Easter pics

After church Tyson and I took the kids over to Jenni's house for Easter dinner. Kayla was in town visiting, so we were able to have both her and Ashley there with all of the rest of my sisters.
I think they were pirates or something...
This is one of LittleMan's favorite games - bounce on daddy's tummy as hard as he can.
Probably the one picture I have in 500 where Derek is actually smiling and not making a goofy face. A face like this...And here you go folks, I really don't like taking belly pictures, so this is probably one of the only ones you'll ever see.

Pre-Easter Hunt

Connie's church had an Easter egg hunt and she invited us to come out and bring the kids. They had face painting and other activities inside while they were waiting for everyone to show up and setting up for the hunt. The Easter Bunny even made an appearance. LittleMan wasn't a fan until he realized that the giant bunny was holding a basket with candy. After that little discovery we couldn't keep him away.He must have gone back for more Hershey kisses at least eight times.
Rex and Teresa brought Brittany, who enjoyed the face painting while she was there.It took BittyBit less than 2 minutes to polish off this cupcake.The hunt...I tried to get pictures of all three of the kids, but LittleMan didn't really catch on to the concept at first, so I tried to follow him around and point to the eggs so that he would put them in his basket. They had separate hunts for the kids 5 and under and for the older kids, but the eggs were still gone in less than 2 minutes.Post hunt loot.
Hey, what are you doing out here, I thought you lived inside?
Oh well, I'm game...

Family Home Evening

We sat down for a friendly game of "Chutes & Ladders" after we finished our Family Home Evening lesson. Obviously Tyson doesn't believe in letting the kids win, but luckily they don't really care.

Modesty

We've been teaching BittyBit lately about our standards for dressing and showing her what we consider modest and appropriate and the kinds of things that we don't wear. I know that not everyone believes as we do about this or other issues, so when I teach her something like this, I try to show how important it is to us, but also teach her to have respect for people who believe differently. This can sometimes be a hard concept for a four year old, as they tend to see everything as black and white, right or wrong.

I still remember when we told her that we don't drink coffee or tea. BittyBit was only three at the time and Tyson's mom came over about a week later to watch the kids and brought a cup of coffee with her. Naturally BittyBit wanted some of whatever Grandma had, but when she found out it was coffee she said, "Grandma, you shouldn't drink that, it's bad for you!" I explained to her later that Grandma has different rules in her house and she doesn't know all of the same things that we know, and that Grandma is still a good person whom we love and respect.

Tuesday was St. Patrick's Day and Terrence's birthday (Happy Birthday Terrence). Some of his friends and family met up at The Olive Garden to celebrate his birthday. Tyson and I came along too and brought the kids. When dinner was mostly finished, BittyBit pointed across the table to one of the women, who was wearing a strapless dress, and said very quietly, "That dress is not modest." (I've been working on the pointing thing with her too, which I'll address again after this incident) The sweet gal in the dress didn't hear what she said, but saw her pointing and asked what she needed. BittyBit repeated herself, again very quietly. By this time everyone at the table was looking at us and even though I was glad that our lessons about conservative dress had gotten through to her, I was mortified that she was singling someone else out as an example of inappropriate dress. I had to explain to everyone at the table that we had been discussing what kind of things were appropriate for little girls to wear and BittyBit knew that she wasn't supposed to wear a dress that didn't have straps. Everyone thought it was cute, and the gal in the dress put on a sweater so that she could set a good example for my kids, but now I'm going to have to have the discussion on tact with my four year old again.

Last fall Tyson and I went to several stores to hit the clearance racks and stock up on some new clothes, including church clothes for the kids. It can be difficult to find dresses for little girls that are not sleeveless. We found a dress that was very cute and on sale, but it was sleeveless. I wanted to buy the little black sweater that was sold separately, but Tyson didn't want to shell out the extra money for the sweater, which was not on sale. We had a brief discussion about when we would start teaching the kids about how we want them to dress, and he basically voted for later as he thought she was too young to understand or remember. Since then we have begun to teach her about how we want her to dress now and when she is older. Often she'll ask, "Mom, are these clothes modest?", and then we'll discuss it and explain why they are or aren't.

