Can't Get Enough of The Younger Half

I just looked through my picture folder from January and noticed that random photos I wanted to share tonight have one thing in common: they feature Eliza and/or Luke.  Well... I am around them more than I am the older kids, so I guess it's understandable?

Eliza and Savannah painting nails during a cousin play date.

Eliza got a hair cut AND attended a princess birthday party.
For the third time now, Queen Elsa made an appearance.
Eliza's friends are very well connected.

Eliza and Luke not only like grapefruit,
but when I cut the sections apart, Eliza even shared with Luke.

When it was Luke's turn to sing at a friend's house during a Wii Karaoke game night,
he decided to stick with something he knows.  He sang his favorite song, "Twinkle Twinkle
Little Star" into the mic while "If I Didn't Have You" from Monsters, Inc. played on the TV.

Eliza taught her first FHE lesson this month!  And she had a few helpers when it came
time to lead the opening song.  Cat and I tried to be good followers.

Eliza laughs when she finds herself eating food in a fancy way.
I laugh when I see her eating food in a fancy way sans utensils.

These might be my favorite pictures of the month.

Eliza decided to put on a finger puppet show using the little finger puppet theater that came with the IKEA set she bought herself a while ago.  I love how Luke was interacting with this little window.

Let's start the week off with a bit of drama, shall we?

Cat is normally up by about 6:15 and Monday morning she wasn't.  I went to check on her around 6:40 and she was still in bed.  She told me that she hadn't slept well the night before because her stomach was bothering her and she couldn't get comfortable.  I thought she would be okay once she was up and going, so I gently encouraged her to start doing her morning routine.  She was slow all morning and managed to get herself ready and help out in the kitchen a bit, but never really did any piano practice.  Finally, I asked her if she needed to stay home from school.  She thought about it for a minute and decided that yes, it would be best if she stayed home that day.  That's a big deal for Cat because she LOVES school.  The few times I've checked her out at school she was actually mad at me.  If she felt like staying home, I was just fine with keeping her home.

I didn't want to make a big deal about it because I was afraid that Jack, who has a slightly different sentiment toward school, would start protesting school attendance.  When he found out during breakfast that Cat wasn't going to school, he immediately started telling me that this or that was wrong and he shouldn't go to school.  He insisted that he was warm and I should feel his head.  When it wasn't warm to me, he said I should feel it when he was drinking his milk.  When it still didn't feel warm, he named another ailment.  Eventually he just flat-out refused to go to school.

By this time, Cat had decided that she was well enough to go to school, after all.  I thought she was putting on a brave face to try to get Jack to stop his charade, so I told her not to worry about Jack but to do what she felt was best.  (She admitted after school that she really only went to school to try to get Jack to go to school.)

But even with Cat now getting her backpack and getting in the car, Jack was firmly planted on the floor by the kitchen table, sure that he could win the battle of wills.  I knew that I could make him go to school, but I was also sure that if I forced him, his behavior at school would suffer.  So I resorted to bribery.  I told him that if he got two clip-ups (the reward for good behavior is moving your clip up on the chart) at school then I would give him FIVE STARBURST candies when he got home.  Boy, he jumped up off of the floor and got himself in the car like he was in the race of his life.

After school we were talking on the way home about what had happened that morning.  I said that Jack was acting sick in the morning but he wasn't really sick.  "Right, Jack?"

(Laughing.)  "Yeah.  I was just JK."

Cat was still a little sick looking and moving slowly after school, but had perked up by dinner time.

Hooray for Mondays!

