Family Home Evening -- Week 7

All I can say for this week is:

We did it!

We did it with Sunny being sick on the couch with her fever, Lila running around all hyper and jittery from her Albuterol treatments, and everyone not being very cooperative in general. Ryan did the lesson about Faith and the Brother of Jared.

It was okay, and sometimes okay is enough.

Shooting with Bear

Last week Bear took Jackson out to shoot guns for the first time. Bear has been wanting to take him for awhile, but we thought he'd have to be about 8 or 9 before he was old enough. Well, Bear decided it was time. Being the anxious worrier I am, I was super nervous about it, but I decided to let Jax do it b/c he was so excited and I knew Bear would take good care of him.

We didn't get any pictures from the first time, but they went again today and Bear took a ton of great pictures. Jax had a blast again, and Bear gave him B.J.'s old BB gun. It is really fun to watch Jackson spend time with his Bear, and to watch him do something that he loves. When Bear told us Jackson could shoot it all by himself I didn't believe him at first. But, the proof is in the pictures. What a cool kid is Jackson?!?!

6 Months Big

This is his "morning hair" It is crazy!
(No idea why blogger but the same picture on twice. Oh well.)

I'm a little late, but he's a baby, he won't care. So, Griffin turned 6 months old on January 31st! He doesn't go to the doctor for a few more weeks but I'll guess that he is about 16 1/2 pounds or so, maybe 17. Medium tall, and his head is actually looking not so "peanut-ish" so I think it has grown too :)

If I had blogged about him on his actual birthday I would've said Griffin can pretty much do nothing, but since it is 5 days later, I have lots to brag about. Just this week Griffin starting sitting. I have pillows behind him in the picture, but he doesn't need them. He can sit for 3 or 4 minutes at a time and he loves it. He can roll both way (that is nothing new, but just for record keeping purposes I'll write it), and the biggie -- he is starting to crawl. Yesterday he didn't know crawling existed, but today he got up on all fours and launched himself forward. Yea for progress! I don't think he'll really be crawling for awhile, but it was exciting for him anyway.

He continues to get happier everyday. He is usually just content to be held. He doesn't care for toys all that much, playing with my wedding ring is his favorite thing. He still thinks his brother and sisters are the best thing ever.

He is loving eating lots of new foods. I started feeding him regularly about a week ago. So far he has had: carrots, peas, sweet potato, avocado, and applesauce. At first he didn't care too much for eating, but each day he is wanting more and more.

It is amazing how fast he is growing and changing. What a perfect little man I have!

I was tagged...

...by Jess...my first time ever. So, here it goes:

4 shows I like to watch:

-General Hospital
-Project Runway
-Teen Mom (sad I know)
-Wife Swap

4 thing I'm passionate about:

-cloth diapers (it's not hard, they work, and they're cute...really!)
-eating healthy (for the kids at least :)
-car seat safety (even more than passionate, more like freakishly obsessed)
-my family

4 words or phrases I say a lot:

-is that appropriate?
-is that necessary?
-deal with it
-you get what you get and that's it (can you tell I have lots of kids?)

4 things I've learned from the past:

-don't quit school, it only gets harder to get back into it when you're old
-brush your teeth, floss, and use mouthwash. They are all easier and cheaper than root canals
-the grass is always greener on the other side...blah, blah, blah. But really, it's true.
-life is way better as an adult than a teenager

4 places I would like to go:

-no where. I'm happy where I am, and I can see the rest of the world through the t.v. and Internet. I'm a homebody.

But... if I did have to pick

- Egypt
-France
-Italy
-Hawaii

4 things I did yesterday:

-went to Sunny's parent/teacher conference (she's amazing as usual)
-cleaned up a lot of puke from Griffin (when is he ever gonna get over that?)
- ate red hots (my favorite)
-spent way too much time online

4 things I'm looking forward to:

-Ryan getting home from work
-bedtime for the kids
-a vacation sometime this summer (hopefully...just have to decide what, where, and when)
-Project Runway with Sunny tonight


4 things I love about winter:

-Pleh (*credit for that word goes to Audra*)
-Pleh (same as above)
-Pleh (you get the point)
-Pleh (I hate winter)

4 things on my wish list:

-an Ergo baby carrier (trying to justify buying one when I have plenty of others that will do
-a fence for my backyard (not gonna happen any time soon b/c the HOA makes you put in an expensive one)
- new jeans
-a good book to read

Family Home Evening -- Week 6

I've officially made it one month into the year and so far I'm right on track with my goal of weekly family nights. I'm really proud of myself. Sometimes it seems like such a hard thing to do. I have to make dinner while all the kids are usually melting down b/c it is 4:30 and they are getting tired, then Ryan comes home in the middle of the chaos. Then we eat and have to clean up and get the two little ones in bed, and then finally we have our family time and lesson. Tonight I think the kids really had a good time.

We learned about the Iron Rod. We talked to the kids about Lehi's vision and then turned off all the lights and blindfolded them and had them follow the Iron Rod that I had made. It went all over the main level of our house, and ended at our statue of Jesus Christ. I think they got the point (I hope they did :)

After we were done they played with it for awhile, which is when I took the pictures. They thought the whole thing was pretty cool.

The Little Ones

I have to say, I am starting to enjoy my time home with just these two little monsters more and more. They are the best of friends and love to play together. Lila can entertain Griffin way longer that I can. For some reason everything she does is like 10 times more funny than when I do it. They love to sit together and cuddle, play doll house, and watch Dora.

Lila has a crazy face in this one, but I love the expression on Griff's face. He is such a happy little guy lately. I hope it lasts :) Now that these two are older, I am able to get more done around the house (which is pretty important to me) and get more sleep. Those two things are key to a happy Mom around here.
(It is also nice to only have 1 in diapers now -- I'll save that exciting story for another post)

Now I'm off to put these adorable rug rats down for a nap. As much as I love them, I'm looking forward to my 2 hours of peace!

The Tooth Fairy -- Part 46

And it continues....

I went to take the sheets off of Jackson's bed to wash them and under his pillow I find a note:

Dear Tooth Fairy,

Can you please bring me a CTR ring too?

Love,

Jackson


I have to admit it made me cry. What a sweet boy. We have made a huge deal about Sunny being the first one to get the Tooth Fairy so that she would have something to look forward to. I know Jax must have been jealous, but he never showed it. He was excited for his sister and so sweet about her having that experience first. The sweet letter was in his best handwriting and must have taken him a bit of work.

I think it is so sweet that he wrote it. He has not asked me for a CTR ring, or even mentioned that he was feeling jealous. He also didn't tell me that he had written the letter. I'm soooo glad I changed the sheets today and found it.

Ryan is going to pick up another ring today on the way home from work. I think I'm going to write him a letter from the Tooth Fairy that says that she usually only comes when a kid looses a tooth, but that since he has been such a great big brother and helped his sister so much when she was hurting that just this once she came and brought him a ring too.

I love my sweet kids so much. They are priceless.