She had already realized that her favorite dress of all (the sleeveless one we bought last fall) is not modest according to what we have taught her. I told her that I was sorry that I had bought an immodest dress and that I would make sure that all of the dresses that we bought in the future were in line with our standards. Tonight in the car she said, "Mom, I realize that my polka dot dress is not modest, so I'm not going to wear it anymore, even though it is my favorite." I told her that I can buy a sweater for her to wear over it and she thought that was a great idea. I can't tell you how proud I am of that kid for internalizing something that we taught her and making her own decision.

Week 5

Ok, I'm a little bit behind, but I'm slowly catching up. Here are my week 5 layouts (click to enlarge). Template and pictures are from Weeds & Wildflowers.

Wednesday Update

So I think I forgot to mention it, and a few of you have asked, but I'm due in September. I'm steering clear of mentioning an actual due date, as I went 5 days past with LittleMan and was ready to strangle every sweet person who asked me if I'd had the baby yet. So I'll just say early to mid September and that should cover things. It's too early to try to find out the sex of the baby, but we're going to if we can when I'm far enough along. As always though, we're keeping the name a secret until sweet baby #3 actually makes his/her appearance.

I was reading Persuasion again on Sunday and only had about one chapter left. BittyBit asked me to read it aloud to her. I thought she would find it boring, but after a few paragraphs when I tried to read it in my head again, she asked me to keep reading to her. I knew she probably didn't understand most of what I was saying, so I picked certain themes to explain to her as I read. At one point I told her that Captain Wentworth was writing a love letter to Anne and BittyBit said, "Oh, mom! We should write a love letter for Tyson! And I can draw a heart on it!" I was going to help her with that later but she got sick and has slept for the last 4 days.

This morning she came into the kitchen and announced, "Mom, Sally's not real. You think she is real, but she's magic". (Sally is one of her imaginary friends) I asked her if she meant imaginary and she said, "No, magic, you know - she's not real." I've always heard that it is good to encourage kids to use their imagination and to play along with things like imaginary friends because it is healthy for that age level and teaches them to be more creative. I guess I've played along too convincingly, such as finding another chair when BittyBit tells me I'm about to sit on Sally or asking her if Pink or Orange (more imaginary friends) would like Kix for breakfast too. She seems to think that I actually believe that her friends are real.

p.s. - Ha! If this tells you how tired I am, I don't even know what day it is. I originally titled this post "Thursday Update".

Project 365 Week 4

I've been so exhausted lately that I haven't even turned on my computer most days. I get home from work, play with the kids, then go to sleep by 9-something. My morning sickness is beginning to subside (although I would feel a lot better if I could convince my sweet husband to stop eating garlic and onions until the pregnancy is over, as the smell of them makes me extremely nauseous.) Overall things are going well. I've done fairly well with my project 365, but I wasn't sure if some of the pictures would reference the pregnancy, so I didn't want to post anything until we decided to tell everyone.

I've had this layout ready for a month, but I have been too busy to post it. Here is week 4. And yes, I totally skipped Friday and used two pictures from Saturday, but it's my project, I can do whatever I want. :) Click on the previews to view them larger.

Template and papers are from Weeds & Wildflowers.

Because a picture is worth a thousand words...

Project 365: Week 3

Here's the next week worth of pictures. Click on the pages to enlarge them.
I think my favorite part of the week was when I took BittyBit to see her first movie in a theater. I'd been meaning to take her to see "Bolt" for over a month, but I finally made the plans last Friday, which meant that it was only playing at one theater and I had to drive 25 miles to get there. It was totally worth it. She was so excited and she behaved so well. Although the theater didn't have stadium seating and she was too petite to see over the top of the seat in front of her, so she sat in my lap the entire time.

The template and all of the papers and elements are from Weeds & Wildflowers.

*Edit- apparently I can't spell my own sister's name, so I had to go back and edit the second page to correct it. Sorry Jenni.

Week 2 layouts

I'm a little behind on my posting. I've done a pretty good job of taking my pictures every day, but when I was putting together my layouts last week, my computer froze up and I lost both pages when I was almost finished. I was so frustrated that I didn't attempt to finish the layout until tonight. Here's the layout for my second week of Project 365. Click on the pages to enlarge.

Template is by MOriginals, papers are by Weeds and Wildflowers.

Project 365

I've decided to succumb to project 365. The gist of it is to take a photo everyday of something that is an important part of your life. It can be of your neighborhood, community, pets, children, friends, dinner, anything really that will tell a story of what your life is like. I did miss Jan 2, but I didn't commit to this until the third, so from now on I'm going to do it. I'll try to scrap each week as it happens too, so that at the end of the year I'll have my scrapbook all made up. I'll learn to take better pictures and remember to document what goes on too.