The Mother Daughter Book Club

Cat and I started a Mother Daughter Book Club with a few friends last Spring and we've really enjoyed it.  We don't meet every month, in an effort to give everyone plenty of time to read the books, and we take turns hosting.  We always have some kind of refreshments and some little handouts that the girls can keep in their MDBC notebooks.  Whoever will be hosting the next discussion brings a few books to tell the other girls about and they vote on what book they want to read.  Here are the books we've read to far, to the best of my recollection:

The Mother Daughter Book Club by Heather Vogel Frederick

Daddy Long-Legs by Jean Webster

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

Anne of Green Gables (the first half) by L.M. Montgomery

The Witches by Roald Dahl

Potterwookiee by Obert Skye

The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson

As you can see, we've managed to read a pretty good variety of books, which is really fun.  We've also enjoyed tying in elements of the book we're discussing into the meetings.  When Laurel led the discussion on Anne of Green Gables, we had a tea party at her house.  When Lily led the discussion on The Witches in October, we dressed in Witch costumes and Lily gave out little Witch hats for everyone and Trick-or-Treat goody bags.  When Cat led the discussion of The Invention of Hugo Cabret, we made tickets to hand out to everyone, watched a few of Georges Melies's films, and had popcorn and candy as our treats.

Cat led the discussion , on The Family Under the Bridge last week, which is a very short and very sweet book about a hobo in Paris who is resolved to live a solitary life but ends up befriending a homeless family of three children, a dog, and a mother.  He takes care of them, reluctantly at first, and takes them to a gypsy tent city to live.  The story goes on but I don't want to ruin it for you.

Cat really wanted to re-create the tent city, so the day before the discussion I hung up sheets, table cloths, and Christmas lights to try to make it look like a big tent.  Cat and our friend Zoe made a cool Eiffel Tower poster to hang up, and we had some French-ish fare to boot.  Cat made these madeleines, which were delicious, and we had store-bought croissants and fruit.  We also made French (Italian) sodas.

I dressed up a gypsy, complete with lots of jewelry and eye makeup and Jack and Eliza were thoroughly creeped out.  Cat dressed up as the hobo by stuffing a pea coat with a pillow and wearing a dress-up hat with batting sticking out from the top.

Among other things, we quizzed each other on the French words in the book and talked about whether there were any benefits to being a gypsy and being able to live in a house with wheels.

Tres bien!  C'est magnifique!

Bonne soir.

Meet Jack, the Class Clown

Jack's class did a Show What You Know on Friday morning, sharing what they've learned about the different parts of a ship.  In addition to showing off the poem, Jack showed that he fancies himself the class clown.  He is just to the left of the center of the video.

These are the words of the poem:
    The bow is the front and the stern is the back.
    The floors are decks that don't hav ea crack.
    The walls are bulkheads with doors that are tight.
    They keep water from spreading, alright.
    (La La La La)

2015 Wrap-Up

I finally finished our 2015 video and wanted to share.  I love how making these videos really allows me to collect the highlights of the year and package them up in a fun way.

Like every other year, 2015 had its challenges, but it also had many blessings and great memories.  Here are our Best Of 2015 lists:

Ben -
Trip to Florida
Monster truck ride
Camping
Hike to Squaw Peak with Brett
Train ride to the train museum

Brett -
Camping in Spanish Fork Canyon
Piano party
Seeing lots of family in the Southeast
MoTab
Listening to Cat play piano and watching her play soccer
Seeing Jack write and illustrate books
Reading with Eliza
Putting puzzles together with Luke
Seven Peaks
Finally learning to crochet
My itty bitty book club
Frequent date nights with Ben, thanks to Granny Pat

Cat -
Zipline
Having 4 birthday parties
Seeing lots of family (TWO family reunions!)
Being on an awesome soccer team
Watching new movies with my family
Being in Mr. Captain's class

Jack -
Trip to Florida
Camping
Monster truck ride
Seven Peaks
Train ride to the train museum

Eliza -
The train museum
Camping
Seven Peaks
Family reunions
Starting Kindergarten

Luke -
Monster truck ride
Jigsaw puzzles
Star Wars play time
Sleeping with lots of (stuffed) animals
Watching "A New Hope"

The Other PI Day

We jumped on the Pi Day bandwagon a while ago, enjoying pie (whether it be of the dessert variety of the pizza variety) on 3/14.  But in our family we also have PI Days.

