Birthday time!

My baby turned 3 last week! And he certainly isn't a baby anymore. He's getting too heavy for me to carry and that makes me sad. But it has been so fun watching him grow and he brings me so much joy that all I can really say is I love him SO much and am so grateful to have him our lives!

J was gone on his birthday (work trip) so we had to celebrate a couple of days late. He loves Buzz and Woody so of course we went with a Toy Story theme. I didn't want to decorate a cake so I looked for cupcakes toppers. Didn't find any so my mom helped me make these ones using stickers, cardstock and colored toothpicks (then I saw some at Walmart--I looked there and did not see them-- don't know how I missed them!). Anyway, I think the ones we made turned out cuter anyway and we had fun working on them together. Thanks for the help Mom!

Ooooh. I think he's excited!

Cool "mix" markers, colored pencils, paper and money from J's parents.

A talking Thomas from the Kluge's and. . .

Airheads (everyone was excited about those!)

A spiderman puzzle--I love that little face!

"Cars" sandals (that he picked out himself), Toy story games, and money from my parents

He didn't know what to think about the money he got

I know this picture is blurry, but I love it so much I'm including it anyway

And I don't have a picture, but Amber came over on his actual birthday and gave him bat, ball, and bubbles. How's that for fun? Thanks everyone for helping to make his day special!!

And that's all folks! (until next year)

Sweet helpers

A few days before J left for his trip I came down with something nasty (in fact after two weeks I am still not fully recovered). AJ was just getting over a week long bout with fever and chills, and seemed to have handed it off to me. However, I was doing ok as long as I was pumped up on ibuprofen and tylenol, and by Sunday felt well enough to go ahead and teach as scheduled. J had left that morning so I was on my own for the duration of church. I wasn't feeling great, but we made it through our meetings fine. By the time church was over what I really wanted to do was go home and crash. I couldn't though because I still needed to get everyone fed and get AP back to the church for an interview he had scheduled with the Bishop. Imagine my delight when I came home to find my sweet AJ, who had enlisted the help of little D, totally cleaning up! She was even vacuuming (yes it was Sunday, but I wasn't about to make an issue of that). She is such a good helper and so great with her little brother and I am so very grateful to have her around!

conference and the not so perfect family

I wish I could say conference weekend was nice and relaxing and that everyone sat through it quietly and happily, but if that were the case we wouldn't be talking about my family! I really wanted this to be a good experience for everyone so I decided I was not going to be uptight about making everyone sit and listen. I did make sure that conference was the only thing on throughout the house and tried to make the living room the center of events so that everyone would all want to be together. Before conference started we talked about the story of King Benjamin and how the people had to listen to conference from their tents. Then the kids built a tent out of the dining chairs and blankets while I made cinnamon rolls (AP and Avee helped me with the cinnamon sugar). Then when conference started I gave them each a cinnamon roll with apples and caramel dip. They were pretty content to eat their food and play in the tent during the first hour of conference and I breathed a sigh of relief as we were off to a great start. Then D decided he wanted to climb on the tent and that caused an uproar.


So we moved on to sugar cube temples. That started out great. Until AJ got frustrated with hers and ran off crying (anybody have suggestions on how to deal with an overly emotional 10-year-old?). Of course AP had to jump in and tell her not to be such a crybaby which only made it worse. So I sent him up to apologize. A fight ensued (why does it seem we work backwards?), so I had to go and help them work things out. I discovered that in AP's attempt to get into AJ's room to tell her he was sorry (she was really mad at him and trying very hard to keep him out) a hole ended up in her door. This all happened right before President Monson's talk (which I had intended to have them sit with me and listen to and had all kinds of sweet visions of us snuggled up together watching), but instead we all missed it. Sigh.



Well we eventually worked things out and had a nice little break after lunch. So for the second session I pulled out the candy and told them for each page of their conference packet they completed (or picture they made) they could choose a treat. That worked pretty well and we got through that session without any serious disruption. Whew. So once again, not the model family, but we keep on trying and hopefully at some point we'll get it right. And at least I have some cute pictures to look at to remind me that it wasn't all bad and we had a fair amount of fun together. Thank goodness for the camera!

The Joke's on who?

AJ pulled the first prank of the day by getting up before everyone else and coloring the milk green. Then when kids got home from school I handed them this brochure and told them I found the perfect summer camp for them. AJ has really been wanting to go to an equestrian camp this summer and we also have been looking into a celiac camp, so when I showed them this I told them it had just come in the mail and that since I seem to have such a hard time getting them to do their chores, this camp would be perfect. They were not happy. I however thought it was hilarious.

And of course a dinner trick. This will be the last year for one of these since they are on to me now and I am out of ideas. Anyway, I made chicken nuggets by cutting marshmallows in half, dipping them in caramel syrup, and rolling them in cookie crumbs. The peas are green lemonheads, and the mashed potatoes are ice cream with caramel syrup "gravy." We had our real dinner after: pizza with a movie (Tangled).

