Red & Yellow make WHAT???

I love our neighborhood co-op preschool. I taught about mixing colors the other day and the kids loved doing this mixing activity in an ice tray with droppers. I thought we'd spend about 5 minutes doing it, but we actually ended up exploring with it for over 20 minutes! I was fascinated as I watched them learn and investigate. One of the highlights of motherhood for me is the opportunity I have to teach my children. I cannot get enough!

For St Patricks Day

Just had to sneak this photo in of cute Vivi first. All of my children have adored this swing!

On to the holiday. The kids woke up to find a leprechaun had turned our milk GREEN! And they got to try out a new cereal, Lucky Charms! I love making holidays magical around here.

My Boy

My sweet little David has the most inquisitive mind. From the time he could barely walk, he would open the drawers in the kitchen and bend down to look under neath them then open and close them again and again to see how they worked. His desire to figure out how everything works is constant. Something else that fascinates me about his mind (and also makes me smile) is how he just determines what something should be and that is the end of it. Lucy is constantly asking me what and why about things in her environment, but not David. David just figures it out on his own and that is good enough for him. For example, we were at a school and they had pilgrims made out of white paper plates with black hats on them. David, not having a clue what a pilgrim was, activated his background schema and pointed to the pilgrim plates and said, "Snowman!" It made perfect sense to me. And what I love about his observations, is that they always do make so much sense to me when I think about it. Other observations he has made include: his leap frog writing tablet is his, "other ipad", a picture of Peter & Andrew was, "Jesus", I drew a diamond once and he turned his head a little and said, "a square", there was a picture of a bee in a book we were reading and I asked him, "What does a bee say?" to which he responded, "Buh" (for the letter). 

He is such a sweetheart too and he loves his sisters. The other day when Lucy had to go to dance class, he just stood in the doorway crying and saying, "My Wucy! My Wucy!" over and over again. Once when I put him down for his nap while Lucy was still finishing her lunch, he was asking me for things; "My blankie", so I tucked his blankie all around him. Then it was, "My Buzz", so I gave him his Buzz doll. Then he looked around and in a sweet voice said, "My Wucy?" 

When Vivian is crying he'll come find me and say, "Oh no, Vivi!" Then he'll toss some toy her way and say, "Vivi, wook." He sure tries. Vivian loves to watch him, especially when he is in movement-she just giggles when she sees him. 

I love when he is tucked in for bed at night and I snuggle up to give him a hug and a kiss. Then I sing, "Mr. Sun" (to MY Mr. Son-it has always been my song for him) and he just giggles and smiles while I sing. Then he often asks for me to sing it again-and I do. I love him. I love having a son. I love the challenges that make the sweetness all the more enjoyable. He is our boy and I am so thankful to be his Momma. 

Adding . . .

Ever since I can remember I have had this funny habit of adding street addresses together when I see them. For example if a house number was 1326, it would be 1+3+2+6=12 in my head. I'm assuming some adult in my life told me to do this as a means to challenge my brain or perhaps just to keep me occupied. At any rate, it is something I always do. Or at least it is something I always USED to do . . .

Then today I was on a walk all by myself for about an hour and out of nowhere I caught myself adding the numbers again. At first I laughed that I had picked this silly little habit up again that I had not done for a few years and then I thought more about this. I realized that I had abandoned this little game at about the same time I started having to keep my brain preoccupied with the many needs of my children. Clearly the demands of motherhood had shoved this useless task right out the window as a means to make room for more important things like keeping my children out of the road or passing out graham crackers to help calm a crying toddler and so on . . .

I'm not sure I miss playing this simple game, but I did realize that I miss having the moments to clear my mind. Giving myself time to just wander in a direction it wants to without always having to answer to the latest fire that needs to be put out. I think I need more of this in my life. I really enjoyed it . . .

Happy little Vivi

Hanging Out

One day I just decided to take my kids to the store and buy each them of a new toy. It was so fun.

Vivian loves to play on Lucy's bed with her. I love to listen to them play. Lucy will play peek-a-boo with her, sing to her and hand her all of her toys. Such sweet sisters.

Great Grandma is so cute

 

Great Grandma

Vivian turned 9 months on President's Day so we celebrated by heading out to my parents' home to spend the day with them and my Grandma.

I have been wanting to record my Grandma singing and telling stories to my children for a while now and I finally did today! Vivian was so sweet to sit on Grandma's lap the whole time. My Grandma sang to her and told her stories about her Grandma Rose (Vivian's middle name is Rose).

My Grandma with all three of my babies. She has a way of making everyone around her feel important and valued. No matter what the age.

Lucy sharing a tender moment with her Great Grandma. I am so grateful for her legacy in my life and now my childrens' lives.

Morning time . . .

One of my favorite ways to spend the mornings is letting the kids paint. I love to watch them create and they enjoy having the time to be little artists. Lucy is starting to make more identifiable objects in her artwork and David's strokes are so thoughtful and always filled with color. Their works are masterpieces to me every time. And lest we forget, Vivian is certainly their number one fan.