Parent Interview (PI) Days happen on Sundays, ideally once a month, and Ben and I take turns talking to the kids one-on-one.  We started this about a year and a half ago and were consistent for a while but then got out of the habit.  This year I'm resolved that we will make sure that it happens every month.

As a dedicated parent, I embrace the reality that all good things are made better with sugar.  Thus, on PI Days, we eat pie.  My vision when we started this was that we would vary our pie choice each month, trying different flavors and combinations, but whenever I would introduce a new pie, I was met with disappointment and frustration because there is just One Pie my family Loves.  So, for now I will probably continue to make Peanut Butter Fudge Pie, which is fine too.  It is pretty yummy.  (The recipe can be found at the bottom of this post.)

Tonight I interviewed Eliza and she said some of the sweetest things.  I asked her about the things that are going well in her life and she first said that she likes playing with her siblings, then she said, "You're always here when I need you." I love that.  I love that I am here for her most of the time, and I love that she recognizes that that is a blessing. Later on she said, "You and Daddy are the specialist things in my whole entire life."  Sweet sweet sweet.

Ben interviewed Cat and Jack and had good talks with them as well, and he was smart enough to use the pattern found in this General Conference Talk as his model.

I'm so glad we're re-establishing this habit.

Love at First Sight

Tonight we watched "Return of the Jedi" with the kids for the first time.

The Ewoks were a hit.  Eliza immediately said, "That's a funny little fellow!" and after a few minutes, Luke chimed in with, "That little bear's so cute!"

When the movie was over, Eliza started talking about the childlike Ewok.  She said, "The little Ewok is so cute that I want him for my pet!"

The Ice Experiment

Today Cat participated in her first Science Fair.  Exciting!  She'd been talking about what her project would be for months and finally planned it out with Ben a couple of weeks ago.  She completed the experiment about two weeks ago and put the board and accompanying notebook together on Monday when she was out of school for MLK Day.

Ben (was) volunteered to help with the judging today and of the 25 or so projects he judged, most of them were obviously completed at least in part by the kids' parents.  We are really proud of Cat for doing the project herself.  She had the idea, she carried out the project, and she did the write-up.  She put the poster together herself also and only required a little bit of advising and direction along the way.

Her experiment was to determine which substance would help ice melt the fastest, between salt, sugar, and sand.  Cat hypothesized that the salt would melt the ice the fastest, and she was right.  She found that salt melted the ice significantly faster than the other materials and much faster than the ice with no extra substance on it.

Luke at 2 and 3/4

I have been meaning to write a post about the things Luke has been doing at the age of two since, oh, he turned 2.  Now he's closer to 3.  But better late than never, yes?

Here are a few pictures to get things started, most of which haven't shown up on the blog as of yet.  The first few are from two different little photo shoots I staged with Luke, then the whole family.  The others (in mostly chronological order) are representative of a variety of moments over the last several months.

Just tonight Cat looked at Luke during dinner and commented on how big he's getting.  He immediately emitted a straining sound, scrunched up his face, and flexed his muscles, and all of us burst into laughter.  Then he did it again, and the kids laughed again, and the cycle continued for several minutes.

Cat is right.  Luke is getting big.  And, as you might have deduced already, he loves to laugh and to make other people laugh.  He enjoys being tickled, listening to funny voices, and sometimes tells jokes.  My favorite joke he's told was this one:

Knock-knock.

Who's there?

Orange.

Orange who?
MOO!

He loves his siblings and usually plays well with them, though he's not afraid to tell them (or show them) when he doesn't like what they're doing or is unhappy with them for any reason.

Luke has been talking more and more, with his speech pattern being best described as ALL CAPS for several months.  Now he is using full sentences almost all the time and his inflection has become more natural sounding, which makes me a little sad.  He has lots and lots to say, though there are still times when we can't understand him.

Luke loves to sleep with all of his "ammals," but his favorite one is Froggy.  (Doggy is a close second.)  He had been happily sleeping in his crib until just a couple of weeks ago when he was so tired at bedtime that when Ben laid him down on the floor to change his diaper, he just wanted to sleep there.  Imagine my momentary cardiac arrest when I went to check on him later that night and he wasn't in his crib.  Well, that was the beginning of the end of the crib.  It is now disassembled and he sleeps on the crib mattress on the floor and has done a pretty good job of staying in bed when he's supposed to and has yet to miss a nap, knock on wood.

