Messes

I am thankful for my children. Sure, I have spent a lot of time with them being sick the last two weeks. We even missed Werty's Aunt's wedding because of this nasty virus that acts like a stomach flu and then attacks the sinuses with thick junk, ending in a terrible cough. I have spent two days cleaning up diarrhea with one child, while my youngest child is having difficulty remembering that we write on paper and not walls. I have gone through three magic erasers this week because his new favorite place to draw are the walls on the staircase. But I think I finally have a child who will color in nursery instead of looking at the nursery leaders like they are crazy. Little Miss and I worked on some letter recognition, and she had fun doing it. Bear went back to kindergarten today, after being out sick for a week. I am grateful to have them. They keep life from being predictable and I love them.

Pictures

Bear had his first report card. He loves school and is doing great. He had his first Math test last month. He informed me that he got 100% and he was "really good at Math." Yay! Still potty training Little Miss 3. Chocolate chips seems to be the reward she cared about, so that's what she gets when she goes in the potty. She is holding her pee longer and is dry most mornings, so I think we are making progress. Tiger continues to climb up everywhere and wants to do whatever his siblings are doing. He is learning new words all the time. He loves walking out in the snow. I took him around the block on the tricycle yesterday. Halfway around the block he gets off and helps me push the trike the rest of the way home. If we go somewhere in the morning, like an errand, he wants to keep his coat on the rest of the day after we get home because he wants to go back outside so badly. Here are some pictures to enjoy. 

Little Miss' new princess dress.

Playing with Daddy.



Halloween party at church.

Halloween candy monsters for FHE, our tradition.

Little Miss still falls asleep in random places, like here between the piano and the piano bench.

 

Putting up the Christmas tree. The little kids ran off with the little tree as soon as they saw it, and put it up all by themselves. 

Potty Training Little Miss (take 2)

Here we are, day 4 of potty training. We have talked about how soft and comfy underwear is compared to diapers. She has yet to tell ME she needs to go potty. Yesterday we had one small success. She went outside to play with her brother, and I knew she was due to need to go soon. She told her brother that she needed to go, and was dry when he brought her in. We got to the bathroom, still dry. Waaah, she wanted the little potty, not the toilet. I run downstairs, and get the little potty, come back up, and she's wet. I hang my head in defeat. But still, she told SOMEONE she needed to go, so that really is progress. Meanwhile, I forgot Bear's show and tell this week, and I burned his cheese sandwich on Wednesday and had to make another one because I was distracted taking care of potty accidents. It has been a little over a year since we have tried, so this time, I want to stick with it and get it done.

June flew by...now it's the middle of July!

We stayed really busy in June, with Bear doing day camp every morning, Bear's Tball games, participating in a mom's group tour of all the parks in the city - twice a week we try a different park - and the usual projects that pop up.

Every Saturday, the family has been watching Bear's t-ball games. He's the one with the yellow bat.

 

Random cute pictures of Tiger, followed by this picture that makes me thing Little Miss really does take after me. (Those who know, know what I mean.)

End of June is always Summerfest. Every year, Bear wants to do the big slide first. This year I went with Little Miss because she was tall enough to go too. 

 

 We invited Grandpa and one of their Aunts to go with us (I need a nickname for child #8 of 9)

 More cute pictures of our Tiger baby.

Bear putting on a concert in the living room.

I sewed my Little Miss 3 a rainbow twirl dress. Fourteen flounces - but totally worth it. Bear is a little obsessed with rainbows and gold (like at the end of the rainbow) right now. He was as excited as she was that I was making a rainbow colored dress for her.





We spent the last Sunday in June taking a walk around the Provo temple. We have been trying to find Sabbath appropriate things to do as a family.

Candy bomber on July 3rd. We don't usually go for the big crowd events, especially in the hot sun, but it was pretty exciting to see the WWII planes fly by over our heads. Most of the candy sadly fell north of the park and missed its mark, so there were a lot of sad kids. I think it was still fun.

4th of July at my sister Sue's house. My mother and two of her siblings were also there. We had a great time. She purchased a few aerials. Wow. Being up close to those, staring straight up into the sky. Wow.

We are getting ready for Bear's birthday party next month. I finished the pinata so far.

Tiger has discovered video game controllers, much to our chagrin. He wants to do whatever the other people are doing, and he knows the difference if you try to pull a fast one on him. 


 
 Little Miss has taken an interest in dressing up in costumes, much to my delight, even if she keeps changing her mind and costume about every 5 minutes. Here she is as Little Miss Astronaut.