberly - I suppose the biggest new change in our life though would be spiritual. Since the end of May, Paul, the boys, and I have been going to church together. Yes, it's true. My path down the wiccan road has come to an end. I am proud to announce that I have found my way back to "the church". I am a Latter Day Saint and very, very happy. Paul and I were recently endowed. That in and of itself was wonderful. And quickly arriving, on our 7th wedding anniversary and my 25th birthday, Paul and I will be sealed to one another and our children to become an eternal family. Our lives have become filled with happiness, hope, love, and peace. Choosing to live by the gospel has truly been a blessing to our home.

Monday, May 31, 2010

While putting on eyeshadow this morning:

"Mom, that eye make-up sure makes you look stylish. You are so beautiful. And gorgeous!" - Braxton

Braxton has always been so good at making me feel good about myself. I remember when he was 18 months old and we were on vacation in Florida, we had walked past a model doing a photo shoot at this historical building and I watched for a moment, totally taken back by her beauty. Walking away from her I felt so ugly. And then my sweet toddler looks up at me from his stroller and says, "Mama, you are so pretty."

Friday, May 28, 2010

The Giant Robot by Kade

Once upon a time there was a big giant. And big and mean. The the big, mean giant stomp at me. And I want him to stop stomping at me so I stomp back. (Stomp, stomp, stomp) The nice giant has to be here somewhere! He's coming! I hear it! Then the nice giant get big, big, bigger. Then the giant get small, small, smaller, like me! Then I push the red button and he starts flying. Then he start flying faster. The the nice, big giant turned into a robot. And a red button on top of the nice giant's head make the robot go up and down. Then I press the button on the nice giant robot and make him stop flying. Then I press the red button on top of the nice giant robot and he flies forever and ever and ever. And then the robot fall and me catch it and me hold it and that nice of me! And me let go of it and me catch it with my hand and then I smash it. And then the robot walk on his feet.

                                                                   The End

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Year of Commitments: January - April Review

We stuck to our limit of tv time pretty well in January and have been better off for it. Since then we've had the tv on much less and are finding more activities to do together. There is a lot more creativity going on in the games my boys play. And lots more animated voice character changes too.

February was overall pretty successful. If you don't know what February's commitment I have one word to refresh your memory: giggity. Although I will admit that February's activity hasn't made an impact in these following months.

March involved eating A LOT of oatmeal, eggs, toast, and muffins. I have been cooking more (Dr. Seuess eggs...mmmmmmm) but the boys still love cold cereal and fruit and frequently prefer that over a big breakfast.

April wasn't as successful as one would hope, but I did try various other hairstyles so that I wasn't only wearing a ponytail. I have considered wearing make-up, but some days it just doesn't feel worth it.

May is to make my bed daily and I will confess that so far that's only happened 2 out of the 9 days we are into the month. I should hide my face in shame, but instead I'll keep my chin up as tomorrow is a new day.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Owl Mama: Live Feed

It's pretty neat. You can watch the mama owl as she awaits the hatching of her little owlets.

Molly and McGee

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Mega Update

I know, I know, it's been a month since I last blogged. So here is what has happened in our lives over the last month:

Trent - has become so very fast at crawling, pulls up to stand on EVERYTHING, asks "what's that?"and "who's that?" all day long, says "wuv", "mama", "dada", "yes", and mimics a whole lot more.

Kade - turned 3!! My sweet babe has turned into quite the monster, but so goes with the territory of a having a three year old. The day before his actual birthday we took him to the dinosaur museum with our family and my younger sister's family and they got to make some awesome fossil moldings. The 3 year olds made raptor claws and the 5 year old made a T-Rex tooth. The rest of the night and all the next day Kade refused to part with his "Happy Burtday Rapper Claw". On his birthday he was ever so satisfied when he opened an overwhelming amount of train gifts (thanks, family!!) and has been in love ever since.

Braxton - had his first piano performance and did fantastic! Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star never sounded more beautiful. We are taking break from taekwondo for a little while and really focusing on the music. He is just thriving and really enjoys it.

Paul - turned 27!! Yep, his birthday is the day after Kade's. We had a very romantic date and enjoyed getting fancied up for our dinner reservations at The Roof (courtesy of my most recent client, thank you!!). The food was excellent, the music wonderful, and I can't tell you how nice it was to spend a few hours just enjoying one another's company. Paul had also been busy making a toy room downstairs! We are leaving the walls unfinished for now so that the kids can express their artistic urges freely and the floor made up of the mats one would find in a karate studio. It's awesome having a living room again!

Myself -exactly one month ago I attended a client for the first time in a year. My goodness, it was a beautiful birth. And my amazing friend, Megan, watched my boys for me overnight. I'm so thankful to have Megan as such a close friend. She is the best! And since then I have been putting together birthday plans and playing host as we get through all the birthday-ness. And woohoo for mail packages containing uteruses, pelvises, placentas, and more! Oh..and I have read The Best Birth (DON'T READ!), The Blue Cotton Gown (READ!), A Pea In A Pod (READ!), Homebirth in the Hospital (READ!), and Real Birth (READ!) along with the first two books in The Hunger Games. And if you haven't read those, stop whatever it is you are doing right this moment and read them!!

Together we have planted our starts and as of this evening we have about 45 yellow tomatos sproutlings. The boys love to go down and look every morning and night for new sprouts. We are still patiently waiting for our chickens to provide us with a bounty of eggs but have faith it'll happen soon. Lastly, we are learning Italian as a family. The boys are such sponges and are soaking it all up!

Ciao!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

a little bit of everything

Gah. I am good at the taking of pictures, but not so good at the posting of pictures. Sooo...one of these days I'll do another mass picture post.

In other news, Trent is a crawler! For one whole week he's been making his way about the house and everyday he's getting farther and faster. And let me tell you, crawling on hardwood floors is NOT easy. No, no, my friends. But he has figured out a system of crawl-scooting that gets him where he wants to go.

Kade is my counter. He's taken to counting everything lately. Well, up to 15 and then he starts over. I think math skills are definitely a stronger suit for him. And his speech and vocabulary is getting so good! I am so proud of the progress he has made in the last 6 months. It was only about last August when he really started saying more than about 10-30 words (including the "words" only I could understand). He's now speaking in long sentences and understandable to everyone about 75% of the time.

Braxton has be learning the piano and is now in formal lessons (woohoo for ksl!!). After Day 1 he seems to be really enjoying them and I think this is going to be a great thing. He's also getting better at handwriting and practicing by writing letters to family members and soon to be writing to his first pen pals. So watch your mail!

In less than a month Kade will turn 3 years old and we are all so excited for his birthday. On the third birthday is when we do a friend party as well as the regular family party. We're planning on going to the dinosaur museum...woohooo!!! So while I am getting his two party details taken care of I'm also preparing for Trent's 1st birthday. Can you believe it? I know I can't. My deliously squishy tiny babe is about to become a toddler. Where, oh where, does the time go?

Hmm...any more updates? Oh! We are now learning about sharks. In our recent studies I have learned the names of all the fins...do you know them? If you didn't they are the dorsal fin, second dorsal, the caudal, the anal, the pelvic, and the pectoral. And sharks have a vertebrae, but their spine is the only bone in their body. The rest is made up of cartilege. Bet ya didn't know that, did ya?