Luke loves being read to, especially by Mom and Dad, but will tolerate a story read by one of his older siblings.  He enjoys putting together jigsaw puzzles and is pretty good at it too.  He still loves all things car/truck/train, and Star Wars has become a favorite play time, reading, and conversation theme for him.

Luke wants to be where the action is and loves being involved with what everyone else is doing.  He likes to help me with cooking tasks in the kitchen, he follows us around with whatever we're doing, and he gets frustrated when he can't do exactly what the bigger folks are doing.

He loves music and his favorite song has been "Oh, the Things You Can Think" from Seussical for some time now, though he has recently begun bursting into an adorable rendition of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" at random times throughout the day.  He also really loves Newsies as well as other musical theater selections and a variety of other types of music.

Luke is a pretty good sport about having to get in and out of the car throughout the day, taking older siblings to places they need to go.  He's a good tag-along, which is fortunate.  He tolerates babysitters well and usually enjoys going to Nursery on Sundays.

Luke is still in the phase best described by a quote I saw online: "Hell hath no fury like a toddler whose sandwich was cut into triangles when he wanted squares." He has strong opinions, and doesn't hesitate to voice them, though he is beginning to reason better now, thank goodness.

He likes to say prayers and frequently wants to be the one to bless the food at meal times.  In the evenings we'll sometimes let him say his own personal prayer and it is so soft and sweet to hear, though we can't usually understand what he's saying.  (That's okay - it's not intended for us.)

I could probably go on and on but I'll wrap it up here.  We sure love this kid and are enjoying watching him learn and grow and show us more of his personality.  He is such a blessing in our lives!

Love Is Blind

The other day Eliza asked me to make her some $53 bills so that I could buy things from her.  They all looked basically like this.  She thought they were fantastic and even told me that I'm good at drawing.

I sure love that girl.

Also, wouldn't this world be a better place if we all had an Eliza in our lives to tell us that what we're doing is great, even when we don't think it is?

Imagination + Cardboard

Jack's current thing is "Toy Story." He used the Christmas money he received from his uncle to buy a pull-string Woody toy (which may or may not have gotten abused the day it arrived from Amazon, and may or may not have gone to bed with Jack, and may or may not have kept him awake because it wouldn't stop talking).  Now he has his sights set on a Buzz Lightyear toy and decided he would get a jump on the whole thing by making a spaceship for Buzz.  He wanted me to help him make one and I had no idea how to even begin that process with the materials we had on hand.  I told him it couldn't be done.  He said that if I gave him a cardboard box, he'd make it himself.

Within 30 minutes, he'd finished the spaceship.  And he's loved it ever since.  Luke has done his best to destroy the spaceship but thanks to Jack's devotion and a healthy amount of packing tape, the aircraft has endured.

This afternoon Jack wanted to make a spaceport as a repair center and home base for the spaceship.  I asked him to draw me a picture of the spaceport, then we went to the storage room in search of boxes that would be suitable for the structure.  Note: there are times when being a pack rat comes in handy.

After Jack played with the spaceship and spaceport for a little while, we made this video, which features both creations.

I asked him if he wanted me to spray paint the whole thing black and he liked the idea, until he found out that the spaceport would be out of commission for a while if it got painted.  He loves it the way it is, and so far it's still in good shape.  We'll see how long it lasts...

Minor Details

Yesterday I found this on the floor by the garage door after running

around all morning, accomplishing a variety of very important things.

But he remembered his lunch.

And he never even mentioned not having a backpack once

he got home from school.