Some goals

A friend shared this article by Julie B. Beck on her blog last week and it has been on my mind ever since. I have really been feeling the need to refocus on what is essential and necessary, to strengthen my home and my family, and to more diligently "guard the gate" of my home. After reading her article I realized I need to set some goals for myself. I appreciated Sister Beck's suggestion to keep a notebook and pen on hand for personal prayer. In the most difficult times of my life I have done this, and it has always strengthened my prayers and therefore me. However, I need to make my prayers more meaningful all the time so I am going to start doing this again (and always). I also love her suggestion to use post it notes in personal scripture study and plan to start doing that as well. I admit that while I am diligent in my scripture study with the kids, my personal scripture study tends to fall to the wayside (and I have a serious focus problem) so I really need to do better with that. I also want to make the time right before the kids leave for school and right after they get home more meaningful. Those times tend to be so rushed and chaotic with getting everyone out the door in the morning and settled once they get home so I need to plan ahead a little better to make sure those transition times go more smoothly for everyone. This is a great article and with so many great suggestions and reminders it is really worth reading!

Making crystals

AJ wanted to do her Science Fair project on crystal formation. She is comparing salt crystals to sugar crystals. Here she is getting it started!

Get the ball rolling!

I mentioned this in one of my Valentine posts, and if you get Family Fun you already know all about it, but this truly may be my favorite method of painting for toddlers. It's interactive, creative, and almost mess free! Valentine's was the first time we tried it and we haven't done it since, but the other day, completely out of the blue, D said to me, "I want to paint with balls." So we did. And it was fun.

So here is what you do: You need a bin of some sort; preferrably one with a lid, but that's not necessary (just helps even more to contain the mess). You need some paint (I used Crayolas washable poster paints). And you need some balls (preferably small ones - we used a couple of small bouncy balls and a plastic golf ball). Put some paper in the bin, add some blobs of paint around the paper in the colors of your toddler's choice (I didn't let him touch the paint containers, or the paint at all for that matter, I just asked him to tell me the colors he wanted), and drop in the balls. Put on the lid and let the little guy roll away. You can shimmy, shake, make the earth quake (so sorry I had to throw some Shania in there), and the mess stays contained in the bin. You don't even have to supervise much.Ok, so we did take the lid off after a bit, and then I had to supervise a little more, but still. . .

Look at that! We're all done and not a drop of paint on him, or my table, or anywhere else I don't want it to be. The only clean-up? Washing off the balls and wiping out the tub (although there really isn't that much to wipe out because most of the paint is on the paper). So go get rolling! And smile, because you don't have a big mess to clean up afterward.

Piano men

Zac came over for a bit on Friday and he and D had fun plunking away on the piano. I think it's hilarious that they were "reading" the music. Can't wait for the next playdate!

Puzzles

This kid amazes me. He is so good about entertaining himself most of the time and his favorite quiet time activity is doing puzzles. He's really good at them too. He especially loves our big floor puzzle of a snowman, but has taken quite a liking to this Winnie-the-Pooh one I picked up at the Dollar store the other day. I think 24 pieces is just about perfect for him right now. It's fun to watch him so focused as his little mind works on fitting together the pieces and he gets so excited as the picture starts to come together. Once it's all done he likes to sit and talk about what is going on in the picture. With this one he would take the fish piece out and say, "Oh no. The fish is gone now. Tiger can't catch him." And then after putting the fish back, "Oh look! Now Tiger can get him!" (BTW, he calls Tigger Tiger)

Celebrating St. Patty's

This year we added a little more "color" to our St. Patrick's day by adding more rainbows than shamrocks. I made rainbow muffins (idea from fickle pickle) and green eggs for breakfast.

The muffins were a huge hit. The older kids also ate their eggs happily, but D refused. I told him they were yummy and special because a leprechaun used his magic to color them green. However he kept insisting, "No mommy! The leprechaun did NOT spill my eggs." This back and forth exchange took place several times before I finally got it when he added, "he did not spell my eggs with his wand." Smart kid. I didn't say anything about spells or wands but that's what the word magic triggered in his little brain. Here they are enjoying the muffins.

They were excited to wake up to the crepe paper rainbow I made (also got this idea from fickle pickle).

For their afterschool snack I made a fruit rainbow with vanilla yogurt as the clouds.

And once they were done with the healthy treat I let them dig into their pots of gold left by the leprechaun. They were filled with rainbow fruit roll ups, a ring pop, and mini reeses cups and rolos. The fun ended with our traditional irish meal of cornish beef, new potatoes and cabbage. We had a very lucky day and hope you did too!

YOUR lucky day!

Last year, after reading this article, J asked me if I considered myself lucky. It's a tricky question in my opinion. Honestly, I've never believed much in luck. I've never been a big winner when it comes to drawings or things like that so obviously I am not lucky. On the other hand, I do feel really blessed. Not because things always work out perfectly for me or go my way all of the time, but because there is a lot of good in my life, and I want to focus on the positive even though that can be hard sometimes. So, if you were to ask me if I am lucky I would have to say yes! And you are lucky too! If you don't believe me just take a read (by clicking here)!