Happy Heart Day

Marc took me dancing at The Provo Valentine's Ball and it was so much fun! I had a neighbor friend come do my hair and we got all dressed-up for the occasion. I cannot think of the last time I did this and I loved it! They had a delicious dinner, the ballroom was decorated lovely, each couple got their picture taken by Justin Hackworth, every lady received a long stem rose and then we danced the night away to a live band. Marc and I knew just enough to be dangerous on the dance floor. We laughed so hard that my cheeks were hurting by the end of the night. It was a very sweet way to spend time with my Valentine.

On the actual Valentine's Day, we went to breakfast as a family. I would love to make this a tradition. Lucy and David sat on a bench by themselves for the first time without having Marc and me right there to help them (well-we were right across the table, but you know what I mean).  It was so fun to watch them interact as these little humans. Vivian loved eating bites of the wheat pancakes and made us smile with her innocent joy in everything around her. Later that day, Grandma Kay stopped by with Valentines and toys and then to add to the magic, just before she left, Grandma Sampson showed up with her Valentines. It was so fun. We ended the night with incredible pizza from Slab and sugar cookies from Smart Cookie. YUMMY! It was a great way to celebrate a day with the people I love most.

Sisters

My dearest friend in this life is my sister. My mom would always say to us, "Heavenly Father sent you a sister so you could always have a best friend."  And now I am so grateful to be the mother to this next generation of sisters. They are so sweet to one another. Vivian loves to watch Lucy play and Lucy is so good to play with Vivian all the time. She will bring her toys, play peek-a-boo and sing & dance for her all the time to get her to smile and giggle. I am so excited for the opportunity that is mine to continue to see their friendship blossom into a powerful bond of sisterhood.

Lucy is learning to read

I am using a book called Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and she is doing great. I want to know that my children have a strong foundation of phonics prior to starting kindergarten (Lucy will start in a year and a half). I decided to try it with her and to keep doing it with her as long as she felt it was enjoyable and didn't feel frustrated. Yesterday she sounded out her first word: "me". It was a beautiful moment in her heart and mine.

6th time's a charm . . .

Vivian is the sixth granddaughter to wear this adorable dress. My Mom made it about 14 years ago. It melts my heart to see her in it and reflect on all the other lovely little ladies who have also worn it. Such a blessed family.

Happy 8 Months Vivian

Eight things for 8 glorious months: 1) You weigh 18 pounds-50th percentile 2) You are 27.75  inches long-78th percentile 3) You say some (almost) words: "Mmmm" for Mom and "Hiii" for Hi 4) You are in love with Daddy. You lunge for him the moment you see him and no one can make you giggle like he can. 5) You like to feed yourself through these mesh bags we have. 6) You love bananas. You are not too fond of veggies. 7) You can't wait to play with Lucy and David. You always lean to be wherever they are and you make lots of noises to inform them that you should be included. 8) You love to play with stacking toys. Your second toy of choice would be whatever David is playing with.  WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!! Our family and hearts are more complete because we have a little Vivian in them.

 

It was midnght, it had snowed and the kids were sleeping . . .

So Marc and I made snow angels!

Neighborhood Preschool

I have been doing a neighborhood co-op preschool for Lucy. It has been a lot and I have really enjoyed the opportunities I've had to prepare and teach. I've decided to share the information with what we did on My Good Friend's Blog. If you're interested, you can go here.http://mygoodfriendsblog.blogspot.com

I love being a homemaker

I was once talking with a man who does construction for a living. He was telling me all about how much he loves his job. He then said, "I do not know of any other job where at the end of the day and the job is all done, you catch yourself just sitting back admiring what you have done." I looked at him, smiled and informed him that I knew of a job where this is done. He looked at me puzzled and I replied, "Homemaking."

The truth of the matter is when the rest of the world may need an award, a raise or a major promotion to feel they have accomplished something grand; all I need to do is look at a room I have just cleaned and I am filled with an overwhelming sense of worth. A pile of freshly cleaned and folded laundry is a beautiful site to me. I pat myself on the back when I sew a button on a shirt and give it new life. I get giddy inside when I perfect a recipe. And yes, I catch myself frequently at the end of the day, after the job is done, just sitting on my couch admiring the work I have done. Call me crazy, but I love being a homemaker.

Who knew . . .

two teeny tiny teeth could bring me so much joy over and over again!

Sandwiched between two girls . . .

Sweet David, I hope you remain a good sport with your sisters. We love you so much. Vivian always giggles when she watches you play and she gets ecstatic when you come talk to her. You and Lucy crack me up as you re-enact scenes from Dorah and have your own adventures. You are such a good boy and I know you are the perfect little man for your sisters. We love you!

Once there was a snowman

Lucy and her friend were such big girls as they rolled the middle part of the snowman.

David decided to construct his own middle part.

The children were very pleased with their creation

Evidence that Marc and I really were there. Marc did the majority of the construction while I worked on the fashion and make-up side of things.