She Really Does Listen

November 2015

This morning I had Eliza and Luke with me at the store and I was looking for a pair of shoes.  I was deciding between two pairs and told Eliza the pros and cons of each pair.  Once I settled on the shoes I'd be buying, I reported my decision to Eliza and she immediately asked, "Do you have room to grow?" I laughed and told her that I'm all grown up.  I won't be growing anymore.  She was sure I would continue to grow until I'm forty, but I explained once more that I do not need room to grow in my shoes.

I'm pretty sure I blew her mind.

I Spy a Joke

May 2015

While driving along State Street a few weeks ago, Luke was telling me the things he saw along the road when he suddenly started laughing.

Me: "What are you laughing about?  What did you see?"

Luke: "A joke!"

A Little Night Reading

This was the scene in our living room at bedtime on Friday night.  Jack is reading a collection of "Toy Story" stories to himself and Eliza is looking at the pictures in his book.  Cat is reading The Treasury of American Poetry aloud.  When she got to "The Raven" she said, "This one is long!" and Ben put a swift end to the poetry reading by telling her, "Nevermore!"

It was one of those times I was genuinely sad that I really had to put an end to it.  (It was already way past their bedtime and Ben and I still had a two-hour-and-forty-nine-minute movie ahead of us.)  I just need to remember to pull that book off the bookshelf more often.

The Happenings of the Younger Half

On Monday, Eliza and Luke dumped about a cup of baby wash in their bath.  They had a blast and not only were they quite clean when they were finished, much of the bathroom was too.

Later in the week, in the course of a conversation we asked Luke if he was a girl.  His response: "I not a guhl.  I a man."

Yesterday after school, Eliza quizzed us on whether the following animals hibernate or migrate.  I admit that she stumped us on some of them.  Did you know that lizards hibernate, and zebras and giraffes migrate? 

This morning I moved all of the chairs into the family room so that I could clean the kitchen floor.  Naturally, Luke wanted to use them as a fort.  So we threw a blanket over them, I found him a little flashlight, and he was quite content.  When Eliza finished doing her daily reading to me, she joined him in the fort and read some books to him, which was particularly great because he usually doesn't prefer that she read to him.  While they were reading (and playing with stickers) I got the whole kitchen floor clean.  Win win win. 

THEN Luke hung out with Eliza during her fun Skype session with a good friend who lives in Illinois.  This turned out to be the exploratory meeting for a now firmly established 5 Year Old Book Club.  Because, as Eliza pointed out the other day, both Cat and I have a book club and she wanted one too.  Well, she made it happen.  We'll see where it goes.

It's not on any chart. You must find it with your heart.

I have a good friend who bought tickets to take her family to see Peter Pan at the Utah Children's Theater but was unable to go, so she gave the (5) tickets to us.  Luke was too young to attend and the play was during his nap anyway.  Ben was happy to stay home with Luke so he could sleep, and Jack opted to join the other males of the family, so we had two tickets to offer to my sister-in-law and niece.  We had a great time!  (Though, admittedly, my girls and I were disappointed that it was not the musical version.)

I'm so thankful that my kids like a lot of the same things I do.  It's wonderful to be able to share these experiences and make memories.  I am loving this phase of life where my kids are becoming old enough to enjoy and appreciate things that are bit more mature.

SIDE NOTE: Cat and I had a wonderful date to the symphony a few months ago.  Now I'm wondering what the right age would be to introduce her to opera?

Ringing It In

Things are about to get even busier for our family, starting next week.  So we took advantage of the holiday yesterday and had some fun family time.  First we took all the kids sledding at the high school football stadium near our house.  It was around 20 degrees but the wind held off for the first hour and 15 minutes and we were bundled up pretty well, so it really wasn't too bad.  The snow wasn't fresh, so it was pretty packed down, but that didn't bother us at all.  Luke only went on a sled once and after that entertained himself by rolling around in the snow, making snow angels, and just plain ol' hanging out.

Once we came home and had some lunch, Luke went down for a nap and Ben took The Bigs to a local trampoline park they've been begging to go to.  They decided it was a good way to start using the Christmas money they received from their uncle.  And they had a blast, in spite of the fact that it was packed.  I guess all the other kids in our area got money from their uncles for Christmas too...