Oh, and if you don't want to take time to read a research article (even though it is a fun one), click here for 5 ways to get a quick start on your lucky life!

Wishing you a happy St. Patty's and a lifetime of good luck!

Another schedule

So I have been going through old files and scrapbooks trying to digitalize everything so that I have an electronic copy should anything happen to our hard copies (like a housefire or flood or whatever). I came across this when scanning scrapbooks and thought it might be helpful to some of you who expressed interest in the chore binders but have smaller kids. This is the schedule I used with my two oldest when they were between the ages of 2-4. This was more of a help for me to keep track of their TV time and to keep some variety in our day. It was helpful because it gave us structure without being too rigid. I didn't have a chore envelope because I generally had them doing what they could right along with me (like mopping the floor, wiping windows, dusting). A lot of these chores we made into games (but that would be a whole other post). If you wanted to use something like this with younger kids then the snacks, rewards, TV, and activity envelopes could be drawn from as the incentives for when the chores are done.

stylin'

AJ has really needed new jeans, but I have been putting off buying some. Not because I like having her run around in ragged jeans with huge gaping holes, but because she is extremely hard on jeans and always wears out the knees within a week or two of wearing them. I was lamenting this fact when a friend reminded me about Shopko and their Kid Tough Promise (that they will replace an item of clothing if it wears out before the child outgrows it). I had known about this. In fact, when AP was a baby I bought almost all of his clothes there because of that (he was an extremely active toddler). But then we moved out of state where there was no Shopko and I guess I forgot about it. Anyway, the kids had Friday off and after being cooped up all week with sick little D I was ready to get out (that and we needed groceries). So after a quick trip to Costco we took a little jaunt to Shopko. We found some really cute stuff for some really good prices. Here's just a sampling.She really wanted the hat. I have a couple that are the same style and she always wants to borrow them. So when she asked if she could get it I only had to think about it for a second. Hmmm, free up my hats by getting her this one for 50% off? Oh yeah! I also have to direct you to her hair. I have been trying forever to get her to cut it (I love it in a bob for many reasons; the main one being that we can avoid the battles over brushing and fixing it), but she has really wanted long hair. Then a couple of weeks ago I got mine cut pretty short. She loved it and said she wanted to get hers cut like it. Did I waste any time on that one? Nope, we went the next day and got it cut.I know I'm partial but I think she looks pretty cute in her new duds with her new do!

long winter

I think this has been about the worst winter for us with being sick. It seems we just keep passing things around so at least oneof us has been sick all winter long. Even J who never gets sick (in all the time we have been married has never missed work for being sick), has had a cold that just won't let go and missed work because of it.

Here is little D who has been feeling pretty rotten all week. He has taken a long nap every day this week and several times even went up to his room, climbed in bed, and went to sleep all on his own (he hadn't been taking naps for a while now). Poor guy.

Last Sunday I came down the stairs to J and D snuggling on the couch so I snuggled right up with them. D patted my cheek and said, "Mommy you so, so cute."

That night he was throwing up, so I spent most of it (and several nights after) with him in the rocking chair. As we were sitting there he again patted my cheek (in the midst of his suffering) and said, "I just love you mommy."
As a sidenote, he scratched his cheek pretty badly so we have had to keep a bandaid on it all week. He loves his Toy Story bandaids!

chore binders

Admittedly, I am easily distractable and need a lot of external organization to keep me on task. For this reason I live by my daily schedule that I keep posted on the fridge. That helps me to keep track of what I need to do, but it's harder for me to track what the kids are supposed to do and what they have finished. In the past I have tried giving my kids daily chore lists but they would just end up losing them. Because I have a hard time tracking myself and my kids, and what we are supposed to be accomplishing around here I am always looking for new ideas. So when Emily showed me her girls' chore binders I fell in love! They reminded me of how well a planner works for me and that the same concept could work for my kids! So I typed up chore/task lists along with the schedule for each day of the week and put them in a report cover for each child. The binders, in connection with a point tracking system, are really working for us!
The lists show exactly what is expected of them and each item on their list equates to a certain number of points. If they do their tasks without being asked or reminded they get a bonus point for that particular thing. If they complain about a job when asked to do it they lose a point. They also lose points if I have to remind them after that. Individual points are marked in their binder and then tallied on a tracking sheet I have posted in a noticeable place. At the end of the week we add all of their daily points together and they can cash them in for money or prizes (including things like extra computer time or renting a movie). The added incentive is that they have to finish their jobs daily to be able to do their preferred activities (such as computer, wii, or playing with friends). I love that when they ask me if they can do something all I have to say is, "let's take a look at your binder and see." It allows them to be more responsible for their own stuff and I am no longer [directly] the "bad guy." Everything is right there for us to see and no more lost lists!
I also stole the idea of daily secret service from Emily (it's right there on their list!). However, we have stopped trying to keep it a secret (mostly because I am nosey and want to know what they did).