Here's my first weeks layout:

click on the images to enlarge.
The template is by IkeaGoddess and the background papers are by Weeds & Wildflowers.

Primary Spotlight

BittyBit was featured as the "spotlight" in primary at church today. That means that the primary leaders sent her home with a questionnaire the week before and I went over the questions with her and then got to share her answers with all of the other kids at church during the primary sharing time.
Some of her answers surprised me (tomatoes, really? cause the kid never touches them when I serve them to her) but some of them were obvious (favorite color!)

Favorite Food: Tomatoes (pronounced toe-mott-ohs, just like on Charlie & Lola) & craisins
Favorite Color: Orange
Favorite Movie: Enchanted
Favorite Book: Princess ABCs
Hobbies: Playing with toys
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Vanilla
Favorite Subject in School: Art
Number of Siblings: One brother
Special Awards/Accomplishments: learning to read & to add numbers
Special Qualities: Compassion - when her brother is sad, she always tries to help him feel better
Relate or have your child relate a time when they felt Heavenly Father's love for them. At Christmas time when we celebrate Jesus' birth. She knows Heavenly Father loves her because he sent Jesus Christ to be our special friend, elder brother, & the savior of the world.

BittyBit's fourth birthday

We had BittyBit's birthday party on the 27th (Tyson's idea, not mine - I didn't think people would show up two days after Christmas). Her birthday wasn't actually until the 29th, but we wanted to have the party on a Saturday. Most of our family and a few friends showed up and we had a good time. We had Sunchips & corndogs, followed by Costco cake. I was going to make her birthday cake this year, but she requested a Costco cake instead, and hey, I'm not one to argue with convenience and deliciousness! Afterwards, BittyBit opened her presents from family & friends (we saved our presents so that she'd have something to open on her actual birthday). Thanks to everyone who came and made her birthday special.

Christmas Day

The kids were pretty good this year and I guess Santa noticed because he brought BittyBit the Tinkerbell movie that she's been asking for since October and brought LittleMan a really cool wooden train set. We started the morning off by opening gifts with the kids. LittleMan still wasn't very into opening the presents, but sister was more than happy to help him open his presents.At lunch time most of the family came over and we all enjoyed the delicious meal that Tyson prepared, as well as all of the delicious goodies that everyone else contributed. Then of course there were more presents: The Secret of Nimh from Jenni, Derek & Ashley, and handmade scarves from Gram. LittleMan's is a miniature version of Tyson's birthday scarf and BittyBit's is her favorite color - orange. **Sorry there are no pictures of Robyn or mom on here, I had a few, but someone was blinking or something equally unflattering in each of the pics** :)

After lunch there was generally a lot of goofing around, then everyone drifted out the door and Tyson, Terrence, and our friend Glen followed Derek home to watch The Dark Knight. I like super hero/comic book stories, but not enough to endure one with a freaky clown, so I passed on that one. Jenni stayed with me to chat and help me keep an eye on the kids, since I was almost in a sugar coma from all the fabulous desserts. We were going to catch a movie after the boys got home, but they were a little later than we thought they'd be and we were both exhausted, so we called it a night and crashed.

The best part about the whole day is that I've been trying to focus on the true meaning of Christmas with the kids. We've read New Testament Stories every day this month to really focus on Christ, and I stressed to BittyBit that while presents are fun, that's not really what Christmas is about. When I asked her if she had a fun Christmas, and if she liked her gifts, she replied, "Yeah mom, but Christmas isn't about presents you know. It's about Jesus."

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we packed up the kids and went with Connie to her church's candlelight service. Afterward she and Aunt Kathy came to our house to watch the kids open their presents from Connie. LittleMan wasn't sure what to do with the wrapping paper but BittyBit was only too happy to show him how it works. And no, she didn't poke herself in the eye, she had pink eye. I knew something was wrong when she woke up in the morning and had a serious look on her face. She has asked me every day for the past two weeks if it is Christmas yet, or her birthday, or at least Halloween. I thought she'd be pretty excited when she asked this morning and I told her that Christmas was tomorrow, but she was just worried about her poor, swollen, painful eye. Kudos to Tyson for following through with the pediatrician. We caught it early and it didn't get too bad or spread to anyone else.